The Meaning of Akakia and the Devil's Vain Attempt

He strives to subject him to unendurable labors. Regarding these same verses, for those who have reached them, what was said to them should be applied to these, so that the same things are not said many times, only adding this: that the diabolical nature is shown to exceed all. It should be said regarding the question, 'Where do you come from?' that the most convicting thing was said by the Lord to the devil, as he had nothing to say of his own with boldness or to make him waverdefeated, which he himself shamefully did not admit.

It should be noted how the devil does not answer in this way now. For then he said, 'Having gone around the earth and walking through under the heaven, I have returned' (Job 1:7), but now, 'Having gone through the heaven and walking through the whole world.' And he visited, lest as a liar he would not wish to remember that 'he went around the earth,' so that, not even attacking the beginning of Job, he might be seen as acting out of shamelessnessnows that nothing is hidden from God. For he also did not say, 'Of those things which you gave me authority over, I have done; I have taken away the existing things of Job and the children they took away.' For it would have been consistent to say this, and, 'The same remained.' But he moves toward a second petition, from which he thinks he will overturn the purpose of the holy man.

And even if the devil hides his own will in having said 'the whole world' instead of 'the earth,' let us show from the Scriptures how the earth is often called the whole world. For it has been said, 'The whole world was filled with the knowledge of the Lord' (Isa 11:9). And Job himself in the following says concerning God, 'He who makes the whole world in the highest' (Job 37:7), indicating that God draws a man from the earth through virtue toward heaven. 'And the Lord said to the devil: Pay attention to my servant Job, for there is no man on the earth like him, righteous, God-fearing, blameless, avoiding all evil; and he still holds to innocence' (Job 1:8). And now, 'Pay attention with your mind' (Job 2:3), as was said before, has permission to be used, because after the struggle he was strengthened. For the devil, thinking that Job rejoices in external things as if they were good, was saying, 'Did you not surround the inside and the outside of his house?' But when his attack became in vain, the 'pay attention' is said instead of: 'You have known through the trial' the courage of the 'God-fearing, blameless, innocent, [and...]'

While being kept from all evil. And to these things the Lord brings an accusation: 'yet akakia remains.' Pay attention, then, that He will not 'bless me personally,' as you thought. It should be noted how it is said in the Septuagint: 'abstaining from every evil thing' (Rom 16:9), but now: 'from all evil' (Ps 1:1). From this it is known that 'evil' is used for 'poneros.' Also what is written: 'those who love the Lord, hate evil' (Ps 5:5), instead of 'hate wickedness.'

Akakia signifies different things; for it denotes both the absence of wickedness and goodness of character. When the saint says, 'God judge me, for in my akakia I have walked,' he means akakia as virtue; for one possessing virtue is devoid of wickedness. And in others: 'the guileless and good-natured clung to me,' he speaks of the diverse akakoi—for these are good-natured—and being good-natured is a recognition of virtue. But when it says: 'they deceive the hearts of the akakoi,' and: 'the akakos believes every word,' and again: 'that I might give guile to the akakoi,' it means the pure and unblemished. To whom he also prays that guile might be given, not the guile equal in power to wickedness, but prudence.

Job therefore 'still had akakia' with all words being made upright. 'But you have said that you will destroy his possessions for nothing.' The Lord exposes the vain work of the devil against the saints. For he who acts without cause labors in vain. So even if the devil, hoping to seize the saint, attempted through the destruction of possessions and children—and having recognized the attempt was futile against the saint's courage regarding his possessions—he fought him in vain; for nothing of what he hoped for happened.

'But the devil, having taken up the challenge, said to the Lord: skin for skin. Whatever a man has, he will lay out for his soul. Not indeed, but stretch out your hand and touch his bones and his flesh; he will not indeed bless you personally' (Job 1:9-12; 2:4-5). Considering the three kinds of so-called goods—those external, which are divided into wealth, property, health, and other bodily things, and others which are virtues—he thinks only the undifferentiated goods are such, and he thinks Job has this same mindset, and he shamelessly says to the Lord—that is to say, speaking according to what we understand has been said before—that a man would lay out everything so that he might not suffer something himself.