The Nature of Life and Divine Testing

"...their lawlessness." For this rebuke and all that is from God does not harm the one being rebuked, but instructs him. And that it is thus, Paul writes to the Corinthians: "What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love?" (1 Cor 4:21), which is to say: Shall I approach as a beloved, or as required for correction? For a certain way of the one being corrected by oppressors seems to suggest that he does not love him. A wise saying has also been said regarding the rod: "For he who brings wisdom from his lips strikes a heartless man with a rod" (Prov 13:24), calling the rebuke and the corrective word a rod. Since this is useful, the divine word presents it, saying: "He who spares his rod hates his own son" (Prov 13:24), even though according to men, one might be thought to love by not striking the son.

Therefore, he wants to be freed from this, not out of brevity, but so that they may be instructed, setting another cause for their labors, so that he does not endure these things because of sin. "And I will not be afraid, but I will speak." For I do not thus persist, the soul weary. Groaning, I will lay my words upon him. I will speak, being seized by bitterness of soul. He wants to instruct them, not to have the burden or to impose labors, but to understand that even while existing in tribulations, he answers with a strengthened mind. He says, therefore, that if the mediator had been freed from the oppressors—what you think was laid upon me because of sin—if, having been enslaved to you, I had been freed from them, I would have spoken without fear; and he says, measuring his words, "I cannot think thus, being weary from the labors." But if, as you say, it was because of sin, I would have spoken groaning and, being seized by bitterness, I would have spoken to prove the purity of my conscience, demonstrating it. And I would say to the Lord, "Teach me not to be impious, and why did you judge me thus?" I would have said to the Lord, if the only cause against you was the punishment through sin: "Teach me not to be impious." For if even one not sinning is punished because of sin, then to sin would be more preferable. Otherwise, one who is not such is taught to sin, if there is only one cause for suffering. And I would have also said, "Why did you judge me thus," to "He who knows the hearts," unless it were understood that because of the excuse...

Having received these things, I remain. He says these things by powerfully casting upon them a desire for inquiry, so that the answer concerning his purity might seem to come from their own prompting and not from himself, which seemed to be arrogant. 'Is it good for you, if I speak unjustly, that I spoke of your works of hands?' And he would have said this, if, as you behave, the temptations were through sin: 'Is it good for you, if I speak unjustly, that I spoke of nothing sinning, as being a work of your hands?' For if the diligent man is punished for a fault just as the wicked man is, the occasion is superfluous according to you. But pay attention to the counsel of the ungodly.

Or, as a mortal sees repeatedly, 'either' your life is human 'or' your years are of a man. It is possible to say of him that he pays attention to the one asking, casting down the truth, that he does not suffer according to the preceding word—I say, through sin. And it is possible also to count these toward the counsel of the ungodly; for they do not say pious things, having seized the evils in a single way, that everyone being afflicted through sin is afflicted. I would have also said the 'as a mortal sees repeatedly,' if, as you behave, there were one cause of the afflictions, and 'your life is human or your years are of a man.'

I would have said all these things if I had encountered the same opinion of you; but knowing that there is not one cause of the temptations, but also occurring through struggle, I know that God is not merely observing the phenomena as a man does, but is stepping into the depth of the soul, thus testing each one justly. It should be noted, as also elsewhere, that 'life' (bios) is a very significant name. For it signifies wealth, as it is said in the Song of Songs: 'If a man gives his whole life in love, they will nullify him.' And it also signifies the life that exists, as if John says: 'But whoever has the life of the world and sees his brother in need and closes his bowels against him.' And both the right conduct and the bad are called 'life,' as if we say: he has a practical life, or that the other has a bad life. Here, however, he spoke of the life of a man as a sojourner in this age. He says, therefore, that if you had such a life—instead of a time being described—as a man, I would have distinguished you as being toward one who is ignorant. But God...