The Seed of God and the Nature of Sin

beyond the world

They say that his seed remains in him. What is the seed of God that remains in the faithful? Is it the outpouring of the Holy Spirit through which we were born again, which is not taken from us when, according to Paul, we grieve the Holy Spirit of God through shameful deeds, in whom we were sealed for the day of revelation (Eph 4:30).

For indeed, when saying that one possessing righteousness cannot do injustice, we do not declare a natural impossibility, by which we would say that an irrational animal cannot have knowledge or something similar. If everyone doing sin is from the devil, it is revealed from doing so that he is a child of the devil, just as Elymas the magician was known to be a son of the devil from being 'full of all deceit' (Acts 13:10); and since everyone born of God does not sin, because he has the seed of God in himself, finding one who does not sin thus is clearly to be a son of God.

I added to the one sinning in this way the qualification so that no one might be wise in saying that we set all who do not sin as children of God; for it is not necessary to say that infants, who do not sin, are children of God, because they are prevented from sinning by age rather than by virtue, so that we might not say something else claiming to speak correctly about infants, that they do not sin; for not sinning is not the same as not practicing sin. For the one is a matter of decision, while the other is a matter of disposition.

Since the one doing righteousness is born of God, it follows to him who is thus born to love the brothers; the one not having righteousness by not practicing it, and hating his brother, is not of God; not in any other way than by not having been born of Him. For one must not pay attention to those saying that these are not of God because of a corrupt nature, for he says that the wicked men are a world here.

For whatever way there were before the presence of Christ, in Judea, many prophets were finding themselves pretending to prophesy, as if prophecy were in need of investigative knowledge; some of those saying 'thus says the Lord' had the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, and some, being moved by an evil spirit, were false prophets; so also after the arrival of the apostles speaking in Christ and...

Greek

ὧν πάντων ὁ ὑπερφρονῶν ὑπερκόσμιος ἔσται ποιῶν 49 τὰ θελήματα τοῦ θεοῦ τῷ μένειν ἀεὶ καὶ ἀγαπᾶν τὸν θεόν. (Cr 116, 16-23 Ma 218) Τοῦτό φησιν, ἐπειδὴ γεγονότες μαθηταὶ ἀπέστησαν μὲν τῆς ἀληθείας, ἰδίας δὲ ἐπινοίας βλασφημιῶν ἐξεῦρον. (Cr 118, 27-28) 50 Ὁ διειληφὼς ἐπιστημονικῶς περὶ θεοῦ ὡς ὄντος κατ' οὐσίαν δικαίου εὐθέως γνῶσιν ἕξει, ὡς γεννᾶται ἐκ τούτου ὁ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ ποιῶν· ὥσπερ ὁ γνοὺς αὐτὸν ἁγιασμὸν ὄντα ἐπιδίδωσιν ἑαυτὸν τῷ ἁγιασθῆναι ἐπιστάμενος 51 ἀκριβῶς τό· “ἅγιοι ἔσεσθε, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἅγιός εἰμι”· εὖ δὲ καὶ τὸ φάναι “ποιῶν”, ἀλλ' οὐ ποιήσας ἢ ποιήσων δικαιοσύνην· δίκαιον παρίστησιν ἡ ἀρετὴ τὸν ἐνεργοῦντα πρακτικὴ οὖσα· οὐδεὶς οὖν πρὸ ποιήσεως αὐτῆς δίκαιός ἐστιν οὐδ' ὁ παυσάμενος τοῦ κατ' αὐτὴν ἐνεργεῖν. Ὅτι δὲ ὁ θεὸς δίκαιος, φησὶ Μωϋσῆς· “ὅσιος καὶ δίκαιος ὁ κύριος”· οὗτος πατὴρ τοῦ σωτῆρός ἐστι· “πάτερ δίκαιε, καὶ ὁ κόσμος σε οὐκ ἔγνω”· τούτου υἱὸς ὢν ὡς θεὸς ἐκ θεοῦ καὶ ἅγιος ἐξ ἁγίου, οὕτω καὶ δίκαιος ἐκ δικαίου ὑπάρχει· οὐ μάχεται τούτοις τὸ δικαιοσύνην αὐτὸν εἶναι λέγεσθαι· τὸ γὰρ κατ' οὐσίαν τοιοῦτον ῥηθείη δικαιοσύνη καὶ δίκαιος. (Cr 120, 30-121, 11 Ma 221) 52 νῦν τέκνα θεοῦ ἐσμεν τουτέστι κατὰ τὴν παροῦσαν ζωήν. (Ma 221) 57 Τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου. Ἐπείπερ πρὸ πάντων τραπεὶς ὁ διάβολος ἐν τῷ ἁμαρτάνειν γέγονεν, ἐξ αὐτοῦ χρηματίζει πᾶς ὁ ἁμαρτητικῶς ἐνεργῶν· προάρχεται γὰρ ἐν τῷ ἁμαρτάνοντι δι' ὑποβολὴν πονηρῶν λογισμῶν ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰούδα. (Cr 123, 29-32 Ma 221) Ἀλλ' ἐρεῖ τις, ὅτι γίνεται ὁ διάβολος ἐν τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἡμαρτηκότων ἐν τῷ διδόναι αὐτῷ τόπον· πρὸς ὃ λεκτέον ταὐτὸν εἶναι τὸ ποιεῖν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τῷ ἁμαρτάνειν ἐν τῷ διδόναι τόπον τῷ διαβόλῳ· δίδωσι γὰρ 58 6 αὐτῷ τόπον ἐπιθυμίᾳ ὑπαχθεὶς μετὰ τὸ δέξασθαι αὐτὸν πρακτικῶς ἐπιτελῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν· τοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνει τὸ ποιεῖν αὐτήν· εὖ δὲ καὶ τὸ εἰπεῖν “ποιῶν”, ἀλλ' οὐ ποιήσας τοῦ μετανοήσαντος οὐκέτι ὄντος ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου, ἀλλὰ μόνου τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος αὐτὴν ἔτι· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας δοῦλός ἐστιν ὁ ποιῶν, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁ ποιήσας αὐτήν· “πᾶς γὰρ ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν”, φησί, “δοῦλος αὐτῆς ἐστιν”. (Cr 123, 32-124, 10 Ma 222) 59 Σευήρου· καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν προστίθησι τοῦ μὴ δύνασθαι ἁμαρτάνειν λέγων, ὅτι σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ μένει· τί δέ ἐστι τὸ σπέρμα τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ μένον ἐπὶ τοὺς πιστούς; ἢ ἡ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐπιφοίτησις, δι' ἧς ἀνεγεννήθημεν, 60 ἥτις οὐκ ἀφίσταται ἡμῶν, ὅταν κατὰ Παῦλον μὴ λυπῶμεν διὰ τῶν αἰσχίστων πράξεων τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐν ᾧ ἐσφραγίσθημεν εἰς ἡμέραν ἀποκαλύψεως. (Cr 124, 15-21 Ma 222) Καὶ γὰρ λέγοντες μὴ δύνασθαι ἀδικεῖν τὸν δικαιοσύνην ἔχοντα οὐκ ἀδυναμίαν φυσικὴν δηλοῦμεν, καθ' ἣν λέγομεν μὴ δύνασθαι τὸ ἄλογον ζῷον ἐπιστήμην ἢ ἕτερόν τι τοιοῦτον ἔχειν. (Cr 126, 25-28 Ma 222) Εἰ πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστίν, ἐκ τοῦ οὕτω πράττειν φανεροῦται ὢν τέκνον τοῦ διαβόλου, καθάπερ καὶ Ἐλύμας ὁ μάγος ἐκ τοῦ “πλήρης παντὸς δόλου” ἐγνώσθη υἱὸς διαβόλου· καὶ ἐπεὶ πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ τῷ ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ θεοῦ σπέρμα, τὸν οὕτω μὴ ἁμαρτάνοντα εὑρεῖν ἐστι σαφῶς υἱὸν ὄντα θεοῦ· προσέθηκα δὲ τῷ ἁμαρτάνοντι οὕτως, ἵνα μήτις σοφίσηται λέγων τέκνα θεοῦ ἡμᾶς τίθεσθαι πάντας τοὺς μὴ ἁμαρτάνοντας· τὰ γὰρ βρέφη ἁμαρτίαν μὴ ποιοῦντα οὐ ῥητέον τέκνα θεοῦ εἶναι· ἐξ ἡλικίας γάρ, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐξ ἀρετῆς κωλύονται τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν, ἵνα μὴ ἕτερόν τι εἴπωμεν φάσκοντες μὴ 61 ὑγιῶς λέγεσθαι περὶ βρεφῶν, ὅτι ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιοῦσιν· οὐ ταὐτὸν γὰρ τὸ μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν τῷ μὴ ποιεῖν ἁμαρτίαν· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀπόφασις ἔοικε, τὸ δὲ ἐκ διαθέσεως ὑπάρχει. (Cr 126, 13-25 Ma 222) Ἐπεὶ ὁ ποιῶν τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγέννηται, ἕπεται δὲ τῷ οὕτω γεννηθέντι ἀγαπᾶν τοὺς ἀδελφούς· ὁ μὴ ἔχων δικαιοσύνην τῷ μὴ ποιεῖν αὐτήν, μισῶν δὲ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν· οὐ κατ' ἄλλον τρόπον ἢ τὸ μὴ γεγεννῆσθαι ἐξ αὐτοῦ· οὐ γὰρ προσεκτέον τοῖς λέγουσι μὴ εἶναι ἐκ θεοῦ τούτους διὰ χοϊκὴν φύσιν (Cr 127, 14-19) 62 Κόσμον γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τοὺς πονηροὺς ἀνθρώπους φησίν. (Cr 132, 13 Ma 225) 63 Ὅνπερ γὰρ τρόπον πρὸ τῆς Χριστοῦ παρουσίας ὄντων ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ θεοῦ προφητῶν πολλοὶ ἐτύγχανον ὑποκρινόμενοι τὴν προφητείαν ὡς χρείαν εἶναι ἐπιστήμης ἐξεταστικῆς, τίνες τῶν λεγόντων “τάδε λέγει κύριος” πνεῦμα ἅγιον καὶ θεοῦ λόγον εἶχον καὶ τίνες ὑπὸ πονηροῦ πνεύματος κινούμενοι τοῦ ψευδοῦς ἦσαν προφῆται, οὕτω καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐπιδημίαν τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐν Χριστῷ λαλούντων καὶ

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A clear explanation of the Catholic Epistles showing how Christians are called to endure and grow in faith

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