The Righteousness of God's Judgments

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Because of great human-lovingness, even though a multitude of sins occurs constantly, He does not bring down wrath for every single day. This is what it means for Him to breathe His own spirit of wrath, because He pre-announces the punishments of wrath: 'For I will discipline them in the wrath of their affliction' (Ps 17:17).

Out of many waters—meaning the turbulent and salty matters of life, called a sea tropically, which are the poured-out and disordered opposing powers—He stands against them; and even if the doctrines of ungodliness are many, they are not able to quench love. God delivers from powerful enemies the invisible ones, as is said, and perhaps also those in high positions and those intending to deceive through pseudonymous knowledge, who are terrible in their sophistry.

No one is without their own private thoughts, and those who are dissatisfied with Providence also bring up impiety regarding others, calling them powerful enemies, and that they might be rescued from those who hate them, and that they might be strengthened above them, which is worthy, while the haters are in vain. For no one, being hated for something trivial, will have the boldness to speak this prayer to God, but rather if he is hated by sinners for Christ and for the upright life, those who loathe godliness, for they consider the conduct of the righteous to be a reproach to their own way of life.

Indeed, those who hate the righteous most vehemently attack then, when a time of affliction is present. For, being ignorant of the judgment of Providence, they suppose that the righteous is being afflicted through sin for no other reason, like those conversing with Job. For when God had subjected him to afflictions, so that he might be shown to be righteous, they said that this man had fallen into these things because of impiety and sin; but even against the one stumbling, all the predatory demons and the devil are strong, as they now think sin to be an evil.

For in the day of affliction, whoever takes refuge toward God, He becomes his support (Ps 17:19), meaning, supporting him so that he might not be shaken and fall. And concerning the perfection of the soul, those who accept the ascent and the brightening of it say marvelously: 'Who is she that ascends...'

Has she been whitened, leaning upon her brother? For the Lord becomes a support for someone, leading him out of the narrowness of afflictions, giving him breadth according to 'In affliction he enlarged me' (Ps 17:20a). But one is enlarged in affliction not by becoming outside of the affliction entirely, but by being courageously and piously stretched toward it.

He will rescue me from my strong enemies and from those hating me (Ps 17:20b–21), since they possess no power at all, for all His wills were doing me. Truly, the boldness of the pure and perfect is such that he condemns nothing of himself, even the shortest thing; therefore, those who wish to speak this psalm in the presence of the Savior, and who apply this word to Him, find Him having been tested in all things according to likeness, without sin. He speaks of righteousness as the general virtue of practice, and of cleanness of hands as the practical actions becoming pure and unstained by being fulfilled from the best of ways; for often hands are said to be upon the practical powers.

And he does not say these things arrogantly, as some are, but having placed the cause of the successes upon God. He who walks in His commandments keeps the ways of the Lord, and he who has correctly grasped the doctrines of truth does not act impiously toward his own God, conceiving blamelessly concerning God, speaking holily concerning Christ, remembering piously concerning the Holy Spirit, and glorifying in the proper manner concerning the other doctrines.

For even if His judgments are unsearchable and seem like an abyss because of the incomprehensible, it is not possible for those having them not to be displeased with Providence, nor to act impiously toward the one who provides. For even if we do not grasp, but having resolved that these things are fulfilled by God's judgment, we are well-pleased with them. And the very name 'Judgment' signifies the rectitude of the administration; for it contains and is heard to be that which has happened according to righteousness, as opposed to judgments of the unrighteous and the perverted which are performed apart from the right. Because of this, he says, a perverted judgment will come forth. 'I hold fast to the rights of God,' he says (Ps 17:23b).

Greek

καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ πολλῇ, ἑκάστοτε πλήθους ἁμαρτημάτων γινομένου, οὐ καθ' 34 ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ὀργὴν ἐπάγει. καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ ἐμπνέειν αὐτὸν πνεῦμα τῆς ὀργῆς ἑαυτοῦ διὰ τὸ προαναφωνεῖν τῆς ὀργῆς τὰς κολάσεις· Παιδεύσω γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ τῆς θλίψεως αὐτῶν. 121 Ps 17,17–19a ̓Εξ ὑδάτων πολλῶν, η τοι τῶν ταραχωδῶν καὶ ἁλμυρῶν πραγμάτων τοῦ βίου τροπικῶς θαλάττης ὀνομαζομένων η ἀντικειμένων δυνάμεων συγκεχυμένων καὶ τεταραγμένων· ἐπίστησον δὲ εἰ καὶ δόγματα τῆς ἀθεότητος υ δωρ ἐστὶν πολὺ οὐ δυνάμενον σβέσαι τὴν ἀγάπην. δυνατοὺς δὲ ἐχθροὺς ἐξ ω ν ῥύεται ὁ θεὸς τοὺς ἀοράτους ῥητέον, τάχα δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐν ὑπεροχαῖς ἀνθρώπους καὶ τοὺς ἀπατᾶν προτιθεμένους διὰ ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως, ο τ' α ν δεινοὶ περὶ σοφιστείαν ω σιν. οὐχ ἁμάρτοι δέ τις καὶ τοὺς ἰδίους λογισμούς, ο τ' α ν δυσαρεστῶνται τῇ προνοίᾳ η καὶ περὶ α λλην ἀσέβειαν ἐπανέχωσιν, ἐχθροὺς δυνατοὺς λέγων, καὶ ῥυσθῆναι ἐκ τῶν μισούντων, ο τ' α ν ὑπὲρ αὐτὸν κραταιωθῶσιν, ἀξιοῖ, μισούντων δὲ μάτην· οὐδὲ ει ς γὰρ διὰ τὸ φαῦλος ει ναι μισούμενος παρρησιάσεται πρὸς θεὸν ταύτην τὴν εὐχὴν εἰπεῖν, ἀλλ' ο τ' α ν διὰ Χριστὸν καὶ τὸν ὀρθὸν βίον μισῆται παρὰ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν τῶν τὴν θεοσέβειαν βδελυττομένων· ε λεγχον γὰρ τῆς ἑαυτῶν πολιτείας ἡγοῦνται τὴν τοῦ δικαίου ἀναστροφήν. ου τοι δὲ οἱ μισητικῶς πρὸς τὸν δίκαιον ε χοντες τότε μάλιστα ἐπιτίθενται, ο τ' α ν κακώσεως καιρὸς ἐνστῇ. τὸ γὰρ κρίμα τῆς προνοίας ἀγνοοῦντες οὐ δι' α λλο τι η δι' ἁμαρτίας θλίβεσθαι τὸν δίκαιον ὑπολαμβάνουσιν ὡς οἱ διαλεγόμενοι τῷ ̓Ιώβ. τοῦ γὰρ θεοῦ θλίψεσιν αὐτὸν ὑποβαλόντος ο πως ἀναδειχθῇ δίκαιος, ε φασκον ἐκεῖνοι ἀσεβείας καὶ ἁμαρτίας χάριν τούτοις περιπεπτωκέναι τὸν α νδρα· ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τοῦ πταίοντος ἰσχυροὶ πάντες οἱ ἀλιτήριοι δαίμονες καὶ ὁ διάβολος, ὡς νοεῖσθαι νῦν κάκωσιν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. 122 Ps 17,19b ̓Εν ἡμέρᾳ γὰρ κακώσεως ο τ' α ν τις πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καταφύγῃ ε ξει αὐτὸν ἀντιστήριγμα αὐτοῦ γινόμενον, τουτέστιν ἀντιστηρίζοντα αὐτὸν ι να μὴ κλονηθεὶς καταπέσῃ. καὶ περὶ τῆς τελείας γοῦν ψυχῆς ἀντιστήριγμα τὸν θεὸν λόγον ἐχούσης θαυμαστικῶς οἱ ἀποδεχόμενοι τὴν ἀνάβασιν καὶ λάμπρυνσιν αὐτῆς φάσκουσιν· Τίς αυ τη ἡ ἀναβαίνουσα λελευκανθισμένη, ἐπιστηριζομένη ἐπὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτῆς; 123 Ps 17,20a ̓Αντιστήριγμα γὰρ ὁ κύριος γινόμενός τινι ἐξάγει αὐτὸν ἐκ τῆς στενότητος τῶν θλιβερῶν, πλατυσμὸν αὐτῷ δωρούμενος κατὰ τὸ ̓Εν θλίψει ἐπλάτυνάς μοι. ἐν θλίψει δὲ πλατύνεταί τις οὐκ ε ξω τῆς θλίψεως πάντως γινόμενος ἀλλὰ γενναίως καὶ εὐλαβῶς πρὸς αὐτὴν τεταμένος. 124 Ps 17,20b–21 ̔Ρύσεταί με ἐξ ἐχθρῶν μου δυνατῶν καὶ ἐκ τῶν μισούντων με, κα ν ο τι μάλιστα πλείστην ε χωσι δύναμιν· ἠθέλησεν γάρ με πάντα τὰ θελήματα αὐτοῦ ποιοῦντα. Πάνυ γε καθαροῦ καὶ τελείου ἡ παρρησία, μηδὲν κα ν τὸ βραχύτατον καταγινώσκοντος ἑαυτοῦ, ο θεν οἱ τὸν ψαλμὸν τοῦτον ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ σωτῆρος εἰρῆσθαι θέλοντες καὶ ταύτην τὴν λέξιν προσάπτουσιν αὐτῷ πεπειραμένῳ κατὰ πάντα καθ' ὁμοιότητα χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας. δικαιοσύνην δὲ τὴν καθόλου πρακτικὴν ἀρετὴν λέγει, καθαριότητα δὲ χειρῶν τὰς πρακτικὰς ἐνεργείας καθαρὰς καὶ ἀμολύντους γινομένας τῷ ἀπὸ βελτίστης ε ξεως ἐπιτελεῖσθαι· πολλαχοῦ γὰρ τὰς χεῖρας ἐπὶ τῶν πρακτικῶν δυνάμεων λεγομένας ε στιν εὑρεῖν. 125 Ps 17,22 Ταῦτα δὲ οὐκ ἀλαζονικῶς φησιν, ω ς τινες οι ονται, ἀλλ' ἀνατιθεὶς τῷ θεῷ τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν κατορθωμάτων. φυλάσσει δὲ τὰς ὁδοὺς κυρίου ὁ ταῖς ἐντολαῖς αὐτοῦ πορευόμενος, καὶ οὐκ ἀσεβεῖ ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἑαυτοῦ ὁ ὀρθῶς περὶ τῶν τῆς ἀληθείας δογμάτων διειληφώς, ἀμέμπτως περὶ θεοῦ ἐννοῶν καὶ ἁγίως περὶ Χριστοῦ διαλαμβάνων καὶ εὐσεβῶς περὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐνθυμούμενος καὶ περὶ τῶν α λλων δογμάτων ο ν δεῖ τρόπον δοξάζων. 126 Ps 17,23a Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἀνεξεύρητα τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀβύσσῳ ἐοικότα διὰ τὸ ἀκατάληπτον, ἀλλ' ου ν δυνατὸν ἐνώπιον αὐτὰ ε χοντα μὴ δυσαρεστεῖσθαι τῇ προνοίᾳ μηδὲ ἀσεβεῖν εἰς τὸν προνοούμενον. εἰ γὰρ καὶ μὴ καταλαμβάνωμεν ἀλλά γε διατεθέντες ο τι θεοῦ κρίσει 35 ταῦτα ἐπιτελεῖται, εὐαρεστούμεθα αὐτοῖς. καὶ αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ ο νομα τὸ Κρίματα τὴν ὀρθότητα τῆς διοικήσεως σημαίνει· ἐμπεριέχεται γὰρ καὶ συνεξακούεται τῷ κατὰ δικαιοσύνην γεγονέναι, τῶν παρὰ τὸ ὀρθὸν ἐπιτελουμένων κριμάτων αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἀδίκων καὶ διεστραμμένων. Ενεκεν γὰρ τούτου, φησίν, ἐξελεύσεται τὸ κρίμα διεστραμμένον. 127 Ps 17,23b Τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, φησίν, δικαιωμάτων ἀντέχομαι·

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Discover how early Christians interpreted the Psalms as divine messages and prophecies about salvation and judgment.

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