The Turning of the Face and the Light of the Soul
For they depart from those things which are not contained by them. And the rights and statutes must be spoken of which have been legislated according to equality and justice, such as 'If a Hebrew acquires a child' (Deut 21:15), and the following. For all these things, the judgments are arranged as side-notes, and the following.
The judgments, being named with the rights, can signify the tested and examined words of God; for they are not called judgments because they are not being checked or being overturned. In this way even the thoughts of the righteous are judgments, that is, having been accurately examined and tested, and being this very thing similar to a rule.
Perhaps those who, not through God but through glory or something else, find fault and call something unblemished, are unblemished indeed, but not with God; but those who have embraced the good through God and not for the sake of anything else, are unblemished with God; for this union toward God preserves one unblemished and good. But those being uncoupled and separated from God become immediately unblemished children, unblemished children becoming through the act of sinning.
He who has accomplished all the aforementioned things, how does he speak of his own lawlessness? It is to say that he does not wish to understand at any time; this is it: 'The mind of man leans toward evil things with care from youth' (Gen 8:21), as it flows toward sin, being enticed by pleasure. He who has given himself to the law of God protects himself from the lawlessness that overshadows men.
Perhaps also that which is called among us the mindset of the flesh, which is enmity toward God and does not submit to His law, is the lawlessness of man, from which one preserves the deeds of the body of death in the spirit and abstains from the works of the flesh. There he calls righteousness here, that which is established from the faith of Jesus Christ. For the righteousness of God has been revealed to all who believe (Rom 3:22); for to the one believing rightly, 'the faith is reckoned as righteousness' (Rom 4:3/5). And together with purity...
For you say the works of faith, which operate brightly and without stain, without which faith is dead (Ps 17:26–28). Regarding the change of face in Psalm 17:26–28, someone says these upcoming verses are to be spoken toward God, because he does not say to another, 'That you will save a humble people and humble the eyes of the proud,' but to God. Another will say that these are not spoken toward God but toward a man: that the one spending time with the holy should imitate their virtue, and the one spending time with the wicked should undergo perversion, as the divine writing of Proverbs says: 'He who walks with the wise will be wise, but he who walks with fools will be destroyed' (Prov 13:20). The interpretations are thus: 'With the holy man, O Lord, he shall be made holy,' providing him the holiness supplied from you so that, having been perfected according to it, you may bring him into the fitting promise, and the others following the one before it. He also says, 'You will pervert,' for it is possible to say, 'He perverts with a crookedness'; this is not said, but 'You will pervert.' For God perverts the one running toward evil things, blocking his way with stumbling blocks and rebuilding his paths; for to be prevented from evils is the beginning of blessing. But he who wishes to be taken toward a man says that the one associating with a holy man becomes holy from the holy things being done, as Elisha with Elijah and Timothy with Paul; and the one hastening with the innocent, having seized that one's virtue, will be innocent. Likewise, the one spending time with an elect man, but the one associating with the crooked, desiring to become like him, will pervert his own life. And he, having clarified the verses thus, turns his face toward God from 'That you will save a humble people.'
Regarding the receptive part of the soul's light, the power—that is, the mind, which some call the reasoning faculty—it is said to be its lamp, not being itself...
Greek
ἀναχωροῦσι γὰρ ἐκείνων τῶν μὴ περιεχομένων αὐτῶν. δικαιώματα δὲ ῥητέον τὰ κατ' ἰσότητα καὶ δικαιοσύνην νενομοθετημένα, ὡς τὸ ̓Εὰν κτήσῃ παῖδα ̔Εβραῖον, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. τούτων γὰρ ἁπάντων προτέτακται Καὶ ταῦτα τὰ δικαιώματα α παραθήσεις, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. δύναται δὲ τὰ α μα τοῖς δικαιώμασιν ὠνομασμένα κρίματα σημαίνειν τοὺς δεδοκιμασμένους καὶ ἐξητασμένους τοῦ θεοῦ λόγους· ου τοι γὰρ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐλέγχεσθαι η ἀνατρέπεσθαι κεκριμένοι ο ντες κρίματα ει ρηνται· ταύτῃ γὰρ καὶ οἱ λογισμοὶ τῶν δικαίων κρίματα, τουτέστιν ἠκριβωμένοι καὶ δεδοκιμασμένοι, καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο κανόσιν ἐοικότες. 128 Ps 17,24a Τάχα οἱ μὴ διὰ θεὸν ἀλλὰ διὰ δόξαν η ε τερόν τι τὸ α μωμον ε χοντες καὶ ἀναμάρτητον α μωμοι μὲν ει ναι δύνανται, οὐ μὴν μετὰ θεοῦ· οἱ δὲ διὰ θεόν τ' ἀγαθὸν καὶ μὴ α λλου του χάριν ἀσπασάμενοι μετὰ θεοῦ εἰσιν α μωμοι· αυ τη γὰρ ἡ πρὸς θεὸν ε νωσις ἀμώμους καὶ ἀγαθοὺς φυλάττει. οἱ δὲ ἀποζευγνύμενοι καὶ χωριζόμενοι θεοῦ μωμητοὶ εὐθὺς γίνονται, τεκνὰ μωμητὰ διὰ τὸ ἁμαρτεῖν γινόμενα. 129 Ps 17,24b ̔Ο τὰ προειρημένα πάντα κατορθώσας, πῶς ἰδίαν αὐτοῦ ἀνομίαν λέγει; ἐπιστήσεις μήποτ' ου ν ο βούλεται λέγειν ἐστὶν τοῦτο· ̔Η διάνοια τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπὶ τὰ πονηρὰ ε γκειται ἐπιμελῶς ἐκ νεότητος, ὡς ἐπιρρεπῶς ε χειν πρὸς τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν ἡδονῇ θελγόμενος. ὁ ου ν τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ θεοῦ ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδεδωκὼς φυλάττεται ἀπὸ τῆς ἐνσκιρωσάσης τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀνομίας. τάχα δὲ καὶ τὸ λεγόμενον ἐν ἡμῖν τῆς σαρκὸς φρόνημα, ε χθρα ο ν πρὸς θεὸν καὶ τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ μὴ ὑποταττόμενον, ἀνομία τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐστίν, ἀφ' η ς φυλάττεταί τις πνεύματι τὰς πράξεις τοῦ σώματος θανατῶν καὶ ἀπεχόμενος τῶν τῆς σαρκὸς ε ργων. 130 Ps 17,25 ∆ικαιοσύνην ἐνταῦθα καλεῖ τὴν ἐκ πίστεως ̓Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ συνισταμένην. ∆ικαιοσύνη γὰρ θεοῦ πεφανέρωται εἰς πάντας τοὺς πιστεύοντας· τῷ γὰρ ὀρθῶς πιστεύοντι ̔Η πίστις εἰς δικαιοσύνην λογίζεται. συζύγως δὲ καθαριότητα χειρῶν ἐρεῖς τὰ λαμπρῶς καὶ ἀμολύντως ἐνεργούμενα τῆς πίστεως ε ργα, ω ν χωρὶς ἡ πίστις νεκρά ἐστιν. 131 Ps 17,26–28 ̓Αθρόας μεταβολῆς προσώπου γεγενημένης, ἐρεῖ τις πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τοὺς προκειμένους στίχους λέγεσθαι διὰ τὰ ἑπόμενα· οὐκ α λλῳ γὰρ ἐρεῖ τὸ Οτι σὺ λαὸν ταπεινὸν σώσεις καὶ ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑπερηφάνων ταπεινώσεις, η τῷ θεῷ. α λλος δὲ λέξει μὴ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀλλὰ πρὸς α νθρωπον ταῦτα λέγεσθαι τῷ τὸν ὁσίοις συνδιατρίβοντα μιμεῖσθαι ἐκείνων τὴν ἀρετήν, τὸν δὲ σὺν φαύλοις ο ντα διαστροφὴν ὑφίστασθαι, ῃ φησιν ἡ θεία τῶν Παροιμιῶν γραφή· ̔Ο συμπορευόμενος σοφοῖς σοφὸς ε σται, ὁ δὲ συμπορευόμενος α φροσιν γνωσθήσεται. ἑρμηνεύσεις ου τως· Μετὰ τοῦ ὁσίου, ω δέσποτα, ὁσιωθήσῃ, παρέχων αὐτῷ τὴν ἐκ σοῦ χορηγουμένην ὁσιότητα ι να τελειωθέντα κατ' αὐτὴν εἰς τὴν ἁρμόζουσαν ἐπαγγελίαν εἰσάξῃς, καὶ τὰ α λλα ἀκολούθως τῷ πρὸ αὐτοῦ. Ευ δέ φησιν καὶ τὸ εἰπεῖν ∆ιαστρέψεις· δυναμένου γὰρ εἰπεῖν Μετὰ στρεβλοῦ διαστρέφῃ, τοῦτο μὲν οὐκ ει ρηκεν ἀλλὰ ∆ιαστρέψεις. τὴν γὰρ πρὸς τὰ φαῦλα πορείαν κωλύων ὁ θεὸς διαστρέφει τὸν ε πειτα κατατρέχοντα, φράσσων τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν σκώλοψιν καὶ τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ ἀνοικοδομῶν· ἀρχὴ γὰρ εὐεργεσίας τὸ κωλύεσθαι τῶν κακῶν. ̔Ο δὲ ἐπ' ἀνθρώπου ἐξειλῆφθαι βουλόμενος ἐρεῖ τὸν συνόντα ὁσίῳ α νδρα ἐκ τῶν πραττομένων ὁσίων ὁσιοῦσθαι, ὡς ̓Ελισσαιὲ μετὰ τοῦ ̔Ηλία καὶ Τιμόθεος μετὰ τοῦ Παύλου· καὶ ὁ σὺν τῷ ἀθῴῳ σπεύδων ει ναι, τὴν ἐκείνου ἀρετὴν σπασάμενος, ἀθῷος ε σται. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὁ ἀνδρὶ ἐκλεκτῷ συνδιατρίβων καὶ ὁ στρεβλῷ δὲ συνὼν κατὰ τὸ ἐθέλειν αὐτῷ ἐξομοιοῦσθαι διαστρέψει ἑαυτοῦ τὸν βίον. ὁ δὲ ου τως τοὺς στίχους 36 σαφηνίσας μεταβαλεῖ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τὸ πρόσωπον ἀπὸ τοῦ Οτι σὺ λαὸν ταπεινὸν σώσεις. 132 Ps 17,29 Τὸ δεκτικὸν φωτὸς τῆς ψυχῆς μόριον η τοι δύναμις, τουτέστιν ὁ νοῦς ο καὶ λογιστικόν τινες καλοῦσιν, λύχνος αὐτῆς ει ναι λέγεται, οὐκ ω ν αὐτὸς
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Discover how early Christians interpreted the Psalms as divine messages and prophecies about salvation and judgment.
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