The Hidden Sins and Divine Cleansing
The Lord's testimony, which testifies through good works and the knowledge of truth, is faithful. It is called faithful not from the act of believing, but from the worthiness of being believed, just as the Word 'Faithful' is said of the Faithful One, and concerning God it is said, 'God is faithful and there is no injustice in him' (1 Cor 10:13) and 'God is faithful through whom you were called' (1 Cor 1:9). For because of worthiness and the being worthy of being believed, it was so named, but also because of the certain and unchangeable nature. Thus indeed the Lord's faithful testimony makes wise those who have turned and become like children according to the will of Jesus.
And it makes wise even the newborn infants, those born through the gospel. Perhaps it also makes wise those little ones who have not been trained by disciplines and with the exercises of human words, but the unlettered and the laypeople. And the commands of the Lord, being outside of all crookedness, are straight, making straight those who receive them, so that they might cast off all sorrow and become in divine joy the soul.
And the fear of God is said to be pure, not a passion that casts one out from perfect love, but the same one that is characterized by piety and divine reverence. It does not work out the state of those who are merely fittingly pure, but it extends even unto the age to come, not being transient and short-lived. The judgments of the Lord are true. He who performs all things according to His own truth and judges, judges truly; as the apostle says: 'For the judgment of God is according to truth upon those practicing such things' (Rom 2:2). God judges according to truth, and the judgments are true—it is said 'true' in contrast to false and unjust judgments.
These true judgments are justified in the same way, whatever may happen, and in the same way it may become. For perhaps if anyone wished to see its truth and justice by itself, he would not clearly see it; for they testify to one another as whatever is, is to be held as testifying. These things, having been foreseen by the one who applied his own mind, are desirable, more precious than those among men. For he who has turned away his own desiring power from gold and precious stones, with longing toward the...
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He will consume all of it into truly desirable things, and he will perceive the sweetness of these things more sweetly than the sweetness of a garden and honey in the senses. He will not taste it bodily, but by a divine sense he will perceive the sweetness of the things mentioned before. The servant of the Lord keeps these things. For indeed your servant keeps them; he is not saying this about himself alone, but also about every servant of the Lord. If one turns toward the guarding of these things something temporary and sensible, the recompense is not great; but since the recompense for the guarding of these things is supra-cosmic and supra-heavenly, it follows that it is great.
Everyone is aware of the manifest and effective sins, but the transgressions occurring in secret in the thoughts and reasonings, the one who sees them is rare; for who declares what is rare here? Paul, therefore, not being aware of anything to himself, knowing what is the rare thing to understand the aforementioned transgressions, says, 'Not in this I am justified' (cf. Rom 3:28). Furthermore, regarding the transgressions, who will understand? It lies to say, 'From my secret things cleanse me' (Ps 18:14c). This is said only by the righteous, since defilement occurs in the secret reasonings of the heart, which not only others but I myself am ignorant of; you, remove it, being a knower of those things which happen in secret. For this defilement, if it is not destroyed, becomes an increased starting-point and pretext to be captured by others; sparing your servant, do not let him be captured by others, having cleansed him from the secret things. For the sins occurring in secret, if not being cut off, may at some time pass over into practical sin, through which one might be involved with the things of God or with evil powers. God will spare his own servant, but if he does not spare his own Son, having handed him over above all, it is the loss of the Son for all, and not sparing leads to being lost for the salvation of all. And the Son himself will be outside of all harm, not receiving this even by nature.
He says it is a great sin, the effective one (Ps 18:15). For if he is not cleansed from my secret things, these transgressions remaining carry over into bad practice, and I become responsible for a great sin. If these...
Greek
κυρίου μαρτυρία, η ν μαρτυρεῖ τοῖς καλοῖς ε ργοις καὶ τῇ γνώσει τῆς ἀληθείας, πιστή ἐστιν· οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ πιστεύειν ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀξία ει ναι τοῦ πιστεύεσθαι κέκληται, ω σπερ καὶ τὸ Πιστὸς ὁ λόγος ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀξιοπίστου ει ρηται καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ ει ρηται ̔Ο θεὸς πιστὸς καὶ οὐκ ε στιν ἀδικία ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ Πιστὸς ὁ θεὸς δι' ου ἐκλήθητε. διὰ γὰρ τὸ ἀξιόχρεως καὶ τοῦ πιστεύεσθαι α ξιος ει ναι ου τως ὠνομάσθη, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὸ βέβαιον καὶ ἀμετάβλητον. ̔Η ου τως γοῦν πιστὴ τοῦ κυρίου μαρτυρία σοφοὺς ποιεῖ τοὺς στραφέντας καὶ γενομένους ὡς τὰ παιδία κατὰ τὸ βούλημα ̓Ιησοῦ. σοφίζει δὲ καὶ τὰ ἀρτιγέννητα βρέφη, τὰ διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου γεννηθέντα. τάχα δὲ κἀκείνους τοὺς νηπίους σοφίζει, τοὺς μὴ ἐντραφέντας ἀσκήσεσιν καὶ σὺν γυμνασίαις λόγων ἀνθρωπίνων ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἀγραμμάτους καὶ ἰδιώτας. Τὰ δὲ δικαιώματα κυρίου πάσης σκολιότητος ἐκτὸς ο ντα εὐθεῖά ἐστιν, εὐθεῖς ποιοῦντα τοὺς παραδεχομένους αὐτά, ω στε καὶ πᾶσαν λύπην ἀποβαλόντας ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ θείᾳ γενέσθαι τὴν ψυχήν. ̔Αγνὸς δὲ ει ρηται ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ φόβος, οὐκ ω ν παθητικὸς οι ος ὁ ἐκβαλλόμενος ἀπὸ τῆς τελείας ἀγάπης ἀλλ' εὐλαβείᾳ καὶ θείῳ σεβασμῷ ὁ αὐτὸς ω ν. ου τος δὲ τοὺς προσηκαμένους ἁγνοὺς ἀπεργάζεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρεκτείνει μέχρι τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, οὐκ ω ν πρόσκαιρος καὶ ὀλιγοχρόνιος. Τὰ κρίματα τοῦ κυρίου ἀληθινά. ὁ πάντα ὁ κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀλήθειαν ἐπιτελῶν καὶ κρίνων ἀληθινῶς κρίνει· ῃ φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος· Οι δαμεν γὰρ ο τι τὸ κρίμα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἐπὶ τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα πράσσοντας. α ου ν κατὰ ἀλήθειαν κρίνει ὁ θεός, κρίματά ἐστιν ἀληθινά– ει ρηται δὲ ἀληθινὰ πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν ψευδῶν καὶ ἀδίκων κριμάτων. ταῦτα δὴ τὰ ἀληθινὰ κρίματα δεδικαιωμένα ἐστὶν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, ο τ' α ν α μα καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ γένηται. τάχα γὰρ εἰ ε καστον καθ' ἑαυτὸ θελήσοι τις ἰδεῖν, τὴν ἀληθότητα καὶ δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ τρανῶς οὐκ ο ψεται· η ρτηνται γὰρ ἀλλήλων ὡς ε καστον τοῦ ἐχομένου μαρτυρεῖσθαι οι όν ἐστιν. 157 Ps 18,11.12 Ταῦτα τὰ προτεθεωρημένα τῷ 42 ἐπιμεληθέντι τῆς ἑαυτοῦ διανοίας ἐπιθυμητὰ ὑπὲρ τὰ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις τίμιά ἐστιν. ὁ γὰρ ἀποστήσας τὴν ἐπιθυμητικὴν ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν ἀπὸ χρυσοῦ καὶ λίθων τιμίων πόθῳ τῷ πρὸς τὸ ο ντως ἀγαθὸν πᾶσαν αὐτὴν ἀναλώσει εἰς τὰ ἀληθῶς ὀρεκτά, καὶ γλυκύτερα αὐτὰ αἰσθήσεται τῶν ὡς ἐν αἰσθητοῖς γλυκυτάτων κηρίου καὶ μέλιτος. οὐ γεύσει δὲ σωματικῇ ἀλλ' αἰσθήσει θείᾳ ἀντιλήψεται τῆς γλυκύτητος τῶν προειρημένων. Ταῦτα δὴ φυλάξει ὁ τοῦ κυρίου δοῦλος. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ δοῦλός σου φυλάσσει αὐτά· οὐ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ μόνου τοῦτο λέγων ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ παντὸς δούλου κυρίου. Εἰ μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ φυλακῇ τούτων πρόσκαιρόν τι καὶ αἰσθητὸν ἀπηντᾷ, οὐκ η ν ἀνταπόδοσις πολλή· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὑπερκόσμιος καὶ ὑπερουράνιος ἡ ἐπὶ τῇ τούτων φυλακῇ ἀνταπόδοσις, ἀκόλουθον πολλὴν αὐτὴν ει ναι. 158 Ps 18,13–14a Τὰς μὲν φανερὰς καὶ ἀποτελεσματικὰς ἁμαρτίας πᾶς τις ει σεται, τὰ δὲ ἐν κρυπτῷ γινόμενα παραπτώματα ἐν ταῖς ἐνθυμήσεσιν καὶ λογισμοῖς ὁ φωράσων σπάνιος· τὸ γὰρ Τίς ἐνταῦθα τὸ σπάνιον δηλοῖ. Παῦλος γοῦν οὐδὲν ἑαυτῷ συνειδὼς, ἐπιστάμενος ο τι σπάνιον τὸ συνιέναι τὰ προειρημένα παραπτώματα Οὐκ ἐν τούτῳ, ε φη, δεδικαίωμαι. ̔Εξῆς γοῦν τῷ Παραπτώματα τίς συνήσει; κεῖται τὸ ̓Απὸ τῶν κρυφίων μου καθάρισόν με· μονονουχὶ τοῦτο τοῦ δικαίου λέγοντος, ἐπεὶ ἐν τοῖς λογισμοῖς τοῖς κρυφίοις τῆς καρδίας συμβαίνει ῥύπον ει ναι ο ν οὐκ α λλοι μόνον ἀλλὰ κἀγὼ αὐτὸς ἀγνοῶ, σὺ περίελε αὐτόν, τῶν κρυπτῶν τυγχάνων γνώστης. συμβαίνει γὰρ τοῦτον τὸν ῥύπον, εἰ μὴ ἀφανισθείη, ἐπιταθέντα ἀφορμὴν καὶ πρόφασιν γενέσθαι τοῦ ἁλῶναί με ὑπὸ ἀλλοτρίοις· φειδόμενος ου ν τοῦ σοῦ δούλου μὴ ἐάσῃς αὐτὸν ὑπὸ ἀλλοτρίοις ἁλῶναι, ἀπὸ τῶν κρυφίων καθαρίσας αὐτόν. τὰ γὰρ ἐν κρυπτῷ ἁμαρτήματα μὴ ἐκκοπτόμενα μεταπέσοι α ν ποτε εἰς πρακτικὴν ἁμαρτίαν, δι' η ν περιτεύξεταί τις ἀλλοτρίοις θεοῦ η τοι πράγμασιν η τοι πονηραῖς δυνάμεσιν. φείσεται δὲ τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ δούλου ὁ θεός, ο τ' α ν μὴ φείσεται τοῦ ἰδίου υἱοῦ ὑπὲρ πάντων παραδοὺς αὐτόν· τὸ γὰρ φείσασθαι τοῦ υἱοῦ πάντων ἀπώλεια, τὸ δὲ μὴ φείσασθαι πρὸς τὸ σωτηρίαν πᾶσιν γενέσθαι. καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ υἱὸς ἐκτὸς ε σται πάσης βλάβης, ταύτην δέχεσθαι οὐδ' ο λως πεφυκώς. 159 Ps 18,14c.15 Μεγάλην δὲ ἁμαρτίαν τὴν ἀποτελεσματικήν φησιν. εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἀπὸ τῶν κρυφίων μου καθαρισθείην, ἐπιμένοντα ταῦτα τὰ παραπτώματα εἰς πρᾶξιν φαύλην μεταφέρει, καὶ γίνομαι ὑπεύθυνος ἁμαρτίᾳ μεγάλῃ. Οτ' α ν ταῦτά
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Discover how early Christians interpreted the Psalms as divine messages and prophecies about salvation and judgment.
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