Stromateis 1 part 9/42

but that such a man is exceedingly hard to find is likewise acknowledged even by them.

All the aforesaid teachings, then, appear to have been handed down to the Greeks from the great Moses.

He teaches, then, through these words that all things belong to the wise man:

'And because God has had mercy on me, ... I have all things.'

And he shows him to be beloved of God, saying:

'The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.'

For the one is found expressly called 'friend,' while the other is shown to have been renamed 'the one who sees God';

and allegorizing Isaac as a consecrated victim, he chose him for himself as a type of the saving dispensation that was to be for us.

Among the Greeks too, Minos, king for nine-year terms, is celebrated as 'the confidant of Zeus,' since they had heard how God once conversed with Moses, as one might speak to his own friend.

Moses, then, was wise, a king, a lawgiver;

but our Savior surpasses the whole of human nature;

beautiful, so as to be loved by us alone who long for the true beauty, for he was the true light; and he is shown to be proclaimed king even by still inexperienced children, and by the unbelieving and ignorant Jews, and to be heralded by the prophets themselves;

and rich to such a degree that he despised the whole earth, and the gold both above it and beneath it, together with all the glory offered to him by the Adversary.

What need is there to say that he alone is the high priest, the only one skilled in the service of God, the king of peace, Melchizedek, the most capable of all to lead the human race? And he is a lawgiver, inasmuch as he gives the law by the mouth of the prophets, commanding and teaching most clearly what is to be done and what is not.

And who could be nobler than he, whose father alone is God? Come, then, let us also bring forward Plato, as he touches upon these same doctrines:

He has called the wise man rich in the Phaedrus, saying, 'O dear Pan, and all you other gods who dwell here, grant that I may become beautiful within;'

and as for whatever I possess outwardly, may it be agreeable to what is within me;

and may I consider the wise man to be rich.

And the Athenian Stranger, censuring those who suppose that those who possess much wealth are rich, speaks as follows:

'It is impossible, on the other hand, that those whom the many reckon rich should be both exceedingly rich and good;

for they call rich those few among men who possess property worth the most money — property which even a wicked man may possess.'

'The whole world of wealth belongs to the faithful man,' says Solomon, 'but to the unfaithful not even an obol.'

We must, then, believe all the more the Scripture which says that a camel will more quickly pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man pursue wisdom;

and conversely it pronounces the poor blessed, as Plato too understood when he said:

'Poverty must be considered not the diminishing of one's substance, but the increase of insatiable greed.'

For it is never scarcity of money that constitutes poverty, but insatiable greed; and the good man, being far removed from this, would indeed also be rich.

And in the Alcibiades he calls vice fitting for a slave, but virtue fitting for the free.

'Take from yourselves,' it says, 'the heavy yoke, and take the gentle one,' says the Scripture, just as the poets also call the heavy one the yoke of slavery.

This agrees with what was said above concerning your sins.

'Everyone, then, who commits sin ... is a slave.'

'But the slave does not remain in the house forever.'

'But if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed; and the truth shall make you free.'

And again, that the wise man is also beautiful, the Athenian Stranger speaks as follows:

If someone should maintain that the just, even though they happen to be ugly in body, are, by virtue of their most just character, altogether beautiful in this respect, scarcely anyone speaking thus would seem to speak so amiss;

'And his form was inferior beyond all the sons of men' — this the prophecy foretold.

And Plato has called the wise man king in the Statesman, and the passage has already been cited.

Now that these things have been demonstrated, let us return again to the discourse concerning faith.

Indeed, with every kind of demonstration Plato shows that faith is needed everywhere, presenting it in some such way as this, while at the same time extolling peace:

'For a man faithful and sound amid civil strife could not arise anywhere without virtue entire;

but very many of the mercenaries are ready to fight and willing to die in war, most of whom turn out bold and unjust, insolent and senseless, save for some very few.'

If, then, these things are rightly said, every lawgiver of even the slightest use will, looking chiefly to the greatest virtue, establish his laws accordingly.

And this is faithfulness, which we need at every season, both in peace and in every war, and in all the rest of life.

For, taken all together, it seems to embrace the other virtues.

But the best thing is neither war nor civil strife;

for to have need of these is a thing to be prayed against; rather, peace with one another, together with friendliness, is the most excellent thing.

From these things, then, it becomes clear that, according to Plato, the greatest prayer is to have peace, and that faith is the greatest mother of the virtues.

It is fittingly said, then, by Solomon that wisdom is in the mouth of the faithful, since Xenocrates too, in his work On Prudence, says that wisdom is the knowledge of the first causes and of intelligible being, holding that prudence is twofold—the one practical, the other theoretical, and it is the latter that constitutes human wisdom.

Wherefore wisdom is indeed prudence, but not every prudence is wisdom.

It has been shown … that the knowledge of the first principle of all things is a matter of faith, but not of demonstration.

For it is indeed absurd that the zealots of Pythagoras of Samos, though refusing demonstrations for the things they inquire into, should regard 'he himself said it' as sufficient trust and be content with this bare word alone as confirmation of what they have heard, while those who love to behold the truth, in attempting to disbelieve a trustworthy teacher—God, the only Savior—should demand from him proofs of what is said.

And this is what he means when he says, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'

And who is this? Let Epicharmus tell us:

'Mind sees, and mind hears; all else is deaf and blind.'

Heraclitus, censuring certain people as unbelieving, says that they know not how to hear or to speak—having doubtless profited from Solomon, who says, 'If you love to hear, you will gain understanding, and if you incline your ear, you will become wise.'

'Lord, who has believed our report?' says Isaiah.

'For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,' says the apostle.

'How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?' As it is written:

'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things.'

Do you see how he traces faith, through hearing and the preaching of the apostles, back to the word of the Lord and the Son of God? Do we not already understand that the word of the Lord is itself a proof? For just as ball-playing does not depend solely on the one who skillfully throws the ball, but also requires one who catches it gracefully, so that the exercise may be carried out according to the rules of the game, so likewise it comes about that teaching is trustworthy whenever the faith of the hearers—being, so to speak, a kind of natural art—joins in cooperation toward learning.

Fertile soil, too, cooperates toward the sowing of seeds.

…of acceptance, nor indeed of prophecy, when the compliant disposition of the hearers is not present.

For dry twigs, being ready to receive the burning power, catch fire more easily; and the well-known stone draws iron by affinity, just as the 'tear of Souchus' attracts straws, and amber stirs up bits of chaff.

And the things drawn are persuaded by them, being drawn by an ineffable force—not as causes, but as co-causes.

Since, then, the form of vice is twofold—the one working through deceit and concealment, the other leading and carrying men off by force—the divine Word cries out, calling all together, though knowing full well those who will not be persuaded; nevertheless, since it lies within our power both to be persuaded and not to be, he has made the calling just, so that none can plead ignorance as an excuse, while requiring of each according to his capacity.

For to some, together with willing, ability is also present, since they have increased it through joint practice and have been purified;

while others, even though they are not yet able, already have the will.

Now willing is the work of the soul, but acting is not without the body.

Nor indeed are matters measured by their outcome alone, but each is also judged by his own choice—whether he chose readily, whether he repented of the sins he committed, whether he gained understanding of his stumblings and changed his mind, that is, came to know afterward.

For repentance is a knowledge that comes late, whereas the first, true knowledge is sinlessness.

Repentance, then, is also an achievement of faith;

for if one does not believe that the thing which formerly held him fast is a sin, he will not change either;

and if he does not believe that punishment hangs over the one who transgresses, and salvation over the one who lives according to the commandments, neither in that case will he change.

Moreover, hope too is constituted out of faith.

The followers of Basilides, at any rate, define faith as an assent of the soul to something that does not stimulate sense-perception, because it is not present.

And hope is the expectation of the possession of a good.

And this expectation must necessarily be one of faith.

And the faithful one is he who unswervingly keeps what has been entrusted to him;

and what is entrusted to us are the accounts concerning God and the divine words, the commandments, together with the carrying out of the precepts.

This is the faithful servant, the one praised by the Lord.

And when he says, 'God is faithful,' he signifies him whose declarations it is worthy to believe;

and his Word declares this, and God himself would indeed be faithful.

How then, if believing is a form of supposition, do the philosophers consider what comes from it to be certain? For supposition is not the voluntary assent given prior to demonstration, but rather assent given to something strong.

And who could be more powerful than God? Unbelief is a weak, negative supposition of the contrary, just as distrust is a disposition resistant to receiving faith.

And faith is a voluntary supposition and the anticipation of a fair-minded person prior to comprehension, while expectation is an opinion about the future;

whereas the expectation held by others is an opinion about what is uncertain;

and confidence is a firm apprehension concerning something.

Wherefore we believe—whatever we are confident in—unto divine glory and salvation;

and we place our confidence in the one God alone, whom we know will not transgress the good things promised to us—things which for this very reason have been fashioned by him and graciously bestowed upon us.

And goodwill is the wishing of good things for another for that other's own sake.

For he himself is without need;

but the benefaction and the kindness that come from the Lord terminate upon us, being a divine goodwill, and a goodwill directed toward doing good.

But if it was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness because he believed, and we, through hearing, are Abraham's seed, then we too must believe.

For we are the true Israelites, not through signs, but obedient through hearing.

'Therefore rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud,' he says, 'you who are not in labor;'

'for many are the children of the desolate one, more than of her who has a husband.'

'You have lived on into the enclosure of the people; your children have been blessed into the tents of the fathers.'

But if the very same dwelling-places are proclaimed by prophecy both to us and to the patriarchs, then God is shown to be one for both covenants.

He adds, at any rate, more clearly:

'But the righteous shall live by faith'—the faith that accords with the covenant and the commandments, since these two, though differing in name and in time, having been given dispensationally according to age and advancement, are one in power: the one being old, the other new, both supplied through the Son by the one God.

This is also what the apostle says in the Epistle to the Romans:

'For the righteousness of God is revealed in it, from faith to faith'—teaching that salvation is the one faith brought to perfection, from prophecy into the gospel, through one and the same Lord.

'This charge,' he said, 'I commit to you, child Timothy, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience, which some, having rejected, have made shipwreck concerning the faith'—because they defiled with unbelief the conscience that had come to them from God.

It is therefore no longer reasonable to disparage faith as something offhand, as though it were easy, common to everyone, and moreover a matter for just anyone at all.

For if this practice were merely human, as the Greeks supposed, it would long since have been extinguished;

but it continues to grow, and there is no place where it is not.

I say, then, that faith—whether it be founded upon love, or, as its accusers claim, upon fear—is something divine, being neither torn apart by any other worldly affection nor dissolved by present fear.

For love, through its friendship toward faith, makes people faithful, while faith is the foundation of love, repaying it in turn with good deeds; and it is then that fear, the tutor of the law, is trusted by those in whom it works, and is believed to be truly fear.

For if existence is shown by acting, yet that which is future and merely threatens—not acting, nor present—is nevertheless believed to exist, then that which is believed to exist is not itself the producer of faith, but rather is that which has been tested by faith and shown to be trustworthy.

Divine, then, is so great a change—one who from unbelief has become a believer, and has come to trust both through hope and through fear.

And thus faith appears to us as the first inclination toward salvation, after which fear, hope, and repentance, together with self-control and endurance, advancing by degrees, lead us on to love and to knowledge.

Fittingly, then, the apostle Barnabas, from what he says he has received, says: 'I have made it my endeavor to send you a portion little by little, that along with your faith you may also have perfect knowledge.'

The helpers of our faith, then, are fear and endurance, while long-suffering and self-control are our allies.

'While these,' he says, 'remain pure in what pertains to the Lord, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and gnosis rejoice together with them.'

Since, then, the aforementioned virtues are elements of knowledge, it turns out that faith is the most elementary of them, being as necessary to the gnostic as breathing is to one living in this world for the sake of life;

and as it is not possible to live without the four elements, so neither can knowledge follow without faith.

This, then, is the foundation of truth.

But those who accuse fear run down the law; and if they run down the law, it is surely clear that they also run down the God who gave the law.

For these three things necessarily subsist in regard to the subject: the one who governs, the governing itself, and the thing governed.

If, then, one were by hypothesis to remove the law, it would surely be necessary that every man led by desire, indulging pleasure, should neglect what is right, disdain the divine, and both act impiously and unjustly, having leapt away fearlessly from the truth.

'Yes,' they say, 'fear is an irrational avoidance, and a passion.'

What is it you are saying? And how could this definition of yours still stand, seeing that the commandment was given to me through reason? For the commandment forbids, holding fear over us for the discipline of those who are willing to be admonished in this way.

Fear, then, is not irrational; rather, it is rational.

For how could it not be, when it admonishes, 'You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness'? But if they play sophistries with names, then let the philosophers call the fear of the law 'caution' — a reasonable avoidance.

Critolaus of Phaselis, not without reason, called such men 'word-warriors.'

So then, by the mere exchange of a name, the commandment has already appeared elegant and most excellent even to those who accuse us.

It is an avoidance, from which springs repentance for former sins.

'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and a good understanding have all who practice it.'

By the 'practice' of wisdom he means the fear of God, which paves the way to wisdom.

But if the law is productive of fear, then the beginning of wisdom is the knowledge of the law, and there is no wise man apart from the law.

Unwise, then, are those who reject the law — from which it follows that they are to be reckoned godless.

'But the impious will despise wisdom and instruction,' says Scripture.

Let us now consider what fearful things the law proclaims.

If it is the things intermediate between virtue and vice — such as poverty, disease, disrepute, low birth, and the like — then even the civic laws are praised for holding these forth as fearful; and this opinion agrees with that of the Peripatetics, who introduce three kinds of goods and reckon their opposites to be evils.

But the law given to us commands us to flee the things that are truly evil: adultery, licentiousness, pederasty, ignorance, injustice, sickness of the soul, and death — not the death that separates soul from body, but the death that separates soul from truth.

For these are truly dreadful and fearful evils, as are the deeds that proceed from them.

Indeed, the divine oracles say that it is not unjustly that nets are spread for winged creatures; for those who partake in bloodshed treasure up evils for themselves.

How, then, can the law still be said by certain sects not to be good, when they invoke the apostle who says, 'For through the law comes the knowledge of sin'? To them we reply:

The law did not create sin, but revealed it.

For by commanding what must be done, it thereby exposed what must not be done.

It belongs to a good thing both to teach what is salutary and to point out what is poisonous, both to counsel the use of the one and to command the avoidance of the other.

Indeed the apostle, whom they do not understand, said that the knowledge of sin was made manifest through the law, not that sin thereby received its very existence.

How, then, is the law that instructs not good — the law given as a tutor unto Christ, that we might turn back, being guided by instructive fear toward the perfection that comes through Christ? 'I do not desire,' he says, 'the death of the sinner so much as his repentance.'

The commandment produces repentance, being prohibitive of what must not be done, and promissory of benefits.

By 'death,' I think, he means ignorance.

'And he who draws near to the Lord is full of stripes.'

For he who draws near to knowledge, evidently because of his longing for the truth, comes to experience dangers, fears, distresses, and afflictions.

'For a son who has been disciplined becomes wise, and an understanding son is delivered from scorching heat; and an understanding son will receive commandments.'

And the apostle Barnabas, having first set down, 'Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and knowing in their own sight,' went on to add:

'Let us become spiritual, a perfect temple to God.'

'As far as it is in our power, let us practice the fear of God, and let us strive to keep his commandments, that we may rejoice in his ordinances.'

Hence it has been divinely said, 'The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.'

Here the followers of Basilides, in expounding this saying, say that the Archon himself, upon hearing the report of the ministering spirit, was astonished both at what he heard and at what he saw, having received good news beyond his hopes; and that his astonishment was called 'fear,' which became the beginning of a wisdom that separates, distinguishes, perfects, and restores.

For the one who is over all, having distinguished not only the world but also the election, sends it forth.

Valentinus too, in a certain letter, seems to have had similar things in mind, writing in these very words:

'And, as it were, fear came upon the angels because of that formation, when it uttered things greater than its own formation, on account of the one who had invisibly placed within it a seed of the substance from above, and who spoke with boldness.'

'So also, in the generations of worldly men, the works of men's hands became objects of fear to their own makers — such as statues and images, and all the things that hands fashion in the name of a god.'

'For Adam, having been formed in the name of Man, inspired fear of the pre-existent Man, as though that Man himself were actually established within him; and they were struck with astonishment and quickly made the work disappear.'

It will be shown later that these men will appear to be fashioning nothing but empty trills and warblings.

But since it seemed profitable to God that men should be instructed beforehand, through the Lord, by means of the law and the prophets, the fear of the Lord has been called 'the beginning of wisdom' — a fear given by the Lord through Moses to those who are disobedient and hard of heart.

It is not reason but fear that tames these men.

This too the instructing Word, having foreseen it from above, fitted as an instrument suited to each of the two ways, cleansing men appropriately unto piety.

Now astonishment is fear arising from an unfamiliar impression, or upon an unexpected impression — as, for instance, at some report — while fear... as of something that has happened or exists, or an excessive wonder.

They do not perceive, then, that by means of astonishment they have made subject to passion the greatest God — the very God hymned by themselves — and that even before his astonishment he had been in a state of ignorance.

If, then, ignorance preceded astonishment, and astonishment and fear — the fear of God — became the beginning of wisdom, then there is a real danger that ignorance is being made causally prior to the wisdom of God, to the whole making of the world, and even to the restoration of the election itself.

Is ignorance, then, to be reckoned among things good or things base? But if it is among the good, why should it cease at astonishment? And then the minister, the preaching, and the baptism all become superfluous for them.

But if it is among things base, how can evil be the cause of the most excellent things? For unless ignorance had already existed, the minister would not have come down, nor would astonishment have seized the Archon, as they themselves say, nor would he have received from fear the beginning of wisdom for the separation of the election from the worldly.

But if the fear of the pre-existent Man made the angels plot against their own creation, on the ground that the invisible seed of the substance from above had been implanted in the creature, then either they were provoked to jealousy by an empty supposition — which is improbable, that angels should become, as it were, murderers of a child belonging to the very creation entrusted to them, having thus been convicted of utter ignorance —

or else they were moved while possessed of foreknowledge; but then they would not have plotted, by the very means they attempted, against him whom they had already foreknown, nor would they have been astonished at their own work, seeing that by foreknowledge they had already perceived the seed from above;

or, finally, they dared to do it, relying confidently on knowledge.

But this too is impossible: that, having learned the difference, they should plot against the Man who is in the Pleroma, and moreover against that which is according to the image, in which they had received both the archetype and, together with the rest of the knowledge, incorruption.

To these men, then, and to certain others — and above all to the followers of Marcion, though they do not heed it — Scripture cries aloud:

'But he who listens to me shall dwell securely, trusting in peace, and shall rest without fear from every evil.'

What, then, do they claim the law to be? They will not say it is evil, but they will say it is just — thereby distinguishing the good from the just.

But the Lord, in commanding that we fear evil, does not remove evil by evil, but destroys the contrary by its contrary.

Evil is contrary to good, just as the unjust is contrary to the just.

If, then, he has termed 'fearlessness' the abstention from evils which the fear of the Lord produces, fear is good; and the fear that comes from the law is not only just, but also good, since it removes evil.

By introducing fearlessness through fear, he produces, not passionlessness through passion, but moderation of passion through discipline.

'Honor the Lord, and you shall be strong; but besides him, fear no other.' We understand 'to fear' here as meaning 'to sin,' and we take 'to follow the commandments given by God' to be the honoring of God.

But even if fear is a passion, as some wish to maintain — on the ground that fear is a passion — not every fear is a passion.

Superstition, at any rate, is a passion, being a fear of demons who are themselves excessively and thoroughly given over to passion.

Conversely, then, the fear of the passionless God is itself passionless.

For one does not fear God himself, but rather falling away from God.

And he who dreads this fears falling into evils, and dreads the evils themselves.

But he who dreads the fall wishes to be himself incorruptible and passionless.

'A wise man, being afraid, turns away from evil, but a fool is confident and reckless,' says Scripture.

And again: 'In the fear of the Lord is hope of strength,' it says.

Such fear, then, leads up both to repentance and to hope.

Indeed, tractability too is reckoned as belonging to hope, which we have learned to lead by the hand toward love.

Love would be concord in reason, in life, and in character—or, to put it concisely, a fellowship of life, or an intensity of friendship and affection joined with right reason in the treatment of companions.

It is by this that we also address as brothers those who have been regenerated by the same word.

Adjacent to love also lies hospitality, being a kind of skillful attentiveness in the treatment of strangers.

And strangers are those to whom worldly things are foreign.

For by 'worldly' we understand those who hope in earthly things and in fleshly desires.

'Do not be conformed to this age,' says the apostle, 'but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may prove what is the will of God—the good and acceptable and perfect.'

Hospitality, then, is occupied with what is beneficial to strangers; strangers are guests, guests are friends, and friends are brothers.

'Dear brother,' says Homer.

Both philanthropy—on account of which affection too exists, being a friendly treatment of human beings—and affection itself, being a kind of skillful attentiveness in cherishing friends or kinsfolk, accompany love together.

But if the man who truly exists in us is the spiritual man, then brotherly love is philanthropy toward those who share in the same Spirit.

Affection, again, is the preservation of goodwill or of love; and love is complete approbation, and to love is to be pleased with someone's character, being both drawn toward it and turned away from what is contrary.

And they are led into identity of mind through concord, which is the knowledge of common goods.

For indeed, unanimity is agreement of opinions.

'And let love,' it says, 'be unfeigned among us; let us abhor what is evil, cleaving to what is good, and to brotherly love'—and so on down to 'if it be possible, as much as lies in you, living peaceably with all men.'

Then it says, 'Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.'

The same apostle also confesses that he bears witness concerning the Jews, that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to the righteousness of God.

For they neither knew nor did the intention of the law, but supposed that whatever they themselves had assumed, this was also what the law intended.

Nor did they believe the law as one that prophesies, but followed it with bare word and fear, not with disposition and faith.

For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness, he who was prophesied by the law, for everyone who believes.

Whence it was said to them by Moses:

'I will provoke you to jealousy by that which is not a nation; by a foolish nation I will anger you'—clearly by a nation that had become ready for obedience.

And through Isaiah he says, 'I was found by those who did not seek me; I became manifest to those who did not ask for me'—clearly before the coming of the Lord, after which those very things prophesied are now fittingly said of Israel as well:

'I have stretched out my hands all day long to a disobedient and contrary people.'

Do you see the cause of the calling from among the Gentiles, plainly stated by the prophet as the disobedience and contradiction of the people? Then the goodness of God is shown even in these very things.

'But through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to provoke them to jealousy'—and that they might be willing to repent.

But the Shepherd, simply applying the term to those who have fallen asleep, knows that there are certain righteous ones among the Gentiles and among the Jews, not only before the coming of the Lord, but even before the law, on account of their being well-pleasing to God—such as Abel, such as Noah, or any other righteous person.

It says, then, that the apostles and teachers who preached the name of the Son of God, and who fell asleep, preached by power and by faith to those who had fallen asleep before them.

And they themselves gave to them the seal of the preaching.