Commentary on the Psalms 1 part 8/34

We have renounced the hidden things of shame.

Not only the manifest reproaches and things that cause shame have we renounced, but the hidden ones also.

For some, the things of drunkenness are hidden.

When they glory in their wine—such as were those of whom Paul writes, whose glory is in their shame—in the things wherein they ought to be ashamed, in these very things they wish to be glorified.

At any rate one may find men wishing to be glorified for their heavy drinking.

In what sense hidden?—I spoke of hidden things in a twofold sense;

there are sins in the thoughts.

Not only, then, does the earnest man renounce even the wicked practical deeds, but the hidden things too, so as even to send up a prayer:

Cleanse thou me from my secret faults.

In another sense, the things that are unknown are called hidden.

Having taken courage concerning all his manifest transgressions, that they are gone from him, the holy one says:

Who can understand his transgressions? Rare is he who understands his transgressions.

Since, then, it is possible that even I be ignorant of them, cleanse me from these.

Spare thy servant from strangers;

for they are strangers to me, to my very being, both they themselves and those who work them against me.

If they do not have dominion over me;

if the hidden things do not have dominion over me, then shall I be blameless.

And I shall be cleansed from great sin.

We were saying that these are in the thoughts, and are so as to be unknown to the one who has them.

How, then, is he who is cleansed from these cleansed from great sin? You know that 'great' belongs to the class of relative terms.

In relation to one who wishes to be wholly pure, even the slight sins seem to be great.

And I once took an illustration such as this, that:

If a garment already have filth upon it from elsewhere—and often so—even if someone touch it, even if he lay hold of it, it does not seem to have taken on anything.

But if it have just been brought back from the fuller's, then even the touch of the fingers seems to be a blemish, seems to make something unclean upon it.

The wholly pure man, therefore, reckons even the slight thing in his thought to be a great sin.

It is possible also to state in this way a thought able to profit everyone:

In comparison with sin in deed, sin in the thoughts is exceedingly small.

If someone has looked upon a woman with desire and has checked the appetite short of the pre-passion, he will not commit the deed.

If, then, this very pre-passion be stripped away, one is cleansed from great sin, is cleansed from sin in deed.

He who says these things had come to such purity that he could say somewhere:

If I beheld iniquity in my heart, let the Lord not hear me.

As though he brings upon himself something harmful and a punishment, if he holds iniquity in his heart.

For this reason God heard me, with something further understood alongside:

For this reason God heard me, because I did not behold iniquity in my heart.

If I beheld iniquity in my heart, let him not receive my prayer.

For this reason, then, he heard me.

I said this, that the one who has his confidence in God accomplishes rightly all things worthy of being accomplished;

for I do not call it accomplishing rightly to do those things which God forbids.

And let them be put to shame and perish.

But what follows upon being put to shame and perishing, except to know that the Lord's name is? God at any rate says to a certain soul that behaves insolently after doing and thinking evil things:

Be ashamed and receive your dishonour.

For you did those things which bring dishonour upon you.

Be ashamed, then, at what you have done, and receive your dishonour, not saying:

I have not sinned, so as to make God say:

Behold, I am brought to judgement against you because you say:

And I am brought to judgement against you, not that I may condemn you, but that, being put to shame, you may cease from your dishonour.

Neither let my enemies laugh at me to scorn.

My enemies laugh me to scorn then, when, professing to have put my trust in you, I nevertheless do the deeds that produce shame.

The enemies are mine; I am not theirs.

For this reason the Saviour also says:

Love your enemies.

The addition seems superfluous;

but since the servants of Christ ought not to have enemies, while others wish to be their enemies, let them love those.

That passage in Aristotle somehow seems to be well suited to civic conduct.

Speaking about what is primary and what is consequent, he said:

We wish primarily that our friends be righteous, even if they are far off;

but incidentally we wish our enemies to be righteous, that they may do no harm.

And this too we wish for our own sakes.

But the servants of Christ pray concerning their enemies not that they may do them no harm, but that those very men may suffer no harm.

For indeed all who wait for you shall by no means be put to shame.

The word 'all' is often taken in Scripture in place of the universal negation;

for we do not say this, that of those who wait some are put to shame and some are not, as the particular negation teaches which says:

Not all men are righteous.

None of those who wait for you is put to shame.

And continually in Scripture the universal negation is signified by means of the universal affirmation taken by conversion.

You know that the affirmation by conversion often follows upon the simple negation.

Let all who transgress the law in vain be put to shame.

Understand 'transgressing the law in vain' in this way:

wickedness is carried out in vain, not so as to lead to glory, not so as to fulfil a promise;

it has no substance of its own; it has its being in something else.

If, then, the one who holds wickedness should will to cast it off, it no longer subsists.

But some again, either through ignorance or more sophistically, say that virtue too is of this sort, that it also has its being in another;

for it belongs to God essentially, to the Trinity.

But by participation in the Trinity men possess the good and the just and virtue.

Even, then, if they themselves refrain from it, it still exists;

for in God, from whom they themselves derive their being earnest, it subsists.

But wickedness, if it is not actively carried out, does not exist at all.

For this reason many Scriptures teach that it does not exist:

from which it is gathered that there are not two principles opposed in essence, nor are certain men evil by constitution, as indeed many of the heterodox hold, that no one is either good or evil by deliberate choice.

But many absurd and impious consequences follow upon these views.

If all who are good are such by constitution, and the wicked are so in their essence, then all legislation is superfluous;

for the law can neither make the good man good nor the bad man good.

But if the law is superfluous, then every exhortation, every encouragement, every counsel—and in a word, the rational faculty of man—is done away with;

for he who has no deliberate choice and no will is not rational.

And superfluous too is the sojourning of the Saviour.

Does he make the good man good?—he is such of himself;

but does he make the bad man good?—the bad man is by nature incapable of receiving participation in the good.

In vain, then, does the sinner sin.

It is written, at any rate, in another psalm concerning that great demon himself, the devil, the cause of all wickedness:

Break the arm of the sinner and the wicked one.

We have often said that the names applied to the adverse power are names of deliberate choice;

for he is called 'enemy,' he is called 'devil,' he is named 'Satan,' which means 'the adversary,' 'sinner';

and this name too is a name of deliberate choice.

But it is rather with the definite article that he in particular is spoken of:

Behold, I have given you to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power—not of an enemy, but—of the enemy.

Deliver us—not from an evil one, but—from the evil one.

Break the arm of the sinner and the wicked one.

His sin shall be sought out, and it shall by no means be found because of it.

By reason of its own nature it is not found.

His sin is sought at some time and is not found, since it is nowhere — not because it has removed itself into another place, but because in and of itself it is not found, for it has no existence in its own right, save only in the one who commits it.

And unrighteousness has lied to itself.

Here we speak of 'lying' in the same way as we often say that the earth 'lies' (fails to yield).

Unrighteousness therefore lies to itself, with the result that it no longer subsists.

It has lied to itself on account of its own nature.

In this way, then, those who work lawlessness act lawlessly in vain, not so as to gain anything, but rather to be harmed.

'Make known to me your ways, O Lord.' They act lawlessly who have had no experience of the law.

But now I am speaking of the written law, the law that instructs by teaching.

For those who have not received this law are called lawless, as also in the verse:

'Blessed are they whose lawless deeds are forgiven.'

But sin that comes after the law is not called simply lawlessness (anomia), but transgression of the law (paranomia).

'Transgressions of the law ensnare a man, and each one is bound fast by the cords of his own sins.'

'Neither shall the transgressors of the law continue before your eyes.'

The lawless man never at all comes into the presence of God.

He does not come under the eyes of God, except in another sense, according to the principle of providence.

But according to the rank of the diligent he shall not continue.

He shall not continue in the manner of the righteous, concerning whom it is said:

'The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous.'

By saying 'they shall not continue' he shows that they once did exist, when they kept the law; but when they became transgressors of it, then they were cast out from the eyes of God.

'Make known to me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths.'

'Guide me into your truth.'

The ways of God are spoken of in two senses:

either those that lead toward him, or those which he himself travels as he goes forth among all things — as is fitting according to the principle of providence, or according to his benefiting and being present in those who are capable of receiving him.

'I will dwell in them and walk among them.'

And he who walks about has ways which he himself travels.

In two senses, therefore, we speak of the ways of God: either those that lead toward him — and these are the virtues — or those which he himself treads according to his providence, judgment, governance, and gifts.

One must therefore come to know the ways of God, with him himself making them known.

'And teach me your paths.'

That is, either those which are trodden by those who hasten toward you, or those which you yourself tread as you go forth in the works of your grace.

And if it is possible to speak of yet more senses:

You know that before teaching there must first be certain things already known.

For the sciences and scientific demonstrations proceed from things known beforehand.

Make known to me, therefore, both of your ways;

for in this way I shall learn your paths, following those who have trodden them — those who have gone before in good things — or as you yourself have gone before, that we may follow in your footsteps, having you as our pattern and example.

Before teaching, then, comes making known.

And thus they say that demonstrations and teachings arise from things already known.

It is possible to take it in this way, that the common notions are things known beforehand.

And indeed, whenever we test teaching, we test it by referring it to the common notions.

Take note, then: sometimes a teacher says something;

and the common notion of the learner anticipates it and recognizes whether he speaks well or not well.

You will find, therefore, even in these human, scientific demonstrations, that the sciences are not rightly conveyed if the hearers do not know beforehand what they ought to know beforehand.

Take note, then: this too has often been said by us, that when someone learns things which he must know before the lesson, one must not speak to him in obscure words, since they are not familiar to him.

'Guide me into your truth.'

After the practical virtues and those pertaining to disposition, the guidance into the truth takes place;

for it says, 'Having desired wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord will supply it to you.'

And wisdom and truth are one and the same.

The Savior, at any rate, is said to be both:

'Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.'

'And teach me, for you are God my Savior.'

You are my God, having created me; you are my Savior, willing that I be bettered.

Become, then, my teacher.

As Creator, so also Teacher.

'And for you I have waited all the day long.'

I have waited for you all the time of my life, that I might have you as teacher and savior;

for to you I have lifted up my soul, not to another.

I have entreated no other to make known to me your ways and to teach me your paths, but I have deemed you worthy to become my teacher in these things as well.

In many places the whole time of our life is called 'a day,' according to what is said:

'For your sake we are put to death all the day long,' where the Apostle has used 'day' for 'every day' (the whole of time).

And the whole time of the life of the saints can be called 'day,' because they are always in illumination, being lit up by the true light of the Sun of righteousness.

'Our age is unto the illumination of your countenance.'

And the life that is stretched out over one's sojourn here is called an 'age' (aiōn):

'For he shall be your servant unto the age (forever).'

'I will by no means eat flesh unto the age,' meaning 'throughout my life.'

Since, therefore, the time of our life has come to be for the illumination of your countenance — for we have come to proclaim beforehand your advent — our whole age has come to be unto the illumination of your countenance, for the sake of illuminating and manifesting to men your coming.

'Remember your compassions, O Lord, and your mercies, for they are from of old.'

For even though I have entreated and lifted up my soul to you and have deemed myself worthy that the other things be granted to me by you, yet I do not ask these things according to any merit.

Being compassionate and merciful, you bestow these things, in accord with the verse:

'Not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.'

For even if we have done everything that is in our own power, it is by the mercy of God that we strive to attain their fulfillment.

As one full of compassion, hear me; as one merciful, receive my prayers.

'And thy mercies, for they are from everlasting.' [Ps 24:6 LXX]

For it was not yesterday or the day before that thou didst begin to be merciful.

Thou art eternal; thou art eternally good.

'Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my ignorances.' [Ps 24:7 LXX]

You see that it is concerning former ignorances and sins that he prays, appealing to the compassion and mercy of God;

for repentance is no longer that which sends up a prayer over sins still being committed.

Repentances are made over things that have passed.

'Remember not the sins and the ignorances which I have'—no, which I do not now have, but those of my youth.

Of whatever age he may be who is in ignorance and who sins, he is young—young in the youthfulness of his mind, in the newly-formed state of his disposition.

One can therefore always find those who confess and utter words of repentance concerning past sins doing this very thing;

'We have sinned, we have transgressed, we have acted impiously.'

For how could it be otherwise? The one who repents asks for virtue.

How then can he possess or receive virtue who is still amid his sins? 'Turn away from evil and do good.' [Ps 33:15 LXX]

'According to thy mercy do thou remember me.' [Ps 24:7 LXX]

'Remember me'—it is an idiom of Scripture, used in the sense of 'know me.'

'For the sake of thy goodness, O Lord.' [Ps 24:7 LXX]

Remember me not for the sake of my virtue.

'Good and upright is the Lord.' [Ps 24:8 LXX]

He who is good together with uprightness is truly good;

for often the word 'good' (chrēstos) is taken in a derogatory sense;

'Evil companionships corrupt good morals.' [1 Cor 15:33]

Here it does not take 'good things' in a commendable sense, but in the sense of superficial things.

And again likewise the word 'innocent' (akakos);

'The innocent believeth every word' [Prov 14:15]—in the sense of the simple-minded.

And concerning those of false opinion Paul also writes;

'By smooth speech and fair words they deceive the hearts of the innocent.' [Rom 16:18]

'For this cause he will give the law to those who sin in the way.' [Ps 24:8 LXX]

If he were harsh, if he were not good, he would not lay down the law for sinners in the way of salvation, but would deliver them over to punishment.

He therefore lays down the law even for those very sinners in the way, in order that, having travelled this way, they may obtain salvation.

He does not say those who have sinned, but those who are sinning.

And those who are still sinning he leads into the way by exhortations, admonitions, and enactments of law.

Does he mean the written law? This saying can be understood according to all the significations of 'law.'

'He will guide the meek in judgement.' [Ps 24:9 LXX]

He guides the meek with discernment;

for again meekness too seems to many to signify superficiality.

But when they are guided with discernment, they possess the perfect virtue which the Saviour taught men to have, saying;

'Learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.' [Mt 11:29]

The phrase 'in judgement' can also be taken thus;

having judged these meek ones to be capable of being benefited, he guides them.

And indeed the first sense fits most harmoniously with the wording, namely that they come to the way with discernment, having God as their guide.

'Learn from me, for I am meek.' [Mt 11:29] 'All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth.' [Ps 24:10 LXX]

Mercy is yoked together with truth.

Truth is something great—so to speak, it is beyond human beings.

Consider that all rational beings, both the transcendent ones and those that remain above, have need of truth.

But here we have need of mercy, in order that we may be able to know the truth.

And it has been said in what precedes;

'Thy ways, O Lord, and thy paths guide thou me unto thy truth.' [cf. Ps 24:4-5 LXX]

The beginning, then, of travelling these blessed ways comes from the mercy of God, but the end comes from truth.

'To those who seek out his covenant and his testimonies.' [Ps 24:10 LXX]

Not to those who simply seek, but earnestly to those who seek out.

Those who search the Scriptures, they too seek out the covenant of God.

For to search and to seek out are one and the same.

His testimonies are the oracles which have been attested by him.

You know that what has been attested is incontrovertible.

The incontrovertibility, then, of the divine teachings is often signified by the name of 'testimonies.'

'Which he himself has attested'—that is, which he himself has confirmed.

It is also possible that things unexaminable and admitting of no refutation are called testimonies, not because they have been attested by anyone, but because their nature is such as to bear witness to the truth.

'And the witness,' it says, 'in heaven is faithful.' [Ps 88:38 LXX]

Concerning God, if it is said that God is witnessed to, we do not mean this—that the one who bears witness to him establishes him.

John came in order that he might bear witness concerning the Light; [cf. Jn 1:7]

for surely John, who bore witness concerning the Light, did not confer belief and establishment upon the Light.

He who bears witness to knowledge shows himself to be knowledgeable, and he who bears witness to virtue is shown to be earnest.

So then, those who in the persecutions were well-pleasing and contended as they ought are called witnesses (martyrs).

They showed themselves to be lovers of truth; they showed themselves to be those who know the truth.

They did not establish the truth, but they established themselves.

Things worthy of one who bears witness, then, are often called testimonies.

'For the sake of thy name, O Lord.' [Ps 24:11 LXX]

Not for the sake of our own diligence or our own manner of life, but on account of thy name.

This indeed they also say in another psalm;

'Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.' [Ps 113:9 LXX / Ps 115:1]

For since we bear your name and you have been called our God, act for the sake of your own name;

and be merciful to my sin.

The phrase 'it is great' we say in this way:

If he so longs to have his own ways made known to himself, and to be guided into the truth, how does he have much sin? It was said earlier in the verse:

'Cleanse me from my hidden faults'; for even a slight defilement is a great sin to one who is wholly cleansed.

'Who is the man that fears the Lord?'

Who then is the man that fears God? To this one he will give law in the way which God himself has chosen.

The man who fears the Lord is not just anyone at all.

So most of us suppose, so we often say, that:

'I simply want to fear God.'

For the fear of God surpasses all things, as Scripture itself declares:

'There is no want to those who fear him.'

If he who fears God has no lack, he is most fully complete.

The phrase 'who is' can indicate what is rare and be a question.

'He will give him law in the way which he chose.'

But it can mean 'in the way which the man chose';

for virtue is properly called that which is worthy of choice.

Just as that which is worthy of being loved is lovable, even if no one loves it—it is lovable; and that which is worthy of being hated is hateful, even if no one hates it; so too that which is worthy of choice is choiceworthy, even if no one chooses it.

For it is possible to choose even evil things, but they are not choiceworthy.

Rather, the choice concerning such things is mistaken.

'He will give him law in the way which he chose.'

Either the lawgiver himself, or the one to whom the law is given.

'His soul shall dwell among good things.'

This man who fears the Lord has his soul dwelling among good things.

'And his seed shall inherit the earth.'

Worthless sons of men were shown to be such; but the seed here is that which is begotten according to instruction and the imitation of virtue.

'The Lord is a stronghold to those who fear him.'

Next he speaks of the greatness of the one who fears God.

Those who fear God have no other stronghold than the very one whom they fear.

He is their strength, he is their king, he rules over them.

And his name has become the peculiar possession of those who fear him.

It is not the peculiar possession of all men, but of those who fear him;

for although he has given it to all, it has become the property of those who fear him.

'And his covenant, to make it known to them.'

When covenants are sealed, the things written in them are not yet manifest to the heirs.

This covenant, then, does not always remain sealed, but will at some time be opened, so that the inheritance may be given to those enrolled in it.

And since in many places he calls the divine word a covenant, both the old and the new, the one before the sojourning and the one after it, this covenant must be made known, it must be opened.

It is opened at that time, when the things foretold are fulfilled by their outcome, according to the saying:

For it becomes firm at that time, when he who ordained it has died;

and even if it is not dissolved because there is no dispute, it has been dissolved in effect;

for at that time the things ordained are rendered, and to those who have received them the covenant has been fulfilled.

'My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the snare.'

Observe that, unless we attend carefully to the words, at times contradictions are found.

It no longer accords with the one who says:

'My sin is great'—the verse:

'My eyes are ever toward the Lord';

for he who ever directs his eyes toward the Lord has no sin at all, but has a pure heart.

Thus he is also able to see God himself.

So when he does not at one moment see and at another not, but keeps his eyes ever toward the Lord, he says:

'But I am continually with you.'

And being with you, I do not sin.

Unless one comes to be outside of God, he does not sin.

Those, therefore, who remove themselves far from you shall perish.

'And his covenant'—the covenant of God is made known whenever someone is shown worthy to receive the things promised.

But the covenant of God has something paradoxical beyond the other covenants;

the covenants of men are opened once and for all.

This one, then, both makes the covenant known to those who draw near and who are worthy.

Just as in all other respects the things of God differ—for I was saying that this perceptible light, when it comes into the midst, illumines the one who has sight;

it affords no perception to the blind.

But the light of God, at the very moment it appears, both furnishes sight and illumines it.

So then, to those who are ignorant of him and are blind, when he rises he graciously grants both things—both the possession of the mind's sight and the perception of the light. In the same way the covenant is not opened once and for all, but if anyone today renders himself worthy to be a son of the one who made the covenant and an heir, then it is made known to him.

'My eyes are ever toward the Lord.'

Since the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, it is necessary that the righteous also have their eyes ever toward him.

They do not see him at one moment and at another not, but instead behold one of the forbidden things;

for just as no one can serve two masters, so no one can have his eyes toward God and at the same time toward evil, or toward the maker of evil.

God is an intelligible substance, beheld by the eyes of the mind.

When the eyes of the mind are stretched toward him alone, they behold nothing else.

The worse things they are not able by nature to see, when they behold God, just as one who serves God is by nature unable to serve mammon.

The phrase 'is not able by nature' I mean in this way:

it is not in the nature of the unjust man to do righteousness;

For I do not speak in this way, as if to say that it is not in man's nature to fall; rather, insofar as he is righteous he is not inclined toward sin, and when he is a sinner he is not inclined toward virtue.

Therefore continually toward the Lord.

But he who beholds God does not sin.

Everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him.

And behold indeed the reverent devotion of the saints.

Even though he himself by his own free choice directed his eyes toward the Lord, and thereby was not sinning, yet ascribing to God the achievement of sinlessness he says:

Since my eyes are continually toward him, therefore I am kept outside the snare which sin contrives.

For he himself shall pluck my feet out of the snare.

Certain of the ancients inquired — which is a good thing to state — that at times the eye of the inner man is named in the singular, and at other times in the plural.

In the Song of Songs, at any rate, it is said:

You have ravished our heart with one glance of your eyes.

My eye has poured down tears.

My eye was troubled because of wrath.

I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains.

My eyes are continually toward the Lord.

The eyes of the heart being enlightened.

For then there is knowledge of truth, when the mind receives into itself the form of each thing that is known.

There are both visible and invisible works of God.

And from the greatness and the beauty of these things the one who fashioned them is contemplated.

The eye that beholds the invisible things is our mind, the pure heart, which also sees God.

But we have also the sense-perception of the eyes.

And if it applies itself to the visible works of God according as they were fashioned and according to the nature they possess, it is healthy.

But when, for instance, seeing the sun we suppose it to be God, or seeing the heavenly arrangement we think that there is such a thing as casting horoscopes by nativity, then this eye does not see rightly.

For the invisible things of God ought, since the creation of the world, to be clearly perceived, being understood by the things that are made.

The invisible things of God are then seen, when we apply ourselves to God's visible creations, and thus from the creation of this perceptible world we clearly perceive the invisible things of God.

The arts and sciences that are in the mind of men we are not able to see, inasmuch as the mind is invisible.

But from the works produced or the scientific principles demonstrated, we gain the perception of the mind, according to what science or art it has been shaped.

Properly speaking, then, contemplate the science of the engineer:

He who is able to receive into his own understanding the rational principles of mechanical constructions.

And likewise also with the others.

We call that man a physician who knows the things of medicine as he ought, as the science prescribes.

When, therefore, someone beholds the Invisible One as he ought — and by 'as he ought' I mean as far as is attainable — and beholds also the invisible creations of God, among which is the soul of man as well, he possesses this eye continually looking toward God and pure.

When he rightly apprehends both the perceptible creations and the providence concerning them, and possesses also the perceptive longing — I do not mean that of the body, but the understanding of perceptible, visible things — rightly directed, then he likewise keeps his eyes continually toward the Lord.

A servant is one who serves God, one who both in disposition and in deed confesses the Lordship, one who does the will of the Father who is in the heavens.

For he himself shall pluck my feet out of the snare.

Even though the snare-setters and hunters lie in wait for me, wishing to seize me and to entangle my foot as it were in the snare, yet I, having my eyes continually toward the Lord, do not suffer this.

For in many places of the divine instructions the ambushes of the wicked are called snares.

In this snare which they hid, their own foot was caught.

Often the enemies of truth contrive snares, and in the snares which they contrive for others they themselves are taken.

And there are also in the historical narrative certain things of this kind:

Haman prepared a gallows in order to crucify the righteous Mordecai, and upon it he himself was hanged.

And concerning that same haughty personage it is said:

He dug a pit and hollowed it out, and he shall fall into the ditch which he made.

Even if these things do not happen in this present life, yet at any rate in the age to come he is ensnared by the snare which he contrived.