Moralia in Job 1050

VERSE 12. — 'I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.' 33. What we suffer from God, who is better than we, let us believe just. — Perhaps it may be said by someone: 'Who does not know this, even when he does not hear it?' But assuredly this sentence is deemed cheap, if it be not weighed from the very root of its intention. It was to one being scourged, namely, that he was speaking, who had both received the blows of the chastisement and knew not the causes of the blows. Therefore for this reason he brought in: 'I will answer thee, that God is greater than man,' so that the scourged man, considering that God is greater than he, might in all that he suffers set himself beneath His judgment, than whom he doubts not that he is lesser; and that what he suffers from One who is better, he might believe to be just, even if he is ignorant of the causes of that same justice.

Whosoever also is struck for his sin, unless he resists by murmuring, by that very fact already begins to be just, in that he does not accuse the justice of the One who strikes him. For man is created under God, and returns to the order of his condition when he sets before himself the equity of his Judge, even that which he does not understand. Well therefore is it said: 'I will answer thee, that God is greater than man,' so that, the power of the Creator being considered, the swelling of the mind may cool down through the memory of one's condition. Whence David the prophet, when by the weight of chastisement he was compelled to burst forth into an excess of the voice, recollecting himself unto the consideration of his own condition, said: 'I was dumb, and opened not my mouth, because thou hast made me' (Psalm XXXVIII, 10).

For he weighed the order of his condition, and found the justice of the scourging, because He who kindly created him who did not exist, assuredly struck him who did exist only justly. There follows: VERSES 13, 14. — 'Dost thou contend against him, because he has not answered thee to all thy words? God speaks once, and repeats not the same thing a second time.' 34. In Sacred Scripture God teaches whatever it is not fitting to know. — It is proper to an afflicted heart that, in all it craves, and yet perceives the order of things to be contrary, it should wish — if it could be done — that it be answered to it by divine voices why it is thus, or not thus; so that it may consult God concerning every controversy of things, and, the reason of His answer being known, may be at rest.

But Elihu, foreseeing that the Lord would establish Sacred Scripture, so that in it He might answer the questions of all, whether public or hidden, said: 'Dost thou contend against him, because he has not answered thee to all thy words? God speaks once, and repeats not the same thing a second time.' As if he said: God does not answer the hearts of individuals with private voices, but constructs such an utterance whereby He may satisfy the questions of all. For in the utterance of His Scripture each of us seeks our causes, and we find them, nor is there need that, in that which each particularly endures, he should specifically seek to be answered by a divine voice.

For there we are all answered in common in that which we particularly suffer; there the life of those who go before becomes the pattern of those who follow. That we may bring forth one out of many, behold, when we are afflicted by some suffering or trouble of the flesh, we desire perhaps to know the hidden causes of that same suffering or trouble, so that in what we suffer we may be consoled from the very knowledge of things. But because we are by no means answered individually and specifically concerning our particular temptations, we have recourse to Sacred Scripture. There indeed we find that Paul, tempted by the infirmity of the flesh, heard: 'My grace is sufficient for thee, for virtue is made perfect in infirmity' (2 Corinthians XII, 9).

Which was for this reason said to him in his own infirmity, lest it should be said individually to all of us. In Sacred Scripture therefore we have heard the voice of God to the afflicted Paul, lest, when perhaps we are afflicted, each of us should seek to hear it by private consolation. Therefore the Lord does not answer us to all our words, because He will speak once, and will not repeat the same thing a second time; that is, in those things which He has brought forth through Sacred Scripture to our fathers, He has taken care to instruct us. Let therefore the doctors of holy Church say, let even the arrogant say, when they behold certain persons labouring in it through faint-heartedness, that God does not answer us to all our words, because God will speak once, and will not repeat the same thing a second time;

that is, He does not satisfy the thoughts or temptations of individuals here and there any longer through the voices of the prophets, nor through angelic offices, because in Sacred Scripture He has comprehended whatever can befall individuals, and in it He has taken care to inform even the life of those who follow through the examples of those who go before. 35. For God to speak is to have begotten the Word. — Although what he says, 'God speaks once, and repeats not the same thing a second time,' can be understood more subtly, namely, that the Father begot the only-begotten Son consubstantial with Himself. For God to speak is to have begotten the Word. But for God to speak once is to have no other Word beside the only-begotten. Whence also it is fitly added:

'And repeats not the same thing a second time,' because, namely, this very Word, that is the Son, He begot as one only. But that he did not say, 'He has spoken,' but 'He will speak,' setting down not indeed the past time, but the future, it is clear to all that neither past time nor future befits God. Therefore any time whatsoever is set down of Him the more freely, the more truly none befits Him. For no time whatsoever could be freely said, if at least one were properly said. Thus therefore it is boldly permitted to say any time whatsoever of God, for the very reason that no time properly is permitted of Him. For the Father begot the Word without time. 36. We ought to marvel at this generation, not scrutinize it.

— And who could worthily declare that ineffable nativity: that the coeternal was born of the eternal, that One existing before the ages begot One equal, that the One born of the Begetter is not later? These things indeed we can marvel at, but are by no means able to gaze upon. But now to be able to marvel at the power of that nativity is in some measure to see it. But how do we see that which we by no means comprehend? There is something which we ought to draw from the use of the flesh to the sense of the spirit. For if anyone should lie in darkness with closed eyes, and before him the sudden light of a lamp should burst forth, his closed eyes are struck by the very coming of the light, so that they open. Why then are they troubled, if, being closed, they saw nothing? And yet nothing perfect was that which they, being closed, were able to see.

For if they had perfectly seen the whole, why, being opened, would they seek what they saw? Thus therefore, thus are we, when we try to gaze upon something concerning the incomprehensible nativity. For by that very thing whereby the mind is struck by the admiration of the brightness, and, as it were, sees what cannot be seen, it sees the power of the light with closed eyes, as though set in darkness. But because this admiration of the secrets of the divine nature is not easily made known to minds occupied through earthly desires, fitly He insinuates in what manner the speech of God comes to us, saying: