屬靈講道集 第 1 章 第 24/36 段

Why, then, does Scripture command every man to do this? Answer.

We have said before that man possesses this fitness by nature, and it is this that God seeks.

He commands, therefore, that man should first understand, and having understood, should love, and by his own will pursue it.

But that the mind should be energized, or that one should endure the labor, or that the work should be brought to completion—this the grace of the Lord grants to him who has willed and believed.

The will of man, then, is like a substantial offering;

and if the will is not present, he himself does not act, though he is able as God, but on account of free will.

The completion, then, is God's, but the will is man's; yet if we give the whole of our will, he ascribes the whole work to us.

God is wonderful in all things and beyond conceiving, yet we men attempt to speak some small part of his wonders, leaning upon Scripture, or rather, being made wise by it.

"For who," he says, "has known the mind of the Lord?" Yet he himself says:

How often I would have gathered your children together, and you were not willing!

So that from this we may believe that it is he himself who gathers us, and that from us he seeks only the will.

But what is the manifestation of the will?

For just as iron, when sawing, cutting, plowing, or planting, itself yields under the pressure applied, yet it is another who moves it and drives it forward, and who, when it is worn down, refines it with fire and renews it—so too man, even though he is afflicted and labors in working the good, yet the Lord works secretly within him, and in his laboring and the breaking of his heart, comforts him and renews him, as the prophet says:

Shall the axe boast itself against him who cuts with it? Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who wields it? And so it is also with regard to evil.

When man obeys and prepares himself, then Satan too makes his preparations,

and he goads and incites him, as a brigand wields the sword.

We have compared the heart to iron on account of its insensibility to things and its great hardness.

But we ought not to be ignorant of him who holds us, as insensible iron is—since we so quickly fall away from the reasoning of the husbandman into the reasoning of the enemy—but rather, like the ox and the donkey, we ought to know by our understanding the one who drives and guides us:

The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib;

Let us pray, therefore, to receive the knowledge of God, and to be instructed through the spiritual law for the service of his commandments.

The Lord, having said, "Let it be to you as you have believed," did not grant this only at the moment he spoke it, but from the creation of the world until the consummation of the age he benefits each one according to his faith, and tests him according to the benefit received.

He benefits greatly those who believe greatly, and but little those who believe but little, and the testing likewise follows the same proportion.

He tempts no one, but prepares him to make progress, and grants according to the measure of the benefit.

By "benefit" we mean the spiritual knowledge of God united with grace; and concerning the testing, we shall speak in part:

He benefited Noah through revelations, but he tested him through the prolongation of time in the building of the ark.

And in keeping with the benefits given, he himself was changed together with them.

So it is with things now, so it was with things from the beginning: according to the proportion of faith is the participation in grace, and according to the participation is the testing.

For "let it be to you as you have believed" concerns the word of God.

Concerning what? Concerning his power: that he is the unoriginate counsel of the Father, the all-powerful wisdom, God of God, undefiled, unchangeable, incomprehensible, unvarying in righteousness, unerring in knowledge, unconquerable in power, undiscoverable in every occasion and knowledge and matter, who has enslaved all things to piety, and through piety has again subjected them to man, so that we too might be subjected many times over through all things.

For having granted us the knowledge of piety, to which all things are subjected, he added also understanding, through which we know that we must carry out all our work according to the aim of piety.

Since, then, man forgot this, therefore he himself came and fulfilled on our behalf the whole deficiency of piety, that the adversary might be put to shame.

through wonders, through prophets; then, having been made flesh through a virgin, through living as one of us, through ill-treatment, through reproaches; then through death, resurrection, and ascension.

He does all things according to what is needful for the times and what is fitting for mankind.

And again, now through the same Spirit he works in the faithful — through conscience, through nature — and by wise wonders he persuades the obedient, and by mysteries the humble-minded; and universally, through his own death, he makes alive all who have died in sin.

When, therefore, you hear "Christ Jesus, Son of God," understand God begotten of God, not made, timelessly and without interval, according to the uncreated nature of the One who begot him — a nature comprehended in its fullness by none, but partially, through grace, understood and manifested in a manner befitting God.

And in his incarnate coming he shows in himself all things to the sons of the Spirit:

for in him it was well pleasing that all the fullness of the Godhead should dwell bodily.

In him, therefore, they behold the Godhead, the power, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the pure man, the submission, the piety, likewise the endurance, the redemption, creation held in servitude — having manifested the original nature, and having set aside what is contrary to nature, he upholds all things by the word of his power.

The devil, then, held man in his power, and holding the right of disobedience, exulted as one who had gained dominion over the image of the Master, boasting and saying that even if God wished to rescue him, he would be hindered by his own justice — not knowing that God is almighty, able both to preserve justice and to rescue man, which indeed he has done, having paid every debt on our behalf.

First, through his own obedience he tore up the bond of disobedience; then, through piety he abolished impiety.

We were worthy of death, but he died on our behalf.

We even destroyed others as well, but he saved all.

Though able to forgive all things by a word, he does not do this, but first bears our transgressions and by deed dissolves sin, so that he might both establish truth and manifest mercy in himself, as it is said:

Who will seek out his mercy and truth? But someone will say:

If he exchanged for himself the perils of all, who then will still be punished? But we have already said that he himself said:

"Let it be done for you as you have believed."

It is clear, then, that those who do not believe are punished according to the measure of their unbelief.

And it is the commandments that distinguish the faithful from the unfaithful:

For many of us think we believe, having kept the commandments not at all, and by this we are convicted, having taken up faith in word but unbelief in deed.

Let us pray, then, brothers, to keep the commandments of the Lord in deed and in word, as far as we are able, with faith and complete assurance; for to him belong glory and honor forever.

"...your righteousness is like the mountains of God"? Response:

The demons themselves, though evil, are unable, according to their own malice, to attack men:

for they are bound, unable to transgress the justice of God.

Hence they first display pleasures before us, so that they may only stir free will toward desire through our own reasonings, and thereafter justly make use of those who follow after.

cutting us off from the benefit that comes from God — then, having made illicit use of what is just, they bring on the opposite (and the opposite of glory is dishonor, the opposite of gain is loss); and thus, having made us liable through the prior attachment, they afterward trouble us through these opposites, the passion that had first prevailed producing a disturbance equal in measure to itself.

For when they find an occasion by right, they do not relent until they have drawn out the whole of it:

for when a passion is taken away, the pain that results is both equal to it and inescapable, because of the justice of nature.

Right from the beginning, then, we must not become attached to bodily benefits, nor take delight in glories, lest afterward, when tested, we be moved; but here we must inquire why we wish to be good and are unable.

For each one wishes to shut out the assault of temptation, and is not able.

And whence does this come, if not, as the apostle said, from the indwelling sin, which is the root of the passions and the pasture of the demons?

Concerning this we must pray night and day, that the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world may dwell in us and walk about within us — he who is now in us secretly and in part, but who will be manifest when he comes into the heart, cleansing the person.

For our God shall come manifestly, our God, and shall not keep silence.

What is meant by what he said, "Without me you can do nothing"? Response:

He said this for the sake of pious remembrance — not that we should undertake every matter without judgment, but that we should first entreat him and try to do all things through him.

For we prosper in those things in which we call upon him, and we suffer pain in those things in which we forget him.

We must not, then, do anything, or speak, or fight, or become troubled over matters without his help, since we cast ourselves down all the more when we do not first seek him who holds the authority.

For he alone directs man aright, going before us in all things by the wonders of the Spirit.

Do you wish to accomplish some work? Pray to him.

Do you wish to speak? Remember him.

Do you wish to be delivered from evils? Call upon the Lord.

Does sin destroy you? He is the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

Does man frighten you? He is a tower of strength against the face of the enemy.

Do demons cause turmoil? He rebukes them, and they vanish.

Does folly hold sway? From his presence come knowledge and understanding.

Does cowardice grip you? He gives courage.

Does sorrow work in you? The remembrance of him produces joy.

Can you not find a way out of your reasonings? "I am," he says, "the door of the sheep."

All things are in him, as he said:

"All things have been delivered to me by the Father."

You, therefore, believe him in all things and take courage in him.

But fear and entreat only this — that you may never forget him, having been led astray by the spirits.

But when they draw you away, do not engage — neither with the matter nor with the spirit — without prayer.

But reveal your way to the Lord and hope in him, and he will act.

So then, he seeks nothing else from us but hope in him concerning every matter; and indeed, according to the measure of that hope, so also his help comes about.

And the one who hopes no longer is anxious about the things concerning which he hoped, overriding his cares by faith and discernment:

For indeed the measure of faith will be known from this — from the equal degree to which the matter of concern has been set aside by that faith.

Why is the gate narrow and the way hard that leads to life?

For the soul that seeks the Lord is afflicted by the spirits of wickedness and is straitened through trials, until it finds him; and then it will be strengthened in the Holy Spirit, as it also says:

"Seek the Lord, and be strengthened."

But as many as say they seek the kingdom through prayer, and yet do not flee love of pleasure, being enticed by this very thing, forget the Lord.

For it is impossible to love the Lord or one's neighbor, unless we first hate pleasures and vainglories.

...to serve God and mammon.

For by whatever a person is overcome, to that he is also enslaved.

For it is necessary, according to the apostle, to pass beyond the spiritual hosts of wickedness, and thus to enter into the kingdom.

And the kingdom of heaven is the loving-kindness of the Spirit of Christ, working and providing dispassion and faith in the soul, of which we have received the pledge, according to the Scripture.

And the spiritual hosts of wickedness are the devil's designs, the thoughts of unbelief and dissipation, as it says:

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down reasonings, until there comes to be a war of speaking against those reasonings.

For the enemy takes hold of the mind and deceitfully displays outward glories and pleasures, from which hatred is born, which is a veil over the soul; because of this we are unable to see either his malice or the Lord's help, and thus we do not know how Christ dwells in a person, and how he binds the strong man and plunders his goods, which that one had seized from the person.

But we do not say that the kingdom of heaven has its end here, as though shutting out the things to come, but that from this present time it is possible to have communion with the Holy Spirit and to believe effectually concerning eternal life, through the resurrection from the dead, according to what has been said:

For if the Spirit of Christ dwells in you, he who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwells in us.

But it is not for a faith without evidence to say these things;

"Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; do you not recognize your own selves? Unless indeed you are disqualified." For this reason he bids us be anxious about nothing bodily, so that with undistracted remembrance we may hold fast our hope,

for thus his Spirit will dwell in us.

And he shows, through the very facts themselves, that he himself is the redemption that comes from the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, as many as labor concerning salvation, let us pray first of all not to forget his providence, to endure toil and reproach, having his help and running according to the mark toward the prize of the high calling, until we attain to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, through the supply of the Spirit—of whom we who believed through hearing have received the firstfruits, in hope of the perfect and effectual faith.

For we are not speaking of mere knowledge, but of the knowledge of truth in the mysteries of God.

For outward knowledge comes about through circumstances and the hope concerning visible things, and it shows forth the righteousness of God, and from external things it partially receives an experience of hidden things.

But he who has transcended earthly things, not only in deed but also in thought, remains with undistracted mind at the spiritual door and entreats the Lord to enter; and when he is heard, such a one is no longer occupied with the knowledge or token of outward things, but the full assurance becomes active within him.

And knowledge indeed belongs to the same gift, but it does not correspond to the benefit it brings, for its labor is not equal either.

For he who fights hand to hand struggles in one way, and he who watches the war from on high in another; one is he who contends and is struck, and another is he who watches and takes delight.

For the one comes down puffed up by mere contemplation, while the other is enriched by the judge of the contest.

Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

And according to the measure of hope, so is stillness; and according to noetic stillness, so is consolation.

As it is said, "Just as the sufferings of Christ abound toward us, so also our consolation abounds."

For there are measures for each one's way of life, and in these the righteousness of God awards the prize; and to the extent that one dies to the spirit of the world, to that extent one lives to the Spirit of the Lord.

To him be the glory forever.

There are three virtues of many forms that go before purity:

truth in every kind, self-control, and endurance of what befalls us.

One does not obtain these in any other way except through fasting and prayer—not by hating the afflictions that test patience, but by asking for endurance; for if you do not bear the toil, you are merely offering words.

Then the good becomes lasting, when it is gathered together with toil of heart;

for what is gathered without pain is easily taken away.

Therefore, without voluntary affliction, it is impossible to follow Christ and to understand effectively the things concerning the kingdom and Gehenna.

"And he who enters through me shall go in and go out." And again:

"Learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart."

He, then, who is humbled in meekness of heart enters through that gate, where truth is honored first, and conscience accuses, the deeds of hypocrites are confessed, and the fear of God is made manifest.

Then the soul too, illumined through fear, saw within itself its rational nature standing in good order: quiet, calm, undisturbed, unwavering, beloved of God, pious, full of good hope, inclined toward a pure faith, subject to one master alone, formed of light, self-determining, capable of turning by its own will, ready for worship.

Then it also sees its own darkness, and having learned how far it is removed from its true nature, it thereafter proceeds toward true repentance, and wishes to obtain this;

for the light shone round about only that it might see, whence it earnestly implores the Master and confesses that it has greatly sinned, and agrees to accept toil and shame for the sake of truth, only that it may attain all that it has seen, through the grace of Christ, who even here gives the firstfruits, according to the Apostle, and shows beforehand, as in a mirror, the good things that are there, so that, having believed with certainty, we may not grow weary of dying daily for the sake of life.

But he who is unwilling to examine himself according to conscience, nor to hear reproof from another, how shall he be comforted? Such a one, not accepting with gratitude the remedies of righteousness, is possessed of conceited thoughts, hunting thereafter after the glories and praises of men.

But each one can know through his own heart of what preparation he is worthy.

Let each one, therefore, look at himself, to see by which spirit he is more possessed;

for both must be at work before the release.

Let a man, then, not rejoice that he has been initiated into the good, but let him ask whether he has surpassed evil, whether he has become superior to the adversary, whether he excels in measure through affliction, whether he presses ahead in intellectual perception through gentleness, whether he progresses daily, whether he no longer falls out of endurance—and thus he ought to seek the aforementioned fear of God for the illumination of knowledge.

Lest perhaps evil has hidden the evils of the soul, wishing to show only the good things one-sidedly, so that it may bring on only conceit, and, having confirmed the mind through it, may plunder everything;

for conceit proves destructive of all good things.

For this reason each of us ought to do the good, but concerning the evils, daily to examine himself according to conscience, or indeed to love reproofs, not falsely listing things against himself under the pretext of humility, since from this too the enemy finds his opportunities.

For learn his evil craft:

he hides the evils that exist, as though they were nothing;

and he prepares a man to list against himself things that do not exist, so that afterward he may say:

"Blessed are you, for you are not such a one." And thus, having hidden pride within humility, he puts to death the one who does not keep to the truth.

Let us begin, then, with truth:

let us come to love the afflictions endured for its sake, which lead to the purity of the soul;

let us not admit a false thought;

let us gain experience of the good things to come, let us acquire a firm faith.

[Faith] arises; and experience comes through purification of heart, and purification through long-suffering, and long-suffering through fasting and prayer.

"But if we have not entered into the heart at all, how shall we begin?" Answer:

We have said before that, standing outside, we knock through fasting and prayer, just as he himself commanded, saying:

"Knock, and it shall be opened to you."

Blessed, then, are those who have entered in and remained to the end, and have acquired a pure heart;

and by a "pure heart" we do not mean one incapable of admitting evil;

for free will is never taken away, but the heart is purified by grace while retaining its natural capacity to turn of itself, as the Lord also said:

"Sin no more"—showing that even after grace, each of us retains his own will.

For when his disciples said,

"Increase our faith," he said to them:

"If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this mountain,

'Move, and be cast into the sea,' and it would happen."

But he said this signifying that the faith which works through action is hard to attain;

for it is not yet secure for the one who has beheld these things through the heart; from one side we are cast out through disobedience, and from the other we are brought in through obedience, and in each case according to whichever way the will inclines.

You have said that one must examine oneself before God according to conscience:

"But how can I, since I am ignorant of most things,

for sin has covered me?" Answer:

Man is ignorant, but he ought to believe that grace is unerring;

and when it finds the hidden wounds of the soul, then it fittingly hands you over to outward afflictions;

and if you bear it with patience, it heals the hidden things, and by a visitation of similar kind shows you the hidden sin.

But he who does not endure the things that come upon him neither sees the hidden passions nor obtains healing.

Do not, then, be troubled against your neighbor over misfortune, but be even-tempered in every circumstance, and you will have no wound that is hidden or incurable.

For just as it is harmful for one with a fever to be anointed with oil, so it is harmful for a wronged sinner to seek out justice for himself;

for just as that man, anointed at the wrong time, was harmed all the more, so this man, avenging himself fearlessly, was condemned all the more.

But to our God be the glory forever.

I want your understanding to know that the man who is perfect in Christ and consecrated must not only himself be in God, but God must also dwell in him, as the Lord says:

He who abides in me, and I in him.

For the man of God must both sojourn in the divine tabernacle and dwell on the holy mountain of the undefiled Godhead, so that he may not only be one who contains, but also be contained by the glory of him who does not permit him to be tyrannized by the dark working of the passions.

For the Savior dwells in the worthy for the sake of sanctification and his own passionlessness, so that, just as he himself is passionless, he may also render those who receive him passionless, no longer tossed by waves and carried about by every wind.

For there are some who are not only themselves far from the marks of Christ, but who also give their neighbors turbid subversion to drink—men who hold the truth of God in unrighteousness, in whom (as he says) that which is known of God is manifest.

For, having become vain in their reasonings and darkened in their foolish heart, they claim that the passions of dishonor are natural and have come to be from God—I mean the pleasure of corruption, and unjust anger, and wrath and grief that are not according to God, and all such things.

...the self-determining power of freedom given to us by him who created us, so that it might lie within us both to reach after the better things and to abstain from the worse.

For the righteous Judge would not punish us, if he himself were the author of these very evils.

Away with it, I beseech you, away with it! Let this absurd and foolish saying not even come into the thought of your reverent mind.

For God is the maker of pure and exceedingly good natures, as the Holy Spirit declares in the account of the world's creation:

"For behold," it says, "all things are very good."

And Jeremiah, lamenting and disputing concerning the cause of the passions, says: "The Lord did not say..."

Who spoke thus, and it came to pass, the Lord not having commanded it? Out of the mouth of the Most High there does not come forth evil things, but good things.

And again, the question put to the Lord in the Gospel by the rational powers:

"Lord," it says, "didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? From where then has this tare come?" And elsewhere the Savior himself says concerning the same:

"Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up."

For that every planting from God is good, Paul (in whom Christ speaks) testifies:

"For every creature of God is good."

Know, therefore, that the passions hidden within us are not our own, but foreign:

"Cleanse me," it says, "from my hidden faults, and spare thy servant from the sins of strangers," and:

"Strangers have risen up against me, and the mighty have sought after my soul," and:

"Judge, O Lord, those who wrong me; make war on those who war against me."

What, then, are these hidden faults, or who are those who wrong and make war, or who are the strangers, if not the spirits of wickedness that are opposed to the virtues of Christ? Attend closely, how the Law also testifies and cries out concerning the purity of the inner man:

"Thou shalt not," it says, "take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."

"For the Lord will surely not cleanse the heart of him who takes his name in vain."

Wherefore the Apostle also exhorts, saying:

"Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement, not only of the flesh, but also of the spirit," and elsewhere he says:

"Having our hearts sprinkled" (he says) "from an evil conscience," and again:

"May your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless," and:

"That you may become blameless children of God."

As many, therefore, as wish to be deemed worthy of the adoption, keep not the body alone pure, but also the soul, according to him who says:

"Let my heart become blameless in your statutes, that I may not be put to shame."

For those under the Law, fulfilling the ordinances of the flesh, keep only outward purity; but those under grace also strive after the inward peace that is in sanctification, being persuaded by him who said:

"Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

For the Pharisees, being blinded in their understanding, wash the outside of the cup, just as now too the new Pharisees after their pattern, fashioning the outer man with a contrived mind, justify themselves, though the Holy Spirit does not bear witness together with their spirit that they are children of God, according to the Apostle who says:

"The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God"—while they, not wishing to acknowledge the growth of the inner man in sanctification, but being fully persuaded by the achievements of the flesh, do not know that all the glory of the king's daughter is within.

For each of us, it seems, is a certain noetic fig tree, from which the Lord seeks the inner fruit, and not the outward form lying upon it made of leaves.

He, then, who pleads on behalf of the passions of dishonor as though they were natural, and not accidental, has exchanged the truth of God for his own falsehood.

For as we said before, he who is undefiled and pure also fashioned his image to be like himself; but through the envy of the devil, death entered into the world.

Having been conceived and born in sins, it was estranged from the womb and went astray from the belly, sin having reigned from Adam even unto the coming of Christ, even over those who had not sinned; the Lamb of God came, in his mercy, to take away the sin of the world, binding the strong man by his own power, and thus plundering us, his captured vessels, according to what is said:

"He led captivity captive."

If, then, we have any concern to be recalled from captivity and to bear the image of the heavenly one, and to present our members as slaves to righteousness and to sanctification, just as we presented them to sin, let us believe that we must, walking in the light without stumbling, see the wonders of God, according to him who said:

"Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law."

For just as, in the sensible realm, he who walks in the light does not stumble, so also in the noetic realm, he who exists in perfect sanctification does not entertain evil thoughts, does not reckon base things.