問答疑難 第 1 章 第 9/9 段

For, for our sake, the true "pot of our hope" became, and was named, "Son of Man" — that is, the one who washes away and cleanses the stains and defilements that come to us from sin.

Upon Edom I will stretch out my shoe; to me the foreigners have been subjected.

Edom is interpreted "bloody clay."

For without ascetic discipline and exact self-control, it is impossible for the ascetic of piety to wrestle down the passions of the flesh.

To me the foreigners have been subjected.

For when the Lord, in the flesh, dwelt among our regions, not only the spirits of wickedness, rendered powerless, were made subject to the might of his strength, but also all the nations submitted, having received, through their calling, the saving proclamation of the Gospel.

Casting, like a shoe, upon the earth of his flesh the self-control that puts to death the law of sin, he will tame not only the unclean passions nesting therein, but will also render powerless the evil demons that work them.

"Who will lead me into the city of the stronghold?" The city of the stronghold is the wisdom gathered from many divine and mystical contemplations, encompassed — that is, fenced about, as another of the interpreters has said — by the fortifications of the virtues.

Or again, the city of the stronghold is that condition in which the man who is truly devout and a lover of God becomes unconquerable and inaccessible to his enemies, because of the encompassing guard of the holy powers that protects him.

Or again, the city of the stronghold is the soul that has been walled about by word and life, and abounds with all the graces of the virtues.

Or again, the city of the stronghold is the settled state of true and unfaltering knowledge, comprised of all moral, natural, and theological contemplations, into which every devout person is led — by no one else, but by God alone, who draws all to himself through the ineffable greatness of his goodness.

"Or who will lead me as far as Edom?" Edom, as the preceding discourse has shown, is the constitution of all creatures subject to sense-perception, concerning which the natural contemplation in the Spirit is naturally constituted; according to which, proportionately, from the beauty and greatness of creatures, the Creator is contemplated by the one who piously gathers the knowledge of beings.

Or perhaps Edom is the practical philosophy of virtue lived through the flesh, by which our body becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit, being built up together with the beauties of the commandments — into which the same Lord again leads, granting to those who love him also the knowledge of visible things, and teaching the mortification of the members of this earthly and perishable flesh.

Or, to put it concisely, the city of the stronghold is the cognitive contemplation of intelligible things, and Edom is the knowledge of sensible things, into which the sole Wisdom of God the Father, the Only-begotten Son, leads and guides.

"Is it not you, O God, who cast us off?" That is: You, O God, who at the beginning cast us off because of sin — you yourself, having had compassion through the bowels of your mercy, lead us into the city of the stronghold and guide us as far as Edom, according to the interpretation given above.

And will you not go forth, O God, with our forces?

For God will not go forth with the one who trusts in himself, hopes in his bow, and ascribes his salvation to his sword; but with those who, in God himself, gore their enemies with the horn, and in his name bring to nothing those who rise up against them — with these, fittingly, God will go forth to war against the invisible enemies.

and the salvation of man is vain.

In the form of a prayer, the prophet, speaking in the person of our common nature, entreats God and Savior that help be given us out of the affliction — namely, the affliction poured out upon nature because of sin, which has pressed it down even to the gates of Hades.

For affliction, in my own judgment, is the tyranny and dominion of death and corruption; and the help is the sure hope of the resurrection given through grace — looking toward which, the devout bear the gloom of death without grief.

"Salvation" [in this sense] is vanity and complete non-existence.

For it is right that "vanity" be understood in this sense.

In God we shall achieve strength, and he himself will bring to nothing those who afflict us.

Those "make strength in God" who ascribe to themselves neither the achievements of the virtues nor, by their own wisdom, the comprehension of the divine mysteries — those in whom God himself alone, wholly indwelling, works every virtue and grants knowledge, bringing to nothing all the evil demons who oppose both virtue and knowledge and who, through wickedness and ignorance, attempt to oppress those who fear him.

To him be glory and dominion, unto the ages of ages. Amen.