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| Chapter IX.—Why the Son was sent so late.
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Chapter IX.—Why the
Son was sent so late.
As long then as the former time309
endured, He permitted us to be borne along by
unruly impulses, being drawn away by the desire of pleasure and various
lusts. This was not that He at all delighted in our sins, but that He
simply endured them; nor that He approved the time of working iniquity
which then was, but that He sought to form a mind conscious of
righteousness,310
| 310 The
reading and sense are doubtful. | so that being convinced in
that time of our unworthiness of attaining life through our own works, it
should now, through the kindness of God, be vouchsafed to us; and having
made it manifest that in ourselves we were unable to enter into the
kingdom of God, we might through the power of God be made able. But when our wickedness had reached its height, and
it had been clearly shown that its reward,311
| 311 Both the text and rendering are here somewhat doubtful,
but the sense will in any case be much the same. | punishment
and death, was impending over us; and when the time had come which God
had before appointed for manifesting His own kindness and power, how312
| 312 Many variations here occur in
the way in which the lacuna of the mss. is to be supplied. They do
not, however, greatly affect the meaning. | the one love of
God, through exceeding regard for men, did not regard us with hatred, nor
thrust us away, nor remember our iniquity against us, but showed great
long-suffering, and bore with us,313
| 313 In the ms.
“saying” is here inserted, as if the words had been regarded
as a quotation from Isa. liii. 11. | He
Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as
a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for
the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the incorruptible One
for the corruptible, the immortal One for them that are mortal. For what
other thing was capable of covering our sins than His righteousness? By
what other one was it possible that we, the wicked and ungodly, could be
justified, than by the only Son of God? O sweet exchange! O unsearchable
operation! O benefits surpassing all expectation! that the wickedness of
many should be hid in a single righteous One, and that the righteousness
of One should justify many transgressors!314
| 314 [See Bossuet, who quotes it as from Justin Martyr (Tom.
iii. p. 171). Sermon on Circumcision.] | Having therefore
convinced us in the former time315
| 315 That is, before Christ appeared. | that our
nature was unable to attain to life, and having now revealed the Saviour
who is able to save even those things which it was [formerly] impossible
to save, by both these facts He desired to lead us to trust in His
kindness, to esteem Him our Nourisher, Father, Teacher, Counsellor,
Healer, our Wisdom, Light, Honour, Glory, Power, and Life, so that we
should not be anxious316
| 316
Comp. Matt. vi. 25, etc. [Mathetes, in a single
sentence, expounds a most practical text with comprehensive views.]
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