Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| - HELP 
32. Moreover, as to this
word which is written in the Gospel, “Ye are of your father the
devil,”1740
and so forth, we
say in brief that there is a devil working in us, whose aim it has
been, in the strength of his own will, to make us like himself.
For all the creatures that God made, He made very good; and He gave to
every individual the sense of free-will, in accordance with which
standard He also instituted the law of judgment. To sin is ours,
and that we sin not is God’s gift, as our will is constituted to
choose either to sin or not to sin. And this you doubtless
understand well enough yourself, Manes; for you know that, although you
were to bring together all your disciples and admonish1741
| 1741
Reading commonens for communis ne. Communiens is
also suggested. | them not to
commit any transgression or do any unrighteousness, every one of them
might still pass by the law of judgment. And certainly whosoever
will, may keep the commandments; and whosoever shall despise them, and
turn aside to what is contrary to them, shall yet without doubt have to
face this law of judgment. Hence also certain of the angels,
refusing to submit themselves to the commandment of God,
resisted His will; and one of them indeed fell like a flash of
lightning1742
upon the earth,
while others,1743
| 1743 We
have another instance here of a characteristic opinion of the Jewish
rabbis adopted by a Christian father. This notion as to the
intercourse of the angels with the daughters of men was a current
interpretation among the Jews from the times of Philo and Josephus, and
was followed in whole or in part by Tertullian, Justin, Irenæus,
Clemens Alexandrinus, Athenagoras, Methodius, Cyprian, Lactantius,
etc. Consult the note in Migne; [also p. 131, note 2,
supra]. | harassed by
the dragon, sought their felicity in intercourse with the daughters of
men,1744
| 1744
We give the above as a possible rendering. Routh,
however, understands the matter otherwise. The text is,
“alii vero in felicitate hominum filiabus admisti a
dracone afflicti,” etc. Routh takes the phrase in
felicitate as ="adhuc in statu felici
existentes:” so that the sense would be, “others,
while they still abode in the blessed estate, had intercourse,”
etc. [Routh, R. S., vol. v. pp. 118–122.] | and thus
brought on themselves the merited award of the punishment of eternal
fire. And that angel who was cast down to earth, finding no
further admittance into any of the regions of heaven, now flaunts about
among men, deceiving them, and luring them to become transgressors like
himself, and even to this day he is an adversary to the commandments of
God. The example of his fall and ruin, however, will not be
followed by all, inasmuch as to each is given liberty of will.
For this reason also has he obtained the name of devil, because
he has passed over from the heavenly places, and appeared on earth as
the disparager of God’s commandment.1745
| 1745
Archelaus seems here to assign a twofold etymology for the name
devil, deriving the Greek διάβολος,
accuser, from διαβάλλω, in its
two senses of trajicere and traducere, to cross over and
to slander. | But because it was God who first
gave the commandment, the Lord Jesus Himself said to the devil,
“Get thee behind me, Satan;”1746
and, without doubt, to go behind God is
the sign of being His servant. And again He says, “Thou
shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou
serve.”1747
Wherefore, as certain men were inclined to yield obedience to his
wishes, they were addressed in these terms by the Saviour:
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye
will do.”1748
And,
in fine, when they are found to be actually doing his will, they are
thus addressed: “O generation of vipers, who hath warned
you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits
meet for repentance.”1749
From all this, then, you ought to
see how weighty a matter it is for man to have freedom of will.
However, let my antagonist here say whether there is a judgment for the
godly and the ungodly, or not. Manes said: There is
a judgment. Archelaus said: I think that what
we1750
| 1750 Reading
a nobis for the a vobis of the codex. | have said
concerning the devil contains no small measure of reason as well as of
piety. For every creature, moreover, has its own order; and there
is one order for the human race, and another for animals, and another
for angels. Furthermore, there is but one only inconvertible
substance, the divine substance, eternal and invisible, as is known to
all, and as is also borne out by this scripture: “No man
hath seen God at any time, save the only begotten Son, which is in the
bosom of the Father.”1751
All the other creatures,
consequently, are of necessity visible,—such as heaven, earth,
sea, men, angels, archangels. But if God has not been seen by any
man at any time, what consubstantiality can there be between Him and
those creatures? Hence we hold that all things whatsoever have,
in their several positions, their own proper substances, according to
their proper order. You, on the other hand, allege that every
living thing which moves is made of one,1752
and you say that every object has
received like substance from God, and that this substance is capable of
sinning and of being brought under the judgment; and you are unwilling
to accept the word which declares that the devil was an angel, and that
he fell in transgression, and that he is not of the same substance with
God. Logically, you ought to do away with any allowance of the
doctrine of a judgment, and that would make it clear which of us is in
error.1753
| 1753 The
sense is obscure here. The text runs, “Interimere debes
judicii ratione ut quis nostrum fallat appareat.” Migne
proposes to read rationem, as if the idea intended was
this: That, consistently with his reasonings, Manes ought not to
admit the fact of a judgment, because the notions he has propounded on
the subject of men and angels are not reconcilable with such a
belief.—If this can be accepted as the probable meaning, then it
would seem that the use of the verb interimere may be due to the
fact that the Greek text gave ἀνᾶιρεῖν, between the
two senses of which—viz. to kill and to remove—the
translator did not correctly distinguish. Routh, however,
proposes to read interimi, taking it as equivalent to
condemnari, so that the idea might be = on all principles of
sound judgment you ought to be condemned, etc. | If,
indeed, the angel that has been created by God is incapable of falling
in transgression, how can the soul, as a part of God, be capable of
sinning? But, again, if you say that there is a judgment for
sinning souls, and if you hold also that these are of one substance
with God; and if still, even although you maintain that they are of the
divine nature, you affirm that, notwithstanding that fact, they do not
keep1754
| 1754 The
codex reads simply, Dei servare mandata. We may adopt
either Dei non servare mandata, as above, or, Dei servare vel
non servare mandata, in reference to the freedom of will, and so =
they may or may not keep the commandments. | the commandments
of God, then, even on such grounds, my argument will pass very
well,1755
| 1755 The
codex has præcedit, for which procedit is
proposed. | which avers that
the devil fell first, on account of his failure to keep the
commandments of God. He was not indeed of the substance of
God. And he fell, not so much to do hurt to the race of man, as
rather to be set at nought1756
| 1756
Reading “læderet—illuderetur.” But might
it not rather be “læderet—illidertur,”
not to bruise, but rather to be bruised, etc.? |
by the same. For He “gave unto us power to tread on
serpents and scorpions, and over all the strength of the
enemy.”1757
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
