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| The Work of the Good One and of the Evil One.
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Chapter III.—The Work of the Good One and of the Evil
One.
“But of these two, the one1484
| 1484 “One”
is supplied by Dressel’s conjecture. | acts violently towards the other by the
command of God. Moreover, each man has power to obey whichever of
them he pleases for the doing of good or evil. But if any one
chooses to do what is good, he becomes the possession of the future
good king; but if any one should do evil, he becomes the servant of the
present evil one, who, having received power over him by just judgment
on account of his sins, and wishing to use it1485
| 1485 The words in
italics are supplied by Dressel’s conjecture. | before the coming age, rejoices in
punishing him in the present life, and thus by gratifying, as it were,
his own private passion, he accomplishes the will of God. But the
other, being made to rejoice in power over the righteous, when he finds
a righteous man, is exceedingly glad, and saves him with eternal life;
and he also, as if gratifying himself, traces the gratification which
he feels on account of these to God. Now it is within the power
of every unrighteous man to repent and be saved; and every righteous
man may have to undergo punishment for sins committed at the end of his
career. Moreover, these two leaders are the swift hands of
God, eager to anticipate Him so as to accomplish His will. But
that this is so, has been said even by the law in the person of
God: ‘I will kill, and I will make alive; I will strike,
and I will heal.’1486
For, in
truth, He kills and makes alive. He kills through the left hand,
that is, through the evil one, who has been so composed as to rejoice
in afflicting the impious. And he saves and benefits through the
right hand, that is, through the good one, who has been made to rejoice
in the good deeds and salvation of the righteous. Now these have
not their substances outside of God: for there is no other primal
source. Nor, indeed, have they been sent forth as animals from
God, for they were of the same mind with Him; nor are they
accidental,1487
| 1487 We have adopted
an obvious emendation of Wieseler’s. | arising
spontaneously in opposition to His will, since thus the greatest
exercise of His power would have been destroyed. But from God
have been sent forth the four first elements—heat and cold, moist
and dry. In consequence of this, He is the father of every
substance, but not of the disposition1488
| 1488 We have changed
οὔσης
into οὐ
τῆς. | which may arise from the combination
of the elements; for when these were combined from without, disposition
was begotten in them as a child. The wicked one, then, having
served God blamelessly to the end of the present world, can become good
by a change in his composition,1489
| 1489 We have given a
meaning to μετασυγκριθείς
not found in dictionaries, but warranted by etymology, and demanded by
the sense. | since he
assuredly is not of one uniform substance whose sole bent is towards
sin. For not even more does he do evil, although he is evil,
since he has received power to afflict
lawfully.”
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