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40. Discussion of the Saying of Peter.
But let us next see what was the thought of Peter when
he answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be
here; let us make three tabernacles,”5791
5791 Matt. xvii. 4; Mark ix. 5; Luke ix.
33. |
etc. And on this account these words call for very special
examination, because Mark, in his own person, has added, “For he
wist not what to answer,”5792 but Luke,
“not knowing,” he says, “what he
spake.”5793 You will
consider, therefore, if he spake these things as in a trance, being
filled with the spirit which moved him to say these things, which could
not be a Holy Spirit; for John taught in the Gospel that, before the
resurrection of the Saviour, no one had the Holy Spirit, saying,
“For the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet
glorified.”5794 But if the
Spirit was not yet, and he, not knowing what he said, spoke under the
influence of some spirit, the spirit which caused these things to be
said was some one of the spirits which had not yet been triumphed over
in the cross, nor made a show of along with them, about whom it is
written, “Having put off from Himself the principalities and the
powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in the
cross.”5795 But this
spirit was perhaps that which is called a stumbling-block by Jesus, and
which is spoken of as Satan in the passage, “Get thee behind Me,
Satan; thou art a stumbling-block unto me.”5796 But I know well that such things will
offend many who meet with them, because they think that it is opposed
to sound reason that he should be spoken ill of who a little before had
been pronounced blessed by Jesus, on the ground that the Father in
heaven had revealed to him the things concerning the Saviour, to-wit,
that He was verily Jesus, and the Christ, and the Son of the living
God. But let such an one attend more exactly to the statements
about Peter and the rest of the Apostles, how even they made requests
as if they were yet alien from Him who was to redeem them from the
enemy and purchase them with His own precious blood; or let them also,
who will have it that even before the passion of Jesus the Apostles
were perfect, tell us whence it came about that “Peter and they
that were with him were heavy with sleep.”5797 But to anticipate something else of
what follows and apply it to the subject in hand, I would raise in turn
these questions,—whether it is possible for any one to find
occasion of stumbling in Jesus apart from the working of the devil who
caused him to stumble; and whether it is possible for any one to deny
Jesus, and that in presence of a little maid and a doorkeeper and men
most worthless, unless a spirit had been with him in his denial hostile
to the Spirit which is given and the wisdom, (which is given) to those
who are assisted by God to make confession, according to a certain
desert of theirs. But he who has learned to refer the roots of
sin to the father of sin, the devil, will not say that apart from him
either the Apostles were caused to stumble, or that Peter denied Christ
thrice before that well-known cock-crowing. But if this be so,
consider whether perhaps with a view to make Jesus stumble, so far as
was in his power, and to turn Him aside from the dispensation whose
characteristic was suffering that brought salvation to men, which He
undertook with great willingness, seeking to effect these things which
seemed to contribute to this end, he himself also here wishes as it
were, by deceit, to draw away Jesus, as if calling upon Him no longer
to condescend to men, and come to them, and undergo death for them, but
to abide on the high mountain with Moses and Elijah. But he
promised also to build three tabernacles, one apart for Jesus, and one
for Moses, and one for Elijah, as if one tabernacle would not have
sufficed for the three, if it had been necessary for them to be in
tabernacles and in the high mountain. And perhaps also in this he
acted with evil intent, when he incited him “who did not know
what he said,” not desiring that Jesus and Moses and Elijah
should be together, but desiring to separate them from one another,
under pretext of the three tabernacles.” And likewise it
was a lie, “It is good for us to be here;”5798 for if it had been a good thing they would
also have remained there. But
if it were a lie, you will seek to know who caused the lie to be
spoken; and especially since according to John, “When he speaketh
a lie he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar and the father
thereof;”5799 and as there is no
truth apart from the working of Him who says, “I am the
Truth,”5800 so there is no lie
apart from him who is the enemy of truth. These contrary
qualities, accordingly, were still in Peter truth and falsehood; and
from truth he said, “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living
God,”5801 but from falsehood
he said, “May God be propitious to Thee, Lord, this shall not be
unto Thee,”5802 and also, “It
is good for us to be here.”5803 But if
any one will not admit that Peter spoke these things from any evil
inspiration, but that his words were of his own mere choice, and it is
demanded of him how he will interpret, “not knowing what he
said,” and,5804 “for he did
not know what to answer,”5805 he will say,
that in the former case Peter held it to be a shameful thing and
unworthy of Jesus to admit that the Son of the living God, the Christ,
whom already the Father had revealed to him, should be killed; and in
the present case that, as having seen the two forms of Jesus and the
one at the transfiguration which was much more excellent, being well
pleased with that, he said that it was good to make their sojourning in
that mountain, in order that he himself and those with him might
rejoice as they beheld the transfiguration of Jesus and His face
shining as the sun, and His garments white as the light, and, in
addition to these things, might always behold in glory those whom they
had once seen in glory, Moses and Elijah; and that they might rejoice
at the things which they might hear, as they talked and held
intercourse with each other, Moses and Elijah with Jesus, and Jesus
with them.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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