Anf-01 ix.vii.xi Pg 6
Matt. xxiv. 42, Matt. xxv. 13; Mark xiii. 33.
And again, those persons who are not bringing forth the fruits of righteousness, and are, as it were, covered over and lost among brambles, if they use diligence, and receive the word of God as a graft,4517 4517
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xxix Pg 32
Luke xii. 41.
He sets forth for them, and for all who should bear rule in the churches, the similitude of stewards.4681 4681 Actorum.
That steward who should treat his fellow-servants well in his Lord’s absence, would on his return be set as ruler over all his property; but he who should act otherwise should be severed, and have his portion with the unbelievers, when his lord should return on the day when he looked not for him, at the hour when he was not aware4682 4682
Anf-03 v.iv.v.xxix Pg 34
Luke xii. 41–46.
—even that Son of man, the Creator’s Christ, not a thief, but a Judge. He accordingly, in this passage, either presents to us the Lord as a Judge, and instructs us in His character,4683 4683 Illi catechizat.
or else as the simply good god; if the latter, he now also affirms his judicial attribute, although the heretic refuses to admit it. For an attempt is made to modify this sense when it is applied to his god,—as if it were an act of serenity and mildness simply to sever the man off, and to assign him a portion with the unbelievers, under the idea that he was not summoned (before the judge), but only returned to his own state! As if this very process did not imply a judicial act! What folly! What will be the end of the severed ones? Will it not be the forfeiture of salvation, since their separation will be from those who shall attain salvation? What, again, will be the condition of the unbelievers? Will it not be damnation? Else, if these severed and unfaithful ones shall have nothing to suffer, there will, on the other hand, be nothing for the accepted and the believers to obtain. If, however, the accepted and the believers shall attain salvation, it must needs be that the rejected and the unbelieving should incur the opposite issue, even the loss of salvation. Now here is a judgment, and He who holds it out before us belongs to the Creator. Whom else than the God of retribution can I understand by Him who shall “beat His servants with stripes,” either “few or many,” and shall exact from them what He had committed to them? Whom is it suitable4684 4684 Decet.
for me to obey, but Him who remunerates? Your Christ proclaims, “I am come to send fire on the earth.”4685 4685
Anf-01 ix.vi.xxxviii Pg 11
Luke xii. 45, 46; Matt. xxiv. 48–51.
All such passages demonstrate the independent will4402 4402 τὸ αὐτεξούσιον.
