But as the proclamation [of the Gospel] has
come now at the fit time, so also at the fit time were the Law and the
Prophets given to the Barbarians, and Philosophy to the Greeks, to fit
their ears for the Gospel. “Therefore,” says the Lord who
deliveredIsrael, “in an acceptable time have I heard thee, and
in a day of salvation have I helped thee. And I have given thee for a
Covenant to the nations; that thou mightest inhabit the earth, and receive
the inheritance of the wilderness; saying to those that are in bonds,
Come forth; and to those that are in darkness, Show yourselves.”
For if the “prisoners” are the Jews, of whom the Lord said,
“Come forth, ye that will, from your bonds,”—meaning the
voluntary bound, and who have taken on them “the burdens grievous
to be borne”3262
But to those that
were righteous according to philosophy, not only faith in the Lord, but
also the abandonment of idolatry, were necessary. Straightway, on the
revelation of the truth, they also repented of their previous conduct.
It is not
plainly the place, which, the words above say, heard the voice, but those
who have been put in Hades, and have abandoned themselves to destruction,
as persons who have thrown themselves voluntarily from a ship into the
sea. They, then, are those that hear the divinepower and voice. For
who in his senses can suppose the souls of the righteous and those of
sinners in the same condemnation, charging Providence with injustice?
in the second book of the Stromata,
that the apostles, following the Lord, preached the Gospel to those in
Hades. For it was requisite, in my opinion, that as here, so also there,
the best of the disciples should be imitators of the Master; so that He
should bring to repentance those belonging to the Hebrews, and they the
Gentiles; that is, those who had lived in righteousness according to the
Law and Philosophy, who had ended life not perfectly, but sinfully. For
it was suitable to the divine administration, that those possessed of
greater worth in righteousness, and whose life had been pre-eminent,
on repenting of their transgressions, though found in another place,
yet being confessedly of the number of the people of GodAlmighty,
should be saved, each one according to his individual knowledge.
And, as I think, the Saviour also exerts His might
because it is His work to save; which accordingly He also did by drawing
to salvation those who became willing, by the preaching [of the Gospel],
to believe on Him, wherever they were. If, then, the Lord descended
to Hades for no other end but to preach the Gospel, as He did descend;
it was either to preach the Gospel to all or to the Hebrews only. If,
accordingly, to all, then all who believe shall be saved, although
they may be of the Gentiles, on making their profession there; since
God’s punishments
are saving and disciplinary,
leading to conversion, and choosing rather the repentance them the
death of a sinner;3268
and especially since
souls, although darkened by passions, when released from their bodies,
are able to perceive more clearly, because of their being no longer
obstructed by the paltry flesh.
If, then, He preached only to the Jews, who wanted
the knowledge and faith of the Saviour, it is plain that, since God is
no respecter of persons, the apostles also, as here, so there preached
the Gospel to those of the heathen who were ready for conversion. And it
is well said by the Shepherd, “They went down with them therefore
into the water, and again ascended. But these descended alive, and again
ascended alive. But those who had fallen asleep, descended dead, but
ascended alive.”3269
3269
Hermas, book iii. chap. xvi. p. 49. Quoted also in Stromata,
ii. p. 357, ante, from which the text here is corrected; Potter,
452.
says, “that
many bodies of those that slept arose,”—plainly as having
been translated to a better state.3271
3271τάξιν.
There took place, then, a universal movement and translation through the
economy of the Saviour.3272
3272
[In connection with John v. 25, we may suppose that the opening of the
graves, at the passion and resurrection, is an intimation of some sublime
mystery, perhaps such as here intimated.]
One righteous man, then, differs not, as righteous,
from another righteous man, whether he be of the Law or a Greek. For
God is not only Lord of the Jews, but of all men, and more nearly the
Father of those who know Him. For if to live well and according to
the law is to live, also to live rationally according to the law is
to live; and those who lived rightly before the Law were classed under
faith,3273
and judged to be righteous,—it is evident
that those, too, who were outside of the Law, having lived rightly,
in consequence of the peculiarnature of the voice,3274
3274 Apparently God’s voice
to them. Sylburgius proposes to read φύσεως
instead of φωνῆς
here.
on hearing the voice of the Lord, whether that of His own person or that
acting through His apostles, with all speed turned and believed. For
we remember that the Lord is “the power of God,”3276
So I think it is demonstrated that the God being
good, and the Lordpowerful, they save with a righteousness and equality
which extend to all that turn to Him, whether here or elsewhere. For it
is not here alone that the active power of God is beforehand, but it
is everywhere and is always at work. Accordingly, in the Preaching of
Peter, the Lord says to the disciples after the resurrection, “I
have chosen you twelve disciples, judging you worthy of me,” whom
the Lord wished to be apostles, having judged them faithful, sending them
into the world to the men on the earth, that they may know that there is
one God, showing clearly what would take place by the faith of Christ;
that they who heard and believed should be saved; and that those who
believed not, after having heard, should bear witness, not having the
excuse to allege, We have not heard.
What then? Did not the same dispensation obtain in
Hades, so that even there, all the souls, on hearing the proclamation,
might either exhibit repentance, or confess that their punishment was
just, because they believed not? And it were the exercise of no ordinary
arbitrariness, for those who had departed before the advent of the
Lord (not having the Gospelpreached to them, and having afforded no
ground from themselves, in consequence of believing or not) to obtain
either salvation or punishment. For it is not right that these should
be condemned without trial, and that those alone who lived after the
advent should have the advantage of the divinerighteousness. But to
all rational souls it was said from above, “Whatever one of you
has done in ignorance, without clearly knowing God, if, on becoming
conscious, he repent, all his sins will be forgiven him.”3277
3277 Alluding apparently to such
passages as Acts iii. 17; 19, and xvii. 30.
“For,
behold,” it is said, “I have set before your face death
and life, that ye may choose life.”3278
God says that He
set, not that He made both, in order to the comparison of choice. And
in another Scripture He says, “If ye hear Me, and be willing,
ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye hear Me not, and are not
willing, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken these things.”3279
Again, David expressly (or rather the Lord in the
person of the saint, and the same from the foundation of the world is
each one who at different periods is saved, and shall be saved by faith)
says, “My heart was glad, and my tonguerejoiced, and my flesh shall
still rest in hope. For Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell, nor wilt
Thou give Thine holy one to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the
paths of life, Thou wilt make me full of joy in Thy presence.”3280
As, then, the people was precious to the Lord,
so also is the entire holy people; he also who is converted from the
Gentiles, who was prophesied under the name of proselyte, along with the
Jew. For rightly the Scripture says, that “the ox and the bear shall
come together.”3281
For the Jew is designated by the ox, from the
animal under the yoke being reckoned clean, according
to the law; for the ox both parts
the hoof and chews the cud. And the Gentile is designated by the bear,
which is an unclean and wildbeast. And this animal brings forth a
shapeless lump of flesh, which it shapes into the likeness of a beast
solely by its tongue. For he who is convened from among the Gentiles
is formed from a beastlike life to gentleness by the word; and, when
once tamed, is made clean, just as the ox. For example, the prophet
says, “The sirens, and the daughters of the sparrows, and all the
beasts of the field, shall bless me.”3282
Of the number of uncleananimals, the wildbeasts of the field are known to be, that is, of the
world; since those who are wild in respect of faith, and polluted in life,
and not purified by the righteousness which is according to the law,
are called wildbeasts. But changed from wildbeasts by the faith of
the Lord, they become men of God, advancing from the wish to change to
the fact. For some the Lordexhorts, and to those who have already made
the attempt he stretches forth His hand, and draws them up. “For
the Lord dreads not the face of any one, nor will He regard greatness;
for He hath made small and great, and cares alike for all.”3283
3289
Sylburgius’ conjecture, εὐεργετικόν,
seems greatly preferable to the
reading of the text, ἐνεργητικόν.
saves those who turn to Him. Then, too, the more subtle substance, the
soul, could never receive any injury from the grosser element of water,
its subtle and simple nature rendering it impalpable, called as it is
incorporeal. But whatever is gross, made so in consequence of sin, this is
cast away along with the carnal spirit which lusts against the soul.3290
3291 Grabe reads λόγος
for λαός, “Word of
the Beloved,” etc.
of the Beloved—loved and
loving Him.” For whether it be the Jewish writings or those
of the philosophers that he calls “the Common Books,”
he makes the truth common. And Isidore,3292
3292 [See Epiphan, Opp., ii. 391, ed. Oehler,
Berlin, 1859: also Mosheim, First Three Centuries,
vol. i. p. 434.]
at once son and disciple to Basilides,
in the first book of the Expositions of the Prophet Parchor,
writes also in these words: “The Attics say that certain things
were intimated to Socrates, in consequence of a dæmon attending on
him. And Aristotle says that all men are provided with dæmons, that
attend on them during the time they are in the body,—having taken
this piece of prophetic instruction and transferred it to his own books,
without acknowledging whence he had abstracted this statement.”
And again, in the second book of his work, he thus writes: “And
let no one think that what we say is peculiar to the elect, was said
before by any philosophers. For it is not a discovery of theirs. For
having appropriated it from our prophets, they attributed it to him
who is wise according to them.” Again, in the same: “For
to me it appears that those who profess to philosophize, do so that
they may learn what is the winged oak,3293
3293 Grabe suggests, instead of δρῦς
here, δρύοψ, a kind of
woodpecker, mentioned by Aristophanes.
and the variegated robe
on it, all of which Pherecydes has employed as theological allegories,
having taken them from the prophecy of Cham.”
