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| Chapter LV
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Chapter LV.
Passages, indeed, might be found where corporeal
and external (benefits) are improperly4553
called “good,”—those things, viz., which contribute
to the natural life, while those which do the reverse are termed
“evil.” It is in this sense that Job says to his
wife: “If we have received good at the hand of the Lord,
shall we not also receive evil!”4554
Since, then, there is found in the
sacred Scriptures, in a certain passage, this statement put into the
mouth of God, “I make peace, and create evil;”4555
and again another, where it is said of Him
that “evil came down from the Lord to the
gate of Jerusalem, the noise of chariots and horsemen,”4556
| 4556 Cf. Mic. i. 12, 13. The rendering of the Heb. in the
first clause of the thirteenth verse is different from that of the
LXX. | —passages which have disturbed many
readers of Scripture, who are unable to see what Scripture means by
“good” and “evil,”—it is probable that
Celsus, being perplexed thereby, gave utterance to the question,
“How is it that God created evil?” or, perhaps, having
heard some one discussing the matters relating to it in an ignorant
manner, he made this statement which we have noticed. We, on the
other hand, maintain that “evil,” or
“wickedness,” and the actions which proceed from it, were
not created by God. For if God created that which is
really evil, how was it possible that the proclamation regarding
(the last) judgment should be confidently announced,4557
which informs us that the wicked are to be
punished for their evil deeds in proportion to the amount of their
wickedness, while those who have lived a virtuous life, or performed
virtuous actions, will be in the enjoyment of blessedness, and will
receive rewards from God? I am well aware that those who would
daringly assert that these evils were created by God will quote certain
expressions of Scripture (in their support), because we are not able to
show one consistent series4558
of passages; for
although Scripture (generally) blames the wicked and approves of the
righteous, it nevertheless contains some statements which, although
comparatively4559
| 4559 ὀλίγα must be taken
comparatively, on account of the πολλάς that follows
afterwards. | few in number, seem
to disturb the minds of ignorant readers of holy Scripture. I
have not, however, deemed it appropriate to my present treatise to
quote on the present occasion those discordant statements, which are
many in number,4560
| 4560 πολλάς. See note
11. | and
their explanations, which
would require a long array of proofs. Evils, then, if those be
meant which are properly so called, were not created by
God; but some, although few in comparison with the order of the
whole world, have resulted from His principal works, as
there follow from the chief works of the carpenter such things as
spiral shavings and sawdust,4561
| 4561 τὰ
ἑλικοειδῆ
ξέσματα καὶ
πρίσματα. | or as architects
might appear to be the cause of the rubbish4562
which lies around their buildings in the form of the filth which drops
from the stones and the plaster.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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