De fide et lege naturae

Every divinely inspired scripture is beneficial, having its beginning and source of piety in the Spirit of Truth. For from the holy and worshipful Spirit, as from some flourishing and fertile spring, all divine streams flow. And whatever the law ordains, whatever prophets proclaim, whatever apostles preach—all these are truly likened to and ascribed to the Holy Spirit. For one and the same Spirit works in all, distributing to each individually as it wills. Therefore, all the beauties of piety shine forth, the words of truth gleam, and the treasures of inspired wisdom abound—treasures not hidden in the earth, but beheld in the depth of piety; treasures that gladden souls, illuminate thoughts, convert the world, and enrich all the poverty of Adam. For just as the original beauty of piety, having stripped itself off, was brought down into great humiliation, so he who lives with piety and flourishes in virtues is enriched and rejoices. And Paul bears witness, saying somewhere: "I thank God that you have been enriched in everything in him, in every word and all knowledge." For he who receives the word of God is enriched, while he who does not receive the word of God is impoverished. And Isaiah bears witness, saying: "And they said, 'Perhaps they are poor, therefore they cannot hear the word of the Lord.'" But the one who is impoverished is reproached, while the one who is enriched rejoices—the one enriched by the word of truth, the one flourishing in the virtues of fruitful philosophy, such as David was when he said: "But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God.

A fruitful olive tree, not boasting in leaves, but teeming with fruits of piety. For there is often a soul that boasts in its branches and leaves, but bears no fruit, as Jeremiah said concerning Israel: "Israel is a vine with fine branches"—fine in branches, not fruitful in fruit. But that vine was of such a kind, whereas the prophet exults, saying: "But I am like a fruitful olive tree," not boasting in outward things, but teeming within, a fruitful olive tree in the house of God. For it is not good to live outside the house of God. You will find, then, many who, even outside the word of truth, shine with good works in appearance. You will find men who are compassionate, merciful, attentive to justice. But there is no fruit to their works, because they have been ignorant of the work of truth. For the works are good, but the highest work must come first. Indeed, when the Jews once said to the Lord, "What shall we do to perform the works of God?" He answered them: "This is the work of God: that you believe in the one whom He sent." Do you see how He called faith a work? Therefore, as soon as you have believed, you have at once also boasted in works. Is it not that faith falls short with regard to works, but that faith itself is full of good works? For works are toward men and from men, but faith is from men toward God. Faith shows the convert to be a citizen of the heavens. Faith makes the man from the earth a companion of God. There is nothing good outside of faith.

They seem to me, brothers, to be like—to use some image for the argument—those who boast in good works but are ignorant of the God of piety, like corpses dressed in fine garments, yet having no perception of the fine things. For what benefit is a dead soul, dead to the divine Word, yet clothed in good works? Works are done in hope of reward and crowns. But if you are ignorant of the judge of the contest, for whom do you contend? Faith must not be bare of works, lest it be insulted; yet faith is superior to works. For just as among men, life must first precede nourishment—since food sustains our life—so too must hope in Christ precede our life, and we must also be nourished by good works. One who is not nourished each day can often live, but one who does not live cannot be nourished. Moses fasted for forty days, but because he had the living Word within himself, the lack of earthly things did him no harm. So too in the state of the soul: it must be nourished by works, but it must be clothed with faith before works. Without faith, I cannot present one who does works of righteousness as having lived; but without works, I can show a faithful person as having lived and as having been deemed worthy of the kingdom of heaven. No one has lived without faith. The thief, merely by believing, was justified before the benevolent God. And do not tell me: he had no time to live virtuously. For I am not contending that, but I have only demonstrated that faith alone, by itself, saved.

If he had lived in faith but neglected works, he would have fallen from salvation. But the point now under consideration and inquiry is that faith alone saved, while works alone never justified their doers. And do you wish to see precisely that works without faith do not give life? Cornelius was attested for his almsgivings and prayers; but he was ignorant of Christ, believing in God, but not yet having learned the word of God. And since his works were good and admirable, he was pleasing to God, the awarder and lover of good things; but when the great eye of justice and truth, the impartial and righteous judge, saw that the works were good but dead, not having faith, he sends a divine angel, awarding the works, so as to crown with faith the one contending well; who says to him: "Cornelius, your prayers and your almsgivings have gone up as a memorial before God." If then the petition was heard, he says, and the almsgivings were accepted, what is lacking for me for righteousness? "Send then to Joppa," he says, "and summon one who, coming, will speak to you words by which you and your whole house will be saved." Therefore the works did not have salvation; for if, by what Peter proclaims, he himself and his house are saved, Cornelius did not yet have salvation from his works, until faith awarded it to his works. For this reason also Peter, the blessed and honored apostle of Christ, coming from Joppa and seeing the grace of God poured out among those then considered foreigners, becoming aware of God's judgment, says:

I am truly convinced that God is not partial; rather, in every nation, the one who does justice is acceptable to him. He did not say that in every nation the one who does justice is saved, but that he is acceptable, that is, he becomes worthy of being received. Therefore faith must shine forth before the works, and works must follow faith. And let no one insult faith through barrenness, nor insult works through faithlessness. Become a fruitful olive tree, but in the house of God. For being a fruitful olive tree interprets according to works, while being in the house of God indicates faith. What are the works of God? We all know, if we wish to work; for nothing is hidden. For while matters of doctrine are disputed, matters of works are not concealed; for nature dictates the laws. We know from ourselves what is good and what is evil. God placed an unwritten law in nature, one that illuminates our minds. Let no one say: I have not read the law, I do not know the things of the law; for if you deny the common law, the law of nature refutes you. Do you wish to learn that God fixed in nature the laws that distinguish what is good and what is evil? Question our very conduct: how all who do evil flee the name of their evils. The adulterer commits adultery, but when called an adulterer he is ashamed. Say to the acknowledged adulterer, "Adulterer," and the one who delights in doing it is ashamed when he hears it. Yet if you consider the sin good, why do you flee the name? Say to the perjurer, "Perjurer," and he takes the name of his own works as an insult.

Thus nature itself cries out that what is base is alien to the work of God. And what God made is good, very good, and so good that it is mingled even with evil men and puts evil to shame. Speak to the temperate man of temperance, and he who delights in the work is not ashamed even of the name. Call the just man just, and he is crowned by the work and takes pride in the name; for even if out of reverence he declines the title, yet in his soul he receives the praise. Consider how much evil is practiced in the world and has no face. And how does it have no face? If you examine closely, you will find no evil appearing from its own face; but unless it borrows the face of virtue, it does not appear. And hear how: The liar does not confess the lie and lie, but deceives by pretending truth; the liar does not proclaim what he is, but assumes the form of what he is not, and then works injustice. Likewise, the deceitful man does not show his deceit, but assumes the form of friendship and practices wickedness; the adulterer does not confess lawless adultery and rush into the house, but, clothed in a pretense of chastity, insults the divine in his mouth. Do you see that evil has no face of its own? Similarly, the slanderer, when he enters a court, does not enter confessing what he is, but, having set up a witness of truth in appearance, through falsehood he displays the witness of evil. Thus evil has no face of its own unless it borrows the face of virtue. For this reason the Savior said: They will come to you in sheep's clothing, but within they are ravenous wolves.

But let us return to the matter at hand. Do you wish to see, brother, how great is the power of the innate law? Even our soul, though it be steeped in evils, greets the good name. Many a time, potentates breathing greed and thinking of nothing but plunder and injustice are shamed by some persons either into relieving the pressing need of the poor man, or into remitting some part of the debt, or into defending themselves against those who have grieved them or are thought to have grieved them. And the one who comes to plead well before a powerful and wicked man does not begin straightway from the truth; he does not say to him what he is, but adds to him a name of virtue. Or do you not know how those who plead well always comport themselves? "You are a good man," he says; "your name is on everyone's lips; all sing of your good deeds." And he attaches many such things to his entreaty, so that the man may be bent by the praise and flee from wickedness. See how evil is conquered by the praises of virtue. No wicked man wishes to be called wicked; for nature greets its own, even if choice chooses the opposite.

Let us therefore become, beloved, a fruitful olive tree, luxuriant in deeds and fruits and leaves. Our leaves are our words, our fruits our conduct. May your word be reverent and your conduct fruitful; for with the pious man not even the leaf is to be cast away. "For its leaf," says David, "will not fall off, and everything he does will prosper." But O the wonder! I have reflected how Adam came out of Paradise naked and how David flourishes in the house of God. The one came out naked because of the transgression, the other, having clothed himself with virtues, cries out: "I am like a fruitful olive tree." Nothing strips us so much as unfruitfulness, and nothing clothes us so much as fruitfulness through good works. Adam was formed—for I must now take up again what has been said, since the repetition of good things confirms the teaching in our souls. For just as wool that is dipped is repeatedly immersed in the dyes so that the dye may transmit its own effect to the depth, so too must our souls be repeatedly immersed in divine words, so that the ancient reproach may be washed away and we may put on new beauty. For those pieces of wool, once they receive the dye, lay aside the name of their nature and take the name of the dye; and you no longer call it wool, but purple or scarlet or green or something of that sort, whatever beauty the dye has provided to the dyed object. If dye changes the name of a nature, does not the nature of God change a man, so that the same man before the dye is an earthly image, but after the dye a radiant, heavenly image? Adam, then, was formed poor from the earth; for God took dust and formed him.

But Adam did not see how he was formed, as I said earlier; for it was not fitting that he be present as a witness of what was happening, lest he become arrogant against God. For if, clothed in such humility, he becomes arrogant and ignores his creator and rejects his molder, if he received what is beyond his nature, who could have contained the boundlessness of his pride? For this reason, God, having formed man, placed both great powers and many humiliations in the creature, so that through the power inherent in it the grace of the craftsman might be admired, and through the humiliation the human pride might be restrained. He gave him a tongue that speaks, that hymns God, that sings of divine things, that interprets the beauties of creation. A small piece of flesh, the tongue, not even two fingers in measure—and what am I saying, fingers? Not even the tip of a nail—but that small and insignificant tip speaks of heaven and earth. And so that it may not think that it is something great and become arrogant beyond its own nature, often both boils and wounds cling to it, so that it may learn that, being mortal, it speaks of eternal and immortal things and ought to recognize both the power of what is proclaimed and the weakness of the proclaimer. He gave him an eye, that small grain; for the seeing part is the middle, the very center of the pupil; and yet through that small grain it beholds the whole of creation.

And so that, by encompassing all of creation with his sight, he might not become arrogant, many times also ophthalmia and rheum and tears and everything that clouds the sight arise, so that from his weakness he might recognize himself, and from the craftsmanship he might glorify the craftsman. He gave him a reasoning heart, a root of thoughts, a source of reasonings; but in the same places he also made the formation of the intestines, which are filled with dung and every other unpleasantness, through which man eats, so that, when the heart is exalted, the stomach may subdue it; so that both the stomach and the dung are necessary for discipline. For if a man carrying dung dares to be insolent, and not simply insolent, but even against God, as some barbarian king dared to say: "I will place my throne above the stars and I will be like the Most High"; if carrying so much dung and unpleasantness he speaks thus, if he were completely free from this weakness and lowliness, who could bear him when he is exalted? Therefore the great Isaiah says to the arrogant: "Why does earth and ashes boast?

But let us return to the subject at hand. God fashioned man from dust; but man did not see how he was made; for this reason he was also ignorant of his own lowliness. For God, as I said earlier, did not create the soul prior to the body, so that it might not observe the creation. Nevertheless, since man is entirely unaware from what lowliness he arose and that the creator molded him from earth, he returns him to the earth from which he was taken, so that, having again experienced his own weakness, he might recognize both the original benefaction and the future benevolence. For when he was formed, he did not see that he came from earth. Pay close attention, lest the meaning escape you. When Adam was being formed, he did not see that he arose from earth; but when he rises in the resurrection, he knows that he rises having shed dust. For even if the dead man does not see himself, he sees the one before him. We see those who have died and been dissolved into dust, and through what we see we are taught. Have you not often seen bold and arrogant men, how humble and subdued they are at times of death? A death is announced, and everyone’s heart trembles, everyone’s pride falls; and we philosophize at the tombs, when we see bare bones and perceive the human nature consumed and dissolved, we immediately philosophize to one another: See what we become and where we go. And we babble: we have left the tombs and forgotten our lowliness. In the tomb, each one speaks to his neighbor somewhat like this: Oh, the misery! Oh, our wretched life! See what we become.

And in general, even if we speak and snatch at something and shout and bear grudges, each person simply philosophizes in this way, as if about to renounce all wickedness entirely; and inwardly he philosophizes with words, but outwardly he fights against God with his deeds. For this reason God arranged that tombs be set up everywhere, reminding us of our own weakness; hence every city, every village has tombs before its entrances. Someone hastens to enter a city that is reigning and teeming with wealth and power and other dignities; and before he sees what he imagines, he first sees what he becomes: tombs before the gates, tombs before the fields; everywhere the lesson of our humility lies before us, and we are first taught what we end up as, and only then do we see the spectacles within. And not only this, but often when about to enter into a partnership of life, we are taught the extreme humility of our nature: a man, often when he wishes to take a wife, dictates the marriage contract to the notary. And the union has not yet occurred, and death is immediately recorded; he has not yet enjoyed the cohabitation and the marriage, and he immediately stipulates death; he has not yet seen his spouse, and he prescribes votes of death against himself and against her in advance, and writes such things: if the husband dies before the wife, if the wife before the husband, such and such is arranged. Thus the ancient laws fixed reminders of nature everywhere for all; and not only concerning those who exist and are living are the votes of death cast, but also concerning those not yet born. For what does it say? If the child to be born should die. The fruit is not yet there, and the verdict has already run.

Then in the writing tablets he recognizes nature; but if something human happens to him or his wife dies, he forgets what he wrote and utters other words of tragedy: "And this," he says, "was I to suffer? Did I expect to suffer this, to be deprived of my marriage?" What then? Did you forget what you wrote? And when you were outside of events, did you recognize the boundaries of nature? But when you fell into passions, did you forget the laws of nature? These things are said for the correction of all, so that all may bear everything that befalls them nobly, so that they may not consider the judgments of God a loss. Do not philosophize outside of passions, but when you come within passions, display magnanimity; when you grieve, remember the words with which you console the grieving. What words do we use toward the grieving? Do we not philosophize these things to them? "These misfortunes are human; you are not the only one to undergo misfortune, you are not the only one to endure the violence of death; rulers also bear these things, rulers have often been deprived, and potentates are deprived; recognize your own verdict, you are a human being; along with all others, you too enjoy the common laws of nature.

You utter these and more than these when you exhort another. For you are a noble teacher of others, but to yourself you are not even a pitiable student. It is a mark of a great and noble soul to philosophize in the height of passions. If someone is able to say in the face of every misfortune or grief or loss: "You are just, Lord, and your judgments are straight"; he is harmed as a human being, but he is crowned as a lover of God. Life, brothers, is full of much difficulty, and it is necessary that both the just and the unjust, the pious and the impious, be afflicted without exception. But the difference is great: for it is one thing to be disciplined as one's own, and another to be scourged as a stranger. A son is beaten, and a servant is beaten; but the one is beaten as a slave who has sinned, the other as a free man and as a son in need of correction. The blows do not create equality of status. Not if a pious man suffers what an impious man suffers does he become equal in honor to the impious; but for the former the discipline is reckoned as affliction and testing, for the impious as scourges and punishment. For this reason, knowing these difficulties, the blessed David says concerning the righteous: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous." But see what follows: "And from all of them the Lord will deliver them." He has not yet mentioned the affliction and he has indicated the cure. But concerning the opposite: "Many are the scourges of the sinner," and there is nothing that follows. But of the righteous, many are the afflictions, and from all of them the Lord will deliver them. Hearing these things, let no one despair of himself nor say: "If then I am scourged as a sinner without hope, my discipline is fruitless.

For the scripture now called the sinner the one wholly alien to piety, not the righteous man who is afflicted, the one who partakes of piety but slips in human affairs. For that God has mercy on sinners, the whole scripture is full of pledges of God’s philanthropy. For it says: “I live,” says the Lord, “I do not desire the death of the sinner, but rather that he turn and live.” God swears, not as one distrusting himself, but forcing our distrust into trust. Let every man, then, when examined in afflictions, say: “You are righteous, Lord, and your judgments are straight”; and at once he has shown a noble soul and has not dissolved piety. Such was the blessed Job, who commanded against all passions, who conquered all the terrors of the devil, who dissolved all his madness, who with the firmness of his resolve broke the waves of the devil, who was deprived of all things together and did not deny the Lord of all. But his commands will receive a separate account; for truly it needs a separate time for examination, lest we insult his struggles by the haste of words. But let us keep before our eyes those things which that noble and great contestant said; for he sets a seal on what has been said. Stripped of all things, he did not strip himself of piety, but says: “The Lord gave, the Lord took away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it happened.” “It seemed good” is fine; he yields to authority, he does not meddle with the administration. He did not say as we do: “Why do the young die and the old remain ripe? What kind of administration is this?

An old man desires death, being loosened in his flesh and lacking money and every other comfort, and he does not obtain his desire; and a child with lovely beauty, longed for by his parents, is snatched away untimely? Learn not to seek such things, learn to say: "Your judgments are a great abyss"; learn to say: "You are just, Lord, and your judgments are straight"; learn to say: "As it seemed good to the Lord, so it came to pass." Acknowledge the authority, that you may acknowledge piety. But since the discourse has fallen into the glory of the Holy Spirit, let us say something also of the doctrinal matters for our own security and confirmation. For just as Job, having said "as it seemed good to the Lord," showed the authority and the lordship, so also the apostles, indicating the masterly authority of the Holy Spirit, say: "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit to impose nothing upon you except what is necessary." "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit." If it is subordinate, why did it seem good to it? If the Spirit is under law and serves, how did it seem good to that which is subordinate? Do not the things that seem good to the king come to pass, rather than those presented by the subjects? "As it seemed good to the Lord," says Job; "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit," say the apostles. The expression of authority is of equal honor, since the glory of the kingdom is undivided. But again the malice of the heretics finds an entrance: "For if," they say, "the apostles said, 'It seemed good to the Holy Spirit,' and they added, 'and to us,' do the apostles on this account possess the authority of divinity?" Let these things be studied, so that they may not inject the venom of their disobedience into untrained souls, so that they may not pour heretical impiety into the ears of the simple.

Such things they often speak pompously: "Let nothing," he says, "brother, surprise you in what has been said." He calls him brother and kills him as an enemy. "Do not wonder," he says, "if the apostles said concerning the Holy Spirit, 'It seemed good to the Holy Spirit'; but see also what follows: 'It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, it seemed good to the apostles.' Are the apostles gods, then? Do they have the authority of God?" When the heretic says these things, let us bring forth the arrows from holy Scripture; for the arrows of the mighty one are sharpened and sent into the heart of the king's enemies. What, then, is there to say to him? If joining the apostles with the Holy Spirit diminishes the Spirit's dignity, then joining Moses with God diminishes God's dignity. I mean something like this: if you do not consider great the phrase "it seemed good to the Holy Spirit" because the apostles are joined with it, then you cannot call great even faith in God because Moses is also joined with God. For Scripture says, "The people believed in God and in Moses." But let us bring forth another arrow: if the glory of the apostles joined with the Spirit diminishes the Spirit's dignity, then Samuel attached to God also insults God and diminishes His dignity; for it is written, "And all the people feared the Lord and Samuel." Again, let us bring forth a third arrow against impiety. If joining the apostles with the Spirit diminishes the dignity and divine authority of the Holy Spirit, then Gideon attached to God's name diminishes God's dignity; for all the people fighting shouted, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.

Just as Moses is joined to God not as equal in honor to God, but as a servant of God, and Samuel to God not as equal in honor, but as a prophet, and Gideon to God not as equal in honor, but as a general of the war, so also the apostles are joined to the Spirit as heralds of the gospel. Recognize therefore the authority and do not insult the dignity of the Spirit. Recognize the divine theology of the holy Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. This is the uncreated nature, the true dignity, the undivided kingdom, the unsevered honor, the indivisible hope, the incomprehensible glory of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, to whom is due all glory, honor, and worship unto the ages of ages. Amen.