{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/108/1080140.htm","path":"chr/ecf/108/1080140.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/108/1080140.htm","text":"p. 572 Jod.\n72. \u2026\u201cThy hands have made me, and fashioned me\u201d (Psa. 119.73). The hands of God are the power of God. Or if the plural number moveth them, since it is not said, Thy hand, but, \u201cThy hands;\u201d let them understand by the hands of God the power and wisdom of God, both of which titles are given to one Christ, 5227 who is also understood under the figure, Arm of the Lord. 5228 Or let them understand by the hands of God, the Son and the Holy Spirit; since the Holy Spirit worketh conjointly with the Father and the Son: whence saith the Apostle, \u201cBut all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit:\u201d 5229 he said, \u201cone and the self-same;\u201d lest as many spirits as works might be imagined, not that the Spirit worketh without the Father and the Son. It is easy therefore to see how the hands of God are to be understood: provided, at the same time, that He be not denied to do those things through His Word which He doth by His hands: nor be considered not to do those things with His hands, which He doth through His word.\u2026But is this said in respect of Adam? from whom since all men were propagated, what man, since Adam was made, may not say that he himself also was made by reason of procreation and generation from Adam? Or may it rightly be said, in this sense, \u201cThy hands have made me, and fashioned me,\u201d namely, that every man is born even of his parents not without the work of God, God creating, they generating? Since, if the creative 5230 power of God be withdrawn from things, they perish: nor is anything at all, either of the world\u2019s elements, or of parents, or of seeds, produced, if God doth not create it.\u2026\n73. The Greek version hath a more concise expression for our, \u201cGive me understanding,\u201d \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u2122\u03c4\u03b9\u03c3\u03bf\u03bd \u03bc\u03b5, expressing \u201cgive understanding\u201d by the single word \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u2122\u03c4\u03b9\u03c3\u03bf\u03bd, which the Latin cannot do; as if one could not say, Heal me; and it were necessary to say, Give me health, as it is here said, \u201cGive me understanding;\u201d or, make me whole, as here it may be said, make me intelligent. This indeed an Angel could do: for he said to Daniel, \u201cI am come to give thee understanding;\u201d 5231 and this word is in the Greek, as it is here also, \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u2122\u03c4\u03b9\u03c3\u03b1\u03af \u03c3\u03b5; as if the Latin translator were to render \u03b8\u03b5\u03c1\u03b1\u03c0\u03b5\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b1\u03af \u03c3\u03b5 by sanitatem dare tibi. For the Latin interpreter would not make a circumlocution by saying, to give thee understanding, if, as we say from health, \u201cto heal thee,\u201d so one could say from intellect, \u201cto intellectuate thee.\u201d But if an Angel could do this, what reason is there that this man should pray that this be done for him by God? Is it because God had commanded the Angel to do it? Just so: for Christ is understood to have given this command to the Angel. 5232 \u2026\n74. \u201cThat I may learn Thy commandments.\u201d Since Thou, saith he, hast formed me, do Thou new form me; that that may be done in Christ\u2019s Body, which the Apostle speaks of, \u201cBe transformed by the renewing of your mind.\u201d 5233\n75. \u201cThey that fear Thee,\u201d he saith, \u201cwill see me, and be glad\u201d (Psa. 119.74): or, as other copies have it, \u201cwill be joyful: because I have hoped in Thy word:\u201d that is, in the things which Thou hast promised, that they may be the sons of promise, the seed of Abraham, in whom all nations are blessed. 5234 Who are they who fear God, and whom will they see and be glad, because he hath put his trust in the word of God? Whether it be the body of Christ, that is, the Church, whose words these are through Christ, or within it, and concerning it, these are as it were the words of Christ concerning Himself; are not they themselves among those who fear God?\u2026The same persons, who see the Church and are glad, are the Church. But why said he not, They who fear Thee see me, and are glad: whereas he hath written, \u201cfear Thee,\u201d in the present tense; while the verbs \u201cshall see,\u201d and shall \u201cbe glad,\u201d are futures? Is it because in the present state there is fear, as long as \u201cman\u2019s life is a temptation upon earth;\u201d 5235 but the gladness which he desired to be understood, will be then, when \u201cthe righteous shall shine in the kingdom of their Father like the sun.\u201d 5236 \u2026\n76. \u201cI know,\u201d she saith, \u201cO Lord, that Thy judgments are righteous, and that in Thy truth Thou hast humbled me\u201d (Psa. 119.75). \u201cO let Thy merciful kindness be my comfort, according to Thy word unto Thy servant\u201d (Psa. 119.76). Mercy and truth are so spoken of in the Divine Word, that, while they are found in many passages, especially in the Psalms, it is also so read in one place, \u201cAll the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.\u201d 5237 And here indeed he hath placed truth first, whereby we are humbled unto death, by the judgment of Him whose judgments are righteousness: next mercy, whereby we are renewed unto life, by the promise of Him whose blessing is His grace. For this reason he saith, \u201caccording to Thy Word unto Thy servant:\u201d that is, according to that which Thou hast promised unto Thy servant. Whether therefore it be regeneration whereby we are here adopted among the sons of God, or faith and hope and charity, which three are built up in us, although they p. 573 come from the mercy of God; nevertheless, in this stormy and troublesome life they are the consolations of the miserable, not the joys of the blessed.\n77. But since those things are destined to happen after and through these, he next saith, \u201cO let Thy loving mercies come upon me, and I shall live\u201d (Psa. 119.77). For then indeed I shall truly live, when I shall not be able to fear lest I die. This is styled life absolutely and without any addition; nor is any life save that which is everlasting and blessed understood, as though it alone were to be called life, compared with which that which we now lead ought rather to be called death than life: according to those words in the Gospel, \u201cIf thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.\u201d 5238 \u2026\n78. He then goeth on as follows: \u201cLet the proud be confounded, for they have unrighteously practised iniquity against me: but I will be occupied in Thy commandments\u201d (Psa. 119.78). Behold, what he saith, the meditation of the law of God, or rather, his meditation the law of God.\n79. \u201cLet such as fear Thee,\u201d he saith, \u201cand have known Thy testimonies, be turned unto me\u201d 5239 (Psa. 119.79). But who is he who saith this? For no mortal will venture to say this, or if he say it, should be listened to. Indeed, it is He who above also hath interposed His own words, saying, \u201cI am a partaker with all them that fear Thee.\u201d Because He was made sharer in our mortal state, that we might also become partakers in His Divine Nature, we became sharers in One unto life, He a sharer in many unto death. He it is unto whom they that fear God turn, and who know the testimonies of God, so long before predicted of Him through the Prophets, a little before displayed in His presence through miracles.\n80. \u201cO let my heart,\u201d he saith, \u201cbe unspotted in Thy righteousnesses, that I be not ashamed\u201d (Psa. 119.80). He returneth to the words of His body, that is, His holy people, and now prayeth that his heart may be made unspotted, that is, the heart of His members; \u201cin the righteousnesses of God,\u201d not in their own strength: for He hath prayed for this, not presumed upon it. In the words he hath added, \u201cthat I be not ashamed,\u201d there is a resemblance to some of the earlier verses of this Psalm. 5240 Whereas there, in the words, \u201cO that,\u201d he signifieth a wish, he hath here expressed himself in the more open words of one praying: \u201cO let my heart be sound:\u201d so that in neither of these two sentences, each of which is one and the same, there is found the boldness of one who trusteth in his own free will against grace. While he saith there, \u201cso shall I not be confounded:\u201d he saith here, \u201cthat I be not ashamed.\u201d The heart then of the members and the body of Christ is made unspotted, through the grace of God, by means of the very Head of that Body, that is, through Jesus Christ our Lord, by the \u201claver of regeneration,\u201d 5241 wherein all our past sins have been blotted out; through the aid of the Spirit, whereby we lust against the flesh, that we be not overcome in our fight; 5242 through the efficacy of the Lord\u2019s Prayer, wherein we say, \u201cForgive us our trespasses.\u201d 5243 Thus regeneration having been given to us, our conflict having been aided, prayer having been poured forth, our heart is made unspotted, so that we be not ashamed. 5244\nIsa. liii. 1. \u201cWhere it is read, \u2018And unto whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?\u2019\u201d\n572:5229 572:5230 572:5231 572:5232 572:5233 572:5234 572:5235\nJob vii. 1. [Here our author reasons against the idea of unconditional election to eternal life.\u2014C.]\n572:5236 572:5237 573:5238 573:5239\n[He says: \u201cIn some copies, both Greek and Latin, we have found convertantur mihi, which I consider to mean just the same as if it were, ad me.\u201d\u2014C.]\n573:5240 573:5241 573:5242 573:5243 573:5244","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VIII: Expositions on...","type":"page"}