{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/211/2110633.htm","path":"chr/ecf/211/2110633.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/211/2110633.htm","text":"That the understanding, by means of which we can recognize God\u2019s commands, and the performance of a good will are both gifts from the Lord.\nFurther the blessed David asks of the Lord that he may gain that very understanding, by which he can recognize God\u2019s comp. 327 mands which, he well knew, were written in the book of the law, and he says \u201cI am Thy servant: O give me understanding that I may learn Thy commandments.\u201d 1257 Certainly he was in possession of understanding, which had been granted to him by nature, and also had at his fingers\u2019 ends a knowledge of God\u2019s commands which were preserved in writing in the law: and still he prayed the Lord that he might learn this more thoroughly as he knew that what came to him by nature would never be sufficient for him, unless his understanding was enlightened by the Lord by a daily illumination from Him, to understand the law spiritually and to recognize His commands more clearly, as the \u201cchosen vessel\u201d also declares very plainly this which we are insisting on. \u201cFor it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do according to good will.\u201d 1258 What could well be clearer than the assertion that both our good will and the completion of our work are fully wrought in us by the Lord? And again \u201cFor it is granted to you for Christ\u2019s sake, not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for Him.\u201d 1259 Here also he declares that the beginning of our conversion and faith, and the endurance of suffering is a gift to us from the Lord. And David too, as he knows this, similarly prays that the same thing may be granted to him by God\u2019s mercy. \u201cStrengthen, O God, that which Thou hast wrought in us:\u201d 1260 showing that it is not enough for the beginning of our salvation to be granted by the gift and grace of God, unless it has been continued and ended by the same pity and continual help from Him. For not free will but the Lord \u201clooseth them that are bound.\u201d No strength of ours, but the Lord \u201craiseth them that are fallen:\u201d no diligence in reading, but \u201cthe Lord enlightens the blind:\u201d where the Greeks have \u03ba\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u03bf\u1fd6 \u03c4\u03c5\u03c6\u03bb\u03bf\u03cd\u03c2, i.e., \u201cthe Lord maketh wise the blind:\u201d no care on our part, but \u201cthe Lord careth for the stranger:\u201d no courage of ours, but \u201cthe Lord assists (or supports) all those who are down.\u201d 1261 But this we say, not to slight our zeal and efforts and diligence, as if they were applied unnecessarily and foolishly, but that we may know that we cannot strive without the help of God, nor can our efforts be of any use in securing the great reward of purity, unless it has been granted to us by the assistance and mercy of the Lord: for \u201ca horse is prepared for the day of battle: but help cometh from the Lord,\u201d 1262 \u201cfor no man can prevail by strength.\u201d 1263 We ought then always to sing with the blessed David: \u201cMy strength and my praise is\u201d not my free will, but \u201cthe Lord, and He is become my salvation.\u201d 1264 And the teacher of the Gentiles was not ignorant of this when he declared that he was made capable of the ministry of the New Testament not by his own merits or efforts but by the mercy of God. \u201cNot\u201d says he, \u201cthat we are capable of thinking anything of ourselves as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, which can be put in less good Latin but more forcibly, \u201cour capability is of God,\u201d and then there follows: \u201cWho also made us capable ministers of the New Testament.\u201d 1265\n2 Cor. 3:5, 6.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. XI: The Wor...","type":"page"}