{"collection":"Christian Texts","full_text_available":false,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/sacred_texts_v1_chr_ecf_109_1090053_htm/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/sacred_texts_v1_chr_ecf_109_1090053_htm","id":"sacred_texts_v1_chr_ecf_109_1090053_htm","license":"unknown_pending_legal_review","rights_basis":"sacred_texts_v1_preview_gate_primary_text_only; acquisition-method/ToS and compilation-copyright questions still open, not resolved by this gate","source":"sacred_texts_v1","source_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/109/1090053.htm","summary":"This is a patristic Christian homily \u2014 almost certainly by John Chrysostom, given its rhetorical style and the manuscript context \u2014 delivered to a congregation and belonging to the tradition of early church moral preaching. Its central argument is that neither the Devil nor wicked people can harm a person of firm moral purpose: evil's power is entirely contingent on the weakness or sloth of its target, not on any strength inherent to evil itself. The preacher makes this case through a series of contrasts \u2014 the congregation attending church versus those at the theatre, Noah maintaining virtue in a corrupt generation, Job refusing to be broken \u2014 to demonstrate that identical circumstances produce different outcomes solely because of differing intention and resolve. A distinctive theological move is the argument that God deliberately permits the wicked to coexist with the good for the benefit of both: the good grow stronger through resistance (like trees toughened by wind), while the wicked are at least shamed and restrained by the righteous example around them. The leaven-and-meal parable is used to argue that a small number of virtuous people can transform a corrupt society, as the twelve apostles transformed the world. The homily closes with an exegesis of the sheep-and-goats judgment scene, insisting the distinction is not one of nature but of moral purpose \u2014 making human will, not divine predestination or demonic coercion, fully responsible for one's fate.","tags":["Christian Asceticism","John Chrysostom","Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers"],"text":null,"title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. IX: Three Homilies Concerning the Power of Demons.: Homily III. On the Power of Man to Resist the Devil.","tradition":"Christian Texts","translated_text":null,"word_count":5948}