Questions on the Old and New Testament 1.1–6.2

God is that which no opinion reaches; for he is more than whatever can be said or thought. But let us say something which, though unequal to him, may yet in some measure fit the things that seem worthy of God. For each nature forms its notion of God according to its own capacity, so that as far as nature differs from nature, so far does opinion differ from opinion as to what God is. For because he is above all things, he must exceed the minds of all. Human beings, as far as they can stretch the eye of the mind, look upon what God is by opinion, not by definition; that the angels, who are above human beings, perceive something more of God is not in doubt; the archangels even more by that very fact; and the cherubim and seraphim, which are said to be powers near God, perceive greater things of God, yet do not wholly comprehend what God is, because “no one knows the Father except the Son, nor does anyone know the Son except the Father.”

God, then, as he appears to human beings, is spirit, simple in nature, light inaccessible, invisible, beyond estimation, infinite, perfect, needing nothing, eternal, immortal in every way, from whom all things have taken their beginning; to be venerated, loved, feared; outside whom nothing is, rather in whom are all things that exist, above, below, highest and lowest; almighty, all-holding, truly rich in all things, because there is nothing that is not his; good, just, merciful. Good, because he made exist what did not exist; just, because the things he made were left to their own free choice so that they might make progress (and because they are not so perfect that they cannot fall, he decreed that seeds of the law should be in them by nature, adding the help of the revealed law, so that its authority might be for people’s advancement); and merciful, because he does not readily repay sinners, but bears with them so as to pardon them when they turn. He is also severe, so that the things he has well established may be preserved by fear, lest negligence should bring about the ruin of life. And, not to pass over what is more wonderful, so great is his clemency that, having suffered insults from those he made, he bears them and is the first to call them to peace. Is this not a work of greater power than to have founded creation? If he remained in this alone, his excessive goodness would harm creation. Hence he wants sometimes to be loved, sometimes to be feared, lest those who stray from him perish. This is why, lest his patience be thought something to be despised (to our harm entirely, certainly not his), he says: “I have kept silent; shall I keep silent for ever?”

So, since God is good, all the things he made are good. Whence, then, is evil? Nothing is evil except the transgression of good, when things not granted are presumed, or things granted are done out of order, so that what is commanded in one place is done in another: when what is granted with a wife is done with a prostitute; when what was to be offered to God is offered to the devil; when someone takes not his own but another’s; and when, although it is permitted to kill a transgressor, an innocent man is killed. No nature, then, is proved to be evil. But will is an accident of nature, conceived from causes, which is moved badly when it exceeds its measure, so as to do things that are not of its nature. And the causes of transgression arise from the senses, when we see or hear something badly. This thing produces this error because man is not God, who alone cannot err.

So human nature has been left to its own choice, so that it can do what it wills; so that if exercise improves the good of its nature, it may be honored, but if it weakens its vigor, such a one may be held worthy of disgrace; for he does what is against himself. It is no small thing that has been granted to man: that when he follows what is right he may rejoice in himself, because he sees himself better by his own work, or else blame himself, who, when he could, did not take pains to improve himself with good things. But if man were not in his own power, he would have been subject to necessity, so as to have neither the glory of a good work nor the punishment of an evil one, but he would have been one of the beasts.

Since, then, we have been made capable of both, so that we sin through negligence if we hear and see badly, that is, contrary to nature and reason, what we ought to hear and see well, but keep the good of our nature through vigilance; and since we cannot always be on guard, because, as I said, we have been made capable of both: if we sin, we are not yet condemned unless we offend again, as if now ruined. For one who has sinned once ought to restore himself so as not to sin again, lest he be equal to the one who had conquered him; so that if he does not sin again, he is now held superior, because, thrown down once, he has triumphed twice. This is justice: that, since there is a wrestling match in the world, the one who is more inclined not to sin is crowned.

There is nothing evil, then, in God’s work, even if certain things are called evil by some, such as poison or darkness (for because our bodies cannot bear the force of poison, it is called evil, as though they could bear fire or water), and iron or lead, because it is far inferior to gold, will be called evil. For they condemn darkness by comparison with light, though they know it is necessary in its place, as are lead or clay; for darkness at least gives rest after labor.

So everyone who wrestles in the world must strive not to go away beaten in a hard struggle and become guilty, restoring himself barely or late, and perhaps meanwhile his end may come, and he may depart from here with sin. For one who resists with all his strength, if he is perhaps thrown, falls as if a man, and no one is angry with him, but rather restores his spirit with some encouragement; for one has seen that he had the purpose of conquering, and hopes that such a one can advance to victory, whom his enemy did not throw without tiring himself. For one who is easily conquered has no spirit to resist, and is not conquered but consents. This man sins more bitterly; such a one is hardly to be admitted to pardon, who has the wish to offend. For one who takes care not to sin, even if he does sin, does not sin grievously. For lesser sins sometimes creep up on the diligent; for the smaller they are, the subtler, and while they are despised they are not avoided. The greater ones appear from afar, and therefore one who sins in the greater ones commits a crime of his will.

Certainly, since we said above that sins take their origin from the senses, when we look at or hear something contrary to the command of the law or to reason: for example, if, seeing the sun, we think it is to be worshiped because of its beauty, then we see badly, because it is an insult to the common Creator that what is due to him alone should be assigned to a creature, since he has forbidden it through the law. Or when we see bodies well formed and comely, or if we covet something of our neighbor’s, we look at them otherwise than the law commands; then sin occurs, which is called evil. But perhaps it may be said: “Nothing beautiful ought to have been made, so that we would not sin,” so that our protection would consist in the ugliness of other things; nor should there be iron, so that murders would not be done with it; nor should a lamp be in use, so that thieves would not use its light to break in; so that what is greatly useful to all would be lacking because of the empty talk of some; whereas it is plain that we always look at all things and yet do not always covet, because the fault is not theirs but ours when we are negligent. This plainly comes about from the interval of creation, because we are not what God is. And we hear badly if, hearing that idols are gods, we agree, or if we lend an ear to those singing shameful things. But we hear well if, hearing about God that he is one, we delight in it. And if anyone hearing something against the law assents, he sins: this will be hearing badly.

He made, because he is a maker; or let it be denied, if he is not. But his works themselves show that he is. He made, then, so that what was not before might be, because without doubt it is better to be than not to be. But it is said: “Was there some void where he could make, or what was there before where he made?” The vessel of election settles this in a few words. For he says, when he was speaking of God: “In him we live and move and are”; that is, all things are in God, because he is everywhere and before all things alone, eternal, invisible to every creature.

And lest we seem to have passed over, or rather not to have known, the mystery of why the world was made, we say that the devil’s apostasy drew many angels, that is, spiritual powers, with him into transgression, when he wanted to claim a kingdom for himself by impious presumption. The prophet Isaiah indicates this, saying: “How has Lucifer fallen from heaven, who rose in the morning!” that is, “who appeared more shining than the rest.” For he was as it were the chief of many, among whom he was the more brilliant, in whose company he descended to the impious struggle. For seeing many spiritual powers below him, since in God’s paradise he was more eminent in knowledge of the heavenly mystery, puffed up by that very elation he wanted to be called God; by the same reasoning, indeed, by which even in the present life we see some imitating his example, who, lifted up by the sight of the soldiers gathered around them, with their attendants supplying the kindling of conspiracy in this matter, have wanted to claim imperial power for themselves.

Hence it is that God, in order to destroy his presumption not by power but by reason, created matter, which was a confusion of things, from which he made the world. For things that were confused together, once distinguished, produced this adornment we see. For when the substances had been separated from one another and joined together, it is called “world” (mundus), because each thing, separated from another, appeared clean (ad mundum); so that man, placed here, created from the upper and lower things, that is, from heavenly and earthly, might show that the one God is Lord not only by his voice but also by his image, by which he was made one by the one God, from whom the rest would arise. For one made one for this reason, to teach that all things are from one and therefore that God is one; so that the higher creation might learn the truth, to its confusion, in man, who was formed from the earth.

From that time the devil became man’s enemy; for he perceived that man was made for his accusation. Hence by his subtlety he contrived to lead him into the same transgression into which he himself had fallen, so as to make his accuser a sharer in his condemnation. For by transgression he promised him the deity which he himself fell while aspiring to. And because every nature is free from crime, names come from what is accidental (for first the thing, afterward the meaning), and therefore “Satan” and “devil” are names composed from his acts, so as to signify not his nature but his will.

So, so that God’s purpose, which he decreed in creating man, might stand, and the devil’s deed, by which he got round man, might go to heap up his guilt, Christ deigned to come from the sacred seats to earth, both to free man from the sentence of transgression and to show the devil’s future perdition, lest anyone imitate his deed. For this reason the apostle John said: “For this the Son of God came, to undo the works of the devil.” If he were evil by nature, to promise him punishment would be the act of a madman or an unjust man. For who would blame one whom he sees doing nothing other than what his nature allows? Can one be angry with fire because it burns, or with water because it chills, when it certainly does this not by will but by nature? Hence the devil too, if he were evil by nature, would have no will. For he could not discern, but would plunge into everything in one and the same way, as if blind.

But in fact he does this with a certain judgment; for he spares those who do his will, overlooks certain neutral people, puts stumbling blocks and hindrances in the way of those who want to flee to God’s help, lays snares for God’s servants, and is more hostile to those who are readier in his service. Hence it is plain that his will is at fault. For this reason the apostle Peter says: “Be sober and watchful, because your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom to devour.” He does not seek gentiles, he does not seek Jews, he does not seek those of evil life and conduct, but he seeks the servants of God and of Christ, whom he knows to be his enemies, because they condemn his deed and presumption.

Indeed, when the law was given, his envy blazed up more against those under the law, knowing that the teachings of the law hand on one God and good conduct to people. So if he is thought to do these things by nature, he cannot be made guilty, because he does what belongs to his nature and what he can, and does not do what he cannot, because it is not of his nature; and so he is neither to be praised nor condemned: not to be praised, because the things he does are harmful; not to be condemned, because he does them not by will but by the impulse of nature. For we know that some, having suddenly gone mad, have done much harm with iron, club, stones, and bites, and some have even killed; yet when they were caught with effort and brought to trial, they were not made guilty, because they did these things not by will but driven by some force or other, without knowing. For how is one made guilty who does not know what he did? So too the devil, if he does not know the good, why is he judged worthy of condemnation, who does not do what he does not know? Indeed, if it could be, he would be praiseworthy, because he does what he knows.

But we are rightly made guilty, because we do otherwise than we know we ought to do. And since through all Scripture we see the devil made guilty, and for this reason we read that Gehenna is prepared for him, we know that he is to be condemned by laws, because, though he knew and could do good, he did evil. For God, who is just, would not condemn him because he had not done good, which he had not known, or because he had done evil, which he had known [to be his nature]. I think it has thus been made plain that no nature ought to be called evil, because every evil, as has become clear, comes from the will, which befalls nature through the senses.

It did not need to be written down earlier, because there was not yet so great an error among people from this cause. But when error grew in the human race, so that even the children of Israel in Egypt heard it handed down against this account by the philosophers of the Egyptians (by whom Moses too had been instructed in all Egyptian learning), which asserts that a certain Saclas made this world through evil angels, and that he is seen to be the prince of this world, that is, Satan (a view following which Marcion fell into death; for the Manichees too say that man was made by the same Saclas, though not this world, being more foolish than the rest; for since it is agreed that the world was made for man’s sake, they say the world was made by God, though from another’s material, but man created by the adversary, as if one man set a master in another’s house), it was necessary, then, for Moses, in order to expose and remove this error, to make it plain that God is the author of the world and of the man that was made. For having received authority through the signs and wonders he did, he taught without doubt that what he handed down with signs as witnesses was true. For who would not believe one whose signs were so great in what he did? Indeed, hence it is that those who think against this teaching are known to err, because they try to support their assertions with bare words.

So, to teach that nothing is coeternal with God, he sets out the very order of created things, so that, by mentioning the lesser things made first and afterward the greater, none of these may be held uncreated; because the things that are lesser in time are greater in power, so that if the former think to claim precedence by time, they may be refuted by the very weakness by which they are subject to the later ones; or if the latter claim the first place by presuming on their power, they may be humbled by their very lateness; so that none of these may be seen as not subject to a beginning. First, indeed, heaven and earth were made; then light, which in its function is day; afterward the firmament, which was called heaven, and the gatherings of the waters, which he called seas, so that the earth might appear, on which one could live. And by the earth which he says was made after heaven, he does not want earth alone to be understood, but signified matter, that is, all the lower things, which developed into every form of the world. And he maintains that the heaven made in the beginning is not this fleshly one but that higher one which is spiritual; so that, saying that heaven was made first, then earth, he might signify that all invisible things in heaven and all visible things on earth were created by God. For he comprehended the highest and lowest of all nature, so that whatever is in between may be believed beyond doubt to have been made. The lights, which he established to govern the world, he asserts were made on the fourth day, so that the greater they are in power, the lower they are in time. And he set man on the sixth day, to bring an inhabitant into a house already made.

Hence it is that what displeases some was said: “And God saw the light, that it was good”; so that, since all things were said to be made by an evil one and could not be believed good, Moses, to prove that the things made are good, showed that the things he made pleased God himself, so as to make guilty anyone they displeased. For how could he not know the light, who said, “Let there be light, and there was light”? Does anyone make what he does not know? The light that was made pleased the one who made it. What craftsman does not rejoice in his work? If, though it was said, “God saw the light, that it was good,” there are still those who say it is evil, what if it had been left without testimony?

So, having described the making of the world and the origin of the first man, he kept to the line of descent of Seth, who was given in place of Abel, and came in order to Abraham, the father of the Jews, to show that Abraham believed in this God who is the maker of the world, and that he gave the law, in which the future Christ was promised, who would free the human race from the devil’s dominion. From these things our faith is proved reasonable; for the origin described bears witness to it, because the race of Christians is from the beginning. For from Seth, the son of Adam, one comes to Enoch, from Enoch to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham one descends to David, and from David Christ is born of Mary by the Holy Spirit. All the earlier ones, then, as many as had the faith in the one God which the Savior preached, are rightly to be called Christians; for from the beginning the Savior was promised as coming. Hence it says in the Apocalypse: “the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world.” So Christianity always existed. For all these I mentioned above, from the first man created in the world, through whom the line extends to the Savior, had faith in this God, of whom Christ spoke, saying: “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only and true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” It can be said in reply: “If Christianity existed before, what knowledge came through Christ?” The coming of Christ brought this advance in understanding: that it showed the mystery of the one God who had been preached, and demonstrated what belongs to which person, and, to fulfill the righteousness of the law, added what had been held in reserve.

The law formed in letters did not need to be given first, because it is in some way implanted in nature itself, and knowledge of the Creator was not hidden, being handed down by descent. For who does not know what befits a good life, or is unaware that what one does not want done to oneself ought not to be done to another? But when the natural law faded away, pressed down by the habit of sinning, then it had to be made manifest, so that in the Jews all might hear; not that it had been wholly blotted out, but it lacked its greatest authority: idolatry was pursued; there was no fear of God on earth; sexual immorality was practiced; they were greedy with desire for their neighbor’s goods. So the law was given, so that the things that were known might have authority and those that had begun to be hidden might be made manifest. For we find that before Moses sins were not only not hidden but were also punished. For this reason many are found to have been righteous; for, knowing God as avenger, they feared to sin. When this began to be neglected, the natural law had to be revealed, so that all might know by open reasoning that the Lord would require an account of human acts. Although we read that vengeance was taken through the flood and on Sodom and Gomorrah, yet the forgetfulness of antiquity had covered these things over; hence they were recalled through Moses for the sake of fear, to correct discipline and reform faith in God. Therefore the apostle too says: “The law is not laid down for the righteous but for the unrighteous, idol worshipers, fornicators,” and such.

Now let us see whether it suits those who, hearing of God’s judgment, laugh that it will come, whether it will profit or harm, whether it is fortified by truth or lacks reason. The law was indeed given to the world, but we see it lapse with many: it does not, then, seem just. Why should sinners be secure here through power, others mock the laws, the poor be oppressed, accusations be fabricated against the just, those who do well be held in reproach, the godly be in need, the wicked flourish, the unjust and corrupters be in honor, the greedy and robbers grow rich, and the judge be for sale? Would it not seem unjust if the Creator of things did not require an account of these things, so that those unjustly oppressed here might be lifted up, and those who were in need for living well might be rewarded, and those who were in reproach for righteousness might be honored; but those who through power despised the laws, or mocked them by evasion, pursuing iniquity, so glorious in these things that they seemed to insult justice itself, might be humbled and confounded and subjected to torments in the sight of those in whose misfortunes and contempt they rejoiced, so that these too, glad at their punishment, might give thanks to God, with whom alone respect of persons ceases?

This can be gathered from the words of the reading itself, since the story is not veiled by literary art. For the very speech of Scripture shows Abel to be prudent and devout, but Cain negligent and improvident and therefore less devout. Abel, then, chose the better of what pleased him to offer to God the Creator, so as to offer him the choicest of the very things he had created, by which he would prove both his dedication and God’s desert, showing both his own reverence and God as the author. Cain, like a rustic, could not perceive this in advance. For, putting his whole mind into the earth, he could not raise the eyes of his mind to heaven so as to see what was worthy of the Creator; for he offered God gifts of any sort whatever.

This cause of a crooked mind is also found in the Jews. For they were often rebuked when they offered their gifts carelessly at God’s altar, gifts that would not seem worthy even of men, as the Lord says: “You offer me the blind and the one-eyed; I will not accept these from your hands. Offer them to your governor or your leader, and see if he accepts them”; since it is agreed by all that the greatest gifts ought to be offered to an exalted person. And so Cain’s gifts were rejected, God saying to him: “Why are you saddened, and why has your face fallen? If you offer rightly but do not divide rightly, have you not sinned? Be still. Its turning is to you, and you will rule over it.”

You see, then, that the division incurs sin. Not considering what was worthy of God, he kept the better things for his own use. So he was not rebuked because he offered, but because he offered unworthy things; nor was he condemned for it, but warned to amend the deed. “For its turning is to you,” he says, “and you will rule over it,” that is, “since I do not accept it, the gift you offered has returned to your ownership,” so that he would know what to do in the future. From this envy blazed up so that he killed his brother, so that the one who first showed righteousness was killed by the unrighteous, and an evil example was given to people. For he was so blinded by jealous rivalry that he not only did not give thanks (because he had not been made guilty, but had even learned how to amend it), but even added something else more grave, by which he deserved to be condemned.

The case of improvident and murderous Cain is like that of the wicked servant who, when his master had forgiven him, became ungrateful and, going out, choked his fellow servant, so that he was condemned without excuse both for the crime of the past, which had been forgiven him, and for the impiety committed against his fellow servant. And yet Cain was not condemned for the present, but was sent away upon the earth confounded and guilty, under fear, so that, if he repented, he might be pardoned. Indeed, fearing that someone would kill him for this deed, he said to God: “My case is too great for me to be left. If you cast me out today from your face, I will hide also from the face of the earth, and I will be groaning and trembling on the earth; and it will be that anyone who finds me will kill me.” Terrified by the words of the just judge God, Cain fears to be despised by God, so that he thinks he must also flee from the sight of men, certain that one who lives under God’s anger can also be killed by a man. But what did the Lord answer him? “Not so,” he says; that is, “I have not sent you back for this, when you do not deserve to live, that you should be killed by someone, but that you should groan and tremble, as the first to give an evil example on the earth, while the ground does not answer your labors with fruit.” “So anyone who kills Cain,” he says, “will pay sevenfold vengeance.” This sentence shows that Cain was rightly to be condemned. For when he saw a law given with such a threat, lest anyone imitate his deed, he began to fear the more, knowing what evil he had committed.

So he promises sevenfold vengeance if anyone aspired to this crime, so that, seeing Cain made guilty by this deed, and while there was not yet a revelation of the law, he might know that he would be fined with a sevenfold penalty if he did not avoid it; so that knowledge of the law would add six blows beyond what Cain had deserved, so that with Cain’s blow seven vengeances would be counted. By this number too those are to be rewarded who leave all things and follow the Lord, and in the future they will have eternal life. This is the sign that God set on Cain, so that no one who found him should kill him. For a law was laid down concerning the parricide, so that if anyone committed homicide (because every parricide is a homicide), he would be seven times more guilty than Cain had been, so that, frightened by this severity, the rest might restrain themselves from this crime.

Those are wrong who think that Lamech said of Cain: “I have killed a man to my bruising and a young man to my wound.” For Lamech was already born in the fifth generation from Cain, that is, from Methushael, Cain’s great-great-grandson. Lamech recalls this to show that one who has sinned under a revealed law is to be bound more severely. And therefore, if after Cain vengeance was taken sevenfold on his imitator, how much more must it be taken on one whom neither Cain’s deed and rebuke nor the sentence passed after him frightened into turning his will from so impious and cruel a crime! After Cain, then, Lamech committed homicide, who without doubt, according to what was said above, paid sevenfold vengeance. And he shows what would happen after Lamech to anyone who followed this, saying: “But for Lamech seventy times seven”; because if repentance does not follow an evil work, let it be struck with blows of seventy-seven plagues. Hence the Savior too commanded that one who sins even seventy times seven times, yet turns, should be forgiven.

But lest it be thought that someone else after Cain committed homicide before Lamech, because he said, “vengeance has been taken for Cain,” as if already done: how could Lamech say of himself that vengeance had been taken on him, when the homicide he had confessed to having committed was still recent? Because it is agreed that every deed carries its sentence with it. For when there is no other hope except what is known to be due to the completed work, the future is held as done. Indeed, it was said to Adam: “On the day you eat, you shall die the death”; and certainly they did not die at once, but after a long interval of time; but because the hope of immortality had already been lost, the future death was called present, because it began to be held in expectation. So Lamech confesses that he killed a young man, and Cain, as has become clear, could not reach this time, or if he did, which is impossible, he was old.