Homilies 2.39–3.25

“Simon, then, as I learn, intends to come forward and quote those very passages in the Scriptures that have been added against God for the sake of trial, so that he may be able to draw away as many wretched people as he can from their love of God. For we do not wish to say publicly that they have been added to the books, since by alarming the unlearned crowds we would be doing the will of the wicked Simon himself. For those who lack discernment might flee from us as impious; or, as though not only the blasphemous passages were false, they might fall away from the word altogether. Therefore we are obliged to go along with the false passages and, by questioning him in turn about them, to bring him to a loss; and to those who are well disposed we give, privately and after a trial of their faith, the solution concerning the passages spoken against God, which has one short road. And it is this.”

“Everything said or written against God is false. And that we say this truly, not only for the sake of speaking well of God but also for the sake of truth, I will fully show as the discourse proceeds a little further. Hence you, my dearest Clement, ought not to be grieved that Simon has put off the discussion for this one present day. For today, being equipped before the discussion concerning the passages added to the Scriptures, you ought not to waver in the discussion concerning the only and good God, who also made the world. Rather, you will wonder in the discussion how the impious, passing over the multitude of things said in the Scriptures on God's behalf, gladly seek out and bring forward the things said against him; and so the hearers, through ignorance, believing what is said against God, become cast out of his kingdom. Therefore you, having learned the mystery of the Scriptures by occasion of the postponement, and having gained the not sinning against God, will rejoice beyond comparison.”

And I, Clement, having heard this, said: “I truly rejoice and give thanks to God, the benefactor in all things. But he himself knows that I shall not be able to think anything other than to think everything on God's behalf. So do not suppose that I ask as one doubting the words spoken by God, or those yet to be spoken, but so that, having learned, I may myself be able to teach another who wishes in good faith to learn. Tell me, therefore, what are the falsehoods added to the Scriptures, and how they are really false.” And Peter answered: “Even if you had not asked me, I would have given in due order, as I went on, the proof I promised. But hear how the Scriptures tell many lies against him, so that you may know when you read them.

“What will be said will suffice by way of example. But I do not think, my dear Clement, that anyone who preserves even a little love and good feeling toward God can accept, or even hear, what is said against him. For how can anyone have a soul devoted to the one Ruler and become holy, if he has come to believe that there are many gods and not one? And even if there is one, if he finds him involved in many improprieties, who will be eager to become holy, when he expects that the Ruler of all, because of the improprieties of his own nature, will not punish the wrongdoing of others?”

“Therefore far be it from us to believe that the Lord of all, who created heaven and earth and all things in them, shares his rule with others, or that he lies. For if he lies, who then speaks the truth? Or that he makes trial as one who does not know; then who foreknows? And if he reconsiders and repents, who is perfect in mind and steadfast in purpose? If he is jealous, who is beyond comparison? If he hardens hearts, who makes wise? If he makes blind and deaf, who has given sight and hearing? If he counsels men to despoil others, who upholds righteousness? If he mocks, who is sincere? If he is powerless, who can do all things? If he does injustice, who is just? If he creates evil things, who will do good things? If he does evil, who does good?”

“If he desires the fat mountain, whose are all things? If he lies, who speaks the truth? If he dwells in a tent, who is without bounds? If he longs for the savour of fat, and sacrifices and offerings and libations, who is without need, who is holy, who is pure, who is perfect? If he delights in lamps and lampstands, who set the luminaries in the heaven? If he dwells in thick darkness and gloom and storm and smoke, who is the light that lights the greatest age? If he approaches with trumpets and war-cries and darts and arrows, what is the calm that all things await? If he himself loves wars, who wants peace? If he himself creates evil things, who makes good things? If he himself is without affection, who loves mankind? If he himself is not faithful in what he promises, who will be believed? If he himself loves the wicked and adulterers and murderers, who will be a righteous judge? If he himself repents, who is steadfast? If he himself chooses the wicked, who receives the good?”

“Therefore, my child Clement, take care not to think anything else about God than that he alone is God and Lord and Father, good and righteous, Creator, long-suffering, merciful, nourisher, benefactor, ordaining love of mankind, counselling purity, eternal, making men eternal, beyond comparison, dwelling in the souls of the good, uncontained and yet contained; he who fixed the great age in the infinite as a centre; who spread out the heaven and compacted the earth, stored up the water, arranged the stars in the heaven, made springs gush from the earth, made fruits grow, raised up the mountains, set bounds to the sea, and ordered the winds and breezes; who by the spirit of his counsel securely made fast the enveloping body in the boundless deep.”

“He is our judge, to whom we must look as we set our souls right, thinking everything on his behalf, speaking well of him, persuaded that he alone is good, who by his long-suffering brings into the open the rashness of all. And he, at the end of all things, will sit as righteous judge over each of those who have dared what they ought not.”

Having heard this, I, Clement, said: “Truly this is the worship of God; this is truly piety.” And again I said: “I should like, then, to learn why the books were written in this way. For I remember that you said it was to expose those who would dare to believe anything said against God. But since you allow us to ask, we venture to ask at your bidding: if anyone should wish to say to us, dearest Peter, ‘What is written is true, even if what is said against God seems false to you,’ how shall we answer him?”

And Peter answered: “You did well to ask, for it will serve for your security. But listen. Since the things said against God by the Scriptures are many, and the hour presses because it is evening, ask about any one saying you wish, and I will resolve it, showing it to be false; not only because it is said against God, but because it is really false.” And I answered: “I wish to learn how, when the Scriptures say that God does not know, you can prove that he knows.”

And Peter answered: “You have put forward something that can easily be refuted. But hear how God is ignorant of nothing, but even foreknows. What I ask you, answer me first: the one who wrote the books and said how the world was created, and that God does not foreknow, was he a man or not?” And I said: “A man.” And Peter answered: “Then, being a man, how could he know without falsehood how the world was created, and that God does not foreknow?”

And I, now perceiving the solution, said with a smile: “Because he was a prophet.” And Peter said: “If, then, the prophet, being a man, was ignorant of nothing, because he had received foreknowledge from God, how then was he himself ignorant, who gave man the power of foreknowing, being God?” And I said: “You have spoken rightly.” And Peter said: “Consider this further with me. Since we have agreed that God foreknows all things, it is altogether necessary that the Scriptures that say he is ignorant are lying, and those that say he knows are telling the truth.” And I said: “It must be so.”

And Peter said: “If, then, some things in the Scriptures are true and others false, with good reason our Teacher said, ‘Be approved money-changers,’ since some of the words in the Scriptures are genuine and others counterfeit. And to those who were led astray by the false Scriptures he fittingly showed the cause of their error, saying: ‘You are in error for this reason, that you do not know the true things of the Scriptures; and for this reason you are ignorant also of the power of God.’” And I said: “Very well said.”

And Peter answered: “With good reason, then, I neither believe anything against God, nor do I allow myself to think impiously against the righteous men recorded in the Law. For, as I am persuaded, neither was Adam a transgressor, who was fashioned by the hands of God; nor was Noah a drunkard, who was found righteous above the whole world; nor did Abraham live with three wives at once, who for his self-control was counted worthy of many descendants; nor did Jacob consort with four, two of whom were sisters, he who became the father of twelve tribes and signified the coming of our Teacher; nor was Moses a murderer, nor did he learn to judge from a priest of an idol, he who prophesied the Law of God for all the age and was attested as a faithful steward because of his right understanding.”

“However, I will give you the solution of these also, together with similar matters, in due time. For the rest, as you see, since evening has come on, let what has been said today suffice. But whenever you wish, ask us boldly about whatever you want, and we will gladly and readily resolve it.” And having said this, he rose. And so, having taken food, we turned to sleep; for night had come on.

When two days had passed and the third was dawning, I, Clement, and the others who were with us were roused about the second cock-crowing for the discussion with Simon, and we found the lamp still burning and Peter on his knees in prayer. When he had finished his supplication, he turned, and seeing us ready to listen, he said:

“I want you to know that those who, by our arrangement, keep company with Simon so as to learn his plans and pass them on to us, so that we may be able to adapt ourselves to the variety of his wickedness, have sent and informed us, saying: ‘Today Simon, as he arranged, is ready to come before everyone and prove from the Scriptures that the one who created heaven and earth and all that is in them is not the supreme God, but another, unknown and supreme, God of gods as though in things unspeakable, who sent two gods, of whom one is the one who created the world and the other the one who gave the Law.’ And he contrives to say this in order to undermine beforehand the right faith of those who are about to worship the one and only God, who created heaven and earth.”

“When I heard this, how could I not be disheartened? Therefore I wanted you too, the brothers who are with me, to know that I am grieved in soul beyond measure, seeing the evil one wakeful for the testing of human beings, while human beings are utterly careless of their own salvation. For he has contrived, for those from the Gentiles who are about to be persuaded that the earthly images are not gods, to bring in opinions about many other gods, so that if they cease from their mania for many gods, they may be deceived into speaking otherwise, or even worse, against the monarchy of God, so that, never having preferred the doctrine of the monarchy, they may never be able to obtain mercy. For the sake of this audacity Simon comes to make war on us, armed with the false passages of the Scriptures. And what is worse, he is not afraid to teach such things against the true God from the prophets in whom he has not believed.”

“Against us, who have received from our forefathers the worship of the God who created all things, and also the mystery of the books that are able to deceive, he will have no power; but against those from the Gentiles, who have been brought up with the belief in many gods and do not know the false things in the Scriptures, he will have great power. And not only he: if anyone else relates to those from the Gentiles some empty myth against God, like a dream, richly adorned, he will be believed, because from childhood their minds have been accustomed to accept what is said against God. But there will be some rare ones among them, a few out of a multitude, who through right-mindedness will not be willing even so much as to hear an evil word against the God who created all things; to these alone among the Gentiles will it be granted to be saved. So let none of you blame Simon altogether, or anyone else; for nothing happens unjustly, since even the false things of the Scriptures have a reasonable place, for testing.”

And I, Clement, on hearing this said, “How do you say, lord, that even the false things of the Scriptures have a reasonable place for the testing of human beings?” He answered: “The false things of the Scriptures were allowed to be written at the demand of wickedness, for a certain just reason. And I say ‘reasonably’ for this reason. In matters concerning God, the evil one, who loves God no less than the good one does, falls short of the good one in one thing only: he does not pardon even those who are impious through ignorance, but out of affection for the one against whom the impiety is committed he desires the destruction of the impious, while the good one desires to bring them healing. For the good one wishes to heal all by repentance, but he saves only those who have come to know God. Those who do not know him he does not heal, not because he does not wish to, but because it is not permitted to give the good things prepared for the sons of the kingdom to those who, through lack of discernment, have become like irrational animals.”

“Such is the nature of the one and only God, who made the world, created us, and has provided all things: when anyone is once within the bounds of godliness and does not blaspheme his Holy Spirit, he draws the soul to himself by its affection toward him, under the form of his love toward it. Even if a person is a sinner, the soul, after being punished according to the desert of what it has done, is by nature destined to be saved. But if anyone denies him, or in some other way commits impiety against him in word, and afterwards repents, he will be punished for the sins he committed against him, but he will be saved, because he turned and loved. And perhaps the abundance of his piety and supplication will even release him from punishment, since, along with his repentance, he has offered his ignorance as the ground for pardon of the sin. But those who have not repented will meet their end through the punishment of fire, even if in all other respects they are most holy. But, as I said, after being punished with eternal fire for a fifth of a measured age, they will be extinguished. For those who have been impious toward the only everlasting God can no longer exist forever.”

“Impiety against him is this: to die, while within the profession of godliness, saying that there is another God, whether greater or lesser, or saying in any way that there is a God besides him who truly is. For he who truly is, is the one whose form the body of man bears; for whose sake the heaven and all the stars, though superior in substance, submitted to serve what is inferior in substance, because of the form of the superior one. God has done such great good to man above all, so that, loving the benefactor for the multitude of his benefits, he might through that very love be saved into the second age as well.”

“Human affection toward God, then, is sufficient for salvation. Knowing this, the evil one, while we hasten to sow in the souls of those from the Gentiles who are about to believe the affection toward the one and only God that makes immortal, the evil one himself, having against the ignorant a weapon sufficient for their destruction, is eager to sow the notion of many gods, or even of one who is superior, so that, having conceived and been persuaded of what is unlawful, they may die as though under the charge of adultery and be cast out of his kingdom.”

“So everyone deserves to be cast out who is willing even so much as to hear anything of the kind against the monarchy of God. But if anyone, trusting in the Scriptures, dares even to listen to what is said against God, let him first consider this with me: if anyone fashions for himself a plausible doctrine as he pleases and then pores over them, he will be able to bring many testimonies from them for the doctrine he has fashioned. How then can one be bold against God on the strength of these writings, in which everyone’s opinion is to be found?”

“For example, Simon, who is to dispute with us in public tomorrow, dares to speak against the monarchy of God, intending to bring many sayings from the Scriptures themselves to show that there are many gods, and that one of them is not the one who created the world but one higher than he; and indeed he is able to produce written proofs. And we too are able to show clearly many passages from them that there is one God, this one who created the world, and there is no other besides him. But if anyone wishes to say something else, he too will be able to produce from them proofs, as he wishes, about whatever he wishes. For the Scriptures say all things, so that none of those who inquire without right-mindedness may find the truth, but only what he wants, the truth being kept for the right-minded. And right-mindedness is to preserve our affection toward the one who is the cause of our existence.”

“Therefore before all things one must know that he finds it from nowhere except from the Prophet of truth. And the true Prophet is the one who always knows all things, and moreover the thoughts of all, who is sinless, as being fully assured about the judgment of God. Therefore we ought not to take his foreknowledge for granted, but ask whether his foreknowledge can stand without any other support. For physicians foretell things having the patient’s pulse as their underlying material; some foretell from birds, others from sacrifices, and others from many different kinds of underlying material; and yet they are not prophets.”

“But if anyone should wish to say that the foretelling done by such means is like the truly innate foreknowledge, he is greatly deceived. For such things show only what is present, and these only if they speak truly; yet in another way even they are useful to me, for they establish that foreknowledge exists. But the foreknowledge of the one and true one not only knows what is present, but extends its prophecy without limit as far as the coming age itself, and needs nothing to be understood. It does not prophesy obscure and ambiguous things, so that what is said would need another prophet to be understood, but things plain and simple, just as our Teacher and Prophet, by an innate and ever-flowing Spirit, always knew all things.”

“Therefore he confidently set forth what was to come, I mean sufferings, places, set times. For, being an unerring prophet, surveying all things with the boundless eye of the soul, he knows what is hidden. But if we too grant, as the many do, that even the true prophet foreknows not always but sometimes, when he has the Spirit and through it, but is ignorant when he does not have it, if we suppose this, we both deceive ourselves and will ensnare others. For such a thing belongs to those who rave in frenzy under a spirit of disorder, who get drunk beside altars and gorge themselves on the savour of sacrifices.”

“For if someone who wishes to profess prophecy is allowed to be believed when he is caught lying, on the ground that at that moment he did not have the holy Spirit of foreknowledge, he will not be easily refuted, though he is a false prophet. For where he says many things and hits on a few, he is believed to have the Spirit then, although he says the first things last and the last first, what has happened as if it were to come and what is to come as if it had already happened, and moreover things incoherent, or taken from others and transformed, some mutilated, shapeless, senseless, ambiguous, inglorious, obscure, crying out with every kind of bad conscience.”

“But our Teacher prophesied nothing of this kind. As I have already said, being a prophet by an innate and ever-flowing Spirit and knowing all things always, he confidently and clearly set forth, as I said before, sufferings, places, appointed times, manners, limits. For example, foretelling about the sanctuary, he said: ‘Do you see these buildings? Truly I tell you, stone upon stone shall not be left here that shall not be pulled down; and this generation shall not pass away before the destruction begins. For they will come and sit down here, and surround it with a palisade, and slaughter your children here.’ In the same way he also spoke in plain words of what would follow, things we can see with our own eyes, so that the deed might come to pass among those to whom the word was spoken. For the Prophet of truth utters the word of proof for the faith of his hearers.”

“There are, however, many heralds of error, who have one leader, the leader of wickedness; just as the leader of godliness, being himself one in the word of truth, will in his own times have as his prophets all who are found pure. And the cause of the great error of those who have gone astray is this: that they did not first understand the doctrine of the pairs. I shall not cease to set it out to you in private on each occasion, in summary, for to speak of it in detail would take long. So be for me truth-loving judges of what is said.”

“I will now begin to speak. If someone will not grant that the man brought forth by the hands of God, who made all things, had God’s great and holy Spirit of foreknowledge, how does the one who assigns it to another, born of a foul drop, not sin most gravely? And I do not think he will obtain pardon, even if he was deceived by a spurious scripture into thinking terrible things against the Father of all. For whoever insults an image, and that of an eternal king, has the sin referred to the one in whose likeness the image was. ‘But,’ someone says, ‘the divine Spirit left him when he sinned.’ Then it sinned along with him; and how does the one who says this not endanger himself? ‘But he received the Spirit after he had sinned.’ Then it is given to the unjust; and where is justice? ‘But it is supplied to the just and the unjust.’ That is the most unjust of all. So every lie, even if aided by countless contrivances, is bound to be refuted, even if after a long time.”

“Do not be deceived. Our father was ignorant of nothing. For even the Law that is publicly current, though it covers him with a charge of ignorance because of the unworthy, sends those who long for truth to him, saying: ‘Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders and they will declare it to you.’ This is the father you should have sought out. But you did not ask whose is the time of the kingdom, whose the seat of prophecy, although he points to himself by saying: ‘The scribes and the Pharisees have sat down on the seat of Moses; whatever they say to you, listen to them.’ Listen to them, he said, as those entrusted with the key of the kingdom, which is knowledge, which alone can open the gate of life, through which alone one may enter eternal life. ‘But indeed,’ he says, ‘they hold the key, but to those who wish to enter they do not grant it.’”

“For this reason, I say, he himself, rising from the seat, as a father on behalf of his children, proclaiming what had been handed down in secret to the worthy from the beginning of the age, extending his mercy even to the Gentiles and pitying the souls of all, disregarded his own blood. For, having been counted worthy to be king of the coming age, he contends against the one who has received, for an appointed time and by law, the kingdom of the present. And the greatest thing, which grieved him deeply, is this: those for whom he fought as for his children made war on him through ignorance. And yet he loved even those who hated him, wept for the disobedient, blessed those who reviled him, prayed for those who were hostile. And he not only did these things as a father, but also taught his disciples to do the like, as toward brothers. This is a father, this is a prophet; this is reasonable, that he should be king of his own children, so that by the affection of the father for the children and the heartfelt honour of the children toward the father eternal peace may come about. For when the reasonable one reigns, true joy about the one who reigns comes upon those who are ruled.”

“But turn with me to the first word of truth. If someone will not grant that the man brought forth by the hands of God had the holy Spirit of Christ, how is the one who grants it to another, born of a foul drop, not guilty of the greatest impiety? And he shows the greatest piety if he does not grant it to another but says that he alone has it who from the beginning of the world, changing his forms together with his names, runs through the world, until, reaching his own times and anointed by God’s mercy for his labours, he will have rest forever. He has been honoured to rule and be lord over all things in the air, on the earth, and in the waters; and besides this he had the breath of the one who made man, the ineffable garment of the soul, so that he might be immortal.”

“He alone, being the true prophet, gave each living creature its fitting name according to the worth of its nature, as its maker did. For whatever he named, that was also the name given by the maker to the creature. How then could he still need to partake of a tree to know what is good or evil? He was given a command. But these things are believed by the undiscerning, who have supposed that an irrational beast was more effective than God, who created them and all things.”

“With him, however, a female nature was created as his partner, falling far short of him, as derived being falls short of being, as the moon of the sun, as fire of light. She, as female, rules over the present world, which is like herself, and is believed to be the first prophetess, announcing prophecy among all those born of women. But the other, being male as the son of man, holds first place in the coming age, which is male, and in its excellent things.”

“Let there then be for us two kinds of prophecy, the one male; and let it be laid down that the first, being male, is placed second in the order of coming forth, while the second, being female, was appointed to come first in the procession of the pairs. The one that is among those born of women, being female and announcing the things of the present world, wishes to be believed to be male. Therefore, stealing the seeds of the male and covering them over with the seeds of her own flesh, she brings forth the offspring, that is, the words, as wholly her own. And she promises to give present earthly wealth as a dowry, wishing to exchange the slow for the quick, the small for the greater.”

“She not only dares to speak and hear of many gods, but even believes that she herself will become one; and in hope of becoming what she has no nature to be, she loses even what she has. As a female in her monthly courses, she is bloodied on the pretext of sacrifices, and so defiles those who touch her. And when she conceives and bears temporary kings, she stirs up wars that shed much blood. Those who long to learn the truth from her, by saying all contrary things and offering many different services, she keeps always seeking and never finding anything, until death itself. For from the beginning a cause of death has lain before blind men; for by prophesying deceptive, ambiguous, and crooked things she deceives those who believe her.”

“Therefore she gave her firstborn an ambiguous name, calling him Cain, which admits a double interpretation. For it is interpreted both ‘possession’ and ‘jealousy’, since he would in time be jealous about a wife, or possessions, or the affection of the parents toward her. But if none of these should happen, even so the name ‘possession’ has been aptly hit upon; for she first acquired him, and he was of use to her. For he was a murderer and a liar, and unwilling to be at rest from his sins, not even on condition of ruling. Moreover, those who came forth in his line were the first adulterers; and there came psalteries and harps and smiths of weapons of war. Therefore the prophecy of his descendants, too, full of adulterers and psalteries, stealthily stirs up wars through pleasures.”