But it must be said that it was not communicated to one not having it before, but otherwise than before, because this name belongs to the person, not to the nature, namely the human nature, but nevertheless to one having a human nature.
To that which is objected: He gave him the name, etc.; it must be said that giving is taken there for manifestation. Or: he gave it to him in the human nature, who previously had it in the divine.
Fourth, he detests idols on account of the twofold effect of human corruption.
And it was not enough. Here is touched upon the last cause for the detestation of idols, taken from the effect of human corruption: and first is touched upon in idolaters the blinding of the mind; second, the corruption of works: For either sons; third, the reasonableness of the blinding and corruption: And all things; fourth, the cause of both: For of unspeakable things.
(Vers. 22.). He says therefore: And it was not enough for them to have erred: The Gloss: "With false religion they subjected themselves to all vices"; to have erred, I say, namely concerning the knowledge of God, that is, faith; above in the thirteenth chapter: "Vain are all men in whom there is not the knowledge of God." But living also in a great [war] of ignorance, that is, of unbelief, war, through which unbelief, namely, they wage war against God: whence Job 24: "They were rebels against the light." So many, namely as to number, and so great, as to intensity, or as to the quantity of duration, evils, as to deformity: so many, I say, and so great evils, in which, namely, they live, they call peace, according to that passage in Job 30: "And they counted it a delight to be under thorns"; Jeremiah 6: "Saying: Peace, peace: and there was no peace"; the Gloss: "Under the reign of the devil, subjected to diverse vices, they could not have true peace."
For either etc. Here he enumerates the evils by which they were corrupted in deed: first, the evil specially committed against God; second, specially committed against themselves and against the neighbor: Neither life.
(Vers. 23.). He says therefore: For either sacrificing their own children, according to that passage of the Psalm: "And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons": Ezekiel 16: "Is your fornication a small thing? You have sacrificed my children and given them up, consecrating them to those," because, as the Gloss says, "in the rites of Saturn, on account of hatred of Jupiter, without regard for piety they sacrificed their little ones." Or performing obscure sacrifices, obscure, that is, nocturnal, as was done, according to the Gloss, "in the rites of Egyptian Isis and Ceres, which rites were celebrated with the brandishing of burning torches." Or keeping vigils full of madness, for in the rites of Bacchus and Cybele, mother of the gods, "after the example of the gods, who being sated at the festival spent the whole night in revelries, they themselves reveled," as the Gloss says. Against this it is said in the Psalm: "Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord, and who has not regarded vanities and false madnesses."
(Vers. 24.). Neither do they keep life, namely their own life, pure, because "God gave them up to uncleanness," Romans 1. Nor do they any longer keep their marriages pure, against which Hebrews 13: "Marriage is honorable, and the bed undefiled"; any longer do they keep etc.; because, as the Gloss says, "they thought to please their gods through lust and uncleanness," and the more wicked anyone was, the more he thought he pleased his god. But also one kills another through envy, namely in his own person, as Cain killed Abel, Genesis 4; and the Jews killed Christ, Matthew 27. Or the adulterer grieves, namely in the person joined to him: he says grieves, because the violation of the marriage bed is a great cause of sorrow; whence also according to the civil laws the husband was given license to kill the adulterer and adulteress found in the very act of adultery.
And all things, namely vices, are mixed together: whence Hosea 4: "Cursing and lying and murder and theft and adultery have overflowed."
Blood. Here he touches first upon certain spiritual sins; second, upon certain carnal sins: Of souls etc.
In the first, first certain evils of deed; second, certain evils of the heart: Corruption; third, certain evils of speech: And perjury.
He touches upon four evils of deed, namely wounding, when he says: Blood; slaying, when he says: Murder; theft, when he says: Theft; fraud, when he says: And deceit.
(Vers. 25.). Rightly I said: And all things are mixed together, namely blood, by mutual wounding; whence Isaiah 1: "Your hands are full of blood"; likewise Hosea 4: "Blood has touched blood." Murder: whence Micah 7: "A man hunts his brother to death." Theft, Isaiah 1: "Your princes are faithless, companions of thieves"; in the Psalm: "If you saw a thief, you ran with him." And deceit, that is, guile: "For guile is when one thing is done, and another is pretended or feigned."
Corruption. Here he touches upon the sins of the heart, namely of the concupiscible power; in the Psalm: "They are corrupt and have become abominable" etc. And unfaithfulness, namely of the rational power; whence Jeremiah 7: "Faith has perished and has been taken from their mouth." Disturbance, namely of the irascible power; whence Isaiah 57: "There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord." These are the three evils of the heart.
Then he touches upon three evils of speech, saying: And perjury, namely either assertory, as occurs in false testimonies, or promissory, as in false promises, against which Leviticus 19 says: "You shall not swear falsely." Uproar, namely in contentions and discords; whence Isaiah 3: "The youth shall rise up tumultuously against the elder."
(Vers. 26.). And forgetfulness of the good things of God, that is, ingratitude, because they do not praise God for his benefits; whence Luke 17: "There was none found who returned to give glory to God" etc.; in the Psalm: "I am forgotten as one dead from the heart." These are the three evils of speech: the first against God and neighbor; the second against the neighbor; the third against God, namely by omission.
The defilement of souls etc. Here he touches upon carnal sins, first, sins of interior lust: second, of unnatural intercourse, at: The changing of birth etc.; third, of bigamy: The inconstancy of marriages etc.; fourth, of adultery: The disorder etc.; fifth, of fornication: And immodesty etc.
He says therefore: The defilement of souls, namely through interior lust; whence Matthew 5: "He has already committed adultery in his heart"; Jeremiah 4: "Wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem" etc.; Titus 1: "Both their mind and conscience are defiled." The changing of birth, that is, of nature or of natural use; Romans 1: "Their women changed the natural use" etc. The inconstancy of marriages, namely taking and repudiating wives at will, when nevertheless they ought to be "two in one flesh," Genesis 2; likewise Matthew 19: "What God has joined together, let not man separate." The disorder of unchastity, that is, of adultery, against the order of matrimony, against which Exodus 20: "You shall not commit adultery." And immodesty, that is, of fornication, against which Romans 13: "Not in debauchery and immodesty."
Of unspeakable things etc. Here it is shown that idolatry is the cause of this corruption: and first he shows how idolatry is the cause of all evils in idolaters; second, on account of what, namely on account of the hope of impunity: For while they trust etc.; third, he shows that this very thing is for them the cause of punishment: Both etc.; fourth, he shows what that punishment is, namely the fall and headlong rush into other sins: For not etc.
(Vers. 27.). Of unspeakable things etc. Thus I have said that idolaters commit so many and such great evils; for of unspeakable idols, that is, of abominable ones, that is, of those unworthy of being named, according to that saying of the Psalm: "Nor will I be mindful of their names upon my lips." Of unspeakable, I say, idols, the worship is the cause of all evil, namely through the blinding of the intellect and the subversion of the will; and the beginning, namely through the inception of the work; and the end, through its completion, just as faith and the worship of God is the cause of all good, as the Apostle proves in Hebrews 11, where he says: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for."
But to the contrary: Ecclesiasticus 10: "The beginning of all sin is pride"; likewise 1 Timothy 6: "The root of all evils is covetousness"; therefore it is wrongly said here that the beginning of all evils is infidelity.
It must be said that it is not unfitting for there to be many beginnings of evils according to different respects
just as of one thing there are four causes, namely efficient, material, etc., and yet only one in each genus
because on the part of the rational power there is unbelief, on the part of the concupiscible power there is covetousness, on the part of the irascible power there is pride.
(Vers. 28.). For either while they rejoice, they are mad: The Gloss: "In feasts and games," and this with respect to the evil in affection: they are mad, he says, because irrational joy is madness, like the laughter of the frenzied: Hosea 9: "Madness in the house of his God." Or indeed they prophesy falsehoods, namely by prophesying false things, and this with respect to the evil of thought: 3 Kings, last chapter: "I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all the prophets." Or they live unjustly, and this with respect to the evil of conduct: Ecclesiastes 7: "The impious man lives a long time in his wickedness." Or they commit perjury, or forswear themselves, and this with respect to the sin of speech: quickly, that is, easily, on account of their evil habit: on account of which Ecclesiasticus 23: "Let not your mouth become accustomed to swearing, for there are many falls therein."