Chapter XV.
Third, it treats of the commendation of the true God.
But you, our God etc. After he showed the error of idolaters and the detestation of idols, here he adds the commendation of the true God. He shows the true God to be commendable, first from his own goodness: second, from the remuneration of those believing in him: For if we have sinned etc.; third, from the vileness of idols: But also the potter: fourth, from the reproach of idolaters: For all.
God is commended first from his own goodness.
(Vers. 1.). But you etc., as if to say: such are idols; but, in place of "however"; you, our God: God, I say, by creation, according to that of Genesis 1: "In the beginning God created"; likewise by governance and preservation: according to Damascene, God is called theos apo tou theein, that is, to dispose or to govern. The first effect is of power, the second of wisdom, the third of goodness. Our, namely by appropriation of worship, because only "God is known in Judah," as is said in the Psalm. Sweet, namely to the affections, according to that of the Psalm: "O taste and see, that the Lord is sweet"; above in chapter twelve: "O how good and how sweet is your spirit in us"! sweet, I say: the Gloss: "Of inestimable charity"; Gregory: "O inestimable love of charity, to redeem a servant, you delivered up the Son"! And you are true, namely to the contemplating intellect; the Gloss: "Because he neither deceives nor is deceived"; likewise Romans 3: "But God is truthful, and every man a liar"; both of the aforesaid, however, refer to the good; and patient, namely by overlooking the evils of fault, namely with regard to the wicked: whence the Gloss: " Patient, that is, long enduring sinners"; Joel 2: "Patient and ready to relent concerning malice"; in the Psalm: "God is a just judge, strong and patient." And disposing all things in mercy, with regard to all, namely remitting all evils of punishment: in the Psalm: "His mercies are over all his works"; Matthew 5: "And he makes his sun to rise upon the good and the bad."
Second, he is commended from the remuneration of those believing in him.
For indeed etc. Here he is shown to be commendable from the remuneration of believers: and first he shows that those sinning are subject to God. Second, that those not sinning are acceptable to God: And if we have not sinned etc. Third, he shows what the reason for this is, namely the knowledge and worship of God: For to know you. Fourth, he shows who are worthy of such a benefit: For not into error. Fifth, who are unworthy: Lovers of evil things.
(Vers. 2.). For indeed if etc., as if to say: and truly you are such: for indeed if we have sinned, namely by mortal sin, and especially by the sin of unbelief, which is called sin par excellence: whence John 16: "He will convict the world of sin"; and he speaks specifically of this here. If we have sinned, I say, we are yours, that is, established in your power and governance: Gloss: "We cannot escape, because we are your creature"; whence in the Psalm: "If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I descend into hell, you are present"; likewise Deuteronomy 32: "There is none who can deliver from my hand." Knowing your greatness, greatness, I say, not of mass, but of power, containing all things and able to destroy all things: whence in the Psalm: "Great is God and great is his power." And if we have not sinned, namely by mortal sin, which is sin absolutely speaking, and especially the sin of unbelief, which is sin par excellence. For we cannot be free from venial sin, or if we can, yet not for long: whence 1 John 1: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." If we have not sinned, I say: we know, namely through faith, that we are accounted with you: Gloss: "With whom the number of good works is known or preserved"; in the Psalm: "I shall count them, and they shall be multiplied beyond the sand." And not only numbered, but also inscribed by name: Luke 10: "Rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Now the good are said to be accounted as beloved and elect: and they can well be counted, because they are few, according to that of Matthew 20: "Many are called, but few are chosen." The wicked, however, are not counted by God, just as no one counts rejected coin: for they themselves are rejected coin, according to that of Jeremiah 6: "Call them rejected silver"; likewise, because they are infinite in number, according to that of Ecclesiastes 1: "The number of fools is infinite." This, however, is not from any inability of God who counts, but rather from their unworthiness. For the sinner is unworthy of the bread he eats, as Augustine says: likewise below in the same book: "His life is viler than mud"; but no one would count mud.
(Vers. 3.). For to know etc. I have rightly said: if we have not sinned, and especially with the sin of unbelief, because we are accounted with you: for to know you, namely through formed faith, is consummate justice, that is, the perfection of justice in the present life; and this is to be understood causally, so that the sense is: to know you through faith is consummate justice, that is, the cause of consummate justice: for faith justifies, whence Romans 5: " Being justified therefore by faith " etc.: likewise there, chapter 4: " Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice "; and to know, namely through formed faith, your justice and your power, Warfare, namely of goodness, and power, of might: or: power, that is, Christ, who is " the power and wisdom of God ", 1 Corinthians 1; is the root of immortality, that is, the principle and cause of eternal beatitude in the future: whence John 17: " This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God " etc.
The root, that is, of the spiritual tree, that is, of the life of the just person, who is like " a tree planted near running waters " etc.: the root is faith, as is said here. The foot, humility, just as conversely the foot of the ungodly is pride, according to that passage of the Psalm: " Let not the foot of pride come to me ". The trunk, rising up on high, is hope: Colossians 3: "Seek the things that are above". The interior moisture and verdure of this tree is the grace of interior devotion: Job 8: " Can the rush be green without moisture "? The directing heat is the virtue of charity: Luke 12: "I have come to cast fire upon the earth " etc. Exterior irrigation, spiritual teaching: whence Wisdom says in Ecclesiasticus 24: " I will water the garden of my plantings ".
The branches, the multiplication of good works: Ezekiel 36: " Mountains of Israel, spread forth your branches ". The flowers, the manners of virtuous conduct: whence Song of Songs 2: " The flowers have appeared in our land". The leaves, the words of discreet speech, according to that passage of the Psalm: " And his leaf shall not fall off". The fruit, the reward of eternal recompense: above, chapter 3: " Glorious is the fruit of good labors ".
(Vers. 4.). Not for etc. I have well said: because we are accounted with you, we, and not others, namely idolaters: not for into error, namely of idolatry, which is the chief error, did lead us, namely as it did others, concerning whom above in the fourteenth chapter: "Moreover, the exquisite diligence of the craftsman promoted even those who were ignorant to the worship of these things"; of men, namely those fabricating idols, etc., the invention of evil art, that is, of art leading to evil through the gods that are fashioned by it. The art itself, however, is good in itself, but the abuse is evil: for every knowledge is of the genus of goods, namely with respect to the habit itself, since it is from God: Ecclesiasticus 1: "All wisdom is from the Lord God." And it should be known that he touches upon two things, inducing, that is, provoking to idolatry, namely the diligence of art, when he says: the invention of evil art, and the beauty of the idol, when he adds: nor the shadow of a painting, that is, not even a painting overshadowing the appearance of wood: Ecclesiasticus 38: "His constant practice varies the painting"; the labor, namely of the craftsman, without fruit, namely of usefulness: above in the third chapter: "Their hope is vain, and their labors without fruit"; an effigy, that is, an image, carved with various colors, distinguishing the parts of the sculpture: above in the thirteenth chapter: "Making its color red with paint."
(Vers. 5.). Whose appearance to the senseless one, that is, to the unbeliever, gives desire, namely by occasioning incitement to evil: Ecclesiasticus 34: "Vain hope and falsehood to the senseless man." And he loves the effigy of a dead image without a soul: he loves, I say, the effigy, that is, the figure, worshiping it as God, of a dead image, that is, one lacking the act of life, and this is a lack by way of negation, not of privation; without a soul, that is, lacking the power of giving life. "For the soul is the act of a natural, organic body having the potency of life," as is found in the second book of On the Soul.
(Vers. 6.). Of evils etc., and deservedly, he did not lead us, because lovers of evil things, namely of idols and of sins arising from idols, are worthy of death, namely eternal and temporal: Romans 1: "Those who do such things are worthy of death." Who have hope in such things, namely idols, namely by invoking their help: Isaiah 42: "Let those who trust in a graven image be confounded with confusion"; and who make them, namely by fabricating gods of this kind: in the Psalm: "Let those who make them become like them"; and who love them, namely by affection, having devotion to idols: above in the same chapter: "He loves the effigy of a dead image," etc.; and who worship them, by effect, adoring outwardly: in the Psalm: "Let all who adore graven images be confounded"; Deuteronomy 5: "You shall not adore foreign gods nor worship them."
Third, God is commended from the vileness of idols in two ways.
But also the potter. Here it is shown that the true God is commendable from the vileness of idols: this vileness he shows first from the vileness of the material; second, from the vileness of the craftsman: And with labor.
And that, namely the vileness of the craftsman, he shows there, first from the fragility of his condition: second, from the vanity of the motivating intention: But his care is: third, from ignorance of the Creator: For he is ashes: fourth, from the error of his way of life: But they also esteemed: fifth, from a comparison of iniquity: For this one knows etc.
(Vers. 7.). But also the potter: thus I have said that lovers of evil things are worthy of death, namely those who worship idols or who make them: but also the potter, that is, the maker of earthen vessels, supply: is of their number: the potter, I say, laboriously pressing soft earth: Ecclesiasticus 38: "The potter sitting at his work and turning the wheel with his feet," who is always set in anxiety on account of his work. He fashions each vessel for our uses: "for in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth," Second Timothy two. And from the same clay he fashions those which are clean for uses, honorable and clean: and likewise those which are contrary to these, as are those which are assigned to unclean uses: whence in the same place: "Some unto honor, some unto dishonor"; Romans nine: "Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor"? But what the use of these vessels may be, namely clean or unclean,
the potter is the judge, as their superior and maker, not the vessels themselves: in the same place: "Does the clay say to the potter: Why have you made me thus"?
(Vers. 8.). And with vain labor, that is, fruitless; Jeremiah 51: "Their works are vain and worthy of derision"; he fashions a god from the same clay: a similar thing is said in Isaiah 44 concerning wooden idols, that part is burned for human uses, and part is worshipped as a god. That potter, namely, who a little before had been made from earth, through earthly birth: Genesis 2: "God formed man from the slime of the earth"; and after a little while, namely, of time: Job 14: "The days of man are short"; likewise: "Living for a brief time"; he returns, by the desert of his sins, namely into death: above, chapter 1: "The ungodly summoned it with hands and words", after death and through death: whence he was taken, that is, into the earth, from which he had been taken as regards the body, according to that passage in Genesis 3: "Until you return to the earth from which you were taken"; Ecclesiastes 3: "All things that were made from the earth shall equally return to the earth". Summoned to repay the debt of the soul, which, namely, the soul, he had, namely, as a debt, something borrowed, so that he might return it with interest: not something given, as that rich man to whom it was said in Luke 12: "Fool, this night they demand your soul from you"; Matthew 18: "Seizing him, he choked him, saying: Pay what you owe", namely, the debt of the soul.
(Vers. 9.). But he has a care, although, namely, his labor is vain, not because he is going to labor, and in vain, about which he ought rather to be concerned; he is going to labor even wickedly, according to that passage in Jeremiah 9: "They labored to act wickedly". Nor because his life is short, although all the more he ought to be concerned to spend it usefully; James 4: "What is your life? It is a vapor appearing for a little while". But he strives with goldsmiths and silversmiths, endeavoring to make the beauty and subtlety of his work resemble theirs; and he also imitates the workers in bronze. It should be noted that he calls goldsmiths the artisans who make gods from gold; silversmiths, those from silver; workers in bronze, those from bronze: Isaiah 46: "You bring forth silver from the purse and weigh gold in the balance, hiring an artisan to make a god". And he prefers glory, supply: vain glory, to his labor or to the brevity of life. "Glory is widespread fame with praise"; glory, that is, by glorifying himself in this, in which one ought not to glory. Because superfluous things, that is, useless things, namely, idols, he fashions, namely, he makes them from clay material; Hosea 4: "I will change their glory into shame"; likewise, Philippians 3: "Whose glory is in their confusion, who mind earthly things".
(Vers. 10.). For ashes is etc., as if to say: thus he glories: for, in place of "but"; or thus: thus he glories, which nevertheless he ought not to do; for, in place of "because": ashes, that is, a vile thing, is, as it were, ashes is his heart, that is, his thought, because in ash and dust, from which he fashions his god, he sets his heart: Ecclesiasticus 10, "Why does earth and ashes pride itself?" And superfluous earth, that is, useless, is his hope, that is, his desire and affection, because namely he places it in an earthen idol: above, chapter three: "Empty is their hope"; for such an idol is empty earth and nothing, concerning which Jeremiah 4: "I looked upon the earth, and behold, it was empty and nothing." And his life, that is, his conduct, is viler than clay, because namely he occupies his life in making and worshipping a clay idol; in the Psalm: "Like the clay of the streets I shall destroy them." Now the clay of guilt is viler than the clay of nature: whence the Gloss: "His life is more sordid than filth"; 2 Peter 2: "The sow that was washed returns to wallowing in the mire."
(Vers. 11.). Because he did not know, namely with that ignorance concerning which 1 Corinthians 14: "He who is ignorant shall be ignored"; him who formed him, that is, God, who made him from the clay of the earth as regards the body: in the Psalm: "He himself knew our formation"; and who breathed into him a soul, according to that passage in Genesis 2: "He breathed into his face the breath of life"; and he loves, namely more than God, the things he works, namely idols. And who breathed into him a vital spirit, one must supply again: he did not know, and he now speaks of the bodily spirit, when he says: vital spirit: Isaiah 57: "The spirit shall go forth from my face, and breaths I shall make"; in the Psalm: "His spirit shall go forth and he shall return to his earth."
(Vers. 12.). But they also reckoned: thus I said, that they did not know God, but rather they reckoned, namely the fabricators of idols, our life, namely natural life, to be a game, namely of wantonness, like those concerning whom Exodus 32: "The people sat down to eat and drink"; Job 21: "He holds the timbrel and the harp." To be a game etc., he says this because to make and worship idols seems similar to the play of children, and thus those who make images of clay and adore them. And the conduct of life, namely moral life, ordered, that is, arranged, toward gain, namely of avarice, and not only gain, but unlawful gain, whence he adds: and that one must acquire from everywhere, even from evil, that is, from an unlawful craft or business: against which Ecclesiasticus 5: "Be not anxious for unjust riches. For they shall not profit you in the day of affliction" or of vengeance "and vindication." These are "riches kept to the hurt of their owner."
(Vers. 13.). For he etc., as if to say: and truly those who make idols acquire from evil; for he knows that he, above all others, namely the other makers of idols, offends: he, I say, who from earthly material, which is of lesser worth, fashions fragile vessels on the one hand, and graven images, that is, idols, on the other hand from his material. Whence from the comparison of these he better understands, or can understand, the worthlessness of idols.