For it is said in praise, "But Noah found grace before the Lord," and Moses also spoke boldly, saying, "If I have found grace before you." "And we boast in the hope of the glory of God," which I think is equivalent to "we boast in the hope of seeing the glory of God and partaking of it." This glory of God is said to be the radiance of our Savior in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The glory on Moses' face reflects his purity of mind and communion with the divinity of the Father of all, from which, being illumined, he alone of all on earth beheld what the unbegotten nature of God is. The veil on Moses' face is the concealment of what he understood and saw, for the majority were not able to learn from such visions in Moses. But even when Moses completed his works, and the cloud covered the tabernacle of testimony, the tabernacle was filled with the glory of the Lord, so that Moses could not enter the tabernacle of testimony, for the cloud overshadowed it and the tabernacle was filled with the glory of the Lord. The true house is the church of the living God, called the church of the firstborn written in heaven. Our Savior is the cloud over this house, so that even the priests cannot stand to minister because of this cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house. For as much as it appears in the face of one in the epistle to the Corinthians to already have the glory of God, in the present phrase it is said as though without it: "We boast in the hope of the glory of God." Consider then if we can solve the problem thus: Paul says, "If anyone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know," and "we see now through a glass darkly, but then face to face," and "we know in part and we prophesy in part." "Not only that, but we also glory in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;" for many yield to sufferings and become distressed so as to be displeased by them. We have been helped by God through Jesus Christ to such an extent that we boast in the great perseverance that comes from God during our sufferings, as if from the material of blessings. For this reason, we have also received a certain new understanding: "We know that suffering produces perseverance," as it would be acknowledged by all that perseverance creates proven character in the one who endures. Therefore, the divine scripture forbids boasting in trivial matters and encourages understanding as a proper good, according to what is said in Jeremiah: "Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast in his might, and let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord." In some way, it forbids the wise to boast not simply...wise in their own judgment and learning in their own eyes. Therefore, one shouldn't boast in his wisdom, for even if he is perfect among the children of men, without the wisdom from God, he will be regarded as nothing. Human wisdom is indifferent, but to the one who uses it rightly and receives it into God, it opens a place for the wisdom of God, for to everyone who has, more will be given. This might be what is meant in Ecclesiastes: "Wisdom will help the wise more than ten rulers in the city."
For the wisdom of God aids the one who possesses human wisdom and has prepared himself to receive divine wisdom; the wisdom of those who crafted the woven, embroidered, and variegated things of the tabernacle of testimony is not insignificant, whom the divine spirit filled with understanding and knowledge to conceive and to architect the things concerning the tabernacle *** For what produces virtue cannot be either indifferent or base; therefore, perhaps the necessary virtue of patience is tribulation *** Tribulation indeed works patience, one of the virtues *** It is written concerning the just, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous," but concerning the opposite, "Many are the scourges of the wicked," so that in these respects neither the just were scourged, nor the wicked afflicted *** "Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it *** “However, rejoice; not that I speak out of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, to be content” *** If not approved, the one managing wealth according to reason is no less than the one who bravely endures poverty, and no less than the one who persists through toil in diseases is the one who, for the health of the soul, admits no passion at the time he is well in body, when it is common to long for this and desire against the spirit *** Which tribulation is the boasting of the saints, and such indeed so as to not say less of the boasting because of the tribulations than "Surely our boasting, brothers" *** And if perfect love casts out fear, and fear has punishment, and the one who fears has not been made perfect in love ***