In article <8C82637B-F793-36F0-12D3-BD79F275D7B9@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, Matthew
Johnson
says...
Old-timers in this NG will know that when I reply to one of my own posts,
it is
usually to make a correction. But those who look forward to reading
corrections
will be disappointed this time;) Now I am doing it because I am continuing
the
translation started in the previous post.
[snip]
>For He foreknows all things, those that have already happened, those
>that are in progress, and those that are not yet completed; For by Him
>and in Him are all things subsisting. And just as in the theater today
>those running and those boxing are seen by the king, but the king does
>not determine who wins and loses, but it is their own perfection in
>struggle or slackness that is the cause of victory or humiliation, so
>it also seems to me with God. Respecting our autonomy [AUTEJOUSION],
>teaching us commandments to prepare us for the contests and the
>opponents set against us, He lets each one of us on our own free-will
>[AUTOPROAIRETWS] either stand firm and triumph, or slacken and be
>defeated by our opponent. But He does not leave us alone, (for He
>knows the weakness of human nature) but He Himself is present at our
>side, and though we fight of our own free will, He fights alongside
>us, and mystically gives us power, and so Himself rather than we work
>our victory over the enemy. This an earthly king cannot do; for he too
>is a weak man, dependent on his servants just as we are.
>
>[T to be continued]
>
>from
>http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/greek/Symeon_vivlos_ithikon/Symeon_vivlos_ithikon_Logos_B.html
And just as promised, here is the continuation:
But though God, mighty and undefeatable, fights alongside those who
willingly and autonomously [AUTOPROAIRETWWS] take up the battle
against the enemy, and makes them victors over the evil devil, He does
not compel those unwilling to battle, so that He not take away their
free-will [TO AUTEJOUSIOS], which is according to the image of God in
our rational nature; for taking it away would reduce us to the order of
irrational things. Thus God looks upon us as in a theater, just as an
earthly king views those striving in the arena, as explained
above. But the earthly king does not have foreknowledge of who will
win and who will lose, until he sees the outcome and gives the victors
crowns. But to whom he will give the crowns he does not know ahead of
time. But the heavenly king knows both precisely from before all ages.
This is why He told those who asked to sit on His right and left, "It
is not mine to give you, but it will be given to those for whom it is
prepared"
But aha! This is exactly what Paul knowing this said so fittingly,
"those whom He foreknew, He also predestined; those whom He
predestined, all of these He called; those He called, these He also
justified". Then it is not the foreknowledge on God's part of who will
triumph out of free-will, who will have the eagerness that is the
cause of victory, and again, it is not the foreknowledge of who will
fall that is the cause of the fall, but the eagerness, inclination
[PROQESIS] and courage themselves that are the helper to victory; but
faithlessness, negligence, and slackness are the cause of our
humiliation and destruction. Let us not say, while reclining on our
well-decorated couches of love of pleasure, "those whom He foreknew,
He also predestined", nor let us say such things that we do not
understand. Yes, He truly foreknew you to be careless, faithless,
and negligent [RAiQUMON], but He did not ordain you or destine you to
lack the power to repent or get up [DIASTHNAI] if you are willing. But
you, by sayint this thing, clearly call God a liar. For when He says,
"I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance",
you, being negligent and not wi****ng to return [METASTRECAI] and
repent [METAMELHUHNAI] from your wickedness, you contradict as if not
only accusing God [O AYEUDHS] of lying to you, but also making excuses
for yourself. "Those who are going to repent", he says [T this switch
from 2nd to 3rd person is confusing to the modern reader, but that is
what he did; nor is it unheard of in ancient writers], "are
predestined, but I am not one of them. For this very reason, let them
repent, who are clearly foreknown, who are predestined". Oh, the
senselessness of it all! Oh, the the soul fallen even lower into
baseness and incomprehension than the demons! When has anyone ever
heard such a thing said even among the demons? When have you ever
heard a demon blame his own perdition on God? Let us not then blame
the demons; for behold how the soul of man cooks up blasphemies worse
than theirs.
Whence did you learn, tell me, that you are not one of the predestined
and foreordained to become like unto the image of the glory of God?
Tell me, who announced this to you? Surely it was not God nor His
prophets nor His angels? "No,", he [T must] say, "but I am supposing
all my labor will be for naught, because I am not foreknown". But why
do you not hold firmly in your heart instead that God sent His only
begotten Son into the world just to save you, foreknowing you to
become His brother and co-heir? And then why do you not be eager to
love Him with all your heart and keep His saving commandments? And why
do you not believe that He will not abandon you, having been slain for
you, nor will He allow you to be lost? Or have you not heard Him
saying, "even if a woman forgets the fruit of her womb, I will not
forget Thee"? But if you jump the gun [T a good modern equivalent for
his expression] and judge yourself to be unworthy and willingly cut
yourself off from the flock of Christ's sheep, see that no one other
than yourself is the helper responsible for your destruction.
For this very reason, rip away from your soul every faithlessness,
bastardly behavior and doubting and let us go wholeheartedly with
unshaken faith and living desire, as newly bought slaves
bought at the price of precious blood; and being ashamed of what high
price we were bought at, let us love the Master who paid so much for
us, accepting His love for us, knwoing that if He did not wish to save
us whom He redeemed, He would not have come down to earth, He would
not have been slain for us, doing this willing the salvation of
all. And hear Him saying also: "I have not come to condemn the world,
but to save it".
This is the end of section 1. Section 2 is also great, but it will have to
wait;)
And yes, I have thought of providing verse references, but 1) they are not
in
the Greek original and 2) it is not even clear that they all correspond
exactly
to a recognized translation anyway. Sometimes, I think he is quoting from
memory.
--
-----------------------------
Subducat se sibi ut haereat Deo
Quidquid boni habet tribuat illi a quo factus est
(Sanctus Aurelius Augustinus, Ser. 96)
((( s.r.c.b-s is a moderated group. All posts are approved by a
moderator. )))
((( Read http://srcbs.org
for details about this group BEFORE you post.
)))
|
