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of Jesus Christ. For Christ was for our sakes, and appeared in the flesh. Blessed be the God, 62.11 he says, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, the God of the one who was made flesh. But if you do not wish it so, then He is the Father of God the Word. Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Here he alludes to the Jewish blessing; for that was a blessing, but not a spiritual one. For what did it say? May God bless you; He will bless the offspring of your womb, and He will bless your coming in and your going out. But here it is not so, but what? With every spiritual blessing. For what do you still lack? You have become immortal, you have become free, you have become a son, you have become righteous, you have become a brother, you have become a co-heir, you reign with Him, you are glorified with Him; all things have been graciously given to you. How will He not also, he says, with Him graciously give us all things? Your first-fruits are worshiped by angels, by the Cherubim, by the Seraphim; what is still lacking? With every spiritual blessing. There is nothing carnal here. For this reason He took all those things away, saying, In the world you will have tribulation, leading us to these things. For just as those who have carnal things were not able to hear of spiritual things; so those who obtain spiritual things cannot attain them unless they first stand aloof from carnal things. What is, A spiritual blessing in the heavenly places? Not on the earth, he says, as with the Jews, You shall eat the good things of the earth; Into a land flowing with milk and honey; God will bless your land. But here there is nothing of the sort, but what? He who loves me will keep my commandments, and I and the Father will come to him, and make our home with him. Whoever hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the winds blew, and the rivers came, and beat against that house, and it did not fall; for it had been founded on the rock. And what is the rock, but heavenly things, which are superior to all change? For whoever confesses me, He says, before men, I also will confess him before my Father who is in heaven; and, Whoever denies me, I also will deny him; and again, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God; and again, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; and again, Blessed are you who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for your reward is great in heaven. Do you see the heavens everywhere, nowhere the earth, nor the things on the earth? And again, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus; and again, Not setting your minds on earthly things, but on the things in heaven. In Christ Jesus. That is, through Christ Jesus, not through Moses, was this blessing. So that we differ not only in quality, but also in the mediator, just as he also says in the Epistle to the Hebrews; And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken, but Christ as a Son over his own house, whose house we are. Just as he also chose us, he says, in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him. But what he says is this: Through whom He blessed us, through him He also chose us. He, therefore, will give us all those things there, 62.12 he is the judge, and will say; Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; and again, Where I am, I want these also to be. 2. And in almost all his Epistles he is zealous to show this, that our affairs are not new, but were so prefigured from above, not out of repentance, but were so ordered and predestined. And this is of much care. What is, He chose us in him? Through faith in him, he says, Christ accomplished this before we came to be, or rather, before the world was founded. And well did he say foundation, showing it as having been cast down from some great height. For great and ineffable is the height of the

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Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. ∆ι' ἡμᾶς γὰρ Χριστὸς γέγονε, καὶ ἐν σαρκὶ ὤφθη. Εὐλογητὸς ὁ Θεὸς, 62.11 φησὶ, καὶ Πατὴρ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Ἰδοὺ, Θεὸς τοῦ σαρκωθέντος. Εἰ δὲ μὴ βούλει, ἀλλὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου Πατήρ. Ὁ εὐλογήσας ἡμᾶς ἐν πάσῃ εὐλογίᾳ πνευματικῇ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ. Τὴν Ἰουδαϊκὴν ἐνταῦθα αἰνίττεται· εὐλογία μὲν γὰρ ἦν κἀκείνη, ἀλλ' οὐ πνευματική. Τί γὰρ ἔλεγεν; Εὐλογήσαι σε ὁ Θεός· Εὐλογήσει τὰ ἔκγονα τῆς κοιλίας σου, καὶ εὐλογήσει τὴν εἴσοδόν σου καὶ τὴν ἔξοδόν σου. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ τί; Ἐν πάσῃ εὐλογίᾳ πνευματικῇ. Τί γὰρ ἔτι σοι λείπει; Γέγονας ἀθάνατος, γέγονας ἐλεύθερος, γέγονας υἱὸς, γέγονας δίκαιος, γέγονας ἀδελφὸς, γέγονας συγκληρονόμος, συμβασιλεύεις, συνδοξάζῃ· πάντα σοι κεχάρισται. Πῶς οὐχὶ καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ, φησὶ, τὰ πάντα ἡμῖν χαρίσεται; Ἡ ἀπαρχή σου ὑπὸ ἀγγέλων προσκυνεῖται, ὑπὸ τῶν Χερουβὶμ, ὑπὸ τῶν Σεραφίμ· τί ἔτι λείπει; Ἐν πάσῃ εὐλογίᾳ πνευματικῇ. Οὐδὲν σαρκικὸν ἐνταῦθα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πάντα ἐξεῖλεν ἐκεῖνα εἰπὼν, Θλῖψιν ἕξετε ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, πρὸς ταῦτα ἡμᾶς ἀγαγών. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ τὰ σαρκικὰ ἔχοντες, τῶν πνευματικῶν ἀκοῦσαι οὐκ ἠδύναντο· οὕτως οἱ τῶν πνευματικῶν τυγχάνοντες, οὐ δύνανται αὐτῶν ἐπιτυγχάνειν, ἂν μὴ πρότερον τῶν σαρκικῶν ἀποστῶσι. Τί ἐστιν, Εὐλογία πνευματικὴ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις; Οὐκ ἐν τῇ γῇ, φησὶ, καθάπερ παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις, Τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς φάγεσθε· Εἰς γῆν ῥέουσαν μέλι καὶ γάλα· Εὐλογήσει ὁ Θεὸς τὴν γῆν σου. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον, ἀλλὰ τί; Ὁ ἀγαπῶν με, τὰς ἐντολάς μου τηρήσει, καὶ ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐλευσόμεθα πρὸς αὐτὸν, καὶ μονὴν παρ' αὐτῷ ποιήσομεν. Ὁ ἀκούων μου τοὺς λόγους τούτους, καὶ ποιῶν αὐτοὺς, ὁμοιωθήσεται ἀνδρὶ φρονίμῳ, ὅστις ᾠκοδόμησε τὴν οἰκίαν αὑτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν, καὶ ἔπνευσαν οἱ ἄνεμοι, καὶ ἦλθον οἱ ποταμοὶ, καὶ προσέῤῥηξαν τῇ οἰκίᾳ ἐκείνῃ, καὶ οὐκ ἔπεσε· τεθεμελίωτο γὰρ ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν. Ἡ δὲ πέτρα ποία ἐστὶν, ἀλλ' ἢ τὰ οὐράνια πράγματα, τὰ πάσης μεταβολῆς ἀνώτερα; Ὅστις γὰρ ἂν ὁμολογήσῃ με, φησὶν, ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὁμολογήσω κἀγὼ αὐτὸν ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς· καὶ, Ὅστις ἀπαρνήσεταί με, ἀρνήσομαι αὐτὸν κἀγώ· καὶ πάλιν, Μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν Θεὸν ὄψονται· καὶ πάλιν, Μακάριοι οἱ πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύματι, ὅτι αὐτῶν ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν· καὶ πάλιν, Μακάριοί ἐστε οἱ δεδιωγμένοι ἕνεκεν δικαιοσύνης, ὅτι ὁ μισθὸς ὑμῶν πολὺς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Ὁρᾷς πανταχοῦ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, οὐδαμοῦ γῆν, οὐδὲ τὰ ἐν τῇ γῇ; Καὶ πάλιν, Ἡμῶν τὸ πολίτευμα ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει, ἐξ οὗ καὶ Σωτῆρα ἀπεκδεχόμεθα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν· καὶ πάλιν, Μὴ τὰ ἐπίγεια φρονοῦντες, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. Τουτέστι, διὰ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, οὐ διὰ Μωϋσέως ἦν αὕτη ἡ εὐλογία. Ὥστε οὐ μόνον τῇ ποιότητι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ μεσίτῃ διαφέρομεν ἡμεῖς, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἑβραίους φησί· Καὶ Μωϋσῆς μὲν πιστὸς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὑτοῦ, ὡς θεράπων εἰς μαρτύριον τῶν λαληθησομένων, Χριστὸς δὲ ὡς Υἱὸς ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον αὑτοῦ, οὗ οἶκός ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς. Καθὼς καὶ ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς, φησὶν, ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστι· ∆ι' οὗ εὐλόγησεν ἡμᾶς, διὰ τούτου καὶ ἐξελέξατο. Αὐτὸς τοίνυν ἡμῖν ἐκεῖ δώσει 62.12 ἐκεῖνα πάντα, αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ κριτὴς, καὶ ἐρεῖ· ∆εῦτε, οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ Πατρός μου, κληρονομήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου· καὶ πάλιν, Ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ, θέλω ἵνα καὶ οὗτοι ὦσι. βʹ. Καὶ ἐν πάσαις σχεδὸν ταῖς Ἐπιστολαῖς τοῦτο σπουδάζει δεικνύναι, ὅτι οὐ νεώτερα τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ' ἄνωθεν οὕτω τετύπωτο, οὐδ' ἐκ μεταμελείας, ἀλλ' οὕτως ᾠκονόμητο καὶ προώριστο. Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ κηδεμονίας πολλῆς. Τί ἐστιν, Ἐν αὐτῷ ἐξελέξατο; ∆ιὰ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν πίστεως ὁ Χριστὸς, φησὶ, τοῦτο κατώρθωσε, πρὶν ἢ γενέσθαι ἡμᾶς, μᾶλλον δὲ πρὶν ἢ τὸν κόσμον καταβληθῆναι. Καὶ καλῶς καταβολὴν εἶπεν, ὡς ἀπό τινος ὕψους καταβεβλημένον μεγάλου αὐτὸν δεικνύς. Καὶ γὰρ μέγα καὶ ἄφατον τὸ ὕψος τοῦ