“You will die” is taken as the death of the enemy of Christ, as one who has sinned unto death dies, it is clear that those to whom these things were said had not yet 19.13.80 died. And you will ask how those who did not believe, while they were living, will one day die. But someone will also answer to this, saying that at that time, not yet believing was not yet a sin unto death, and those to whom the word was addressed had not yet sinned unto death. But they were living in weakness of their soul, and 19.13.81 that weakness was unto death. For this reason also the physician, seeing them fatally ill, said, despairing of their cure: “I am going away, and you will seek me, and in your sin you will die.” We said then the “since that weakness was unto death for them,” since we have learned from Jesus the difference of weaknesses. 19.13.82 And Lazarus was sick, but the physician knew that his weakness was not unto death; wherefore he says: “This weakness is not unto death.” For this reason, even if we perceive the weaknesses of ourselves when we are sick, let us take heed lest we be sick unto death, the disease changing from being still able to be healed 19.13.83 to the incurable. And at the same time the “Where I go, you cannot come,” added to the “And in your sin you will die,” will also be somewhat clearer. For when someone dies in his own sin, where Jesus goes he cannot go; for no dead person can follow Jesus. “For the dead will not praise you, Lord, nor all who go down into Hades. But we the living will bless the Lord.” 19.14.84 Further, to the “In your sin you will die,” you will cite that from Ezekiel which goes thus: “The soul that sins, it shall die”; for sin is the death of the soul, but I think not every sin, 19.14.85 but that which John says is unto death. And at the same time he also distinguishes that a certain sin is the death of a soul, and a certain sin its weakness, and perhaps also a third, a certain sin is the loss of a soul, a sin, clearly, from the “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits his soul?” and from the “If anyone’s 19.14.86 work is burned up, he will suffer loss.” To those, then, who will die in sin he says: “I am going away, and you will seek me, and in your sin you will die; where I go, you cannot come”; but to Peter: “Where I go, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later”; for it is possible for one who is a disciple of Jesus not to be prepared now to follow him as he goes to the Father, but later, through diligence, walking in his footsteps to follow 19.14.87 the teacher and to attend the Word of God. And it is likely that because of what we surmise about the end, someone will attend to the “Where I go, you cannot come”; and to this he will say, that it is possible not to be able now, but to be able later; and if indeed there is a present age and another to come, these to whom it was said: “You cannot come,” in the present age (and there is much time remaining until its consummation) cannot come where Jesus is, that is, where the truth and the wisdom and the Word is, for this 19.14.88 is "7where Jesus is"7. But I know some, not only in this age, but also in the one to come, who are held by their own sin, as those about whom the Word says: “<Whoever> blasphemes against the Holy Spirit does not have forgiveness, neither in this age nor in the one to come”; however, if not in the age to come, then surely not even in the ages that are coming after. 19.14.89 Heracleon, however, having set forth the passage about the treasury, said nothing about it. But regarding “20Where I go you cannot come20,” he says: 20how can those who are in ignorance and unbelief and sins be in incorruption20? 19.14.90 not even in this listening to himself; for if those who are in ignorance and unbelief and sins cannot be in incorruption, how the apostles, having once been in ignorance and in unbelief and in sins, in

«Ἀποθανεῖσθε» κατὰ τὸν ἐχθρὸν τοῦ χριστοῦ θάνατον λαμβάνεται, ὡς τοῦ πρὸς θάνατον ἡμαρτηκότος ἀποθνήσκοντος, δῆλον ὅτι οἷς ταῦτα ἐλέγετο οὐδέπω 19.13.80 ἀποτεθνήκεισαν. καὶ ζητήσεις πῶς οἱ μὴ πιστεύσαντες, ὅτε ἔζων, μέλλουσίν ποτε ἀποθανεῖσθαι. ἀπαντήσεται δέ τις καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο λέγων ὅτι κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ τὸ μηδέπω πιστεύειν οὐδέπω πρὸς θάνατον ἁμάρτημα ἦν, καὶ πρὸς οὓς ὁ λόγος οὐδέπω τὰ πρὸς θάνα τον ἡμαρτήκεισαν. ἀλλ' ἔζων μὲν ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτῶν, ἡ 19.13.81 δὲ ἀσθένεια ἐκείνη πρὸς θάνατον ἦν. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ ἰατρὸς βλέ πων ὀλεθρίως αὐτοὺς ἀσθενοῦντας, ἔλεγεν ἀπογνοὺς αὐτῶν τὴν θεραπείαν· «Ἐγὼ ὑπάγω καὶ ζητήσετέ με, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑμῶν «ἀποθανεῖσθε». εἴπομεν δὴ τὸ «ἐπεὶ ἡ ἀσθένεια ἐκείνη ἦν αὐτοῖς «πρὸς θάνατον», ἅτε μαθόντες ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ διαφορὰν ἀσθενειῶν. 19.13.82 ἠσθένει δὲ καὶ ὁ Λάζαρος, ἀλλ' ᾔδει ὁ ἰατρὸς ὅτι ἡ ἀσθένεια αὐτοῦ οὐ πρὸς θάνατον ἦν· διόπερ φησίν· «Αὕτη ἡ ἀσθένεια οὐκ ἔστιν «πρὸς θάνατον». διὰ τοῦτο κἂν ἀντιλαμβανώμεθα τῶν ἀσθενειῶν ἑαυτῶν ἀσθενούντων, προσέχωμεν μήποτε πρὸς θάνατον ἀσθενή σωμεν, μεταβαλλούσης τῆς νόσου ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔτι ἰατὴν εἶναι δύνασθαι 19.13.83 ἐπὶ τὸ ἀνίατον. ἅμα δὲ σαφέστερόν πως ἔσται καὶ τὸ «Ὅπου ἐγὼ «ὑπάγω ὑμεῖς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν» ἐπιφερόμενον τῷ «Καὶ ἐν τῇ «ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑμῶν ἀποθανεῖσθε». ὅταν γὰρ ἀποθάνῃ τις ἐν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτίᾳ, ὅπου ὑπάγει ὁ Ἰησοῦς οὐ δύναται ἀπελθεῖν· οὐδεὶς γὰρ νε κρὸς ἀκολουθεῖν δύναται τῷ Ἰησοῦ· «Οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ νεκροὶ αἰνέσουσίν «σε, κύριε, οὐδὲ πάντες οἱ καταβαίνοντες εἰς ᾅδου. ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς οἱ «ζῶντες εὐλογήσομεν τὸν κύριον». 19.14.84 Ἔτι πρὸς τὸ «Ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑμῶν ἀποθανεῖσθε» παραθήσεις τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Ἰεζεκιὴλ οὕτως ἔχον· «Ψυχὴ ἡ ἁμαρτάνουσα, αὕτη «ἀποθανεῖται»· θάνατος γὰρ ψυχῆς ἁμαρτία, οἶμαι δὲ ὅτι οὐ πᾶσα, 19.14.85 ἀλλ' ἥν φησιν Ἰωάννης πρὸς θάνατον. ἅμα δὲ καὶ διαστέλλει ὅτι τις ἁμαρτία θάνατός ἐστιν ψυχῆς, καί τις ἁμαρτία ἀσθένεια αὐτῆς τάχα δὲ καὶ τρίτον τις ἁμαρτία ζημία ψυχῆς ἐστιν, ἁμαρτία δηλονότι ἐκ τοῦ «Τί ὠφεληθήσεται ἄνθρωπος ἐὰν ὅλον τὸν κόσμον κερδήσῃ «τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπολέσῃ ἢ ζημιωθῇ;» καὶ ἐκ τοῦ «Εἴ τινος τὸ 19.14.86 «ἔργον κατακαήσεται, ζημιωθήσεται». τοῖς μὲν οὖν ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀποθανουμένοις φησίν· «Ὑπάγω καὶ ζητήσετέ με, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ «ὑμῶν ἀποθανεῖσθε· ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω, ὑμεῖς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν»· τῷ δὲ Πέτρῳ· «Ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω, οὐ δύνασαί μοι νῦν ἀκολουθῆσαι, «ἀκολουθήσεις δὲ ὕστερον»· ἔξεστιν γὰρ μαθητευόμενον τῷ Ἰησοῦ νῦν μὲν μὴ παρεσκευάσθαι πρὸς τὸ ἀκολουθεῖν αὐτῷ ἀπιόντι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, ὕστερον δὲ ἐξ ἐπιμελείας κατ' ἴχνη βαίνοντα ἀκολουθεῖν 19.14.87 τῷ διδασκάλῳ καὶ ἕπεσθαι τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ θεοῦ. εἰκὸς δὲ ὅτι διὰ τὰ περὶ τέλους ἡμῖν ὑπονοούμενα ἐπιστήσει τις τῷ «Ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω «ὑμεῖς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν»· καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο ἐρεῖ, ὅτι ἔξεστι νῦν μὲν μὴ δύνασθαι, ὕστερον δὲ δυνήσεσθαι· καὶ εἴπερ ἐστίν τις ἐνεστηκὼς αἰὼν καὶ ἄλλος μέλλων, οὗτοι πρὸς οὓς λέλεκται· «Οὐ δύνασθε «ἐλθεῖν», κατὰ τὸν ἐνεστηκότα αἰῶνα (πολὺς δὲ ὁ λείπων εἰς τὴν συντέλειαν αὐτοῦ ἐστιν χρόνος) οὐ δύνανται ἐλθεῖν, ὅπου Ἰησοῦς, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ὅπου ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ σοφία καὶ ὁ λόγος, τοῦτο γάρ 19.14.88 ἐστιν "7ὅπου Ἰησοῦς"7. οἶδα δέ τινας οὐ μόνον ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι κρατουμένους ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας ἁμαρτίας, ὡς τούτους περὶ ὧν φησιν ὁ λόγος· «<Ὃς> ἐὰν βλασφημήσῃ εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα «τὸ ἅγιον, οὐκ ἔχει ἄφεσιν οὔτε ἐν τούτῳ τῷ αἰῶνι οὔτε ἐν τῷ «μέλλοντι»· οὐ μέντοι γε εἰ μὴ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι, ἤδη οὐδὲ ἐν τοῖς αἰῶσιν τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις. 19.14.89 Ὁ μέντοι γε Ἡρακλέων ἐκθέμενος τὴν περὶ τοῦ γαζοφυλακίου λέξιν οὐδὲν εἶπεν εἰς αὐτήν. εἰς δὲ τὸ «20Ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω ὑμεῖς «οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν20» φησί· 20πῶς ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ καὶ ἀπιστίᾳ καὶ ἁμαρτήμασιν ὄντες ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ δύνανται γενέσθαι20; 19.14.90 μηδὲ ἐν τούτῳ κατακούων ἑαυτοῦ· εἰ γὰρ οἱ ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ καὶ ἀπιστίᾳ καὶ ἁμαρτήμασιν ὄντες ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ οὐ δύνανται γενέσθαι, πῶς οἱ ἀπόστολοι ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ ποτὲ καὶ ἐν ἀπιστίᾳ καὶ ἐν ἁμαρ τήμασιν γενόμενοι ἐν