,

those who fulfill the spiritual law will be justified, not falling from grace through the passage into the depth of the soul according to the purification of the word. But those who worship corporeally according to the appearance of the law certainly fall from divine grace, being ignorant of the perfection of the spiritual law in grace, which cleanses the mind of every stain, and Christ as its end.

19. CONCERNING "ALL WHO SINNED WITHOUT THE LAW WILL ALSO PERISH WITHOUT THE LAW". 19. QUESTION 19 What is the meaning of *all who sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who sinned under the law will be judged by the law*? And how does the same say again, *when God will judge the secrets of men through Jesus Christ, according to my Gospel*? If they are to be judged by the law, how can it be through Jesus Christ?

Answer. The Word of God, Jesus Christ, as creator of all things, is also the author of the natural law; and as provider and lawgiver, He is clearly the giver of the law in the letter and of the law in the spirit, that is, in grace. For Christ is the end of the law, that is, of the written law understood spiritually. 14Β_116 If, therefore, the natural law, the written law, and the law of grace are all brought together in Christ—as Creator, Provider, Lawgiver, and Propitiation—the divine Apostle speaks truly when he says that God will judge the secrets of men according to his Gospel, that is, as it is proclaimed through Jesus Christ, His own Only-begotten Word according to essence, who passes through all things, convicting some and suitably accepting others, and who through His ineffable, Only-begotten Word, who is with Him according to essence, assigns to each what is deserved according to nature, law, and grace. For the Word of God is the maker of every nature and every law, statute, and order, and the judge of things in nature, law, statute, and order. For without the promulgating Word, there is no law. Therefore, whether one is judged under the law, he will be judged in Christ; or without the law, he will still certainly be judged in Him. For the Word, as Creator, is the beginning, middle, and end of all things that are, that are spoken of, and that are conceived.

20. CONCERNING THE FIG TREE THAT WAS WITHERED IN THE GOSPEL. 20. QUESTION 20 What is the fig tree in the Gospel that was withered illogically, as far as appearances go? And what is the intemperance of the hunger that sought fruit out of season? And what is the curse of the inanimate thing?

Answer. God the Word, who wisely orders all things for the salvation of humanity, having first instructed nature through the law, which possessed a more corporeal worship—for it was not able to receive the truth naked of typical veils on account of the ignorance and alienation that had arisen in it toward the archetype of divine realities—14Β_118 afterward, becoming man openly through Himself, arriving by the assumption of flesh that had an intellectual and rational soul, and, as the Word, leading nature over to the immaterial, gnostic worship in spirit, He did not want the shadow, now that the truth had been made manifest in life, to hold sway, of which the fig tree was a type. For this reason He says: *returning from Bethany to Jerusalem,* that is, after His hidden presence according to the typical and shadowy law, visiting again the nature of men through the flesh—for so must be understood the

ποιοῦντες τὸν κατὰ πνεῦμα νόμον δικαιωθήσονται, μὴ ἐκπίπτοντες τῆς χάριτος διὰ τὴν εἰς τὸ βάθος τῆς ψυχῆς κατὰ τὴν κάθαρσιν τοῦ λόγου διάβασιν. Οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὸ φαινόμενον τοῦ νόμου σωματικῶς λατρεύοντες τῆς θείας πάντως ἐκπίπτουσι χάριτος, ἀγνοοῦντες τὴν τὸν νοῦν πάσης καθαίρουσαν κηλίδος ἐν χάριτι τοῦ πνευματικοῦ νόμου τελείωσιν καὶ τὸ τέλος Χριστόν.

ΙΘ (19). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ "ΟΣΟΙ ΑΝΟΜΩΣ ΗΜΑΡΤΟΝ, ΑΝΟΜΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΠΟΛΟΥΝΤΑΙ". 19. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΙΘ' Τί ἐστιν ὅσοι ἀνόμως ἥμαρτον ἀνόμως καὶ ἀπολοῦνται, καὶ ὅσοι ἐν νόμῳ

ἥμαρτον διὰ νόμου κριθήσονται; Καὶ πῶς ὁ αὐτὸς λέγει πάλιν ὅτε κρινεῖ ὁ Θεὸς τὰ κρυπτὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατὰ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιόν μου διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ; Εἰ διὰ νόμου κριθήσονται, πῶς διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ὡς μὲν πάντων δημιουργός, καὶ νόμου

τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν ἐστὶ ποιητής, ὡς δὲ προνοητὴς καὶ νομοθέτης, καὶ τοῦ ἐν γράμματι σαφῶς καὶ τοῦ ἐν πνεύματι, τουτέστιν ἐν χάριτι, νόμου ἐστὶ δοτήρ· τέλος γὰρ νόμου Χριστός, δηλονότι τοῦ γραπτοῦ νοουμένου πνευματικῶς. 14Β_116 Εἰ τοίνυν εἰς Χριστόν, ὡς δημιουργὸν προνοητήν τε καὶ νομοθέτην καὶ ἱλασμόν, ὅ τε κατὰ φύσιν καὶ ὁ γραπτὸς καὶ ὁ τῆς χάριτος συνάγεται νόμος, ἀληθεύει φάσκων ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς τὰ κρυπτὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων μέλλει κρίνειν κατὰ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον αὐτοῦ, τουτέστι καθῶς εὐαγγελίζεται διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ μονογενοῦς κατ᾽ οὐσίαν οἰκείου Λόγου, χωρῶν διὰ πάντων, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐλέγχων, τοὺς δὲ προσφόρως ἀποδεχόμενος, καὶ τοῖς κατὰ φύσιν καὶ νόμον καὶ χάριν διὰ τοῦ συνόντος αὐτῷ κατ᾽ οὐσίαν μονογενοῦς ἀφράστου Λόγου τὰ κατ᾽ ἀξίαν ἀπονέμων. Πάσης γὰρ φύσεως καὶ παντὸς νόμου καὶ θεσμοῦ καὶ τάξεως ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος ἐστὶ ποιητής, καὶ τῶν ἐν φύσει καὶ νόμῳ καὶ θεσμῷ καὶ τάξει κριτής· τοῦ γὰρ διαγορεύοντος Λόγου χωρίς, νόμος οὐκ ἔστιν. Εἴτε οὖν ἐν νόμῳ τις κρίνεται, ὡς ἐν Χριστῷ κριθήσεται, εἴτε χωρὶς νόμου, πάλιν ἐν αὐτῷ πάντως κριθήσεται· πάντων γὰρ τῶν ὄντων καὶ λεγομένων καὶ νοουμένων ἐστὶ καὶ ἀρχὴ καὶ μεσότης καὶ τέλος, ὡς δημιουργός, ὁ Λόγος.

Κ (20). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΩ ΞΗΡΑΝΘΕΙΣΗΣ ΣΥΚΗΣ. 20. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Κ' Τίς ἡ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ παραλόγως, ὅσον πρὸς τὸ φαινόμενον, ξηρανθεῖσα

συκῆ; Καὶ τίς ἡ ἀκρασία τῆς πείνης παρὰ καιρὸν ἐπιζητούσης καρπόν; Καὶ τίς ἡ τοῦ ἀναισθήτου κατάρα;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ πάντα σωτηρίας ἕνεκεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων μετὰ σοφίας οἰκονομῶν Θεὸς

Λόγος, πρότερον διὰ νόμου σωματικωτέραν ἔχοντος λατρείαν παιδαγωγήσας τὴν φύσιν οὐ γὰρ ἠδύνατο γυμνὴν τυπικῶν προκαλυμμάτων δέξασθαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν διὰ τὴν ἐγγενομένην αὐτῇ πρὸς τὴν ἀρχετυπίαν τῶν θείων πραγμάτων 14Β_118 ἄγνοιάν τε καὶ ἀλλοτρίωσιν, ὕστερον, ἐμφανῶς δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, κατὰ πρόσληψιν σαρκὸς νοεράν τε καὶ λογικὴν ἐχούσης ψυχὴν παραγενόμενος καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἄϋλον γνωστικὴν ἐν πνεύματι λατρείαν, ὡς Λόγος, τὴν φύσιν μεταγαγών, οὐκ ἠβούλετο, τῆς ἀληθείας τῷ βίῳ διαφανείσης, τὴν σκιὰν ἔχειν τὴν δυναστείαν, ἧς τύπος ὑπῆρχεν ἡ συκῆ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησιν· ἐπανιὼν ἐκ Βηθανίας εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα, τουτέστι μετὰ τὴν τυπικὴν καὶ σκιώδη κατὰ τὸν νόμον λανθάνουσαν αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν αὖθις τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων διὰ σαρκὸς ἐπιδημῶνοὕτω γὰρ ληπτέον τὸ