For which things the carnal Jews and the Ebionites who differ little from them accuse us of breaking the law, for not thinking that the obvious meaning concerning these things is the intention of the Scripture. For if it is not what enters the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth, and especially since also in Mark the Savior said these things, "making all foods clean," it is clear that we are not defiled by eating those things which the Jews, wishing to be enslaved to the letter of the law, say are unclean, but we are defiled when, our lips needing to be bound "by perception" and we needing to make for what we say "a balance and a scale," we say whatever comes to mind, and consider what we ought not, from which comes to us the source of sins. And it is fitting for God's law to forbid things from wickedness and to command things according to virtue, but to leave in their place those things which by their own nature are indifferent, which through choice and the reason within us can, when done sinfully, be practiced badly, but when done rightly, become good. And one who has carefully considered these things will see that it is also possible to sin by partaking of things considered good badly and out of passion, and that things called unclean can, when used by us according to reason, be reckoned as clean. For just as the circumcision of the <μὲν> sinning Jew will be reckoned as uncircumcision, and the uncircumcision of the righteous one from the Gentiles as circumcision, so things considered clean will be reckoned as unclean to the one who does not use them properly, nor when he ought, nor as much as he ought, nor for the purpose he ought, while things called unclean "all" become "clean to the clean; for to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is clean, since both their mind and their conscience are defiled"; and these defiled things make everything they touch defiled, just as, on the contrary, the clean mind and the clean conscience make all things clean, even if they seem to happen to be unclean; for the righteous do not use foods or drinks out of licentiousness, nor out of love of pleasure, nor with a hesitation that draws them in either direction, being mindful of "whether you eat or drink or whatever else you do, do it to the glory of God." And if we must describe the unclean foods according to the gospel, we will say that such are things procured from greed and acquired from sordid gain and taken from love of pleasure and from the deifying of the honored belly, whenever it and its appetites, and not reason, rule our soul. But also, knowing that someone has partaken of things offered to demons, or not knowing but suspecting and having doubts about this, if we should use such things, we have not used them "to the glory of God" nor in the name of Christ, not only because the supposition that it is food offered to idols condemns the one who eats, but also the doubt concerning this. "For he who has doubts, according to the apostle, if he eats is condemned, because it is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin." Therefore, one eats "from faith" who is convinced that what is eaten has not been sacrificed in idol-temples, nor is it strangled, nor is it blood, but one who has doubts about any of these things does not eat "from faith"; and he becomes a partaker "of demons" who, knowing these things have been sacrificed "to demons," nonetheless partakes of them with a defiled imagination of the demons having shared in the sacrifice. And the apostle, however, knowing that the nature of foods is not the cause of harm to the one who partakes of them or of benefit to the one who abstains, but rather the doctrines and the indwelling reason, said: "But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse." And since he knew that those who understood more profoundly according to the law what things are clean and what are unclean, having abandoned the distinction and superstition—I think—in different things about using them as clean and unclean, were indifferent in their use of foods and for this reason were judged by the Jews as lawless, for this reason he said somewhere: "Therefore let no one judge you in food or in

ἐφ' οἷς ὡς παρανομοῦσιν ἐγκαλοῦσιν ἡμῖν οἱ σωματικοὶ Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ οἱ ὀλίγῳ διαφέροντες αὐτῶν Ἐβιωναῖοι, μὴ νομίζειν τὸν σκοπὸν εἶναι τῇ γραφῇ τὸν πρόχειρον περὶ τούτων νοῦν. Εἰ γὰρ οὐ τὸ εἰσερχόμενον εἰς τὸ στόμα κοινοῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐξερχόμενον ἐκ τοῦ στόματος, καὶ μάλιστα ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐν τῷ κατὰ τὸν Μᾶρκον ταῦτα ἔλεγεν ὁ σωτὴρ «καθα ρίζων πάντα τὰ βρώματα», δῆλον ὅτι οὐ κοινούμεθα μὲν ἐσθίοντες ἃ Ἰουδαῖοί φασι, τῷ γράμματι τοῦ νόμου δουλεύειν ἐθέλοντες, εἶναι ἀκάθαρτα, τότε δὲ κοινούμεθα ὅτε, δέον τὰ χείλη ἡμῶν δεδέσθαι «αἰσθήσει» καὶ ποιεῖν ἡμᾶς οἷς λέγομεν «ζυγὸν καὶ σταθμόν», λέγομεν μὲν τὰ παρα τυχόντα, διαλογιζόμεθα δὲ τὰ μὴ δέοντα, ἀφ' ὧν ἡ πηγὴ ἡμῖν ἔρχεται τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων. Καὶ πρέπον γέ ἐστι θεοῦ νόμῳ ἀπαγορεύειν τὰ ἀπὸ κακίας καὶ προστάσσειν τὰ κατ' ἀρετήν, τὰ δὲ τῷ ἰδίῳ λόγῳ ἀδιάφορα ταῦτα ἐᾶν ἐπὶ χώρας, δυνάμενα διὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν καὶ τὸν ἐν ἡμῖν λόγον ἁμαρ τανόμενα μὲν κακῶς πράττεσθαι, κατορθούμενα δὲ γίγνεσθαι καλῶς. Ταῦτα δέ τις ἐπιμελῶς νοήσας ὄψεται ὅτι καὶ τὰ νομιζόμενα ἀγαθὰ οἷόν τέ ἐστι κακῶς καὶ ἀπὸ πάθους λαβόντα ἁμαρτάνειν, καὶ τὰ λεγόμενα ἀκάθαρτα δυνατὸν κατὰ λόγον ἐν χρήσει ἡμῖν γινόμενα λογίζεσθαι καθαρά. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τοῦ <μὲν> ἁμαρτάνοντος Ἰουδαίου ἡ περιτομὴ εἰς ἀκροβυστίαν λογισθήσεται, τοῦ δὲ κατορθοῦντος ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἡ ἀκροβυστία εἰς περιτομήν, οὕτως τὰ μὲν νομιζόμενα καθαρὰ λογισθήσεται εἰς ἀκάθαρτα τῷ μὴ δεόντως αὐτοῖς μηδὲ ὅτε δεῖ, μηδὲ ὅσον δεῖ, μηδὲ ὅθεν δεῖ χρωμένῳ, τὰ δὲ λεγόμενα ἀκάθαρτα «πάντα» γίνεται «καθαρὰ τοῖς καθαροῖς· τοῖς γὰρ μεμιασμένοις καὶ ἀπίστοις οὐδὲν καθαρόν, ἐπεὶ μεμίανται αὐτῶν καὶ ὁ νοῦς καὶ ἡ συνείδησις»· καὶ ταῦτα μεμιασμένα ἅπαντα ποιεῖ μιαρὰ ὧν ἂν ἅψηται, ὡς πάλιν ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου ὁ καθαρὸς νοῦς καὶ ἡ καθαρὰ συνείδησις πάντα ποιεῖ καθαρά, κἂν δοκῇ ἀκάθαρτα τυγχάνειν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀπὸ ἀκολασίας οὐδὲ ἀπὸ φιληδονίας οὐδὲ μετὰ διακρίσεως περιελκούσης εἰς ἑκάτερα οἱ δίκαιοι χρῶνται τοῖς βρώμασιν ἢ πόμασι, μεμνημένοι τοῦ «εἴτε ἐσθίετε εἴτε πίνετε εἴτε τι ἄλλο ποιεῖτε, εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ ποιεῖτε». Εἰ δὲ χρὴ ὑπογράψαι τὰ κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἀκάθαρτα βρώματα, φήσομεν ὅτι τοιαῦτά ἐστι τὰ ἀπὸ πλεονεξίας πεπορισμένα καὶ ἀπὸ αἰσχροκερδείας περιγεγενημένα καὶ ἀπὸ φιληδονίας λαμβανόμενα καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοποιεῖσθαι τιμωμένην τὴν γαστέρα, ὅταν αὐτὴ καὶ αἱ κατ' αὐτὴν ὀρέξεις καὶ μὴ ὁ λόγος ἄρχῃ τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ γινώσκοντες δαιμονίοις κεχρῆσθαί τινα, ἢ μὴ γινώσκοντες μέν, ὑπονοοῦντες δὲ καὶ διακρινόμενοι περὶ τούτου, εἰ χρησαίμεθα τοῖς τοιούτοις, οὐκ «εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ» αὐτοῖς κεχρήμεθα οὐδὲ ἐν ὀνόματι Χριστοῦ, οὐ μόνον τῆς περὶ τοῦ εἰδωλόθυτα εἶναι ὑπολήψεως κατακρινούσης τὸν ἐσθίοντα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς περὶ τούτου διακρίσεως. «Ὁ γὰρ διακρι νόμενος, κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον, ἐὰν φάγῃ κατακέκριται, ὅτι οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως· πᾶν δὲ ὃ οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως ἁμαρτία ἐστίν.» «Ἐκ πίστεως» μὲν οὖν ἐσθίει ὁ πεπιστευκὼς μὴ ἐν εἰδωλείοις τεθύσθαι τὸ ἐσθιόμενον μηδὲ πνικτὸν αὐτὸ εἶναι ἢ αἷμα, οὐκ «ἐκ πίστεως» δὲ ὁ περὶ τούτων τινὸς διακρινόμενος· καὶ κοινωνὸς δὲ «τῶν δαιμονίων» γίνεται ὁ καὶ αὐτὰ εἰδὼς «δαιμονίοις» τεθύσθαι καὶ οὐδὲν ἧττον χρώμενος μετὰ μεμολυσμένης τῆς περὶ τῶν δαιμονίων κοινωνησάντων τῷ θύματι φαντασίας. Καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος μέντοι ἐπιστάμενος μὴ τὴν φύσιν τῶν βρωμάτων αἰτίαν εἶναι βλάβης τῷ χρωμένῳ ἢ ὠφελείας τῷ ἀπεχομένῳ, ἀλλὰ τὰ δόγματα καὶ τὸν ἐνυπάρχοντα λόγον, εἶπε· «Βρῶμα δὲ ἡμᾶς οὐ παρίστησι τῷ θεῷ· οὔτε γὰρ ἐὰν φάγωμεν περισσευόμεθα, οὔτε ἐὰν μὴ φάγωμεν ὑστερούμεθα.» Καὶ ἐπείπερ ἠπίστατο τοὺς μεγαλοφυέστερον νοοῦντας κατὰ τὸν νόμον, τίνα τὰ καθαρὰ καὶ τίνα τὰ ἀκάθαρτα, ἀποστάντας τῆς περὶ τοῦ χρῆσθαι ὡς καθαροῖς καὶ ἀκαθάρτοις διαφορᾶς καὶ δεισιδαιμονίας-οἶμαι-ἐν διαφόροις, ἀδιαφορεῖν τῇ χρήσει τῶν βρωμάτων καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων ὡς παρανόμους κρίνεσθαι, διὰ τοῦτο εἶπέ που· «Μὴ οὖν κρινέτω τις ὑμᾶς ἐν βρώσει ἢ ἐν