John Chrysostom, Sermons on Genesis

they quell the battle. For this reason, we too, taking courage, 54.617 propose this discourse for instruction, entrusting everything to their prayers. And so that your hearing may become easier to learn and clearer, let us also recall briefly what was said to you yesterday. I said that before the eating of the tree, man knew good and evil, and that it was not after this taste that he received the knowledge. I said for what reason it was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and how it is the custom of Scripture, whenever something happens concerning a place or a time, to name both the place and the time from the event. Today it is necessary to read the commandment itself, through which He forbade the eating of the tree. What then is it? And the Lord God commanded Adam, saying: Of every tree that is in paradise you may freely eat. The law is divine, but let us pay attention. For if men reading royal letters cause the whole theater to rise; much more ought we, when about to read not the laws of men but of God, to be aroused in our mind, and pay attention to what is said. I know that some accuse the lawgiver, and say that the law is the cause of the transgression. Therefore it is necessary to stand against this first, and to show through the facts themselves, that not hating man, nor wishing to insult our nature, but loving and caring for him, He gave the law. For that He gave it to us for an alliance, hear what Isaiah says: For He gave the law for a help. But he who hates does not help. Again the Prophet cries out: Your law is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths. But he who hates does not dispel the darkness by a lamp, nor guide with light the one who has gone astray. Again Solomon: The commandment of the law is a lamp, and a light, and life, and reproof and instruction. Behold, not only a help, nor only a lamp, but also a light and a life; and these things are not of one who hates, nor of one who wishes to destroy, but of one who stretches out a hand and raises up. For this reason Paul also, addressing the Jew, and showing how much profit the law brought, and that it is a rest, not a burden to our nature, said: Behold, you are called a Jew, and rest in the law. Do you see that God gave the law not to burden our nature, but to give it rest? Do you wish to learn that it is also an honor? Indeed, these things are sufficient to show the honor and the care, but I will make this same thing clear from other testimonies as well. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, it says; praise your God, O Zion. For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you. He who makes your borders peace, and fills you with the finest of wheat. Then, having also spoken of the benefit supplied by God through the rest of creation, he added the exceptional and greater one, speaking thus: He sends forth His word to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel. He has not dealt so with any nation, and as for His judgments, they have not known them. See how many good things he enumerated. The security of a city. For He has strengthened, it says, the bars of your gates; deliverance from wars; For He who makes, it says, your borders peace; 54.618 an abundance of necessities; And fills you with the finest of wheat. But yet, he declared the gift of the law to be more precious than all these things. For that receiving the law and learning the ordinances of God is a much greater gift than security, and peace, and deliverance from wars, and having good children, and having many children, and an abundance of necessities, placing it after all of these things as the chief point and bond of good things, he added, saying: He has not dealt so with any nation. So, how? And yet many have often enjoyed abundance, and the other things that were enumerated, But I am not speaking of the things previously mentioned, he says, but concerning the law, that He has not dealt so with any nation. And for this reason he added:

καταστέλλουσι μάχην. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς θαῤῥοῦντες, τὸν λόγον 54.617 εἰς διδασκαλίαν προτείνομεν, ταῖς εὐχαῖς αὐτῶν τὸ πᾶν ἐπιῤῥίψαντες. Ὥστε δὲ εὐμαθεστέραν καὶ σαφεστέραν ὑμῖν γενέσθαι τὴν ἀκρόασιν, καὶ τῶν χθὲς ὑμῖν εἰρημένων ἀναμνήσωμεν ἐν βραχεῖ. Εἶπον ὅτι πρὸ τῆς τοῦ ξύλου βρώσεως ᾔδει τὸ καλὸν καὶ τὸ πονηρὸν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, καὶ ὅτι οὐ μετὰ τὴν γεῦσιν ταύτην ἔλαβε τὴν γνῶσιν. Εἶπον τίνος ἕνεκεν ξύλον γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ ἐλέγετο, καὶ πῶς ἔθος τῇ Γραφῇ, ἐπειδάν τι πρᾶγμα συμβῇ περὶ τόπον ἢ καιρὸν, ἀπὸ τοῦ πράγματος ὀνομάζειν καὶ τὸν τόπον καὶ τὸν καιρόν. Σήμερον ἀναγκαῖον αὐτὴν ἀναγνῶναι τὴν ἐντολὴν, δι' ἧς ἐκώλυσε τοῦ ξύλου τὴν βρῶσιν. Τίς οὖν ἐστιν αὕτη; Καὶ ἐνετείλατο Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Ἀδὰμ, λέγων· Ἀπὸ παντὸς ξύλου τοῦ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ βρώσει φάγῃ. Θεῖος ὁ νόμος, ἀλλὰ προσέχωμεν. Εἰ γὰρ βασιλικὰ ἀναγινώσκοντες γράμματα ἄνθρωποι, ὁλόκληρον ἀνιστῶσι θέατρον· πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς οὐκ ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ νόμους ἀναγινώσκειν μέλλοντας διανίστασθαι χρὴ τῇ διανοίᾳ, καὶ προσέχειν τοῖς λεγομένοις. Οἶδα ὅτι κατηγοροῦσί τινες τοῦ νομοθέτου, καὶ τὸν νόμον αἴτιον εἶναί φασι τοῦ παραπτώματος. Πρὸς τοῦτο οὖν ἀνάγκη στῆναι πρότερον, καὶ δεῖξαι διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῶν, ὅτι οὐχὶ μισῶν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, οὐδὲ ὑβρίσαι βουλόμενος τὴν φύσιν τὴν ἡμετέραν, ἀλλὰ φιλῶν καὶ κηδόμενος, τὸν νόμον ἔδωκεν. Ὅτι γὰρ εἰς συμμαχίαν ἡμῖν αὐτὸν ἔδωκεν, ἄκουσον τί φησιν Ἡσαΐας· Νόμον γὰρ εἰς βοήθειαν ἔδωκεν. Ὁ δὲ μισῶν, οὐ βοηθεῖ. Πάλιν ὁ Προφήτης βοᾷ· Λύχνος τοῖς ποσί μου ὁ νόμος σου, καὶ φῶς ταῖς τρίβοις μου. Ὁ δὲ μισῶν, οὐ λύει τὸ σκότος διὰ τοῦ λύχνου, οὐδὲ ὁδηγεῖ μετὰ φωτὸς τὸν πεπλανημένον. Πάλιν ὁ Σολομών· Λύχνος ἐντολὴ νόμου, καὶ φῶς, καὶ ζωὴ, καὶ ἔλεγχος καὶ παιδεία. Ἰδοὺ οὐχὶ βοήθεια μόνον, οὐδὲ λύχνος μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ φῶς καὶ ζωή· ταῦτα δὲ οὐκ ἔστι μισοῦντος, οὐδὲ ἀπολέσαι βουλομένου, ἀλλὰ χεῖρα ὀρέγοντος καὶ διανιστῶντος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Παῦλος πρὸς τὸν Ἰουδαῖον ἀποτεινόμενος, καὶ δεικνὺς ὅσον εἰσήνεγκε κέρδος ὁ νόμος, καὶ ὅτι ἀνάπαυσις, οὐ βάρησις τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ἐστιν, ἔλεγεν· Ἴδε σὺ Ἰουδαῖος ἐπονομάζῃ, καὶ ἐπαναπαύῃ τῷ νόμῳ. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι οὐχὶ βαρῶν ἡμῶν τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλ' ἀναπαύων, τὸν νόμον ἔδωκεν ὁ Θεός; Βούλει μαθεῖν ὅτι καὶ τιμῶν; Μάλιστα μὲν οὖν καὶ ταῦτα ἱκανὰ δεῖξαι τὴν τιμὴν καὶ τὴν κηδεμονίαν, πλὴν καὶ ἀφ' ἑτέρων μαρτυριῶν αὐτὸ τοῦτο ποιήσομαι φανερόν. Ἐπαίνει, φησὶν, Ἱερουσαλὴμ, τὸν Κύριον· αἴνει τὸν Θεόν σου, Σιών· ὅτι ἐνίσχυσε τοὺς μοχλοὺς τῶν πυλῶν σου, εὐλόγησε τοὺς υἱούς σου ἔν σοι· ὁ τιθεὶς τὰ ὅριά σου εἰρήνην, καὶ στέαρ πυροῦ ἐμπιπλῶν σε. Εἶτα εἰπὼν καὶ τὴν διὰ τῆς ἄλλης κτίσεως εὐεργεσίαν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ χορηγουμένην, ἐπήγαγε τὴν ἐξαίρετον καὶ μείζονα, οὑτωσὶ λέγων· Ὁ ἀποστέλλων τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ τῷ Ἰακὼβ, δικαιώματα καὶ κρίματα αὐτοῦ τῷ Ἰσραήλ. Οὐκ ἐποίησεν οὕτω παντὶ ἔθνει, καὶ τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐδήλωσεν αὐτοῖς. Ὅρα πόσα κατέλεξεν ἀγαθά. Ἀσφάλειαν πόλεως. Ἐνίσχυσε γὰρ, φησὶ, τοὺς μοχλοὺς τῶν πυλῶν σου· ἀπαλλαγὴν πολέμων· Ὁ τιθεὶς γὰρ, φησὶ, τὰ ὅριά σου εἰρήνην· 54.618 ἀφθονίαν τῶν ἀναγκαίων· Καὶ στέαρ πυροῦ ἐμπιπλῶν σε. Ἀλλ' ὅμως πάντων τούτων τὴν τοῦ νόμου δόσιν τιμιωτέραν ἀπέφηνεν. Ὅτι γὰρ καὶ ἀσφαλείας, καὶ εἰρήνης, καὶ ἀπαλλαγῆς πολέμων, καὶ εὐπαιδίας, καὶ πολυπαιδίας, καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἀφθονίας πολλῷ μεῖζον δῶρόν ἐστι τὸ νόμον λαβεῖν, καὶ τὰ δικαιώματα τοῦ Θεοῦ μαθεῖν, πάντων ὕστερον αὐτὸ θεὶς ὡς κεφάλαιον καὶ σύνδεσμον τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ἐπήγαγε λέγων· Οὐκ ἐποίησεν οὕτω παντὶ ἔθνει. Οὕτω, πῶς; Καὶ μὴν καὶ ἀφθονίας, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἀπηριθμημένων πολλοὶ πολλάκις ἀπέλαυσαν, Ἀλλ' οὐ περὶ τῶν προειρημένων λέγω, φησὶν, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ νόμου, ὅτι Οὐκ ἐποίησεν οὕτω παντὶ ἔθνει. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐπήγαγε·