you should think that his repentance has some kinship with the repentance of those who repent. For just as his word was something exceptional, his anger something exceptional, his wrath something superior, and there was nothing in these akin to their homonyms, in the same way also his repentance is homonymous with our repentance; and things are homonymous of which only the name is common, but the definition of the substance corresponding to the name is different. Therefore, only the name of God's wrath and the wrath of anyone whatsoever is common, and only the name of anyone's anger and God's anger is common. So also must one understand it in the case of repentance. And he who is able will investigate what God's repentance accomplishes, what it accomplished. It deposed Saul who was reigning unlawfully, it raised up for the people a king according to the heart of God; for because of that good repentance he said: “I have found a man after my own heart, David the son of Jesse.” But all these things are a preface for me because the beginning of the reading from Jeremiah is as follows: “You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived.” 20.2 For we are investigating lest, just as everyone's wrath is bad but God's is for reproof, and everyone's anger is harsh but what is called God's is for instruction, and the repentance of all of us accuses the weakness of the reasoning that preceded the repentance, but in the case of God his repentance does not accuse God but the external circumstances for which the repentance is undertaken, so also one must understand the deception of God as being of a different kind from our deception, which we deceive. What then is the deception of God besides this one , which the prophet, understanding it when he ceased being deceived, says, knowing the benefit from having been deceived, “You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived”? And first I will use a Hebrew tradition, which has come to us through someone who fled on account of the faith of Christ and because he had returned from the law and had come to where we are staying. He related, then, something that seemed either a myth or an account able to lead the hearers to “You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived.” He said, then, things of this sort: God does not rule as a tyrant, but as a king, and in reigning he does not compel, but persuades, and wishes those under his dispensation to offer themselves willingly, so that one's good may not be by necessity, but according to his free will. This very thing Paul also, knowing it, said in the letter to Philemon, to Philemon concerning Onesimus: “so that your good deed might not be by necessity but of your own free will.” The God of all was able, therefore, to produce a supposed good in us, so that we might give alms by necessity and be temperate by necessity, but he has not wished it. Therefore he commands us to do what we do not out of grief or necessity, so that what is done may be voluntary. He seeks a way, therefore, so to speak, how someone might willingly do what God wishes. Therefore the tradition told me something of this kind also: He wished to send Jeremiah to prophesy to all the nations and before all the nations to the people. But since the prophecies had something rather gloomy about them (for they announced punishments, with which each will be punished according to his desert), and he knew the disposition of the prophet, not wishing to prophesy the worse things to the people of Israel, for this reason he arranged to say: “Take this cup, and you will make all the nations to whom I will send you drink it.” God therefore commanded Jeremiah to take a cup, and urging him to “take the cup of unmixed wine,” he says: “and I will send you to all the nations having this cup of unmixed wine.” But Jeremiah, hearing that he was being sent to all the nations, to minister to them a cup of wrath, a cup of punishments, not suspecting that Israel also was about to drink from the cup of punishment, being deceived took the cup to make all the nations drink. Having taken the cup he heard: “and you will first make Jerusalem drink.” Since, therefore, he expected one thing, but another thing met him, on this account indeed he says: “You have deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived.” Similar to this narrative, he also explained in Isaiah; for that one also, not knowing what he was about to be commanded to say
νομίσῃς συγγένειάν τινα ἔχειν τὴν μεταμέλειαν αὐτοῦ τῇ μεταμελείᾳ τῶν μετα<με>λουμένων. ὡς γὰρ ἐξαίρετόν τι εἶχεν ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ, ἐξαίρετόν <τι> ἡ ὀργὴ αὐτοῦ, ὑπερέχον τι ὁ θυμὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐδὲν τούτοις συγγενὲς ἦν τοῖς ὁμωνύμοις, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἡ μεταμέλεια αὐτοῦ ὁμώνυμόν ἐστι τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ μεταμελείᾳ· ὁμώνυμα δέ ἐστιν, ὧν ὄνομα μόνον κοινόν, ὁ δὲ κατὰ τοὔνομα τῆς οὐσίας λόγος ἕτερος. μόνον οὖν ὄνομα κοινὸν θυμοῦ θεοῦ καὶ θυμοῦ οὑτινοσοῦν, καὶ μόνον ὄνομα κοινὸν ὀργῆς οὑτινοσοῦν καὶ ὀργῆς θεοῦ. οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ μεταμελείας νοητέον. καὶ ζητήσει ὁ δυνάμενος, τί μεταμέλεια ἐργάζεται θεοῦ, τί εἰργάσατο. τὸν Σαοὺλ καθεῖλε βασιλεύοντα παρανόμως, ἀνέστησε βασιλέα τῷ λαῷ τὸν κατὰ τὴν καρδίαν τοῦ θεοῦ· εἶπε γὰρ διὰ τὴν ἀγαθὴν ἐκείνην μεταμέλειαν· «εὗρον ἄνδρα κατὰ τὴν καρδίαν μου, ∆αβὶδ υἱὸν Ἰεσσαί». ἀλλὰ ταῦτά μοι προοίμια πάντα ἐστὶ διὰ τὸ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἱερεμίου ἀναγνώσεως οὕτως ἔχειν· «ἠπάτησάς με, κύριε, καὶ ἠπατήθην». 20.2 ζητοῦμεν γάρ, μήποτε ὡς ὁ πάντων θυμὸς κακὸς ὁ δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐλεγκτικός, καὶ πάντων μὲν ἡ ὀργὴ χαλεπὴ ἡ δὲ καλουμένη τοῦ θεοῦ παιδευτική, καὶ πάντων μὲν ἡμῶν <ἡ> μεταμέλεια κατηγορεῖ ἀσθενείας τοῦ λογισμοῦ. τοῦ πρὸ τῆς μεταμελείας, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐ τοῦ θεοῦ κατηγορεῖ ἡ μεταμέλεια αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἔξω πραγμάτων ἐφ' οἷς ἡ μεταμέλεια λαμβάνεται, οὕτω δεῖ νοῆσαι καὶ τὴν ἀπάτην τοῦ θεοῦ ἑτερογενῆ τυγχάνουσαν παρὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀπάτην, ἣν ἀπατῶμεν. τίς οὖν ἡ παρὰ <ταύ>την τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπάτη, ἥντινα νοήσας ὁ προφήτης, ὅτε ἐπαύσατο ἀπατώμενος, φησὶ γνοὺς τὴν ὠφέλειαν τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἠπατῆσθαι τὸ «ἠπάτησάς με, κύριε, καὶ ἠπατήθην»; Καὶ πρῶτον χρήσομαι παραδόσει Ἑβραϊκῇ, ἐληλυθυίᾳ εἰς ἡμᾶς διά τινος φυγόντος διὰ τὴν Χριστοῦ πίστιν καὶ διὰ τὸ ἐπαναβεβηκέναι ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου καὶ ἐληλυθότος ἔνθα διατρίβομεν. ἔλεγε δή τινα εἴτε μῦθον φαινόμενον εἴτε λόγον δυνάμενον προσάγειν τοὺς ἀκούοντας τῷ «ἠπάτησάς με, κύριε, καὶ ἠπατήθην». ἔλεγε δή τινα τοιαῦτα· ὁ θεὸς οὐ τυραννεῖ, ἀλλὰ βασιλεύει, καὶ βασιλεύων οὐ βιάζεται, ἀλλὰ πείθει, καὶ βούλεται ἑκουσίως παρέχειν ἑαυτοὺς τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτῷ τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ αὐτοῦ, ἵνα μὴ κατὰ ἀνάγκην τὸ ἀγαθόν τινος ᾖ, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ ἑκούσιον αὐτοῦ. ὅπερ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος ἐπιστάμενος ἔλεγεν ἐν τῇ πρὸς Φιλήμονα ἐπιστολῇ τῷ Φιλήμονι περὶ τοῦ Ὀνησίμου· «ἵνα μὴ κατὰ ἀνάγκην τὸ ἀγαθόν σου ᾖ ἀλλὰ κατὰ ἑκούσιον». ἠδύνατο τοίνυν ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεὸς ποιῆσαι νομιζόμενον ἀγαθὸν ἐν ἡμῖν, ἵνα ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἐλεημοσύνας διδῶμεν καὶ ἐξ ἀνάγκης σωφρο- νῶμεν, ἀλλ' οὐ βεβούληται. διὸ μὴ ἐκ λύπης ἢ ἐξ ἀνάγκης προστάσσει ἡμῖν ποιεῖν ἃ ποιοῦμεν, ἵνα ἑκούσιον ᾖ τὸ γινόμενον. ὁδὸν οὖν, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω, ζητεῖ πῶς ἂν ἑκουσίως τις ποιήσαι, ἃ ὁ θεὸς βούλεται. ἔλεγεν οὖν μοι ἡ παράδοσις καὶ τοιοῦτόν τι· ἐβούλετο τὸν Ἱερεμίαν πέμψαι προφητεύσοντα πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι καὶ πρὸ πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν τῷ λαῷ. ἐπεὶ δὲ αἱ προφητεῖαι σκυθρωπότερόν τι εἶχον (ἀπήγγελλον γὰρ κολάσεις, ἃς ἕκαστος κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν κολασθήσεται), καὶ ᾔδει τὴν προαίρεσιν τοῦ προφήτου μὴ βουλομένου τὰ χείρονα προφητεῦσαι τῷ λαῷ Ἰσραήλ, διὰ τοῦτο ᾠκονόμησεν εἰ πεῖν· «λάβε τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο, καὶ ποτιεῖς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη πρὸς ἃ ἐγὼ ἐξαποστελῶ σε πρὸς αὐτούς». προσέταξεν οὖν ὁ θεὸς τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ λαβεῖν ποτήριον, προτρεπόμενος δὲ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸ «λαβεῖν τὸ ποτήριον τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ ἀκράτου», φησί· «καὶ ἐξαποστελῶ σε πρὸς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἔχοντα τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ ἀκράτου». ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ Ἱερεμίας ὅτι ἀποστέλλεται πρὸς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, ὅτι διακονήσων αὐτοῖς ποτήριον ὀργῆς, ποτήριον κολάσεων, μὴ ὑπονοήσας ὅτι καὶ Ἰσραὴλ μέλλει πίνειν ἀπὸ τοῦ τῆς κολάσεως ποτηρίου, ἀπατηθεὶς ἔλαβε τὸ ποτήριον τοῦ ποτίσαι πάντα τὰ ἔθνη. λαβὼν τὸ ποτήριον ἤκουσε· «καὶ ποτιεῖς πρῶτον τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ». ἐπεὶ οὖν ἄλλο μὲν προσεδόκησεν, ἄλλο δὲ αὐτῷ ἀπήντησεν, ἐπὶ τούτῳ δή φησιν· «ἠπάτησάς με, κύριε, καὶ ἠπατήθην». Παραπλήσιον ταύτῃ τῇ διηγήσει ἀπεδίδου καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ· κἀκεῖνος γὰρ οὐκ εἰδὼς τί μέλλει προστάσσεσθαι λέγειν