to prevent death from being seen. And so one must hear the words, “If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death for ever,” as if he who said these things, having bestowed light on his hearers, said to them: if anyone keeps this my light, he will never 20.39.369 see darkness for ever. For it is impossible for darkness to come to one who keeps the light; but if someone should lose this light, it follows that the one who has lost it immediately sees the darkness. So, therefore, also in the Word 20.39.370 in the beginning with God, life has come to be. Wherefore the beginning (that is, the wisdom which says: “The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his “works”) concerning the Word in her, in whom life came to be, will teach and will say: “If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death “for ever”; for at the same time one will keep the Word and the inseparable life which came to be in him, which is also the light of men, which shines in the darkness and is not overcome by 20.39.371 it. If, then, the prophet, as if inquiring, says: “Who is the man who will live and not see death?” we will answer, having learned from our Savior, and we will say that the man is “who will live and not see death,” who keeps the word of him who said: “If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death for “ever.” 20.39.372 At the same time in this passage I inquire whether “for ever” should be taken with both clauses, so that the whole would be of this sort: if anyone 20.39.373 keeps my word for ever, he will never see death. For it seems that one does not see death to the extent that one keeps the word of Jesus; for as soon as one has lost it, one has seen death. 20.39.374 But if one is able to go back to the deeper words and to understand how by a man could be said the words “You have brought me down to the dust of death,” and by Paul: “Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” he will see in what way, as long as the word was kept, death was not seen by the one keeping it; but when someone, having grown weary in attention and in keeping the word or having been inattentive concerning keeping it, no longer has kept it, then he has seen death not 20.39.375 from another but from himself. And this must be considered a doctrine and an eternal law, which will always be said to us who have received the word, “If anyone keeps my word, he will not see death for 20.39.376 ever.” And just as, so to speak, darkness, when it is seen more fully, destroys the sight of the one who saw it, so death, when seen by one who has not kept the word, brings death to and makes a corpse of the sight that saw it and blinds it, so that for this reason there is need 20.39.377 of him who opens the eyes of the blind. And I think that for this reason the blind, of whom the blind men in the gospel were a symbol, have lost their sight, since, not having kept the word, they saw death. 20.40.n The Jews said to him: Now we know that you have a demon. 20.40.378 Many, even of the wise, think that every kind of sin, of which sin in word is a species, comes from nothing else than from wicked judgments; but those who have believed the holy scriptures as divine distinguish concerning the things done by men contrary to right reason, that such things are not accomplished without demons or any other 20.40.379 opposing powers. And so the Jews supposed that Jesus had spoken by the working of a demon the words, “Amen, amen, I say to you: If anyone keeps my word, he will never 20.40.380 see death for ever.” And they experienced this, having neither kept the word nor seen the power of what was said; for he, knowing a certain death hostile to the word, which sinners die, said that this would not be seen for ever by the one who has kept his word; but they, thinking that what was said was about the more common death, thought that he who said that anyone who kept his word would not die for ever, while Abraham and the prophets had died, was mad. 20.41.n Abraham died, and the prophets, and you say: If anyone keeps my word

κωλύειν θεωρεῖσθαι τὸν θάνατον. οὕτω δὲ ἀκουστέον τοῦ «Ἐάν τις τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον τηρήσῃ, θάνατον οὐ μὴ θεωρήσῃ εἰς «τὸν αἰῶνα», ὡς εἰ χαρισάμενος ὁ ταῦτα λέγων φῶς τοῖς ἀκούουσιν ἔφασκεν αὐτοῖς· ἐάν τις τὸ ἐμὸν τοῦτο τηρήσῃ φῶς, σκότος οὐ μὴ 20.39.369 θεωρήσῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. ἀδύνατον γὰρ γενέσθαι σκότος τῷ τηροῦντι τὸ φῶς· εἰ μέντοι γε ἀπολέσαι τις τοῦτο τὸ φῶς, ἕπεται τῷ ἀπο λωλεκότι εὐθέως ἰδεῖν τὸ σκότος. οὕτω τοίνυν καὶ ἐν τῷ λόγῳ 20.39.370 ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν γέγονεν ἡ ζωή. διόπερ ἡ ἀρχή (τουτέστιν ἡ σοφία ἡ λέγουσα· «Ὁ θεὸς ἔκτισέν με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα «αὐτοῦ») περὶ τοῦ ἐν αὐτῇ λόγου, ἐν ᾧ γέγονεν ἡ ζωή, διδάξει καὶ φήσει· «Ἐάν τις τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον τηρήσῃ, θάνατον οὐ μὴ θεωρήσῃ «εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα»· ἅμα γὰρ τηρήσει τις τὸν λόγον καὶ τὴν ἀχώριστον αὐτοῦ γενομένην ἐν αὐτῷ ζωήν, ἥτις ἅμα καὶ φῶς ἐστιν τῶν ἀν θρώπων, τὸ ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαῖνον καὶ μὴ καταλαμβανόμενον ὑπ' 20.39.371 αὐτῆς. ἐὰν οὖν οἱονεὶ πυνθανόμενος ὁ προφήτης λέγῃ· «Τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὃς ζήσεται καὶ οὐκ ὄψεται θάνατον;» ἀποκρινούμεθα μαθόντες ἀπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν καὶ ἐροῦμεν ὅτι ὁ ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν «ὃς ζήσεται καὶ οὐκ ὄψεται θάνατον», ὃς τηρεῖ τὸν λόγον τοῦ εἰπόν τος· «Ἐάν τις τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον τηρήσῃ, θάνατον οὐ μὴ θεωρήσῃ εἰς «τὸν αἰῶνα». 20.39.372 Ἅμα δὲ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ ζητῶ μήποτε τὸ «Εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα» ἀπὸ κοινοῦ ληπτέον, ὥστ' ἂν εἶναι τοιοῦτον τὸ ὅλον· ἐάν τις τὸν ἐμὸν 20.39.373 λόγον τηρήσῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, θάνατον οὐ μὴ θεωρήσῃ. καὶ γὰρ ἔοικεν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτόν τις μὴ θεωρεῖν τὸν θάνατον, ὅσον τηρεῖ τὸν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ λόγον· ἅμα γάρ τις ἀπώλεσεν αὐτὸν καὶ θάνατον ἐθεώ ρησεν. 20.39.374 Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἀνατρέχειν τις δύναται ἐπὶ τοὺς βαθυτέρους λόγους καὶ νοεῖν πῶς ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπου λέγοιτ' ἂν τὸ «Εἰς χοῦν θανάτου «κατήγαγές με», καὶ ὑπὸ Παύλου· «Τίς με ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος «τοῦ θανάτου τούτου;» θεωρήσει τίνα τρόπον ὅσον μὲν ἐτηρεῖτο ὁ λόγος, θάνατος οὐκ ἐθεωρεῖτο τῷ τηροῦντι αὐτόν· ὅτε δέ τις καμὼν ἐν τῇ προσοχῇ καὶ τηρήσει τοῦ λόγου ἢ ἀπροσεκτήσας περὶ τὸ τηρεῖν οὐκέτι αὐτὸν τετήρηκεν, τότε τὸν θάνατον ἐθεώρησεν οὐ 20.39.375 παρ' ἄλλον ἢ παρ' ἑαυτόν. καὶ νομιστέον γε τοῦτο δόγμα εἶναι καὶ νόμον αἰώνιον, ἀεὶ ἂν ἡμῖν λεχθησομένου παραλαβοῦσι τὸν λόγον τοῦ «Ἐάν τις τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον τηρήσῃ, θάνατον οὐ μὴ ὄψεται εἰς 20.39.376 «τὸν αἰῶνα». ὥσπερ δέ, ἵν' οὕτως ὀνομάσω, ἐπιπλεῖον θεωρηθὲν τὸ σκότος ἀφανίζει τὰς ὄψεις τοῦ θεωρήσαντος, οὕτως θεωρηθεὶς ὁ θάνατος ὑπὸ τοῦ τὸν λόγον μὴ τηρήσαντος θανατοῖ καὶ νεκροῖ τὴν θεωρήσασαν αὐτὸν ὄψιν καὶ ἀποτυφλοῖ, ὡς διὰ τοῦτο δεηθῆναι 20.39.377 τοῦ ἀνοίγοντος ὀφθαλμοὺς τυφλῶν. καὶ οἶμαί γε διὰ τοῦτο οἱ τυφλοί, ὧν σύμβολον ἦσαν οἱ ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τυφλοί, τὰς ὄψεις ἀπολω λέκασιν, ἐπείπερ τὸν λόγον μὴ τηρήσαντες τὸν θάνατον ἐθεώρησαν. 20.40.n Εἶπον αὐτῷ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι· Νῦν ἐγνώκαμεν ὅτι δαι μόνιον ἔχεις. 20.40.378 Οἱ μὲν πολλοὶ καὶ τῶν σοφῶν πᾶν γένος ἁμαρτήματος, οὗ ἐν εἴδει ἐστὶν καὶ τὸ ἐν λόγῳ ἁμάρτημα, οὐκ ἄλλοθεν ἢ ἀπὸ κριμάτων μοχθηρῶν οἴονται γίνεσθαι· οἱ δὲ ταῖς ἁγίαις γραφαῖς ὡς θείαις πεπιστευκότες διαλαμβάνουσιν περὶ τῶν παρὰ τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον ὑπ' ἀνθρώπων πραττομένων, ὡς οὐ χωρὶς δαιμονίων ἢ ὁποιωνδήποτε 20.40.379 δυνάμεων ἀντικειμένων τῶν τοιούτων ἐπιτελουμένων. καὶ οἱ Ἰου δαῖοι τοίνυν δαιμονίου ἐνεργείᾳ ὑπελάμβανον εἰρηκέναι τὸν Ἰησοῦν τὸ «Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν· Ἐάν τις τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον τηρήσῃ, θάνα20.40.380 «τον οὐ μὴ θεωρήσῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα». καὶ τοῦτ' ἐπεπόνθεισαν μήτε τὸν λόγον τηρήσαντες μήτε τοῦ λεγομένου τὴν δύναμιν θεωρήσαντες· ὁ μὲν γὰρ θάνατόν τινα ἐχθρὸν τῷ λόγῳ ἐπιστάμενος, ὃν ἀποθνή σκουσιν οἱ ἁμαρτάνοντες, τοῦτον ἔφασκεν μὴ θεωρεῖσθαι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ὑπὸ τοῦ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ τηρήσαντος· οἱ δὲ περὶ τοῦ κοινο τέρου θανάτου νομίσαντες εἶναι τὸ λεγόμενον παραπαίειν ᾤοντο τὸν λέγοντα, ἀποθανόντος Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τῶν προφητῶν, μὴ ἀποθα νεῖσθαι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα πάντα τὸν τηρήσαντα αὐτοῦ τὸν λόγον. 20.41.n Ἀβραὰμ ἀπέθανεν καὶ οἱ προφῆται, καὶ σὺ λέγεις· Ἐάν τις τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον