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to offend God, if they should reject the legal worship by obeying the Savior who was abolishing the shadow. Wherefore they said, "If this man were from God, he would not break the Sabbath." You, although being of them, are not subject to the same fears. But rather let the Lord of glory, that is Christ, be sanctified by you. But according to those who think the word is to the unbelievers from the gentiles, who obey neither natural law nor written law; one might say, that they do not endure the commandments of the way of the people, not bearing the harshness of the ordinances, just as the Jews also, being displeased with the Lord's teachings, said, This is a hard saying, who can listen to it? For to be chaste is hard for the fornicator, and for those in vice, the yoke of virtue. For the one entices with the smoothness of pleasure; but toils secure the other. Whence the one has the most, but the other has very few lovers, who say, Because of the word of your lips I have kept to hard ways. Who also, going on their way, went and wept, casting their seeds. For the present afflictions are the seed of the good things to come. The gentiles therefore turn the people away, and hesitating to say harsh things to them about approaching formerly the law, but now the faith, not enduring the yoke of the one, nor the way of life of the other; to whom he says: Do not fear their fear, that is, of virtues. Or also turning, he addresses the people, that while they have taken these things upon themselves concerning you, fearing union with you through the laws, you should not be troubled by their plots. But let the Lord be your fear. And it is a great thing for perfection to fear with discipline and not to be timid. Concerning which David says: "There they shall be in great fear where no fear was." Therefore await His coming; fear His judgment. and the ... earth with angels coming. For if you trust in him, you will not stumble, as. a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. For the blind stumble on stones, and those unsteady on their feet slip on rocks; thus he who is blind in soul, and has not recognized the coming of the Lord through the teaching of the Scriptures, stumbles over and is scandalized by the evangelical proclamation, saying: "We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he is from." And these, having stumbled at the word, have fallen; but to those who have believed 1988 he becomes a sanctuary, and not a rock of offense, Emmanuel through the conception from a Virgin. These things Paul also taught, saying a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the gentiles. And again, Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law; why? because not from faith, but as if from the works of the law, he stumbled at the stone of stumbling, as it is written: "For a stone of stumbling to be placed in Zion, and a rock of offense, and [everyone] who believes in him will not be put to shame." The Apostle therefore took the 'stone of stumbling' and 'rock of offense' from here, but the: "He who believes in him will not be put to shame;" from another part of the prophecy, in which it is said: "Behold, I lay in Zion a cornerstone, chosen, precious. And he who believes in him will not be put to shame." But the same Lord becomes a sanctuary to some, and a stumbling block to others. And a stumbling block perhaps to the Greeks who seek wisdom, the foolishness of the preaching; but to the Jews who seek signs, a rock of offense. But to us who do not seek to subject the simplicity of the proclamation to logical proofs, nor test the truth through signs, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. But to the house of Jacob, the Jews, he says, who were sick with great madness against Christ, they will be like those who have fallen into a snare and have been hunted for destruction, and to those in hollows, that is, those who have slipped into a pit. But they will draw near, he says, to everyone who knows how to shake down, possessing no strength, not being able to say according to the faithful: "The Lord is my strength and my song." For those of Israel will be captured as far as it came to the aid from above, being in safety against the perceptible

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αὐτῶν προσκροῦσαι Θεῷ, εἰ τὴν νομικὴν διώθοιντο λατρείαν τῷ Σωτῆρι πειθόμενοι τὴν σκιὰν καταλύοντι. ∆ιόπερ ἔλεγον· "Εἰ ἦν οὗτος παρὰ Θεοῦ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, οὐκ ἂν ἔλυε τὸ Σάββατον." Ὑμεῖς καίπερ ἐξ αὐτῶν ὄντες, μὴ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὑποφέρεσθε φόβοις. Ἁγιαζέσθω δὲ μᾶλλον παρ' ὑμῶν ὁ τῆς δόξης Κύριος, τοῦτ' ἔστι Χριστός. Κατὰ δὲ τοὺς οἰομένους πρὸς τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἀπιστοῦντας εἶναι τὸν λόγον, μὴ πειθομένους μήτε φυσικῷ νόμῳ μήτε γραπτῷ· λέγοι ἂν, ὡς οὐ καρτεροῦσι τὰ προστάγματα τῆς ὁδοῦ τοῦ λαοῦ, τὸ σκληρὸν τῶν διατεταγμένων μὴ φέροντες, καθὰ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι δυσανασχετοῦντες πρὸς τὰ τοῦ Κυρίου διδάγματα ἔλεγον, Σκληρός ἐστιν ὁ λόγος οὗτος, τις δύναται αὐτοῦ ἀκούειν; Σκληρὸν γὰρ πόρνῳ τὸ σωφρονεῖν, καὶ τοῖς ἐν κακίᾳ τῆς ἀρετῆς ὁ ζυγός. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ τῷ λείῳ δελεάζει τῆς ἡδονῆς· τὴν δὲ περιποιοῦσιν οἱ πόνοι. Ὅθεν ἡ μὲν τὸ πλεῖστον, ἡ δὲ βραχεῖς ἄγαν ἔχει τοὺς ἐραστὰς λέγοντας, ∆ιὰ τὸν λόγον τῶν χειλέων σου ἐγὼ ἐφύλαξα ὁδοὺς σκληράς. Οἳ καὶ πορευόμενοι ἐπορεύοντο καὶ ἔκλαιον βάλλοντες τὰ σπέρματα αὐτῶν. Σπέρμα γὰρ αἱ νῦν θλίψεις τῶν μελλόντων εἰσὶν ἀγαθῶν. Ἀποτρέπουσιν οὖν οἱ ἐθνικοὶ τὸν λαὸν, καὶ σκληρὰ μὴ λέγειν αὐτοῖς ὀκνοῦντες προσιέναι πάλαι μὲν τῷ νόμῳ, νῦν δὲ τῇ πίστει, τοῦ μὲν τὸν ζυγὸν, τῆς δὲ τὴν πολιτείαν οὐχ ὑποφέροντες· πρὸς οὕς φησι· Τὸν φόβον αὐτῶν μὴ φοβεῖσθε, δηλαδὴ τῶν ἀρετῶν. Ἢ καὶ μεταστρέψας πρὸς τὸν λαὸν ἀποτείνεται, ὡς ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ταῦτα περὶ ὑμῶν ἐπειλήφασιν, τὴν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἕνωσιν διὰ τῶν νόμων φοβούμενοι, ὑμεῖς δὲ τὰς παρ' αὐτῶν ἐπιβουλὰς μὴ ταράττεσθε. Ἔστω δέ σοι φόβος ὁ Κύριος. Μέγα δὲ πρὸς τελείωσιν πεπαιδευμένως φοβεῖσθαι καὶ μὴ εἶναι ψοφοδεεῖς. Περὶ ὧν φησιν ὁ ∆αβίδ· "Ἐκεῖ φοβηθήσονται φόβῳ ᾧ οὐκ ἦν φόβος." Ἐκείνου τοίνυν τὴν παρουσίαν ἐκδέχου· ἐκείνου φοβοῦ τὸ κριτήριον. καὶ τὴν ἐ.. γῆ μετ' ἀγγέλων παρουσίαν. Ἐὰν γὰρ ἦς πεποιθὼς ἐπ' αὐτῷ, οὐ προσκόψεις, ὡς. λίθῳ προσκόμματος, καὶ πέτρᾳ σκανδάλου. Οἱ γὰρ τυφλοὶ προσπταίουσι λίθοις, σφαλεροί τε τὰς βάσεις περιολισθαίνουσι πέτραις, οὕτως ὁ τυφλὸς τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ μὴ διὰ τῆς τῶν Γραφῶν διδασκαλίας ἐπιγνοὺς τοῦ Κυρίου τὴν παρουσίαν, τῷ εὐαγγελικῷ κηρύγματι περιπταίει καὶ σκανδαλίζεται λέγων· "Ἡμεῖς οἴδαμεν ὅτι Μωσῇ λελάληκεν ὁ Θεὸς, τοῦτον δὲ οὐκ οἴδαμεν πόθεν ἐστίν." Καὶ προσκόψαντες οὗτοι τῷ λόγῳ πεπτώκασιν· τοῖς δὲ πεπιστευκόσιν 1988 ἁγίασμα γίνεται, ἀλλ' οὐ πέτρα σκανδάλου διὰ τῆς ἐκ Παρθένου κυήσεως ὁ Ἐμμανουήλ. Ταῦτα καὶ Παῦλος ἐδίδασκε, λέγων Ἰουδαίοις μὲν σκάνδαλον, ἔθνεσι δὲ μωρίαν. Καὶ πάλιν, Ἰσραὴλ μὲν διώκων νόμον δικαιοσύνης, εἰς νόμον οὐκ ἔφθασε· διὰ τί; ὅτι οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐξ ἔργων νόμου προσέκοψεν τῷ λίθῳ τοῦ προσκόμματος, καθὼς γέγραπται· "Τοῦ τεθῆναι ἐν Σιὼν λίθον προσκόμματος, καὶ πέτραν σκανδάλου, καὶ [πᾶς] ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται." Τὸ μὲν οὖν λίθον προσκόμματος καὶ πέτραν σκανδάλου ἐντεῦθεν εἴληφεν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, τὸ δέ· "Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται·" ἐξ ἑτέρου τῆς προφητείας μέρους, ἐν ᾧ λέλεκται· "Ἰδοὺ τίθημι ἐν Σιὼν λίθον ἀκρογωνιαῖον, ἐκλεκτὸν, ἔντιμον. Καὶ ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται." Ὁ αὐτὸς δὲ Κύριος, τοῖς μὲν ἁγίασμα, τοῖς δὲ πρόσκομμα γίνεται. Καὶ πρόσκομμα μὲν ἴσως Ἕλλησιν τοῖς σοφίαν ζητοῦσιν, ἡ μωρία τοῦ κηρύγματος· Ἰουδαίοις δὲ ζητοῦσι σημεῖα, πέτρα σκανδάλου. Ἡμῖν δὲ τοῖς μὴ ζητοῦσι λογικαῖς ἀποδείξεσι τὴν τοῦ κηρύγματος ὑποβάλλειν ἁπλότητα, μήτε διὰ σημείων ἐκπειράζουσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν, Χριστὸς Θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ Θεοῦ σοφία. Τῷ δὲ οἴκῳ Ἰακὼβ, τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις, φησὶν, οἱ πολλὴν κατὰ Χριστοῦ νοσήσαντες τὴν ἀπόνοιαν, ἔσονται προσεοικότες τοῖς ἐν παγίδι πεσοῦσιν καὶ τεθηρευμένοις εἰς ὄλεθρον, καὶ τοῖς ἐν κοιλώμασι, τοῦτ' ἔστιν τοῖς εἰς βάθρον ὠλισθηκόσιν. Ἐγγιοῦσι δὲ, φησὶν, παντὶ κατασείειν εἰδότι, μηδεμίαν ἰσχὺν κεκτημένοι, κατὰ τοὺς πιστοὺς εἰπεῖν μὴ δυνάμενοι· "Ἡ ἰσχύς μου καὶ ἡ ὕμνησίς μου ὁ Κύριος." Ἁλώσονται γὰρ οἱ ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ ὅσον μὲν ἦκεν εἰς ἐπικουρίαν τὴν ἄνωθεν, ὄντες ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ πρὸς τοὺς αἰσθητοὺς