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him to become like the 6.11.39 other apostles. But see if these things are not shown through the sayings we shall quote, which are as follows: "And let him not be merciful to his orphans, because he did not remember to show mercy; and he persecuted a man who was poor and a beggar and contrite in heart, to put him to death; and he loved a curse, and it will come to him, and he did not desire a blessing, and it will be far from him." 6.11.40 But if anyone interprets "it shall certainly be" in terms of its meaning, saying that such and such things will indeed be, but it was possible for it to happen otherwise, this we concede as true. For it is not possible for God to lie, but it is possible for him to think about things that are possible to happen and not to happen, both their happening and 6.11.41 their not happening. We will state this more clearly as follows: if it is possible for Judas to be an apostle like Peter, it is possible for God to think concerning Judas that he will remain an apostle like Peter; if it is possible for Judas to become a traitor, 6.11.42 it is possible for God to think concerning him that he will be a traitor. And if Judas is to be a traitor, God in his foreknowledge of the two aforementioned possibilities, it being possible for one of them to be, foreknowing what is true will foreknow that Judas will become a traitor; but the matter about which there is knowledge is able to happen otherwise; and the knowledge of God might say that it is possible for this man to do this, but also the opposite; but with both being possible, I know that he will do this. 6.11.43 For just as God might say it is not possible for a certain man to fly, he would not, giving an oracle about someone, for instance, say that it is not possible for this man to be temperate; for there is absolutely no power of flying in man, 6.11.44 but there is a power to be temperate and to be intemperate. With both of these powers existing, the one who does not pay attention to words of conversion and instruction gives himself over to the worse; but the one who has sought the truth and has willed to live according to it, gives himself over to the better. But this one does not seek the truth, since he is inclined toward pleasure; while that one examines them, being moved by common notions and 6.11.45 persuasive reason. Again, this one chooses pleasure, not because he is unable to resist it, but because he does not struggle; while that one despises it, seeing the 6.11.46 ugliness that is often in it. However, that the foreknowledge of God does not impose necessity on those things about which it has apprehended, in addition to what has been said, this also will be stated, that in many places of the scriptures God commands the prophets to preach repentance, not pretending to know whether the hearers will turn back or persist in their sins; just as 6.11.47 in Jeremiah it is said: "Perhaps they will hear and repent." For it is not out of ignorance whether they will listen or not that God says, "Perhaps they will hear and repent," but as if showing by what is said the equilibrium of things that are possible to happen, so that his foreknowledge, being announced beforehand, might not cause the hearers to fall away, presenting an appearance of necessity, as if it were not in their power to turn back, and as if this itself might become a cause of their sins; 6.11.48 or again, for those who, by being ignorant of the good that has been foreknown, are able in the struggle and in resisting evil to live in virtue, the foreknowledge might become a cause of slackening, no longer standing vigorously against sin, as if what was foretold would certainly happen; and so indeed the foreknowledge of the future good might become, as it were, an obstacle. 6.11.49 Therefore, God, usefully administering all things concerning the world, reasonably blinded us also to future things. For the knowledge of them would both have released us from striving against evil, and would have crushed us, seeming to have been comprehended, so that by not wrestling against sin we would more quickly 6.11.50 become subject to it. And at the same time it would have been contradictory for someone to become good and virtuous that the foreknowledge had come to this certain person, that he will certainly be good. For, in addition to what we have, there is need of more vehemence and exertion to become good and virtuous; but the knowledge of it being apprehended beforehand

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αὐτὸν ὅμοιον τοῖς 6.11.39 λοιποῖς ἀποστόλοις γενέσθαι. ὅρα δὲ εἰ μὴ ταῦτα δηλοῦται δι' ὧν παραθησόμεθα ῥητῶν οὕτως ἐχόντων· «Μηδὲ γενηθήτω οἰκτίρμων τοῖς ὀρφανοῖς αὐτοῦ, ἀνθ' ὧν οὐκ ἐμνήσθη ποιῆσαι ἔλεος· καὶ κατεδίωξεν ἄνθρωπον πένητα καὶ πτωχὸν καὶ κατανενυγμένον τῇ καρδίᾳ τοῦ θανατῶσαι· καὶ ἠγάπησε κατάραν, καὶ ἥξει αὐτῷ, καὶ οὐκ ἠθέλησεν εὐλογίαν, καὶ μακρυνθήσεται ἀπ' αὐτοῦ.» 6.11.40 Εἰ δέ τις διηγήσεται τὸ «πάντως ἔσται» κατὰ τὸ σημαίνειν αὐτὸ λέγων ὅτι ἔσται μὲν τάδε τινά, ἐνεδέχετο δὲ καὶ ἑτέρως γενέσθαι, τοῦτο ὡς ἀληθὲς συγχωροῦμεν. τὸν μὲν γὰρ θεὸν οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ψεύσασθαι, ἐνδέχεται δὲ περὶ τῶν ἐνδεχομένων γενέσθαι καὶ μὴ γενέσθαι φρονῆσαι τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὰ καὶ 6.11.41 τὸ μὴ γενέσθαι. σαφέστερον δὲ τοῦτο ἐροῦμεν οὕτως· εἰ ἐνδέχεται Ἰούδαν εἶναι ἀπόστολον ὁμοίως Πέτρῳ, ἐνδέχεται τὸν θεὸν νοῆσαι περὶ τοῦ Ἰούδα ὅτι μενεῖ ἀπόστολος ὁμοίως Πέτρῳ· εἰ ἐνδέχεται Ἰούδαν προδότην γενέσθαι, 6.11.42 ἐνδέχεται τὸν θεὸν φρονῆσαι περὶ αὐτοῦ ὅτι προδότης ἔσται. εἰ δὲ προδότης ἔσται Ἰούδας, ὁ θεὸς τῇ προγνώσει αὐτοῦ τῶν προειρημένων ἐνδεχομένων δύο, ἐνδεχομένου τοῦ εἶναι ἑνὶ αὐτῶν, τὸ ἀληθὲς προγινώσκων προγνώσεται τὸν Ἰούδαν προδότην γενέσθαι· τὸ δὲ περὶ οὗ ἡ γνῶσις ἐνδέχεται καὶ ἑτέρως γενέσθαι· καὶ λέγοι ἂν ἡ γνῶσις τοῦ θεοῦ ὅτι ἐνδέχεται μὲν τόνδε τόδε ποιῆσαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἐναντίον· ἐνδεχομένων δὲ ἀμφοτέρων οἶδα ὅτι τάδε ποιήσει. 6.11.43 οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ ὁ θεὸς εἴποι ἄν οὐκ ἐνδέχεται τόνδε τινὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον πτῆναι, οὕτω χρησμὸν φέρε εἰπεῖν περί τινος διδοὺς ἐρεῖ ὅτι οὐκ ἐνδέχεται τόνδε σωφρονῆσαι· δύναμις μὲν γὰρ πάντη οὐκ ἔστι τοῦ πτῆναι οὐδαμῶς ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, 6.11.44 δύναμις δέ ἐστι τοῦ σωφρονῆσαι καὶ τοῦ ἀκολαστῆσαι. ὧν ἀμφοτέρων δυνάμεων ὑπαρχουσῶν, ὁ μὴ προσέχων λόγοις ἐπιστρεπτικοῖς καὶ παιδευτικοῖς ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδίδωσι τῇ χειρίστῃ· κρείττονι δὲ ὁ ζητήσας τὸ ἀληθὲς καὶ βιῶσαι βεβουλημένος κατ' αὐτό. οὐ ζητεῖ δὲ ὅδε μὲν τἀληθῆ, ἐπεὶ ἐπιρρέπει ἐπὶ τὴν ἡδονήν· ὅδε δὲ ἐξετάζει περὶ αὐτῶν, αἱρεθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν κοινῶν ἐννοιῶν καὶ 6.11.45 λόγου προτρεπτικοῦ. πάλιν δ' αὖ ὅδε μὲν αἱρεῖται τὴν ἡδονήν, οὐχὶ οὐ δυνάμενος ἀντιβλέπειν αὐτῇ, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀγωνιζόμενος· ὅδε δὲ καταφρονεῖ αὐτῆς, τὸ 6.11.46 ἄσχημον ὁρῶν τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ πολλάκις τυγχάνον. ὅτι μέντοι γε ἡ πρόγνωσις τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἀνάγκην ἐπιτίθησι τοῖς περὶ ὧν κατείληφε, πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις καὶ τοῦτο λελέξεται, ὅτι πολλαχοῦ τῶν γραφῶν ὁ θεὸς κελεύει τοὺς προφήτας κηρύσσειν μετάνοιαν, οὐ προσποιησάμενος τὸ ἐγνωκέναι πότερον οἱ ἀκούσαντες ἐπιστρέψουσιν ἢ τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασιν ἑαυτῶν ἐμμενοῦσιν· ὥσπερ 6.11.47 ἐν τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ λέγεται· «Ἴσως ἀκούσονται καὶ μετανοήσουσιν.» οὐ γὰρ ἀγνοῶν ὁ θεὸς πότερον ἀκούσουσιν ἢ οὔ, φησίν· «Ἴσως ἀκούσονται καὶ μετανοήσουσιν», ἀλλ' οἱονεὶ τὸ ἰσοστάσιον τῶν δυναμένων γενέσθαι δεικνὺς ἐκ τῶν λεγομένων, ἵνα μὴ προκατηγγελμένη ἡ πρόγνωσις αὐτοῦ προκαταπεσεῖν ποιήσῃ τοὺς ἀκούοντας, δόξαν ἀνάγκης παριστᾶσα ὡς οὐκ ὄντος ἐπ' αὐτοῖς τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι, καὶ οἱονεὶ καὶ αὕτη αἰτία γένηται τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων· 6.11.48 ἢ πάλιν τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ ἀγνοεῖν τὸ προεγνωσμένον καλὸν δυναμένοις ἐν τῷ ἀγωνίσασθαι καὶ ἀντιτείνειν πρὸς τὴν κακίαν ἐν ἀρετῇ βιῶσαι αἰτία γένηται ἡ πρόγνωσις ἐκλύσεως, οὐκέτι εὐτόνως ἱσταμένοις κατὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ὡς πάντως ἐσομένου τοῦ προειρημένου· καὶ οὕτως γὰρ οἷον ἐμπόδιον γένοιτ' ἂν 6.11.49 ἡ πρόγνωσις τοῦ ἐσομένου καλοῦ. πάντα γοῦν χρησίμως ὁ θεὸς τὰ κατὰ τὸν κόσμον οἰκονομῶν εὐλόγως ἡμᾶς καὶ πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα ἐτύφλωσεν. ἡ γὰρ γνῶσις αὐτῶν ἀνῆκε μὲν ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀθλεῖν κατὰ τῆς κακίας, ἐπέτριψε δ' ἄν, δόξασα κατειλῆφθαι, πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἀντιπαλαίσαντας ἡμᾶς τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ τάχιον 6.11.50 αὐτῇ ὑποχειρίους γενέσθαι. ἅμα δὲ καὶ μαχόμενον ἐγίνετο τῷ καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν γενέσθαι τινὰ τὸ τὴν πρόγνωσιν ἐληλυθέναι εἰς τόνδε τινά, ὅτι πάντως ἔσται ἀγαθός. πρὸς οἷς ἔχομεν γάρ, καὶ σφοδρότητος καὶ τάσεως πλείονος χρεία πρὸς τὸ καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν γενέσθαι· προκαταληφθεῖσα δὲ ἡ γνῶσις τοῦ