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the judgment. what will be the end of those who disobey the Gospel of God? as if he were saying: If we, who were deemed worthy by grace through the Spirit to become the house of God, ought to display so much endurance of suffering for the sake of righteousness unto the condemnation of sin, and, though being good, readily to bear an ignominious death as malefactors; what will be the end of those who disobey the Gospel of God? that is, what will be the end, or rather the judgment, of those who have not only zealously held until the end the generation according to Adam’s pleasure, which has dominion over nature—a generation that is living and active, according to soul and body, volition and nature—but who have also not received God the Father entreating them through His incarnate Son; nor indeed Him who intercedes for the Father as Mediator and Son, and who, for the sake of our reconciliation to the Father, willingly offers Himself by the will of the Father to death on our behalf, so that He might glorify us so much through Himself, making us radiant with the beauty of His own divinity, as much as He for our sake condescended to be dishonored by our sufferings. For this, I think, is likely the Gospel of God: an embassy from God, and an exhortation to men through the incarnate Son, and the bestowing of the uncreated deification as the reward of reconciliation with the Father to those who obey Him.

(640) Wherefore, lamenting the disobedient in what follows, the great apostle says, And if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? meaning by "righteous," as is likely, the one who is faithful and the guardian of the grace given at baptism, and who has kept inviolate through many sufferings the adoption through the Spirit; and by "salvation," the most complete grace of deification to be given by God to the worthy; which even he who is in the highest degree steadfast in all divine things will scarcely attain. and by "ungodly and sinner," the one who is alien to the grace of the Gospel; "ungodly," because of his unbelief in Christ; and "sinner," because of the living generation in him according to the corruption of the passions of the old man. Or perhaps, the Word called "ungodly" the one completely deprived of the knowledge of Christ; and "sinner," the one who is a believer, but in my view a transgressor of the evangelical commandments, which keep pure the tunic of incorruptibility received through holy baptism; whose position—I mean, of the ungodly and the sinner—is in some way apprehended by those who attend to mystical knowledge. For "where" clearly indicates a position, not devoid of local circumscription; with which if the position of the righteous is contrasted, the righteous will not be in any "where" at all with respect to position, having received by grace a position beyond "where," God Himself, as is the promise; for God is not in a "where," but unrelatedly beyond every "where," in whom will be the establishment of all who are saved, according to what is written: Be to me a defending God, and a strong place to save me. Anyone who does not in any way partake of His power for well-being according to relation, will be like a member of a body completely devoid of the vital energy from the soul.

Or again, since God will be the place of all who are saved, uncircumscribable and dimensionless and infinite, becoming all things to all in proportion to their righteousness; or rather, according to the measure of the sufferings for righteousness with knowledge here, bestowing Himself on each one, just as the soul manifests itself as active in the members of the body according to the capacity inherent in each member, and through itself joins the members to being, held together for life; where will the ungodly and the sinner appear, being deprived of this grace? For he who is (641) unable to receive the active presence of God for well-being, where will he appear, having undergone the fall from the divine life which is beyond age and place and time?

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τό κρῖμα· τί τό τέλος τῶν ἀπειθούντων τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ Εὐαγγελίῳ· ὡσανεί ἔλεγεν· Εἰ ἡμεῖς ὁ οἶκος Θεοῦ γενέσθαι χάριτι διά πνεύματος ἀξιωθέντες, τοσαύτην ὑπέρ δικαιοσύνης εἰς κατάκρισιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὑπομονήν ἐπιδείκνυσθαι παθημάτων ὀφείλομεν, καί ὡς κακοῦργοι τόν ἐφύβριστον, ἀγαθοί τυγχάνοντες, προθύμως ἀποφέρεσθαι θάνατον· τί τό τέλος τῶν ἀπειθούντων τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ Εὐαγγελίῳ· τουτέστι, ποῖον ἔσται τό τέλος, ἤγουν ἡ κρίσις, τῶν οὐ μόνον ζῶσάν τε καί ἐνεργουμένην, κατά τε ψυχήν καί σῶμα, γνώμῃ τε καί φύσει, τήν καθ᾿ ἡδονήν τοῦ Ἀδάμ κρατήσασαν τῆς φύσεως γένεσιν μέχρι τέλους διά σπουδῆς ἐσχηκότων· ἀλλά μήτε προδεξαμένων παρακαλοῦντα τόν Θεόν καί Πατέρα δι᾿ Υἱοῦ σαρκωθέντος· μήτε μήν αὐτόν τόν ὑπέρ τοῦ Πατρός πρεσβεύοντα Μεσίτην καί Υἱόν, καί ὑπέρ τῆς ἡμῶν εἰς τόν Πατέρα καταλλαγῆς, ἑαυτόν βουλήσει τοῦ Πατρός εἰς τόν ὑπέρ ἡμῶν θάνατον κατά θέλησιν προϊέμενον, ὅπως δι᾿ ἑαυτόν ἡμᾶς τοσοῦτον δοξάσῃ, τῶ κάλλει καταφαιδρύνας τῆς οἰκείας θεότητος, ὅσον δι᾿ ἡμᾶς αὐτός κατεδέξατο τοῖς ἡμῶν ἀτιμασθῆναι παθήμασι. Τοῦτο γάρ, ὡς οἶμαι, τυχόν ἐστι, τό τοῦ Θεοῦ Εὐαγγέλιον· πρεσβεία τε Θεοῦ, καί παράκλησις πρός ἀνθρώπους δι᾿ Υἱοῦ σαρκωθέντος, καί τῆς τόν Πατέρα καταλλαγῆς μισθόν δωρουμένου τοῖς πειθομένοις αὐτῷ, τήν ἀγέννητον θέωσιν.

(640) ∆ιό σχετλιάζων τοῖς ἐφεξῆς τούς ἀπειθεῖς ὁ μέγας ἀπόστολος, φησί, Καί εἰ ὁ δίκαιος μόλις σώζεται, ὁ ἀσεβής καί ἁμαρτωλός ποῦ φανεῖται; δίκαιον λέγων, ὡς εἰκός, τόν πιστόν καί φύλακα τῆς δοθείσης κατά τό βάπτισμα χάριτος, καί διά πολλῶν παθημάτων ἀκαθαίρετον διατετηρηκότα τήν διά τοῦ Πνεύματος υἱοθεσίαν· σωτηρίαν δέ, τήν ἐκ Θεοῦ τοῖς ἀξίοις δοθησομένην πληρεστάτην τῆς θεώσεως χάριν· ἧς μόλις ἐπιτεύξεται, καί ὁ κατ᾿ ἄκρον πάντων τῶν θείων ἀνθεκτικός· ἀσεβῆ δέ καί ἁμαρτωλόν, τόν τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ἀλλότριον χάριτος· ἀσεβῆ μέν, διά τήν εἰς Χριστόν ἀπιστίαν· ἁμαρτωλόν δέ, διά τήν ζῶσαν ἐν αὐτῶ κατά τήν φθοράν τῶν παθημάτων τῆς παλαιότητος γένεσιν. Ἤ τυχόν, ἀσεβῆ μέν ἐκάλεσεν ὁ λόγος, τόν μόνης παντελως ἐστερημένον τῆς κατά Χριστόν ἐπιγνώσεως· ἁμαρτωλόν δέ, τόν πιστόν μέν, παραβάτην δέ κατ᾿ ἐμέ τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν ἐντολῶν, τῶν καθαρόν διατηρουσῶν τόν διά τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος χιτῶνα τῆς ἀφθαρσίας· ὧν ἡ θέσις· τοῦ ἀσεβοῦς τέ φημι καί ἁμαρτωλοῦ· τοῖς ἐπιμελουμένοις τῆς μυστικῆς ποσῶς κατείληπται γνώσεως· τό γάρ ποῦ, θέσιν δηλοῖ σαφῶς, τοπικῆς οὐκ ἀμοιροῦσαν περιγραφῆς· ἧς εἴπερ ἡ τοῦ δικαίου θέσις ἀντιδιαιρεῖται, οὐκ ἔσται ποῦ πάντως κατά τήν θέσιν ὁ δίκαιος, τήν ὑπέρ τό ποῦ κατά τήν χάριν εἰληφώς θέσιν αὐτόν τόν Θεόν, ὡς ἡ ὑπόσχεσις· ὁ γάρ Θεός, οὐ ποῦ, ἀλλά παντός ἀσχέτως ἐπέκεινα ποῦ, ἐν ᾧ πάντων τῶν σωζομένων ἡ ἵδρυσις ἔσται, κατά τό γεγραμμένον· Γενοῦ μοι εἰς Θεόν ὑπερασπιστήν, καί εἰς τόπον ὀχυρόν τοῦ σῶσαί με. Οὗ τινος πᾶς ὁ μή καθ᾿ ὁτιοῦν μεθέξων τῆς τοῦ εὖ εἶναι κατά σχέσιν δυνάμεως, μέλει σώματος ἐοικώς ἔσται πάμπαν ἀμοιροῦντι τῆς κατά ψυχήν ζωτικῆς ἐνεργείας.

Ἤ πάλιν, ἐπειδή πάντων τῶν σωζομένων ὁ Θεός ἔσται τόπος, ἀπερίγραφός τε καί ἀδιάσταστος καί ἄπειρος, πᾶσι πάντα γινόμενος κατά τήν ἀναλογίαν τῆς δικαιοσύνης· μᾶλλον δέ κατά τό μέτρον τῶν μετά γνώσεως ὑπέρ δικαιοσύνης ἐνταῦθα παθημάτων, ἑαυτόν ἑκάστῳ καταδωρούμενος, καθάπερ ψυχή σώματος μέλεσι κατά τήν ὑποκειμένην ἑκάστῳ μέλει δύναμιν, ἑαυτήν ἐνεργοῦσαν ἐκφαίνουσα, καί πρός τό εἶναι δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς τά μέλη συνάπτουσα πρός ζωήν συγκρατούμενα· ὁ ἀσεβής καί ἁμαρτωλός που φανεῖται, ταύτης ἐστερημένος τῆς χάριτος. Ὁ γάρ μή (641) δυνάμενος ἐνεργουμένην τήν κατά τό εὖ εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ δέξασθαι παρουσίαν, ποῦ φανεῖται τῆς θείας ζωῆς τῆς ὑπέρ αἰῶνα καί τόπον καί χρόνον, ὑπομείνας τήν ἔκπτωσιν.