226

being there, they were completely abandoned, so that they might be as if in war. There is also a Jerusalem above. Those who live according to the divine laws of God inhabit it. If they become apostates from the divine laws, they are removed to the place around the earth, and this is the captivity according to allegory. And again, they are sent out together with them from here for the sake of help; "There was a man, sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light"; for he came for no other reason than to bear witness to the light. Again, Jeremiah hears: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I consecrated you; I have made you a prophet to the nations." Before he came out of the womb he was consecrated and was made a prophet to the nations. Again: "just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world." And by 'foundation of the world' he means its coming into being. And Paul and those around him were chosen before the foundation of the world, and their election has now happened for them since that time, so that they might be sent together with those who are held fast and be able to help them. Was Paul speaking according to foreknowledge? -Foreknowledge is the contemplation of future events. In kind, foreknowledge and knowledge are the same. It differs in time. For example, I foreknow that tomorrow there will be thunder. When the thunder occurs on the present day, it is knowledge, no longer foreknowledge. But the knowledge of the thunder does not make it to be such, but as it is, so the knowledge becomes. Therefore, the knowable thing makes the knowledge, which does not receive its knowing from us. I use the manner of foreknowledge for the sake of an image: One child is born to be a beggar, and another, to live in a house. What justice is there in this foreknowledge, if we take it that these things happen according to foreknowledge? Foreknowledge both justifies and condemns. It is possible to foreknow and to know and to condemn and to justify from what is done and thought. Paul was foreknown in this life as both a traitor and a persecutor of Christ and an apostle. Was he not foreknown as both? Foreknowledge, then, made him have both. Again, he did not first become an apostle and later a traitor; was it not foreknown by God? The foreknowledge of God made him at one time 322 an apostle and at another a traitor. And yet it is asked: did he choose the apostles from what is in our power? "Did I not choose you twelve?" And: "those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son." He is not speaking about existence, but about being conformed. Foreknowledge does not bring about existence. God has made, and having made, he knows; for the thing does not make the knowledge of God; for the knowledge of God is eternal. It is taken in relation to future things and is called foreknowledge; for that Susanna again says: "the one who knows all things before their coming into being." But it is not foreknowledge that makes them such and such, but free choice, the things of free choice. I say: I foreknow that this person will bear male children and will have sons; this is not a matter of free choice. However, to become base or virtuous, or to have some other pursuit, are matters of choice. It does not happen from foreknowledge, since God would be pre-condemning and pre-justifying. But if he pre-justifies, it was of his goodness to justify all. Again concerning Esau and Jacob, the apostle, as if at a loss, says: "What then shall we say to these things? Is there injustice with God? May it not be so!" By having denied injustice, he has forced us to seek how there is not injustice with God. But if it is so, as those who speak of foreknowledge say, we find injustice rather with him. "Jacob," he says, "I have loved, and Esau I have hated." But one is hated or loved based on what is done and on what is thought. How then does foreknowledge have a place? Is injustice found with God? But denying this he said: "What then shall we say? Is there injustice with God? May it not be so!" Since there is no injustice, let him seek the matter otherwise, how it came to be. And we ourselves have often said that: if we have a right opinion about someone, suitably to him

226

ἐκεῖ ὄντες τέλεον ἦσαν ἐνκαταλελειμμένοι, ἵνα ἔχωσιν ὡς ἐν πολέμῳ τυγχάνοντες. ἔστιν καὶ ἄνω Ἰερουσαλήμ. οἱ κατὰ τοὺς θείους νόμους ζῶντες τοῦ θεοῦ οἰκοῦσιν αὐτήν. ἐὰν ἀποστάται τῶν θείω̣ν νόμων γένωνται, μετοικίζονται εἰς τὸν περὶ γῆν τόπον, καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ κατὰ ἀλληγορίαν αἰχμ̣αλωσία. συνεκπέμπονται δὲ αὐτοῖς πάλιν ὧδε βοηθείας ἕνεκα· "ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος, ἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ θεοῦ, ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἰωάννης. οὗτος ἦλθεν εἰς μαρτυρίαν, ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός"· μὴ γὰρ ἄλλου χάριν ἦλθεν ἢ μαρτυρῆσαι τῷ φωτί. πάλιν ὁ Ἰηρεμίας ἀκούει· "πρὸ τοῦ με πλάσαι σε ἐν κοιλίᾳ ἐπίσταμαί σε καὶ πρὸ τοῦ σε ἐξελθεῖν ἐκ μήτρας ἡγίακά σε, προφήτην εἰς ἔθνη τέθεικά σε". πρὶν ἐξελθεῖν ἐκ μήτρας ἡγιάσθη καὶ προφήτης εἰς ἔθνη̣ τέθειται. πάλιν· "καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου". καταβολὴν δὲ κόσμου τὴν γε´̣νεσιν αὐτοῦ λέγει. καὶ ἐξελέγησαν πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου Παῦλος καὶ οἱ ἀνφ' αὐτόν, καὶ η῾̣ ἐκλογὴ νῦν αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ τότε γέγονεν, ἵνα συναποσταλῶσιν τοῖς κατεσχημένοις καὶ δυνηθῶσιν̣ αὐτοῖς βοηθεῖν. ἐπερ · κατὰ τὴν πρόγνωσιν ἔλεγεν ὁ Παῦλος; -ἡ πρόγνωσις θεωρητική ἐστιν τῶν ἐσομένων. κατὰ γένος δὲ ἡ πρόγνωσις καὶ γνῶσις ταὐτόν ἐστιν. χρόνῳ διαφέρει. οἷον, φέρε, προγιγνώςκω, ὅτι αὔριον βροντὴ ἔσται. ὅταν ἡ βρον τὴ γένηται ἐνσ̣τάσης τῆς ἡμέρας, γνῶσίς ἐστιν̣, οὐκέτι πρόγνωσις. ἡ γνῶσις δὲ τῆς βροντῆς οὐ ποιεῖ τοιάνδε αὐτὴν εἶναι, ἀλλ' οἵα ἐστίν, αὕτη γίνεται̣ ἡ γνῶσις. τὸ γνωστὸν οὖν ποιεῖ τὴν γνῶσιν, ἣ οὐκ ἐξ ἡμῶν λαμβάνει τὸ γιγνώσκειν. χρῶμαι εἰκόνος ἕνεκα τῷ τῆς προγνώσεως τρόπῳ· τὸ μὲν παιδίο̣ν γεν̣νᾶται, ἵνα ἐπαιτῇ, καὶ τὸ ἄλλο, ἵνα ζῇ ἐν οἴκῳ. ποῖον δίκαιον τῆς προγνώσεως τόδε̣, ε᾿̣ὰν λαμβάνωμεν κατὰ πρόγνωσ̣ιν ταῦτα γίνεσθαι; ἡ πρόγνωσις καὶ δικαιοῖ καὶ κατακρίνει. προγνῶναι δὲ καὶ γνῶναι ἔστιν καὶ κατακρῖναι καὶ δικαιῶσαι ἐκ τῶν πραττομένων καὶ διανοουμένω̣ν. προεγνώσθη Παῦλος ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ καὶ προδότης καὶ Χριστοῦ διώκτης καὶ ἀπόστολος. οὐκ ἀμφότερα προεγιγνω´̣σκετο; ἡ πρόγνωσις οὖν ἐποίησεν αὐτὸν καὶ τὰ δύο ἔχειν. πάλιν οὐ γέγονεν πρῶτον ἀπόστολος καὶ ὕστερον προδότης· οὐ προεγνώσθη τῷ θεῷ. ἡ πρόγνωσις τοῦ θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτ̣ὸν ὁτὲ 322 μὲν ἀπόστολον ὁτὲ δὲ προδότην. καὶ μὴν ζητεῖται· ἐκ τοῦ ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐξελέξατο τοὺς ἀποστόλους; "οὐχὶ τοὺς δώδεκα ὑμᾶς ἐξελεξάμην"; καί· "οὓς προέγνω, καὶ προώρισεν συνμόρφους τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ". οὐ περὶ ὑπάρξεως λέγει, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ συνμόρφους εἶναι. οὐ τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἡ πρόγνωσις ἄγει. πεποίηκεν ὁ θεός, ποιήσας ἐπίσταται· μὴ γὰρ τὸ πρᾶγμα ποιεῖ γνῶσιν θεοῦ· ἡ γνῶσις γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀΐδιός ἐστιν. σχέσει λαμβάνεται πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα καὶ λέγεται πρόγνωσις· λέγει γὰρ πάλιν ἡ Σωσάννα ἐκείνη· "ὁ εἰδὼς τὰ πάντα πρὶν γενέσεως αὐτῶν". οὐχ ἡ πρόγνωσις δὲ ποιεῖ αὐ τὰ τοιάδε ἢ τοιάδε, ἀλλ' ἡ προαίρεσις, τὰ προαιρετικά. λέγω· προγιγνώσκω, ὅτι ὅσδε ἀρρενοτοκήσει καὶ υἱοὺς ἕξει· οὔκ ἐστιν προαιρετικὸν τοῦτο. τὸ μέντοι φαῦλον ἢ σπουδαῖον γενέσθαι ἢ ἄλλο τι ἐπιτήδευμα ἔχειν, προαιρετέα. οὐκ ἐκ προγνώσεως γίνεται, ἐπεὶ προκατακρίνει θεὸς καὶ προδικαιοῖ. εἰ δὲ προδικαιοῖ, τη῀̣ς ἀγ̣αθότητος αὐτοῦ ἦν τοῦτο τὸ πάντας δικαιῶσαι. πάλιν περὶ τοῦ Ἰσαῦ καὶ τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ὁ ἀπόστολος οἷον ἀπο̣ρήσας λέγει· "τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν πρὸς ταῦτα; μὴ ἀδικία παρὰ τῷ θεῷ; μὴ γένοιτο". διὰ τοῦ ἀνῃρηκέναι τὴν ἀδικίαν ἐβίασε̣ν η῾̣μᾶς ζητεῖν, πῶς οὐκ ἔστιν ἀδικία παρὰ τῷ θεῷ. εἰ δὲ οὕτως, ὡς οἱ λέγοντες τὴν̣ πρόγνωσιν, ἀδικίαν μᾶλλον παρ' αὐτῷ εὑρίσκομεν. "τὸν Ἰακώβ", φησίν, "ἠγάπησα καὶ τὸν Ἰσαῦ ἐμίσησα". ἐπὶ πραττομένοις δὲ μισεῖταί τις ἢ ἀγαπᾶται καὶ ἐπὶ φρονουμένοις. πῶς οὖν χώραν ἔχει ἡ πρόγνωσις; ἀδικία παρὰ τῷ θεῷ εὑρίσκεται; ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἀναιρῶν εἶπεν· "τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν; μὴ ἀδικία παρὰ τῷ θεῷ; μὴ γένοιτο". μὴ οὔσης ἀδικίας ἄλλως ζη̣τείτω τὸ πρᾶγμα, πῶς γέγονεν. πολλάκις καὶ αὐτὰ εἰρήκαμεν ὅτι· ἐὰν ὑπόλημψιν ὀρθὴν ἔχωμεν̣ περί τινος, καταλλήλως αὐτῷ