254

he did wrong, he underwent punishment. For if according to the laws it is fitting for those who have done wrong to pay the penalty, neither he himself nor his true disciples were ever caught in any transgression; it is fitting that he says: "What I did not seize, I then restored." And at the time of his passion he suffered without cause, and for what he had not done wrong he paid the penalty. Therefore he also said then: 23.733 "What I did not plunder, I then restored;" or, according to Aquila: "What I did not take by force, I then returned." "O God, you have known my foolishness." Just as the divine Apostle blamelessly called the passion of the Savior the folly of God, and the cross a weakness, saying: "He was crucified out of weakness;" and again: "But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles; because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men;" so also now you would not err in understanding the foolishness spoken of here in a way similar to the folly named by the Apostle. But also just as the Lord knew those who are his, since there are certain chosen ones who have been deemed worthy of the knowledge of God; so also the foolishness here, being worthy of the knowledge of God, had a certain great and profound meaning. For it was not against your will, he says, nor against your knowledge, that my foolishness came to be. And what is this if not what is considered so by the many? For just as folly was considered folly by the Greeks, but was constituted according to the profound reasons of God; and what was considered folly among men was wiser than men; for God was pleased through the folly of the preaching to save those who believe; so also the foolishness, which he underwent for our sake by emptying himself and taking the form of a servant and proceeding even to death, was wiser than the wisdom of men. For the word of the cross, says the Apostle, is folly to those who are perishing, and if it is folly, it is also foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Therefore, God was not ignorant of this foolishness and this folly; for it has come about by his judgment. Therefore he says: "O God, you have known my foolishness." But Symmachus has relieved us of difficulties, having interpreted and said: "O God, you know my inexperience;" that is, inexperience in human affairs. For being a stranger to wickedness among men, he refers this good inexperience to the knowledge of his own Father. And another divine Scripture also mentions the foolishness of the Savior in harmony with the present passage. For it is written in Proverbs: "Thus says a man to those who believe in God, and I cease. For I am more foolish than all men, and the wisdom of man is not in me. God has taught me wisdom, and I have known the knowledge of the holy ones." For in these words he says that he is the most foolish of all men, and has not possessed the wisdom of man; yet he has been taught spiritual wisdom by God himself, and has known the knowledge of the holy ones. But also "my trespasses," he says, "have not been hidden from you." For if there were any trespasses in me, for which they condemned me to the cross, perhaps you would have been the first to know, from whom nothing can be hidden; but there were none. Therefore those who hated me hated me without a cause, and those who persecuted me unjustly exacted what I had not seized. But since they set up false witnesses and 23.736 slanderers in the accusation against me, you know, he says, O God, if I have trespassed in any way. For they would not have been hidden from you, if there were any trespasses in me. And otherwise, if he took upon himself our sins, and became a curse for us, as it is said of him: "This man bears our sins, and suffers for us. And he was wounded for our sins, and was bruised for our iniquities. And the Lord has delivered him up for our sins." And these trespasses, he says, I took upon myself for the sake of men; you knew, O God, since they were not hidden from you. For not without your will did I take these upon myself; therefore