Chapter 37 [XXII.]—The Eternal Reward.

He then went on to state the reward: “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”161    Jer. xxxi. 33. This corresponds to the Psalmist’s words to God: “It is good for me to hold me fast by God.”162    Ps. lxxiii. 28. “I will be,” says God, “their God, and they shall be my people.” What is better than this good, what happier than this happiness,—to live to God, to live from God, with whom is the fountain of life, and in whose light we shall see light?163    Ps. xxxvi. 9. Of this life the Lord Himself speaks in these words: “This is life eternal that they may know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent,”164    John xvii. 3.—that is, “Thee and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent,” the one true God. For no less than this did Himself promise to those who love Him: “He that loveth me, keepeth my commandments; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him”165    John xiv. 21.—in the form, no doubt, of God, wherein He is equal to the Father; not in the form of a servant, for in this He will display Himself even to the wicked also. Then, however, shall that come to pass which is written, “Let the ungodly man be taken away, that he see not the glory of the Lord.”166    Isa. xxvi. 10. Then also shall “the wicked go into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life eternal.”167    Matt. xxv. 46. Now this eternal life, as I have just mentioned, has been defined to be, that they may know the one true God.168    John xvii. 3. Accordingly John again says: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”169    1 John iii. 2. This likeness begins even now to be reformed in us, while the inward man is being renewed from day to day, according to the image of Him that created him.170    Col. iii. 10.

CAPUT XXII.

37. Merces aeterna. Deinde addidit et mercedem: Et ero eis in Deum, et ipsi erunt mihi in populum. Hoc est illud quod Deo ait ille, 0223 Mihi autem adhaerere Deo bonum est (Psal. LXXII, 28). Ero, inquit, illis in Deum, et ipsi erunt mihi populus. Quid hoc bono melius, quid hac felicitate felicius, vivere Deo, vivere de Deo , apud quem est fons vitae, et in cujus lumine videbimus lumen (Psal. XXXV, 10)? De hac vita dicit ipse Dominus, Haec est autem vita aeterna, ut cognoscant te unum verum Deum, et quem misisti Jesum Christum (Joan. XVII, 3): id est, te et quem misisti Jesum Christum unum verum Deum . Hoc enim et ipse promittit dilectoribus suis, dicens, Qui diligit me, mandata mea custodit: et qui diligit me, diligetur a Patre meo; et ego diligam eum, et ostendam me ipsum illi (Id. XIV, 21): utique in forma Dei in qua aequalis est Patri; non in forma servi, in qua se et impiis ostendet . Tunc enim fiet quod scriptum est, Tollatur impius, ut non videat gloriam Domini (Isai. XXVI, 10). Quando ibunt sinistri in ignem aeternum, justi autem in vitam aeternam (Matth. XXV, 46). Quae vita aeterna, sicut commemoravi, definita est ea esse, ut cognoscant unum verum Deum. Hinc dicit et Joannes: Dilectissimi, filii Dei sumus, et nondum apparuit quid erimus. Scimus quia cum apparuerit, similes ei erimus, quoniam videbimus eum sicuti est (I Joan. III, 2). Haec similitudo nunc incipit reformari, quamdiu homo interius renovatur de die in diem (II Cor. IV, 16) secundum imaginem ejus qui creavit eum (Coloss. III, 10).