But, says he, since God condescends to commune with His servants, we may consequently suppose that from the very beginning He enacted words appropriate to things. What, then, is our answer? We account for God’s willingness to admit men to communion with Himself by His love towards mankind. But since that which is by nature finite cannot rise above its prescribed limits, or lay hold of the superior nature of the Most High, on this account He, bringing His power, so full of love for humanity, down to the level of human weakness, so far as it was possible for us to receive it, bestowed on us this helpful gift of grace. For as by Divine dispensation the sun, tempering the intensity of his full beams with the intervening air, pours down light as well as heat on those who receive his rays, being himself unapproachable by reason of the weakness of our nature, so the Divine power, after the manner of the illustration I have used, though exalted far above our nature and inaccessible to all approach, like a tender mother who joins in the inarticulate utterances of her babe, gives to our human nature what it is capable of receiving; and thus in the various manifestations of God to man He both adapts Himself to man and speaks in human language, and assumes wrath, and pity, and such-like emotions, so that through feelings corresponding to our own our infantile life might be led as by hand, and lay hold of the Divine nature by means of the words which His foresight has given. For that it is irreverent to imagine that God is subject to any passion such as we see in respect to pleasure, or pity, or anger, no one will deny who has thought at all about the truth of things. And yet the Lord is said to take pleasure in His servants, and to be angry with the backsliding people, and, again, to have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and to show compassion—the word teaching us in each of these expressions that God’s providence helps our infirmity by using our own idioms of speech, so that such as are inclined to sin may be restrained from committing it by fear of punishment, and that those who are overtaken by it may not despair of return by the way of repentance when they see God’s mercy, while those who are walking uprightly and strictly may yet more adorn their life with virtue, as knowing that by their own life they rejoice Him Whose eyes are over the righteous. But just as we cannot call a man deaf who converses with a deaf man by means of signs,—his only way of hearing,—so we must not suppose speech in God because of His employing it by way of accommodation in addressing man. For we ourselves are accustomed to direct brute beasts by clucking and whistling and the like, and yet this, by which we reach their ears, is not our language, but we use our natural speech in talking to one another, while, in regard to cattle, some suitable noise or sound accompanied with gesture is sufficient for all purposes of communication.

« Ἀλλ' ἐπειδή », φησίν, « οὐκ ἀναίνεται ὁ θεὸς τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ θεράποντας ὁμιλίαν, ἀκόλουθόν ἐστιν οἴεσθαι αὐτὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὰς προσφυεῖς τῷ πράγματι τεθεῖσθαι προσηγορίας ». τί οὖν καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο ἡμεῖς; τοῦ μὲν καταδέχεσθαι τὸν θεὸν τὴν πρὸς ἄνθρωπον ὁμιλίαν αἰτίαν εἶναι τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν διοριζόμεθα. ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐκ ἐνδέχεται τὸ τῇ φύσει βραχὺ τῶν ἰδίων μέτρων ὑπεραρθῆναι καὶ τῆς ὑπερεχούσης φύσεως τοῦ ὕψους ἐφάψασθαι, τούτου χάριν αὐτὸς πρὸς τὸ ἡμέτερον ἀσθενὲς κατάγων τὴν φιλάνθρωπον δύναμιν, ὡς ἡμῖν δυνατὸν ἦν δέξασθαι, οὕτω τὴν παρ' ἑαυτοῦ χάριν καὶ ὠφέλειαν νέμει. καθάπερ γὰρ κατὰ τὴν θείαν οἰκονομίαν ὁ ἥλιος τὸ σφοδρὸν τῶν ἀκτίνων καὶ ἄκρατον τῷ διὰ μέσου κατακεράσας ἀέρι σύμμετρον ἐπάγει τοῖς δεχομένοις τὴν αὐγήν τε καὶ τὴν θερμότητα, καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὢν τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ἀπροσπέλαστος, οὕτω καὶ ἡ θεία δύναμις καθ' ὁμοιότητα τοῦ ῥηθέντος ἡμῖν ὑποδείγματος ἀπειροπλασίως ὑπεραίρουσα τὴν φύσιν ἡμῶν καὶ ἀπρόσιτος εἰς μετουσίαν οὖσα οἷόν τις μήτηρ εὔσπλαγχνος τοῖς ἀσήμοις τῶν νηπίων κνυζήμασι συνδιαψελλιζομένη τοῦτο νέμει τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει ὃ λαβεῖν δυνατῶς ἔχει, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐν ταῖς ποικίλαις πρὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους θεοφανείαις καὶ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον σχηματίζεται καὶ ἀνθρωπικῶς φθέγγεται καὶ ὀργὴν καὶ ἔλεον καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ὑποδύεται πάθη, ὡς ἂν διὰ πάντων τῶν καταλλήλων ἡμῖν χειραγωγοῖτο ἡ νηπιώδης ἡμῶν ζωή, διὰ τῶν τῆς προνοίας λόγων τῆς θείας φύσεως ἐφαπτομένη. ὅτι γὰρ οὐδενὶ πάθει τῶν καθ' ἡδονὴν ἢ κατ' ἔλεον ἢ ὀργὴν συμβαινόντων εὐαγές ἐστιν ὑποκεῖσθαι τὸ θεῖον οἴεσθαι, οὐδεὶς « ἂν » ἀντείποι τῶν καὶ μετρίως ἐπεσκεμμένων τὴν περὶ τῶν ὄντων ἀλήθειαν: ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ εὐφραίνεσθαι κύριος λέγεται ἐπὶ τοῖς δούλοις αὐτοῦ καὶ ὀργίζεσθαι θυμῷ ἐπὶ τὸν ἐπταικότα λαὸν καὶ ἐλεεῖν πάλιν ὃν ἂν ἐλεήσῃ καὶ οἰκτείρειν ὡσαύτως, δι' ἑκάστου οἶμαι τῶν τοιούτων ῥημάτων τοῦτο τοῦ λόγου ἡμᾶς παιδεύοντος, ὅτι διὰ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἰδιωμάτων ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ πρόνοια τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ ἡμῶν ἐπιμίγνυται, ὡς ἂν οἵ τε πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν ῥέποντες φόβῳ τῆς τιμωρίας ἑαυτοὺς τῶν κακῶν ἀνέχοιεν οἵ τε προειλημμένοι μὴ ἀπογινώσκοιεν τὴν ἐκ μεταμελείας ἐπάνοδον πρὸς τὸν ἔλεον βλέποντες, καὶ οἱ δι' ἀκριβοῦς πολιτείας κατορθοῦντες τὸν βίον μᾶλλον ταῖς ἀρεταῖς ἐπαγάλλοιντο, ὡς εὐφραίνοντες τῷ ἰδίῳ βίῳ τὸν τῶν ἀγαθῶν γινόμενον ἔφορον. ὥσπερ δὲ οὐκ ἔστι κωφὸν ὀνομάσαι τὸν διὰ σχημάτων τῷ κωφῷ καθὼς ἐπαΐειν πέφυκεν ὁμιλοῦντα, οὕτως οὐδὲ ἀνθρώπινον λόγον περὶ τὸν θεὸν οἰηθῆναι, ἐπειδὴ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους αὐτῷ κατ' οἰκονομίαν ἐχρήσατο. καὶ γὰρ ἡμεῖς κλωγμῷ καὶ ποππυσμῷ καὶ συρίγματι τὰ ἄλογα διευθύνειν εἰώθαμεν, ἀλλ' οὐ τοῦτο ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ἐστὶν ᾧ τῆς τῶν ἀλόγων ἀκοῆς καθικνούμεθα, ἀλλὰ πρὸς μὲν ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς τῇ φύσει κεχρήμεθα, τοῖς δὲ ἀλόγοις ὁ κατάλληλος ψόφος καὶ ὁ ποιὸς διὰ τοῦ σχήματος ἦχος πρὸς τὴν χρείαν ἐξήρκεσεν.