Hear what the prophet says: You have been sold for your sins, and for your iniquities I sent your mother away. You see, therefore, that we are all creatures of God. But each one is sold for his own sins and, for his own iniquities, separates from his Creator. We, therefore, belong to God insofar as we have been created by him. But we have become slaves of the devil insofar as we have been sold for our sins. Christ came, however, and bought us back^[1] when we were serving that lord to whom we sold ourselves by sinning. And so [Christ] appears to have recovered as his own those whom he created; to have acquired as people belonging to another, indeed, those who had sought another Lord for themselves by sinning.

Joseph was sold in Egypt because Christ was going to come to those to whom it was said, It was for your sins that you were sold, and thus he redeemed with his own blood those who had been sold by their own sins. But Christ was sold because he took our condition on himself, not our fault. He is not held to the price of sin, because he himself did not commit sin.^[1] And so he made a contract at a price for our debt, not for money but for himself. He took away the debtor’s bond,^[2] set aside the moneylender, freed the debtor. He alone paid what was owed by all.

God never sends away anyone who makes his home with him, and he rejects none of those who walk uprightly. He allows them to be forever associated and firmly joined to him as a way of obtaining help. However, everyone who opposes or fights against his divine teaching falls completely away from the glory of God and shows that he is a lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God. Therefore, like one who lived with the mother of the Jews God says, What kind of bill of divorce did your mother have when I sent her away? For no one could prove that I hated her and despised her. Instead, he would rather have to accuse her of deserting me. . . . It says, I came, that is, I took human form and appeared to those in Israel, and there was no man among them, that is, no one with a heart who was able to recognize the season of redemption. I called, but no one listened. . . . For he was in a form like ours, and yet he was God the Word, having become man by taking on flesh born of a woman. But those who knew this and were not ignorant of the depth of the mystery of his divinity knew that he was able to do all things because he was God by nature and suitable for the redemption of everyone under heaven.

For he compares himself with a husband who is his wife’s master and householder. For what master is obliged to let you go? But you have been transgressors from the beginning and so cast out, sold to^[1] your iniquities, enslaved by them, who were before independent and free. And finally, since God did not wait for you but came to you, and coming down to a lowly dignity, he became man. But no one answered him as he was calling for salvation. He adds there was not one person, since the mass of those not answering are deemed to be as nothing. Whereas those who answered, a few out of the nations will be exempted from the fate of the nations; as with Lot in the days of Sodom, they will be brought out. For the Lord did not think fit to make the holy land available to many. And the barren fig tree was a sign of that.^[2]

So that you might know that your mother was not rejected by me but deserted of her own will, after many benefits I put on human flesh and not through any prophets but actually present myself I spoke forth: I have come, and there was not a man or a person. For all people, abandoning the image of humans, adopted the images of beasts and serpents. Thus it was said to Herod on account of his wickedness, Go and tell that fox,^[1] or to the Pharisees, brood of vipers.^[2] . . . I have called them as if they were rational animals. . . . We can say that although he is the accomplisher of such great signs and he makes the sky and earth and sea to serve his uses, even he could not avoid the cross.

No one who views things correctly thinks God possesses a physical body. It is only that the holy Scriptures speak in a human fashion about him. For those of us in simple and crass bodies can think in no other way, except that these things are adapted for us by a range of metaphors, so that in the perception of visible things we are able to know in part about the divine and higher being, which is higher than all bodily imaginings. Observe how in these words the message is adapted to human understanding.

Then he recalls for them what he has accomplished: Behold, by my rebuke I will dry up the sea and make rivers a wilderness; and their fish shall be dried up because there is no water and shall die for thirst. Symmachus has rendered this passage as if it concerns events already accomplished: Behold that at my rebuke I have dried up the sea, that I have made the rivers a desert and that their fish have been putrified for lack of water. Thus, the God of the universe accomplished this at the time he delivered them from the bondage of the Egyptians: it was then that he parted the Red Sea, divided the Jordan in two and revealed that the fish in its bed were dead from deprivation of its nourishing waters. If, however, one likewise understands this passage [to relate] to the future, as the Septuagint desires [to do], one will do no violence to the senses. It indicates from great miracles that he will also be able to accomplish small things: if it was easy for me to dry up the sea, he says, and to interrupt the course of rivers, it would have been much easier to annihilate an army that was marching against you.

I have many times endured your belief in idols and the infinite number of iniquities that you have perpetrated, but what you have dared now is not susceptible to any pardon: it is an evil that is irremediable and incurable. For I am no longer acting through the prophets as intermediaries, but I have assumed the form of a servant,^[1] and I have lived among you as a man; and in spite of the frequency of my appeals and my exhortations, I have not persuaded you. This, in turn, is confirmed by the recital of the divine Gospels in these terms: Jesus cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink,’^[2] and elsewhere: Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.^[3] The divine Evangelists have let us know still many other declarations of this kind. In this way, then, the prophetic text has taught us that the total destruction that they undergo in the last place has been obtained for them by their folly against the Master. Then, in interrogative form again [he declares]: Is not my hand strong to redeem? Or do I not have the strength to protect you [from danger]? Do you think, he says, that the adversaries have conquered me because of my weakness? Is it not possible for anyone to see how easy and convenient it is for me to make you appear superior to everyone?

I will clothe the sky with shadows, and I will change its cover to be like mourning cloth. He has done this and will do it. For he did it when he was crucified: From the sixth hour to the ninth the shadows covered the whole earth.^[1] And he will do it again at the time of the fulfillment, for it says, The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give off its light.^[2]

Everything that is above us we call heaven, just as the winged things that are in the air are called celestial and the enemy powers are called celestial since they shuttle between heaven and earth. . . . Therefore, heaven is not covered up by a bag; but with the light of heaven closed off, the air that is underneath it becomes darkened with black clouds. We can interpret the heavens covered in darkness and concealed in a bag by saying that all are under sin and that the holy ones, too, need the mercy of God.

The power of his mighty word with which he always refuted the Pharisees and scribes, and indeed all the teachers of your race who disputed with him, was stopped like a full and mighty fountain whose waters have been suddenly shut off when he remained silent and would no longer answer his accusers before Pilate, as was recorded in the writings of the apostles, in order that those words of Isaiah might bear fruit in action: The Lord gives me a tongue, that I may know when I ought to speak. And his words, You are my God, de-part not from me, teach us to put all our trust in God, the Creator of all things, and to seek aid and salvation from him alone; and not to imagine, as other [people] do, that we can attain salvation by means of birth, or wealth, or power or wisdom.

The Lord God has given me the tongue of the doctrine. These words refer to Christ as well, who preached his new doctrine to all the peoples. And therefore all the peoples listened to it and were converted.

Now what ought we to learn before everything else, but to be silent that we may be able to speak? Lest my voice should condemn me before that of another acquits me, for it is written: By your words you shall be condemned.^[1] What need is there, then, that you should hasten to undergo the danger of condemnation by speaking when you can be more safe by keeping silent? How many have I seen to fall into sin by speaking, but scarcely one by keeping silent; and so it is more difficult to know how to keep silent than how to speak . . . a person is wise, then, who knows how to keep silent. Lastly, the Wisdom of God said, The Lord has given to me the tongue of learning, that I should know when it is good to speak. Justly, then, is one wise who has received of the Lord to know when he ought to speak. Wherefore the Scripture says well: A wise person will keep silence until there is opportunity.^[2]

[Ministers] who sing thankful hymns say that they have been given a tongue of discipline; that is, they are able to speak in a trained manner and expound the divine mysteries without fault and are able to speak fittingly to those who need words of encouragement. . . . On us the sun of righteousness has arisen and has shed its light on our mind so that we are and are known as children of light and of the day. For we, having faith in Christ, are enriched with illumination from him; that is, we have our hearing enhanced and are thus enabled to hear.

Christ our Master says this in a human way. For the rest, we find many statements of this kind in the divine Gospels: And Jesus increased in age, it is said, and wisdom and grace before God and before people.^[1] He calls youth early; thus, the prophet likewise taught this in a preceding passage. After having announced [Christ’s] conception by the Virgin, he had added, Before he [the child] shall know good or evil, he refuses evil, to choose the good.^[2] The Evangelist declares something similar: And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was on him.^[3] As for the phrase the instruction the Lord gives opens my ears, in my opinion, it is not pronounced regarding him but on the subject of the disciples who believed in [Christ], for he gives the name of ears to his hearers, that is, to those to whom he presents the divine words, that is, to those to whom he declared, as we learn it in reading the holy Gospels: He who has ears to hear, let him hear!^[4]

And being by nature intangible, the Word yet said, I gave my back to the stripes, and my cheeks to blows, and I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For what the human body of the Word suffered, this the Word, dwelling in the body, ascribed to himself, in order that we might be enabled to be partakers of God the Word.^[1] Truly it is a mystery that it was he who suffered, and yet suffered not. He suffered, because his own body suffered, and he was in it, which thus suffered. He suffered not, because the Word, being by nature God, is impassible. And while he, the incorporeal, was in the passible body, the Body had in it the impassible Word, which was destroying the infirmities inherent in the body.^[2]

If you remain unruffled, you silence your insolent assailant by giving him a practical illustration of self-control. Were you struck? So also was the Lord. Were you spat on? The Lord also suffered this, for he did not turn his face from the shame of the spittle. . . . You have not been condemned to death or crucified.

[This is] as though he were to say, Though I knew beforehand that they would strike me, I did not even turn aside my cheek; for how could I have nerved my disciples to undergo death for the truth if I had been afraid?

The Jews, separating this chapter from what has been said previously, wish to refer it to the person of Isaiah, in that he would say that he received the word from the Lord and how he put up with a lazy and wandering people and called them back to salvation, and in the manner of small children who are trained early in the morning, Isaiah recited what he heard from the Holy Spirit. . . . But these verses should be applied to the person of the Lord in which the older book is fulfilled, since according to the dispensation of the flesh that Christ assumed, he was trained and accepted the lash of discipline so that he would know when he ought to speak and when to keep quiet. And he who in his passion was silent, through the apostles and apostolic people speaks throughout the whole world.

To Christ was added through the grace of the ear things that he did not have by nature, that we might understand that we ought to accept with the ears not of our body but of the mind. . . . The breast that contained God was beaten. . . . This discipline and training opened his ears that he was able to communicate the knowledge of the Father to us. . . . We learned more fully in the gospel that the Son, according to the flesh he took on, spoke the mystery that he had heard from the Father.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ comes before us, when he would show [people] how to suffer, who when he was struck bore it patiently, being reviled he reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not, but he gave his back to the smiters and his cheeks to buffetings, and he turned not his face from spitting;^[1] and at last, he was willingly led to death, that we might behold in him the image of all that is virtuous and immortal, and that we, conducting ourselves after these examples, might truly tread on serpents and scorpions and on all the power of the enemy.

Now if God willed to accept and to lower Himself to such sufferings, dishonours, and humiliations, then no matter how much you humble yourself, you whose nature is mud and subject to death, you will never resemble your Lord [in this]. God for your sake humbled Himself, but you, for your own sake, do not humble yourself. You are proud and puffed up. God came and took up your burden to give you His rest, but you do not wish to endure labours and suffering. By your labours your wounds are healed.

This whole recital is taught by the holy Gospels.^[1] For the servant of the high priest gave [Christ] a blow on the cheek; some struck his face, saying, Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck you?^[2] Others spat in his face; as for Pilate, he had him scourged and delivered him to be crucified. So, all this he predicts in the prophecy to teach of his own patience.

For the railings, and insults, and reproaches and gibes inflicted by enemies and their plots are compared with a worn-out garment and moth-eaten wool when God says, Do not fear the reproach of people, neither be afraid of their revilings, for they shall grow old as does a garment, and like moth-eaten wool so shall they be consumed. Therefore, let none of these things that are happening trouble [you], but stop asking for the aid of this or that person and running after shadows (for such are human alliances); persistently call on Jesus, whom [you serve] . . . and in a moment of time all these evils will be dissolved.

And the Father was Christ’s helper. For he did not allow or concede that his own Son should be completely shamed or overwhelmed. For they were punished, those who sought to take their punishment out on me as those who dare to fight with God. . . . For though being with us, he was the only-begotten Word of God. He put on an identical human likeness, by which reason alone he was believed to be of a nature with us. For every human being is subject to faults and sins, and no one alive is completely blameless. He alone in becoming man retained the divine dignity. . . . And being Word and God, his flesh was able to shoo away destruction. Thus, the Son became a man who was fit to be accepted by the Father. For all that human beings have is God-given. For the one God and Father, through him, undid the power of death through his resurrection from the dead. . . . He was the servant of God, who while being human was yet truly the Son of God and the Father. And to hear his voice means no transgression of the law but a confirming of the law through types and shadows discerning the truth which is Christ and the prophecies of him, as Paul notes.^[1] . . . His voice is the evangelical and divine preaching that calls us to the redemption that is through faith in Christ. He also calls us to a proper behavior that lives in a way that is, by far, more consistent than the way of the law. The law was given in the shadows. Faith was given in the bright and shining light.

Behold, you will all like a garment grow old, and something like a worm will devour you. The parable is accurate, for the worm that comes from the clothes destroys them, and sin, which is born from us, ruins those who allow it to grow.

There is a person who runs down birth, describing it as subject to decay and death, who forces things and suggests that the Savior was speaking about having children in saying that we should not store treasure on earth, where it grows rusty and moth-eaten. And [this person] is not ashamed to set alongside these the prophet’s words: You shall all grow old like clothes, and the moth will feed on you. We do not contradict Scripture. Our bodies are subject to decay and are naturally unstable. Perhaps he might be prophesying decay to his audience because they were sinners. The Savior was not speaking about having children. He was encouraging sharing of resources in those who wanted only to amass vast amounts of wealth rather than offer help to those in need.

Isaiah also gives the name moth to those who devour their conscience in their recklessness. . . . It might be said that the moths are their sins, which worm their way in among those they inhabit, like moths devouring clothing for food. An attitude that inclines toward having no fear is indicative of a people on their way to this kind of ruin, yet who think they are indestructible. But punishment also clearly awaits them. They will be utterly consumed by misfortune as by a moth.

By the mouth of Isaiah also [God] has asked concerning him, Who is there among you that hears God? Let him hear the voice of his Son.^[1] When, therefore, he here presents him with the words, This is my beloved Son,^[2] this clause is of course understood, who I have promised. For if he once promised and afterwards says, This is he, it is suitable conduct for one who accomplishes his purpose that he should utter his voice in proof of the promise that he had formerly made; but unsuitable in one who is amenable to the retort, Can you, indeed, have a right to say, ‘This is my son,’ concerning whom you have given us no previous information, any more than you have favored us with a revelation about your own prior existence?

It is as a man that he calls himself Servant, for although he exists in the form of God, he has assumed the form of a servant.^[1] Likewise in the divine Gospel [Christ] says that he has received instruction as to what he should say and proclaim.^[2] They walk in darkness, and there is no light for them. Although the light has risen, as for them, they have clung to the darkness. Trust in the name of the Lord, and rely on God. [Isaiah] says, if you really put absolute and true hope in God, that will [serve to] sustain you and make you sure.

If then this is the character of the body that rises from the dead, let us now see what is the meaning of the threatened eternal fire. Now we find in the prophet Isaiah that the fire by which each person is punished is described as belonging to himself. For it says, Walk in the light of your fire and in the flame which you have kindled for yourselves. These words seem to indicate that every sinner kindles for himself the flame of his own fire and is not plunged into a fire that has been previously kindled by someone else or that existed before him.

This fire is not from the altar. The fire that is from the altar is the fire of the Lord. But that which is outside the altar is not of the Lord but is properly of each one who sins. . . . This fire is of those who have ignited it, just as it also was written in other places, Walk in your fire and in the flame which you kindled for yourselves. But to Isaiah his own fire was not applied but the fire of the altar that will cleanse his lips.^[1]

One light alone let us shun: that which is the offspring of the terrible fire. Let us not walk in the light of our own fire and in the very flame we have kindled. For I know of a cleansing fire that Christ came to send on the earth, and that he himself is anagogically called a fire. This Fire takes away whatever is material and of evil habit. This he desires to kindle with all speed, for he longs for speed in doing us good, since he gives us even coals of fire to help us. I know also a fire that is not cleansing but avenging; either that fire of Sodom, which he pours down on all sinners, mingled with brimstone and storms, or that which is prepared for the devil and his angels.