Who are these elders who either came with Joshua/Jesus or after him, if not the very apostles who illumined our hearts by their writings and precepts, even bringing a certain kind of day among us from that true light in which they were partakers?^[1] Whoever, therefore, is enlightened and instructed from the precepts of the apostles and is ordained according to the apostolic rules for the service of the Lord is the very person who is said to serve the Lord in the days of the elders who came after Jesus. Do you wish to see that the apostles also were the light of the world, just as the Savior was the true light which illumines every person coming into the world^[2]? The Lord himself said to them, as it is written in the Gospel, You are the light of the world.^[3] But if the apostles are also the light of the world, then the days in which we serve the Lord undoubtedly illuminate us through their precepts and commandments.

Joshua’s death is also recounted for us. But it is nothing unusual that he who was the son of Nun died, for everything that is owed to nature gets paid. Yet, because we have established that what is read here about the son of Nun must be seen as referring to our Lord Jesus Christ, we need to ask how is it befitting to say that Jesus died. It is my opinion, though speaking according to the authority of Scripture, that Jesus lives in certain persons and is dead in other persons. Jesus lives in Paul and in Peter and in all those who can rightly say, It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me^[1] and, again, But for me to live is Christ and to die is profit.^[2] In persons such as those, therefore, Jesus is rightly said to live. But in whom is Jesus dead? He is dead in those persons, undoubtedly, who are said to insult the death of Jesus by frequently repenting and then failing again, persons whom the apostle describes in his letter to the Hebrews as crucifying the Son of God again for their own sake and holding him out for show.^[3] You can see why, therefore, Jesus is not only said to be dead in those sinners but is also asserted to be crucified and mocked by them. But examine yourself as well and ask, when you have avaricious thoughts and desire to despoil others, if you are ever able to say that Christ lives in me. If you have thoughts of defilement, if you are harassed by fury, if you are inflamed with envy and aroused with jealousy, if you revel in drunkenness, if you are exalted with pride, or if you act with cruelty, will you be able to say in all of these things that Christ lives in me? Christ is dead in sinners, therefore, because no justice, no patience, no truth, nor anything else that Christ is operates within them. But for saints, on the other hand, Christ is said to be the one who enacts whatever they do, as the apostle declares: I can do all things in him who strengthens me, Christ.^[4]

It was the ancients who did this, of course, but because what was written is said to be written for our sake, to whom the end of the ages has arrived,^[1] not on their account, we should watch lest these sayings are seen to be true of more of us than of them. Do you want to see that such things are applied to us through the apostle, rather than through me? Listen for yourself to what he said: What does Scripture say about how Elijah interceded with God against Israel? ‘Lord, they killed your prophets, they destroyed your altars, and I am left alone and they seek my soul.’ But what was the divine response? ‘I preserved for myself seven thousand men who did not bend the knee to Baal,’ then the apostle adds ‘thus, in this time also a remnant chosen by grace is saved.’ ^[2] You can see, therefore, that those who bent the knee to Baal and those who did not bend the knee are understood by the apostle as the multitude of unbelievers and the remnant of believers, respectively. This demonstrates, then, that those who lived in unbelief and impiety at the time of the Savior also bent the knee to Baal and worshiped idols, whereas those who believed and fulfilled the works of faith did not bend the knee to Baal. It is never mentioned in the historical books or in the Gospels or in any other book of Scripture that some at the time of the Savior did in fact bend the knee to idols, but such an act is indeed attributed to those persons who were bound by their sins, as though held by fetters. Whenever we sin and are taken captive to the law of sin,^[3] therefore, we bend our knees to Baal. But we are not called to this, nor do we believe in this, such that we would again become servants of sin and again bend the knee to the devil. Instead, our calling and the purpose of our faith is both to bend the knee at the name of Jesus, for at the name of Jesus, every knee bends in heaven and on earth and in hell,^[4] and to bend the knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.^[5]

As long as a people serves God, they are not delivered into the hands of plunderers. But when they abandon the Lord and begin to serve their own passions, then it is said of them that God gave them over to shameful passions^[1] and, again, He gave them over to a reprobate mind, that they would do unsuitable things.^[2] Why? Because, he says, they were filled with every iniquity, wickedness, fornication, greed and all other evils.^[3] It was because they served and worshiped Baal and Ashtaroth that God delivered them into the hands of plunderers and handed them over to their enemies. This, as I have often said before, the Jews read as though it were merely a record of past events. We, however, for whose sake this was written,^[4] it is said, ought to know that if we sin against the Lord and against our own souls by indulging the desires of the flesh as though we were worshiping our God, we also betray ourselves and concede our apostolic authority into the hands of Zebulun. Listen, then, to [Paul] speaking about one who sins: I delivered this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit might be saved.^[5] You can see, therefore, that it was not only through his apostles that God delivered sinners over to their enemies, but even now, through those who govern the church and have the power not only of releasing but also of binding,^[6] sinners are delivered for the destruction of the flesh when they are separated from the body of Christ for their crimes.

Scripture tells you that the nations could have been cut off all at once from the land given to the children of Israel; yet God willed that it should only be little by little. We can think of any number of other things which we admit might have happened or may happen, though we can allege no instance of their occurrence. We should not then deny the possibility of human sinlessness, simply because there is no [sinless] person, save him who is not only man but very God, in whom we can show this perfection actually achieved.