Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistle to the Hebrews

NPNF (V1-14)St. Chrysostom“Do not suffer 2939 thy foot to be moved.” ( Ps. cxxi. 3 .) He did not say, ‘be not moved’ but “donot thou suffer,” &c. The suffering depends then on ourselves, and not on any other. For if we willstand “steadfast and unmoveable” ( 1 Cor. xv. 58 ), we shall not be shaken.What then? Does nothing depend on God? All indeed depends on God, but not so that ourfree-will is hindered. ‘If then it depend on God,’ (one says), ‘why does He blame us?’ On thisaccount I said, ‘so that our free-will is not hindered.’ It depends then on us, and on Him. For wemust first choose the good; and then He leads us to His own. 2940 He does not anticipate our choice,2941lest our free-will should be outraged. But when we have chosen, then great is the assistance hebrings to us.How is it then that Paul says, “not of him that willeth,” if it depend on ourselves also “nor ofhim that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” ( Rom. ix. 16 .)In the first place, he did not introduce it as his own opinion, but inferred it from what was beforehim and from what had been put forward 2942 [in the discussion]. For after saying, “It is written, Iwill have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will havecompassion” ( Rom. ix. 15 ), he says, “It follows then 2943 that it is not of him that willeth, nor ofhim that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” “Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth He yetfind fault?” ( Rom. ix. 16, 19 .)And secondly the other explanation may be given, that he speaks of all as His, whose the greaterpart is. For it is ours to choose 2944 and to wish; but God’s to complete and to bring to an end. Sincetherefore the greater part is of Him, he says all is of Him, speaking according to the custom of men.For so we ourselves also do. I mean for instance: we see a house well built, and we say the wholeis the Architect’s [doing], and yet certainly it is not all his, but the workmen’s also, and the owner’s,who supplies the materials, and many others’, but nevertheless since he contributed the greatestshare, we call the whole his. So then [it is] in this case also. Again, with respect to a number ofpeople, where the many are, we say All are: where few, nobody. So also Paul says, “not of himthat willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.”2939In Psalm cxxi. 3 (cxx. 3, LXX.) where we have “ He shall not suffer, ” &c., the LXX. have, μὴ δῴης εἰς σάλον τὸν πόδασον, μηδὲ νυστάξῃ (Vat.) ὁ φυλάσσων σε , “ Lest thou suffer, ” &c., and “ lest he that keepeth thee slumber. ” St. Chrys.substitutes δῷς for δῴης , making the sense, “ Do not suffer, ” &c., “ and let not him that keepeth thee slumber. ” This heapplies to the Christian keeping guard over himself (his words are χρὴ πάντοτε φυλάττειν ἑαυτοὺς, μήποτε ἀπονυστάξωμεν): and so he seems to have understood ver. 4 , of the Christian: that a watchman of Israel ought not to slumber or sleep. TheAlex. ms. has νυστάξει in the third verse.2940εἰσάγει τὰ παῤ ἑαυτοῦ , His part.2941βουλήσεις . Those acts of the soul whereby we desire and aim at what is good.2942προκειμένου … προβληθέντος . The former word is used by St. Chrys. to express the portion of Scripture on which heis treating: the latter is a received term in the dialectical method of the Greeks to express a proposition put forward to beargued from, to see what consequences follow from it, with a view of showing it to be untrue, or determining the sense inwhich it is true. St. Chrys. means to say that this proposition was only thus argumentatively inferred by St. Paul.2943῎ Αρα οὖν2944or, “ purpose and will, ” προελέσθαι καὶ βουληθῆναι613