Section VI

And very opportunely indeed have we recalled the divine love toward men, which Chrysostom confirms once and again to be the origin and native fountain of the first and antecedent will. He certainly confirms it when he writes that θέλημα πρῶτον καὶ εὐδοκίαν is the very desire of God, saying: ἡ ἐπιθυμία αὐτοῦ, ὡς ἄν τις εἴποι, αὕτη ἐστί, “this, as one might say, is his desire.” He confirms it both when he teaches that θέλημα πρῶτον is the same as σφόδρα ἐφίεται, σφόδρα ἐπιθυμεῖ τῆς σωτηρίας τῆς ἡμετέρας, “God earnestly wishes, earnestly desires our salvation,” and when he immediately adds: τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν οὕτως ἡμᾶς ἀγαπᾷ, καὶ πόθεν οὕτω φιλεῖ; ἀπὸ ἀγαθότητος μόνης, “for what reason, then, does he love us thus? Why does he cherish us thus? Moved by goodness alone.” For nothing is more evident than that the cause of the first and antecedent will is shown to be situated in God’s love and benevolence, while the origin and principle of love and of the divine benevolence toward men is derived from the goodness of God alone.

For because God is good and is goodness itself¹, because, as Cyril of Alexandria² says, he is ἡμερότητος πηγὴ καὶ γένεσις, “the fountain and origin of benignity,” he therefore has mercy upon all³, loves all things that are, hates nothing of the things which he has made, spares all because all things are his, and is himself φιλόψυχος καὶ φιλάνθρωπος, “a lover of souls and a lover of men.” Whence the Scriptures attribute to him⁴ σπλάγχνα ἐλέους, “the bowels of mercy”; call him⁵ τὸν πατέρα τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν καὶ Θεὸν πάσης παρακλήσεως, “the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation”; teach that his nature⁶ is ἀγάπην, charity itself; and testify that τὸν κόσμον, the totality of men, is most sincerely loved by him⁷.