Section XXIII

In these is contained the rationale for resolving the question how it happens that so many fall away from the attainment of salvation, although the preceding salvific will of God extends itself to all and anticipates all with internal and external benefits. Evidently the knot cannot be untied unless the divine benefits with which men are endowed are accurately divided into two classes. The first of these consists of those which are owed χάριτι μόνῃ, to grace alone, flow ἀπὸ ἀγαθότητος μόνης, from benignity alone, and of which God is not only the principal cause but also the sole and adequate cause. But to the second are referred those of which God is indeed the principal cause, but not likewise the sole and adequate cause, since men themselves must also be joined as subordinate causes. For just as both the universal salvific will and the internal and external gifts which are poured forth most abundantly upon the whole race of men belong to the former class, so to the latter belongs the very attainment of salvation and eternal beatitude, which is conferred only upon those who, after God and with God, have rendered themselves not unworthy of so excellent a good.

And to this tends what Theophylact taught in the last words¹; to this also tends what he writes² when considering the words of John³, ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον, “that was the true light which enlightens every man coming into the world”:

Καὶ πῶς, φησί, φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον, ὅπου γε βλέπομεν τινὰς ἐσκοτισμένους; ὅσον τὸ ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτῷ πάντας φωτίζει· εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, οὐ πάντες λογικοί; οὐ πάντες φύσει γινώσκοντες τὸ καλὸν καὶ τοὐναντίον; οὐκ ἔχοντες δύναμιν ἐννοῆσαι ἀπὸ τῶν κτισμάτων τὸν κτίστην, ὥστε ὁ λόγος ὁ δοθεὶς ἡμῖν, καὶ παιδαγωγῶν ἡμᾶς φύσει, ὃς καὶ φυσικὸς νόμος καλεῖται, οὗτος ἂν κληθείη φῶς, τὸ δοθὲν ἡμῖν παρὰ Θεοῦ· εἰ δέ τινες κακῶς τῷ λόγῳ ἐχρήσαντο, ἑαυτοὺς ἐσκότισαν,

And how, he says, does he enlighten every man, when we see so many darkened? As far as concerns himself, he enlightens all. For tell me, I pray, are not all rational? Do not all by nature know good and evil? Do not all possess the power to know the Creator from creatures? Thus reason, given to us and instructing us by nature⁴, which is also called the natural law, may be called the light granted to us by God. But if some have used reason perversely, they have darkened themselves.

Therefore the divine light goes before all, assists all, and invites all to fellowship in the supreme truth; but only those walk in the light, after the darkness has been shaken off and dispelled, and enjoy the sweetness of truth, who neither desert God as he goes before them nor ungratefully reject the benefits offered, being no less hostile to themselves than to God. This they seem to have had before their eyes who, as the same Theophylact reports⁵, were accustomed to resolve τὴν ἔνστασιν ταύτην, the proposed difficulty, in this manner:

φωτίζει, φησίν, ὁ Κύριος πάντα ἄνθρωπον τὸν ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον, ἤτοι εἰς τάξιν βελτίονα, καὶ σπουδάζοντα κοσμῆσαι τὴν οἰκείαν ψυχήν, καὶ μὴ ἐᾶσαι ἄκοσμόν τε καὶ ἀκαλλῆ,

The Lord, they say, enlightens every man coming into the world, that is, those who aspire to a better state⁶ and expend effort to adorn their own soul and do not permit it to be unadorned and ugly.