Section CLXXIV

For attaining these everlasting goods, a twofold will is necessary: the divine, which refashions its work, goes before it, and assists it; the human, which follows, complies, and joins its own efforts. Now, although the divine will is lacking to no one, the human is lacking to many: instead of cooperating, it resists; and instead of striving to follow God, it withdraws as far as possible from him. Therefore the fault of the human will, not a defect of divine benignity; the abuse of the faculty received, not the subtraction of the aid of grace, has hindered, does hinder, and will continue to hinder all from fleeing eternal punishments and possessing eternal beatitude.

For nothing is truer, nothing more accurately expressive of the unanimous doctrine of the Fathers, than what Theodoret, second to none among the bishops of the East, writes¹ in his commentary on these words of Paul², “For this is good and acceptable before God our Savior, who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”:

πάντας γὰρ ἀπολαῦσαι βούλεται σωτηρίας. For he wills all to attain salvation. He then confirms what he says from another passage also³: “For there is one God,” οὐ γὰρ ἄλλος τῶν πιστῶν, καὶ ἄλλος τῶν ἀπίστων ἐστὶ ποιητής, ἀλλ’ εἷς ὑπάρχει δημιουργός. For there is not one maker of the faithful and another of the unbelieving, but there is one Creator. “And one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” εἷς τῆς εἰρήνης ὁ πρύτανις, ὁ ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὰ διεστῶτα συνάψας. There is one reconciler of peace, who in himself joined those things which had been separated… δείκνυσι δὲ καὶ τὸ δεσποτικὸν πάθος ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων γεγενημένον. He also shows that the Lord’s passion was undertaken for all. “Who⁴ gave himself as redemption for all…” Πάντων γὰρ ὑπὸ τὴν τοῦ θανάτου δυναστείαν γεγενημένων, αὐτὸς οὔτε ὡς Θεὸς ὑποκείμενος θανάτῳ, ἀθάνατον γὰρ ἔχει τὴν φύσιν, οὔτε μὴν—

—ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ἁμαρτίαν γὰρ οὐκ ἐποίησε τοῦ θανάτου τὴν πρόξενον, οἷόν τι λύτρον ἑαυτὸν δέδωκε, καὶ τῆς ἐκείνου δουλείας ἅπαντας ἠλευθέρωσε. For since all had been reduced beneath the power of death, he himself, who neither as God was subject to death—for he has an immortal nature—nor as man—for he did not commit the sin which brings death—gave himself as a certain price of redemption and liberated all from its servitude.

For⁵,

αὐτὸς ὁ μονογενὴς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, τὴν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἐνδυσάμενος φύσιν, καὶ πάσης ἁμαρτίας φυλάξας ἀμύητον, ταύτην ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν προσενήνοχε, καὶ τὸ χρέος τῆς φύσεως ἀποδούς, τὸ κοινὸν πάντων ἀνθρώπων διέλυσεν ὄφλημα, the Only-begotten Word of God himself, having put on the nature of Adam and preserved it immune from every sin, offered it for us and, having paid the debt of nature, dissolved the common debt of all men.

Theodoret confirms that this payment was made for all when, having proposed the question⁶ why the history of Ruth was written, he proceeds by saying that it was written πρῶτον μὲν διὰ τὸν δεσπότην Χριστόν, “first indeed on account of Christ the Lord. For from her he arose according to the flesh. And therefore the divine Matthew also, when composing the genealogy, passed over women illustrious and celebrated for virtue—Sarah, Rebecca, and others—but mentioned Tamar and Rahab⁷, and Ruth and the wife of Uriah, διδάσκων ὡς πάντων ἀνθρώπων χάριν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ μονογενὴς Υἱὸς ἐνηνθρώπησε, καὶ Ἰουδαίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν, ἁμαρτωλῶν καὶ δικαίων, teaching that the Only-begotten Son of God became man for the sake of all men: both Jews and the other nations, both sinners and the just.”

Nor do these things pertain less clearly to demonstrating this universal amplitude of reparation which, after the words of the Psalm⁸, ὅτι ὀργὴ⁹ ἐν τῷ θυμῷ αὐτοῦ καὶ—

—ζωὴ ἐν τῷ θελήματι αὐτοῦ, “because wrath is in his indignation, and life in his will,” Theodoret adds¹⁰: “Rightly does he assign to the saints the hymn and thanksgiving¹¹. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἅπασιν ἀνθρώποις ἔδωκε τὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως δῶρον, οὐ πάντες δὲ τῆς χάριτος ἄξιοι, ἁρμοδίως τοὺς ἀξίους εἰς τοὺς ὕμνους ἀφιεροῖ. For since he bestowed upon all men the gift of rising again, but not all are worthy of this grace, fittingly does he consecrate to the singing of hymns those worthy of this benefit. ἀρίστην δὲ κομιδῇ πεποίηται καὶ τὴν ἄλλην διαίρεσιν· τὴν γὰρ ὀργὴν ἀπένειμε τῷ θυμῷ· ὀργὴν γὰρ τὴν παιδείαν καλεῖ· τὴν δὲ ζωήν, τῷ θελήματι· τοῦτο γάρ τοι βούλεται, οὐκ ἐκεῖνο. ἐκεῖνο γὰρ ἡμεῖς ἐπισπώμεθα. ὁ γὰρ Θεός, φησί, θάνατον οὐκ ἐποίησεν, οὐδὲ τέρπεται ἐπ’ ἀπωλείᾳ ζώντων· ἔκτισε γὰρ εἰς τὸ εἶναι τὰ πάντα, καὶ σωτήριοι αἱ γενέσεις τοῦ κόσμου· ἀκούομεν δὲ καὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος διὰ Ἰεζεκιὴλ τοῦ προφήτου· μὴ θελήσει θελήσω τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ, ὡς τὸ ἐπιστρέψαι αὐτὸν καὶ ζῆν; Moreover, how excellent another division he has made! For he ascribed wrath to indignation—for he calls chastisement wrath—but life to the will: for this he wills, not the former. For we draw the former upon ourselves. For God, he says¹², did not make death, nor does he delight in the destruction of the living; for he created all things that they might exist, and the generations of the world are salutary. We also hear him saying¹³ through the prophet Ezekiel: “Do I will by my will the death of the sinner rather than that he convert himself and live?”

But it is wonderful how greatly all these things are illustrated by the words of the Psalmist¹⁴, “The Lord is merciful and just, and our God has mercy,” which Theodoret explains¹⁵, saying: Τὰς γὰρ τοῦ ἐλέους πηγὰς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις προσχεῖ· ἔχει δὲ καὶ—

—δικαιοσύνην, τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας κολάζει μεταμελείᾳ χρήσασθαι μὴ βουλομένους· δὶς μέντοι τοῦ ἐλέους μνημονεύσας, ἅπαξ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἐμνήσθη· νικᾷ γὰρ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπία τῆς δικαιοσύνης τὴν ψῆφον. For he pours forth the fountains of mercy upon men; but he also has justice, and punishes the unjust who do not will to employ penance. Having made mention of mercy twice, he made mention of justice once. For the benignity of God conquers the sentence of justice.