Commentary on Isaiah 4.2.22–4.3.2

Unsearchable, then, are his works, and those beyond mind and speech are unattainable to human thoughts, yet known to him. And indeed we believe that the spiritual regeneration through water and Spirit has been given to those who have recognized the appearing of Christ. When Christ wished to make the grace plain to Nicodemus, he explained the way of the thing; but he, understanding nothing of what was said, accused the Saviour's words of impossibility. Christ, even to one so minded, urged him to receive the wonder by faith, saying: “We speak what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen.” If, then, we do not understand the way of the divine works, let us free our own mind from all doubt and say to God: “I know that you can do all things, and nothing is impossible for you.” Let us not ask him about his daughters and sons, nor command, that is, give orders to him concerning the works of his hands; but as clay to the potter, let us leave him to work what he pleases. For he changes our condition without toil to whatever he wishes, and re-forms the mind from the more shameful to the better, and puts a new heart in us, uprooting the first. He said something of this kind, at any rate, through the voice of Ezekiel: “I will draw out the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,” that is, tender and pliant, “so that they may know me, that I am the Lord.” For departing from all wickedness and defilements, then reshaping our own mind to wish to fulfil the good, and receiving in addition the spiritual regeneration from water and Spirit, we shall become sons and daughters of God. That all-mightiness belongs to him he shows by saying: “I made the earth and man upon it.” And the inventor of the generation of man, who brought into being him who once was not, how will he lack strength for spiritual re-formation? And is it not clear that, at his nods, the nature of the things he made would move over to whatever he purposes? What is wonderful if the one who with his own hand made firm the heaven reforges the mind of man to what he pleases? By the Father's all-working hand we mean the Son, through whom are all things and in whom are all things. “For by the word of the Lord,” it says, “the heavens were made firm.” He commanded all the stars, that is, arranged how each of them must be. For the sun was set to rule the day, and the moon the night. But as the Psalmist says: “The sun knew its setting. The God of all set darkness, and it became night.” The divine David sings again and says: “Yours is the day, and yours is the night. You prepared the sun and the moon.” Each of these, then, completes the course appointed for it in orderly motion and in measured intervals of hours. Likewise the rest of the stars too, according to the law given them by God … being God by nature and Creator of all.

“I raised him up with righteousness as king; all his ways are straight. He will build my city and turn back the captivity of my people, not with ransoms nor with gifts, said the Lord Sabaoth.”

Some might perhaps say that this was said about Cyrus son of Cambyses, because he released Israel and freed it from the bonds of captivity, and founded the temple in Jerusalem. But the contemplation of what follows will rather turn the force of the thoughts not to him, but to Christ the Saviour of us all, who was raised up with righteousness. For being God, the Lord shone upon us, the God and Father being pleased to sum up all things in him, things in the heavens and things on earth. He was raised up, then, with a righteousness not adopted or taught, but being himself righteousness in very person. It is also written somewhere else about him: “Behold, a righteous king will reign, and rulers will rule with judgment.” For the only-begotten Word of God was always King of all together with God the Father, and has all creation, visible and invisible, under his feet; but when man leapt away from his kingdom, because he came under the devil's hand and was entangled in the snares of sin, the arbiter and giver of all righteousness brought him again under his own yoke. For all his ways are straight. We say that the ways of Christ are the divine and gospel oracles, through which, advancing to all virtue and adorning our heads with the glories of godliness, we come to the prize of the upward call. Straight indeed are the ways; for there is nothing crooked or perverse in them, but they are as it were upright and easy to travel. For it is written: “The way of the godly has become straight, and the way of the godly is prepared.” For the path of the law was somehow rough, passing through many types, and of unbearable difficulty; but the one that runs through the gospel oracles is smooth and has nothing at all steep or rough. Straight, then, are the ways of Christ; and he built the holy city, that is, the church, in which he himself dwells; for he dwells in the saints, and we have become temples of the living God, having Christ in ourselves through participation in the Holy Spirit. He founded the church, then, being himself its foundation, on which we too are built, as precious and costly stones, into a holy temple, into a dwelling-place of God in the Spirit. The church is wholly unshakable, having Christ as its foundation and unshakable base: “For behold,” he says, “I lay the foundations of Zion, a chosen stone, a cornerstone, precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” He, then, who founded the church also turned back the captivity of his people. For when we on earth were tyrannized by Satan and by sin, he saved and rescued us and brought us under his own yokes; yet not with ransoms nor with gifts. For as his disciple says: “We were ransomed from our vain way of life handed down from our fathers not with perishable things, silver or gold, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, Christ.” For he gave his own blood for us, and we are not our own, but belong to the one who bought and saved us. Therefore, and very fittingly, those who transgress the noble rule of the right faith are accused by the voice of the saints as denying the Master who bought them.

“… tall men will come over to you and will be your slaves, and will follow behind you bound in fetters, and will worship you and pray in you, for God is in you, and there is no God besides you. For you are God, and we did not know it, the God of Israel, Saviour. All who oppose him will be ashamed and put to shame, and will walk in shame.”

Having brought forward the word about Christ the Saviour of us all, and announced beforehand that he will turn back his people not with ransoms nor with gifts, he at once points out those who will be called to redemption, clearly those from the nations, upon whom Christ is seen to have shone above all, although he says plainly: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Indeed it was to them first that the divine and gospel light shone. But since, as it is written, beloved Israel grew fat and thick and kicked (for they killed the Author of life), therefore, very fittingly, Christ shone on the flocks of the nations, and we shall find this very thing present in the contemplation of the words before us. He names the most superstitious of all the nations, so that the power of the one who calls them to repentance may be admired. For just as the skill of those who know how to heal is praised above all when they are able to free from their sufferings some who are desperately ill, using their experience at the right moment, so too God, [choosing] emphatically some of those who had turned very far aside and had [sunk] to the very lowest depth of wickedness and impiety, [brings them] to the desire for virtue, to the rubbing off of evil, and, as it were, to being clothed with praiseworthy qualities. The Egyptians, then, and the merchandise of the Ethiopians, that is, the cities of the Thebans, to which those called the Sabaeans are neighbours and borderers, that is, the nations of the …, or of the Indians (perhaps having the name from Sheba, who once reigned over their country and land), “laboured,” he says. “Laboured” must be understood in two ways. Either it means that they toiled unbearably during the time of error, yoked to Satan the cruel tyrant and serving the demons, who demanded sacrifices, even their own offspring, I mean sons and daughters; or that of old they were formidable and unbreakable, as it were shield-bearers of the ancient deceit, using all their strength to cling vigorously to the Greek impiety set before them. But when Christ shone, and sent up the true light into the hearts of all, and rose like a spiritual morning star, they “laboured,” that is, they did not remain resistant as before, but relaxed, as it were, their former tension, yielding the victory to the proclamations about him. And the word about these things has in no way proved false. For as the all-wise Paul writes: “Where sin abounded, grace superabounded.” For the land of the Egyptians is seen full of venerable and holy churches: altars everywhere, flocks of monks, swarms of virgins, the labours of asceticism with great joy, a race toward virtue, and great eagerness, vigorous and not enduring to be cut short; and it extends the reverence for Christ even to the Sabaeans themselves, that is, the Indian nations. For one may see, one may see among them too all that is in Egypt and in the trading places of Ethiopia, that is, in the land of the Thebans. These Egyptians, then, he says, and the Sabaeans, being tall men, that is, conspicuous and very well known to all everywhere, and unknown to no one as shield-bearers of [their own] inventions, “will come over to you”; that is, leaving their first deceit and leaping away from the pits of destruction, they will come to you, and will be

your slaves, clearly, servants of your wishes. For the name of slavery, when used with reference to God, signifies this. “They will follow behind you bound in fetters.” For they will walk in your footsteps, he says, guided by the gospel laws in each thing to be done, and will travel the path of the excellent life bound in the fetters of love for God, so as to be able to say: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” “These will worship you,” he says, “and pray in you, for God is in you, and there is no God besides you. For you are God, and we did not know it, the God of Israel, Saviour.” For to Christ the Saviour of all every knee bends and every tongue confesses, and every end of prayer comes to him. For in Christ we ask our requests from God the Father, and in him we pray, confessing that God is in him too, and that there is no God besides … [as he said to the] divine disciple (this was Philip): “Have I been with you so long, and you have not known me, Philip? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? He who has seen me has seen the Father.” “I and the Father are one.” The words “God is in you” and “there is no God besides you,” then, have the same force as: “And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” But if anyone should wish skilfully to refer the force of what is said to the person of Christ alone, we say that, according to the voice of the divine Paul, all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Christ bodily. And he himself was God, not divided into two sons, but as the Word having the flesh as his own, in which he is also said to have dwelt. God, then, is understood to be in this too, as a soul is in a human body; but there is still one Son, who is God. It should be known, however, that we say the Lord's flesh was animated with a rational soul. They confess, then: “And God is in you, and there is no God besides you. For you are God, and we did not know it, the God of Israel, Saviour.” This is the voice of those who repent and are already passing over from deceit and darkness to the light, who have advanced to the knowledge of the truth and have recognized the one who is God by nature and truly, the Creator and Lord of all. And they name as Saviour of Israel the very one who became man and was incarnate, believing that he is the same who of old was the helper of those of Israel. Or else you will understand Israel not only as the one according to the flesh, but also anyone else who can see God. For Israel is interpreted “a mind seeing God.” And he sees God with the eyes of the understanding who looks at the stamp of God the Father, that is, the Son; and before him, he says, those who opposed him will be put to shame and will walk in shame.

… For those who did not accept faith in him but fought against God, as indeed the Jews did, will all be put to shame, defeated by the invincible hand, doing no harm at all to his glory, but drawing destruction on their own heads; they will be for shame and reproach. For [they will be] a spectacle to all flesh, according to the prophet's voice.

“… by the Lord with an eternal salvation. They will not be ashamed, nor be put to shame forever.”

He again broadens the prediction of the calling and return of the nations; and he does not stop it at the Egyptians and the trading places of Ethiopia, and the Sabaeans themselves, but makes known here that those throughout all the earth will be called too, and that holy churches will be shown forth everywhere. For the all-powerful word of God called out, as it were, to the churches to be renewed to him, and he deems them worthy to be named islands. For just as the islands in this sea are always struck by the onrush of the waves, yet remain unshaken, and sometimes receive ships in danger and save them from the waves, holding out to them a calm bay, so the churches of Christ lie, as it were, in the very midst of the turmoil and confusion of life, and endure countless temptations, yet have in Christ their steadfastness, and give a home to those who flee the useless and empty disturbance of the affairs of this world, those tossed by the storm, as it were, of Satan and sin. They are to be likened, then, to islands. For this is what the divine word means here. “Be renewed to me, then,” he says, “O islands.” The name “church” weaves together the multitude of those who have believed in Christ, priests and peoples, shepherds and teachers, and those under their hand in Christ, in the times, clearly, when the Lord, being God, shone upon us. For then, then indeed, we too … were renewed into newness of life, of manners and ways, and moreover of worship. For we have cast off the oldness that comes from sin, and have become a new creation in Christ, trained by his laws for a glorious and lovely way of life. The all-wise Paul, at any rate, writes to those called through faith and says, at one time: “Put off the old man with its passions and desires, and put on the new, which is being renewed according to the image of the one who created him”; at another again: “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may test what is the will of God, good and pleasing and perfect.” And he says that our old man was crucified together with him, so that we may put on the new through the way of life and the life that is in Christ.

We are renewed also in the manner of worship: those of us who come from the Jewish ranks, by leaving shadows and types. For they will no longer use sacrifices of oxen and frankincense, but a worship spiritual and immaterial, ranked, as it were, with the most fragrant incense. And those drawn in the net from the multitude of the nations will move over to what is better and incomparably superior. For they will no longer have the ancient darkness in their mind, but, having made the divine and spiritual light dwell in them, they will be holy and true worshippers. For they will cease from worshipping the creation, deaf and insensible matter; they will abstain from divinations and sorceries, and will cleanse away the harsh din of Greek ribaldry and the deceit of demons …, [skilled] in all that is good, and versed in the doctrines of the truth. Our state, then, is a renewal. For what is in Christ is a new creation. The God of all promises to save with an eternal salvation the whole [Israel], the one according to the flesh, I mean, and the one ranked by promise among the children of Abraham (“For not all who are from Israel are Israel, but the children of the promise are counted as children”), and that they will be far from shame and disgrace, and that perpetually. … [Freed from] sin, and having loosed the yoke of the devil's greed, and casting off corruption with these and putting on incorruption, we shall remain in this state forever. For sin will no longer dance over us; nor will Satan subject us again to his former greed; and the power of death will depart entirely in the age to come, trampled down in Christ, through whom and with whom be glory and might to the Father with the Holy Spirit to the ages of ages. Amen.

“Thus says the Lord who made the heaven, this is he who displayed the earth and made it; he marked it out. He did not make it for nothing, but to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, nor in a dark place of the earth. I did not say to the seed of Jacob, Seek what is vain. I am the Lord, speaking righteousness and declaring truth.”

Having proclaimed beforehand the coming of Christ, the Saviour of us all, and having marked out the time of salvation, in which all will leave the darkness of their ancient ignorance and pass over to the light of the true knowledge of God, he makes in these words a necessary exhortation to Jews and Greeks alike, adding clear proofs by which they will know very plainly both that he himself is God and Maker of all things and that there is no other besides him. That is why he says: “Thus says the Lord”; and not simply “Lord,” for there are very many in heaven and on earth who, by a misuse … have received the name; but that very one who by nature and … truly is what he is also said to be, and who has, from what he has accomplished, a glory that is not falsely claimed. “For this,” he says, “is the Lord who made the heaven.” It is a very great proof of supreme renown and all-powerful pre-eminence to have made the heaven and displayed the earth and established it. For he himself “marked it out,” that is, though it was formerly hidden in the deeps, invisible and unformed, he showed it visible and finished. For he marked it out; for he said, according to the trustworthy record of the books of Moses: “Let the water be gathered into one gathering, and let the dry land appear.” So it appeared out of the waters, and as a part of the world, when he set bars and gates on the deeps and separated it well from the waters. That he brought it forth usefully and necessarily for this purpose, not only that it might be seen but that it might have inhabitants (plainly those formed from it, just as the heaven has the holy angels), he made clear beforehand by saying: “He did not make it for nothing, but to be inhabited.” It was shown, then, as a carriage and a kind of house for those who walk on it, that is, for us. And if we were brought into existence by him, how is it not true to say that we came to be surely for this too, that we might worship him and him alone, and, acknowledging him as the Maker of all things, offer him songs of thanksgiving? “I, then, am, and there is no other.” For if … who displayed it, and did not make it for nothing but to be inhabited, what other could be thought to be God besides him? Or who could equal him in strength and glory? Or who comes near him at all, even a little? And how is not the whole nature of created things surpassed by a glory, might, and wisdom so great and transcending all things? There is no one. He alone, then, and no other whatever beside him, could be thought to be God by nature and in truth.

“But yes,” someone might say at times, “who knew his purpose? Or who can tell whether he wishes others too to be crowned with the glory and title of God, or himself alone?” He answers, then, and says: “I have not spoken in secret, nor in a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, Seek vain things.” “I laid down laws for them about these things,” he says, “not speaking in a corner nor trying to escape notice, but clearly and openly.” For the Lord came down on Mount Sinai in the form of fire; there were darkness and storm and smoke, and the piercing sound of trumpets. All the people stood by, with Moses as mediator, and laws were proclaimed by God: not laws urging Israel to seek anything vain, that is, an idol or a falsely named object of reverence, but commandments that kept them from the very opposite. For it was said to him:

“You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve; and you shall have no other gods besides me. And you shall not make for yourself an idol, nor a likeness of anything, whatever is in the heaven above, and whatever is on the earth below, and whatever is in the waters under the earth.” So it was said to him. And “I am the Lord” is as if he were saying, not once but many times: “I alone am God and Lord of all, speaking righteousness and declaring truth.” By righteousness, I think, he means the law, for the law is the arbiter of righteousness; and by truth, the teachings of Christ. In the law is the outline of the truth, and the mystery of Christ is hidden in its shadows; for Moses wrote about him. So in speaking righteousness, the power of the truth is also declared along with it, if indeed it is true that the law was a shadow, yet in it now is the outline of the truth.

“… you who are being saved from the nations. They did not know, those who … pray as to gods that do not save.”

The apostate dragon drove those on the earth away from close fellowship with God, and, stripping them of the true knowledge of God, scattered them into deceit and the error of many gods; and, sinking them in the ways of wickedness, he made the net of his perversity inescapable and impossible for them to get out of. But Emmanuel appeared, who “leads out those who are bound in strength,” and endured death in the flesh for us, so that, as the evangelist says, he might “gather into one the children of God who were scattered.” For what Satan scattered, leaping on them like a cruel and savage wolf, Christ gathered together, the good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. So he signifies this very thing by saying “Gather,” that is, be bound together in one faith and one mind. Gather to God who rules all through sanctification and righteousness; come near, you who are still far off and cut off because of sin and because of the disposition of your mind. We say that those who have gone astray stand away from God, and that they will be near through faith in Christ. At any rate the all-wise Paul addressed those who ran to this: “But now you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ.” And again about him: “Coming, he preached peace to us who were far off and to those who were near.” That is why it was said through holy prophets to those still far off: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” “Come, then,” he says, “and take counsel together, you who are being saved from the nations.” “Take counsel” he says instead of: “Let what concerns your turning to God be done by you, not without counsel or consideration, but with admirable prudence.” For through faith we must advance to understanding, since there is no doubt that, having condemned the misery of our wandering and turned away from the damage of the ancient deceit, we go to God at a run, receiving the light of the true knowledge of God and casting the vote of a right mind for what is incomparably better. “Take counsel,” then, that is, be wise, you who are being saved from the nations. For he commands them, as full of folly, to depart to a sensible mind and to an admirable and blameless understanding, through which it would be possible to behold the power and glory of God who rules all.

“But they did not know this,” he says, that is, … full of the utmost [folly]. “Those who lift up the wood, their carved image.” “Lift up” here you will understand as “exalt,” so that they attach to it the glory fitting to God, and that to wood carved by themselves. Then, “praying as to gods that do not save.” Ignorant, then, and in insensibility not far from the things they worship, are those who worship their own handiwork, seek help from senseless matter, and give the title of God to things made by themselves … while the lyre of the Psalmist mocks them and cries: “Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them.”

“… together, who made these things heard from the beginning?”