Re: self-centred words
are some that see clearly that man has no other enemy than lust,
which turns him from God, and not God; and that he has no other good than
God, and not a rich land. Let those who believe that the good of man is in
the flesh, and evil in what turns him away from sensual pleasures, satiate
themselves with them, and die in them. But let those who seek God with all
their heart, who are only troubled at not seeing Him, who desire only to
possess Him and have as enemies only those who turn them away from Him, who
are grieved at seeing themselves surrounded and overwhelmed with such
enemies, take comfort. I proclaim to them happy news. There exists a
Redeemer for them. I shall show Him to them. I shall show that there is a
God for them. I shall not show Him to others. I shall make them see that a
Messiah has been promised, who should deliver them from their enemies, and
that One has come to free them from their iniquities, but not from their
enemies.
When David foretold that the Messiah would deliver His people from their
enemies, one can believe that in the flesh these would be the Egyptians; and
then I cannot show that the prophecy was fulfilled. But one can well believe
also that the enemies would be their sins; for indeed the Egyptians were not
their enemies, but their sins were so. This word enemies is, therefore,
ambiguous. But if he says elsewhere, as he does, that He will deliver His
people from their sins, as indeed do Isaiah and others, the ambiguity is
removed, and the double meaning of enemies is reduced to the simple meaning
of iniquities. For if he had sins in his mind, he could well denote them as
enemies; but if he thought of enemies, he could not designate them as
iniquities.
Now Moses, David, an
date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:07:06 GMT
author: Don Phillipson
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