The Role of Fear and Wisdom

It signifies knowledge. For this is the habit of the Holy Spirit, to name God and his angels, and the mind and virtue and knowledge, and evil and ignorance, and the devil and his angels, by many names. He does not set down the names simply, as some think; for these are recognitions of diverse activities, of God through his angels working in us and us in him, and of demons toward us and us toward them.

The possession of the just is wisdom and understanding and prudence; for it is said to possess wisdom and to possess understanding, and he who possesses prudence loves himself. But the impious seize this possession, persuading the just man to do something of those forbidden by God, so that the mind, being blinded by sin, might fall from these holy possessions.

These they plunder, whom the demons conquer, taking from them the armor of God: the helmet and the breastplate and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph 6:17). These are co-heirs of the adversaries, those grasping the same evil for themselves. And that which is not of the one God is common.

A net is an eternal punishment from the just Judge, being brought to the impure souls toward destruction, through the badly fleeing wings from them. He names as 'exit' the soul coming out from evil and ignorance; and such also is the exit of the sons of Israel, which has come to pass after the occurrence of the judgment and teaching of God.

And he calls the same soul 'broad'; for he says, 'Widen your mouth, and let it be filled' (Ps 118:137), and 'Widen yourselves then also' (2 Cor 6:12), in the letter to the Corinthians by Paul. And by the soul exiting in this way, wisdom is praised; but in the soul being widened through virtues, it leads to boldness.

And he calls its highest wall the highest apathy; 'If those loving the law surround themselves with a wall,' David also prays over such a wall, saying, 'Let the walls of Jerusalem be built' (Ps 147:13), that is, the fallen things of such a soul, clearly from the expression of Uriah. And he calls the virtues of the wise 'gates of the mighty.' For he says, 'Open to me the gates of righteousness' (Ps 115:16); and 'The mighty are hot-tempered, let them drink no wine' (Ps 115:11),. Text ends abruptly..

Lest the unskillful overlook wisdom, and the weak be unable to judge rightly. How then does Solomon say before the end: 'Shall he not be acquitted who rejoices at the destruction of the one perishing?' (Proverbs 1:24-26). Or perhaps wisdom rejoices in this way, as it rejoiced at the destruction of Matthew the tax collector and at the destruction of the thief who believed in Christ; for wisdom destroyed the thief, but destroyed the tax collector.

Moral instruction is a siege, overturning a soul that has been badly built up. If it is up to us to want to attend to the purposes of wisdom and not to want to attend to them, we have become masters of our own will. Similar to this is: 'If you will and will hear me, you shall eat the good things of the earth; but if you will not, nor will you hear me, a sword shall fall upon you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things' (Deuteronomy 30:15-16).

Just as infants are among the righteous and the unrighteous, so all men are among angels and demons, neither being demons nor angels making money, until the completion of the age. The one who is impassive rests without fear from every evil thought. This one hides the commandment of God, the one doing it, even if the demons are said to snatch us away by making us not forgive it.

Now he calls the voice the impassivity of the soul; for this has a nature of calling upon the knowledge of God. So also David says: 'With my voice I cried to the Lord' (Psalm 142:1), and again: 'Give heed to the voice of my supplication' (Psalm 5:1). Then you will understand how the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10), and how knowledge of God becomes a guest. But one must pre-exist in wisdom and understanding, so as to be able to comprehend the fear of the Lord; and let us add these things to those who despise wisdom and understanding, but to those wishing to flee toward fearing God, as toward an easy thing.

The commandments of God are axes that drive us toward the knowledge of God. And David says: 'Because of this, I have performed all your commandments' (Psalm 119:67). The holy angels say all things faithfully; but men, some things faithfully and some things unfaithably; but the devil, nothing faithful, instead of being worthy of not-faith. For he says, 'the devil is a man now,' if a wicked man has sown weeds. If purpose is a movement of what kind of mind, how has this left behind the instruction of youth? And how...