Chapter 15: Medicine for the Soul. In a war, a soldier must not leave the post his commander has assigned him. Likewise, we must not desert the post the Logos has assigned us, for we have received him as the guide of knowledge and life. But most people have never inquired if there is one we ought to follow. They never ask who he is or how he is to be followed. The believer's life must be like the Logos so as to be able to follow God, for God brings everything from the beginning to the end by the right course.
When a Christian sins against the Logos, he is thereby sinning against God. Sometimes a Christian sins because of a sudden outside influence that's made him powerless. If so, he should be careful to have the influence of sound teaching at hand. But in some cases, the Christian has actually become ordinary again, as the Scripture says. This happens when he is regularly overcome by the habits which formerly controlled him. In that case, he must completely stop those habits and discipline his soul to oppose them.
If conflicting teachings draw some away from the faith, these stumbling blocks should be removed. In such a situation, the one who's having doubts should go to a teacher in the church who is skilled at reconciling doctrines. The teacher will be able to explain the truth by showing the link between the two testaments. By using the power of the Scriptures, he will be able to restore the unsteady who are timid in the faith.
We humans seem to be attracted to ideas based on human opinions rather than those based on the truth. This is so even when the human opinions are contradictory. The reason humans reject the truth is that it is morally strict and solemn. There are three states of the soul: ignorance, opinion, and knowledge. The Gentiles are in the state of ignorance. The heretics are in the state of opinion.
They actually despise and laugh at each other, for the same opinion is often honored by some and condemned as insane by others. But the true church is in the state of knowledge. Sensuousness is characteristic of the Gentiles. Quarreling is characteristic of the heretical sects. Joy is characteristic of the church. And ecstasy is characteristic of the one who enjoys intimacy with God. If a person wants to become a poet, he studies Homer so he can become like Homer.
Similarly, he who listens to the Lord and follows the prophecy given by him will be formed perfectly in the likeness of the teacher, becoming divine although still walking in the flesh (2 Peter 1:4). But those who don't follow God wherever he leads fall from this lofty place, and God leads us by means of the inspired Scriptures. Causes of sin. Though men's actions are ten thousand in number, there are only two sources of all sin: ignorance and inability. We ourselves are responsible for both of these.
Either we will not learn, or we will not restrain our lust. If one doesn't learn, he doesn't make right decisions. If he doesn't restrain his lust, he can't comply with right judgments. If someone is deceived in his mind, he will be unable to act correctly, even though he has the power of doing what he has mistakenly known. Another man may be capable of correctly discerning what is required of him, but he will not see pure if he doesn't have the power to do what is right. So there are two remedies to sin.
The first type of sin needs knowledge and clear proof from the testimony of the Scriptures. The other type of sin needs the training that comes from the Logos. This training is regulated by the discipline of faith and fear. Both disciplines develop into perfect love. The completeness of the one who is intimate with God is twofold. It is part contemplation and it is part action. I wish the heretics would learn from these notes and turn to the sovereign God.
But if they, like deaf serpents, will not listen to this new song of Christianity, which is really very old, I pray that God will chastise them. I pray that they will receive enough fatherly rebukes before the judgment so they will become ashamed and repent. How God disciplines. Partial corrections are called chastisements. Many of us who have been in transgression have incurred this by falling away from the Lord's people. As children are chastised by their teacher or by their father, so we are chastised by God.
God does not punish us because punishment is retaliation for evil. Rather, God chastises for the good of those in error, whether individually or collectively. I write these things in order to persuade and lead to the truth those who are not entirely incurable. Some, however, cannot bear to listen to those who urge them to turn to the truth. They ridicule and blaspheme the truth.
They claim they have knowledge of the greatest things in the universe without having learned, inquired, labored, or discovered how to even think straight. But we should have compassion on them rather than hating them for their obstinacy. If one is curable, let him listen with the ears of his soul, for he is able to bear the frankness of the truth, which cuts away and burns false opinions.
But some crave glory, so they use various arguments to willingly evade the things delivered by the blessed apostles and teachers. The things delivered by the apostles are wedded to inspired words. However, heretics establish their false doctrines by using human teachings to oppose divine tradition. However, the one who is intimate with God has matured in the Scriptures. He maintains apostolic doctrines and the orthodox teachings of the church. He truly lives in agreement with the gospel.
He has discovered the proofs he sought from the law and the prophets. His life is nothing but deeds and words corresponding to the tradition of the Lord. However, the apostle says, "All do not have knowledge, for I would not have you to be ignorant, brothers, that all were under the cloud and partook of spiritual meat and drink." 1 Corinthians 10:1, 3, and 4. He clearly establishes that all who heard the word did not grasp the magnitude of knowledge in speech or deed.
Therefore, he added, "He was not well pleased with all of them." 1 Corinthians 10:5. Who was not pleased? The same one who said, "Why do you call me Lord and do not do the will of my Father?" Matthew 7:21. That is the Savior's teaching, which is spiritual food to us, is the water of knowing God, which eternally quenches thirst. Does heavenly knowledge puff up? But someone may say, "Knowledge is said to puff up." 1 Corinthians 8:1.
To which I reply, "Falsely called knowledge puffs up." That is, if we suppose the expression means to be inflated with pride. However, I think the expression of the apostle actually means to entertain great and true sentiments. This solves the difficulty. Using the Scriptures, let's establish what has been said. Solomon says, "Wisdom has inflated her children." Does this mean that wisdom inflates with pride? Of course not. The teachings of the Lord do not cause egotism. Instead, they produce trust in the truth.
They expand the mind through knowledge revealed in Scripture. They produce contempt for the things that drag us into sin. This is the meaning of the expression "inflated." It teaches the splendor of wisdom, which is implanted in her children by instruction. The apostle says, "I will not know the speech of those that are puffed up, but the power." 1 Corinthians 4:19. The power of the children of wisdom who are inflated lies in correctly understanding the Scripture.
He says, as it were, "I shall know if you rightly entertain great thoughts respecting knowledge." David says that God is known in Judea, referring to those who are Israelites according to knowledge. The apostle stated it correctly. "You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, it is fulfilled in this command. You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Romans 13:9.
We must never pervert the truth like those who follow heresies, nor should we steal the law of the church by gratifying our own lust and vanity. Nor do we cheat our neighbors, for it is our duty above all in showing love to our neighbors to teach them to cling to the truth. Accordingly, it is clearly said, "Declare among the pagans his statutes." We do this so they will not be judged, but that those who listen will be converted. In this way, they too can come to know God intimately.