Книга Премудрости Соломона, Глава 8, стих 20. Толкования стиха

THIS VERSE DOES NOT APPLY TO CHRIST. AUGUSTINE: After saying, “I was a child of a noble nature,” explaining why he was good-natured, he immediately adds, “A good soul fell to my lot,” receiving it, that is, from either the nature or the physical temperament of the father. He then says, “Being good beyond the usual, I entered an unsullied body.” . . . If we wanted to understand these expressions as referring to the Lord with respect to the human nature assumed by the Word, in the same context there are statements that cannot be applied to his sublime person, and especially the following. The same author, in the same book, a little above the passage we are now discussing, professes to have been formed from the blood that comes from the seed of a man. This kind of birth, however, is absolutely different from the birth from the Virgin, since no Christian doubts that she conceived the flesh of Christ without the cooperation of male seed. ON GENESIS 10.17.31–18.32.

SOULS MUST POSSESS BODIES TO BE GOOD. AUGUSTINE: A closer examination is needed of the passage in the book of Wisdom that says, “A good soul fell to my lot, and, because I was unusually good, I entered an undefiled body.” This would in fact seem to support the opinion according to which it is believed that souls are not propagated from a single soul but enter bodies from on high. What, however, is the meaning of the phrase “a good soul fell to my lot”? One could imagine that in the creation of souls, if there is such a thing, some are good and others not, and these are distributed on the basis of a kind of lottery, which would decide which type of soul would be infused in each individual person. Or, at the moment of conception or birth God makes some people good and others not, in such a way that each of them would receive the soul that had been assigned to them by the draw. It would be odd if the cited text were a convincing argument, at least for those who believe that souls are created in another place and sent by God, one by one, into each human body. Not so, however, for those who assert that souls are sent into bodies based on the merits from works done prior to being united to the body. Indeed, based on what criteria could it be thought that souls, some good and others not, enter bodies, except according to their actions? This is inconsistent, however, with a nature in which all souls are created by him who creates all natures good. Far be it from us, however, to contradict the apostle, who, when speaking of the twins who were still in Rachel’s womb, says that, being as yet unborn, they had not done anything either good or evil. He thus concludes that, not based on works but by the grace of him who calls, Scripture says, “The older will serve the younger.” Let us therefore set aside for awhile the text being considered here from the book of Wisdom, because we must not ignore the opinion, correct or not, of those who believe that it especially and exclusively concerns the soul “of the mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus.” If necessary, we will examine the meaning of this text later in such a way that, if it cannot be applied to Christ, we will try to discover in what sense it must be understood so as to not contradict the doctrine of the apostle, starting from the hypothesis that souls have merits deriving from their actions prior to living in their bodies. ON GENESIS 10.7.12.

 Надеясь вместе с мудростью получить ведение, славу, безсмертие и уменье управлять народом, а зная также, что она подается Богом, он обратился к Нему с следующею молитвой (8—21): Боже отцев воздавший все мудростью, избравший меня в правителя Твоему народу и повелевший создать храм Тебе, посли мне Твою вечную мудрость, чтобы я мог своими делами угодить Тебе (9,1—12), потому что слабый человек едва может понимать происходящее на земле, а волю Божию, без божественной премудрости, никто не может постигнуть, как это показывают исторические примеры (13—19). 

A VERSE THAT APPLIES TO CHRIST. ORIGEN: Do you not know that when the male child is forty days old, he is presented at the altar to be purified, being impure from the conception itself, on account of both the paternal seed and the mother’s womb? Thus every person is impure from his father and his mother, but only my Lord Jesus entered this life purely and was not defiled in the mother. He in fact entered an undefiled body. It was he who once said through Solomon, “Or rather, being good, I entered an undefiled body.” Consequently, he was not defiled in the mother, and certainly not in the father. In his generation, Joseph offered nothing other than his service and affection. Thus Scripture, for his faithful service of a father, also gives him the name. Indeed, Mary says in the Gospel, “I and your father have been searching for you in sorrow.” Christ alone, therefore, is “the high priest who was not defiled in either the father or the mother.” HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 12.