Книга пророка Иеремии, Глава 29, стих 22. Толкования стиха

FALSE BISHOPS AND ELDERS WILL BE PUNISHED. APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS: Not everyone who prophesies is holy, nor is everyone who casts out devils religious. Even Balaam the son of Beor the prophet did prophesy, though he was himself ungodly, as also did Caiaphas, the falsely named high priest. No, the devil foretells many things, and the demons, about Christ. Yet for all that, there is not a spark of piety in them. They are oppressed with ignorance, by reason of their voluntary wickedness. It is clear, therefore, that the ungodly, although they prophesy, do not by their prophesying cover their own impiety. Nor will those who cast out demons be sanctified by the demons being made subject to them. They only mock one another, as they do who play childish tricks for mirth, and destroy those who give heed to them. For neither is a wicked king any longer a king but a tyrant. Nor is a bishop oppressed with ignorance or an evil disposition a bishop, but he is called so falsely. He is not one sent out by God but by people, as Ananiah and Samoeah in Jerusalem, and Zedekiah and Achiah the false prophets in Babylon. Indeed, Balaam the prophet, when he had corrupted Israel by Baalpeor, suffered punishment. Caiaphas at last was his own murderer. The sons of Sceva, endeavoring to cast out demons, were wounded by them and fled away in an undignified way. The kings of Israel and of Judah, when they became impious, suffered all sorts of punishments. It is therefore evident how bishops and elders, also called so falsely, will not escape the judgment of God. For it will be said to them even now, “O priests that despise my name, I will deliver you up to the slaughter, as I did Zedekiah and Achiah, whom the king of Babylon fried in a frying pan,” as says Jeremiah the prophet. We say these things, not in contempt of true prophecies, for we know that they are wrought in holy people by the inspiration of God, but to put a stop to the boldness of conceited people, and add this, that from such as these God takes away his grace. “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 8.1.2.

WE ARE NOT ASSURED OF VICTORY IN THIS LIFE. JEROME: So long as we are held down by this frail body, so long as we have our treasure in earthen vessels, so long as the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, there can be no sure victory. “Our adversary the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” “You make darkness,” David says, “and it is night, in which all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God.” The devil does not look for unbelievers, for those who are outside, whose flesh the Assyrian king roasted in the furnace. It is the church of Christ that he “hurries to spoil.” According to Habakkuk, “His food is the choicest.” Job is the victim of his scheming, and after devouring Judas he seeks power to sift the other apostles. The Savior came not to send peace on the earth but a sword. Lucifer fell, Lucifer who used to rise at dawn, and he who was raised in a paradise of delight had the well-earned sentence passed on him, “Though you exalt yourself as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord.” For he had said in his heart, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God,” and “I will be like the most High.” Therefore God says every day to the angels, as they descend the ladder that Jacob saw in his dream, “I have said you are gods, and all of you are children of the most High. But you shall die like mortals and fall like one of the princes.” The devil fell first, and since “God stands in the congregation of the gods and judged among the gods,” the apostle writes to those who are ceasing to be gods, “Since there is among you envy and strife, are you not carnal and walk as humans?” LETTER 22.4.