על שינוי השמות ו׳On the Change of Names 6
א׳
1[47] After saying “Be well pleasing before Me” He adds further “and become blameless.” This is in close sequence to the preceding. “Best it is,” He means, “to set your hand to excellence and thus be well pleasing, but failing this at least abstain from sins and thus escape blame.” For positively righteous conduct brings praise to the doer, but abstention from iniquity saves him from censure.
ב׳
2[48] The highest prize of “well pleasing” may be won by positive well-doing, the second, freedom from blame, by avoidance of sin. And yet perhaps for the creature of mortal kind the former is declared by Scripture to coincide with the latter. For who, as Job says, is pure from defilement, even if his life be but for one day? (Job 14:4).
ג׳
3[49] Infinite indeed are the defilements that soil the soul, which it is impossible to wash and scour away altogether. For there still remain evils which are bound up with the life of every mortal, which may well be abated but cannot be wholly destroyed.
ד׳
4[50] Should we then seek to find in the medley of life one who is perfectly just or wise or temperate or good in general? Be satisfied, if you do but find one who is not unjust, is not foolish, is not licentious, is not cowardly, is not altogether evil. We may be content with the overthrow of vices, and the complete acquisition of virtues is impossible for man, as we know him.
ה׳
5[51] With good reason then did He say, “Become blameless,”for He holds that freedom from sin and guilt is a great furtherance towards a happy life. And to him who has elected to live in this fashion He promises to leave a covenanted portion such as is fitting for God to give and man to receive, for He says
ו׳
6[52] “I will set my covenant between Me and between thee” (Gen. 17:2). Now covenants are drawn up for the benefit of those who are worthy of the gift, and thus a covenant is a symbol of the grace which God has set between Himself Who proffers it and man who receives.
ז׳
7[53] And this is the crowning benefaction, that there is nothing between God and the soul save the virgin grace. But I have dealt with the whole subject of covenants in two treatises, and I willingly pass it over to avoid repetition, and also because I do not wish to interrupt the continuity of the discussion.