30. How Jesus Knew the
Powers, Better or Worse, Which Reside in Man.
It may also be asked what signs those many saw Him do
who believed on Him, for it is not recorded that He did any signs at
Jerusalem, though some may have been done which are not recorded.
One may, however, consider if what He did may be called signs, when He
made a scourge of small cords, and cast them all out of the temple, and
the sheep, and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money, and
overthrew the tables. As for those who suppose that it was only
about men that He had no need of witnesses, it has to be said that the
Evangelist attributes to Him two things, that He knew all beings, and
that He had no need that any one should testify of man. If He
knew all beings, then He knew not only men but the beings above men,
all beings who are without such bodies as ours; and He knew what was in
man, since He was greater than those who reproved and judged by
prophesying, and who brought to the light the secret things of the
hearts of those whom the Spirit suggested to them to be thus dealt
with. The words, “He knew what was in man,” could
also be taken as referring to the powers, better or worse, which work
in men. For if any one gives place to the devil, Satan enters
into him; thus did Judas give place, and thus did the devil put it in
his heart to betray Jesus, and “after the sop,” therefore,
“the devil entered into him.”
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But if any one gives place to God, he
becomes blessed; for blessed is the man whose help is from God, and the
ascent is in his heart from God.
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Thou
knowest what is in man, Thou who knowest all things, O Son of
God. And now that our tenth book has come to be large enough we
will here pause in our theme.
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John xiii. 2–27
.
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Ps. lxxxiv. 5
.