{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-4891","native_reference":{"book_number":330,"chapter_from":2,"chapter_to":2,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":3,"verse_to":3},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Gregory the Dialogist</b>: \"I send you to the sons of Israel, to apostate nations, who have departed from me.\" It should be noted that it is said: \"I send you to the sons of Israel, to apostate nations, who have departed from me.\" For just as one departs from God in two ways, so in two ways men become apostates from God. For everyone departs from his Creator either by faith or by works. Therefore, just as one who departs from the faith is an apostate, so one who returns to the perverse work which he had abandoned is without any doubt reckoned an apostate from Almighty God, even if he seems to hold the faith. For one without the other avails nothing, because neither does faith help without works, nor works without faith, unless perhaps they are done for the sake of receiving faith; just as Cornelius deserved to be heard for his good works before he became a believer. From this it is gathered that he was doing good works for the sake of receiving faith. For when the angel says to him: \"Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial in the sight of God,\" and immediately on account of that same ascent he is instructed to send for Simon, who should come and preach to him, it is clear that he sought that for which he deserved to be heard.<br/><i>— Homilies on Ezekiel, Book 1, Homily 9</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: (Verse 3.) I send you to the children of Israel, to the apostate nations, who have turned away from me. They and their fathers have violated my covenant until this day. They are no longer called the people of God Israel, but rather the apostate nations, those who have turned away from the Lord, not only the fathers, but also the sons. It is not that the sons are guilty because of the sins of their fathers, but rather that the wickedness of both fathers and sons is equal. Furthermore, what the Septuagint translated as 'irritating me' or 'turning into bitterness' signifies that our kind and sweet God is changed into bitterness by our vices. For as it is said to the holy ones: Taste and see that the Lord is sweet (Psalms 33:9); so sinners perceive him as bitter. Therefore the Apostle refers to the goodness and severity of God towards the holy ones and sinners (Romans 21). And concerning the sinners who were lying down, it is written: The Lord raises up the fallen, the Lord loves the just, the Lord loosens the bound (Psalms 145:8). But to the holy ones who stand, he promises rewards.<br/><i>— Commentary on Ezekiel</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"3b385cc0fdc64777ff3e010fbf720afa173cf81cba687958abe7c666e05e9e25","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":4891,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"43ede1a0fc93765eb9c122acbd6c24b5f12993c066459be093e1e4c681366ef6","translator":null,"work":null}