The blessed one's righteousness endures into the coming age

He says that the righteousness of the one being blessed is not quenched, nor does it stop at the present, but it extends further into the age to come. In that age his horn will be exalted in glory (Psalm 111 (112):9)—that is, the kingdom of which he will be deemed worthy when he obtains the saving promises (Ps 113:16). For Scripture customarily calls the kingdom a horn.

But it is also just that those who worship lifeless things as something better and consider them divine should become like them. And this would not rightly appear to them as a curse, but as something worthy of prayer: to become gods, just as they suppose, and to possess what they admire.

For man is empty and a falsehood in his being and non-being, because even when he seems to be, he is not, but he moves about in an image of life rather than in truth (Psalm 116:11).

There is need of release from the bonds of Hades, so that the God of the living and not of the dead may be our God, and we may be his ministers in the heavenly church, to which we return as we flee the bonds of death (Psalm 116:16-19).

He takes courage as one who has been heard, and he hopes as one who will obtain help. He is strengthened by hope so as not to fear the plots of men, nor to marvel at their powers, but to foresee their fall. These things long ago concerned Israel when the other nations pressed upon it—the word is spoken hyperbolically—and after these things they concerned the church from the nations, warred upon by the uprisings of the unfaithful. For those who had believed in each nation endured the disturbances and dangers from those who did not believe, but nevertheless both these and those, having taken courage in God, conquered their adversaries (Psalm 118:7-9; LXX 117:7-9).

Those who make war on those who serve God are lifted up by human power and human authorities, but those who have chosen the worship of God are encouraged by God's help and find it stronger than every strength. And most conspicuously, those of Christ defend themselves against both visible and invisible enemies through the name of the Lord alone (Psalm 118:10-11; LXX 117:10-11).

He clearly hymns the manifestation of the Lord, through which salvation is restored to all, calling him God according to the Father's name and Lord according to the Son's name, because the Lord is God and God is Lord. And having appeared as Lord, he ruled over us for life, according to the words, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living (Romans 14:9), and over his adversaries for punishment, according to the abolition of every authority and power (1 Corinthians 15:24) (Ps 117:27a; Ps 117:27bc).

He commands the establishment of a feast through a multitude of sacrifices placed on the altar, up to its horns and its other projections. But as the word advances to our sacrifices, it reveals those who, according to the type of Christ, present themselves as a living sacrifice, a sacrifice truly pleasing to God (Psalm 118:27). Their multitude fills the altar up to the highest height that is joined to the heavenly angels, through the same power that both holds up the heavenly things on high and lifts up the things on earth in the manner of an altar, receiving those who approach God (Psalm 118:27).

These were those who did not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, but chose the law and the journey in it. He does not say that blameless means entirely free from falling into blemishes and sins. For that was reserved for Christ and for those who share in Christ through him. But for those others, blamelessness was judged in what was within their power, by pardon from God and not by exactness concerning the commandments. For God does not demand what is not possible, but he legislates to expose what is lacking, and he concedes what is weak, since he knows it, and provides salvation through the participation in Christ, the powerful God, which was then still to come. So blamelessness befits us who live according to Christ.

Since there were very many oppositions to virtue, like stumbling-blocks on a road, he asks for their removal (Psalm 119:5; LXX 118:5). For in this way a road is prepared when the hindrances are taken away, according to the words, Cast the stumbling-blocks out of the way of my people (Isaiah 57:14). For example, for the divine David a stumbling-block was the woman and the untimely encounter with the sight; for another it was food seen for pleasure, as for Esau; for another it was glory, as for Saul; for another it was a possession, as for Ahab (Psalm 119:6; LXX 118:6). Against all these things there is need of God, who prepares the way, so that he may cast these things off and preserve the love of what is good, drawing off the more violent impulses of the will and, as it were, drying them up because of the inclination of nature.

But for us who look to the divine Spirit, there will be no shame, when we see ourselves joined to him everywhere and in no way shifted toward the flesh, nor brought down by a fall from on high.