Mercy on All, and Foods Clean by Nature
…whom we may understand as signified by the Egyptians, for a time disobeyed the mercy shown to those of Israel. For they did not believe the divine signs worked through Moses; they would not know the God of the Hebrews. The people of the Jews was sent out, though barely, to offer sacrifice in the wilderness, while the Egyptians held fast to their ancient error. But now they have received mercy, since Israel has stumbled; and Israel in turn has disobeyed the mercy shown to the nations, so that it too may receive mercy in due time (Romans 11:30–31).
So, as I said, the charges against both are equal, and both alike have needed the help of the One who shows compassion. And he says that all have been shut up in disobedience by God, so that He may have mercy on all (Romans 11:32). Yet we shall by no means reckon it the work of the divine will that some disobeyed, so that, having fallen into this, they might also be pitied. Rather, He shut them up in disobedience by showing them to be liable to the charges of disobedience, and convicted, as it were, by the facts themselves; so that they had come at last to such misfortune that they all but stood in need of pity and mercy.
“I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus,” and so on (Romans 14:14). “I know and am persuaded,” he says, “in the Lord Jesus that nothing is common of itself,” and the rest. The witness who firmly declares that he knows and is persuaded is trustworthy. He adds “in the Lord Jesus” so that the truth may be established still more firmly, and so that his hearers may follow in faith without any hesitation. No doubt he remembers that Christ said, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man” (Matthew 15:11), and that all food passes into the stomach and is sent out into the drain (Matthew 15:17); this is its nature and its use. So, as far as their own nature goes, nothing that serves as food is common or profane, “for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:5).
And we remember that when God had brought all things into being, He saw, it says, that they were “very good” (Genesis 1:31), and He blessed them (Genesis 1:22). Since God praised and indeed blessed His own creatures, who would dare to say that they cause defilement and profanation, and not thereby bring a charge against the very One who brought them into being? So nothing that has been made is common by nature at all. But if someone should think that anything is common, for that very reason he himself has been made common, and has caught the profanation, as it were, in his own judgment. For all things are clean (Romans 14:20); what makes the unbeliever common is his little faith about certain things, and not at all the things themselves that he has supposed to be common.
For just as, to those mature in mind, there is one God by nature and no other beside Him, and an idol is nothing in the world (1 Corinthians 8:4), and food offered to idols is counted as nothing (for how could one who does not know an idol know food offered to idols?), while to those who think there are many gods there will certainly be such a thing as food offered to idols (1 Corinthians 8:5–7), so, for those who have believed, the things that come from God are unprofaned and clean, and nothing at all is common by nature, and what is left wholly free is…
Greek
ὡς διά γε τῶν Αἰγυπτίων νοούμενα, τέως ἠπείθησαν τῷ ἐλέει τῶν ἐξ Ἰσραήλ· οὐ γὰρ πεπιστεύκασι ταῖς θεοσημίαις ταῖς διὰ Μωσέως, οὐκ ἤθελον εἰδέναι τὸν τῶν Ἑβραίων Θεόν. ἀλλ' ἐξεπέμπετο μὲν μόλις ἱερουργήσων κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὁ δῆμος· εἴχοντο δὲ αὐτοὶ τῆς ἀρχαίας ἀπάτης, ἀλλὰ νῦν ἠλέηνται προσκεκρουκότος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, ὃς καὶ ἠπείθησε τῷ ἐλέει τῶν ἐθνῶν, ἵνα καὶ αὐτὸς ἐλεηθείη κατὰ καιρούς. ἴσα τοιγαροῦν, ὡς ἔφην, τὰ ἀμφοῖν ἐγκλήματα, τῆς τοῦ κατοικτείροντος ἐπικουρίας ἐν ἴσῳ τρόπῳ δεδεημένα· συγκεκλεῖσθαι δέ φησι τοὺς πάντας εἰς ἀπείθειαν παρὰ Θεοῦ, ἵνα τοὺς πάντας ἐλεήσῃ. καὶ οὔ τι που τῆς θείας βουλῆς ἔργον γενέσθαι λογιούμεθα τὸ ἀπειθῆσαί τινας, ἵνα καὶ κατοικτείροιντο πεσόντες εἰς τοῦτο· συνέκλεισε δὲ μᾶλλον εἰς ἀπείθειαν, ἐνόχους ὄντας ἀποφαίνων τοῖς ἀπειθείας ἐγκλήμασι, καὶ οἷον ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων ἐληλεγμένους· ὡς εἰς τοῦτο λοιπὸν καθίκοντο δυσπραξίας, ὡς μονονοὺ δεῖσθαι τοῦ κατοικτείρεσθαί τε καὶ ἐλεεῖσθαι. Οἶδα καὶ πέπεισμαι ἐν Κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ κ.τ.λ. Οἶδα καὶ πέπεισμαί φησιν ἐν Κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ ὅτι οὐδὲν κοινὸν δι' ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ἀξιόχρεως ὁ μάρτυς εἰδέναι καὶ πεπεῖσθαι διισχυριζόμενος· προσεπάγει δὲ τό Ἐν Κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ πρὸς τὸ καὶ ἔτι μειζόνως ἐμπεδοῦσθαι τὸ ἀληθὲς, ἕπεσθαί τε τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις τὴν πίστιν ἐνδοιασμοῦ τινος δίχα· διαμέμνηται δὲ πάντως που εἰρηκότος τοῦ Χριστοῦ "Οὐ τὸ "εἰσπορευόμενον εἰς τὸ στόμα κοινοῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον·" καὶ ὅτι πᾶν ἔδεσμα χωρεῖ μὲν εἰς τὴν κοιλίαν, ἐκπέμπεται δὲ καὶ εἰς ἀφεδρῶνα· καὶ τοῦτο φύσις αὐτῷ καὶ χρεία. οὐκοῦν ὅσον μὲν ἧκεν εἰς ἰδίαν φύσιν, κοινὸν ἢ βέβηλον οὐδὲν τῶν τελούντων εἰς τροφὰς, "ἁγιάζεται γὰρ διὰ λόγου Θεοῦ καὶ ἐντεύξεως·" μεμνήμεθα δὲ ὅτι καὶ πρὸς τὸ εἶναι παρενεγκὼν τὰ πάντα Θεὸς, εἶδεν φησὶν ὅτι "καλὰ λίαν," καὶ εὐλόγησεν αὐτά. ἐπαινοῦντος γεμὴν Θεοῦ καὶ μὴν καὶ ἀπηυλογηκότος τὰ ἴδια κτίσματα, τίς ὁ φάναι τολμῶν μολυσμοῦ καὶ βεβηλώσεως εἶναι πρόξενα, καὶ οὐκ αὐτοῦ ποιήσεται τὴν κατάῤῥησιν τοῦ παρενεγκόντος εἰς ὕπαρξιν; οὐκοῦν κοινὸν μὲν τῇ φύσει τῶν πεποιημένων παντελῶς οὐδέν· εἰ δὲ δή τις οἴοιτο κοινὸν εἶναί τι, κεκοίνωται διὰ τοῦτο καὶ νενόσηκεν αὐτὸς ὡς ἐν ἰδίᾳ γνώμῃ τὴν βεβήλωσιν· πάντα μὲν γὰρ καθαρὰ, κοινοῖ δὲ τὸν ἄπιστον ἡ ἐπί τισιν ὀλιγοπιστία, καὶ οὐκ αὐτά που πάντως ἃ νενόμικεν εἶναι κοινά. ὥσπερ γὰρ τοῖς τελείοις τὸν νοῦν εἷς ὁ φύσει Θεὸς καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἕτερος, ἀλλ' οὔτε εἴδωλόν τι ἐστὶν ἐν κόσμῳ, λελόγισται δὲ παρ' οὐδὲν καὶ τὸ εἰδωλόθυτον· ὁ γὰρ εἴδωλον οὐκ εἰδὼς, πῶς ἂν εἰδείη τὸ εἰδωλόθυτον; τοῖς γεμὴν οἰομένοις πολλοὺς εἶναι θεοὺς, ἔσται τι πάντως καὶ εἰδωλόθυτον· οὕτω τοῖς πεπιστευκόσιν ἀβέβηλά τε εἶναι καὶ καθαρὰ τὰ παρὰ Θεοῦ, κοινὸν μὲν τῇ φύσει παντελῶς οὐδέν· ἀνεῖται δὲ πάντως ἐπ' 246 ἐξουσίας τῶν 30