Quoniam pius et misericors est Deus, et remittet in die tribulationis peccata, et protector est omnibus exquirentibus se in veritate.
The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus 2:13 Commentary
2 historical voicesHow the Church has read Sirach 2:13 across two millennia — Matthew Henry, John Calvin, Augustine of Hippo, John Chrysostom and more, gathered verse by verse from the public domain.
Voices across the centuries
Church Fathers 2
EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 77:10
The one whose spirit has been entrusted to God clings to God. God is faithful and will not allow him to be tempted above that which he is able but will make with the temptation a way of escape also, so that he may be able to endure and not be turned back in the day of battle. The one who, instead, glories in himself and not in God—even though he might make a big spectacle out of stretching and bending his bow—is the one who is destined to turn and run in the day of battle. His spirit is not faithful to God, and therefore the Spirit of God is not with him. And, as it is written, “Anyone who has not believed in God will not be protected.”
LETTERS 17:44
Faith competes with human nature—something for which the Creator has taken a great deal of care in ensuring that even the very hairs on our head are counted—such that it is obvious that only when human nature senses that it is loved by God does it love God who loves it and then binds itself to him by means of pure-hearted faith. Faith is the way that carries us to blessedness; lack of faith brings great misery. Because of this you will be rightly punished when you do not believe in the Son of God, because your infidelity is your vice, just as faith is your strength—although it not the kind of strength one discovers in evil spirits but the kind God gives to his saints that triumphs over their wickedness. It is the same “faith that works through love.” In fact, “the evil spirits believe and tremble,” but they do not love him from whom they are far removed because of pride. The first man was made to fall in pride through the counsel of the devil, through which he lost humility, through which he lost faith. And when he lost his faith, he lost divine protection. It is in fact written, “The one who does not believe in God will not be protected by God.” From that moment the one who was earth and ashes began to be proud because he threw away what was innermost in his life. The Word of the Lord, thus, does not stop calling humanity to return to its most intimate longing, saying: “Return, you rebels, to the heart.”