Reading Scripture in Lent with the Church Fathers: Friday of the Second Week of Lent

Today’s Scripture Readings in the Orthodox Church
Isaiah 7:1-15; Genesis 5:32-6:8; Proverbs 6:20-7:1

Isaiah 7:9. The sacred and hidden mysteries of the kingdom of God require people first to believe so they become people who understand. Faith, you see, is a step toward understanding; understanding is the well-deserved reward of faith. The prophet says this plainly enough to all those who impatiently put the cart before the horse by looking for understanding and ignoring the need for faith. He states, Unless you believe, you shall not understand. Faith too, of course, has a kind of light of its own in the Scriptures: in the readings from the prophets, from the gospel, from the apostle. I mean, all those texts that are chanted to us at the appropriate time are lights in a dark place, to keep us going until the day. The apostle Peter says, We have the prophetic word, to which you do well to pay attention, as to a light in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts (2 Pet 1:19).
St Augustine (5th century)

That the way to understand, therefore, may be open to you, you do rightly first of all, in professing that you believe; for no one embarks upon the sea and trusts himself to the deep and liquid element unless he first believes it possible that he will have a safe voyage. Neither does the husbandman commit his seed to the furrows and scatter his grain on the earth, but in the belief that the showers will come, together with the sun’s warmth, through whose fostering influence, aided by favoring winds, the earth will produce and multiply and ripen its fruits. Nothing in life can be transacted if there be not first a readiness to believe. What wonder then, if, coming to God, we first of all profess that we believe, seeing that, without this, not even common life can be lived.
Rufinus of Aquileia (4th century)

The mysteries and secrets of the kingdom of God first seek for believing people, that they may make them understanding. For faith is understanding’s step, and understanding faith’s attainment. This the prophet expressly says to all who prematurely and in undue order look for understanding and neglect faith. 
St Augustine

Certainly one must have faith in the Scriptures as containing the divine mind, and thus one must proceed to the understanding of what is written in them. For one must go beyond the types and thus apprehend the truth of what has been shown to us. First one must believe in the Scriptures with the simple faith that they are “inspired by God and useful” and then go on to examine subtly and enquiringly the meaning contained in them.
St Basil the Great

Isaiah 7:14. And again hear what was prophesied through Isaiah the prophet, that he would be born of a virgin. He said, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they will call his name, God with us.” Through the prophetic spirit God announced beforehand that things which are unimaginable and believed to be impossible for human beings would take place, in order that when it occurred it would be believed and received by faith because it had been promised. In order to ensure that someone does not accuse us of saying the same things as the poets, who say that Zeus came to women for sexual pleasure, we will explain the words of this prophecy clearly. The phrase “behold, the virgin shall conceive” means that the virgin would conceive without intercourse. If she had in fact had intercourse with someone, she would not have been a virgin. God’s power came on the virgin, overshadowed her and caused her to conceive while she remained a virgin.
St Justin Martyr (2nd century)

The Jews say that it is not written in the prophecy “virgin” but “young woman.” To which it may be answered that “young woman” and “virgin” mean the same thing in Scripture, for in Scripture “young woman” refers to one who is still a virgin. Furthermore, if it was not a virgin that gave birth, how would it be a sign, something extraordinary? Listen to Isaiah, who says, “For this reason the Lord himself shall give you a sign,” and immediately he adds, “Behold, the virgin.” So if it were not a virgin that would give birth, it would not be a sign. The Jews, then, alter the text of Scripture in their malice, putting “young woman” instead of “virgin.” But whether the text reads “young woman” or “virgin,” it should be understood in either case that it is a virgin who will give birth so that the event may be a miraculous sign.
St Theophylact of Ohrid (11th century)

What is the sign? “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” In fact, a virgin did conceive and gave birth to “Emmanuel, God with us.” This is the new birth: a man born from God. God was born in the man, taking the flesh of the old human race without the help of the old human seed. God took the flesh in order to reform the old human race with a new seed. In other words, he spiritually cleansed the old human race by removing its old stains. 
Tertullian (3rd century)

You have heard, therefore, that the Father is called Lord. Come now, and let me show you that the Son is called God. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means, ‘God is with us.’ ” Did you see how both the name Lord is given to the Father and the name God is given to the Son? In the psalm, the sacred writer said, “Let them know that Lord is your name.” Here Isaiah says, “They shall call his name Immanuel.”
St John Chrysostom (4th century)

But who shall say that Christ and Christians have no connection with Israel, seeing that Israel was the grandson of Abraham, to whom first, as afterwards to his son Isaac, and then to his grandson Israel himself, that promise was given, which I have already mentioned, namely: “In your seed shall all nations be blessed”? That prediction we see now in its fulfillment in Christ. For it was of this line that the Virgin was born, concerning whom a prophet of the people of Israel and of the God of Israel sang in these terms: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son; and they shall call his name Emmanuel.” For by interpretation, Emmanuel means “God with us.” This God of Israel … has forbidden the worship of other gods, … has forbidden the making of idols, … has commanded their destruction, … has by his prophet predicted that the Gentiles from the ends of the earth would say, “Surely our fathers have worshiped lying idols, in which there is no profit.” This same God is he who, by the name of Christ and by the faith of Christians, has ordered, promised and exhibited the overthrow of all these superstitions.
St Augustine

Were she not to be a virgin, the birth would not have been a sign. A sign is something that differs from the normal way things happen, that is outside the natural manner. A sign is so unusual and unexpected that someone who sees it or hears of it sees that it is out of the ordinary. It is called a “sign” because it is significant. Were the birth to be like normal births, it would not have been significant. If the prophecy is about a woman giving birth in the normal manner, like what happens every day, then why call it a sign?
St John Chrysostom

Genesis 6:4. All that we indubitably know, from the authentic Scripture in the Hebrew and Christian traditions, is the fact that in the period before the flood there were many giants, all of whom belonged to the earthly city in human society, and that there were sons of God descended from Seth who abandoned their holiness and sank down into this city of men. There is nothing surprising in the fact that giants could be born from men like that. In any case, they were not all giants, even though there were more giants before the flood than in all subsequent ages. They served a divine purpose in that they reveal to anyone who is wise that mere bodily magnitude and might have no more value than bodily beauty.
St Augustine

Genesis 6:6. God’s “anger” implies no perturbation of the divine mind. It is simply the divine judgment passing sentence on sin. And when God “thinks and then has second thoughts,” this merely means that changeable realities come into relation with his immutable reason. For God cannot “repent,” as human beings repent, of what he has done, since in regard to everything his judgment is as fixed as his foreknowledge is clear. But it is only by the use of such human expressions that Scripture can make its many kinds of readers whom it wants to help to feel, as it were, at home. Only thus can Scripture frighten the proud and arouse the slothful, provoke inquiries and provide food for the convinced. This is possible only when Scripture gets right down to the level of the lowliest readers.
St Augustine

Genesis 6:8. Do you see how the Lord created our nature to enjoy free will? I mean, how did it happen, tell me, that while those people showed enthusiasm for wickedness and rendered themselves liable to punishment, this man opted for virtue, shunned association with them and thus felt no effect of punishment? Is it not crystal clear that each person chose wickedness or virtue of his own volition? You see, if that were not the case and freedom did not have its roots in our nature, those people would not have been punished, nor would others receive reward for their virtue. Since, however, everything has been allowed to remain with our choice owing to grace from on high, punishment duly awaits the sinners, and reward and recompense those who practice virtue.
St John Chrysostom

Proverbs 6:28 (in the LXX and OSB; 6:23 in English Bibles). Solomon also writes that “the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light.” This sensible light that is in the world, by falling on our bodily eyes, dispels the darkness. So also the law of God, when admitted into the mind and heart of people, illuminates it thoroughly and does not allow it to fall against the stumbling blocks of ignorance or be caught in the thickets of sin.
St John Chrysostom