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Shorter Rules
St Basil the Great, tr. Lowther Clarke, 1925
Rule 268: In What Sense are Some Men Called Sons of Disobedience and Children of Wrath?
The Lord is wont to call children or sons of any one those who do his will whether he be good or bad. For, He says, If ye are Abraham’s children ye would do the works of Abraham.”1 Again: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do.”2 So he who does the works of disobedience becomes the son of disobedience. Perhaps as the devil is called not only sinner but sin itself, because he is the originator, I think, of sin, so also the devil could be called disobedience itself for the same reason. But a man is a child of wrath in so far as he has made himself worthy of wrath. For as the apostle called those who are worthy of the Lord and do the works of light and day, sons of light and sons of day, so also it is appropriate to understand the phrase “we were children of wrath.”3 However, one must know that the son of disobedience is also a child of wrath, since the Lord declared: ‘He that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God shall abide on him.”4
Notes
- Jn. viii, 39 ἐστέ for Fre,
- Jn. viii. 44.
- Eph. ii. 3†.
- Jn. iii. 36 add τήν before ζωήν K.