Romans 11:33

It does not follow because men are endowed with greater and less degrees of intelligence, that they should therefore change the subject-matter [of the faith] itself, and should conceive of some other God besides Him who is the Framer, Maker, and Preserver of this universe, (as if He were not sufficient for them), or of another Christ, or another Only-begotten. But the fact referred to simply implies this, that one may [more accurately than another] bring out the meaning of those things which have been spoken in parables, and accommodate them to the general scheme of the faith; and explain [with special clearness] the operation and dispensation of God connected with human salvation; and show that God manifested longsuffering in regard to the apostasy of the angels who transgressed, as also with respect to the disobedience of men; and set forth why it is that one and the same God has made some things temporal and some eternal, some heavenly and others earthly; and understand for what reason God, though invisible, manifested Himself to the prophets not under one form, but differently to different individuals; and show why it was that more covenants than one were given to mankind; and teach what was the special character of each of these covenants; and search out for what reason "God hath concluded every man in unbelief, that He may have mercy upon all;" and gratefully describe on what account the Word of God became flesh and suffered; and relate why the advent of the Son of God took place in these last times, that is, in the end, rather than in the beginning [of the world]; and unfold what is contained in the Scriptures concerning the end [itself], and things to come; and not be silent as to how it is that God has made the Gentiles, whose salvation was despaired of, fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers with the saints; and discourse how it is that "this mortal body shall put on immortality, and this corruptible shall put on incorruption;" and proclaim in what sense [God] says, "That is a people who was not a people; and she is beloved who was not beloved;" and in what sense He says that "more are the children of her that was desolate, than of her who possessed a husband." For in reference to these points, and others of a like nature, the apostle exclaims: "Oh! the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" But [the superior skill spoken of] is not found in this, that any one should, beyond the Creator and Framer [of the world], conceive of the Enthymesis of an erring Aeon, their mother and his, and should thus proceed to such a pitch of blasphemy; nor does it consist in this, that he should again falsely imagine, as being above this [fancied being], a Pleroma at one time supposed to contain thirty, and at another time an innumerable tribe of Aeons, as these teachers who are destitute of truly divine wisdom maintain; while the Catholic Church possesses one and the same faith throughout the whole world, as we have already said.

"And I will give to thee the treasures of darkness, hidden and unseen" by the nations, but seen by us. And the treasures of wisdom are unfailing, in admiration of which the apostle says, "O the depth of the riches and the wisdom!" And by one God are many treasures dispensed; some disclosed by the law, others by the prophets; some to the divine mouth, and others to the heptad of the spirit singing accordant. And the Lord being one, is the same Instructor by all these.

To these statements the apostle will testify: "I know a man in Christ, caught up into the third heaven, and thence into Paradise, who heard unutterable words which it is not lawful for a man to speak,"—intimating thus the impossibility of expressing God, and indicating that what is divine is unutterable by human power... Further, in the Epistle of the Romans to the Corinthians it is written, "An ocean illimitable by men and the worlds after it." Consequently, therefore, the noble apostle exclaims, "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!"

Isaiah even so early, with the clearness of an apostle, foreseeing the thoughts of heretical hearts, asked, "Who hath known the mind of the Lord? For who hath been His counsellor? With whom took He counsel? ... or who taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding?" With whom the apostle agreeing exclaims, "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" "His judgments unsearchable," as being those of God the Judge; and "His ways past finding out," as comprising an understanding and knowledge which no man has ever shown to Him, except it may be those critics of the Divine Being, who say, God ought not to have been this, and He ought rather to have been that; as if any one knew what is in God, except the Spirit of God.

For where had been their sin, if they only maintained the righteousness of their own God against one of whom they were ignorant? But he exclaims: "O the depth of the riches and the wisdom of God; how unsearchable also are His ways!" Whence this outburst of feeling? Surely from the recollection of the Scriptures, which he had been previously turning over, as well as from his contemplation of the mysteries which he had been setting forth above, in relation to the faith of Christ coming from the law. If Marcion had an object in his erasures, why does his apostle utter such an exclamation, because his god has no riches for him to contemplate? So poor and indigent was he, that he created nothing, predicted nothing—in short, possessed nothing; for it was into the world of another God that he descended. The truth is, the Creator's resources and riches, which once had been hidden, were now disclosed. For so had He promised: "I will give to them treasures which have been hidden, and which men have not seen will I open to them." Hence, then, came the exclamation, "O the depth of the riches and the wisdom of God!" For His treasures were now opening out.

Paul did not say that God's judgments were hard to search out but that they could not be searched out at all. He did not say that God's ways were hard to find out but that they were impossible to find out. For however far one may advance in the search and make progress through an increasingly earnest study, even when aided and enlightened in the mind by God's grace, he will never be able to reach the final goal of his inquiries.

Therefore the holy Apostle, considering that the riches of God's goodness are so great, and that so great a work of the divine wisdom is carried on toward rational natures, and that "God is so rich in mercy," and "rich toward all who call upon him," and that such is the magnitude of his goodness and patience and long-suffering — suddenly beholding these things with the inner eyes of the heart, and perceiving their immensity, struck at once with amazement and with awe, cries out and says: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" For whence could the perception of the human mind have supposed such things — that, with the liberty of choice preserved to each one, the work of one man's wickedness should be turned to another's salvation, and should confer the palm upon the one who conquers it, while it brings ruin upon the one who practices it? Having therefore surveyed these matters by a general reasoning, as it appears, the Apostle cries out and says that so great is the depth of the riches of God, and so great is the depth of his wisdom, and no less great is the depth of his knowledge (for the word "depth" serves for all of these), that no one is capable of searching out his judgments, by which he dispenses to each single soul and to every rational nature, nor can anyone investigate the ways of God along which his providence proceeds. And by "anyone" we mean not only of human beings, but of the whole creation. For his judgments would not be called unsearchable, and his ways past finding out, save because there is no creature that is able either to investigate or to search them out. For the Son alone is he who knows the Father, and the Holy "Spirit" alone is he who "searches all things, even the depth of God." And therefore this depth of God, which he calls both unsearchable and past finding out, he calls unsearchable and past finding out to every creature. But of the Son and of the Holy Spirit he could not say these things, because the Son says in the Gospel to the Father: "Father, all mine are thine, and thine are mine"; and concerning the Holy Spirit Paul himself declares, saying: "For no one among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him: so also the things which are in God no one has known, except the Spirit of God."

That he secrets of God cannot be seen through, and therefore that our faith ought to be simple. In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "We see now through the glass in an enigma, but then with face to face. Now I know partly; but then I shall know even as also I am known." Also in Solomon, in Wisdom: "And in simplicity of heart seek Him." Also in the same: "He who walketh with simplicity, walketh trustfully." Also in the same: "Seek not things higher than thyself, and look not into things stronger than thyself." Also in Solomon: "Be not excessively righteous, and do not reason more than is required." Also in Isaiah: "Woe unto them who are convicted in themselves." Also in the Maccabees: "Daniel in his simplicity was delivered from the mouth of tile lions." Also in the Epistle of Paul to the Romans: "Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments, and how unsearchable are His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been His counsellor? or who has first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed to him again? Because from Him, and through Him, and in Him, are all things: to Him be glory for ever and ever." Also to Timothy: "But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they generate strifes. But the servant of God ought not to strive, but to be gentle towards all men."

The world, this chariot of God and all that is therein, is guided by the angels and the stars. Although their movements are varied—bound nevertheless by fixed laws—we see them guided to their goals according to the time measured out to them. So may we deservedly cry out with the apostle as we admire the Maker and his works: "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"

O wondrous circumstance! "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" It became indeed the Lord of the law and the prophets to do all things in accordance with His own law, and not to make void the law, but to fulfil it, and rather to connect with the fulfilment of the law the beginning of His grace. Therefore it is that the mother, who was superior to the law, submits to the law. And she, the holy and undefiled one, observes that time of forty days that was appointed for the unclean. And He who makes us free from the law, became subject to the law; and there is offered for Him, who hath sanctified us, a pair of clean birds, in testimony of those who approach clean and blameless.

God knew from the beginning what man's behavior and works would be like, in that the human race could not be saved only by the severity of his justice nor could it reach perfection only by his mercy. So at a particular time he decreed what should be preached, whereas before that time he allowed each person to decide for himself, because righteousness was recognized under the guidance of nature. And because the authority of natural righteousness was weakened by the habit of sin, the law was given so that the human race would be held back by the fear engendered by the revealed law. But because they did not restrain themselves and were counted guilty under the law, mercy was proclaimed, which would save those who took refuge in it but would blind those who rejected it for a time. During that time this mercy would invite the Gentiles, who earlier on had not wanted to follow the law given to Moses, to share in the promise, so that the Jews might become jealous of their salvation and because of that jealousy turn again to the source of the root, which is the Savior. This is "the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God," who by his many-sided providence has won both Jews and Gentiles to eternal life.

AGAINST EUSEBIUS. (widely believed to be Eusebius of Vercelli) — I remember that I once read in a certain little book by Eusebius, otherwise an outstanding man in other respects, that not even the Holy Spirit knows the mystery of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ; and I am astonished that a man of such learning inflicted this stain upon the Holy Spirit. By saying this he has in fact implied that He is of a degenerate kind. For He cannot be said to be of God if He does not know the things that are of God; because a lower nature does not know what is in a higher. But if He is of the same substance and divinity, how can He fail to know what belongs to Himself? Indeed, the Son of God, because He says, I and the Father are one (Jn. 10:30), on account of the unity of substance, quite rightly added, saying, All things that the Father has are mine; and what is mine is the Father’s (Jn. 16:15). Therefore, if the Holy Spirit is of the same divinity, on what grounds is He separated off so as not to be of the same knowledge, when He is not denied to be of the same substance? He granted what is greater while refusing what is less. A creature, after all, learns, and begins to know certain things about its author, and what it has learned will be common to it with its author; but substance or divinity cannot be common to God and to a creature. For the substance of God has nothing to learn, because there is nothing He does not know; whereas the substance of human beings does not have by nature the capacity to know, but to learn. Therefore knowledge happens to human nature; yet the substance is not changed, because the nature of man is without knowledge: for it was so created that it should acquire knowledge through exercise. Therefore substance is greater than knowledge; because it is not knowledge that acquires substance, but substance that acquires knowledge: and substance can exist without knowledge, but knowledge cannot exist without substance. In God, however, as there is substance, so also there is knowledge: for the substance which has nothing to learn, that very substance is knowledge to itself. Therefore all things in God are said to be “substantial.” For a substance to which nothing is lacking possesses all things substantially; because nothing has been added to it as a result of study. How then can it be said of the Holy Spirit that He does not know the birth of the Son of God, if He is consubstantial with Him? Can one and the same substance both know and not know? Surely the Son of God did not learn the mystery of His own birth; He knows it substantially, not by teaching. On what grounds then is the Holy Spirit said not to know, when in like manner He has nothing that He needs to learn, because He knows all things by substance? For just as the Son of God is, so also the Holy Spirit is the substance of God, as the Lord says, All things that the Father has are mine; by which He indicated that the substance of God the Father is His own substance. And He says that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and receives from what is His: And therefore, He says, I said that He will receive from what is mine, because all things that the Father has are mine. If He proceeds from the Father and receives from the Son, how can He be ignorant of the birth of the Son, when His substance is the substance of the Son? For all things that the Father has are the Son’s. Without doubt, then, the Father’s substance is also in the Holy Spirit. For the Son added, saying: And all that is mine is the Father’s. Why then is it questioned whether the Holy Spirit is of the same divinity, since He is of the same substance? For just as the Lord said of Himself that He proceeded from God, so He also bears witness concerning the Holy Spirit. And lest this could be interpreted in some other way, He says, He proceeds from the Father (Jn. 15:26); and, He will receive from what is mine (Jn. 16:14): so that to proceed from the Father is the same thing as to receive from Christ. For when it is said that He receives from the Son of God, there is no doubt that He too is from God, so that in the Holy Spirit the substance and divinity of the Father are not in doubt. Therefore whoever says that He does not know the birth of the Son of God detracts from Him from whom He is said to have received. For He does not receive something other than what He Himself is, from whom He receives; because to have received from Christ means that He has proceeded from God: and so He cannot be ignorant of the fact that He is from the One from whom He has received; nor can He be said to be ignorant of the Lord, since He has proceeded from God. Surely the Son of God, because He is from the Father as God, knows all things that are of God: why then should the Holy Spirit be denied knowledge of whatever things are Christ’s, since He has received from Him? Therefore, if the Son of God knows the things that are in God, there is no doubt that the Holy Spirit also does not ignore the things that are in the Son of God: and by the fact that He knows the things that are in the Son, He cannot be said not to know the things that are in God. For from Him from whom He receives, He has knowledge of God. And why do we labor, when the Apostle is witness in this matter, saying: No one knows the things that are in God, except the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:11)? Behold, in what we long labored, with the Apostle’s help we have brought it to completion. And did he perhaps prejudge [praejudicavit] the Son of God, because he said that no one knows the things that are in God except the Spirit of God? Far from it. So neither did the Son prejudge the Holy Spirit when He said: No one knows the Father except the Son. For He did not say that anyone knows the things that are in God except the one who is from God: because everything that is from God knows God and the things that are in God. For the nature of God knows itself; and when you understand that this nature is also in the Holy Spirit, by the fact that He has proceeded from the Father and received from the Son, it is not safe to say that He does not know God the Father, whose nature you acknowledge in Him. And yet the Savior so said that no one knows God the Father except the Son, as to reserve the knowledge of Him to another person: for He immediately added, saying: And to whom the Son shall choose to reveal Him (Matt. 11:27). To whom, do you think, does the Son wish to reveal Him? He can be dearer to no one than to His own Spirit: for, If anyone, He says, does not have the Spirit of Christ, that person does not belong to Him (Rom. 8:9). How then do you think the Father God has been revealed by the Son to the Holy Spirit, except in the way that the Lord Himself says, He will receive from what is mine? For God the Father cannot be revealed to a creature; because a creature cannot bear the nature of God, unless it is of the same substance: for He dwells in light inaccessible, that is, inaccessible to a creature (1 Tim. 6:16). But to some it seems for this reason to be rightly said that the Holy Spirit does not know the mystery of the birth of the Son of God, because he is said to search all things (1 Cor. 2:10); and, they say, one who searches is of course ignorant. This must be understood from another passage: for among other things God’s words are, I am God who searches the kidneys and hearts (Jer. 17:10); and in the Psalm, God, he says, searches hearts and kidneys (Ps. 7:10); and the Apostle, He who searches hearts, he says, knows what the Spirit desires, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. By these examples, when the Spirit of God is said to search, it is meant that he does not ignore. He is also said to search the deep things of God: and what are the deep things of God, which he is said to see thoroughly? For to search means to penetrate hidden things, so that by this it is believed that nothing is hidden from him. For the deep mysteries of God are God’s inner realities, which cannot be searched by a creature. For it is also written that he intercedes for the saints according to God’s will, which the saints of course do not know, as the Apostle says: For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought (Rom. 8:27, 26). Therefore to know the deep things of God and not to be ignorant of the will of God signify one and the same thing. For what mystery is so deep as the will of God, which is known to the Holy Spirit, but is unknown to all others? We must also consider how it is said that no one knows what is in a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him (1 Cor. 2:11): by “spirit” he meant the soul; because no one knows what is in the soul of a man, except his soul, which is spirit. So also in God no one knows the things that are God’s, except the Spirit of God, that is, God himself. For one who is “of God” is understood to be nothing other than God. Therefore the Spirit of God knows what is in God, because he is of God. For if no one knows the thoughts of men except God, how much more can no one know God’s secrets and will unless he be of God, that is, the very same God? For he is known only to himself. For indeed in God there are no “thoughts.” For he does not debate within himself what he should do or should not do, considering whether it is beneficial; because all that is in God exists without any doubt, not by accident, but by substance; nor by effort, but by nature; for he is not changed. And therefore the Holy Spirit does not know the mysteries of God in any other way than by substance: for one substance has one and the same understanding and will. He is speaking of God, who is always one and unchangeable, whether in the Son or in the Holy Spirit. For what the Father wills, the Son also wills; and what the Son wills, the Holy Spirit likewise wills. Therefore he is sometimes called the Spirit of God, sometimes the Spirit of Christ: Who proceeds from God, he says; and, He will receive from what is mine. Therefore it is that the apostle John says: By this we know that God remains in us, by his Spirit whom he has given us (1 Jn. 3:24). Therefore, if by the Spirit of God dwelling in us God is said to dwell in us, the Spirit of God is signified to be God. Finally, this is the sign of believers, that they are children of God: that when they receive him, they dare to call themselves sons of God. For unless they had the mark of deity, they could not be called sons of God. Yet no one is a true son of God so as to be wholly from the whole, as Christ is. But by adoption they become sons of God, so that by receiving the Spirit of Christ they are called sons of God through him, by reason of the Spirit whom they have in themselves, who is of God. For in sons, even if they are adopted, some part of the father’s substance ought to be seen. In the world, because things are imperfect, sons adopted by men receive no pledge, but only a name. But because God is perfect, he does more, so that he gives his Spirit to those he adopts, through whom those adopted by him seem to have some reality; for names without realities are empty. Our Apostle supports this assertion of ours, saying: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out (Rom. 11:33)! Yet what does he mean, that although he elsewhere says the deep things of God, that is, his secrets, are searchable, he here denies it, saying that they are unsearchable? But in this passage he spoke of the creature, because God’s secrets or judgments are unsearchable for it; whereas for the Holy Spirit, in that he knows all things that are God’s, he said that all that is in God is searchable; so that he affirms that what is unknown to the creature is not unknown to the Spirit of God. Therefore the nature of God cannot be denied, which has knowledge of what cannot be comprehended by the creature. Those who call the Holy Spirit a degenerate being of God attack the position which has declared that the salvation of the whole creation consists in the divinity of the Trinity: because if he is not consubstantial with God and Christ, it is foolish to place him in the number of the Father and the Son, so that without him there is neither salvation nor dignity for anyone. For if he does not share the same divinity, his effect would be either stupid or pointless, which be far from us. For who among wise men would deny that the Creator cannot be counted together with the creature, nor the eternal compared with one who is under a beginning, nor the Lord equated with the servant, nor the powerful compared with the powerless, nor the knowledgeable ranked with the ignorant? But now let the slander cease. He is third in order, not in nature; in rank, not in divinity; in person, not in ignorance. For just as the Son of God is second after the Father and is not lesser in divinity, so also the Holy Spirit, following after the Son, is not inferior, but equal in the divine substance. Finally, what we read of the Son of God, we read likewise of the Holy Spirit, as he himself bears witness to us. For he says: I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, the Spirit of truth (Jn. 14:16). When he said “another,” he indicated himself as Paraclete. This John explains, saying that the Son of God intercedes for our sins (1 Jn. 2:2). And the apostle Paul: The Spirit of God himself, he says, intercedes for us. Behold, Scripture shows that both are advocates. And when He called Him the Spirit of truth, He showed that He in no way differs from Himself, because He said: I am the truth (Jn. 14:6). He said that He was sent by the Father, and He Himself promised that He would send the Holy Spirit. If He is not inferior to the One who sends, then neither is the Holy Spirit inferior to Him who sends Him. For neither, because the three are each distinct, are they parts of one another, so that they might be different. For there is one power of the three, such that nothing is lacking to each. Let this be the conclusion. For already, in the little book composed against Arian wickedness, the remaining matters, which encompass the undivided unity of the Trinity, have been more fully treated.

Paul examined … the unclear and hidden aspects of the divine mysteries and through suggestive phrases revealed the illuminations which came to him from God concerning the understanding of what is incomprehensible and unsearchable.

"Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments!"

Here after going back to former times, and looking back to God's original dispensation of things whereby the world hath existed up to the present time, and having considered what special provision He had made for all occurrences, he is stricken with awe, and cries aloud, so making his hearers feel confident that certainly that will come to pass which he saith. For he would not have cried aloud and been awe-struck, unless this was quite sure to come to pass. That it is a depth then, he knows: but how great, he knows not. For the language is that of a person wondering, not of one that knew the whole. But admiring and being awe-struck at the goodliness, so far forth as in him lay, he heralds it forth by two intensitive words, riches and depth, and then is awestruck at His having had both the will and the power to do all this, and by opposites effecting opposites. "How unsearchable are His judgments." For they are not only impossible to be comprehended, but even to be searched. "And His ways past finding out;" that is, His dispensations for these also are not only impossible to be known, but even to be sought into. For even I, he means, have not found out the whole, but a little part, not all. For He alone knoweth His own clearly.

Paul praises the wisdom of God, who according to his foreknowledge waited until all were in need of mercy in order to take from everyone the glory that derives from unfounded boasting in works. The judgments of God are a great deep, for they cannot be clearly grasped.

Antony was confused as he meditated upon the depths of God's judgements, and he asked God, 'Lord, how is it that some die young and others grow old and sick? Why are there some poor and some rich? Why are there those who are bad and rich and oppress the good poor?' He heard a voice saying to him, 'Antony, worry about yourself; these other matters are up to God, and it will not do you any good to know them.'

Reflecting on the dispensations of God from the beginning of the world, on how God arranges the opposite through the opposite and by means of some who are disobedient shows others to be obedient, he came to amazement, thereby confirming that He who so arranges our affairs will assuredly also arrange the future salvation of the Jews. By "riches" he means goodness, the depth of which only brings amazement, and the greatness of which is unknown: for to so enrich the Gentiles is a work of riches. Together with goodness he marvels also at "wisdom," by means of which God governs our life and made wise the ignorant Gentiles, and at "knowledge," by means of which He knows what is profitable for each person. Concerning His ways, he did not say "incomprehensible," but "unsearchable," that is, they cannot even be searched out. "His ways," that is, the methods of His dispensation, not only cannot be comprehended, but cannot even be searched out, that is, one cannot even see a trace of them.

Therefore when it condemns and reprobates, it operates according to justice: but when it predestines, according to grace and mercy, which does not exclude justice. Because therefore all, insofar as they were of the mass of perdition, deserved to be condemned: therefore more are reprobated than chosen, so that it may be shown that salvation is according to special grace, but damnation according to common justice. Therefore no one can complain about the divine will, because it does all things most rightly; indeed in all things we ought to give thanks and honor the governance of divine providence. But if anyone should ask why it bestows the gift of grace on one sinner rather than another, here it is necessary to impose silence on human loquacity and to exclaim with the Apostle: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how incomprehensible are his judgments, and unsearchable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who has first given to him, and it shall be repaid to him? For from him and through him and in him are all things. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

About the height of faith in understanding the eternal God and the depth in knowing God made man, the Apostle writes to the Romans: "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments and how unsearchable His ways!" Wisdom refers to the understanding of the eternal God, knowledge to the knowing of God made man.

O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments, and unsearchable His ways! From which it is gathered that those things which pertain to divine wisdom are more comprehensible than the divine judgments; but in John 5 it is said that the Father has given all judgment to the Son, because He is the Son of man; from which it is gathered that the soul of Christ comprehends the divine judgments: therefore if those are less comprehensible than the others, much more strongly does He comprehend all the others.

To that which is objected, that the soul of Christ comprehends all the divine judgments: it can be said that those things are said of the assumed man on account of the communication of idioms; or certainly they are said of those things which are, were, and will be, which indeed can be comprehended by the soul of Christ; but it is not true with respect to all things that the divine wisdom understands, since it knows infinite things, as is clear from what has been determined above.

Above the Apostle endeavored to assign a reason for the divine judgments, by which gentiles and Jews obtain mercy after unbelief; now he recognizes his inadequacy for such an investigation and exclaims his admiration of the divine excellence.
First, he extols the divine excellence;
second, he proves what he says, at for who has known.
In regard to the first he does two things:
first, he extols the divine wisdom in itself;
second, in relation to us, at how incomprehensible.

He extols the excellence of divine knowledge: first, as to its depth, saying: O the depth: it is a great depth. Who shall find it out? (Eccl 7:25); a glorious throne set on high from the beginning (Jer 17:12).

This depth is considered in regard to three things: first, in regard to the thing known, inasmuch as God knows himself perfectly: I dwell in the highest places (Sir 24:7); second, in regard to the manner of knowing, inasmuch as he knows all things through himself: the Lord looked down from his holy height, from heaven the Lord looked at the earth (Ps 102:19); third, in regard to the certainty of his knowledge: the eyes of the Lord are far brighter than the sun (Sir 23:28).

Second, he extols the excellence of divine knowledge in regard to its fullness when he says: of the riches. Abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge (Isa 33:6).

This fullness is regarded in three ways: in one way as to the number of things known, because he knows all things: Lord, you know all things (John 21:17); in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3); in another way in regard to ease of knowing, because he intuits all things without search and difficulty: all things are open and laid bare to his eyes (Heb 4:13). Third, in regard to the abundance of his knowledge, because he gives it generously to everyone: if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives to all men generously (Jas 1:5).

Third, he extols the divine excellence in regard to its perfection when he says, of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God. For he has wisdom about divine things: with him is strength and wisdom (Job 12:16), and knowledge about created things: who knows all things knows her (Bar 3:32).

Then when he says, how incomprehensible, he shows the excellence of divine wisdom as compared to our understanding.

And first in regard to wisdom, whose function is to judge and put things in order, he says: how incomprehensible are his judgments, because man cannot comprehend the reason of God's judgments, since they are hidden in his wisdom: your judgments are like the great deep (Ps 36:6); perhaps you will comprehend the steps of God, and will find out the Almighty perfectly? (Job 11:7).

Second, in regard to knowledge, through which he is at work in things; hence he adds: and how unsearchable, i.e., not completely searchable by men, his ways, i.e., his procedures, by which he works in creatures. Even though the creatures are known by man, the ways in which God works in them cannot be comprehended by man: your way was through the sea, your paths through the great waters; yet their footprints were unseen (Ps 77:19); where is the way to the dwelling of light (Job 38:19).

A turkey is more occult and awful than all the angels and archangels. In so far as God has partly revealed to us an angelic world, he has partly told us what an angel means. But God has never told us what a turkey means. And if you go and stare at a live turkey for an hour or two, you will find by the end of it that the enigma has rather increased than diminished.

A forest is not in the least rude or barbarous; it is only dense with delicacy. Unique shapes that an artist would copy or a philosopher watch for years if he found them in an open plain are here mingled and confounded; but it is not a darkness of deformity. It is a darkness of life; a darkness of perfection. And I began to think how much of the highest human obscurity is like this, and how much men have misunderstood it.