Expositio super orationem Dominicam

And lead us not into temptation.

We read in the epistle of James: blessed is the man who endures temptation, etc.¹, and elsewhere: the life of man upon earth is temptation². Likewise: the furnace tests the vessels of the potter, and the trial of temptation tests just men³. We, therefore, do not ask not to be tempted, but, as athletes of Christ, we wish for such temptation as the human condition can bear.

There are two kinds of temptation: one which deceives, the other which tests. According to that which deceives, God tempts no one. According to that which tests, God tempted Abraham, of whom the prophet says: test me, O God, and try me⁴. God tempts, then, the devil tempts, man tempts, but God in one way, the devil in another, man in another. God, that he may crown; the devil, that he may punish; man, that he may deceive.

And it must be noted that there are six kinds of temptation, according to the six dimensions of the human body. For there is temptation from above, temptation from below, temptation from in front, temptation from behind, temptation from the right, temptation from the left. Temptation from above is from reason, from below from the flesh, from in front from the devil, from behind from the recollection of sins with delight, from the right from prosperity, from the left from adversity. The first is contemptible, the second wondrous, the third horrible, the fourth deformed, the fifth fleeting, the sixth grave.

Now let us look at the order of temptations. First there occurs suggestion, which is either exterior, from the devil, or interior, from the very frailty of the flesh, neither of which is sin, but rather the material for struggle and victory. After suggestion follows propassion, which is a sudden movement. It is indeed a fault, as some hold, but a venial one, without any deliberation of good or evil. Then follows passion, when one not only has the movement but also deliberates how to act on it. And this is death in the house. And this passion is twofold.

For one man delights in that thought, and it is pleasing to him to dwell there, and yet he would not wish to carry it out even if he had the opportunity. Another, however, not only does not fail to seek the opportunity, which sometimes is lacking, but it happens to him not merely by wishing it. And this is little removed from the act itself. The first passion is called delight, the second is called consent. Then follows the act, which is death at the gate. Finally follows habit, which is the death of the four-days-dead.

But this threefold death of the soul had no place in Christ. For his death was not in the soul but in the flesh alone. Our death, however, is not in the flesh alone but in the soul. It is in the soul on account of sin, in the flesh on account of the punishment of sin. Christ, however, because he had no sin, died only in the flesh, and on account of the likeness of sinful flesh which he drew from Adam.

Note the difference between the prepositions, namely "ex" and "de." For they are taken in a different sense of cause. "De" signifies matter, while "ex" gives the sense of authority and efficient cause. For if I say the ring is de gold, I signify that gold is the matter. But if I say this son is ex this father, I signify the efficient cause.

It is found, nevertheless, the other way about, as in that passage: born ex the Virgin Mary. For "ex" does not there note authority but is put for "de," and notes a cutting off, not a fullness. For the whole substance of the mother is not the son's. He is, then, of the substance of the mother, not of the father, according to what he is as man. Yet it is not by the mother's authority but by the father's that he was born, drawing his flesh from the mother alone. Whence he is called the son of man in the singular. But each of us is a son of men, since we draw our flesh from the loins of both parents. There follows: