ACC ~ Mark 6 v5a

WHAT DOES “COULD NOT” MEAN IN GOD’S CASE?

GREGORY NAZIANZEN: One meaning of “could not” is simply the limits of some human will. Take, for example, the point that Christ “could not” fulfill any signs in Nazareth was due to disbelief on their part. [1] Something essential for healing is required on both sides—faith on the part of the patients, power on that of the healer. So one side without its counterpart “could not,” so to speak, perform them. As this can be seen in medical care, it can also be seen in moral transformation. Similarly involving the limits of the will are the texts: “The world cannot not hate you” and “How can you [2] speak good, being evil?” [3] The metaphor of “impossibility” here must mean free refusal by the will. The same idea applies to those passages which say that what is impossible for humanity is possible for God. [4] Note also those passages that say that a person “cannot” (in one sense) be born a second time [5] and a needle’s eye “cannot” let a camel through. [6] What would stop these events happening if God willed them directly? [7] Besides all these there is, as in the case we are presently considering, a “cannot” in the sense of that which is totally inconceivable. We cannot conceive that God can be evil or fail to exist. It is inconceivable that reality cannot exist or two times two is fourteen. So here it cannot be the case that the Son would do anything which the Father would not do. ORATION 30, ON THE SON 10-11. [8]

[1] Mt 13:58; Mk 6:5.

[2] Brood of vipers.

[3] Mt 12:34.

[4] Cf. Mt 19:26; Mk 10:27.

[5] Jn 3:4.

[6] Mt 19:24; Mk 10:25; Lk 18:25.

[7] Setting aside human freedom.

[8] TLG 2022.010, 10.13-11.6; FGFR 268**; cf. LCC 3:183. The phrase “he could not” implies not that the Savior lacked power but that the recipients of the divine gift lacked the faithfulness to receive divine power.

IMPEDING GOD’S GIFTS

JOHN CASSIAN: In some cases he so richly poured forth the mighty work of healing that the Evangelist was led to exclaim: “He healed all their sick.” [1] But among others the unfathomable depth of Christ’s goodness was so thwarted that it was said: “And Jesus could do there no mighty works because of their unbelief.” [2] So the bounty of God is actually curtailed temporarily according to the receptivity of our faith. So it is said to one: “According to your faith may it be to you,” [3] and to another: “Go your way, and as you have believed so let it be to you,” [4] and to another “Let it be to you according as you will,” [5] and again to another: “Your faith has made you whole.” [6] THIRD CONFERENCE OF ABBOT CHAERMEON 15. [7]

[1] Mt 8:16; Lk 4:40.

[2] Mt 13:58; Mk 6:6.

[3] Mt 9:29.

[4] Mt 8:13.

[5] Cf. Mt 15:28.

[6] Mt 9:22; Mk 5:34; 10:52; Lk 8:48; 17:19.

[7] Cetedoc 0512, 13.15.390.13; NPNF 2 11:432-33*. Our unreadiness temporarily impedes God’s offering us his gifts.