Chapter XV
Text | Commentary |
1Sedrach said to God, Lord thou alone art sinless and of infinite compassion, and hast mercy and pity upon sinners. 2Yet thy Godhead said, I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. 3And the Lord said to Sedrach, Do you not know, Sedrach that the robber was saved at one critical moment when he repented? 1 Lit. ‘was saved … to repent’. 4Do you not know that my apostle 2 Reading ἀπόστολος for ἀπόστολοι. and evangelist was also himself saved at one critical moment? 5〈But sinners are not so saved,〉 because their hearts are like a decaying stone – these are those who follow unholy paths and are to be destroyed with Antichrist. 6Sedrach said, My Lord, thou didst also say, My divine spirit entered into the Gentiles, who though they have not the law 〈yet〉 fulfil 〈the requirements〉 of the law. 3 Lit ‘〈yet〉 do 〈the things〉 of the law’. 7As with the robber, and the apostle and evangelist, and the others who have attained to 4 Reading φθάσαντες εἰς for πταίσαντες. 8thy kingdom, my Lord, so also, Lord, pardon those who have sinned at the last, for life is full of hardship and offers little opportunity for repentance.