Psalms 89:2

For you have said, Mercy shall be built up forever. I myself, who then spoke in the Old Testament through the patriarchs and through the prophets, now myself speak through my own self; for I have not come to loose the commandments of mercy which the law had built up, but to build upon them. As he himself says in the Gospel: "I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." What then does Moses say? "Give heed, O heaven, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words from my mouth." Jeremiah too speaks thus: "Thus says the Lord"; and the rest of the prophets speak thus: because what they speak are the words of the Lord, and not their own, and what he says through their mouth, it is as though the Lord had spoken through an instrument. What then is the meaning of what is said, "shall be built up," as if some great house or city were being built? Let us see where else something of this sort is written about building. Let us search in Genesis, what this saying means. "And God took," it says, "a rib from Adam's side, and built it into a woman." See what he said: "he built." For building, as we said above, is not usually spoken of except in the construction of a great house. Since therefore that rib of Adam was fashioned into a woman, according to the apostle's authority, it signifies Christ and the Church; therefore he said, "He built the woman from the rib." We have heard of the first Adam; let us come to the second, and let us see how the Church is built from his side. For the side of the Lord and Savior, hanging on the cross, is pierced by a lance, and from it came forth blood and water. Do you wish to know how the Church is built from water and blood? First through baptism, by water, sins are forgiven, then it is crowned in the blood of martyrdom. Since therefore it is clear that the Church of God is built by mercy, therefore it follows, In the heavens your truth shall be prepared. On earth is mercy, and in heaven is truth. Hear, O heretic, what is said. In the heavens the truth of God shall be prepared. If souls fell down from heaven on account of the sins they had committed, how then is the truth prepared in the heavens? If daily souls are cast down to earth, how does the Lord teach in the Lord's Prayer and say, "Your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth"? Do we then ask, on the authority of the Lord and Savior, that just as the soul without a…

"For You have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever" [Psalm 89:2]. It is this that I sing: this is Your truth, for the making known of which my mouth serves. In such wise You say, I build, as not to destroy: for some Thou destroyest and buildest not; and some whom Thou destroyest Thou dost rebuild. For unless there were some who were destroyed to be rebuilt, Jeremiah would not have written, "See, I have this day set you to throw down and to build." [Jeremiah 1:10] And indeed all who formerly worshipped images and stones could not be built up in Christ, without being destroyed as to their old error. While, unless some were destroyed not to be built up, it would not be written, "He shall destroy them, and not build them up.". .. In what follows, he joins these two words, mercy and faithfulness; "For You have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: Your truth shall be established in the Heavens:" in which mercy and truth are repeated, "for all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth," for truth in the fulfilment of promises could not be shown, unless mercy in the remission of sins preceded. Next, as many things were promised in prophecy even to the people of Israel that came according to the flesh from the seed of Abraham, and that people was increased that the promises of God might be fulfilled in it; while yet God did not close the fountain of His goodness even to the Gentiles, whom He had placed under the rule of the Angels, while He reserved the people of Israel as His own portion: the Apostle expressly mentions the Lord's mercy and truth as referring to these two parties. For he calls Christ "a minister of the Circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." [Romans 15:8] See how God deceived not; see how He cast not off His people, whom He foreknew. For while the Apostle is treating of the fall of the Jews, to prevent any from believing them so far disowned of God, that no wheat from that floor's fanning could reach the granary, he says, "God has not cast away His people, whom He foreknew; for I also am an Israelite." [Romans 11:1-2] If all that nation are thorns, how am I who speak unto you wheat? So that the truth of God was fulfilled in those Israelites who believed, and one wall from the circumcision is thus brought to meet the corner stone. But this stone would not form a corner, unless it received another wall…