Reason and the Law

Διὰ τί οὖν μακάριοι οἱ πορευόμενοι ἐν νόμῳ Κυρίου; οὐ γὰρ τοὺς πορευθέντας ἐκεῖ, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἔτι πορευομένους μακαριστοὺς ὁ λόγος τίθεται· ὅτι οἱ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐργαζόμενοι, ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ἔργῳ τὸ ἀπόδεκτον ἔχουσιν· οἱ δὲ τὸ κακὸν φεύγοντες οὐκ, ἐὰν ἃπαξ που ἢ δεύτερον ἐκκλίνωσι τὴν πεῖραν εἰς τὸ παντελὲς διαδρᾶναι. Ἐκ δὲ τῆς τοῦ λόγου ἀκολουθίας καὶ ἕτερον ἡμῖν ἄπορον ἀνεφάνη. Διὰ τί οὐχὶ τὸν κατορθοῦντα τὴν ἀρετὴν μακαρίζει, ἀλλὰ τὸν μὴ πεποιηκότα τὴν ἁμαρτίαν; Οὕτως γὰρ καὶ ἵππος, καὶ βοῦς, καὶ λίθος μακαρισθήσεται. Ποῖον γὰρ ἄψυχον ἔστη ἐν ὁδῷ ἁμαρτωλῶν; ἢ ποῖον ἄλογον ἐπὶ καθέδρᾳ λοιμῶν ἐκάθισε; Μικρὸν μὲν οὒν ἀναμείνας, εὑρήσεις τὸ ἴαμα. Ἐπάγει γάρ· 'Ἀλλ' ἢ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ Κυρίου τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ.' Θείου δὲ νόμου μελέτη ἐπὶ τὸν λογικὸν μόνον πίπτει. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός Ἀ

Why then are they blessed who walk in the way of the Lord? For here Scripture does not say those who have walked but rather those who are walking in it are to be entitled blessed, because those who do good in that same act they gain approbation, but those who flee evil are not worthy of praise, if perhaps once or twice they avoid sin, until they utterly escape the practice of evil. And then another difficulty from the order of the prayer comes to us: why is it that he who cultivates virtue is blessed but not he who does not sin? For then a horse, a cow, a stone would be able to called blessed. Do inanimate things stand in the way of sinners? Do those things without reason sit in the chair of pestilence? Certainly if you go on a little, you shall discover the solution. It is given: 'But in the law of the Lord is his will.'1 And so meditation on the Divine law is only for those who participate in reason.   Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 1 1 Ps 1.2