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VRSZ
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Translation
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What the Fathers say
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
"Against You alone have I sinned, and before You an evil thing have I done" [Psalm 51:4]. What is this? For before men was not another's wife debauched and husband slain? Did not all men know what David had done? [2 Samuel 11:4, 15] What is, "Against You alone have I sinned, and before You an evil thing have I done." Because You alone are without sin. He is a just punisher that has nothing in Him to be punished; He is a just reprover that has nothing in Him to be reproved. …
Ambrose of Milan
"I [the prodigal son] have sinned," he says, "against heaven and before you." He confesses what is clearly a sin to death, that you may not think that any one doing penance is rightly shut out from pardon. For one who has sinned against heaven has sinned either against the kingdom of heaven or against his own soul, which is a sin to death, and against God, to whom alone is said: "Against you only have I sinned and done evil before you."
Thomas Aquinas
"Against you alone have I sinned." Above, the Psalmist set forth the recognition of his own guilt; here he aggravates his guilt; and regarding this he does two things. First, he aggravates it. Second, he sets forth what follows from the aggravation, at "that you may be justified." He aggravates this guilt by comparison to God; and in two ways, as is said in Jer. 29: "I will be judge and witness." For he seems to despise God as judge who does not fear to sin because of his judgment. …
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