Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Job 21:4

Western Saints

Gregory the Dialogist

Ver. 4. As for me, is my dispute against man, that I should not be justly sad? 42. Whosoever in pleasing God displeases man, has no grounds for sadness. But he, who in pleasing man displeases God, or thinks that he displeases both God and man together, if sadness does not come upon him, proves a stranger to the excellency of wisdom. …

Morals on the Book of Job, Book XV ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Lest his words will be necessarily condemned, he shows that he is about to speak the great matters of divine judgment and not human judgments. Thus he says, "Is my debate against a man so that I should not be sad with merit?", as if to say: If the intention of my argument was to question whether a man justly or unjustly afflicted me, in whatever way this happened, I would lack sadness with reason. But my intention is to inquire how this has happened by the just judgment of God.

Commentary on Job ↗