10:11: Thus you shall say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and
the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
This should be said to false gods that have been put together by
craftsmanship, for they did not make the heavens and the earth. Those who are
“cooperators with Christ,” who are called “gods” and “lords,” fashion these
things for the most part out of ecclesiastical teaching. (Jerome, Commentary
on Jeremiah [trans. Michael Graves; Ancient Christian Texts; Downers Grove,
Ill. : IVP Academic, 2011], 68)
In a note to the
above, Graves notes that:
The phrase cooperatores Christi
is ironic, and the mention of “gods” and “lords” is an allusion to 1 Cor 8:5.
Jerome is trying to associate the pride of idolatry with the pride ascribed to
the followers of Pelagius. By twisting the ecclesiastical teaching, they
fashion for themselves the idolatrous assertion that they cooperate with Christ
in salvation, thus making themselves out to be gods (as Jerome sees it).
According to Jerome, to claim to cooperate with Christ in this way is like an
idol claiming to have assisted God in making the world. (Ibid., 68
n. 245)
