them out of hatred and envy of Christ; neither
would they believe His words, whereby He avowed that He was the Son
of God. Hence He Himself says of them (John 15:22): "If I had not
come, and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have
no excuse for their sin." And afterwards He adds (John 15:24): "If I
had not done among them the works that no other man hath done, they
would not have sin." And so the expression employed by Job (21:14)
can be accepted on their behalf: "(Who) said to God: depart from us,
we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways."

But those of lesser degree--namely, the common folk--who had not
grasped the mysteries of the Scriptures, did not fully comprehend
that He was the Christ or the Son of God. For although some of them
believed in Him, yet the multitude did not; and if they doubted
sometimes whether He was the Christ, on account of the manifold signs
and force of His teaching, as is stated John 7:31, 41, nevertheless
they were deceived afterwards by their rulers, so that they did not
believe Him to be the Son of God or the Christ. Hence Peter said to
them: "I know that you did it through ignorance, as did also your
rulers"--namely, because they were seduced by the rulers.

Reply Obj. 1: Those words are spoken by the husbandmen of the
vineyard; and these signify the rulers of the people, who knew Him to
be the heir, inasmuch as they knew Him to be the Christ promised in
the Law, but the words of Ps. 2:8 seem to militate against this
answer: "Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the Gentiles for Thy
inheritance"; which are addressed to Him of whom it is said: "Thou
art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee." If, then, they knew Him
to be the one to whom the words were addressed: "Ask of Me, and I
will give Thee the Gentiles for Thy inheritance," it follows that
they knew Him to be the Son of God. Chrysostom, too, says upon the
same passage that "they knew Him to be the Son of God." Bede
likewise, commenting on the words, "For they know not what they do"
(Luke 23:34), says: "It is to be observed that He does not pray for
them who, understanding Him to be the Son of God, preferred to
crucify Him rather than acknowledge Him." But to this it may be
replied that they knew Him to be the Son of God, not from His Nature,
but from the excellence of His singular grace.

Yet we may hold that they are said to have known also that He was
verily the Son of God, in that they had evident signs thereof: y