67. Some, smitten by God for instruction and not for extinction, are freed from sin. — In which words, indeed, this must be skilfully understood: that blessed Job, while he narrates his own things, transfigures others in himself. For as though speaking of himself in particular he said: Thou hast lifted me up, and, as it were setting me upon the wind, hast dashed me down mightily; I know that Thou wilt deliver me over to death, where a house is appointed for every living thing; and yet, not of himself but of others, he added: Nevertheless Thou dost not put forth Thy hand unto their consumption. For while, speaking of himself, he by reasoning subjoins the causes of others, he shows how the persons of many he signifies in himself.
The Lord therefore does not put forth His hand unto the consumption of sinners, when by striking He rebukes them from their sins, and saves those who are falling — while He wounds those falling into fault, unto the salvation of the body, so that, laid low outwardly, they may rise inwardly; to the end that, lying prostrate in body, they may return to the inner state, who, standing outwardly, were lying prostrate as regards the state of the mind. There follows: