For whoso despiseth wisdom and nurture, he is miserable, and their hope is vain, their labours unfruitful, and their works unprofitable:
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Solomon 3:11 Go To Wisdom of Solomon 3
Fulgentius of Ruspe
AD 533
What person, might I ask, who is living badly and hears the apostle say, "If anyone destroys God"s temple, God will destroy him," if he is not converted in this life, could dare to assure himself of a hope of future pardon? Who would not fall trembling to the ground? Who would not hasten to penitence with a humble spirit, before the end of this present life? The apostle cries out, "If someone destroys God"s temple, God will destroy him," and the vain person seduces himself with an extremely perverse thought, saying, "Even if I violate God"s temple and live badly until the end, I will be saved." Is not the apostle speaking of such people when he says, "Let us do evil that good may result (and their condemnation is just)"? It is not these that sacred Scripture calls unhappy and their hope completely vain when it says, "The one who disdains wisdom and discipline is unhappy. Their hope is vain, and their labor without fruit." Salvation will not be given, therefore, to the wicked but to the righteous, that is, to those who have corrected themselves and converted before the end of this life. Salvation will be given to the good who, by conversion, have pursued friendship with God. It will not be given to the bad who, remaining friends of the world, rightly deserve to be called enemies of God, in the words of the apostle"s reproach. Blessed James in fact rebukes them, saying, "Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with this world is enmity with God? If, therefore, one wants to be a friend of this world, he makes himself an enemy of God."
