The Prayer of Manasseh [v. 8]: “Repentance is not set for the just.”
The Prayer of Manasseh [v. 8]: “Repentance is not set for the just.”
§ 138. Why, then, does Manasseh say, “Repentance is not set for the just, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc., but only for sinners” [v. 8]?
We respond. (1) The Prayer of Manasseh is not in the canon because it stands in neither the Hebrew nor the Greek.
(2) The words are not meant absolutely and simply, as if Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the rest of the saints were not conceived in original sin and were wholly free of it and of all actual sins, since not only the general statements of Scripture but also the specific history of each of them bear witness to the contrary.
(3) Rather, this must be understood comparatively, namely, in reference to notorious and atrocious sins, about the great heap and degree of sins into which Manasseh had hurled himself.