Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.
Ver. 29. That God hath made man upright,] viz., In his own image - i.e., " knowledge" in his understanding part, "rightness" in his will, and "holiness" in his affections: Col 3:10 his heart was a lump of love, &c., when he came first out of God's mint, he shone most glorious, clad with the royal robe of righteousness, created with the imperial crown. Psa 8:5 But the devil soon stripped him of it; he cheated and robbed him of the crown, as we use to do children, with the apple, or whatsoever fruit it was that he tendered to Eve: Porrexit pomum et surripuit paradisum. a He also set his limbs in the place of God's image, so that now, Is qui factus est homo differt ab eo quem Deus fecit, as Philo saith, man is now of another make than God made him. Totus homo est inversus decalogus, Whole evil is in man, and whole man in evil. Neither can he cast the blame upon God, but must fault himself, and flee to the second Adam for repair.
But they have sought out many inventions.] New tricks and devices, like those poetic fictions and fabulous relations, whereof there is neither proof nor profit. The Vulgate Latin hath it, Et ipse se infinitis miscuit quaestionibus; And he hath entangled himself with numberless questions and fruitless speculations. See 1 Timothy 1:4; 1 Timothy 6:4, "doting about questions," or question sick. Bernard reads it thus, Ipse autem se implicuit doloribus multis, but he hath involved himself in many troubles, the fruit of his inventions, shifts, and shirking tricks. see Jer 6:19
a Bernard, lib. i. Legis Allegor.