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ROM. IV. 23.
"Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to
him for righteousness; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed,
if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead."
After saying many great things of Abraham, and his faith, and
righteousness, and honor before God, lest the hearer should say,
What is this to us, for it is he that was justified? he places us
close to the Patriarch again. So great is the power of spiritual
words. For of one of the Gentiles, one who was recently come near,
one who had done no work, he not only says that he is in nothing
inferior to the Jew who believes (i.e. as a Jew), but not even to
the Patriarch, but rather, if one must give utterance to the wondrous
truth, even much greater. For so noble is our birth, that his faith
is but the type of ours. And he does not say, If it was reckoned
unto him, it is probable it will be also to us, that he might not make
it matter of syllogism. But he speaks in authentic words of the divine
law, and makes the whole a declaration of the Scripture. For why was
it written, he says, save to make us see (hat we also were justified
in this way? For it is the same God Whom we have believed, and upon
the same matters, if it be not in the case of the same persons. And
after speaking of our faith, he also mentions God's unspeakable love
towards man, which he ever presents on all sides, bringing the Cross
before us. And this he now makes plain by saying, Ver. 25.
"Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our
justification."
See how after mentioning the cause of His death, he makes the same
cause likewise a demonstration of the resurrection. For why, he
means, was He crucified? Not for any sin of His own. And this is
plain from the Resurrection. For if He were a sinner, how should
He have risen? But if He rose, it is quite plain that He was not a
sinner. But if He was not a sinner, how came He to be
crucified?--For others,--and if for others, then surely he rose
again. Now to prevent your saying, How, when liable for so great
sins, came we to be justified? he points out One that blotteth out
all sins, that both from Abraham's faith, whereby he was justified,
and from the Saviour's Passion, whereby we were freed from our
sins, he might confirm what he had said. And after mentioning His
Death, he speaks also of His Resurrection. For the purpose of His
dying was not that He might hold us liable to punishment and in
condemnation, but that He might do good unto us.
For for this cause He both died and rose again, that He might make
us righteous.
Chap. v. ver. 1. "Therefore being justi fied by faith, let us
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
What does "Let us have peace" mean? Some say, "Let us not be at
variance, through a peevish obstinacy for bringing in the Law." But
to me he seems to be speaking now of our conversation. For after
having said much on the subject of faith, he had set it before
righteousness which is by works, to prevent any one from supposing what
he said was a ground for listlessness, he says, "let us have
peace," that is, let us sin no more, nor go back to our former
estate.
For this is making war with God. And "how is it possible," saith
one, "to sin no more?" How was the former thing possible? For if
when liable for so many sins we were freed from all. by Christ, much
more shall we be able through Him to abide in the estate wherein we
are. For it is not the same thing to receive peace when there had been
none, and to keel it when it has been given, since to acquire surely
is harder than to keep. Yet nevertheless the more difficult hath been
made easy, and carried out into effect. That which is the easier
thing then will be what we shall easily succeed in, if we cling to Him
who hath wrought even the other for us. But here it is not the
easiness only which he seems to me to hint at, but the reasonableness.
For if He reconciled us when we were in open war with Him, it is
reasonable that we should abide in a state of reconciliation, and give
unto Him this reward for that He may not seem to have reconciled
untoward and unfeeling creatures to the Father.
Ver. 2. "By Whom also we have access," he says, "by faith
unto this grace. (7 Mss. add, unto, etc.)
If then He hath brought us near to Himself, when we were far off,
much more will He keep us now that we are near. And let me beg you to
consider how he everywhere sets down these two points; His part, and
our part. On His part, however, there be things varied and numerous
and diverse. For He died for us, and farther reconciled us, and
brought us to Himself, and gave us grace unspeakable. But we brought
faith only as our contribution. And so he says," "by faith, unto
this grace"What grace is this? tell me. It is the being counted
worthy of the knowledge of God, the being forced from error, the
coming to a knowledge of the Truth, the obtaining of all the blessings
that come through Baptism. For the end of His bringing us near was
that we might receive these gifts. For it was not only that we might
have simple remission of sins, that we were reconciled; but that we
might receive also countless benefits. Nor did He even pause at
these, but promised others, namely, those unutterable blessings that
pass understanding alike and language. And this is why he has set them
both down also. For by mentioning grace he clearly points at what we
have at present received, but by saying, "And we rejoice in hope of
the glory of God," he unveils the whole of things to come. And he
had well said, "wherein also we stand." For this is the nature of
God's grace. It hath no end, it knows no bound, but evermore is on
the advance to greater things, which in human things is not the case.
Take an instance of what I mean. A person has acquired rule and
glory and authority, yet he does not stand therein continuously, but
is speedily cast out of it. Or if man take it not from him, death
comes, and is sure to take it from him. But God's gifts are not of
this kind; for neither man, nor occasion, nor crisis of affairs, nor
even the Devil, nor death, can come and cast us. out of them. But
when we are dead we then more strictly speaking have possession of
them, and keep going on enjoying more and more. And so if thou feel
in doubt about those to come; from those now present, and what thou
hast already received, believe in the other also. For this is why he
says, "And we rejoice (kaukpmeqa) in hope of the glory of God,"
that you may learn, what kind of soul the faithful ought to have. For
it is not only for what hath been given, but for what is to be given,
that we ought to be filled with confidingness, as though it were
already given. For one "rejoices" in what is already given. Since
then the hope of things to come is even as sure and clear as that of
what is given, he says that in that too we in like manner "rejoice."
For this cause also he called them glory. For if it contributeth unto
God's glory, come to pass it certainly will, though it do not for
our sakes, yet for Him it will. And why am I saying (he means)
that the blessings to come are worthy of being gloried in
(kaukhsews)?
Why even the very evils of this time present are able to brighten up
our countenances, and make us find in them even our repose. Wherefore
also he added, Ver. 3. "And not only so, but we glory in
tribulations also."
Now, consider how great the things to come are, when even at things
that seem to be distressful we can be elated; so great is God's
gift, and such a nothing any distastefulness in them! For in the case
of external goods, the struggle for them brings trouble and pain and
irksomeness along with it; and it is the crowns and rewards that carry
the pleasure with them. But in this case it is not so, for the
wrestlings have to us no less relish than the rewards. For since there
were sundry temptations in those days, and the kingdom existed in
hopes, the terrors were at hand, but the good things in expectation,
and this unnerved the feebler sort, even before the crowns he gives
them the prize now, by saying that we should "glory even in
tribulations." And what he says is not "you should glory," but we
glory, giving them encouragement in his own person. Next since what
he had said had an appearance of being strange and paradoxical, if a
person who is struggling in famine, and is in chains and torments, and
insulted, and abused, ought to glory, he next goes on to confirm it.
And (what is more), he says they are worthy of being gloried in,
not only for the sake of those things to come, but for the things
present in themselves For tribulations are in their own selves a goodly
thing. How so? It is because they anoint us unto patient abiding.
Wherefore after saying we glory in tribulations, he has added the
reason, in these words, "Knowing that tribulation worketh
patience." Notice again the argumentative spirit of Paul, how he
gives their argument an opposite turn. For since it was tribulations
above all that made them give up the hopes of things to come, and which
cast them into despondency, he says that these are the very reasons for
confidingness, and for not desponding about the things to come, for
"tribulation," he says, "worketh patience."
Ver. 4, 5. "And patience experience, and experience hope; and
hope maketh not ashamed." Tribulations; that is, are so far from
confuting these hopes, that they even prove them. For before the
things to come are realized, there is a very great fruit which
tribulation hath--patience; and the making of the man that is tried,
experienced. And it contributes in some degree too to the things to
come, for it gives hope a vigor within us, since there is nothing that
so inclines a man to hope for blessings as a good conscience. Now no
man that has lived an upright life is unconfiding about things to come,
as of those who have been negligent there are many that, feeling the
burden of a bad conscience, wish there were neither judgment nor
retribution. What then? do our goods lie in hopes? Yes, in
hopes--but not mere human hopes, which often slip away, and put him
that hoped to shame; when some one, who was expected to patronize
him, dies, or is altered though he lives. No such lot is ours: our
hope is sure and unmoveable. For He Who hath made the promise ever
liveth, and we that are to be the enjoyers of it, even should we die,
shall rise again, and there is absolutely nothing which can put us to
shame, as having been elated at random, and to no purpose, upon
unsound hopes. Having then sufficiently cleared them of all
doubtfulness by these words of his, he does not let his discourse pause
at the time present, but urges again the time to come, knowing that
there were men of weaker character, who looked too for present
advantages, and were not satisfied with these mentioned. And so he
offers a proof for them in blessings already given. For lest any
should say, But what if God be unwilling to give them to us? For
that He can, and that He abideth and liveth, we all know: but how
do we know, that He is willing, also, to do it? From the things
which have been done already. "What things done?" The Love which
He hath shown for us. In doing what? some may say. In giving the
Holy Ghost. Wherefore after saying "hope maketh not ashamed," he
goes on to the proof of this, as follows:
"Because the love of God is," he does not say "given," but
"shed abroad in our hearts," so showing the profusion of it. That
gift then, which is the greatest possible, He hath given; not heaven
and earth and sea, but what is more precious than any of these, and
hath rendered us Angels from being men, yea sons of God, and
brethren of Christ. But what is this gift? The Holy Spirit. Now
had He not been willing to present us after our labors with great
crowns, He would never have given us such mighty gifts before our
labors. But now the warmth of His Love is hence made apparent, that
it is not gradually and little by little that He honors us; but He
hath shed abroad the full fountain of His blessings, and this too
before our struggles. And so, if thou art not exceedingly worthy,
despond not, since thou hast that Love of thy Judge as a mighty
pleader for thee. For this is why he himself by saying, "hope maketh
not ashamed," has ascribed everything not to our well-doings, but to
God's love. But after mentioning the gift of the Spirit, he again
passes to the Cross, speaking as follows:
Ver. 6-8. "For while we were yet without strength, Christ in
due time died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will
one die: vet pervadenture for a good man some would even dare to die.
But God commendeth His love towards us."
Now what he is saying is somewhat of this kind. For if for a virtuous
man, no one would hastily choose to die, consider thy Master's
love, when it is not for virtuous men, but for sinners and enemies
that He is seen to have been crucified--which he says too after
this, "In that, if when we were sinners Christ died for us,"
Ver. 9, 10. "Much more then, being now justified by His
Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,
much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."
And what he has said looks indeed like tautology, but it is not to any
one who accurately attends to it. Consider then. He wishes to give
them reasons for confidence respecting things to come. And first he
gives them a sense of shame from the righteous man's decision, when he
says, that he also "was fully persuaded that what God had promised
He was able also to perform;" and next from the grace that was
given; then from the tribulation, as sufficing to lead us into hopes;
and again from the Spirit, whom we have received. Next from death,
and from our former viciousness, he maketh this good. And it seems
indeed, as I said, that what he had mentioned was one thing, but it
is discovered to be two, three, and even many more. First, that
"He died:" second, that it was "for the ungodly;" third, that
He "reconciled, saved, justified" us, made us immortal, made us
sons and heirs. It is not from His Death then only, he says, that
we draw strong assertions, but from the gift which was given unto us
through His Death. And indeed if He had died only for such
creatures as we be, a proof of the greatest love would what He had
done be! but when He is seen at once dying, and yielding us a gift,
and that such a gift, and to such creatures, what was done casts into
shade our highest conceptions, and leads the very dullest on to faith.
For there is no one else that will save us, except He Who so loved
us when we were sinners, as even to give Himself up for us. Do you
see what a ground this topic affords for hope?
For before this there were two difficulties in the way of our being
saved; our being sinners, and our salvation requiring the Lord's
Death, a thing which was quite incredible before it took place, and
required exceeding love for it to take place. But now since this hath
come about, the other requisites are easier. For we have become
friends, and there is no further need of Death.
Shall then He who hath so spared his enemies as not to spare His
Son, fail to defend them now they are become friends, when He hath
no longer any need to give up his Son? For it is either because a
person does not wish it, or because though he may wish it perhaps, yet
he is unable to do it, that he does not save. Now none of these
things can be said of God. For that He is willing is plain from His
having given up His Son. But that He is able also is the very thing
He proved likewise, from the very fact of His having justified men
who were sinners. What is there then to prevent us any more from
obtaining the things to come? Nothing! Then again, lest upon
hearing of sinners, and enemies, and strengthless ones, and ungodly,
thou shouldest be inclined to feel abashed and blush; hear what he
says.
Ver. 11; "And not only so, but we also joy in God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the atonement."
What meaneth the "not only so?" Not only were we saved, he means,
but we even glory for this very reason, for which some suppose we ought
to hide our faces. For, for us who lived in so great wickedness to be
saved, was a very great mark of our being exceedingly beloved by Him
that saved us. For it was not by angels or archangels, but by His
Only-begotten Son Himself, that He saved us. And so the fact of
His saving us, and saving us too when we were in such plight, and
doing it by means of His Only-begotten, and not merely by His Only
begotten, but by His Blood, weaves for us endless crowns to glory
in. For there is not anything that counts so much in the way of glory
and confidence, as the being treated as friends (fileisqai) by God,
and finding a Friend (fileiu) in Him that loveth (agapputa) us.
This it is that maketh the angels glorious, and the principalities and
powers. This is greater than the Kingdom, and so Paul placed it
above the Kingdom. For this also I count the incorporeal powers
blessed, because they love Him, and in all things obey Him. And on
this score the Prophet also expressed his admiration at them. "Ye
that excel in strength, that fulfil His Word." (Ps. ciii.
20.) And hence too Isaiah extolleth the Seraphim, setting forth
their great excellency from their standing near that glory, which is a
sign of the greatest love.
Let us then emulate the powers above, and be desirous not only of
standing near the throne, but of having Him dwelling in us who sitteth
upon the Throne. He loved us when we hated Him, and also continueth
to love us. "For He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the
good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matt. v.
45.) As then He loveth us, do thou love Him. For He is our
Friend (filei gar). And how cometh it, some will say, that one
who is our Friend threateneth hell, and punishment, and vengeance?
It is owing to His loving us alone. For all He doeth and is busied
with, is with a view to strike out thy wickedness, and to refrain with
fear, as with a kind of bridle, thy inclinableness to the worse side,
and by blessings and by pains recovering thee from thy downward course,
and leading thee up to Him, and keeping thee from all vice, which is
worse than hell. But if thou mockest what is said, and wouldest
rather live continually in misery, than be punished for a single day,
it is no marvel. For this is but a sign of thy unformed judgment
(atlous lnwmhs), drunkenness, and incurable disorder. Since little
children even when they see the physician going to apply burning or the
knife, flee and leap away screaming and convulsed, and choose to have
a continual sore eating into their body, rather than to endure a
temporary pain, and so enjoy health afterwards. But those who have
come to discretion, know that to be diseased is worse than submitting
to the knife, as also to be wicked is worse than to be punished. For
the one is to be cured and to be healthy, the other to ruin one's
constitution and to be in continual feebleness. Now that health is
better than feebleness, surely is plain to every one. Thieves then
ought to weep not when they have their sides pierced through, but when
they pierce through walls and murder. For if the soul be better than
the body (as it is), when the former is ruined there is more reason
to groan and lament; but if a man does not feel it, so much the more
reason to bewail it. For those that love with an unchastened love
ought to be more pitied than those who have a violent fever, and those
that are drunken, than those that are undergoing torture. But if
these are more painful (some may say), how come we to give them the
preference? Because there are many of mankind, who, as the proverb
saith, like the worse, and they choose these, and pass by the
better. And this one may see happening as well in victuals as in forms
of government, in emulous aims of life too, and in the enjoyment of
pleasure, and in wives, and in houses, and in slaves, and in lands,
and in the case of all other things. For which is more pleasurable
pray, cohabiting with women or with males? with women or with mules?
Yet still we shall find many that pass over women, and cohabit with
creatures void of reason, and abuse the bodies of males. Yet natural
pleasures are greater than unnatural ones. But still many there are
that follow after things ridiculous and joyless, and accompanied with a
penalty, as if pleasurable. Well but to them, a man may say, these
things appear so. Now this alone is ground enough to make them
miserable, that they think those things to be pleasurable which are not
so. Thus they assume punishment to be worse than sin which it is not,
but just the contrary. Yet, if it were an evil to the sinner, God
would not have added evils to the evil; for He that doeth everything
to extinguish evil, would not have increased it. Being punished then
is no evil to the man who has done wrong, but not being punished, when
in that plight, is evil, just as for the infirm not to be cured.
(Plat. Gorg. p. 478, sqq.) For there is nothing so evil as
extravagant desire. And when I say, extravagant, I mean that of
luxury, and that of ill-placed glory, and that of power, and in
general that of all things which go beyond what is necessary. For such
is he who lives a soft and dissolute life, who seems to be the happiest
of men, but is the most wretched, as superinducing upon his soul harsh
and tyrannical sovereigns. For this cause hath God made the present a
life of labor to us, that He may rid us of that slavery, and bring us
into genuine freedom. For this cause He threatened punishment, and
made labors a part of our portion in life, so muzzling our vaunting
spirit. In this way the Jews also, when they were fettered to the
clay and brick making, were at once self-governed, and called
continually upon God. But when they were in the enjoyment of
freedom, then they murmured, and provoked the Lord, and pierced
themselves through with countless evils. What then, it may be said,
will you say to those frequent instances of men being altered for the
worse by tribulations? Why, that this is no effect of tribulation,
but of their own imbecility. For neither if a man had a weak stomach
and could not take a bitter medicine which would act as a purgative,
but was made even worse by it, would it be the drug we should find
fault with, but the weakness of the part, as we should therefore here
too with the yieldingness of temper. For he who is altered so by
tribulation, is much more likely to be affected in this way by laxity.
If he fails even when splinted, (or tied) (this is what affliction
is), much more will he when the bandage is removed. If when braced
up he is altered, much more when in a state of tumor (launoumenos).
And how am I, one may ask, to keep from being so altered by
tribulation? Why, if thou reflectest that, wish it or not, thou
wilt have to bear the thing inflicted: but if thou dost it with a
thankful spirit, thou wilt gain very greatly thereby but if thou art
indignant at it, and ragest and blasphemest, thou wilt not make the
calamity lighter, but thou wilt render its wave more troublous. By
feeling then in this way, let us turn what is necessary into a matter
of our own choice. What I mean is this--suppose one has lost his
own son, another all his property: if you reflect that it is not in
the nature of things for what has taken place to be undone; while it is
to gain fruit from the misfortune, though irremediable, even that of
bearing the circumstance nobly; and if instead of using blasphemous
words, thou wert to offer up words of thanksgiving to the Lord, so
would evils brought upon thee against thy will become to thee the good
deeds of a free choice. Hast thou seen a son taken prematurely away?
Say, "the Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away." Do you
see your fortune exhausted? Say, "naked came I out of my mother's
womb, and naked shall I return thither." (Job. i. 21.) Do
you see evil men faring well, and just men faring ill and undergoing
ills without number, and dost thou not know where to find the cause?
Say, "I became even as it were a beast before Thee. Yet I am
ever with Thee." (Ps. lxxiii. 22.) But if thou wilt search
out the cause, reflect that He has fixed a day in which He will judge
the world, and so you will throw off perplexity, for then every man
will meet his deserts, even as Lazarus and the rich man. Call to
mind the Apostles, for they too rejoiced at being scourged, at being
driven about and undergoing numberless sufferings, because they were
"counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name's sake." (Acts v.
41.) And do thou, then, if thou art sick, bear it nobly, and
own thyself indebted to God for it, and thou shall receive the same
reward with them. But how, when in feebleness and pain, art thou to
be able to feel grateful to the Lord? Thou wilt if thou lovest Him
sincerely. For if the Three Children who were thrown into the
furnace, and others who were in prisons, and in countless other
evils, ceased not to give thanks, much more will they who are in a
state of disease, be able to do this. For there is not, assuredly
there is not, anything which vehement desire doth not get the better
of. But when the desire is even that of God, it is higher than
anything, and neither fire, nor the sword, nor poverty, nor
infirmity, nor death, nor aught else of the kind appeareth dreadful to
one who hath gotten this love, but scorning them all, he will fly to
heaven, and will have affections no way inferior to those of its
inhabitants, seeing nothing else, neither heaven, nor earth, nor
sea, but gazing only at the one Beauty of that glory. And neither
the vexations of this life present will depress him, nor the things
which are goodly and attended with pleasure elate him or puff him up.
Let us then love with this love (for there is not anything equal unto
it) both for the sake of things present and for the sake of things to
come. Or rather, more than for these, for the nature of the love
itself. For we shall be set free both from the punishments of this
life and of that which is to come, and shall enjoy the kingdom. Yet
neither is the escape from hell, nor the fruition of the kingdom,
anything great in comparison of what is yet to be said. For greater
than all these things is it to have Christ our beloved at once and our
lover. For if when this happens with men it is above all pleasure;
when both happen from God, what language or what thought is able to
set before one the blessedness of this soul? There is none that can,
save the experience of it only. That then we may by experience come to
know what is this spiritual joy, and life of blessedness, and untold
treasure of good things, let us leave everything to cling to that
love, with a view as well to our own joy as to the glory of God. For
unto Him is the glory and power, with His Only-begotten, and the
Holy Ghost, now, and ever, and unto all ages evermore. Amen.
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