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The blessed Paul, writing to the Romans, says, "Inasmuch then as
I am the Apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: if by any
means I may provoke to emulation them that are my flesh": and again,
in another place, "For He that wrought effectually in Peter to the
apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the
Gentiles." If therefore he were the Apostle of the Gentiles,
(for also in the Acts, God said to him, "Depart; for I will
send thee far hence unto the Gentiles," what had he to do with the
Hebrews? and why did he also write an Epistle to them?
And especially as besides, they were ill-disposed towards him, and
this is to be seen from many places. For hear what James says to
him, "Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are
which believe . . . and these all have been informed of thee that
thou teachest men to forsake the law." And oftentimes he had many
disputings concerning this.
Why therefore, one might ask, as he was so learned in the law (for
he was instructed in the law at the feet of Gamaliel, and had great
zeal in the matter, and was especially able to confound them in this
respect)--why did not God send him to the Jews? Because on this
very account they were more vehement in their enmity against him.
"For they will not endure thee," God says unto him; "But depart
far hence to the Gentiles, for they will not receive thy testimony
concerning me." Whereupon he says, "Yea, Lord, they know that
I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee;
and when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was
standing by and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them
that slew him."
And this he says is a sign and proof of their not believing him. For
thus it is: when a man goes away from any people, if he be one of the
least and of those who are nothing worth, he does not much vex those
from whom he went; but if he be among the distinguished and earnest
partisans and those who care for these things, he exceedingly grieves
and vexes them beyond measure, in that he especially overthrows their
system with the multitude.
And besides this, there was something else. What now might this be?
That they who were about Peter were also with Christ, and saw signs
and wonders; but he [Paul] having had the benefit of none of these,
but being with Jews, suddenly deserted and became one of them. This
especially promoted our cause. For while they indeed, seemed to
testify even from gratitude, and one might have said that they bore
witness to those things in love for their Master; he, on the other
hand, who testifies to the resurrection, this man was rather one who
heard a voice only. For this cause thou seest them waging war
passionately with him, and doing all things for this purpose, that
they might slay him, and raising seditions
The unbelievers, then, were hostile to him for this reason; but why
were the believers? Because in preaching to the Gentiles he was
constrained to preach Christianity purely; and if haply even in
Judaea he were found [doing so], he cared not. For Peter and they
that were with him, because they preached in Jerusalem, when there
was great fierceness, of necessity enjoined the observance of the law;
but this man was quite at liberty. The [converts] too from the
Gentiles were more than the Jews because they were without. And this
enfeebled the law, and they had no such great reverence for it,
although he preached all things purely. Doubtless in this matter they
think to shame him by numbers, saying, "Thou seest, brother, how
many ten thousands of Jews there are which are come together." On
this account they hated him and turned away from him, because "They
are informed of thee, he says, that thou teachest men to forsake the
law."
Why, then, not being a teacher of the Jews, does he send an
Epistle to them? And where were those to whom he sent it? It seems
to me in Jerusalem and Palestine. How then does he send them an
Epistle? Just as he baptized, though he was not commanded to
baptize. For, he says, "I was not sent to baptize": not,
however, that he was forbidden, but he does it as a subordinate
matter. And how could he fail to write to those, for whom he was
willing even to become accursed? Accordingly he said, "Know ye that
our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come
shortly, I will see you."
For as yet he was not arrested. Two years then he passed bound, in
Rome; then he was set free; then, having gone into Spain, he saw
Jews also in like manner; and then he returned to Rome, where also
he was slain by Nero. The Epistle to Timothy then was later than
this Epistle. For there he says, "For I am now ready to be
offered"; there also he says, "In my first answer no man stood with
me." In many places they [the Hebrew Christians] had to contend
with persecution, as also he says, writing to the Thessalonians,
"Ye became followers of the churches of Judaea": and writing to
these very persons he says, "Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your
goods." Dost thou see them contending? And if men had thus treated
the Apostles, not only in Judaea, but also wherever they were among
the Gentiles, what would they not have done to the believers? On
this account, thou seest, he was very careful for them. For when he
says, "I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints"; and
again, when he exhorts the Corinthians to beneficence, and says that
the Macedonians had already made their contribution, and says, "If
it be meet that I go also," --he means this. And when he says,
"Only that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was
forward to do,"--he declares this. And when he says, "They gave
to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go
unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision,"--he declares
this.
But this was not for the sake of the poor who were there, but that by
this we might be partakers in the beneficence. For not as the
preaching did we apportion the care for the poor to each other (we
indeed to the Gentiles, but they to the circumcision). And
everywhere thou seest him using great care for them: as was
reasonable.
Among the other nations indeed, when there were both Jews and
Greeks, such was not the case; but then, while they still seemed to
have authority and independence and to order many things by their own
laws, the government not being yet established nor brought perfectly
under the Romans, they naturally exercised great tyranny. For if in
other cities, as in Corinth, they beat the Ruler of the synagogue
before the Deputy's judgment seat, and Gallio "cared for none of
these things," but it was not so in Judaea. Thou seest indeed,
that while in other cities they bring them to the magistrates, and need
help from them. and from the Gentiles, here they took no thought of
this, but assemble a Sanhedrim themselves and slay whom they please.
Thus in fact they put Stephen to death, thus they beat the
Apostles, not taking them before rulers. Thus also they were about
to put Paul to death, had not the chief captain thrown himself [upon
them]. For this took place while the priests, while the temple,
while the ritual, the sacrifices were vet standing. Look indeed at
Paul himself being tried before the High Priest, and saying," I
wist not that he was the High Priest," and this in the presence of
the Ruler. For they had then great power. Consider then what things
they were likely to suffer who dwelt in Jerusalem and Judaea.
He then who prays to become accursed for those who were not yet
believers, and who so ministers to the faithful, as to journey
himself, if need be, and who everywhere took great care of
them;--let us not wonder if he encourage and comfort them by letters
also, and if he set them upright when tottering and fallen. For in a
word, they were worn down and despairing on account of their manifold
afflictions. And this he shows near the end, saying, "Wherefore
lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees"; and again,
"Yet a little while, he that shall come will come, and will not
tarry"; and again, "If ye be without chastisement, . . . then
are ye bastards and not sons."
For since they were Jews and learned from the fathers that they must
expect both their good and their evil immediately and must live
accordingly, but then [when the Gospel came] the opposite was
[taught]--their good things being in hope and after death, their
evils in hand, though they had patiently endured much, it was likely
that many would be fainthearted;--hereon he discourses.
But we will unfold these things at a fit opportunity. At present: he
of necessity wrote to those for whom he cared so greatly. For while
the reason why he was not sent to them is plain, yet he was not
forbidden to write. And that they were becoming fainthearted he shows
when he says, "Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble
knees, and make straight paths" and again, "God is not unrighteous
to forget your work and love." For the soul overtaken by many
trials, was turned aside even from the faith. Therefore he exhorts
them to "Give heed to the things which they have heard, and that
there should not be an evil heart of unbelief." On this account
also, in this Epistle, especially, he argues at length concerning
faith, and after much [reasoning] shows at the end that to them [of
old] also He promised good things in hand, and yet gave nothing.
And besides these things, he establishes two points that they might
not think themselves forsaken: the one, that they should bear nobly
whatever befalls them; the other, that they should look assuredly for
their recompense. For truly He will not overlook those with Abel and
the line of unrewarded righteous following him.
And he draws comfort in three ways: first, from the things which
Christ suffered: as He Himself says, "The servant is not greater
than his Lord." Next, from the good things laid up for the
believers. Thirdly, from the evils; and this point he enforces not
only from the things to come (which would be less persuasive), but
also from the past and from what had befallen their fathers. Christ
also does the same, at one time saying, "The servant is not greater
than his Lord"; and again, "There are many mansions with the
Father"; and He denounces innumerable woes on the unbelievers.
But he speaks much of both the New and the Old Covenant; for this
was useful to him for the proof of the Resurrection. Lest they should
disbelieve that [Christ] rose on account of the things which He
suffered, he confirms it from the Prophets, and shows that not the
Jewish, but ours are the sacred [institutions]. For the temple yet
stood and the sacrificial rites; therefore he says, "Let us go forth
therefore without, bearing His reproach." But this also was made an
argument against him: "If these things are a shadow, if these things
are an image, how is it that they have not passed away or given place
when the truth was manifested, but these things still flourish?"
This also he quietly intimates shall happen, and that at a time close
at hand.
Moreover, he makes it plain that they had been a long time in the
faith and in afflictions, saying, "When for the time ye ought to be
teachers," and, "Lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief," and ye became "Followers of them who through patience
inherit the promises."
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