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Ephesians 6:14. "Stand therefore, having
girded your loins with truth."
Having drawn up this army, and roused their
zeal,-for both these things were requisite,
both that they should be drawn up in array and
subject to each other, and that their spirit
should be aroused,-and having inspired them
with courage, for this was requisite also, he
next proceeds also to arm them. For arms had
been of no use, had they not been first posted
each in his own place, and had not the spirit of
the soldier's soul been roused; for we must
first arm him within, and then without.
Now if this is the case with soldiers, much
more is it with spiritual soldiers. Or rather
in their case, there is no such thing as arming
them without, but everything is within. He
hath roused their ardor, and set it on fire, he
hath added confidence. He hath set them in due
array. Observe how he also puts on the armor.
"Stand therefore," saith he. The very first
feature in tactics is, to know how to stand
well, and many things will depend upon that.
Hence he discourses much concerning standing,
saying also elsewhere, "Watch ye, stand
fast." (1 Cor. 16:13) And again,
"So stand fast in the Lord." (Phil.
4:1) And again, "Let him that thinketh he
standeth, take heed test he fall." (1 Cor.
10:12) And again, "That ye may be
able, having done all, to stand." (Eph.
6:13) Doubtless then he does not mean
merely any way of standing, but a correct way,
and as many as have had experience in wars know
how great a point it is to know how to stand.
For if in the case of boxers and wrestlers, the
trainer recommends this before anything else,
namely, to stand firm, much more will it be the
first thing in warfare, and military matters.
The man who, in a true sense, stands, is
upright; he stands not in a lazy attitude, not
leaning upon anything. Exact uprightness
discovers itself by the way of standing, so that
they who are perfectly upright, they stand.
But they who do not stand, cannot be upright,
but are unstrung and disjointed. The luxurious
man does not stand upright, but is bent; so is
the lewd man, and the lover of money. He who
knows how to stand will from his very standing,
as from a sort of foundation, find every part of
the conflict easy to him.
"Stand therefore," saith he, "having girded
your loins with truth." He is not speaking of
a literal, physical girdle, for all the
language in this passage he employs in a
spiritual sense. And observe how methodically
he proceeds. First he girds up his soldier?
What then is the meaning of this? The man that
is loose in his life, and is dissolved in his
lusts, and that has his thoughts trailing on the
ground, him he braces up by means of this
girdle, not suffering him to be impeded by the
garments entangling his legs, but leaving him to
run with his feet well at liberty. "Stand
therefore, having girded your loins," saith
he. By the "loins" here he means this; just
what the keel is in ships, the same are the
loins with us the basis or groundwork of the
whole body: for they are, as it were, a
foundation, and upon them as the schools of the
physicians tell you, the whole frame is built.
So then in "girding up the loins" he compacts
the foundation of our soul; for he is not of
course speaking of these loins of our body, but
is discoursing spiritually: and as the loins are
the foundation alike of the parts both above and
below, so is it also in the case of these
spiritual loins. Oftentimes, we know, when
persons are fatigued, they put their hands there
as if upon a sort of foundation, and in that
manner support themselves; and for this reason
it is that the girdle is used in war, that it
may bind and hold together this foundation, as
it were, in our frame; for this reason too it
is that when we run we gird ourselves. It is
this which guards our strength. Let this then,
saith he, be done also with respect to the
soul, and then in doing anything whatsoever we
shall be strong; and it is a thing most
especially becoming to soldiers.
True, you may say, but these our natural loins
we gird with a leathern band; but we, spiritual
soldiers, with what? I answer, with that
which is the head and crown of all our thoughts,
I mean, "with truth." "Having girded your
loins," saith he, "with truth." What then
is the meaning of "with truth"? Let us love
nothing like falsehood, all our duties let us
pursue "with truth," let us not lie one to
another. Whether it be an opinion, let us seek
the truth, or whether it be a line of life, let
us seek the true one. If we fortify ourselves
with this, if we "gird ourselves with truth,"
then shall no one overcome us. He who seeks the
doctrine of truth, shall never fall down to the
earth; for that the things which are not true
are of the earth, is evident from this, that
all they that are without are enslaved to the
passions, following their own reasonings; and
therefore if we are sober, we shall need no
instruction in the tales of the Greeks. Seest
thou how weak and frivolous they are? incapable
of entertaining about God one severe thought or
anything above human reasoning? Why? Because
they are not "girded about with truth";
because their loins, the receptacle of the seed
of life, and the main strength of their
reasonings, are ungirt; nothing then can be
weaker than these. And the Manicheans again,
seest thou, how all the things they have the
boldness to utter, are from their own
reasonings? "It was impossible," say they,
"for God to create the world without matter."
Whence is this so evident? These things they
say, groveling, and from the earth, and from
what happens amongst ourselves; because man,
they say, cannot create otherwise. Marcion
again, look what he says. "God, if He took
upon Him flesh, could not remain pure."
Whence is this evident? "Because," says
he, "neither can men." But men are able to
do this. Valentinus again, with his reasonings
all trailing along the ground, speaks the things
of the earth; and in like manner Paul of
Samosata. And Arius, what does he say?
"It was impossible for God hen He begat, to
beget without passion." Whence, Arius, hast
thou the boldness to allege this; merely from
the things which take place amongst ourselves?
Seest thou how the reasonings of all these trail
along on the ground? All are, as it were, let
loose and unconfined, and savoring of the
earth? And so much then for doctrines. With
regard to life and conduct, again,
whoremongers, lovers of money, and of glory,
and of everything else, trail on the ground.
They have not their loins themselves standing
firm, so that when they are weary they may rest
upon them; but when they are weary, they do not
put their hands upon them and stand upright, but
flag. He, however, who "is girt about with
the truth," first, never is weary; and
secondly, if he should be weary, he will rest
himself upon the truth itself. What? Will
poverty, tell me, render him weary? No, in
nowise; for he will repose on the true riches,
and by this poverty will understand what is true
poverty. Or again, will slavery make him
weary? No, in nowise, for he will know what
is the true slavery. Or shall disease? No,
nor even that. "Let your loins," saith
Christ, "be girded about, and your lamps
burning" (Luke 12:35), with that light
which shall never be put out. This is what the
Israelites also, when they were departing out
of Egypt (Ex. 12:11), were charged to
do. For why did they eat the passover with
their loins girded? Art thou desirous to hear
the ground of it? According to the historical
fact, or according to its mystical sense, shall
I state it? But I will state them both, and
do ye retain it in mind, for I am not doing it
without an object, merely that I may tell you
the solution, but also that my words may become
in you reality. They had, we read, their
loins girded, and their staff in their hands,
and their shoes on their feet, and thus they ate
the Passover. Awful and terrible mysteries,
and of vast depth; and if so terrible in the
type, how much more in the reality? They come
forth out of Egypt, they eat the Passover.
Attend. "Our Passover hath been sacrificed,
even Christ," it is said. Wherefore did they
have their loins girded? Their guise is that of
wayfarers; for their having shoes, and staves
in their hands, and their eating standing,
declares nothing else than this. Will ye hear
the history first, or the mystery? Better the
history first. What then is the design of the
history? The Jews were continually forgetting
God's benefits to them. Accordingly then,
God tied the sense of these, His benefits,
not only to the time, but also to the very habit
of them that were to eat. For this is why they
were to eat girded and sandalled, that when they
were asked the reason, they might say, "we
were ready for our journey, we were just about
to go forth out of Egypt to the land of promise
and we were ready for our exodus." This then
is the historical type. But the reality is
this; we too eat a Passover, even Christ;
"for," saith he, "our Passover hath been
sacrificed, even Christ." (1 Cor.
5:7) What then? We too ought to eat it,
both sandalled and girded. And why? That we
too may be ready for our Exodus, for our
departure hence.
MORAL. Let not any one of them that eat
this Passover look towards Egypt, but towards
Heaven, towards "Jerusalem that is above."
(Gal. 4:26) On this account thou eatest
with thy loins girded, on this account thou
eatest with shoes on thy feet, that thou mayest
know, that from the moment thou first beginnest
to eat the Passover, thou oughtest to set out,
and to be upon thy journey. And this implies
two things, both that we must depart out of
Egypt, and that, whilst we stay, we must stay
henceforth as in a strange country; "for our
citizenship," saith he, "is in Heaven"
(Phil. 3:20); and that all our life long
we should ever be prepared, so that when we are
called we may not put it off, but say, "My
heart is fixed." (Ps. 108:1) "Yes,
but this Paul indeed could say, who knew
nothing against himself; but I, who require a
long time for repentance, I cannot say it."
Yet that to be girded is the part of a waking
soul, hearken to what God says to that
righteous man, "Gird up now thy loins like a
man, for I will demand of thee, and declare
thou unto Me." (Job 38:3) This He
says also to all the prophets, and this He says
again to Moses, to be girded. And He
Himself also appears to Ezekiel (Ezek.
9:11, Sept.) girded. Nay more, and the
Angels, too, appear to us girded (Rev.
15:6), as being soldiers. From our being
girded about, it comes that we also stand
bravely as from our standing our being girded
comes.
For we also are going to depart, and many are
the difficulties that intervene. When we have
crossed this plain, straightway the devil is
upon us, doing everything, contriving every
artifice, to the end that those who have been
saved out of Egypt, those who have passed the
Red Sea, those who are delivered at once from
the evil demons, and from unnumbered plagues,
may be taken and destroyed by him. But, if we
be vigilant, we too have a pillar of fire, the
grace of the Spirit. The same both enlightens
and overshadows us. We have manna; yea rather
not manna, but far more than manna. Spiritual
drink we have, not water, that springs forth
from the Rock. So have we too our encampment
(Rev. 20:9), and we dwell in the desert
even now; for a desert indeed without virtue,
is the earth even now, even more desolate than
that wilderness. Why was that desert so
terrible? Was it not because it had scorpions
in it, and adders? (Deut. 8:15) "A
land," it is said, "which none passed
through." (Jer. 2:6). Yet is not that
wilderness, no, it is not so barren of fruits,
as is this human nature. At this instant, how
many scorpions, how many asps are in this
wilderness, how many serpents, how many
"offsprings of vipers" (Matt. 3:7) are
these through whom we at this instant pass! Yet
let us not be afraid; for the leader of this our
Exodus is not Moses, but Jesus.
How then is it that we shall not suffer the same
things? Let us not commit the same acts, and
then shall we not suffer the same punishment.
They murmured, they were ungrateful; let us
therefore not cherish these passions. How was
it that they fell all of them? "They despised
the pleasant land." (Ps. 106:24)
"How 'despised' it? Surely they prized it
highly." By becoming indolent and cowardly,
and not choosing to undergo any labors to obtain
it. Let not us then "despise" Heaven! This
is what is meant by "despising." Again,
among us also has fruit been brought, fruit from
Heaven, not the cluster of grapes borne upon
the staff (Num. 13:23), but the
"earnest of the Spirit" (2 Cor.
1:22), "the citizenship which is in
Heaven" (Phil. 3:20), which Paul and
the whole company of the Apostles, those
marvelous husbandmen, have taught us. It is
not Caleb the son of Jephunneh, nor Jesus the
son of Nun, that hath brought these fruits;
but Jesus the Son of "the Father of mercies"
(2 Cor. 1:3), the Son of the Very
God, hath brought every virtue, hath brought
down from Heaven all the fruits that are from
thence, the songs of heaven hath He brought.
For the words which the Cherubim above say,
these hath He charged us to say also, "Holy,
Holy, Holy." He hath brought to us the
virtue of the Angels. "The Angels marry
not, neither are given in marriage" (Matt.
22:30) this fair plant hath He planted
here also. They love not money, nor anything
like it; and this too hath He sown amongst us.
They never die and this hath He freely given us
also, for death is no longer death, but sleep.
For hearken to what He saith, "Our friend
Lazarus is fallen asleep." (John
11:11)
Seest thou then the fruits of "Jerusalem that
is above"? (Gal. 4:26) And what is
indeed more stupendous than all is this, that
our war-fire is not decided, but all these
things are given us before the attainment of the
promise For they indeed toiled even after they
had entered into the land of
promise;-rather, they toiled not, for had
they chosen to obey God, they might have taken
all the cities, without either arms or array.
Jericho, we know, they overturned, more after
the fashion of dancers than of warriors. We
however have no warfare after we have entered
into the land of promise, that is, into
Heaven, but only so long as we are, in the
wilderness, that is, in the present life.
"For he that is entered into his rest hath
himself also rested from his works as God did
from His." (Heb. 4:10) "Let us not
then be weary in well-doing, for in due season
we shall reap, if we faint not." (Gal.
6:9) Seest thou how that just as He led
them, so also He leads us? In their case,
touching the manna and the wilderness, it is
said, "He that gathered much had nothing
over, and he that gathered little had no
lack." (Ex. 16:18) And we have this
charge given us, "not to lay up treasure upon
the earth." (Matt. 6:19) But if we do
lay up treasure, it is no longer the earthly
worm that corrupts it, as was the case with the
manna, but that which dwelleth eternally with
fire. Let us then "subdue all things," that
we furnish not food to this worm. For "he,"
it is said, "who gathered much had nothing
over." For this too happens with ourselves
also every day. We all of us have but the same
capacity of hunger to satisfy. And that which
is more than this, is but an addition of cares.
For what He intended in after-times to
deliver, saying, "Sufficient unto the day is
the evil thereof" (Matt. 6:34), this
had He thus been teaching even from the very
beginning, and not even thus did they receive
it. But as to us, let us not be insatiable,
let us not be discontented, let us not be
seeking out for splendid houses; for w are on
our pilgrimage, not at home; so that if there
be any that knows that the present life is a sort
of journey, and expedition, and, as one might
say, it is what they call an entrenched camp,
he will not be seeking for splendid buildings.
For who, tell me, be he ever so rich, would
choose to build a splendid house in an
encampment? No one; he would be a laughing
stock, he would be building for his enemies,
and would the more effectually invite them on;
and so then, if we be in our senses, neither
shall we. The present life is nothing else than
a march and an encampment.
Wherefore, I beseech you, let us do all we
can, so as to lay up no treasure here; for if
the thief should come, we must in a moment arise
and depart. "Watch," saith He, "for ye
know not at what hour the thief cometh"
(Matt. 24:42, 43), thus naming
death. O then, before he cometh, let us send
away everything before us to our native country;
but here let us be "well girded," that we may
be enabled to overcome our enemies, whom God
grant that we may overcome, through the grace
and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ,
with Whom together with the Holy Ghost, be
unto the Father glory, strength, honor forever
and ever. Amen.
St. John Chrysostom
Homilies on Ephesians
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