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1 COR. III., 12--15.
If any man build upon this foundation gold,
silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble;
each man's work shall be made manifest: for the
day shall declare it, because it is revealed in
fire; and the fire shall prove each man's work
of what sort it is. If any man's work abide
which he built thereon, he shall receive a
reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he
shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be
saved; yet so as through fire.
THIS is no small subject of enquiry which we
propose, but rather about things which are of
the first necessity and which all men enquire
about; namely, whether hell fire have any end.
For that it hath no end Christ indeed declared
when he said, "Their fire shall not be
quenched, and their worm shall not die. [Mark
viii. 44, 46, 48.]
Well: I know that a Chill comes over you
(narkate) on hearing these things; but what am
I to do? For this is God's own command,
continually to sound these things in your ears,
where He says, "Charge this people;
(Fors. Exod. xix. 10. 20.
diamarturai, Sept. here diasteilai,) and
ordained as we have been unto the ministry of the
word, we must give pain to our hearers, not
willingly but on compulsion. Nay rather, if
you will, we shall avoid giving you pain. For
saith He, (Rom. xiii. 3, in substance.)
"if thou do that which is good, fear not:" so
that it is possible for you to hear me not only
without ill-will, but even with pleasure.
As I said then; that it hath no end, Christ
has declared. Paul also saith, in pointing out
the eternity of the punishment, that the sinners
"shall pay the penalty of destruction, and that
for ever" (2, Thes. i. 9.) And again,
(1 COR. VI. 9.) "Be not deceived;
neither fornicators. nor adulterers, nor
effeminate, shall inherit the the kingdom of
God." And also unto the Hebrews he saith,
(Heb. xii. 14.) "Follow peace with all
men, and the sanctification without which no man
shall see the Lord." And Christ also, to
those who said, "In thy Name we have done
many wonderful works," saith, "Depart from
Me, I know you not, ye workers of iniquity"
(St. Matt. vii. 22.) And the virgins
too who were shut out, entered in no more. And
also about those who gave Him no food, He
saith, (St. Matt. xxv. 46.) "They
shall go away into everlasting punishment."
And say not unto me, "where is the rule of
justice preserved entire, if the punishment hath
no end?" Rather, when God doeth any thing,
obey His decisions and submit not what is said
to human reasonings. But moreover, how can it
be any thing else than just for one who hath
experienced innumerable blessings from the
beginning, and then committed deeds worthy of
punishment, and neither by threat nor benefit
improved at all, to suffer punishment? For if
thou enquire what is absolute justice; it was
meet that we should have perished immediately
from the beginning, according to the definition
of strict justice. Rather not even then
according to the rule of justice only; for the
result would have had in it kindness too, if we
had suffered this also. For when any one
insults him that hath done him no wrong,
according to the rule of justice he suffers
punishment: but when it is his benefactor,
who, bound by no previous favor, bestowed
innumerable kindnesses, who alone is the Author
of his being, who is God, who breathed his
soul into him, who gave ten thousand gifts of
grace, whose will is to take him up into
heaven;--when, I say, such an one, after
so great blessings, is met by insult, daily
insult, in the conduct of the other party; how
can that other be thought worthy of pardon?
Dost thou not see how He punished Adam for one
single sin?
"Yes," you will say; "but He had given him
Paradise and caused him to enjoy much favor."
Nay, surely it is not all as one, for a man to
sin in the enjoyment of security and ease, and
in a state of great affliction. In fact, this
is the dreadful circumstance that thy sins are
the sins of one not in any Paradise but amid the
innumerable evils of this life; that thou art
not sobered even by affliction, as though one in
prison should still practise his crime.
However, unto thee He hath promised things yet
greater than Paradise. But neither hath He
given them now, least He should unnerve thee in
the season of conflicts; nor hath He been
silent about them, lest He should quite cast
thee down with thy labors. As for Adam, he
committed but one sin and brought on himself
certain death; whereas we commit ten thousand
transgressions daily. Now if he by that one act
brought on himself so great an evil and
introduced death; what shall not we suffer who
continually live in sins, and instead of
Paradise, have the expectation of heaven?
The argument is irksome and pains the hearer:
were it only by my own feelings, I know this.
For indeed my heart is troubled and throbs; and
the more I see the account of hell confirmed,
the more do I tremble and shrink through fear.
But it is necessary to say these things lest we
fall into hell.
What thou didst receive was not paradise, nor
trees and plants, but heaven and the good things
in the heavens. Now if he that had received
less was comdemned, and no consideration
exempted him, much more shall we who have sinned
more abundantly, and have been called unto
greater things, endure the woes without remedy.
Consider, for example, how long a time, but
for one single sin, our race abides in death.
Five thousand years and more have passed, and
death hath not yet been done away, on account of
one single sin. And we cannot even say that
Adam had heard prophets, that he had seen
others punished for sins, and it was meet that
he should have been terrified thereby and
corrected, were it only by the example. For he
was at that time first, and alone; but
nevertheless he was punished. But thou canst
not have anything of this sort to advance, who
after so many examples art become worse; to whom
so excellent a Spirit hath been vouch-safed,
and yet thou drawest upon thyself not one sin,
nor two, nor three, but sins without number!
For do not, because the sin is committed in a
small moment, calculate that therefore the
punishment also must be a matter of a moment.
Seest thou not those men, who for a single
theft or a single act of adultery, committed in
a small moment of time, oftentimes have spent
their whole life in prisons, and in mines,
struggling with continual hunger and every kind
of death? And there was no one to set them at
liberty, or to say, "The offence took place
in a small moment of time; the punishment too
should have its time equivalent to that of the
sin."
But, "They are men," some one will say,
"who do these things; as for God, He is
loving unto men." Now, first of all, not
even men do these things in cruelty, but in
humanity. And God Himself, as He is loving
unto men," in the same character doth He
punish sins. (Sirac. xvi. 12.) "For as
His mercy is great, so also is His reproof."
When therefore thou sayest unto me, "God is
loving unto men," then thou tellest me of so
much the greater reason for punishing: namely,
our sinning against such a Being. Hence also
Paul said, (Heb. x. 31.) "It is a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God." Endure I beseech you, the
fiery force of the words, for perhaps--perhaps
you will have some consolation from hence! Who
among men can punish as God has punished? when
He caused a deluge and entire destruction of a
race so numerous; and again, when, a little
while after, He rained fire from above, and
utterly destroyed them all? What punishment
from men can be like that? Seest thou not that
the punishment even in this world is almost
eternal? Four thousand years have passed away,
and the punishment of the Sodomites abideth at
its height. For as His mercy is great, so
also is His punishment.
Again: if He had imposed any burdensome or
impossible things, one might perhaps have been
able to urge difficulty of the laws: but if they
be extremely easy, what can we say for our not
regarding even these? Suppose thou art unable
to fast or to practice virginity; although thou
art able if thou wilt, and they who have been
able are a condemnation to us. But, however,
God hath not used this strictness towards us;
neither hath He enjoined these things nor laid
them down as laws, but left the choice to be at
the discretion of the hearers. Nevertheless,
thou art able to be chaste in marriage; and thou
art able to abstain from drunkenness. Art thou
unable to empty thyself of all thy goods? Nay
surely thou art able; and they who have done so
prove it. But nevertheless He hath not
enjoined this, but hath commanded not to be
rapacious, and of our means to assist those who
are in want. But if a man say, I cannot even
be content with a wife only, he deceiveth
himself and reasoneth falsely; and they condemn
him who without a wife lives in chastity. But
how, tell me, canst thou help using abusive
words? canst thou not help cursing?
Why, the doing these things is irksome, not
the refraining from them. What excuse then have
we for not observing precepts so easy and light?
We cannot name any at all. That the punishment
then is eternal is plain from all that hath been
said.
But since Paul's saying appears to some to
tell the other way, come let us bring it forward
also and search it out thoroughly. For having
said, "If any man's work abide which he hath
built thereon, he shall receive a reward; and
if any man's work shall be burned, he shall
suffer loss," he adds, "but himself shall be
saved, yet so as through fire." What shall we
say then to this? Let us consider first what is
"the Foundation," and what "the gold," and
what "the precious stones," and what "the
hay," and what the "stubble."
"The Foundation," then, he hath himself
plainly signified to be Christ, saying, "For
other foundation can no man lay than that which
is laid, which," he saith "is Jesus
Christ."
Next, the building seems to me to be actions.
Although some maintain that this also is spoken
concerning teachers and disciples and concerning
corrupt heresies: but the reasoning doth not
admit it. For if this be it, in what sense,
while "the work is destroyed," is the
"builder" to be "saved," though it be
"through fire?" Of right, the author ought
rather of the two to perish; but now it will be
found that the severer penalty is assigned to him
who hath been built into the work. For if the
teacher was the cause of the wickedness, he is
worthy to suffer severer punishment: how then
shall he be "saved?" If, on the contrary,
he was not the cause but the disciples became
such through their own perverseness, he is no
whit deserving of punishment, no, nor yet of
sustaining loss: he, I say, who builded so
well. In what sense then doth he say, "he
shall suffer loss?"
From this it is plain that the discourse is
about actions. For since he means next in
course to put out his strength against the man
who had committed fornication, he begins high up
and long beforehand to lay down the
preliminaries. For he knew how while discussing
one subject, in the very discourse about that
thing to prepare the grounds of another to which
he intends to pass on. For so in his rebuke for
not awaiting one another at their meals, he laid
the grounds of his discourse concerning the
mysteries. And also because now he is hastening
on towards the fornicator, while speaking about
the "Foundation," he adds, "Know ye not
that ye are the Temple of God? and that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man
destroy (Fqeirh, rec. version,
"defile.") the Temple of God, him will
God destroy." Now these things, he said, as
beginning now to agitate with fears the soul of
him that had been unchaste.
Ver. 12. "If any man build upon this
foundation, gold, silver, costly stones,
wood, hay, stubble." For after the faith
there is need of edification: and therefore he
saith elsewhere, "Edify one another with these
words." (perhaps 1 Thess. v. 11; iv.
5.) For both the artificer and the learner
contribute to the edifying. Wherefore he
saith, "But let every man take heed how he
buildeth thereon." (1 COR. III. 10.)
But if faith had been the subject of these
sayings, the thing affirmed is not reasonable.
For in the faith all ought to be equal, since
"them is but one faith;" (Eph. iv. 5.)
but in goodness of life it is not possible that
all should be the same. Because the faith is
not m one case less, in another more excellent,
but the same in all those who truly believe.
But in life there is room for some to be more
diligent, others more slothful; some stricter,
and others more ordinary; that some should have
done well in greater things, others in less;
that the errors of some should have been more
grievous, of others less notable. On this
account he saith, "Gold, silver, costly
stones, wood, hay, stubble,--every man's
work shall be made manifest: "--his conduct;
that is what he speaks of here:--"If any
man's work abide which he built thereupon, he
shall receive a reward; if any man's work shall
be burned, he shall suffer loss." Whereas,
if the saying related to disciples and teachers,
he ought not to "suffer loss" for disciples
refusing to hear. And therefore he saith,
"Every man shall receive his own reward
according to his own labor" not according to the
result, but according to "the labor." For
what if the hearers gave no heed?
Wherefore this passage also proves that the
saying is about actions.
Now his meaning is this: If any man have an
ill life with a right faith, his faith shall not
shelter him from punishment, his work being
burnt up. The phrase, "shall be burned up,"
means, "shall not endure the violence of the
fire." But just as if a man having golden
armor on were to pass through a river of fire,
he comes from crossing it all the brighter; but
if he were to pass through it with hay, so far
from profiling, he destroys himself besides; so
also is the case in regard of men's works. For
he doth not say this as if he were discoursing of
material things being burnt up, but with a view
of making their fear more intense, and of
shewing how naked of all defence he is who abides
in wickedness. Wherefore he said, "He shall
suffer loss:" lo, here is one punishment:
"but he himself shall be saved, but so as by
fire;" lo, again, here is a second. And his
meaning is, "He himself shall not perish in
the same way as his works, passing into nought,
but he shall abide in the tire.
"He calleth it, however, "Salvation," you
will say; why, that is the cause of his
adding, "so as by fire:" since we also used
to say, "It is preserved in the fire," when
we speak of those substances which do not
immediately burn up and become ashes. For do
not at sound of the word fire imagine that those
who are burning pass into annihilation. And
though he call such punishment Salvation, be
not astonished. For his custom is in things
which have an ill sound to use fair expressions,
and in good things the contrary. For example,
the word "Captivity" seems to be the name of
an evil thing, but Paul has applied it in a
good sense, when he says, "Bringing into
captivity every thought to the obedience of
Christ." (2 Cor. x. 5.) And again,
to an evil thing he hath applied a good word,
saying, "Sin reigned," (Rom. v. 21.)
here surely the term "reigning" is rather of
auspicious sound. And so here in saying, "he
shall be saved," he hath but darkly hinted at
the intensity of the penalty: as if he had
said, "But himself shall remain forever in
punishment." He then makes an inference,
saying, Ver. 16. "Know ye not that ye are
the Temple of God?" For since he had
discoursed in the section before, concerning
those who were dividing the Church, he
thenceforward attacks him also who had been
guilty of uncleanness; not indeed as yet in
plain terms but in a general way; hinting at his
corrupt mode of life and enhancing the sin, by
the Gift which had been already given to him.
Then also he puts all the rest to shame,
arguing from these very blessings which they had
already: for this is what he is ever doing,
either from the future or from the past, whether
grievous or encouraging. First, from things
future; "For the day shall declare it,
because it is revealed by fire."
Again, from things already come to pass;
"Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God,
and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"
Ver. 17. "If any man destroy the Temple
of God, him will God destroy." Dost thou
mark the sweeping vehemence of his words?
However, so long as the person is unknown,
what is spoken is not so invidious, all dividing
among themselves the fear of rebuke.
"Him will God destroy," that is, will cause
him to perish. And this is not the word of one
denouncing a curse, but of one that
prophesieth.
"For the Temple of God is holy:" but he
that hath committed fornication is profane.
Then, in order that he might not seem to spend
his earnestness upon that one, in saying, "for
the Temple of God is holy," he addeth,
"which ye are."
Ver. 18. "Let no man deceive himself."
This also is in reference to that person, as
thinking himself to be somewhat and flattering
himself on wisdom. But that he might not seem
to press on him at great length in a mere
digression; he first throws him into a kind of
agony and delivers him over unto fear, and then
brings back his discourse to the common fault,
saying, "If any man among you seemeth to be
wise in this world, let him become a fool, that
he may become (genhtai. rec. vers. "be.")
wise." And this he doth afterwards with great
boldness of speech, as having sufficiently
beaten them downs, and shaken with that fear the
mind not of that unclean person only, but of all
the hearers also: so accurately does he measure
the reach of what he has to say. For what if a
man be rich, what if he be noble; he is viler
than all the vile, when made captive by sin.
For as if a man were a king and enslaved to
barbarians, he is of all men most Wretched, so
also is it in regard to sin: since sin is a
barbarian, and the soul which hath been once
taken captive she knoweth not how to spare, but
plays the tyrant to the ruin of all those who
admit her.
For nothing is so inconsiderate as sin: nothing
so senseless, so utterly foolish and
outrageous. All is overturned and confounded
and destroyed by it, wheresoever it may alight.
Unsightly to behold, disgusting and grievous.
And should a painter draw her picture, he would
not, methinks, err in fashioning her after this
sort. A woman with the form of a beast,
savage, breathing flames, hideous, black;
such as the heathen poets depict their Scyllas.
For with ten thousand hands she lays hold of our
thoughts, and comes on unexpected, and tears
everything in pieces, like those dogs that bite
slily.
But rather, what need of the painter's art,
when we should rather bring forward those who are
made after sin's likeness?
Whom then will ye that we should portray first?
The covetous and rapacious? And what more
shameless than those eyes? What more immodest,
more like a greedy dog? For no dog keeps his
ground with such shameless impudence as he when
he is grasping at all men's goods. What more
polluted than those hands? What more audacious
than that mouth, swallowing all down and not
satisfied? Nay, look not on the countenance
and the eyes as being a a man's. For such
looks belong not to the eyes of men. He seeth
not men as men; he seeth not the heaven as
heaven. He does not even lift up his head unto
the Lord; but all is money in his account.
The eyes of men are wont to look upon poor
persons in affliction, and to be softened; but
these of the rapacious man, at sight of the
poor, glare like wild beasts'. The eyes of
men do not behold other men's goods as if they
were their own, but rather their own as others;
and they covet not the things given to others,
but rather exhaust upon others their own means:
but these are not content unless they take all
men's property. For it is not a man's eye
which they have, but a wild beast's. The eyes
of men endure not to see their own body stripped
of clothing, (for it is their own, though in
person it belong to others,) but these, unless
they strip every one and lodge all men's
property in their own home, are never cloyed;
yea rather they never have enough. Insomuch
that one might say that their hands are not wild
beasts' only, but even far more savage and
cruel than these. For bears and wolves when
they are satiated leave off their kind of
eating: but these know not any satiety. And
yet for this cause God made us hands, to assist
others, not to plot against them. And if we
were to use them for that purpose, better had
they been cut off and we left without them. But
thou, if a wild beast rend a sheep, art
grieved; but when doing the same unto one of
thine own flesh and blood, thinkest thou that
thy deed is nothing atrocious? How then canst
thou be a man? Seest thou not that we call a
thing humane, when it is full of mercy and
loving-kindness? But when a man doth any thing
cruel or savage, inhuman is the title we give to
such a one.
You see then that the stamp of man as we portray
him is his showing mercy; of a beast the
contrary; according to constant saying,
"Why, is a man a wild beast, or a dog?"
(vid. 2 Kings viii. 13.) For men
relieve poverty; they do not aggravate it.
Again these men's mouths are the mouths of wild
beasts; yea rather these are the fiercer of the
two. For the words also, which they utter,
emit poison, more than the wild beasts' teeth,
working slaughter. And if one were to go
through all particulars, one should then see
clearly how inhumanity turns those who practise
it from men into beasts.
[10.] But were he to search out the mind
also of that sort of people, he would no longer
call them beasts only, but demons. For first,
they are full of great cruelty and of hatred
against their "fellow-servant: (St. Mat.
xviii. 33.) and neither is love of the
kingdom there, nor fear of hell; no reverence
for men, no pity, no Sympathy: but
shamelessness and audacity, and contempt of all
things to come. And unto them the words of God
concerning punishment seem to be a fable, and
His threats mirth. For such is the mind of the
covetous man. Since then within they are
demons, and without, wild beasts; yea, worse
than wild beasts; where are we to place such as
they are? For that they are worse even than
wild beasts, is plain from this. The beasts
are such as they are by nature: but these,
endowed by nature with gentleness, forcibly
strive against nature to train themselves to that
which is savage. The demons too have the
plotters among men to help them, to such an
extent that if they had no such aid, the greater
part of their wiles against us would be done
away: but these, when such as they have
spitefully entreated are vying with them, still
try to be more spiteful then they. Again, the
devil wages war with man, not with the demons of
his own kind: but he of whom we speak is urgent
in all ways to do harm to his own kindred and
family, and doth not even reverence nature.
I know that many hate us because of these
words; but I feel no hatred towards them;
rather I pity and bewail those who are so
disposed. Even should they choose to strike,
I would gladly endure it, if they would but
abstain from this their savage mind. For not I
alone, but the prophet also with me, banisheth
all such from the family of men saying, (Ps.
xlix. 20. Sept.
tois anohtois) "Man being in honor hath no
understanding, but is like unto the senseless
beasts."
Let us then become men at last, and let us look
up unto heaven; and that which is according to
His image, (Colos. iii. 10.) let us
receive and recover: that we may obtain also the
blessings to come through the grace and
loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ,
with Whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit
be glory, power, honor, now and always, and
unto everlasting ages. Amen.
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