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1 COR. VI. 15.
"Know ye not that your bodies are members of
Christ? Shall I then take away the members of
Christ, and make them members of a harlot?
God forbid.
HAVING passed on from the fornicator to the
covetous person, he comes back to the former
from the latter, no longer henceforth
discoursing with him but with the others who had
not committed fornication. And in the act of
securing them lest they fall into the same sins,
he assails him again. For he that has committed
sin, though you direct your words to another,
is stung even in that way; his conscience being
thoroughly awakened and scourging him.
Now the fear of punishment indeed was enough to
keep them in chastity. But seeing that he does
not wish by fear alone to set these matters
right, he uses both threatenings and reasons.
Now upon that other occasion, having stated the
sin, and prescribed the punishment, and pointed
out the harm which intercourse with the
fornicator brought upon all, he left off, and
passed to the subject of covetousness: and
having threatened the covetous and all the rest
whom he mentioned with expulsion from the
kingdom, he so concluded his discourse. But
here he takes in hand the work of admonition in a
yet more terrific manner. For as he that only
punishes a sin and does nothing to point out its
most extreme lawlessness, produces no such great
effect by his chastisement: so again, he who
only abashes and fails to terrify by his mode of
punishing, does not very keenly hit men of
hardened minds. Wherefore Paul does both:
here he abashes, saying, "Know ye not that we
shall judge angels?" there again he terrifies,
saying, "Know ye not that the covetous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God?"
And in regard to the fornicator, he again uses
this order of discourse. For having terrified
him by what he had said before; first cutting
him off and delivering him to Satan, and then
reminding him of that day which is coming; he
abashes him again by saying, "Know ye not that
your bodies are members of Christ?"
thenceforth speaking as to children of noble
birth. For whereas he had said, "Now the
body is for the Lord," he indicates it more
plainly now. And in another place as well he
does this same thing, saying, (xii. 27.)
"Now ye are the body of Christ, and severally
members thereof." And the same figure he often
employs, not with the same aim, but at one time
to shew His love, and at another to increase
their fear. But here he has employed it to
startle and fill them with alarm. "Shall I
then take the members of Christ, and make them
members of a harlot? God forbid." Nothing
can be apter to strike horror than this
expression. He said not, "Shall I take the
members of Christ, and join them on to a
harlot?" but what? "make them members of a
harlot;" which surely would strike more
keenly.
Then he makes out how the fornicator becomes
this, saying thus, "Know ye not that he that
is joined unto a harlot is one body?" How is
this evident?
"For the twain, saith He, shall become
one."
Ver. 17. "But he that is joined unto the
Lord is one spirit."
For the conjunction suffers the two no longer to
be two, but makes them both one.
Now mark again, how he proceeds by means of the
bare terms, conducting his accusation in the
names of the harlot and of Christ. Ver.
18. "Flee fornication."
He said not, "abstain from fornication," but
"Flee:" that is, with all zeal make to
yourselves deliverance from that evil. "Every
sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he
that committeth fornication sinneth against his
own body." This is less than what went
before; but since he had to speak of
fornicators, he amplifies that guilt by topics
drawn from all quarters, from greater things and
smaller alike, making the charge heinous.
And, in fact, that former topic was addressed
to the more religious, but this to the weaker
sort. For this also is characteristic of the
wisdom of Paul, not only to allege the great
things wherewith to abash men, but the lesser
also, and the consideration of what is
disgraceful and unseemly.
"What then," say you, "does not the
murderer stain his hand? What, of the covetous
person and the extortioner?" I suppose it is
plain to every one. But since it was not
possible to mention anything worse than the
fornicator, he amplifies the crime in another
way, by saying that in the fornicator the entire
body becomes defiled. For it is as polluted as
if it had fallen into a vessel of filth, and
been immersed in defilement. And this too is
our way. For from covetousness and extortion no
one would make haste to go into a bath, but as
if nothing had happened returns to his house.
Whereas from intercourse with a harlot, as
having become altogether unclean, he goes to a
bath. To such a degree does the conscience
retain from this sin a kind of sense of unusual
shame. Both however are bad, both covetousness
and fornication; and both cast into hell. But
as Paul doeth every thing with good management,
so by whatever topics he had he magnified the sin
of fornication.
Ver. 19. "Know ye not that your body is a
temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?"
He did not merely say, "of the Spirit,"
but, "which is in you;" which was the part of
one who also was soothing. And again,
explaining himself still further, he added,
"which ye have from God." He mentioned Him
that gave also, both exalting the hearer and
putting him in fear, both by the magnitude Of
the deposit, and by the munificence of Him that
made it.
"And ye are not you own." This is not only
to abash, but even to force men towards virtue.
"For why," says he; "doest thou what thou
wilt? thou art not thine own master." But
these things he said, not to take away
free-will. For so in saying, "All things
are lawful for me, but not all things are
expedient," he does not take away our liberty.
And here again, writing, "Ye are not your
own;" he makes no infringement upon freedom of
choice, but he leads away from vice and
indicates the guardian care of the Lord. And
therefore he added, "For ye were bought with a
price."
"But if I am not my own, upon what ground do
you demand of me duties to be done? And why do
you go on to say again, "Glorify God
therefore in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's?" What then is the meaning of,
"ye are not your own?" And what does he wish
to prove thereby? To settle them in a state of
security against sin, and against following the
improper desires of the mind. For indeed we
have many improper wishes: but we must repress
them, for we can. And if we could not,
exhortation would be in vain. Mark,
accordingly, how he secures his ground. For
having said, "Ye are not your own," he adds
not, "But are under compulsion;" but, "Ye
were bought with a price." Why sayest thou
this? Surely on another ground, one might say
perhaps, you should have persuaded men,
pointing out that we have a Master. But this
is common to the Greeks also together with us:
whereas the expression, "Ye were bought with a
price," belongs to us peculiarly. For he
reminds us of the greatness of the benefit and of
the mode of our salvation, signifying that when
we were alienated, we were "bought:" and not
simply "bought," but, "with a price."
"Glorify then, take up and bear, God in your
body, and in your spirit." Now these things
he says, that we may not only flee fornication
in the body, but also in the spirit of our mind
abstain from every wicked thought, and from
driving away grace.
"Which are God's." For as he had said
"your," he added therefore, "which are
God's:" continually reminding us that all
things belong to the Lord, both body and soul
and spirit: For some say, that the words "in
the spirit" mean the gracious Gift; for if
That be in us, God is glorified. And this
will be, if we have a clean heart.
But He has spoken of these things as God's,
not only because He brought them into being,
but also because, when they were alienated, He
won them again a second time, paying as the
price, the blood of the Son. Mark how He
brought the whole to completion in Christ, how
He raised us up into heaven. "Ye are members
of Christ," saith he, "ye are a temple of
the Spirit." Become not then "members of a
harlot:" for it is not your body which is
insulted; since it is not your body at all, but
Christ's. And these things he spake, both to
make manifest His loving-kindness in that our
body is His, and to withdraw us from all evil
license. For if the body be another's, "you
have no authority," says he, "to insult
another's body; and especially when it is the
Lord's; nor yet to pollute a temple of the
Spirit." For if any one who invades a private
house and makes his way revelling into it, must
answer for it most severely; think what dreadful
things he shall endure who makes a temple of the
King a robber's lurking place.
Considering these things therefore, reverence
thou Him that dwelleth within. For the
Paraclete is He. Thrill before Him that is
enfolded and cleaves unto thee; for Christ is
He. Hast thou indeed made thyself members of
Christ? Think thus, and continue chaste;
whose members they were, and Whose they have
become. Erewhile they were members of an
harlot, and Christ hath made them members of
His own Body. Thou hast therefore henceforth
no authority over them. Serve Him that hath
set thee free.
For supposing you had a daughter, and in
extreme madness had let her out to a procurer for
hire, and made her live a harlot's life, and
then a king's son were to pass by, and free her
from that slavery, and join her in marriage to
himself; you could have no power thenceforth to
bring her into the brothel. For you gave her up
once for all, and sold her. Such as this is
our case also. We let out our own flesh for
hire unto the Devil, that grievous procurer:
Christ saw and set it free, and withdrew it
from that evil tyranny; it is not then ours any
more but His who delivered it. If you be
willing to use it as a King's bride, there is
none to hinder; but if you bring it where it was
before, you will suffer just what they ought who
are guilty of such outrages. Wherefore you
should rather adorn instead of disgracing it.
For you have no authority over the flesh in the
wicked lusts, but in those things alone which
God may enjoin. Let the thought enter your
mind at least from what great outrage God hath
delivered it. For in truth never did any harlot
expose herself so shamefully as our nature before
this. For robberies, murders, and every
wicked thought entered in and lay with the soul,
and for a small and vulgar hire, the present
pleasure. For the soul, being mixed up with
all wicked devices and deeds, reaped this reward
and no other.
However, in the time before this, bad though
it were to be such as these, it was not so bad:
but after heaven, after the King's courts,
after partaking of the tremendous Mysteries,
again to be contaminated, what pardon shall this
have? Or, dost thou not think that the
covetous too, and all those whom he recounted
before, have the Devil to lie with them? And
dost thou not judge that the women who beautify
themselves for pollution have intercourse with
him? Why, who shall gainsay this word? But
if any be contentious, let him uncover the soul
of the women who behave in this unseemly manner,
and he will surely see that the wicked demon
closely entwined with them. For it is hard,
brethren, it is hard, perchance even
impossible, when the body is thus beautified,
for the soul to be beautified at the same time:
but one must needs be neglected, while the other
is cared for. For nature does not allow these
to take place together.
Wherefore he saith, "He that is joined to a
harlot is one body; but he that is joined to the
Lord is one Spirit." For such an one becomes
thenceforth Spirit, although a body envelope
him. For when nothing corporeal nor gross nor
earthly is around him, the body doth but merely
envelope him; since the whole government of him
is in the soul and the Spirit. In this way
God is glorified. Wherefore both in the
Prayer we are commanded to say, "Hallowed be
Thy Name:" and Christ saith also, "Let
your light shine before men, that they may see
your good works, and glorify your Father which
is in heaven."
So do the heavens also glorify Him, uttering
no voice, but by the view of them attracting
wonder and referring the glory unto the Great
Artificer. So let us glorify Him also, or
rather more than they. For we can if we will.
For not so much do the heaven nor day nor night
glorify God, as a holy soul. For as one that
gazeth upon the beauty of the heaven, saith,
"Glory be to Thee, O God! How fair a work
hast thou formed!" so too when beholding virtue
in any man: nay, and much more so in the latter
instance. For from these works of creation all
do not glorify God; but many even assert that
the things which exist are self-moving: and
others impute to demons the workmanship of the
world and providence; and these indeed greatly
and unpardonably err: but in regard to the
virtue of man, no one shall have power to hold
these shameless opinions, but shall assuredly
glorify God when he seeth him that serveth Him
living in goodness. For who shall help being
astonished when one being a man, and partaking
of our common nature, and living among other
men, like adamant yields not at all to the swarm
of passions? When being in the midst of fire
and iron and wild beasts, he is even harder than
adamant and vanquishes all for the Word of
godliness' sake? when he is injured, and
blesses; when he is evil reported of, and
praises;when he is despitefully used, and prays
for those who injure him; when he is plotted
against, and does good to those that fight with
him and lay snares for him?
For these things, and such as these, will
glorify God far more than the heaven. For the
Greeks when they behold the heavens feel no
awe; but when they see a holy man exhibiting a
severe course of life with all strictness, they
shrink away and condemn themselves. Since when
he that partakes of the same nature as themselves
is so much above them, a great deal more so than
the heaven is above the earth, even against
their inclination they think that it is a Divine
power which works these things. Wherefore He
saith, "And glorify your Father which is in
heaven."
Wilt thou learn also from another place how by
the life of His servants God is glorified, and
how by miracles? Nebuchadnezzar once threw the
Three Children into the furnace. Then when he
saw that the fire had not prevailed over them,
he saith, (Dan. iii. 28. LXX. ek ths
kaminou added.) "Blessed be God, who hath
sent His Angel, and delivered his servants out
of the furnace, because they trusted in Him and
have changed the word of the king." "How
sayest thou? Hast thou been despised, and dost
thou admire those who have spit upon you?"
"Yes," saith he, "and for this very
reason, that I was despised." And of the
marvel he gives this reason. So that not
because of the miracle alone was glory given to
God at that time, but also because of the
purpose of those who have been thrown in. Now
if any one would examine this point and the
other, as they are in themselves, this will
appear not less than that: for to persuade souls
to brave a furnace is not less in respect of the
wonder than to deliver from a furnace. For how
can it be otherwise than astonishing for the
Emperor of the world, with so many arms around
him, and legions, and generals, and viceroys,
and consuls, and land and sea subject to his
sway, to be despised by captive children; for
the bound to overcome the binder and conquer all
that army? Neither was there any power in the
king and his company to do what they would, no,
not even with the furnaces for an ally. But
they who were naked, and slaves, and
strangers, and few, (for what number could be
more contemptible than three?) being in
chains, vanquished an innumerable army. For
already now was death despised, since Christ
was henceforth about to sojourn in the world.
And as when the sun is on the point of rising,
even before his rays appear the light of the day
groweth bright; so also when then the Sun of
Righteousness was about to come, death
henceforth began to withdraw himself. What
could be more splendid than that theatre? What
more conspicuous than that victory? What more
signal than those new trophies of theirs?
The same thing is done in our time also. Even
now is there a king of the Babylonish furnace,
even now he kindles a flame fiercer than that.
There is even now such an image, and one who
giveth command to admire it. At his side are
satraps and soldiers and bewitching music. And
many gaze in admiration upon this image, so
varied, so great. For somewhat of the same
kind of thing as that image is covetousness,
which doth not despise even iron, but unlike as
the materials are whereof it is composed, it
giveth command to admire all, both brass and
iron, and things much more ordinary than they.
But as these things are, so also even now are
there some who are emulous of these children:
who say, "thy gods we serve not, and thine
images we worship not;" but both the furnace of
poverty we endure and all other distress, for
the sake of God's laws." And the wealthy for
their part, even as those at that time,
oftentimes, worship this image too and are
burnt. But those who possess nothing despite
even this, and although in poverty, are more in
the dew than those who live in affluence. Even
as at that time they who cast into the fire were
burnt up; but those in the midst of it found
themselves in dew as it were rain. Then also
that tyrant was more burnt up with the flame,
his wrath kindling him violently, than those
children. As to them, the fire had no power
even to touch the ends of their hair: but more
fiercely than that fire did wrath burn up his
mind. For consider what a thing it was that
with so many to look on, he should be scorned by
captive children. And it was a sign that his
taking their city also had not been through his
own might, but by reason of the sin of the
multitude among them. Since if he had not the
power to overcome these men in chains, and that
when they were cast into a furnace, how could he
have overcome the Jews in regular warfare, had
they been all such as these? From which it is
plain that the sins of the multitude betrayed the
city.
But mark also the children's freedom from
vain-glory. For they did not leap into the
furnace, but they kept beforehand the
commandment of Christ where he says, (St.
Matt. xxvi. 41.) "Pray that ye enter not
into temptation." Neither did they shrink when
they were brought to it; but stood in the midst
nobly, neither contending without a summons,
nor yet when summoned playing the coward: but
ready for everything, and noble, and full of
all boldness of speech.
But let us hear also what they say, that from
this also we may learn their lofty spirit.
(Dan. iii. 17.) "There is a God in
heaven able to deliver us :" they take no care
for themselves, but even when about to be burned
the glory of God is all their thought. For
what they say comes to this, "Lest perchance
if we are burnt thou shouldest charge God with
weakness, we now declare unto thee accurately
our whole doctrine. "There is a God in
heaven," not such as this image here on earth,
this lifeless and mute thing, but able to snatch
even from the midst of the burning fiery
furnace. Condemn him not then of weakness for
permitting us to fall into it. So powerful is
He that after our fall, He is able to snatch
us out again out of the flame. "But if not,
be it known unto thee, O king, that we will
not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image
which thou hast set up." Observe that they by
a special dispensation are ignorant of the
future: for if they had foreknown, there would
have been nothing wonderful in their doing what
they did. For what marvel is it if when they
had a guarantee for safety, they defied all
terrors?
Then God indeed would have been glorified in
that He was able to deliver from the furnace:
but they would not have been wondered at,
inasmuch as they would not have east themselves
into any dangers. For this cause He suffered
them to be ignorant of the future that He might
glorify them the more. And as they cautioned
(hsyalxonto) the king that he was not to
condemn God of weakness though they might be
burnt, so God accomplished both purposes; the
shewing forth His own power and the causing the
zeal of the children to appear more conspicuous.
From whence then arose their doubting and their
not feeling confident that they should at all
events be preserved? Because they esteemed
themselves assuredly too mean, and unworthy of
such a benefit. And to prove that I say not
this upon conjecture; when they fell into the
furnace, they bewailed themselves after this
sort, saying, (Song of the three Children
w. 6, 10.) "We have sinned, we have
done iniquity, we cannot open our mouth." And
therefore they said, "But if not." But if
they did not plainly say this, namely, "God
is able to deliver us; but if he deliver us
not, for our sin's sake He will not deliver
us;" wonder not at it. For they would have
seemed to the barbarians to be sheltering the
weakness of God under the pretext of their own
sins. Wherefore His power only is what they
speak of: the reason they allege not. And
besides, they were well disciplined not to be
over-curious about the judgments of God.
With these words then, they entered into the
fire; and they neither cast insult upon the
king, nor overturned the statue. For such
should the courageous man be, temperate and
mild; and that especially in dangers; that he
may not seem to go forth to such contests in
wrath and vain-glory; but with fortitude and
self-possession. For whoso deals insolently
undergoes the suspicion of those faults: but he
that endures, and is forced into the struggle,
and goes through the trial with meekness, is not
only admired as brave, but his self-possession
also and consideration cause him to be no less
extolled. And this is what they did at that
time; shewing forth all fortitude and
gentleness, and doing nothing for reward nor for
recompense or return. "'Though He be not
willing 'so it stands' to deliver us, we will
not serve thy gods:' for we have already our
recompense in that we are counted worthy to be
kept from all impiety, and for that end to give
our bodies to be burned."
We then also having already our recompense,
(for indeed we have it in that we have been
vouchsafed the full knowledge of Him,
vouch-safed to be made members of Christ,)
let us take care that we make them not members of
an harlot. For with this most tremendous saying
we must conclude our discourse, in order that
having the fear of the threat in full efficacy,
we may remain purer than gold, this fear helping
to make us so. For so shall we be able,
delivered from all fornication, to see Christ.
Whom God grant us all to behold with boldness
at that day, through the grace and
loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ; to
Whom be the glory, for evermore. Amen.
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