"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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