In illud Apparuit gratia dei omnibus hominibus

Of Saint John Chrysostom, a homily on the phrase "The grace of God appeared" and on the Theophany. Previously we discoursed to you concerning temperance, as you recall, and we read a kind of law having this content: "Everyone who looks at a woman with a view to desiring her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." The saying is fearful, for the passion is shameless; the judgment is severe, for the desire is grievous. Just as someone who has a wild dog that leaps upon all who pass by does not allow it to be loose and unbound, but binds it with an iron chain and entrusts it to the hands of servants to hold securely, so also God, seeing that our eyes, more shamelessly than dogs, leap upon the bright forms of bodies, does not allow them to be unbound, but, as if binding them with an iron chain through the fear of the legislation, he has entrusted them to reason to hold securely, having first declared and threatened that if they should escape and seize upon any of those who pass by, he will exact from them the punishment of adulterers. For "everyone who looks at a woman with a view to desiring her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." This he threatened out of care for those who look. For in the case of dogs and men, it is not the biting dogs but the bitten men who receive the wounds; but in the case of eyes that look licentiously and the women who are looked at, it is not the women who are looked at but the men who look who receive the injuries. There the one bitten is wounded; here the one biting receives the poison.

For this reason he secures them, for this reason he placed eyelids and lashes around the eyes, so that you might not have the windows open at all times. For when doors are open at all times, the thief enters with great ease, with great license he plunders the treasure of temperance. For this reason the pupils of the eyes are called "maidens," so that you may learn that one must feel shame and blush; for just as inexperienced maidens who are secluded in the bridal chamber would not endure looking even at their own relatives with shamelessness, so also the pupils of the eyes, like inexperienced maidens sitting in the chamber of the eye, must not shamelessly let themselves loose upon all sights, for then they would no longer be maidens, but shameless dogs. But concerning temperance, enough has been said both then and now for those who pay attention. The object sought is not that teaching from us and hearing from you should be continuous, but that something more should come from our teaching and from your hearing for the sake of your life, for our boast, for the glory and praise of God, so that I too may be able on that day to boast of your achievements and say: Behold, I and the children whom God gave me. Let our words become deeds through you.

For among farmers, the sought-after goal is not merely to yoke plowing oxen, cut a deep furrow, and cast the seeds, but to show the crops flourishing and the threshing floor filled with sheaves, so that when the one who winnows it comes—he with the winnowing fan in his hand—he finds chaff nowhere on the threshing floor, but grain everywhere, ripe fruit everywhere, able to be carried off to the royal storehouses. For that one will come, he will surely come, who baptizes you in the Holy Spirit and fire; and he will gather the grain into the storehouses, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. Great is the punishment, but if we wish, we will not receive the punishment nor will we be chaff. For sin is like this: just as chaff is food for irrational animals and fuel for fire, so sin is fuel for the coming fire. Do you wish to learn how sin is fuel for fire? If someone builds, he says, upon this foundation—gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—the work of each will become manifest; for the day will reveal that it is disclosed in fire. If someone's work is burned up, he will be penalized. Behold, sin is fuel for fire. Listen also how it is both folly and food for irrational passions; listen to David saying: My lawless deeds have overtopped my head; like a heavy burden they have weighed heavily upon me; my sores have stank and festered from the face of my folly. Again, chaff is light and easily winnowed, and with a small gust of wind it is quickly lifted up and carried about everywhere.

Such are those people who are easily kindled by anger, who are quickly puffed up by folly. Therefore someone advises, saying: "Do not winnow with every wind, lest you remain chaff, but be steadfast on the rock." For this reason Christ came, not only to dissolve old sins, but also to correct us with regard to future ones. And Paul, showing that he came not only for past sins but also for future achievements, cried out today: "The grace of God has appeared, instructing us." But arise; for again we open the treasures, again we display the pearls; let no one therefore pass over the beauty of what has been said: "The grace has appeared." Why did he not say: "The grace was given"? So that you may learn that, before the grace appeared, the nature of humanity sat in darkness; for Christ shines upon those sitting in darkness, which indeed the prophet also proclaimed beforehand, saying: "The people sitting in darkness saw a great light." The saving grace of God has appeared. Do you see the harmony of apostles and prophets? "The people sitting in darkness"; for such is the nature of darkness: wherever it overtakes people, it immediately seats them and does not allow them to proceed further, and walking becomes slippery and dangerous. Therefore, guiding our nature's inactivity toward virtue, he said: "The people sitting in darkness saw a great light.

The apostolic saying "appeared" indicates not only this to us, but also something else besides. What is this? That we did not seek and find the light, but it appeared to us; we did not go to it, but it came to us. And Christ, making this clear, said: "You did not choose me, but I chose you." And the Apostle again, crying out in harmony with these things, said: "Then I will know, just as I was known; but now I have not known, but I was known." And writing to the Philippians he said: "I pursue, even if I overtake, for which I was also overtaken," showing through all that our salvation was not our own achievement, but we were all saved by divine grace. This, then, he also intimates here, saying: "The grace of God appeared." What grace? For there is also grace of the Old [Testament], and John cried out, saying: "We received grace in return for grace." For indeed the grace of the Old [Testament] is also grace, having delivered them from slavery in Egypt and from countless other evils; but this grace is greater. For then it delivered from the Egyptians, now it has freed from the tyranny of demons; then it delivered from the madness of Pharaoh, now from the possession of the devil; then through Moses, now through the Only-Begotten; then through a rod, now through a cross; then through the Red Sea, now through the bath of regeneration; then it led out from mud and brick-making, now from death and sin; then it led into a land flowing with milk and honey, now into the kingdom of heaven.

Truly the grace of God appeared as salvation. But why, O blessed Paul, did you pass over so many achievements with a single word? Reveal to me the grace, tell me the sea of gifts. It is enough to present everything, he says, the philanthropy of the giver; for when it is the grace of God, the grace has no measure. The grace of God appeared: God became man, for your sake he took the form of a slave, in order to make the slave free. And just as a master, greatly loving a servant, puts on his garment, so also Christ, loving our nature, put on its garment. The mercy of a man is toward his neighbor, but the mercy of God is toward all flesh. Do you see how he showed both the magnitude of the grace and the universality of the gift, by mentioning the giver? But let us see what "salvation" is. Gifts take their names from those who give them; for example, when a ruler gives a gift, it is called a ruler's gift; when a king gives a gift, it is called a royal gift. Since here too the Savior gave the grace, the grace is called salvation. For this reason it says: And you call his name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. And how, it says, if the grace is universal and he poured out the gift upon the whole world, did he promise to save only his people? For this was the only people that was formerly called the Jewish people, but it did not remain the only one so called; but since afterward they were found unworthy of the honor, the name passed to the whole world.

For that we are his people, hear clearly from Hosea speaking and Paul interpreting: "I will call that which is not my people, my people." And that it is spoken concerning us is evident from this: we are the not-people, we became a people. And hear another thing clearer than this: "And it shall be in the place where it was said to them, 'Not my people,' you shall be called there sons of the living God." In what place? In Judea, he says; for there the prophets said "not my people," and there Christ said to the disciples: "Do not enter the way of the nations," but in that same Judea he also said: "Go and disciple all the nations." Do you see how in the place where it was said to them "not my people," there they were called sons of the living God? Therefore he says: "He himself will save the people from their sins." Great salvation indeed; for it is not so great to be delivered from death as it is great to be delivered from sin; for because of sin comes death, not because of death comes sin. And that you may learn that this deliverance is greater, and that when this is removed, death is not fearful, consider this from the Lord's own body. For that body committed no sin, and having fallen into death, it caused him bitter pangs and burst his belly; and not only was it not swallowed up, but it utterly destroyed him. And just as Daniel, throwing a lump into the mouth of the dragon, destroyed the beast, so Christ, casting his own flesh into the mouth of death, split open his belly; for the sting of death is sin. Therefore, having removed the sting, he left the beast thereafter powerless.

But the question is this: why, after saying "the grace of God appeared, saving," did he add "educating us"? For grace does not educate, but forgives sins; it grants pardon, it does not impose education. But do not fear the name "education"; there is education as punishment and education as teaching. For it is said, "Whom the Lord loves, he educates," and "he scourges every son whom he accepts." Here education is punishment. Hear elsewhere how education is teaching: "Blessed is the man whom you educate, Lord, and whom you teach from your law." In this sense, then, the saving grace of God appeared, educating us. And how does grace teach? For grace forgives sins, but this forgiveness of sins is a teaching of right actions; indeed, among people who have understanding, not so much whips and blows educate many as does the remission of sins. When, therefore, the sinner sees the benevolence of the one who forgave, he makes himself more precise for future right actions. And thus grace educates him, pricking him more than whips; for he blushes and is ashamed to fall into the same things again, he is abashed by the magnitude of the benefactor's gift, and grace becomes education. Do you wish to learn from another source how it is both grace and education, how Christ both granted grace and educated? He saw the paralytic, he knit together his sinews, he corrected the weakness of his nature, he restored his body to its former health, then later, seeing him, he said:

Behold, you have become healthy—this is grace; sin no more—this is education and teaching. And he entrusted both to the disciples: for by saying, "Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," he revealed grace, the remission of transgressions; and by adding, "teaching them to observe all that I commanded you," he indicated education. This is precisely what Paul made clear when he said, "The grace of God appeared, saving, educating us." For all these things let us give thanks to God and always keep this grace in memory; whether you are puffed up or cheerful, grace will educate you to be moderate. For when you consider that the master of the angels, God who is co-throned with the Father, took the form of a slave, you will never be able to retain the passion of anger or arrogance in your soul. Thus Paul also educates us in humility, showing that this very thing is both grace and teaching; therefore he first reminds us of grace. And where does he do this? Writing to the Philippians and wishing to persuade them to yield the first place to one another, he advised thus: "Anticipating one another in humility, make yourselves servants of one another." Then he brought in the teaching from grace, saying, "For let this be thought among you," he says, "which is also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider it a usurpation to be equal to God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave; and having been found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself.

Do you see how, after bringing grace into the midst, he called the matter teaching? Thus also, when he exhorts to love, he does so, reminding of grace and saying: Just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, so also love one another. Let us therefore be educated by grace and give thanks to the philanthropic God both for the gift given to us and for the teaching that comes from grace, because we have been freed from our former sins and have the greatest security for future achievements—the remission of sins. And just as in a mirror, by the teaching of the word, let us observe our life with precision and regulate the neglected aspects of our actions. And what people do when sitting in barbers’ shops, after having the hair of the head cut, holding the mirror in the right hand, looking around to see if any mistake has occurred in the cutting of the head—do likewise: taking the teaching of the word as a mirror, from it survey your entire life, and if you see any sin that has occurred, immediately correct it. Thus also women do: for immediately upon rising from bed, they wipe the face and arrange the hair of the head, and to the

looking into a mirror, they test the beauty of their face so that nothing neglected may escape notice. And you, then, take up the mirror of teaching, and shape and form the beauty of the soul; for you too have a husband whom you must please. Just as those women make nothing prior to this work, so you too prefer nothing to this zeal, but even if you see the whole house neglected, first please your husband, and then arrange the other things well. That you too have a husband, listen to Paul saying: I have betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a virgin to Christ. And by how much the worth of this husband is greater, by so much must our zeal become greater; for he looks to the beauty of the soul and wishes that face to be adorned. For all the glory of the king’s daughter is within. 27 Let us therefore adorn this glory, so that with it we may present all to the King of glory and obtain eternal and immortal honor; by the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father the glory together with the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.