Commentarii in epistulas Pauli

Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love, having predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself. The grace of the Spirit was indeed made manifest now, but it existed beforehand from the beginning with God, distributed among the elect, whom he also predestined to be attendants of God through the holiness that was given. According to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, with which he graced us. He graced us with a voluntary grace, not with a recompense from our works, making us sons. In the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and understanding. Since the Scriptures say both above and below that he became obedient to the Father unto death, and since Christ said, "O God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"—lest anyone suppose that he was truly forsaken; even if he spoke such words on our behalf—for this reason the divine Scripture everywhere proclaims him beloved and lovely. Having made known to us the mystery of his will. For only in this way is the grace of Christ received into us through knowledge; which does not apply to those who are ignorant. According to his good pleasure, which he purposed in him for the dispensation of the fullness of the times. For he was well pleased with this beneficence before the ages; and a time was also appointed for it, when the things foreordained received their sufficient end. To sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in him.

As much as Adam, having sinned, was deprived of all these things, renewal has come about in Christ. Of what, then, was he deprived? Being incorrupt, he came into corruption; and being immortal, into death; and from paradise, outside paradise. These things, then, were set before God, for the summing up and renewal, and for these things the Only-begotten became man, in order that he might destroy death, and take away corruption, and cast out sin, which indeed came to pass when Christ appeared. But the phrase "in the heavens" has this meaning: that there was great and unceasing grief among the angels while the world was sinning and was under a curse; and this is clear from the Lord's saying that there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. He says, then, that when the Lord came, he renewed both the things on earth and the things in the heavens, ceasing for the angels that grief which they felt over the corruption of men. For he led them back to their former joy, the joy over those who are saved. In him also we were allotted, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had previously hoped in Christ. Becoming, he says, in Christ, we become a portion of God. In him also you, having heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, in him also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. You also, he says, are among those foreknown, being made his own to Christ through obedience, and through the faith that comes from hearing, and through the sealing that comes upon faith, which is a likeness to Christ through participation in the Spirit.

From whom did they hear the word of truth, if not from John the Evangelist? For it was there that he preached; therefore Paul also discourses to them in loftier terms, since they had been prepared beforehand by that man's teaching. For the man is exceedingly lofty in theology. Who is the pledge of our inheritance unto the redemption of the possession, unto the praise of his glory. He calls a pledge the beginning of a possession. He says, then, that having received the Spirit, we have already begun to be possessions of Christ and God. Therefore I also, having heard of the faith among you in the Lord Jesus, and the love toward all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. Having heard, he says, your faith, by which you are carried up to Christ, and the love that follows faith, I render thanks for you, and this not once only, but continually. The Father of glory. That is, the author of every divine gift that is given to us, which is supplied in the Spirit through the Word. May he give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your heart being enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. What was lacking was wisdom and knowledge, and that they might practice the things of love in word and wisdom,

knowing, through what they act and for what end, and of what things they have already been deemed worthy according to the grace given. And what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of the might of his strength. He speaks of the greatest excess of power, which supplies to us the giving of life to the dead. For it is a great thing that mortals who have been dead from the beginning of the age should rise, and that by a multitude living they should stand by in a little while. Therefore to the unbelieving the excess is unbelievable, according to what is said: In the multitude of your power your enemies shall lie to you. Which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead, and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named. God, he says, showed us in Christ the greatness and the excess of what he graciously gave us. For he raised us together and seated us together in Christ in the heavenly places. For since our body was not of itself receptive of the power and the working that gives life, because it was a body of death, sin having taken up its dwelling in it through the transgression, for this reason the Only-begotten made it his own, so that keeping it without sin, he might prepare it to become receptive of life and of glory. And this is the meaning of, he raised together and seated together in the heavenly places. Not only in this age, but also in the age to come; and he subjected all things under his feet. The glory is continuous, having begun indeed from the present age, but extending into the endless age.

because this is the power of our incorruptible and glorious continuance, that the author of life remains forever. And he gave him as head over all things to the Church. So that the heavenly powers are no longer head over us, inasmuch as they are also under stewards and administrators of ours, according to the sacred utterance of the Apostle. Which is his body. His body, the Church, according to the partaking of the Holy Spirit. The fullness of him who fills all things in all things. The Church, he says, is the recipient of him who pervades all things—the heavenly things formerly, but now also the earthly.

CHAPTER 2.

And you being dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also once conducted ourselves in the desires of our flesh, doing the wills of the flesh and of the minds, and were by nature children of wrath, as also the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together in Christ. By grace you have been saved. You, he says, who are of the Gentiles, having been rescued from death because of the sin in which you lived under the evil demon who ruled through the evil thoughts that entered into you—God, having deemed you worthy of mercy and of willing grace, changed your deadness in sin into life by fellowship with Christ. For whatever belongs to Christ, this passes over into us as we are joined to him.

And those who had the law, he says, have suffered the same things as the Gentiles in sins, so that he might display the greatness of God's gift, because he saved all who were held under corruption. And he raised us up and seated us together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might display the surpassing riches of his grace, in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves. We are the flesh of Christ, and members, and body, and the Father gave him to us as our head. We are already in heaven, insofar as we are in Christ, and we shall have the enjoyment of good things afterward, when the good things in Christ come forth into the open, being now inexplicable and innumerable; therefore

he also calls him the surpassing riches of grace. The gift is God's. Grace is what comes from God; faith is what comes from us. Hence, where the capacity to receive is not present, grace does not come either. So it is not from us, but the gift is God's; the benefaction lies not in the one who receives but in the one who gives. Not from works, so that no one may boast. For even when works exist, salvation is not from them, and when they do not exist, the fellowship of salvation has come to those who believe. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we might walk in them. He says: we do not make ourselves a new creation; for that is not possible. But God is the one who creates us in Christ, whose likeness we fulfill by imitating the works that he himself worked, preparing for us the participation and the likeness.

Therefore remember that you were once the Gentiles in the flesh. Since the remembrance of former things produces gratitude for the present, he urges them to remember those things. Those who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision in the flesh made by hands: that you were at that time without Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the covenants. Uncircumcision and circumcision are a fleshly property; but fleshly things are not truly real. Therefore he called them "so-called." For he knows the true circumcision, the removal in the heart of what comes upon the heart contrary to its natural constitution. And if this is true circumcision, true uncircumcision is the uncleanness of the heart. Having no hope of the promise, and atheists in the world. The promises are different, just as the covenants are also. But he spoke of it as one, inasmuch as Christ leads all into one. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near in the blood of Christ. We were far from God, separated by the worldly life. But the death of Christ worked the dissolution of this, and those who are conformed to him are no longer far from God, but receive the nearness that is in the Spirit, being crucified with Christ, according to the Apostle. For he himself is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of the partition, the enmity in his flesh, having abolished the law of the commandments in decrees, so that he might create the two in himself.

That which separates he cut out from the midst, which is the flesh because of the sin in it, wholly alienating those who are not even separated by the law from fleshly wickedness, yet not even allowing those who are under the law and are clean to be free from the alienation caused by it. Hence he who looses sin, which comes through the flesh, at the same time also removed the law that was established for the flesh. And instead of the law he introduced a decree, which is the voluntary offering of the soul for the worship of God. Into one new man, making peace, and that he might reconcile both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the enmity in himself, and came. Since the cross has put an end to the present life and has circumcised the flesh, every one who is characterized according to Christ is shown to be one man, whether in circumcision or in uncircumcision, according to the new life. So then the body, handed over to death, loosed the enmity; but rising to life, it established friendship forever. He proclaimed peace to you who were far off, and to those who were near. The nations, he says, were far off because of their error; but those who were near were those taught the mystery of Christ through the law. Because through him we both have access, in one Spirit, to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone. For those who were formerly near, he says, have no greater intimacy with God than we do, but there is one access for both, through one Holy Spirit.

Having previously said that we have been reconciled to God in one body, he now says that we have been brought near to God in one Spirit, showing that we have become partakers of the one Spirit through the one body. The choice of names is also appropriate. For where he spoke of reconciliation, he named God. But where he speaks of access, he calls it Spirit. In whom every building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Using the cornerstone as an example, which supports the whole building, he teaches that we are established in Christ. And by calling him a stone, and mentioning its connection with those who are being built, he showed his kinship with us, from the only-begotten's birth according to the flesh. For since, he says, the children have shared in blood and flesh, he himself likewise partook of the same. In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Clearly, into a temple.

CHAPTER 3.

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of the grace of God given to me for you, that by revelation he made known to me the mystery. Of this grace toward you, he says, I am a servant and a contender even to chains, and for this reason the mystery was revealed, so that it might be proclaimed to you through me. As I wrote before in brief, whereby you can, reading, understand my insight in the mystery of Christ. Brief, he says, is the word and concise the teaching, and I taught many things in few words, seed-like, revealing only as much as you are able to understand; and to understand from more reading, not from something incidental or passing.

Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit: that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, and of the same body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ through the Gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God, which was given to me according to the working of his power. For the mystery was also being spoken of in the prophets; at any rate, those with Peter were amazed. And Peter himself then understood through the revelation of the Spirit that God has also received the Gentiles. For the things of the prophets still lay in obscurity, and many things remained in riddles and awaited knowledge through experience. To those, then, he says, who are partakers of the grace of the Spirit, the fellowship of the Gentiles with Israel has now been clearly revealed, since the Gentiles also are brought into the same promise through the one leading to Christ. To me, the least of all the saints, this grace was given: to preach the Gospel among the Gentiles. He calls himself the least of the saints because he had previously persecuted the Church, placing before himself as more honorable those who were called before him and who were entrusted with the apostolate before the shedding of holy blood. The unsearchable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all as to what is the stewardship of the mystery which was hidden from the ages in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ. He calls the salvation of the whole world the immeasurable riches of Christ; and the stewardship of the mystery, the gathering up of all men into the one Christ.

This mystery, he says, was not visited by God afterward, since no will arose in him subsequently, but all is eternal, at the very time of creating, when he also laid down salvation. That now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the authorities in the heavenly places through the Church. That the rulers of the world, he says, who were ignorant of the wisdom that was foreordained for us, might now recognize, from the Church being built, the Creator of the new creation, who put an end to the former creation through death, and introduced the beginning of the second through the resurrection. According to the purpose of the ages, which he made in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him. Therefore I ask that you not lose heart at my afflictions for you, which are your glory. From the ages, he says, the wisdom of God set forth and foreordained the salvation that is in Christ, having made in him the whole purpose of the economy, inasmuch as he was to be the sum of the renewal of all things. For in us is the cleansing, but in him the purity; and the union through faith imparts to us the boldness that is through him. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. The work of the apostles is twofold, teaching and prayer, according to what those around Peter say: But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the bending of the knees signifies the one who falls down before God.

But "fathers" on earth are now named in two ways, since there are fathers according to the flesh and fathers according to the spirit. In heaven, however, they can be named only spiritually. Such was the teacher of Israel, the angel who brought the law. But there are also many spirits greater than angels and more ruling; as Isaiah makes clear, saying: "Not an elder, not an angel," indicating by "elder" something greater than an angel, whom the Apostle also calls a father who follows. "That he may give you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts, rooted and grounded in love, that you may be strong to comprehend with all the saints." The petition is great, he says, as from a great giver. For now we have truly been taught prayers worthy of the glory of God, when we have been taught not to seek earthly things, but heavenly. And the petition is the renewal and restoration of the soul to what is possible in the Spirit, just as it had left us when we separated from God. What is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height. The incorporeal is unmeasured, but through measured bodies he indicated his infinity and incomprehensibility. And he says height and depth, according to what was spoken by the angel: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace." For he spread his grace also over those on earth through the presence of the Word. And to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. In the partaking of Christ is true knowledge.

But through knowledge love, being within the soul and being known, produces a hidden knowledge, which he calls greater than the manifest knowledge that comes through words. "That you may be filled unto all the fullness of God." He says this so that, when the sanctified heavenly Church is added, the whole fullness of God may be constituted through both heavenly and earthly things. "To him who is able to do above all things, beyond abundantly what we ask or understand, according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the Church in Christ Jesus, to all generations of the age of ages. Amen."

CHAPTER 4.

"I therefore beseech you, I the prisoner in the Lord." Paul does not grant to himself the understanding of all things, but ascribes it to God—both that he grants things greater than what we ask, since even the power supplied to us now does not yet render the whole of grace. He calls the true glory "in Christ Jesus," and the likeness "in the Church." "Walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience bearing with one another in love, being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." He says, you were called to a holy life, and the calling demands what is spiritual; and this is recognized by contrast with what is fleshly. But if in fleshly things there is pride, and loftiness, and quick temper, and contention with one another, clearly the word seeks the opposite in us. "One body." Through understanding one another. "And one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling." Through thinking the same thing; for both need one another.

And the bodily element, when the spiritual is not present, is rather a cause of division; but the spiritual element, if the bodily is not also guarded, is gradually obscured. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all. From all these he introduces unity. One Lord, then, whom we invoke; one faith, through which we were brought in; one baptism, through which we were cleansed. One Father over all, who is also through all through the Word that is from him, and in all through the same Spirit. And wishing the likeness of the divine unity to shine forth in us, he proclaimed the distinctive properties of the Trinity in one God. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Therefore he says: Having ascended on high, he led captivity captive. Even if, he says, the charisms are various, grace being measured to each one's power and disposition, nevertheless let not the things of unity be divided. And he gave gifts to men. The psalmist also, he says, makes clear the abundance of the gifts, those given after the Savior's ascent, when he led captive those who had been taken captive by death, through his own life and revival. Having said "he gave," instead of what is said in the psalm, "he received," he shows that the things said of Christ in a bodily manner are not destructive of the spiritual and divine things, nor that "he received," said in a human manner, destroys "he gave," said in a divine manner. But what is "he ascended," except that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is himself also he who ascended far above the heavens, that he might fill all things.

To ascend, he says, is not possible for God unless he has first descended, and it is clear that the ascent is to that place from which the descent came. Since, therefore, he descended from heaven, he ascends above all the heavens; having descended not only to the earth but even beneath the earth. He descended for this reason, that all things might be filled with divinity. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; so that we may no longer be infants, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, in the trickery of men, in cunning craftiness for the scheming of error. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow up in all things into him; who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, being joined together and knit together through every joint of the supply, according to the working in the measure of each single part, makes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. He who received apostolic grace, he says, also proclaims the hidden wisdom of the dispensation; and he who serves a prophetic ministry serves for the demonstration of the foreknowledge that is in us from the Spirit. Another makes proclamation of the Gospel, through words or writings, as Philip through words, but those who wrote the Gospels through writings; and another, having been entrusted with a church, shepherds it.

All the gifts, then, he says, are directed toward the perfecting of those who have been sanctified in faith unto perfection, while those who have received the gifts minister to the common good. And the operation of the gifts is necessary until those who are now infants become perfect according to the spiritual perfection that is in the likeness of Christ, and no one is any longer an infant, receiving many changes from the various teachings that are introduced in cunning and lead astray, but rather, as in the growth of a body, we all reach such a height as to be fitted together to our head, Christ. He, standing over us in his divine preeminence, imparts himself to us in the conjunction of his economy, joining us to himself and to one another, according to the mutual fitting-together we have, as it were, in a building, and insofar as each is able to receive the supply of the Spirit, the perfection that comes with growth being summed up in love. This, then, I say and testify in the Lord: that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility

of their mind, darkened in their understanding, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart. Who being past feeling, gave themselves over to licentiousness, to the working of all uncleanness. As he says in the case of Christ as a witness, to remember the calling that is unto sanctification, and not to run back to the life before the calling, which has neither aim nor end, but is carried about in vain. In greediness. But you did not so learn Christ. Greediness is a necessary consequence of the love of the flesh, because they wish to have so much, whence they may spend it on pleasures. If indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off according to the former conduct the old man, which is corrupted according to the desires of deceit. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, putting away lying, speak truth each one with his neighbor, because we are members of one another. This he says, since they had not been taught by him, but by John the evangelist. He says, then, that the teaching which has already come to you, if indeed it came truly according to Christ, does not permit the pleasure-loving life and the life in ignorance, which has nothing good, nor true. For he who has learned according to Christ has learned the good and the true, being taught to change the oldness in the fleshly life into the newness that is in the Spirit. Be angry, and do not sin; let not the sun go down upon your provocation.

Do not give place to the devil. Let the one who steals steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working what is good with his hands, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need. Let no harsh word proceed from your mouth, but if any is good, for building up as the need requires, so that it may give grace to those who hear. Even if anger should fall upon him, he says, let it not prevail unto sin, but even before a second day comes, let it cease. For if these things, which are teachings of the devil, prevail among you, the teacher will enter in through his own teachings. And do not grieve the Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. The Spirit will turn away from you, he says, as one grieved, because, having been given to you in sealing for union, he finds those who received the grace unfit for union, so as to escape the punishment of corruption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and blasphemy be taken away from you with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave. These things, he says, which belong to fleshly ignorance, let the one who is being built up spiritually leave behind.

CHAPTER 5

Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. It is necessary, he says, to imitate God in forgiving those who sin against us, so that we may be imitators of God. But his death he did not call death, but an offering of God; for the Lord was not a spoil of death, but was taking captive unto life those who were in death, nor was he held by death, but was with God, and even then acceptable and precious, and a gift for the whole world most sweet-smelling in respect of holiness. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints, and shamefulness, and foolish talking, and jesting, which are not fitting, but rather thanksgiving. Having gone through the things profitable for one another, he adds what pertains to each one's own self, temperate and pure. Nor here does he use the measure of the law, but beyond it. For there it is said, "There shall not be one committing fornication, nor a woman committing fornication"; but here, "let it not even be named, or heard." For this is

knowing that every fornicator, or unclean person, or covetous man, who is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partakers with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is well-pleasing to the Lord, and do not share in the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even expose them. Do not think, he says, that apart from a life accompanying the faith, the faith makes you partakers of the kingdom of Christ, which is the kingdom of God; nor let anyone deceive you with an empty word, as though faith were true in those who live lawlessly, and could save them, for which things God is angry against the world. For the marks of disobedience are these; it is absurd for them to be present in the sons of the faith, and for us to be partakers of those things from which the faith has separated us. But our regeneration into light must be attested by works, and we must become a law to ourselves, offering conviction of the evil life of men, our good conduct. For the things done by them in secret, it is shameful even to speak of. But all things, when exposed, are made manifest by the light. For everything that is made manifest is light. Therefore he says: Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you. See then how carefully you walk. Not by word, he says, is it to convict such a one, as it is by works.

For to speak of the things they do is shameful even to mention, which they themselves also, being ashamed, conceal. But if we are light, we can also make the darkness manifest by the contrast of the light; this is the finest reproof. And we shall be light when we have risen from the death-bringing sleep and have partaken of Christ, according to what is said: Awake, you who sleep. He did not say who it is who speaks, or where in the holy Scriptures it is written; but there were many things spoken by the Holy Spirit in those times, and not written down. He means the one in sins. Not as unwise, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil; therefore do not become foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody. Not as unwise, he says, be you enticed, but as wise guard your own path, by not being dragged along by the time of wickedness. In your heart to the Lord. This he says, so that our whole mind may be stretched toward the Lord, and not only that we sing with our lips. Giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father. It is fitting to celebrate mysteries to God, hymning him and recounting the benefits which Christ accomplishes. Submitting to one another in the fear of God. Just as rebellion against one another produces division, so submission produces union. And it is necessary to submit to one another for Christ's sake, as accomplishing this as worship to Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord.

For a man is the head of the woman, as also Christ is the head of the Church, and he himself is the savior of the body; but just as the Church is subject to Christ, so also let wives be subject to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your own wives. He is speaking about the duties within households, which are matters of authority and subjection. And there are three kinds of these: two according to nature—wife and husband, children and parents—and one according to law, for this is slave and master. To the one who is subject, then, he introduces subjection; to the ruler, the duty of care toward the subject. By the type, then, that relates to Christ, he commands the wife to be subject to the husband, so that the subjection may not be merely bodily but may also become spiritual. Just as also Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water in

the word, that he might present the Church to himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she might be holy and blameless. Thus husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. The ruling principle does not wish to be harsh toward the subject. For this is true rule, that the ruler care for those under him, which has been made manifest in Christ, who did not seek what was fitting for himself but what was advantageous for the Church. For his glory was in immortality, and this was both owed and fitting.

But the salvation of the Church is in the cleansing of sin, which did not simply take place unless Christ wrought a transformation of the defiled life, having destroyed its likeness by death, so that dying together with him we might be released from the life we lived. And the cause of this cleansing is holy baptism. For there is present in that water the invocation through the word, which declares it holy. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as also the Lord the Church. Because we are members of his body, from his flesh and from his bones. For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. If the wife is the flesh of the husband, let him care for her, he says, as for his flesh; and if we know Christ as being like a husband to the Church, and having made us members of himself through the life in the Spirit, let them imitate the love of Christ toward the Church. This mystery is great; but I speak concerning Christ and concerning the Church. He joined the spiritual to the carnal, showing the latter to be a type of the former. For thus a mystery arises, with the truth hidden in the type, because the taking of the woman from the man, and her union with the man, prefigured Christ and the Church. For we have our being from Christ in respect of holiness, and having been sanctified we are united to Christ. Nevertheless, let each one of you also so love his own wife as himself; and let the wife fear her husband. CHAPTER 6.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. The word, then, is universal, extending to the whole Church united to Christ. But let the pattern be fulfilled in each woman and in each man: in love on the husband's part, and in submission on the wife's part, in fear. Honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you, and that you may be long-lived on the earth. And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. The second principle is that of children, since the begetting of children is also second after marriage, and it introduces the law as a witness. For all things that we accomplish through Christ are testified by the law to be good and just, whether spoken in explicit words or indicated typically, and the pedagogical testimony of complete teaching is good. Declaring the commandment concerning parents to be honorable, he says that it is both first and spoken with a promise, which promise lies in the Decalogue. For the law imitates long life as a type of eternal life. And God yoked this promise to the first commandment, introducing beforehand four others that pertain to God; because for the honors paid to himself, the recompense from the one honored is evident. But the honor paid to parents, since it does not have from them a recompense worthy of the word, received this from God through a promise.

Slaves, obey your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling, in sincerity of your heart, as to Christ, not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul, serving the Lord with goodwill, and not men. Knowing that whatever good each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. And you masters, do the same toward them, letting go of threatening, knowing that both their Lord and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him. Again he subjects the obedient party first, then teaches the ruling party kindness. And he says masters according to the flesh, because lordship is not natural, nor has anyone been made a slave of another, as the irrational animals have. But of the divine servitude, which the one who came to be in the form of a slave endured, the human service of those who serve purely and willingly becomes a type, since the servitude is referred to God. For the rest, be strengthened in the Lord, and in the might of his strength. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand. Power from God must be added to men who have fallen into weakness, so that the recovery of power may loose the weakness. And this power he likens to a panoply, making clear that just as the naked man is not able for war, so the man without a share in the Spirit is not able against the devil who works out wickedness. Against the wiles of the devil.

For our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spirits of wickedness in the heavenly places. For this reason take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having accomplished all things, to stand. He calls it a method, the devil's villainy, because he does not show what he wishes to bring about in a straightforward way, so as not to become conspicuous, but putting on one mask for himself, he contrives other things; and just as a cunning enemy attacking a city and its walls, he digs underneath unseen, so that by this means it may become hard to guard, and he may accomplish what he has striven for. Stand therefore, having girded your waist in truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet in readiness for the Gospel of peace. Above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery arrows of the evil one, and receive the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, through all prayer and supplication, praying at every time in the Spirit, and to this very end keeping watch with all perseverance and supplication. Why, in truth? But desire is mockery and falsehood; the thing is not pleasure, but a shadow of pleasure; that is, in the true pleasure, in chastity. Concerning all the saints, and for me, that a word may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

That you also may know the things concerning me, what I am doing. The Lord commands us to persevere in unceasing prayers, and Paul too, but prayers in the spirit, that is, in the mind, not only in the mouth. And the prayers are many, because they are also for many, and for all the saints, and for himself; since the work was a struggle for him, so that he was sent forth as a prisoner for his sake. Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful deacon in the Lord, will make all things known to you, whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know the things concerning us, and that he may comfort your hearts. Peace to the brethren, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility. Amen. For the saints rejoice when the holy work is directed aright. Therefore he makes known his own circumstances to the churches. It was written to the Ephesians from Rome through Tychicus, of verses three hundred and twelve. To the Epistle to the Philippians.

Chapter 1.

Paul and Timothy, servant of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He writes this epistle

to men who have advanced in teaching. Therefore he does not touch on doctrines, since they already had sufficient knowledge concerning these things, inasmuch as they had richly enjoyed such things from the Apostle himself. But there are, so to speak, two things he exhorts them about through almost the whole letter: not to be puffed up, since he knows that this too follows those who have come near to success, and to rejoice continually. For they were greatly disheartened, hearing of the Apostle's bonds, and the coming judgment, and his expected death. For they did not hope that he would escape the hands of Nero, a man mad in other respects too and frantic for murders. Therefore he also calls him a lion in the Epistle to Timothy. For the Lord, he says, stood by me, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. But all the other things he exhorts them about, he exhorts them about as in a summary, since, as I said, having spent much time with them, he had benefited them greatly. Since he promises in this same letter to send Timothy to them a little later, for this reason he makes the letter common to all, accustoming them to receive him as a teacher. For if Paul made him a sharer in the teaching now sent to them, how will they not also receive him when he is present a little later, whose teaching they have already heard? But it should be known that he sends the letter to a whole region and a whole people; and this is clear from his saying, to all the bishops.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ. He bears witness to their great progress, since when he remembers them, it is not with tears or groans, as he remembers those who are being shaken, but with much thanksgiving, which is characteristic of those who succeed. And what is their success, except that having shared with him in the Gospel, from the beginning until now they have remained sharers, being shaken in nothing at all? This also provides him with the good hope of the future. For I know, he says, that you will complete this work, until you present it to him whole at the coming of the Lord. Even as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, all of you being partakers with me of grace. Since he said he has confidence in them, he says he has this confidence as a just one. For he says he is confident that they will all be sharers with him in the bonds, the defense, the grace. To be so confident about those who have believed is a great testimony of their firmness. For God is my witness, how I long for you all in the affections of Jesus Christ.

And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all perception, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense unto the day of Christ, being filled with the fruit of righteousness which is through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. Since he said that he had great love toward them, so as nowhere to pass them by, neither when in bonds, nor in his defense, for this reason he calls God as witness in so great a matter. But lest anyone should suppose that he says such things flattering them because of the ministry which they sent to him, he added, in the affections of Christ Jesus, showing that his love is genuine because of Christ, and this he prays, that they may advance in knowledge and perception, and become exact approvers of the good things; for thus they will be without offense at the coming of Christ, that is, in no way stumbling. For such persons, he says, will be found full of the fruits of righteousness; and of righteousness, not that which is in the law—for this he also abolishes in what follows—but that which is through Christ, which also becomes unto the glory and praise of God. For the conduct that is according to God glorifies the Father, the

in the heavens. But I want you to know, brothers, that the things concerning me have rather come to the advancement of the Gospel, so that my bonds have become manifest in the whole praetorium and to all the rest, and that most of the brothers in the Lord, having been confident because of my bonds, dare more abundantly to speak the word without fear. He writes the letter to them from Rome, they being in great discouragement because of the bonds. By these bonds he so turns them away from grieving that they even have great joy, teaching through them that through them the preaching increases and error is driven out. Some indeed proclaim Christ through envy and strife, but some through good will. The enemies of the preaching, when the Apostle had been bound for preaching Jesus, wishing to stir Nero up the more, themselves also preached Jesus, and the opposite of what they wished to do happened to them. For wishing to destroy the preaching, they rather increased it, even if they preached not purely, that is, not from the heart, and were zealous for this very thing, not that men might learn the truth, but to stir up affliction for the Apostle. Some proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not purely, supposing to bring affliction to my bonds; but some out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the Gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether by pretext or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. All who, he says, preach purely do this, being confident in my defense. For they knew that the defense made by the Apostle would be common on their behalf. I rejoice; in this I rejoice, but I will also rejoice.

For I know that this will turn out for me unto salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my eager expectation and hope. So far, he says, am I from grieving over my bonds and the coming defense—not only for the sake of those things which I myself proclaim, but also for the sake of those things which they proclaim—that I even consider the matter a joy. For it will turn out for us unto salvation; and immediately he introduces the modest means by their prayer and the supply of the Spirit, saying that this salvation comes to him through them. That in nothing I shall be ashamed, but in all boldness, as always and now Christ shall be magnified in my body. That is, not through fear of bonds, not of the defense, not of death itself, will I betray the proclamation. Whether through life or through death. Whether I live, he says, I shall abound in the proclamation, or whether I die, Christ is again glorified, because his proclamation had such servants as even to despise death itself. For to me to live is Christ. See through how many things he leads them away from grief: first, from being ashamed; second, from the magnifying of Christ; third, from choosing to live for Christ alone, in order that he might fulfill his ministry. And to die is gain. Do not grieve, he says, over my bonds. For death itself for the sake of Christ is the greatest gain. But if to live in the flesh, this is for me the fruit of work. And what I shall choose I do not know. But I am constrained by the two, having the desire. He elaborates on what has been said before, and as it were interprets what this means: to me to live is Christ.

He says, then, that to live is Christ—this life is nothing other than spiritual work, whose fruit is owed to me. To depart and be with Christ is much better by far; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. And being confident of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all. And now indeed he was with Christ, according to the saying, If you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me. But not in the same way as then. For now, he says, we see through a mirror and in an enigma, but then face to face. For your progress and joy of faith, so that your boasting may abound in Christ Jesus in me, through my coming again to you. Observe again how great a witness he bears to their good work. For the one who progresses advances by walking. And where do they progress, if not to the joy of faith? And the one who progresses to this, he says, will boast in Christ. Only conduct yourselves worthily of the Gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you, or am absent, I may hear the things concerning you. Having testified to their great progress, he gently restrains them, so that they may not be puffed up upon hearing that they had progressed. And he restrains them by exhorting them to pursue a conduct worthy of the Gospel. That you stand firm in one spirit, striving together with one soul for the faith of the Gospel, and not being frightened in anything by those who oppose, which is to them indeed a proof of destruction. Having told them to conduct themselves worthily of the Gospel, he also states the form of that conduct. And this is genuineness in regard to the faith. For otherwise you cannot become one spirit—or rather, in this way: and also to have one soul.

This is proof of surpassing love. He says that great is the prize from these things. And what is this, except that they themselves become athletes for the Gospel? For there were many who opposed, those of the circumcision. But for us, salvation—and this is from God—because to you it was granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. See again how gently he calms them down. For having said, "You are athletes for the Gospel," he added that this very thing comes from God; and this was granted to you, to suffer for him. This, he says, does not dissolve the things of the mind, nor the things of the purpose; for it is necessary that I have a good purpose, and that I consider all good things to be from God. For not I, but the grace that is with me. Having the same struggle, such as you saw in me, and now hear in me. There are two useful things here: both not to be exalted as though they alone were athletes, since indeed they struggle in imitation of him; and not to be cowardly in the face of chains and the expectation of death, since indeed he urges them to imitate him. See how great is Paul's agony concerning the disciples, how, when they succeed and when they fear, he agonizes: when they succeed, because of the height; when they fear, because of the retreat that comes from cowardice. CHAPTER 2.

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercies, fulfill my joy, that you think the same thing, having the same love, being of one soul, thinking the one thing. About to exhort them to be of the same faith and the same soul, as if by an oath he first takes hold of their souls, almost saying: By the encouragement itself with which Christ encouraged us I adjure you, and by the love, and by the fellowship of the Spirit, by the affection itself, by the mercies of God themselves, fulfill my joy. And this is: that you be of the same faith and the same soul. Do nothing according to rivalry or vainglory, but in humility, considering one another superior to yourselves. For this especially is what produces heresies, rivalry and vainglory. Let each look not to his own interests, but each also to those of others. Do not, he says, look to this, how you may be called a teacher and someone great, but how you may not scandalize your brother. For let this be thought in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave him a name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus Christ every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

His discourse was about humility, even if it touches on doctrine. And observe how great is the precision of the doctrine: that Christ is equal to the Father, and that he emptied himself, and that he became man, and that he did so willingly. For lest anyone, hearing that he became obedient to the Father, should suppose that necessity was imposed upon him, as from a greater to a lesser, for this reason in many places he attaches the phrase "himself"—"he emptied himself," he says, and "he humbled himself, becoming obedient." And in saying this, he makes clear that the will of the Father and of the Son is one. And he makes clear not only these doctrines, but also that he endured death, having become man, who is in equality with the Father; and not death simply, but death through the cross. And that he was not held by death. For God, he says, exalted him. And when you hear "exalted" and "raised" and such things, understand the economy; for do not suppose him as diminished in power—for he himself is the power of the Father. For Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. To the glory of God the Father. So then, my beloved, just as you always obeyed. That he may be glorified, he says, as also the Father, equal and like to him. Not only as in my presence, but now much more in my absence. For he shows more clearly the love toward the teacher who hears him in his absence. For the one who obeys while he is present perhaps does this even out of shame; but the one who hears in his absence shows the genuineness of his love for the teacher to be great. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Again he makes them anxious—

...so much does he drag down their pride from success. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. And he says this, not as abolishing free choice, but as fearing again lest they be puffed up. For that the will is the cause of our being good or evil, he made clear by exhorting them to work out their own salvation with fear. Do all things without grumbling and disputings, that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without blemish. For he who performs the commandments with grumbling, as though they were burdensome, loses the reward for them. And the phrase, and disputings, signifies this: without hesitation and without wavering, and discerning nothing. For he who performs them thus, he says, will be blameless. Because of love, because of pleasing. In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. He calls the generation of the Jews crooked, according to what was said to them by the Lord: A crooked and perverse generation. Among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life. For those who can say, The light of your face has been marked upon us, O Lord, these can become lights. And the word of life, he means the gospel. For a boast to me, and for the day of Christ: that I did not run in vain, nor labor in vain. For truly the progress of disciples is a great boast for teachers. And to what point must progress reach, if not to the coming of Christ? And he says this, that having it we may die, having wavered in nothing of it. For thus we shall show it safe.

But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and rejoice together with you all. And do you also rejoice in the same way, and rejoice together with me. He always calls his death a drink offering, and likewise in the letter to Timothy: For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. He says, then, that both I am dying, and the enemies of the truth condemn me to death because of the preaching, not that I am grieved, but I rejoice exceedingly. Therefore you also ought to rejoice. But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you quickly, so that I too may be encouraged, having learned the things concerning you. I send, he says, Timothy to you, so that hearing the things concerning you, I may rejoice. Not that he was ignorant; for he himself said that he gave thanks for them in every prayer. What then is the rejoicing concerning Timothy, except that they have been persuaded and rejoice over the chains endured for the preaching? For this is what he also exhorts them to. For I have no one like-minded, who will genuinely care for the things concerning you. For all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know his proven character, that as a father with a child he served with me for the Gospel. Him, then, I hope to send. This is the greatest praise of Timothy, that he is like-minded with his teacher; and at the same time it is an exhortation to receive the same man with joy, as if seeing the Apostle himself. So that I may see the things concerning me from it.

But I have trusted in the Lord. He speaks from the judgment itself. And this is the meaning: I consider, he says, what will become of my circumstances regarding the judgment, and so I send him to you. Because he himself will also come quickly. He knows through the Spirit that the circumstances regarding his first defense will be easy, and he will pass through both death and chains; and that it happened thus, he made clear in the letter to Timothy, saying, At my first defense no one stood by me, but all deserted me. But the Lord stood by me, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. But I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your apostle and minister of my need, since he was longing to see you all. Great is the commendation concerning each of the disciples, since indeed he calls Epaphroditus a fellow worker and fellow soldier, and Timothy like-minded. And he was distressed because you heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick nearly to death, but God had mercy on him—and not on him only, but on me also. Epaphroditus had endured affliction in Philippi because of the preaching, and so great was it that from the sufferings he endured he fell sick with a sickness unto death. And he was not the only one stoned, but the Apostle also. And he made this clear when writing to the Thessalonians: For you yourselves know, he says, beloved, our entry among you, that it was not in vain, but after we had suffered beforehand and been mistreated, as you know, in Philippi. Epaphroditus was therefore disheartened because they had heard that on account of the preaching to them such great danger had surrounded him as even to come to death. So that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow.

I sent him therefore the more eagerly, so that seeing him again you might rejoice, and I might be less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such men in honor; because for the work of Christ he drew near to death, having risked his life. He had sorrow, then, over the destruction of the persecutors. He recovered, then, he says, so that in addition to that sorrow I might not have another—the sorrow of the Apostle's death. But he was sorrowful, not because he was departing and being with Christ, but because he was needed for the preaching, just as indeed he was; as he himself also said: To remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. You were not present, he says, but you ministered to me through him, by sending him. That he might supply what was lacking on your part in your ministry to me. Not yet, he says, have I completed the ministry which I perform for you in the preaching. But I am lacking, because of the bonds for the sake of the preaching. This lack, then, the beloved Epaphroditus supplies. CHAPTER 3. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me. And where is rejoicing for me, when he is in bonds? But for you it is safe. For he greatly secured their soul, teaching them not to be dismayed in the bonds that are for the sake of the preaching. Beware of the dogs; beware of the evil workers. He means the rulers of the Jews, concerning whom it was written: All dogs are dumb, not able to bark; and the dogs are shameless in soul, not knowing satiety. Beware of the concision. For they cut only the flesh, profiting nothing in reality; for the seal of faith is circumcision; but they do not believe.

For why are they circumcised? Whose seal do they receive? They are only cut in pieces. For we are the circumcision, who worship God in spirit, and boast in Christ Jesus, and do not trust in the flesh—although I myself have confidence also in the flesh. Those who cut off every worldly desire. For the Spirit of God has given us to do this, and the boasting that is in Christ. If anyone else thinks he has confidence in the flesh, I more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, according to the law a Pharisee, according to zeal persecuting the Church, according to the righteousness that is in the law having become blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, these I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. But indeed I also count all things to be loss because of the surpassing knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God. Since the heralds of the letter were proud, both in circumcision and in their race from Israel, for this reason he despises it in his own case. For then is the despising true, not when one who does not have something spits upon what he has, but when one who has it considers these things small and contemptible in comparison with the discovery of greater and surpassing things. He says, then, that having possessed all their venerable things, and having displayed as much righteousness in legal matters as no other man, I have counted all things as loss and dung, the citizenship according to Christ being a certain excess.

So great is the excess that I pray to be found having no legal righteousness of my own, so that I may gain the righteousness that is from God. See how he calls the righteousness from the law his own, but the evangelical righteousness God's, so that the distance between the two is as great as that between man and God. On the basis of faith—to know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain to the resurrection of the dead; not that I have already obtained it, or have already been made perfect; but I press on, if I may also lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ. He teaches what the righteousness from God is: the faith that is in Christ, and the knowledge of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings. For these things, he says, having been found in me, will cause me to attain to the resurrection from the dead. He did not say simply, I will attain, but, if somehow I may attain. He shows that even for those who have already received the gift of knowledge and the fellowship of sufferings, there is great need of sobriety, lest they lose what they have received. And this is clear from what follows. For he says, not that I have already obtained it, and indeed I am confident about the end; but I press on, that I may also lay hold. And what is it that he may lay hold of, except this gift for which he was also laid hold of by Christ? And in what was he laid hold of, except in the resurrection? For one died for all, that we all might live. Therefore there is great fear and agony for us, lest even after rising we be found unworthy of the one who raised us, and hear the words, I do not know you. Brothers, I do not yet consider that I myself have laid hold.

Again he introduces humility to them by his own example, especially since one ought not to call a man blessed before his end. So long, then, as the time of the contest is at hand, he has not yet attained. But one thing I do: forgetting the things behind and stretching forward to the things before, I press on toward the goal, to the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. He teaches how one might attain it; and how is it by forgetting the things behind? By "behind" he means either the legal worship, or indeed the whole corrupted life, which one must forget and stretch forward to the things before, that is, to pursue the evangelical way of life. For only in this way can one obtain the prize of the upward calling. As many, then, as are perfect, let us think this. Observe again the excess of humility. For he did not say that one ought simply to think this way, but that the perfect ought to think this way. And in this way—how? Is it not by not reckoning that we have already attained? And if the perfect think this way, how ought those who are not such to reckon themselves? And if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal this also to you. Even if you do not think this way, he says, as we say, God will fully assure you concerning this, that it is as we have taught. Nevertheless, to what we have attained, let us walk by the same rule, think the same thing. Even if we await, he says, the revelation from God concerning the matters sought, yet now hold fast to this which you already have. And what was it that they had, but to think rightly concerning the faith? Be imitators of me, brothers, and observe those who walk thus, as you have us for a pattern.

For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. For our citizenship exists in heaven, from which also

we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humiliation, to make it conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself. CHAPTER 4. Therefore, my brothers, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown. Again he says it is necessary for them to imitate him, and to know who walks as he does. And he says this not out of pride, but to turn them away from the company of false teachers, showing how great is the difference between the two, the spiritual and the carnal. And this difference can be seen from the end of each. For of the one, he says, the end is destruction; of the other, to be transformed and made conformable to the body of the glory of Christ. And this very transformation, namely of our bodies, Christ will accomplish, because he is able and has all things subject to him. And the phrase, and their glory is in their shame, means this: that they pride themselves greatly on those things of which they ought to be ashamed. For all the things of the belly are shame and corruption. So stand fast in the Lord, beloved. So how? As those who await from heaven the Savior, the Lord Jesus. And he calls his disciples his crown, because through the crowns their obedience to the preaching becomes for him a cause of reward.

I appeal to Euodia, and I appeal to Syntyche, to think the same in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the Gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers. Having given a general exhortation, he also offers it in specific form concerning those who are eminent in the faith; and this is clear from his adding: Who labored with me in the Gospel. Some say that he is here appealing to his own wife. But it is not so; rather, to a certain woman, or even a man, of one of them. Whose names are in the book of life. He has said this having learned it from the Lord; for, he says, Rejoice that your names are written in the heavens. Rejoice in the Lord always. Even if, he says, you hear the teacher in chains, even if under scourges, even if in death itself—and it is necessary not only in the case of teachers, but we ourselves also should suffer these things for Christ. Again I will say, Rejoice, let your gentleness be known to all men. He almost solemnly testifies to them that they ought not to be disheartened, but to rejoice. The Lord is near; do not be anxious about anything. Let not, he says, the things concerning me disturb you. For the Lord will be present with me. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding. Since he told them to be anxious about nothing, lest they fall back, thinking that he had declared this universally—for this reason, he says, I said not to be anxious in the matters of my chains, as though I were suffering something terrible from them. For they are not terrible; but, he says, be anxious in prayer and supplication toward God.

For one must ask God with thanksgiving, not with discouragement or slackness. He will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. Again he prays for the same faith for them. For this is what it means for their hearts and their thoughts to be guarded in Christ. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think on these things, which you also learned and received and heard. The Apostle has taught us that faith in Christ is the head of every good thing for us, and that all works according to virtue are as a small part compared to it. So it is as if he were saying: You have the faith, which I also pray may be guarded in you. But there still remains for you the conduct according to virtue, to which I also exhort you to hold fast. So then, say "finally" not because conducting oneself according to virtue is a small thing—for it is great—but because it is small in comparison with faith, and is what remains. For the foundation and the security is faith, without which it is impossible to build anything. Since there is no building, just as there is no house, without foundations. So then, faith is the foundations, and the

The building of the whole house, and the actions according to virtue, resemble a roof that encloses and, as it were, crowns the whole structure. And you saw in me. Since he said to hold fast to much virtue—truth, dignity, righteousness, purity, brotherly love, good report, and all things that produce virtue and all that produce good repute—since he said to take care for all these things, lest he should seem to command them things greater than they were able to do, for this reason he appeals to his own example for their success in them. It is therefore as if he were saying: Lest you grow discouraged, as though the commandments were great and greater than you are able to accomplish. For in me, he says, you heard all these things being done, and not only did you hear, but you also beheld them. Practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. I exhort you, he says, to do them, since great is the reward for them; and this is it—to have God dwelling with you. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at length you have revived your thought for me, in which you also were thinking; but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak because of want. For I have learned to be content in whatever state I am. I know both how to be brought low, and I know how to abound in everything; and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to hunger, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Nevertheless you did well in sharing with me in my affliction. And you yourselves also know, Philippians, that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; because even in Thessalonica, both once and twice you sent to my need.

Not that I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. But I have all, and abound; I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you. He is speaking about the ministry which they sent to him. And he rejoiced, not because he received, but because the disciples had fruit. For if the Lord commanded them to give, how were they not wronging him by not giving? Therefore he said very fittingly, you have revived. For the beginning of good fruit is fellowship with teachers, just as, to be sure, forgetfulness of them is the beginning of withering. An odor of sweet smell, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. For this is what enables them to be a sweet savor; for they fulfill the divine law. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory, in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me salute you; all the saints salute you. Especially, however. Observe how great is the fruit of the ministry: that they be enriched in the glory of Christ; and at the same time he gently teaches them that it was for their benefit that Christ commanded them to share with the teachers, so that they might partake of their spiritual things. For how could he who enriches these not also enrich the teachers? But he has done this by economy, so that neither the teachers might be puffed up against the disciples, as though enriching them for nothing, nor the disciples grow slack, as though always in the rank of the poor and giving nothing to them. For this reason he commanded that a giving over and fellowship take place, even if the things of the teachers are incomparably greater. Those of Caesar's household.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He greatly encourages them by saying that the preaching had prevailed even into the royal household, and to such an extent that even the faithful in Philippi greet them. With your spirit. Amen. He shows that all to whom he writes the letter are spiritual. For this he testifies to them throughout the whole letter. It was written to the Philippians from Rome through Epaphroditus. One hundred forty-eight verses.

TO THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS.

CHAPTER ONE.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, and Timothy the brother. He writes the letter to men who had received the word of the Gospel from Epaphras, but who were in need of greater knowledge; for they did not have perfect knowledge. Therefore he also touches on deeper doctrines, and leads them into the very sea of the economy, and prays that they be perfected in this knowledge. And not only this, but he also exhorts them not to be led away, neither by those who despoil them of the truth through Greek deceit, nor to believe those who are in circumcision. For both are outside the mystery according to God. Furthermore, he also joins to this the ethical discourse, teaching them what sort of people those who live according to Christ ought to be. To those in Colossae. The city of Phrygia. To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are called faithful, not only because we believe, but also because we have been entrusted with the mysteries of God.

We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for you, having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have toward all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in the heavens. He says that he offers thanksgiving on their behalf for these two reasons: both for their right faith in Christ and for their love toward the saints. Which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel which is present with you. Evidently from Epaphras. Just as also in all the world, and it is bearing fruit, just as also in you, from the day you heard and came to know the grace of God in truth, just as also you learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. He speaks of the power of the Gospel, for the assurance of those who hear, saying that it extends through the whole world, bearing fruit in works and increasing by the additions of those who believe, so that those who hear may know that, just as in a very great city, the Churches are counted throughout the whole inhabited world. For this reason we also, from the day we heard, do not cease praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. These things concerning you, he says, are worthy of my zeal. Therefore I pray unceasingly, asking for the gift of wisdom, so that through it you may learn how God willed to bring the world into his own possession, and in what manner the things of that possession could come to be.

While the law was unable to join us to God, Christ alone joins us, because he himself, having become the fulfiller of righteousness on behalf of mankind, grants to those who believe the fulfillment that was accomplished in himself. That you may walk worthily of the Lord, unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, in all power according to the might of his glory, unto all endurance and patience with joy. For this is spiritual wisdom, from which comes the sound and spiritual life. For understanding intensifies the zeal of good works. Giving thanks to God, who has made us sufficient for the portion of the lot of the saints in the light; who has delivered us. He calls God our Father, according to the adoption as sons given to us through faith in the Only-Begotten; for as many as received him, he gave them authority to become children of God. From the authority of darkness, he has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Darkness is the authority of the devil, and in darkness he has his power, just as a thief in the night; but over those to whom the darkness of wickedness has not come near, the devil has no power. And those who have escaped this authority are placed under the kingdom of the Son, through whom we return to the kingdom of the Father. Since the things spoken belong to the fleshly economy, for this reason it is said

The Son of the Father's love, beloved on behalf of men and for men's sake, according to the liturgical activity among men; and according to the form of the servant, having fulfilled the things that were lacking in the world. And through his blood he speaks of the redemption. For by the account of a ransom, the blood of the Lord has been given, leading out those held captive under death into life; because it was not possible in any other way for those under the kingdom of death to be led back, except through him who shared death with us, and who leads us into life. Who is the image of the invisible God. The exposition of grace runs back up to theology. For from the activity in the presence we know the essence of God that existed before the presence. For it is God's work to quench death, and to replace it with life, and to lead the world back to God. Therefore he says: Who is the image of the invisible God, so that he may show both that he is God, and that he is not the Father himself, but the image of the Father, having identity with him, not being that one himself. Firstborn of all creation, because in him were created all things, those in the heavens and those on the earth, things visible and invisible, whether Thrones, or Dominions, or Principalities, or Authorities; all things through him, and into him have been created, and he is before all things. Observe how he proclaims both his generation from the Father before the ages, and separates him from created things, by saying, in him were created all things. But if there were a brotherhood of secondary sons who came to be after the first, he would not have said that they were created in him. For by Wisdom the Father made all things, and Christ is the power and wisdom of God.

And all things consist in him, and he is the head of the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might become preeminent. And in him, he says, all things were created, and in him they consist, and he is the head, and he gathers both together, both the things of theology and the things of the kenosis. For he, he says, is the one begotten before the ages, who is also the firstborn from the dead. He says that he is preeminent, not as having taken preeminence beforehand, but as granting us the glory of being ruled by him. For thus also the works were to remain, having been made dependent on the Creator and having escaped the corruption which he endured when he changed the rupture into corruption, which he spoke in the letter to the Ephesians. That in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven. That in him he was pleased to sum up all things, both the things in heaven and the things on earth, so also here again he says it through other words. For the death of Christ both saved man and restored him to his elements, and brought the angels to the ancient joy at the salvation of men, and joined the things below to the things above; and this is the meaning of "to reconcile all things." For he made peace and removed the enmity from the midst. Therefore the angels also said, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace.

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in mind through wicked works, he has now reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him. Those who were separated from Israel were enemies in mind because they were in wicked works. The enmity that existed beforehand, he says, has come into friendship through wickedness and lawlessness, because the life of the flesh has been put to death—the life that in us is defiled, but in Christ is pure, yet was given over to death so that the sin that prevailed among us in this life might be destroyed from its foundations, so that we might be presented to God in another life, the life from the dead, no longer liable to the accusations of the former life—as many of us, that is, as are conformed to the death and resurrection of Christ. If indeed you continue in the faith, established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under the

...heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. Since he knows their circumstances by report, he has spoken with ambiguity: “If indeed you continue.” Clearly, perseverance in the faith confirms our reconciliation with God. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you. The apostle’s work is a contest. And since he is zealous for the work, he rejoices also in the struggles in which he struggles on behalf of the Church. And I fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for the sake of his body, which is the Church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship of God that was given to me for you. That is, of the Church; for insofar as the Church is his. To fulfill the word of God, the mystery hidden from the ages and from the generations; but now it has been revealed to his saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ, the hope of glory in you, whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, for which I also labor, struggling according to his working which is working in me in power. Chapter 2.

I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen my face in the flesh, so that their hearts may be filled, being knit together in love, and unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, unto the knowledge of the mystery of God, both Father and Christ, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden. The ministry of the Apostle lies in the teaching of the word. And the word concerns the salvation of the world, which was long ago counseled and ordained by God from eternity, but has now been openly established and is known by those worthy of the knowledge—not through fleshly wisdom, but through that which was always hidden with God, being supramundane and laid up in the Holy Spirit, which both those who come from human wisdom and those who come from the law need, since neither did the law clearly reveal the mystery, nor did the world comprehend it. I say this so that no one may deceive you by plausible argument. For even if I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, rejoicing and seeing your order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. For this reason, he says, I have said that all the treasures of wisdom are in Christ, so that you may not seek wisdom from outside. Since, though not present with you bodily, I am present spiritually, and I rejoice in the faith and good order of the Church. And I see also what is lacking in you, and what is in need of teaching. For upon faith, knowledge is necessary.

As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in it. Since he knows that they are not yet able, through epistolary teaching, to reach the depth of wisdom, he forestalls them with a command for their security, saying that the tradition which they have received is good, and that the teaching concerning Christ alone is true—the teaching which Epaphras handed down—and that they must keep what is firm in the faith, and add the building-up of love, and always advance in good works, and [endure] the things of afflictions in patience with thanksgiving. See to it that no one be the one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ. In this letter he speaks at greater length to Greeks and Jews, removing those who have believed from each of the two deviations. First, then, he guards against the despoiling that comes from philosophy, saying that philosophy is empty deceit, because by its outward show it astounds, and by the persuasiveness of its words [turns them away] from the truth

Having departed. For human thoughts about God are not sufficient, since all human apprehensions, being from things visible and from the elements of the world, are not reliable for the apprehension of the things sought, of the invisible things sought. That in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In Christ, he says, both the Father is and the Holy Spirit. And so that no one might think the indwelling is relational, or merely conjunctive, for this reason he said bodily, instead of substantially. He says, then, that this one who became man is the Son of God, consubstantial with himself and with the Holy Spirit. And you are filled in him. Since you have become his flesh and members, and have him as head, for this reason you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Who is the head of all principality and power. Even if, he says, he has become consubstantial with us according to the flesh, that is, the humanity, nevertheless he is also the one exercising authority over men. In whom also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, in which also you were raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. He joins the Greek things to the Jewish, not casting them out as those, but going beyond them, and preserving the bodily things in the spiritual.

Having, then, as the first mark of Judaism, circumcision, he says that we who believe in the true circumcision of Christ and partake of it—and this is not the circumcision that comes about through human handiwork, but through the voluntary stripping off of the body, the earthly life being laid aside for the assumption of the heavenly life, which is restored to us through the resurrection—which resurrection we already possess in potentiality, believing in the one who rose for our sake, but we shall also receive the resurrection in actuality in its own time. Having blotted out the handwriting that was against us by the decrees, which was contrary to us, and he has taken it out of the midst, nailing it to the cross itself, having disarmed the principalities and the powers, he made a public display of them with boldness, leading them in triumph in him. In those who disobeyed God, the impression that comes from the evil life is, as it were, a writing that convicts them of disobedience. This record is blotted out, so as no longer to testify against us, if we come forward by divine decree, that is, by choice and zeal. It is nailed, then, he says, to the cross of the Lord, that is, it has been put to death and invalidated, the life having been put to death in which we had the impression of wickedness and the testimony that came from it. For he who put the life to death also put to death the handwriting against it, and the evil powers that have grown around the fleshly wickedness and, as it were, shelter and cover the man, he stripped off together with the body, he hung up together with it, himself bearing the shame that is in the eyes of men, but turning it back upon those who crucified him, who are the rulers of this age.

Because their strength, death, was destroyed, having changed over into life, so that it has fallen from its throne, since its root and foundation have been removed, which is death. Let no one, then, judge you in food or in drink, or in respect of a feast, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is Christ's. You have been released, he says, from the legal ordinances concerning bodies. For all these things are typical shadows of things to come, when, having the true purity and celebrating the true feast, we shall present ourselves to God. Let no one rob you of your prize, willing it in humility and religion of angels, intruding into things he has not seen, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh, and not holding the head, from which the whole body, through the joints and ligaments supplying and being knit together, increases with the increase of God. Let no one, he says, legislate for you a legislation that is still lowly, the one

that is under angels as guardians and stewards, and humiliating you in fleshly things. For those who cling to this, the guardians of the letter, boast greatly in wisdom in vain, not having the head, which is Christ, from whom the whole body of the Church, through the joints and ligaments, increases with the increase which God has given it to increase. And he calls joints and ligaments those who proclaim the word to the Church. For through them the Church is joined to Christ, and is built into a good building. If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you dogmatized: do not touch, nor taste, nor handle—things which are all for corruption in their use.

If you have died to this life, he says, and to everything visible and fleshly. For he signifies the present life through the elements. If, then, he says, you have died to this age, why do you turn back to it again, busying yourselves with foods and such things? For these things, he says, are given to the belly, and pass into corruption. According to the commandments and teachings of men: which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and severity to the body, not in any honor, to the satisfying of the flesh. Commandments of men: he means the mythical teachings of the Jews, or he calls them fleshly commandments, having nothing spiritual in them. For this is what "not according to God" makes clear. And severity to the body, he means circumcision.

CHAPTER 3.

If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God; set your minds on things above, not on things on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. Since, then, he says, you have risen to another life, the heavenly one, be above all earthly ordinances. For it is not possible to have your life in one place and to hold the ordinances laid down for another; but let the things pertaining to the body be idle, as we have died, and let the spirit be active inasmuch as you live, and let the body await the life that will be given to it also, when Christ, the provider of our life, appears, having that life in his own body, and about to impart it also to our bodies.

Whenever these things too must be brought forward into life—the glorious life, the blessed life, which is Christ's own—we also are conformed to it. Put to death, therefore, your members that are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry, because of which the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience; among whom you also once walked, when you lived in them; but now you also must put away all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another. Paul's exhortation introduces deadness toward the corrupt worldly life, and in place of this introduces the heavenly and spiritual life; and he commands us to put to death the members that are upon the earth, as though leaving life to our spirit according to the conduct in the Holy Spirit, and he demonstrates that this putting to death of the life is necessary, explaining what in it is defiled, so that we should not suppose the life in the body to be evil, as the Greeks think, but rather the perversion of life—the life in pleasures, in which are fornications and all forms of wickedness. He names uncleanness, licentiousness, passion, and evil desire, and adds covetousness, since covetousness follows upon pleasures, pleasures seeking the supply of money. He calls covetousness idolatry, because, having abandoned serving God, they serve money instead of God. Persuading them, then, not to linger in such things, he says that the wrath of God comes because of them upon the disobedient. It is not fitting, then, he says, that the faithful, who also have the

having escaped wrath, to occupy yourselves in those works in which you formerly occupied yourselves when you had that life which we advise you to put off. Having put off the old man with his deeds. In general he says, summing up, that a change from the old ways must take place. For he calls the old man the former way of life, the one that came about from the fall. And having put on the new, the one being renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of the One who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but all things and in all things Christ. Put on, therefore, as elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against anyone, just as Christ forgave you, so also you. And above all these things, love, which is the bond of perfection. Just as he calls the old man the wickedness that came upon us from the fall, so he calls the new the conduct according to Christ, so that all may be imitators of Christ, inasmuch as also in Jew and in Greek and barbarian, and in slave, whom he wishes all to become likenesses of himself. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, unto which you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing yourselves with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father through him. Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as is fitting, in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be bitter toward them. Children, obey your parents in all things. For this is well-pleasing in the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, so that they may not lose heart. Slaves, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, work from the soul, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the recompense of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. But the one who does wrong will receive back what he did wrong, and there is no partiality.

CHAPTER 4.

Masters, provide what is just and equal to your slaves, knowing that you also have a Lord in the heavens. Persevere in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving, praying at the same time also for us, that God may open to us a door of the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also bound, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. And let the peaceful disposition, he says, be from the heart, and let it prevail from the heart, not by deceits of words that seem to accomplish it. For the unity of the one body, into which we have all been taken up in power, which is the body of Christ, demands the union that comes through peace. Walk in wisdom toward those outside, redeeming the time.

Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each one. They will make known to you all things concerning me. He wishes the association with unbelievers to be friendly up to the point of this common friendship. For as long as we are together with such people, we must live peaceably with them, since after this there will be: You dwelt alone in hope. Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord, whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts, together with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will make known to you all things here. He greets you. Asianus, a man who left his homeland and followed the Apostle. Therefore he also calls him a beloved brother, and a faithful minister, and a fellow servant in the Lord, and one who has obtained the grace of teaching. He shows that he is sent for the comfort of the Churches from Rome together with Onesimus, who is a citizen of the Colossians, and is sent in a fitting manner to the Jews. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner. This is the one from Thessalonica who departed together with Paul. Since, therefore, he also went out together with him in chains, as though he were a prisoner among the nations, he calls him a fellow prisoner. And Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you received commandments—if he comes to you, receive him—and Jesus who is called Justus, those who are of the circumcision. These alone are fellow workers for the kingdom of God, who have become a comfort to me. And the kinship with Barnabas commends the one named Mark. For Barnabas is better known.

And he adds Jesus, the one called Justus, perhaps because the faithful gave him this name out of reverence for the name of the Savior. And he says that these men, being of the circumcision, are a consolation to himself because of the loss of his kinsmen. For to one who mourns over those who have perished, those who are saved are a comfort. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has great zeal for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for those in Hierapolis. Luke the beloved physician greets you, and Demas. Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea, and Nymphas. Both kinship by race and kinship by homeland accomplish something, and further, kinship by teaching. And all these things belonged to Epaphroditus in relation to the Colossians. He shows, then, the earnestness of his prayers in the account concerning these things. And the church that is in his house. And when the letter is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans. He urges that the things of godliness be practiced also in the houses, calling the houses churches. And the letter from Laodicea, that you also may read it. He means the first letter to Timothy. Some say that it is not the one sent by Paul to them. For he does not say, the one to the Laodiceans, but the one written by them from Laodicea to Paul. And say to Archippus: Take heed to the ministry which you received in the Lord, that you fulfill it. The salutation is by my own hand, Paul.

Having been appointed to some diaconal care, he reminds him to fulfill the command, and this in the Lord, so that nothing may be done otherwise, neither great nor small, except according to God. Remember my bonds. He is not ashamed of his bonds, but even exults; and for their sake he knows that he is worthy of remembrance. Grace be with you. Amen. For he knows how to remind them that through this grace the race of men has been saved. It was written to the Colossians from Rome through Tychicus and Onesimus. Two hundred eighteen lines.

TO THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.

CHAPTER ONE.

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle, having heard that the Thessalonians were afflicted, and fearing lest they might at some point be moved away from the faith, sends Timothy to them from Athens. And when he had come and reported that they were steadfast, he writes to them rejoicing. At the same time, having heard that they had certain shortcomings in their manner of life, he writes concerning these things as well. And this is the theme of the Epistle. The introduction is from

of humility, since he even ranks his own disciples as equal to himself. And he reminds them of the grace through which they were redeemed, gently striking at their failings in matters of daily life; and not only this, but he also calls him God and Father, bringing them to remembrance of their adoption as sons. We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering you unceasingly. See how true is the thanksgiving offered to God on their behalf, because they had faith, and not faith merely, but working faith, and not love merely, but toilsome love, as he said. For they labored in persecutions because they loved the Lord. And they had not hope merely, but hope with endurance. Of the work of faith, and the labor of love, and the endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father. If you believe, endure all things. But if you do not endure, you do not believe. Knowing, brothers beloved by God, your election, that our Gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, just as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake, and you became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit.

The phrase "we give thanks" is shared, so that it means: We give thanks to God, knowing your election by which we chose you, and that when you received the Gospel in demonstration of great power, which the Holy Spirit worked, you did not receive it in a simple way, but it had such strength in you that you became imitators of us and of the Lord. And he says this because of the afflictions he endured from the Jews. So that you became examples to all who believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God has gone out, so that you have no need to say anything. For they themselves report about you what kind of entrance we have to you. And how. Observe how great progress they made, so that they themselves became an example to others, and not to a few, but even to whole regions and nations; for in Macedonia and in Achaia. And well is "has sounded forth," because of the abundance of its brightness. You turned to God from idols, to a living and true God. Since they were God's, and had gone astray, and were called again, for this reason he said, "you turned"; and well also, "to the living," in contrast to the lifeless idol; and "to the true," in contrast to the falsely named gods. And to await his Son from the heavens, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers you from the wrath that is coming. First he sets forth the glorious thing, "from the heavens," then the inglorious thing, death; and immediately he adds the cause of death; and this is our salvation.

For he rescued us from the wrath that is upon us.

CHAPTER 2

For you yourselves know, brothers, our entrance to you, that it has not been in vain, but having suffered beforehand and been insulted, as you know, in Philippi, we had boldness in our God to speak to you the Gospel of God in much struggle. For our encouragement. He calls them as witnesses to whom the word is addressed, since he wishes them to know that the affliction that occurred in Philippi did not make him more hesitant toward their preaching. And this is a hidden exhortation to bear afflictions bravely. Not from error. And the sign of this is that they preached in affliction. For the one who deceives in his preaching would never endure affliction for the sake of the preaching itself, knowing that this very thing is affliction. Nor from impurity, nor in deceit, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts. For neither at any time were we in a word of flattery, as you know, nor in a pretext of greed—God is witness—nor seeking glory from men, neither from you nor from others. Instead of saying, speaking to you things for pleasure; but thus we preached, he says, as God approved us. For we did not please men; for neither did we flatter you, but we preached the arduous things. Being able to be in weight as apostles of Christ, but we became gentle in the midst of you, as a nurse would warm her own children.

Thus, longing for you, we were pleased to share with you not only the Gospel of God but also our own souls, because you had become beloved to us. For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil; for working night and day so as not to burden any of you, we preached to you the Gospel of God. For you are witnesses, and God also, how holily and righteously and blamelessly we were among you who believe; just as you know, how we exhorted each one of you, as a father his own children, and comforted and testified, so that you might walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. For this reason we also thank God unceasingly, that when you received the word of hearing from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but, as it truly is, the word of God, which also is at work in you who believe. For you became imitators, brothers, of the churches of God that are in Judea in Christ Jesus, because you suffered the same things from your own fellow countrymen, just as they also did from the Jews, who also killed the Lord Jesus. That is, to demand honors from you, as having been entrusted with so great a dignity, but becoming teachers more humble than the disciples. And they drove out their own prophets and us, and did not please God. He places the prophets of the Lord and the apostles in the middle, so that he may show that those whom they acknowledge as their own had become evil toward these as well. And the middle he makes them evil to the extremes.

And hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always. For they hinder them from being saved. The wrath has come upon them to the end. But we, brothers, having been bereaved of you for a time of an hour, in face, not in heart, were all the more eager to see your face with great longing. Therefore we wished to come to you, I, Paul, both once and twice. Instead of, their sins were filled up. And Satan hindered you. Since the afflictions that came because of the preaching impeded us, for this reason he attributes those very afflictions to Satan. For he was the one stirring up and provoking the unbelievers against the apostles. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of boasting? Is it not also you before our Lord Jesus at his coming? For you are our glory and joy. For the one appointed among teachers has this as his crown and joy: the progress of his disciples.

CHAPTER 3.

Therefore, no longer enduring it, we were pleased. The phrase is expressive of great longing. To be left behind in Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, your brother and servant of God and our fellow worker in the Gospel of Christ, to strengthen you and encourage you concerning your faith, that no one be shaken by these afflictions. This is characteristic of the Apostle's humility. For it was not so much he himself who was left behind, but those who abandoned him. For you yourselves know that we are appointed for this. For when we were with you, we foretold you that we were about to be afflicted, just as it also happened, and you know it. For this reason I also, no longer enduring it, sent to know your faith, lest the tempter had tempted you and our labor

had come to nothing. But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have a good remembrance of us, longing to see us, just as we also long for you, for this reason we were comforted, brothers, concerning you, in all our affliction and distress, through your faith, because now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we render to God concerning you, for all the joy with which we rejoice on your account before our God, night and day praying exceedingly to see your face and to supply what is lacking in your faith. But may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you.

But may the Lord make you increase and abound in love toward one another and toward all, just as we also do toward you, so as to establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. To be afflicted.

CHAPTER 4.

Finally then, brothers, we ask you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, that you abound more. For you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication, that each of you know. He begins here the advisory part. For he heard of certain of their transgressions, fornication and adultery, from which he also turns them away. And he does not simply say, Do not do this and that, but he says that they received the commandments from him long ago, through the Lord Jesus, which he enjoins them to keep. For this is the will of God. That each of you possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of lust. Instead of, the flesh. Just as also the Gentiles who do not know God. This too is sufficient to turn them away from fornication, that the one who fornicates is ranked with those who have not known God. That he not transgress and defraud his brother in the matter. To transgress the commandments of God. And very euphemistically and covertly he named adultery, saying that it is an injustice against a brother. Because the Lord is an avenger concerning all these things, just as we also foretold you and testified.

For God did not call us to impurity, but in sanctification. See how he set the penalty for these things right at our feet. Therefore, whoever rejects this rejects not man but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you. Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for us to write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. And indeed you do this toward all the brothers throughout all Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to abound more and more, and to aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your own hands, just as we commanded you, so that you may walk properly toward those outside and have need of nothing. When you reject your brother, he says, who received the Holy Spirit through baptism, then you reject not man but God. But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve as the rest do, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. For we say this to you in the word of the Lord. He now moves to the discourse concerning the resurrection. And see how wonderfully he established the point agreed upon, taking the resurrection of the Lord as proof of our resurrection. For he raised up all men through his own flesh. Therefore he is also called the firstborn from the dead. And in the word of the Lord, he says, the saying is spoken so that they may have confidence concerning those who have died. That we who are alive, who remain until the coming of the Lord. He says this, not that he himself remained

until the time of the resurrection, but since he was speaking about the living, and he himself was also alive, in saying these things he used the common idiom of speech, "we who are alive." And that this is what he means, he adds, "we who remain," since if he means this, that while I am alive, how does he say elsewhere that we shall all rise? For if one is caught up while alive, how is he raised? "We therefore who are alive," he says, "according to the word already given beforehand. We shall by no means precede those who have fallen asleep, because the Lord himself with a command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God will descend from heaven." And how does he say "we shall by no means precede"? "Because the Lord himself with a command." With what command? That of the resurrection—instead of "commanding them to rise." "With the voice of an archangel," which he also calls the trumpet of God, because it becomes a command of God. This also the parable in the Gospel made clear. For a cry arose at midnight, "Come out to meet the bridegroom." "And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

CHAPTER 5.

But concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need for anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know accurately that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, just as travail comes upon her who is with child, and they shall not escape. But you, brothers, are not in darkness, so that the day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of day; we are not of night nor of darkness. He shows that the dead would not have obtained the resurrection simply, except through Christ. For unless Christ had died according to the flesh, death would not have been loosed. Or else he calls those who died for Christ "the dead in Christ," consoling his hearers at the right moment because they were in affliction. He says, then, that those who suffer for Christ also obtain the firstfruits of the resurrection. Therefore let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night; and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation; because God has not appointed you for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we watch or sleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you are doing. He introduces the word concerning labor at the right moment, setting alongside it the word concerning the mystery, and why the death of Christ took place.

But we ask you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and who preside over you in the Lord, and who admonish you, and to esteem them very exceedingly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. He teaches concerning teachers, exhorting what sort they ought to be. But we exhort you, brothers: admonish the disorderly, comfort the faint-hearted, support the weak, be patient toward all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always pursue good, both toward one another and toward all. Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. He weaves for them a discourse of various virtues. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophecy; but test all things, hold fast the good, abstain from every form of evil. But may the God of peace himself sanctify you. Instead of, Do not hinder the one who prophesies; and what follows makes this clear. Wholly; and entire your. If anything is lacking in you, he will supply it. The spirit, and the soul, and the body, blamelessly in the

May you be kept for the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful. The Spirit, he says, is the gift which each one received through baptism. For at that time each of those who were baptized received a gift, and worked signs. And one spoke in tongues, another prophesied; another healed the sick, another cast out demons, another raised the dead, another did some other thing. This gift, then, which he also calls the Spirit, he prays may remain whole in them, so that they may in no way be deprived of the working of the Holy Spirit. He who calls you, who also will do it. Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. He who called you, he says, Jesus, will make you complete and blameless. I adjure you by the Lord that the letter be read to all the holy brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. Since the Letter contains reproofs, lest the disorderly, having received the Letter, hide it, he adjures them that the Letter be read. To the Thessalonians 1 was written from Athens. Of verses 183.

TO THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS.

CHAPTER ONE.

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, to the Church of the Thessalonians, in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: we ought always to give thanks to God concerning you, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each one of you all toward one another abounds, so that we ourselves boast in you among the churches of God, for your patience and faith, in all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure, a demonstration of the judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer. And a second Epistle to the Thessalonians was needed by the Apostle, not that he might exhort them concerning anything that contributes to faith (for your faith, he says, grows exceedingly), or to the virtuous life—since even in the former Epistle he said that they had no need of teaching, being taught of God. What, then, is the reason for the Epistle? That they might not be disturbed when they hear that the day of the second coming of the Lord is at hand. For some of the false teachers were proclaiming this. Therefore he was necessarily led to describe the signs that come before that day: such as those concerning the apostasy, and concerning the end of the kingdom of the Romans, and those concerning the Antichrist himself. For these things, he says, must first come to pass, and then that day come. Observe how great the progress of the Thessalonians was, such that the Apostle sends up thanksgivings on their behalf, not because they simply believe, but because their faith grows exceedingly, and because they do not simply love, but abound in the matter.

This, he says, is our boast: your endurance, your faith, the persecutions, the afflictions. And endure all these things, he says, knowing that you will receive their end, the kingdom of heaven. If indeed it is righteous before God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, and to you who are afflicted. Instead of "since indeed it is righteous." And see how he consoled and comforted them by setting before them the vengeance, which especially those who suffer unjustly both hear gladly and long to see. Rest with us in the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power, in flaming fire giving vengeance to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus; who shall pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of his might, when he comes to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all who have believed. And from another angle he consoled them by making them sharers with the apostles. For you will receive, he says, rest with us; and the true

By establishing a repayment, he sets before them that judgment in which the repayment is altogether just, whether of evils or of the opposite. Because our testimony was believed upon you in that day. This truth, he says, which we now testify to your faith and endurance, will be believed in that day. To this end also we pray always concerning you, that God may deem you worthy of your calling. Since he said that the testimony concerning them is faith, and this concerning great things—For in faith, he says, and endurance, and persecutions—lest, being thereby slackened, they lose what they have worked, for this reason he says, We pray unceasingly concerning this, making them earnest in the contest. For we pray, he says, that he may make you worthy of the calling. And he says this, not as abolishing what is from us, but that we may not be high-minded concerning ourselves, but that even in these very things which we work by concession, we may call God as a helper, since if we trust in ourselves, all our labor is straightway undone. And may he fulfill every good pleasure of goodness. He shows that they are not yet perfected. For perfection is then only, when the time of the contest has passed; but as long as one contends, let him fear lest he fall; for this reason it has also been said: Do not call blessed before the end. And the work of faith in power. That they may be strengthened, to show their faith by deed. That the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ. This is similar to what was said by the Lord:

Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in the heavens. And this shows that it is from the grace of God that they have the power to become so great in shining works. For even if someone is perfect, he says, among the sons of men, being deficient in the wisdom that comes from you, he will be counted as nothing. Chapter 2. We ask you, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, that you not be quickly shaken from your mind, nor be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as though from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no one deceive you in any way, because unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, the one who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. He has come to the matter at hand. And this means not to be led away by the deception of the false teachers, who say that the second coming of the Lord has drawn near. Let no one, then, trouble you, neither appearing to speak by a spirit of revelation, nor alleging that I have said this. For it is impossible for the second coming to occur without the son of perdition first being revealed; and he means the Antichrist, whom he says will come, being energized by Satan, in all deception of seeming signs. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And now you know what is restraining, so that he may be revealed in his own time.

He reminds them of a previous teaching that had been made concerning these very things. For because of the deception that comes from them, both the Apostle himself often taught, and the Lord often commanded in the Gospels, "If anyone says to you, 'Behold, here is the Christ, behold, there,' do not go out." For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. He says that the mystery of lawlessness is the teachings of the heresies and their false doctrines. For they go before that one, preparing his way and providing an occasion for deception; and the heresies had already gone forth from the time of the apostles. Therefore John the evangelist says similar things: "As you have heard, that Antichrist is coming; and now there are many antichrists," speaking about the heretics. "Only the one who now restrains, until he comes to be out of the midst. And then the lawless one will be revealed." He means the kingdom of the Romans. For when this is completed, the Antichrist comes. Whom the Lord will consume with the spirit of his mouth, and will abolish by the manifestation of his coming; whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and wonders of falsehood, and in all deception of unrighteousness among those who are perishing. He taught not only the coming of the Antichrist, but also his death, thus teaching both from the first things and from the later things that he is false. For his coming is according to the working of Satan, and his end, and his abolition, and his destruction come about through the coming of the Lord. Because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.

And for this reason God will send them a working of error, so that they believe the lie, in order that all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness. For Christ also said this to the Jews themselves: I came in the name of my Father, and you do not receive me. Another will come in his own name, and him you will receive. But the phrase, God will send to them, means that he will permit it to be sent; such is also the phrase, God handed them over to passions of dishonor. But we ought always to give thanks to God concerning you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit and faith of the truth, to which he called you through our Gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Having gone through the matters concerning the Jews who disbelieved, and having taught what their end will be (for, he says, in order that they may be judged), he also goes through the matters concerning those who believed, of whom the preface is also thanksgiving, and upon the thanksgiving he says: first, that they were loved by God, and that he chose them as a firstfruits for salvation, and that he sanctified them, and that he counted them worthy of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, brothers, stand firm, and hold fast to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by our letter. It is necessary, he says, that those who boast of such great things stand firmly. But may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and our God and Father, who loved us and gave eternal consolation and good hope in grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.

See how again he lightens their afflictions, praying that consolation may come to them. CHAPTER 3.

Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified, even as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. For not all have faith. He demands an equal return: while praying for them, he commands them to pray also for him. And this prayer for him is that the preaching may advance through him. So then I ought thus to ask the saints to pray for us, that we may advance in the things according to God, since all other things are superfluous and not altogether useful, whether you speak of health, or peace, or any other of the external things. But faithful is the Lord, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. This very thing which he asked them to pray for him, he himself also prays for them. And he asked that he might be delivered from unreasonable men who oppose the faith. This, then, he himself also prays for them, to be guarded from the evil one. But we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that what we command you, you also do. He says they have no need of the remaining exhortations; for already, he says, you have demonstrated them through your works; and you are not satisfied with what has been done, but even after these things you will add more. And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. The prayer is continual, since it is also made concerning great things. And this is to love God, and to endure afflictions for Christ, and to join patience to love, or rather to seal love with patience.

As if, if we love, we do not endure, the love also is dissolved. But we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to withdraw yourselves from every brother walking disorderly, and not according to the tradition which they received from us. For you yourselves know how it is necessary to imitate us, that we did not act disorderly among you, nor did we receive bread for free from anyone, but in labor and toil, working night and day, so as not to burden any of you. And this he exhorts them, to avoid the idle. For these are both babblers and busybodies. And if he himself, preaching the Gospel, works, how much more must others work? Not that we do not have the right, but that we might give ourselves as a pattern to you, for the imitating of us. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, that if anyone does not wish to work, neither let him eat. For we hear some walking disorderly among you, working nothing, but being busybodies. But to such we command, and we exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ, that working with quietness they eat their own bread. For the Lord ordained to those who preach the Gospel, to live from the Gospel. But you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. Either he is secretly speaking to them about almsgiving, or he says this: Admonishing those who do not wish to work, do not grow weary. For this is doing good, when they cast out an evil habit by their exhortations. But if anyone does not obey our word through the letter, mark this one, and do not associate with him, so that he may be ashamed.

And do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Now may the Lord of peace himself. The punishment seems to be moderate for those who do not obey; but it is among the very severe. For what is heavier than to live in a desert, even if one happens to be in the middle of a city? And this he does not out of hatred, but out of love toward the one being punished. Therefore he added, and do not regard him as an enemy. May he grant you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. The salutation is in my own hand, Paul's. Since he advised them to separate from the disorderly, he shows that he did this not willingly, but yielding to necessity. Accordingly he prays that the punishment against them may be idle, that is, the separation and the parting, always and in every way praying peace for them. And it will be idle, evidently when the idle change into earnest and active men. Which is a sign in every letter; so I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Since at the beginning of the letter he said, Do not believe those who now proclaim the second coming of the Lord, even if they should say that we make this clear through a letter; for this reason he also teaches them the sign of his letter, fearing lest they fabricate something as if sent by the Apostle. To the Thessalonians 2 was written from Athens. 100 verses. To the Epistle to the Hebrews.

CHAPTER ONE.

God, who spoke in times past to the fathers in the prophets in many parts and in many ways, in these last days spoke in his Son. Observe how, saying nothing by way of preface, as is customary, he rushes straight from the beginning into the depths of the mysteries, showing how great the difference is between the gospel way of life and the legal one. And how does he do this? In times past, he says, God spoke through the prophets, and that in a veiled manner; for this is what "in many parts and in many ways" signifies; but now through his own Son; so that the difference is shown to be as great as that between a master and slaves. And he has done this fittingly from the beginning, since the Jews did not need, as the other nations did, a spiritual introduction, which had been arranged in the prefaces of every epistle; therefore, as those who are learned in the law, he touches on the depths of the mysteries from the very outset.

Whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages. Having spoken concerning the Son, he immediately sets forth the mystery, showing the same one to be both God and man. And how does he do this? He appointed him, he says, heir of all things; indicating that he is heir of the nations, according to the text: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance. And when is he appointed, except when it was said to him: Today I have begotten you? And this was extended to the time of the economy. But this one, who received the nations as his lot, is himself the one through whom the Father made the ages. For those things over which he had dominion as God the Word, over these he is said to have received the lot as having become man; he subjected all the nations to faith in him.

Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Observe how again he shows us God and man together. For it is as if he were saying: Being light from light (for this is what "brightness" declares), and in himself he shows the Father, according to "He who has seen me has seen the Father"; for this is "the express image of his person." This one, he says, became man and bore our sins; for "having made purification of our sins" declares this. Again, having fulfilled the mystery of the economy, he was taken up in glory and sat down at the right hand of the Father. But when you hear "at the right hand" and "on high," do not take these as signifying a place; for the Divine is uncircumscribed; but as declarative of God-befitting glory. And "upholding all things" stands for "governing and steering." For through him all things came to be and consist, as Paul said in his public addresses. And well does he say "upholding by the word," to show that the whole creation, things above and things below, just as those who move the very smallest and most easily swayed things by a finger, so he by a word upholds things on earth, things in heaven, things above the heavens. Being made so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did he say at any time: You are my Son, today I have begotten you? And again: I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son. Since, proclaiming the mystery of the economy, he said that he humbled himself, taking the form of a servant.

For this reason he compares him to angels, showing that even having become man he is none the less God and Lord, and he strengthens this argument from above, from the prophets, so that no one may have anything to say against what is stated. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says: And let all the angels of God worship him; and to the angels he says: Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But to the Son. Let it not disturb you, he says, to hear that he is diminished somewhat below the angels. For observe how he is again God, since indeed the angels worship him. As for the phrase into the world, some say it means the world here, others the world to come. Both readings are sound. And when he was accomplishing the mystery of the economy, the angels ministered to him as to their Lord; and he went into the heavens, with the angels subjected to him, according to the voice of Peter. Again, the phrase having been subjected he takes in reference to the economy. Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever, a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness. Consider again how he shows the same one to be both God and man, through the throne and the scepter showing his kingdom and his divinity, and through the words God, your God, has anointed you, the mystery of the economy. Above your fellows. So that all who partake of union with him have the oil of gladness, inasmuch as we all have received from his fullness, according to the voice of the Gospel.

That is, the Son did not receive the Spirit by measure. And: You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands. Again he runs back up to the divinity of the Only-begotten, showing him to be also the maker of the heavens. They themselves will perish, but you remain, and all will grow old like a garment. And like a cloak you will roll them up, and they will be changed; but you are the same, and your years will not fail. It is as if he were saying: Let not death according to the flesh trouble you, he says; for he has risen, and his years will not fail. And the heavens, since they are created, will grow old, so that they may also obtain renewal; but he himself will grant this to them, because he remains what he was, that is, God. And this is what your years will not fail also makes clear. But to which of the angels did he ever say: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Again the sit has been said because of the mystery of the economy, so that we may learn that even after he humbled himself and became man, he is again God, and in his own exaltations. Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth for service, for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? See how great is the distance between him and the angels, since he sits above, while they minister to him below. At the same time, by saying that the angels are sent forth for service, he recovered those who had given up under temptations, if indeed their angels are sent for salvation. And that they had been greatly weighed down by temptations, he himself made clear in what follows in the letter, saying:

Thus you have resisted sin as far as blood, and you have already grown weary. CHAPTER 2.

For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what has been heard, lest we drift away. For this reason. What is it, if not that there is a great distance between the legal and the evangelical way of life? And this is clear from the argument that follows. For if the word spoken through angels proved firm, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? The whole is a comparison, and the argument is that those who transgress the evangelical law are punished more. For if, he says, the lesser law, when transgressed, does not let those who transgress it go unpunished, how much more, if the greater be transgressed, will it not make the transgressor liable to bitter punishment? And the phrase spoken through angels means that angels served God when he gave the law. Which, having begun to be spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to you by those who heard it, God bearing witness with signs and wonders and various powers. The argument of the comparison is still in progress. And he says that the Lord himself began the evangelical teaching; then those who themselves heard the Lord confirmed it to us, God bearing witness with them through those wonders which they performed as they proclaimed. And by distributions of the Holy Spirit according to his own will. To one, he says, the Holy Spirit gave a gift of grace, to one prophecy, to another tongues, to another gifts of healings, to another some other of the gifts. For he did not subject the world to come, of which we speak, to angels.

For this reason he added, "of which we speak," so that he might not give the hearer occasion to seek some other world. How then does he call it "the coming" one? Because this is the custom of divine Scripture, as also elsewhere it says, "who is a type of the one to come," speaking concerning Adam and Christ. This one, then, he did not subject to angels, but to Christ. And somewhere someone testified, saying: "What is man, that you remember him, or the son of man, that you visit him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor; you subjected all things under his feet." For in subjecting all things to him, he left nothing unsubjected to him. He introduces the testimony indefinitely, saying "someone." For he speaks as to those who know. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. Lest

they say, "How did he place his enemies under his feet, when we suffer so much?" he says: Do not suppose, because he has not yet subjected them, that they are not to be subjected; for they must be subjected. For the prophecy was spoken for this reason. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, through the suffering of death. Through the three-day death, he says. And he persuades them to endure all things nobly, almost saying: If the one worshiped by angels endured to be a little lower than the angels for your sake, much more should you, who are lower than the angels, endure all things for your own sake. "Crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God." He shows that the cross is glory and honor, just as Christ himself also calls it so, saying: "that the Son of Man may be glorified"; and, "the Son of Man has been glorified." "That he might taste death for everyone.

For just as one who has truly tasted, having made only a little distance in it, immediately rose up. By saying "through the suffering of death," he signified the true death; but by saying "better than the angels," he declared the resurrection. For it was fitting for him, through whom all things, and through whom all things. It was fitting, he says, for him, the guardian, and who brings all things into being, to deliver up the Son for the salvation of the rest, the one for many. Having brought many sons to glory. Both he and we are sons, but he saves, and we are saved. The author of their salvation. That is, the cause of salvation. To perfect through sufferings. So sufferings are perfection and the cause of salvation. Do you see that to suffer badly is not abandonment. For God has honored the Son with this first, that he led him through sufferings. For truly, compared to making the world and bringing it out of nothing, that he took a body and suffered what he suffered is far greater. And he himself declared this in other places, having said: "That he might show in the ages to come the surpassing riches of his goodness." For both the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one. For which cause. See how he gathers them to himself, honoring them, and comforting them, and making them brothers of Christ, in this, that they are from one; for he too, according to the flesh, is from Abraham. He is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying: "I will proclaim your name to my brothers, in the midst of the Church I will sing praise to you." And again. See how he shows again the superiority.

For by saying "he is not ashamed," he shows that the lowliness belongs not to the nature of the thing, but to his own tender love. For even if they are from one, yet he sanctifies and we are sanctified. "I will be confident in him"; and again, "Behold, I and the children whom God has given me." Since, then, the children have shared in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same. He shows that, having become man, he took upon himself all things human except sin. For although he is enthroned with his own Father, and reigns together with him, and rules all things together with him, he is said to have been confident in him. But he says this as befitting the form of a servant, just as, to be sure, when he shows the things of his divinity he says: "I and the Father are one"; and, "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me." That through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil. Here he shows the wonderful thing, that by that through which the devil prevailed, through this he was defeated; and the very thing that was a strong weapon for him against the world, death, with this the Lord struck him. And through this the greatness of the power of the one who conquered is shown. And that he might deliver those who, through fear of death, were throughout all their life subject to slavery. All were slaves of death, he says, and because it had not yet been loosed they were held fast, and men lived with continual fear, always expecting to die, and had no perception of any pleasure, since fear was always present with them; for this is what he hinted at by saying "throughout all their life." But he has removed the fear, and we now laugh at it. For surely he does not take hold of angels, but he takes hold of the seed of Abraham.

He did not, he says, take hold of that nature—I mean the nature of angels—but of ours. And for this reason he said "he took hold," to show that he pursues those who turn away from him; for us who were fleeing far off, he drew us to himself. Therefore he ought to have been made like his brothers in all things, so that he might become merciful and a faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. What does "in all things" mean? He was born, he says, he was nourished, he grew, he suffered, and having completed all that was necessary, he died. This is what it means to be made like his brothers in all things. For since he had spoken at length about his majesty and his glory above, he now raises the account of the economy, almost saying: He who is so great, who is the radiance of the Father, who is the express image of his person, through whom he made the ages, who sits at the right hand of the Father—this one willed and earnestly sought to become our brother in all things. He willed it, and for this reason he came down to us, and took hold of us, and worked countless good things. He destroyed death, cast the devil out of his tyranny, freed us from slavery, and willed to become High Priest before the Father. Therefore he added: "so that he might become merciful and a faithful high priest in things pertaining to God." And what does "faithful" mean? True and able. And "in things pertaining to God," he added, indicating this: that since we were at war with God, condemned, and punished, there was no one to offer sacrifice on our behalf, but he saw us in these conditions and had mercy, not appointing a high priest for us, but himself becoming a faithful High Priest, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For in that he himself suffered, being tempted.

It is as if he were saying: He is not ignorant of our sufferings; he knows them not only as God, but also as man he has known them through the experience which he experienced. He suffered many things; he knows how to suffer with us, although he is impassible as God. He is able to help those who are being tempted. As one might say: With great eagerness he will stretch out a hand and will have compassion.

CHAPTER 3. Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ. Intending to set him before Moses and to make a comparison, he brought the argument to the law of the priesthood. And the account of the priesthood might be understood as referring to the economy, that is, of the faith. Being faithful to him who made him. Apostle and High Priest. For he says nothing about essence, nor indeed about divinity, but for now about human dignities. As also Moses in his whole house. For this one has been deemed worthy of greater glory than Moses, insofar as the one who built it has greater honor than the house. For every house is built by someone. That is, among the people. Because Moses was, as it were, a steward and administrator. But the one who built all things is God. And Moses was faithful in his whole house as a servant. This one would be the Christ. For a testimony of the things that will be spoken. If God is testified to by heaven and earth and hills, much more by men. But Christ over his own house, whose house we are, if indeed we hold fast our boldness and the boast of hope firm to the end. See how he distinguishes creations from the creator.

How is he a servant and a son, and while the one enters into the paternal house as a master, the other managed the household as a servant? Since the good things were in hopes, he says that she holds them thus, as already boasting, as over things that have come to be. Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers tested me, they proved me, and saw my works for forty years; therefore I was grieved with that generation, and I said: They are always led astray in their hearts. But they did not know my ways, as I swore in my anger, if they shall enter into my rest. His discourse is about the hope of what is to come, that there will certainly be

some reward, and fruit, and rest for those who have labored here. This very thing, then, he demonstrates from the prophet, saying: Today, if you hear his voice. But it should be known that he says there are three rests: one, that of the Sabbath, on which God rested from his works; a second, that of Palestine, into which the Jews, having entered, were to rest from the great misery and the labors; a third, the true rest, the kingdom of heaven, of which those who attain it would truly rest from their labors and pains. Of the three, then, he makes mention here. And for what reason, while discoursing about one of the three, did he mention them? To show that the prophet was speaking about this third one. For about the first, he says, he did not speak. For how could he speak about the one that had long ago come to be? But neither about the second, the one in Palestine.

For how? Where indeed he says, "They shall not enter into my rest." It remains, then, that this is the third, which is the kingdom of heaven. And the whole sense of the saying is this: David, he says, spoke later, after that generation, saying, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts," so that you may not suffer the same things as our forefathers and be deprived of the rest, since there is evidently some rest. For if they had received the rest, for what reason did he say to them, "Today do not harden your hearts, as your fathers did, so that you may not suffer the same things and be deprived of the rest"? What then is the rest, except the kingdom of heaven, of which the Sabbath is an image and type? If you have been called there, seek nothing here. "Take heed, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." Hence, instead of "therefore," "wherefore." For from hardness unbelief arises. For since the word concerning things to come is not so persuasive as that concerning things past, he reminds them of ancient history, in which they needed faith. For if your fathers, because they did not hope as they ought to have hoped, suffered these things, much more will you. But encourage yourselves each day. That is, build one another up. Correct yourselves, so that you may not suffer the same things. "As long as it is called today." What is "today," he says? Until the world is established. "Lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." You see that unbelief produces sin.