Contra Iudaeos in serpentem aeneum

Against the Jews on the bronze serpent; and on the fact that he granted him a name above every name; and on the fact that since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself. The word of God, brothers, as we have often said, is simple and clear and evident to all and full of great light, but having various activities, it receives various appellations, so that it is often called light and life and lamp and torch and sword and river and fountain and knife and axe and door. It receives these appellations in accordance with its benefactions, in order to open the eyes of the hearers' minds and to lead our understanding from things among us to things above us. Hence our Lord Jesus Christ, the word of God, the fountain of wisdom, when discoursing with the people, made use of parables, teaching things beyond the world from things in the world, invisible things from visible things, divine things from human things. And sometimes he brings a parable of a vineyard, sometimes a parable of a fishing, sometimes of a dragnet, at other times of leaven, just as today, when discoursing with the Jews, he said: A certain man had two sons and said to the first: Go work in the vineyard. For since these things are practiced among us and we are engaged with them, he leads us to the supramundane wisdom, as he said in the previous one. And yesterday the Savior said: The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

Yesterday he introduced the parable of the vineyard, and today the same. It is necessary to mark those times also, when the master of the vineyard went out. He went out, it says, at dawn and about the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours. Five times of the summons appear: at dawn, the third hour, the sixth, the ninth, the eleventh. Nothing is idle with God. For he who threatens that you will give account for every idle word would himself much more not have used an idle word, he being the fountain of wisdom. Therefore the divine school teaches us that God calls at different times. The master is the same, he has the same field, but he makes the summons at different times for the different generations of men. The day is the same, the master is the same, the vineyard is the same. The times at which he hires are not the same, but rather dawn, third, sixth, ninth, eleventh. When did he go out at dawn to hire workers? At dawn he calls the beginnings of the divine creation. It was dawn when Adam was formed. For in the beginnings the age had just newly raised the sun, just newly displayed the beauty of the moon and the good order of the stars. At dawn the master went out to hire. Whom did he first hire among men? Adam. He placed him in the garden to work and to guard. So then the first period from Adam to Noah is one summons, one time. At that time Adam was hired for labor, Abel for the labor of virtue, Seth and Enoch, who was translated for his surpassing virtue. Up to Noah is the first time of the summons.

When Noah appeared, it was the time of the third hour; he went out again to hire laborers. For when the first generation was destroyed because of lawlessness, the race of human beings again needed a second calling. He introduces a second group of workers into the vineyard, those from Noah up to Abraham: a second calling. Pay close attention, I beg you. The first hour is the period from Adam up to Noah; the third hour is the period from Noah up to Abraham; the sixth hour is the period from Abraham up to Moses; the ninth hour is the period from Moses up to Christ; the eleventh hour is the period from Christ to the consummation. For just as the eleventh hour is the end of the day, so also the time of the advent was the end of the ages. For just as the eleventh hour presses the day toward its end, so the time of the advent hints at the consummation. Therefore the apostle Paul says: These things, brothers, happened as types for those people; but they were written for our admonition, for whom the ends of the ages have arrived. And observe the remarkable thing: The first, the second, the third, the fourth, and finally the fifth were hired. And no wage was given to the first until the last arrived, but they endured the labor, yet they have not yet received the wage. For God did not wish to give the wage to the first until the fruits of the church should appear, and he commands the steward: Give from the last to the first. That God postponed giving the wage to the first until the last should come, Paul testifies, saying in the [epistle]. He mentioned Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the patriarchs and other prophets and righteous men, and he adds:

And all these, having borne witness through faith, did not receive the promise, because God foresaw something better concerning us, so that they might not be perfected without us. For just as here, brothers, he gave five times and callings—first time, to recapitulate, from Adam to Noah; second from Noah to Abraham; third from Abraham to Moses; fourth from Moses to Christ; fifth from the Savior to the consummation—so also elsewhere, indicating a parable, he says: The kingdom of heaven is like ten virgins who went out to meet the bridegroom: five wise and five foolish. Why five and five? According to each generation, both righteous and unrighteous. Five wise and five foolish, for in each generation there are both diligent and lazy, both reverent and irreverent. See everywhere the harmony of the times. For these five callings certainly have their own distinct arrangements and their own time. And just as farmers demand from each season its own fruits—the fruits of spring from spring, those of winter from winter, those of summer from summer, those of autumn from its own turn—so also God, demanding fruits, requires from each time the fruits proper to that generation. He does not demand from you today the fruit that he demanded from the first ones. He demands something different after the coming of Christ. For just as he did not demand from those before you the fruits that are according to you, but demands from each generation its own fruits, so also then. Then it was a different time and had its own law.

Now is another time and has its own ordinance, not because God has changed, but because the command is being adapted. For this reason, Scripture often bears witness to Noah: "And Noah was righteous, perfect." How? In his own generation, in comparison with those with him. For each is required to render the service of his own generation, just as Peter says concerning David: "David, having served his own generation, fell asleep according to God's will." Each according to his own generation. There are, then, five generations. We say these things not simply making assertions, but following the Lord's footsteps. The Savior showed his power: "Returning," it says, "to the city, he saw a fig tree, and it had only leaves, and he sought fruit." He approached, being hungry. I see great difficulty in the words, unless the power shames our mind to speak or think nothing carelessly against God, but to follow the aim of truth. "Returning," it says, "very late at night he became hungry, and approached the fig tree, seeking fruit, and did not find it; for it was not the season for figs." Thus it is written. For who, I do not say God, nor do I now bring forward the dignity of God, but who among us humans is so foolish, so senseless, as to go to a fig tree out of season? If according to human nature, it is alien to a sensible person to seek fruit out of season; if according to divine nature, why did he ignore the limits of his own creation? However you wish to examine the saying, whether according to the humanity or the divinity, it does not fit the Savior. Neither does a sensible human demand fruit from plants out of season, nor would they have demanded it from the beginning.

Nor would God himself, who has set order, time, and laws for each plant and fruit, have demanded anything contrary to his own boundaries. For if you had legislated for the fig tree the appropriate time when it does not bear fruit [...] but if the time had come and it bore no fruit, this was due to the will of God, who had not strengthened the plant. Therefore, brothers, it is more an economy than a necessity. It is not a necessity of Christ, but an economy: he wished to prearrange the security of the Passion for the disciples. Since after this action he was about to enter Jerusalem immediately and undergo the Passion—for to the careful reader the power of the cross will be found to follow this narrative—since he was about to enter Jerusalem and suffer, and the disciples were scandalized by the Passion, so that no one might suspect him of suffering from weakness, he gives clear proofs that he could wither those who contradicted him, as he did the fig tree: so that he might display his power in the inanimate fig tree, and his forbearance in rational human beings; so that, having the memory of the miracle fresh, they might understand that he who withers with a word suffered willingly.

That this account, brothers, is true, and that he manages all these things for this purpose—to show his power—can be understood from what follows. For many are able to understand and observe. The fig tree, it is said, is the synagogue of the Jews. And he threatened the synagogue: "Let no fruit ever come from you again." Some have wished to observe this. But the facts are found not to agree with the prediction. For after the cross, after this pronouncement, myriads from among the Jews believed. And the statement "no fruit from you ever again" does not fit with so many having believed. Take up the saying again. If he pronounced against the Jews and against the synagogue, that it should no longer bear fruit—and the fruits of the synagogue are the churches—then after this pronouncement no Jew ought to have believed. But that many did believe, hear from Scripture. One address of Peter netted three thousand, another teaching of his four thousand, and there were souls amounting to seven thousand. Elsewhere, as the account proceeds, a great multitude of Jews submitted to the faith. If many Jews and many thousands submitted, and finally the word spread so far among the Jews that the apostles said to Paul, "You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews have believed"—if, then, there are myriads of Jews who have believed, if myriads believed, how does the pronouncement "let no fruit ever come from you" agree with the pronouncement? For after the pronouncement, myriads of fruits blossomed. But the matter has this sequence. Flee from forced allegories. Sometimes Scripture itself gives eyes for contemplation.

Sometimes the text itself teaches us to interpret figuratively. But when the bare theory or history lies before us, do not force what is unattainable, but accept the hearing as it follows. There was a cross; it was about to reveal the passion. Lest they ascribe the economy to weakness, he displays his power over the inanimate, and preserves his forbearance for those who are to have hope of salvation. For the Savior knew that the cross is the salvation of men, and that his being raised on wood netted the whole world. Therefore he says: "If I am raised"—that is, if I am crucified—"I will draw all to myself." Pay attention, I beg you: what does "raised" mean? Unless he himself interprets the word, I cannot fix the meaning. The Savior says to Nicodemus: "And just as Moses raised up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be raised up, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life." "And just as Moses raised up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be raised up." What does the riddle mean? Once in the wilderness the people of the Jews grumbled about the food of manna, and trampling on this food given from heaven, they desired an Egyptian table, and said: "I remembered the pots of meat which we ate in Egypt." And Egyptian pots were preferred to the heavenly manna. What then did God do? Since the bread from heaven was despised, he sends against the people serpents that cause death. Serpents came out, biting and bringing death by their bites. And fittingly no other beast was sent, not a lion, not a bear, but serpents.

Since from the beginning God said to the serpent, "You shall eat earth all your days," he sent such a beast. Against those who ate and murmured, he sent a serpent that bites but does not murmur. Death followed from its bites. They fell before Moses; Moses fell before God. God supplied a remedy for the wounds, although he could have driven away the serpents when entreated; yet he left the plague and gave the remedy. "Make me a bronze serpent and fix it on a wooden pole at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and proclaim to the sons of Israel and say: 'If anyone is bitten by a serpent, let him come and look at this serpent fixed on the wood, and believing, he will live.'" Was it not possible to banish the serpents? Was it not possible for them to perish? Was it not possible to heal by a word? But just as the word of God could bring water from a rock, yet until the rock saw the symbol of the cross, it did not obey. So too here. He could have banished the serpents, but until the serpents saw the image of the cross, which deadens the bites of demons, they were not blunted. Why did he make the serpent an image of the Savior? What likeness is there between an image and a serpent? So that you may remember, when you have to deal with Jews or with some enemies who draw from scripture and arm themselves against scripture, how from the crucified one you receive salvation and blessing. For it is written: "Cursed is everyone who hangs on wood." Pay close attention. If a Jew or another enemy of the church says, snatching words from scripture and arming himself against scripture:

How do you wish to receive a blessing from the crucified Lord, when Moses clearly writes, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree"? Say to him: If you have read the Scripture, understand it. For it is not the reading that is sought, but the understanding, as Philip says to the eunuch: "Do you really understand what you are reading?" And how is the well-disposed man? "How, Lord, unless someone guides me?" If he says: "How do you expect a blessing from the crucified one? For it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree,'" say to him: "How did the sons of Israel in the desert receive a blessing from the serpent, when God said from the beginning: 'You are cursed above all the beasts of the earth'?" And the serpent is cursed, and cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. Do not attend to the arrangement of the words, but learn the difference. Since the savior was about to take upon himself the curse that lay upon the world, and according to which the first was: "You are earth and to earth you will return," he took this sentence upon himself—as the apostle says: "He redeemed us from the curse of the law, becoming a curse for us." Anticipating, he sets an image in the serpent, and fittingly in the serpent. For just as that bronze serpent had the appearance and form and image of a serpent, but did not have the venom and wickedness of a serpent, so too the savior appears in flesh with the semblance of sin. For this flesh was sinful before this. He therefore takes up the sinful flesh, not having sinned himself, but taking the sin of the world. Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

Thus also the Savior took on flesh, which had the image of flesh and was true flesh, but did not have the sin of flesh. For Isaiah says, "He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth." For what venom is in the serpent, that deceit is in man; concerning the wicked, Scripture says, "The venom of asps is under their lips," whose mouth is full of curse and bitterness, and "They dealt deceitfully with their tongues." Just as, then, to take up the point again, that serpent had the image and form of a serpent, but did not have the venom and wickedness of a serpent, so also the body of the Savior had the form of men, but did not have the wickedness of men. There is yet another image: Just as there, some are the biting serpents, and another is the one who suffers on their behalf. For it was necessary to take one of the biting serpents and crucify it. The biting ones were let go; the one that had committed no sin was crucified. And the one that had neither shared in the corruption nor the destruction of the other serpents endures being fixed on wood, because it was an image of the Savior, since when all men have sinned, none of those who have sinned is crucified on behalf of a sinner, but the sinless one. You have understood the typology. Remember the Lord’s word to Nicodemus: "And as Moses raised up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be raised up, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life. So must the Son of Man be raised up." The word is good. Because the Passion was thought to be a humiliation, the Savior calls it a raising up. For the whole world was raised up by the cross; the whole world, lying low, was set upright through the economy of the cross.

Therefore the Lord reigned; he put on comeliness. For he set the inhabited world aright. He did not say "he created." The first he created, the second he set aright. Thus must the Son of Man be raised up, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish. It seems necessary to me to call as a witness of this raising up a prophet who proclaims clearly that God is raised up. Listen, then, to the blessed Isaiah proclaiming this raising up. For although he proclaimed the passion most clearly, saying, "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before its shearer, speechless; this one takes away our sins and suffers for us; for the sins of my people I came to death." Yet elsewhere he also calls the passion itself a raising up. For what does he say? "Hymn the Lord, praise his name, proclaim among the nations his glory, because he did lofty things. Rejoice and be glad, you who dwell in Zion, because the holy one of Israel has been raised up, raised up in your midst.

But against this a heretical voice arises and says: "Even if he was raised up, it was by the Father that he was raised up. For it is written: 'Therefore God also exalted him and granted him a name above every name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee of the heavenly beings might bow,' and so forth." The enemies of the truth always cling to the proclamation of the truth. It is necessary, however, not to give answers to such persons—or rather, to such persons—hastily, but first to demand from them an account of their own presuppositions and then to bring forward a resolution of the matters under inquiry. Since you say that the Father exalted him and granted him a name above every name, so that in the name of Jesus, and the rest, first establish for me what this name above every name is. For it is not a matter of simply stating something and declaring it, but of establishing what is in accordance with the truth. When the wicked one asks, counter with a righteous question to dissolve the absurd inquiry. For the Savior showed today how one must answer crooked questions. The Pharisees asked the Savior, saying: "By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?" The Savior, wishing to show that one must not gratify wickedness, but not answer absurd questions, says to the Pharisees: "I will ask you one question: if you tell me, then I will answer: 'John's baptism—whence was it? From heaven or from men?'" The one who seizes the clever in their cunning shut out the wicked. "By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?" And when asked, he does not answer them, but asks in return: "I will ask you one question." For this reason the prophet says:

With a holy man you will be sanctified, and with an innocent man you will be innocent, and with a chosen man you will be chosen, and with a crooked man you will pervert. Many thought this saying was spoken by God to men. The prophet says these things to God: that with a righteous man you will be justified, with an innocent man you will be innocent, and with a chosen man you will be chosen, and with a crooked man you will pervert. And so that you may learn that he is speaking to God, he adds: "Because you will save a humble people and humble the eyes of the proud." The savior always tormented the wickedness of the Jews by silence. For wickedness not being fully informed is tormented more. He was asked many times and did not answer. The Jews sought him out and he gave them no response. He tormented their souls so much that once the Jews said to him: "How long will you take away our soul? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." And yet he did not answer, but said: "I have told you many times and you do not listen. What do you want to hear again?" See how they proclaimed the torment of their soul: "How long will you take away our soul?" Did you not say: "Ask and you will receive; knock and it will be opened to you; seek and you will find"? You read the scripture, but you did not know the one that says: "The wicked will seek me and will not find me." So that you may learn that he is the same character both of the one who spoke through the Gospels and of the one who spoke through the prophets, and that he is the one who spoke through those and through these, just as here, when questioned by the Jews, he did not answer, but bound them with counter-questions, so also in the Old Testament God says to Ezekiel:

Son of man, behold, the sons of the people come to me to ask a word; do I live if I will answer them? Do you see the same character? See how many torments, how many questions, how many demands, and he did not answer. But where he finds a simple soul and faith, full of light and simplicity, not only when asked does he give assurance, but even when not asked he teaches. Jesus once went to the region of Samaria. He finds a Samaritan woman drawing water and says to her: Give me a drink. The giver of life says to her: Give me a drink. She was sitting by the well, the spring above a spring. Then, to be brief—for the present subject is not to develop the current story, but to come to the point—, he asked to come. She asked him a question, since he was dealing with a dispute between Jews and Samaritans, because the Samaritans have their worship at what is now called Neapolis, while the Jews worship at Jerusalem. The Samaritan woman says to him: Lord, our fathers worshipped on this mountain; how do the Jews say that one must worship at Jerusalem? See a soul eager to learn, a pitiable woman, but elevated in power. She went out to draw water and draws the streams of a spring. Samaritans worship here; Jews in Jerusalem. Resolve the question. The savior says: Amen, I say to you, woman, that an hour will come when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will they worship the father. For God is spirit, that is, everywhere, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth, not confining worship to a place, but praising him everywhere.

Since she was unable to understand clearly what the Savior was saying—for it exceeded the woman’s understanding—the woman says to him: “I know that the Messiah, who is called Christ, is coming. When he comes, he will teach us everything.” See a soul that has longing before sight. The Jews saw and did not believe. This woman, not yet having seen, awaits. When Christ saw her simple understanding, he says: “I am the one speaking to you.” How many did the Jews question and torment? “How long will you lift up our soul?” and he did not answer. This woman said in her voice that he is coming, and the one proclaimed showed himself. This is what is said: “Crooked thoughts separate from God; but he reveals himself to those who do not disbelieve him.” Since, then, the fountain of wisdom taught us to resolve absurd questions by counter-questions, I ask the heretic: What is this name that is above every name? Say it as you wish. What is the name? That he is called Jesus? That he is Christ? That he is Savior? Tell me the name. First establish it, so that when I bring the inspired testimony—the glory of the prophets, the proclamation of the apostles—you do not falsify the testimony. But first establish your understanding. Tell me what name you think is above every name. But what shall I do? I am among believers, and I do not wish, on the pretext of enemies, to keep the sons of the church in suspense. Let us therefore unfold it, and if any enemy is present, let him be benefited and become a friend instead of an enemy, and become in agreement instead of opposed. Let being defeated by the truth not be considered a defeat. Let him not strive to win a bad victory, but to be defeated in a good defeat. Let us unfold the argument, as they suppose.

What name do you say was granted to him that is above every name? That he was called Jesus? Jesus the son of Nun was called that before him. That he was called Christ? Every king and prophet is anointed. Thus David says concerning King Saul, even though he was wicked, yet he had a royal anointing. When some of his bodyguards advised him, 'Behold, the day on which the Lord said he would deliver your enemy into your hands; strike him,' David says, 'As the Lord lives, I will not lay my hand upon him, because he is an anointed of the Lord.' And there is not only one anointed one, but many: 'Do not touch my anointed ones, and do not do evil among my prophets.' And Habakkuk says, 'You went forth for the salvation of your people, to save your anointed ones.' How then is it above every name? For if others before him had the name, how did the Father give him a name above every name, or what name? That he was called savior? Many were called saviors. Remember what was said earlier. What is the name above every name? But since you have no time to answer, or you know and are being malicious and wish to conceal it, learn: Scripture often calls 'name' not the appellation of God, but his glory. The name of God is said to be the glory of God, for example: when he performs wonders, a name arises for him from the wonder, as the blessed prophet says: 'Where is the one who brought up Moses with his right hand? Water prevailed before his face, and he led his people out in the desert and made a name for himself,' that is, a reputation, meaning you became renowned. And this is said of us: 'A renowned man,' not from having a name—for all have names.

...but from being named everywhere. "Name" here means glory and the reputation spoken of everywhere. Thus God says to Solomon: "And I made for you a name, like the name of the ancient kings." But He did not change his name; he was not called Solomon, but "I made for you a name," that is, reputation, glory. So also here it says: "He gave him a name," that is, glory. And what is the glory? Lest I interpret it myself, hear Paul himself saying: "That in the name of Jesus every knee might bow, of heavenly, earthly, and subterranean beings, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." Do you see that "name" means glory, the adoration of the world, that he is glorified everywhere and proclaimed throughout the whole world? "Yes," he says, "I accept the interpretation, but I do not depart from that point, that the Father gave him the name." Do you wish, he says, to understand "name" as appellation? Do you wish to understand "name" as glory? Do you wish to say reputation? Do you wish renown? For my part, I do not depart from that point. God gave him a name, and therefore God exalted him. It is necessary, then, to investigate. For the word is found, as if a reward given to the Savior. For Paul says: "Let this be thought among you, which is also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, did not consider it a usurpation to be equal to God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of a man and being found in the shape as a man; he humbled himself unto death, and death by the cross. Therefore God exalted him and granted him a name above every name.

It is shown here that because he suffered, he received a reward for the suffering. Because he humbled himself unto death, therefore God also exalted him. For the word "therefore" indicates the reason on account of which he brings glory upon him. This glory and exaltation is the reward for the suffering. Who then is the one who suffered? Who is the one who received the reward? Paul does not permit you to rage simply against the divinity; he added: "And he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, having become in the likeness of a man and having been found in the form of a man, he humbled himself." Pay close attention. First he said "form of God," that "existing in the form of God." Then he showed the form of a slave: "Taking the form of a slave, having become in the likeness of a man and having been found in the form of a man," in order to show that the form of a slave, the man, receives the reward and the name. For there are two things. Since the Savior placed his own soul—for he had a soul, because he assumed a complete man—, this flesh which served the Savior Logos receives the reward, that it be served the name above every name, and that every knee bow to Christ, of the heavenly, the earthly, and the subterranean beings.

I will say another brief point. If he received these things after the cross, and if, because he humbled himself unto death, God rewarded him by giving him a name, if this name is shown not to have been his before the cross, then he received the glory as a favor. Strive with me. For the thought is subtle and deep. They say that because Christ suffered, they read the apostle without understanding the apostolic meaning, that because he suffered, therefore God exalted him and granted him a name above every name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee might bend—of heavenly, earthly, and subterranean beings. He received a reward before the cross. For if before the cross the only-begotten is not seen being worshipped, and if every knee is not seen bending to the only-begotten, then truly he received a reward, a grace he did not have. But if he is found both before the cross and before he suffered and before he was exalted—the economy being worshipped by all creation—what place does this vain talk have? Why, wretched one, do you not recognize what is the pre-eternal dignity and what is the form of the incarnate economy? Understand the form of God and the form of a servant: the one assuming, the other assumed. Do not confuse the order; do not obliterate the truth. Or rather, do not be obliterated by the truth.

Let us demonstrate, then, whether every knee bends and the only-begotten is worthy of adoration even before the economy, not receiving worship from the cross, but possessing adoration both before the cross and before the ages. For what does he say? Listen. The blessed Isaiah says: Thus says the Lord: I am the Lord God, and there is no other righteous one and savior, there is none apart from me. Turn to me, and all from the ends of the earth will be saved. I am God, and there is no other. The same sequence: I swear by myself, if righteousness will come forth from my mouth. I am God, there is no other; there is no righteous one and savior apart from me. I am God, and again there is no other. He takes it up a third time and says: Turn to me; I swear by myself, if righteousness will come forth from my mouth. My words will not be turned back, meaning my word does not come in vain. That every knee will bend to me and every tongue will swear by the true God. Every knee, every tongue. Who said this? The Father. For the heretic wants this, not to honor the Father, but to deprive the Son of his own glory. But for me, the faithful one, and for the Church, the Father is understood to have said these things, and the Son is understood to say these things, and the Holy Spirit is proclaimed. They were theologizing these things, and there is no difference. For he set forth that I am righteous and there is no other.

Who then is the one saying these things? Let them be asked first. But since it happens that they, like the Pharisees, say among themselves, "If we say this, then this is what he answers us," I will permit them to speak simply, and I will present Paul as a witness from this very prophecy. Let us see where Paul placed this prophecy, the "I live, I swear by myself, that every knee and every tongue will bend to me." Let us see where Paul applied it. He once wrote to the Romans. There was a difference among the believers, those who became Christians from Jews and those from Greeks. And those who became Christians from Greeks partook of all foods indifferently. But those from Jews wanted both to worship Christ and to observe Jewish food laws. Each side reproached the other. Those from Jews reproached those from the nations for not keeping the law. Those from the Greeks reproached those from the Jews for not conforming to the grace of the gospel. Those from the Greeks said to the Jews, "If the law justifies, why did Christ come? But if Christ came, why do you, abandoning the law of Christ, follow Jewish customs?" The Romans were enlightened by the teaching of Paul, who said, "For if righteousness is in the law, then Christ died in vain." So those from the nations were convinced that without Christ there is no other way to be saved and that one must not observe Jewish types. Paul found a conflict; he found the faction. He thrust himself between the combatants and dissolved the two parties. And observe: Paul first does not demand precision from all, but he considered what is safe.

Preconception is hard to resolve, and habit is only with difficulty erased over time. He did not wish, on the pretext of compelling Jews to eat certain foods, to turn them away from the faith, but first he wanted the faith in Christ to be rooted in them. What then of those who became Christians from among the Jews? When they saw themselves being refuted, that they had not yet believed in Christ while still observing Jewish food laws and wishing to abstain from pork, they wanted to conceal their malady, so they pretended not to eat meat at all, but ate vegetables, so that by not eating meat entirely the reproach of their ancient custom might be hidden. Paul entered and resolved the conflict, showing who thought rightly and who were weak, and said: "Brothers, the one who believes eats everything, as a Christian, as a believer; the one who is weak eats vegetables." The one who believes eats everything, knowing that all things are purified by faith. "For every creature of God is good," says the apostle, "and nothing is to be rejected when taken with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God." The one who is weak—he calls "weakness" still following Jewish custom. The one who is weak eats vegetables. Many thought these words were said about ascetics and about those who eat indifferently. But the holy tongue would not have slipped into such an absurd conclusion as to call ascetics "weak" and those who eat everything "believers." Rather, with reference to the difference between those who refuse Jewish foods and the indifference of those who partake of everything without distinction, he says: "The one who believes eats everything as a Christian; the one who is weak eats vegetables.

Nevertheless, he suppresses the conflict. He showed the difference, that this is of faith, that of weakness. And when he had refuted, he brought them together into friendship. Nevertheless, let the one who does not eat not judge the one who eats, that is, let the one from the Jews not judge the one from the Gentiles, because he eats contrary to the law of Moses. And let the one who eats not despise the one who does not eat. For they despised them. "You have not become Christians, you have not yet believed." Let the one who eats not despise the one who does not eat. For God has received him. Who are you to judge another's servant? See the remarkable thing, how in the same passage he both checks the conflict and shows the Jews that they need correction. "Who are you to judge another's servant?" He says this to the one from the Gentiles who has become a Christian: "Who are you to judge another's servant?" He says "another's," because he seemed to be under the law. He stands or falls by his own master; but he will be set upright; the master is able to set him upright. Thus concerning those who Judaize: "But he will be set upright; the master is able to set him upright." He stopped the conflict and again introduces peace, so that "who are you to judge another's servant? He stands or falls by his own master; but he will be set upright; the master is able to set him upright." So that one judges day by day, another judges every day. What is "one judges day by day"? Because among those who Judaize, some abstain from foods altogether, for instance from pork, while others honor only the sabbath on specific days, he says: "One judges day by day, another judges every day." Then: "The one who regards the day regards the Lord; and the one who does not regard the day does not regard the Lord.

And the one who eats, eats for the Lord, and the one who does not eat, does not eat for the Lord. See how he stops the conflict. Who are you to judge another man's servant? So let the one who does not eat not judge the one who eats, and let the one who eats not despise the one who does not eat. For we shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ. Pay attention here. I swear by myself, that every knee will bend to me. He suppresses the conflict of the combatants, then. He says: Who are you to judge another man's servant? For we shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ. Whence this? For it is written: I live, says the Lord, that every knee will bend to me. So why do you judge your brother? For we shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ. For it is written: I live, says the Lord, that every knee will bend to me and every tongue will confess the true God. This has been said against those who ask, if after the cross he received the reward of being worshipped, how did the prophets before the cross proclaim the worship? But let these things be said sufficiently, so that the teaching of the Father may seal our understanding, and we may all together send up glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.