In Aliquot Novi Testamenti Partes Commentarii [Ex Codicibus Priscis]

AT THE SAME TIME. LUCULENTUS.

THE COMMENTARIES OF LUCULENTIUS ON SEVERAL PARTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT FROM THE ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS OF THE VATICAN AND VALLICELLIAN LIBRARIES.

The reading of the holy Gospel according to Matthew (6:24): At that time Jesus said to his disciples: No one can serve two masters, and the rest.

THE COMMENTARY OF LUCULENTIUS.

Certain people wish to understand the two men as Christ and the devil, whose fellowship cannot exist. For what fellowship has light with darkness? What concord has Christ with Belial, or what share has the faithful with the unbeliever? Nothing is implied. But he then reveals who the two masters are when he adds: YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MAMMON. For he did not say that those who have riches cannot serve the Lord, but those who serve their riches. For many who have riches do not distribute them as masters but guard them as slaves. Of such people the Apostle says: He stores up for himself wrath on the day of wrath, and of revelation in the judgments of God. And on the other hand, many have riches and distribute them as masters, not guarding them as slaves, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, and the rest who knew how to preside well over their riches by distributing them faithfully. FOR EITHER HE WILL HATE THE ONE AND LOVE THE OTHER, that is, God; OR HE WILL ENDURE THE ONE AND DESPISE THE OTHER; he did not say he hates, but he despises, and therefore does not fear.

For no one is so mad as to say that he hates God, but God hates the one who despises His commandments, as the prophet says: You have hated all who work iniquity. For just as from one fountain sweet and bitter water cannot both flow out at the same time, so no one can serve two masters at once, namely God and riches. You cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is a Syriac word, which in Latin is called riches. No one can serve God and riches alike, because he who has served God with his whole heart cannot be a slave of riches. Whatever a man loves more, that is his god: the covetous man has gold as his God, and for gluttons God is their belly. Their end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and their glory is in their confusion, who mind earthly things. And what shall I say? Whatever a man loves more than God, that is certainly his God, and therefore no one can serve God and mammon, because he who has devoted himself to avarice cannot serve God; for where your treasure is, there your heart is also.

THEREFORE I SAY TO YOU, DO NOT BE ANXIOUS FOR YOUR LIFE, WHAT YOU SHOULD EAT. Since food pertains more to the body than to the soul, why does He say, Do not be anxious for your life, what you should eat? But in this place we must understand "life" as the present life, just as also in many places of Scripture, as is that saying of David: These men have set their lives in their hands; and my life is in my hands always. Paul the apostle also says: Nor do I make my life more precious than myself. So also here, when He says, Do not be anxious for your life, what you should eat, it is as if He were saying: How you may be able to live your lives. But it is asked why He says, Do not be anxious for your life, what you should eat, when Paul says: Not slothful in solicitude. But there the solicitude must be understood as spiritual, in which we ought not to be slothful, because we ought to seek with eagerness the things that are of the spirit. As for what pertains to the outer man, toil indeed is to be undertaken, but solicitude is to be removed. Concerning this the Lord said to the Jews, when He saw them toiling in earthly desire: Labor not for the food that perishes, but for that which remains unto eternal life. And therefore toil indeed is to be undertaken, as the apostle Paul said: If anyone is not willing to work, neither let him eat. And elsewhere: Let them eat while working in silence. And this is what He says: Do not be anxious for your life, what you should eat—as if He were saying: He who has given the greater things will surely also provide the lesser; for He who made the soul and the body will also give sustenance.

IS NOT THE SOUL MORE THAN FOOD? AND THE BODY MORE THAN CLOTHING? The soul is more than food, because it will always remain; food, however, will perish. And the body is more than clothing, because although it is reduced to ashes, it will nevertheless be restored to the likeness of its former state. For it is written: You will change them like a garment, and they will be changed; but a garment is reduced to nothing.

LOOK AT THE BIRDS OF THE SKY, THAT THEY DO NOT SOW, NEITHER GATHER INTO BARNS, AND YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER FEEDS THEM. He had given a comparison from the greater to the lesser: from the soul to the body; and from the lesser to the greater: from food to the soul. Now again He gives a comparison from the lesser to the greater: from birds to man, when He says, Look at the birds of the sky. Someone wished to understand the birds of the sky as the angels, on account of that passage: One of the seraphim, says the prophet, flew to me, who do not labor. Therefore indeed they enjoy the vision of God, as the apostle Peter says: Things into which angels long to look. But it is by no means to be understood in such a way that a wicked man is of less account before God than the angels. Rather, it is better that we understand the birds of the sky as the birds that flit through this air, and are therefore called birds of the sky: they do not labor nor reap, but feed with beak and claws. If, he says, God thus feeds the birds of the sky, whose soul dies with the body, how much more you, who were made in the image of God, than they? For this reasoning is to be understood not with respect to number, but with respect to comparison.

If you understand it according to number, there are more birds of the sky than men; but it must be understood according to measure and comparison, in what he says: ARE YOU NOT OF MORE VALUE THAN THEY? That is, you are both better and dearer, and you are worth more; for if their soul has been harmed, the body will perish. Man dies in the body, the soul tends toward heavenly things. For God almighty made not men for the sake of birds, but birds for the sake of men, and for the sake of men he came into the world, not for the sake of birds, whom he also bought with flesh at a price, as it is written: For you were bought with a great price. AND WHO OF YOU BY THINKING CAN ADD ONE CUBIT TO HIS STATURE? For no one can add one cubit to his stature; indeed, not even make one hair of his head white or black. A comparison had to be given concerning clothing to the body, just as one had also been given concerning the soul. What he says is of this sort: leave the care to him who made the stature; for he who established the body in whatever measure he willed—namely, how long, how short it should be—will surely give what is less, namely, clothing and covering. For he who bestowed the greater things will also provide the lesser of both.

CONSIDER THE LILIES OF THE FIELD, HOW THEY GROW; THEY DO NOT TOIL, NEITHER DO THEY SPIN. In this place let us understand not specifically the lilies now, but all the grasses, which in winter seem withered, in summer are adorned with various flowers. Let us understand the field as this world, of which the Lord says in the Gospel: For the field is the world. They do not labor in spinning, nor in weaving, nor in setting up the web, but by God's providence they grow. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these. What is it that, with so many kings passed over who were before Solomon or after him, he preferred him to all? Surely because of wisdom, or riches, in that he was wiser or richer than all, God saying to him: Because you did not ask for yourself riches of gold and silver, nor many days, nor the life of your enemies, but wisdom to discern good and evil, behold I have given you wisdom to discern good and evil, behold I have given you wisdom that you may be wise above all who were before you. Moreover, even what you did not ask, I will give you: the riches of the world, gold and silver. But in all abundance of riches, and variety of garments, he was not clothed like one of these—it is understood, the lilies of the field. For neither silk, nor the purple of kings, nor the painting of weavers can be compared to flowers. For what is so red as the rose? What is so white as the lily? But the purple of the violet, surpassed by no murex, is a matter for the eyes rather than for words.

For Solomon made golden vessels in the house of the Lord, as if for royal dignity. But Solomon also made a couch of the wood of Sethim, and he made silver columns, a purple ascent, and a golden reclining-place; he spread the midst with brightness for the daughters of Jerusalem. For the couch signifies the holy Church, the columns truly the holy teachers, as it was said of certain of them: James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be columns. The purple ascent signifies the holy confessors, the golden reclining-place, divine wisdom. Of which elsewhere: A desirable treasure rests after the manner of a wise man. The daughters of Jerusalem signify holy souls. For although Solomon had been so adorned, yet he could never have a garment so white as the lily is, nor purple as the violet, nor scarlet as the rose. Spiritually, by the lilies virginity is signified, by the violets confessors, by the roses martyrs. For Solomon did not have virginity, but even his heart was depraved through women.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven. Here it is plainly given to be understood that above he wished to comprehend every kind of herb, when he says: But if the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven. Today he set for the present time, tomorrow for the future; as is that saying of Jacob: Tomorrow my righteousness shall answer for me. And Samuel said to Saul: Tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. How much more you of little faith? The faith of the apostles, or of the Jews, who have little faith, is reproved. Be not therefore solicitous, saying: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? Concerning food and clothing he had above removed solicitude; concerning drink he had been silent. Recapitulating, he adds: Be not solicitous, saying: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink? or wherewith shall we be clothed?—there is understood exquisite dishes; or what shall we drink, how many kinds of drinks; or wherewith shall we be clothed, namely precious garments. For all these things the Gentiles seek. These things which were said above, namely to eat, to drink, to put on precious garments—all these and things like them the Gentiles sought, who were as the horse and the mule, which have no understanding, ignorant of the Lord. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. There have been some who said: If God knows everything that is necessary for us, why do we need to ask him? For he knows all things; yet he must be asked and entreated.

For he himself says: Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find. We ought also to live by the labors of our own hands, because it was said to the first man: In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread. BUT SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED TO YOU. The kingdom of God is understood in many ways, but here the kingdom of God is understood as either that of the Son of God or holy Scripture, and we ought to seek both. That of the Son of God, as the prophet says: Seek the Lord, and be strengthened; seek his face always. Or holy Scripture, which by reading and searching we can find, how we may keep his righteousness and commandments, or how we may deserve to be rewarded by him. And all these things shall be added to you; namely, the things said above shall be added to you. He did not say they will be given, but added; because whatever we receive in the present is worthless in comparison with heavenly rewards; and therefore those greater things must be sought first, namely the kingdom of God and his righteousness, so that these things which are necessary for the body may be added, and beyond that, greater things may be given.

II.

The reading of the holy Gospel according to John (1:29): At that time John saw Jesus coming from Nazareth to him, and says to him: Behold the Lamb of God, etc.

HOMILY by Luculentius,

Rightly does blessed John call Jesus, the Son of God, the Lamb; for a lamb, because it is innocent. This is the lamb of whom Isaiah had said long before: Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer he will be silent, and he did not open his mouth. Of this lamb John says in the Apocalypse: The Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world; because the lamb was slain in Abel, offered in Isaac, sacrificed in Egypt; because he, coming into the world, fulfilled in truth whatever had been said or done beforehand concerning him through figures, when, at the world's evening, he was immolated for us on the altar of the cross, the Apostle saying: For indeed Christ our passover has been immolated. BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD. Behold, the particle is an adverb of one pointing out: for since blessed John saw with his eye, he pointed with his finger, and rightly said: Behold the Lamb of God. The apostles too are called lambs, the Lord saying: Behold, I send you as lambs among wolves. Well are they lambs, because innocent, because simple; for they are like the true lamb, of whom we spoke above. John also was a lamb, because he too was innocent, as much as Christ. For we are all born with sin, the prophet saying: In iniquities I was conceived. He alone came without sin, he alone was free from the stain of sin.

For he came in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet without sin. He who committed no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth. He took flesh from Adam, but did not take sin. And therefore, because he did not take sin from our mass, he is the one who takes away our sin. But someone says: What does that Lamb of God profit us? Behold the Lamb of God, behold the one who takes away the sins of the world. He took away the sin of the world, because by performing signs and miracles he gave sight to the blind and raised the dead. Moreover, to whom he willed he said with power: Your sins are forgiven you. He also took away the sins of the world when, hanging on the cross, with his side opened, blood and water flowed out. Hence Peter says of him: He bore our sins in his body on the tree. Daily he takes away the sins of the world through the partaking of his body and blood. For they hold that, just as fire consumes stubble, so lesser sins are consumed through the partaking of his body and blood. For he himself says: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. And again: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.

But it can be asked why the Son of God wished to come to baptism, when he had no sin that he would have needed to expiate. Surely because there were going to be in the Church catechumens more excellent by birth, who disdain to come to baptism, saying within themselves: "Am I to receive this that he has? I am better than this man and that faithful man." To break the pride of these, he deigned to come to baptism himself, as if speaking to the proud man and saying: "Why do you exalt yourself? Why do you stretch yourself up? How great is the power of your grace? How great your excellence? Surely you cannot be greater than I? If I have come to the baptism of a servant, do you disdain to come to the baptism of the Lord?" Or indeed he wished to be baptized, that he might give sanctification and purification to all waters. Or also that he might set an end to the Old Testament and begin the New. For he himself was under the law as long as he was baptized, to give an end to the law of the Old Testament and a beginning to the grace of the holy Gospel. He wished to be baptized, that he might teach all humility. Hence, as the other evangelists say, when he came to John to be baptized by him, John said to him: "Do you come to me to be baptized? I ought to be baptized by you." And the Lord said to him: "Allow it now, that all righteousness may be fulfilled." What is "that all righteousness may be fulfilled," except "that all humility may be fulfilled"? As if he were saying: "I have come to die, not to be baptized. I have to die for men, I do not have to be baptized for men.

And certainly he ought to receive baptism from a good servant, who received his passion from evil servants. THIS IS HE OF WHOM I SAID: AFTER ME COMES A MAN WHO WAS MADE BEFORE ME. Where had John said this about the Lord? Where, when questioned by the priests and Levites, he denied that he was the Christ, Elijah, or the prophet. When they were still asking him: Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet? he answered and said: I baptize in water; but there stands in your midst one whom you do not know. This very thing he recapitulates, saying: After me comes a man who was made before me. Rightly does he call him a man, for the prophet says of him: Behold, a man, the Orient is his name. After me comes he who was born afterwards. For blessed John preceded the Son of God in conception, in birth, in passion. Who was made before me, that is, he was preferred to me, BECAUSE HE WAS BEFORE ME: he was before me because in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was with God, and God was the Word. Before John, before Mary too, for he himself made Mary, and he himself was born through Mary. For he is before every creature as well, as he himself says in Wisdom: The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything from the beginning. And: Before the morning star I begot you. AND I DID NOT KNOW HIM; BUT SO THAT HE MIGHT BE MANIFESTED IN ISRAEL, FOR THIS REASON I CAME INTO THE WORLD, BAPTIZING IN WATER. So that he might be manifested in Israel, he says, that is, to the people of Israel itself.

For this reason John was sent baptizing in water, so that he might make manifest the Son of God to the people of Israel, because he was coming hidden, so that he could scarcely have been known by a few or by no one. Whence John himself says elsewhere: I baptize in water, but there stands in the midst of you one whom you do not know. He was baptizing in water only; he could not forgive sins, just as even now the priests in the Church do. They dip bodies in water, but sins no one can forgive except God alone.

AND JOHN GAVE TESTIMONY, THAT I SAW THE SPIRIT DESCENDING. Another evangelist says that when the Lord had been baptized, he immediately came up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit descending like a dove, and it remained upon him. The heavens are opened when the Lord is baptized, and the Holy Spirit descends upon him, so that it might be given to us to understand that every man, before he comes to baptism, has the entrance to the heavenly kingdom closed to him because of original sin, but in baptism the evil spirit departs, and the Holy Spirit begins to dwell in him, as the Apostle says: You know that you are the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit dwells in you. You have in this place the whole Trinity included. The Father is heard in the voice, the Son in the name, the Holy Spirit is shown in the dove. But why did he wish the Holy Spirit to be shown no longer by the likeness of another bird, but by a dove? Certainly because the dove is a simple animal, and alien to the dregs of malice.

To show that no one can receive the Holy Spirit unless he has been made simple. For certain ones wished to receive the Holy Spirit in the form of a raven, as was Simon the magician, who offered money to the holy apostles, saying: Give me this power, so that on whomever I lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit. He wished to buy what he was more likely to sell at a higher price, and therefore he heard from Peter: May your money be with you in perdition, because you thought the gift of God could be possessed with money. You will have no part nor lot in this matter. Therefore whoever desires to receive the Holy Spirit ought to seek him in the dove, that is, in simplicity. On account of that which is written: He seeks him in simplicity of heart. And the Lord says to his disciples: Be prudent as serpents, and simple as doves.

AND I DID NOT KNOW HIM. What is it that he says, I did not know him? when he had already given so many and such great testimonies; for he had already pointed him out with his finger, he had already said, Behold the Lamb of God. For if he did not know him, how did he say to him coming to him to be baptized: You come to me? I ought to be baptized by you. But it must be understood that there was something in him he did not know, and something he knew. He knew the Lord, he knew the Son of God, but he did not yet know the power of baptizing that the Lord would retain for himself, and would not transfer to any of his servants. This he knew, and this he learned through the dove.

For if he gave power to anyone, perhaps some would choose for themselves holier men by whom to be baptized. But whether a good man or a bad man baptizes, the power lies in the ministry; for here he who baptizes—whether an adulterer, or a chaste man, or a drunkard baptizes—it is he who baptizes. Whether a dove or a kite baptizes, it is he who baptizes. Let Peter baptize, let Paul baptize, let Judas baptize, it is he who baptizes, who forgives sins, who grants the Holy Spirit, who says to his disciples: John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. This the blessed John did not know concerning the Lord, and this he learned through the dove. BUT HE WHO SENT ME TO BAPTIZE IN WATER, HE SAID TO ME: UPON WHOM YOU SEE THE SPIRIT DESCENDING AND REMAINING UPON HIM, THIS IS HE WHO BAPTIZES IN THE HOLY SPIRIT AND FIRE. And John bore witness, saying: THAT THIS IS THE SON OF GOD. The blessed John saw the heavens opened above the Lord, he saw the Holy Spirit descending in a dove. He heard the voice of the Father saying: This is my beloved Son. And therefore he said: I SAW, AND I BORE WITNESS, that this is the Son of God. But it must be noted that he said: Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him. For thus the Holy Spirit descended upon the baptized Lord, that he would never depart from him. For he committed no sin, on account of which he ought to have departed from him.

But he would not say "remaining upon him" unless the Holy Spirit sometimes departed from the saints, either through evil thoughts or through evil deeds. For it is written: "The Holy Spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful." And again: "For perverse thoughts separate from God; for there is no man on earth who does good and does not sin." As the apostle says: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." And again: "In many things we all offend." But upon the baptized Lord he came in such a way as never to depart from him. And therefore the Father was well pleased in the Son alone, as he says: "You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased." And the prophet: "The Lord has sworn and will not repent." But concerning mortal men it is written that the Lord said: "For I repent that I have made man upon the earth."

III.

The reading of the Epistle of the blessed apostle Paul to the Romans (XII, 1): Brethren, I beseech you by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living victim, holy, pleasing to God, your reasonable service.

COMMENTARY OF LUCULENTIUS.

The apostle Paul had said above how all observance of God's commandments had passed from the Jews to the Gentiles. Now he exhorts all, namely the Gentiles, and those who had come to the faith from circumcision, to keep unshaken the faith they had received. Indeed, just as they had formerly been accustomed to offer sacrifices of dead animals, so now they should begin to offer themselves as a living sacrifice to God, saying: I BESEEN YOU BY THE MERCY OF GOD. Between asking and beseeching there is this difference: we ask for the least things, we beseech for the greatest. But the Apostle was beseeching the Romans, that is, earnestly asking them, saying: I beseech you by the mercy of God. As if he were saying: By his mercy I beseech you, who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, and by that mercy I beseech you by which you have been reconciled to God, not through philosophy, not through any worldly wisdom, not through power, not through persuasive words, but by the mercy of God I beseech you by which you have been regenerated in the font of baptism. But what he beseeches them to do, he reveals when he adds: THAT YOU PRESENT YOUR BODIES AS A LIVING SACRIFICE. It was the custom of the children of Israel, and the law commanded it, that they offer sacrifice to God: calves, rams, and goats, lambs, turtledoves, or doves, and the rest which were commanded in the law. But what they did carnally with cattle, is especially fitting for us in our bodies. For our bodies are both a sacrifice and living.

That is, a sacrifice because the flesh is put to death; living because the spirit is given life, according to the precept of the same apostle, who says: Mortify your members which are upon the earth. Or because he dwells in the good, he who says: I am the way, the truth, and the life. And of whom the Apostle says: That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts. For formerly they used to offer to God the dead sacrifices of cattle, but now we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, when we put to death vices and sins in ourselves, and nourish virtues, fulfilling that which the same Apostle says: That each one of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor. We possess our vessel in sanctification and honor when we slay the vices within us, and through good works are made holy, the Lord saying: Be holy, for I am holy, the Lord your God. And the Psalmist: A contrite and humbled heart, O God, you will not despise. Many seem to live, but are dead. As Paul writes concerning the widow: A widow who lives in pleasures is dead. And the Psalmist concerning such: Let them go down alive into hell. Such people do not offer themselves to God as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God.

When he called it holy, he added: pleasing to God; because many seem holy to men, but are reprobate before God; concerning whom it is written: There are ways which seem right to men, whose end sinks down even to the depth of hell; and therefore it is necessary that each one strive to please, by the good he does, not men but God, lest it be said to him: You have received your reward. Whoever has done this will be able to become a sacrifice pleasing to God.

YOUR RATIONAL SERVICE. This pertains to what was said above, that they offered calves, rams, and the like. What they did carnally, we now do spiritually; what they did in figure, we ought to do in truth. Because, as the Apostle says: All things happened to them in figure. And therefore the Apostle instructs us to exhibit a rational service, saying: Your rational service. Between rationale and rationable the teachers say there is this distinction, that rationale pertains to reason and good works; but rationable to discernment. And well does he say your rationable service, because that service of yours once was not rationable. For it is foolish that dead corpses be offered to the living God and to the invisible one. For just as a dead man does not render service to a living one, so no one can worthily offer calves or rams to the immortal and incorporeal God. AND BE NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD, BUT BE REFORMED IN THE NEWNESS OF YOUR SENSE.

World” does not mean the circuit of heaven and earth, which they call sun, moon, stars, and trees, to which no one can conform himself, but the lovers of the world are called the world. But the children of the kingdom will be cast into outer darkness. To this world, that is, to the lovers of the world, no one ought to conform himself, because it is written: He who touches pitch will be defiled by it. So whoever joins himself to a fool shares in his works. With the holy you will be holy; this is what he does who drives the works of the flesh from himself and works the fruits of the spirit. But he who serves fornication, impurity, and uncleanness conforms himself to this world, that is, to the lovers of the world. But we ought rather to be reformed, not outwardly but inwardly, as he says: In the newness of your mind, when, putting off the old man, we put on the new. Concerning which the same Apostle says: If our outer man is corrupted, yet the one who is within is renewed from day to day. And elsewhere: Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Then we are reformed in the newness of our mind, when we cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit. To the one who does this, God says: You are altogether beautiful, my love, and there is no spot in you.

THAT YOU MAY PROVE WHAT IS THE WILL OF GOD, GOOD AND WELL-PLEASING AND PERFECT. No one can approve what the will of God is unless he has been reformed in his mind and cleansed from the oldness of life. Just as a man does not approve food, whether it is salty or unsalty, sweet or bitter, hot or cold, so the will of God is proved by three qualities. For we are either approved or reproved in thought, in speech, and in deed; because the will of God is good in thought, well-pleasing in speech, perfect in deed. In many the will of God seems good, well-pleasing, and perfect, but it is not good: those who disfigure their faces, who do alms, prayer, and all that they do, not for the Lord's sake but for the favor of men. This the Apostle did who said: If I wished to please men, I would not be the servant of Christ. But in those the will of God is good, well-pleasing, and perfect, whatever they do. For just as, to give an example, a grain of wheat falling into the earth rises in the blade, is lifted up in the stalk, is sharpened in the ear, so is the will of God, as I said. The will of God is good in thought, well-pleasing in speech, perfect in deed. Hence it is written: For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Otherwise: the will of God is good in the married, well-pleasing in the continent, perfect in virgins; or good in hope, fully good in faith, perfect in charity.

And therefore the apostle Paul admonishes us that in every act of ours—whether of thinking, or of speaking, or of doing something—we should always seek with our whole intent that which is pleasing to God.

FOR I SAY, THROUGH THE GRACE THAT IS GIVEN TO ME, TO ALL WHO ARE AMONG YOU, NOT TO BE WISE MORE THAN IT IS FITTING TO BE WISE. After his usual manner the Apostle speaks through the grace given to him—not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, not through philosophy, nor through empty boasting, but he speaks through the grace given to him. For there is a great difference between one who speaks through grace and one who speaks through human boasting. For many speak with polished and well-ordered rhetoric, yet they do not edify their hearers; for they cannot stir anyone to compunction, because what they say in words they destroy by their deeds. Such men do not speak through the grace that was given to Paul. And on the other hand there are others who speak not with great eloquence but only simply and without ornament, and yet by doing good they have converted their hearers and many of the unbelieving. And this is to speak through the grace that was given to Paul. To all who are among you—namely, the presbyters, the deacons, and all who are in the church. But what is this that he says, not to be wise more than it is fitting to be wise? Since no one can fully know all things, because neither has the eye seen, nor the ear heard, how great and of what kind are the things God has prepared for those who love him. And again: the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. And here he says: all schismatics, all the proud, who think wrongly of God; all who teach those things which neither the Lord nor the apostles taught—all these are wise beyond what they ought to be wise. This can be applied against the proud Romans, who exalted themselves against the olive tree, to whom the same one says: Do not boast against the branches; but if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. He says therefore: The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. But because of unbelief they were broken off. You, however, stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. BUT TO BE WISE UNTO SOBRIETY. Sobriety, as handed down by the greater authorities, is one of the four principal virtues, which are prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice. Temperance itself is also sobriety, which must be observed not only outwardly, on account of that saying: Take heed lest your hearts be weighed down with drunkenness and debauchery, but also inwardly. Therefore, to be wise unto sobriety is to be wise temperately. Whence the same one also says: Not minding high things, but consenting to the humble. And another Scripture: Seek not the things that are too high for you, and do not search out the things that are too strong for you,

AND TO EACH ONE AS GOD HAS DIVIDED THE MEASURE OF FAITH. The implied sense is: so let him think. And rightly he says “the measure of faith,” because insofar as one has faith, so much does he receive of the good Spirit—to one the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit, dividing to each as he wills. And again: to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for usefulness, namely according to his own capacity, as far as human frailty can grasp. Similar to this is: having gifts according to the grace that has been given to you, differing. FOR AS IN ONE BODY WE HAVE MANY MEMBERS, BUT ALL THE MEMBERS DO NOT HAVE THE SAME FUNCTION, SO WE, MANY, ARE ONE BODY IN CHRIST. The apostle Paul speaks in the manner of natural philosophy, disputing about the members of men. For who can doubt that there are many members in the body, but they do not have one function? Because neither does the hand speak, nor does the mouth work, nor do the nostrils hear, nor do the ears smell; but the eyes see, the ears hear, the mouth speaks, the nostrils smell, the hands work, the feet run about; yet there is one body, and all the members need one another. For the hands cannot say to the ears: You are not necessary to me; nor the ears to the hands: We do not need your works. But if one member suffers anything, all the members suffer with it, as the Apostle says: You are the body of Christ, and members of your members.

But neither are all the members going to perform the same function, because one is the eye in the Church by seeing; another is the mouth by preaching rightly; another is the hand by doing good; yet one cannot say to another, “I have no need of you,” because we all need one another; just as any preacher cannot say to those under him, “I have no need of you,” because he must receive support so that he may be able to fulfill the office entrusted to him. For the apostle Paul says: If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your carnal things? BUT EACH ONE IS MEMBERS ONE OF ANOTHER, that is, I am an eye for you, that one is a foot for me, you are a hand for me; thus we bear one another’s burdens, we are one body, and members one of another, fulfilling that saying: Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ. And this in Christ Jesus, because in him and through him all endurance and love are given to us, so that we may bear with one another.

IV.

The reading of the Epistle of the blessed apostle Paul to the Romans (XII, 6): Brethren, having gifts differing according to the grace that is given to you.

THE COMMENTARY OF LUCULENTUS.

A gift depends not on our own will but on the will of the giver. But the gifts that are given, which the Apostle has enumerated in what follows, pertain to the passage above where he had said: In one body we have many members; and they are rightly called gifts, because they are given from above: For every best gift and every perfect gift is from above. And that saying of Paul: For what do you have that you did not receive, and if you received it, why do you boast as though you did not receive it? And rightly he says: DIFFERING ACCORDING TO THE GRACE THAT IS GIVEN TO YOU; because as much as the grace of the Holy Spirit bestows, so much each one has received, as he had said above: To each one as God has divided the measure of faith. For not anyone receives this or that which he wishes, but the grace of the Holy Spirit deigns to bestow it on him. And well does he say differing, because one gift differs from another. For I have what another does not have, and you have what I lack, and that other has what neither I nor you have. Thus one gift differs from another. To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge. No one has all things except he alone upon whom the sevenfold Spirit rested, to whom God does not give the Spirit by measure. Otherwise, the faithful among all have all things.

WHETHER PROPHECY, ACCORDING TO THE MEASURE OF FAITH. Now he begins to enumerate what the gifts are, placing prophecy in the first place. Prophecy is so called because it is not seen in the present but extends into the future. And he rightly said, according to the measure of faith, because faith has merited it. For the law or prophecy is given according to faith, because as much faith as anyone has, so much does he receive from the Lord, as Christ says: As you have believed, so be it done to you. And: If you have faith well as a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this mountain: Be removed and cast into the sea, and it would obey you. And in the Old Testament we read that certain men pleased God through faith, such as Abraham, of whom it is written: Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. But more so in the New. WHETHER MINISTRY; IN MINISTERING. He speaks of the ministers of the Church, namely deacons, subdeacons, and the other orders, which whoever receives ought to exercise faithfully and diligently, on account of that saying: Who do you think is the faithful and prudent steward, whom his lord has set over his household? And if anyone ministers, as from the strength which God administers. WHETHER HE WHO TEACHES, IN TEACHING. He speaks of the teachers of the Church, who have received the ministry of preaching as faithful servants, and do not hide what they have received. For it is written: Hidden wisdom and an unseen treasure, what use is there in either?

And Daniel says: Those who are learned will shine as the splendor of the firmament; and those who instruct many unto righteousness, as the stars for everlasting eternities. HE WHO EXHORTS, IN EXHORTING. Between teaching and exhorting there is this difference: greater is he who teaches than he who exhorts; one cannot teach unless he has been led, because he who has not been a disciple of truth will be a master of error. But to exhort we all can, with God giving it, who works the good, and urges others to accomplish it. Hence the Apostle says to Titus: Speak these things and exhort. And the Lord in the Gospel: So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in the heavens.

HE WHO GIVES, IN SIMPLICITY. He speaks of those who give alms, who provide the necessities to the needy. On account of that: When you see the naked, clothe him, and do not despise your own flesh. Whoever does this ought to do it with simplicity, not with a wrinkled face. For God loves a cheerful giver; and if he loves the cheerful, without doubt he hates the sad. And elsewhere: In every gift make your face cheerful. Or he does it with simplicity, lest he seek praise from men. And on account of that: When you give alms, let not your left hand know. HE WHO PRESIDES, IN SOLICITUDE. He speaks of those who preside in the Church, who receive the place of teaching; he admonishes them to be solicitous over the flock committed to them, lest anyone perish through his negligence, and it be said to him: I will require his blood at your hand.

Whom the same man admonishes, saying: Attend to yourselves and to the whole flock. And again: Feed the flock of God which is among you. HE WHO SHOWS MERCY ought to do so IN CHEERFULNESS, according to the reason already stated. Or he who instructs one ignorant of letters ought to do so with cheerfulness, as it is said: In every gift make your face cheerful. LOVE WITHOUT PRETENSE. To flee is the part of the reprobate, who fear lest they be punished; to love is the part of sons, and therefore no pretense ought to be in a Christian. Many seem to love outwardly but inwardly plot evil; Joab bore their type, who, holding Amasa's chin with his hand, drove the sword into his belly. Of such it is written: The deceiver with his mouth deceives his friend. And the Psalmist: Everyone has spoken vain things to his neighbor. And again: Those who speak peace with their neighbor, but evils are in their hearts. But Christian men ought to have love, as I said, not feigned, but with the display of works, on account of that saying: He who sees his brother suffering need and shuts up his compassion from him, how does the love of God remain in him?

HATING EVIL, CLEAVING TO GOOD. Hating evil, that is, the devil, of whom the Lord says in the Gospel: An enemy man sowed tares in the midst of the wheat, and went away, and the evil one came and snatched away. Cleaving to good, that is, to Christ, saying with the Psalmist: But for me, to cleave to God is good. Otherwise: he hates evil, that is, base things and sins. Cleaving to good, to spiritual virtues, which Paul enumerates, saying: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, and the rest like these. For it is not enough to hate evil unless, on the contrary, one cleaves to good. Of this the Psalmist says: Turn away from evil and do good. Certainly we ought to hate the evil in a man before the man himself—that is, not his nature, but his vice. As he did who said: I have hated the unjust. To cleave to good, on account of that: With the holy you will be holy. LOVING ONE ANOTHER IN THE LOVE OF BROTHERHOOD. For there is true brotherhood where there is true love, and therefore we ought to love one another, as the Lord says: By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. For it must be known that brothers by blood love one another so much that one gives himself over to death for another. And if they love one another so much, how much more ought spiritual brothers to love one another! For we are all brothers redeemed in Christ, as the Lord says: For you are all brothers. Of this brotherhood holy David says: Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity!

PREVENTING ONE ANOTHER IN HONOR, that is, going before one another. For we all ought to love one another and to go before one another in honor, on account of that saying: When you are invited to a wedding, do not take the nearest place. The same says elsewhere: Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ. For you ought not to wait for someone to love you first, but you rather ought to go before him by loving, because if another loves you first, you no longer have so great a reward. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Do not the Gentiles do this?

NOT SLOTHFUL IN SOLICITUDE. Above he had said, he who rules, in solicitude; and here, not slothful in solicitude. Above he had admonished, here he exhorts all. But what is it that he says: Not slothful in solicitude, when the Lord says: Do not be solicitous? And he himself elsewhere: Be solicitous for nothing. For in those things which are God's, which are necessary for the soul, we ought not to be slothful, not solicitous, namely in fastings, in vigils, and prayer, and the like. But for transitory and fleeting things we ought not to be solicitous. FERVENT IN SPIRIT; that is, hot, on account of that saying: Would that you were cold or hot, but because you are lukewarm, I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth. For in the lukewarm the Lord is nauseated, in the cold he suffers injury, in the fervent he dwells. For Judas, because he was lukewarm, God vomited him out. For just as flies do not approach a heated pot, but sit upon a lukewarm one (Thus the codex.

), so those who are fervent in that fire of which the Lord says: "I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I will but that it be kindled?" — the malignant spirits do not dare to approach them, but they mock the lukewarm. And therefore in good works we ought not to be lukewarm, but fervent. SERVING THE LORD, that is, obedient to his commandments. REJOICING IN HOPE. He rejoices in hope who does not look to the things he sees, but expects the joy to come. For hope that is seen is not hope, but that which is not seen. For in all things that we suffer we ought to rejoice because of hope, as the apostle James admonishes: "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations." Rejoicing in hope, PATIENT IN TRIBULATION. For by the joy of hope he endures tribulations, namely because the rewards promised for them are far greater. And therefore in all tribulations we ought to rejoice, on account of that saying: "Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteousness' sake." And again: "If you suffer anything for righteousness' sake, blessed are you.

CONTINUING STEADFASTLY IN PRAYER. Prayer is greatly necessary, because in order that tribulation may be endured, we must persist in entreaties. For continual prayer brings you help in adversity. And therefore he instructs them to persist in prayer. And the Lord in the Gospel says: Pray that your flight not be in winter or on the sabbath. And Peter: Be watchful therefore, praying at all times. SHARING IN THE NEEDS OF THE SAINTS. This can be understood in two ways: namely, that the saints are afflicted, and so we are afflicted together with them, on account of that saying: If we have been sharers in his sufferings, we shall be sharers also in his resurrection. And that saying: Knowing that the same suffering which is in the world is being brought about for true brotherhood. Or certainly, those who were coming to the faith, the unbelievers were plundering their substance, whom the same Apostle praises: For you were compassionate to those in chains, and you received the plundering of your goods with joy. The Apostle was encouraging the others: Remember the brothers who were in Jerusalem. As then, so also now, we must share in the needs of the saints; that is, in food, and drink, and clothing, and in all things of which a brother has need. For whoever has the substance of the world, and sees his brother enduring need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God remain in him? PURSUING HOSPITALITY. Hospitality is a great virtue. Through it certain people pleased God, by receiving angels as guests: such as Abraham or Lot, who on account of hospitality merited to be delivered from Sodom.

For we read that he not only received those who came but drew them in; and hence he even merited to receive angels in his lodging. Here it is given to be understood that guests are not only to be invited but also to be drawn in. Between receiving a guest and pursuing hospitality there is a great difference. Many receive guests who come to them, but this is not to pursue hospitality. But those who go about the villages and streets, dragging unwilling guests to their house—these are the pursuers of hospitality. For we have it written that the two disciples of the Lord, compelling him to lodge with them, merited to recognize him in the breaking of bread, whom they had not recognized throughout the whole span of the journey. For it is written: Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. Hence the Lord at the end will say: I was a stranger, and you received me.

BLESS THOSE WHO PERSECUTE YOU, BLESS AND DO NOT CURSE. This is the same thing that the Lord also says: Pray for those who persecute and slander you. For he himself first did this, when on the cross he asked the Father for those who were crucifying him, saying: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Just as we also ought to render good rather than evil to our enemies, on account of that which Peter admonishes: Not rendering evil for evil, nor curse for curse, but on the contrary blessing. There are many who do not curse, but on the contrary bless.

These fulfill the apostle Paul's precept: REJOICE WITH THOSE WHO REJOICE, WEEP WITH THOSE WHO WEEP. It must evidently be asked with whom one should rejoice and with whom one should weep. One should not rejoice with those who rejoice in the acquisition of temporal things, in abundance of gold and silver, and in the beauty of women, in the begetting of children, who are glad when they have done evil and exult in the worst of things. With such as these one should not rejoice, because it is written of them: Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. But one should rejoice with those who rejoice for the hope of another life, to whom the Lord says: Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. Or with those who, placed in persecutions, rejoice, holding the precept of the apostle James, who says: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations. To such the Lord says: I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice. We must also weep not with those who grieve over the loss of things or the death of parents, but we ought to weep with those who bewail their own sins, converted to the faith, blotting out what they have wickedly done, as he did who said: For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. With such as these one must weep, because it is written: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Better is it to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting and exulting.

BEING OF THE SAME MIND TOWARD ONE ANOTHER. This sentence seems more obscure on its surface than the others; yet we ought to be of the same mind toward one another, which cannot vary—namely, that what you believe concerning the Father, this you believe concerning the Son, this concerning the Holy Spirit. As you have in the psalm: In peace in the same I shall sleep and rest. It can be understood otherwise, that he says "the same," namely that we be of one mind with one will, as concerning the primitive Church in the Acts of the Apostles: They had one heart and one soul. That with one mind and one mouth you may glorify God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Or certainly it can be understood concerning tribulations in suffering with others, as above: Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep: if one member suffers anything, all the members suffer with it: and if we have been members of the passion, we shall be together also of the consolation. NOT HIGH. THINKING, BUT CONSENTING TO HUMBLE THINGS. Because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And elsewhere it is written: that the root of all evils is pride. And the Psalmist: He knows high things from afar, that is, pride. And therefore according to the precept of the apostle Peter, we ought to humble ourselves in the sight of God. For the Lord says thus: Upon whom shall I rest, unless upon the humble and quiet, and one trembling at my words? And: Learn from me, because I am meek and humble of heart. Pride made demons out of angels, but humility makes angels out of men.

The reading of the Epistle of the blessed apostle Paul to the Romans (XII, 16): Brethren, do not be wise in your own conceits.

THE LUCULENT COMMENTARY.

In the preceding chapter he had said: Not minding high things, that is, proud things. He adds: DO NOT BE WISE IN YOUR OWN CONCEITS. We know two kinds of wisdom, that of God and that of the devil, that of the flesh and that of the spirit. Concerning the wisdom of God, the same apostle says: Be wise as serpents. Concerning the wisdom of the flesh, the same apostle says: The wisdom of the flesh is death; and: Woe to you who are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own sight! And note that he did not say merely, Do not be wise, but with every qualification he adds, in your own conceits. He is wise in his own conceit who wishes to avenge himself on his enemy, who curses back at one who curses him, who strikes back at one who strikes him. Such a man is wise in his own conceit. We ought to hold to the wisdom of the soul, so that we may be able to resist evil; by no means the wisdom of the flesh, so as to avenge ourselves. RENDER TO NO MAN EVIL FOR EVIL. None of us ought to render evil for evil, but rather good for evil, on account of that saying: Pray for those who persecute and slander you. He who renders evil for evil is a son of Adam; he who renders good for good is a son of man; he who renders evil for good is a son of the devil, like the Jews, to whom the Lord showed many good works, for which they killed him. And therefore they were called sons of the devil, the Lord saying to them: You are from your father the devil.

But he who has rendered good for evil is a son of God, who prayed for the Jews who were crucifying him, saying: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. PROVIDING GOOD THINGS NOT ONLY IN THE SIGHT OF GOD, BUT ALSO IN THE SIGHT OF ALL MEN. That is, doing good things, showing forth good, working good—not so that you may catch praise from men, on account of that saying: Take heed that you do not perform your righteousness before men, so that you may be seen by them; but for the sake of the intention of eternal life, or so that we may show a good example to others, the Lord saying: So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. And that saying of the Apostle: Having your conversation good among the Gentiles, so that in that wherein they speak against you as of evildoers, considering you by your good works, they may glorify the Lord in the day of visitation. He says to all men—to Jews, Barbarians and Scythians, Greeks, Latins, and absolutely all—that we ought to show a good example: to God, that we may please him; to men, that they may imitate us.

IF IT CAN BE DONE, SO FAR AS IT LIES IN YOU, HAVING PEACE WITH ALL NAMES. So far as it lies in us, we ought to have peace with all men, and to say with the psalmist: With those who hated peace, I was peaceable. But human frailty is wont to say: How can I have peace with him who persecutes me, who takes away my goods? Hear the same apostle saying: Love of neighbor works no evil. Otherwise, if any pagan, if any schismatic, if any heretic wishes to stray from the way of truth, we cannot and ought not to have peace with them. But it is better to allow a scandal to arise than that the truth of Christ be abandoned. Otherwise, in them we ought to love the creature, hate the vice. NOT AVENGING YOURSELVES, BELOVED, that is, taking vengeance. For none of us ought to defend himself, on account of that saying: If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the other also. And: Pray for those who persecute and slander you. For in two ways we ought to GIVE PLACE TO WRATH, namely either by not resisting, or certainly by fleeing. We ought to give place to wrath by not resisting, not cursing in return, not fighting back, not struggling against, according to the testimony cited above. We ought to give place to wrath by fleeing, as even the Lord himself did, who by fleeing willed to withdraw from Egypt.

And elsewhere, when they wished to stone him, he hid himself from them, when, as the Gospel says, they took up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. And of him it is written that Jesus began to do and to teach. For it is better to give place by fleeing than to remain proudly in place [for "to resist"]. VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY, SAYS THE LORD. Thus the Lord says that he will avenge the injury of the saints as if it were his own. And therefore none of us ought to avenge himself, because we have God as avenger, who will avenge our injuries as if they were his own. He who says through the prophet: Whoever touches you is like one who touches the pupil of my eye. And in the Gospel: Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it is fitting that a millstone of an ass be hung on his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea. Therefore vengeance is to be reserved for him who thus knows how to avenge the injuries of the saints.

BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM. It is not enough for anyone not to return evil for evil, unless on the contrary he gives or bestows the things he needs; on account of that saying: Whoever has the substance of the world and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God remain in him? And especially by the word of preaching each one ought to feed his neighbor as he is able. FOR IN DOING THIS YOU WILL HEAP COALS OF FIRE ON HIS HEAD. There are some who feed their enemies with the intention that they may heap coals of fire, that is, punishments, upon them. For whoever feeds or gives drink to his enemy in such a way does not love him as himself. But we ought not to feed or give drink to our enemy in such a way, but rather so that we may convert him to us, so that he who before held us in hatred may begin to love. Whoever loves his enemy in such a way will heap coals of fire on his head, that is, the love of charity. For dead coals, if joined to a living one, are accustomed to be kindled. So too he who before held us in hatred, if he sees that he is loved by us, begins himself also to love us. For it is written: With the holy you will be holy. These are the coals of which the prophet says: You have coals of fire, set the proud, these were for your help. But that head we ought to understand as that of which the Lord says in the Gospel: Lift up your heads, for your redemption is at hand. DO NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL, BUT OVERCOME EVIL IN GOOD.

Be not overcome by evil, that is, by him who persecutes and hates you: if he makes you like himself, you are overcome by him. But overcome evil in good, that is, overcome his malice by patience. Otherwise: Be not overcome by evil, that is, by the devil, of whom it is written in the Gospel that the evil man sowed tares over the middle of the wheat and went away. And that saying: Either make the tree evil and its fruits evil; by which the devil and his evil works are understood. But Christ is good: whence it is said: Either make the tree good and its fruits good. Of whom in the psalm: But for me to cling to God is good. Overcome evil in good, the devil in Christ. Or certainly be not overcome by evil, that is, by sin, by the work of the flesh. But overcome evil in good, that is, in the fruit of the spirit. Of which the same apostle says: But the fruit of the spirit is. Overcome evil, that is, sin, by mortifying the works of the flesh.

VI.

Lesson of the Epistle of the blessed apostle Paul to the Romans (XIII, 8): Brethren, owe no one anything, except to love one another.

COMMENTARY OF LUCULENTIUS.

Above, the Apostle had admonished the Romans to pay their debt to all, saying: Render to all their due, to whom tribute is due, tribute; to whom honor, honor; to whom fear, fear; to whom revenue, revenue; then he adds and says: OWE NO ONE ANYTHING, EXCEPT TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. The Lord also commands this very thing when he says: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. For there is a debt which we ought so to pay: that is, if anyone has harmed or injured us, to pay this debt, so that we no longer repay evil for it. So that we may freely dare to say in the Lord's Prayer: Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. This that servant was unwilling to do, whose ten thousand talents were forgiven by his lord, and he himself was unwilling to forgive his fellow servant a hundred denarii. There is another debt, namely sin, which we ought so to pay that we never return to it again. Concerning which the same apostle says in another place: We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. And there is a debt which we ought so to pay that we always keep it; so to keep it that we always pay it: namely, charity, which we ought always to pay and always to keep. This is what he says: Owe no one anything, except to love one another.

Because we must never cease from love of neighbor—namely, giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the cold, and the other things we see them to need—and must always love God with our whole heart, and our neighbor as ourselves. And this without fail, on account of that saying: He who perseveres to the end, he will be saved. Hence the same apostle says: Bear one another's burdens. And the Lord himself: A new commandment I give you, that you love one another. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Love holds the chief place both in the Old Testament and in the New. In the Old we have it written: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and your neighbor as yourself. In the New the Lord sums it up, when to the expert in the law asking which was the greatest and first of all commandments, the Lord said: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like this: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. By "neighbor" in this place we ought to understand not only a blood relative, but every human being. If you wish to understand "neighbor" as only a blood relative or a close connection, license seems to be granted you to pursue others with hatred, while holding love only for your own.

But it is better that you understand your neighbor as every human being: whoever loves him as himself fulfills the law of Christ, who says: By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. And we have this commandment from God, that whoever loves the Lord should also love his brother. YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY. He who thus loves his neighbor as himself, that is, every human being, cannot commit adultery with a wife, because he himself does not want another to commit adultery with his wife, especially since the Apostle says: God will judge fornicators and adulterers. And: Flee fornication, because every sin, whatever a man does, is outside the body; but he who fornicates sins against his own body. YOU SHALL NOT KILL. And it is most plainly evident that no one can kill his neighbor if he loves him as himself, because he himself does not want to be killed by anyone, knowing that it is written: Everyone who kills by the sword will perish by the sword, whether of God or of man. YOU SHALL NOT STEAL. And as we said above, no one steals from his brother if he loves him as himself, knowing that it is written that thieves go to punishment. YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS: it must be understood similarly, because he who loves his brother as himself cannot bring false witness against him; on account of that which is written: A false witness will not go unpunished. Just as those two elders were not, who spoke false witness against Susanna.

And we read that in the passion of the Lord and in that of blessed Stephen false witnesses were present, none of whom could go unpunished.

YOU SHALL NOT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOR'S PROPERTY. As we said above, so it is to be understood. But there is another neighbor, namely the Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was our God, deigned to become a neighbor, as he himself says in the parable of the man who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers. For when he had said that the priest and the Levite, seeing the wounded man, passed by and did not take pity, but the Samaritan, passing by, took pity, he immediately added: Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers? And he said: The one who showed mercy to him. This one he calls the neighbor, who loves the whole law and fulfills all the commandments in his love. Of whom it is written: Christ is the end of the law. Nor can it possibly happen that anyone who loves Christ with his whole heart and all his inmost being should do anything that does not please Christ. For he does not adulterate his word, if he truly loves him; as neither did the apostle, who said: We are not adulterating the word of God, but as from God, before God, we speak in Christ. And the prophet in the fifth psalm: You have destroyed all who commit fornication against you. Such a man not only does not adulterate, but does not even look at a woman to lust after her, but rather says with the Psalmist: My soul has thirsted for God, the living fountain; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?

But not only does he not kill, he is not even angry; on account of that saying: Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Nor does he steal his words, as those did of whom he says: All who came before me were thieves and robbers. Nor does he bear false witness, knowing that the very one whom he loves is betrayed by false witness. Or he does not make him less than the Father, as the Arians do, who say the Father is greater, the Son lesser, but the Holy Spirit very much lesser—those who speak falsely and are deceivers. AND IF THERE IS ANY OTHER COMMANDMENT, IT IS SUMMED UP IN THIS WORD. There are indeed other commandments, either those spoken above or those carved on the tablets of stone, but they are summed up in this word, namely in the love of God and of neighbor, the Lord saying: On these two commandments the whole law depends and the prophets: YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. And note that in the love of God there is equality, but in the love of neighbor a measure, when he said: as yourself. But the love of God is confined by no measure. LOVE OF NEIGHBOR DOES NO EVIL. True, because he never does evil to his neighbor, since he loves him as himself. Or he who loves Christ as himself does no evil, that is, does not commit sin, because everyone who is born of God does not sin. The fullness of the law is therefore love, because all commandments proceed from charity and reach all the way to it; without it, virtues are reckoned as vices.

And this is what the Lord says through the prophet: The Lord will make a shortened word upon the earth. For what can be shorter than that all things are contained in two commandments? For if you are unable to search out all things, hold fast to these two, and you have fulfilled all things, whatever lies open, whatever lies hidden in the divine Scriptures.

VII.

The reading of the first Epistle of the blessed apostle Paul to the Corinthians (i, 4): Brethren, I give thanks to my God always for you, etc.

THE COMMENTARY OF LUCULENTUS.

The Corinthians are Achaeans: these, preached by the apostle Paul, after his departure abandoned his doctrine and were seduced by false prophets. Desiring to reform this, the Apostle writes two epistles to them. In the first he praises them at the outset, and further down he rebukes them sharply, in the manner of a skilled physician, saying: for thus the skilled physician first touches the healthy flesh so that he may reach the putrid; for if he first touched the diseased parts, perhaps the sick man would reject his medicine. So the Apostle first touched what was healthy in the Corinthians, and began with praise: BRETHREN, I GIVE THANKS TO MY GOD ALWAYS FOR YOU IN THE GRACE OF GOD, WHICH HAS BEEN GIVEN TO YOU IN CHRIST JESUS. He reaches the putrid parts when he says: Fornicators are heard of among you. For if they had been rebuked in the first chapter, perhaps they would not have received his doctrine. He says therefore: I give thanks to my God always for you.

As if he were saying: I indeed give thanks to God, who has knowledge as the mother of virtues; but I want you to know what that true knowledge is, where conduct agrees with life; not the knowledge that puffs up, but that which builds up. For knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. BECAUSE IN ALL THINGS YOU HAVE BEEN MADE RICH IN HIM, IN EVERY WORD, AND IN ALL KNOWLEDGE. He shows that they have been enriched in every good, since they came to faith in Christ; namely, in all virtues, in every word, and in all knowledge, in both Testaments, the Old and the New. In every word, he says: in the law, in knowledge, in the Gospel. For that man is rich in every word and in all knowledge who is able to learn nearly all the Scriptures and to instruct others. That man is truly wise in every word and in all knowledge who proclaims to others what he reads and understands, if he first fulfills it in deed, lest while preaching to others he himself be found reprobate. There are some who are rich in every word but not in all knowledge, as the Jews think, who keep only the letter of the law but reject the Gospel. There are others rich in knowledge but not in word, who reject the Gospel, as the Manichaeans do. In every word, he says, in the surface sense; in knowledge, in the spiritual understanding. And perhaps he says this for the reason that there were among the Corinthians those who refused to accept both Testaments. And therefore, like a teacher, by praising his imperfect disciples he stirs them on to better things.

For thus he also says to the Galatians: You who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of gentleness.

EVEN AS THE TESTIMONY OF CHRIST WAS CONFIRMED IN YOU, SO THAT YOU LACK NOTHING IN ANY GRACE. He calls both Testaments the testimony of Christ, because each either foretold or showed forth the advent of Christ. Whence also the Lord himself says: Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like a man, a householder, who brings forth from his treasure things new and old. It was confirmed, he says, in you—that is, by my preaching; for neither is the New without the Old, nor the Old without the New; but he taught them both, as he says elsewhere: For I delivered to you first of all what I also received; so that you lack nothing in any grace. Similar to this is what Solomon says: All good things came to me together with her. FOR YOU WHO WAIT FOR THE REVELATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. He who is rich in every word and in all knowledge—nothing remains for him except to wait for the revelation of the Lord, as the Lord says: Be ready, like men waiting for their lord, when he returns from the wedding. This can be understood in two ways, both specifically and generally. Specifically, when the soul of a perfect man departs from the body and passes to the Lord, as he himself says: I desire, Father, that where I am, there my servant also may be. Generally, however, on the day of judgment, when we shall all stand before the tribunal of God. Whence also elsewhere: Do not judge before the time, until the Lord comes.

For each of the faithful ought so to live that he may be able to await the revelation of the Lord; that is, he should desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, on account of what the Lord says: Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he comes, shall find watching.

WHO SHALL CONFIRM YOU UNTO THE END, WITHOUT CRIME. For the saints await the revelation of the Lord, because now our life is hidden with Christ in God. But it shall be revealed, because when Christ, your life, shall appear, then you also shall appear with him in glory. For now we are sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But what we await shall be revealed, because when he shall appear, we shall be like him, and we shall see him as he is. He it is who also confirmed us, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. For he has given light to those who were in darkness and in the shadow of death. And this is what he says, who also has confirmed you. And UNTO THE END he says, that is, unto death, or unto the day of judgment. And note that he does not say without sin, but without crime. Nor does he seem contrary to John, who says: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. One thing is sin, another is crime. By God's gift a man can be without crime, that is, without sacrilege, without adultery, without theft, or a greater crime; but without sin, no one. Because there is no man on earth who does good and does not sin. For in many things we all offend. And therefore he did not say without sin, but without crime.

ON THE DAY OF THE ADVENT OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, or on the day of death, when He deigns to come to His own. Whence He also says: Thus I wish him to remain until I come. Or on the day of judgment, when He is to come to judge the living and the dead. Rightly is it said on the day of the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whence also Matthew: When the king shall sit on the throne of his kingdom, and shall begin to judge. Which day will be bitter to the unjust, gentle and mild to the just and pious, to whom it will be said by the Lord: Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world. But to the reprobate: Go, cursed, into eternal fire, which has been prepared for you. Foreseeing this day, the prophet says: A day of wrath, that day, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and misery, a day of mist and whirlwind, a day of cloud and clamor. Concerning which another prophet also says: Blessed is he who understands concerning the needy and the poor; in the evil day the Lord will deliver him

VIII

Lesson from the Epistle of the blessed apostle Paul to the Ephesians (III, 13): Brethren, I beseech you not to faint at my tribulations for you, which is your glory, etc.

EXPOSITION OF LUCULENTUS.

The apostle Paul saw that his course was being completed, and that the images of the gods were being brought to nothing, the prince of this world cast out, the faith of believers springing up, the Church being built and growing—while he himself was being fiercely persecuted because of the unremitting labor and preaching of the office he had received for building up the Church. The disciples whom he had previously instructed in words he wished also to instruct by examples, when he says: I BESEECH YOU NOT TO FAINT AT MY TRIBULATIONS; as if he were saying: All that I suffer, all that constrains me, all that afflicts me—my tribulation is your glory, because then are disciples established in the faith, when the teacher suffers and is distressed for their sake. It can also be understood in another way, what he says: I beseech you not to faint at my tribulations for you; as if it were said: Just as I do not waver amid the storms of this world and its persecutions, so you also, should punishments be brought upon you, do not fear for the name of Christ. Rightly does he say, WHICH IS YOUR GLORY. To which this is similar: If you suffer anything for righteousness' sake, blessed shall you be. FOR THIS CAUSE I BOW MY KNEES TO THE FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

And here the sense of the preceding cause fits: that the Apostle asks on behalf of the Ephesians that they not faint in tribulations, when he says: For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For just as there are knees of the outer man, so there are also of the inner man. The same apostle says something of this sort also to the Philippians: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, of things on earth, and of things under the earth. Which certainly does not pertain to the bending of the body alone. For many seem to pray with head held high, yet before God they humbly bend the knee. And conversely, some praying at length bend the knee humbly before men, but before God they hold their head erect. But Paul prayed not so much with knee bent as with the affection of the mind, when he said: For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, FROM WHOM ALL FATHERHOOD IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH IS NAMED. The apostle Paul says that the honor of fatherhood is named in heaven and on earth. In heaven, namely among the angelic powers, because just as we on earth, out of reverence, for the sake of veneration, name our forebears fathers, patriarchs, and prophets, so also the more worthy powers in the heavens obtain fatherhood. For the angels are called of the lesser order. Archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers have fatherhood. And therefore the apostle Paul says: From whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.

And note that he did not say "from which she was born," but "from which she is named"; as if he were saying, to that Lord who left an example for the saints to do likewise.

THAT HE MAY GRANT YOU ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GLORY TO BE STRENGTHENED WITH POWER THROUGH HIS SPIRIT. His riches are, as it were, the gifts of charisms, the gifts of virtues, which he lavishes on the saints, just as one of those who had received them said: We have received from his fullness grace for grace. The apostle prays for the Ephesians, saying: That he may grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit. As if he were saying: Be you supported by such great gifts of virtues that you remain strong amid persecutions, which indeed no one will be able to do unless he has been imbued with the grace of the Holy Spirit. And so he says "to be strengthened with power through his Spirit"; for he who has the Spirit of God dwelling in himself will be strong and will have virtues. THAT CHRIST MAY DWELL IN THE INNER MAN THROUGH FAITH IN YOUR HEARTS. In this he wishes to show that there are two men in one man, namely the outer man, which is corrupted, and the inner man, which is renewed from day to day, just as he himself says in another place: Though our outer man is corrupted, yet the one who is within is renewed from day to day. For Christ dwells in the inner man, and this only through faith. For without faith it is impossible to please God; and on the other hand, The just man lives by faith. For he who has perfect faith has Christ dwelling in himself.

Certainly also the Father speaks: And I will dwell in them, and walk among them.

ROOTED AND FOUNDED IN CHARITY, THAT YOU MAY BE ABLE TO COMPREHEND WITH ALL THE SAINTS WHAT IS THE BREADTH, LENGTH, HEIGHT, AND DEPTH. He is both rooted and founded in charity whom neither prosperity lifts up nor adversity disturbs. Such was he who said: Who shall separate us from the charity of God? No one, is understood. But many seem to be rooted in charity yet are not founded, whom prosperity lifts up and adversity disturbs, who seem to believe in time of peace and deny in time of adversity; as the Lord says of false believers: Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. And Paul: They confess that they know God, but deny him by their deeds. The blessed apostle Paul prays for the Ephesians that they may be rooted and founded in charity, and with all the saints be able to comprehend what is the breadth, height, and depth—not of worldly wisdom, which is foolishness with God, but of spiritual wisdom, which is a friend of God. For the wise of this world would comprehend the spaces of the lands, namely the breadth from the north even to the south, the length from the rising of the sun even to its setting, the height from the earth even to heaven, the depth even to the abyss; they would measure also the drops of the Ocean sea, the number of the sands of that same sea, the stars of heaven—and this is foolishness.

But let us, with the apostle Paul, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, length, height, and depth. First considering the cross of our Redeemer, in which mysteries were signified. There first was the breadth, length, and depth, and not immediately the height: the breadth was the wood that lay crosswise, where the hands of our Redeemer were fastened; the length was that wood which was fixed by it into the earth, reaching up to the crossbeam, on which the body of our Redeemer was stretched; the depth was that which was fixed in the earth, where his feet stood. For at first the cross was made in the likeness of the letter tau, but afterwards there was added the wood where the cause itself was written; and by the will of God this was done, so that it might contain the full mystery in itself, so that we, fortified by the holy sign of the cross, might remain safe from the ancient enemy. This according to the letter.

Spiritually the apostle Paul wishes us to understand what is the breadth and the length. The breadth is charity, which has been accustomed to love not only friends in God, but even enemies for God's sake, of which it is written: Your commandment is exceedingly broad. The length is perseverance in good work, of which the Lord said: He who perseveres to the end, this one will be saved. The height is hope. For what we do not see we hope for, and we await it through patience. This those can say who dwell in heavenly things in mind, like that one who said: But our conversation is in heaven. The depth is faith, the substance of things to be hoped for, the argument of things not seen. For someone has begun to love his neighbor, that is, every human being, and has never even in persecution ceased from love of him; this is the breadth. He does all this for the sake of obtaining eternal life; and this is the height. All these things hang upon the hidden divine mercy which always protects a person inwardly; and this is the depth. But if anyone clever should strive to investigate in another sense, let him understand what follows: TO KNOW EVEN THE SUPEREMINENT KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHARITY OF CHRIST, THAT YOU MAY BE FILLED UNTO ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD. For the charity of Christ is supereminent and surpasses all these things. What follows: AND HE WHO IS POWERFUL TO DO ALL THINGS. SUPERABUNDANTLY BEYOND WHAT WE ASK OR UNDERSTAND, ACCORDING TO THE POWER WHICH WORKS IN US.

For no one can ask for and understand what he asks for as much as he himself can bestow, who gives us the ability to ask, who speaks through the prophet, saying: "Before you call upon me, I will hear you." And through himself he says: "Without me you can do nothing."

To him be glory, and in the church in Christ Jesus throughout all generations of the age of ages. Amen. To him, that is, to God the Father; in the church, that is, in the congregation of the just faithful, who glorify him without ceasing, giving thanks to God, and this through Christ. When he says "in Christ Jesus throughout all generations," the Father is praised on earth through his Son. And well did he say "throughout all generations of the age of ages. Amen." For before the Son of God had come into the world, he had known only one people, according to what is written: "God is known in Judea, in Israel his name is great." But after the Son of God came to the earth, his teaching shone forth through the whole world. Now it is said: "Be exalted above the heavens, O God, and your glory over all the earth." This is what the apostle says: "Throughout all generations of the age of ages. Amen." When he says "of the age," he shows the form of the present time; but when he adds "of ages," he shows that God is praised in the saints without end. And therefore we ought to give thanks to him without ceasing, who has given us such teaching that we may thus be able to know him.

IX.

Reading of the Epistle of the blessed apostle Paul to the Ephesians (IV, 1): I beseech you, brethren, I who am a prisoner in the Lord, that you walk worthily of the calling with which you have been called, etc.

COMMENTARY OF LUCULENTUS.

In this sentence a twofold meaning is to be understood. For as far as the letter is concerned, he was a prisoner in the Lord, that is, for the Lord's sake, because in preaching the faith of Christ he could be hindered or cast down by no persecutor, and for this reason he was thrust into prison, and this is what he says: I, A PRISONER IN THE LORD. In another sense he was a prisoner in the Lord by the bond of love with the Ephesians; of which bond he says in another place: Above all these things having love, which is the bond of perfection. Thus the saints, after they are glued together in love, cannot be separated. Thus we read of David and Jonathan: The soul of Jonathan was glued to the soul of David. And therefore, out of such great affection, Paul was joined to the Ephesians, so that not only in time of peace but even in persecution he would not withdraw from them; although he was absent in body, he was with them in spirit. He also entreated them to keep unshaken the faith which they had received: THAT YOU WALK WORTHILY OF THE CALLING WITH WHICH YOU HAVE BEEN CALLED. As if he were saying: follow worthily the footsteps of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, in humility, patience, obedience, and the other virtues. And how is this way to be walked? Namely, not by the step of the feet, but by the affection of the mind.

For he indeed walks worthily of the calling with which he has been called who is neither lifted up in prosperity nor cast down in adversity, nor turns aside to the right or to the left, hearing the prophet saying: This is the way, walk in it, neither to the right nor to the left. For how each of the faithful ought to walk, the Apostle, as if expounding it, immediately added when he said: WITH ALL HUMILITY AND MEEKNESS, WITH PATIENCE. Rightly did he say first, with all humility, because he who gathers virtues without humility is like one who carries dust in the wind. Concerning humility the Lord says: Upon whom shall I rest, if not upon the humble and quiet and one who trembles at my words? Hence it is that Peter says: Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the time of visitation. Hence again the Lord himself says: Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. And with meekness; he who has it will offer a path not only to those of his household but even to the rough, imitating God who says: Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. And again: Blessed are the meek, for they shall see God. With patience; whatever adversity befalls the faithful, they bear all things patiently, as the same apostle says elsewhere: In much patience. And on account of that: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Elsewhere too it is said: In your patience you shall possess your souls.

The Lord, as he was going to his passion, commended this virtue to his disciples, saying: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.

BEARING WITH ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE. We have expounded this sentence in the Epistle to the Galatians at the place where it is said, Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ. The law of Christ is love, as he himself says: By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. And therefore we ought to bear with one another in patience, so that one who sees someone erring may recall him to the way of truth, one who is angry to concord, may raise up the fallen, console the sorrowful, give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the cold. And so it comes about that we bear with one another in patience, consoling every need of a brother. ONE BODY. He calls the holy Church one body, as he says in another place, that we are one body and one bread in Christ. For although the holy Church is divided among members, nevertheless, standing in the unity of faith, it is one body, as the same apostle says elsewhere: You are the body of Christ, and members of his members; he added: ONE SPIRIT. He shows the unanimity that all the faithful ought to have, according to what is written: Who makes the unanimous to dwell in a house. Peter also admonishes, saying: Be all unanimous in prayer, compassionate. Otherwise, he calls one spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit, who is divided into sevenfold graces, by whom all the faithful are guided.

Therefore one spirit holds the Trinity. AS YOU WERE CALLED IN ONE HOPE OF YOUR CALLING. He calls the one hope of your calling heavenly blessedness, to which all the elect will tend. But the sentence of the apostle Paul seems greatly contrary to the word of the Lord where he says: In my Father's house there are many mansions. And the Apostle says: In one hope of your calling; yet if you consider rightly, both the Lord says what is true, and the apostle Paul is true. In the house, says the Lord, of my Father there are many mansions; as the same one added, one indeed thus, another truly thus. And this is on account of the merits of different people, because each one of the saints receives his reward just as he merits. For the Lord himself says of himself: The just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father; yet not all equally; but, as Scripture says, one star differs from another in brightness, so it will be in the resurrection of many [of the dead]. For one is the brightness of the sun, another the brightness of the moon, another the brightness of the stars, so it will also be in the resurrection of the dead, according to the reason already stated. Hence the angel says to the prophet Daniel: The learned shall shine as the splendor of the firmament; and those who instruct many to righteousness, as the stars for perpetual eternities. Yet there is one hope of all the elect, namely the heavenly kingdom, where those who join themselves together cannot be separated.

ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM, ONE LORD AND FATHER OF ALL, WHO IS ABOVE ALL AND IN ALL. There is one Lord, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is not divided, but always abides in unity. And there is one faith of believers, and likewise one baptism, just as the Lord himself says: Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. It must be weighed very carefully why the Apostle says there is one baptism. So too Luke testifies in the Acts of the Apostles when he says: The baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. For there is one baptism, which he testifies is given in the Trinity; just as the Lord himself says in another place: John indeed baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. And therefore there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, AND IN ALL OF US. God the Father is said to be one: and he rightly says Father of all, because he is the Father of all creatures, according to what is written: He who abides forever created all things at once.

Since mention has here been made of the Trinity, it remains for us to speak somewhat more precisely on that point. For he said first, one Spirit; then, one Lord; third, one God and Father of all. He placed the Holy Spirit first, then the Son, third the Father. He uses this testimony against Arius and his like, who had said: the Father is greater, the Son lesser, the Holy Spirit far lesser than the Father and the Son. For the one whom that man called far lesser, the Apostle placed first when he says, one Spirit. And again, the one whom he called lesser than the Father, he placed in the second position when he said, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all. Nor is it Paul alone, but also holy David, who, guarding the Holy Spirit and the faith and honor of the holy Trinity against heretical depravity, distinguishes thus: Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit in my inmost parts. In saying a right spirit, he shows the Holy Spirit. And when he adds: Cast me not away from your face, he speaks of the Son. But when he brings in: Restore to me the joy of your salvation, he surely indicates the Father. And note what Paul says: Who is God over all, blessed forever; not those who are gods, but he who is God. For he prudently distinguished the Trinity, but faithfully united it when he said: who is over all, that is, God the Father; and over all things, God the Son. For in him, says the Apostle, we live, and move, and have our being.

And in all things, the Holy Spirit, who going and circling about fills the hearts of the faithful, according to what is written: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit dwells in you, who is blessed forever; in every creature, in which God is praised and blessed, as it is written in the hymn of the three youths: Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord; praise and exalt him above all forever.

The reading of the Epistle of the blessed apostle Paul to the Ephesians (IV, 23): Brethren, be renewed in the spirit of your mind, etc.

THE EXPOSITION OF LUCULENTUS.

The Apostle has commanded us to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, concerning which he says elsewhere: If our outer man is corrupted, yet the one who is within is renewed. And rightly he says: BE RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND; because we are renewed neither in the sense without the spirit, nor in the spirit without the sense. For just as we sing psalms in the spirit, let us also sing psalms in the mind; we pray in the spirit, and let us pray in the mind; so we ought to be renewed in the sense, so that when it has itself been made clean and purified, the renewed spirit may also be joined to it. And whoever has done this, his spirit is no longer called simply spirit, but is said to be the spirit of the sense. AND PUT ON THE NEW MAN WHO WAS CREATED ACCORDING TO GOD. This seems to me to be the very thing that he says elsewhere: Put on Christ Jesus, since all the faithful put on Christ, and it is said to them by the Apostle: As many of you as have believed, you have put on Christ.

For the saints are sometimes called the garment of the Lord, as he says elsewhere: As I live, says the Lord, you are clothed with all these as with an ornament. But the saints put on the Lord when they renew the spirit of their mind. And rightly he calls the Lord Jesus the new man, because a new man came into the world, gave new precepts to the world. For new was his conception, birth, nativity, baptism, teaching, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. Whatever you consider in him, in the man he assumed there was only newness. For he who as God existed in his own nature before the ages, at the end of the age appeared among us as a new man. This new man new men ought to put on, by imitating him, so that they may be gentle, meek, humble, merciful, not returning evil for evil, or curse for curse, and fulfilling all other such things that he commands. Those who have done these things are clothed with the new man Christ, and are able to say: I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, WHO WAS CREATED ACCORDING TO GOD.

Note that in the sacred Scriptures the name is found not of the least but of the highest and chief created things. For example: the world was created, a house was built, a city was founded. Consider the order, and see the greatness of the man assumed by God. He is said to be created, as it were, in the way the world is. For he who existed as God with the Father before the ages, as you have it in Wisdom: The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways; in the last times, new, a new man according to God was created. But this seems contrary to our faith, which we confess when we say: the Son is from the Father alone, not made, not created, but begotten. But always, as has often been said, we must understand two natures in the Son of God, namely the divine and the human; the divine, in which he is equal to the Father, in which he is neither made nor created; the human, in which he was born a man of his mother. He sets forth the order, how IN RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS AND TRUTH. Jesus, therefore, the Son of God, was created in righteousness and holiness, because he is the Son of the true God. And note: religion and righteousness were completed in him with truth; and therefore rightly in righteousness, because he had no stain of sin; righteous, because he loves righteousness; holy, as he himself says: Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. And truth, when he says: I am the way, the truth, and the life.

THEREFORE, PUTTING AWAY FALSEHOOD, SPEAK THE TRUTH EACH ONE WITH HIS NEIGHBOR. For this reason, because you ought to put on the new man, you ought first to put away falsehood and speak the truth. Similar is what holy David says to the sinner: Turn away from evil, and do good. And the same apostle says to Titus: That we should renounce ungodliness and worldly desires. Peter says to the scattered exiles (1 Peter 3:10): Whoever wishes to love life and see good days, let him restrain his tongue from evil. So also here: putting away falsehood. Every deceitful word is a lie. Augustine says that every lie is a sin. Hear also another: You hate all who work iniquity. In this place we ought not to understand "neighbor" as merely a blood relative, or a kinsman, or a nearby resident, but every human being; otherwise, should one who is not a neighbor hear a lie? Certainly not. For if we ought to understand "neighbor" only as a blood relative or kinsman, what shall we do with what is said elsewhere: You shall not commit adultery with your neighbor's wife? If you understand "neighbor" as only a blood relative, it is laughed at to grant license to lie with foreign women. And truly all adulterers go to punishment: and God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Therefore "neighbor" ought to be understood as every human being, with whom, having laid aside falsehood, it is necessary to speak the truth. FOR WE ARE MEMBERS ONE OF ANOTHER. Here a distinction has been made, so that you understand every human being as a neighbor. But one cannot be a member unless a believer is a member of a believer.

For what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what part has the faithful with the unfaithful? Nothing is understood. Thus neither can a pagan be a member with a Christian, except for those to whom the Apostle says: You are the body of Christ, and members of his members.

BE ANGRY, AND DO NOT SIN. There is a twofold anger, not only among us but also among the philosophers. For there is an anger that naturally befalls a man when the mind is stirred to fury, of which the prophet says: My eye is troubled by fury. This he could not utterly forbid, and therefore he says: Be angry, and do not sin. For there is also another anger that descends from the pallor of envy, from which quarrels and hatred are born, which, listing it in the catalogue of vices, he says: Wrath, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries. LET NOT THE SUN GO DOWN UPON YOUR ANGER. If we understand this sun simply as the one we see with bodily eyes, it seems that license is given us to be angry throughout the day. And what shall we do? Because a man can sin in one day as much as he cannot repent of in the course of years. Therefore not of that sun, but of the sun Christ, who sets for the wicked, according to what is said of the false prophets: The sun has gone down for them at midday; but he rises for the saints, according to what is said: For you who fear the name of the Lord, the sun of justice shall rise. And this is what is said: Let not the sun go down upon your anger.

As if he were saying: if anger, once stirred up, has crept in, quickly turn to repentance, lest the soul, suddenly seized, be darkened, and either the sun of righteousness or the principal part of the heart be wrapped in darkness. This can still be understood simply of that sun, according to what David says in the fourth psalm, from which this seems to be taken: What you say in your hearts, and be pierced with compunction in your chambers; that is, whatever you sin in the day by thought, anger, or deed, be pierced with compunction in your chambers. Before the setting of the sun, return in peace, or do not put it off until tomorrow. DO NOT GIVE PLACE TO THE DEVIL. The devil, then, when it is a name, is called in Latin "criminator" (accuser); in the Hebrew tongue Satan is called "adversary," or "contrary"; by the Apostle he is named Belial, that is, "without a yoke," because he has cast off servitude from his neck, whom Aquila translated as "apostate." We ought not to give him a place by sinning, by being angry; for the place of the devil is sin. He seeks a place daily by going about, as the apostle Peter says: Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour. And this is because he envies every good. For by the envy of the devil death entered into the world

Let the one who was stealing now steal no more. The apostle Paul calls "theft" every harm done to a neighbor; for lovers of this world, by embracing the resources of the present time, envy their neighbors, seize by force, or defraud in business dealings, and take away; therefore he admonishes the Ephesians not to fall, on the occasion of gain, into the crime of theft. Hence he says to other disciples: Let him not defraud his brother in business. What he says can also be understood more deeply—that the one who was stealing should now steal no more; namely, as it was said concerning false prophets, that each one stole words from his neighbor: and as many as came were thieves and robbers. All such persons steal the word of God and speak a lie with their neighbor. And such persons he forbids to do this, in accordance with what he also said above: Putting away lying, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor. RATHER LET HIM LABOR, WORKING WITH HIS HANDS, AT WHAT IS GOOD. This is similar to what has already been said: Turn away from evil, and do good. And rightly he says, working with his hands at what is good, so that the one who previously seized another's property by theft may begin to give generously of his own. The same is to be understood likewise concerning other matters. And note that he did not say that he should labor, working with his hands at what is good, so that he may have food and not be in need, or cause no trouble to anyone; but, he says, let him labor SO THAT HE MAY HAVE SOMETHING TO GIVE TO THE ONE WHO IS IN NEED.

For whoever labors for himself so that he himself may not be in need does not yet fulfill the apostle's command. Therefore let him labor by working with his own hands; because, as has often been said, whatever man is ready to do good. If he cannot be more ready, at least as by a measure [thus the passage stands in the Codex], as the same apostle says elsewhere: For as you exhibited your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now exhibit your members in sanctification. To feed the hungry from one's own labor, or give drink to the thirsty, and in the other things in which he sees them to be in need, to help. Or especially to work in the field of his own soul, that he may be filled with spiritual things, and may be able to give food in due season to his fellow servants, on account of that saying: Who do you think is the faithful and prudent steward, whom the lord has set over his household, to give them food in due season?

XI.

Reading of the Epistle of blessed Paul the apostle to the Ephesians (v? 15): Brethren, see therefore how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, etc.

COMMENTARY OF LUCULENTIUS.

It has often been said that just as there are outer eyes of the body, with which we see this light, so there are also inner eyes of the heart, with which God is seen, of which he himself says: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And just as there are outer steps of the body, so there are also inner steps of the mind, of which it is written: The steps of a man are directed by the Lord. But what he says here: SEE THEREFORE HOW CAREFULLY YOU WALK; it is such as what the Savior says: Walk while you have the light. For just as, to give an example, a man making a journey looks ahead to where he may plant his foot, so he who desires to walk spiritually ought to look ahead to where he may plant the step of the mind, lest he fall. Therefore each one ought to walk carefully, lest he yield, and lest he turn aside to the right or to the left; but let him go forward safe through the armor of righteousness, heeding the prophet's warnings: This is the way, walk in it. And he who has done this will be able to say: Your word, Lord, is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths. REDEEMING THE TIME, BECAUSE THE DAYS ARE EVIL. He calls that time which we all lost in Adam, namely immortality and the blessedness of paradise. For it must be known that man had been created by God immortal, if he had not sinned. There would have been no need to redeem the time, because, having been made citizens of heaven, we would see God face to face, as he himself did before he sinned.

But if anyone wishes to redeem the time, let him hear the counsel of the Lord who says: If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well. And again: Pray for those who persecute and slander you. And this is what he means by: Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. For we redeem the time when we bring our past life back to memory and punish by weeping the things we have committed through negligence, which the wicked by no means do, as the prophet says: Men of blood and deceit shall not live out half their days. Because the days are evil. As far as reason and spiritual understanding are concerned, the good days were made by God, as Scripture says: God saw all things that he had made, and they were very good. You have it written in the book of Genesis that God created all things over intervals of days. And it is said there: God saw all things that he had made, and they were very good. If, then, all things that God made were very good, therefore the days too were good. But by the fault of men they have been depraved, and have become evil days. And what shall I say? From the time Adam sinned in paradise, there have never been days except evil ones. Children are born, they begin with weeping and with misery; these days become evil through their own calamity. The prophet lamented this when he said: Woe is me, that my sojourning has been prolonged. These days we ought to redeem by abstaining, fasting, praying, keeping vigil, and fulfilling the other things that the Lord commanded. Whoever does this redeems the evil days, and makes them good days not of the present time but of the future.

To such an extent that the day is no longer spoken of in the plural number. Concerning which the prophet says: Better is one day in your courts than a thousand.

THEREFORE, DO NOT BECOME FOOLISH. That man is foolish who does not look ahead for himself to the path by which he must walk, lest he stumble, but walks cautiously. Not as unwise, but as wise. Foolish is he who does not redeem the time and the evil days granted him for repentance, of which the Apostle says: Do you not know that the patience of God awaits you for repentance? Foolish is he who does not understand WHAT IS THE WILL OF GOD, good, and well-pleasing, and perfect. And therefore he says: Therefore do not become foolish. The will of God is that one turn away from evil and do good. For the prophet says: I do not will the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live. And again: Turn away from evil and do good. The will of God is that we love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. The will of God is that we all be holy, as he himself says: Be holy, for I am holy. And DO NOT BE INEBRIATED WITH WINE, IN WHICH IS WANTONNESS. For just as a man cannot serve two masters, namely God and mammon, so he cannot be drunk with wine and at the same time be filled with the HOLY SPIRIT. He who has been filled with the Holy Spirit will have prudence, chastity, purity, modesty, gentleness, reverence. On the other hand, he who is inebriated with wine will have shamelessness, folly, audacity, fury, lust.

And therefore the Apostle instructs that one must not be drunk with wine, in which is luxury. Whence Solomon also says: Do not look upon wine when it grows yellow in the glass; for its color enters pleasantly, but it bites like a serpent. What he says can also be understood in another way: Do not be drunk with wine, that is, with the wine of malice, of which Moses speaks in the song of Deuteronomy: From the vine of Sodom, their worm. All lovers of the world are drunk with this wine. Of these the Apostle says: Whose end is destruction, whose God is the belly, and their glory in their confusion, who savor earthly things.

SPEAKING TO YOURSELVES IN PSALMS, AND HYMNS, AND SPIRITUAL SONGS. He who has abstained from wine and has been filled with the Holy Spirit will be able to be filled with all these things. Psalms, hymns, and songs are found in the psalter; but between a psalm and a hymn there is this difference, that a psalm pertains to the body, because through the organ of the body one learns how to arrive at the organ of the mind; a hymn truly pertains to prayer; a song to the praise of God. But if you wish to understand more deeply, the psalm pertains to the body, the hymn to the praise of God, the song to the strength and power of God. And note that when he says with psalms, hymns, and songs, he added spiritual, which he certainly would not have done unless there were songs that are not spiritual, such as the poems of poets, the sayings of philosophers, luxurious songs, and words that provoke laughter, which do not pertain to the matter, and scurrility.

SINGING IN GRACE, IN YOUR HEARTS. Let the young hear this, let the young men hear this, and every order of the church to whom the office of singing psalms is committed in the Church, so that just as they sing psalms with the mouth, they may learn to sing psalms also with the heart, lest it be said of them: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. On the other hand, many sing psalms with the heart and do not sing psalms with the mouth. They cry out with the heart, they are silent with the mouth. As that man was doing to whom it is said: Why do you cry out to me? And certainly it is not written there what Moses had cried out; but he was crying out, and crying out with the heart, and therefore God says to him: Why do you cry out to me? Therefore it is better to sing psalms with the heart and be silent with the mouth than to be silent with the heart and sing psalms with the mouth. And therefore let the one who sings psalms with the mouth sing psalms also with the heart; let us sing psalms in the spirit, let us sing psalms also with the mind.

GIVING THANKS TO THE LORD. This sentence can be understood in two ways, that is, in things received and things lost, as Job says: The Lord gave, the Lord took away; as it pleased the Lord, so it was done; blessed be the name of the Lord. Or in prosperity and adversity. Hence it is sung in the psalm: I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise always in my mouth. Otherwise: if you have the office of singing psalms in the church, you ought not for that reason to exalt yourself above others, but rather to give thanks to God, saying with the Psalmist: Not to us, Lord, not to us, but give glory to your name.

SUBJECT TO GOD AND THE FATHER, AND TO ONE ANOTHER IN THE FEAR OF CHRIST: that is, to God the Son of God, who although he was God, deigned to become man, taking up our humanity, and therefore subject to the Father, and to one another. Let bishops hear this, let presbyters hear this, and all who preside in the Church, that just as the rest are subject to them, so they too through love should be subject to their own people, as Solomon exhorts: When you are appointed a ruler, do not exalt yourself, but be among them as one of them. And the apostle Paul says: Though I was free from all, I made myself the servant of all, and this IN THE FEAR OF CHRIST. Fearing lest we do anything contrary to his will, or for the sake of men's favor or praises; lest it be said of us: They have received their reward; but let us do all things for the love of Christ, as the Apostle admonishes: Whether you eat, or drink, or do anything else, do all things in the name of the Lord. And again: Whatever you do in word or in deed, do all things in the name of the Lord. And this is what he says, in the fear of Christ.

XII.

Lesson from the Epistle of the blessed apostle Paul to the Ephesians (VI, 10): Brethren, from henceforth be strengthened, and in the power of his might, etc.

COMMENTARY OF LUCULENTIUS.

For the apostle Paul had admonished above, separately men, separately women, masters and servants, sons and fathers, saying: Men, love your wives, as Christ also the Church. Women, let them be subject to their husbands; sons, obey your parents in all things. For this is pleasing in the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your sons to anger, so that they do not become faint-hearted. Servants, obey your carnal masters, not serving to the eye as those who please men, but rather God, and the like. Then indeed, gathering all together into one, he says: FROM HENCEFORTH BE STRENGTHENED IN THE LORD. From henceforth, that is, for the remainder. For he knew it was written: Cursed is the man who trusts in man. And again: Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. And therefore he says: Be strengthened in the Lord, that is, presume nothing from your own merits, and always glory in the Lord, according to what the same apostle says: He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. And the Psalmist: Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory. And lest anyone should think that hope ought to be placed in the name only, therefore he added: AND IN THE POWER OF HIS MIGHT.

As if he were saying: Place your hope in Christ the Lord, without whom no good can exist, and through whom all good things are bestowed, as the apostle James says: Every good gift is from above. PUT ON THE ARMOR OF GOD, THAT YOU MAY BE ABLE TO STAND AGAINST THE WILES OF THE DEVIL. For from these things which are read below, and from those which the apostle Paul says here, we can understand the whole to be about Christ. For just as the belt is truth, and the breastplate is righteousness, without doubt Christ is both truth and righteousness; therefore he who has put on truth and righteousness will have put on Christ; and it is necessary for him to put on Christ who wishes to fight against the devil. For "devil" is a Greek word, rendered in Latin as "accuser": this is the accuser of whom we read in the Apocalypse that the saints said to God: We give you thanks, because the accuser of our brothers has been cast out, who accused them before the sight of our God. According to the Hebrew meaning it is interpreted as "flowing downward," who wishes to strike us invisibly with his weapons, against whom invisible weapons must be taken up to resist him.

BECAUSE OUR STRUGGLE IS NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD. "Flesh and blood" sometimes means the living, sometimes sins, sometimes kinship, sometimes the propagation of the human race, sometimes human persecutors, concerning whom Paul says in this place: Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, BUT AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS. But he wishes rather to show that these same persecutors have the devil as their author, against whom invisible weapons must be taken up, so that once he is destroyed we need not fear men. For there is a struggle against flesh and blood when the flesh lusts against the spirit. To be sure, from this example we can gather that when the flesh itself lusts against the spirit, it is only by the instigation of the devil, since our struggle is not, etc. For having gone through the series of the Old and New Testaments in reading, you will nowhere find principalities and powers said to be demons except first in this place. For this reason the Apostle, by this name, wrote to the Ephesians about invisible creatures, wishing to show them many things. And because they had senses trained to understand even hidden things, he therefore foretold to them various names of invisible creatures. For he said: Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, AGAINST THE RULERS OF THIS WORLD OF DARKNESS. For he calls principalities and powers the rulers of the world, the demons who are greater.

But the demons are of a lesser order. Just as we speak of angels and archangels among the angelic ranks, on account of the diminution of the lesser ones, so we speak of demons as principalities and powers, on account of the wickedness of their crimes. For the more cunning they are at persuading to malice, the greater they seem to be. So that I may speak by way of example, the demons that are committed in homicides are evil, but those in fratricides and parricides are worse. So too concerning adulterers and the incestuous, of whom the prophet says: They are seduced by the spirit of fornication. For these he calls principalities and powers, these the rulers of this world of darkness, these he names SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESSES [In the Codex, consistently, wickedness] IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES. He calls the demons rulers of the world, whence also the Lord says: Now the prince of this world will be cast out. He was the first angel, who fell from heaven on account of pride. He reproaches him, saying: How have you fallen from heaven, Lucifer, who arose in the morning? You have fallen, who wounded the nations? He is the angel of darkness, of whom Paul says: Who, since he is an angel of darkness, transformed himself into an angel of light. He is the ruler of the world, namely of all the lovers of the world, who love the world. For he is their ruler, and their sitter alike, and the devil, and all sinners are sometimes changed into darkness, and become light, as is said of them: You were once darkness, but now light in the Lord: whose ruler Christ is made, and it is said of them: Whoever are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

Against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. For there were spiritual forces of wickedness in him who dwells in the heavenly places. Although they had lost blessedness and forfeited brightness, they did not lose their subtlety; and therefore he says "in the heavenly places," because they are in the heavenly places, of which the Lord says in the Gospel: The birds of heaven devoured it. I do not mean the ethereal or sidereal heaven, but the airy one—whatever the birds of heaven fly through. This heaven, which is midway between heaven and earth, is said to be full of spiritual wickedness. And therefore we must overcome the spiritual forces of wickedness above the heavenly places—that is, we must fight—because the kingdom of heaven suffers violence.

THEREFORE TAKE UP THE ARMOR OF GOD, THAT YOU MAY BE ABLE TO RESIST IN THE EVIL DAY, AND IN ALL THINGS, BEING PERFECT, TO STAND. Therefore, because your struggle is not against flesh and blood, take up the armor of God, which the apostle Paul enumerates in what follows. That you may be able to resist in the evil day. He calls the present time the evil day, of which it was said above: Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Or the day of judgment, of which the prophet says: That day is a day of wrath. That you may be able to resist in the evil day, take up the armor of God—that is, gird yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. And in all things, being perfect, to stand—namely, through the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left. THEREFORE BE GIRDED ABOUT YOUR LOINS IN TRUTH, AND CLOTHED WITH THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. For now he begins to explain what the armor of God is, which he had commanded above to be put on.

And what else should he have put first in the armor of God than the belt? I will speak of the grace of the Word: if any warrior setting out against the enemy has need of a belt, lest loose garments become a hindrance and he fall in the sight of his enemy, so surely it is necessary that your loins be girded in chastity, of which I think the Lord said in the Gospel: Let your loins be girded. Hence it is that John girded a leather belt around his loins, lest he be defiled by the flow of seed. Hence Solomon said: There are three things that walk well, and a fourth that advances prosperously; the lion, strongest of beasts, will fear at no one's approach; the rooster, girded at the loins; and the ram, and there is no king who can resist him. The rooster girded at the loins signifies the holy preachers, who restrain in their members the flow of luxury. Be therefore girded at your loins in truth, that is, armed with chastity, lest you fall before the enemies.

AND WITH YOUR FEET SHOD IN PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL OF PEACE. For just as there are outer members—namely, hands, eyes, hearing, smell, and touch—so there are also inner ones. And note that he called a power of the soul feet, because outward feet, unless they have been shod, stumble against a stone or a thorn, and being unencumbered they cannot make their way on a journey. So the feet of our soul, unless they have been shod from the hides of dead animals—that is, fortified by the example of the ancient fathers—cannot rightly run without stumbling in the way of God's commandments. Rightly he says of the Gospel of peace, concerning which Scripture says elsewhere: How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good things! Clothed in the breastplate of righteousness. For a breastplate is woven from many small rods; so a man supported by many virtues, clothed inwardly in the breastplate of righteousness, will be unharmed by all the zeal of the enemy. IN ALL THINGS TAKING UP THE SHIELD OF FAITH. Just as above we began to weave [our discourse] concerning the arms, so now something must be said about the shield. For if any man has been girded and clothed in a breastplate and has had his feet shod, going out against his enemy, not having a shield, he will be wounded by lances or arrows and fall like a stag; but if he has a shield, he will be able to cast back the darts of the enemy this way and that.

Spiritually, however, by the shield we can understand faith, which a soldier of Christ ought to have in full; whoever has it will be able to destroy his enemy, that is, the devil, to such an extent that he is drowned in the sea; as the Lord says: If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this mountain, "Cross over into the sea," and it would obey you. IN WHICH YOU MAY BE ABLE TO EXTINGUISH ALL THE FIERY DARTS OF THE MOST WICKED ONE. The darts of the devil himself are to be understood as his javelins, such as gluttony, drunkenness, carousing, adulteries, and the like. And well did he say fiery, since the devil's arrows are fiery. For all these things we can extinguish through charity, which is the bond of peace, and take up the HELMET OF SALVATION. For just as by the shield we understood faith, what can we understand by the helmet but hope? For the helmet is placed on the head, so that it not be struck by the enemy. So spiritually we must fortify our head, which is the principal part of the mind, with our helmet, that is, with firm hope, so that we not be struck by the enemy, that is, the devil.

AND THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD. For he had already given the belt, he had given the breastplate, he had given the footwear, he had given the shield, but he had not yet given the sword. And what does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world? If he be clothed in all the armor that is enumerated above, and does not hold the sword in his hand? Certainly, although he can avoid his weapons, he will not be able to kill the enemy himself. And if he has the sword, he will not be struck by his darts, and he will kill him. Thus all things are to be understood spiritually: namely chastity, justice, charity, the evangelical doctrine, faith, and hope. Whoever has all these things will remain safe from the slaughter of the enemy; and if he has the sword, he will be able to lay him low; that sword, surely, which the Lord said he would send into the world, of which he himself says: I came not to send peace, but a sword; which the saints always hold in their hand, which is written in the plural number in the Psalmist: And two-edged swords in their hands. Paul opens this when he says: And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. For the word of God is sharp; for it is itself the sword, of which the same Paul writes elsewhere: For the word of God is living and powerful and more piercing than any two-edged sword, and reaching even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints also and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

XIII.

The reading of the Epistle of the blessed apostle Paul to the Philippians (I, 6): Brethren, we are confident in the Lord Jesus, that he who has begun a good work in you will perfect it even unto the day of Christ Jesus, etc.

THE COMMENTARY OF LUCULENTIUS.

The Philippians are Macedonians: these the apostle Paul preached to, who held firmly the faith they had received, and did not receive false apostles, as some did, nor did they fear persecution from evil men. For the apostle Paul writes an epistle, shows no cause for reproof, but only exhortation, that the faith which they had received, and the good work begun, they should bring through to completion, and he exhorts them to profit always. For they were so perfect that he prayed that they might become imitators of him, and that they might always profit unto greater things, saying: WE ARE CONFIDENT IN THE LORD JESUS, THAT HE WHO HAS BEGUN A GOOD WORK IN YOU WILL PERFECT IT EVEN UNTO THE DAY OF CHRIST JESUS. For all my hope and confidence concerning you in the Lord is such that you may bring this good thing which you have begun through to completion, and hold firm the teaching which you received from me. Because he who has begun a good work in you will perfect it: that is, someone among you has vowed a good work, namely to serve God, and may he bring this through even unto the day of death. Or he who has begun in you, that is, the Lord himself who laid the foundation of faith in you, he himself will give perseverance in good work.

We must understand the day of Christ in two ways: specifically, the day of death, when a perfect man departs from this life to Christ; and generally, the day of judgment, when we shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ. AS IT IS JUST FOR ME TO THINK THIS OF ALL OF YOU. As if he were saying: Charity compels me to think this very thing of you, to understand this very thing; because charity believes all things. It is just for me to think thus of all of you, that he who began a good work may persevere even unto the day of death. For it is the custom of the saints to rejoice over the deeds of the good and to grieve over those of the wicked, as Paul himself did when he said: Who is weak, and I am not weak? And elsewhere: I grieve over many of those who have not repented. BECAUSE I HAVE YOU IN MY HEART, AND IN MY CHAINS. For those whom love has once joined together, although they are not together in body, are nevertheless always joined in mind. And because the Philippians were perfect in good works, the apostle, absent in body, always remembered them in the secret of his heart. And this is what he says: Because I have you in my heart and in my chains. He gives the reason why, when he says: AND IN THE DEFENSE AND CONFIRMATION OF THE GOSPEL: because just as he defended the Gospel of Christ, that is, the doctrine of truth, so too by holding it firmly and by admonishing others. THAT YOU ARE ALL PARTAKERS OF MY JOY. Fellowship in this place must be understood not of the present time but of the future, that is, of eternal life.

Concerning this joy the Savior said to his disciples: Again I will see you, and your heart will rejoice; or certainly, if he wishes this to be understood as a good in the present time, we can apply to it what the apostle James says, namely: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations. It is the custom of the saints that amid persecution they rejoice more than they are saddened, knowing that it is written: No one will be crowned unless he has competed lawfully.

GOD IS MY WITNESS HOW I LONG FOR ALL OF YOU IN THE BOWELS OF JESUS CHRIST. It is also the custom of the saints that when they wish to affirm something, they call God, who is the inspector of the heart, as witness to themselves, as Moses did before the children of Israel: I call, he says, heaven and earth as witnesses today. And because the apostle Paul loved the Philippians much, he called God as witness to himself, saying: For God is my witness how I long that the Lord Jesus Christ may dwell in your bowels. He himself who speaks through the prophet, saying of the saints: And I will dwell in them and walk among them. And the same apostle elsewhere: That Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts. Or certainly, I long that all of you be in his bowels, so that you may so love him that not even amid persecutions may you be separated from his bowels. AND THIS I PRAY, THAT YOUR CHARITY MAY ABOUND MORE AND MORE. I pray that you love God with your whole heart, your whole mouth, your whole mind, your whole bowels, IN KNOWLEDGE, AND IN ALL PERCEPTION.

In knowledge, he speaks of the sequence of the Old Testament; in understanding, of the Scriptures of the New Testament. Otherwise, knowledge means all the sequences of both the Old and the New Testament. And in understanding—but what you are able to understand spiritually—what is knowledge without understanding? It is nothing; for knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. THAT YOU MAY APPROVE THE BETTER THINGS, AND BE SINCERE, AND WITHOUT OFFENSE UNTO THE DAY OF CHRIST. He says "the better things," that is, the greater. Be knowing, so that from visible things you may be able to grasp invisible things. For just as with bodily food the age of the body grows along with the palate, so with spiritual food the understanding of the mind ought also to grow.

That you may be sincere, and without offense unto the day of Christ—namely, with a chaste body and a clean heart; as the Apostle says of the universal Church: I have espoused you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. For sincerity exists where two things agree together, namely the spirit and the flesh, of which the Lord says: If two of you shall agree on earth concerning any thing whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done for them by my Father, says the Lord. And without offense. He says "without offense," that is, without criminal action. Or certainly, be sincere in such a way that on the day of Christ no stain of sins appears in you, lest with the foolish virgins you be shut out from the king's bridal chamber.

But the day of Christ, as we have already said, we ought to understand as the day of death, or the day of judgment, on which day he who has been without offense will be rewarded by the Lord, according to what Solomon says: Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates. FILLED WITH THE FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH JESUS CHRIST UNTO THE GLORY AND PRAISE OF GOD; that is, with the fruit of good work; of which fruit the same apostle says: The fruit of the spirit is joy, love, peace, patience, and the like. He who has done this will enjoy it unto eternal life, for "fruit" is so called from "enjoying." No one will be able to bear fruit except through Jesus Christ, who says: Without me you can do nothing. Unto the glory and praise of God, that God may always be glorified in us; according to what he says elsewhere: He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. And the praise of God; namely, that God may always be praised, as the psalmist says: I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall always be in my mouth. Otherwise: in glory, that is, bearing fruit in good work. And the praise of God, in preaching. Let there be glory in work, praise in words; that there may be fulfilled in us that which the Savior says: So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

XIV.

The reading of the Epistle of the blessed apostle Paul to the Colossians (1:9): Brethren, we do not cease praying for you and entreating, etc.

COMMENTARY OF LUCULENTIUS.

For the blessed Paul had heard of the faith of the apostles of the Colossians from the love they had toward God, and that they might grow in the virtues that follow, he prayed, saying: WE DO NOT CEASE PRAYING FOR YOU AND ENTRETING. The apostles had this custom, and we ought to hold to it, that we pray for one another, both teachers for disciples and disciples for teachers, as he says in another place: But may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be of the same mind toward one another according to Jesus Christ, that with one mind and one mouth you may glorify God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And again: I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. But that disciples also ought to pray for their teachers, he himself says elsewhere: It is expedient for you to pray for us. For concerning the blessed Peter when he was placed in prison we read that prayer was made without ceasing by the church to God for him. But that he did not say in the singular "I do not cease," but in the plural "we do not cease," he was saying this both of himself and of others who were with him. Although to pray and to entreat are one thing, this is the difference, that we speak of praying for lighter matters, but of entreating for greater and more difficult ones.

By praying, for those who stand, that they not fall; by entreating, that those who lie low may rise. We must pray that the righteous be rewarded, and entreat that the wicked be justified. THAT YOU MAY BE FILLED IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE WILL OF GOD. First it must be asked what God is, according to the voice of the psalmist, who says: Seek the Lord, and be strengthened; seek his face always; then the knowledge of his will—what God wills—as the same apostle says: That you may prove what is the will of God, good, and well-pleasing, and perfect. Concerning which [so the Codex], how we may serve God, which we cannot do unless we do his will. IN ALL WISDOM AND SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING. All wisdom, and understanding, and working—namely, because it is impossible to please God without faith; so too faith without works is dead. All wisdom is not only to know the history of the Old Testament, but also to know its spiritual meaning. THAT YOU MAY WALK WORTHY OF GOD, PLEASING HIM IN ALL THINGS. To walk, he says, not only in body but in mind; to walk from virtue to virtue. He walks worthily who lives rightly and draws others by good example, according to that saying: Let the one who hears say: Come. He pleases God in all things who fulfills what follows: IN EVERY GOOD WORK BEARING FRUIT, AND GROWING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. He did not say in one work, but in every; he does not say standing firm for a time, but bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God, that is, that we may know to give thanks to him for all good things.

That [saying] of Paul: “By the grace of God I am [what I am]”; and: “Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory.” For it is his to bring us to perfection IN EVERY VIRTUE. Every virtue is a gift of God, who can bestow all things. Every virtue is both of mind and of body. Confirmed by whom? Unless by the Lord. Whence also he says elsewhere: “Who also has confirmed you unto the end without blame.” ACCORDING TO THE POWER OF HIS BRIGHTNESS, that is, according to his virtue, as the Psalmist says: “My strength I will keep for you.” Hence the Lord says: “Without me you can do nothing”; “Your word, Lord, is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths.” IN ALL PATIENCE, that is, with neighbors and subjects and strangers, and with those who persecute us. AND LONG-SUFFERING, that we may always be patient, as in prosperity, so in adversity. WITH JOY. Namely, that in tribulations you may always rejoice, as the apostle James admonishes: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations.” Or that through sufferings and tribulations you may receive the future joy with Christ, according to his own promise when he says: “Blessed are you when men have cursed you, and have persecuted you, and have spoken every evil against you falsely for my sake; rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

xv.

Reading of the Epistle of the blessed apostle Paul to the Colossians (III, 12): Brethren, put on, as elect of God, holy and beloved, the bowels of mercy, etc.

COMMENTARY OF LUCULENTIUS.

The Colossians are Asians, like the Laodiceans. These, having received the word of truth, stood firmly in the faith, and did not receive false apostles. They were so perfect that they had no need of the apostle, except for exhortation only. The Apostle exhorts them and admonishes them how they should put on Christ, saying: BRETHREN, PUT ON, AS ELECT OF GOD, THE BOWELS OF MERCY. Note that to other disciples he says: As many of you as have believed, you have put on Christ; but here to the Colossians he says: Put on, as elect of God. As if he were saying: Put on Jesus Christ. And well does he say, as elect of God, HOLY, because they had been elected by God, as the Lord said to the disciples: You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. And the Apostle: Those whom he foreknew, he also called. Well [does he say] holy, because he himself is also holy who says: Be holy, for I am holy. He says the bowels of mercy, [that is,] the bowels of loving-kindness, because he so loved you that he gave no other price for you, but poured out his own blood. Of which the prophet had once foretold: Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the dayspring from on high has visited us. KINDNESS. Now he begins to explain what or how they ought to put him on, when he says kindness.

He speaks well of benignity; that is, benevolence—that is, that you be benevolent toward all, loving them as yourselves. HUMILITY. After benignity follows humility. Humility is a great virtue, which has made men angels. For of it it is said: He who gathers virtue without humility is like one who carries dust into the wind, and like one who has gathered merchandise and put it into a perforated sack. And the Lord says: Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. MODESTY. Modesty is temperance itself, one of the four principal virtues. For a perfect man ought to be modest, that is, temperate, not only in food and drink, on account of that saying: Take heed lest your hearts be weighed down with gluttony and drunkenness, but also in thought, and speech, and action, and in every deed. PATIENCE. A perfect man ought to be patient, as the Apostle admonishes: Pursue peace and holiness. And the Lord says: In your patience you will possess your souls. And another Scripture says: The wisdom of a man is recognized through patience. BEARING WITH ONE ANOTHER. This is the same as what he says elsewhere: Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ. The law of Christ is love, which we then fulfill if we bear with one another. And the Lord says: By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. AND FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER. That is, pardoning each other.

IF ANYONE HAS A COMPLAINT AGAINST ANOTHER. That is, if you have offended a brother in anything, or a brother has offended you, you ought to forgive one another, that is, to pardon, on account of that saying: Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you; give, and it shall be given to you; and whoever has done this may confidently dare to say in the Lord's Prayer: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.

BUT ABOVE ALL THESE THINGS, HAVING CHARITY, WHICH IS THE BOND OF PERFECTION. To this is similar that saying of the apostle Peter: Be prudent, and watch in prayers; but before all things, having mutual charity among yourselves continual. Charity is sometimes placed first among the other virtues by the apostle because of its dignity, or its gentleness, in that it is greater than the other virtues. But where it is placed in the last position, it is placed there not because of its smallness or diminution, as though it were lesser, but because of its foundation or firmness, as he prays for the Ephesians, saying: Rooted and founded in charity; for it is itself the root of all virtues, without which the other virtues are reckoned as vices. For just as, to give an example, some man making a bundle from wild twigs must necessarily bind the others together with one of them, lest they be scattered here and there; so it is necessary that whoever desires to have the other virtues have the bond of perfection, charity, because, as I said, the other virtues without charity are nothing.