Concordia Quorumdam Testimoniorum

SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT, Roman Pontiff: A Concordance of Certain Testimonies of Holy Scripture. To Romans 1 (Verse 6): Paul, servant of Jesus Christ. In the Holy Gospel according to John 15 (Verse 15): I shall not call you servants, but friends. QUESTION. What is this, that in one place the master Christ did not call the apostles servants, but friends: and the disciple of the same master, indeed the apostle, in whom Christ was speaking, named himself a servant? And since both were spoken by Christ, it must be carefully considered how it ought to be understood, especially since the same Lord and our Savior said to the same apostles according to Luke: Say, we are useless servants, because we have done what we ought to have done (Luke 17:10). And again: Well done, good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:21, 13; Luke 19:17). And again: Blessed is that servant whom, when the Lord comes, he finds doing thus (Matthew 24:; Luke 12:37).

Response. Without prejudice to another, better opinion, it must be known that there are two kinds of good servitude: one of fear, the other of love; one of fearful handmaids and slaves, the other of loving and pleasing children. For the handmaid fears lest she be whipped, the matron fears lest she offend her husband’s mind. But the servitude of fear, which has punishment, drives out perfect charity. Perfect servitude of fear, however, not only has no punishment, but even attains to joy, as the psalmist bears witness, who says: “Let my heart rejoice, that it may fear your name” (Ps. 85:11). And again: “Holy fear of the Lord, remaining forever and ever” (Ps. 18:11). For the holy angels have this fear, and the holy apostles certainly had it, namely through the coming of the Holy Spirit, through whom charity is spread in our hearts. For this reason they were not called servants by the Lord, but friends, who nevertheless were called servants both by themselves and by the Lord—doubtless not from fear, but from the love of pleasing God.

II. To Romans 1 (verse 1): "Set apart for the Gospel of God." And according to John 17 (verse 11): "Holy Father, keep those whom you have given to me, in your name, that they may be one." INTERROGATION. And while Saint Paul believed himself to have become one with those who were kept, why does he confess that he is set apart? For one is said to be set apart who is separated from the flock, especially since the Lord said: "And there will be one flock, and one shepherd" (John 10:16). And the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles spoke commandingly: "Set apart for me Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I have called them" (Acts 13:2). RESPONSE. It must certainly be known first of all that these testimonies not only do not disagree with each other, but even harmonize with themselves in unity. For Paul and Barnabas were not separated from the flock, but were flocked, that is, they were chosen for the work of the apostolate. For those whose heart and soul were one with the flock, no separation could exist anywhere. Yet they were separated from the flock who were chosen for the apostolate. For hands are stretched out to work, but are not separated from the unity of the body.

III. To Romans 9 (verse 1): My conscience bearing witness to me in the Holy Spirit, that there is great sadness in me, and continual grief in my heart. In the Proverbs of Solomon 12 (verse 21): Nothing that happens to a just man will sadden him. INTERROGATION. What then? Was not the apostle Paul a just man, who knew that a just man is not saddened by whatever happens to him, and yet, since he was just, ought he not to have been saddened? Why then did he repeatedly commend joy to the Philippians, saying: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice (Philippians 4:4)? But also Saint James commands rejoicing in various temptations (James 1:2). And Paul himself glories in his own tribulations (2 Corinthians 12:9). And Saint Matthew the Evangelist testifies concerning our Lord and Redeemer, saying: Then he began to be sad and sorrowful. My soul is sorrowful unto death (Matthew 26:37; Mark 14:33).

It must certainly be known that it is one thing to be sad according to God, another according to the world, as the same Paul says, who states: Sadness according to God works stable salvation; but sadness of the world works death (2 Cor. 7:10). The latter is hopeless, the former is praiseworthy; the latter filled Judas Iscariot, who hanged himself with a noose; the former the blessed Paul wrote that he had to the Corinthians, saying: If anyone has saddened me, he has not saddened me, but in part (2 Cor. 2:5); as if he were saying more plainly: I am not the only one who has zeal for God, but I see myself saddened with your sadness from my part. And unless this sadness were not a vice but a virtue, the Lord would never have blessed it in the Gospel, saying: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be consoled (Matt. 5:5); and he himself said he was sad according to his humanity, certainly not according to his impassible divinity.

To the Romans, chapter 9, verse 11: concerning Jacob and Esau. When they had not yet been born, or had done anything good or evil, so that the purpose which was made by the election of God might remain, it was said not on account of works, but on account of the one calling, that the elder would serve the younger. In Psalm 61, verse 1: "Because you will render to each according to his works." A QUESTION. Since it was said not on account of works, but on account of the one calling, that the elder would serve the younger, how will God render to each according to his works? Why then did Paul say: "Not on account of works"? We undoubtedly believe that it was not at all on account of future works either, nor does anyone suppose that he spoke only of past works, which certainly did not exist when the aforementioned individuals were distinguished. For if future good works still justify a present man, and future evil works still condemn another, then let us be far from believing this, because a certain wise man said: "The just man was snatched away, lest malice change his understanding" (Wisdom 4:11). For indeed that man would not be called just if he were condemned on account of future malice.

Response. Before we say anything about this question, let us believe that the prophet and the apostle spoke with the same spirit. For the same Spirit, who filled both, could not be contrary to himself, and that Spirit, who is God, spoke through the prophet: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I held in hatred" (Malachi 1:2). Therefore the election of God had never been absent, which discerned those things that had been done in time, because future times were not the cause of divine election, but rather the very cause of all future natural things. Hence our Redeemer said to Ananias concerning Saul, not yet Paul: "Do not fear him, because he is a vessel of election for me" (Acts 9:15). Observe that he said "is," not "will be." For he was not elected because he was an apostle, but he was an apostle because he was elected. Therefore our God is the creator of all good things, but the most just ordainer of evil things (Romans 9). For he is so good to all that he does good even from evils. For if there were no evil men, they would be of no use to anything at all. Therefore God will render to each according to his works, because to vessels prepared for honor he will render eternal life, and to those suited for disgrace, the due damnation. For even the evil, if they had wished, could certainly have been good. But the good, who are born from Adam, see the contrary law in their members, so that by not consenting, through mercy they attain rewards, and those others, by consenting, through just judgment are dragged to punishment.

To Romans 10 (v. 13): Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And according to Matthew 7 (v. 21): Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Question. These seem discordant, but we wish to know how they are to be understood. For there it said, Everyone; here it said, Not everyone. If therefore everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved, how is it that not everyone who repeats the name of the Lord will be saved? Response. It is one thing to call upon the name of the Lord, another to repeat it. For the good always call upon it, but the evil repeat it, because the same utterance of faith which they pronounce in speech they destroy by their conduct. Hence Paul says of some: They confess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny him (Titus 1:16). For the good, to call upon the name of the Lord is to please him in all things. Therefore everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. VI. To Romans 4 (v. 2): If Abraham was justified by works, he has glory, but not before God.

In the Epistle of James 2 (verse 21): Abraham, our father, was he not justified by works? Question. If Abraham was justified by works, in whom does he have glory, if not in God, whose friend he is called by James? And if there is no true glory except in God, and no true justification except from Him, who, being justified, has glory without God? Response. The Apostle Paul wrote against the Sadducees, but Saint James spoke about the justice of faith. They justified themselves by the works of the law, for the Sadducees are called "justified" in the Latin tongue. But those who are justified by the justice of faith are shown by faith, through charity, by their works. For as the same James says: Faith is dead without the works of charity, not of the law (James 2:16). Saint Paul, however, directs his speech against one who has glory, but not in God, and against the Sadducee who justifies himself, saying: Where, then, is your boasting? It is excluded. By which law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith; for we consider that a man is justified without the works of the law (Romans 3:27). As if he were saying openly: Abraham, our father, lived before the time of the law, but he was nevertheless justified in the sight of the Lord, because he demonstrated by his works the faith which he held in his heart.

VII. To the Romans 11 (verse 29): For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. In Genesis 6 (verse 7): It repents me that I made man, and in Samuel, 1 Kings 15 (verse 11): It repents me that I anointed Saul as king. QUESTION. Since the same one and the same Lord spoke in the fathers and in the Apostle, how has he been said to have repented and not to have repented by them? RESPONSE. We must carefully observe that the fathers spoke of the immutable God doing mutable things. And the Apostle uttered a discourse concerning immutable predestination. Hence, concerning the same Lord, Saint James says: With whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration (James 1:17). But God, apart from predestination, does mutable things. For by a fitting usage of speech, the Lord is said to be both angry and repentant, and zealous and prescient; but he is understood to be angry without anger, repentant without repentance, zealous without zeal, prescient without provisions.

VIII. To the Romans 13 (verse 1): There is no power except from God, and those things which are from God are ordained. In the Prophet concerning certain kings, Hosea 8 (verse 2): They themselves reigned, and not from me. QUESTION. If no power is except from God, how was it truly said by him: they themselves reigned, and not from me? Likewise, if those kings were not from God, how had he said that kings reigned through themselves: Through me, he says, kings reign (Proverbs 8:15)? RESPONSE. From him and not from him do kings reign, who both have power given by God and yet foolishly deny that they have received it from him. Hence it is written through the prophet: Who makes a hypocrite man reign because of the sins of the people (Job 34:30). Therefore those kings are not from God, who are permitted to reign not from good, but because of the sins of the people. Likewise: All power is not except from God; because it is not evil in itself, but certainly good. Evil things, however, cannot exist without good things, and only in good things, and therefore they occur only in rational creatures. Therefore the Holy Spirit deigns to speak threateningly to good kings, when it is said to them with the voice of the psalmist: And now, kings, understand, be instructed, you who judge the earth (Psalm 2:10).

IX. To Romans 14 (verse 14): But we know that nothing is common through him. In the Acts of the Apostles 15 (verse 29): That you abstain from things offered to idols. QUESTION. If nothing is common through him, what ought we to think about carrion, and blood, and strangled things, and things offered to idols? For these are read not only to be unclean in the Old Testament, but also in the New, gentiles who are believing are commanded by the apostles to abstain from them. Therefore, there is need of understanding, by which means this dissonance can be resolved. RESPONSE. Our Lord and Redeemer said according to Mark, when he wished to speak about these things: Nothing, he says, outside a man can defile him (Mark 7:15); and to the disciples not understanding this, he added reproachfully, saying: Are you still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that everything which enters the mouth goes into the belly, and is discharged in the stool (ibid., 18)? Therefore, the apostles, still untaught and not yet illuminated by the Holy Spirit, believed in a Jewish sense that things, not prohibitions, defile a man. But things do not defile a man, which go into the belly and come out, but the transgression of a prohibition, and what proceeds from it.

For even the first man was not made unclean by carrion, or blood, or a strangled animal, but by fruit, when he transgressed the Lord's commandment at the urging of his wife. But let us hear what was said to Saint Peter, so that we may understand what we ought to think about these matters. "Rise," he says, "Peter, slaughter and eat" (Acts 10:13). To this saying, Peter, looking to the letter, replied, saying: "Far be it from me, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth" (ibid., 14). To him, under the testimony of the prohibition, it is immediately answered: "What God," he says, "has purified, do not call common or unclean" (ibid., 15). Hence permission was given to Christians, except for what is prohibited in the New Testament, to eat whatever they wish with moderation and thanksgiving. Therefore, it is not that carrion or blood are by nature unclean, but because they are prohibited, eating them defiles a man. And the fruit had no natural uncleanness, but being forbidden to eat it defiled the man.

I ad Corinthios i (Vers. 8): And He will confirm you even to the end without crime at the coming of the Lord. In Epist. I Joannis i (Vers. 8): If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. QUESTION. Since it is a deception to consider oneself without sin, how are we confirmed by the Lord without crime at His coming, especially since even an infant of one day cannot be without sin? Is it therefore the case that crime is a sin, without which someone confirmed by the Lord can exist? ANSWER. It must certainly be known to us that not every sin is a crime, yet every crime is a sin; just as every impious person is a sinner, but not every sinner is impious. Therefore the smallest and lightest are called sins; but crimes are never read of except as great ones. XI. I ad Corinthios III (Vers. 9): For we are God's helpers, you are God's agriculture.

And in Job xxvi (verse 2): Whose helper are you? Are you weak? QUESTION. Does not Saint Paul, by approving, justify what blessed Job condemns in Elihu? "Whose helper are you? Are you weak?" But the Apostle said, "We are helpers of God." Therefore, if it is good to be helpers of God, why is Elihu reproached for the help of God? ANSWER. Surely it is fitting for us to know that some, in defending God, give offense; and there are some who, as far as in them lies, defend the cause of God. These, by truly preaching, are helpers of God; those, by falsely rebuking, strive for God in spirit, but in striving they give offense. These speak of God not unknown but known; those, even when speaking truth, are least acknowledged by God, with the Lord saying of Elihu: "Who is this that wraps up sentences in unskilled words" (Job 38:2)? What is it that the Lord asks of him, saying, "Who is this that wraps up sentences"? And yet, by questioning, he reproves, adding, "in unskilled words." Therefore, he spoke true sentences, but he wrapped them up in unskilled words, because he twisted the sayings of the Holy Spirit concerning the reprobate back onto Job; concerning whom, because he was blameless, the Lord had given testimony. We do not say in the same way, "God is our helper forever" (Psalm 61:9), as we say, "We are helpers of God." For He does not need our help; we, however, can do nothing without Him.

XII. 1 Corinthians 3 (verse 15): The work of each one... what it is, fire will test. Matthew 19 (verse 28): When the Son of Man sits on the throne of His majesty, you also will sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. QUESTION. And if fire will test what the work of each one is, will not the apostles themselves be tested by fire, who are said not to be judged, but even to judge the twelve tribes of Israel? Or will fire also test those with whom Saint Paul numbered himself, saying: But we who are left behind, together with them will be snatched up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and thus we will always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16)? RESPONSE. If we consider the force of Christ’s words, we bring this obscurity, with Him enlightening, into the light. For He Himself said: I have come to send fire upon the earth, and what do I wish except that it be kindled (Luke 12:49)? Also the Holy Spirit, descending upon the apostles, appeared in the form of fire (Acts 2), which, appearing as a sign among the faithful, tested the faithful within like fire. Therefore, what the work of each one is, fire will test, because those whom spiritual fire does not examine in the present time, it tests through fire in the future judgment. Therefore, whoever are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God (Romans 8:14), who, although tested by fire, have been examined.

For they, receiving him through the imposition of the bishop's hands, in no way deviated from him, but even if they offend in some matter, they are corrected by recognizing and confessing. 'Everyone,' says the Lord, 'will be saved through fire, for either here through spiritual fire or there through physical fire he will be tested.' Therefore, just as not everyone will be tested by fire on the day of judgment, so on that same day not all will be judged at all, with the Lord testifying when He says: 'He who believes in the Son will not be judged; but he who is unbelieving is already judged' (John 3:18). Whom, then, will the future fire test, if God will judge neither the believing nor the unbelieving? But as if asked by us: 'What, then, will the judgment be?' He immediately adds, saying: 'This is the judgment: that light came into the world, and men loved darkness more than light' (Ibid.). Therefore, only those will be judged on the day of judgment who, although they knew that light was coming, are said nevertheless to have loved darkness more. For those who remain in darkness are already judged, while those who have nothing of darkness belong to the light without any judgment. But those who, although baptized, will be judged in the future. Therefore, judgment will be held only concerning those, so that it may be shown whether they ought to belong more to light or to darkness. Therefore, these will rise to be judged, the just to judge, the impious to be condemned; for even those will rise, but not for judgment, as the psalmist testifies when he says: 'The impious do not rise for judgment' (Ps.

I Corinthians 4 (verse 5): Do not judge before the time. To the Philippians 3 (verse 18): Many walk about, whom I once used to call, but now I say weeping, enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction. QUESTION. While the apostle Paul, speaking to the Corinthians, forbade judging before the time, why does he himself seem, as if judging before the time, to say of certain persons: whose end is destruction? ANSWER. Christ, speaking in Paul, recognizes future things as if already past, and therefore, even with Paul speaking, he judged nothing before the time. For the Holy Spirit also, through the apostle Peter, says to Simon Magus: You have no part nor lot in this life (Acts 8:21): because the future of Simon Magus, as if past, had been revealed to Peter in the Holy Spirit; but those who do not see future things as if past are forbidden by the Lord to judge before the time; concerning whom it is also said reproachfully through the prophet: Woe to those who prophesy from the heart (Ezekiel 13:17). For to prophesy from the heart is to say something from mere presumption, not through the Holy Spirit.

XIV. 1 Corinthians 7 (verse 7): I wish all men to be as myself. And 1 Timothy 5 (verse 14): I wish, however, that younger women marry, bear children, be mothers of families. QUESTION. Did Saint Paul have two wills contrary to each other, who said he wished one thing to the Corinthians and another to Timothy? For concerning not marrying he seems to have spoken to the Corinthians; concerning marrying, however, he wrote to Timothy: there he wished all men to be as he was; here he wrote that he wished younger women to marry. RESPONSE. We must diligently observe that Saint Paul was a preacher of the Church, and has already delivered diverse discourses from the persons of many. For there he spoke from the person of virgins: I wish all men to be as myself. Here he wrote from the person of those wishing to marry: I wish younger women to marry, bear children, be mothers of families. Just as Solomon speaks from the persons of many in Ecclesiastes, who in Latin is rendered 'preacher.' For there he wrote from the person of some saying: Is it not better to eat and drink (Ecclesiastes 2, 4)? From the person, however, of the perfect he added, saying: It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for in that the end of all men is recalled (Ibid. 7, 3): in this the virtue of the strong was also set forth.

Therefore, by a wondrous dispensation of the Giver, it comes about that even from the married, the elect receive the reward of virginity, although all cannot be virgins. For a perfect will to do a thing is reckoned as the deed itself. Hence, at the Lord’s birth, the holy angels said: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will” (Luke 2:14). Therefore, what each one of us voluntarily does in himself, he will receive from the Lord as if from all men. But let the malevolent man think on the contrary, lest he be condemned as if from the evils of all the wicked; because the Lord is both merciful and just. Paul therefore praised both marriage and virginity, but he preferred virginity to marriage, saying: “He who joins his virgin in marriage does well; but he who does not join her does better” (1 Cor. 7:38). Because he saw both goods in spirit, he certainly wished both to happen. XV. 1 Corinthians 7 (verses 10, 11): I say to others, not the Lord: A wife should not separate from her husband; but if she does separate, she should remain unmarried.

And II Corinthians 13 (verse 3): "Do you seek a test of him who speaks in me, Christ?" QUESTION. If Christ was continually speaking in the Apostle Paul, why does he confess to saying something and not the Lord? ANSWER. If we bring forward two prophets, we will quickly resolve this dissonance. For David, because he did not continually have the spirit of prophecy, showed by questioning the other prophet. And Nathan, concerning the construction of the temple, because he himself did not have the spirit of prophecy at that hour, declared by saying this: "Do all things that are in your heart; for the Lord is with you in all things" (2 Samuel 7:3). But the Holy Spirit, coming, forbade the temple to be built by a bloodstained man given to war, and this was to be done by David through the same Nathan. He contradicted (ibid.). Therefore, counsels of those who do not continually have the spirit of prophecy are sometimes to be set aside, sometimes not. For Nathan's counsel was to be set aside by David, but the counsel of the Apostle Paul ought always to be observed by Christians. For some counsels, he who fulfills them within the commandments is only just, but he who transcends them is already perfect. For the Lord, counseling, said: "If you wish to be perfect, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and come, follow me, and you will have treasure in heaven" (Matthew 19:21). And the same Paul, having the same spirit, gave counsel: "Concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give counsel" (1 Corinthians).

VII,25). These counsels are certainly not among the commandments, but above the commandments, and therefore they acquire greater rewards. XVI. To the Corinthians (verse 13): God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted beyond what you are able. And II Corinthians I (verse 8): But we do not wish you, brothers, to be ignorant of our distress, which befell us in Asia: for we were burdened beyond measure and beyond our strength. QUESTION. If we are burdened beyond our strength, how does God not suffer us to be burdened? Likewise, if we are not burdened beyond our strength, how are we said to be burdened beyond our strength? ANSWER. In order to resolve this dissonance more quickly, let us have recourse to another prophetic testimony, where it says: Because the salvation of man is vain, in God we will make strength (Psalm LIX, 13, 14). Therefore, we are frequently said to be burdened beyond human frailty, because the salvation of man is vain: but we are never burdened beyond the strength of God, because He is the physician. The sick man, therefore, under the hands of the physician sometimes weeps, because he does not know how he will arrive at health; but the wise physician often cuts, in order to lead the sick man also to health. Paul, therefore, looking upon his own frailty, said he was burdened beyond his strength, but further on he says: I can do all things in Him who strengthens me (Philippians, iv, 13).

XVII. 2 Corinthians 5 (verse 16): And if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we no longer know him according to the flesh. According to Luke 24 (verse 39): Touch and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me to have. QUESTION. How do the words of the disciple agree with the words of his master Christ? We read that Christ said this after the resurrection, and concerning the same time Paul says: But now we no longer know. What then? Does the Apostle deny that he knows what Christ affirms? RESPONSE. We have known our God and Redeemer to have lived according to the flesh, that is, to have shown himself in all things to be a true man without any sin: but after the resurrection we no longer know him for this reason, because we believe that his flesh will live forever without the support of nourishment. Therefore we read of him before the passion as hungry and thirsty, and weary from the journey, and diminished by the passion itself by the angels; but now we no longer know him to do these things, subject as he is to angels and powers and virtues. Therefore the Lord confesses that he has true flesh after the resurrection, but Paul now no longer knows him as he was before the passion. But Paul brought forth this testimony, with the old man laid aside, in order to suggest to us the form of renewal, saying: So that just as Christ rose from the dead, so also we may walk in the newness of life (Romans 6:4).

XVIII. 2 Corinthians 11 (verse 5): For I consider that I have done nothing less than the great apostles. 1 Corinthians 15 (verse 9): I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle. INTERROGATION. When Paul confesses himself to be the least of the apostles, why does he testify that he has done nothing less than the great apostles? RESPONSE. It must be known that Paul did not have present crimes, and therefore he recalled already forgiven sins to memory for the sake of humility: "I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God" (1 Cor. 15:9). But when speaking about heretics and pseudo-apostles, he professes that he has done nothing less than the great apostles. Therefore, among those acting rightly, the apostle was the least through humility, but against the vices of the delinquent pseudo-apostles, he was raised up through zeal for righteousness. XIX. To the Galatians 1 (verse 1): Paul the apostle, not by men, nor through a man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.

I Timothy 2 (verse 5): The mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ. INTERROGATION. Was not Paul called to the apostleship through the man Jesus Christ, he who declares himself called an apostle not by men nor through a man? RESPONSE. This means not by the presence of his humanity before the Passion, but he was chosen as an apostle by the one who called him after the Resurrection, when the Lord said to Ananias: Do not fear him, for he is a vessel of election to me (Acts 9:15). XX. To the Galatians 1 (verse 10): If I were still pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ. 1 Corinthians (verse 33): As I please everyone in all things. INTERROGATION. If Paul pleases everyone in all things, how would he not be a servant of Christ by pleasing men? RESPONSE. Paul pleases, and he does not please: for he pleases in things not forbidden, but in forbidden things he has not pleased at all. For he became all things to all men, that he might win all (1 Corinthians 9:19).

XX. To the Ephesians 2 (verse 3): And we were by nature children of wrath, as also the rest. In Genesis (verse 31): And God saw everything that he had made, and they were very good. INTERROGATION. Since all things that God created are blessed and very good, how did Paul write that men are children of wrath by nature? RESPONSE. Almighty God is the creator of all natures, and every nature, in that it is nature, is good. For a custom confirmed by a long time in some way obtains the force of nature. Hence Paul says: We were by nature children of wrath; as if he were openly saying: When we were healthy, we became sick, and from that very bad habit, we were as if by nature children of wrath. XXII. To the Ephesians 3 (verse 8): To me, the least of all saints, this grace has been given among the Gentiles, to evangelize the inestimable riches of Christ. In Psalm 9 (verse 1): I will confess to you, Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell all your wonders.

INTERROGATION. What is this? Could all the wonders of God be narrated even by the prophet himself, when Paul the apostle wrote that the riches of Christ are unsearchable? But how is Paul himself not contrary to himself in what he says, to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ? RESPONSE. Therefore all the wonders of the Lord are both narrated, and the riches of Christ are unsearchable, because in narrating everything they are at the same time comprehended in brief, and yet they are partially known to those who see in enigma. For when something about God, or about the present age, or about the future is narrated, all things are comprehended in brief in speech at the same time, and these things, because they exist, are heard by the hearers. But how or of what kind they are, are not understood even by the preachers. Hence the eminent preacher says: the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and unsearchable his ways (Rom. 11:33). The Psalmist, however, to narrate everything at once, says of the Lord: He has done everything he wished; he narrated not only about the Creator, but also about the creatures themselves as they are.

XXIII. To the Philippians 3:13: "But one thing: forgetting those things that are behind, and pressing forward into the future." Second Timothy 4:7: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith." INTERROGATION. And when the Apostle recalled these past things to memory, how did he say that he forgot those things which are behind? RESPONSE. The more the things that are set forth agree with the times and the reason, the more quickly they are understood by the hearers. For the Apostle Paul enumerated these things for the sake of his own confirmation, because the time of his dissolution was drawing nearer. For it is written: "In the day of good things, be not unmindful of evil things, and in the day of evil things, be not unmindful of good things" (Sirach 11:27). Therefore Paul, forgetting the past, was not unmindful of evil things when he said: "I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God" (1 Corinthians 15:9). Again, as the day of his dissolution drew near, he was not unmindful of good things, saying: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7). For holy men are accustomed to have this property: to recall prosperity in adversities, and adversity in prosperities. Hence blessed Job, when he was in prosperity, said that he had feared thus: "For always, as if the waves were swelling over me, I feared God" (Job 31:23).

Likewise, when he was in adversity, he recalled to memory the good things he had done in the past, saying: I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame; I was a father to the poor, and a case which I did not know I investigated most diligently (Job 29:15, 16). Holy men, therefore, speak both alternately, so that they are neither puffed up in prosperity nor broken by despair in adversity. XXIV. To the Philippians 4:8, 9: If there is any virtue, if any praise of discipline, think of those things which you both learned and received and heard and saw in me. In the Proverbs of Solomon 27:2: Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. QUESTION. If it was permitted to no one to praise himself with his own mouth, why did Paul, enumerating good things, say of himself: Which you saw in me? RESPONSE. It is one thing to speak from one’s own heart, another to speak in the Holy Spirit. For Paul, in the adversities of prison, remembered in spirit the good things he had done, and therefore he did not speak with his own mouth, because prosperous things ought to be recalled in adversities. But concerning speaking of oneself in praise and seeking one’s own glory, the Truth says: He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is truthful (John 5:11, 18). And the same Paul says: Not he who commends himself is approved (2 Corinthians 10:18). Therefore, that man is certainly commended who neither in the Holy Spirit nor in adversity tells of prosperous things about himself.

XXV. To the Philippians 4 (v. 12): I am set in place everywhere and in all things; I know both to be sated and to hunger. In the Holy Gospel according to Luke 6 (v. 25): Woe to you who are sated, because you will hunger. QUESTION. Since the Evangelist has related that the Lord said, “Woe to the sated,” why did the Apostle Paul say that he knew how to be sated? Or what great thing is it to know how to be sated and to hunger, when this seems to be common to all living things? RESPONSE. The omnipotent and true God said, “Woe to the sated,” because he saw that those who are sated without knowing it, and without giving thanks, are intemperate. For it is a matter of great discernment to know how to be sated, that is, to receive food with moderation and with thanksgiving. For he who eats, says Paul, eats for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God (Romans 14:6). Therefore, those who are sated without knowing it are those who only stop eating when, with the flesh commanding, they no longer wish to eat. And, on the contrary, those who eat for the Lord are those who are always temperate and give thanks to the giver.

XXVI. To the Thessalonians II (v. 18): I, Paul, indeed wished to come to you both once and again, but Satan hindered us. According to Luke XXII (vv. 31, 32): Simon, behold, Satan has sought you out to sift you like wheat, but I prayed for you that your faith might not fail. QUESTION. How is it that the same Satan is not permitted to sift Saint Peter as he wished, and yet it is written that he was able to hinder Paul by himself? And if the apostle Paul is in accord with God’s will in this matter, why did Satan hinder him again? RESPONSE. We must know without doubt that the devil always has the will to tempt; but how, and how much, and when he does it, he lacks the power. For the Creator permits him to do something in the world only to the extent that he had in his predestination without end before the ages, and because the Lord often tests his saints through Satan, Paul indicates that Satan himself, as it were, hinders him. But among these things it must be known that the omnipotent God often accomplishes the will of his plan even through the malevolent will of his servant. Sometimes, however, good servants are granted to desire those things which, as they desire them, are not permitted by the Lord. Indeed, Abraham wished to obey God’s command, but the same Lord did not permit Isaac to be beheaded, and he rewarded this will as entirely perfect by saying: Because you did not spare your only son, I will bless you and multiply your seed (Genesis 22:16).

And David was praised for his intention to build the temple, although he did not actually proceed to build it (2 Samuel 7). And while we have spoken of these things specifically, let us see how they happen generally. For the plagues of the human race have been dispensed by the just Judge, but the elect, already filled with the love of God, do not wish them to occur. And so they both will against God and do not depart from Him, because they give thanks for all the plagues. But that what we say may be clearer, let us proceed by demonstrating through examples. For instance: a son serves his father, whom, because he is dutiful, he does not wish even to die. But also when we visit the sick, whom the Lord chastens, so that they may become healthy, we speak enough. Therefore, when we wish these things, we seem to disagree with God’s will, as if in discord. Likewise, when the Lord commands that good things be done for the human race, our will ought not to be contrary, but congratulatory, so that it is perfect; but for that reason the piety of the Lord and the justice of the Judge are to be praised.

XXVII. To the Thessalonians, IV (verse 13): And with the trumpet of God he will descend from heaven. In the Apocalypse, VII (verse 6): And the seven angels who had seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound the trumpet. QUESTION. And while Christ descends from heaven with the trumpet of God, in which of these seven is he believed to descend? If in the seventh, how have the others preceded? If in the first, how will the others follow? ANSWER. For this reason the sevenfold Spirit descended upon the apostles, so that, as if having received seven trumpets, they might thunder among the peoples, and Christ promised to their posterity, under their person, that he would remain with them until the consummation of the age, saying: Behold, I am with you all days until the consummation of the age (Matthew 28:20). Therefore the seventh preaching, as the seventh trumpet, pertains to the consummation of the age, because when the sixfold preaching is finished, the last trumpet will sound. For Paul says, The trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise incorrupt (1 Corinthians 15:52). And although it is fitting to believe that by the last trumpet the seventh preaching is signified, nevertheless we attend to the Gospel reading, where it says of the Son of Man: And he will send his angels with a trumpet and a loud voice, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from the heights of the heavens to their limits (Matthew 24:31).

It must be understood, therefore, that a voice like a trumpet was heard on Mount Sinai, when the people of Israel received the Decalogue of the words of God, which those who heard it excused themselves from, lest it happen to them again. But then He spoke entirely through a subject creature, certainly not through His own nature, just as He also spoke to His Son after the same Son was baptized by John, the Father saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17). That which was signified in the voice is entirely of the paternal divinity, but the syllables and the sound of the syllables were certainly of creatures. Since, therefore, the holy angels have such a custom of turning themselves into aerial bodies, just as they were able to be seen by some of the fathers, nothing at all prevents it from being understood that they will then sing with such a trumpet when they finally sound forth on the last day, when the sleeping bodies of the dead will be resurrected.

XXVIII. 1 Timothy 1 (verse 13): But I have obtained mercy, because I acted in ignorance, in unbelief. To the same. Ibid. (verse 15): This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the first. QUESTION. Why do you excuse yourself, holy Paul, in one place, and accuse yourself in another, since whatever you committed was through ignorance, because you were the first to receive pardon for all sins, especially since you have not found that it was so either in the time or in the magnitude of sins? ANSWER. It must be known that sin is committed in three ways: for it is perpetrated either by ignorance, or by weakness, or by deliberate intent; and sin by weakness is more serious than by ignorance; likewise, sin by deliberate intent is more serious than by weakness. Therefore, you excuse yourself, holy Paul, by true reasoning, and nonetheless you accuse yourself by humble confession. As a truly righteous man, you were your own accuser in one place, and giving thanks for the Lord’s mercy, you praised the Lord in the other.

XXIX. 1 Timothy 2 (verse 4): Who wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Psalm 113 (verse 3): But our God in heaven and on earth has done all things that he wished. QUESTION. Since God has done all things that he wished, has he led the whole human race to salvation? Or if he was unwilling to do this, how did Saint Paul write that he wished it, saying: Who wishes all men to be saved? ANSWER. It must be believed without doubt that God did nothing in time other than what he foreknew and predestined before time. But this is to be understood without question, that almighty God says in sacred Scripture that he does something which he does not do through his own nature, but through a creature. As he had said to father Abraham, when he was utterly unwilling that Isaac be killed, saying: Now I know that you fear God (Genesis 22:12); that is, I have made you know now what I knew without any limit. And as in Ezekiel he says of the impious man: I do not wish the death of the impious (Ezekiel 33:11); that is, I have made him unwilling to die, although he himself does that by which he comes to death; I have placed in his nature that he should by no means wish to die. Therefore the Lord wishes all men to be saved, who are indeed created in such a way that they wish, however unworthy, always to be saved.

Whether God wishes all men to be saved, because he has saved men from every order of the human race, namely, kings from kings, dukes from dukes, and from men and from women, and from all men whatsoever. Therefore Paul could speak in this manner of speaking when he said: Who wishes all men to be saved. For according to (1 Timothy 2:4) [Luke| Mark the evangelist spoke also the Lord himself saying: Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, who tithe mint and every herb; that is, every kind of herb. For how could they tithe everything, who were altogether unable to gather all things together? XXX. To Timothy 2 (Verse 12): But I do not permit a woman to teach. To Titus 2 (Verse 3): Concerning women: Those teaching well, that they may teach prudence. QUESTION. Since the apostle Paul does not permit a woman to teach at all, what did he mean, writing about women, saying "those teaching well, that they may teach prudence"?

RESPONSE. We ought not to be delayed too long in the clearer passages, so that we may dwell somewhat more extensively on the more obscure ones. Therefore, the women who teach well are said to teach not men, but their juniors. So that they may teach prudence, so that with their daughters they may act by their teaching, whereby they may attain to eternal life. XXXI. 1 Timothy 5 (v. 20): Rebuke those who sin before all, so that the rest, seeing, may have fear. According to Matthew 18 (v. 15): If your brother has sinned against you, go and rebuke him between you and him alone. QUESTION. While the disciple dictates that one who sins is to be rebuked before all, why has the Master of Truth himself spoken of rebuking him alone and in private? RESPONSE. We will resolve this question more quickly if we consider the force of the words more diligently. There he said: those who sin, but he did not add, against whom; here he said, if he has sinned against you. If, therefore, your brother has sinned against you in secret, and you wish to rebuke him before all, you are not a corrector but a betrayer. But rebuke those who sin against God before all, so that you may join that word "rebuke" to the following phrase. Hence Paul says: When Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was not proceeding rightly according to the faith of the Gospel (Galatians 2:11). And a little later: I said to Peter before all; as if he had said, because he had maintained a pretense before all: If you, he says, being a Jew, live like a Gentile, and not like a Jew, how do you compel Gentiles to judaize (Ibid., 14)?

Hidden sins, therefore, can be rebuked in secret, and public sins must be reproved before all, so that others may also be afraid. For whatever moves the mind of others is by no means to be kept silent, but is to be set forth with great humility. XXXII. 1 Timothy 6 (verse 16): Whom no man has seen, nor can see. And 1 John 3 (verse 2): We know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. QUESTION. Since the apostle Paul said that no man has seen God, nor can see him, how did Saint John write: that we shall see him as he is? RESPONSE. In these two testimonies the two holy apostles are completely dissonant, but in their dissonance they truly concord. But in this it must be understood that almighty God was not shown to the ancient fathers in his own nature, but even through a creature he spoke with Moses as a friend with a friend. For no one, it says, shall see me and live (Exodus 33:20). This certainly fits appropriately with what the apostle Paul said: Whom no man sees. And what he says: Nor can see, fits with what Saint John said: That we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2).

In this life, therefore, the Lord has shown His later state through a creature, because He still hides the truth of His own nature from His children who are sojourning, as the same John testifies, who says: "Dearly beloved, now we are sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be; we know that when it has appeared, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is" (Ibid.). From this testimony it is to be understood what Paul says: "But he cannot see either"; as if he were saying openly: As long as each son is a sojourner in this life, unlike the father, he cannot see the heavenly father. But each elect one will be able to see God, not through creatures, but as He is, when what he shall be has appeared, and he has become like Him. Or certainly, as the same John the Evangelist says: "No one has ever seen God" (John 1:18); as if he were saying more plainly: As He is, He sees in Himself. For no creature firmly understands God as God understands Himself.

XXXIII. 2 Timothy 1 (verse 11): In which I am placed as a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. According to Matthew 23 (verse 10): But do you not wish to be called Rabbi, for there is one teacher of yours, who is in heaven. QUESTION. Since the Lord said to his apostles: Do not be called by the name of teachers, why does Paul the apostle of Christ confess himself to have been a teacher of the Gentiles? RESPONSE. Was the Lord’s word of prohibition despised by the apostle Paul? But by him it was suggested to all believers that they not be seduced under the name of apostles by false apostles, but that they follow that teacher in whom Christ was speaking. XXXIV. 2 Timothy 4 (verse 14): Alexander the coppersmith showed me many evils; may the Lord repay him according to his works. And a little later (verse 16): In my first defense, he says, no one was present for me, but all abandoned me; let it not be imputed to them.

QUESTION. What of Paul writing about Alexander, when he said, wishing, "May the Lord repay him according to his works"? And of others, when he spoke, pitying, wishing, should it not be imputed to them? ANSWER. In one and the same spirit Paul foresaw, who wrote both these different things to Timothy, that Alexander, hard-hearted, would never be converted to God, and that to other peoples, through true presence, past deeds would not be imputed.