Chapter 4

Chapter Four

¹ Chapter Four. I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called. For the teacher must not lord it over [his disciples], but serve the disciples for the sake of their salvation. Therefore Paul too exhorts as a servant. And he puts forward his bonds as well as a plea for supplication. For I am a prisoner in the Lord; that is, not for any wicked deed, but for the Lord’s sake. Reverence, then, the bonds [borne] for God’s sake. And what do I beseech? Not on my own behalf, but on yours, that you may walk worthily of the calling; for you were called to great things—to sit together with Christ, and to reign together with him; and you must not disgrace your dignity by works unworthy of Christ. And from the doctrinal he passes over to the ethical, sweetening his discourse.

² With all humility. He shows how it is possible to walk worthily of the calling: namely, If you are humble. For you will surely consider who you are and of what you have been deemed worthy, and you will be restrained, and will be eager to serve your Benefactor. Besides, this is also the foundation of every virtue; therefore the Lord too began the Beatitudes from this point, calling blessed the poor in spirit, the humble-minded, that is. And “with all humility,” he says—not that which is in words only, but also in deeds, and in bearing, and in tone of voice; and not toward this man yes, and toward that man no; but whether he be small or whether great.

³ And meekness with long-suffering. For it is possible to be humble, yet sharp and irascible; but there is no profit [in that].

⁴ Bearing with one another in love. He teaches what is the work of meekness and long-suffering: to bear with one another. Then, lest anyone should say, “How shall I bear with my neighbor when he is irascible and insolent?” he adds also the manner: that it be in love. For if we have love, we shall bear with one another.

⁵ Being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For just as in the body there is a spirit that holds all things together and unites them, though the members be diverse; so also among the faithful there is the Holy Spirit, which unites all, though we have diverse races and ways and pursuits; and through this Holy Spirit we become one body. Let us therefore be diligent to keep this unity through peace with one another. For he who does not love his brother and is not at peace with him has destroyed the unity which the Spirit has given us; and just as, should a separation of the hand or the foot from the rest of the body occur, and they be cut off from continuity with the other members, they are no longer held together under one spirit, so it is with us. Much diligence, therefore, is needed, and not without toil shall we be able to be at peace, binding one another to ourselves, so that wherever the one is borne, the other may be borne along with him (for such are those who are bound together), and not lording it over one another, and thus we may be under one Spirit.

⁶ One body, and one spirit. Paul does not simply seek love, but that which makes all one body through the exact union with one another, so that like members they suffer together with one another and rejoice together. “And one spirit.” Well did he say this, showing that from being one body they will also be one spirit; or that it is possible to be one body, but not one spirit—as when someone is a friend of heretics, yet not going along with their doctrines. Or that, having received one spirit through the faith, you ought to be of one mind. Or by “spirit” he means the shared zeal and the concord, as if he were saying: One body and one soul.

⁷ Even as you were also called in one hope of your calling. God, he says, called you to the same things, bestowed life on all, is equally the head of all, raised all together and seated them together, and in short took all to himself with equal honor, and we all hope for the same things. You ought, then, to be one also according to the unity of love. For in the heavens we are equal, even though on earth we are far apart.

⁸ One Lord, one faith, one baptism. For do you have a greater Lord, and he a lesser? Were you saved from faith, and he from works? Were you set free by baptism, and he not?

⁹ One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in you all. That is, he who is above all, and pervades all by his providence and governance, and dwells in you all. And note that the heretics assign the preposition through to the Son, and in to the Spirit, as introducing a diminution; yet now they are found applied to the Father; therefore they are not [marks] of diminution.

¹⁰ But to each one of us was given the grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. If all things are common, as you say, whence has this man a greater and that man a lesser gift? For this was leading them, as it did the Corinthians and many others, into envy. Resolving this, then, he says that to each was given the gift as the Giver apportioned. So, since it is a gift, be content that you received at all; for it was not given you as a debt. And since God determined the measure, do not meddle. For if God measured it, he certainly did this profitably. The necessary things, then, and those without which one cannot be a Christian, are common; but if this man has something more in the way of a gift, do not be pained, since the labor too is greater, as he will say further on. And he did not say, According to the measure of each one’s faith, lest he cast into despondency those who have the lesser [gifts], but he attached the measure to the will of the Giver, so that they might not dare to dispute at all.

¹¹ Therefore it says: When he had ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men. That he himself gave the gifts is clear from what the prophet says, that he gave gifts to men. And yet the prophet [says], You received gifts; but it is the same thing. For God, in giving the gifts, receives in return the ministry. For he who has received a gift receives it because of working something and toiling. Therefore one must not be despondent. And he ascended on high—either that of the Cross, or that of heaven, in the Ascension; which latter is the more evident from what follows. And what captivity does he mean? That of the devil; for he took captive the devil, and death, and the curse, and sin, and us also who were under the devil and held fast in the things mentioned.

¹² Now this, “He ascended,” what is it, except that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the very One who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. Discoursing here about humility, Paul brings forward Christ as an example, just as also in the [Epistle] to the Philippians; and he says that, just as he did not refuse to descend, so neither should you refuse the condescension that comes through humility. For that he descended is clear from the prophet’s saying that He ascended. For in the case of God, when He ascended is said, it is necessary first to understand a descent; but in the case of men, no longer [so]. And where did he descend? Into Hades; for this he calls the lower parts of the earth, according to the common supposition; as also Jacob: You will bring down my old age with grief to Hades; and David: I shall be likened to those who go down into the pit. He descended, then, into the lowest parts, beyond which there is nothing else; and he ascended above all, above which there is nothing else; and the descent was no hindrance to him for the ascent. And you, therefore, if you humble yourselves, shall be exalted. For it is for this reason that he works all this out, that he might fill all things with his lordship and his operation, even in the flesh, since in his divinity he filled all things before as well. And this is for the overthrow of the Samosatene and of Nestorius; for he who descended, it is clear, descended being on high, both becoming incarnate unto the earth, and dying unto Hades; and he is one and the same, not one and another.

¹³ And he himself gave. Emphatically did he say Himself. For he who thus provided for us, and for our sake did not refuse to descend even to the lower parts, did not make the distributions of the gifts simply, but evidently with wisdom and profit. How then is one pained, as though the distribution had not been made reasonably? Elsewhere he says that the Spirit distributes: In which the Holy Spirit also placed you; and, One and the same Spirit works all things. And elsewhere [he ascribes it to] the Father, as in: God placed in the Church first apostles, and so forth; and: I planted, Apollos watered, and God gave the increase. But here [he ascribes it to] the Son. There is, then, one operation of the Three.

¹⁴ Some, apostles; and some, prophets. First the apostles, since they also had prophecy; and the prophets—those, namely, in the New [Covenant]—did not also have apostleship.

¹⁵ And some, evangelists. Either those who wrote down the Gospel, or those who did not go about everywhere, but nevertheless preached the gospel, as Priscilla and Aquila.

¹⁶ And some, pastors and teachers. He means those entrusted with the Church, the bishops, such as were Timothy and Titus and the like. But you may understand by “pastors” also the presbyters and bishops; and by “teachers” also the deacons. For these too, holding the purifying order, by all means purify through the word.

¹⁷ For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. Do you see the dignity? Each one, he says, perfects, each one ministers toward the building up of the body of Christ, that is, of the Church. So why are you pained, as having received a lesser gift? For you too contribute toward the perfecting of the saints—that is, toward the benefit of the faithful and their consummation. See, then, lest, having received the gift that you might build up others, you then, out of envying the greater, tear yourself down. Furthermore, if another has received the greater gift for the perfecting of the faithful, consider that both the labor and the ministry are greater, and the accountability for these is greater. And otherwise, how is it not a satanic passion to envy him who perfects and builds up?

¹⁸ Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Until then, he says, all who have received a gift must work, and toil, and build up, until we arrive at the unity of the faith; that is, Until we all be shown to have one faith, neither differing in doctrines, nor having, in the matters of life, schisms with one another. For then [there is] the true unity of the faith, when we know the Son of God, when we are both orthodox in doctrines and preserve the bond of love. For Christ is love.

¹⁹ Unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. By “a perfect man” and “measure of stature” he means the more perfect knowledge of the doctrines; which [he calls] also “the fullness of Christ,” [namely] the complete and entire knowledge and faith of him: that, being one of the Trinity and equal to the Father, he became man, one hypostasis in two natures and wills and operations; and that with the body he sits enthroned with the Father, and will come with him, and whatever else is rightly thought and said concerning him. How then does he elsewhere call our knowledge imperfect? As in contrast to the knowledge to come; but here he called the knowledge perfect with regard to its being unchangeable. For when we do not fall away, then we are perfect, as is clear from what follows.

²⁰ That we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching. That we may, he says, hold firmly and steadfastly the very small measure which we received, and not, like infants, be shaken and carried about by every teacher. For it was for this that the gifts were given—for building up and perfecting—so that the edifice might not be shaken. And in saying no longer, he showed that they had suffered this in former times as well. And he places himself too [among them], that he might set things right not as one reproaching, but with cheerfulness. And by saying tossed by waves, he shows in how great danger are the souls that are not firmly fixed toward orthodoxy. And, keeping to the metaphor, he calls the various teachings “winds.”

²¹ In the sleight of men, in craftiness, toward the scheming of error. Those who use dice are called dice-players; such are the false teachers, shifting the simpler sort about, like dice, as they please. So that we, he says, may not be carried about in this dicing. How? “In craftiness, toward the scheming of error”—that is, being shifted and carried about toward that which their deceitful scheming intends. For they contrive and devise all things for no other reason than to deceive. And well did he add: of men; for [it is] not of God.

²² But being truthful in love, let us grow up into him in all things, who is the head, even Christ. The crafty and the dicers of words have all things spurious and false, and with them nothing is sound and stable. But we, being truthful in love—both toward God and toward our neighbor—and no longer holding false doctrines, nor living in hypocrisy (for here he seems to discourse with them also about life), let us grow up in all our things into Christ, both in life and in doctrines. For to him, being the head, we ought to fit our own things, that we may bring nothing incongruous and unsuited to the head, but may grow in all things toward him.

²³ From whom the whole body, fitly framed together and knit together through every joint of supply, according to the operation in the measure of each single part, makes the growth of the body, unto the building up of itself in love. The sense of the passage is this, even if it has been expressed obscurely: Just as in the body the spirit that descends from the brain through the nerves does not simply give sensation to all the members, but to each according to proportion—to the one able to receive more, more, and to the one [able to receive] less, less—so also Christ makes the supply of his gifts unto our souls, which are his members, not simply, but in the measure of each single member, that is, as each is able to contain; and thus the whole body makes the building up and growth of itself in love. But it is not possible to receive the supply of the Spirit—by which we are both given life and grow—unless we are bound together and united through love, as one body. For just as, suppose, a hand torn away from the body would not receive the perceptive spirit, inasmuch as it has been severed from the continuity; so also we, unless we are united, do not receive the grace of the Spirit that descends from Christ our head. For this reason he said also that the body is fitly framed together and knit together; that is, the members not simply lying [there], but also united, and each occupying its proper place, and not dislocated, nor lying out of position. With us, then, is the fitting-together and knitting-together of ourselves through love; but with Christ, our head, is the sending of the spirit. The whole discourse, therefore, is about humility and union. And the [phrase] through every joint of supply signifies this: that the spirit channeled and supplied from the head touches all. The body, then, grows and is built up through the supply of the spirit touching the members and working in them (for this is the [meaning of] according to the operation); or [it means] that the spirit gives the operation to the members.

²⁴ This, therefore, I say and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the nations walk, in the vanity of their mind. It belongs to a teacher not only to exhort, but also to strike fear, by setting God too over the disciples, as here too Paul does. “For I testify to you in the Lord,” he says; that is, I make the Lord my witness that I have not hidden from you the things that must be said. And he did not say, “that you no longer walk as you were walking,” lest he wound them; but, “as the rest of the nations [walk],” chastening them by the example of others. And they were walking in vanity of mind, both as revering the idols, and as enslaved to the passions, and as nailed to the vain things of the world; which are called vanity for this very reason, that we use them in vain; for they are not in their own nature vain, since they were created exceedingly good.

²⁵ Being darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God. The light of both the knowledge of God and the pure life was shining; but they darkened themselves, making weak the discerning faculty of the soul through the mist of the passions and of the cares of life. For a great and hardly-curable flood are the passions and the anxieties of the world, befouling the understanding. For this reason those who are in such a state were alienated also from the life of God, which is the life according to God. For the life of the rational [soul] is to apprehend the truth; and he who has been blinded to this reasonably does not even live, because the truth is the substance and light of the reason.

²⁶ Because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart. If, then, they are ignorant, why do you bring charges against them? For the ignorant must be taught, not accused. But the ignorance, he says, came upon them because of the hardening—that is, because of the insensibility; and the insensibility [arose] from their disposition toward the impure life. So that they are worthy to be accused. For hear also what follows:

²⁷ Who, being past feeling, gave themselves over to licentiousness, for the working of all uncleanness with greediness. Do you see that their insensibility is from choice? For “being past feeling,” he says—that is, having grown utterly slothful, and unwilling to toil for the finding of the good, and being disposed without feeling, and as it were stupefied—they gave themselves over to licentiousness. To do what? That they might work uncleanness; for they made this their continual study and occupation; and not one kind, but every [kind]. How, then, were they not bound to be insensible, having given themselves over to all uncleanness? For the impure life is both a cause of evil doctrines and produces ignorance of every good. Whenever, then, you hear elsewhere that God gave them over to a reprobate mind, remember this saying too, and, reconciling both, understand that God is said to give over those who [first] gave themselves over—in the sense of having permitted and abandoned [them], since they made themselves worthy of this. And by saying “with greediness,” he testifies that their insensibility was a matter of choice. For it was possible, he says, for them to enjoy both money and pleasure in due measure; but they, choosing excess, came in all things into hardening and insensibility to every good.

²⁸ But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off, according to the former manner of life, the old man. The nations are thus; but you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Christ and have been taught in him; that is, Since you learned Christ. For not as doubting, but as strongly affirming, does he speak thus. For this is to learn Christ—to live rightly; just as he who lives wickedly is ignorant of Christ. For they profess, he says, to know God, but by their works they deny him. And the [phrase] “as the truth is” must be understood thus: that, Not as the nations walk in vanity did you too in like manner agree upon the same things. For the things of Christ are not vanity, but truth, both the doctrines and the life. For sin is falsehood, as having no substance and no end; but virtue is truth, as subsisting and having an end. And what were you taught, and what is the truth according to Christ? That you put off the old man—that is, the manner of the former conduct, and the old and sinful life.

²⁹ Which is being corrupted according to the lusts of deceit. You will understand this in two ways: either that, just as the lusts are corrupted, so also the [old] man himself—that is, the reasoning—is corrupted. And how are the lusts corrupted? Because beauty too withers by sickness and by old age, and strength likewise, and in short all things are at the last dissolved by death. For in that day, he says, all his thoughts perish. Or [it means] “according to the lusts” in the sense of “by the lusts.” For indeed by these our old man is corrupted, just as the wool and the iron are destroyed by the very things they engender. For the love of glory too destroys—certainly in the soul always, and sometimes also in the body; and pleasures likewise. And well did he call the pleasure [arising] from these things “deceit.” For it is hypocrisy and falsehood, as feigning to be pleasure, but being in reality bitterness. This, then, is deceit: to appear one thing, and to be another.

³⁰ And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Lest anyone suppose that he is bringing in another man, he says, “Be renewed”; that is, to renew the very thing that has grown old and to make it different. So that the subject is the same, but the change is one of manner and of disposition. And how might the renewal come about? Through the Holy Spirit, who dwells in our mind. For the Spirit does not tolerate old deeds. And what he says is of this sort: Be renewed with a spiritual renewal in your mind, but not a bodily one and [one] taking place in the body.

³¹ And put on the new man. Do you see that the subject is one—that which is put off and put on—but the garments are diverse, that is, vice and virtue? For just as the putting-off and the putting-on is easy, so also are vice and virtue, if we will. And why does he call vice “man,” and virtue “man”? Because man is characterized by his works, and these show the man no less than [his] nature, whether good or wicked. The new man, then, is the young one, the one from baptism, who ought also to be strong, and having no wrinkles, and healthy; for all these belong to the young.

³² Created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the truth. This man, he says, was created not according to the lusts, but according to God; that is, by God [as] such a creation as God is well pleased with, in the font, not of water and earth, but in righteousness and holiness. For these are the substance of such a man. Righteousness, then, is virtue in general, just as we are accustomed to call “righteous” the man who is blameless. And the Lord: Unless your righteousness abound more than that of the Pharisees; for here he means the whole of virtue. And holiness is purity, and the fulfilling of all that is due; according to which we speak also, in the case of the dead, of “the due rite,” when one has fulfilled what is owed to them, and [we say] I have rendered the due. And since in the Old [Covenant] too righteousness was spoken of, he says that “those things were of the type. But I tell you of the [righteousness] of the truth and of the Gospel.” Or, in contrast to the righteousness that is in outward show and hypocrisy, he spoke of that of the truth. This man was created in baptism through righteousness and holiness; but he must be put on even now through life and works. And when you hear put on, understand the never putting off; as in the [verse]: He clothed himself with cursing as with a garment; and, Who robes himself with light. And we are accustomed to say: So-and-so has put on So-and-so.

³³ Therefore, putting away falsehood, let each speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Having spoken of “the old man” in general, he henceforth describes him also in particular; and first he cuts off falsehood toward one another; and he adds the reasons—both that we are neighbors of one another, and the greater and more shaming [reason], that we are members of one another—as if saying this: Does the eye, seeing a wild beast, lie to the foot, and not give it [leave] to flee? Or when a deep pit is covered over with reeds and earth, and is tested by the foot, does the foot lie, and not report to the eye, that it may look elsewhere and find a way past? And in short you will find the same in all [the members]. So, then, let us too not lie to one another; for we are members of one body.

³⁴ Be angry, and sin not. He had said, “Do not lie.” Since, then, anger is often born from falsehood, he says that, Good indeed it were not to be angry at all; but since it has come about, [see] at least that you not be led on to sin from using anger immoderately. But some say that there is one sinless anger—that against the demons and the passions—which the divine Apostle here introduces to us.

³⁵ Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Let not the passion, he says, abide with you for long, nor let the sun, leaving you [still] enemies, depart, lest it appear to have shone upon the unworthy; and at the same time, lest the night, through [its] broodings, kindle the fire still more, and contrive plots.

³⁶ Give no place to the devil. To war against one another, this is to give place to the devil. For as long as we are united and closely knit, he introduces nothing of his own, inasmuch as he finds no place; but when he finds some division among us, then, as having found a place, he thrusts in his head like a serpent, and thereafter drags in along with it the whole coil of his body.

³⁷ Let him who steals steal no longer. Do you see the members of the old man—falsehood, malice, theft? And he did not say, “Let the thief be punished,” but, “Let him cease,” he says, from the evil. For the former belongs to the courts outside, but this to the teaching of Christ. And where are those called Cathari—the Pure—who are in reality full of every defilement, who do away with repentance? For let them hear that it is possible to put off the charge—not only to abstain from the sin, but also to work some good. For hear what follows:

³⁸ But rather let him labor, working the good thing with his hands, that he may have [something] to share with him who has need. For it is not enough to cease from sin, but [one must] also go over to the way opposite to it. Was he formerly working evil? Now let him work good; and not simply, but with toil—at once that he may wear down the body, which formerly through idleness had learned evil things; and at the same time that he may have more abundant means and resources of livelihood, and may share also with others—in return for which, whereas formerly he stole the things of others, now he benefits others. Wonderful! how the Gospel makes angels of those who were almost demons!

³⁹ Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. By “corrupt word” he means the idle, and the random, and the unseasonable—such as buffoonery, foolish talk. But still more corrupt and foul-smelling is filthy speech, reviling, slander; for we pay penalties not for deeds only, but also for words.

⁴⁰ But only such as is good for the building up of the need, that it may give grace to those who hear. That is, Let us utter that which builds up the neighbor, being necessary to the matter at hand, and not unseasonably and uselessly, so that those who hear may be thankful to us. For if we utter something profitable to the soul, those who hear will give us thanks, as having been benefited. Or [it means], he says, that the word may render them graced with grace. For just as ointment gives grace to those who partake of it, so also the divine and soul-profiting word. Do you see how that which Paul always exhorts, this he requires of us now too—to build up the neighbor, which is to build up ourselves? For he who exhorts another to the things profitable for the soul [does so] far sooner, surely, for himself.

⁴¹ And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. If you speak, he says, a corrupt word and one unworthy of the Christian mouth, you have grieved not a man, but the Spirit of God, by whom you were benefited, by whom your mouth was sanctified. He adds, then, with what we were benefited.

⁴² In whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption. For this sealed us, and showed us to be of the royal flock; this did not allow us to stand with those liable to the wrath of God, but sealed us and set us apart to be redeemed from it. Grieving this, then, are we not ashamed? Your mouth has been sealed by the Spirit, so as to say nothing unworthy of him; do not break the seal.

⁴³ Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and blasphemy be put away from you, with all malice. He had done away with anger through the things said above, and now he uproots it root and all; for bitterness is the root both of wrath and of anger. For when the humor becomes bitter and acrid, it overflows more and more the vessel that contains it, and is poured out over the whole body, and makes the man savage. Bitterness, then, is rancor, guile, the readiness toward doing evil; and wrath is the beginning of anger, being a kind of seething-up; and anger is that which is already rushing to do something. And since anger, if it does not have clamor to kindle it together, is quickly quenched, he says that “clamor too be put away”—that is, Let it be made to vanish, let no remnant remain. For clamor is the horse, and anger the rider; hobble the horse, and you have overthrown the rider. And do away also with blasphemy—that is, reviling—which is born from anger, but is kindled the more, together [with it], through clamor. And since many are secret biters, saying nothing, but biting covertly, and keeping the malice unseen and lurking within—for this reason he added, “with all malice”—that is, both small and great.

⁴⁴ And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. And since abstinence from evils is not sufficient for attaining the kingdom, but there is need also of the working of good things (for if we are deficient in good deeds, we are cast into Gehenna, even though we do no evil, as is clear from many [passages] in the Gospels)—for this reason Paul, having done away with the base things, exhorts to the working of good things, and says: Be kind, in contrast to anger; tenderhearted, in contrast to bitterness; forgiving one another—that is, lenient, and remitting [offenses] to those who sin—in contrast to malice and blasphemy.

⁴⁵ Even as God also forgave us in Christ Jesus. Since examples are more compelling, he brings forward God as a pattern. And he could indeed have said that God declared: Forgive, and you shall be forgiven; but since many disbelieve in things future, he brings into the midst the things that have already happened, and says that God forgave us. How? In Christ—that is, with the peril of his Son and his slaying. For you perhaps forgive without peril, but he not so; and you [forgive] your brother, but he remitted and forgave you who were an enemy. And see how, instead of saying “forgiving one another,” he said “yourselves,” showing that whenever we, the one and the other, forgive [one another], each of us does the grace unto our own selves.