Chapter 3

Chapter Three

¹ Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work. Everywhere he wishes the faithful to be subject to the rulers. And he shows also how they might be subject: if they are prepared for every good work. From which it is clear that those prepared for evil are the ones who disobey the rulers. Or also that they should be ready, so as to be obedient toward what is good, not toward ungodliness, or anything else harmful to the soul.

² To speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, forbearing. Even if someone behaves badly, do not even then revile him—that is, do not abuse him. For our mouth must be kept pure from reviling. For whether the charge be true, it is not ours to judge, or whether it be false. See how great the danger is.

³ Showing all meekness toward all men. Both Jews and Greeks, and the wicked and those who do wrong.

⁴ For we too were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, enslaved to various desires and pleasures. In the Epistle to the Corinthians he frightens them by the things to come, that they may not judge, saying, Let the one who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall;[1] but here he makes them more sober by the things that are past, saying in effect: “Let us not revile others, since we ourselves sinned worse long ago.” This is what the thief too said to the other thief: that we are under the same condemnation.[2] And when were we foolish? Before Christ. For how was it not folly to worship such gods? And to sacrifice human beings—how was it not the greatest error? But we were also enslaved to various desires and pleasures. Here understand unions with males, with mothers, and with sisters, and the other forms of uncleanness; for in manifold ways the devil made sport of us.

⁵ Living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. “Living in malice and envy”—that is, spending our days ever in remembrance of wrongs and in envy, and having these for our very life; whence we were also worthy of hatred, as hating one another. And reasonably so; for from envy comes also hatred.

⁶ But when the kindness and love for mankind of God our Savior appeared. That is, when the Only-begotten was made flesh and was made like us.

⁷ Not by works that we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy He saved us. “He saved us, not by works that we did”—that is, “we neither did works of righteousness, nor were we saved from them, but His goodness did the whole.”

⁸ Through the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Astonishing!—that we were so steeped in malice that we could not even be cleansed, but needed to be born again. For this is what regeneration and renewal are: the second birth, and a new fashioning. For just as we do not prop up a very old house, but tearing it down to the foundations build it anew, so God too did not patch us up, but built us afresh from the ground. How? Through the Holy Spirit. For lest you ask the manner, “the Spirit,” he says, “accomplished the whole.” Whence is this clear? “Which He poured out on us richly,” he says. For not only did He refashion us through the Spirit, but He also imparted of Him lavishly, that the one might be shown through the other. And reasonably so: for since He cleansed us, then also He filled us with the Spirit ungrudgingly. For this is the meaning of “poured out.” For into the impure the pure does not enter. And these things are through Jesus; for He is for us the mediator and the procurer of all good things.

⁹ That being justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Again, “by grace,” not by debt. And this teaches humility too; for we did not ourselves achieve anything. And he makes us hopeful concerning the things to come: for if He saved by grace those who were so despaired of, much more will He give the things to come to those who have been justified. “That we should become heirs of eternal life,” he says, “even as we hope.” Or else, “that we are already heirs,” at least in respect of hope.

¹⁰ Faithful is the saying. Since he spoke of things to come, he adds trustworthiness to the word. For it is clear from what came before; for He who gave so much will give these things also.

¹¹ And concerning these things I want you to affirm confidently, that those who have believed in God may be careful to maintain good works. Since he had called to mind the unspeakable goodness of God, he says, “Thus I want you to teach concerning these things, that the faithful may learn not only to be humble-minded, and not to reproach others, but also to show mercy.” For the one who considers the mercy of God which he himself obtained will himself show mercy too. “That they may be careful,” he says—that is, having it as a continual work and earnest effort to help the wronged: to provide for widows, orphans, and in short for those in need. For this is what “to maintain good works” means; and not to wait for the needy to come to them, but themselves to be concerned about them.

¹² These things are good and profitable to men. The care and the maintenance of good works—or the good works themselves.

¹³ But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and strifes, and contentions about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. By “foolish” he means the unprofitable questions, such as the Jews bring against the faithful. And “genealogies,” which these same men make, tracing the patriarchs as their own ancestors and boasting in them. “Avoid,” then, means “decline.” For one must not neglect the necessary works and spend one’s time on idle talk and profitless quarrels. For what gain is there in fighting where no one is going to be taken captive for Christ? How, then, did he earlier urge that the contradictors be silenced? When they are out to harm others, then one must silence them; but where only their own benefit is at stake, one should not even attempt to talk with them at all, since they will gain nothing, being incorrigible.[3]

¹⁴ A heretical man, after a first and second admonition, reject, knowing that such a one is perverted, and sins, being self-condemned. How, then, does he say elsewhere, lest God should grant them repentance?[4] There he speaks of those who give some hint of a hope of correction; but here he calls “heretic” the incorrigible man, the one wholly perverted, who is also self-condemned—that is, without defense. For he cannot say, “No one admonished me, no one taught me.” When, therefore, after the exhortation he persists in the same things, he is self-condemned.

¹⁵ When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis; for there I have decided to winter. Why is it that, having entrusted to Titus so great a Church and so large an island, he again draws him to himself, away from the work? In order to benefit him the more, and to equip him still further for the work, by examining him on the things committed to him. And Nicopolis is a city of Thrace, lying upon the Ister.

¹⁶ Zenas the lawyer, and Apollos, set forward diligently on their way, that nothing be lacking to them. By “lawyer” he means one skilled in the Jewish laws; for such was Zenas. And Apollos was more learned and mighty in the Scriptures. These men had not yet been entrusted with Churches. And “that nothing be lacking to them” means “make them to be in all abundance of the necessities”—of food, that is, and clothing.

¹⁷ And let our people also learn to maintain good works for the necessary needs, that they be not unfruitful. It is as though he said: “It was in my power to make the men I mentioned free from want by other means as well; but I do not wish it, so that our people”—that is, those around you—“may learn, from supplying these men, to maintain good works”: that is, to care for the needy, both in money and in words and in every way. Not that the needy should gain so much, but that they themselves may have fruit from their love for mankind toward their own kind. For indeed the Lord too, who fed the five thousand, could surely have fed both Himself always and His disciples, yet He chose to be supported by women, that they might gain thereby. So too in our case: He benefits the poor not so much through our giving as He benefits us through them. For the poor are to us the cause of forgiveness of sins, and of boldness toward God.

¹⁸ All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Either those who love him faithfully and without guile, or those who love him as believers—that is, as Christians.

¹⁹ Grace be with you all. Amen. He prays that the gift of God may be guarded for them; or that the love of God may be with them always, keeping them by grace. Or also, that it may be with us who most of all have need of it, and may guard both our souls and our bodies in the Holy Spirit. To whom be the glory unto the ages. Amen.