3:12
"In Him we have confidence and access with confidence by His faith. Nothing can give us so much confidence and purity of conscience toward God, of which it is said, 'If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God' (1 John 3:21), except for the word, truth, wisdom, and justice, which are all understood in Christ. Therefore, just as these things give us confidence toward God, they also give us access, so that our senses may approach Him, more diligently contemplate Him, and assume and claim something of His majesty, and as it were, borrow some heat and splendor of light from the rays of the sun and say 'The light of Your face has been engraved upon us, Lord' (Ps. 4:7). Therefore, it is great to not only have confidence but also to have it with confidence. And not only to have access, but that the access itself be firmer, and to have it with confidence, whose foundation and origin is faith in Christ. Therefore, whoever does all things in reason and order, believes in Christ as speech and reason. Whoever is able to comprehend wisdom, believes in Christ as wisdom. Whoever understands the truth, believes in Christ as the truth. Whoever lives justly, believes in Him as justice. And there is no need to say more, since the need has often arisen for me to speak similarly of Christ."
3:13
"For this reason I ask that you do not fail in my tribulations for you, which is your glory." What the Latin translator has now expressed as "ne deficiatis" can, according to the ambiguity of the Greek language, be read as "ne deficiam" [I do not fail]. So the meaning would be: "For this reason I ask that I do not fail in my tribulations for you," etc. This is, therefore, what the apostle asks for and earnestly prays for from the Lord, that he will not fail in his trials. For he saw himself preaching the Gospel from Jerusalem to Illyricum, going to Rome, to Spain, either having gone or preparing to go (Rom. 15). The whole world was being lifted up by his teaching about the power of the prince: idols were being deserted, and the temples of worshippers were being filled with neglect and filth. For this reason, every army of demons, every band of hostile powers, fought against him in a tight formation, so that through trials and tribulations, he would stop preaching the Gospel of Christ and would rest himself eventually. This is why he says, "I ask that I do not fail in my tribulations for you." For everything that I suffer, that I am afflicted, that I am harassed is for the cause of your salvation, as I desire to preach the Gospel to you: my tribulations are your glory. Furthermore, he speaks as an ignorant person, adding the singular "glory" to the plural "tribulations," and said: "In my tribulations for you, which is your glory," because it is still the case that "these tribulations are your glory." Unless one considers this to be a reference to something deeper and more extraordinary, either with reference to trust, or to approach, or to faith, and says that trust, approach, and faith are your glory. But the former interpretation is more accurate. According to what the Latin translation has expressed, one can also interpret it as what he asks for the Ephesians, that they not weaken or fail in the apostle's pressures. For what follows also suits this interpretation better: "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that according to the riches of his glory he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being." For they had necessary fortitude, so that they may not be conquered in tribulations. Let someone say: If the Ephesians were placed in difficulties, then Paul could rightly pray for them so that they may not faint or become weary. But now it is ridiculous, that Paul, being placed in tribulations, should ask that the Ephesians not fail in their own labor. And to resolve this question, this example will be taken: "You did not despise or reject your temptation in my flesh." For indeed, in this passage it is shown that in Paul's flesh, trial is born for others. Let us consider all the people of the world (and I speak in common of all, let us discuss those who are believed to believe in Christ), and we will see that they are troubled especially by this question: why do many adversities happen to holy men and those serving God, while the wicked, the impious and the parricides flourish, are powerful and rich? Speaking in his own person, he expressed the words of David: "Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." (Ps. 73:1-3), and so on. And he brings out of this: "But I said perhaps in vain: For I have justified my heart in vain, and washed my hands among the innocent, and have been scourged all the day long." Therefore, it is not surprising that, with Paul being afflicted by many trials in Ephesus and in Asia, the Ephesians were tested and needed his prayers so that they would not falter in his pressures. What Paul suffered in Ephesus and in Asia is indeed written in the Acts of the Apostles, but we learn more from Paul's own Epistles, where he says: "If, according to man, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it profit me?" "If the dead rise not again, neither is Christ risen again." (1 Cor. 15:32). And in his second Epistle to the Corinthians: "For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure above our strength, so that we despaired even of life; but we had in ourselves the answer of death, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead, who hath delivered and doth deliver us out of so great dangers; in whom we trust that He will yet also deliver us" (2 Cor. 1:8-10). How much weight do you think he bore from so many and such deaths, that he would say: "who has delivered us from such great and such deaths?" Therefore, he rightly asks that the faith of the Ephesians does not fail in their own pressures and difficulties, which he himself underwent because he was preaching the Gospel to the Ephesians. Indeed, these pressures are punishment for the unbelievers, but among the faithful, they mean glory and victory, because to have conquered is to not have ceased in tribulations.
3:14
"Therefore, I bend my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named." Just as it was shown in what preceded that spiritual eyes are like the bodily eyes: so now it must be understood that there are exterior knees of the body, and interior knees of the soul. For what is said in Isaiah: "Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees" (Isaiah 35:3), and the Apostle himself in another place: "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth" (Philippians 2:10), relate not to the knees of the body, but to the subjection of the mind and the inclination of the soul, and the submission of the heart, which is equal to the earth, as the Psalmist also says: "My soul cleaves to the dust" (Psalm 119:25). For the spiritual and incorporeal soul, how could it adhere to the material earth? For in the name of Jesus do earthly knees bend; but can we affirm that angels and other powers which persevere in the heavens, have a bodily form, in order that they should bend the knee in his name? Or are the souls liberated from the bonds of the body in the underworld, which do not have knees, to be considered to have bent them? Therefore, just as whoever is subject to the Savior is said to bow the knee, so whoever is a slave to sin and has the spirit of bondage again in fear is said to have bent the knee to sin. "But I have left for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal" (1 Kings 19:18), to the idol and to sin. He who is a fornicator and runs after brothels and harlots bends his knee to lust. He who is furious, worships wrath with a bent knee. He who looks upon Mammon and his god is his belly bends his knees to avarice and luxury. And why must I go through them all? We bend our knees to the devil as many times as we sin. But interpreting these things spiritually, we do not immediately observe the customary manner of prayer according to the letter, by which we humbly worship God with our knee placed on the ground and our knee fixed on the ground, so that we obtain more of what we ask for from him. For we read that Paul also prayed in this way on the beach, and knee-bending was prescribed in prayer (Acts 27). But just as that builds up the simple, so we teach that true knee-bending is in the mind; for many who bend the knee bodily, never bend the knee of the soul. On the contrary, others, praying with an upright body to God, have bent their minds even more. Moreover, what follows, "to the Father from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named," not as added in Latin codices, "to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," but simply "to the Father," should be read so that the name of God the Father is attributed, not to our Lord Jesus Christ, but to all rational creatures. Therefore, it is necessary to ask how all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named from God the Father. And, before anything is retracted, it should be noted that it does not say, "from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is born" or "created," but rather, "from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named." For it is one thing to merit the appellation of fatherhood, and another to have a share in nature, which in Greek is called πατριὰ (paternity), and in Hebrew מִשְׁפַּחַת (family), as we read in Numbers: "Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, and by the houses of their fathers, according to the number of names, every male by their polls" (Num. 1:2) and shortly after (v. 16): "These are the princes of the tribes: the princes of them being called to the assembly, were seventy and two." Again, speaking of the tribe of Levi, the Lord said to Moses in the desert of Sinai: "Number the sons of Levi by the houses of their fathers, by their families, and by their fathers' houses, every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them" (Num. 3:15). These things are concerning the people of Israel and the priestly and Levitical tribe. But considering with myself where I have read the word "paternity" in relation to the Gentiles, I cannot recall any source other than the testimony of the twenty-first psalm, in which it is written: "All the ends of the earth shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord: And all the kindreds of the nations shall adore in his sight" (Ps. 21:28), and of the twenty-eighth psalm: "Bring to the Lord, O ye families of the nations: bring to the Lord glory and honor" (Ps. 28:1). Therefore, just as God with his goodness has granted that his name and substance be attributed to other elements as well, so that they are also called God, not that they are so by nature (for there was a time when all things did not exist, and if he so wills, they will return to nothing), but so they may exist, He has also bestowed the name of fatherhood from Himself upon all. And in order to make this more manifest, I shall produce testimonies from the Scriptures: "He said: I am who am" (Ex. 3:14), and "Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: He who is hath sent me to you." Was God alone, and were the rest of the things not in existence? Surely angels, heaven, earth, and the seas existed, as did Moses himself, to whom the Lord was speaking, and Israel, and the Egyptians to whom the prince and adversary was sent and against whom he was contending. And how can God claim a common name for His substance that is proper to Himself? The reason is the one stated above: for all other things took being from God's beneficence. But God Himself, who always is and has no beginning elsewhere, and who is the cause of His own substance, cannot be understood as having His standing from elsewhere. For it is as absurd to think of fire without heat as of heat without fire. The other things that are heated by fire acquire the heat from it, and when gradually the fire dies down, the heat diminishes, they return to their natural state and are no longer called hot. According to this sense, in the Gospel it is said to him who regarded the Savior not as the Son of God but as a good teacher: "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone" (Luke 18:19). Certainly, we read of good soil (Luke 8), a good man (Matthew 12), and a good shepherd (John 10); but no one is by nature good except God alone. All other things are called good by virtue of His goodness. In the same way that He alone is good, He makes others good; He alone is immortal, and grants immortality; He alone is truth, and imparts the name of truth. Likewise, the Father alone, as the creator of all things and the cause of the substance of the universe, empowers others to be called fathers. Let us contemplate heavenly things from earthly things: Adam, whom God first formed and created, was his father, and certainly he knew that he owed his existence to God the Father. Likewise, those who were born of Adam recognize him as their father. Thus, in the Gospel according to Luke, when the generation was reckoned backwards from Christ to David and Abraham, at the end of the scripture it says, "The son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God" (Luke 3:38), so that it shows that the name of paternity on earth first originated from God. But the question arises as to why all paternity in heaven is called from Him. In the same way that we who are not of Abraham's race, if we have his faith, are called children of Abraham; likewise, we call our forefathers the patriarchs and prophets (if we are not separated from them by sin). So, I think the angels and other virtues in the heavens have the princes of their own order, whom they enjoy calling their fathers. The archangel, unless he can be called an angel, and dominions, and principalities, and powers, unless they have lower subjects, are not called such. Therefore, it can be said that just as God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is a father according to substance, and the only begotten Son is not a son by adoption but by nature, so also the other creatures merit the name of paternity by adoption. Nevertheless, whatever we say about the Father and the Son, we know that it applies to the Holy Spirit as well. For our Savior also knows that He is the Father, saying: "Son, your sins are forgiven" (Mark 2:5); "Daughter, your faith has made you well" (Matthew 9:22); "Little children, I am with you only a little longer" (John 13:33); and through the Holy Spirit, the just are adopted as sons. Valentinus thinks that his teachings and marriages, from that locus or maxim above all others, should be confirmed as those of the generations of his time; he does not understand that, as we have said, both in heaven and on earth, paternity is not made but called according to the likeness of God the Father.
3:16-19
"So that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, being rooted and founded in love, so that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God." For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, being rooted and founded in love; for there is no strength apart from the Holy Spirit. And he may strengthen and confirm [you] in the inner person. For we seek not the strength of the body, but of the soul, nor do we desire strength for the outer person, but for the inner person to be strengthened, so that after Christ dwells within the inner person he may dwell in the principal one - that is, our hearts - not running through all of his members, but dwelling in the rational one and establishing his home and seat within it. All of this, however, is accomplished through faith if we believe in him. Therefore he says, 'Dwell Christ through faith in your hearts.' This dwelling, which is constructed through the beginning of faith, has its roots and foundation in charity, so that since we are God's own farming and God's own building (1 Corinthians 3), all things may grow and build up in charity. But when we are rooted and founded in love (Ephesians 3), we know how to dwell with Christ in the inner person with total confidence of the mind; then we begin to strive for those things even with other saints, so that we may comprehend with a wise mind what is the breadth and length, depth and height, and not only this, but also to know the surpassing knowledge of the love of Christ, so that when all of these things have been completed in order and reason within us, then we should be filled with all the fullness of God. Let us learn about the breadth and length, depth and height of the physical world beforehand so that we may move forward from them to spiritual matters. For example: let the breadth be this heaven and this earth, that is, the whole world, from East to West; the length from South to North; the depth in the abyss and in hell; and the height, which is lifted up above the heavens. But since, according to Ecclesiastes (Chap. 1), the heavens are affirmed to be round and to revolve like a sphere, this roundness however does not have length, width or depth, but is equal in all its parts; we are forced to understand by necessity that the height contains angels and higher virtues, and the depth contains the underworld and what is below it, while the length and width consist of the middle parts between the higher and lower. And since it follows that something is either near to the higher or near to the lower, all things that begin to progress towards the better and to ascend towards heavenly things and high things are called length, but those that are close to the lower part and fall into vices have the name of width, for wide and spacious is the gate that leads to death (Matt. 7:13). All of these things can be understood in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He that ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, He descended first into the lower parts of the earth. And after height and depth, the preaching of the cross went forth into all the earth. And so it contains height and depth, length and width. It is not surprising if the cross of Christ possesses everything, since one who is crucified with Christ possesses the same power. For he who first knows width, beginning with the lower parts, and understanding smaller things, then knows length, hastening towards sublime and high things. After this, he knows depth, the adversaries and opposing virtues that fight against us in this world. And finally, he knows height, for once we have knowledge of them and have placed them under our feet, we shall deserve to ascend to high and lofty things. And it should not be thought that the end of our work is to be rooted and grounded in love, so that we may comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, unless we also desire to know with all diligence the eminent knowledge of the charity of Christ, so that it may be known to us not as simple charity, but as supereminent. And this is not the limit of having knowledge of the supereminent charity of Christ, unless we add another thing, that we attain the supereminent charity of knowledge. Hence it should be observed that Christ has a great and immense knowledge of charity, that is, of those who desire to know, who meditate on his law day and night, who turn words into actions and meditate with the mind and act with the hands. But he who is such that he is worthy through his knowledge of having the supereminent charity of Christ, should think of nothing else but of knowledge. And thus he will be filled with the fullness of God, not only in this present age but also in the future, so that he who has already begun to be full in study by reading, will afterwards be perfectly filled with God, who is the fullness of all things, filling Himself.
3:20-21
"But to him who is able to do superabundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." In reference to what he had just said: "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man," and so on, he now adds: "But to him who is able to do superabundantly beyond all that we ask or think," showing that he had indeed asked according to human weakness what seemed beneficial to them, but as far as the truth of the matter is concerned, he attributes more power to God than is asked for and acknowledges that our hopes may be surpassed by His actions because we don't always know what is appropriate to ask for and often ask for things that we think are good for us that, in fact, are not. For what is better than for a fornicator to be sick and tormented than to make the Temple of Christ a member of a harlot? Therefore, God is powerful not only in granting what we ask for but also what we understand. Sometimes, we are unable to express in words what we feel or think, and with silent thoughts and indescribable groans, as the Apostle says, we pray for things we cannot put into words. Therefore, He will provide beyond what we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, so that just as He gives us something now that we did not dare to ask for nor did we think we deserved, so will He grant us other things beyond what we can think or express. Thus, to God alone be the glory, first in the Church, which is pure, having no blemish or wrinkle, and which therefore can receive the glory of God because it is the body of Christ. Secondly, in Christ Jesus, because in the body of the assumed man, all members of believers (are) to whom all divinity dwells corporally. And this glory is not only for the present time and the future generations, but it remains and grows with ineffable eternity in all generations and the world of the worlds.
4:1
Therefore I urge you, a prisoner for the Lord, to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. It is possible for one to write this even in the chains of Christ, and in prison for martyrdom - it is better to say that we are prisoners of the Lord in the love of Christ. As Clement testifies in writing to the Corinthians, 'The bond of God's love, who can describe it?' (1 Corinthians 13) And in the first book of Kings we read, 'After these things, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David' (1 Kings 18:1). And the prophet said of the apostles, 'After you, they will follow, carrying chains in their hands' (Psalm 106). For those who love Christ, they follow him bound by the bonds of love. There is also another explanation which may or may not be accepted, depending on the reader's interpretation: This bond is said to be the body of the soul, and because Paul accepted this ministry of the Gospel, he was consequently known as the prisoner of Christ. This body is said to be the bond, and those who are bound in the body are called the prisoners of the earth; Jeremiah attests to this in the second alphabet, saying, 'To humble under his feet all the prisoners of the earth' (Lamentations 3:34). And elsewhere we read this very same thing spoken by Christ: 'Go out to those who are imprisoned, and those who are in darkness, reveal yourselves' (Isaiah 49:9). Indeed, this bond may indicate the chains of sin, and the darkness of ignorance, which the prophet shows being broken by the coming and preaching of Christ. But the higher meaning also has its place: that the bond is the body, and the darkness is this earthly habitation, where there are rulers of darkness, and dark mountains, to whose feet we are forbidden to stumble. But when he says, 'to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,' he is to be believed who enters through him who says, 'I am the way' (John 14:6 and Isaiah 30), and does not turn aside to the right or to the left, but turns his foot from every evil way (Proverbs 4), and in him is completed: 'The steps of a man are established by the Lord' (Psalm 37:23).
4:2
With all humility and meekness, with patience, he who knows he is but earth and ashes, soon to be dissolved into dust, will never be lifted up by pride. And he who, having contemplated the eternity of God, has considered the short and almost infinitesimal span of human life, will always have in his mind the idea of death, and will be humble and meek. 'For the corruptible body is a load upon the soul, and the earthly habitation oppresseth the mind that museth upon many things.' (Wisdom 9:15) Therefore, let us say with all humility: 'Lord, my heart is not exalted: nor are my eyes lifted up.' (Psalm 130:1) True humility consists not so much in speaking humble words as in having a humble mind, so that we may be conscious of our own lowliness, and never esteem ourselves greater than we are or presume to know or understand anything. Meekness is that virtue which is never disturbed by passion, and especially not by anger or fury. He who possesses it will achieve the happiness promised by the Lord, so that he may possess the earth, that is, have power over his own body and be its master, and this will be his first inheritance, to live in the flesh but not according to the flesh. Some, with wrinkled brows, lowered eyebrows, and pompous words, assume themselves to be the authorities of the learned and the judges. Not because they know themselves to be worthy of arrogance, but so that they may appear to be above those they see as simple among their brethren.
"Suffering with one another in charity." Anyone who understands what "suffering with one another in charity" means will not think that this commandment applies to holy men, but rather to those who are at the beginning of virtue. Indeed, the saints do not have (or have) anything to suffer with each other, but those who are still overcome by some passion, like ordinary humans. It is not surprising if the people of Ephesus hear these things, as there are some among the multitude of believers who still have to suffer with each other. It seems to me that this also means what is written to the Galatians: "Bear one another's burdens" (Galatians 6:2). Therefore, we can interpret both testimonies differently: either to bear each other's burdens or to suffer with each other in charity, and to say that those who are rich support the poverty of the poor. If someone helps a sick brother, he suffers him in charity. If someone living a blessed life in celibacy helps someone else who has a wife and children, and can barely support himself, and comforts him in any way he can, he will be praised for carrying a stranger's burden. If someone sees a sick mother or sister wasting away in poverty and cannot help, but someone reaches out a hand to help, he is sustained in charity. Whether we follow the higher sense or the lower sense: he who does not have charity and disregards the words of the Apostle, who reminds us that "we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves" (Romans 15:1), does not comfort a sinning brother or a poor one.
4:3, 4
"Anxious to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope of your calling." This is correctly said to those in Ephesus who had already attained the unity of the Holy Spirit: "Anxious to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." For those who have something, there must be concern to keep it. But those who do not have it must strive to obtain it. This passage is especially challenging for heretics who think they maintain the unity of the spirit when the bond of peace is destroyed and corrupted: for the unity of the Spirit is preserved through the bond of peace. When we do not all speak the same thing, and one says, "I am of Paul, and another, "I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas" (1 Cor. 1:12), we divide the unity of the Spirit and tear it into parts and members. But someone may object: "How then are there different gifts and different graces, when the unity of the Spirit must be maintained?" There are certainly different gifts, but they are from the same Spirit, and different ministries, but the same Lord, and diverse operations, but the same God who performs all things in all (1 Cor. 12:4ff.). What is meant by "One body and one spirit" is either simply understood as the body of Christ, which is the Church, or at least what he deigned to assume from the Virgin, so that he would not appear forever incarnate, as he did in the Old Testament. And there is one Holy Spirit, the one who gives and sanctifies all. Or certainly, one body refers to practical life and works, which are called praxis, in Greek; and one spirit refers to knowledge and contemplation, which properly dwell in the heart and are called theoria by some. Thus, if someone is a member of the Church and not separated from its spirit, then he will consequently be in one hope of his calling. But it is asked how there can be only one hope of the calling when there are many mansions in the Father's house. To this we answer that we say the one hope of the calling to be the kingdom of heaven, like the one house of God the Father, and that in one house there are many mansions. "For the glory of the sun is one, and the glory of the moon another, and the glory of the stars another" (1 Cor. 15:41). Or certainly it is more subtly indicated that at the end and consummation of things, everything will be restored to its original state, when we all become one body and are reformed into a perfect man, and the prayer of our Savior for us will be fulfilled: "Father, grant that as I and you are one, so they may be one in us" (John 17:21). I understand that in what I have explained thus far, "anxious to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," the Spirit is understood by many to mean not the Holy Spirit, but the emotion of the mind and feeling, according to which the soul and heart of all believers were one (Acts 4). And to the virgin, the Apostle commands: "That she be holy in body and spirit" (1 Cor. 7:34), that is, in the work of the flesh and in the emotion of the mind. But a general explanation can be applied to a specific interpretation, that one preserves the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace by not being carried away by every wind of doctrine, nor being foolish like the moon, sometimes serving the devil, sometimes serving God. Rather, one should have one body of good works and always present his flesh as a temple to God. And one spirit: always feeling the same thing, in one hope of his calling, so as not to be unsure of the promises and to have solid confidence in the resurrection and restoration of all things.
4:5, 6
"One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." Just as faith and baptism are different from God and Lord, so also baptism, Lord, and God are distinct from one another even though they are all named together. I mention this because of Sabellius, who thinks that the same God is both Father and Son and confuses the persons by recognizing the same divinity in each. But it is clear that one Lord, the Son and one God, the Father are called upon. This is also more fully expressed to the Corinthians: "Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist" (1 Cor. 8:6). Just as by the Father not taking away the Son, he is still Lord since only He alone is referred to as Lord, so also the Father does not remove from the Son that He is God, since only the Father is referred to as God. We also read elsewhere: "And know that the Lord Himself is God" (Ps. 99:2); and elsewhere: "The Lord your God, the God alone is" (Deut. 6:4). If, as the Arians believe, the Father alone is God, then by the same reasoning, Jesus Christ will be the only Lord, and neither the Father nor the Son will be God. But it should not be that dominion is not in deity or that deity is not in dominion. There is one Lord, and there is one God, since the dominion of the Father and the Son is one divinity. Therefore, the faith is called one because we believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the same way, and the baptism is one because we are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are also immersed three times to show the oneness of the sacrament of the Trinity. We are not baptized in the names of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit but in one name, which is understood to be God. It is surprising how Arius, Macedonius, and Eunomius, though holding different beliefs, suspect diversity of nature in one word, one work, and one sacrament, and holding the Son and the Holy Spirit to be a common source of creation, have led different streams of heresies. "One baptism" is also against Valentinus, who claims that there are two baptisms, and against all heretics, so that they know they do not have baptisms, but there is a vital font in the Church of Christ. One baptism can also be said to be threefold because even though we are baptized three times because of the mystery of the Trinity, we still consider it to be one baptism. Baptism is also in water, spirit, and fire, as the Lord spoke of it: "I have a baptism to be baptized with" (Luke 12:50) , and elsewhere: "You will be baptized with my baptism" (Mark 10:39). The difference in prepositions used in "One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" implies different meanings. God the Father is over all because He is the author of all. The Son is through all because He passes through and goes through all. The Holy Spirit is in all because nothing is without Him. It should not be thought that one God and Father of all is commonly shared to the point that even irrational animals can be named as a Father, but just as if we were to say of ten people, five sons and five servants, all of them have one Lord and one Father: we would not call them all fathers or lords, but in the same way, when it says "One God and Father of all," it must be understood that some have another Father, and some have another God. This is something that Zeno and his Stoics also suspect about creatures and also about God, whom Virgil follows when he says in Aeneid. VI:
"Deum namque ire per omnes Terrasque tractusque maris, etc." translates to "For indeed God goes through all lands and the regions of the sea, etc."
In the beginning, the heavens and the earth, and the liquid plains, and the shining orb of the moon, and the stars of Titania, are all nourished by a spirit within, and the mind, infused through all the limbs, agitates the entire mass and mingles with the great body. Some interpret this that is written: "above all, and through all, and in all" as referring to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that the Father is "above all" because he is the author of all things; the Son is "through all" because all things were created through the Son; the Holy Spirit is "in all" because he is given to believers and we are the temple of the Holy Spirit; both the Father and the Son dwell within us.
4:7
"To each one of us, however, grace has been given according to the measure of Christ's gift." Although God the Father is above all, and through all, and in all, nevertheless grace is given to those who believe according to the measure. It is not that God gives the Spirit and grace according to measure (for there is no limit to His magnificence), but that He pours out the liquid according to the measure of the vessels, giving as much of the gift as the receiver can take. For God does not give the Spirit according to measure, nor can that which is equally diffused everywhere have measure. To make this clearer, let us take an imperfect comparison: the sea is certainly immense, and its capacity is known only to God; hence, if one wishes to give it to many people according to what they can carry, it is necessary to give to each according to measure, and they receive a portion of it, whose solid quantity is immeasurable. Similarly, the Holy Spirit is immense and has no end, yet is given to each according to what is expedient. And at the same time, it must be noted that the same grace which is now attributed to us was given to us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
4:8
Therefore, he says: 'Ascending on high, he led captivity captive, he gave gifts to men.' For he had said above, 'To each one of us grace has been given according to the measure of the gift of Christ,' so that he might confirm these very gifts, which he also enumerates a little later, saying: 'And he gave some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers,' and the rest. From the Savior, who gave them, he took testimony from the sixty-seventh Psalm, that we might know that the spoils that Christ the conqueror purchased are distributed to men. For ascending on high, he led captivity captive. We believers in Christ, gathered out of the Gentiles, when we were God's creatures, were captured by the devil and distributed among his followers. Then our Lord Jesus Christ came, bearing with him the vessels of captivity spoken of by Ezekiel (Ch. 9 and 12), and with his head veiled so as not to be recognized by his adversaries, he preached remission to the captives and release to them who were held in chains. And he freed us from the chains of the enemy and the fetters of the old captivity, and led us with himself into heaven. And to those whom he delivered from the hand of the enemy as the victor, he gave different gifts of grace. And elegantly, he placed here, 'he gave gifts to men,' whereas in the Psalter it is written, 'he received gifts from men' (Ps. 67:19). But there, because it had not yet happened, but was promised for the future, it is said, 'he received.' Here, however, since the Apostle writes that he had already given, and the Church was established throughout the world, he does not write 'received,' but 'gave.' Some have explained this passage such that our Lord Jesus Christ ascended victoriously to heaven so that he might send from there angels and other powers to guard his churches. And while this place on earth is unworthy to have the presence of sublime powers, in a certain way they endured captivity. For he ascended on high, that he might captive captivity and give gifts to men. And the Apostle repeats this whole thing to teach that since he had already said, 'bearing with one another in love, eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,' he might show that in the various gifts of the Church, there might be harmony, and that there might not be immediately given occasion for schisms and dissensions, because according to the measure of the gift of Christ, each one of us received gifts, not the same but in one body and in one spirit, all of us called, that is, so that just as there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God the Father, so also we might be one in charity, keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.