4:9
But what is it that ascends except that which also descends into the lower parts of the earth? He who is said to have ascended, ascended because he had descended before. This means: 'But what is it that ascends except that which has also descended.' Therefore, we must look into that which is written elsewhere: 'No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man' (John 3:13), how did he ascend before descending? For when he spoke these words, he had already descended from heaven and was showing how he had once ascended to heaven. Similarly, we must consider how the descent and ascent are to be understood. Whether it was a physical descent and ascent or a spiritual one, or perhaps both. The lower parts of the earth refer to hell, into which our Lord and Savior descended in order to bring with him the souls of the saints who were held captive there, triumphantly leading them to heaven. This is why, after his resurrection, many bodies of the righteous were seen in the holy city (Matthew 27:52-53). That hell is located in the lower part of the earth is confirmed by the Psalmist who says: 'The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram' (Psalm 106:17). This is further explained in the Book of Numbers (Chapter 16). We also read elsewhere: 'Let death come deceitfully upon them; and let them go down alive into Hell' (Psalm 55:15).
4:10
"He who descended is himself also he who ascended above all the heavens, that he might fill all things." Did he bodily pass through all the heavens and the highest places and circles of the heavens, which philosophers call spheres, standing at the summit of the vault of heaven and, to use the word itself, the apse? Or rather, is he to be believed to have transcended and despised all bodily things and contemplated eternal things, standing above the heavens, that is, the invisible ones - which I prefer to think - for he descended into the lower parts of the earth and ascended above all the heavens, the Son of God, not only to fulfill the law and the prophets, but also certain other hidden dispensations which he alone knows with the Father. For we cannot know how the blood of Christ was profitable to the angels and to those who were in hell, but we cannot deny that it was profitable. He also descended into hell and ascended into heaven, to fill those who were in those regions according to what they could receive. From this it is to be understood that before Christ descended and ascended, all things were empty and needed his fullness. This passage is especially relevant against the Ebionites and Photinians, or those who fabricate two sons with insane error: namely, the Son of God and the son of man. Behold, it is clearly said here that he himself is both ascending and descending. And yet, as we say these things, we do not give a place to another heresy which asserts a divided dispensation of Christ; rather, we confess one Son of God and man, lest we in part cut off the dispensation of the assumed man by believing it in part.
4:11-12
And he, (Christ), gave some apostles, and some prophets, and other some evangelists, and other some pastors and doctors, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And from this place it is most clearly proved, the unity of divinity of the Father and Son. For, what Christ is now said to have given, is narrated to have been given by God the Father in the first Epistle to the Corinthians: “And God indeed hath set some in the church; first Apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly doctors; after that miracles, then the graces of healings, helps, governments, kinds of tongues [1 Cor. 12:28].” Which Sabellius not understanding, confounded the Father and the Son, while he believed that the same operation was not diverse. And at the same time, it should be noted that Christ is said to have given apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, while the Father is remembered to have placed the same. Therefore, both the Father and the Son put or gave, first Apostles, secondly prophets, not those who prophesied the future as we read in the Old Testament, but those who rebuke and judge unbelievers and the unwise. Those are defined as new testament prophets in another epistle [2 Cor. 11]. Thirdly, evangelists, whose feet are beautiful in announcing peace [Rom. 10]. Nor should it be thought that just as in the first three, some were said to be apostles, some prophets, and some evangelists, in the same way, different duties were assigned to pastors and teachers. For it does not say, "And some pastors, and some teachers," but, "And other some pastors and teachers" so that whoever is a pastor should also be a teacher, nor should he assume the name of a pastor in the Churches, although he may be holy, unless he can teach those whom he feeds. Or, certainly, that the same presiding officer of the Church be both a pastor and a teacher; a pastor of sheep, a teacher of men. For "Thou will save both men and beasts, O Lord" [Psalm 35:7]. I believe that even today in churches, just as there are prophets and evangelists, there can also be found pastors and teachers, in whom the signs and indications of apostleship are fulfilled. Conversely, there are many both among those outside and those within the Church, as well as those among heresies, who are pseudo-apostles, pseudo-prophets, pseudo-evangelists, pseudo-pastors, and pseudo-teachers. There is no doubt that amongst the heretics they completely possess all things according to false faith. But even in the churches, do not false pastors seem to you to exist, who do not feed the sheep with discipline, but like hirelings, do not think at all about the salvation of the flock, not converting that which has erred and not seeking that which has perished; but solely seeking milk and wool from the sheep, that is to say, capturing food and clothing? Nor indeed do we think that the Apostle suddenly broke forth without order into these matters, but because he had already asserted that God is above all and through all and in all, and that to each of the saints has been given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift, he now adds that there are other apostles, other prophets, other evangelists, other pastors and teachers, distributed in the church, who are necessary for the perfection and instruction of the saints in the work of the ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ. For since the body of the Lord is the Church, and the Church is built from living stones, those whom we mentioned above, when placed in the Church, have this work: that, according to the dispensation and duties entrusted to them, they build up the Church of Christ, that is, His body. So, if anyone does not build up the Church of Christ and does not instruct the people subject to him (so that Christ's Church is built up from the subject people), such a one cannot be called an Apostle, a Prophet, an Evangelist, a Pastor, or a Teacher.
4:13-15
"Until we all come to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by cunning and craftiness of people who are deceitful, leading to the error. But, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ." It is asked, who are all those that are said to come together in the unity of faith? Are they all people, or all saints, or certainly those who are capable of reason? It seems to me that it refers to all people, because there are many winds of doctrine. People who are agitated by the blast of these winds are carried here and there, uncertainly, and being tossed about by the variances of error. Therefore, we must strive with every effort, first to come together in the unity of faith, then to have a knowledge of the Son of God in the same unity. When we have secure possession of these, we will cease to be like children and receive the measure of the inner man, which is the measure of the fullness of Christ, and we will attain the status of perfect men. But we should do this so that the whole multitude of believers, too, may reach the perfect age of the fullness of Christ and not be carried about the waves of teaching like children. They may be shipwrecked or threatened when the winds, namely, those of heretics or worldly wise men, blow here and there with differing and opposing arguments. Some preach false things without any intention to deceive while others, employing all the cunning of error, hurry to deceive and overcome us by setting traps. When, therefore, the saints meet and reach the measure of the aforesaid man, then, understanding the love of Christ, they will increase in all things which they have received, the seeds of truth, having the Lord Jesus as the head of the body of the Church. However, since he says, "So that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro," it appears that he himself is also one who is tossed about and little, and he may retract it, whether this was said humbly, or whether he knew partially and recognized partially how far he was from perfect knowledge and spoke in the true words of his conscience. Therefore, if anyone wants to use his example of humility, he will say, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things" (1 Corinthians 13:11). Let someone else respond to this by comparing many things, that the Apostle reached the age of a perfect man, but is still referred to as a child in regards to what is reserved for the saints. For indeed, the prophet spoke of all the apostles who believe in Christ as being children, saying, "Behold, I and the children whom God has given me" (Isaiah 8:18). After this, it must be more carefully discussed, lest the Apostle may have said not only that he was a child out of humility, but also that he was wavering and being blown in every direction of doctrine, deluded by men's tricks and wickedness to fall into error. However, those who say that he pronounced these things from conscience rather than humility declare, "Paul the apostle was a man of sharp and keen intelligence, who foresaw with a penetrating mind all that was going to be argued by those who disputed with him from the beginning. Therefore, he often heard from both sides assertions of such verisimilitude in regard to contradictory matters that they caused the hearer to waver. For this reason, though blown about by the winds of doctrine, yet he was not crushed upon the rocks nor was his ship filled with the waves. For he stood at the helm on the deck and broke the raging waves of heresies with the security of his faith. However, he was not fearless and secure nor tranquil and placid, but watched for the winds from every quarter, caught them with an anxious ear, and conquered the opposing storms, but not without effort. Therefore, since he saw that the arguments and reasonings of his adversaries by which they were striving to overturn the truth could not easily be overcome and were full of every kind of shrewdness, even of dialectic and, in fact, of diabolical artifice, he hoped for the help of God to drive away from his mind all deliberation and believe the truth with certainty and fixedly, without any trouble, and in the love of Christ, whom he knew to be both the head of himself and of the whole body of the Church. It should be noted that this passage is more evident in Greek, but when it is translated word for word into Latin, the sense, enveloped in language, makes obscure what is said.
4:16
From whom the whole body, being compacted and fitly joined together through every joint of the supplies, according to the operation in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in charity. In the end of things, when we shall begin to see God face to face, and shall have come to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ (of whose fullness we have all received, John 1), so that Christ may not be partly in us, but may be wholly in us, and having left behind the elements of little children, we shall have grown unto the man in Him, of whom the prophet says, 'Behold, a man, the Orient is His name' (Zech. 6:12), and John the Baptist says (John 1:30), 'He that shall come after me, who is preferred before me' (or 'shall come'), then in the meeting of one faith and one knowledge of the Son of God, whom now, because of diversity of minds, we do not know by one and the same faith and knowledge, the whole body, which formerly was dispersed and torn into different pieces, will be brought together into its coherence and joint, so that one and the same supply and operation, and the consummated perfection of one age, may make the whole body grow equally, and all the members may receive an increase of age according to their own measure. And this whole edifice, by which the body of the Church is increased piecemeal, will be completed in mutual charity. Let us understand all reasonable creatures under the example of one reasonable animal, and let us know that whatever we say of its members and parts, it is to be referred to every reasonable creature. Let us suppose that this animal has been lacerated by its limbs, veins, and flesh, so that no bone sticks to another, and no nerve is connected to another: let the eyes be separated, the nostrils apart, the one hand in one location, and the other in another, let the feet be apart, and let the remaining members be dispersed and separated from each other in this manner. Imagine a doctor of such great knowledge, who, according to the stories of the ethnic people, can imitate Aesculapius and revive a new figure and a new name of plants. He must necessarily restore each member to its proper place, join together the joints, and with a certain glue, restore the parts and make one body. Until now, we have proceeded with only one likeness. Now, another example should be drawn to what we want to understand. The child should grow and, in secret age, grow into perfect adolescence. His hand will have its own growth, his feet will feel their own increase. While we don't know it, the stomach fills up, and while our eyes deceive us, the shoulders expand. And all the members grow in proportion to their own measure so that they do not seem to increase in themselves, but to the body. Therefore, in the restoration of all things, when the true physician Christ Jesus comes to heal the entire body of the church, now dispersed and torn, each person according to the measure of faith and knowledge of the Son of God (whom he is said to recognize because he had known him before and then ceased to know him) will regain his place and start to be what he was. But in such a way that they are not in the same heresy, that all are placed at the same age, that is, all are transformed into angels, but each member is perfect according to its measure and function. For example, that the fallen angel will begin to revert to what he was created for, and that man, who was ejected from paradise, will be restored to the cultivation of paradise again. All these things will be done in such a way that they are joined together in love, and as each member rejoices with the other, and is happy with the progress of the other, the body of Christ, the early church, will dwell in heavenly Jerusalem, which elsewhere the apostle calls the mother of the saints (Gal. 4). Therefore (as we said before), these things are obscure among us because they are said metaphorically in Greek. And every metaphor, if transferred from one language to another, suffocates the sense and germs of speech with certain brambles.
4:17-24
"Therefore, I say this and I testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds, darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ! — assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." Therefore, I urge you, as one who is a prisoner because of the Lord, to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Do not walk in the way of the Gentiles, who are depraved and who abandon themselves to sensuality, in their lust for impurity, and in their greed for more. This is not the way of Christ, whom we have learned to follow. Let us not be like those who have given themselves over to their own passions, who have become hardened in their hearts, who no longer know the way of truth. They have become lost in their own desires, giving themselves over to every kind of impurity, until they are never satisfied. They have even gone beyond the bounds of nature, committing the most vile and disgusting acts with one another, and receiving the just reward of their error. The vanity of their minds and the darkness of their understanding are manifested in two ways: in their worldly pursuits, which are fleeting and of no value, and in their pursuit of worldly wisdom, which is ultimately useless. Do you not see that those who spend their days and nights in the pursuit of dialectical arguments, who gaze into the heavens and delve into the depths of the earth, who construct poems and compose works of literature, are in vain? And what of those who seek wealth through any means necessary, who flatter kings and princes, who seize the property of others and gather riches, not knowing who will inherit them? When he says, "those who have given themselves over to despair," that is, ἀπηλγηκότες ἑαυτοὺς, it means something different in Greek than it does in Latin. "Despair" in Latin means to have lost hope, whereas in Greek, ἀπηλγηκότες refers to those who, having sinned, feel no pain or remorse. They do not sense their own downfall, but are like beasts who see the sword and run towards it. Consider two people who have fallen into sin: one who understands the gravity of his actions and mourns them, and one who takes pleasure in his wickedness and not only does not mourn, but even boasts and believes he has achieved some kind of victory. Does it not seem to you that one of them feels pain, while the other does not? Let us use the word-for-word translation and say "ἀπηλγηκότες," which means "indolent" or "pain-free." For some of the philosophers have taught "indolence," that is, freedom from pain. Those who introduce different concepts of nature should know that because of ignorance and blindness, people are walking in vanity with obscured minds, since they have given themselves over to ignorance and blindness. For no one is called unlearned and blind unless he can neither know nor see. Nor do we say that a stone is blind or a stupid animal ignorant, because they are not asked to know or see, nor is it in their nature to do so. But if it was the nature of the nations to understand and see the life of God, this was not because of varied natures of spirits and of the spiritual, but of their will. As we said above about all uncleanness, it does not necessarily imply avarice in a simple sense, but lust and excess. We must confirm this sense with the testimony of another passage. In the first Epistle to the Thessalonians, it is written: "For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness" (1 Thess. 4:3 and following). Pay attention, for when he is urging us to chastity and willing us to be content only with our wives, he says, "that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter," that is, not to abandon his own wife and seek to defile another man's wife. Where we have "transgress and wrong his brother in this matter," in Greek it reads, "and take advantage of his brother in the matter." πλεονεξία is called "avarice," which we can express in this context, taking the force of the word, as follows: "that no one transgress and cheat his brother in this matter." What is the consequent sense or reason that in this chapter we have now exemplified, or in this one that we are primarily trying to explain to the Ephesians, avarice is suddenly named among sexual immorality, impurity, chastity, and conjugal love? Do not let it bother you if we dwell on this obscure subject for a long time, for we took it up from the beginning, and among all of Paul's Epistles, it is especially involved in words and meanings.
4:20-24
"But you have not learned Christ that way; if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." Therefore, if all who appear to hear Christ, heard Him, this statement would never be made to the Ephesians, and certainly not to those to whom the Apostle revealed the sacraments of Christ: "if indeed you have heard Him." To learn Christ is to grasp His virtues, and to hear Him is no different than to hear wisdom, justice, fortitude and temperance, and other qualities by which Christ is called. Therefore, if anyone has heard and learned Christ, he will not walk in vanity of his own mind, nor be darkened in understanding, nor alienated from the life of God. He will also have knowledge, with ignorance removed and the darkness cast aside, all the blindness of his heart will be taken away. Having this, he will not give himself over to impurity, nor will he work every uncleanness in covetousness, passing the confines of marriage. But if, at any point, he is overtaken by some passion, he will grieve over his wound and suffer the torments of his conscience, because he has lost his free face and the purity of an immaculate mind. Let us therefore learn Christ and hear Him; if anyone can say: "Do you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?" (1 Cor. 13:3) Let us run to Him day and night, and hang upon His lips and His words. Christ speaks to us, the words He promises are of the Holy Spirit. For God established in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers. But neither is it despair, that perhaps Christ may speak in our minds and teach us through Himself, and not require the instrument of another's mouth, provided only that we are not subject to sin and that our body does not possess wickedness, and wisdom enters into it.
4:21
"As there is truth in Jesus." The word "Jesus" sometimes refers to the man who was assumed by the Word of God from the Virgin, according to the saying, "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Luke 1:31), and elsewhere, "Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey" (John 4:6) and so on. At other times, it refers to the Word of God himself. For we have one Lord Jesus Christ through whom all things are. Therefore, when Jesus says, "I am the way, and the truth" (John 14:6), it means that he is the Son of God. But when Paul writes, "As there is truth in Jesus," he speaks of the temple of the body, in which the Word of God dwells. For the "Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). Unless both are understood of the Word of God, how he dwells in him as life, and himself is life, "For as the Father has life in himself; so has he given the Son also to have life in himself" (John 5:26). So the truth is called the Son, and it is shown to dwell in him. However, we say this without separating Jesus from Christ, nor again saying that God the Word, whom he assumed, is another man. But according to the understanding of the effects or places, we believe that he whom we believe to be the Son of man and the Son of God is one and the same, before and after the Virgin, and at different times bearing different names. "As there is truth in Jesus" can also be understood differently. Truth was in none of the patriarchs, prophets, or apostles, except in Jesus alone. For others knew in part, prophesied in part, and saw as in a mirror dimly (1 Corinthians 13). In Jesus alone, the truth of God appeared, which speaks confidently, "I am the truth" (John 14:6), which grants liberty to those who believe in him according to the analogy of faith. For whoever knows the truth is given freedom by the truth. Therefore, the truth itself took on the form of a servant, and humbled itself, became obedient to the Father even unto death (Philippians 2), in order to make the servant free. For where the spirit of God is, there is liberty. If we want to see the form of freedom in Jesus and the face of truth, let us ascend with him to the mountain, let us see him transfigured, where even his garments, that is, the Scriptures that announce him, are changed, and Moses and Elijah, that is, the Law and the Prophets, appear in glory (Matthew 17). As long as the Lord does not change the form of the servant or ascend the mountain, the Law is in rags, the Prophets in emaciation. But when he has ascended to higher things and wants to change his garments and his understanding of the servant is clear and free, then Moses and Elijah and their faces and garments are changed.
4:22
"Put off the old man according to your former conversation, who is corrupted according to the desire of error." Because it seems to follow an order and the text is full of thought, it should be read as follows: "But you have not learned Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, putting off your former way of life, the old man who is corrupted according to the desire of error, as truth is in Jesus, so that the meaning is: Just as truth is in Jesus, it will also be in you who have learned Christ, heard Him, and have been taught to put off your former way of life, the old man who is corrupted according to the desire of error. However, I believe that the old man commanded to be put off is called inveterate from evil. For he wanders always according to his former way of life and the desire for error, and lurking in the act of corruption, he is corrupted and violated. And since he constantly revolves in the desire of error and never ceases from vice, he is not said to be corrupted, but to be corrupting, which is corrupted, intercepted, violated at every day, hour, moment, and point. But the word of God, which kills in order to give life to the dead and makes the revived seek the Lord, whom they did not know before death, does not corrupt, but kills the old man. "For I kill," he says, "and I give life" (Deut. 32:39); and "When he killed them, then they sought him" (Ps. 77:34). And let us not think that what is said now, "Who is corrupted according to the desire of error"is contradictory to what is written elsewhere: "And though our outward man is corrupted, yet the inward man is renewed day by day" (2 Cor. 4:16). For the corruption of the outward man is the renovation of the inward man and the corruption of the inward man is the restoration of the outward man. Someone may think that Paul is speaking simply: If anyone corrupts the temple of God, God will corrupt him, for you are the temple of God. But perhaps there is something hidden there that seems hidden to us. If we are the temple of God according to what is written, "For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are" (1 Cor. 3:17), then someone else corrupting the temple of God is different from what is being corrupted. It should be asked who corrupts the temple of God. If you find enemies of Jerusalem, corrupting and violating the temple built of stones, you will equally see anyone corrupting and violating the temple of God, whom God will corrupt and violate, avenging the corruption of His temple. However, even the temple that presents itself (although it is alive and sensible) will pay the penalty for its own corruption and violation, in that, corrupted and violated, it lost the spirit of incorruption.
4:23-24
But be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth. For we are not renewed in sense without the spirit, nor in spirit without sense, but we are renewed together in the spirit of our mind, so that just as we sing with the spirit, we also sing with understanding, pray with the spirit, and pray with understanding, therefore, in the spirit of our mind we are renewed, so that when our sense has been purified and cleansed from every stain of impure accumulation and has turned away from all that is unclean, then the spirit can be joined to it in such a way that they become one. It is no longer simply a spirit, but it is called a spirit of understanding. When we are renewed in the spirit of our mind, which is our spirit, then we put on the new man who is created according to God. This, in other words, is what is said in another place: 'Put on Christ Jesus' (Romans 13:14). He is the new man, whom all believers must put on and be clothed with. For what was not new in the man who was assumed by our Savior? From conception, birth, infancy, teaching, life, virtues, and finally his cross and passion, he stripped himself of his princely status and demonstrated oppositional strength. His resurrection also and ascension into heaven truly made him created in justice and holiness of truth, because he was the true God, and the Son of God, in whom all religion and justice are completed in truth. Therefore, whoever can imitate his way of life and express all the virtues within himself, and be meek, as he was meek, and humble in heart, and lay down his life for his friends, as Christ laid down his life for his sheep, and when struck does not retaliate, and when cursed does not curse back, but overcomes pride with humility, he is clothed with the new man, and can say with the Apostle: 'Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me' (Galatians 2:20), and 'Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ' (1 Corinthians 11:1). He may also take on the words of John: 'He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked' (1 John 2:6). When it is said, 'who is created according to God,' it does not mean the same thing in Latin as in Greek. For in Latin, creation is called 'generation,' or 'nativity,' but in Greek, the word 'creation' is used to mean 'making' and 'condition.' And what is called 'condition' in Latin, means 'creation' in Greek. Therefore, when heretics attack the birth of Christ, they use the example of Solomon: 'The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing from the beginning' (Proverbs 8:22). Therefore, it must be understood that creation and condition are never mentioned except in great works. So, for example, the world was created, the city was founded, and although a house may be large, it is said to be built rather than created or founded. For in great works and creations, the word 'creation' is used. From this, it is evident that this new man, who is created in Christ according to God, is a great work of God and stands out above all other creatures, since he is so made that he was created in the world and at the beginning of God's ways, and in the beginning of all elements.
4:25
"Therefore, putting away lying, let each one speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another." The Apostle did not command simply or solely a moral duty of speaking truth with one's neighbor while abandoning lying. Otherwise, if we only speak truth with our neighbors, whoever is not a neighbor should hear lies. Indeed, this is also commanded in the Law: "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:17). If "neighbor" were taken to mean only a nearby or friendly person, then it would be permitted to commit adultery with strangers. But "neighbor" includes every human who has been born of the same parent as us. This is also signified by the parable of the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers: both the priest and the Levite passed by, but a Samaritan took care of him and brought him to an inn (Luke 10). The Lord then affirms that the one who showed mercy to the man is his neighbor, wishing to show that all people are neighbors to one another. In fact, what follows, "for we are members of one another," seems to me to refer more to the mystery and to speak of those who are close to us in faith and virtue. Indeed, we are only members of one another if we are faithful to the faithful, Christians to Christians, and the perfect to those who are of full and perfect virtue. This is why the perfect Paul himself speaks of wisdom among the perfect in another Epistle (1 Corinthians 2:6). Therefore, each one is commanded to speak about mystical and secret things, and those things which are full of God's truth, with his neighbor, and to day by day pour forth words like these, and night by night to declare his knowledge (Psalm 19), that is to say, to make clear and shining things known to those who deserve to hear. "You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14). Likewise, he should inform the ambiguous and the unclear, and reveal to all those who are as if night, darkness, or obscurity, of whom it is said: "And darkness under his feet" (Psalm 18:9), and without doubt, this is about God. For Moses himself went into a cloud and darkness on Mount Sinai, where God was (Exodus 19), and it is written about God: "He made darkness his secret place" (Psalm 18:11). Therefore, let each one speak the truth and the mystery with his neighbor, and not give what is holy to dogs, nor cast pearls before swine (Matthew 7), but let him lead those who have the oil of truth into the bridal chamber of the Bridegroom and the storehouse of the King. Furthermore, what is said, "Let each one speak truth with his neighbor," we should know is taken from the prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 8:16).
4:26
"Be angry, but do not sin." This is taken from the fourth psalm, without doubt, and it seems to contradict what is said elsewhere: "But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips" (Colossians 3:8). However, it is harmful to interpret it simply as an indication of unrestrained anger. In fact, there are two types of anger not only recognized among us but also among philosophers. We may become aroused by natural impulses when provoked by an insult, or we may have a judgment when the impulse has subsided and the anger has been extinguished, yet still desire revenge upon the one who is said to have injured us. Therefore, I believe that what has been said about the former type of anger is now to be applied to us, so that we may be moved to indignation at the sight of something unworthy and disturbance of the mind may arise like a gentle breeze, but we must not be driven by the impetus of the swelling waves of rage. Our Firmian wrote a book about the anger of God in both learned and eloquent language, and I think that whoever reads it will be sufficient and abundant enough to understand anger.
"Let not the sun go down on your anger." If we understand this simply to refer to the physical sun that we see with our eyes, we err, for when we become angry and the sun sets, our anger remains. But we do not sin if, for example, from the first hour until the eleventh hour, we do what our indignation, rage, and anger suggest. In this sense, nothing seems more absurd than to think that someone cannot indulge in such depravity from sunrise to sunset as can be atoned for in a lifetime of tears. Or should anger not have a place during the day, since the night is a time of rest from fury, and with sleep, even if we are angry, we can delay our anger until the next day. Since the true sun, like that which set on the false prophets, according to what is written, "The sun shall go down over the prophets" (Amos 8:9), so it sets also over all sinners, denying them the light of its rising. The Apostle now forbids us to allow our anger to lead us to such things as would cause the sun to set on us and the principal light of our hearts to be covered in darkness. Some think that this should be understood simply as with the fourth psalm, from which it seems to be borrowed: "Be ye angry, and sin not: the things you say in your hearts, be sorry for them upon your beds" (Psal. 4:5), that is, whatever sins we may commit during the day, whether in action, speech, or thought, may they be cleansed with repentance at night, and let anger be brief and not deferred until the next day.