Origen, Commentary on Romans — Book 7
Latin source: J.-P. Migne (ed.), Patrologia Graeca 14 (Rufinus's Latin version of Origen's Commentarii in Epistulam ad Romanos ). This English translation is in the public domain.
BOOK 7
[§1] Just as we have shown that in this Epistle diverse laws are mentioned by Paul under the single word "law," and that diverse deaths are named under the one designation "death," so now we also see diverse spirits indicated under the one name of "Spirit." He says, then, in the present chapter: "For whoever are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God"; and in this he certainly means the very Spirit of God. And again in what follows: "For you have not received," he says, "the spirit of bondage again in fear." In this he shows that the spirit of bondage is other than that which he called above the Spirit of God. And therefore he adds: "But you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, in which we cry: Abba, Father." In this he shows that the spirit of adoption is the same as that which he called above the Spirit of God, concerning which he also repeats: "For the Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit" — that is, the very Spirit of God, in which we cry out to God as Father, bears witness to our spirit. And this spirit of ours is without doubt other than either that spirit of bondage which is given in fear, or this one which bears witness to it concerning the invocation of the Father. All human beings, therefore, as it appears, are led by some spirit, just as Paul himself wrote: "But you also know that, when you were Gentiles, how you were led to mute idols." In this he shows that even the Gentiles are led to idols by some spirit. There is, then, the Spirit of God, who is the same as the Spirit of Christ, and this same one is also the Holy Spirit. But the spirit of adoption too seems to be called the same, as the present apostolic discourse declares. David also, who says, "Take not your Holy Spirit from me," and, "Strengthen me with your principal Spirit," seems to be speaking of the same one; and I think that Spirit was called "principal" for this reason, that it might be shown that there are indeed many spirits, but that among them this Holy Spirit — who is also called "principal" — holds the primacy and dominion. For just as there are many sons of God, as the Scripture says, "I have said: You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High," yet there is one who is by nature Son and Only-begotten of the Father, through whom all the others are called sons, so also there are indeed many spirits, but there is one who truly proceeds from God himself, and who bestows on all the rest the grace of his own name and sanctification. And that there are many spirits, the same Apostle declares, writing to the Hebrews and saying: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent for service on account of those who receive the inheritance of salvation?" But David too says: "Who makes his angels spirits." And Daniel likewise bears witness and says: "Bless the Lord, you spirits and souls of the just." And in the present passage Paul says, "The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit"; and in another place: "That your spirit whole and entire, and soul, and body may be preserved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." There is no doubt that all these things are said of rational spirits. Besides these, evil spirits and evil angels are named, as David also says: "He sent forth upon them the wrath of his indignation, a sending forth by evil angels"; and as it is written of Saul in the books of Kingdoms: "And the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord choked him"; and as it is reported in the book of Judges: "And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem." This evil spirit, then, who is said either to have gone forth to choke Saul, or to set Abimelech and the Shechemites at odds, and is recorded to have gone forth and been sent from the Lord, is to be understood as a kind of executioner sent to exact punishments from sinners. And although they are called evil on account of their own purpose and will, nevertheless in the case of those who are worthy of punishment they render service to the divine will — like that lying spirit of whom the prophet Micaiah reports, who, when it had been said by God, "Who will seduce Ahab for me?" answered: "I will seduce him. And the Lord said: By what means? And he said: I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all the prophets," and I will say that he should go up to Gilead, and there he will fall. "And the Lord said: Go; you shall seduce him, and indeed you shall prevail." Thus, then, even those who are called evil spirits perform a service for God in the matter of punishments. There are besides other spirits also, of whom David says: "With a violent wind you shall shatter the ships of Tarshish"; and there are said to be "spirits of the tempest" and "a spirit of burning heat." These, however, I should call material rather than rational spirits.
[§2] Having therefore first set out such a distinction concerning the term "spirit," let us now see what the meaning is of what he said: "For you have not received the spirit of servitude again in fear, but you have received the spirit of the adoption of sons, in which we cry: Abba [Father]." It is written also in the prophet Malachi: "A son honors his father, and a servant his master: and if I am a Father, where is my honor? and if I am a Lord, where is my fear? says the Lord almighty." But it is certain that a person becomes a son of God through the spirit of adoption, and a servant of God through the spirit of servitude. The beginning, therefore, of serving God — since "the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord" — is fulfilled through the spirit of fear, while one is still called a little child. And for little children fear is indeed a tutor. Whence the Apostle also says concerning such a little child: "As long as the heir is a little child, he differs in nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but he is under guardians and stewards until the time predetermined by the father; so also we, when we were little children, were in servitude under the elements of this world." You see how Paul, according to the wisdom granted him by God, has here called the spirits that are given in fear the guardians and stewards of little children — spirits which keep each one of us, so long as he is a little child, in fear according to the inner man, until he comes to that age at which he may deserve to receive the spirit of the adoption of sons, and may now be a son and lord of all. "For all things," he says, "are yours," and together with Christ God has given us all things. This, then, is what Paul teaches: that after we have died together with Christ, and his Spirit has come to be in us, we have not again received the spirit of servitude in fear — that is, we have not once more been made little children and beginners, but as men already perfected we have received once for all the spirit of adoption, "in which" spirit "we cry: Abba, Father." For no one calls him father except a son. But as for his adding "Abba," he repeated the very same thing in the vocabulary of his native tongue, as if he had said: Father, father.
[§3] "For the Spirit himself renders testimony to our spirit, that we are sons of God. But if sons, heirs also; heirs indeed of God, but coheirs of Christ: if however we suffer together with him, that we may also be glorified together with him." Therefore the spirit of adoption itself, through which a person is adopted into sonship, renders testimony and confirms to our spirit that we are sons of God, after we have passed from the spirit of servitude into the spirit of adoption, when now there is nothing of fear within, that is, when we do nothing on account of dread of punishment, but accomplish all things on account of love of the Father. And it is well said that the Spirit of God renders testimony not to the soul, but to the spirit, which is the better part in man. But for the distinction between those who are led by the spirit of servitude in fear and those who are led by the spirit of sons, this too may be taken up: that Abraham gave his inheritance indeed to Isaac, but to the sons of the handmaids or concubines he is said to have given not an inheritance but gifts or presents. In which without doubt this is foreshadowed: that not even those are utterly despised who still serve God in fear, but for them there are gifts and there are presents; the inheritance, however, through which they are glorified together with Christ, belongs to those who deserve to receive the spirit of adoption. After this the Apostle now weaves a syllogism from what follows, and says: If we have received the spirit of adoption, then we are sons. But if we are sons, without doubt we are also heirs. For a servant awaits wages, a son hopes for an inheritance. And again he adds another enlargement of the conclusion: "Heirs indeed of God, but coheirs of Christ." One becomes an heir of God when he deserves to receive the things that are God's, that is, the glory of incorruption and immortality, the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge; but a coheir of Christ when "he will transform the body of our lowliness to be conformed to the body of his brightness," and also when he has deserved to obtain that which the Savior himself says: "Father, I will that where I am, these also may be with me." There is besides that dignity too of the coheirs of Christ, that the Father indeed "has given all judgment to the Son." But the Son also says to his coheirs: "You also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." And in this way Christ brings his coheirs not only into a share of the inheritance, but even into a partnership of power. "If however," he says, "we suffer together with him, that we may also be glorified together with him." He suffers together with Christ who says: "I have been crucified together with Christ"; and: "But I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me"; and again he who says: "If we have died together with him, we shall also live together with him; if we endure together, we shall also reign together"; or also he who is able to say that "what was lacking of the sufferings of Christ, I fill up in my body." And just as God supremely exalted Christ, because he had humbled "himself, made obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and gave him a name which is above every name," so also those who suffer together with Christ, and imitate the example of his sufferings, God exalts with him in glory. For this is the way which Christ opened to his coheirs, that they should be exalted neither from strength nor from wisdom, but from humility, and should attain the eternal glory of the inheritance from patience under tribulations. 4. "For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come which shall be revealed in us. For the expectation of the creature awaits the revelation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willing it, but on account of him who subjected it in hope: because the creature itself also shall be freed from the servitude of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God. For we know that every creature groans together and grieves together even until now." If anyone should consider that, in exchange for a person's being made a son of the most high God, and an heir of his goodness and glory, and a coheir of Christ the only-begotten Son of God, even if he should remain without complaint in the observance of all the commandments and the justifications of the Lord, and should persevere in these with ever-watchful mind; if also he should endure all kinds of punishments which can be inflicted on human nature from within or from without; or even if someone should so endure the things which are recorded as having been written concerning Job, where Satan destroyed not only those things which seemed to be outside himself, in his goods and his children, but even touched his very bones and flesh, and struck him with a most grievous wound from his feet to his head, so that, taking a potsherd, he scraped off the pus flowing from his sores — if, I say, there can be still heavier things than these which he endures who in this most brief life suffers tribulation in all things, who is tormented in soul and body, and if he compares these things with the future glory which "shall be revealed" in the saints, and with those things which "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it ascended into the heart of man" — he can understand how Paul, considering these matters more deeply, says: "For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us." For nothing worthy can be found or compared to the future glory. For in what respect would you compare mortal things with immortal? or visible with invisible? or temporal with eternal? or perishable with everlasting? If, however, there are certain things in the present life which can be gathered as, so to speak, seeds of the future glory, these seeds, I say, are gathered from tribulations and sufferings, as the same Apostle also says in another place: "For that which in the present is momentary and light in our tribulation works for us beyond measure an immense weight of eternal glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen." For by these words he shows that he who looks at those things which are not seen, and which are eternal, counts every tribulation, of whatever kind it may befall him — however savage, however long it may seem — as momentary and light: even if he be subjected to torments, and goads, and iron claws, at that very time when his body is fixed under punishments, if he looks to the future glory which is to be revealed, and considers how after such great torments this body of his lowliness will be transformed, so that it may become conformed to the body of the glory of the Son of God, he counts the present tribulation momentary and light; but the weight of the future glory he reckons heavy, that is, great, and eternal: and the more he sees the penalties of tribulations multiplied for himself, the more fully he understands that a weight and magnitude of glory is being heaped up for him. And that from the quantity of tribulations a certain measure and magnitude of glory is gathered, I think the prophet David also indicates when he says: "According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, your consolations have gladdened my soul." Whence I think that in the present life the consolation which is given to the just is given according to the measure of their torments and wounds; but the future glory, of which the Apostle says that it "shall be revealed in us," is not according to the measure of the sufferings: "for the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed" in the saints; but, as we quoted from what was said to the Corinthians, from the momentary and light labor of our tribulations certain seeds gathered will prepare for us beyond measure an immense weight of eternal glory.
That divine consolation is truly bestowed upon the just even in the present life according to the measure of their sufferings, the same Apostle confirms when he writes in the second letter to the Corinthians: "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also does our consolation abound." And he did not say: It abounds beyond measure, or immeasurably; but rather, as great as the sufferings are, so great also are the consolations. But as to what he says, "in comparison with the glory to come, which shall be revealed in us," I think that above we have already shown sufficiently concerning the difference of glories — what that glory is which has already been revealed, and what that is which is yet to be revealed; and how the things which we now see, "we see through a glass and in a riddle, but then," when the Son of Man shall have come in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels, "we shall see face to face," just as John also said: "For we shall see him as he is." But that too may be regarded as the glory which is to be revealed, when the account of each and every one of the principles of the world, or of those things which are above the world, shall begin to be known as doctrine, and the treasures of his wisdom and knowledge shall be revealed. After these things he says: "For the expectation of the creature awaits the revelation of the sons of God." Wishing to show how great and of what sort is the glory which is to be revealed in himself, or in those who shall have sweated out to the full the contests of Christ, the Apostle says that the creature also, inasmuch as it is rational, has a certain expectation, and bears a hope of that time in which the glory of the sons of God is to be revealed — that is, when those things shall be revealed which have been prepared for those who shall have deserved to be sons of God, or certainly when, the veil being taken away by which they are covered, they themselves shall have been made manifest as being sons of God. But what is the creature which awaits the revelation of the sons of God? That, he says, which now "is made subject to vanity"; and it is made subject "not willingly," nor of its own accord, but by the will of him who dispenses all things. Therefore it has been made subject on his account; yet made subject not on this condition, that it should remain forever subject to vanity, but with a certain hope. And what that hope is, he recalls, saying: "Because the creature itself also," he says, "shall be freed from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God." Now Paul says that he and those like him know "that every creature groans together and suffers pain together until now," or, as it is found in other copies, "groans together and is in travail until now." But to groan together and to suffer together is to groan or grieve along with another who grieves or groans — that is, when one has himself no cause for groaning or grieving, yet he groans on behalf of him who has cause for groaning or grieving. And he says that the creature does these things because it has been made subject to vanity and has been placed in the servitude of corruption. Let these things stand as expounded, so far as pertains to the order of the apostolic discourse itself. [Now, taking up the matter again, let us examine more attentively what that vanity is to which the creature is said to be made subject, and what that corruption is from whose servitude it hopes to be freed. It seems to me that these things are said concerning this material and corruptible substance of the body. For corruption holds dominion over nothing else save the body. For that interior man who was created according to God, and made after the image of God, is incorruptible and invisible, and according to his own proper principle may even be called incorporeal. But the exterior man is called both corporeal and corruptible; on which account Paul said of him: "For even if our outward man is corrupted, yet he who is within is renewed." But the renewal of the interior man, inasmuch as he is rational and is mind, consists in the knowledge of God and in the capacity for the Holy Spirit. But that we may commit to paper, briefly and summarily, at least something concerning matters so profound, let us gather from the very substance of the interior man — that is, of the soul and of the mind — an image of how "the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but on account of him who subjected it in hope"; and let us set Paul himself, if it seems good, in the midst, whose soul indeed, or mind, which is his interior man, surmounts and ascends above everything that is corporeal, everything visible, everything that lies beneath sense and sight, and is made capable of the divine nature itself. Yet this substance of his soul, so great and of such a kind, which holds the principles and understandings of heavenly and divine perceptions, has been made subject (for what causes, God will have seen) to the servitude of the corruptible body, and is bound fast to its vanity. For consider the necessities of the body: the appetite for food, the shame of digestion, the embarrassment of repairing posterity — how offspring is sown, how it is brought forth, how it is nourished; and see how much vanity is held in these things, how much corruption, to which the creature, a noble and rational soul, though unwilling, is made subject — yet made subject in hope, hoping, that is, for the time in which it may be set free, when the time of the liberty of the sons of God shall have come. This, then, is what the Apostle also said in other places more openly concerning himself, that "while we are in this dwelling, we groan." This too Wisdom said through Solomon, that "the corruptible body weighs down the soul, and the earthly habitation presses down the mind that ponders many things"; and the same Paul: "For while we are in the body, we are pilgrims from the Lord," and he desires rather to be a pilgrim from the body and to be present with the Lord. He indicates this, and it is set forth much more openly also in that place where he says: "But I am pressed between two, having a desire to return and to be with Christ, for that is far better; yet to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake." In which he plainly shows that it was not willingly — so far as concerns those things of which his soul was conscious — that he served this corruption and vanity, but on account of him who so willed these things, and on account of us, that we might be able to be saved. Therefore he remains in the flesh for our sake; but when the sons of God shall have been revealed, and gathered into one through the Church which he established "to present a chaste virgin to one husband, to Christ," then he too shall be freed from the servitude of corruption, just as he himself says: "But I am already being offered up, and the time of my dissolution is at hand. I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: for the rest there is laid up for me a crown of justice." This is to be freed from the servitude of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God. But from these examples, if it seems good, ascend also to things higher, and see how the ministries of the sun itself, and of the moon, and of the stars of heaven, and of the whole world are made subject to vanity and are enslaved to corruption. For they nourish the crops for the uses of men, they bring forth the fruits of trees and the grass of the fields; and they roll around the same circuits of the year, returning upon themselves. For they restore the things that pass away, and again they permit to pass away the things that have been restored.
The angels themselves too, if you look to that opinion of Paul's which says that "they are all ministering spirits sent for service on account of those who receive the inheritance of salvation," you will understand that they perform something of this kind, and that they are subject to this corruption: I believe indeed that they too are so not willingly, but on account of him who subjected them in hope. "For who resists his will?" I too am invited by the prophetic utterances to understand something of this sort concerning the archangels. For what would you find of such vanity and such corruption as to wage wars in this world, and to stir up conflicts of kings and nations against one another? See, therefore, that among these matters also is reckoned a chief office of archangelic work, as the prophet Daniel testifies when he says that an archangel spoke to him, who told him that he had fought against the prince of the Persians, "and no one," he says, "was a help to me, except Michael your prince." Through these several points, then, it is discovered that the rational "creature" is "subjected to vanity not willingly, but on account of him who subjected it in hope." For the hope is that at some time there is to be a ceasing from these bodily and corruptible things. For this rational creature holds this expectation, that there may come the revelation of the sons of God, on whose account the angels are sent into ministry, so that they too, together with those to whom they have ministered, may receive the inheritance of salvation, so that of things earthly and heavenly there may be made one flock and one shepherd, and that "God may be all in all." And in order to confirm more evidently the things he had said, he added: "For we know that every creature groans together and suffers together until now." Above he had said: "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy of the glory to come"; and whereas there he said that he "reckoned," in these words he says that he "knows" that every creature groans together and suffers together — namely, so that in this matter no doubt whatever may be entertained. For the creature, although it has been subjected unwillingly, nevertheless, since it yields to the will of him who subjected it, displays also a certain affection and charity toward those for whose sake it seems to have been subjected, and it grieves for their griefs, and groans for their groans. But if, as is found in other copies, we read it thus, "groans together and is in travail," we shall take "is in travail" according to that sense in which the Apostle says that he begot through the Gospel those whom he brought forth to the light through faith in Christ; or as he said elsewhere concerning others: "My little children, of whom I am again in travail, until Christ be formed in you." The creature, therefore, also travails with those whom it regenerates unto salvation. But if it should also seem to readers a thing to be inquired into, why in the foregoing he three times named the creature and nowhere said "every creature," while at the last he says: "For we know that every creature groans together and suffers together" — it can be understood thus: that it is not every creature that groans and grieves, that is, that which lies subject to the necessity of a corruptible body; but it is every creature that suffers together with those who grieve, and groans together with those who groan. Now every higher creature looks upon our contests and struggles, and grieves when we are conquered, but rejoices when we conquer; and much more than is the case with us, there is in them to rejoice with those who rejoice and to grieve with those who grieve.
[§5] "And not only so, but we ourselves also, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, awaiting the adoption of sons, the redemption of our body. For by hope we have been saved. But hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, why does he hope for it? But if we hope for what we do not see, we await it through patience." We have often taught that it is a habit of apostolic speech that, when he says "And not only so," and adds nothing to which it ought to be fitted, it must be referred to the things said above — as is given us to understand in the present passage also. For what he seems to be saying is of this sort: Not only does every creature groan together and suffer together; but we ourselves also, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves. For we too await the adoption of the sons of God, and the redemption of our body. Although by this very fact that we believe in Christ we already know that salvation has been granted us, nevertheless that salvation is still in hope, not in the sight of things visible. For if it were already seen, it certainly would not be hoped for. For a man hopes in order that he may see. But if he sees the things he was hoping for, it is superfluous to hope any longer for what he sees. We, however, do not have our hope in the things that are seen, lest our hope be empty, but in the things that are not seen. And therefore, because we hope for the things that are not seen, and they are so great and so glorious that they are obtained only through many labors and many tribulations and dangers, for that reason we await them through patience, as things that will scarcely come at some time. These things we have said by way of giving a certain direct and clearer order to the apostolic words themselves. Now, if it seems good, let us see what he indicates by this new expression, in which he said: "But we ourselves also, having the firstfruits of the Spirit." For we know that it is written in the Law: "You shall not defraud the firstfruits of the threshing floor and the firstfruits of the winepress"; and again: "You shall bring the firstfruits of all your crops into the house of the Lord your God." What then? Just as the firstfruits of the threshing floor and the firstfruits of the winepress are of the same crop as the rest of the threshing floor is, or of the same liquid as the winepress is, will it likewise seem that what he calls the firstfruits of the Spirit is some one preeminent spirit out of the many remaining holy and blessed spirits? Or shall we rather understand this: that, according to what we have discussed above, there are many ministering spirits serving in ministry on account of those who receive the inheritance of salvation, under whom each of the believers is placed and trained as under guardians and stewards until the time prefixed by the Father — that is, until the soul arrives at the lawful age of perfection, where a man, having now passed beyond the spirit of bondage which he had received in fear, by which he was kept as by a tutor, is made worthy to receive the spirit of adoption, the firstfruits of the Spirit, through which, adopted into a son, he may also be joined to the company of the firstborn of the Church which is in the heavens? And just as it differs greatly to be a son rather than a slave, so the Holy Spirit differs greatly from the ministering spirits — the Spirit whose firstfruits Paul says that he and those like him possess. Let this be one way by which we have been able to track out the understanding of this saying. Let us now see another as well. We read in the apostle Paul himself that the gifts or graces of the Holy Spirit are called many spirits, as when he says: "But now, since you are zealous for spirits, seek that you may abound unto the edification of the Church"; and likewise elsewhere: "The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" — calling the spirits of the prophets subject, not as though they were inferior to a better one, but for this reason, that one who has the spirit of prophecy is not compelled to speak unwillingly, as those are who have unclean spirits, but he speaks when he wills and when reason demands; whereas when it does not seem opportune to speak, he keeps silence, knowing well that there is a time for keeping silence and a time for speaking. And therefore it is not said to their reproach that the spirits are subject to the prophets, but with a view to the dispensation — just as we also take that saying about the Savior, that "then the Son himself also will be subject to him who subjected all things to himself." For here too "subject" is not said as though he were inferior. For how can he be called inferior who is the Son and is all the things that the Father is? "For all things," he says, "Father, that are yours are mine." But in those whom he subjects to the Father, namely those who believe in him — since he says that he is in each one of them, and says that he hungers and thirsts and is naked in them, and professes that he is fed and clothed in them — for that reason he too is said to be subject in them. But let these things be said by way of a certain digression. Now, however, let us return to the matter proposed. The diverse gifts of the Spirit, then, are called by Paul many spirits. And of these many gifts, whatever is highest and greatest the apostles without doubt obtained, so that they might be fit — as Paul himself says — ministers of the New Testament, and so that they might be able to fulfill the Gospel from Jerusalem round about as far as Illyricum. This gift of the Holy Spirit, therefore, which was conferred upon them more sublimely and more splendidly than upon the rest, he rightly called the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit. And therefore he says, "but we ourselves also." In which he seems especially to designate the apostolic dignity. "We" therefore, he says, "ourselves" — that is, the apostles — "having the firstfruits of the Spirit," we who have been chosen for this, that we should receive the firstfruits of the Spirit, "even we ourselves groan within ourselves." To such a degree, he says, is there no creature that is free from griefs and groans, that even we ourselves, who have received the highest and choicest gifts from the Holy Spirit, nevertheless, awaiting the adoption of sons — that is, the perfection of those whom we have been sent to teach and instruct — until we see them advance so far that they deserve to be adopted as sons, necessarily grieve and groan. So long, then, I say, as we who are being instructed by them are negligent, and delay, and put off the time of our amendment further, so long as we do not seek the invisible things but take delight in the visible, we stir up griefs for the apostles, and rouse, so to speak, the mourning and groans of the whole creation. For the whole creation groans together and suffers together, sighing over the losses caused by our hardness and dissembling. This is another order of explanation for us concerning the firstfruits of the Spirit; you will see whether it presents itself as one to be approved. But we shall still add a third as well. The same Apostle says again concerning the Lord Jesus Christ that he is "the firstborn of every creature." Perhaps, then, just as he is called "the firstborn of every creature," by some such reasoning the Holy Spirit too is called the firstfruits of the many spirits. Let this also be a third mode of exposition. But let the reader judge which of these better agrees with the apostolic sense. If, however, you take what he said, "And we ourselves having the firstfruits of the Spirit," as said of all who are seen to have obtained the grace of baptism, then that must be hoped for which the same Apostle said: "But if the firstfruits are holy, so also is the lump; and if the root is holy, so also are the branches." And even if this be so, nevertheless of that very lump, in which the multitude of the faithful seems to be indicated, the firstfruits will necessarily be seen to be placed in the apostles.
For thus it is written, that "in the Church God has placed first apostles, second prophets, third teachers." Those therefore who have been appointed in the first rank are fittingly believed to have the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit's spiritual grace. Now let us see how he can say that he awaits the adoption of sons, when he said in the passages above that "the Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are sons of God"; and again, how he can hope for the redemption of the body, when he says elsewhere: "Christ has redeemed us." But, as it seems to me, he himself resolves this by the words that follow. For he says: "By hope we have been made safe." That we are sons, therefore, and that we have been redeemed, and that we have been saved, stands in hope. "For now we see through a mirror, and in an enigma; but then face to face": through a mirror, then, and in an enigma we receive both adoption and redemption. For "the fullness of times has come," and "God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive the adoption of sons." We receive adoption, therefore, but that adoption which is through a mirror and in an enigma. But when the things that are perfect have come, then we shall obtain adoption "face to face." As for his saying "the redemption of our body," I think that he indicates the body of the whole Church, just as he says elsewhere: "But you are the body of Christ, and members in part." The Apostle therefore hopes that the whole body of the Church is to be redeemed, and he does not think that the things which are perfect can be given to the several individual members, unless the entire body has been gathered together into one. But it can also be understood in this way, that he calls "the redemption of our body" that redemption which is to come at the resurrection, when not only souls but bodies also will come "before the tribunal of Christ, that each one may carry back the proper things of the body according as he has done," and according to that which was said: "Fear rather him who is able to destroy both body and soul in Gehenna." And therefore each one must grieve in this world and groan, lest perchance through evil deeds and the negligence of the present life he fail to deserve to obtain the redemption of his body, but instead that sentence find him which condemns body and soul to the fires of Gehenna. After this he says: "For by hope we have been made safe. But hope that is seen is not hope." Just as he had said above concerning the creation, that "it was subjected to vanity on account of him who subjected it in hope," so here too concerning himself and whomever he knows to be counted together with himself, he says: "For by hope we have been made safe"—just as he also joined his own groanings to the groanings of the creation. But how salvation lies in hope, and how hope is not placed in those things which are seen but in those which are not seen, we have already taught above. This alone we shall briefly add: that both from these words, and from those in which he says, "Not looking at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen," he teaches us that among the good things to come we ought to hope for none of those things which are now seen, or which can be seen—not even if you look at this visible heaven, not even if you look at the earth. Hear concerning these things, that "heaven and earth will pass away," for they are visible; and what you see, why do you hope for it? Nothing at all, therefore, is to be hoped for in the future from the things which are seen. For "the eye has not seen what God has prepared for those who love him." But the eye does see heaven and earth; it is not right, therefore, to believe that this which is seen has been prepared by God for those who love him; but rather a heaven—or rather heavens far more eminent and lofty than that firmament which can be seen with the eyes. But an earth too is to be hoped for, yet not this one which is called dry land and lies open to the eyes, but that will be the land of the meek which the eye has not seen. For the Apostle's meaning is plain, teaching that in the things to come we are not to hope for things visible and corporeal, but for things spiritual and eternal: since "the things which are seen are temporal," and come to an end with time, "but the things which are not seen are eternal," and these the Apostle teaches are to be hoped for. For this reason also the very restoration of our body is effected from corruptible into incorruptible, and from mortal into immortal, and from weakness it is restored into power, and from an animal body a spiritual body is made, so that, when it has been made spiritual, it may be able also to enjoy the invisible goods: which goods, not seeing them in the present age, we hope for through hope, and await through patience.
[§6] "Likewise the Spirit also helps our weakness. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unutterable groanings. And he who searches hearts knows what the Spirit desires; because he intercedes for the saints according to God." When he had said in the preceding passages that every creature groans together and suffers together with those who are set in the contest of this life—that is, labors along with them and lends them strength—and had then also recalled that Paul himself and those like him utter groanings on behalf of those who labor, so that by these things he might console those set in the struggle, when they saw all the saints and the whole creation laboring with them in affection and joining their groanings to theirs: he now adds something higher and more sublime. Do not think it a small thing, he says, that all creation groans and suffers together with us; let it not seem a small thing that we ourselves groan for your labors. Even in the divine nature itself there is a certain affection of compassion toward our struggles (for I join myself also with you), and the Spirit himself "helps our weakness." In short, we do not know what we ought to pray, what we ought to ask from God. For sometimes we desire things contrary to our salvation, weakness compelling us. For just as one who is set in a bodily illness asks of the physician not the things that befit or conduce to health, but the things that the craving of his present sickness has suggested: so we too, languishing in the weakness of this life, sometimes ask of God what is not expedient for us. In short, I myself, Paul, who speak these things to you—when, on account of the sublimity of the revelations, lest I be exalted, there had been given me by the Lord "an angel of Satan to buffet me, three times I asked the Lord that it might depart from me," not knowing what I was praying: and therefore, because I did not know how to pray as I ought, the Lord did not hear me, but said to me: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." So then, "we do not know what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unutterable groanings." Paul perceives something great, I know not what, in groanings: for behold, this is now the third time he sets down groanings. For he says both that "the creation groans together," and that "we ourselves groan," and that "the Spirit himself intercedes with God by groanings on behalf of the saints." He has indeed added, concerning these groanings which he says are offered to God through the Spirit, that they are unutterable. But this he said neither of the groanings of the whole creation nor of his own. And consider whether in these groanings we can understand a great deal of confidence and freedom in the sight of God—namely, that the prayer which is offered to God with sorrow and groaning receives from the Holy Spirit the confidence to ascend to God. In short, Adam, when he had sinned, lost his confidence, and hid himself from the face of God. But holy David says that "my groaning is not hidden from you." But let us see what it is that he says: "The Spirit himself intercedes for us." For John too indicates that Jesus does this, when he says: "Little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin; but if any of us has sinned, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus the just, who also intercedes for us." And here, the Spirit intercedes for us. And this the Spirit does by helping our weakness. But what our weakness is, the Lord himself teaches when he says: "The spirit is ready, but the flesh is weak." Therefore our weakness descends from the weakness of the flesh. For it is the flesh that lusts against the spirit; and while it presses in its own lusts, it impedes the purity of the spirit and clouds the sincerity of prayer. But when the Spirit of God has seen our spirit laboring in resisting the flesh and in cleaving to him, he stretches out his hand and helps its weakness: and just as a teacher, taking on an untrained pupil who is wholly ignorant of letters, in order to be able to teach and instruct him, must needs bend down to the pupil's beginnings, and himself first pronounce the name of the letter so that the pupil may learn by answering, and the teacher himself becomes in a certain way like the beginning pupil, speaking those things and rehearsing those things which the beginner ought to speak and rehearse: so also the Holy Spirit, when he has seen our spirit disturbed by the assaults of the flesh, and not knowing what it ought to pray as it ought, himself like a teacher leads off the prayer, which our spirit—if indeed it desires to be a pupil of the Holy Spirit—may follow after: he himself offers the groanings by which our spirit may be taught to groan, that it may render God propitious to itself. But if the Spirit indeed teaches, and our spirit—that is, our mind—does not follow, then by its own fault the teacher's instruction becomes fruitless for it. And Paul, knowing that this mystery is enacted within a person, used to say: "For if I speak in tongues, my spirit prays, but my mind is without fruit"—calling his spirit the grace of the Holy Spirit which is given by God to human beings. Whence also, exhorting us not to have this benefit of the Holy Spirit fruitless, he adds and says: "What then is it? I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the mind: I will say a psalm with the spirit, I will say a psalm also with the mind." Therefore, although Paul himself has marked these things as unutterable, and as being enacted with unutterable groanings, nevertheless, so far as it was possible for us, we have set forth a certain image of the things which are divinely enacted and which he himself brings forward rather covertly. But let the one who is spiritual examine all things, and if he can investigate anything deeper than these, let him keep it with himself: for "the faithful man conceals matters in his spirit." Yet those must be admonished who ask of God prosperity for themselves in the present life, and health, or riches, or honors, that they do not know what they pray as is expedient. For it often happens that these present gains and worldly dignity turn out to the harm of the soul or to its everlasting reproach. And therefore that must rather be held to which the Lord taught us to say in prayer: "Your will be done." "And he who searches hearts knows what the Spirit desires, because he intercedes for the saints according to God." He shows indeed that by God not so much our words in prayer are weighed as the heart and the mind: for it is he who searches hearts and reins. But as to his saying a second time that "the Spirit intercedes," this is what he teaches: that no small dispensation is enacted among human beings through the Holy Spirit also. For although the only-begotten Son of God was incarnate and suffered for the salvation of the human race, and by his death destroyed death, and by his resurrection restored life, nonetheless magnificent things are no less actively enacted through the Holy Spirit as well, apart from incarnation. Only this much is different: that he died for the ungodly (for so Paul himself shows when he says: "For while we were yet weak, Christ in due time died for the ungodly"), but the Holy Spirit no longer intercedes for the ungodly, but "for the saints": and he intercedes not according to the flesh, but "according to God." Christ, however, is not said to have died according to God, but according to the flesh. Therefore the Spirit is said to offer his intercession for the saints not in words, but "in groanings": and not in these common groanings, but in "unutterable" ones. For how can what the Spirit of God speaks to God be narrated, when sometimes not even our own spirit can set forth in speech what it feels and understands?
[§7] "But we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who according to purpose have been called saints. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he himself might be the firstborn among many brethren." If the Spirit, he says, intercedes for us with unutterable groanings, and the whole creation groans together and suffers together until now — creation which will then at last be freed from the slavery of corruption, when the liberty of the glory of the sons of God shall have come — how shall it not be fittingly declared that "we know that all things work together for good to those who love God"? For to such a degree do all things work together for good and labor together with those who love God, that even the Spirit himself helps, nor does the divine nature disdain to be the guide of the journey toward the good. Nevertheless, if there are some who have the spirit of slavery in fear, while others are superior to these, who receive the spirit of adoption, in that they now venerate God not with fear but with love, and because "perfect charity" in them "casts out fear" — it must be considered whether perhaps not all things work together for good for those who still remain in the spirit of slavery; but rather that some things indeed work together even for them, yet not all things; and I do not know whether these lead them to the good itself, or rather, so to speak, to the doors of the good. But for those who love God and cleave to him with the whole affection of charity, all things, as we have said, labor together and help, and contribute something of their own zeal, so far as to establish them in that good itself which can never admit change. But if those who love God are one set, and those who receive the spirit of slavery another, it must be considered whether perhaps this too which he says, "To those who according to purpose have been called," and, "Whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son," does not apply to those who are in the spirit of slavery. For they too can indeed be called "called," yet not called "according to purpose"; and, in consequence of their still being in the spirit of slavery, they cannot be placed among the many brethren whose firstborn is the Son of brightness, and "the image of the invisible God," and "the firstborn of every creature." But as for this too which he said, "Conformed to the image of his Son," I wish to inquire to which form they are said to become conformed. For we read that the Son of God was placed sometimes in the form of God, sometimes in the form of a servant. To which, then, of these two forms the Apostle says that those who love God and for whom all things work together for good will be conformed — this seems to me no idle distinction. I judge, therefore, according to those things which the same Paul indicates elsewhere, where he says, "My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you," that he means Christ to be formed in those who tend toward perfection: according to that whereby he is the Word, so that the sincerity of the Word of God may be purely formed in them; and according to that whereby he is truth, so that truth may stand in them without any admixture of counterfeit; and according to that whereby he is wisdom, so that the wisdom of God in them — that wisdom which Paul speaks among the perfect — may be preserved pure and without any bypath of error. So also, according to all those things which Christ is, whether justice, or sanctification, or whatever other virtues, if these be formed in them to full clarity, such persons will be seen to have been made conformed to the image with respect to that form which is in the form of God. But if anyone still dwells among the beginnings (and "the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God"), and, still placed in fear, receives the first elements of the worship of God, then those who receive the first beginnings in the fear of God are to be understood as becoming conformed according to the form of a servant, which he took upon himself for this purpose, that he might teach the untrained and ignorant by the fear of God. Because, he says, "whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son." Let us not pass over what he said either: "He foreknew and predestined." For I think that, just as he did not speak of all when he spoke of those who are predestined, so neither did he speak of all whom he foreknew. For we must not suppose, according to the common opinion of the crowd, that God foreknows both good and evil things, but we must think according to the usage of holy Scripture. Let him who is diligent in the Scriptures observe whether anywhere he finds Scripture saying that God foreknew the wicked, as in the present passage it plainly says of the good, that "whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son." For if those whom he foreknew, these he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, and no wicked person can be conformed to the image of the Son of God, it is manifest that he speaks of the good only: "He foreknew those whom he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son"; but of the rest God is said not only not to foreknow, but not even to know. For "God knows those who are his"; but to those who are not worthy to be known by God the Savior says: "Depart from me, for I never knew you, workers of iniquity." So then in this present passage also, those whom God "foreknew," these same he "also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son." But the rest are not said to be foreknown — not because anything can lie hidden from that nature which is everywhere and is nowhere absent, but because everything that is evil is held unworthy of his knowledge or foreknowledge. "Whom" therefore "he foreknew, he also predestined." But consider this too: whether God can be said to foreknow and predestine concerning those who do not yet exist, or rather concerning those who do indeed exist but are not yet conformed to the image of his Son; and whether foreknowledge is more fittingly said to lie in this than in the fact that what does not yet exist will come to be. For in the latter case there is the will of the Creator rather than his foreknowledge. For in what will foreknowledge be seen, when that which is to be depends upon the judgment of the maker? Perhaps attentive readers will see that this too must be inquired into: why he did not say "conformed to his Son," but "conformed to the image of his Son." For he who raises these questions will say that, just as the Son himself, who is called "the image of the invisible God," is — as far as regards person — other than him whose image he is, so here too that which is called the image of his Son ought to be other than him whose image it is. And although these matters seem steep and difficult, nevertheless see whether we can say this: that although everyone who has cultivated himself unto that form which we set forth above is an image of God, that is, an image of the Son of God, nevertheless the special and proper image of him — the one which received him wholly and entirely and formed him within itself — must be said to be the very soul of Jesus, which so fitted itself in all things to the Word and Wisdom of God that in nothing at all was it held discolored from his likeness; so that whoever pursues the height of perfection and blessedness may stretch toward the image and likeness of that soul which is set in the first place and above all others as the image of the Son of God, "that he himself may be the firstborn among many brethren" — namely among those in whose conformation to the image of the Son of God he holds the primacy,
[§8] «But those whom he predestined, these he also called; and those whom he called, these he also justified; and those whom he justified, these he also glorified.» Above he had said: «Those whom he foreknew, these he also predestined,» and now he adds: «But those whom he predestined, these he also called; and those whom he called, these he also justified.» And if we take «he foreknew» and «he predestined» according to the common opinion, it will certainly seem that the one who has been justified was justified for this reason, that he was called; and that the one who was called was justified for this reason, that he was predestined; and that the one who was predestined was predestined for this reason, that he was foreknown. And again you will understand the converse: if anyone has not been justified, he has not been justified for the reason that he was not called; and the one who was not called was not called for the reason that he was not predestined; and the one who was not predestined was not predestined for the reason that he was not foreknown. And see into what an absurd opinion those men fall who take God's foreknowledge in this sense only, as though he knows beforehand the things that are afterwards to come to pass. For it is found, according to what we set forth above, that God did not foreknow those whom he did not predestine. And again, if what he says — that «those whom he called, these he also justified» — be referred to the common understanding, we shall open an enormous window to those who deny that it lies within a man's power to be saved. For they say: If God predestined those whom he foreknew, and called those whom he predestined, and justified those whom he called, then those who are not justified bear no blame, since they were neither called nor predestined nor foreknown. And then there is also this which plainly stands against us, that not all who are called are also justified. For Judas too was called as an apostle, yet he was not justified. And even if someone should contend that he was justified by the very fact that he was called, he certainly was not glorified. But also those of whom the Apostle says that they «made shipwreck concerning the faith» had indeed been called, but were not justified. And according to the parables of the Gospel, those to whom the servants had been sent and who excused themselves were called, but were not justified; and the man who entered the king's banquet and did not have a wedding garment was called, but was not justified. Since, then, each of these things stands thus, how will the Apostle's word appear to be true, which he set down concerning foreknowing, or predestining, or calling, or indeed justifying? But I, in accordance with what we set forth above concerning how God knows or foreknows, think that we must return to the customary usage of Scripture, which is accustomed to employ this word — that is, "to know" — with a kind of idiomatic sense: as when it says, «And Adam knew Eve his wife,» meaning that he had intercourse with his wife. And again it says of Rebecca: «She was a virgin, no man had known her.» But of the sons of Levi it is said, when they were punishing the transgressors, that no one of them knew his own father or his own mother — in which without doubt this is shown, that he did not join his affection and love with father or mother. But you will find many things said in the Scriptures about knowing according to this sense; and therefore in the present passage too it is agreed that the Apostle used the word "knowing" according to the custom of holy Scripture, so as to show those to be foreknown by God upon whom God, knowing what sort they were, had set his love and his affection — according to which this too is written: «The Lord knows those who are his»; since assuredly, so far as that common knowledge is concerned, God is ignorant neither of those who are his, nor of those who stray from him. But he is said to have known his own, that is, to have held them in love and joined them to himself. Thus, then, «those whom» God «foreknew, these he also predestined; and those whom he predestined, these he also called; and those whom he called, these he also justified.» There still remains for us the resolution of that question, how «those whom he called, these he also justified,» when, according to what we said above, it is established that many are called but few chosen. But it seems to me that there is a certain difference of calling, according to what we set forth in the earlier chapter, namely that all indeed have been called, yet not all have been called «according to purpose.» For those who are called in accordance with a good purpose and the good will which they bear toward the worship of God — these are they who are said to be called «according to purpose,» and these are they who, being called, are justified. For to their good purpose the calling alone was lacking. But those who do not have a good and fixed purpose either toward the divine worship or toward good work — these too are indeed called, lest an excuse be left them and they be able to plead this very thing when they are judged, saying: We too, if we had been called, could surely have been justified, and not only justified but even glorified. For this reason, then, these too are indeed called; but, as when seed is sown on rocky ground, it springs up quickly indeed, yet when the sun of tribulations grows hot, because they have no deep root of good purpose, they immediately wither and perish. And these are they of whom the Apostle says that they «made shipwreck concerning the faith.» Those, therefore, whom he called — that is, whom he called according to a good purpose — these he also justified. And even if «according to purpose» be referred to God, that is, so that they are said to be called according to God's purpose, who knows that there is in them a religious mind and a desire for salvation, this will not appear to be contrary to the things we have set forth. In this way, then, neither does the cause of our salvation or our perdition lie in God's foreknowledge, nor will justification depend on the calling alone, nor has being glorified been taken utterly out of our own power. For even if we understand foreknowledge in the common sense, a thing will not be for the reason that God knows it will be; rather, because it will be, it is known by God before it comes to pass. For even if, for the sake of argument, we should imagine that God did not foreknow something, what is would nonetheless without doubt have been going to be, just as it is: as, for instance, Judas became a traitor, and the prophets foretold that this would so come to pass. It is not, then, because the prophets foretold it that Judas betrayed him; rather, because he was going to be a traitor, the prophets foretold those things which he was going to do out of the wickedness of his own purpose — since assuredly Judas had it in his power to be like Peter and John, had he willed; but he chose the greed for money rather than the glory of apostolic fellowship, and the prophets, foreseeing this future will of his, handed it down in the records of their books. But that you may know that the cause of salvation for each one is not placed in God's foreknowledge but in his own purpose and acts, see how Paul, fearing lest perhaps, when he had preached to others, he himself should be found reprobate, wore down his body and subjected it to servitude. Further, against those who raise questions of this sort against us we can also say this: If he predestined those whom he foreknew, but did not predestine all, then he did not foreknow all — and according to them there will be some things of which God is ignorant. But if foreknowing be taken in the sense we said above, that is, to receive into affection and join to oneself, it will be true that, just as he did not predestine all, so neither did he foreknow all. For in this way Jesus too is said not to have known sin. Shall we then say that Jesus did not know what sin was — that is, that he did not know that murder is a sin, or adultery, or theft, and things like these? Or is this what is meant by not knowing sin, that he did not mingle himself with sin, nor did sin cleave to him? So too it is written elsewhere: «He who keeps the commandment shall not know an evil word,» that is, he shall not receive an evil word, nor believe it, nor gladly hear it, nor allow it to enter his mind. «Those,» therefore, whom God «foreknew» in this manner, «these he also predestined; and those whom he predestined, these he also called,» with that distinction of calling which we have described; «and those whom he called, these he also justified; and those whom he justified, these he also glorified.» Concerning glorification we can speak even in the present age, according to what the Apostle says: «But we all, beholding with unveiled face the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory into glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.» There is, then, this glory also which all who are justified receive in the present life; and there is that other which is hoped for in the future, when this body of our lowliness, which «is sown in dishonor, shall rise in glory»; and when, «as there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, and as star differs from star in glory, so also will be the resurrection of the dead.»
[§9] "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him grant us all things?" How God is for us is plain from the things which he has set forth above — that is, that the Spirit of God dwells in us, and that the Spirit of Christ, or Christ himself, is in us; or that the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead dwells in us; or that we are led by the Spirit of God; or that we have received the spirit of adoption; or that we are sons of God and heirs and coheirs of Christ; or that we receive the firstfruits of the Spirit; or that the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unutterable groanings; or that the whole creation groans together with us and suffers together with us; or that all things work together for good to us who love God; or that we have been called according to his purpose, and foreknown, and predestined, and justified, and glorified. For making, as it were, an epilogue of all these things, and at the same time gathering them all up again, he says: "What then shall we say to these things?" — that is, to all these things which we have said above; for if God is for us in such a way as to have granted us all these things, who will be able to be against us? Not that he says there is no adversary at all to us; otherwise, how will that stand which was said by Peter: "Your adversary the devil goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour"? But this is what he shows: that when God acts on our behalf, our adversary is made contemptible and comes to nothing. Similarly David also says: "The Lord is my light and my Saviour, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" He does not therefore say that there is no one whom he fears and who opposes him, but although, he says, "my enemies who trouble me draw near against me to eat my flesh," nevertheless, since the Lord defends my life, "they were weakened and fell." Moreover he gives the greatest proof of God's immense love toward us, who, he says, loved us so much that he did not spare even "his own Son, but delivered him up to the passion for us all." And that he might bind us with greater wonder, he added a phrase privy to a mighty mystery, saying that "he did not spare his own Son." For he had said above that we too, who receive the spirit of adoption, are sons of God. Therefore, lest by this common appellation of sons he should be thought to have delivered up some one of those who appeared to have been adopted into sons, he added "his own Son," so as to point out him who alone is begotten from God himself by an ineffable birth. "For us all, therefore, he delivered him up" — not by that delivering up of which it is written: "But brother shall deliver up brother to death, and parents their children" — but he is said to have delivered him up in this very thing: that, whereas he was in the form of God, he suffered him to empty himself, and to take the form of a servant, and to come even to the death of the cross; so that in him he might set an example of obedience for all, and open the way of resurrection for the dead. "For all, therefore, he delivered him up." Not only for the saints, not only for the great, but also for the least, and for absolutely all who are in the Church, the Father delivered up his own Son: and therefore even if anyone injures one of the least and the weak, wounding his weak conscience, he is said to sin against Christ, since indeed he scandalizes a soul for which Christ died. Since therefore the Father delivered up his Son for us all, no one at all, not even the least who is in the Church, is to be despised: and therefore the Lord himself said: "If anyone shall scandalize one of these little ones, the least, it is expedient that an ass's millstone be tied about his neck, and that he be cast headlong into the sea, rather than that he should scandalize one of these." God therefore, who made us precious by pouring out for us the precious blood of his own Son, "how will he not with him grant us all things?" For there is nothing, whether of visible or of invisible creation, that can be made equal to the Son: for in no way can the creature be compared with its creator; and if the creator himself has been given to us, how will not the whole creation be given to us along with him? Although this saying can be understood in two ways, that is, that "with him he will grant us all things." For this too can be seen: that if we have Christ in us according to that which he is Word and wisdom and truth and justice and peace, and all the other things which are written of him, then together with this fullness of virtues all things will be granted to us, so that we shall no longer hold one out of all creatures and this little place of earth which we now seem to inhabit, but shall possess together with Christ all things whatsoever God created, visible and invisible, hidden and manifest, temporal and eternal. But it can also be understood in another way, what he said: "With him he will grant us all things" — that is, that to him indeed as heir, but to us as his coheirs, the whole creation will be given to be enjoyed equally with him.
[§10] "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies; who is he that condemns? It is Christ Jesus who died, yes rather, who rose again, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us." It seems to me that when he says, "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?" he is speaking of the devil. For there is no one so elect and so great whom that one does not dare to accuse, except only him "who committed no sin," who also said, "Now the prince of this world comes, and finds nothing in me." But although that one puts forth the wickedness of his design, yet since God justifies and blots out the iniquity of his elect like a cloud, and their sins like a mist, and whitens them as snow from their former offenses and makes them like white wool, what will the accuser gain? And moreover, since Christ has died for them, or rather has risen from the dead, and stands at the Father's right hand, and intercedes for them, who will be able to condemn them? In the passages above, "the holy Spirit," he says, "intercedes for us with unutterable groanings"; here it is "Christ Jesus who died and rose again," he himself "intercedes for us." God, who handed over his own Son for us, himself justifies the elect — who then will there be who dares to condemn? But look more carefully at how the Apostle nowhere in his discourses departs from the caution native to him. He did not say, "Who shall bring a charge" against the called, but "against the elect"? For unless you are elect, unless you show yourself approved before God in all things, you will have an accuser. For if your case is bad, if your own crime binds you fast, what good will an advocate do you, even if it is Jesus who intercedes? For Jesus is truth: truth therefore cannot practice deceit on your behalf. In this the advocate will assist you: that you not be entangled in the accuser's slanders, that past sins, which have been blotted out through baptism, not be reckoned against you. But if after these things you sin again, and wash these away with no tears of repentance, you will give your accuser material for arraigning you; and although Jesus intercedes for us, yet Jesus cannot say that darkness is light, nor that bitter is sweet. If therefore you wish to prevail when you are judged, do what is written concerning the just man: "Order your words in judgment. Prepare your works for your departure. Remember your last ends, and you shall never sin"; lest there befall you that which is written of a certain man: "When he is judged, let him go forth condemned." But see how you are to hear that Jesus "intercedes for us." For he is the one of whom it is also written elsewhere, that "the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son"; and just as he himself is both victim and priest, and he himself is both in the form of a servant and in the form of God, so he himself is both advocate and judge.
[§11] "Who then shall separate us from the love of God? Tribulation? or distress? or persecution? or famine? or nakedness? or peril? or the sword? (as it is written: For your sake we are put to death all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) But in all these things we overcome through him who loved us." In return for all these things, he says, which we enumerated above — that is, that we are no longer in the flesh but in the spirit; and that the Spirit of God dwells in us; and that Christ is in us, through whom the body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of justification; and that we are no longer debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, because by the spirit we have mortified the deeds of the flesh; and that through the spirit of adoption we have been made sons of God, and if sons, also heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; and that the whole creation groans together with us and suffers together with us, awaiting the revelation of the sons of God; and that for us who love God all things work together for good; and that he foreknew and predestined us, who are called according to his purpose, to be conformed to the image of his Son — since for all these benefits, he says, which we have obtained, we are fixed and rooted in the love of God, who will be able to separate us from it? If tribulation comes, we shall say to God, "In tribulation you have enlarged me." If there is distress of the world, coming from the necessity of the body, we shall seek the breadth of the wisdom and knowledge of God, in which the world cannot straiten us. For I shall return to the most ample fields of the divine Scriptures; I shall seek the spiritual understanding of the word of God, and no distress will confine me in it. For I shall ride through the most spacious expanses of mystical and spiritual understanding. If I suffer persecution, and confess my Christ before men, I am certain that he too will confess me before his Father who is in heaven. If famine is present, it cannot disturb me: for I have the bread of life which came down from heaven and refreshes hungering souls; nor can that bread ever fail: for it is perfect and eternal. Nakedness does not confound me: for I have put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and I hope to put on over it our habitation which is from heaven: "For this mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible put on incorruption." I shall not fear peril: "For the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?" and "The Lord is the defender of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" An earthly sword cannot terrify me: for I have with me a stronger one, "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," and with me is "the living and effectual word of God," which is "more piercing than any two-edged sword." If therefore the sword of the world comes upon my neck, it wins for me a greater love toward God. For I shall say to him that, "as it is written: For your sake we are put to death all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." For it does not suffice me to die for Christ for one hour, or to be tortured, but "all the day long," that is, for the whole time of my life. For if I pass my whole life in persecutions and perils, I shall say that "the sufferings of this time are not worthy of the glory to come, which shall be revealed in us." For brief is the time of this life, and slight is what we spend in persecutions; but eternal and perpetual is what we await in glory. And therefore "in all these things," he says, "we overcome," not by our own strength, but "through him who loved us." For while we hang upon his love, we do not receive the sensation of pain. For his love, by which he loved us, and which has caught up our affection to himself, makes us not feel the torture of the body and the pain. Therefore then "in all these things we overcome." Something of this sort the bride too says to the Word in the Song of Songs, that "I am wounded with love." In this manner, then, our soul also, having received from Christ the wound of love, even if it hand over the body to the sword, will not feel the wounds of the flesh in comparison with the wound of love. 12. "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." The Apostle seems to have shown two orders of those things which are accustomed to stir up temptations for men. And in those which we discussed earlier, the order of human temptations is understood to be described: concerning which he also said to the Corinthians, inasmuch as they could not bear greater things: "Let no temptation take hold of you but such as is human: and God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted above what you are able." But now in these words which we have in hand, he indicates not human temptations, but ones greater than human. And therefore I think that in the earlier ones, when he had enumerated each single thing, at the end he says: "But in all these things we overcome." But in these temptations of the second order he does not say so confidently, "We overcome," but says very slightly that none of these "will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus." For concerning human temptations, as being small and light, he confidently declares that we overcome them; but as for those higher ones, and more than human, even if we are not strong enough to overcome and lay them low (for this is the work of Christ alone, who "stripped the principalities and powers, triumphing over them in himself"), yet even this stands in the place of a victory, if, when they have hurled all the engines of their assaults against us, they nevertheless are not able to separate us from the love of God. But now let us try to examine the individual items, and to open up as far as our strength allows what is to be thought about each expression of the Apostle. Although the Apostle seems to have concealed in these things matters deeper than the power of our exposition suffices to bear, or than the requirement of brevity admits, let us nevertheless inquire whether all those things which the Apostle has enumerated, or only certain of them, carry this zeal or intention, that they strive to separate human souls from the love of God, and for that reason contrive against us all the things we suffer. For it seems that death perhaps can do this, that we be separated from the love of God, and angels, and principalities, and powers opposed to us without doubt, and things present, which are certainly slippery and perishable. And depth also can be understood similarly. But life, and things to come, and height, and any other creature — how these should contend to separate us from the love of God does not seem idle to explain. Unless perhaps someone should say that the Apostle speaks hyperbolically, that is, that not only by those things which can happen, but not even by those things which cannot happen at all, are we in any way turned aside from the love of God: for example, that if another life were given us than this which has been given by God, or if another hope of things to come were promised us, or another height, or even another creature than that which groans and suffers together for our sake — which certainly cannot happen — not even these could separate us from the love of God.
This, then, is one manner of exposition. Let us see, however, whether perhaps this other understanding may also be admitted. The "death" of which he here speaks is to be taken as that one which we expounded above to be called the last enemy of Christ to be destroyed. And it is surely called death for this reason, that just as this common death separates the soul from the body, so also that one strives to separate the soul from the charity of God — and this indeed is the death of the soul. It can therefore come about that there is also some life belonging to that party which acts together with it to separate us from the charity of God: and this life is the life of sin. For unless this life were evil, the Apostle would never persuade us to die to sin, and to be baptized into the death of Christ, and to be buried together with him. It can be, then, that this is the life of sin, by which it desires to separate us from the charity of God. But I for my part think that each and every individual sin also has some life of its own within us: for every single vice is a life of sin. Therefore, the more vices are detected within us, the more lives of sins will appear to be in us. And perhaps it is for this reason that it was said: "for your mercy is better than lives." "Neither angels, nor principalities, nor powers." It is readily at hand to understand those angels for whom eternal fire is said by the Savior to have been prepared along with the devil; and by principalities and powers, without doubt those against which we have our contest; or else those principalities and powers of which he says: "But when he shall have destroyed every principality, and power, and might." Among these there is also one called the prince of this world. After these he says, "Nor things present," or "things at hand." This may seem to have been said of those whom the same Apostle elsewhere named "the rulers of this world and of darkness"; or else that the pleasure and delight of present things, and the empty glory of this world, strive to lead us away "from the charity of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." After these let us see what "things to come" are, which indeed wish, but are not able, to separate Paul and those like him from the charity of God. This too seems to me to be twofold. For "things to come" can be understood from that time in which he was writing these things, so that he would seem to say this: If any temptations, if any tribulations should come upon me, they will not be able to separate me from the charity of God. Or else understand as "things to come" those things which are going to meet those departing from this world, when the prince of this world, and the other powers which are under him, will contend to hold back the soul as it sets out from the body — but they will not be able to hold back those in whom "perfect charity," which is in Christ Jesus, "casts out fear." And this sense will seem to be confirmed also by that Scripture which says: "For while we are in the body, we are pilgrims from the Lord: for we desire rather to be pilgrims from the body, and to be present with the Lord"; and, "we strive, whether absent or present, to please him" — calling us absent when we are placed in the body, and showing us present when we depart from the body; and he urges that the saints, even as they go forth from the body, strive to please God. If therefore perfect charity be in them, none of the things which are to come, in which God is to be pleased, will be able to separate them from it, since assuredly those will not please God who are so unstable in the charity of God that they can be separated from it. Let these things be said by us in a twofold manner concerning things to come. But it may be that there is also some third manner, higher than these, which whoever is able to investigate may judge worthy to be preferred to these. Then he adds: "Nor powers." This appears to be one species out of the many rational creatures, not leading its life in a mortal body, but like the angels, yet of another order than the angels are. These powers, then, also have their contest to separate us from the charity of God; but not even they, he says, will be able to, if it be rooted and founded. Likewise both "height" and "depth" assail us, as David also says: "Many are they that make war upon me from on high" — doubtless when he was being pressed by the spirits of wickedness in the heavenly places; and as again he says: "Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord" — when he was being assailed by those who are consigned to hell, and by the spirits of Gehenna. But not even these, says Paul, will be able to separate us from the charity of God. "Nor," he says, "any other creature." It can be understood that he spoke of another creature besides this one which we see: for there is another, now invisible to us. But it can also be taken thus: Besides those things which I enumerated above, that is, angels, and powers, and if there is any other creature — lest by enumerating each thing according to its species he should seem to draw out a long and superfluous discourse. Or else in another way. Since indeed Paul knew that the creatures of God are many and innumerable, of which he himself had received not complete but partial knowledge, and of which not only the species but even the names are unknown in the present age — concerning which the same Apostle says elsewhere that the Savior was seated "above every principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come" — on account of these, then, which he knows can be named not only in the present age but also in the age to come, he will be seen to have said: "Nor will any other creature be able to separate us from the charity of God." Nevertheless, by all these things Paul shows the confidence of his own salvation, when he says that neither with angels opposing, nor with powers assailing, nor with things present or things to come struggling against him, nor with any creature whatsoever set against him, can he be torn away from the charity of God, nor does he conceive any fear of so many adversaries — so that he might truly show that perfect charity has already cast out fear from him as well. For he too once had fear, and was afraid lest perhaps he should fall: and this man who now did not fear the wars of the heavenly powers, should they be stirred up against him, once feared his own flesh, and dreaded the snares arising from it, when he said, writing to the Corinthians: "I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway." And therefore, above all other things, the snares of the flesh are to be dreaded, and that enemy who proceeds from ourselves is himself to be guarded against, until the soul comes to such progress that, bound fast to God by the sweetness of charity, it shudders at the blandishments of the body and the enticements of the flesh, having been made one spirit with God.
[§13] "I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sadness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I myself was wishing to be anathema from Christ for the sake of my brothers, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, whose is the adoption of sons, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed unto the ages." Paul, seeing that if, according to those things which he set forth above, he could be separated from the love of Christ by no power, whether heavenly or earthly, present or future, opposing him, it would seem contrary and incredible—what he was now proposing to say: that he wished to become anathema from that Christ whom he loved so inseparably, that is, to be made a stranger to him—lest he should seem to incur the mark of a lie, he sends ahead a satisfaction, so that his word may in no way be doubted, and he says: "I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit." But let us see why he said, "I speak the truth in Christ," as though showing that there is some truth which is not in Christ. And see whether we can in some such way distinguish the truth which is in Christ from that which is not in Christ: for elsewhere too the same Apostle says, "The truth of Christ is in me, that I do not lie." The truth of Christ, therefore, must be believed to be there where the remaining virtues also are, which are described as being Christ: that is, where righteousness is, where peace is, where the Word of God is, there also is the truth of Christ. But there is truth even in injustice: as if, for example, we should say that that demon of Python, which in the Acts of the Apostles is reported to have dwelt in a certain servant girl and to have cried out after the apostles, that "these are servants of the Most High God, who announce to men the way of God"—there was truth in these words, for what was said was true; but that truth was not in Christ; and therefore Paul, turning to her, said: "Be silent, and come out of her." But that also was truth which Caiaphas said: "It is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish"; but nevertheless that truth was not in Christ. And therefore the Apostle, to distinguish it from that truth which is outside Christ, says that he speaks the truth in Christ. But this also, which he says, "my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit," seems to me to bear a similar understanding. For conscience renders testimony even to the Gentiles, according to what the same Apostle says in the earlier passages: "their conscience rendering them testimony, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or even defending one another." In those, therefore, in whom their own thoughts have something to accuse, and conscience comes forward for testimony, it cannot be said that for evil deeds conscience renders testimony in the Holy Spirit. But in the Apostle, where thought no longer has anything to accuse, rightly does conscience render testimony in the Holy Spirit. Consider, however, the greatness of the apostolic breast. He cannot be separated from the love of God; what he speaks, he speaks in Christ; what he holds in his conscience is contained by the Holy Spirit. What heavens, I ask, what thrones, what most ample minds of the heavenly powers will be able to contain the whole Trinity in seats so ample? "For," he says, "I have great sadness and continual sorrow in my heart." Very well, you have sadness; very well, you take sorrow at the perdition of your brothers "who are kinsmen according to the flesh"; but is it to such a point that you wish to become anathema from Christ? And what does their salvation profit you, if you are separated from salvation? And how will you save others, if you yourself perish? It is not so, he says: rather, I have learned from my Master and Lord that "he who wishes to save his soul will lose it; and he who loses it will find it." What wonder, then, if the Apostle wishes to become anathema for his brothers, who knows that he who was in the form of God emptied himself of it, and took the form of a servant, and was made a curse for us? What wonder, then, if, when the Lord was made a curse for his servants, a servant should become anathema for his brothers? And this, I think, is what Moses also said to the Lord when the people had sinned: "And now, if indeed you forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out of the book of life which you have written." What then? Do you wish Paul to seem inferior to Moses? He asks to be blotted out of the book of life for his brothers; ought Paul not to wish to be anathema for his brothers? But perhaps someone may say that Moses, in offering this, deserved to obtain salvation for the people, whereas Paul indeed wishes it, but was not heard. What if I show you that Paul was heard even more than Moses? For all those who had gone out of Egypt through Moses fell in the desert. But the descendants of those who received the land of promise even now wander from it, exiles and outcasts. But hear what Paul says about Israel: "I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, that blindness in part has befallen Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should enter in, and so all Israel should be saved." You see, therefore, that Paul was heard, and that because he offered himself as anathema, he deserved salvation for his brothers. And therefore it seems to me that he set down all those things beforehand—that he could by no power be torn away from the love of God—so that when he offers himself as anathema for his brothers, you should not judge his fall to be possible: but just as he who is inseparable from the Father by nature, and immortal, came into death and descended into the lower regions, so this man too, imitating his Master, though he cannot be separated from the love of Christ, becomes anathema from Christ for his brothers—by devotion, certainly, not by transgression. But that the Israelites are Paul's "kinsmen according to the flesh" needs no exposition. "Whose," he says, "is the adoption of sons." For the sons of Israel were adopted by God at that time "when the Most High divided the nations, and scattered the sons of Adam according to the number of the angels of God, and the Lord's portion was Jacob, and Israel the cord of his inheritance." This, then, is the adoption of sons. "And the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law." Concerning the glory of the law that was given, it has often already been said, as the Apostle himself also says: "For if that which is being abolished is through glory," that is, the Old Testament, "much more is that which remains in glory," namely the preaching of the Gospel.
But as for what he says, "the covenants and the giving of the law," it might perhaps seem that he is saying one and the same thing. For the law which was given is itself also called a covenant. But I think the distinction is this: that the giving of the law was indeed one, and took place once through Moses; whereas covenants were established frequently. For as often as they sinned and were cast off, so often do they appear to have been disinherited. And again, as often as God, being made propitious once more, called them back and led them into the inheritance of his own possession, so often must he be believed to have restored the covenants and to have written them down as heirs. "And the worship, and the promises." By "worship" he means the priestly offices; by "the promises," those which were made to the fathers, and which are hoped to be given to those who through faith are called sons of Abraham. Yet it is certain that also according to the flesh, from that very race, that is, from the Israelite race, there came not only the fathers but also Christ, as he says too through the prophet: "Woe to them, for my flesh is from them." But why "woe to them"? Because Jesus was born "for the fall and for the rising again of many," and because he was rejected by those whose flesh he was, and was received by the Gentiles by whom he was not known, as he says also through David: "A people whom I did not know has served me." Of them, therefore, is Christ also according to the flesh. "Who is God over all, blessed for ever." That Christ is one thing according to the flesh and another according to the spirit, he had already indicated in the earlier parts of this Epistle, where he says: "Who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was designated Son of God in power, according to the spirit of sanctification." And how he is Son of God according to the spirit, and son of David according to the flesh, we expounded there more fully as far as our powers allowed. Him, therefore, whom he there called Son of God according to the spirit, here, as the order of teaching advances and his hearers make progress, he declares to be himself God, "who is over all, blessed." And I wonder how certain people, reading what the same Apostle says elsewhere: "One God the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things," deny that the Son of God ought to be professed as God, lest they should seem to speak of two gods. And what will they do with this passage of the Apostle, in which Christ is openly declared to be "God over all"? But those who think thus do not notice that, just as he did not say that the Lord Jesus Christ is one Lord in such a way that on this account God the Father should not be called Lord, so also he did not say that God the Father is one God in such a way that God the Son should not be believed to be God. For the Scripture is true which says: "Know that the Lord himself is God." Yet both are one God, because the Son has no other beginning of divinity than the Father; but the Son is, as Wisdom says, the "purest emanation" of that one Paternal fount itself. Christ, then, is "God over all." Which "all"? Those, without doubt, of which we spoke a little before: "above principalities, and powers, and virtues, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come." But he who is over all has no one above himself. For he is not after the Father, but from the Father. And this same thing the Wisdom of God gave us to understand concerning the Holy Spirit also, where it says: "The Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world; and he who contains all things has knowledge of the voice." If therefore the Son is called "God over all," and the Holy Spirit is recorded as containing all things, while God the Father is he "from whom are all things," it is plainly shown that the nature and substance of the Trinity is one, which is over all.
[§14] "But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are of Israel, these are Israelites; nor are all sons because they are the seed of Abraham: but 'In Isaac shall your seed be called': that is, not those who are the sons of the flesh, these are the sons of God; but those who are the sons of the promise are reckoned as the seed." Since he had said above that for his brethren, "who are his kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites," he would wish even to become anathema, on the ground that theirs was both the adoption of sons, and the giving of the law, and the promises — concerning these he now says that the word of God has not failed, that is, the promise which was made to them has not come to nothing. For whoever shall have been the true Israel — not one deriving his descent from Abraham merely by carnal lineage ("For not those who are the sons of the flesh, these also are the sons of God"), but one who descends from Abraham according to the promise of faith — he it is who also obtains the promises of God. For of the race of Israel there are many, but not all are called Israel. For Israel was so named from seeing God. For thus Jacob himself says: "I have seen the Lord face to face, and my soul has been saved." Therefore, because he saw God, he was called Israel. But whoever does not see him who said, "He who sees me, sees the Father also," cannot be called Israel. "Nor are all also sons because they are the seed of Abraham." This, evidently, was already being signified then in Abraham, when, though he had many sons — whom the Apostle calls sons of the flesh — the posterity of his seed was placed in Isaac alone, who was the son of the promise. And so now too, those who after the manner of Isaac are sons of the promise — that is, of that faith through which Abraham deserved to receive the promise of the future inheritance — they alone are reckoned as the seed; for in them the succession of the inheritance is declared.
[§15] "For this is the word of promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so, but Rebecca also, having conceived by one act of intercourse, from Isaac our father. For when they were not yet born, nor had done anything good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said to her, that the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written: Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." The Apostle set out to pursue this point: that although the people of Israel has been rejected through unbelief, nevertheless those promises of God which had been made toward them have not fallen away and been rendered void; and he teaches that, although Abraham had many sons, the promise was made in Isaac alone. "For not they," he says, "who are the children of the flesh, these are the children of God." And he strives to show how Isaac is not a son of the flesh, but is a son of God; and he returns to those things which are written about him in Genesis. "This," he says, "is the word of promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son." Therefore, he says, Isaac is not born through the origin of a fleshly nativity, seeing that Abraham's body was already accounted dead, and Sarah's womb was already dead, as was said above; but through the power of him who said, "At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son." Rightly, therefore, he is called not a son of the flesh but of God, who is born from the coming and the word of God. This reasoning, then, he says, must be received not only concerning Isaac, but concerning Jacob as well. For Rebecca too, he says, did not bring forth her offspring according to the order of fleshly nativity. For when she had conceived twins from a single act of intercourse with Isaac, before the birth had yet taken place, and before any deeds of the boys, good or evil, had been done among men, the divine election is held toward Jacob, and it is said, "that the elder shall serve the younger," and, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." And why these things were so spoken, he teaches: "That according to election," he says, "the purpose of God might stand, it was said not of works, but of him that calleth"; that is, that not those who are children of the flesh, but those who are children of God, these should be reckoned for the seed. For just as there, out of many children of the flesh, Isaac is chosen by God to be adopted into a son of God, so also here, out of two, the younger, Jacob, is chosen, to be adopted into a son of God; and thus it becomes true that the promises of God stand firm not in the children of the flesh, but in the children of God. But all these things look to this, that the Apostle may prove this: that if either Isaac or Jacob had been chosen by God for those merits which they had acquired while placed in the flesh, and had deserved to be justified through the works of the flesh, then surely the grace of their merit could pertain also to a posterity of flesh and blood. But as it is, since their election was made not from works, but from the purpose of God, and from the free decision of him who calls, the grace of the promises is fulfilled not in the children of the flesh, but in the children of God — that is, in those who, like them, are chosen from the purpose of God, and adopted into sons. For in these also is fulfilled that which we have already expounded above, that "whom he foreknew, them he also predestined; and whom he predestined, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified." And whatever we have expounded above concerning these words, the same suffices fully and abundantly for the explanation of the present passage also, lest by repeating the same things we should beget weariness in our readers.
[§16] "What then shall we say? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he says to Moses: I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will show compassion to whom I will show compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: For this very purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Therefore he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens. You say therefore to me: Why then does he still find fault? For who resists his will?" It is fitting that the reader of these things should recall rather attentively that comparison which we set down in the earlier books concerning the manner in which the apostolic discourse is dispensed: that, as in a certain royal house which is laid out with manifold entrances and exits, one passes from one chamber into another in such a way that scarcely any signs appear of the one entering or of the one going out — so also Paul seems to open up the secrets of divine things a little, yet not to spread them out plainly and openly. And so, in view of what he had said above concerning Isaac and Jacob — that by election and from the purpose of God, before they had done any work good or evil, God had said, either of the former, "At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son," or of the latter, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated" — when in the present chapter he had introduced a certain person as though contradicting him and raising a question, and said, "Is there unrighteousness with God?" and had answered, "God forbid," but "it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy": and if he chose Pharaoh for this reason, that he might show in him the might of his power; and if he himself has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens — why then, he says, does he find fault with men? and why is the one who sins blamed, when such is his will concerning each one? To the one, then, who raises these objections and others like them, and who thrusts himself rather impudently and importunately into the bedchamber of this mystery, he meets him with the rebuke of a most worthy exclamation, and says: "O man, who art thou that repliest against God?" As if he were saying: Who are you who plunge into the palace of the king, and have dared to penetrate the secrets of the inner chamber? Therefore let us too in such matters, standing as it were in a royal court, walk with suspended foot, and pass over few things in speech and more in silence, having the Apostle Paul himself made our teacher and guide of this journey. So then, in the person of one contradicting him, the Apostle says: "Is there unrighteousness with God?" and at once at the outset he answers, "God forbid"; so that to all the other things which are to be objected in the person of the contradictor, the Apostle may always be seen to answer, "God forbid." This objector, then, uses also the words of Moses, in which the Lord says to him: "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will show compassion to whom I will show compassion." But if this is so, he says, then salvation is not of him that wills nor of him that runs, but of him on whom God has mercy. For to Pharaoh also, he says, it is said, "For this very purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth"; so that from this it may seem to be shown that, if Pharaoh was chosen for this, that through him the power of God might be declared to men, it was not in his own power that he perished. And after everything he adds: "Therefore he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens." This, he says, is what you who contradict assert: that God complains and accuses men without cause. For if he himself chooses whom he wills, and casts off whom he wills, who resists the will of him through whom are all things? Without doubt this contradiction is aiming at this: that there is no freedom of choice in man, and that no one has [...] in that little book where we discussed the freedom of the will, each several point has been examined according to our ability, things which suffice more than enough for instruction. Nevertheless, we will even now briefly remind the reader of some of the things said there. What he said, "It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy," is to be taken as David also says in the Psalm: "Unless the Lord build the house, they have labored in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watches in vain that keeps it." In which he shows, not that the one who builds the house does nothing and is idle, and that the Lord thus builds it; but rather that the man himself expends as much care and labor as lies in a man, while it belongs to God that, with all obstacles removed, the work should come to its accomplishment. Since, then, we are taught by this that man indeed expends labor and care, but God grants success and accomplishment to the work, it is surely pious and religious to attribute the sum even of that work which lies in man to God rather than to man. So also, when Paul was planting and Apollos watering, God is said to give the increase; and it is added: "So then neither he that plants is anything, nor he that waters, but God that gives the increase." Thus, then, we can say in the present passage also: and so neither he that runs is anything, nor he that wills, but God that gives the accomplishment. For he who wills, and he who runs, seem to be what he is who plants and he who waters; but the Apostle says that he who plants and he who waters are nothing: not that they do nothing, but that in comparison with God, who gives the increase or the accomplishment to the work, they are said to be nothing. But let us also see of what sort is this which is said to Pharaoh: "For this very purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show in thee my power." It is certain that God not only knows the purpose and will of each one, but even foreknows it. And knowing and foreknowing, as a good and just steward, he uses the impulses and purpose of each one for accomplishing those works which the mind and will of each one chooses. As if, for example, we should say: If a head of a household be wise and just, and have many servants, will he not, with all the shrewdness possible, consider which of them has a mind fit for tilling the field, and assign these to the field? and whose is fit for trading, whose also for tending the flock, whose indeed for personal service, and whose temperament he will approve as suited for keeping watch over his own bedchamber, and thus, being wise, assign each one to the duties that fit him? But since it is not hidden from him — whether he be a head of a household or a king — that it is necessary that at times his subjects rebel and break the laws of discipline, and on this account need correction and stripes, it is necessary therefore that he choose out of all those dispositions fit for this too, if there be any more fiercely stirred, which, though carried along by their own impulses, nevertheless confer the correction necessary for offenders. Let us suppose, then, that this head of a household, or this king, has seen the time at which those must be corrected who have committed many things against morals and discipline, and has chosen someone most savage, and much more savage than those very ones who are to be corrected, one who for his own crimes is now worthy not of correction but of death. And willing that his destruction should profit for the correction of the rest, he sends him to those whom he desires to be corrected by his death, and says to him: "For this very purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." For see that he did not say, "For this very purpose have I made thee" — otherwise the fault would seem to be referred to the Creator — but he says, "For this very purpose have I raised thee up": that is, so that through the malice of your soul, which you acquired for yourself by living unbridled and without the fear of God, both a useful and fruitful correction may be inflicted upon others, and upon yourself a most notorious destruction may be brought as an example to posterity. But as for what he says, "Therefore he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens," he seems to take it from what is written in Exodus. For there he says: "I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he may not let the people go." Now Pharaoh's heart was hardened in this way. God was unwilling to bring upon him a sudden and full vengeance. For although he was of consummate malice, nevertheless through his patience God had not shut off even from him the possibility of conversion: and therefore he uses upon him first lighter stripes, and then such as grow gradually heavier. But what God was doing through patience, by this the man was hardened unto contempt, storing up for himself a greater wrath, so that there may fitly be said to him that which the Apostle writes: "Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, and patience, and long-suffering, not knowing that the patience of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart you treasure up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath." Therefore God does not harden whom he wills, but he who has been unwilling to yield to his patience is hardened. It is superfluous, then, what you say to the Apostle, O you who oppose: "Why then does he still find fault? For who resists his will?" It is certain indeed that no one withstands the will of God; but it is fitting that we know his will to be just and right. For that we should be good or evil is a matter of our own will; but to what sort of stripes the evil man is destined, and to what sort of glory the good man, is a matter of God's will.
[§17] "O man, who are you who answer back to God? Does the thing formed say to him who formed it: Why have you made me thus? Or does not the potter have power over the clay, out of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another indeed unto dishonor?" We read also in the Gospels that those who insolently and faithlessly inquired of the Lord by what power he did the things he was doing, and who had given him this power, were not held worthy even of an answer. Likewise in the present passage too we see the Apostle moved against insolent questions, and, through the things he answers, confounding the obstinacy of the one who puts them forward. For he says: "O man, who are you who answer back to God?" For man is to God what clay is to the potter. And just as, in the case of a worthless servant, if perhaps it seems to the master that some work ought to be done which is full of both reason and usefulness, but the servant, unwilling to work, begins to scrutinize what the master commands and to demand of his master: Why do you order this work to be done? Whom does it profit? For whom is it necessary? — what answer will be so fitting for such a contumacious servant as that it be said to him: "Who are you who answer back" to your master? So it pleases him; so it seems good to the master. But I do not think that if a faithful and prudent servant asks, wishing to understand and to marvel at his master's wisdom, it would be said to him: "Who are you?" Indeed, when Daniel the prophet had desired to know the will of the Lord — whence also he was called "a man of desires" — it was not said to him: "Who are you?" but an angel was sent who might instruct him concerning all the dispensations and judgments of God. And we too, therefore, if we desire to know something of the secret and hidden things of God, if we are men of desires and not of contentions, let us faithfully and humbly seek out the judgments of God inserted rather secretly in the divine letters. For on this account also the Lord said: "Search the Scriptures," knowing that these things are opened not to those who, occupied in other business, either hear or read them in passing, but to those who with an upright and simple heart, with unremitting labor and continual vigils, search the divine Scriptures more deeply — among whom I well know that I am not. Yet if there be anyone who seeks in this way, he will find. But let us also, according to our strength, turn to the things we have in hand. "Does the thing formed say," he says, "to him who formed it: Why have you made me thus? Or does not the potter have power over the clay, out of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another indeed unto dishonor?" And in the prophet Jeremiah we read something of this sort, where he is commanded by God to go into the potter's house and to see him forming: namely, gathering up again the vessel that had fallen from his hands, he formed it once more according to his own will. "And the word of the Lord came to him," he says, "saying: Can I not do with the house of Israel as this potter does?" And Wisdom says: "The furnace tests the potter's vessels, and temptation tests just men." Our God, therefore, has power over us just as the potter has over the clay, to make out of the same lump vessels unto honor and vessels unto dishonor. For you, then, who insolently answer back to God, let it suffice to have heard these things. But whoever desires to behold the works of God's wisdom in his dispensations, let him hear Paul, who was privy to the divine secrets, discoursing in another place about these very matters. "But in a great house," he says, "there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of clay, and some indeed unto honor, but others unto dishonor. If therefore anyone shall cleanse himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and useful to the Lord, prepared for every good work." Do you hear how, among those in whom Paul had no insolent contradictor, he disclosed the differences of the vessels? For there, where the hearer was not worthy but was a contradictor, he mentions only vessels of clay; but here he says there are also vessels of gold, and of silver, and of wood, and of clay: and some, he says, are unto honor, while others are made unto dishonor. Likewise also, where he recalled the reason why some are made unto honor and others unto dishonor: there he kept silent, here he disclosed it. "For if anyone shall cleanse himself," he says, "from these" — without doubt from the filth of sin — "he will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and useful to the Lord, prepared for every good work." It remains, therefore, that he who has not cleansed himself, and has not washed away the stains of sin through repentance, is a vessel unto dishonor. And if he should also increase his malice, and through hardness of mind and an impenitent heart utterly scorn to be converted, he will now be not only a vessel of dishonor, but also a vessel of wrath. Thus, then, the reason which he closes off there to those who demand it unworthily, he opens up here to those who desire it worthily: and through it that also which he set forth a little before concerning Jacob and Esau is more openly explained. For that Jacob might be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and useful to the Lord, prepared for every good work, his soul had cleansed itself: and God, seeing his purity, and having power out of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor, made Jacob indeed — who, as we have said, had cleansed himself — a vessel unto honor; but Esau, whose soul he saw was not so pure nor so simple, he made out of the same lump a vessel unto dishonor. And that you may know that it was on account of the purity and simplicity of his soul that Jacob was made a vessel unto honor, hear what testimony of simplicity the divine Scripture bears to him. "And Jacob," it says, "was a simple man, dwelling at home." For this reason, therefore, the Apostle says concerning them that, before they were born, it is said of them: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated,"
[§18] "But if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared unto his glory: whom also he called, even us, not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles, as he says in Hosea: I will call that which was not my people, my people; and her that was not beloved, beloved; and her that had not obtained mercy, her that had obtained mercy. And it shall be: In the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they shall be called sons of the living God." We have often given warning about the Apostle's unpolished modes of expression and their deficiencies, and this is found no less in the present passage. For what he says at the beginning of the chapter, "But if God, willing," is not brought round to any conclusion. For instance, as he himself said elsewhere: "But if the first-fruits are holy, so also is the lump": here he renders no such thing, but has left that conjunction hanging as it were; and even if it is not taken up, a clearer sense will be given without it — for instance, if we read it thus: "God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy." In this the following seems to be understood: that while God bears with and patiently endures the unbelieving and the faithless, he makes known to men both his patience and his power — his patience, while he endures them long, in case they should perhaps come to their senses and be converted; his power, while at some point he punishes, and does not leave outrages altogether unavenged. And again, "upon vessels of mercy" — that is, upon those who have cleansed themselves from every stain of sin, from which "no one is clean, not even if his life has been of a single day" — he makes known the riches of his glory: which vessels he prepared unto glory not by some unreasoning or fortuitous grace, but because they had themselves purged themselves of the aforesaid stains. But as to what he adds, "whom also he called, even us," it stands for what he would have said thus: Just as we, whom he called "not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles." For he seems to have pursued the preceding remarks as concerning Pharaoh, who was a vessel of wrath, and the children of Israel, who were vessels of mercy. Here, therefore, what he adds — "whom also he called, even us, not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles" — seems to take up a comparison: that is, so that it seems to be said thus: Just as we too are vessels of mercy, whom he called not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles. Let these things be said here so far as pertains to the order of the apostolic discourse itself and the explanation of the words. Now, going back over it briefly, let us also seek out something concerning the inner meaning. How, then, does God make his wrath known? Through vessels, he says, of wrath fitted for destruction. I am myself astonished within myself when I contemplate the design of the Holy Spirit in the divine volumes. For he says that the wrath of God, which is foreign to his nature, is made known to men, as the present passage of the Apostle indicates; but his goodness and sweetness, which is proper to his nature, he records as being hidden and concealed, as David says: "How great is the abundance of your sweetness, O Lord, which you have hidden for those who fear you." What cause, then, shall we assign for God's making his wrath manifest to men, and concealing his sweetness? Doubtless he knows that the race of men is frail and prone to falling through negligence, and that it is more expedient for them to be under the fear of wrath than to be let loose by the hope of God's kindness and sweetness — as the Wisdom of God also says: "He who spares the rod hates his son. For if you strike him with the rod, he will not die: but you will save his soul from death." God therefore makes his power known while he chastises and rebukes the impious, so that, according to the saying of Scripture, "when the pestilent man is scourged, the innocent becomes more shrewd." And he also makes known "the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared unto glory." The riches of God become known when his mercy is shown toward those who are despised among men and are lowly, who hope not in their own riches nor in their own power, but in the Lord. Just as at that time the nation of the Hebrews, despaired of among men and cast off, obtained mercy from God; so therefore now also the people of the Gentiles, who were despised and despaired of by those who glory in circumcision, has obtained mercy. But this is what we ought to attend to more sharply: that those others also obtained mercy, and were called the people of God, and were beloved of God; but because they did not know how to keep the grace they had received, it is said to them: "In the things wherein the dwelling of Israel committed adultery, I put her away, and gave her the bill of divorce into her hands"; and again elsewhere: "You have become a surfeit to me, I will no longer forgive your sins." And through Jeremiah the Lord says: "My inheritance has become to me like the cave of a hyena." Lest perhaps we too, who were not the people of God, but through the riches of his glory he called us his people, and who were not beloved, but have been made beloved, and sons of the living God — if we do not walk as sons of light and sons of God, if we do not so act as the people of God, "that men, seeing our good works, may glorify our Father who is in heaven" — it is to be feared that we may incur that saying of the Apostle in which he says: "For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. As he says in Hosea: I will call that which was not my people, my people; and her that was not beloved, beloved; and her that had not obtained mercy, her that had obtained mercy. And it shall be: In the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they shall be called sons of the living God." This testimony, indeed, which the Apostle takes from Hosea, so far as pertains to the passage of the prophet itself, seems to be spoken not about the Gentiles, but about the people of Israel themselves. But, as we said above, Paul takes his example from a similar case, in order to show that, just as it was said to them once, when they had been cast off and despaired of, first: "You are not my people, and I am not your God"; and after this it is added: "And it shall be: In the place in which it was said to them, You are not my people, they too shall be called sons of the living God" — so, he says, also "we, whom he called not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles," who before were not his people, now he has called us his people, "and her that was not beloved, beloved; and in the place where it was said" to us, "You are not my people, there they shall be called sons of the living God." But perhaps those who are of the circumcision may inquire of us and say: Where indeed was it said to you that you are not the people of God, so that there you should be called sons of the living God? For they will assert that God spoke these things in Judaea (for in it alone is God known), and that these things have no bearing on us, because "the law speaks to those who are under the law." Nay rather, I shall point out a place far more worthy, where it was both fitting and possible for God to speak. For God will not consistently be said to speak on mountains and crags and any earthly places whatever: but God speaks in the mind of man, in the rational faculty, and in the governing part of the heart; and there, when unworthy acts alien to God are censured by the conscience convicting them, there, I say, it is pronounced, there it is said to each individual, that "you are not my people." But if anyone cleanses and purifies himself from these things, and "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding," begins to guard his heart, there — that is, in the secret place of the heart — having been made peaceable, he will be called a son of God, with his conscience bearing witness.
[§19] "But Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel: If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. For he is completing and shortening the word in equity: because the Lord will make a shortened word upon the earth; and as Isaiah foretold: Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we should have become as Sodom, and should have been made like unto Gomorrah. What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness, have laid hold of righteousness — that righteousness, however, which is of faith. But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law. Why? Because it was not of faith, but as it were of works: they stumbled at the stone of stumbling, as it is written: Behold, I place in Sion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense: and whoever believes in him shall not be put to shame." After he had, through that wisdom of God which Paul speaks among the perfect, set forth the secret and hidden things of the divine dispensation, and had shown by what reasoning and in what order God either displays his wrath in the vessels of wrath or the riches of his glory in the vessels of mercy; and had taught that each one becomes a vessel of wrath from this, that by his own hardness and impenitent heart he treasures up for himself wrath in the day of wrath, while the vessels of mercy are those who have cleansed themselves from these things and have prepared themselves for every good work — now, in order to confirm these very things with greater authority, he teaches that they were prescribed also in the prophets: "Isaiah," he says, "cries out on behalf of Israel: If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved." For the prophet, foreseeing things to come, saw that very many of Israel — and especially those who are compared to the sand of the sea — would through their own hardness and impenitent heart be "vessels of wrath fitted for destruction," not believing in their own life, but crucifying the Lord of majesty. "If therefore," he says, "they be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved." Those who are not saved are as the sand of the sea; but the remnant which shall be saved are as the stars of heaven. For the word of the promise which was made to Abraham contains both: "Your seed," he says, "shall be as the sand of the sea, and as the stars of heaven." And this is what he says: "For he is completing and shortening the word in equity: because the Lord will make a shortened word upon the earth." The word is shortened where many are called but few are chosen. And we may also call the word of the whole teaching "shortened," in that what formerly the Law and the Prophets contained in the breadth of their precepts, the Lord, when he came, pronounced and said: "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with all your strength; and your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets" — in which he plainly shortened the Prophets and the Law into these two sayings. The "shortened word" can also be said to be the faith of the creed which is handed down to believers, in which the sum of the whole mystery is contained, bound together in few words. "And as Isaiah foretold," he says, "Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we should have become as Sodom, and should have been made like unto Gomorrah." What seed does Isaiah say was left by the Lord? That, without doubt, which the same Apostle expounds elsewhere, when he says that it was said to Abraham: "To you will I give this land, and to your seed. He did not say: And to seeds, as in many; but, to your seed, as in one, which is Christ." This, then, is what Isaiah says: "Unless the Lord had left us a seed" — that is, unless he had given us Christ, to be born from us — "we should have been as Sodom," so far as concerns the magnitude of the impiety, except that something even graver was done among the Israelites. For the men of Sodom are recorded as unchaste and shameless toward their guests; but the people of Israel showed themselves sacrilegious toward him who, though he is the Lord of majesty, willed both to be called and to be their brother. Unless, therefore, the Lord had left that seed, through which a remnant might be saved and the vessels of mercy be saved, that people would have perished like Sodom. And yet it is not idly that Isaiah named what was left a "seed." For that is called seed which is sown in the earth and yields manifold fruit: teaching by this that Christ too was to be sown, that is, to be buried in the earth, and rising thence to bring forth the most abundant fruit of the whole multitude of the Church, as the Lord himself also says: "Unless a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it bears no fruit; but if it die, it bears much fruit." "What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness, have laid hold of righteousness — that righteousness, however, which is of faith." Perhaps this may seem contrary either to those things we said above, that each one should cleanse and purge himself, that he may become a useful vessel and a vessel of mercy; or to those things we discussed earlier, that the Gentiles too make use of the natural law, in which without doubt righteousness also is contained. How then does he say here that the Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness, have laid hold of righteousness? See, then, whether we can answer in this way. It is one thing to pursue, another to have implanted. He is said to pursue who by teaching and much reading desires to attain something; whence also from "pursuing" (sectando) those teachings are called "sects" (sectae) which are learned by the tradition of men. The Gentiles, then, because they did not have the law so written on tablets or in books, are not said to have pursued righteousness; yet they had it implanted, which the natural law taught them. For that reason, therefore, they were near to that righteousness which is of faith, that is, to Christ. "But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law." This passage too, as we said above must be observed, names "law" in different senses within one and the same verse. For it is certain that Israel pursued the law of righteousness according to the letter, but did not attain to the law. What law? Without doubt, that of the spirit. For the Apostle would not say this, that they did not attain to the law which they pursued and held and possessed. He gives, then, the reason why Israel could not attain to the law. "Because it was not of faith," he says, "but as it were of works." Concerning the faith of Christ and the works of the law we have discussed abundantly at the beginning of this Epistle; and therefore, lest we repeat the same things too often, let us explain the present passage with a few words of the Apostle himself, in which he says: "For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not been subject to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law, unto righteousness for everyone who believes." Because, therefore, they pursued the law not according to the works of God's righteousness, but according to the works of their own righteousness, therefore "they stumbled at the stone of stumbling, of which it is written: Behold, I place in Sion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense: and he who has believed in him shall not be put to shame." But it should be known that in the prophet Isaiah this testimony is written thus: "Behold, I send into the foundations of Sion a precious stone, chosen, a cornerstone, glorious, into its foundations; and whoever shall believe in him shall not be put to shame." The Apostle, however, inserted "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense" into this testimony from another passage of the same prophet Isaiah, in which it is written thus: "And you shall not meet him as a stone of stumbling, nor as a stone of ruin"; and excerpting from both passages what seemed suitable to his assertions, he fitted them together. Nevertheless, since we find the Lord Jesus addressed by very many names — but good and salutary ones — it may perhaps seem strange why in this passage which the Apostle took from the prophet Isaiah he is named a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; since surely to the good Lord and to the Son of the good Father whatever things are good and salutary ought to be applied: as peace, and righteousness, and truth, and the door by which one enters to the Father, and shepherd, and lion of the tribe of Judah, or lion's whelp who is roused from sleep, or sanctification, or redemption, and other things of this sort which seem to befit his dignity. But see whether we can also show of "the stone of stumbling and rock of offense" how far it can fittingly be applied to him. "Stumbling" and "offense" (scandalum) signify nearly one and the same thing. For a "scandal" is so called when some obstacle is found in the road which impedes the step of one walking or climbing. From this, then, "scandal" is derived. Since therefore those who were in Sion, walking in ways that were not good, were running with hurried foot along the path of perdition, encouraging one another in their evils — as the Prophet says, because "the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul, and he who is wicked is blessed" — our Lord and Savior, when he came, began to reprove their ways and to say: "Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees"; and again: "Woe to you rich"; and again: "Woe to you, Jerusalem, who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you." But saying also many things like these, and reproving them, he began to impede their ways of perdition, and became to them a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, not allowing them to enter the broad way which leads to death. So finally it is written also in the prophet Hosea concerning those who walk the path of sin: "Because of this," he says, "behold, I will hedge up her way with stakes, and I will block her ways, and she shall not find her path." Let us set forth again, then, if it seems good, in our midst Paul himself, who, having once received letters from the priests, was proceeding to Damascus to bring all men and women who believed in Christ bound to Jerusalem. When therefore he was travelling that road of sin, the Lord Jesus met him on the way, and for a time struck him with blindness; and he became to him — so far as regards that very purpose for which he was going there — a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, so that he could not complete that journey of sin which he had undertaken, but being converted might believe in him who had shut off his way and blocked it with certain stakes of threatening; and believing in him, might not be put to shame.