[§20] "Providing good things before all men." A man provides good things before all men if he does not seek to please the vices or the manners of individuals. Otherwise that saying of the Apostle himself will be contrary to this, which says: "If I wished to please men, I should not be the servant of Christ." But he who so holds the balance of his life, his manners, and his acts that he cannot be reproved by any man — he it is who provides good things before all men. But let us also notice this, how the Apostle did not say "that we may please all men," but "that we may provide good things before all men" — that is, that we may do good things before all men, whether the things that are good please them or do not please them.
[§21] "If it be possible, as much as lies in you, having peace with all men." The Apostle knew that peace, among those between whom peace is held, consists not of one party but of both; therefore, lest another's disposition — should it happen to prove unpeaceable — should seem to hinder us from the good of peace, he gave a most measured precept: that meanwhile our own mind should always be prepared for peace, and that the fault of discord should rest not with us but with the other. But perhaps someone may say: How can it come about that we have peace with all men? And what shall we do with the Scripture which says: "You saw a thief, and you ran with him, and with adulterers you set your portion"? Well, therefore, did the Apostle add: "As much as lies in you," that is, what accords with your purpose and your faith. For to have peace and fellowship with the wicked does not accord with our faith and our purpose — although in another place a further distinction may be drawn. For it is one thing to love men, another to love crimes. He who loves men loves the creature of God; he who loves crimes follows after the devil's inventions. Those, therefore, who are perfect love the very men in whom they hate the crimes; and while holding in hatred that in them which sins, they do not cease to love that which God created.
[§22] "Not avenging yourselves, dearly beloved, but give place to wrath. For it is written: Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." In what way those who do not avenge themselves give place to wrath seems to me to be understood in two ways. For by this very fact, that (for example) they do not return blow for blow, or do not render insult for insult, they have given place to the wrath of him who did the injury to pass over and vanish away. For no one will be found so rabid that, having inflicted an injury, he rages again if he receives no requital; but, as though his fury were poured out and digested, he necessarily grows mild. There is therefore also great gain, where both the sinner's multitude of sins is checked, and the patience of him who suffered the injury becomes approved before God. But it is also possible to give place to wrath in this way: when, for the injuries they inflict, those who sin — according to Paul's own saying — "treasure up for themselves wrath in the day of wrath," when God will render to each one according to his works. If, therefore, we avenge ourselves, it is no great thing that we render for the injury received — for instance, a slap for a slap, or a stone for a stone, or for the insult of a word an insult of a word none the less. But if we reserve these things for the vengeance of God, we give place, in him who has injured us, to that wrath which he beyond doubt treasures up for himself by his own evil deeds, which will exact from him in the judgment of God punishments far graver than we are able to inflict.
[§23] "But if your enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head." These things indeed the Lord also commands in the Gospels. And although that understanding lies open, according to what we have said above — namely, that insofar as to enemies and to those who injure us we not only do not render requital but even bestow good things upon them, so far do we heap up their punishments in the judgment of God (for it is truly a just condemnation if they are convicted before God of having inflicted evils upon those from whom they received good things) — nevertheless let us see whether perhaps this commandment may contain some worthier meaning. For Jeremiah the prophet also says to the sinful daughter of Babylon: "You have coals of fire, sit upon them, these shall be to you for a help." Perhaps, then, here too these coals of fire which are heaped upon the enemy's head are heaped up for his help. For it can come about that the enemy's savage and barbarous mind, if it perceives our kindness, if it sees our humanity, our affection, our devotion, may take on compunction of heart and bear repentance for what it has committed; and from this a certain fire may be kindled in him, which tortures and burns him for the conscience of what he has committed; and these will be the coals of fire which are heaped upon his head out of our work of mercy and devotion. But by "head" is meant the ruling part of the heart; and rightly is that called the head by whose understanding and prudence all the members are governed.
[§24] Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. He is overcome by evil who, provoked by evils, returns evil; but he overcomes evil with good who, having received evils, repays them with good things. For it is certain that this is the nature of evil, that it is increased and grows from things like itself — just as if you add fire to fire, or as if the clouding of the air is joined to the darkness of night. But if you apply good, evil is destroyed. For contraries are done away with by contraries, just as fire is extinguished by water, and darkness is put to flight by light. But perhaps someone may say that Paul, through unskillfulness of speech, has fallen away from his subject; for he had set out to speak about the gifts of graces which are given through the Holy Spirit. And indeed, as to what he says: Whether prophecy, or ministry, or teaching, or exhortation, these can pertain to spiritual gifts. Perhaps also what follows: He who gives, in simplicity; he who presides, in solicitude; he who shows mercy, in cheerfulness, can be joined to the foregoing; but as for those things which he enumerates after these — that charity be without dissimulation, hating evil, cleaving to good, loving one another with the charity of brotherhood, anticipating one another in honor, and the rest of this kind — one might say that these are precepts rather than gifts. But let us consider more carefully whether perhaps, since indeed in all these matters he has undertaken to treat the moral topic, and to make the Christian not only stable and immovable in the faith of the truth but also adorned in his morals, he therefore joins moral precepts as well to the gifts of the graces, in order to show that these too are given to Christians through the grace of God. For there are also some among the Gentiles of well-ordered and honorably formed morals, who nevertheless do not refer this very thing which they have to God, nor confess that the grace was given to them by Him; but either they ascribe it to their own diligence, or they boast about their masters and instructors. To us, however, the Apostle shows that everything which is good is from God and is given through the Holy Spirit, just as the apostle James also says: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, descending from the Father of lights; so that he who glories may glory in the Lord.
[§25] Let us see, then, what the Apostle now adds in what follows: Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. It seems to me that in this he has very commendably named the soul, which he commands to be subject to the powers. For he would never have said, let every spirit be subject to the power, but, let every soul. Concerning this distinction we have already often said that sometimes a person is named from the soul, sometimes from the flesh, sometimes from the spirit. But when he is to be named from the better part, as one who ought to be understood as spiritual, he is called spirit; when from the lower, soul; but when he is named from the worse, he is called flesh — and we have often brought forward testimonies about these things from the Scriptures. Now, therefore, since the Apostle is laying down precepts for believers, he wishes us to preserve, so far as it lies in us, the quiet and peace of the present life. And if indeed we are such as are joined to the Lord and are one spirit with Him, we are said to be subject to the Lord. But if we are not yet such, but there is still in us the common soul which has something of this world, which is bound to it by some business, for this one the Apostle lays down precepts, and says that it should be subject to the powers of the world: because the Lord also said that those who have in themselves the superscription of Caesar should render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Peter and John had nothing which they might render to Caesar; for Peter says: Gold and silver I do not have. He who does not have this has neither anything to render to Caesar, nor anything on account of which he should be subject to the higher powers. But he who has either money, or possessions, or any business in the world, let him hear: Let every soul be subject to the higher powers.
[§26] For there is no power, he says, except from God. Perhaps someone will say: What then? Is even that power which persecutes the servants of God, attacks the faith, and overturns religion, from God? To this we shall reply briefly. There is no one who does not know that sight has been given to us by God, and hearing, and understanding. Since, therefore, we have these from God, yet it is in our own power whether we use sight for good things or for evil; and similarly hearing, and the movement of our hands, and the thought of our mind: and in this consists the just judgment of God, that we misuse for impious and iniquitous services those things which He gave for good uses. So, then, every power also has been given by God for the punishment of the evil, but for the praise of the good, as the same Apostle says in what follows. And the judgment of God will be just toward those who regulate the power they have received according to their own impieties, and not according to the divine laws.
[§27] And therefore he says: Therefore he who resists the power resists the ordinance of God; and those who resist acquire damnation for themselves. He is not here speaking of those powers which bring persecutions upon the faith; for in that case it must be said: We ought to obey God rather than men. Rather he is speaking of those ordinary powers which are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil: and whoever resists these certainly procures damnation for himself according to the quality of his deeds.
[§28] "But do you wish," he says, "not to fear the power? Do what is good, and you will have praise from it; for it is God's minister to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid: for not without cause does it bear the sword; for it is God's minister, an avenger in wrath upon him who does what is evil." Paul moves me in these words, in that he calls the worldly power and the judge of this world God's minister; and this he repeats not once, but a second and a third time. I should therefore like to inquire how the judge of the world is God's minister. We find it written in the Acts of the Apostles that the apostles, coming together into one place, established decrees which we who from the Gentiles have believed in Christ ought to observe, in which these things are contained: "The apostles and elders to the brethren who are at Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, to all who have believed from among the Gentiles, greeting. Forasmuch as we have heard that certain went out from us and troubled you, to whom we gave no such commandment." And after a little it is added: "It seemed good, therefore, to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no further burden of weight, beyond those things which are necessary, that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if you keep yourselves you will do well. Farewell." In these precepts, then, in which he says that no further burden is to be imposed upon those who believe from among the Gentiles, save that they abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication, neither is murder forbidden, nor adultery, nor theft, nor the lying of males with males, nor the other crimes which are punished by divine and human laws. But if he says that only those things which he mentioned above are to be observed by Christians, he will seem to have granted them license as regards the rest. But consider the ordering of the Holy Spirit: since indeed the other crimes are avenged by the laws of the world, and it seemed superfluous that those things should now be forbidden by divine law which are sufficiently chastised by human law, he decrees only those things concerning which human law had said nothing and which seemed to pertain to religion. From which it appears that the judge of the world fulfills the greatest part of God's law. For all the crimes which God wills to be avenged, He willed to be avenged not through the prelates and rulers of the Churches, but through the judge of the world; and Paul, knowing this, rightly names him God's minister and an avenger upon him who does what is evil. But what he says concerning the power, "Do what is good, and you will have praise from it," seems to me to require a deeper inquiry. For it is not the custom of the powers of this world to praise those who have not been criminals. For they indeed punish those who sin, but they have no custom of praising those who do not sin. But let us see whether perhaps Paul, even when he seems to be teaching moral matters, does not fail always to insert something also about the mysteries. For indeed, knowing that all who have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law — and that in the judgment that law will without doubt convict each one according to how he lived (and we have shown that the Holy Spirit in many things has given place to human law) — it is therefore certain that in the day of judgment he too will have praise with God even from these laws, who has committed nothing against the established laws, when it will be said to him by the Lord: "Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things." Yet it must be known that the law is not laid down for the just, but for the unjust and the insubordinate, for the wicked, for murderers, for the defiled, for perjurers, and for the rest who are of this sort. For these are they who fear the law. But he who does good, that is, who does what is good not from fear of the law but from love of the good, that man now lives not under the law of the letter, but under the law of the spirit.
[§29] "Therefore it is necessary to be subject, not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience. For on this account you also pay tributes. For they are God's ministers, attending upon this very thing." By these words Paul indeed orders the Church of God, that, doing nothing adverse to the princes and powers of this world, it may through quiet and tranquillity of life carry out the work of righteousness and piety. For if we were to suppose, for example, that those believing in Christ were not subject to the powers of this world, did not render tributes, nor pay customs, showed fear to none, honor to none, would they not by these things deservedly turn the arms of rulers and princes against themselves, and make their persecutors excusable, but themselves blameworthy? For they would then seem to be assailed not for the cause of faith, but of insolence; and there would be for them indeed a worthy cause of death, but an unworthy merit of death. Foreseeing these things, then, through his immense wisdom, Paul says: "Render to all what is due: to whom tribute, tribute; to whom custom, custom; to whom fear, fear; to whom honor, honor. Owe no one anything, save that you love one another." I think, however, that these things too Paul does not utter apart from the customary mysteries of his discourses. For indeed we have already taught in the foregoing that every creature, and all spirits, whether good and upright, or even of a depraved and evil purpose, minister to God, and that each one furnishes that ministry for which he has shown himself fit. For the Apostle pronounced concerning all of them together when he said: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth for ministry on account of those who receive the inheritance of salvation?" All spirits, therefore, minister to the life of men; each one, however, as we have said, according to his own dignity and desert: for those also are called ministers by whose ministry the things that pertain to the world are accomplished. Whence the Apostle also, who had said of himself, "the world is crucified to me, and I to the world," says this as well: "But we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is from God." But he who is still of the world, and savors the things that are of the world, and seeks the things that are of the flesh, is necessarily subject to the ministers of the world; subject, moreover, because of wrath, which he has treasured up for himself from his sins. And on this account it seems to me that he says: "Therefore it is necessary to be subject, not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience"; since he who is made subject has in himself that for which he is accused by conscience. To these, therefore, we also pay certain tributes, while we still live according to the flesh and think the things that are of the flesh. For if we cultivate the Lord's vineyard, and exercise within ourselves the true vine, which is Christ, from that vineyard we shall not pay tributes to the ministers of the world, but shall render the fruits in their season to the Lord Himself: according to what the Savior Himself says in the Gospels, that He will take away the vineyard from the evil husbandmen, and will give it to other husbandmen who will render Him the fruits in their season. But this very thing also which he says: "Render to all what is due: to whom tribute, tribute; to whom custom, custom" — seems to me to be distinguished from what is added in what follows, "to whom fear, fear; to whom honor, honor": and that tributes and customs indeed pertain to those ministers of whom we spoke above. For they exact from us the tributes of our land, and the customs of our trading. And why do I speak of ourselves? Even our Lord Jesus Christ, when He was placed in the flesh, had tribute exacted of Him: which He says that He pays for this reason, not because He is a debtor, but lest He should give them offense. But if He who had nothing of Caesar's in Himself, and in whom the prince of this world, when he came, found nothing of his own, although He was free, nevertheless paid tribute (for He came even into death, that He might be free also among the dead) — how much more is it necessary for us to pay out these tributes of the flesh, and, if indeed we trade in the pearls of the kingdom of heaven, to pay the customs of our trading to the spirits who exact them from us through diverse temptations? But fear and honor we ought rather to refer to Him who says through the prophet: "Do you not call me both Lord and Father? And if I am Lord, where is my fear? and if I am Father, where is my honor?" As for the latter things which he added, that is, "Owe no one anything," it is certain that these are to be referred to the ministers, to whom a man becomes a debtor when he has sinned. For we have shown in many places and frequently that sin is a debt. Paul wishes, therefore, that every debt of sin be paid, and that the debt of sin remain with us not at all, but that the debt of charity abide and never cease from us: for it is expedient for us both to pay this daily, and always to owe it.
[§31] Finally, he sets forth in what follows how great is the power of charity. For he who loves his neighbor, he says, has fulfilled the law. For: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet; and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up again in this word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And at the last, gathering up briefly the reason for so great a good, he says: The love of one's neighbor works no evil; therefore love is the fullness of the law. Above he had said that he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law; and because it seemed difficult how anyone could fulfill the whole law in a single utterance, he renders the fullest account, saying: The love of one's neighbor works no evil, and therefore love is the fullness of the law. For set love alongside each single commandment of the law, and see how easily they are all fulfilled. Can he who loves his neighbor possibly kill him? It is certain that no one kills the person he loves. Love, then, is that by which the commandment is fulfilled which enjoins: You shall not kill. And again, does he who loves his neighbor commit adultery with his wife? Assuredly never. If, therefore, you love your neighbor, neither will you commit adultery. Likewise too, he who loves his neighbor does not steal what belongs to him; and he who loves his neighbor does not speak false witness against him. Likewise the remaining commandments of the law also, if there be love toward one's neighbor, are kept without any labor. Yet I think that in this too the Apostle wished us to learn something by a shorter road. For if you inquire more diligently who our neighbor is, you will learn in the Gospel that he is our neighbor who came, and, when we lay wounded by robbers and stripped bare by demons, set us upon the beast of his own body, and carried us to the inn of the Church, and granted to the innkeeper (whether to Paul himself, or to everyone who presides over the Church) the two denarii of the New and Old Testament for the expenses of our care and attendance. If, then, we love this neighbor, we fulfill the whole law and all the commandments in love of him. For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness for everyone who believes; nor can it come about by any means that one who loves Christ with his whole heart and with all his inward parts should do anything that does not please Christ. For he who loves him not only does not kill him, which the law forbids, but does not even grow angry with his brother. He who so delights in the one he loves not only does not commit adultery, but does not even look upon a woman to lust after her; but says rather to him: My soul covets and faints for the living God. He who loves Christ, how should he think about theft, who even leaves behind all his own possessions, whatever he has, in order to follow Christ? He who loves Christ, when does he speak false witness, since he knows that the very one whom he loves was betrayed by false witness? And necessarily he who loves Christ also loves his neighbor. For by this sign alone is one marked out as a disciple of Christ, if he has charity toward his neighbors. For it is certain that he who does not love his neighbor does not know Christ.
[§32] And this, knowing the time, that it is now the hour to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night has gone before, but the day has drawn near. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light; let us walk honorably, as in the day. When, after those discussions which the Apostle pursued concerning either the Gentiles or the Jews, he had also introduced the moral topic, by which he might more and more urge his hearers toward conversion, he now introduces as well the pressing consideration of time, which in all matters is supreme. For no one is so drowsy and sluggish that the brightness of the oncoming day does not rouse him, and whose sight the sun, poured into his eyes, does not open. There is, then, a certain sleep of the soul as well. For if it has, as we have often already said, its own proper eyes, and its own ears, and hands and feet — each of which is to be reckoned not so much as bodily members belonging to it, as powers by which it is moved and stirred toward each several thing — then without doubt sleep also befalls it in respect of its eyes. For if it does not do at the opportune time the things that are God's, but grows torpid with idleness, it will deservedly be said to sleep. For this reason, therefore, Paul, the herald of Christ, going about a world set in the sleep of idleness, announces that the light is now at hand, and that it is time to rise from sleep; and that the night — that is, that time in which ignorance held dominion over men — has gone before, and that, with the coming of the Sun of righteousness drawing near and the darkness thinning out, the day of knowledge is now imminent; and therefore he cries out that one must awake, lest through sloth anyone suffer night in the daylight; and that the works of darkness must be cast off, and the armor of light put on. The works of darkness are those acts which are alien from God; the armor of light, however, is the taking up of the virtues. And just as we have said that it is disgraceful to sleep when day is already pressing upon us, much more disgraceful is it to carry out the works of darkness in the time of day and light. But it must be known that the coming of this light and day is to be understood in a twofold manner: both as general for all, and as particular for each individual. The light and day will be present generally for all when the time of the age to come has arrived: in comparison with which the span of this present world is called darkness. That time draws near as the days daily slip away, and the spans which are increased for the past are without doubt diminished for the future; and therefore, he says, our salvation is now nearer than when we believed, and daily it becomes nearer — just as the Lord also, when he was distinguishing the signs of the consummation of the age, said: But when you see all these things, lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near. But there also comes about a coming of this day for individuals. For if Christ is in our heart, he makes day for us also: if the reasoning of knowledge puts our ignorances to flight, and, turning aside from unworthy acts, we pursue whatever is devout and honorable, we are set in the light, and, as it were, we walk honorably in the day.
[§33] What the works of darkness are which must be cast off, he next enumerates, saying: Not in revelings and drunkenness; not in chamberings and impurities; not in strife and envy. These are the works of darkness, which are also called the works of the flesh, in those who have made over their flesh to wantonness and impurity, not to holiness nor to the Lord. For revelings — that is, disgraceful and luxurious banquets, whose necessary companion is the most shameful drunkenness — what else will follow upon them, save chamberings and impurities? From foul couchings they are named "chamberings," things which seem to befit not so much rational human beings as wild beasts and brutes. Not in strife and envy. Those things which he named above are vices of the flesh; these now are also of the soul — although all alike are called works of the flesh and works of darkness, because in truth strife and envy are in the souls of those who live according to the flesh and who walk in darkness. But he who is in the light, and walks honorably as in the day, does nothing through strife, nothing through vainglory. In this way, then, does one cast off (as he said above) the works of darkness.
[§34] But as for what he said, Let us put on the armor of light, he now explains how this ought to come about. But put on, he says, the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in its concupiscences. We have frequently said that Christ is wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and truth, and all the virtues together: and whoever has taken these up is said to have put on Christ. For if Christ is all these things, then necessarily he who has these has Christ also. For he who has these makes no provision for the flesh in its concupiscences. The Apostle employs his customary moderation, in that he does not deny that provision for the flesh is to be made in every respect. For it is certain that in things necessary it must be made; but in delicacies and luxury and every concupiscence it must be utterly excluded.
[§35] Now him that is weak in faith receive, not in disputes over thoughts. For one believes that he may eat all things; but he who is weak, let him eat vegetables. In the passages above too the Apostle made mention of weakness of faith, where he says of Abraham: When he was nearly a hundred years old, he was not weakened in faith. Concerning that weakness of faith we have set forth, in those places, such things as could occur to us. But now also he makes mention of one weak in faith, whom he calls weak in this respect, that he does not believe he may eat all things, but his faith is so slight that he reckons vegetables alone to be food suitable for him. This can indeed seem to have been said to those who believed from among the Gentiles, exalting themselves in the liberty of faith because they believed nothing to be common or unclean, over against those who believed from the circumcision, still observing according to the tradition of the law a distinction of foods: so that he may seem to restrain them and to warn them not to insult those in whom long custom in the observance of foods still stirred some discrimination and hesitation. He commands, therefore, that he who is thus weak in this faith should rather be received, and not cast off, nor judged as though unbelieving. For it is one thing to be unbelieving, another to be weak in faith. For he is called unbelieving who does not have faith; but weak in faith is he who doubts in some part of the faith.
[§36] The Apostle, therefore, composing the body of the Church in peace, says: Let him who eats not despise him who does not eat; and let him who does not eat not judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you that judge another's servant? To his own lord he stands, or falls: but he shall stand; for God is able to make him stand — namely, so that through these words there should be no dissension among believers on account of foods. But Paul seems to have spoken these things with a deeper meaning. For the law had enjoined nothing about eating vegetables upon those coming from the circumcision, such that what he says would seem to fit them: But he who is weak, let him eat vegetables. Whence it is evident that he is treating these matters concerning the food of the word, and calls weak in faith the one who is not so perfect in his faculties that he can take all the food of the word of God — just as the Apostle himself says elsewhere: But solid food is for the perfect, for those who, according to their capacity for taking it, have their faculties exercised for the discernment of good and evil. And again he says to others: I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able. And shall we be so foolish as to suppose that the Apostle, who was sent to preach the word of God, carried milk about with him to give the Corinthians to drink? But it is manifest that he is speaking of these things with respect to the quality of the word, and therefore says: If anyone is weaker in his faculties, and is not of so perfect a faith as to grasp the word concerning the more hidden mysteries, disputes of thoughts must not be stirred up for him through those things which he cannot understand. For one, he says, believes that he may eat all things. Paul is not by these words exhorting the disciples to eat all things; nor is he a teacher of gluttony and the gullet: but he is doubtless speaking of those whose faith is perfect, and who are hindered by no distinctions in the word of God — those whom the same Apostle elsewhere calls spiritual, when he says: But the spiritual man examines all things. It is he, then, of whom he here says: But another believes that he may eat all things. Finally, to the apostles also, before they received the Holy Spirit, it was said by the Lord: I have yet many things to say to you; but you cannot bear them now. But the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, will come, and he himself will teach you all things. These, then, are the "all things" which he believes he may eat who, by reason of the perfection of his faith, has through the grace of the Holy Spirit become capable of the more hidden word. Yet the weak man too has something to take from the word of God, and there is a certain kind of word which the Apostle here has called "vegetables," which does not render the hearer's faculties so robust and strong as it sustains them and keeps them from perishing. For in many places divine Scripture speaks of the inner senses of the soul as though of the outward members of the body; and as we have often taught that the inner man is said either to see, or to hear, or to walk, so now too this same inner man is said either to be able to take in every food if he is perfect, or, if he is weak, to eat vegetables. But in order that he may compose the concord in the Church of the perfect and the imperfect — as of the less honorable and the honorable members in the body — and that there may be no dissension among them, he says: Let him who eats not despise him who does not eat; and let him who does not eat not judge him who eats. This is what he says elsewhere too: That the eye cannot say to the hand, You are not necessary to me; nor the head to the feet, I do not need your service. But much more those members of the body which seem to be less honorable are necessary. And so to those whose faith is such that they can eat all things, and grasp every kind of the word, he gives the precept that they not be proud and despise those who are inferior; and again to those who are incapable of the more perfect teaching he gives the charge that they not judge those whose faculties are more capacious and whose understanding is more eminent. For by a perverse order the unskilled are wont to judge the skilled, and the slothful the studious. Sometimes, however, even those who have grasped some beginnings of knowledge are puffed up and exalt themselves against those who seem to be less capable. Therefore Paul, restraining by the rebuke of apostolic authority the insolence of both parties, says: Who are you that judge another's servant? To his own lord he stands, or falls. When he says stands, or falls, he speaks according to the mind of the one whom he rebukes. For the more unskilled man, if he sees someone perceiving something more profoundly and in a way he himself cannot grasp, judges that this man has fallen from the standing of faith; and again those who are puffed up by knowledge, and do not act with charity as Paul admonishes, think similarly about any who are less skilled: and therefore he took away from a brother the power of judging a brother. And he says another's servant well, because the Lord says: But you are all brothers. All — that is, the whole creation — and there is one sole Lord, Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all, rich toward all. At the same time he also makes manifest the ineffable goodness of God, when he says of him who seems to have fallen, even if he has truly fallen, that God is able to make him stand. For the Lord raises up those who have been cast down.
[§37] One judges between one day and another; another judges every day. Let each one abound in his own sense. We said above, following the sequence of the apostolic letter, that these matters seem to be treated concerning abstinence from foods, or liberty in them: since indeed the calling which is in Christ places nothing common or unclean in foods, but the principle of continence persuades us to abstain even from things permitted. For, as he himself says elsewhere, because all things are lawful, it does not therefore follow that all things are expedient, or that all things edify. Yet the very principle of abstinence differs according to the vow and purpose of the one vowing. For one judges thus, and so determines in his own mind, that he should spend every day, that is, the continuous time of his life, in abstinence. But another appoints some particular time, as by a votive profession. In this matter, whether one undertakes a perpetual or a temporary continence, he grants free power to the judgment of each. Nevertheless he promises that both are made acceptable before the Lord, and therefore he adds:
[§38] He who is wise concerning the day, is wise for the Lord; and he who eats, eats for the Lord: for he gives thanks to God; and he who does not eat, for the Lord does not eat, and gives thanks to God. Thanks therefore are rendered to God by both: by the one indeed for the fruit of continence; by the other for the liberty of eating. But since, as we have shown in what preceded, a deeper sense of the Apostle is found than the account of carnal foods contains, in the spiritual exposition, according to those things which we discussed above concerning those of whom one judges every day, but another judges between one day and another, we can understand this: that in the divine Scriptures each single chapter in which a doctrine of piety and faith is contained is called a day. For truly that is a day which illuminates the mind, which puts to flight the darkness of ignorance, which has in itself Christ, who is the sun of righteousness. If therefore there be anyone who so expends labor and zeal upon the divine letters that he examines and judges every day and every sense of divine Scripture, so that not one iota or one tittle of the law escapes him, this man will be seen to judge every day. But he who is not of such great capacity will grasp alternate ones, that is, a few senses out of many, which, if they do not suffice for the fullness of knowledge, are yet certainly enough for the sum of faith. Let each therefore, according to the apostolic counsel, give thanks to God: he who is wise concerning every day, and who eats all things, that is, who recognizes and understands all things; and he also who, although he does not eat all things, and does not grasp the understanding of all matters, is nevertheless saved by a brief confession of faith. And therefore even the one who does not eat all things, nor take in the knowledge of all things, is nevertheless himself also said to give thanks to God.
[§39] For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself; whether therefore we live, we live to the Lord; or whether we die, we die to the Lord. Whether therefore we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died and lived, that he might have dominion over both the dead and the living. What it is to live in Christ, and what it is to die in Christ, has often been said by us in the exposition of this Epistle, and especially in that place where we attempted to explain the saying of the Apostle in which he says: But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live together with him. If therefore we remember what was said in that place, from those very things the present saying of the Apostle set before us will become plainer and clearer — how none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. For each one does not give to himself, but takes from Christ the example of death — he who alone died to sin — so that he too, by imitation of him, may be able to be made a stranger to sin and dead to it. But we do not have the example of life from ourselves either; rather we receive it from the resurrection of Christ, as the same Apostle says: That as Christ rose from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. Therefore the newness of life by which we live in Christ through faith in his resurrection is reckoned to the Lord, because it takes its beginning not from us but from him; and therefore: Whether we live, we live to the Lord; or whether we die, we die to the Lord. Whether therefore we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For he calls that death by which, buried together with Christ, as we said, and baptized into his death, we have died to sin; and that life by which, made strangers to this world, and, as he himself says, living from the dead, we live not to ourselves, that is, not to the flesh, but to God, according to what he joins in what follows. For to this end, he says, Christ died and lived, that he might have dominion over both the dead and the living. He says that Christ died, without doubt by the dispensation of the passion; but that he lived, through the mystery of the resurrection. Whence he left us also the example first of passion and mortification, and afterward also of resurrection and newness of life. But perhaps it may trouble someone that the Apostle says he died and lived for this reason, that he might have dominion over the dead and the living; as though he had given this to be understood, that unless he had died, he would not have had dominion over the dead; and unless after death he had lived again, he would not have held dominion over the living. But to these things I think we must reply as follows. Christ's dominion over every creature is established in two ways. In one, by which, as Creator of all and wielding power over all things, he holds all things subject by the force of his majesty and the necessity of his power; and by this mode he has dominion not only over good and holy minds and spirits, but also over the wicked and the apostate, and over those whom divine Scripture has called malignant angels. For it is on this account that he is called all-holding, or almighty, according to what John designates in the Apocalypse, saying: These things says he who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. This then is one mode by which Christ has dominion over all. But there is another, by which, as one who is good and the Son of a good Father, he does not wish to bend rational spirits by violence to the obedience of his law, but waits until they come of their own accord, so that they may seek the good by will and not by necessity, and so that he may persuade by teaching rather than by commanding, by inviting rather than by extorting. From this, finally, it comes that he deigns to go even to death, that he may leave an example of obedience, and a pattern of dying, to those who are willing to die to sin and to vices. And for this reason in the present passage the Apostle writes that he died and lived for this end, that he might have dominion over both the living and the dead: over the living, assuredly those who by the example of his resurrection lead a new and heavenly life on earth; over the dead, without doubt those who carry about the mortification of Christ in their own body, and mortify their members which are upon the earth.
[§40] But if these things are so: Why, he says, do you judge your brother? Or why do you despise your brother, since, whether there is in you a mortification of the flesh and of the vices, it did not arise from you but was bestowed by the death of Christ; or whether you have newness of life and, walking on earth, have your conversation in heaven, you have merited this by Christ's resurrection? And he has aptly marked the character of each fault by a homely designation, saying to the one: Why do you despise? and to the other: Why do you judge your brother? For those who seem to have advanced somewhat in knowledge are accustomed to despise and to count as nothing those who are less capable of a higher understanding; and, on the contrary, the unskilled and the untaught are accustomed to judge — that is, to accuse and condemn — those who search out things loftier and deeper than they themselves can grasp or attain. And therefore the Apostle, wishing to cut away the fault arising on either side, charges the former not to despise and look down upon their inferiors, and the latter not to judge their superiors, since they do not possess the competence to judge. Although, then, he rebukes both — both the one who despises the inferior brother and the one who judges the superior — nevertheless, in order to show that the latter sins more gravely in judging than the former in despising his brother, he passes over the fault of contempt and enlarges upon the presumption of the brother who judges; and therefore in what follows he adds: 41. For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. And so each one of us shall render an account for himself to God. Let us therefore no longer judge one another; but judge this rather, that you place no offense or stumbling block before your brother. The Apostle, taking up the causes drawn from those matters in which those who judge their brothers do not judge rightly, introduces the form of the right and just divine judgment, and says: For we must all stand before the judgment seat of God — so that, namely, he who judges his brother may know that he incurs so great a crime of arrogance as to seem to himself to usurp the judgment seat of God and to forestall the judgment of the Only-begotten. But let us see what this very thing means that the Apostle mentions the judgment seat of God, and how it is to be understood. For not only in this passage, but also in writing to the Corinthians, he makes mention nonetheless of a judgment seat, where he says: Wherefore we strive, whether present or absent, to please him. For we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive through the body according to what he has done, whether good or evil. Moreover, in the prophet Daniel too we find certain such things described concerning the manner of judging. I beheld, he says, and lo, thrones were set, and the Ancient of days was seated, and his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like clean wool. His throne was a flame of fire, its wheels a blazing fire, a river of fire ran before him. Thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. He appointed judgment, and the books were opened. In the book of the twelve prophets also it is said under a mystery that in the valley of Josaphat the Lord judges his people; and that same valley of Josaphat he shortly afterward names the valley of judgment. But it seems a long task to discuss now each of these things which we have brought forward for the sake of comparison. Nevertheless, comparing those things which we said the Apostle wrote to the Corinthians with the present passage, or with the rest which we have recalled as written among the prophets, we see it declared from all of them most certainly that there will be a judgment of God; and in order that the manner of it might become better known to men, the form of judging has been taken from the things that are transacted among men — so that, namely, we might know that, just as that earthly judge ascends a certain loftier place which is called a tribunal, in order that from it he may be higher and more eminent than the rest who are to be judged, lest either the punishments of the guilty or the pleas of the innocent escape his sight; so we may understand that Christ also, the judge of all, eminent above all in nature and majesty, looks into the hearts and consciences of individuals, brings hidden things to light and reveals what is covered, so that he may both bestow praise on good deeds and that the wicked may receive the punishment they deserve. But if the future judgment of God awaits us — and such a judgment in which not only will each one receive according to his deeds, but will also render an account for every idle word, according to the Lord's sentence — evil thoughts too will be confuted, with conscience convicting them, and in all things each one of us will render an account for himself to God. Therefore, he says, let us no longer judge one another, as he also says elsewhere: And so do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will illuminate the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of hearts; and then there will be praise for each one from God. For our heart will be laid bare, as I think, to every rational creature, and the hidden things will be revealed, or even made manifest. For there is a difference. For those things which are revealed seem to pertain to the wicked, of whom it is said: For it shall be revealed in fire; but those which are made manifest, to the good; and therefore it is said: For everything that is made manifest is light. And, like certain written books, or engraved tablets containing the letters of our deeds and thoughts, they will be read over by every rational creature, as we have said. And this is what I think is indicated through Daniel where he says: And the books were opened — those, namely, which are now folded up and covered over in the heart, containing indeed the records of what we do, and furrowed with certain marks of conscience, yet known to none but God alone. These books, then, of our soul, or these pages of our heart, will be opened in the sight of the flaming throne and of the wheels of burning fire, and of the fiery river running before the Ancient of days. The angels will see and even read these things, and those thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand thousands of ministering angels; and thus, of our crimes — in which now we are ashamed to endure even a single witness — we shall then endure innumerable throngs of heavenly powers as witnesses. But since Paul says that we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God, and since he associates himself with those who will stand before the judgment seat of God, who is there who would so deceive and delude himself as to suppose that he will not come to the judgment of Christ and to the tribunal of his examination, or suppose that he will not be made manifest in those things which he has committed, whether rightly or less rightly? But as to the fact that in the present passage he set down the judgment seat of God, while to the Corinthians the judgment seat of Christ, I for my part think there is no difference to prevent one and the same tribunal being named both the tribunal of Christ and the tribunal of God, according to what the Savior himself says in the Gospel: All things that the Father has are mine; and again: Father, all mine are yours, and yours mine. If, however, anyone thinks — since in Paul's discourses there is not even an idle syllable in his writings — that the reasons for this variation must be sought out, he will perhaps be able to say something of this sort: The name of Christ, so far as pertains to the proper meaning of the appellation itself, is an indication of the Word set in the flesh and reconciling the world to God, as the same Paul also says, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself; but the intervals of this reconciliation are stretched out and made longer by the delay of our conversion and the negligence of our amendment; and until he brings to nothing all principalities and powers, and puts all enemies under his feet, and destroys the last enemy, death, he must so reign as to carry out the mystery of the dispensation undertaken in the flesh, and to make the good manifest, while the culpable receive each one according to his works; but when he shall have handed over the kingdom to God and the Father — that is, when he shall have offered to God all who are converted and amended, and shall have fulfilled entirely the mystery of the reconciliation of the world — then, he says, all stand before the judgment seat of God, so that this which follows may be fulfilled: As I live, says the Lord, that every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Now every creature will bend the knee to God in the name of Jesus, through whom it has been reconciled to him, according to what the same Apostle says, that in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things heavenly, things earthly, and things under the earth. The bending of the knee, indeed, and every tongue confessing to God, the Apostle has taken over from the words of the prophet Isaiah. This, however, is not to be understood in a fleshly way, as though we should suppose that even the heavenly beings, which he says bend the knee, are believed to do this with fleshly limbs — for instance, that the sun, or the moon, or the stars, or even the angels, and whatever things there are that are named heavenly, should be thought to adore with bodily knees bent, or even to be thought to confess God with a fleshly tongue and with such a member as we men speak with — beings of whom it is said that they are spirit and fire, according to what the Prophet says: Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a burning fire. And what knees shall be believed to exist in spirits? Or what tongue shall be looked for in the form of fire? Rather, "to bend the knee" declares that all things are made subject and obey the worship of God. Something further moves me out of those things which we took up from the Epistle to the Corinthians, where he says: That each one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he has done, whether good or evil — namely, whether it is because in all men it is necessary that there be something of good and something of evil, and that no one is found among the good who has not had something of evil also, or again anyone among the evil who has not had something of good also, on account of the Scripture which says: For an incorruptible spirit is in men — whether for this reason he said that each one should receive both good things for his good deeds and evil things for his evil ones; or whether he calls those good to whom nothing evil is to be ascribed, and those evil to whom nothing at all of good is owed. But if we suppose this latter, we shall seem to go against evident reason. For no one, as I have said, will be found so good that there is not something of evil implanted in him, as seems very easily to be gathered from the examples of many saints; and again there is no one among the worst — even if Judas himself be set forth, who was impious beyond all impiety — who does not seem to have had something of good even he. For, to pass over those things which he did while placed among the apostles as one of them (although even there evils were already mingled with his goods, for he was greedy of money), nevertheless this very thing, that led by repentance he carried back the thirty pieces of silver to the priests and said: I have sinned in betraying righteous blood, was something of good. From all of which it seems to me that, since one and the same person cannot simultaneously receive both good things and evil (for no one can at the same time be sent both into paradise, or into the kingdoms of the heavens, and into hell), only in those in whom evils greatly preponderate is no account taken of the good; and in those in whom good things preponderate, and in whom the repentance of conversion has abolished the traces of evils, no account is taken of the evil. But that we may return to the end and conclusion of the chapter set before us: since, he says, so great is the truth of judgment with God and with his Christ, so great the searching out of the future examination — therefore, he says, let us no more judge one another. But judge this rather, that you place not an occasion of stumbling before a brother, or a scandal. "Judge this," that is, determine this, that you do not by the observance of foods generate offenses or scandals for your brothers. Concerning offense or scandal we have already said above that a scandal is when in the road along which one is walking something is found placed in the way, against which the feet of those climbing or walking strike. This, then, is what those suffer who have lately entered upon the way of faith: they are offended by the contentions, or the negligences, or the contempt and arrogance of those who came before them, and, struck back by their examples, are turned away from the faith.
[§42] I know and am confident in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is common through itself, except to him who reckons anything to be common — to him it is common. For if because of food your brother is grieved, you are no longer walking according to charity. Do not by your food destroy him for whom Christ died. We have said elsewhere also that in the holy Scriptures, by a kind of vernacular appellation, whatever is not holy or clean is called "common"; which appellation, however, is more frequently found in the New Testament, whereas in the Old I do not recall that it is anywhere so named — as in the Gospel the Savior says, that from the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, fornications, adulteries, thefts, false testimonies: and these are the things that make a man common. But to eat with unwashed hands does not make a man common. Although in some Latin copies they have put "defile" instead of "make common," and although the force is the same, nevertheless the proper sense of the word is "make common." But also in the Acts of the Apostles the Lord says to Peter: What God has cleansed, do not you call common. I think, therefore, that the use of this expression was taken from this: that, for example, the vessels set apart for the ministry of the temple were without doubt called vessels of the Lord, while by distinction from these the remaining vessels were called common; so also, by distinction of foods, from those which Scripture set apart as clean and to be eaten according to the law, all the rest were called common. But the Jews, not knowing the force of the word, whence a man was called common whom they called common, held to the use of the expression without understanding of its meaning. For the foods which God created, whether taken in ignorance or in simplicity, could not make a man common and unclean; but that mind of man which is set apart for God alone is rightly called clean; whereas that which is alien from God, since it is possessed not by one unclean spirit but by many, for that reason such a man is called common, as being the slave of many vices or of many demons, according to him who, when asked, What is your name? answered, Legion: for we are many; and according to that which is said by the Savior, that when the unclean spirit has gone out from a man, he goes about dry places seeking rest, and not finding it he returns; and finding the house empty and swept with brooms, he takes with him seven other spirits worse than himself, and entering in they dwell there. And without doubt such a man is called common, having plainly been made the slave of all those malignant spirits which dwell in him. Rightly, therefore, Paul, knowing that this is the reason of this expression, says: I know and am confident in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is common through itself. For nothing among the creatures of God is unclean by its own nature (for it is established that all things created by the good God are good and clean); but, he says, to him who reckons anything to be common, to him it is common; that is, to him who with the intention of his heart thinks something unclean and admits the observance of distinctions, as he also says in what follows: But he who discerns, if he eats, is condemned; because it is not of faith. For everything that is not of faith is sin. Nor yet in these words did he exclude the distinction of the law, so as to say absolutely that nothing is common or unclean among those things which the law defined as unclean. For he set down beforehand the reason why nothing is called common through itself. I know, he says, and am confident in the Lord Jesus. In the Lord Jesus, therefore, . . . this by its own nature [ . . . ] nothing is common through itself, it is said; but to him, he says, who reckons, and who thinks something to be common, to him it is common. And do not wonder that the thought of the mind makes polluted a food which by its own nature is not common or polluted, when on the contrary simplicity of mind, with no scrupulosity of thought injected, absolves from all suspicion of contamination a food that is truly polluted (for that is truly polluted which is sacrificed to idols). And again, even if the food be clean, yet if someone suffers a suspicion that it has been sacrificed to idols, it is said to be polluted on account of the scruple of conscience. For if because of food your brother is grieved, you are no longer walking according to charity. Do not by your food destroy him for whom Christ died. When he had determined by apostolic teaching that through the Lord Jesus nothing is to be thought common or unclean by its own nature, and had granted to all the faithful the most complete liberty with regard to the use of foods, he again cuts back the license of that liberty for the building up of brotherly love, and says: Even if nothing is common, and the use of all foods is freely permitted, nevertheless if, because of a food which you think may lawfully be taken, you scandalize your brother, who is not yet capable of this knowledge, you are no longer walking according to charity, nor do you show in yourself the affection of brotherly love. For what harm do you suffer if, in order not to grieve your brother, you abstain even from what is lawful? For to abstain from lawful things is no crime for you; but for him, in matters where he discerns and thinks it not lawful, the use is condemnable. For he who discerns, if he eats, is condemned. But if you do this, you assuredly destroy your brother for whom Christ died, and you procure for him the causes of destruction. And more magnificently the same Paul, writing to the Colossians, says about these matters: Let no one therefore judge you in food, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day, or of new moons, or of a Sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Let no one seduce you, willing it in humility of heart and religion of angels, exalting himself in what he has not seen, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh, and not holding the head; and a little later: If therefore you are dead with Christ to the elements of the world, why, as though living in this world, do you decree: Touch not, taste not, handle not — which things are all unto corruption by the very use, according to the precepts and doctrines of men: which things have indeed a show of wisdom in the observance of religion, and in humility through the affliction of the body, not in any honor unto the satisfying of the flesh. To discuss these things one by one is not the business of the present work; for it is those things which the Apostle writes to the Romans that we are now attempting to expound. This, however, is what is asserted by the present example also: that we should not be judged by anyone in food, or in drink, or in observances of this kind, which among the Jews is thought to be as it were a religion of angels. For they exalt themselves in the things that are seen, and are puffed up about visible things. Yet this elation is not according to the wisdom of the spirit, but according to the sense of the flesh. But it was not concerning fleshly things that the precept was given: Touch not, handle not, taste not. For all these things, that is, fleshly things, have been given for this corruptible use; and what observance of purity can there be in corruption? But whereas the law prescribes these things concerning rational realities, which, if they are unclean, are truly not to be touched nor tasted, lest they make us partakers of their sin and uncleanness, they, forsaking the precepts and doctrines of men, transferred this spiritual sense to these fleshly and bodily things, which have a show of wisdom in the observance of religion and in humility of the body — yet not so that on the occasion of such observance some honor among men and the delights of the flesh should be sought after, while in place of the abstinence of a few, many and choice foods are required. But true observance is where food is so taken, and all things are so done, that it may not be said of such persons: Whose God is their belly. For it is fitting to abstain from every food which concupiscence and lust presumes upon, which delicacies prepare, which luxury devises. For we must look not only to what kind of food we use, but also to how much, and at what time, and how sparingly. For thus all things become clean to clean minds; but to the contaminated, as the Apostle says, and to unbelievers nothing is clean. In which he shows that even those things which among the Jews are named clean in the matter of foods cannot be clean to a man if he is contaminated and unbelieving. It will follow, therefore, that if the things which are clean are made unclean to the contaminated, so also the things which are called unclean become clean to the holy and the faithful. For they are sanctified through the word of God and prayer, because every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be cast away which is received with thanksgiving. And they are sanctified by the prayer not of just anyone, but of those who lift up pure hands without anger and disputing. But do you wish to be taught still more magnificently concerning clean and unclean things, that they are spoken of not concerning bodies but concerning souls and minds? Hear the judgment of the Lord and Savior himself in the Gospel, saying: Not the things which enter into the mouth make a man common, but the things which proceed out of the mouth; since from within, out of the heart, come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, and the rest. It is therefore the thought and the mind not rightly disposed that pollutes a man, not the quality of foods, which, of whatever sort it may be, will fulfill the use of corruption by one and the same outcome. And it is no wonder if a holy man sanctifies by the word of God and by prayer the food which he takes, when even the very garments with which he is clothed are holy. Paul's handkerchiefs, in fine, and his aprons had received so much from the purity of his sanctification that, when applied to sick bodies, they put diseases to flight and restored health. For what shall I say of Peter, whose very bodily shadow carried so much sanctification that whomever, as he passed by, not he himself but his shadow alone had touched, they were straightway relieved of every sickness? But we have digressed a little too widely in discussing clean and common foods, in order that we might consider, as far as is possible, the more exalted meaning of the Apostle. But mindful of the brevity we proposed, having here made the conclusion of the ninth volume, let us approach the beginning of the tenth, which is also the last.