Origen, Commentary on Romans — Book 10
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 10
[§1] Therefore let not our good be blasphemed. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this serves Christ pleases God, and is approved by men. I ask in what way our good can be blasphemed. It is a good thing to understand the law spiritually, and to avoid, as unclean and polluted foods, the impious and foolish teachings of the heretics or of those who pursue a false philosophy. For this is what is enjoined by the spiritual law. Nevertheless, if someone from among the Jews, for example, or from those who are called Encratites, should wish to believe in Christ, yet should suppose that no small importance lies in the observance of abstinence — whether from those foods which are forbidden by the law, or from those which some think should be shunned as opposed to chastity, even on the authority of the Scriptures — if you press such a man to the foods common to all, and tell him that he cannot otherwise be saved, or attain to the faith and grace of Christ, unless he takes the foods he shrinks from, then truly the good of the spiritual understanding is blasphemed, since the man you are pressing supposes that this is the faith held among us: that we believe no one can be saved unless he feeds on the flesh of swine, or on other such common and indifferent foods. And he adds to these things: For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit. In which again I greatly admire the wisdom of Paul, who restrains the faults of the present time by the authority of the sacrament to come, and, in order to establish the pattern of the Church, discloses the mystery of the kingdom of heaven. He says therefore: What need is there to disturb brotherly peace and charity so greatly over foods and the qualities of meats, when the kingdom of God, for the sake of which we labor and run, consists neither in foods nor in drink — but rather these things are foreign to the kingdom of God and to that future manner of life? For there, just as they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God, so neither do they take food nor drink, but are as the angels of God. Therefore it has been settled by a most absolute doctrine and a plain declaration of the Apostle that in the kingdom of God neither bodily foods nor drink have a place, but righteousness and peace in the Holy Spirit; and for that reason he exhorts us to exercise ourselves in those things, and to strive to possess those goods already here, and to own that substance which can pass over with us into the kingdoms of heaven. Peace, therefore, and righteousness, and whatever things of this kind are sought out through the Holy Spirit — these very things will be our food and our substance in the kingdom of God: and therefore by these words he teaches that we must take thought not for the accounts of bodily foods, which will be none in the world to come, but for the virtues, which remain with us both in the present life and in the future in the kingdom of God. And therefore he says that he who in this serves Christ pleases God, and is approved by men. This is what he says elsewhere of himself: Just as I also, he says, please all men in all things, not seeking what is useful to me, but what is useful to many. For this reason, even though he was an apostle of Christ, he became a Jew to the Jews — without doubt so that by pleasing the Jews he might save them; and to those who were without the law he himself became without law, that by pleasing them he might save them. But he says that he pleases men in this way: not by indulging their vices, but by supporting their weaknesses through patience. But let us not pass over even this idly, that he says: For he who in this — that is, in the Holy Spirit — serves Christ pleases God, and is approved by men. He speaks of serving Christ in the Holy Spirit according to what he also says elsewhere: No one says "Lord Jesus" except in the Holy Spirit. Paul himself therefore serves Christ in the Spirit, who, having received the grace of the Holy Spirit, serves the Word of God, serves wisdom, serves righteousness, and all the virtues together, which Christ is recorded to be. And therefore he is said to please God in these things who fulfills the will of God, according to the word which He Himself pronounced, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him. He therefore who hears God, and serves Christ in whom God was well pleased, pleases God, and is approved by men.
[§2] Therefore let us pursue the things that make for peace, and the things that are for mutual edification. Do not for the sake of food destroy the work of God. Above he said: Pursuing hospitality; and here likewise he says, let us pursue the things that make for peace, and the things that are for edification one toward another: and just as we showed there in what manner hospitality is to be pursued, so here too let us understand in what manner peace is to be pursued, since David likewise says: Seek peace, and pursue it. Although in the Latin codices it stands, follow it, nevertheless "pursue" is written there also. In which this seems to me to be shown: that peace has been disturbed, he says, by many who act restlessly and insolently, and, put to flight, has as it were slipped away from among men; on the contrary, by those who have learned Christ and serve Him, it must be pursued even as it flees, and called back by every means. Now he pursues peace who guards those things by which peace can stand firm — even at his own labor, at his own loss, and even at the cost of reproach, and, if it be so necessary, even at peril of life and reputation. For these things preserve not only peace, but also mutual edification. For he is edified who sees you seeking not the things that are expedient for yourself alone, but those that are expedient for others; and thus the building of faith grows, and the temple of God rises up from living stones through the construction of charity; and therefore he adds: Do not for the sake of food destroy the work of God. For he destroys the work of God, and pulls down the building of charity, who by intemperance in foods places a stumbling block before his brothers.
[§3] All things indeed are clean, but it is evil for the man who eats through offense. It is good not to eat meat, and not to drink wine, nor anything in which your brother is offended. What he said, All things indeed are clean, but it is evil for the man who eats through offense, is like what he said above, that nothing is common of itself, except that to him who reckons something to be common, to that man it is common. Therefore according to their own nature and the principle of creation, by which all things that exist were made by God, all things are clean; and there is nothing unclean, or what is called common. Yet he laid down two causes by which either things that are clean become unclean, or things that are good become evil. For he says in the present passage: But it is evil for the man who eats through offense. That therefore which is by its own nature good is made evil out of offense, that is, in this, that your brother is offended when you make use of those foods in which he suffers a stumbling-block. But the other cause by which that becomes common or unclean which is not by its own nature unclean, is if anyone reckons it so, and holds it within himself to be common. Therefore to that man alone who so reckons it, it is made common or unclean. From which the Apostle plainly teaches that uncleanness and pollution consist not in things or in substances, but in acts and thoughts that are less than right; although the law of Moses marked out certain things as clean and certain as unclean: in which it wished to lay down certain distinctions, so that the people who were reckoned under the law might be seen to be set apart from the other nations by observances of this kind. And so long indeed as that people was held holy and separated from the other nations, the distinction concerning clean and unclean also seemed necessary, which would separate and set apart the special people of God from the nations whom ignorance of God and the worship of idols made unclean: but when the door of faith is opened to the Gentiles, and all are invited to God, there are shown to Peter all the four-footed beasts, and creeping things, and birds, set forth in a sheet which had been let down from heaven, and it is said to him: Rise, Peter, kill and eat. And when, mindful of the observance of the law, he had answered the Lord and said: Far be it, Lord, for never has anything common or unclean entered into my mouth, it is pronounced by a heavenly verdict: What God has cleansed, do not you call common. Where therefore all the nations are cleansed from defilement through the acknowledgment of faith, there also every food is purified by the word of the Lord and by prayer: and on this account the Apostle says that all things are clean, provided only that this be avoided which he sets down in what follows, lest through the offense of a brother those things which are clean become again unclean to the one eating. But now, as to what he adds, It is good not to eat meat, and not to drink wine — unless he had added, nor anything in which your brother is offended, it would perhaps seem contrary to what went before. For he taught that to eat meat and not to eat, or to drink wine or not to drink, is neither evil nor good, but is to be held as a middle thing and indifferent. For even an evil man and one estranged from the faith can refrain from eating meat and from drinking wine, as it is certain that some also often do this for the sake of idols. Sometimes too such an observance is said to be kept in the evil arts. Certainly it is the custom of not a few heretics to observe these things; and yet we do not straightway say: It is good for them that they do not eat meat, nor drink wine. But plainly in that manner which he set down in what follows, in which a brother is offended, not to eat meat and not to drink wine is no longer a middle or indifferent thing, but truly good. For it is good not to put an offense or stumbling-block before a brother. For on this account he says also in another place: Be without offense both to the Jews and to the Greeks, and to the Church of God. And therefore let them see whether they act rightly who, when men abstain from meat and wine for whatever cause, compel them by every means to taste, namely so that by this there may seem to be removed from them the suspicion by which they are thought superstitiously to cling to distinctions of foods. For let them consider that the Apostle did not say: It is good to eat and to drink wine; but, not to eat meat, and not to drink wine, if a brother is offended in it. He did not wish, therefore, that for the sake of those who judge that one ought to eat, the man should be compelled to eat who is offended in this; but rather, for the sake of him who thinks one ought not to eat, he enjoins abstinence even upon those who judge that one ought to eat. For it is to be feared lest perhaps, once the wall of continence has been broken down and license taken, one fall into the storm of gluttony and the depth of luxury, and shipwrecks of chastity follow together with it. All things therefore must be done to this end, that the work of God be not destroyed: and therefore one must eat, if in this a brother is edified; and one must not eat, if through this the work of God does not increase; and one must drink, if through this a brother advances in faith; and one must not drink, if through this a brother incurs loss of faith, or you the detriment of charity.
[§4] After these things he says: The faith which you have, have it with yourself before God . He here calls "faith" that by which one believes that he may eat all things, just as he said above: One believes that he may eat all things — that man, without doubt, who believes that among God's creatures nothing is common, nothing unclean. But it is enough for you, he says, to have such faith before God; yet not on that account is another to be compelled to eat all things, one who does not yet have such faith as to believe that all things are to be eaten. But in saying, which you have with yourself , he cuts away boastfulness, lest what we believe should consist rather in display than in virtue. And he added, have it before God , that he might teach that we must take pains, not that our faith be noised abroad among men, but that it be approved before God. And it is a great thing to have an approvable faith before God. For with God even the faith of the apostles is judged small, whence it is said to Peter: O you of little faith, why did you doubt? Therefore truly great is he who has before God an approvable faith.
[§5] Blessed is he who does not judge himself in that which he approves. But he who makes a distinction, if he eats, is condemned, because it is not of faith. And everything that is not of faith is sin. A man is called blessed not only if he does the things that are fitting, but also if he does not do the things that are unfitting: as he is called blessed who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly , and no less blessed is he who walks in the law of the Lord . The one, then, is blessed because he does not walk in the way of sinners; the other, because he walks in the law of the Lord. So too in the present passage the Apostle says: Blessed is he who does not judge himself in that which he approves . But let us see of what work this blessedness consists. For there are many who approve of doing some good thing — for example, those who, hearing of the rewards of chastity, approve and resolve to live chastely; but in the course of time, either through negligence creeping in or through lust overcoming them, that which they had approved as to be observed is stained and corrupted: and unhappy is that man who, conquered in the very thing he had decreed to observe, judges and condemns himself. But blessed is he who so remains fixed and stable in that which he approves and resolves, that in nothing does he judge himself, in nothing reproach himself. And he says that this is to be held also in the observance of foods, according to that rule which he wove above: so that if there is anyone who through knowledge of the spiritual law approves that all things are to be eaten and that all things are clean, he should not again judge himself and take up a doubt whether he ought to partake or not: because he who makes a distinction in this way — that is, who doubts whether what he takes is truly clean or unclean — that man, from the very doubt of his own mind, is condemned by his accusing conscience. He also sets forth the cause of this condemnation, saying: Because it is not taken of faith , but assuredly out of doubt. And after these things he propounds a general sentence upon all things, saying: And everything that is not of faith is sin. By this word he binds with a tighter bond the negligent and slothful souls of any believers whatever, that they should do nothing without faith, say nothing apart from faith, nor think anything apart from faith: because whether you have done something without faith, or spoken, or even thought it, you sin. This is the same as what he says elsewhere: Whether you eat or drink, or whatever else you do, do all to the glory of God . But someone may ask whether the heretics too, in what they do, since they act according to what they believe, are to be held to act out of faith; or whether, because the faith among them is evil, everything they do is to be pronounced sin, since it is not done of faith. For my part, I think that their credulity is called faith rather than is faith. For just as false prophets are sometimes by a false name called prophets; and false knowledge is called knowledge; and false wisdom is by misuse named wisdom: so also the credulity of heretics is by a false name called faith. Whence it must be considered whether perhaps even if some good work seems to be performed among them, because it is not done of faith, it is turned into sin, as was said of a certain man: Let his prayer become sin . There is sometimes also a chastity which is not of faith — that, at any rate, of those who give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared, forbidding to marry, and abstaining from foods which God created . There is, then, also a false faith of those who have made shipwreck concerning the faith ; there is also a false wisdom, namely that of this world, and of the princes of this world, which shall be destroyed . For just as pirates are accustomed at sea, in shallow places and among hidden rocks, to kindle a light through the darkness of night, by which they may lure sailors — under the hope of fleeing to a harbor of safety — to the shipwrecks of destruction; so too that light of false wisdom or false faith is kindled by the princes of the world and by the spirits of this air, not that men may escape by it, but that by it the men who sail the waves of this world and the sea of life may perish. Of these pirates, I think, Job also was speaking: The arrows of his pirates have come upon me . And for this reason, doubtless, the apostle Paul himself also says that Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light . Therefore, sailing the waves of this life, we ought not to trust every light, that is, not every wisdom; but, as the Apostle admonishes, to test the spirits, which are of God . And therefore we ought unceasingly to pray for the help of the Lord, and to hope that he himself will snatch us from the snare of the hunters, so that we too may say: For our soul has been snatched like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters: the snare is broken, and we are set free. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
[§6] But we who are stronger ought to bear the weaknesses of the infirm, and not to please ourselves. Let each of you please his neighbor in what is good, unto edification. For Christ also did not please himself; but as it is written: The reproaches of those who reproached you fell upon me. For whatever things were written, were written for our instruction, that through the patience and consolation of the Scriptures we might have hope. In these words Paul appears to declare himself one of the strong, just as he also says in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, that I became weak to the weak, that I might gain the weak. For there too he does not say that he is weak, but that he becomes weak; and certainly, if he had been weak, he could not have become weak. But do not take this to mean that he was forgetful of that command of the passage where it is said: Let your neighbor praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. It is not, then, for his own praise, but for the logic of the matter, that he declares himself strong. For if he himself, under the appearance of humility, had avoided being numbered among the strong, which of those who ought to bear the weaknesses of others would have dared to undertake this duty, that he should strive, as one strong himself, to bear the frailties of the weak? But he makes this duty a common one for this reason, that each one of us, in whatever he can — even if not in all things, yet in that in which he seems to be stronger than his neighbor — may bear his neighbor's weakness; just as he also says elsewhere: Bear one another's burdens. But here he seems to have used "burdens" of bodily necessities, so that if anyone is more abundantly supplied with means, he may bear the burden of the poorer man, and abundance may console want. But in that place where he says that the stronger should bear the weaknesses of the weak, nothing else can be understood than that those who are more robust should patiently endure the things in which others fail through weakness, and should not at once despise them, cast them off, and shrink from them, if perhaps they are overcome by some fault of weakness, nor drive them away, under the appearance of a purer life, from the assembly of the brethren and the fellowship of the Church. For whoever does this is no imitator of him of whom Isaiah says: He himself bears our infirmities, and grieves for us; and we thought him to be in grief, and in stripes, and in affliction. But if Christ bears our infirmities, and God patiently endures our offenses, how is it that we by no means tolerate the offenses and negligences of those who seem a little inferior? This is surely to turn Christ himself away from that disposition, so that he should be unwilling to bear our infirmities. For no one is so perfect that he is not found in some respect weak before God, and borne by Christ; and therefore he rather teaches sympathy in this matter, that is, to suffer with one another and to grieve together, as he also writes elsewhere: Forgiving one another your offenses, as God also in Christ has forgiven you. But he does not enjoin this in order to nourish the delinquent, and to loosen the weak by a laxer indulgence; but knowing that if the weak man is borne with, either he blushes to be borne with any longer, and corrects the fault of his offending; or, if he is not able to amend himself, there will at any rate be this fruit for the one who bears him, that he does not go on to worse, nor become more degenerate than himself, like those of whom the Apostle says: But evil men and seducers shall go on to worse, deceiving and being deceived. And to this — that we bear the weaknesses of the weak — we ought also to add this, that we should not please ourselves, but our neighbor, only in what is good, and unto edification. The vice of self-love (philautia), that is, of pleasing oneself, the prophet also blames elsewhere when he says: Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and learned in their own sight. Likewise, then, in this matter also we can say: Woe to those who please themselves, and seem good in their own sight. For we must first please in the sight of God, and secondly our neighbors as well. For just as the first thing is to love the Lord God, and the second the neighbor, so also the first thing is to please God, and secondly our neighbors as well. But perhaps someone may say that Paul contradicts himself in commanding us to please our neighbors, when he said elsewhere: If I pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. And surely it seems contrary to this sentence that each one of us should please his neighbor, and what he says elsewhere: As I also please all men in all things, not seeking what is profitable to myself, but what is profitable to many, that they may be saved. It must therefore be said in reply to these things, that it is one thing to have a zeal for pleasing men so as to seek praise from them, and another thing to have a zeal for pleasing men in this, that one's life may be blameless before men, and that all who either see or hear such a man may profit from it. There, then, men are not to be pleased, where that by which one pleases is against faith, against honesty, against religion; and therefore he says, That if I pleased men — that is, unbelieving and faithless Jews — I should not be the servant of Christ. For if Paul had wished to please the Jews, he would surely have dragged men and women bound to Jerusalem, having been sent to Damascus with letters, and he would in no way have believed the vision brought to him on the way, and the heavenly voice. But also, if anyone demands that we do something against justice, against sanctity, against the Christian rule, and unless we do this threatens hatred and enmity, then we ought to remember this saying which says: If I wished to please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But when it is said: Let each of you please his neighbor, a necessary distinction is joined to it, which plainly shows in what one is to please the neighbor, when he says: In what is good, unto edification. When, therefore, we act well and teach well, we please our neighbor and edify him. For he does not admonish us that glory is to be sought from men, but that edification is to be given to our neighbors by our action and our speech; just as also in what the Savior says, that your light may shine before men, and that seeing your good works they may glorify your Father who is in heaven. By which he certainly does not exhort the disciples to seek glory from men, but that, living rightly and honorably, they may furnish edification to those who see them, and that God may be glorified, who has opened to men the way of amendment and salvation. For Christ also did not please himself, but as it is written: The reproaches of those who reproached you fell upon me. In this he seems to show that Christ too, not pleasing himself, and not thinking it robbery to be equal with God, emptied himself; but wishing to please men — that is, to save men — he endured the reproaches of those who reproached, as it is written: The reproaches of those who reproached you fell upon me. This will become clearer if we recall the things that are written in the Gospel: how, in order that he might benefit men and save them, he ate and drank with sinners and publicans, and the Jews, reproaching him for these things, said: Why does your master eat with publicans and sinners? Or again, when he did not forbid the sinful woman to touch his feet, and to bathe them with her tears, and to wipe them with her hair, and to anoint them with myrrh; and for this the Jews, reproaching and upbraiding him, said that if this man were a prophet, he would surely know who and what sort the woman is who touches him, that she is a sinner. But if you ask why the example which he brought forward from the Psalm should stand thus, as though the reproaches that were cast at God fell upon Christ, we can explain it thus: that just as he said, He who receives me receives him who sent me, so this too can be understood: that he who reproaches me reproaches him who sent me. The example, then, which he took up is written in this way in the sixty-eighth Psalm: I have become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to my mother's sons. For the zeal of your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproached you fell upon me. For whatever things were written, were written for our instruction. This is like what he himself says elsewhere: But they were written for our sakes, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. But if it is asked in what way the things that were written were written for our sakes, see that it was for our sakes that it was written: You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain; for God has no care for oxen, but he says it concerning us; and for our sakes it was written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free, that we might know that these things are allegorical, and that these are the two testaments. For our sakes that also was written, that the people ate manna in the desert and drank water from the rock, so that we might understand that they ate spiritual food and drank spiritual drink, drinking from the rock that followed them, which rock was Christ. And these, and other things of this kind, were mysteries, which were hidden from eternal times, but are now made manifest through the prophetic Scriptures and the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But that it may become still more manifest how the things that were written were written for our sakes, the prophet says concerning the former people, that with the ear you shall hear, and shall not hear; and seeing you shall see, and shall not understand. But concerning us it is said, that those to whom it was not announced concerning him shall see; and those who have not heard shall understand. Consider therefore from this for whose sake the things that were written appear to have been written. For the things that are written are without doubt written for the sake of those who are going to see and understand, not for the sake of those who are said neither to be going to see nor to understand. And those who understand the things that were written will without doubt find that which is consequently added: That through the patience and consolation of the Scriptures we may have hope toward God. For consolation from the Scriptures is grasped not by him who neither believes nor understands, but by him who both believes and understands.
[§7] "Now may the God of patience and of consolation grant you to be of the same mind one toward another according to Jesus Christ: that with one accord, with one mouth, you may honor God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive one another, as Christ also received you unto the honor of God." If patience is a virtue, and every virtue is from God, then patience too is from God. When therefore he says "the God of patience," this seems to be what is shown: that God is with those who have within themselves the virtue of patience — just as, when one says "the God of justice," it is shown that God is in those who keep justice. In like manner "the God of truth" and "the God of wisdom" are understood. But when "the God of consolation" is also said, God is shown to be with those who take from the divine Scriptures, through spiritual understanding, the consolation of the Spirit. "May the God of patience and consolation therefore grant you," he says, "to be of the same mind one toward another according to Jesus Christ." In this Paul, after the manner of the patriarchs and prophets whose blessings are recorded in writing, bestows blessings upon the Romans, praying earnestly that it be given them by God to be of the same mind one toward another. This is a great blessing: that all should be of one mind and one sentiment, and that each should will for his neighbor just as he wills for himself. Do you wish to know how much the grace of unanimity avails? The Savior declares in the Gospels that if two or three shall agree as one concerning anything whatsoever they ask of God, it shall be done for them; and again he says of himself that where two or three are gathered together in my name — that is, thinking one and the same thing in the name of Jesus Christ — "there," he says, "I will be in the midst of them." Do you wish to receive yet another example of how Christ becomes present in the midst of those who think one thing? See in the Acts of the Apostles how, after the Lord's ascension, when, it says, the eleven apostles together with the rest lifted up their voice and prayed with one accord, the place in which they stood was shaken, and they were counted worthy of the presence of the Holy Spirit. But that it may be made still clearer how great is the power of unanimity and how great its grace, I do not think it will seem out of place if we bring forward those things which have been handed down to us on these matters by the fathers, with good reason, from the Old Testament as well — handed down, that is, by those who came from among the Hebrews to faith in Christ. They used to say, then, that those three sons of Korah whose names we find in Exodus — that is, Aser, which is interpreted "instruction," and Elkanah, which in our language is called "possession of God," and Abiasaph, which in the Latin tongue signifies "the congregation of the father" — when their father Korah had sinned together with Dathan and Abiram and all who consented with them, and destruction by divine vengeance was being prepared against them, these separated themselves from the wicked gathering, and, set apart from the impious conspiracy, poured out with one accord a prayer of repentance to God; and that, being heard by God, they merited not only pardon of the punishment but also the grace of prophecy; and that this too was granted them by God at their request, that they should not be commanded to prophesy anything sad or ruinous; and that for this reason all the Psalms which are recorded as inscribed with their names contain nothing sad or harsh against sinners. This we have brought forward so that it might be known more magnificently how great is the power of unanimity, and of thinking one thing, and of being of the same mind one with another. As for myself, that thing too which Paul does in certain of his Epistles, joining the names of others with his own and saying, "Paul, and Sosthenes the brother," and elsewhere, "Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy," I think was not done to no purpose; but that by it is shown that, when two or three are set in unity, the Holy Spirit has drawn forth from them one understanding and one utterance: so that those who desired to teach the Churches that all should say one thing and be of one mind should first show that they themselves said one thing and were of one mind, and with one mouth honored God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For "one mouth" is spoken of where one and the same understanding and utterance proceeds through the mouths of different persons. And rightly, where he said "to be of the same mind one toward another," the Apostle added, "according to Jesus Christ." For it could happen that some might agree unanimously even in wickedness, and be of one mind for the worse. For this reason, therefore, he added, "according to Jesus Christ." But he who is of one mind according to Jesus Christ is without doubt of a mind for everything that is good. After these things he says: "Wherefore receive one another, as Christ also received you unto the honor of God." What he says, "receive one another," is to be referred back to what he had set forth at the first, where, on the occasion of clean or unclean foods, those who thought differently were at variance with one another; and he says: "Receive one another, as Christ also received you," who shrank from no one's uncleannesses, nor reckoned to anyone his offenses. Judge nothing, therefore, concerning the uncleanness of animals, just as he did not reckon the uncleannesses of believers. And he who had said above, "But let him who eats not judge him who does not eat, for God has taken him up," here said, "As Christ received you" — so as to show that to be received by God and by Christ is one and the same thing. And he adds this also, that it is the honor of God to be received by Christ. For those whom Christ receives, he teaches that they ought so to act that men, seeing their good works, may glorify their Father who is in heaven.
[§8] For I say that Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the sake of God's truth, to establish the promises of the Fathers. But the Gentiles honor God for his mercy, as it is written: "Therefore I will confess to you among the Gentiles, and I will sing to your name." And again he says: "Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people." And again: "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and magnify him, all you peoples." And Isaiah again says: "There shall be the root of Jesse, and he who shall arise to rule the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles hope." In what way Christ was a minister of the circumcision to establish the promises of the Fathers can be understood in a twofold manner. Either on the ground that he himself received circumcision in his own flesh, so that it might be most manifestly known that, coming from the seed of Abraham — to whom God had promised that in his seed all the Gentiles would be blessed — he fulfilled in himself the things that had been promised to the Fathers; and so that by this, according to the plan of the whole Epistle's arrangement, whereby he now curbs and restrains those who had believed from the circumcision, and now also those from the Gentiles who were exalting themselves against one another, he might teach that those who linger in the observances of the Law are not to be judged utterly, seeing that Christ too stood forth in his own flesh as a minister of circumcision. Or else in another way, so that Christ is said to have been a minister of that circumcision of which the same Apostle says: "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is that circumcision which is manifest in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not the letter, whose praise is not from men but from God"; and according to what the same Apostle says elsewhere: "In whom also you have been circumcised with a circumcision not made by hand, in the stripping away of the body of the flesh, but in the circumcision of Christ, buried together with him in baptism." Through circumcision of this kind, therefore, it is certain that the promises of the Fathers have been fulfilled. But what those promises were, he declares by the examples he subjoins, in which he says: "Therefore I will confess to you among the Gentiles, and I will sing to your name." This appears to be taken from the seventeenth psalm, with a small alteration made, not of the sense but of the words. For there the Prophet says: "Therefore I will confess to you among the Gentiles, O Lord, and I will sing a psalm to your name." But as for what he says, "Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people," it is written in those same words in the canticle of Deuteronomy. "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and magnify him, all you peoples," is read in the hundred and sixteenth psalm; only that there, instead of "magnify," "praise together" is set down. But the last example Paul himself says is taken from Isaiah, in whose body of text it is written thus: "And there shall be in that day the root of Jesse; and he who shall arise to rule the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles hope. And his rest shall be honor." But having omitted, in the first place, two expressions, that is, "in that day," and, in the last, "and his rest shall be honor," he set down the rest in the same words in which the Seventy Translators published them. From which it must be known that in nearly everything the Apostle holds to the edition of the Seventy Translators, unless perhaps some things seem to him less necessary to the assertion he is pursuing, or when he wishes to use not so much the words of the translators as the meanings of Scripture, brought forth in his own utterance. But this saying about the root of Jesse has seemed better to be discussed in the exposition of the prophet Isaiah himself. Nevertheless, even in the present place it will be said that "Jesse" is interpreted in our language as "there is to me." At the coming of Christ, therefore, everyone who has believed in him has fittingly said: "There is to me." For he of whom Moses said, "He who is has sent me to you," he himself is "to me" — that is, I believe in him who is, not in one who was made out of nothing, as it pleases the impious, but in him who is, and always is, and this is his name; and he it is who has arisen from the root of Jesse, and in him shall the Gentiles hope. For which mercy, which they have obtained from him, namely that he who always was should be born from the root of Jesse to give salvation to the Gentiles — for this mercy conferred upon them, I say, the Gentiles honor and magnify God.
[§9] "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope and in the power of the Holy Spirit." He who had said above what is written in Isaiah, "And in him shall the Gentiles hope," gratefully added, "Now may the God of hope"; so that, if it had been written, "in him shall the Gentiles believe," he would without doubt have added, "Now may the God of faith" — so that now, from the act of hoping, he invokes the God of hope for the Gentiles, upon those who hope in him, from whom he prays that the gift of blessing may be increased for them. And the blessing is of this kind: that they may be filled with all joy and all peace. And similarly the Prophet too says in a certain place: "And in his days shall be justice and abundance of peace, until the moon be taken away." But since these things are said of Christ, in him we can rightly perceive the abundance of peace, in that he made peace through the blood of his cross, not only for the things that are on earth, but also for the things that are in the heavens. But how what the Apostle prays for can be fulfilled in all — that they be filled with all joy and all peace — seems to me difficult to explain, especially since the Apostle himself, among the things he has obtained through the grace of the Spirit, says that he knows in part and prophesies in part. But I think that believers can have the fullness of peace in this: when they are reconciled to God the Father through faith, according to the word of Paul who says, "We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God"; and when they return into peace with the Son of God through the blood of his cross; and when they are joined to the Holy Spirit, once they have cleansed themselves from every defilement and have been made holy vessels — so that at last a person may be seen to be filled with all peace, if he has believed in the fullness of the Trinity. Finally, on this account the Apostle adds and says: "May he fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope and in the power of the Holy Spirit." For if he who believes is fortified by the power of the Holy Spirit, it is certain that he always has fullness of joy and fullness of peace.
[§10] But I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, so that you are able to admonish others as well. By the same reasoning by which we said above that believers are filled with all joy and all peace, here too he affirms that those to whom the discourse is addressed are full of goodness and of all knowledge. Similarly, writing to the Corinthians as well, he says: In everything you have been made rich in him, in all utterance and in all knowledge; and he, as we said above, declares even of himself that he does not have all knowledge, nor all prophecy, but in part — concerning which I remember that we have often spoken elsewhere. And now none the less we shall say that Paul, and any who are such as he, are called perfect in comparison with the rest; but with respect to that supreme knowledge, or to that perfection which is in the heavenly orders, no one among men can either be called or be perfect. As if we were to say: in the studies of boyhood, in comparison with one who has only lately been initiated and is receiving the first elements of letters, the schoolmaster himself is called perfect; but he is not perfect in the way that the man who teaches grammar is. And the grammarian himself, however perfect he may be, is nevertheless surpassed by the perfection of the rhetorician; and far more eminent than all of these is the perfection of philosophic teaching. And although in all of these there is literary learning, yet a different degree of perfection and of mastery is held in each one. So then it can be that Paul also, when he says: Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect, seems to write these things looking to that summit of heavenly perfection. But when he says: As many of us therefore as are perfect, let us be thus minded, he has regard only to the degree of human perfection. So then in the present passage too they are to be understood as filled — whether with peace, or with joy, or even with goodness, or even with knowledge, whether the Romans or the Corinthians — in so far as it is possible for those to be filled who are being taught in the Church and who live under perfect teachers. And he indicates also the measure of that knowledge itself when he says: so that you are able to admonish others as well. In which he shows that in that which each one has learned he ought also to admonish another, and to hold conversations of this kind with his fellow-disciples, by which they may both admonish and edify one another. For mutual conference can contribute very much instruction, if it be held with charity, and if concerning any of the deeper or more obscure matters one awaits the judgment of the learned and the perfect, according to what Moses also says: Ask your fathers, and they will declare to you; your elders, and they will tell you.
[§11] But I have written to you the more boldly in part, as putting you in remembrance, because of the grace given me by God, that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles, sanctifying the Gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified in the Holy Spirit. As one who was conscious to himself that throughout the whole text of the Epistle — while he addressed his word now to those who are of the circumcision, now to those who have believed from among the Gentiles — he had touched upon certain matters even of the more secret and deeper mysteries, and out of eagerness to render an account had laid open many things that were held among the hidden things (although in each case he preserved the dispensation of the word with cautious moderation, and while disclosing it in some part, in great part again veiled it), for that reason he says: But I have written to you the more boldly in part, as putting you in remembrance, through the grace which was given me. Do you hear the Apostle saying: I have written in part? Whence let no one be angry with us if we are not able to explain the account of the divine mysteries with full clarity, when he hears that the very man who handed these things down to us handed them down in part; nor let anyone strut about so puffed up under the title of knowledge, as though he had come to know all things, when Paul himself, from whom the word of knowledge has been poured out to us, says that he writes in part and knows in part. I, however, judge that although Paul himself also confesses that he knows in part, yet he knew many things — and far more things — than he wrote. For as one who himself knew much, and yet did not dare to bring much of it forward, he says that it was boldness in him to commit at least some things to writing. But in that he says, putting you in remembrance through the grace given me, he indicates that he had indeed already had discourse concerning such matters, and had often discussed the mysteries; but since what has been said by speech alone forgetfulness might easily intercept, by these few things, he says, which I have written through the grace given me, I call back to you the memory of those things which have often been more fully discussed by me. But concerning the grace which Paul recalls as given to him, we have already spoken above. And he says this grace was given him for this purpose, that I may be, he says, a minister to Christ Jesus among the Gentiles, sanctifying the Gospel of God. What we have as sanctifying the Gospel of God, the Greeks say more magnificently, hierourgounta to euangelion tou theou ("performing the sacred rite of the Gospel of God"), which, though not fully rendered by us, might nevertheless be expressed as sacrificing the Gospel of God; by which it is shown that to announce the Gospel is a sacrificial work. And accordingly he then adds: That the offering up of the Gentiles may be made acceptable, sanctified in the Holy Spirit. Therefore, just as the high priests, when they made offering, necessarily had to take care that there should be no blemish in the victim, no reproach, no defect, so that it could be acceptable and pleasing to God; so also he who sacrifices the Gospel and announces the word of God ought by every means to take care that no blemish arise in his preaching, no defect in his teaching, no fault in his instruction; but, so to speak, if it can be done, let him first offer up himself, let him first cut the throat of his own vices, let him first mortify his own members to sin, so that not only by teaching but also by the example of his life he may make his offering — the salvation of his disciples — acceptable to God. Sanctified, he says, in the Holy Spirit. The fount of sanctification is the Holy Spirit, and therefore the offering of the Gentiles which is offered while Paul sacrifices is said to be made acceptable to God not through the observance of the law, but through the Holy Spirit. 12. I have therefore glory in Christ Jesus toward God. For I do not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ does not accomplish through me unto the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deeds, by the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem round about as far as Illyricum I have filled up the Gospel of Christ. And so I have preached this Gospel not where Christ has been named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation: but as it is written: They to whom it was not announced concerning him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand. True glorying toward God there is none, except that which is in Christ Jesus. But to glory in God without Christ is much the same as if someone should say that he can have glory with God without righteousness, without wisdom, without truth. For all these things Christ is; and therefore in Christ alone is there true glorying toward God. This is like that which he himself says elsewhere: But he that glories, let him glory in the Lord. But in what way every glorying which is outside Christ is blameworthy — for example, in riches, or in the honors of the world, or in the wisdom of the world, or in the other arts which are outside Christ — we have already discussed more fully above. It should indeed be known that here the Latins have put "glory" for "glorying." For I do not dare, he says, to speak of any of those things which Christ does not accomplish through me unto the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deeds, by the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God. The things I speak, he says, are not the words of another's work, nor do I make myself the praiser of another's deeds; but what I know Christ to have accomplished through me, these things I write to you, the things which he has fulfilled in me by word and by work unto the obedience of the Gentiles — by the word of preaching, by the work of signs and wonders. But what the difference is between signs and wonders, we have both said more fully elsewhere, and in the present passage we shall explain more briefly. Those are called signs in which, while there is something marvelous, something future is also indicated; but wonders are those in which only something marvelous is displayed. But he said "signs and wonders" as containing both. Divine Scripture, however, sometimes keeps these proper meanings, but sometimes by a loose usage puts both wonders for signs and signs for wonders. Paul therefore, by the power of signs and wonders — which signs and wonders nevertheless he wrought in the power of the Holy Spirit — filled up the Gospel of Christ from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum. God had given to Moses and Aaron the power of signs and wonders, as it is written: He placed in them the words of signs and of wonders in the land of Ham, that they might free the sons of Israel when Egypt had been chastised: but they were scarcely and rarely able to convert any from the nation of the Egyptians. Paul, having received the power of signs and wonders, converted to the sacraments of Christ not one nation, nor two or three peoples, but all the nations and peoples from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum, by the preaching of the word and by the might of his works and mighty deeds. And he preached this Gospel in such a way that he did not insert his own discourses as an addition to another's labors or another's preaching, lest he should himself set the building of his own preaching upon foundations of faith laid by another, and should seem to filch the glory of another's work. These things are to be observed by the rulers of the Churches, and to be kept with diligent attention, so that they may neither seem to speak any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through them, nor cast a slur upon the labors and endeavors of others. And a man speaks those things which Christ does not accomplish through him in this manner: if he should speak of continence and teach it, while he himself is not continent; or if he should speak of sobriety, or of righteousness, or of bestowing wealth and despising possessions for the kingdom of God, and Christ has accomplished none of these things in the very man who teaches them. And therefore the Apostle sets forth his own pattern, and says that he speaks those things, and preaches those things to others, which Christ has first fulfilled through him. But as it is written, he says, They to whom it was not announced concerning him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand. The Apostle therefore diligently took care that, according to the prophetic utterance, he should announce Christ to those to whom he had been announced by no one, and that those should understand concerning him who had learned of him before from no one. And this, as I think, was the cause which frequently hindered him when he proposed to go to Rome, as he says: For which reason I was very much hindered from coming to you; not, as he says elsewhere, hindered by Satan, but detained by the occupation of founding Churches, and of founding them in those places where no foundation of faith had gone before. But the example is taken from Isaiah, and is set down in the very same words, entire, in which it is read in the prophet.
[§13] "But now, having no further place in these regions, and having a desire to come to you now for many preceding years, when I set out for Spain, I hope that as I pass through I may see you, and be sent on my way there by you, when first I shall have enjoyed you in part." He seems to say these things while situated in Achaia, at Corinth, as we have already shown so far as our strength allowed in the earlier parts of the Epistle: which Achaia, of course, is neighboring and adjoining to Macedonia. Living in those places, when he had traveled through each and every region preaching the Gospel—only within those boundaries in which Christ had not previously been preached—and had filled all things with the knowledge of God, he says that he has no further place in these regions, that is, that no place remains to him empty of the preaching of Christ; and he indicates that the time is now at hand in which he ought to fulfill his desire of seeing those who are at Rome: a desire which he had conceived and carried for many years, but which had been deferred and set aside until he should fill every place in which Christ had not been preached with the knowledge of his Gospel. But what he said, "When I set out for Spain, I hope that as I pass through I may see you," is not to be taken as though Paul were held by so small a love toward the Romans that he judged they should be visited only in passing and while journeying elsewhere. For see what he adds in what follows. "When first," he says, "I shall have enjoyed you in part." In which, surely, he seems to place it in their own power when the journey he has proposed ought to be released by them: and through this he in a certain manner invites and nourishes their love toward himself, so that if they themselves are held by an insatiable affection toward the Apostle, they may know that he too has this purpose, not to depart from them nor to set out elsewhere before he has fully enjoyed the grace of their charity. Yet he foresees that this charity will be so great that it cannot be satisfied in full, but "in part," he says. For he gives warning beforehand that in all things the necessity of preaching the Gospel must be preferred. And rightly does he promise his presence and his delay more moderately to those whom he had not yet seen according to the flesh, and to whom he had not yet come in the body. For we receive more longingly those goods which we fear will quickly be taken away; but we neglect more carelessly what we believe we shall keep for a longer time. And to such a degree does he nourish the affection of the Romans toward himself, and place his delay in their own judgment, that he says he is to be sent on his way by them to Spain, and then to be sent on, when he shall first have satisfied them in love: in which, surely, if they should prove more eager, they will themselves give the Apostle causes for delaying longer.
[§14] "But now I shall set out for Jerusalem to minister to the saints. For it has pleased Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor of the saints who are in Jerusalem. For it has pleased them, and they are their debtors: for if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they ought also to minister to them in carnal things. When therefore I shall have completed this, and shall have consigned to them this fruit, I shall set out by way of you into Spain. For I know that coming to you, I shall come in the abundance of the blessing of Christ." That it pleased Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor of the saints who are in Jerusalem, we can learn more fully also from the second Epistle to the Corinthians, in which he writes in this manner: "But I make known to you, brethren, the grace of God which has been given to me in the Churches of Macedonia, that in much trial of tribulation the abundance of their joy, and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their simplicity: for according to their power (I bear them witness) and beyond their power they were willing of their own accord, beseeching us with many prayers for the grace and the fellowship which is made toward the saints," and the rest. And just as in these words he bears witness to the Macedonians, so again he also exhorts the Corinthians, saying: "But as you abound in all things, in faith, and in word, and in knowledge, and in our charity toward you, so may you abound in this grace also," and the rest. But also in other places, praising the Corinthians because they had been ready toward the fellowship of the poor who are in Jerusalem, he says: "And I give counsel in this matter: for this is expedient for you, who not only to do, but also to will, began from the former year: but now complete it also in deed." But in the remaining passages too he pursues this same fellowship of the saints, and after a little he adds: "But concerning the ministry which is toward the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you. For I know your ready will, for which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia has been prepared since the former year, and your zeal has provoked many." But that after a ministry of this kind of Macedonia and Achaia, which is made toward the saints who are in Jerusalem, the Apostle had also purposed to see Rome, is indicated in the Acts of the Apostles in this manner: "But when these things were fulfilled, Paul purposed in the Holy Spirit that when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, he would set out for Jerusalem, saying: For after I have been there, it is necessary for me to see Rome also." Now from all these words it is gathered that not only the first to the Corinthians, but also the second was written before this one to the Romans which we have in hand; and at the same time this is observed, that the later Paul is found in each Epistle, so much the more perfect he also is: so that that saying of his may be true which he spoke, that "forgetting the things that are past, I stretch myself forward to the things that are to come, following on toward the perfect, to the palm of the heavenly calling." But in that he says, "It has pleased Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor of the saints," subtly and modestly, while he praises the Corinthians, he exhorts the Romans. For devout minds are more easily invited to do good by examples than by words. But also in that he adds, "For it has pleased them, and they are their debtors," what else does he wish the Romans to perceive, except that if the Achaians and Macedonians are debtors to the poor of the saints who are in Jerusalem, then by the same reasoning, since the Romans also hold one and the same faith of Christ as they do, they should notice that they themselves too have been made debtors to these same persons? For not only the Macedonians and Achaians have been made partakers in spiritual things with the saints who are in Jerusalem, so that they ought also to minister to them in carnal things; but the Romans as well; and therefore by an equal condition they are debtors: but he pronounces only about the former, so that the latter also may know themselves to lie under a like judgment. These things indeed have been said according to the common understanding of the letter. But let us seek out the customary magnificence in the writings of Paul. For I do not think that he meant it thus, as to shut up the poor of the saints—whom he also called spiritual—within Jerusalem alone, a single city of Palestine; and to call the rest, who are in all the earth, "Gentiles," who ought to minister in carnal things to the inhabitants of Jerusalem as though they alone were spiritual—since surely it is possible for spiritual persons to be found outside Jerusalem also, whom not place, but holy conduct and the perfection of faith and knowledge has made spiritual, as Paul himself also says in writing: "Brethren, even if anyone be overtaken in any fault, you who are spiritual instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness." What then is it that we ought to perceive in these matters? That everyone who is spiritual, that is, who serves God in the spirit, and who lives not according to the flesh but according to the spirit, this man dwells in Jerusalem, that is, in the place of peace, and stands in the vision of peace: and this man is one of the poor of the saints, namely from those blessed poor to whom it is said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Such then is that blessed poverty which says: "Gold and silver I do not have; but what I have, this I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk." Such a poor man as this always dwells in Jerusalem, possessing spiritual riches. His gold is wisdom, his silver the word of knowledge: his clothing is Christ, his feasts and delights are the table of wisdom, and food overflowing in the word of God: he drinks the wine of gladness, which Wisdom has mixed in her bowl, and from the victims of her understanding he eats solid foods, and the Word made flesh. These are the spiritual riches which the Gentiles, still placed in the flesh, hasten to share. It seems to me therefore that by those whom he names "Gentiles" he indicates the more imperfect souls, which have need of the teaching of the perfect: and if perchance they have been held worthy to become partakers with them in understanding and spiritual knowledge, they themselves ought to minister to them in carnal things: that is, when their spirit has begun to be imbued with a loftier knowledge, the flesh also, taking up the reins of continence and chastity, ought to minister to the spiritual precepts; lest perhaps, if it still wantons in carnal things, incautious and unbridled it throw down its rider, the Word of God. But even the very difference of terms which Paul used toward each of the two parts does not seem to me idle. For in spiritual things he set down "fellowship" or "participation"; but in carnal things, "ministry"; and this he says is owed as a debt, but that other is shared: so that he may show that all the more perfect things, as being heavenly, are not so much owed to earthly things as lent to them; whereas earthly and carnal things are exacted as though for a debt. For we have been made debtors according to him who first lost in paradise the received revenue of immortality and incorruptibility by the persuasion of the serpent; and therefore we are all made debtors, as many as are bound by the lot of transgression into the likeness of Adam. For this reason, therefore, precepts also are given, that we may pay off our debts. Finally, in the Gospel too the Savior says thus: "But when you shall have done all things which I commanded you, say that we are unprofitable servants; what we owed to do, we have done." But those things which we do above the debt, we do not do from precepts. For example, virginity is not paid as a debt: for neither is it demanded by precept, but it is offered above the debt. Hear finally Paul saying: "But concerning virgins I have no precept of the Lord." So then, concerning spiritual and more perfect things he spoke of "fellowship"; but concerning lower and carnal things he named a "ministry" that is owed. And I think that through a ministry of this kind that passage also is to be noticed which is in the Psalms: "Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire" — namely, that he called the good angels "spirits," as being spiritual, but those who preside over the ministries of punishments, and prepare flames for sinners, he named "ministers of the burning flame." Although these things may seem to have been said by a certain digression, nevertheless, since the passage prompted it, we have not omitted them. After these things he says: "When therefore I shall have completed this, and shall have consigned to them this fruit, I shall set out by way of you into Spain. For I know that coming to you, I shall come in the abundance of the blessing of Christ." See with how great caution he promises that he will seal the fruit of those who offer. With what seal do you suppose the Apostle seals the fruit of a holy work? With that one, I think, by which the image of God is expressed, that is, that in completing the work there be no admixture of an alien thought, that praise be not sought from men, but that he who gives may give in simplicity of heart, and not out of sadness: for "God loves a cheerful giver." And whoever observes these and similar things in the work of God, seals his work with the seal of the divine image. "When therefore," he says, "I shall have completed this, then I shall set out by way of you to Spain." Indeed he promises a great gift to the Romans, and says: "For I know that coming to you, I shall come in the abundance of the blessing of Christ": which he promises only through the Holy Spirit and the grace of prophecy. For it is above man to know these things about the future, that he would come to them not only in the blessing of Christ, but even in the abundance of the blessing. In which both the grace of him who comes, and equally the merits of those who receive him, are indicated.
[§15] I beseech you therefore, brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you help me in your prayers to God, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers who are in Judaea, and that this my ministry may be made acceptable to the saints in Jerusalem, so that coming to you in joy by the will of God, I may find rest together with you. Although he had said above, "For I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the abundance of the blessing of Christ," nevertheless he knew that even in those things which he had come to know as certainly to be, prayer was necessary: for if, let us say, prayer had not been employed, it would doubtless follow that what had been prophesied would not be fulfilled. Who then is there who, reading these things — that Paul begs the brethren who are at Rome to pray for him — would think it contemptible or beneath him to ask for the prayers of the Church, even if those from whom the prayer is asked should seem to be inferior in merits? For behold, Paul, endowed with apostolic merits, exhorts not only the Romans to pray for him, but the Corinthians as well. And see, too, with what strong and religious oaths he binds them. "Through our Lord Jesus Christ," he says, "and through the love of the Spirit I beseech you that you help me in your prayers to God." What our translators have rendered "that you help me in prayers" is read more magnificently among the Greeks, "that you strive together with me" (synagōnisasthai): by which this is indicated, "that you help me in the contest of prayers to God," showing that he himself has, as it were, a contest and a struggle of prayer, with those doubtless opposing him of whom he said: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." And it is certain that all these, just as they oppose faith and resist piety, just as they are contrary to justice and to truth and to all good things, so without doubt they resist and oppose prayer also. And therefore Paul shows that there is no small contest even in prayer, seeing that in this contest he believed the help of those who are at Rome must be implored. For truly the demons and the adverse powers stand against us in prayer, first in this way: that he who sweats in the contest of prayer may not be found such a man as to lift up pure hands without anger. And even if someone should be able to obtain this, that he be without anger, it is hardly possible that he escape being without disputation — that is, without superfluous and empty thoughts. For you will scarcely find that, when anyone prays, there does not occur to him some empty and foreign thought which turns aside and shatters the intent by which the mind is directed toward God, and drags it off through things that are not fitting. And therefore great is the contest of prayer, that, while enemies stand against us and drag the mind of prayer off in different directions, the mind may ever press fixed toward God with steady intent, so that a man may deservedly be able to say himself: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course." Now therefore the Apostle prays that he be helped in the contest of prayers, that he may be delivered from the unbelievers who are in Judaea — at whose hands he fears not so much to suffer, nor to endure those things which pertain to the glory of his apostleship, as he fears to be hindered: lest, being detained longer by their obstacles, he either render a less acceptable ministry to the saints — which itself has need of prayers that it may be made acceptable — or lest his desire of visiting the Romans be longer deferred. "If," he says, "this shall so turn out that both my ministry be made acceptable to the saints in Jerusalem, and that, delivered from the unbelievers who are in Judaea, I be not hindered from coming to you, then rejoicing over things well accomplished I shall surely come to you by the will of God, and shall find rest together with you." Certainly Paul does not seek bodily rest, but that rest which has its consolation from God, as he himself said in the first parts of this Epistle: "That I may be comforted among you by that faith which is mutually yours and mine."
[§16] "Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen." He endows the Romans with an immense blessing, that the God of peace may be with them — that is, that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, may guard their hearts in Christ Jesus, who is our peace.
[§17] "I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is in the ministry of the Church which is at Cenchreae, that you receive her in the Lord worthily of the saints, and assist her in whatever matters she may have need of you. For she herself has also assisted many, and myself as well." This passage too teaches with apostolic authority that women also are appointed in the ministry of the Church. Paul follows up Phoebe, placed in this office in the Church which is at Cenchreae, with great praise and commendation, enumerating also her distinguished deeds, and saying: because she has to such a degree assisted all — that is, has been at hand in their necessities — that she has assisted even me myself in my necessities and apostolic labors with the whole devotion of her mind. And I would say that her work is like the hospitality of Lot, who, while he always received guests, at length was found worthy to receive angels also into his lodging. Similarly Abraham too, while he always ran to meet guests, was found worthy that even the Lord with the angels should turn aside to his tent. So this religious Phoebe also, while she stands by all and renders service to all, was found worthy to stand by and to serve the Apostle as well. And therefore this passage teaches two things equally: both that, as we have said, women are held as ministers in the Church, and that such women ought to be taken into the ministry as have assisted many, and who through their good offices have deserved to attain even to apostolic praise. He exhorts this also, that those who devote their labor to good works in the Churches should receive a return and honor from the brethren, so that in whatever things may be necessary, whether in spiritual or in bodily services, they may be held in honor.
[§18] Greet Prisca and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus (who laid down their own necks for my life: to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles), and the church that is in their house. These seem to me to be the same persons about whom it is written thus in the Acts of the Apostles: But after these things Paul, departing from Athens, came to Corinth; and having found there a certain Jew named Aquila, of Pontic race, who had lately come from Italy, and Priscilla his wife, because Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome, he came to them; and because they were of the same craft, he remained with them, and they worked together. For they were tentmakers by trade, that is, stitchers. Nor is it any wonder if Paul writes "Prisca" in the Epistle, where in Acts she is written "Priscilla," the other details agreeing. It may be that, since at that time, when the Jews had been driven out of the city by Caesar's command, they had come to Corinth, so afterwards, when the harshness of the edict had ceased, they returned to Rome and are greeted by Paul. Yet it appears that these people exposed themselves when Paul was in peril from the plots of the Jews, so that he might depart free; and this a certain Jason too is reported in the Acts of the Apostles to have done. And the Apostle does not keep silent about this praise of theirs, but hands it on to all the churches as a thing to be admired, and therefore says: To whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. From this it appears that they showed themselves dutiful and hospitable toward all the faithful brethren, not only those who had come to believe from among the Jews, but also those from among the Gentiles. For great grace is found in the office of hospitality, not only with God, but also with human beings. Yet since this matter rests not only in the will and purpose of the masters of a household, but also in the grateful and faithful service of the servants, therefore he named all those who faithfully fulfilled that ministry along with them "the church that is in their house."
[§19] Greet Epaenetus my beloved, who is the beginning of Asia in Christ. This Epaenetus seems to me to have been the very first of all from Asia to believe; whence also he called him the beginning of the Church, or, as the Greek has it, the firstfruits of Asia — unless indeed this saying signifies something more profound, so that we understand that the angels of God who watch over the churches offer each of them firstfruits to God from among those who believe; and that among them firstfruits are reckoned not among those who are first in time, but among those who excel in virtues and merits. Paul, knowing through the Spirit their choice regarding Epaenetus, and that the election of the angels had found him out of the whole number of the faithful who were in Asia, called him the firstfruits of Asia. But in another Epistle also he says of certain persons that they are the firstfruits of Achaia, doubtless looking to the same mystical reasoning in their case as well.
[§20] Greet Mary, who has labored much among you. In this too he teaches that women also ought to labor for the churches of God. For they labor when they teach young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to bring up children, to be modest, chaste, good managers of the household, kind, subject to their own husbands, to receive guests with hospitality, to wash the feet of the saints, and to carry out in all chastity everything else that is written concerning the duties of women.
[§21] Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow captives, who are noble among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. It may indeed be that these were kinsmen of Paul according to the flesh, and believed before him, and were held to be noble among the apostles of Christ; concerning whom it is also possible to understand this, that perhaps they were among those seventy-two who were themselves also named apostles, and that for this reason he calls them noble among the apostles, and among those apostles who were before him. But this too moves me, that he says: my fellow captives. For what was that captivity of Paul in which he testifies that Andronicus and Junia also were fellow captives with him? — unless perhaps, by a more profound mystery, we look to that captivity which Christ came to loose, of which it is written that he came to give release to the captives and sight to the blind. In that captivity these persons appear to be by one and the same reckoning as Paul himself was. For example, if we should say: When the people of Israel were captive among the Assyrians or the Babylonians, all indeed appeared to be captives; but there was one reason for the captivity in the rest, and another in Daniel and Ananias and Azarias and Misael. For those were captives on account of their own sins; but these were themselves captives for the consolation of the captives. And therefore, if Daniel were to say of some one of the common people, "My fellow captive," it would not seem to be said so fittingly as if he said of Ananias and Azarias and Misael, "my fellow captives." For in these there is one single reckoning of captivity, which is far different from the reckoning of the rest of the people. So then Paul too, looking to the reasoning of a more hidden mystery, names something of this sort concerning himself and Andronicus and Junia, calling them his fellow captives in this world, and noble among the apostles. 22. Greet Ampliatus my beloved in the Lord. Although he seems to ascribe to this man nothing outstanding above the rest by way of praise, nevertheless by this very fact, that he is beloved of Paul, he is rendered praiseworthy and worthy of greeting.
[§23] Greet Urbanus my helper in Christ, and Stachys my beloved. He joins Stachys in the greeting, but he set Urbanus ahead in praises. For he calls the one a helper in Christ; but Stachys he named only as beloved to himself, just as he did Ampliatus. Now a helper of the Apostle in Christ is understood as nothing other than a partaker in the apostolic work.
[§24] Greet Apelles approved in Christ. I think that this Apelles had passed through many tribulations patiently and bravely endured, and that for this reason he is pronounced approved by the Apostle, according to those things which he himself said elsewhere, that tribulation works patience, and patience approval, and approval hope. It should indeed be considered whether perhaps this is the very man who in the Acts of the Apostles is named Apollo, an Alexandrian, learned in the Scriptures.