Homilies on First Corinthians

Homily on First Corinthians, Argument.

Just as Corinth is now the leading city of Greece, in earlier times it was proud of many earthly advantages, and more than anything else, of its great wealth. Because of this, one of the pagan writers called the place "the rich." It was located on the isthmus of the Peloponnesus, and it had great opportunities for trade. The city was also full of many orators and philosophers, and I think one of the seven men called wise was from this city.

We have mentioned these things not to show off, or to display great learning, because what value is there in knowing such things? Rather, they are useful to us for understanding the argument of the Epistle.

Paul himself also suffered many things in this city. And Christ too, in this city, appears to him and says, in Acts 18:10, "Do not be silent, but speak; for I have many people in this city." And he remained there two years. In Ephesus also, the evil spirit went out; and when the Jews tried to cast it out, they suffered very grievously. In Ephesus also, those of the magicians who repented gathered their books together and burned them, and their value was found to be fifty thousand.

In this city also, in the time of Gallio the Proconsul, Paul was beaten before the judgment seat.

So the devil saw that a great and crowded city had accepted the truth. It was a city admired for wealth and wisdom, and the leading city of Greece. For Athens and Lacedaemon were then, and still were afterward, in a miserable condition, since their power had long ago been taken from them. And he saw that the people of this city had received the word of God very eagerly. So what does he do? He divides the people.

For he knew that even the strongest kingdom, if it is divided against itself, will not stand. He also had an advantage for this scheme in the wealth and wisdom of the inhabitants. So certain men formed parties of their own, and, though no one had appointed them, they made themselves leaders of the people. Some joined one group, and some another. Some sided with one set because they were rich, and with another because they were wise and seemed able to teach something beyond the common sort.

Then those leaders, after receiving these followers, set themselves up, of course, to teach more than the Apostle did. He was pointing to this when he said, "I was not able to speak to you as to spiritual people" (ch. iii. 1). Clearly, the reason they had not been fully instructed was not his inability, but their weakness. And this, "You have become rich without us" (ch. iv. 8), is also the statement of someone pointing in that same direction. And this was no small matter.

It was the most harmful of all things, that the Church should be torn apart.

There, another sin was also being committed openly besides these. A man had sexual relations with his stepmother. Not only did he escape rebuke, but he was even a leader among the people, and gave his followers a reason to be proud. Therefore he says, in chapter 5, verse 2, "And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned."

After this, some who claimed to be of the more perfect sort, and who used to eat food offered to idols because of gluttony, and to sit and eat in the temples, were bringing everything to ruin. Others, having quarrels and disputes about money, were taking all such matters to the heathen courts. Many also went about among them wearing long hair, and he orders them to have it cut short. There was another fault besides, and it was no small one.

They were eating separately by themselves in the churches, and giving no share to the needy.

Again, they were going wrong in another way. They were swollen with pride because of their gifts, and so they were jealous of one another. This was also the main cause of the division in the Church. Their teaching about the Resurrection was also weak among them. Some of them did not firmly believe that there is a resurrection of bodies, because they still had the sickness of Greek foolishness on them.

In fact, all these things were the offspring of the madness of pagan philosophy, and it was the mother of every evil. Because of this, they had also become divided, having learned this from the philosophers in this matter too. For the philosophers were no less divided among themselves. They were always opposing one another's opinions because of their love of ruling and their empty glory, and they were eager to add some new discovery to everything that had come before.

And the reason for this was that they had begun to trust in their own arguments.

They had written to him through Fortunatus, Stephanas, and Achaicus, and he also writes back through them. He has shown this at the end of the letter. But they had not written about all these matters. They had written about marriage and virginity. Therefore he says in chapter 7, verse 1, "Now concerning the things you wrote about," and so on.

Then he goes on to give commands both about the things they had written about and about the things they had not written about, since he had learned all their failings accurately. He also sends Timothy with the letters, knowing that letters do have great force, but that the presence of the disciple would add no small help to them.

Now, the people who had divided the Church among themselves felt ashamed, because they did not want to seem to have done it out of ambition. So they invented coverings for what had happened, claiming, of course, that their teaching contained better doctrines and that they were wiser than everyone else. Paul first sets himself against the disease itself. He pulls up the root of these evils, and also its offshoot, the spirit of division.

And he speaks with great boldness, because these were his own disciples more than anyone else. Therefore he says in chapter 9, verse 2, "If I am not an Apostle to others, yet at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship." Moreover, they were in a weaker condition, to say the least, than the others. Therefore he says in chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, "For I have not spoken to you as to spiritual people; for until now you were not able, and even now you are still not able."

He says this so that they would not think he was speaking only about the past.

However, it was very unlikely that all of them had been corrupted. Instead, there were some among them who were very holy. He showed this in the middle of the Epistle, where he says, in chapter 4, verses 3 and 6, "To me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you," and then adds, "These things I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos."

Since all these evils were coming from arrogance, and from people thinking they knew something beyond what others knew, he first clears this away. So, at the beginning, he says,

1 Corinthians 1:1-3

Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the church of God that is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be saints, together with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

See how, right away from the very beginning, he brings down their pride and throws all their proud imagination to the ground by speaking of himself as one who was called. For what I have learned, he says, I did not discover by myself, or gain by my own wisdom. Rather, while I was persecuting and destroying the Church, I was called. Here, everything belongs to the One who calls. Of the one who is called, there is nothing, so to speak, except to obey.

Of Jesus Christ. Your teacher is Christ. And do you register the names of men as patrons of your doctrine?

Through the will of God. For it was God who wanted you to be saved in this way. We ourselves have done no good thing, but by the will of God we have received this salvation. And because it pleased him, we were called, not because we were worthy.

And Sosthenes our brother. This is another example of his humility. He places with himself, in the same rank, someone who was lower than Apollos, for the distance between Paul and Sosthenes was very great. Now if, where the distance was so great, he places with himself someone far below him, what can those say who look down on their equals?

To the Church of God. Not belonging to this man or that man, but to God.

Which is at Corinth. Do you see how, with every word, he brings down their swelling pride and trains their minds in every way for heaven? He also calls it the Church of God, showing that it ought to be united. For if it is of God, it is united, and it is one, not only in Corinth, but also in all the world. For the Church's name, ekklesia, properly meaning an assembly, is not a name of separation, but of unity and harmony.

To those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus. Again, he uses the name of Jesus. He gives no place to the names of men. But what is sanctification? It is the laver, the purification. For he reminds them of their own uncleanness, from which he had freed them. And in this way he persuades them to be humble in mind. For they had been sanctified, not by their own good deeds, but by the loving-kindness of God.

Called to be saints. For even this, being saved by faith, is not from yourselves, he says. You did not come near first; you were called. So even this small part is not completely yours. However, even if you had come near first, since you are guilty of countless sins, even then the grace would not be yours, but God's. That is why, when writing to the Ephesians, he said, in Ephesians 2:8, "By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves."

Not even faith is completely yours, for you were not the first to believe, but obeyed a call.

With all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not the name of this man or that man, but the name of the Lord.

In every place, both theirs and ours. Even though the letter is written only to the Corinthians, Paul still mentions all the faithful who are in the whole world. By this he shows that the Church throughout the world must be one, even if it is divided into different places, and even more so in Corinth. Although place separates people, the Lord joins them together, because he is shared by all. So, in order to unite them, he adds, "both theirs and ours."

And this is much stronger for unity than place is for separation. For if people live in one place but have many masters, and those masters are opposed to each other, they become divided. Their living in one place does not help them to think alike, because their masters give conflicting commands and each pulls them in a different direction, just as Christ says in Matthew 6:24, "You cannot serve God and Mammon."

In the same way, people who live in different places are not harmed in their unity by those places, if they do not have different lords but only one. The one Lord joins them together. So then, this is what he means: I am not saying that only with the Corinthians, because you are Corinthians, you ought to be of one mind. Rather, you should be of one mind with all who are in the whole world, since you have one common Master. This is also why he added "our" a second time.

After he had said, "the name of Jesus Christ our Lord," he did not want careless hearers to think he was making a distinction. So he adds again, "both our Lord and theirs."

To make my meaning clearer, I will read it according to its sense in this way: Paul and Sosthenes, to the Church of God that is in Corinth, and to all who call on the Name of Him who is both our Lord and theirs in every place, whether in Rome or wherever else they may be: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Or again, take it this way, which I also believe is more correct: Paul and Sosthenes write to those who are at Corinth, who have been made holy and called to be saints, together with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours. That is, grace to you, and peace to you, who are at Corinth, who have been made holy and called; not to you alone, but together with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and theirs.

Now if our peace is of grace, why do you have high thoughts? Why are you so puffed up, being saved by grace? And if you have peace with God, why do you wish to put yourself under other people? Since this is what separation comes to. For what if you are at peace with this man, and with another even find grace? My prayer is that both of these may be yours from God. Both from Him, I say, and toward Him. For neither of them remains secure unless they enjoy the influence from above.

Nor, unless God is their object, will they help you at all. For it profits us nothing, though we are peaceful toward all men, if we are at war with God. Just as it is no harm to us, although all men regard us as enemies, if with God we are at peace. Again, it is no gain to us if all men approve and the Lord is offended. Neither is there any danger, though all avoid us and hate us, if with God we have acceptance and love.

For what is truly grace, and truly peace, comes from God, since he who finds grace in God's sight, though he suffers ten thousand horrors, fears no one. I say not only no man, but not even the devil himself. But he that has offended God suspects all men, though he seems to be secure. For human nature is unstable. And not only friends and brothers, but fathers also, before now, have been completely changed.

And often, for a little thing, he whom they begot, the branch of their planting, has become to them, more than all foes, an object of persecution. Children too have cast off their fathers. Thus, if you will notice it, David was in favor with God, Absalom was in favor with men. What was the end of each, and which of them gained more honor, you know. Abraham was in favor with God, Pharaoh with men. For to gratify him they gave up the righteous man's wife.

Which then of the two was more glorious, and the happy man? Everyone knows. And why do I speak of righteous men? The Israelites were in favor with God, but they were hated by men, the Egyptians. But nevertheless they prevailed against those who hated them and vanquished them. And with how great a triumph, is well known to you all.

Therefore, let all of us labor earnestly for this. If someone is a slave, let him pray for this: that he may find grace with God rather than with his master. If someone is a wife, let her seek grace from God her Savior rather than from her husband. If someone is a soldier, let him seek the favor that comes from above rather than the favor of his king and commander. For in this way, you also will be an object of love among men.

4. But how shall a man find grace with God? How else, except by lowliness of mind? For God, says one, in James 4:6, “resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble”; and in Psalm 51:17, “the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit, and a heart that is brought low God will not despise.” For if humility is so lovely with men, much more is it so with God. Thus both the Gentiles found grace, and the Jews in no other way fell from grace;

for, as Romans 10:13 says, they were not subject to the righteousness of God. The lowly man of whom I am speaking is pleasing and delightful to all men, and lives in continual peace, and has in himself no ground for contentions. For though you insult him, though you abuse him, whatever you say, he will be silent and will bear it meekly. And he will have such great peace toward all men as one cannot even describe. Yes, and with God also. For the commandments of God are to be at peace with men.

And so our whole life is made prosperous through peace with one another. For no man can injure God. His nature is imperishable, and above all suffering. Nothing makes the Christian so admirable as lowliness of mind. Hear, for instance, Abraham saying in Genesis 18:27, “But I am but dust and ashes”; and again, God saying of Moses in Numbers 12:3 that “he was the meekest of all men.” For nothing was ever more humble than he.

Though he was leader of so great a people, and had overwhelmed in the sea the king and the host of all the Egyptians, as if they had been flies, and had worked so many wonders both in Egypt and by the Red Sea and in the wilderness, and had received such high testimony, yet he felt exactly as if he had been an ordinary person. And as a son-in-law he was humbler than his father-in-law. In Exodus 18:24, he took advice from him, and was not indignant. Nor did he say, “What is this?

After such and so great achievements, have you come to us with your counsel?” This is what most people feel, even though a man may bring the best advice. They despise it because of the lowliness of the person. But he did not do so. Rather, through lowliness of mind he worked all things well. Therefore he also despised the courts of kings, as Hebrews 11:24-26 shows, since he was truly lowly. For the sound mind and the high spirit are the fruit of humility.

For of how great nobleness and magnanimity, do you think, was it a token to despise the kingly palace and table? Since kings among the Egyptians are honored as gods, and enjoy wealth and treasures without end. But nevertheless, letting go all these things, and throwing away the very scepters of Egypt, he hurried to join himself to captives, and to men worn down with toil, whose strength was spent in the clay and the making of bricks, men whom his own slaves abhorred.

For, as he says in the Septuagint, in Exodus 1:2, “The Egyptians abhorred them.” To these he ran, and preferred them before their masters. From this it is plain that whoever is lowly, that same man is high and great of soul. For pride comes from an ordinary mind and an ignoble spirit, but moderation comes from greatness of mind and a lofty soul.

5. And if you like, let us test each one by examples. Tell me, what was ever greater than Abraham? And yet he was the one who said, "I am but dust and ashes." He was also the one who said in Genesis 13:8, "Let there be no strife between me and you." But this man, though so humble, despised Persian spoils and paid no attention to barbarian trophies. He did this because of great nobility of mind and a spirit trained in a noble way.

For the one who is truly humble is the one who is truly exalted, not the flatterer or the pretender. True greatness is one thing, and arrogance is another. This is clear from the following example. If one man thinks clay is only clay and despises it, while another admires the clay as if it were gold and considers it a great thing, which man, I ask, has the higher mind? Is it not the one who refuses to admire the clay? And which one is low and mean?

Is it not the one who admires it and values it highly? Think of this case in the same way. The man who calls himself "dust and ashes" is exalted, even though he says it in humility. But the man who does not think of himself as dust and ashes, and instead is pleased with himself and thinks highly of himself, must be counted low and mean, because he considers small things to be great.

From this it is clear that the patriarch spoke those words, "I am but dust and ashes," out of great loftiness of mind, not out of arrogance.

Just as with bodies, it is one thing to be healthy and well-filled out, firm and elastic, and another thing to be swollen, even though both show a fullness of flesh. In the one case, the flesh is unhealthy; in the other, it is healthy. In the same way here, it is one thing to be arrogant, which is like being swollen, and another thing to be high-minded in a noble sense, which is to be in a healthy condition. Again, one man is tall because of his natural height.

Another man is short, but makes himself taller by putting on buskins. Tell me, which of the two should we call truly tall and great? Is it not obvious that it is the one whose height comes from himself? For the other has it as something that is not really his own. By standing on things that are low in themselves, he appears tall. It is the same with many people who lift themselves up by wealth and glory. That is not true exaltation.

The truly exalted person is the one who needs none of these things, but despises them, and has his greatness from himself. Let us therefore become humble so that we may become exalted. Luke 14:11: "For he that humbles himself shall be exalted." Now the self-willed man is not like this. Rather, he is the most common of all types of people. A bubble also is inflated, but its swelling is not sound. Therefore we call such people puffed up.

But the sober-minded person has no lofty thoughts, not even when his situation is lofty, because he knows his own lowliness. But the vulgar person, even in small and trivial matters, gives himself over to proud imagination.

Let us, then, gain that greatness which comes through humility. Let us look closely at the nature of human life, so that we may be stirred with a strong desire for the things to come. For there is no other way to become humble except by loving what is divine and despising what is present.

For just as a man who is about to receive a kingdom, if someone offers him some small compliment instead of that royal purple robe, will think it is nothing, so we too will laugh at all present things if we long for that other kind of honor. Do you not see children, when they are playing and make a company of soldiers, with heralds going before them and lictors, and one boy walking in the middle as if he were the general? How childish it all is.

Human affairs are just like that, and even more worthless. Today they exist, and tomorrow they do not. Let us, therefore, rise above these things. Let us not only refuse to desire them, but even be ashamed if anyone offers them to us. For in this way, by driving out the love of these things, we will gain that other love which is divine, and we will enjoy immortal glory. May God grant that all of us may obtain this, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ.

With him, to the Father, together with the holy and good Spirit, be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 1:4-5

I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Jesus Christ, because in every way you were made rich in him.

What he urges others to do when he says, in Philippians 4:6, "Let your requests with thanksgiving be made known to God," he also did himself. In this way he teaches us always to begin with these words, and before everything else to give thanks to God. For nothing is so pleasing to God as for people to be thankful, both for themselves and for others. Therefore he begins almost every Epistle in this way. But his reason for doing so is even more pressing here than in the other Epistles.

For the one who gives thanks does so both because he is doing well and because he is acknowledging a favor. Now a favor is not a debt, or a repayment, or a payment. This is important to say everywhere, but much more in the case of the Corinthians, who were eagerly following those who were dividing the Church.

2. To my God. Because of his great love, he takes what is shared by all and makes it his own. The prophets also often speak this way. They say, in Psalm 43:4 and 62:1, "O God, my God." By this, he also encourages them to use the same words themselves. For expressions like these belong to someone who is turning away from all earthly things and moving toward the One he calls on so earnestly. Only the person who is always rising from the things of this life to God can truly say this.

He always chooses God above everything else and gives thanks continually, not only for the grace already given, but also for every blessing that has ever been given at any time. For all these things, he offers God the same praise. Therefore he does not simply say, "I give thanks," but, "at all times, concerning you." In this way, he teaches them to be thankful always, and to no one except God alone.

For it is by the grace of God. Do you see how he finds reasons from every side to correct them? Where there is grace, there are no works; and where there are works, it is no longer grace. So if it is grace, why are you proud? Why are you puffed up?

"Which is given to you." And by whom was it given? By me, or by another Apostle? Not at all, but by Jesus Christ. For the phrase, "in Jesus Christ," means this. Notice how in various places he uses the word ἐν, "in," instead of δι’ οὗ, "through whom." Therefore its meaning is no less strong.

You were enriched in every way. Again, by whom? The answer is, by Him. And not only were you enriched, but enriched in every way. Since, first of all, it is riches; then, riches from God; next, riches in every way; and finally, riches through the Only-Begotten, think about this treasure that cannot be described.

1 Corinthians 1:5

In every kind of speech, and in all knowledge. He means speech, or utterance, not like that of the heathen, but that which comes from God. For there is knowledge without speech, and there is knowledge with speech. Many people have knowledge but do not have the ability to speak. This is true of those who are uneducated and cannot clearly show what is in their minds. He says that you are not like these people, but are able both to understand and to speak.

1 Corinthians 1:6

Just as the testimony of Christ was confirmed among you. Under the appearance of praise and thanksgiving, he sharply touches them. For, he says, it was not by pagan philosophy or pagan training, but by the grace of God, and by the riches, the knowledge, and the word given by Him, that you were able to learn the teachings of the truth and be established in the testimony of the Lord, that is, in the Gospel.

For you received the benefit of many signs, many wonders, and grace beyond words, so that you would accept the Gospel. If, then, you were established by signs and grace, why do you waver? These are the words of someone who is both correcting them and, at the same time, winning their goodwill.

1 Corinthians 1:7

“So that you do not fall behind in any gift.” A serious question comes up here. Those who had been enriched in every kind of speech, so that they did not fall behind in any gift, were they fleshly? If they were like that at the beginning, then even more so now. How then does he call them fleshly? For he says in 1 Corinthians 3:1, “I was not able to speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to fleshly people.” What, then, must we say?

We may say that after they first believed and received all the gifts, for they did indeed seek them eagerly, they later became careless. Or, if not that, then these words and those words were not spoken to all of them alike. Instead, one set was spoken to those who deserved his rebukes, and the other set to those who were honored by his praise. For that they still had gifts is clear from 1 Corinthians 14:26-29: “Each one has a psalm, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.

Let all things be done for edification.” And again, “Let the prophets speak, two or three.” Or we may explain it a little differently. Just as we often use the greater part to mean the whole, so he has spoken here in the same way. Also, I think he is hinting at his own actions, because he too had shown signs among them, just as he also says in the second Epistle to them, in 2 Corinthians 12:12-13, “Truly the signs of an Apostle were worked among you with all patience.”

And again, “For in what were you inferior to the other churches?”

Or, as I was saying, he both reminds them of his own miracles and says this with an eye to those who were still approved. For many holy men were there who had set themselves to minister to the saints, and had become the first fruits of Achaia, as he says toward the end in 1 Corinthians 16:15.

5. In any case, even if the praises were not very close to the truth, they were still included as a precaution, preparing the way ahead for his message. For if someone says unpleasant things right at the beginning, weaker people will stop listening to him. If the hearers are his equals in rank, they become angry. If they are far below him, they will be upset. To avoid this, he begins with what seem to be praises.

I say seem, because even this praise did not really belong to them, but to the grace of God. For the fact that they had forgiveness of sins and were justified was a gift from above. Therefore he spends time on these points, which show the loving-kindness of God, so that he may more completely cleanse away their sickness.

6. Waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Why are you making such a fuss,” he says, “why are you troubled that Christ has not come?” No, he has come, and the Day is now at the doors. And consider his wisdom. By turning them away from human concerns, he fills them with fear by mentioning the dreadful judgment seat. In this way he implies that not only the beginning must be good, but the end also.

For even with all these gifts, and with everything else that is good, we must keep that Day in mind. And many labors are needed if we are to reach the end. “Revelation” is his word, implying that although He is not seen, yet He is, and is present even now, and then He will appear. Therefore there is need of patience. For this is why you received the wonders: that you may remain firm.

1 Corinthians 1:8

7. He will also make you firm to the end, so that you may be beyond reproach. Here he seems to be winning them over, but what he says is completely free from flattery. For he also knows how to press them hard, as when he says in 1 Corinthians 4:18-21, "Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you." And again, "What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love, and in a spirit of meekness?" And in 2 Corinthians 13:3, "Since you seek proof of Christ speaking in me."

But he is also quietly accusing them. For when he says, "He will make you firm," and uses the word "beyond reproach," he shows that they are still wavering and still open to reproof.

But consider how he always fixes them, as if with nails, to the name of Christ. He does not keep mentioning just any person or teacher. Instead, he continually brings up the Desired One Himself. It is as if he is trying to wake people who are dull and heavy-headed after a drunken binge. For in no other Epistle does the name of Christ appear so constantly. But here it comes many times in just a few verses. By it, one might say, he weaves together the whole opening. Look at it from the beginning:

"Paul, called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have been sanctified in Jesus Christ, who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, grace be to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God for the grace that has been given to you by Jesus Christ, even as the testimony of Christ has been confirmed in you, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall confirm you blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful, by whom you have been called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And I beseech you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Do you see the constant repetition of the name of Christ? From this it is plain, even to the least observant person, that he is not doing this by chance or without knowing it. Rather, by the unceasing use of that glorious name, he means to stir up their inflamed condition and to purge out the corruption of the disease.

1 Corinthians 1:9

God is faithful, and by Him you were called into fellowship with His Son. Wonderful! How great this is, he says here. How enormous is the gift he is describing. You have been called into fellowship with the Only-Begotten, and yet you give yourselves to men? What could be worse than this misery? And how were you called? By the Father. For he was always using the phrases "through Him" and "in Him" about the Son.

So, to keep anyone from thinking that he spoke of the Son as lesser, he gives the same language to the Father. It was not by one person or another, he says, but by the Father that you were called. By Him you were also enriched. Again, you were called; you did not come near by yourselves. But what does "into the fellowship of His Son" mean? Listen as he explains this same thing more clearly elsewhere: "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him; if we die with Him, we shall also live with Him."

Second Timothy 2:12. Then, because what he had said was so great, he adds a proof that brings irresistible conviction. For, he says, God is faithful, that is, true. Now if He is true, then He will also do the things He has promised. And He has promised that He will make us sharers in His only-begotten Son, because this is also why He called us. For "the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance." Romans 11:29.

By a kind of divine wisdom, he brings in these things this early, so that after the sharp force of the rebukes, they might not fall into despair. For certainly God's part will follow, if we are not completely unwilling to accept His restraint. As happened with the Jews: though they were called, they would not receive the blessings. But that was no longer the fault of the One who called them. It was because of their own senselessness.

For He was willing to give, but by refusing to receive, they cast themselves away. For if He had called them to a painful and difficult task, even then they would not have been excused for making excuses. Still, they might have been able to say that this was the reason. But if the call is to cleansing, compare 1 Corinthians 1:4-7, and to righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, and grace, and a free gift, and the good things laid up in store, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard;

and if it is God who calls, and calls by Himself, what pardon can those deserve who do not come running to Him? Therefore let no one accuse God. For unbelief does not come from the One who calls, but from those who jump away from Him.

But someone may say, "He ought to bring people in even against their will." Far from it. He does not use force or compulsion. For who, when inviting people to honors, crowns, banquets, and festivals, drags them in unwilling and bound? No one. That would be the act of someone giving an insult. He sends people to hell against their will, but to the kingdom He calls willing minds. To the fire He brings people bound and crying in grief, but not to the endless state of blessings.

Otherwise, it would be an insult to the blessings themselves if their nature were not such that people would run to them on their own and with much thanks.

From where is it then, you say, that not all men choose them? From their own weakness. And why does He not cut off their weakness? And tell me, in what way ought He to cut it off? Has He not made a world that teaches His loving-kindness and His power? For "the heavens declare the glory of God," Psalm 19:1, says one. Has He not also sent prophets? Has He not both called and honored us? Has He not done wonders? Has He not given a law, both written and natural? Has He not sent His Son?

Has He not commissioned Apostles? Has He not wrought sins? Has He not threatened hell? Has He not promised the kingdom? Does He not every day make His sun rise? Are not the things which He has commanded so simple and easy, that many go beyond His commandments in the greatness of their self-denial? "What was there to do unto the vineyard and I have not done it?" Isaiah 5:4

10. And why, you ask, did He not make knowledge and virtue natural to us? Who says this? The Greek or the Christian? In fact, both say it, but not about the same things. One raises this objection about knowledge, and the other about conduct. First, then, we will answer the one who is on our side, because I am not as concerned with those outside as I am with our own members.

What then does the Christian say? “It would be fitting for the knowledge of virtue itself to be planted in us.” He has planted it in us. If He had not, how would we have known what things should be done and what should be left undone? Where did laws and courts come from? “But God should have given us not only knowledge, but also the actual doing of it, that is, virtue.” Then what would you have to be rewarded for, if the whole thing were from God?

Tell me, does God punish you and the Greek in the same way when sin is committed? Certainly not. For up to a certain point, you have confidence, namely, the confidence that comes from true knowledge. What then? If someone were now to say that, as far as knowledge is concerned, you and the Greek will be judged as equally deserving, would that not offend you? I think it would. For you would say that the Greek had, on his own part, the means to reach knowledge, but was not willing.

If that person should then also say that God ought to have planted knowledge in us by nature, would you not laugh at him and say, “But why did you not seek it? Why were you not earnest as I was?” And you would stand your ground with great confidence and say that it was utter foolishness to blame God for not planting knowledge in human nature. And you would say this because you have obtained what belongs to knowledge.

In the same way, if you had carried out what belongs to practice, you would not have raised these questions. But you are weary of virtuous living, and so you hide yourself behind these reckless words. But how could it be right for someone to become good by necessity? Then next we should have the brute beasts arguing with us about virtue, since some of them are more self-controlled than we are.

But you say, "I would rather have been good by necessity, and so lost all rewards, than be evil by deliberate choice, and be punished and suffer vengeance." But it is impossible for anyone ever to be good by necessity. So, if you do not know what ought to be done, show that, and then we will tell you what is right to say. But if you know that uncleanness is wicked, why do you not flee from the evil thing?

You say, "I cannot." But others who have done greater things than this will testify against you, and they will more than be able to silence you. For perhaps you, though living with a wife, are not chaste. But another person, even without a wife, keeps his chastity untouched. So what excuse do you have for not keeping the rule, when another person goes even beyond the limits that have been drawn to mark it?

But you say, "I am not made that way in my body, or in my mind." But that comes from a lack, not of power, but of will. This is how I prove that everyone has some fitness for virtue. If a person cannot do something, then he will not be able to do it even if force is put on him. But if force is put on him and he is able to do it, then the one who leaves it undone leaves it undone by choice. This is the kind of thing I mean.

To fly up and be carried toward heaven with a heavy body is simply impossible. What then? If a king commanded someone to do this and threatened death, saying, "I decree that those who do not fly will lose their heads, or be burned, or suffer some other punishment," would anyone obey him? Certainly not. For nature is not capable of it.

But if the same kind of thing were done in the case of chastity, and he made laws that the sexually immoral should be punished, burned, whipped, and suffer the worst tortures, would not many obey the law? You will say no, because even now there is a law forbidding adultery, and not all obey it. But that is not because fear has lost its power. It is because most people expect not to be noticed.

So, if the lawgiver and the judge stood before them at the moment when they were about to commit an unclean act, fear would be strong enough to drive out lust. In fact, if I were to use another kind of force, less than this, if I took the man away from the person he desires and shut him up securely in chains, he would be able to endure it without suffering any great harm. So let us not say that such a person is evil by nature.

For if a man were good by nature, he could never become evil at any time. And if he were evil by nature, he could never become good. But now we see that changes happen quickly, and that people quickly move from one side to the other, and then fall back again. We see these things not only in the Scriptures.

For example, tax collectors have become apostles, and disciples have become traitors, and prostitutes have become chaste, and robbers have become respectable men, and magicians have worshiped, and ungodly men have crossed over to godliness, both in the New Testament and in the Old. Even every day, a person can see many such things happening. Now if these things were natural, they could not change.

In the same way, since we are by nature capable of feeling, we could never by any effort become without feeling. For whatever is what it is by nature can never fall away from its natural condition. For example, no one ever changed from sleeping to not sleeping at all, no one from being corruptible to being incorruptible, and no one from hunger to the complete and permanent absence of that feeling. Therefore these things are not matters for accusation, and we do not blame ourselves for them.

No one, when wanting to blame another person, ever says, "You corruptible and passion-filled man." But adultery, fornication, or something like that, we always charge against those who are responsible. And we bring them before judges, who blame and punish them, and in the opposite cases give honors.

11. Since it is clear from all these things that it is also in our power to do what is right—from how we act toward one another, and from how we judge the way others act toward us; from the matters about which we have written laws, and from the things for which we condemn ourselves even when no one accuses us; from the cases where we become worse through laziness and better through fear;

and from the cases where we see others living well and reaching the highest self-control—why do most of us deceive ourselves for no reason with cruel pretexts and excuses, bringing on ourselves not pardon, but unbearable punishment? We ought to keep that fearful day before our eyes and give our attention to virtue, so that after a little labor we may receive the crowns that do not perish. For these words will not be a defense for us.

Instead, our fellow servants, and those who have practiced the opposite virtues, will condemn all who remain in sin. The cruel person will be condemned by the merciful, the evil by the good, the harsh by the gentle, the stingy by the kind, the vainglorious by the self-denying, the lazy by the serious, and the undisciplined by the sober-minded. In this way God will judge us, and He will place both groups where they belong, giving praise to one and punishment to the other.

But God forbid that any of those present should be among those who are punished and dishonored. Rather, may they be among those who are crowned and who win the kingdom. May God grant that all of us may obtain this through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. With Him, to the Father and the Holy Ghost, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and to the everlasting ages. Amen.

1 Corinthians 1:10

Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

What I have been saying all along is this: we must make our rebukes gently and little by little. Paul does the same thing here. He is about to speak about a subject full of many dangers, and serious enough to tear the Church up from its foundations. Yet he uses very mild language. He says that he begs them, and begs them through Christ, as if even he alone were not enough to make this appeal and persuade them.

But what is this, I beg you through Christ? I call on Christ to fight on my side and to help me, since His Name has been wronged and insulted. This is indeed an alarming way of speaking, in case they should prove stubborn and shameless, for sin makes people restless. Therefore, if you sharply rebuke a person at once, you make him fierce and impudent. But if you put him to shame, you bend his neck, you check his confidence, and you make him lower his head.

Since this was Paul's purpose also, he is willing for a time to beg them through the Name of Christ. And what, above all, is the purpose of his request?

So that all of you may say the same thing, and so that there may be no divisions among you. The strong force of the word "division"—I mean the name itself—was enough to accuse them. For it was not as if they had become many parts, with each one whole in itself. Rather, the one Body that originally existed had been destroyed. For if they had been complete Churches, there might have been many of them. But if they were divisions, then that first one was gone.

For what is whole in itself not only does not become many by being divided into many parts, but even the original one is lost. That is the nature of divisions.

Next, because he had spoken to them sharply by using the word "schism," he softens his tone again and calms them by saying, "that you may be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." That means this: since he had said, "that you may all speak the same thing," he adds, Do not think I mean that your agreement should be only in words. I am looking for harmony of mind.

But because there can be agreement in words, and even sincere agreement, though not on every subject, he added this: "that you may be perfected together." For a person who is united in one thing but disagrees in another is no longer perfected, nor fitted into complete agreement. There can also be harmony in opinions when there is not yet harmony in feeling. For example, we may have the same faith, but not be joined together in love.

In that case, we are one in opinion, because we think the same things, but not one in feeling. And that was the situation at that time: one person was choosing one leader, and another person, another. For this reason he says that it is necessary to agree both in mind and in judgment. For the schisms did not come from any difference in faith, but from division in their judgment caused by human contentiousness.

But since anyone who is being blamed stays shameless as long as he has no witnesses, notice how he brings in some to testify, so that they cannot deny the fact.

1 Corinthians 1:11

For it has been made known to me concerning you, my brothers, by those of Chloe's household. He did not say this at the very beginning. First he brought forward his charge, like one who had confidence in those who informed him. For if it had not been so, he would not have found fault, for Paul was not a person to believe lightly. Neither then did he immediately say, "It has been made known," lest he might seem to rest the accusation on their authority.

Neither does he leave them completely unmentioned, lest he should seem to speak only from himself. And again, he calls them brothers. For although the fault is plain, there is still nothing against calling people brothers. Consider also his prudence in not speaking of any particular person, but of the whole household, so as not to make them hostile toward the informer. For in this way he both protects him and opens the accusation without fear.

For he had an eye to the benefit not of one side only, but of the other also. Therefore he does not say, "It has been declared to me by certain people," but he also points to the household, lest they might suppose that he was inventing.

What was reported? That there are quarrels among you. So, when he is correcting them, he says, "that there be no divisions among you." But when he is repeating what others told him, he speaks more gently. He says, "For it has been declared to me... that there are contentions among you," so that he might not bring trouble on those who informed him.

1 Corinthians 1:12

Next, he also explains what kind of conflict it is.

When each one of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," I mean divisions, he says. And I mean not about private matters, but about more serious ones. He says, "each one of you says," because the corruption had spread, not to one part, but to the whole Church. Yet they were not actually speaking about Paul himself, or Peter, or Apollos. Rather, he means that if people were not to depend on these men, then much less should they depend on others.

For that they had not been speaking about them, he says a little later: "And these things I have transferred in a figure to myself and Apollos, that you may learn in us not to go beyond the things which are written." For if it was not right for them to call themselves by the name of Paul, or of Apollos, or of Cephas, then it was much less right to do so by the name of anyone else.

If it was not right for them to enroll themselves under the Teacher, and the first of the Apostles, and one who had taught so many people, then it was much less right to do so under those who were nothing. So then, by way of hyperbole, trying to pull them away from their sickness, he uses these names. Besides this, he makes his argument less harsh by not naming the rude men who were dividing the Church, but by hiding them, as behind a kind of mask, under the names of the Apostles.

"I am of Paul," and "I of Apollos," and "I of Cephas." He did not put his own name last because he thought himself less than Peter. Rather, he was giving Peter a much higher place than himself. He arranged his statement as a climax, so that no one would think he was doing this out of envy, or that he was taking away from the honor of others because of jealousy. That is why he also put his own name first.

For the one who puts himself first in order to have himself rejected does not do it from a love of honor, but from complete disregard for that kind of reputation. You see, he places himself where the whole attack will fall first, then he mentions Apollos, and then Cephas. So he did this not to make himself look great. Rather, when speaking about these wrong things, he first gives the needed correction in his own person.

5. But it is clear that those who devoted themselves to one man or another were in error. And he rightly rebukes them, saying, "You are not doing well when you say, 'I belong to Paul,' and 'I belong to Apollos,' and 'I belong to Cephas.'" But why did he add, "And I belong to Christ"? For although those who devoted themselves to men were in error, surely those who devoted themselves to Christ were not. But this was not his charge:

not that they called themselves by the name of Christ, but that they did not all call themselves by that name alone. And I think he added this himself, because he wanted to make the accusation more serious and to show that, by this way of speaking, Christ also must be treated as belonging to only one party, even though they were not themselves using the name in that way. That this is what he meant, he showed in what follows, saying,

1 Corinthians 1:13

"Is Christ divided?" What he says means this: You have cut Christ into pieces and divided His body. This is anger. This is rebuke. These are words full of indignation. For whenever, instead of arguing, he only asks a question, the fact that he does this shows that the absurdity is obvious and admitted.

But some say that, when he said, "Is Christ divided?" he was pointing to something else. It is as if he had said, "Has Christ divided the Church among men, taking one part for Himself and giving them the other?" Then, in what follows, he works to tear down this absurd idea. He says, "Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized into the name of Paul?" Notice his love for Christ. From that point on, he brings the whole matter to a point by using his own name.

In this way, he shows, and more than shows, that this honor belongs to no one. And so that no one might think envy moved him to say these things, he keeps putting himself forward. Notice also his careful way of speaking. He does not say, "Did Paul make the world? Did Paul bring you into being out of nothing?" Instead, he mentions only those things that were especially precious to the faithful and were guarded with great care.

He points to the Cross, and Baptism, and the blessings that follow from these. For God's loving-kindness toward mankind is shown also in the creation of the world. Yet it is shown in nothing so much as in the condescension shown through the Cross. And he did not say, "Did Paul die for you?" but, "Was Paul crucified for you?" He also states the kind of death.

Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? Again, he does not say, "Did Paul baptize you?" For Paul did baptize many. But that was not the question: the question was not by whom they had been baptized, but into whose name they had been baptized. Since this too was a cause of divisions, namely, that they were being called by the name of those who baptized them, he corrects this error also by saying, "Were you baptized into the name of Paul?"

"Do not tell me," he says, "who baptized you, but into whose name you were baptized." For the matter being examined is not the one who baptizes, but the one who is called on in Baptism. For this is the One who forgives our sins.

At this point he stops the discussion and does not go any farther with the subject. For he does not say, "Did Paul tell you about the good things to come? Did Paul promise you the kingdom of heaven?" Why, then, I ask, does he not add these questions too? Because it is not the same thing to promise a kingdom and to be crucified. The first involved no danger and brought no shame. But the second involved all these things. Also, he proves the first by the second.

For after saying, Romans 8:32, "He that spared not His own Son," he adds, "How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" And again, in Romans 5:10, "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved." This was one reason why he did not add what I just mentioned. Another reason was that they did not yet have the one, but they had already experienced the other. The one was still a promise.

The other had already happened.

1 Corinthians 1:14

6. I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius. Why are you proud that you baptized, when I myself even give thanks that I did not do so? By speaking this way, with a kind of divine wisdom, he takes away their swollen pride on this point. He does not do this by lowering the power of baptism—God forbid—but by exposing the foolishness of those who were puffed up because they had been baptizers. First, he shows that the gift is not theirs. Second, he gives thanks to God for it.

For baptism truly is a great thing. But its greatness does not come from the person doing the baptizing. It comes from Him whose name is called on in baptism. For baptizing is almost nothing in terms of human labor, and it is far less than preaching the gospel. Yes, I say again, baptism truly is a great thing, and without baptism it is impossible to obtain the kingdom. Still, even a man of no special excellence is able to baptize, but preaching the gospel requires great labor.

1 Corinthians 1:15

He also gives the reason why he thanks God that he had baptized no one. What is this reason? It is this: so that no one could say, "You were baptized into my own name." Why? Did he mean that they were saying this in those other cases? Not at all. But, he says, "I am afraid that the sickness might spread even that far."

For if a heresy arises when unimportant people of little account do the baptizing, then if I, the first one to announce Baptism, had baptized many, it is likely that they would have formed a party, and would not only have called themselves by my name, but also have credited the Baptism to me. For if so great an evil came from lesser people, then from those of higher rank it might perhaps have gone on to something far more serious.

1 Corinthians 1:16

Then, after he had put to shame those who were not sound in this matter, and after adding, "I also baptized the household of Stephanas," he again brings down their pride by saying, "I do not know whether I baptized anyone else." By this he shows that he did not try to gain the honor that would come from baptizing many people, nor did he do this work for the sake of glory.

1 Corinthians 1:17

And not only by these things, but also by the next words, he strongly holds back their pride. He says, "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel." For this was the harder work, the part that needed much effort and a soul of iron. It was also the work on which everything depended. And that is why Paul was given this task.

And why did he baptize, if he was not sent to baptize? It was not because he was opposing the One who sent him. Rather, in this case he was working beyond his assigned task. For he does not say, "I was forbidden." He says, "I was not sent for this, but for that which was most necessary." For preaching the gospel is a task perhaps for one or two, but baptizing is for everyone who has the priesthood.

For when a person has been taught and convinced, taking him and baptizing him is something almost anyone can do. In that case, everything else is done by the will of the person who comes forward and by the grace of God. But when unbelievers must be taught, there must be great labor and great wisdom. And at that time, danger was also connected with it. In the first case, the whole matter is already done, and the one who is about to be initiated has been convinced.

And when a man has been convinced, it is no great thing to baptize him. But in the second case, the labor is great: to change a settled will, to alter a person's way of thinking, to pull error up by the roots, and to plant the truth in its place.

It is not that he says all this openly, or argues in so many words that Baptism requires no labor while preaching does. He knows how to keep his tone restrained. But when he compares it with pagan wisdom, he speaks very forcefully, because that subject allows him to use stronger language.

So, he did not baptize in opposition to the One who sent him. Rather, it was like the case of the widows. The apostles had said in Acts 6:2, "It is not right for us to leave the word of God and serve tables." Yet he carried out the service of a deacon, as in Acts 12:25, not in opposition to them, but as something beyond his usual task. So it is here also.

For even now, we entrust this matter to the simpler presbyters, but the ministry of teaching the word to the wiser ones, because that is where the labor and sweat are. Therefore he himself says in 1 Timothy 5:17, "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching."

For teaching the wrestlers in the games belongs to an eager and skillful trainer, but placing the crown on the winner's head may be done by someone who cannot even wrestle, even though it is the crown that adds splendor to the victor. So it is also in Baptism. It is impossible to be saved without it, yet what the one who baptizes does is no great thing, since he finds the person's will already prepared.

7. Not in wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be emptied of its power.

After he had brought down the swollen pride of those who were arrogant because they baptized people, he then changed his approach to answer those who boasted in pagan wisdom. Against them, he took up his weapons with even greater force. To those who were puffed up about baptizing, he said, "I thank God that I baptized no one," and, "For Christ sent me not to baptize." He does not speak there with great force or with extended argument.

Instead, after only hinting at his meaning in a few words, he quickly moves on. But here, right at the beginning, he strikes a hard blow, saying, "Lest the Cross of Christ be made void." Why then are you proud of something that should make you hide your face in shame? Since, if this wisdom is at war with the Cross and fights against the Gospel, it is not right to boast about it, but to withdraw in shame. For this was the reason why the Apostles were not wise in that way:

not because the Gift was weak, but so that no harm would come to the Gospel being preached. Therefore, the kind of people mentioned above were not the ones used to defend the Word. Rather, they were among those who spoke against it. The unlearned men were the ones who established it. This was able to stop empty pride, to hold back arrogance, and to require moderation.

But if it was "not by wisdom of speech," why did they send Apollos, who was eloquent? "Not," he replies, "because they trusted in his speaking ability, but because he was mighty in the Scriptures," and he refuted the Jews, as in Acts 18:24-29. Besides, the point being discussed was that the leaders and first spreaders of the word were not eloquent. These were the very people who needed some great power in order to drive out error at the beginning.

And then, at the very start, abundant strength was needed. Now, if He could do without educated people at first, then even if some eloquent people were later accepted by Him, He did this not because He needed them, but because He made no distinctions. For just as He did not need wise men to do whatever He wanted, so also, if any such people were found later, He did not reject them for that reason.

8. But prove to me that Peter and Paul were eloquent. You cannot. For they were unlearned and ignorant men. Therefore, when Christ was sending His disciples out into the world, after first showing them His power in Palestine, He said, in Luke 22:35, "When I sent you out without purse and wallet and shoe, did you lack anything?" From that time forward, He permitted them to have both a wallet and a purse. So He has done here also.

For the point was the showing of Christ's power, not the rejection from the Faith of persons because of their Gentile wisdom, if they were drawing near. When the Greeks, then, accuse the disciples of being unlearned, let us be even more ready with that charge than they are. And let no one say, "Paul was wise." But while we exalt those among them who were great in wisdom and admired for excellence of speech, let us grant that all on our side were unlearned.

For even in that respect, they will meet no small overthrow from us. And so the victory will indeed be brilliant.

I have said these things because I once heard a Christian arguing in a foolish way with a Greek, and in their conflict both were hurting their own side. The things the Christian should have said, the Greek said instead. And the things you would naturally expect the Greek to say, the Christian argued for himself. For example, the dispute was about Paul and Plato. The Greek tried to show that Paul was uneducated and ignorant.

But the Christian, out of simplicity, was eager to prove that Paul was more eloquent than Plato. So the victory went to the Greek, because that argument was allowed to win. For if Paul were a greater man than Plato in that way, many would probably object that it was not by grace, but by excellence of speech, that he prevailed. So the Christian's claim actually helped the Greek. And what the Greek said helped the Christian's side.

For if Paul was uneducated and still overcame Plato, then the victory, as I was saying, was glorious. The disciples of Plato had been drawn in a body to Paul, though he was uneducated, and they were persuaded and brought over to his side. From this it is clear that the Gospel came not from human wisdom, but from the grace of God.

Therefore, so that we do not fall into the same error and make ourselves a laughingstock when we argue with Greeks in our disputes with them, let us admit that the Apostles lacked learning. For that very charge is praise. And when they say that the Apostles were rough and uneducated, let us go further and say that they were also untaught, unlettered, poor, lowly, foolish, and unknown. To say this is not slander against the Apostles.

It is actually their glory that, being such men, they shone brighter than the whole world. For these untrained, rough, and illiterate men completely defeated the wise, the powerful, the tyrants, and those who were rich, honored, and full of every outward advantage, as if those opponents had not been men at all. From this it is clear that the power of the Cross is great, and that these things were not done by any human strength. For the results did not follow the course of nature.

Rather, what happened was above all nature. Now when something takes place above nature, and far above it, in a way that is right and beneficial, it is quite plain that these things are done by some divine power and help. And consider this: the fisherman, the tentmaker, the tax collector, the ignorant, the unlettered, came from the distant land of Palestine.

After driving the philosophers, the masters of oratory, and the skilled debaters from their own ground, they alone prevailed against them in a short time. They did this in the middle of many dangers:

the opposition of peoples and kings, the struggle of nature itself, the passing of time, the fierce resistance of long-established custom, demons armed for war, and the devil drawn up for battle and stirring up everyone — kings, rulers, peoples, nations, cities, barbarians, Greeks, philosophers, orators, sophists, historians, laws, courts, many kinds of punishments, and countless deaths of every kind.

But nevertheless all these were refuted and gave way when the fisherman spoke, just like light dust that cannot stand against the rush of violent winds. What I mean is this: let us learn to argue with the Greeks in this way, so that we may not be like beasts and cattle, but be ready to answer about the hope that is in us. 1 Peter 3:15 And let us stop for a while to work through this subject, which is not unimportant. Let us say to them, how did the weak overcome the strong?

How did the twelve overcome the world? Not by using the same armor, but by fighting without armor against armed men.

For consider this. If twelve men, untrained in war, were to rush into a huge army of armed soldiers, while they themselves were not only unarmed but also physically weak; and if they suffered no harm from them, and were not wounded, even though ten thousand weapons attacked them; if, while the spears were striking them, they with bare bodies defeated all their enemies, using no weapons but only their hands;

and if in the end they killed some, captured others, and led them away, while they themselves did not receive even one wound, would anyone ever say that this was a human work? And yet the victory of the Apostles is far more wonderful than that.

For it is not nearly as amazing for a naked man to escape being wounded as it is for an ordinary and uneducated man — for a fisherman — to overcome such great skill, and not be turned from his purpose by small numbers, or poverty, or dangers, or the force of long-established habit, or the great strictness of the commands given, or the daily deaths, or the crowd of those who were deceived, or the great reputation of those who deceived them.

9. Let this, I say, be our way of overcoming them and carrying on our warfare against them. Let us amaze them by our way of life rather than by words. For this is the main battle. This is the argument no one can answer: the argument from conduct. Even if we give countless teachings of philosophy in words, if we do not show a life better than theirs, nothing is gained. For what draws their attention is not what is said. What they ask is what we do.

And they say, "First obey your own words, and then advise others." But if, while you speak of the endless blessings in the world to come, you seem tied down to this world, as if no such things existed, then to me your actions are more believable than your words. For when I see you taking other people's goods, weeping without restraint over the dead, and doing wrong in many other ways, how shall I believe you that there is a resurrection?

And even if people do not say this out loud, they think it and turn it over often in their minds. And this is what keeps unbelievers from becoming Christians.

Therefore, let us win them by our life. Many people, even among the uneducated, have in this way amazed the minds of philosophers, because they showed in themselves that philosophy which is found in actions. By their way of life and self-denial, they spoke with a voice clearer than a trumpet. For this is stronger than the tongue.

But when I say that a person should not hold malice, and then I do all kinds of evil to the Greek, how will I be able to win him by words, while by my actions I am driving him away in fear? So then, let us catch them by our way of life. By these souls let us build up the Church, and from these let us gather our wealth. There is nothing that can be weighed against a soul, not even the whole world.

So even if you give countless treasures to the poor, you will not do a work like the one done by the person who converts one soul. Jeremiah 15:19 says, "He who brings out the precious from the worthless shall be as My mouth." That is what He says. It is a great good, I admit, to show pity to the poor. But it is nothing equal to drawing them away from error. For the one who does this is like Paul and Peter.

We are allowed to take up their Gospel, though not with dangers like theirs, or with endurance of famines and plagues and all other evils, because the present time is a season of peace. But we can do it by showing the diligence that comes from zeal. For even while we sit at home, we can practice this kind of fishing. If anyone has a friend, or a relative, or someone living in his house, let him say these things and do these things, and he will be like Peter and Paul.

And why do I say Peter and Paul? He will be the mouth of Christ. For He says, "He who brings out the precious from the worthless shall be as My mouth." And even if you do not persuade him today, tomorrow you will persuade him. And even if you never persuade him, you will still have your own reward in full. And even if you do not persuade all, a few out of many persuaded all men. Yet they still spoke with all, and for all they have their reward.

For God usually gives crowns not according to the result of the good things that are done, but according to the intention of those who do them. Even if you give only two small coins, He receives them. And what He did in the case of the widow, He will do also in the case of those who teach. Do not, then, because you cannot save the world, look down on saving a few. And do not, because you long for great things, draw back from smaller ones.

If you cannot care for a hundred, then take charge of ten. If you cannot care for ten, do not despise even five. If you cannot care for five, do not overlook one. And if you cannot care for one, do not despair even then, and do not hold back what you are able to do. Do you not see how, in business, those who work at it make profit not only from gold but also from silver? For if we do not neglect small things, we will also keep hold of great ones.

But if we despise small things, we will not easily lay hold of the others either. In this way, individuals become rich by gathering both small things and great. So let us act in this way, so that, being enriched in all things, we may obtain the kingdom of heaven, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through whom, and with whom, to the Father together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and from now on and forevermore. Amen.

1 Corinthians 1:18-20

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the understanding of the prudent." Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this world?

To people who are sick and struggling for breath, even healthy food is unpleasant, and friends and relatives are a burden. Often they do not even recognize them, but think they are strangers who do not belong there. In much the same way, this often happens with those who are dying in their souls. They do not understand the things that lead to salvation, and they think those who care about these things are troublesome. This does not come from the nature of those things, but from their sickness.

And just as the insane hate those who take care of them and even insult them, the same is true with unbelievers. But in the case of the former, the ones who are insulted then feel even more compassion for them and weep, because they take this as the worst sign of the disease at its strongest, when the sick do not know their best friends. So let us act the same way toward the Gentiles. Yes, let us mourn over them even more than over our wives, because they do not know the common salvation.

For a man should not love his wife so dearly as we should love all people and lead them to salvation, whether a man is a Gentile or whoever he may be. So then, let us weep for them, because the word of the Cross is foolishness to them, though it is itself Wisdom and Power. For he says, "The word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing."

Since it was likely that they would resist and argue by using the wisdom that came, of course, from themselves, because the Greeks were making fun of the Cross, Paul comforts them and says, do not think it is strange or unreasonable that this is happening. This is the nature of the matter: its power is not recognized by those who are perishing. For they are out of their minds and act like madmen. So they insult and reject the very medicines that bring health.

But what are you saying, O man? Christ became a slave for you, taking the form of a slave, Philippians 2:7, and was crucified, and rose again. And when, for this reason, you ought to worship Him as risen and admire His loving kindness—because what no father, or friend, or son did for you, the Lord did for you, though you were His enemy and offender—when, I say, you ought to admire Him for these things, do you call that foolishness, when it is full of such great wisdom?

But this is nothing strange, for it is a mark of those who are perishing that they do not recognize the things that lead to salvation. Therefore, do not be troubled, for it is no strange or unreasonable event that things truly great are mocked by those who are out of their minds. Now you cannot convince people in this state of mind by human wisdom. No, if you try to convince them in that way, you do the opposite. For things that go beyond human reasoning require faith alone.

So if we try to convince people by arguments how God became man and entered the Virgin's womb, and do not entrust the matter to faith, they will only mock it more. Therefore, it is those who examine these things by arguments who are perishing.

And why do I speak only of God? Even with created things, if we try to explain everything by reasoning, it will lead to great ridicule. Suppose a man wants to understand everything by reason. Let him try, by your kind of argument, to explain to himself how we see light, and then let you try to convince him by reasoning. No, you cannot. If you say that it is enough to see by opening the eyes, you have not explained the way it happens, but only the fact that it happens.

For someone will say, "Why do we not see by hearing, and hear with our eyes? And why do we not hear with the nostril, and smell with hearing?" If he is doubtful about these things, and we are unable to explain them, and then he starts laughing, should we not rather laugh at him? For since both come from one brain, and since the two organs are close neighbors to each other, why can they not do the same work?

Now we will not be able to state the cause or the method of this inexpressible and intricate operation. And if we try, we will be laughed to scorn. Therefore, leaving this to God's power and boundless wisdom, let us be silent.

It is the same with the things of God. If we try to explain them by wisdom that comes from outside, great mockery will follow. This happens not because these things are weak, but because people are foolish. For no words can explain the greatest things of all.

3. Now observe. When I say, "He was crucified," the Greek says, "And how can this be reasonable? He Himself did not help Himself while He was undergoing crucifixion and sore trial at the moment of the Cross. How then, after these things, did He rise again and help others? For if He had been able, before death was the proper time." For this is what the Jews actually said in Matthew 27:41-42. "But He who did not help Himself, how did He help others? There is no reason in it," he says. True, O man.

For indeed it is above reason, and the power of the Cross is beyond words. For that, while actually in the midst of horrors, He should have shown Himself above all horrors, and that, while in the enemy's hold, He should have overcome, this comes from infinite power. For as in the case of the Three Children, their not entering the furnace would not have been so astonishing as this: that, after entering it, they trampled on the fire.

And in the case of Jonah, it was by far a greater thing that, after he had been swallowed by the fish, he suffered no harm from the monster, than if he had not been swallowed at all. So also with Christ. His not dying would not have been so inconceivable as this: that, having died, He should loose the bands of death. Do not say then, "Why did He not help Himself on the Cross?" For He was hastening on to close conflict with death itself.

He did not descend from the Cross, not because He could not, but because He would not. For He whom the tyranny of death did not restrain, how could the nails of the Cross restrain?

But these things, though known to us, are not yet so to the unbelievers. Therefore he said that the word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject." Up to this point, he brings forward nothing from himself that might give offense. Instead, he first comes to the testimony of Scripture.

Then, made bold from there, he uses stronger words and says,

1 Corinthians 1:20-21

Has not God made the wisdom of this world look foolish? Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made the wisdom of this world look foolish? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through its own wisdom, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. After saying, "It is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise," he then adds proof from the facts, saying, "Where is the wise man?

Where is the scribe?" At the same time, he is pointing to both Gentiles and Jews. For what kind of philosopher, which of those who have studied logic, which of those skilled in Jewish matters, has saved us and made the truth known? Not one. It was all the work of the fisherman.

After he had drawn the conclusion he intended, humbled their pride, and said, "Has not God made the wisdom of this world foolish?" he also gives the reason why these things were done this way. For he says, "Since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through its own wisdom," the Cross appeared. Now what does "in the wisdom of God" mean? It means the wisdom shown in those works through which it was God's will to make Himself known.

For He made them for this purpose, and made them as they are, so that by a kind of proportion from the things that are seen, people might learn to admire the Maker. Is the heaven great, and the earth vast? Then wonder at Him who made them. For this heaven, great as it is, was not only made by Him, but made with ease. And that vast earth too was brought into being as if it had been nothing.

Therefore He says of the former in Psalm 102:25, according to the Septuagint, "The works of Your fingers are the heavens," and concerning the earth in Isaiah 40:23, according to the Septuagint, "Who has made the earth as it were nothing." Since, then, the world was unwilling to discover God by this wisdom, He used what seemed to be foolishness, that is, the Gospel, to persuade people, not by reasoning, but by faith.

It follows that where God's wisdom is, there is no longer any need for man's wisdom. For before, it belonged to human wisdom to conclude that He who made the world so great and such as it is must, in all reason, be a God with a certain irresistible and unspeakable power, and in this way to grasp something about Him. But now we no longer need arguments, but faith alone.

For to believe in Him who was crucified and buried, and to be fully convinced that this very Person both rose again and sat down on high, does not require wisdom or arguments, but faith. For the Apostles themselves did not come by wisdom, but by faith, and they surpassed the wise men of the heathen in wisdom and greatness. They did so all the more because raising disputes is less than receiving the things of God by faith. For this goes beyond all human understanding.

But how did He destroy wisdom? By making it known to us through Paul and others like him, He showed that it was of no benefit. For when it comes to receiving the gospel proclamation, the wise person is not helped at all by wisdom, and the uneducated person is not harmed at all by ignorance. But if one may say something even more striking, ignorance, rather than wisdom, is actually a condition better suited for receiving this impression, and it is more easily guided.

For the shepherd and the farmer will receive this more quickly, once they put down all doubtful thoughts once for all and give themselves to the Lord. In this way, then, He destroyed wisdom. For since wisdom first threw herself down, she has afterward been useful for nothing. So when she should have shown her proper power, and should have seen the Lord through His works, she would not. Therefore, even if she were now willing to come forward, she is not able.

For the matter is not of that kind, since this way of knowing God is far greater than the other. You see then that faith and simplicity are needed, and we should seek this everywhere, and prefer it over wisdom that comes from outside. For God, he says, has made wisdom foolish.

But what does it mean, "He has made foolish"? It means He has shown it to be foolish when it comes to receiving the faith. Since they were proud of it, He did not delay in exposing it. For what kind of wisdom is it if it cannot discover the greatest of all good things? Therefore, He caused it to appear foolish after it had first condemned itself.

For if, when things could have been discovered by reasoning, it proved nothing, then now, when matters are moving on a greater scale, how will it be able to accomplish anything? Now there is need for faith alone, and not sharp reasoning. So you see, God has shown it to be foolish.

It was also His good pleasure to save people through what seemed to be the foolishness of the Gospel. I say it was foolishness not in reality, but only in appearance. What is even more wonderful is that He won the victory, not by introducing another kind of wisdom that was better than the first, but by using what seemed to be foolishness. For example, He drove out Plato, not by means of another philosopher with greater skill, but by an uneducated fisherman.

In this way the defeat was greater, and the victory more glorious.

1 Corinthians 1:22-24. For the Jews ask for signs, and the Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, this is a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles, foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Next, to show the power of the Cross, he says, "Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified. To Jews, this is a stumbling block, and to Greeks, foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God."

The meaning of what is said here is very great. He means to show how God has conquered by using opposites, and how the Gospel is not from man. What he says is something like this: “When we say to the Jews, ‘Believe,’ they answer, ‘Raise the dead. Heal the demon-possessed. Show us signs.’ But instead of that, what do we say? We preach that He was crucified and died. And this is enough not only to fail to win over those who are unwilling, but even to drive away those who are willing.”

Nevertheless, it does not drive them away. Instead, it draws them in, holds them fast, and conquers.

Again, the Greeks ask from us an elegant speaking style and the sharpness of sophistry. But we preach the Cross to them also. And what seemed to the Jews to be weakness, to the Greeks is foolishness. Therefore, when we not only fail to give what they ask for, but even give the exact opposite of what they ask for—for the Cross not only does not look like a sign discovered by reasoning, but even seems to destroy the very idea of a sign;

it is not only thought to be no proof of power, but a clear mark of weakness; it is not only no display of wisdom, but a suggestion of foolishness—therefore, when those who look for signs and wisdom not only do not receive the things they ask for, but even hear the opposite of what they want, and then are persuaded by these very opposites, how is the power of the One being preached not beyond words?

It is as if, to someone being tossed by a storm and longing for a harbor, you showed not a harbor but another, rougher part of the sea, and yet could make him follow thankfully. Or as if a physician could draw to himself a man who was wounded and needed medicines by promising to heal him, not with drugs, but by burning him again. For this truly is the result of great power.

In the same way, the Apostles prevailed, not simply without a sign, but even by means of something that seemed contrary to all the known signs. Christ also did this in the case of the blind man. For when He wanted to heal him, He took away the blindness by something that seemed to increase it; that is, He put clay on him. John 9:6 So then, just as by means of clay He healed the blind man, so also by means of the Cross He brought the world to Himself.

That certainly was adding an offense, not taking one away. He did the same also in creation, working out things by their opposites. For example, with sand He walled in the sea, making the weak a bridle for the strong. He placed the earth upon the water, arranging that what is heavy and solid should be carried by what is soft and fluid. Again, through the prophets, by a small piece of wood He raised iron from the bottom.

2 Kings 6:5-7 In the same way also, by the Cross He has drawn the world to Himself. For as the water holds up the earth, so also the Cross holds up the world. You see now that it is proof of great power and wisdom to persuade by means of the very things that seem to speak directly against us. So the Cross seems to be a cause of offense, and yet, far from offending, it actually draws people.

1 Corinthians 1:25

6. Paul kept all these things in mind and was struck with wonder. So he said that the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. He said this about the Cross, calling it folly and weakness, not because it really was so, but because it seemed so. For he is answering according to the opinion of the other side. What philosophers could not accomplish by reasoning, this thing that seemed foolish did exceedingly well. Which, then, is wiser:

the one who persuades many, or the one who persuades few, or rather no one? The one who persuades people about the greatest matters, or about matters that are nothing? What great efforts Plato and his followers made, speaking to us about a line, an angle, a point, and about even and odd numbers, and numbers equal to one another and unequal, and other such spider webs. For indeed those webs are no more useless to human life than these subjects were.

And without doing any good to anyone, great or small, by these things, he ended his life. How greatly he labored as he tried to show that the soul was immortal. And as he came, so he went away, having said nothing with certainty and having persuaded no hearer. But the Cross brought persuasion through unlearned men.

Yes, it persuaded even the whole world, and not about ordinary things, but about God, and the godliness that agrees with truth, and the way of life taught in the Gospel, and the judgment of the things to come. And it made philosophers out of all kinds of people, even farmers and the completely unlearned. See how the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger. How is it stronger? Because it spread through the whole world and seized all things by main force.

While tens of thousands were trying to extinguish the name of the Crucified, the opposite happened. That name flourished and increased more and more, but they perished and faded away. And the living, though at war with the dead, had no power. So when the Greek calls me foolish, he shows himself to be foolish beyond measure. Since I, whom he thinks to be a fool, plainly appear wiser than the wise. When he calls me weak, then he shows himself to be weaker.

For the great things that tax collectors and fishermen were able to accomplish by the grace of God, philosophers and rhetoricians and tyrants, and in short the whole world, rushing ten thousand ways here and there, could not even imagine. For what did the Cross not introduce? The teaching about the immortality of the soul; the teaching about the resurrection of the body; the teaching about despising present things; the teaching about desiring the things to come.

Yes, it has made men like angels, and everywhere all people practice self-denial and show every kind of courage.

But among them also, it will be said, many have been found to despise death. Tell me, who? Was it the man who drank the hemlock? But if you wish, I can bring forward ten thousand such men from within the Church. For if it had been lawful, when persecution came upon them, to drink hemlock and depart, they all would have become more famous than he. And besides, he drank when he was not free to drink or not to drink. But whether willing or unwilling, he had to undergo it.

This was surely no effect of fortitude, but of necessity, and nothing more. For even robbers and murderers, after falling under the sentence of their judges, have suffered things more grievous. But with us it is exactly the opposite. For the martyrs did not endure against their will, but by their own will, while being free not to suffer. In this they showed forth fortitude harder than all adamant.

You see then that it is no great wonder that the man I mentioned drank hemlock, since it was no longer in his power not to drink, and since he had also come to a very great age. For when he despised life, he said himself that he was seventy years old, if this can be called despising. For I, on my part, could not say that it can. Nor, what is more, can anyone else. But show me someone standing firm in torments for godliness' sake, as I show you ten thousand everywhere in the world.

Who endured nobly while his nails were being torn out? Who endured while the joints of his body were being wrenched apart? Who endured while his body was being cut to pieces, member by member? Or even his head? Who endured while his bones were being forced out by levers? Who endured while being placed without interruption upon frying-pans? Who endured when thrown into a caldron? Show me these instances. For to die by hemlock is much the same as a man continuing in sleep.

No, if the report is true, this kind of death is even sweeter than sleep. But if some of them did endure torments, even their praise also has come to nothing. For some perished on some disgraceful occasion. Some for revealing mysteries. Some for aspiring to dominion. Others were detected in the foulest crimes. Others again, rashly and fruitlessly and foolishly, with no reason for it, made away with themselves. But not so with us.

Therefore nothing is said of the deeds of those men, but these flourish and daily increase. Paul had this in mind when he said, "The weakness of God is stronger than men."

8. That the Gospel is divine is clear even from this: how could it have come into the minds of twelve uneducated men to attempt such great things? They had lived in marshes, by rivers, and in deserts. Perhaps they had never even entered a city or a marketplace. So how did it come into their minds to set themselves against the whole world? The one who wrote about them shows that they were timid and lacking courage. He did not try to defend them or hide their failures.

This by itself is a very great sign of the truth. So what does he say about them? He says that when Christ was arrested, after ten thousand wonders, they fled. And the one who remained, who was the leader of the rest, denied Him. So from where did it come that they, who while Christ was alive could not endure the attack of the Jews, now stood against so great a world after He was dead and buried and, as you say, had not risen again, had not spoken with them, and had not given them courage?

Would they not have said among themselves, "What does this mean? He was not able to save Himself, and will He protect us? He did not defend Himself while alive, and will He now reach out His hand to us after He is dead? While alive, He did not bring even one nation under His power, and are we to persuade the whole world by speaking His Name?" How, I ask, could all this be reasonable? I do not mean as something to be done, but even as something to be imagined.

From this it is plain that if they had not seen Him after He had risen, and received very great proof of His power, they would not have dared to make so great an attempt.

9. Suppose they had had countless friends. Would they not at once have turned them all into enemies by upsetting ancient customs and moving their fathers' boundaries? But as things were, everyone was their enemy, both their own countrymen and foreigners. For even if they had been commended to honor by every outward advantage, would not all people still have hated them for introducing a new form of government? But in fact, they had nothing at all.

And because of that, it was likely that everyone would immediately hate and despise them. For whom will you name? The Jews? No. They had an indescribable hatred against them because of what had been done to the Master. The Greeks, then? First of all, they had rejected a man not inferior to themselves, and no one knew this better than the Greeks. Plato wanted to introduce a new form of government, or rather one part of government.

He did not even change the customs about the gods, but only tried to replace one way of conduct with another. Yet he was driven out of Sicily and nearly lost his life. However, that did not happen, so he lost only his freedom. And if a certain barbarian had not been gentler than the tyrant of Sicily, nothing could have saved the philosopher from lifelong slavery in a foreign land. And yet changing matters of the state is not the same as changing matters of religious worship.

More than anything else, religion causes unrest and troubles people. To say, "Let this man marry this woman," and, "Let the guardians of the commonwealth carry out their duties in this way," is not enough to cause much disturbance, especially when all this is written in a book and the lawgiver shows no great effort to put the proposals into practice. But to say, "The things people worship are not gods, but demons.

The One who was crucified is God"—you know very well how great a rage that stirred up, how terribly people must have suffered for it, and what a flame of war it set burning.

Protagoras, who was one of them, dared to say, "I know of no gods." He did not go around the world proclaiming it, but said it in just one city, and he was in the greatest danger of losing his life. Diagoras the Milesian, and Theodorus, who was called Atheist, also had friends and the influence that comes from eloquence, and they were admired because of their philosophy. Yet none of these things helped them.

And the great Socrates too, the one who surpassed all of them in philosophy, drank hemlock for this reason: in his speeches about the gods, he was suspected of turning things a little aside.

Now if suspicion alone of bringing in something new brought such great danger on philosophers and wise men, and on those who had gained unlimited popularity, and if they were not only unable to do what they wanted, but were themselves driven from life and country, how can you help but feel admiration and astonishment when you see that the fisherman has had such an effect on the world and accomplished his purposes? He has overcome both Barbarians and Greeks.

10. But you will say, they did not introduce strange gods as the others did. Well, that is exactly the point that is most amazing: their new teaching was twofold. It both pulled down the gods that existed, and proclaimed the Crucified One. For where did the thought come from, that they should preach such things? Where did they get the confidence that this would succeed? Whom among those before them could they see as having succeeded in any such attempt? Were not all people worshipping demons?

Were not all people used to making gods out of the elements? The only difference was in the form of their ungodliness. Yet they attacked all of it, overthrew all of it, and in a short time ran through the whole world like winged beings. They paid no attention to dangers, to deaths, to how hard the task was, to how few they were, to how many their opponents were, or to the authority, power, and wisdom of those fighting against them. For they had an ally greater than all these:

the power of Him who had been crucified and had risen again. It would not have been so wonderful if they had chosen to wage war with the world in a literal sense, as compared with what actually happened. For by the usual rules of battle, they might have stood face to face with their enemies, taken up an opposing position, arranged themselves to meet their foes, and chosen the right time for attack and hand-to-hand fighting. But here it was not so.

They had no camp of their own, but were mixed in among their enemies, and in that way they overcame them. Even while moving about in the middle of their enemies, they escaped their grasp, became stronger than they were, and won a glorious victory. This is the victory that fulfills the prophecy which says, "Even in the midst of your enemies you shall have dominion." Psalm 110:2 For this was what was full of wonder:

their enemies had them in their power and threw them into prison and chains, yet not only did they fail to defeat them, but in the end they themselves had to bow down to them: those who beat them bowed to those who were beaten, those who bound others in chains bowed to those who had been bound, and the persecutors bowed to the fugitives. We could say all these things to the Greeks, and much more than these, for the truth has more than enough.

And if you are willing to follow the argument, we will teach you the whole method of fighting against them. Meanwhile, let us hold firmly to these two main points here: How did the weak overcome the strong? And where did the thought come from, for men such as they were, to make such plans, unless they had divine help?

11. So much, then, for what we have to say so far. But let us show every excellence of conduct by our actions, and let us stir up the fire of virtue in abundance. For, he says, "You are lights shining in the midst of the world," Philippians 2:15. And God has entrusted each of us with a task greater than the one He has given to the sun, greater than heaven and earth and sea, by as much as spiritual things are better than things we can sense.

So when we look at the sun and admire the beauty and the body and the brightness of that light, let us also consider that the light within us is greater and better. And the darkness within us is also more terrible, unless we are watchful. In fact, a deep night lies over the whole world. This is what we must drive away and destroy. It is night not only among heretics and among Greeks, but also among the many on our own side, both in doctrine and in life.

For many completely disbelieve the resurrection. Many build defenses for themselves with their horoscope. Many cling to superstitious practices, and to omens and auguries and signs of things to come. Some also use amulets and charms. But we will speak to these people later also, when we have finished what we have to say to the Greeks.

Meanwhile, hold firmly to the things that have been said, and join me as fellow workers in this struggle. By your way of life, draw them to us and change them. For, as I always say, the one who teaches high morality ought first to teach it by his own life. He should be the kind of person his hearers cannot do without. Let us become such people, then, and make the Greeks feel kindly toward us. And this will happen if we decide not only not to do wrong, but also to suffer wrong.

Do we not see that when little children, carried in their father’s arms, strike the man carrying them on the cheek, the father sweetly lets the child pour out all his anger? Then, when he sees that the child’s passion is spent, his face brightens. Let us act in the same way. And as fathers speak with children, so let us speak with the Greeks. For all the Greeks are children. Some of their own writers have also said this: that that people are always children, and that no Greek is an old man.

Now children cannot bear to think about anything useful. In the same way, the Greeks always want to be at play. They lie on the ground, groveling both in posture and in desires. Also, children often pay no attention when we speak about important things, but keep laughing the whole time. The Greeks are like this too. When we speak of the kingdom of heaven, they laugh.

And just as spit flowing in abundance from an infant’s mouth often spoils its food and drink, so also are the words flowing from the mouth of the Greeks: empty and unclean. Even if you give children the food they need, they still keep troubling those who give it to them with bad speech, and all the while we must put up with them. Again, when children see a robber come in and carry off the furniture, instead of resisting him, they even smile at the scheming man.

But if you take away their little basket, or their rattle, or any other toy, they are deeply upset and fret, tear at themselves, and stamp on the floor. The Greeks are just the same. When they see the devil stealing all their inheritance, and even the things that support their life, they laugh and run to him as if he were a friend. But if anyone takes away some possession, whether wealth or any other childish thing of that sort, they cry and tear at themselves.

And just as children uncover their limbs without knowing it and are not ashamed, so also the Greeks, rolling in sexual immorality and adulteries, exposing the laws of nature, and bringing in unlawful sexual relations, are not ashamed.

You have given me strong applause and loud praise. But with all your applause, be careful that you are not among those about whom these things are said. Therefore, I beg all of you to become mature men. Since, as long as we are children, how will we teach them courage and maturity? How will we hold them back from childish foolishness?

Therefore, let us become mature men, so that we may reach the measure of the stature marked out for us by Christ, and may receive the good things to come, through grace and loving-kindness, etc., etc.

1 Corinthians 1:26-27

For look at your calling, brothers, that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God chose the foolish things of the world, that He might put to shame those who are wise.

He has said that the foolishness of God is wiser than men. He has showed that human wisdom is cast out, both by the testimony of the Scriptures and by the outcome of events. By the testimony, where he says, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise." By the event, he puts his argument in the form of a question and says, "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe?" Again, he proved at the same time that this is not new, but ancient, since it was signified beforehand and foretold from the beginning.

For, "It is written," he says, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise." At the same time, he shows that it was neither inexpedient nor without reason for things to happen this way. For, "since in the wisdom of God the world," he says, "did not know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe." And he shows that the Cross is a demonstration of power and wisdom too great for words, and that the foolishness of God is far mightier than the wisdom of man.

And this again he proves, not by the teachers, but by the disciples themselves. For, "Behold your calling," he says. Not only teachers of an untrained sort, but disciples also of the same class, were objects of His choice. He chose not many wise men, according to the flesh. And so what he is speaking of is proved to surpass both in strength and wisdom, because it convinces both the many and the unwise.

For it is extremely hard to convince an ignorant person, especially when the discussion concerns great and necessary things. However, they did bring conviction. And of this he calls the Corinthians themselves as witnesses. For, "Behold your calling, brothers," he says. Consider. Examine. For when teachings so wise, yes, wiser than all, are received by ordinary men, this testifies to the greatest wisdom in the teacher.

But what does “according to the flesh” mean? It means according to what can be seen, according to the present life, and according to the way the Gentiles are trained. Then, so that he would not seem to contradict himself—for he had persuaded both the Proconsul, Acts 13:12, and the Areopagite, Acts 17:34, and Apollos, Acts 18:26; and through Aquila and Priscilla and other wise men too, we have seen people come over to the Gospel—he did not say, “No wise man,” but, “Not many wise men.”

For he did not purposely call the ignorant and pass by the wise. He accepted these also, but the others in far greater number. And why? Because the wise man according to the flesh is full of extreme foolishness. He especially deserves to be called foolish when he will not throw away his corrupt teaching.

And just as with a physician who wanted to teach certain people the secrets of his art, those who knew a few things, but practiced the art in a bad and crooked way and were determined to keep doing so, would not quietly endure being taught, while those who knew nothing would most readily accept what was said, so it was here also. The unlearned were more ready to be convinced, because they were free from the great madness of thinking themselves wise.

For the greatest excess of foolishness is found in these more than in anyone else. I mean those who trust matters to human reasoning when those matters can be known only by faith. For example, suppose a blacksmith draws out red-hot iron with tongs. If someone insisted on doing it with his hand, we would judge him guilty of extreme foolishness. In the same way, the philosophers who insisted on discovering these things by themselves were speaking against faith.

Because of this, they found none of the things they were searching for.

Not many were powerful, and not many were noble, because these also are full of pride. Nothing is so harmful to an accurate knowledge of God as arrogance and being fastened to wealth. These things lead a person to admire present things and to care nothing for the future. They also block the ears because of so many worries. But God chose the foolish things of the world. This is the greatest sign of victory: He conquers by those who are uneducated.

For the Greeks do not feel as much shame when they are defeated by the wise. But they are put to shame when they see that the craftsman and the kind of person one meets in the marketplace are more like philosophers than they are. Therefore he himself also said, "That He might put to shame the wise." And he has not done this only in this case, but also in the case of the other advantages of life. For, to go on, He chose the weak things of the world so that He might put to shame the strong.

For He called not only unlearned people, but also the poor, the despised, and the unknown, so that He might humble those who were in high places.

1 Corinthians 1:28

And God chose the low things of the world, and the things people despise, and the things that are counted as nothing, so that He might bring to nothing the things that are. Now what does he mean by "the things that are not"? He means those people who are thought to be nothing because they seem so unimportant. In this way, he has shown God's great power, because God casts down the great by using those who seem to be nothing. He says the same thing elsewhere in this way, in 2 Corinthians 12:9:

"For my strength is made perfect in weakness." For it is a great power to teach outcasts, and people who have never studied any branch of learning, so that they can suddenly speak wisely about things higher than the heavens. For take a physician, or an orator, or anyone else: we admire him most when he persuades and teaches those who are completely uneducated.

Now if it is a very wonderful thing to put the rules of an art into an uneducated man, it is much more wonderful to teach things that belong to such a high philosophy.

But He has done this not only for the sake of the wonder, nor merely to show His own power. He has also done it to check the arrogant. And therefore he both said before, "That He might confound the wise and the strong, that He might bring to nothing the things which are," and here again,

1 Corinthians 1:29

So that no human being should boast in God's presence. God does everything for this purpose: to hold back empty pride and arrogance, and to bring down boasting. You also, he says, must give yourselves to this work. He does everything so that we will count nothing as our own, but will give all credit to God. And have you given yourselves over to this person or to that one? What pardon will you receive?

For God Himself has shown that it is not possible for us to be saved by ourselves alone. And He did this from the beginning. For even then, people could not be saved by themselves. It required them to take in the beauty of heaven, the breadth of the earth, and the great size of the rest of creation, so that they might be led by the hand to the great Maker of all these works. And He did this to hold back, ahead of time, the self-conceit that would arise later.

It is like a master who tells his student to follow wherever he leads. But then he sees the student rushing ahead and wanting to learn everything by himself. So he allows him to go completely astray. Then, after proving that the student is unable to gain the knowledge on his own, he finally introduces him to what he himself has to teach. In the same way, God at the beginning commanded people to trace Him through the understanding that creation gives.

But since they would not do it, after showing by experience that they were not enough for themselves, He led them again to Himself by another way. He gave the world as a writing tablet. But the philosophers did not study in those things. They were not willing to obey Him or to come near Him by the way that He Himself had commanded. So He brings in another way, clearer than the first, a way that might convince them that man by himself alone is not sufficient for himself.

For before, arguments and doubts could be raised, and Gentile wisdom could be used by those whom He was leading by the hand through creation. But now, unless a man becomes a fool, that is, unless he puts away all reasoning and all wisdom, and gives himself up to faith, it is impossible to be saved. You see that, besides making the way easy, He also pulled up a very serious disease by the roots, namely, forbidding people to boast and think highly of themselves, so that no flesh should glory.

For this is where sin came from: people insisted on being wiser than the laws of God. They were not willing to gain knowledge in the way He had appointed, and so they did not gain it at all. So it was from the beginning. He said to Adam, "Do this, and you must not do that other thing." But Adam, thinking he could discover something more, disobeyed. And he even lost what he already had. He spoke to those who came after, saying, "Do not rest in the creature, but through it look upon the Creator."

But they, of course, as if they had found something wiser than what had been commanded, set countless twistings in motion. Because of this, they kept crashing against themselves and one another. They neither found God, nor gained any clear knowledge about creation, nor did they have any fitting and true opinion about it. Therefore again, in a very powerful way, lowering their pride, He admitted the uneducated first, showing by this that all people need wisdom from above.

And not only in the matter of knowledge, but also in all other things, He has made both human beings and all other creatures so that they greatly need Him. He did this so that this need also might be a very strong reason for submission and attachment, lest by turning away they should perish. For this reason He did not allow them to be sufficient for themselves.

For if even now many people, in all their need, still despise Him, if this were not the case, how far would they not have wandered in pride? So He kept them from boasting as they did, not because He held anything against them, but to draw them away from the destruction that comes from it.

1 Corinthians 1:30-31

But it is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

I think he uses the phrase "of Him" here not about our coming into existence, but about faith. That is, he means our becoming children of God, "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh," as John 1:13 says. So do not think that, after taking away our boasting, he left us with nothing. There is another kind of boasting, and it is far greater: the gift of God. For you are the children of Him in whose presence it is not right to boast, and you have become so through Christ.

And since he has said, "God chose the foolish things of the world, and the base things," he shows that they are nobler than all others, because they have God as their Father. And Christ, not this person or that person, is the cause of this nobility of ours, because he has made us wise, righteous, and holy. For this is what the words mean: "He was made to us wisdom."

Then who is wiser than we are, even though we do not have the wisdom of Plato, but Christ Himself, because God has willed it so.

But what does "of God" mean? Whenever he speaks of the Only-Begotten in great and exalted ways, he also mentions the Father, so that no one may think the Son is unbegotten. Therefore, since he had declared that His power was so great, and had referred everything to the Son, saying that He had become for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, he now again refers everything through the Son to the Father, and says, "of God."

But why did he not say, "He has made us wise," but instead, "He was made wisdom for us"? It was to show how great and abundant the gift is. It is as if he had said, "He gave us Himself." And notice how he goes in order. First, He made us wise by freeing us from error. Then He made us righteous and holy by giving us the Spirit. And He has delivered us from all our evils in such a way that we are of Him. This is not meant to express a sharing of being, but is spoken concerning the faith.

Elsewhere we find him saying, "We were made righteousness in Him." These are the words: "Him who knew no sin He made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him"; 2 Corinthians 5:21. But here he says, "He has been made righteousness for us," so that whoever wishes may share in it abundantly. For it is not this man or that man who has made us wise, but Christ. Therefore, "he that glories, let him glory in Him," and not in this person or that one.

All things have come from Christ. Therefore, after saying, "Who was made wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption for us," he added, "that, according as it is written, he that glories, let him glory in the Lord."

For this reason also, he strongly spoke against the wisdom of the Greeks, to teach people this one lesson, and no other: that they should boast in the Lord, as is only right. For when we try by ourselves to search for things higher than we are, nothing is more foolish, and nothing is weaker, than we are. In that case, we may have a very sharp tongue, but we cannot have firm doctrine. Instead, when reasonings stand by themselves, they are like spider webs.

For some have gone so far in madness as to say that nothing in all existence is real. Yes, they even firmly claim that all things are the opposite of what they appear to be.

So do not say that anything comes from yourself. Instead, in all things give glory to God. Do not credit any person with anything at any time. For if nothing should be credited to Paul, much less should it be credited to anyone else. For he says in 1 Corinthians 3:6, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth." The person who has learned to boast in the Lord will never be puffed up, but will be moderate at all times and thankful in every circumstance.

But the Greeks do not think this way. They trace everything back to themselves. Therefore they even make gods out of men. Such great shame has desperate arrogance brought upon them.

5. Then it is time, in what remains, to go out to battle against these arguments. Remember where we stopped our discussion the other day. We were saying that, by human cause and effect, it was not possible for fishermen to defeat philosophers. But it still happened. From this it is clear that it happened by grace. We were also saying that it was not possible for them even to imagine such great deeds.

And we showed that they not only imagined them, but also brought them to completion with great ease. Today, let us take up the same main point of our argument: From where did the thought come to them that they could expect to overcome the world, unless they had seen Christ after He was risen? What then? Were they out of their minds, to count on such a thing carelessly and at random? For it goes beyond all madness to expect success in so great an undertaking without Divine grace.

And if they were insane and frenzied, how did they succeed in it? But if they were in their right minds, as the events themselves showed, then how did they undertake to go out to such great battles? How did they dare their attempt against earth and sea? How did they strip for action and stand their ground so nobly, to bring about a change in the customs of the whole world, customs that had been fixed for so long a time, when they were only twelve men?

They could only have done this by receiving trustworthy pledges from heaven and by experiencing the power that comes from above.

And what is more, what made them expect to convince their hearers by inviting them to heaven and the mansions above? Even if they had been brought up in honor, wealth, power, and learning, even then it would not at all have been likely that they would be stirred up for so burdensome an undertaking. However, in that case there would have been a little more reason in their expectation. But as the case now stood, some of them had worked as fishermen, some with hides, and some in collecting taxes.

Nothing is more unprofitable than these pursuits for philosophy, and for persuading men to have high thoughts, especially when one has no example to show. No, they not only had no examples to make their success seem likely, but they had examples against all likelihood of success, and those among their own people. For many, by attempting innovations, had been utterly destroyed.

I do not mean among the Greeks, for that was nothing, but among the Jews themselves at that very time, men who had set themselves to the work not with twelve men, but with great numbers. Thus both Theudas and Judas, having great crowds of men, perished together with their disciples. And the fear arising from their examples was enough to restrain these men, if they had not been strongly persuaded that victory without divine power was out of the question.

Yes, even if they did expect to win, what kind of hope could have led them to take on such great dangers, unless they were looking to the world to come? But let us suppose that they expected nothing less than victory. What did they expect to gain by bringing all people to Him, who, as you say, has not risen again? For even now, people who believe in the kingdom of heaven and countless blessings face dangers with reluctance.

So how could they have endured so many dangers for nothing, or rather, for evil? For if these things did not happen, if Christ did not ascend into heaven, then surely, in their stubborn zeal to invent these things and persuade the whole world of them, they were offending God and had to expect ten thousand thunderbolts from heaven.

6. Or, looking at it another way: even if they had felt this great zeal while Christ was living, at His death they would have let it die out. For if He had not risen, He would have seemed to them like a deceiver and a pretender. Do you not know that armies stay together while the general and king is alive, even if they are weak? But when those who hold such offices have departed, however strong the armies may be, they break up.

Tell me, then, what persuasive reasons did they have for what they did, when they were about to take hold of the Gospel and go out into all the world? Was any kind of obstacle missing that could have held them back? If they had been mad, and I will not stop repeating this, they could not have succeeded at all, because no one follows the advice of madmen. But if they did succeed, as they truly did, and as the result proves, then no one was as wise as they were.

Now if no one was as wise as they were, it is very clear that they would not have entered lightly into preaching. If they had not seen Him after He rose, what was there strong enough to lead them into this conflict? What was there that would not have turned them away from it? He said to them, "After three days I will rise again," and He made promises about the kingdom of heaven.

He said that they would overcome the whole world after they had received the Holy Spirit, and besides these, He said ten thousand other things that were beyond nature. So if none of these things had happened, then even if they had believed in Him while He was alive, after His death they would not have believed in Him unless they had seen Him after He rose. For they could have said, "He said, 'After three days I will rise again,' and He has not risen.

He promised that He would give the Spirit, and He has not sent Him. How then can His words about the other world be believed by us, when His words about this world have been tested and found false?"

And why, if He did not rise again, did they preach that He had risen? You may say, "Because they loved Him." But surely it was more likely that afterward they would hate Him for deceiving and betraying them. He had lifted them up with countless hopes, separated them from home, parents, and everything else, and set the whole Jewish nation against them. And then, after all that, He would have betrayed them. If this had happened because of weakness, they might have forgiven it.

But as it was, it would have seemed to come from extreme malice. For He should have spoken the truth, and not have promised heaven if He were only a mortal man, as you say. So the exact opposite would have been the likely course for them: to expose the deception and declare Him a pretender and an imposter. In that way, they would again have been free from all their dangers. In that way, they would have ended the conflict.

Also, since the Jews gave money to the soldiers to say that the disciples stole the body, if the disciples had come forward and said, "We stole Him. He has not risen again," what honor would they not have received? It was in their power to be honored, yes, even crowned. Why then did they trade all these things away for insults and dangers, if it was not some divine power that moved them and proved stronger than all these things?

7. But if we still do not persuade you, consider this also. If this had not been so, then even if they had been very well inclined, they would not have preached this Gospel in His name. Instead, they would have hated Him. For you know that we are not even willing to hear the names of people who deceive us in this way. Then why did they also preach His name? Was it because they expected to win by means of Him? Truly, the opposite is what they would naturally have expected.

Even if they had been about to prevail, they would have been destroying themselves by bringing forward the name of a deceiver. But if they wanted to hide earlier events, the proper course for them was to keep silent. At the very least, to argue for those events so eagerly was only to stir up more and more serious hostility and ridicule. From where, then, did the thought come to them to invent such things? I say invent, because what they had heard, they had forgotten.

But if, when there was no fear, they forgot many things, and some things they did not even understand, as the Evangelist himself says, then when such great danger came upon them, how could it be otherwise than that everything would vanish from their minds? Why do I speak only of words? Even their love for their Master Himself began little by little to grow weak because of fear about what was coming. He also rebuked them for this.

Before this, they were clinging to Him and constantly asking, "Where are You going?" But afterward, when He continued His discourse at such length and declared the terrors that would come upon them at the time of the Cross and after the Cross, they simply became speechless and frozen with fear. Hear how He points to this very thing when He says, "None of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?' But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart."

John 16:5-6 Now if the expectation that He would die and rise again brought them such grief, then if they had not seen Him after He rose, how could it have been anything less than total ruin for them? Yes, they would gladly have sunk into the depths of the earth, both because of their despair at being so deceived and because of their fear of what was ahead, feeling themselves under severe pressure.

Again, where did their lofty teachings come from? He said they would hear the higher things later. For He says in John 16:12, "I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." So the things He had not yet spoken were higher. And one of the disciples was not even willing to go away with Him into Judea when he heard about the dangers, but said, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him," in John 11:16. He took it hard because he expected that he would die.

Now if that disciple, while he was with Him, expected to die and drew back because of it, what would he not have expected afterward, when he was separated from Him and from the other disciples, and when the exposure of their shameless conduct was so complete?

Besides, what did they have to say when they went out to preach? The whole world knew about the suffering, because He had been hung up high on the wooden frame, in the middle of the day, in a leading city, and at a major feast, the one from which people were least allowed to be absent. But no outsider saw the resurrection, and this was no small obstacle for them as they tried to convince others. Again, everyone commonly talked about the fact that He was buried.

The soldiers and all the Jews were saying that His disciples had stolen His body. But none of those outside the group knew by sight that He had risen again. On what basis, then, did they expect to convince the world? For if, while miracles were happening, some soldiers were persuaded to testify the opposite, on what basis did these men expect, without miracles, to do the work of preachers, and without having a single coin, to convince both land and sea about the resurrection?

Again, if they were trying to do this out of a desire for glory, then all the more they would each have claimed teachings for themselves, and not for Him who was dead and gone. Will someone say that people would not have believed them? Then which of the two was more likely, when preached, to win belief: the One who had been arrested and crucified, or those who had escaped from the hands of the Jews?

9. Next, tell me for what purpose they were to act this way. They did not leave Judea at once and go into the cities of the Gentiles. Instead, they traveled back and forth within its borders. But how did they persuade people, unless they worked miracles? For if they really did such works, and they did, then it was the result of God's power. But if, on the other hand, they worked no miracles and still prevailed, the event was even more wonderful.

Did they not know the Jews, tell me, and their evil way of acting, and their souls full of resentment? For they even stoned Moses, in Numbers 14:10 and compare Exodus 17:4, after they had crossed the sea on foot; after the victory, and that marvelous triumph which they raised without blood, by means of his hands, over the Egyptians who had enslaved them; after the manna; after the rocks, and the springs of rivers that burst out from there;

after countless miracles in the land of Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness. They threw Jeremiah into a pit, and they killed many of the prophets. Hear, for example, what Elijah says, after that terrible famine, and the marvelous rain, and the fire which he brought down from heaven, and the strange burnt offering, when he had been driven to the very edge of their country:

"Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life." 1 Kings 19:10 Yet those men, though so persecuted, were not disturbing any of the established rules. Tell me then, on what basis would people listen to these men we are speaking about? For on the one hand, they were more lowly than any of the prophets;

and on the other hand, they were introducing the very kinds of new things that had caused the Jews even to nail their Master to the Cross.

In another way too, it seemed less unreasonable for Christ to say such things than for them to say them. They might think that He was acting this way to gain glory for Himself. But they would have hated these men even more, because they were fighting against them on behalf of someone else.

10. But did the laws of the Romans help them? No. Those laws only brought them into more trouble. For their words were, in John 19:12, "Whoever makes himself a king is not Caesar's friend." So this by itself was enough to stand in their way: they were first disciples of One who was regarded as a usurper, and afterward they wanted to strengthen His cause. What in the world, then, made them rush into such great dangers? And by what claims about Him were they likely to gain belief?

That He was crucified? That He was born to a poor Jewish woman who had been betrothed to a Jewish carpenter? That He belonged to a nation hated by the world? No. All these things were enough not only to fail to persuade and attract their hearers, but also to disgust everyone, especially when they were said by the tent-maker and the fisherman. Would not the disciples, then, think about all these things? A timid nature imagines more than the reality, and such were their natures.

On what basis, then, did they hope to succeed? No, rather, they had no hope, since there were countless things to turn them aside, if Christ had not risen. Is it not perfectly clear, even to the most thoughtless people, that unless they had received abundant and mighty grace, and had been given assurances of the resurrection, they would have been unable, I do not say to do and undertake these things, but even to think of them?

For if, when there were such great obstacles in the way of their planning, I do not say of their succeeding, they still both planned and carried out things greater than all expectation, then everyone, I suppose, can see that they did these things not by human power, but by divine grace.

Now we should practice these arguments not only by ourselves, but also with one another. In this way, it will also be easier for us to discover what still remains.

And do not think that this kind of practice is not your concern because you are an artisan, for even Paul was a tent-maker.

“Yes,” someone says, “but at that time he was also filled with abundant grace, and because of that he spoke everything well. But before this grace, he sat at the feet of Gamaliel.” Yes, and even more: he received grace because he showed a mind worthy of grace. And after these things, he again put his hand to his trade. Therefore, let no one who has a trade be ashamed. Rather, let those be ashamed who are raised to do nothing and are idle, who keep many attendants and are served by a great crowd.

For being supported by constant hard work is a kind of asceticism. The souls of such people are purer, and their minds are better disciplined. For the man who has nothing to do is more likely to say many things carelessly and do many things carelessly. He is busy all day long about nothing, because a great sluggishness takes hold of him completely. But the man who is employed will not easily allow anything useless in himself, whether in actions, words, or thoughts.

For his whole soul is fully fixed on his hard-working way of making a living. Therefore, let us not look down on those who support themselves by the labor of their own hands. Instead, let us call them happy for this very reason. For tell me, what thanks are due to you when, after receiving your share from your father, you continue in no occupation, but waste all of it recklessly?

Do you not know that we will not all have to give the same account, but that those who have enjoyed greater freedom here will give a stricter account, while those who were burdened with labor, or poverty, or anything else of that kind, will give one less severe? And this is clear from Lazarus and the rich man.

For just as you are rightly accused for failing to make proper use of your leisure, so the poor man, who, though fully occupied, has spent his remaining time on right things, will receive great crowns. But do you argue that a soldier’s duties should at least excuse you? And do you blame them for your lack of leisure? This excuse cannot be supported by reason. For Cornelius was a centurion, yet the soldier’s belt in no way harmed his strict way of life.

But you, when you spend your holidays with dancers and actors, and completely waste your life at the theater, never think of excusing yourself from those activities because of military duty or fear of rulers. But when it is the Church that calls you, then these endless hindrances appear.

And what will you say on that day, when you see the flame, and the rivers of fire, and the chains that can never be broken, and hear the gnashing of teeth? Who will stand up for you on that day, when you see the man who worked with his own hands and lived an upright life, enjoying all glory, but you yourself, who now wear soft clothing and smell of perfumes, are in hopeless misery? What good will your wealth and abundance do you then? And what harm will his poverty do to the craftsman?

Therefore, so that we may not suffer then, let us fear what is being said now. Let all our time be spent on the things that are truly necessary. For in this way, after we have made God favorable toward us concerning our past sins, and have added good deeds for the future, we will be able to reach the kingdom of heaven, through His favor and loving-kindness, etc., etc.

1 Corinthians 2:1-2

And I, brothers, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

Nothing was ever more ready for battle than Paul's spirit. Or rather, I should not say his spirit, because he was not the one who invented these things. Instead, nothing was equal to the grace working within him, which overcomes all things. What he had already said was certainly enough to bring down the pride of those who boasted about wisdom. In fact, even part of it would have been enough.

But to make the glory of the victory even greater, he argues again for the points he had been making, trampling on the fallen enemy. Think of it this way. He had brought forward the prophecy that says, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise." He had shown the wisdom of God, because by what seemed to be foolishness, God destroyed the philosophy of the Gentiles. He had shown that the foolishness of God is wiser than men.

He had shown that God not only taught through uneducated persons, but also chose uneducated persons to learn from Him. Now he shows that both the message itself that was preached, and the way it was preached, were enough to shock people, and yet they did not shock them. It is like this: not only, he says, are the disciples uneducated, but I myself, who preach, am also uneducated.

Therefore he says, "And I, brothers"—again he uses the word "brothers," to smooth down the harshness of what he is saying—"came not with excellence of speech, declaring to you the testimony of God." What then? Tell me, had you chosen to come "with excellence," would you have been able? I, indeed, if I had chosen, would not have been able. But Christ, if He had chosen, was able. But He would not, so that He might make His trophy more brilliant.

Therefore also in an earlier passage, showing that what had been done was His work, and that it was His will for the word to be preached in an unlearned manner, he said, "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel; not with wisdom of words." But far greater, yes, infinitely greater, than Paul's willing this, is the fact that Christ willed it.

So then, he says, I do not declare the testimony of God by showing off eloquence or by using arguments from outside the faith. He does not say "the preaching," but "the testimony of God." That word by itself was enough to restrain him. For he was going about preaching death. For this reason he added, "For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." This is the meaning he wanted to convey: that he was completely without the wisdom that comes from outside.

This is what he was saying above: "I came not with excellency of speech." It is clear, however, that he could have had this also. For he whose garments raised the dead, and whose shadow drove away diseases, was much more able in his soul to receive eloquence. For eloquence is something that can be taught, but the former goes beyond all skill. So then, he who knows things beyond the reach of skill must much more have had power for lesser things.

But Christ did not permit it, because it was not expedient. Therefore he rightly says, "For I determined not to know anything." For I also, on my part, have the very same will as Christ.

And it seems to me that he speaks to them more gently than to anyone else, in order to hold back their pride. So the words, "I decided to know nothing," were spoken in contrast to worldly wisdom. For I did not come using syllogisms or sophisms, or telling you anything except that Christ was crucified. They indeed have ten thousand things to say, and they speak about ten thousand things. They spin out long chains of words, make arguments and syllogisms, and pile up endless sophisms.

But I came to you saying nothing else except that Christ was crucified. And I surpassed them all. This is a sign of the power of Him whom I preach, a sign that no words can fully express.

1 Corinthians 2:3

And I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

This again is another point. Not only were the believers uneducated people; not only was the speaker himself uneducated; not only was the whole style of the teaching marked by an uneducated manner; not only was the message itself enough to make people stumble, because the message brought was the cross and death; but along with these, there were also other obstacles: dangers, plots, daily fear, and being hunted from place to place.

For with him, in many places, the word "weakness" stands for persecutions, as it does elsewhere. "You did not despise or reject my weakness in the flesh," in Galatians 4:13-14. And again, "If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern my weakness," in 2 Corinthians 11:30. What weakness? "The governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes, desirous to apprehend me," in 2 Corinthians 11:32.

And again, "Therefore I take pleasure in weakness," in 2 Corinthians 12:10. Then, to say in what way, he added, "in injuries, in necessities, in distresses." And here he says the same thing. For after saying, "And I was with you in weakness," and so on, he did not stop there. Instead, by explaining the word "weakness," he mentions his dangers. He adds again, "and in fear, and in much trembling, I was with you."

What are you saying? Did Paul also fear dangers? Yes, he did fear them, and he dreaded them greatly. Even though he was Paul, he was still a man. But this is not a charge against Paul. It is the weakness of human nature. And it adds to the praise of his firm purpose that, even when he dreaded death and beatings, he did nothing wrong because of that fear. So those who claim that he did not fear beatings not only do not honor him, but greatly reduce his praise.

For if he did not fear, what endurance or self-control was there in bearing those dangers? For my part, this is why I admire him: because he was afraid, and not just afraid, but even trembling at his dangers, and yet he ran in such a way as always to keep his crown. He did not give in to any danger as he worked to cleanse the world and sow the Gospel everywhere, both by sea and by land.

1 Corinthians 2:4

And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom. That is, they did not have the wisdom that comes from outside. Now if the teaching that was preached had nothing subtle in it, and those who were called were uneducated, and the one who preached was the same kind of person, and along with this there was persecution, trembling, and fear, then tell me, how did they overcome without divine power?

And this is why, after saying, "My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom," he added, "but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."

Do you see how the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and His weakness is stronger? On their part, though they were uneducated and preached such a gospel, they overcame their persecutors while in chains and under persecution. How did they do it? Was it not by giving the evidence that comes from the Spirit? For this is truly accepted as proof. For tell me, after someone had seen dead people raised to life and demons cast out, how could he help admitting it?

But since there are also deceptive wonders, like those done by sorcerers, he removes that suspicion too. For he did not speak simply of power, but first of the Spirit, and then of power. By this he showed that the things done were spiritual.

Therefore, it is no dishonor that the Gospel was not proclaimed by means of human wisdom. Instead, this is a very great honor. For this, everyone will agree, is the clearest sign that it is divine and has its roots from above, out of heaven. Therefore he also added,

1 Corinthians 2:5

So that your faith would not rest on human wisdom, but on the power of God.

Do you see how clearly, in every way, he has set forth the great gain of this ignorance and the great loss of this wisdom? For the latter made the Cross void, but the former proclaimed the power of God. The latter, besides failing to discover any of the things they needed most, also made them boast in themselves. The former, besides receiving the truth, also led them to boast in God. Again, wisdom would have persuaded many to suspect that the teaching was of man.

But this clearly showed it to be divine, and to have come down from heaven. Now when demonstration is made by wisdom of words, even the worse often overcome the better, because they have more skill in words, and falsehood outruns the truth. But in this case, it is not so. For the Spirit neither enters into an unclean soul, nor, after entering, can it ever be subdued, even if every possible cleverness of speech attacks it.

For the demonstration by works and signs is far more evident than that by words.

But someone may perhaps say, “If the Gospel is going to prevail and does not need words, so that the Cross may not be made useless, then why are signs withheld now? Why?” Are you saying this in unbelief, refusing to admit that signs were done even in the time of the Apostles? Or do you truly want to know? If it is in unbelief, I will first take my stand against that. So I say this: if signs were not done at that time, then how did they persuade anyone?

They were hunted, persecuted, afraid, in chains, made the common enemies of the world, and exposed before everyone as targets for mistreatment. They had nothing of their own to attract people: not eloquence, not outward appearance, not wealth, not city, not nation, not family, not occupation, nor glory, nor anything like that. Instead, they had everything against them:

ignorance, low position, poverty, hatred, hostility, and they set themselves against whole states, all while proclaiming such a message. So tell me, how did they bring people to conviction? From where did they get their credibility? For, as I just said, if they persuaded people without signs, then the wonder appears even greater. Do not, then, use the fact that signs are not done now as proof that they were not done then.

For just as they were usefully done then, so now they are no longer done in the same way because they are no longer useful.

It does not necessarily follow that, because speech is the only tool of persuasion now, preaching is therefore based on wisdom. For those who from the beginning sowed the word were untrained and uneducated, and they spoke nothing from themselves. Instead, they gave to the world the things they had received from God. And we ourselves, at this time, bring in no inventions of our own. Rather, we speak to all the things we have received from them. Even now, we do not persuade by argument alone.

Instead, from the Divine Scriptures and from the miracles done at that time, we bring forward proof for what we say. On the other hand, even they at that time persuaded people not by signs alone, but also by speaking. And the signs and the testimonies from the Old Scriptures, not the cleverness of what was said, made their words seem more powerful.

5. Then you may say, how is it that signs were useful then, but are not useful now? Let us imagine a case. For I am still arguing against the Greek, and so I am speaking hypothetically about what will certainly happen. Let us imagine, I say, that the unbeliever agrees to accept what we say, even if only for the sake of argument. For example, let him admit that Christ will come.

When Christ comes, and all the angels are with Him, and He is revealed as God, and all things are made subject to Him, will not even the Greek believe? It is perfectly clear that he will also fall down and worship, and confess that He is God, even if his stubbornness is beyond all measure.

For who, when he sees the heavens opened, and Him coming on the clouds, and the whole assembly of the powers above spread around Him, and rivers of fire coming forward, and all standing by and trembling, will not fall down before Him and believe that He is God? Tell me, then, will that worship and knowledge be counted to the Greek as faith? No, not at all. And why not? Because this is not faith. Necessity has caused it, and the evidence of the things seen has caused it.

It does not come from choice. Rather, by the greatness of the sight, the powers of the mind are carried along. It follows, then, that the more clear and overpowering the course of events is, the more the part of faith is reduced. For this reason, miracles are not done now.

And to show that this is true, hear what He says to Thomas in John 20:29: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Therefore, the more clearly a miracle is shown as evidence, the less the reward of faith becomes. So if miracles were being done now also, the same thing would happen. For Paul has shown that then we would no longer know Him by faith, when he says, "For now we walk by faith, not by sight," in 2 Corinthians 5:7.

Just as at that time, even if you believe, it would not be credited to you, because the thing is so plain, so also it would be now, if such miracles were done as in former times. For when we accept things that cannot be proved by reasoning in any degree or in any way, then it is faith. This is why hell is threatened, but not shown. For if it were shown, the same result would happen again.

6. Besides, if signs are what you are looking for, even now you may see signs, though not of the same kind. There are countless prophecies on an endless variety of subjects: the conversion of the world, the self-denying way of life among the Barbarians, the change from savage customs, and the greater intensity of piety. “What prophecies?” you will say. “For all the things just mentioned were written after the present state of things had already begun.” When? Where? By whom? Tell me.

How many years ago? Will you say fifty, or a hundred? A hundred years ago, they did not have anything written at all. How then did the world preserve the doctrines and everything else, since memory would not have been enough? How did they know that Peter was crucified? How could it have entered the minds of men who came after the events had taken place to predict, for example, that the Gospel would be preached in every part of the whole world?

That the Jewish institutions would cease, and never return again? And those who gave up their lives for the Gospel, how would they have endured seeing the Gospel corrupted? And how would the writers have gained belief, if miracles had ceased? And how could the writings have reached the regions of the Barbarians, and the Indians, and even the very edges of the ocean, if the reporters had not been worthy of belief? Also, who were the writers? When, how, and why did they write at all?

Was it to gain glory for themselves? Why then did they put other men's names on the books? Why? Was it from a wish to recommend the doctrine? As true, or as false? For if you say they accepted it as false, their joining it at all is extremely unlikely. But if they accepted it as true, there was no need for inventions like the ones you speak of. Besides, the prophecies are of such a kind that even up to now, time has not been able to push aside the course of events that was predicted.

For the destruction of Jerusalem indeed took place many years ago. But there are also other predictions that continue from that time until His coming. Examine these as you please. For example: “I am with you always, even to the end of the world,” Matthew 28:20. And, “Upon this Rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” Matthew 16:18. And, “This Gospel shall be preached to all nations,” Matthew 24:14.

And also what the woman who was a harlot did, and many others besides these. From where, then, comes the truth of this prophecy, if it was really a forgery? How is it that the gates of hell have not prevailed against the Church? How is Christ always with us? For if He had not been with us, the Church would not have been victorious. How was the Gospel spread abroad in every part of the world? Even those who have spoken against us are enough to testify to the antiquity of the books.

I mean people such as Celsus and the one from Batanea, who came after him. For they, I suppose, were not speaking against books written after their own time.

Besides this, there is the whole world, which with one agreement has received the Gospel. Now such great agreement, from one end of the earth to the other, could not have happened unless it was the grace of the Spirit. But if this had been a forgery, those who made it would quickly have been found out. Nor could such great excellencies have come from inventions and falsehoods.

Do you not see the whole world coming in, error extinguished, the austere wisdom of the old monks shining brighter than the sun, the choirs of the virgins, the piety among Barbarians, and all people serving under one yoke? For these things were not foretold by us alone, but also by the Prophets from the beginning.

For surely you will not find fault with their predictions also, since the books are in the hands of their enemies, and through the zeal of certain Greeks they were translated into the Greek language. These also foretell many things about these matters, showing that it was God who would come among us.

Why then do not all believe now? Because things have declined, and we are to blame for this. For from here, the message is also directed to us. Certainly, even then people did not trust in signs alone. Many of those who were converted were also drawn by the believers' way of life. For He says, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven," Matthew 5:16. And, "They were all of one heart and one soul.

No one said that anything he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And distribution was made to every man, according as he had need," Acts 4:32-35. And they lived an angelic life. If the same were done now, we would convert the whole world even without miracles. But meanwhile, let those who want to be saved pay attention to the Scriptures. There they will find both these noble actions and actions greater than these.

For it should also be added that the Teachers themselves surpassed the deeds of the others, living in hunger, thirst, and nakedness. But we want great luxury, rest, and ease. Not so with them. They cried aloud, "Even to the present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place," 1 Corinthians 4:11. And one ran from Jerusalem to Illyricum, Romans 15:19, and another to the country of the Indians, and another to that of the Moors;

this one to one part of the world, and that one to another. But we do not even have the courage to leave our own country. Instead, we look for luxurious living, splendid houses, and every other excess. For which of us has ever been hungry for the sake of God's word? Which of us has ever stayed in a wilderness? Which of us has ever gone on a long journey? Which of our teachers has lived by the work of his own hands in order to help others? Which has faced death every day?

This is why those who are with us have also become lazy. For suppose someone saw soldiers and generals struggling with hunger, thirst, death, and every dreadful thing, bearing cold and dangers, and facing it all like lions, and so succeeding. Then afterward, if they gave up that strict way of life, became weakened, loved wealth, and became devoted to business and trade, and then were defeated by their enemies, it would be utter foolishness to ask the cause of all this.

Now let us reason in this same way about ourselves and our ancestors. For we too have become weaker than all others, and are nailed down to this present life.

And if someone is found who still has a trace of the ancient wisdom, he leaves the cities and marketplaces, the company of the world, and the care of others, and goes to the mountains. And if someone asks the reason for that withdrawal, he invents an excuse that cannot be approved. For he says, "Lest I perish too, and the edge of my goodness be taken away, I turn aside."

Now how much better it would be for you to become less keen and gain others, than to stay on the heights and neglect your perishing brothers?

But when one group is careless about virtue, and those who do care about it withdraw far away from our side, how are we to overcome our enemies? For even if miracles were done now, who would be persuaded? Or who among those outside the faith would pay attention to us, when our sin is so widespread? This is why our upright way of living seems to many people to be the more trustworthy proof of the two.

Miracles can be given a bad meaning by stubborn evil people, but a pure life has great power to shut the mouth of the devil himself.

I say these things to both rulers and those under their rule, and before everyone else, to myself. I say them so that the way of life shown in us may truly be admirable. By taking our proper places, may we look down on all present things. May we despise wealth, and not despise hell. May we ignore glory, and not ignore salvation. May we endure toil and labor here, so that we may not fall into punishment there. In this way let us wage war with the Greeks.

In this way let us take them captive with a captivity better than liberty.

But even though we say these things constantly, again and again, they are done very rarely. However, whether they are done or not, it is right to keep reminding you of them continually. For if some people are busy deceiving others with smooth talk, then it is even more the duty of those who call people back to the truth not to grow tired of saying what is helpful.

Again, if the deceivers use so many methods—spending money, making arguments, facing dangers, and making a show of their support—then much more should we, who are rescuing people from deceit, endure dangers and even death, and everything else. Then we may benefit both ourselves and others, become impossible for our enemies to overcome, and so receive the promised blessings, through grace and loving-kindness, and so on.

1 Corinthians 2:6-7

However, we do speak wisdom among the mature, but it is not a wisdom of this world or of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing. Instead, we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, that is, the hidden wisdom which God appointed beforehand, before the ages, for our glory.

Darkness seems more fitting than light to people whose eyesight is sick. That is why they prefer to go into a room that is completely shaded. The same is true of spiritual wisdom. Just as the wisdom of God seemed like foolishness to those outside, so their own wisdom, which really was foolishness, was considered wisdom by them. The result is like this:

suppose a man skilled in sailing promised to cross a vast sea without a ship or sails, and then tried to prove by arguments that it could be done. But another person, who knew nothing about such matters, trusted himself to a ship, a pilot, and sailors, and so sailed safely. Then this man’s seeming ignorance is wiser than the other man’s wisdom. The art of steering a ship is excellent. But when it claims too much, it becomes a kind of folly.

The same is true of every art that is not content with its proper limits. In just the same way, wisdom without the Spirit would indeed have been wisdom, if it had had the help of the Spirit. But since it trusted entirely in itself and thought it needed none of that help, it became foolishness, although it seemed to be wisdom. Therefore, after first exposing it by the facts, and only then, he calls it foolishness.

And after first calling the wisdom of God folly, according to their way of thinking, and only then, he shows it to be wisdom. For after we have given our proofs, and not before, we are best able to put the opponents to shame.

His words, then, are these: “However, we speak wisdom among the perfect.” His meaning is this: when I, who am considered foolish and a preacher of foolish things, defeat the wise, I overcome wisdom not by foolishness, but by a more perfect wisdom. It is a wisdom so great and so far-reaching that the other kind seems like foolishness.

Therefore, after first calling it by the name they used for it at that time, and after proving his victory by the facts, and showing how completely foolish the other side was, he from now on gives it its proper name, saying, “However, we speak wisdom among the perfect.” He gives the name “wisdom” to the Gospel, to the method of salvation, to being saved by the Cross. “The perfect” are those who believe.

For they truly are perfect, because they know that all human things are completely powerless, and they rise above them, being convinced that they gain no profit from them. Such were the true believers.

But it is not a wisdom of this world. For what use is the wisdom that comes from outside, if it ends here and goes no farther, and if even here it cannot benefit those who have it?

Now here, by “the rulers of the world,” he does not mean certain demons, as some suppose. Instead, he means those in authority, those in power, and those who think this matter is worth fighting over—philosophers, rhetoricians, and writers of speeches. These were the leading group, and they often became leaders of the people.

He calls them rulers of the world because their power does not reach beyond the present world. Therefore, he adds, "which are coming to nothing," looking down on it both because of what it is in itself and because of those who hold it. For after showing that it is false, foolish, unable to discover anything, and weak, he also shows that it lasts only a short time.

But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery. What mystery? Christ certainly says in Matthew 10:27, "What you hear in the ear, proclaim on the housetops." So how does he call it a mystery? It is because neither angel nor archangel, nor any other created power, knew it before it actually happened. Therefore he says in Ephesians 3:10, "That now to the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God."

And God has done this to honor us, so that they should not hear the mysteries without us. For we also do the same. Whoever we make our friends, we usually speak this way as a clear proof of friendship toward them: we tell our secrets to no one before them. Let those people hear this, who bring the secrets of the Gospel to shame, and who show the pearls and the teaching to everyone without distinction, and who cast holy things to dogs and swine, and to useless arguments.

For the Mystery does not need argument. What it is, that alone must be declared. Since it will no longer be a mystery, divine and complete in all its parts, when you add anything of your own to it.

And in another sense too, a mystery is so called because we do not behold the things which we see, but some things we see and others we believe. For such is the nature of our Mysteries. I, for instance, feel differently about these things from an unbeliever. I hear, “Christ was crucified,” and immediately I admire His loving-kindness to men. The other hears it and thinks it weakness. I hear, “He became a servant,” and I marvel at His care for us. The other hears it and counts it dishonor.

I hear, “He died,” and I am astonished at His might, that though He was in death, He was not held by it, but even broke the bonds of death. The other hears it and thinks it helplessness. He, hearing of the resurrection, says the thing is a legend. I, aware of the facts which prove it, fall down and worship God’s divine arrangement. He, hearing of a laver, counts it as merely water. But I behold not simply the thing which is seen, but the purification of the soul which is by the Spirit.

He considers only that my body has been washed. But I have believed that the soul also has become both pure and holy. And I count it the sepulchre, the resurrection, the sanctification, the righteousness, the redemption, the adoption, the inheritance, the kingdom of heaven, the plenary effusion of the Spirit. For I do not judge the things that appear by sight, but by the eyes of the mind. I hear of the Body of Christ. I understand the expression in one sense, and the unbeliever in another.

Just as children look at their books but do not understand the meaning of the letters, and do not know what they are seeing, the same thing happens even to a grown man if he is unskilled in reading. But a skilled reader will find much meaning stored in the letters, even whole lives and histories. And a letter in the hands of someone unskilled will seem to be nothing but paper and ink.

But the one who knows how to read will hear a voice, speak with someone who is absent, and reply with whatever he chooses by means of writing. So it is also with the Mystery. Though unbelievers hear it, they seem not to hear it. But the faithful, having the skill that comes by the Spirit, see the meaning of the things stored in it. For this is exactly what Paul meant when he said that even now the preached word is hidden. For, he says, it is hidden to those who are perishing. 2 Corinthians 4:3

From another point of view, the word also shows that the Gospel is contrary to all expectation. Scripture usually uses no other name for what happens beyond all hope and beyond all human thought. Therefore, in another place it says, "My mystery is for Me, and for Mine." And Paul says again in 1 Corinthians 15:51, "Behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."

3. Even though it is preached everywhere, it is still a mystery. For just as we have been commanded to speak on the housetops what we have heard in the ear, so we have also been commanded not to give holy things to dogs or cast our pearls before swine. Matthew 7:9 Some people are fleshly and do not understand. Others have a veil over their hearts and do not see. Therefore, above all things, this is a mystery: it is preached everywhere, but it is not known by those who do not have a right mind.

It is revealed not by wisdom, but by the Holy Spirit, as far as it is possible for us to receive it. And for this reason, a man would not be mistaken if, in this respect also, he called it a mystery, whose expression is forbidden. For not even to us, the faithful, has complete certainty and exact knowledge been given. Therefore Paul also said, in 1 Corinthians 13:9, "We know in part, and we prophesy in part: for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face."

For this reason he says, "We speak wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God planned beforehand before the ages for our glory." "Hidden" means that none of the powers above learned it before we did. And even now, the many do not know it.

He foreordained it for our glory, and yet elsewhere he says, for His own glory. He counts our salvation as His own glory. In the same way, He also calls it His own riches, as in Ephesians 3:8, even though He is Himself rich in good things and needs nothing in order to be rich.

“Fore-ordained,” he says, showing the care God had for us. People are thought to honor and love us most when they have devoted themselves to doing us good from the very beginning. This is what fathers do for their children. Even if they do not give their possessions until later, they had decided this first, from the beginning. And this is what Paul is eager to show now: that God always loved us, even from the beginning, and even when we did not yet exist.

For if He had not loved us, He would not have fore-ordained our riches. Do not think, then, only about the hostility that has come in between. The friendship was older than that.

As for the words "before the worlds" (πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων), they mean "eternal." In another place also, he says, "Who is before the worlds." If you notice this, the Son also will be found to be eternal in the same sense. For it says about Him in Hebrews 1:2, "By Him He made the worlds." This means the same as existing before the worlds, because it is clear that the maker is before the things that are made.

1 Corinthians 2:8

5. None of the rulers of this world knew it. For if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.

Now if they did not know, how could He say to them in John 7:28, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from"? In fact, Scripture says about Pilate that he did not know. See John 19:9. It is also likely that Herod did not know either. Someone might say that these are called the rulers of this world. But if a person were to say that this is spoken about the Jews also, and the priests, he would not be wrong. For He also says to them in John 8:19, "You know neither Me nor My Father."

How then does He say a little earlier, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from"? However, the kind of knowledge meant in one place and in the other has already been explained in the Gospel. To avoid discussing the same subject over and over, we refer our readers there.

What then? Was their sin in the matter of the Cross forgiven? He certainly did say, "Forgive them," in Luke 23:34. If they repented, it was forgiven. For even the one who sent countless attackers against Stephen and persecuted the Church, Paul himself, became a champion of the Church. In the same way, those others also who chose to repent received forgiveness. This is what Paul himself meant when he says in Romans 11:1-2, "I say then, have they stumbled so that they should fall? God forbid.

I say then, has God cast away His people whom He foreknew? God forbid." Then, to show that their repentance was not ruled out, he presented his own conversion as clear proof, saying, "For I also am an Israelite."

As for the words, "They did not know," they seem to me to be spoken here not about Christ's Person, but only about the divine arrangement hidden in that event, as if he had said, they did not know what the death and the Cross meant. For in that passage also He did not say, "They do not know Me," but, "They do not know what they do." That is, they are ignorant of the divine arrangement being accomplished, and of the mystery. For they did not know that the Cross was to shine forth so brightly;

that it is made the salvation of the world, and the reconciliation of God to men; that their city should be taken; and that they should suffer the extreme of wretchedness.

By the name of wisdom, he calls both Christ, and the Cross, and the Gospel. He also fittingly called Him "the Lord of glory." For since the Cross is counted a matter of shame, he shows that the Cross was great glory. But there was need of great wisdom not only to know God, but also to learn this divine arrangement of God. And the wisdom that was from outside turned out to be an obstacle, not only to the former, but also to the latter.

1 Corinthians 2:9-13

But as it is written, "Things that no eye has seen, and no ear has heard, and that have not entered into the heart of man—whatever things God has prepared for those who love Him."

Where are these words written? They may be said to have been written in this way also: not in words, but in actual events, as in the historical books; or when the same meaning is expressed, though not in exactly the same words, as in this place. For the words, "Those to whom it was not told about Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand," in Isaiah 52:15 are the same in meaning as, "What eye has not seen, nor ear heard." Compare Romans 15:21 and Isaiah 64:4.

So either this is his meaning, or perhaps it actually was written in some books, and those copies have been lost. For many books were destroyed, and even in the first captivity only a few were preserved complete. This is clear even from the books that still remain to us. For the Apostle says in Acts 3:24, "From Samuel and the Prophets that follow after, they have all spoken concerning Him." Yet their exact words are not all still preserved.

But Paul, since he was learned in the law and spoke by the Spirit, would certainly know all these things accurately. And why do I speak only of the captivity? Even before the captivity, many books had disappeared, because the Jews had rushed headlong into the worst kind of ungodliness. This is clear from the end of the fourth book of Kings, in 2 Kings 22:8 and 2 Chronicles 34:14. For the book of Deuteronomy could hardly be found, since it had been buried somewhere in a rubbish heap.

Besides this, in many places there are prophecies with two meanings. Wiser people can understand them easily. From them, we can discover many things that are unclear.

7. What then? Has eye not seen what God prepared? No. For who among men saw the things that were about to be dispensed? Neither then has the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man. How is this? For if the Prophets spoke of it, how says he, "Ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man"? It did not enter. For he is not speaking of himself alone, but of the whole human race. What then? Did not the Prophets hear? Yes, they heard.

But the prophetic ear was not the ear of man. For they did not hear as men, but as Prophets. Therefore he said, in Isaiah 50:4, Septuagint, "He has added to me an ear to hear," meaning by "addition" that which was from the Spirit. From where it was plain that before hearing, it had not entered into the heart of man. For after the gift of the Spirit, the heart of the Prophets was not the heart of man, but a spiritual heart.

As he himself also says, "We have the mind of Christ," in 1 Corinthians 2:16. As if he would say, "Before we had the blessing of the Spirit and learned the things which no man can speak, no one of us, nor yet of the Prophets, conceived them in his mind." How should we? Since not even angels know them. For what need is there to speak, says he, concerning "the rulers of this world," seeing that no man knew them, nor yet the powers above?

What sort of things are these, then? They are these: that by what is considered the foolishness of preaching, He will overcome the world. The nations will be brought in. There will be reconciliation between God and men. And such great blessings will come upon us. How, then, have we come to know this? “To us,” he says, “God has revealed them by His Spirit,” not by wisdom from outside.

For that wisdom, like a dishonored handmaid, has not been allowed to enter and bend down and look into the mysteries concerning the Lord. Do you see how great the difference is between this wisdom and that one? The things that angels did not know, these are what the Spirit has taught us. But the wisdom from outside has done the opposite. Not only has it failed to teach, but it has also hindered and blocked, and after the event it tried to hide His works, making the Cross of no effect.

So then, he describes the honor given to us not simply by our receiving this knowledge, nor by our receiving it along with angels, but, what is even greater, by His Spirit bringing it to us.

Then, to show how great this is, he says: if the Spirit, who knows the secret things of God, had not revealed them, we would not have learned them. This whole matter was so important to God that it belonged among His secrets. Therefore, we also needed that Teacher who knows these things perfectly. For, in 1 Corinthians 2:10-12, he says, "The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God." Here the word "searches" does not mean ignorance, but exact knowledge.

It is the same way of speaking that he used even about God when he said, "He who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit," in Romans 8:27.

Then, after speaking carefully about the Spirit's knowledge, and showing that it is fully equal to God's knowledge, just as a man's knowledge is equal to itself, and also that we have learned all things from the Spirit, and necessarily from the Spirit, he added, "Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual." Do you see how highly he lifted us up because of the dignity of our Teacher?

For we are wiser than they by as much as the Holy Spirit is greater than Plato. They have pagan rhetoricians as their teachers, but we have the Holy Spirit.

But what does this mean: comparing spiritual things with spiritual? When something is spiritual and its meaning is uncertain, we bring forward testimony from other spiritual things. For example, I say that Christ rose again and was born of a Virgin. Then I bring forward testimonies, types, and proofs: Jonah staying in the whale and then being delivered; the childbearing of women who were barren, like Sarah, Rebecca, and the others;

and the sprouting of the trees in paradise in Genesis 2:5, when no seeds had been sown, no rain had fallen, and no furrow had been made. For the earlier things were formed and set forth, like a shadow, as figures of the things to come, so that these present things might be believed when they arrived. Again, we show how man came from the earth, and how woman came from man alone, without any intercourse at all;

and how the earth itself came from nothing, because the power of the Great Artificer is everywhere sufficient for all things. In this way I compare spiritual things with spiritual things, and I never need the wisdom that is outside, neither its arguments nor its ornaments. For such people only stir up the weak understanding and throw it into confusion. They are not able to prove clearly even one of the things they claim. Instead, they do the opposite.

They disturb the mind and fill it with darkness and great perplexity. Therefore he says, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Do you see how he shows that it is unnecessary? And not only unnecessary, but even hostile and harmful. For this is what is meant by the words, "lest the Cross of Christ be made of no effect," and, "that our faith should not stand in the wisdom of men." And here he shows that it is impossible for those who boldly trust everything to it to learn anything useful. For

1 Corinthians 2:14-16. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, because they are foolishness to him. He is not able to know them, because they are spiritually understood. But the spiritual person judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

9. The natural person does not receive the things of the Spirit.

So it is necessary to put that aside first. Then someone may say, "What then? Is wisdom from outside being condemned? And yet it is the work of God." How is that clear? Because God did not make it, but it was your own invention. For here he uses the word "wisdom" to mean curious investigation and unnecessary elegance in speech. But if someone says that he means human understanding, even then the fault is yours. For you give it a bad name by using it badly.

You demand from it things it never had, and by doing so you oppose God and work against Him. Since you boast in it and fight against God, He has exposed its weakness. Physical strength also is a good thing. But when Cain did not use it as he should, God weakened him and made him tremble, as in Genesis 4:12-14. Wine also is a good thing. But because the Jews used it without restraint, God completely forbade the priests to use the fruit of the vine.

And since you also have misused wisdom so as to reject God, and have demanded from it more than it can do by its own power, He has shown you its weakness in order to draw you away from hope in man.

For, to continue, he is a natural man. He attributes everything to the reasonings of his mind, and he does not consider that he needs help from above. This is a sign of complete foolishness. For God gave it so that it might learn and receive help from Him, not so that it should think itself sufficient on its own. Eyes are beautiful and useful, but if they choose to see without light, their beauty profits them nothing. Nor does their natural power help them. It even does harm.

In the same way, if you notice it, any soul also, if it chooses to see without the Spirit, becomes a hindrance even to itself.

Then how, someone will ask, did she understand everything before this by herself? She never did this by herself at any time. Instead, she had creation set openly before her like a book. But when people stopped walking in the way God commanded them, and stopped using the beauty of visible things to know the Great Artificer, they trusted arguments to guide their knowledge. Then they grew weak and sank into a sea of ungodliness.

For they quickly introduced what was the depth of all evil, claiming that things were not produced from things that did not exist, but from uncreated matter. From this source they became the parents of countless heresies.

Moreover, they agreed in their most extreme absurdities. But in the things where they seemed to imagine something sound, even if only dimly and like shadows, they disagreed with one another. So they were fit to be laughed at from both sides. For almost all of them, with one voice, have argued and written very eagerly that nothing is produced out of things that do not exist. In these absurdities, then, they were driven on by the Devil.

But in their useful sayings, where they seemed, though only darkly, "in a riddle," to find some part of what they were seeking, in these matters they fought with one another. For example, they said that the soul is immortal, that virtue needs nothing external, and that being good, or the opposite, does not come by necessity or by fate.

Do you see the Devil’s cunning? Wherever he saw people saying anything corrupt, he made them all agree. But wherever people were saying anything sound, he stirred up others against them. So absurd teachings did not disappear, because they were strengthened by general agreement, while the useful parts faded away because people understood them in many different ways. Notice how, in every way, the soul is weakened and lacks strength, and is not enough for herself.

And this happened just as one might expect. For if, being what she is, she tries to need nothing and pulls herself away from God, then suppose she had not fallen into that condition—into what extreme madness would she not have slowly sunk? If, while having a mortal body, she hoped for greater things because of the Devil’s false promise—for he said, “You shall be as gods,” Genesis 3:4—how far would she not have ruined herself if she had also received an immortal body from the beginning?

For even after that, through the corrupt mouth of the Manicheans, she claimed to be unbegotten and of the essence of God. And it was this diseased condition that gave rise to her invention of the Greek gods. For this reason, it seems to me, God made virtue hard, in order to bend the soul low and bring it to self-control. And so that you may convince yourself that this is true, as far as one may guess at great things from small ones, let us learn it from the Israelites.

As is well known, when they did not live a life of hard work but gave themselves to ease, they were unable to bear prosperity and fell into ungodliness. What, then, did God do about this? He placed a great number of laws on them in order to restrain their lack of self-control. And to convince you that these laws do not produce virtue, but were given to them more like a curb, giving them a reason for constant labor, hear what the prophet says about them:

“I gave them statutes which were not good,” Ezekiel 20:25. What does “not good” mean? It means statutes that did not contribute much toward virtue. Therefore he also adds, “and ordinances whereby they shall not live.”

10. But the natural person does not receive the things of the Spirit.

Just as no one could learn about the things in heaven with these eyes, so the soul also cannot learn the things of the Spirit without help. And why do I speak only about the things in heaven? It does not even receive all the things on earth. For when we see a square tower from far away, we think it is round. But that opinion is only a deception of the eyes. In the same way, we can be sure that when a man examines things that are far off by his understanding alone, much ridicule will follow.

For not only will he fail to see them as they really are, but he will even think they are the opposite of what they are. Therefore he added, "for they are foolishness to him." But this does not come from the nature of the things themselves. It comes from his weakness, because he is unable to reach their greatness through the eyes of his soul.

11. Next, continuing his contrast, he gives the reason for this. He says that such a person does not know because these things are spiritually understood. That is, the things being stated require faith, and it is not possible to grasp them by reasoning, because their greatness far exceeds the smallness of our understanding. Therefore he says, “But he that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”

A person who has sight sees both himself and everything that concerns a person who has no sight. But a blind person cannot discern what the other person is doing. In the same way here, we know both our own matters and those of unbelievers. But they no longer know our matters at all. We know the nature of present things, and the dignity of the things to come.

We also know what will someday happen to the world when this present condition no longer exists, and what sinners will suffer, and what the righteous will enjoy. And we know that present things are worth nothing, and we expose their lowliness, for “to discern” also means “to expose.” We also know that the things to come are immortal and unchanging. All these things are known to the spiritual person.

He also knows what the natural person will suffer after he has departed into that world, and what the faithful person will enjoy when he has completed his journey from this world. None of these things are known to the natural person.

Therefore, adding a clear proof of what he had said, he says, "For who has known the mind of the Lord, so that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ." That is, we know the things that are in the mind of Christ, the very things that He wills and has revealed. For since he had said that the Spirit had revealed them, lest anyone should leave out the Son, he adds that Christ also showed these things to us. He does not mean that we know everything that Christ knows.

Rather, he means that everything we do know is not human, and so open to suspicion, but comes from His mind and is spiritual.

The understanding we have about these things comes from Christ. That is, the knowledge we have about the matters of the faith is spiritual. So it is right that no one judges us. For it is not possible for a natural person to know divine things. Therefore he also said, "For who has known the mind of the Lord?" He meant that the mind we have about these things is His mind. And he did not add the words, "that he may instruct Him," without reason.

He said this in connection with what he had just said: "the spiritual man no one discerns." For if no one is able to know the mind of God, much less can anyone teach it or correct it. For this is the meaning of the words, "that he may instruct Him."

Do you see how, from every side, he drives back wisdom that comes from outside and shows that the spiritual person knows more things, and greater things? The reasons he gave were these: "so that no flesh should glory," and, "For this cause He has chosen the foolish things, that He might confound the wise," and, "lest the Cross of Christ should be made void." But to unbelievers, these reasons did not seem very believable, attractive, necessary, or useful. So he ends by giving the main reason:

because in this way we can most easily see from whom we may receive the ability to learn even high things, secret things, and things above us. For reason was completely made useless by our inability to understand, through Gentile wisdom, the things that are above us.

You can also see that it was better to learn this way from the Spirit. For that is the easiest and clearest kind of teaching.

But we have the mind of Christ. That is, a spiritual and divine mind, with nothing human in it. For it is not from Plato or Pythagoras. Rather, it is Christ Himself putting His own thoughts into our minds.

So then, beloved, if for no other reason, let us stand in awe of this, and let our lives shine with excellence. For He Himself makes this a sure proof of great friendship: that He reveals His secrets to us. He says in John 15:15, "From now on I do not call you servants, for you are all My friends; for all things that I have heard from My Father I have told you." That is, "I have trusted you."

Now if this alone is a proof of friendship, namely, to trust someone, then consider how great the love is when it is clear that He has not only trusted us with the mysteries given in words, but has also shared with us the same mysteries given by actions. If nothing else moves us, let us stand in awe of this. Even if we do not think so greatly about hell, let it still seem more fearful than hell to be thankless and ungrateful to such a friend and benefactor.

And let us do everything, not like hired servants, but like sons and free people, out of love for our Father. And at last let us stop clinging to the world, so that we may put the Greeks to shame also. For even now, when I want to use all my strength against them, I hold back from doing so. I fear that, although we may surpass them in our arguments and in the truth of what we teach, we may bring much ridicule on ourselves when our way of life is compared with theirs.

For they, though they cling to error and do not have such conviction, still remain devoted to philosophy, but we do the exact opposite. However, I will say it. For perhaps, perhaps by practicing how to contend against them, we may, through rivalry, come to desire to become better than they are in our way of life also.

I was saying not long ago that the Apostles would never even have thought of preaching what they did, unless they had received divine grace. And not only would they not have succeeded, they would not even have come up with such a plan. So today, let us continue with the same subject in our talk. Let us show that it was impossible for them even to choose or imagine such a thing, if Christ had not been with them.

This was not only because the weak were set against the strong, or because the few were set against the many, or because the poor were set against the rich, or because the unlearned were set against the wise. It was also because the force of long-standing prejudice was very great. For you know that nothing is so strong among people as the tyranny of old custom.

So even if they had not been only twelve, and not so insignificant as they really were, but instead had been another world as large as this one, with just as many people fighting on their side, or even many more, even then the result would have been hard to accomplish. For the other side had custom on their side, but for these men, their teaching was new, and that itself was a hindrance.

For nothing disturbs the mind so much, even when it is done for some useful purpose, as making changes and introducing strange things, especially when this is done in matters of divine worship and the glory of God. And I will now make clear how much power this had. But first I will make this statement: there was also another difficulty in regard to the Jews. In the case of the Greeks, the Apostles completely destroyed both their gods and their teachings.

But they did not argue with the Jews in the same way. They did abolish many of their teachings, yet they told them to worship the God who had given those same teachings. And while saying that people should honor the lawgiver, they also said, "Do not obey in every respect the law that comes from Him," for example, in keeping the Sabbath, or practicing circumcision, or offering sacrifices, or doing anything else like these. So not only was custom a hindrance, but also this fact:

when they told people to worship God, they were also telling them to break many of His laws.

15. But in the case of the Greeks, the tyranny of custom was great. For if a custom had lasted only ten years, and not such a long time, and if it had taken hold of only a few people, and not the whole world, even then it would have been hard to bring about such a change when these men came forward. But now the error had already taken hold of sophists, orators, fathers, grandfathers, and many even older than these.

The very earth and sea, the mountains and groves, all nations of the Barbarians, all tribes of the Greeks, the wise and the ignorant, rulers and subjects, women and men, young and old, masters and slaves, craftsmen and farmers, those living in cities and those in the countryside, all of them had been under its power. And those who were being taught would naturally say, "What in the world is this? Have all who live in the world been deceived?

Sophists and orators, philosophers and historians, the present generation and those before it, Pythagoreans, Platonists, generals, consuls, kings, those who from the beginning in every city were citizens and colonists, both Barbarians and Greeks? And are the twelve fishermen and tentmakers and tax collectors wiser than all these? Who could endure such a claim?" However, they did not speak that way, and they did not think it.

Instead, they did endure them, and they admitted that they were wiser than all. Therefore they overcame them all. And custom was no obstacle to this, though it is considered unconquerable when, over time, it has gained its full force.

And so that you may learn how great the power of habit is, it has often won out even over God's commands. And why do I say commands? It has even won out over very blessings. For in this way, when the Jews had manna, they asked for garlic. Though they were enjoying freedom, they kept thinking about their slavery. And they were always longing for Egypt, because they were used to it. Habit is such a tyrannical thing.

If you want to hear about this from the pagans too, it is said that Plato, although he knew well that everything about the gods was a kind of deceit, still went along with all the festivals and everything else connected with them. He did this because he was not able to fight against custom, and because he had in fact learned this from his teacher.

For his teacher also, when he was suspected of trying to introduce some such change, was so far from succeeding in what he wanted that he even lost his life, and this after making his defense. And how many people do we see even now being kept in idolatry by prejudice? They have nothing convincing to say when they are accused of being Greeks, except that they appeal to their fathers, and grandfathers, and great-grandfathers. For this very reason, some of the pagans called custom a second nature.

But when teachings are the very subject of the custom, it becomes even more deeply rooted. For a person would more easily change everything else than the things that belong to religion. The feeling of shame also, joined with custom, was enough to create an obstacle. So was the thought of learning something new at a very old age, and learning it from those who were not considered so intelligent.

And why should we be surprised if this happens in matters of the soul, when even in the body custom has great power?

In the case of the Apostles, however, there was still another obstacle, stronger than these. It was not only a matter of changing a custom that was very ancient and long established. There were also dangers under which this change had to be made. For they were not simply leading people from one custom to another. They were leading them from a custom with no fear into a way that threatened danger.

For the believer would at once face confiscation of property, persecution, and exile from his country. He would have to suffer the worst evils, be hated by all people, and be treated as a common enemy by both his own people and strangers. So even if they had called people to something familiar, simply because it was new, even that would have been difficult.

But when they were calling them away from an old custom to something new, and all these terrors were added besides, consider how great the obstacle was!

And again, another thing was added that made the change difficult, and it was no less important than the things already mentioned. Besides custom and danger, these commands were harder, while the things from which they were drawing people away were easy and pleasant. They were calling people from sexual immorality to purity; from love of life to many kinds of death; from drunkenness to fasting; from laughter to tears and deep sorrow for sin; from greed to complete poverty;

and from safety to dangers. In all things, they demanded the greatest self-control and watchfulness. For he says in Ephesians 5:4, "Let filthiness, foolish talk, and joking not come out of your mouth." And they said these things to people who knew nothing except how to get drunk and serve their stomachs, people who held feasts made up of nothing but filthiness, laughter, and every kind of wild partying.

So the teachings were hard, not only because they required a strict way of life, but also because they were spoken to people who had been raised in careless ease, filthiness, foolish talk, laughter, and wild partying.

For who among people living in such things, when he heard, in Matthew 10:38, "If a man does not take up his cross and follow Me, he is not worthy of Me," and in Matthew 10:34, "I did not come to bring peace but a sword, and to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother," would not have felt himself go cold all over? And who, when he heard, "If a man does not say farewell to home and country and possessions, he is not worthy of Me," would not have hesitated?

Who would not have refused? And yet there were people who not only did not grow cold and did not shrink back when they heard these things, but ran to meet them. They rushed into the hardships and eagerly embraced the commands they were given. Again, to be told, "For every idle word we shall give account," as in Matthew 12:36; and, "Whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her," as in Matthew 5:28;

and, "Whoever is angry without cause shall fall into hell"—which of the men of that time would not have been driven away by these things? And yet all came running in, and many even leaped beyond the boundaries of the race. What, then, drew them? Was it not plainly the power of the One who was being preached? For suppose the case were not as it is, but just the opposite: suppose this side were that one, and that side this one.

Then would it have been easy, let me ask, to hold on to people and drag along those who resisted? We cannot say that it would. So in every way, that power is shown to be divine, because it worked so wonderfully. Otherwise, tell me, how did they persuade the frivolous and immoral to move toward a severe and hard way of life?

17. Well then, that was the nature of the commands. But let us see whether the teaching was appealing. No, in this respect too there was enough to frighten unbelievers away. For what did the preachers say? They said that we must worship the One who was crucified, and count Him as God, though He was born of a Jewish woman. Now who would have been persuaded by these words, unless divine power had gone ahead? Indeed, everyone knew that He had been crucified and buried.

But no one except the Apostles had seen that He had risen again and ascended.

But you may say, they stirred people up with promises and deceived them with empty words. No, this very point especially shows, even apart from everything already said, that our teachings are not deceit. For all the hardships happened here in this life, but the comforts were what they promised after the resurrection. This very thing, I repeat, shows that our Gospel is divine. For why did none of the believers say, "I do not agree with this, and I will not endure it?

You threaten me with hardships here, and you promise good things after the resurrection. But how is it clear that there will be a resurrection? Which of the dead has returned? Which of those at rest has risen again? Which of them has told us what will happen after we depart from here?" But none of these thoughts entered their minds. Instead, they gave up their very lives for the Crucified. So this fact by itself, more than anything else, was proof of great power.

First, they were immediately convinced about matters of such great importance, though they had never in all their lives heard anything like this before. Second, they were persuaded to accept the hardships as something to be tested in experience, and to regard the blessings as a matter of hope. Now if they had been deceivers, they would have done the opposite. They would have promised their good things as belonging to this world, as in John 18:36.

They would not have mentioned the fearful things at all, whether those things concerned the present life or the future. For that is how deceivers and flatterers act. They set forth nothing harsh, painful, or burdensome, but exactly the opposite. For this is the nature of deceit.

18. But someone will say that the foolishness of most people made them believe what they were told. What do you mean? When they were under the Greeks, were they not foolish then? But when they came over to us, did their foolishness begin only then? And yet the Apostles did not persuade a different kind of people, or people from another world. They persuaded people who had simply held the opinions of the Greeks. But these same people accepted our teachings along with dangers.

So if they had had better reason to hold on to their former beliefs, they would not have turned away from them, after they had been taught in them for so long. This is especially true since it was not possible to turn away without danger. But when they learned from the very nature of the things themselves that everything on that side was mockery and delusion, then, even under threats of many kinds of death, they sprang away from their usual ways and came over willingly to the new.

This was because the latter teaching was according to nature, but the other was contrary to nature.

But, it is said, the people who were convinced were slaves, women, nurses, midwives, and eunuchs. First of all, our Church is not made up only of these people, and that is clear to everyone. But even if it were made up of these, that is exactly what makes the Gospel especially worthy of admiration. Plato and his followers could not understand these teachings, yet the fishermen were able, all at once, to persuade the most uneducated people of all to accept them.

For if they had persuaded only wise people, the result would not have been so remarkable. But by raising slaves, nurses, and eunuchs to such strictness of life that they became rivals of the angels, they gave the greatest proof of their divine inspiration. Again, if they had commanded I do not know what trivial matters, then perhaps it would be reasonable to point to the conviction produced in these people as proof that the things spoken were trivial.

But if the subject of their teaching was things great and lofty, things that almost go beyond human nature and require elevated thoughts, then the more foolish you show those who were convinced to be, the more clearly you show that those who convinced them were wise and filled with divine grace.

But you will say, they won people over by the extremely great promises. But tell me, is not this very thing amazing to you: how they persuaded people to expect prizes and rewards after death? Even if there were nothing else, this alone amazes me. But, it will be said, this also came from foolishness. Tell me, in what way are these things foolish: that the soul is immortal; that an impartial court will receive us after this present life;

that we will give an account of our deeds and words and thoughts to God, who knows all secrets; that we will see the evil being punished, and the good with crowns on their heads. No, these things are not foolishness, but the highest teaching of wisdom. The foolishness is in the opinions that are opposite to these.

19. If this were the only thing—despising present things, valuing virtue highly, not seeking rewards here, but going far beyond in hope, and keeping the soul so focused and faithful that no present fear can hinder it from the hope of what is to come—tell me, what great philosophy would this belong to? But do you also want to learn the power of the promises and prophecies themselves, and the truth of the things spoken both before and after this present order of things?

Look, I show you a golden chain, skillfully woven from the beginning. He spoke to them about Himself, about the churches, and about the things to come. And as He spoke, He worked mighty deeds. Therefore, by the fulfillment of what He said, it is clear that the wonders He worked were real, and that the future things and the promised things were also real.

But to make my meaning even clearer, let me explain it from the actual case. He raised Lazarus with a single word, and showed him alive. Again, He said, "The gates of Hades shall not prevail against the Church" in Matthew 16:18, and, "He who forsakes father or mother shall receive a hundredfold in this life, and shall inherit everlasting life" in Matthew 19:29. The miracle, then, is one: the raising of Lazarus. But the predictions are two. One is shown here, and the other in the world to come.

Now consider how they all prove one another. For if a person does not believe in the resurrection of Lazarus, let him learn from the prophecy spoken about the Church to believe the miracle. For the word spoken so many years before came to pass later and was fulfilled, because the gates of Hades did not prevail against the Church. You see that the One who spoke truth in the prophecy also worked the miracle.

And the One who both worked the miracle and brings about the words He spoke also speaks the truth in the predictions of things still to come, when He says, "He who despises present things shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." For the things that have already been done and spoken, He has given as the surest guarantees of those things that will happen later.

So then, by gathering all these things, and others like them, from the Gospels, let us tell them to these people and in this way silence them. But if anyone says, "Why then was error not completely wiped out?" our answer may be this: "You yourselves are to blame, because you rebel against your own salvation." For God has ordered this matter in such a way that not even a remnant of the old impiety needs to be left.

20. Now, to briefly repeat what has been said: What is the natural course of things? Is it that the weak are defeated by the strong, or the opposite? Is it those who speak easy things, or those who speak harsher things? Is it those who draw people by dangers, or by safety? Is it innovators, or those who strengthen custom? Is it those who lead people into a hard road, or into a smooth one?

Is it those who pull people away from the traditions of their fathers, or those who introduce no strange laws? Is it those who promise all their good things after we leave this world, or those who flatter people in the present life? Is it for the few to overcome the many, or for the many to overcome the few?

But you too, someone says, gave promises about this life. What, then, have we promised in this life? The forgiveness of sins and the washing of regeneration. Now first of all, baptism itself belongs mainly to the things to come. And Paul cries out in Colossians 3:4, "For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."

But if it also has benefits in this life, as indeed it does, this too is more than anything else a great wonder: that they had power to persuade people who had done countless evil deeds, yes, such deeds as no one else had done, to wash themselves clean from them all, and that they would be called to account for none of their offenses.

So for this very reason, it is most fitting to wonder that they persuaded Barbarians to accept such a faith as this, and to have good hope about the things to come. After throwing off the former burden of their sins, they devoted themselves with the greatest zeal, for the future, to the labors that virtue requires. They did not long for any object of the senses. Instead, rising to a level above all bodily things, they received gifts that are purely spiritual.

Yes, the Persian, the Sarmatian, the Moor, and the Indian came to know the purification of the soul, and the power of God, and His unspeakable mercy toward men, and the strict discipline of faith, and the visitation of the Holy Spirit, and the resurrection of bodies, and the teachings of eternal life. For in all these things, and in whatever goes beyond these, the fishermen, by initiating various races of Barbarians through Baptism, persuaded them to live by high principles.

So then, after we have carefully observed all these things, let us speak to the Gentiles, and let us also show them the proof of our lives. In this way, by both means, we ourselves may be saved, and they may be won over through us to the glory of God. For to Him be the glory forever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3

And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal people, as to babies in Christ. I fed you with milk, and not with meat, for you were not yet able to bear it. No, not even now are you able. For you are still carnal.

After he had overthrown worldly philosophy and cast down all its arrogance, he moves to another argument. For they would likely say, "If we were putting forward the opinions of Plato, or Pythagoras, or any other of the philosophers, then there would be reason for you to draw out such a long argument against us. But if we proclaim the things of the Spirit, why do you keep bringing up worldly wisdom and tossing it about?"

Hear, then, how he takes his stand against this. "And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual people." Why, in the first place, does he say this? Because even if you had been perfect in spiritual things also, even then you ought not to be elated. For what you preach is not your own, nor is it something you yourselves found by your own means. But now you do not even know these things as you ought to know them. You are learners, and the last of all.

Whether, then, the wisdom of the Gentiles is the cause of your high imaginations, that has been proved to be nothing, and indeed, in spiritual things, even contrary to us. Or if it is because of spiritual things, in these too you fall short and have your place among the hindmost. Therefore he says, "I could not speak to you as to spiritual people." He did not say, "I did not speak," lest the matter might seem to come from his grudging them something.

But in two ways he brings down their high spirit. First, because they did not know the things that are perfect. Next, because their ignorance was owing to themselves. Yes, and in a third way besides these, by pointing out that even now they are not able to bear it. For as to their lack of ability at first, perhaps that arose from the nature of the case. In fact, however, he does not leave them even this excuse.

For he does not say they did not receive the high doctrines through any inability on their part to receive them, but because they were carnal. However, in the beginning this was not so blameworthy. But after so long a time, they had not yet reached the more perfect knowledge. This was a sign of the most utter dullness.

It may be observed that he brings the same charge against the Hebrews, though not with so much vehemence. For those, he says, are such partly because of affliction. But these are so because of some appetite for wickedness. Now the two things are not the same. He also implies that in the one case he intended rebuke, but in the other he was rather stirring them up, when he spoke these true words. For to these Corinthians he says, "Neither yet now are you able."

But to the others, in Hebrews 6:1, "Therefore let us cease to speak of the first principles of Christ, and press on to perfection." And again, in Hebrews 5:9, "We are persuaded better things concerning you, and things which accompany salvation, though we thus speak."

2. And how does he call those people carnal, when they had received so great a measure of the Spirit, and when at the beginning he had spoken at such length in their praise? Because even those are carnal to whom the Lord says, in Matthew 7:22-23, "Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity, I do not know you." And yet they both cast out demons, and raised the dead, and spoke prophecies. So it is possible even for one who worked miracles to be carnal.

For in this way God also worked through Balaam, and revealed things to come to Pharaoh and to Nebuchadnezzar. Caiaphas also prophesied, not knowing what he said. Yes, and some others cast out demons in His name, though they were not with Him, as in Luke 9:49. Since these things are not done for the sake of the doers, but for the sake of others. Nor is it uncommon that those who were plainly unworthy have been made instruments of them.

Now why should we wonder if, in the case of unworthy men, these things are done for the sake of others, when this is so even when they are worked by saints? For Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:22, "All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or life, or death." And again, in Ephesians 4:11-12, "He gave some Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Pastors and Teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of ministering."

For if it were not so, there would have been no security against universal corruption. For it may be that rulers are wicked and defiled, and those under them good and virtuous. That laymen live in piety, and priests in wickedness. And there could not have been either baptism, or the body of Christ, or oblation through such men, if in every case grace required merit.

But as it is, God works even through unworthy persons, and in no respect is the grace of baptism damaged by the conduct of the priest. Otherwise, the one receiving it would suffer loss. Accordingly, though such things happen rarely, still, it must be admitted, they do happen. Now I say these things, lest anyone among the bystanders, while busying himself about the life of the priest, should be offended concerning the things being solemnized.

For man introduces nothing into the things set before us, but the whole is a work of the power of God, and He is the one who initiates you into the mysteries.

And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal people. I fed you with milk, and not with solid food. For you were not able to bear it.

So that he would not seem to have said those things out of ambition, to win favor, when he had just said, "the spiritual man judges all things," and, "he himself is judged by no man," and, "we have the mind of Christ," and also to hold back their pride, notice what he says. "It was not for this reason," he says, "that I kept silent, because I was not able to tell you more, but because you are carnal. Even now you are not able."

Why did he not say, "You are not willing," but instead, "You are not able"? Because he used the second in place of the first. Their lack of ability came from their lack of willingness. For them, this was a charge against them, but for their teacher, it was an excuse. If they had been unable by nature, perhaps they could have been forgiven. But since it came from their own choice, they had no excuse at all. Then he also speaks about the specific thing that makes them fleshly.

For he says, "While there is strife, jealousy, and division among you, are you not fleshly, and living like mere human beings?" Although he also had their sexual sins and acts of uncleanness to mention, he instead points out the offense he had been trying to correct for a long time. Now if jealousy makes people fleshly, it is time for us to mourn bitterly, to dress ourselves in sackcloth, and to lie in ashes. For who is free from this passion?

Unless, of course, I am only guessing about others based on myself. If jealousy makes people fleshly, and does not allow them to be spiritual, even if they prophesy and do other wonderful works, then what place will we find for our own actions, when not even that much grace is with us? And this is so when we are proved guilty not only in this matter, but also in other matters of even greater importance.

From this passage we learn that Christ had good reason for saying, in John 3:20, "He that does evil does not come to the light." An unclean life is a barrier to high teachings. It does not allow the clear sight of the mind to appear. So then, it is not possible for a person who is in error, but lives uprightly, to remain in error. In the same way, it is not easy for someone raised in wickedness to quickly lift his eyes to the height of the teachings given to us.

The person who wants to search for the truth must be clean from all passions. For whoever is freed from these will also be freed from error and will attain to the truth. For please do not think that merely keeping away from greed or sexual sin will be enough for this purpose. It is not so. Everything must work together in the person who seeks the truth. Therefore Peter says in Acts 10:34-35, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons;

but in every nation he that fears Him, and works righteousness, is acceptable to Him." That is, God calls such a person and draws him to the truth. Do you not see Paul, that he was more intense than anyone else in fighting and persecuting? Yet because he lived a blameless life, and did these things not from human passion, he was both accepted and reached a goal beyond all others. But if anyone says, "How does such a person, a Greek, who is kind and good and humane, continue in error?"

my answer would be this: he has some other passion, such as vainglory, or laziness of mind, or a lack of care about his own salvation, thinking that everything concerning him drifts along loosely and by chance. Peter calls the person who is blameless in all things one who works righteousness. And Paul says, "touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless." Again, "I give thanks to God, whom I serve from my forefathers with a pure conscience," in 2 Timothy 1:3.

"How then," you will say, "were unclean persons considered worthy of the Gospel?" Because they desired it and longed for it. So, one group, though in error, is drawn by Him because they are clean from passions. The others, coming by their own choice, are not turned away. Many also have received the true religion even from their ancestors.

1 Corinthians 3:3

For since there is jealousy and strife among you.

At this point, he gets ready to struggle with those whose duty was to obey. In the earlier part, he had been bringing down the rulers of the Church when he said that skillful speech is worth nothing. But here he attacks those who are under authority, in the words,

1 Corinthians 3:4

For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another says, "I belong to Apollos," are you not acting in a fleshly way?

And he points out that this, far from helping them or causing them to gain anything, had even become an obstacle that kept them from benefiting from the greater things. For this was what produced jealousy, and jealousy had made them carnal. And becoming carnal did not leave them free to hear truths of a more sublime kind.

1 Corinthians 3:5

Who, then, is Paul, and who is Apollos?

In this way, after bringing out and proving his facts, he now makes his accusation more openly. Moreover, he uses his own name, removing all harshness and not allowing them to be angry at what is said. For if Paul is nothing, and they must not murmur, much less should they think they have been badly treated. You see, he has two ways of calming them. First, by bringing forward his own person. Then, by not taking everything away from them, as if they had contributed nothing.

Rather, he allows them some small part. Small though it is, he does allow it. For after saying, "Who is Paul, and who is Apollos?" he adds, "but ministers through whom you believed." Now this itself is a great thing, and worthy of great rewards, although compared with the archetype and the root of all good, it is nothing. For it is not the one who ministers our blessings, but the one who provides and gives them, who is our Benefactor.

And he did not say, "Evangelists," but "Ministers," which is more. For they had not only preached the Gospel, but had also ministered to us. The one is a matter of word only, while the other has deed also. And so, if even Christ is only a minister of good things, and not Himself the root and the fountain, I mean, of course, in that He is a Son, notice to what an issue this matter is brought, how deep and high it is made to go.

How then, you will ask, does he say that He was made "a Minister of Circumcision," in Romans 15:8? He is speaking there of His secret divine arrangement in the Flesh, and not in the same sense that we have now mentioned. For there, by "Minister," he means "Fulfiller," that is, of types, and not one who gives out blessings from his own store.

Also, he did not say, "Those who guide you into the faith," but, "those through whom you believed." By saying this, he again gives the greater part to them and also shows that ministers are in a lower, subordinate rank. Now if they were serving another, how did they come to claim authority for themselves? But I want you to notice that he does not place the blame on them, as if they had seized this for themselves. Instead, he blames those who gave it to them.

For the foundation of the error lay in the crowd. Since if the one side had fallen away, the other would have been broken up. Here are two things he wisely provided for. First, he had already prepared the way, as if by digging underneath, at the point where it was necessary to overthrow the evil. Next, on their side, he avoided drawing ill will to them, while also not making them more quarrelsome.

Just as Christ gave to each person.

For even this small thing did not come from them, but from God, who placed it in their hands. So that they might not say, "What then? Should we not love those who serve us?" "Yes," he says, "but you should know how far that love should go." For even this thing itself is not from them, but from God, who gave it.

1 Corinthians 3:6

I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow.

That is, I was the first to plant the word in the ground. But so that the seeds would not dry up because of temptations, Apollos did his part too. But the whole work was God's.

1 Corinthians 3:7

So then, neither the one who plants is anything, nor the one who waters, but God, who gives the growth.

Do you see how he calms them, so they will not be too upset when they hear, "Who is this person, and who is that?" In fact, both statements could cause offense: both the question, "Who is this person? Who is the other?" and the statement that neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything. So how does he soften these words? First, he attaches the lowly judgment to himself: "Who is Paul, and who is Apollos?" Then he refers everything to God, who gave all things.

For after he said that one person planted, and then added, "He that plants is nothing," he followed it with, "but God that gives the increase." And he does not stop even there, but adds another healing statement in the words that follow.

1 Corinthians 3:8

The one who plants and the one who waters are one.

By this, he also makes another point: they should not be proud against one another. When he says that they are one, he means that they are unable to do anything without God, who gives the growth. By saying this, he did not allow those who had worked hard to lift themselves up against those who had contributed less. Nor did he allow the latter to envy the former.

Next, since this could make people more lazy, I mean, if everyone is considered the same whether they have worked much or little, notice how he corrects this. He says, "But each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor." It is as if he said, "Do not be afraid because I said, 'You are one.' Compared with the work of God, they are one. However, regarding their labors, they are not the same, but each shall receive his own reward."

Then he makes it even gentler, after he has achieved what he wanted. And where it is permitted, he pleases them with generosity.

1 Corinthians 3:9

For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

Do you see that he has given them an important duty too, even though he had already said that the whole matter is God's work? For since he is always urging them to obey those who rule over them, for this reason he avoids speaking too lightly of their teachers.

You are God's field.

Because he had said, "I planted," he kept using the same metaphor. Now if you are God's field, it is right for you to be named not after those who work the field, but after God. For the field is not called the farmer's, but the owner's.

You are God’s building.

Again, the building does not belong to the worker, but to the master. Now if you are a building, you must not be torn apart, because then it would not be a building. If you are a farm, you must not be divided, but enclosed by a single fence, namely, unity of mind.

1 Corinthians 3:10

According to the grace of God that was given to me, like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation.

Here he calls himself wise, not to lift himself up, but to give them an example and to show that laying a foundation is the work of a wise man. You can see one example of his humble attitude in this: when he spoke of himself as wise, he did not leave it as if it were something that belonged to him. Instead, after first giving himself entirely to God, and only then, he calls himself by that name. For he says, "According to the grace of God, which was given to me."

In this way, he shows both that the whole work is from God, and that this especially is grace: not being divided, but resting on one foundation.

Another person builds on it. But let each person be careful how he builds on it.

Here, I think, and in what follows, he is testing them about how they live, after he had once for all joined them together and made them one.

1 Corinthians 3:11

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

I say that no one can lay it as long as he is a master builder. But if he does lay it, he stops being a master builder.

See how, even from men's common ideas, he proves his whole point. This is his meaning: I have preached Christ. I have delivered to you the foundation. Take care how you build on it, lest perhaps it be in vainglory, lest perhaps it be in such a way as to draw the disciples away to men. Let us not, then, give heed to the heresies. For no man can lay any other foundation than that which is laid. On this foundation, then, let us build. And as a foundation, let us cling to it, as a branch to a vine.

Let there be no interval between us and Christ. For if there is any interval, we immediately perish. For the branch, by its close attachment, draws in the richness, and the building stands because it is cemented together. Since, if it stands apart, it perishes, having nothing on which to support itself. Let us not, then, merely keep hold of Christ, but let us be cemented to Him. For if we stand apart, we perish.

For it is said, "They who withdraw themselves far from You shall perish," Psalm 72:27, Septuagint. Let us cling to Him, then, and let us cling by our works. For "he that keeps My commandments, the same abides in Me," John 14:21, in substance. And accordingly, there are many images by which He brings us into union. Thus, if you notice it, He is the Head, we are the body. Can there be any empty interval between the head and body? He is a Foundation, we a building. He a Vine, we branches.

He the Bridegroom, we the bride. He the Shepherd, we the sheep. He is the Way, we those who walk in it. Again, we are a temple, He the Indweller. He the First-Begotten, we the brothers. He the Heir, we the heirs together with Him. He the Life, we the living. He the Resurrection, we those who rise again. He the Light, we the enlightened. All these things show unity, and they allow no empty interval, not even the smallest.

For he that moves away even a little will go on until he has become very far away. For so the body, though it receives only a small cut by a sword, perishes. And the building, though there is only a small crack, falls into decay. And the branch, though it is cut off from the root only for a little while, becomes useless. So this little thing is no little thing, but is almost the whole matter.

Whenever, then, we commit some little fault, or even some negligence, let us not overlook that little thing. Since this, when it is neglected, quickly becomes great. So also when a garment has begun to be torn and is neglected, it is likely to extend its tear through the whole cloth. And a roof, when a few tiles have fallen and this is neglected, brings down the whole house.

So then, let us keep these things in mind and never treat small sins lightly, so that we do not fall into greater ones. But if we have treated them lightly and have come into the abyss of evils, even then let us not lose hope, so that we do not fall into recklessness. For after that, it is hard to come out, unless a person is extremely watchful. This is not only because of the distance, but also because of the very place where we find ourselves.

For sin too is a deep pit, and it usually presses down and crushes. And just as those who have fallen into a well cannot easily get out, but need others to pull them up, so it is with the person who has come into any depth of sins. To such people, we must lower ropes and pull them up. Or rather, we need not only others, but ourselves also, so that we too may take hold and climb up. And I mean not only as far as we have gone down, but much farther, if we are willing. For why?

God also helps, because He does not will the death of a sinner so much as his conversion. So then, let no one despair. Let no one have the mind of the ungodly, for this kind of sin properly belongs to them: when an ungodly man has come into any depth of evils, he makes light of it. So it is not the great number of people's sins that causes their despair, but their ungodly mind.

Even if you have gone to every extreme in wickedness, still say to yourself, "God loves mankind, and He desires our salvation. For though your sins are like scarlet, I will make you white as snow," as Isaiah 1:10 says in the Septuagint. He says that He will also change you from the opposite habit. Therefore, let us not give up in despair. To fall is not as grievous as to remain where we have fallen. Nor is being wounded as dreadful as refusing healing after being wounded.

For who can boast that his heart is pure? Or who can confidently say that he is free from sin? Proverbs 20:9 says this in the Septuagint. I say these things not to make you more careless, but to keep you from despairing.

Do you want to know how good our Master is? The tax collector went up full of countless wicked deeds, and by saying only, "Be merciful to me," he went down justified. Yes, God says through the prophet, "Because of sin, for a little while I grieved him," Isaiah 57:17-18, "and I saw that he was grieved and went away sorrowful, and I healed his ways." What can equal this loving-kindness? On the condition that he was only sorrowful, God says, "I forgave him his sins." But we do not even do this.

Therefore we especially stir God to anger. For when He is made favorable even by small things, and does not meet with even these, He is naturally indignant and demands from us the full penalty. For this comes from extreme contempt. For example, who has ever become sad because of his sins? Who has mourned over himself? Who has beaten his breast? Who has been deeply anxious? No one, I think.

But people weep for countless days over dead servants and over the loss of money, while they give no thought at all to the soul that we are destroying day by day. How then will you be able to make God favorable to you, when you do not even know that you have sinned?

"Yes," someone says, "I have sinned." Yes, you say it to me with your tongue. Say it to me with your mind also, and with deep mourning, so that you may have lasting joy. For if we truly grieved for our sins, if we deeply mourned over our offenses, nothing else could make us sorrowful. This one pain would drive out every kind of dejection. Here is another thing we would gain by complete confession: we would not be overwhelmed by the pains of the present life, nor puffed up by its splendors.

In this way also, we would more fully make God favorable to us, just as by our present conduct we stir Him to anger. Tell me, if you have a servant, and after suffering much evil from his fellow servants, he pays no attention to any of the rest, but is only careful not to provoke his master, would he not by this alone be able to remove your anger? But what if he does not care at all about his offenses against you, while he is very concerned about those against his fellow servants?

Will you not give him a heavier punishment? God does the same. When we ignore His anger, He brings it on us more heavily. But when we pay attention to it, He deals with us more gently. Or rather, He does not lay it on us at all anymore. He wants us to take vengeance on ourselves for our offenses, and from then on He does not take vengeance Himself. For this is why He threatens punishment in the first place: so that by fear He may destroy contempt.

And when the threat alone is enough to make us fear, He does not let us go through the actual trial. See, for example, what He says to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 7:17-18: "Do you not see what they do? Their fathers light a fire, their children gather sticks together, and their women knead dough." It is to be feared that the same kind of thing may also be said about us. "Do you not see what they do?" No one seeks the things of Christ, but all seek their own.

Their children rush into uncleanness, their fathers into greed and robbery, and their wives, far from holding their husbands back from the pomp and vanities of life, instead make their desires for these things even stronger. Just stand in the marketplace. Question the people coming and going, and you will see not one hurrying on a spiritual errand, but all running after fleshly things. How long will it be before we wake up from our excess? How long will we go on sinking into deep sleep?

Have we not had our fill of evils?

And yet, someone might think that even without words, experience itself is enough to teach you that present things are worthless and very low in value. In fact, there have been people who practiced only pagan wisdom and knew nothing about the future. Yet because they had learned by experience how worthless present things are, they gave them up for that reason alone.

What excuse, then, can you expect to receive, if you keep crawling on the ground and do not despise these small and passing things for the sake of the great and everlasting things? This is especially true when you hear God Himself declaring and revealing these things to you, and when you have such promises from Him. For that the things here do not have enough power to hold a person back, those people have shown, since even without any promise of greater things they kept away from them.

What wealth were they expecting when they embraced poverty? There was none. They did it because they understood very well that such poverty is better than wealth. What kind of life were they hoping for when they gave up luxury and devoted themselves to strict discipline? None at all. They had simply become aware of the true nature of these things, and had seen that this way of life is better suited both for the soul's strict training and for the body's health.

So then, rightly considering these things, and continually turning over in ourselves the blessings to come, let us withdraw from this present world, so that we may obtain that other world which is to come, through the favor and loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, etc., etc.

1 Corinthians 3:12-15: If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, each person's work will become clear. For the Day will show it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what kind of work each person has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation remains, that person will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, that person will suffer loss.

But that person will be saved, yet only as one escaping through fire.

If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, valuable stones, wood, hay, or straw, each person's work will be made clear. For the day will show it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire will test each person's work to show what kind it is. If anyone's work that he built on the foundation remains, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss. But he himself will be saved, yet as through fire.

The question we are considering is not a small one. It is about matters of the greatest importance, and matters that all people ask about. The question is whether the fire of hell ever comes to an end. Christ declared that it does not end when he said, "Their fire shall not be quenched, and their worm shall not die," in Mark 8:44, 46, 48.

Well, I know that a chill comes over you when you hear these things. But what am I to do? This is God's own command: to keep sounding these things in your ears. He says, "Charge this people." And since we have been appointed to the ministry of the word, we must cause pain to our hearers, not because we want to, but because we are compelled to do so. Or rather, if you are willing, we can avoid causing you pain.

For He says, in substance, in Romans 13:3, that if you do what is good, do not be afraid. So it is possible for you to hear me not only without resentment, but even with pleasure.

As I said before, Christ has declared that it has no end. Paul also says, to show that the punishment is eternal, that sinners will pay the penalty of destruction forever, in 2 Thessalonians 1:9. And again, in 1 Corinthians 6:9, he says, "Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, will inherit the kingdom of God." He also says to the Hebrews, in Hebrews 12:14, "Pursue peace with all people, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord."

Christ also says to those who said, "In Your name we have done many wonderful works," "Depart from Me; I do not know you, you workers of iniquity," in Matthew 7:22. The virgins too, who were shut out, did not enter anymore. And about those who gave Him no food, He says in Matthew 25:46, "They will go away into everlasting punishment."

2. And do not say to me, "Where is the rule of justice kept complete, if the punishment has no end?" Instead, when God does anything, obey His judgments, and do not measure what is said by human reasoning. Also, how could it be anything but just for a person to suffer punishment if he has received countless blessings from the beginning, then committed acts worthy of punishment, and was not improved at all by either threats or benefits?

For if you ask what absolute justice is, it was fitting that we should have perished immediately from the beginning, according to the standard of strict justice. In fact, not even that would have been only according to justice, because even that result would also have included kindness. For when someone insults a person who has done him no wrong, justice requires that he suffer punishment.

But when the person insulted is his benefactor, who was under no prior obligation, who gave countless kindnesses, who alone is the Author of his existence, who is God, who breathed a soul into him, who gave ten thousand gifts of grace, and whose will is to bring him up into heaven—when, I say, such a one, after such great blessings, is answered with insult, daily insult, by the conduct of the other person, how can that person be thought worthy of pardon?

Do you not see how He punished Adam for one single sin?

Yes, you will say, but He gave him Paradise and let him enjoy great favor. No, it is not the same thing for a person to sin while enjoying safety and ease, and while in great suffering. In fact, this is the terrible part: your sins are the sins of someone who is not in any Paradise, but is living among the countless evils of this life. You are not made sober even by suffering, like a person in prison who still keeps committing his crime.

However, to you He has promised things even greater than Paradise. But He has not given them now, lest He should make you weak during the time of struggle. Nor has He kept silent about them, lest He should completely cast you down under your labors. As for Adam, he committed only one sin and brought certain death on himself, while we commit ten thousand transgressions every day.

Now if he, by that one act, brought such a great evil on himself and brought in death, what will we not suffer, when we keep living in sins and, instead of Paradise, have the expectation of heaven?

This argument is unpleasant and painful for the listener. I know this from my own feelings alone. My heart is troubled and beats hard. And the more I see the teaching about hell confirmed, the more I tremble and draw back in fear. But it is necessary to say these things, so that we may not fall into hell. What you received was not paradise, or trees and plants, but heaven and the good things in heaven.

Now if the one who had received less was condemned, and no excuse freed him, much more will we, who have sinned more greatly and have been called to greater things, suffer woes without remedy.

Consider, for example, how long our race remains under death because of one single sin. More than five thousand years have passed, and death has still not been taken away because of that one sin. And we cannot even say that Adam had heard prophets, or that he had seen others punished for sins, and that it was right for him to be frightened by this and corrected, even if only by their example. For at that time he was the first and the only one. Yet he was still punished.

But you have nothing like this to offer in your defense, since after so many examples you have become worse. To you, such an excellent Spirit has been given, and yet you bring on yourself not one sin, or two, or three, but sins without number. So do not think that because the sin is committed in a small moment, the punishment must also last only a small moment.

Do you not see those men who, for a single theft or a single act of adultery committed in a short moment of time, have often spent their whole life in prisons and in mines, struggling with continual hunger and every kind of death? And no one was there to set them free or to say, "The offense happened in a small moment of time. The punishment also should have a length equal to that of the sin."

But someone will say, “These things are done by men. As for God, He loves mankind.” First of all, not even men do these things out of cruelty, but out of humanity. And God Himself, because He loves mankind, also punishes sins in that same character. Sirach 16:12 says, “For as His mercy is great, so also is His reproof.” Therefore, when you tell me that God loves mankind, you are giving me an even greater reason for punishment: that we sin against such a Being.

That is why Paul also said in Hebrews 10:31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Please endure the burning force of these words, for perhaps—perhaps—you may receive some comfort from here. Who among men can punish as God has punished? He brought a flood and complete destruction on so great a multitude of people. Then again, a little later, He rained fire down from above and completely destroyed them all. What punishment given by men could be like that?

Do you not see that the punishment even in this world is almost eternal? Four thousand years have passed, and the punishment of the Sodomites still remains in full force. For as His mercy is great, so also is His punishment.

Again, if He had commanded anything hard or impossible, someone might perhaps be able to say that the laws were difficult. But if they are very easy, what can we say to excuse ourselves for not keeping even these? Suppose you are unable to fast or to practice virginity. Even then, you are able if you are willing, and those who have been able to do these things condemn us. However, God has not treated us with this strictness.

He has not commanded these things or made them laws, but has left the choice to the judgment of the hearers. Nevertheless, you are able to be sexually pure in marriage, and you are able to keep away from drunkenness. Are you unable to give away all your goods? No, surely you are able, and those who have done so prove it. But still, He has not commanded this. Instead, He has commanded us not to be greedy, and to help those who are in need out of our own means.

But if a man says, "I cannot be content with only one wife," he deceives himself and reasons falsely. Those who live in chastity without a wife condemn him. But tell me, how can you say that you cannot help using abusive words? Can you not stop cursing? Why, doing these things is troublesome, not refraining from them. What excuse, then, do we have for not keeping commands that are so easy and light? We cannot give any excuse at all.

Therefore, that the punishment is eternal is clear from everything that has been said.

But since what Paul says seems to some people to point the other way, come, let us bring it forward too and examine it carefully. After saying, "If anyone's work remains, which he has built on it, he will receive a reward; and if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss," he adds, "but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." What, then, shall we say about this?

Let us first consider what the Foundation is, and what the gold is, and what the precious stones are, and what the hay is, and what the stubble is.

So then, he himself has clearly shown that the foundation is Christ, by saying, "For no one can lay any other foundation than the one already laid, which," he says, "is Jesus Christ."

Next, it seems to me that the building means actions. Although some say that this is also spoken about teachers and disciples, and about corrupt heresies, the argument does not allow that meaning. For if that were the meaning, in what sense would the builder be saved through fire while the work is destroyed? It would be right for the author of the two rather to perish. But as it is, it will be found that the harsher punishment is assigned to the one who has been built into the work.

For if the teacher was the cause of the wickedness, he deserves to suffer a harsher punishment. How then will he be saved? But if, on the other hand, he was not the cause, and the disciples became such through their own perverseness, then he deserves no punishment at all, nor even to suffer loss. I mean the one who built so well. In what sense then does he say, "he shall suffer loss"?

From this it is clear that the discussion is about actions. Since he next intends to direct his full force against the man who had committed sexual immorality, he begins at a high point and far in advance by laying down the groundwork. He knew how, while discussing one subject, to prepare in that very discussion the basis for another subject that he planned to move on to.

In the same way, when he rebuked them for not waiting for one another at their meals, he laid the groundwork for his teaching about the mysteries. And now, because he is hurrying on toward the fornicator, while speaking about the Foundation he adds, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God? And that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroy the temple of God, him will God destroy."

He said these things because he was now beginning to stir the soul of the man who had been unchaste with fears.

1 Corinthians 3:12

If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, then after faith there is still a need for building up. That is why he says elsewhere, "Build one another up with these words." For both the builder and the learner help in this building up. Therefore he says, "But let each person be careful how he builds on it." But if these words were about faith, then what is being said would not make sense.

For in the faith, all should be equal, since there is one faith, as Ephesians 4:5 says. But in goodness of life, it is not possible for all to be the same. Faith is not less in one person and greater in another, but the same in all who truly believe. But in life, there is room for some to be more diligent and others more lazy; some more strict, and others more ordinary. Some may have done well in greater matters, and others in lesser ones.

The errors of some may have been more serious, and those of others less noticeable. For this reason he says, "Gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, straw. Every man's work shall be made clear." He means a person's conduct. That is what he is speaking about here. "If anyone's work remains, which he built on it, he shall receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss."

But if this statement were about disciples and teachers, then a teacher should not suffer loss because disciples refused to listen. And that is why he says, "Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor"—not according to the result, but according to the labor. For what if the hearers paid no attention? Therefore this passage also proves that he is speaking about actions.

Now this is what he means: If anyone lives a bad life while having right faith, his faith will not protect him from punishment, because his work is burned up. The words, "shall be burned up," mean that it will not stand up under the force of the fire. But suppose a man wearing gold armor passes through a river of fire. He comes out from crossing it even brighter. But if he passes through it with hay, far from gaining anything, he destroys himself as well.

In the same way, this is also true about people's works. For he does not say this as if he were speaking about material things being burned up. Rather, he says it to make their fear stronger, and to show how completely without defense the person is who remains in wickedness. Therefore he said, "He shall suffer loss." Look, here is one punishment. But "he himself shall be saved, but so as by fire." Look, here again is a second punishment.

And his meaning is that the man himself will not perish in the same way his works do, by passing into nothing, but he will remain in the fire.

6. But you may say, "He calls it salvation." That is why he adds, "yet so as through fire." We also say, "It is preserved in the fire," when we speak of materials that do not burn up at once and turn to ashes. So when you hear the word "fire," do not imagine that those who are burning are destroyed completely. And even if he calls such punishment "salvation," do not be surprised. It is his habit to use pleasing words for things that sound bad, and the opposite for good things.

For example, the word "captivity" seems to name something evil, but Paul uses it in a good sense when he says, "Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ," in 2 Corinthians 10:5. And again, he applies a good word to an evil thing when he says, "Sin reigned," in Romans 5:21. Surely the word "reigned" has a favorable sound. So here, when he says, "he shall be saved," he is only hinting indirectly at how severe the punishment is.

It is as if he had said, "But he himself will remain forever in punishment." Then he draws a conclusion, saying:

1 Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that you are the temple of God? In the section before this, he had spoken about those who were dividing the Church. So now he also turns to the man who had been guilty of uncleanness. He does not speak plainly about him yet, but speaks in a general way. In this way, he hints at the man's corrupt way of life and makes the sin seem even worse by reminding him of the gift that had already been given to him.

Then he also puts all the rest to shame, using these same blessings that they had already received. This is what he always does. He argues either from things to come or from things already past, whether to warn them sharply or to encourage them. First, from future things: "For the day shall declare it, because it is revealed by fire." Again, from things that have already happened: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?"

1 Corinthians 3:17

"If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him." Do you see the broad force of his words? However, as long as the person is not identified, what is said is not so offensive, because all of them share the fear of the rebuke among themselves.

God will destroy him; that is, He will cause him to perish. And this is not the statement of someone pronouncing a curse, but of someone prophesying.

For the temple of God is holy, but the person who has committed sexual immorality is defiled.

Then, so that he would not seem to direct all his serious concern to that one person when he said, "For the temple of God is holy," he adds, "which you are."

1 Corinthians 3:18

8. Let no one deceive himself. This also refers to that person, who thinks he is important and flatters himself because of his wisdom. But Paul did not want to seem to keep pressing him too long in what might look like a digression. So first he throws him into a kind of agony and hands him over to fear. Then he brings his message back to the common fault, saying, "If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise."

After this, he speaks with great boldness, because he has already beaten them down enough. And by that fear he has shaken the mind not only of that unclean person, but also of all the hearers. He measures very carefully how far his words should go. For what if a man is rich? What if he is noble? He is more worthless than all worthless people when he is taken captive by sin. For if a man were a king and enslaved to barbarians, he would be the most miserable of all men.

It is the same with sin, because sin is a barbarian. And once the soul has been taken captive by her, she does not know how to spare it, but rules like a tyrant, bringing ruin on all who let her in.

9. Nothing is as reckless as sin. Nothing is so senseless, so completely foolish, and so violent. Wherever it lands, it overturns, confuses, and destroys everything. It is ugly to look at, disgusting, and painful. And if a painter were to draw its picture, I think he would not be wrong to shape it like this: a woman with the form of a beast, savage, breathing flames, hideous, and black, like the Scyllas described by the pagan poets.

For with ten thousand hands, it seizes our thoughts, comes on unexpectedly, and tears everything to pieces, like those dogs that bite in secret.

But really, what need is there for a painter's art, when we should instead bring forward those who are made in the likeness of sin?

Whom then do you want us to portray first? The covetous and rapacious man? And what is more shameless than those eyes? What is more immodest, more like a greedy dog? For no dog keeps his ground with such shameless boldness as he does when he is grasping at all men's goods. What is more polluted than those hands? What is more audacious than that mouth, swallowing all down and not satisfied? No, do not look at the face and the eyes as being a man's. For such looks do not belong to the eyes of men.

He sees not men as men. He sees not heaven as heaven. He does not even lift up his head to the Lord. But in his account, all is money. The eyes of men are accustomed to look on poor persons in affliction and to be softened. But those of the rapacious man, at the sight of the poor, glare like wild beasts' eyes. The eyes of men do not behold other men's goods as if they were their own, but rather their own as others'.

And they do not covet the things given to others, but rather spend their own means on others. But these men are not content unless they take all men's property. For it is not a man's eye that they have, but a wild beast's. The eyes of men cannot bear to see even their own body stripped of clothing, for it is their own, though in person it belongs to others. But these men, unless they strip every one and store all men's property in their own home, are never cloyed.

Yes, rather, they never have enough. So one might say that their hands are not only wild beasts' hands, but even far more savage and cruel than these. For bears and wolves, when they are filled, stop their kind of eating. But these men know no satisfaction. And yet for this reason God made us hands: to help others, not to plot against them. And if we were to use them for that purpose, it would have been better for them to be cut off and for us to be left without them.

But you, if a wild beast tears a sheep, are grieved. Yet when you do the same to one of your own flesh and blood, do you think your deed is nothing atrocious? How then can you be a man? Do you not see that we call something humane when it is full of mercy and loving-kindness? But when a man does anything cruel or savage, we give such a one the name inhuman. You see then that the mark of man, as we portray him, is showing mercy.

The mark of a beast is the opposite, according to the common saying, "Why, is a man a wild beast, or a dog?" See 2 Kings 8:13. For men relieve poverty; they do not make it worse. Again, these men's mouths are the mouths of wild beasts. Yes, rather, these are the fiercer of the two. For the words also that they utter emit poison, more than the wild beasts' teeth, working slaughter.

And if one were to go through all the details, he would then clearly see how inhumanity turns those who practice it from men into beasts.

10. But if he were to examine the mind of people of that kind, he would no longer call them only beasts, but demons. First, they are full of great cruelty and hatred toward their fellow servant, Matthew 18:33. And there is in them neither love for the kingdom, nor fear of hell; no respect for people, no pity, no sympathy; but shamelessness, boldness, and contempt for all things to come. To them, God's words about punishment seem like a fable, and His threats seem like a joke.

For this is the mind of a covetous man. Since, then, inwardly they are demons, and outwardly wild beasts, yes, worse than wild beasts, where are we to place such people? That they are worse even than wild beasts is clear from this: wild beasts are what they are by nature. But these people, though by nature they have been given gentleness, struggle by force against nature to train themselves in savagery.

The demons also have schemers among men to help them, so that if they had no such help, most of their tricks against us would disappear. But these people, even when those whom they have treated spitefully are competing with them, still try to be more spiteful than they are. Again, the devil makes war against man, not against the demons of his own kind. But the person we are speaking of eagerly seeks in every way to harm his own relatives and family, and does not even respect nature.

I know that many people hate us because of these words. But I feel no hatred toward them. Instead, I pity them and grieve for those who are in this condition. Even if they chose to strike me, I would gladly endure it, if only they would stop this savage attitude. For not only I, but the prophet with me also, casts all such people out from the family of men, saying in Psalm 49:20, Septuagint, "A man being in honor has no understanding, but is like the senseless beasts."

So then, let us at last become truly human, and let us look up to heaven. Let us receive and recover what is according to His image, as Colossians 3:10 says, so that we may also obtain the blessings to come through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. With Him, to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and to the ages without end. Amen.

1 Corinthians 3:18-19

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this world, let him become a fool so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

As I said before, Paul had gone into the accusation against the sexually immoral man before the proper time. He had partly opened the matter in a few unclear words, and had made the man's conscience tremble. Then he quickly turns again to the fight against pagan wisdom and to his charges against those who were puffed up by it and were dividing the Church.

He does this so that, after adding what was left and completing the whole subject carefully, he might from then on let his tongue move with strong force against the unclean person, since what he had said before was only a first skirmish with him. For the words, "Let no man deceive himself," are mainly aimed at that man, and they put him down beforehand through fear. And the statement about the stubble also fits best as a hint about him.

So does the phrase, "Do you not know that you are the Temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?" For these two things are most able to draw us away from sin: when we keep in mind the punishment appointed for sin, and when we consider the greatness of our true dignity. So then, by bringing forward the hay and the stubble, he causes fear. But by speaking of the dignity of that noble birth that was theirs, he puts them to shame. By the first, he tries to correct the more insensitive kind;

by the second, the more thoughtful.

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks he is wise in this world, let him become a fool.

Just as he tells a person to become, in a sense, dead to the world—and this deadness does no harm at all, but instead brings benefit, since it becomes a cause of life—so also he tells him to become foolish to this world. By this, he introduces us to true wisdom. A person becomes a fool to the world when he disregards wisdom from outside and is convinced that it adds nothing to his understanding of the faith.

So then, just as poverty according to God is the cause of wealth, and humility is the cause of exaltation, and despising glory is the cause of glory, so also becoming a fool makes a person wiser than everyone else. For among us, everything works by opposites.

Further, why did he not say, "Let him put off wisdom," but instead, "Let him become a fool"? It was so he could most strongly speak against pagan learning. For saying, "Lay aside your wisdom," was not the same as saying, "Become a fool." Besides, he is also teaching people not to be ashamed of the lack of refinement among us, because he completely laughs at all pagan things.

And for the same reason, he is not afraid of these names, because he trusts in the power of the things he is speaking about.

Therefore, just as the Cross, though considered shameful, became the source of countless blessings, and the foundation and root of glory beyond words, so also what was thought to be foolishness became for us the cause of wisdom. For just as a person who has learned something bad will not know any sound truth with certainty unless he puts all of it away, makes his soul smooth and clear, and then offers it to the one who is going to write on it, so it is also with wisdom from outside the faith.

Unless you cast all of it out, sweep your mind clean, and, like one who does not know, give yourself over to the faith, you will understand nothing excellent accurately. For in the same way, people who see imperfectly will make far more mistakes than those who cannot see, if they refuse to close their eyes and trust themselves to others, and instead rely on their own defective sight.

But you will say, "How are people to put off this wisdom?" By not acting on what it teaches.

Then, since he had so strongly urged people to keep away from it, he adds the reason, saying, "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." For it not only gives no help, but even gets in the way. So we must keep away from it, because it does harm. Do you see how completely he takes the spoils of victory, after proving that, far from helping us at all, it is actually an opponent?

And he is not satisfied with his own arguments. He also brings in testimony again, saying, "For it is written, Job 5:13, He takes the wise in their own craftiness." By "craftiness," he means that their own weapons were used to defeat them. For since they used their wisdom to try to remove all need for God, God refuted them by that very wisdom and by nothing else. In this way He showed that they especially needed God. How, and by what method?

Because by it they became fools, and so, as was fitting, by it they were caught. For those who thought they did not need God were brought into such great difficulty that they appeared inferior to fishermen and uneducated people. And from that time on, they were unable to do without them. Therefore he says, "In their own craftiness He took them." For the statement, "I will destroy their wisdom," was spoken to show that it introduced nothing useful.

But this statement, "who takes the wise in their own craftiness," is meant to show the power of God.

Next, he also explains the way God took them, adding another testimony:

1 Corinthians 3:20

For, he says, "the Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain," Psalm 94:11. Now when Wisdom, which has no limits, declares this about them and says that this is what they are, what other proof do you want of their complete foolishness? It is true that human judgments often fail, but God's decision is beyond blame and free from corruption in every case.

So, after setting up such a splendid trophy of the judgment from above, he goes on to use a certain forceful style. He turns it against those under his ministry, beginning to speak like this:

1 Corinthians 3:21

Therefore, let no one boast about men, for all things are yours. He returns again to the earlier subject, showing that they should not be proud even about their spiritual gifts, because they have nothing from themselves. Since wisdom from outside the faith is harmful, and the spiritual gifts were not given by you, what do you have to boast about?

And about wisdom from outside the faith, he says, "Let no one deceive himself," because they were proud of something that actually did more harm than good. But here, since the thing he is speaking about was truly beneficial, he says, "Let no one glory." And he speaks more gently: "for all things are yours."

1 Corinthians 3:22-23.

"Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours; and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." Because he had spoken to them sharply, he comforts them again. Earlier he had said, "We are fellow workers with God," in 1 Corinthians 3:9, and he had calmed them with many other statements. So here too he says, "All things are yours." In this way he brings down the pride of the teachers.

He also shows that, far from giving any favor to the people, the teachers themselves ought to be thankful to the others. For it was for the people's sake that they became what they were, and, more than that, received grace. But since these people too were likely to boast, he cuts off this sickness beforehand.

So he says, "As God gave to every man," and, "God gave the increase," so that neither one group might be puffed up as if they were giving benefits, nor the others, when they hear again, "All things are yours," might become proud once more. For even if it was for your sake, the whole thing was God's doing. And I want you to notice how he has continued throughout, using examples in his own name and in Peter's name.

But what is death? It means that even if they die, they die for your sake, facing dangers for your salvation. Do you see how he again brings down the disciples’ pride and lifts up the spirit of the teachers? In fact, he speaks to them as to children of noble birth who have tutors and who are going to inherit everything.

We may also say, in another sense, that both Adam’s death was for our sake, so that we might be corrected, and Christ’s death was for our sake, so that we might be saved.

"And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." In one sense, we are Christ's. In another sense, Christ is God's. And in a third sense, the world is ours. For we are Christ's as His work. Christ is God's as a true Son, not as a work. In that sense, the world is not ours either. So even though the statement uses the same words, the meaning is different. For the world is ours as something made for our sake. But Christ is God's as One who has God as the source of His being, in that God is Father.

And we are Christ's as those who were formed by Him. Now if they are yours, he says, why have you done the exact opposite of this by calling yourselves by their name, and not by the name of Christ and God?

1 Corinthians 4:1

5. "Let a man think of us in this way: as ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." After he had humbled their pride, notice how he then encourages them again by saying, "as ministers of Christ." So then, do not let go of the Master and take your name from servants and ministers. "Stewards," he says, showing that we ought not to give these things to everyone, but to those to whom they are due, and to those to whom it is fitting for us to minister.

1 Corinthians 4:2

Moreover, what is required of stewards is that a person be found faithful. That means he must not take his master's goods for himself. He must not claim them as if he were the master, but manage them as a steward. A steward's duty is to manage well the things committed to his care. It is not to say that his master's things are his own, but rather that his own things are his master's. Let everyone think about these things, both the one who has power in speech and the one who has wealth.

Let him remember that he has been entrusted with a master's goods, and that they are not his own. Let him not keep them for himself, or count them as his own, but let him credit them to God, who gave them all. Do you want to see faithful stewards? Hear what Peter says: "Why do you look so earnestly at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?" Acts 3:12. He also says to Cornelius, "We also are men of like passions with you."

And to Christ Himself he says, "Look, we have left all, and followed You." Matthew 19:27. Paul also does no less. When he had said, "I labored more abundantly than they all," 1 Corinthians 15:10, he added, "Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." Elsewhere also, speaking strongly against the same kind of people, he said, "For what do you have that you did not receive?" 1 Corinthians 4:7.

For you have nothing of your own, not wealth, nor speech, nor life itself, for this too surely belongs to the Lord. Therefore, when necessity calls, you must lay down this also. But if you are devoted to life, and when you are commanded to lay it down you refuse, you are no longer a faithful steward.

And how is it possible to resist when God calls? Well, that is exactly what I say too. And for this reason I especially admire the loving-kindness of God: even in matters where He is able to take things from you against your will, He does not want you to offer them unwillingly, so that you may have a reward as well. For example, He can take away your life without your consent. But He wants this to happen with your consent, so that you may say with Paul, "I die daily," 1 Corinthians 15:31.

He can take away your honor without your consent and bring you low. But He wants this to come from your own free will, so that you may have a reward. He can make you poor even if you do not want it. But He wants you to become poor willingly, so that He may weave crowns for you. Do you see God's mercy toward man? Do you see our own brutal stupidity?

What if you have come to great dignity, and at some time obtained an office of church government? Do not be high-minded. You have not gained the glory, but God has put it on you. Therefore use it sparingly, as if it were another's. Do not abuse it, or use it for unsuitable things, or be puffed up, or claim it for yourself. But consider yourself poor and without glory.

For if you had been entrusted with a king's purple robe to keep, it would never have been fitting for you to misuse the robe and spoil it. Rather, you should keep it with greater care for the one who gave it. Have you been given utterance? Do not be puffed up. Do not be arrogant, for the gracious gift is not yours. Do not be grudging about your Master's goods, but distribute them among your fellow-servants.

And do not be lifted up by these things as if they were your own, nor be sparing in distributing them. Again, if you have children, they are God's, which you have. If you think this way, you will both be thankful for having them, and if you are bereft of them, you will not take it hard. Such was Job when he said, "The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away," Job 1:21.

For we have everything from Christ. We have our very existence through Him, and life, and breath, and light, and air, and earth. If He were to shut us out from even one of these, we would be lost and ruined. For 1 Peter 2:11 says that we are strangers and pilgrims. So all this talk about "mine" and "yours" is only empty words, and does not match reality. For if you only say that the house is yours, that is a word without a real thing behind it.

The air, the earth, and the material are the Creator's. And you yourself, who built it, are His also, and so is everything else. But even if its use were yours, even that is uncertain, not only because of death, but even before death, because things are so unstable.

So then, if we keep these things before our minds, let us live disciplined lives. Then we will gain two of the greatest benefits. First, we will be thankful both when we have things and when we lose them. And we will not become slaves to things that pass away and do not really belong to us. For if it is wealth that He takes, He has taken only what is His own. If it is honor, or glory, or the body, or even life itself, it is the same.

Even if He takes away your son, it is not your son that He has taken, but His own servant. For you did not form him; He made him. You only served in his coming into being. The whole work was God's. Therefore let us give thanks that we have been counted worthy to serve Him in this matter. But what? Would you have wanted him to remain forever? This again shows that you are resentful, and ignorant that the child you had was another's child, not your own.

So, those who part with such things calmly understand that they have what was not theirs. But whoever gives way to grief is really treating the King's property as his own. For if we are not our own, how can they be ours? And I mean we ourselves. For in two ways we belong to Him: because of our creation, and also because of the faith. Therefore David says, "My substance is with You," Psalm 139:14. And Paul also says, "For in Him we live and move and have our being," Acts 17:28.

And using the argument from faith, he says, "You are not your own, and you were bought with a price," 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. For all things are God's. So when He calls for them and chooses to take them, let us not, like unwilling servants, run away from the accounting, or steal our Master's goods. Your soul is not yours; so how can your wealth be yours? Then how is it that you spend on unnecessary things what is not yours?

Do you not know that we will soon be brought to trial for this, that is, if we have used these things badly? But since they are not ours but our Master's, it is right to spend them on our fellow servants. It is worth thinking about this: this was the charge brought against that rich man, and also against those who had not given food to the Lord. Luke 14:21. Matthew 25:42.

Do not say then, "I am only spending what is my own, and I live in luxury from what is my own." It is not your own, but other men's. I say other men's, because such is your own choice. For God's will is that those things should be yours which have been entrusted to you on behalf of your brothers. Now the things that are not your own become yours, if you spend them on others. But if you spend on yourself without restraint, your own things become no longer yours.

For since you use them cruelly, and say, "It is fair that my own things should be spent completely on my own enjoyment," therefore I do not call them your own. For they are common to you and your fellow-servants, just as the sun is common, and the air, and the earth, and all the rest. For as in the case of the body, each service belongs both to the whole body and to each individual member. But when it is applied to one single member only, it destroys the proper function of that very member.

So also it happens in the case of wealth. And so that what I say may be made clearer: the food of the body, which is given in common to the members, if it should pass into one member only, in the end it turns out alien even to that member. For when it cannot be digested or give nourishment, then even to that part, I say, it turns out alien. But if it is made common, both that part and all the rest have it as their own.

It is the same with wealth. If you enjoy it by yourself alone, you too have lost it, because you will not receive its reward. But if you share it with everyone else, then it will be more truly your own, and then you will receive its benefit. Do you not see that the hands serve, the mouth softens the food, and the stomach receives it? Does the stomach say, "Since I have received it, I ought to keep it all"? Then please do not speak this way about riches.

For it belongs to the one who receives to share. So then, just as it is a sickness in the stomach to keep the food and not distribute it, because this harms the whole body, so it is a fault in the rich to keep to themselves what they have. For this destroys both themselves and others. Again, the eye receives all the light, but it does not keep it only for itself. It gives light to the whole body. For as long as it is an eye, it is not its nature to keep the light for itself.

Again, the nostrils smell perfume, but they do not keep it all for themselves. They pass it on to the brain, they affect the stomach with a sweet fragrance, and through them the whole person is refreshed. The feet alone walk, but they do not move only themselves. They carry the whole body also. In the same way, whatever has been entrusted to you, do not keep it only for yourself, since you are harming the whole body, and yourself most of all.

This can be seen not only in the case of the body's limbs. A blacksmith too, if he chose not to share his skill with anyone, would ruin both himself and all the other crafts. In the same way, the shoemaker, the farmer, the baker, and everyone who follows any necessary trade, if he chose not to share the results of his work with anyone, would ruin not only others but himself along with them.

And why do I speak only of the rich? The poor too, if they followed the wicked example of you who are greedy and rich, would harm you very greatly and would soon make you poor. Or rather, they would completely ruin you if, in your need, they were unwilling to share what is theirs: the farmer, for example, the labor of his hands; the sailor, the profit from his voyages; and the soldier, the honor he won in wars.

Therefore, if nothing else can, then let at least this make you ashamed, and make you imitate their kindness. Do you share none of your wealth with anyone? Then you should not receive anything from another. In that case, the world would be turned upside down. For in everything, giving and receiving is the source of many blessings: in seeds, in students, and in skills. For if anyone wants to keep his skill to himself, he ruins both himself and the whole order of things.

And if the farmer buries the seeds and keeps them in his house, he will cause a terrible famine. In the same way, the rich man, if he acts like this with his wealth, will destroy himself even before the poor, piling up the fire of hell more heavily on his own head.

Therefore, just as teachers share some of what they know with each of their students, let your possessions be used in the same way. Let there be many people to whom you have done good. And let everyone say, "This person rescued one man from poverty, another from dangers. That man would have died if he had not, next to the grace of God, received this man's help.

He cured this man's sickness, freed another from a false accusation, welcomed in another who was a stranger, and clothed another who was naked." Wealth that never runs out, and many treasures, are not as good as words like these. They draw the eyes of all people more strongly than your gold clothing, horses, and slaves. For those things make a man seem even hateful. They make him hated like a common enemy. But these other things declare him to be a common father and benefactor.

And what is greatest of all, favor from God follows you in every part of what you do. What I mean is this: let one man say, "He helped provide a marriage portion for my daughter." Let another say, "He gave my son the means to take his place among men." Let another say, "He put an end to my suffering." Let another say, "He delivered me from dangers." Words like these are better than golden crowns: for a man to have countless people in his city proclaiming his kindness.

Voices like these are far more pleasant and sweeter than the voices of heralds walking before the rulers: to be called savior, benefactor, and defender, which are the very names of God, and not greedy, proud, never satisfied, and small-minded. Let us not, I beg you, let us not desire any of those evil titles, but the opposite instead.

For if these words, spoken on earth, make a person so splendid and honored, then when they are written in heaven, and God proclaims them on the coming day, think what honor and splendor you will enjoy. May it be granted to all of us to obtain this, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. With whom, to the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always and to the everlasting ages. Amen.

1 Corinthians 4:3-5

But it is a very small thing to me if I am judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this. The one who judges me is the Lord.

Along with all our other troubles, I do not know how, a sickness has come upon human nature: a restless habit of prying into things and curiosity at the wrong time. Christ Himself corrected this when He said, in Matthew 7:1, "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged." This is the kind of thing that gives no pleasure, as other sins do, but brings only punishment and vengeance.

For even though we ourselves are full of countless evils, and carry beams in our own eyes, we become exact investigators of our neighbor's faults, even when they are no bigger than specks. And this is what was happening at Corinth. Devout men, dear to God, were mocked and cast aside because they lacked learning, while others, overflowing with countless evils, were highly regarded because they spoke well.

Then, like people sitting in public to judge cases, they kept carelessly giving this kind of verdict: "Such a person is worthy. Such a person is better than another. This man is inferior to that one. That one is better than this one." And instead of mourning over their own evil ways, they had become judges of others. In this way they were again stirring up serious conflict.

Notice, then, how wisely Paul corrects them and removes this sickness. He had said, "Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful." But that could seem as if he were giving them an opportunity to judge and closely examine each person's life, and that was making their party spirit worse.

So, to keep that from happening to them, he leads them away from that kind of petty arguing and says, "With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you," again continuing the discussion in his own person.

2. But what does this mean: "With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man's day?" He says, "I count myself unworthy to be judged by you." And why do I say, "by you"? I will add, "by anyone else" as well. However, let no one condemn Paul for arrogance, though he says that no man is worthy to pass sentence concerning him. For first, he says these things not for his own sake, but because he wants to rescue others from the blame they had incurred from the Corinthians.

And next, he does not limit the matter to the Corinthians only, but he also removes himself from this right of judging, saying that to decide such things was beyond his own judgment. Indeed, he adds, "I do not judge my own self."

But besides what has been said, we must search out the reason these words were spoken. For he knew well, in many cases, how to speak with a lofty spirit. And he did this not from pride or arrogance, but from a certain excellent divine arrangement. In the present case also, he says this not to lift up himself, but to take down other men's sails, and because he earnestly seeks to invest the saints with due honor.

For proof that he was one of the very humble, hear what he says, bringing forward the testimony of his enemies on this point: "His bodily presence is weak, and his speech is of no account," 2 Corinthians 10:10. And again, "Last of all, as to one born out of due time, He appeared to me also," 1 Corinthians 15:8. Nevertheless, see this humble man. When the time called for it, see to what a height he raises the spirit of the disciples. He is not teaching pride, but instilling a wholesome courage.

For while speaking to these same people he says, "And if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?" 1 Corinthians 6:2. For just as the Christian ought to be far removed from arrogance, so also from flattery and a mean spirit. So, if anyone says, "I count money as nothing, but all things here are to me like a shadow, and a dream, and child's play," we are not at all to accuse him of arrogance.

Since in this way we would have to accuse Solomon himself of arrogance, for speaking austerely on these things when he says, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," Ecclesiastes 1:2. But God forbid that we should call the strict rule of life by the name of arrogance. Therefore, to despise these things is not haughtiness, but greatness of soul, although we see kings, rulers, and potentates making much of them. But many a poor man, living a strict life, despises them.

And we should not therefore call him arrogant, but high-minded. Just so, on the other hand, if anyone is extremely addicted to them, we do not call him lowly of heart and moderate, but weak, poor-spirited, and ignoble. For if a son should despise the pursuits that become his father and choose slavish ways, we would not praise him as lowly of heart, but rebuke him as base and servile.

What we should admire in him would be his despising those meaner things and making much account of what came to him from his father. For this is arrogance: to think oneself better than one's fellow-servants. But to pass the true sentence on things does not come from boasting, but from strictness of life.

For this reason Paul also said, not to lift himself up, but to humble others, to restrain those who were rising above their proper place, and to persuade them to be modest, “With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man’s day.” Notice how he also calms the other side. For when someone is told that he looks down on everyone alike, and does not consider anyone worthy to judge him, he will no longer feel hurt, as if he alone were being excluded.

For if Paul had said only, “by you,” and stopped there, that alone would have been enough to irritate them, as though they had been treated with contempt. But now, by adding, “or by man’s day,” he softened the blow by giving them others to share in the slight. More than that, he softens this point again by saying, “I do not even judge myself.” Notice the wording, and how completely free it is from pride. For he says that not even he himself is capable of such exact judgment.

Then, because this statement also seemed like the words of someone greatly praising himself, he corrects this too by saying, "Yet I am not hereby justified." What then? Should we not judge ourselves and our own wrong actions? Yes, certainly. There is a great need to do this when we sin. But Paul did not say this. "For I know nothing against myself," he says. What wrong action, then, was he to judge, when he knew nothing against himself? Yet, he says, he was not justified.

1 Corinthians 6:3 We, then, whose conscience is filled with ten thousand wounds, and who are aware in ourselves of nothing good, but quite the opposite—what can we say?

And how could it be that, even if he knew nothing against himself, he was still not justified? It was because he might have committed certain sins without knowing that they were sins. From this, understand how great the strictness of the future judgment will be. You see, he does not say this because he thinks himself blameless, as if that were why it was so improper for them to judge him. Rather, he says it to shut the mouths of those who were judging so unreasonably.

In another place, even when people's sins are obvious, he still does not allow others to judge, because the situation required it. For he says, "Why do you judge your brother?" Romans 14:10. Or, "You, why do you treat your brother with contempt?" For you were not commanded, O man, to judge others, but to examine your own actions. Why then do you take the Lord's office for yourself? Judgment belongs to Him, not to you.

To support this, he adds, "Therefore judge nothing before the proper time, until the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make known the plans of the hearts. Then each person will receive praise from God." What then? Is it not right for our teachers to do this? It is right in cases of open and admitted sins, and even then it should be done at the proper time, with sorrow and inward distress, not as these people were acting at that time, out of pride and arrogance.

For even here he is not speaking about sins that everyone agrees are sins. He is speaking about preferring one person over another and making comparisons between different ways of life. For He alone knows how to judge these things accurately. He is the one who will judge our secret actions, and decide which of them deserve greater punishment or honor, and which deserve less. But we do all this based on what we can see.

For if, in my own faults, he says, I know nothing clearly, how can I be fit to pass judgment on other people? And how can I, if I do not know my own case accurately, be able to judge the condition of others? Now if Paul felt this way, much more should we. For he said these things not to present himself as without fault, but to show that even if there were someone among them like that, free from transgression, not even that person would be fit to judge the lives of others.

And if he, though aware of nothing against himself, does not declare himself guilty, much more should they not do so, since they are aware of countless sins in themselves.

4. You see that after he had silenced those who make such judgments, he next speaks with intense emotion, ready to break out against the unclean person. It is like a storm that is about to come. First, dark clouds run ahead of it. Then the thunder crashes and turns the whole sky into one black cloud. After that, the rain suddenly pours down on the earth. The same thing happened here. Although he could have dealt with the fornicator in deep anger, he does not do that.

Instead, he first uses fearful words to hold down the man's swelling pride. For what had happened was really a double sin: fornication, and something even worse than fornication, not grieving over the sin that had been committed. For he grieves not so much over the sin as over the man who committed it and had not yet repented.

So he says, "I shall bewail many of those," not simply those who have sinned before now, but, as he adds, "those who have not repented of the uncleanness and impurity which they practiced." 2 Corinthians 12:21 For the person who has sinned and then practiced repentance is worthy, not of grief, but of congratulations, because he has crossed over into the company of the righteous. For Isaiah 43:26 says, "Declare your iniquities first, that you may be justified."

But if someone sins and then has no shame, he is not so much to be pitied for falling as for lying where he has fallen.

If it is a serious sin not to repent after committing sins, then what kind of punishment does a person deserve for being proud because of those sins? For if the person who is proud of his good deeds is unclean, what pardon will the one receive who feels that way about his sins?

Since the man guilty of sexual sin was like this, and by his sin had made his mind stubborn and unyielding, Paul naturally begins by bringing down his pride. He does not state the charge against him first, because he fears that this would make him more stubborn, since he would be singled out for accusation in front of everyone else. But he also does not leave it for later, in case the man should think that what was said about him was only incidental.

Instead, after first stirring up great fear in him by speaking plainly to the others, then—and not before then—he turns to him. In the course of rebuking the others, he gives the man's stubbornness a share of the rebuke beforehand.

For these same words, namely, "I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this," and, "He who judges me is the Lord, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make known the purposes of the hearts," do not look only at that person in a shallow way, but also at those who join with him and despise the saints. For what, he says, if some outwardly appear to be virtuous and admirable people?

He, the Judge, does not judge only by outward things, but also brings every secret thing to light.

5. You see that correct judgment does not belong to us for two reasons, or rather for three. First, even if we are not aware of anything against ourselves, we still need someone to expose our sins strictly. Second, most of the things that are done escape our notice and are hidden. Third, many things done by others seem good to us, but they do not come from a right mind. Why then do you say that this person or that person has committed no sin?

Why do you say that one person is better than another? We are not to make that judgment, not even about someone who knows nothing against himself. For the One who discerns secrets is the One who judges with certainty. Look, for example, at me. I know nothing against myself. Yet even so, I am not justified. That is, I am not free from having to give an account, nor from answering charges. For he does not mean, "I am not counted among the righteous," but, "I am not free from sin."

For elsewhere he also says in Romans 6:7, "He that has died is justified from sin," that is, is liberated.

Again, we do many things that are good, but not with a right mind. For example, we praise many people, not because we want to honor them, but to hurt others by using them. So the deed itself is right, because the person who did well is praised. But the intention is corrupt, because it is done with a satanic purpose. For a person has often done this, not because he rejoiced with his brother, but because he wanted to wound the other person.

Again, a man has made a serious mistake. Another person, wanting to push him aside, says that he has done nothing wrong, and so, of course, comforts him in his error by appealing to the common weakness of human nature. But often he does this, not because he wants to sympathize, but to make him more comfortable in his faults.

Again, a person often rebukes someone not so much to correct and warn him, as to publicly display and exaggerate his neighbor's sin. But other people do not know our motives. Romans 8:27 says that He who searches hearts knows them perfectly, and at that time He will bring all such things to light. Therefore he says, "who will bring to light the secret things of darkness and make known the counsels of the hearts."

6. So then, even when we know nothing against ourselves, we still may not be free from accusation. And even when we do something good, if we do not do it with a right mind, we are still liable to punishment. Consider, then, how greatly people are mistaken in their judgments. For none of these matters can be fully known by human beings, but only by the ever-watchful Eye. And though we may deceive people, our clever arguments will never succeed against Him.

Do not say, "Darkness is around me, and walls; who sees me?" For He who formed our hearts by Himself knows all things. Psalm 139:12. For darkness is not darkness to Him. Yet the one who is committing sin rightly says, "Darkness is around me, and walls," because if there were not darkness in his mind, he would not have cast out the fear of God and acted as he pleased. For unless the ruling part of the soul is first darkened, it is impossible for sin to enter without fear.

Do not say, then, "Who sees me?" For there is One who, according to Hebrews 4:12, pierces even to soul and spirit, joints and marrow. But you do not see yourself, nor can you pierce the cloud. Instead, it is as if a wall surrounds you on every side, and you have no power to look up to heaven.

Whatever sin you choose, let us examine it first, and you will see that this is how it is produced. For just as robbers, and those who dig through walls when they want to steal something valuable, put out the lamp and then do their work, so a person's corrupt reasoning also works when he is committing sin. For there is certainly in us a light also, the light of reason, always burning.

But if the spirit of wickedness rushes in eagerly with its strong blast and puts out that flame, it immediately darkens the soul, gains power over it, and at once strips it of everything stored up in it. For when the soul is taken captive by unclean desire, that desire, like a cloud or mist over the eyes of the body, blocks the foresight of the mind and allows it to see nothing far off, neither a cliff, nor hell, nor fear.

But from there on, with that deception ruling over him like a tyrant, he becomes easily conquered by sin. And there rises up before his eyes, as it were, a wall without windows, which does not allow the ray of righteousness to shine into the mind, because the senseless thoughts of lust surround it like a fortress on every side. And from that time forward the immoral woman meets him everywhere, standing before his eyes, before his mind, and before his thoughts.

And just as the blind, although they stand at noon under the very center of the sky, do not receive the light because their eyes are tightly shut, so these people also, though countless teachings of salvation sound in their ears from every direction, have their soul already occupied by this passion and stop their ears against such words. Those who have tested this know it well. But may God forbid that you should know it from actual experience.

7. And not only this sin has these effects, but every misdirected desire as well. For if you wish, let us shift the argument from the immoral woman to money, and we will see the same thick and unbroken darkness here also. In the first case, since the loved object is one person and kept in one place, the feeling is not so violent.

But in the case of money, which shows itself everywhere—in silversmiths' shops, in taverns, in places where gold is worked, and in the houses of the rich—the passion blows like a fierce storm. For when the person who has this sickness sees servants strutting in the marketplace, horses with golden trappings, and men dressed in expensive clothes, the darkness that surrounds him becomes intense. And why speak only of houses and silversmiths' shops?

I think such people are shaken, become wild, and rave, even if they see wealth only in a picture or image. So darkness gathers around them from every side. And if they happen to see a portrait of a king, they do not admire the beauty of the precious stones, or the gold, or the purple robe. Instead, they waste away with longing.

And just as the miserable lover mentioned earlier, even if he sees only an image of the woman he loves, clings to that lifeless thing, so this man also, when he sees a lifeless image of wealth, is affected even more strongly in the same way, because he is held by a more tyrannical passion. From now on, he must either stay at home, or, if he dares to go into the Forum, return home with countless wounds. For many things there hurt his eyes.

And just as the first man sees nothing except the woman, so the second hurries past poor people and everything else, so that he may not gain even the slightest relief. But he fixes his eyes steadily on the rich, and by looking at them he brings the fire into his own soul powerfully and violently. For it is a fire that miserably devours the person who falls into it. And even if no hell were threatened, and no punishment either, this condition itself would be punishment:

to be continually tormented and never able to find an end to the sickness.

Well then, these things alone should be enough to persuade us to run from this sickness. But there is no greater evil than thoughtlessness. It makes people cling to things that bring sorrow to the heart and no benefit. Therefore, I urge you to cut off this passion at the beginning. For when a fever first comes on, it does not at once burn the sick person with violent thirst. But as it grows and its heat increases, it then causes a thirst that cannot be cured.

And even if someone lets the sick person drink as much as he wants, it does not put out the burning fever, but makes it burn even more fiercely. The same thing happens with this passion. Unless we stop it and shut the doors when it first attacks our soul, once it gets in, it makes the disease of those who have admitted it incurable. For both good things and bad things become stronger the longer they remain in us.

And the same thing can be seen in all other matters too. A plant that was only recently set in the ground is easy to pull up. But it is not easy once it has been rooted for a long time. Then great strength with a lever is needed. A building that has just been put together is easily thrown down by those who push against it. But once it is firmly fixed, it gives great trouble to those who try to pull it down.

And a wild animal that has made its usual home in certain places for a long time is driven away only with difficulty.

So I urge those who are not yet controlled by this passion not to let themselves be captured by it. It is easier to guard against falling into it than, after falling, to escape from it.

But to those who have been seized by this disease and crushed by it, if they are willing to place themselves in the hands of the Word (Logos), who heals, I promise great hope of salvation by the grace of God. For if they will think about those who suffered from this sickness, fell into it, and then recovered, they will have good hope that the disease can be removed. Who, then, ever fell into this disease and was quickly freed from it? The well-known Zacchaeus.

For who could love money more than a tax collector? But all at once he became a man of strict self-control, and put out all that flame. Matthew was the same way, for he too was a tax collector, living in constant robbery. But he also, all at once, threw off this evil, quenched his thirst, and pursued spiritual gain. Therefore, when you think about these men, and others like them, do not despair, even you. For if you are willing, you will quickly be able to recover.

And if you wish, following the method of physicians, we will prescribe exactly what you should do.

So then, before everything else, it is necessary to be right about this: we must never lose heart or despair of our salvation. Next, we must look not only at the examples of those who did well, but also at the sufferings of those who continued in sin. For just as we have considered Zacchæus and Matthew, so we should also consider Judas, and Gehazi, and Ahar, and Ahab, and Ananias, and Sapphira.

Then, by the first examples, we may drive out all despair, and by the others cut off all laziness, so that the soul may not become careless about the remedies offered. And let us teach them to say for themselves what the Jews said on that day when they came to Peter: "What must we do to be saved?" Acts 2:37; compare Acts 16:30. And let them hear what they must do.

10. What, then, must we do? We must understand how worthless these things are, and that wealth is a runaway slave, cruel, and full of countless troubles for those who possess it. We should keep saying words like these in their ears again and again, like charms. Doctors calm their patients when they ask for cold water by saying they will give it, making excuses about the spring, the cup, the right time, and many other such things. If they refuse at once, they drive them into wild frenzy.

In the same way, we should act toward lovers of money. When they say, "We want to be rich," let us not say at once that wealth is an evil thing. Instead, let us agree, and say that we also want it, but at the right time. Yes, true wealth. Yes, wealth that brings lasting pleasure. Yes, wealth that is stored up for yourself and not for others, who are often our enemies. Let us bring in the teachings of true wisdom and say, "We do not forbid riches, but riches wrongly gained."

For it is lawful to be rich, but not with greed, not by robbery and violence, and not with a bad name among all people. With these arguments let us first calm them, and not yet speak about hell. For the sick man cannot yet bear such words. Therefore let us take all our arguments about these matters from this present world, and say, "Why do you choose to be rich by greed? So that the gold and silver may be stored up for others, while for you there are countless curses and accusations?

So that the man you have cheated may be pierced by the lack of life's necessities, and may weep over his misery, and bring down on you the blame of thousands? So that, when evening falls, he may go through the marketplace, meeting everyone in the narrow streets, in complete confusion, not even knowing what he can depend on for that one night?"

For how can he sleep at all, with the pains of hunger in his stomach, with unrelenting starvation pressing on him, often while the weather is freezing and the rain is falling on him? And while you, after washing, return home from the bath, warm in soft clothing, cheerful and rejoicing, hurrying to a rich and costly dinner, he is driven all through the marketplace by cold and hunger. He goes around bent low and stretching out his hands.

He does not even have enough courage, without trembling, to ask for the food he needs from someone so well fed and so set on comfort. No, he often has to go away insulted. So when you have come home, when you lie down on your couch, when the lights around your house shine brightly, when the table is ready and full, then remember that poor, miserable man wandering about in the dark and mud, like the dogs in the alleys.

Unless, as often happens, he has to leave from there not to a house, or wife, or bed, but to a mat of straw, just as we see the dogs barking through the whole night. And you, if you see only a small drop falling from the roof, throw the whole house into confusion, calling your slaves and upsetting everything. But he, lying in rags and straw and dirt, has to endure all the cold.

What wild beast would not be softened by these things? Who is so savage and inhuman that these things would not make him gentle? And yet there are some who have reached such a level of cruelty that they even say these people deserve what they suffer. Yes, when they ought to pity them, and weep, and help lessen people's troubles, they instead judge them with savage and inhuman condemnation. I would gladly ask these people, Tell me, why do they deserve what they suffer?

Is it because they wanted to be fed and not starve?

No, you will reply, but it is because they want to be fed while doing nothing. But do you not also live in lazy self-indulgence? What am I saying? Are you not often working at something more burdensome than idleness itself—grasping, oppressing, and coveting? It would be better if you too were idle in this way, for it is better to be idle like this than to be covetous. But as it is, you even trample on the sufferings of others.

You are not only idle, and not only busy with something worse than idleness, but you also speak evil of those who spend their days in misery.

And let us also tell them about the disasters that have happened to other people: early deaths, people living in prison, people torn to pieces before the courts, and people trembling for their lives; the unexpected widowhood of women, and the sudden downfall of the rich. In this way, let us soften their minds. For by telling stories about others, we will certainly lead them to fear these same evils in their own case too.

For when they hear that the son of a certain man who was greedy and grasping, or the wife of a certain man who did many tyrannical deeds, suffered endless troubles after her husband's death, with the injured people attacking the wife and children, and a general war being stirred up from every side against his house, then even if a man is the most senseless of all beings, he will still expect that he himself may suffer the same things.

And because he fears that his own family may suffer the same fate, he will become more moderate. Now we find that life is full of many such stories, and we will not lack remedies of this kind.

But when we say these things, let us not say them as if we are giving advice or counsel, so that our talk does not become too annoying. Instead, in the natural flow of the conversation, and by connecting them with something else, let us move each time to this kind of discussion. And let us keep bringing up stories like these, allowing them to speak about no subject except the following: how a certain man's splendid and famous house fell down;

how it has become so completely deserted that everything in it has passed into the hands of others; how many troubles have happened every day over this same property, and what an uproar there has been; how many of that man's relations have died either as beggars or as inhabitants of a prison.

Let us say all these things as people who pity the dead, and as people who speak lightly of present things, so that by fear and pity we may soften a cruel mind. And when we see people draw back within themselves at these accounts, then, and not before, let us also bring to their attention the teaching about hell. We should do this not to terrify them, but out of compassion for others. And let us say, "But why speak of present things? For our concern will be far from ending with these.

An even more painful punishment awaits all such people: a river of fire, a poisonous worm, endless darkness, and never-dying torments." If by such words we succeed in casting a spell over them, we will correct both ourselves and them, and quickly overcome our weakness.

And on that day, we will have God praising us, just as Paul also says: "And then each person will have praise from God." For the praise that comes from people is both short-lived, and sometimes it comes from bad motives. But the praise that comes from God remains forever and shines clearly. For when He who knew all things before they were created, and who is free from all passion, gives praise, then the proof of our virtue is beyond question.

Therefore, knowing these things, let us live in a way that brings us praise from God and helps us receive the greatest blessings. May God grant that all of us may obtain these blessings, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. With him, to the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and through all the ages of eternity. Amen.

1 Corinthians 4:6

Now, brothers, I have in a figure transferred these things to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you might learn not to think of men above what is written.

As long as there was need for words as harsh as these, he held back from drawing aside the curtain. He went on arguing as if he himself were the person being addressed. He did this so that the dignity of the persons being censured might not work against those who censured them, and so that no room would be left for bursting out in wrath at the charges.

But when the time came for a gentler process, then he strips it off, removes the mask, and shows the persons hidden under the name of Paul and Apollos. For this reason he said, "These things, brothers, I have transferred in a figure to myself and Apollos."

It is like what happens with sick children. When a child is unwell, he may kick and turn away from the food the doctors offer. Then the attendants call the father or the tutor, and tell them to take the food from the doctor's hands and bring it to the child, so that out of fear for them he may take it and become calm. In the same way, Paul wanted to correct them concerning certain other people. He thought that some had been wronged, while others had been honored too much.

So he did not mention those persons directly. Instead, he carried on the argument in his own name and in the name of Apollos, so that by respecting them, they might accept his way of healing them. But once they had accepted it, he immediately made known on whose behalf he had been speaking in this way.

Now this was not hypocrisy, but condescension and tact. For if he had said openly, "As for you, the men you are judging are saints and worthy of all admiration," they might have taken it badly and pulled away. But as it is, by saying, "But to me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you," and again, "Who is Paul, and who is Apollos?" he made his words easier for them to receive.

If you notice this, it is the reason he says here, "I have transferred these things in a figure to myself for your sake, so that in us you may learn not to be wise beyond what is written." He means that if he had applied his argument directly to them, they would not have learned everything they needed to learn, and they would not have accepted the correction, because they would have been upset by what was said. But as it was, because they respected Paul, they accepted the rebuke well.

But what does it mean, not to be wise above what is written? It is written in Matthew 7:3, "Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the beam in your own eye?" And, "Do not judge, so that you will not be judged." For if we are one and are joined to each other, we should not rise up against one another. For, he says, "He who humbles himself will be exalted."

And in Matthew 20:26-27 and Mark 10:43, though not word for word, "Whoever wants to be first of all, let him be the servant of all." These are the things that are written.

So that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one person against another. Again, after setting aside the teachers, he rebukes the disciples. For they were the ones who made the former proud.

Besides this, the leaders would not calmly accept that kind of speech because they desired outward glory. They were even blinded by that passion. But the disciples were not seeking the fruits of glory for themselves. Instead, they were gaining it for others. So they would both endure the rebuke more calmly, and they had more power than the leading men to destroy the disease.

So then, this too seems to be a sign of being puffed up: being lifted up because of someone else, even when a person does not feel that way about what is his own. For just as someone who is proud of another person's wealth is acting out of arrogance, so it is also with another person's glory.

He was right to call it being puffed up. When one part of the body rises above the rest, it is nothing but inflammation and disease. One part does not become higher than another in any other way than by swelling. In our language, we call it proud flesh. It is the same in the body of the Church. Whoever is inflamed and puffed up must be the sick one, because he is swollen beyond the measure of the rest. This lack of proper proportion is what we mean by swelling.

And this happens in the body when some false and harmful fluid collects in it instead of its usual nourishment. In the same way, arrogance is born when thoughts come over us that we have no right to have. Notice also how exact his words are when he says, "do not be puffed up." What is puffed up has a kind of swelling in the spirit because it is filled with corrupt fluid.

However, he says these things not to forbid all kindness, but the kind of kindness that leads to harm. Do you want to attend to this person or that person? I do not forbid it. But do not do it in a way that injures someone else. Teachers were not given to us so that we might line ourselves up against one another, but so that we might all be joined together. In the same way, a general is placed over an army for this purpose: to make one body out of those who are separate.

But if he is going to split up the army, he stands in the place of an enemy rather than a general.

1 Corinthians 4:7

3. For who makes you different from anyone else? And what do you have that you did not receive?

From this point on, setting aside those who are governed, he turns to the rulers. What he says amounts to this: How is it clear that you deserve praise? Why, has any judgment been made? Has any inquiry been carried out? Any trial? Any careful testing? No, you cannot say that. And if people do cast their votes, their judgment is not fair. But let us suppose that you really are worthy of praise, and truly have the gracious gift, and that human judgment is not corrupt.

Yet even then it would not be right to be proud, for you have nothing from yourself, but have received it from God. Why then do you act as if you have what you did not receive? You will say that you do have it, and others have it along with you. Well then, you have it by receiving it—not only this thing or that, but absolutely everything you have.

These excellent things do not belong to you, but to the grace of God. If you speak of faith, it came from His calling. Or if you speak of the forgiveness of sins, or spiritual gifts, or the word of teaching, or miracles, you received all of them from there. Now tell me, what do you have that you did not receive, instead of gaining it by yourself? You have nothing to say. Very well, you have received it. And does that make you proud? No. It ought to make you draw back into yourself in humility.

For what has been given is not yours, but the giver's. What if you received it? You received it from Him. And if you received it from Him, then what you received was not yours. And if you only received what was not your own, why are you lifted up as if you had something of your own? Therefore he also added, "Now if you received it, why do you glory, as if you had not received it?"

So then, as you can see, he has supported his argument by making a concession. In this way, he shows that they have shortcomings, and not just a few. He says, first of all, that even if you had received everything, it would not be right to boast, because nothing is your own. But as things really are, there are many things that you lack.

At the beginning he only hinted at this when he said, "I could not speak to you as to spiritual people," and, "I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." But here he says it in a way meant to shame them, saying,

1 Corinthians 4:8

Already you are full, already you are rich. That is, you think you need nothing from now on. You have become perfect. You have reached the very highest point. You stand there, as you think, needing no one at all, whether apostles or teachers.

Already you are full. And he rightly says, "already," showing by the time itself how unbelievable their claims were and how unreasonable their opinion of themselves was. So he said this to them in mockery: "Have you come to the end so quickly?" That was impossible at that time, because the greater and more complete things are still waiting far in the future. But to be satisfied with a little shows a weak soul, and from a little to think oneself rich shows a sick and miserable soul.

For piety is something that can never be satisfied. And it shows a childish mind to imagine, from only the first beginnings, that you have gained the whole. It is also childish for people who are not yet even at the introduction of a matter to be proud, as if they had already reached the end.

Then, by what he says next, he shames them even more. After saying, "Already you are full," he adds, "You have become rich. You have reigned without us. Yes, and I wish to God that you really did reign, so that we also might reign with you." This statement is very severe. That is why he puts it last, after bringing such a great amount of reproof. For our correction is respected and more easily accepted when, after our accusations, we add words that humble ourselves.

For this is enough to restrain even a shameless soul and pierce it more sharply than a direct accusation. It also corrects the bitterness and hard feeling that might rise from the charge that was made. For it is certain that, more than anything else, this is the admirable quality of arguments that appeal to our sense of shame: they have two opposite advantages. On the one hand, they wound more deeply than open abuse.

On the other hand, they make the person being corrected bear that harsher wound with much greater patience.

"You have reigned without us." There is great force in this, both for the teachers and for the disciples. It also points out their ignorance of themselves and their great thoughtlessness. What he means is this: in hard work, he says, everything is shared by both us and you, but in the rewards and the crowns, you are first. I do not say this because I am upset.

Therefore he also added, "I do wish that you did reign," and then, so that this would not seem like irony, he added, "that we also might reign with you." For, he says, we also would share in these blessings. Do you see how he shows in himself, all at once, his severity, his care for them, and his self-denying spirit? Do you see how he brings down their pride?

1 Corinthians 4:9

For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death.

There is again great depth of meaning and severity in his saying, "us." Even with this, he was not satisfied, but also added his dignity, striking them sharply: "us, the Apostles," who are enduring countless evils, who are sowing the word of godliness, and who are leading you to this severe rule of life. These God has set forth last, as doomed to death, that is, as condemned.

For since he had said, "that we also might reign with you," and by that expression had relaxed his sharpness so as not to discourage them, he takes it up again with greater weight and says, "For I think that God has set forth us the Apostles last, as men doomed to death." For according to what I see, he says, and from what you say, we are the lowest of all men, and plainly the condemned, since we are put forward for continual affliction.

But you already have a kingdom and honors and great rewards in your imagination. And since he wished to carry out their reasoning to still greater absurdity, and to show it as unbelievable in the highest degree, he did not merely say, "We are last," but, "God made us last."

Nor was he satisfied with saying, "last," but he also added, "doomed to death," so that even someone completely without understanding might feel the statement to be utterly unbelievable, and that his words were the words of one vexed and sharply putting them to shame.

Notice also Paul’s good judgment. The very things by which, at the right time, he lifts himself up, shows his honor, and makes himself seem great, he now uses to put them to shame by calling himself condemned. This shows how important it is to do everything at the proper time. By “doomed to death” here, he means “condemned,” and worthy of countless deaths.

6. For we have been made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to people.

What does this mean, "We have become a spectacle to the world"? It means, he says, that we do not suffer these things in one corner or in some small part of the world, but everywhere and before all. But what does "to angels" mean? It is possible to become a spectacle to men, but not to angels, when the things done are ordinary. But our wrestlings are such as to be worthy even of angelic contemplation. See how, from the things by which he speaks poorly of himself, he again shows himself great;

and from the things about which they are proud, how he shows their meanness.

For since to be fools was thought a lower thing than to appear wise, and to be weak than to be strong, and to be without honor than to be glorious and distinguished, and since he is about to cast the one set of terms on himself while assigning the other to them, he shows that the former are better than the latter, if indeed because of them he turned the crowd, I say not of men only, but also of the very angels, to the contemplation of themselves.

For our wrestling is not only with men, but also with incorporeal powers. Therefore a mighty theater is also set.

1 Corinthians 4:10

We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ.

Again, he said this also to put them to shame. He meant that these opposite things cannot agree, and things so far apart cannot come together. For how can it be, he says, that you should be wise, while we are fools in the things that relate to Christ? That is, one group is beaten, despised, dishonored, and treated as nothing, while the others enjoy honor and are admired by many as wise and sensible people.

This gives him reason to speak this way, as if he had said, How can it be that those who preach such things should be regarded as actually living in ways opposite to them?

We are weak, but you are strong. That is, we are pushed around and persecuted, but you are secure and highly honored. However, the nature of the Gospel does not allow this.

We are looked down on, but you are honored. Here he contrasts himself with the noble people and with those who were proud of outward advantages.

Even to this present hour, we are hungry and thirsty. We are poorly clothed, beaten, and have no permanent home. We work hard with our own hands. That is, I am not telling an old story, but what the present time itself proves to me: we pay no attention to human things, nor to any outward show. We look only to God. This is something we also need to practice in every place. For not only are angels watching, but even more than they, the One who presides over the spectacle is watching.

7. Then let us not want anyone else to praise us. To do that is to insult Him. We hurry past Him, as if He were not enough to admire us, and we go as quickly as we can to our fellow servants. For just as those who compete in a small theater look for a larger one, as if the first were not enough for their display, so also those who struggle in God's sight and then seek the applause of men do the same.

They give up the greater praise and eagerly chase the lesser, and so they bring severe punishment on themselves. What else but this has turned everything upside down? This is what throws the whole world into confusion: we do everything with our eyes on men. Even in the good things we do, we think it is nothing to have God as our admirer, and instead we seek approval from our fellow servants. And in bad things, on the other hand, we despise Him and fear men.

And yet those men will stand with us before that judgment seat and will do us no good. But God, whom we now despise, will Himself pass sentence on us.

But even though we know these things, we still stand in awe of people. This is the first of sins. So, if a man were being watched by others, no one would choose to commit fornication. Even if he were burning with that passion ten thousand times over, his respect for people would overcome the tyranny of that desire. But in God's sight, people not only commit adultery and fornication, but many have dared, and still dare, to do other things far more dreadful.

Is this alone not enough to bring down ten thousand thunderbolts from above? Did I mention adulteries and fornications? No, we are afraid to do even things far less serious than these in front of people. But in God's sight, we are no longer afraid. In fact, this is where all the world's evils have come from: in things that are truly evil, we do not reverence God, but people.

For this reason, you see, we turn away from things that are truly good, because most people do not consider them good. We do not examine the true nature of these things, but pay attention to the opinion of the crowd. And again, we do the same with evil things. So we go after certain things that are not really good, but only seem good to most people, and we chase them as if they were good. In this way, on both sides, we are heading for destruction.

Perhaps many people may find this statement somewhat unclear. Therefore we must explain it more clearly. When we commit uncleanness—for we must begin with the examples already mentioned—we fear people more than God. So when we have put ourselves under them in this way and made them our masters, there are many other things also that seem evil to these masters of ours, though they are not really evil. We also avoid these things in the same way.

For example, many consider living in poverty disgraceful. And we avoid poverty, not because it is disgraceful, or because we ourselves are convinced of that, but because our masters consider it disgraceful, and we fear them. Again, to be without honor and looked down on, and to have no authority at all, also seems to most people to be a matter of great shame and worthlessness. This too we avoid, not because we condemn the thing itself, but because of the judgment of our masters.

Again, on the other side, we suffer the same harm. Wealth is considered a good thing, and so are pride, display, and being noticeable. So we chase these things too, not because we have examined their nature and found them to be good, but because we have been persuaded by the opinion of our masters. For the people are our master, the great crowd, a savage master and a harsh tyrant. It does not even need to give a command to make us listen.

It is enough that we simply know what it wants, and we submit without a command. So much goodwill do we show toward it. Again, though God threatens and warns us day after day, we do not listen. But the common people, full of confusion and made up of every kind of refuse, do not need even one word of command. It is enough for them only to show what pleases them, and in all things we obey at once.

9. But how, someone says, can a person escape these masters? By gaining a mind greater than theirs; by looking into the true nature of things; by rejecting the voice of the crowd; and above all, by training himself, in things that are truly shameful, to fear not people but the Eye that never sleeps; and again, in all good things, to seek the crowns that come from Him. For in this way, we will not be able to put up with them in other matters either.

For whoever, when he does what is right, judges them unworthy to know his good deeds and is satisfied with the approval of God, will also pay no attention to them in matters of the opposite kind.

And how can this be, you will say? Think about what man is, and what God is; whom you are leaving, and to whom you are running for refuge. Then you will soon be completely right. Man lies under the same sin as you, and the same condemnation, and the same punishment. “Man is like vanity,” Psalm 144:4, Septuagint, and he does not have right judgment, but needs correction from above. Man is dust and ashes, and if he gives praise, he will often give it at random, or out of favor, or out of ill will.

And if he slanders and accuses, he will do this again for the same kind of reason. But God is not so. Instead, His sentence cannot be faulted, and His judgment is pure. Therefore we must always flee to Him for refuge, and not for these reasons only, but also because He both made you, and, more than all, spares you, and loves you better than you love yourself.

Why, then, while neglecting to have such a wonderful witness, do we turn to man, who is nothing, full of recklessness, and completely uncertain? Does he call you wicked and defiled when you are not? Then pity him all the more, and weep because he is corrupt. Despise his opinion, because the eyes of his understanding are darkened. For even the Apostles were spoken evil of in this way, and they laughed their slanderers to scorn. But does he call you good and kind?

If you really are, do not be puffed up at all by his opinion. But if you are not, despise it even more, and consider it mockery.

Do you want to know how corrupt the judgments of most people are, how useless they are, and how deserving of ridicule? Some of these judgments come from people who are raving and out of their minds. Others come from very young children. Listen to what has been true from the beginning. I will tell you about judgments, not only from ordinary people, but also from those who were thought to be the wisest, from those who were lawgivers from the earliest times.

For who among the crowd would be considered wiser than someone thought worthy to make laws for cities and nations? And yet, to these wise men, fornication seems to be nothing evil and nothing worth punishing. In fact, none of the pagan laws treats it as a crime or brings men to trial because of it. And if anyone were to bring another person into court for things like that, the crowd would laugh at it, and the judge would not allow the case.

Dice-playing also is free from all their punishments, and no one among them was ever penalized for it. Drunkenness and gluttony, far from being crimes, are even thought by many to be good things. In military drinking parties, this is a matter of great competition. And those who most need a clear mind and a strong body are the very ones most given over to the tyranny of drunkenness. It completely weakens the body and darkens the soul. Yet not one of the lawgivers has punished this fault.

What could be worse than this madness?

Do you really desire the good opinion of people so much, and yet not hide yourself in the ground? Even if all people like that praised you, should you not feel ashamed and cover your face, since you are being applauded by people with such corrupt judgment?

Again, among lawgivers in general, blasphemy is not considered anything terrible. In fact, no one was ever brought to trial and punished for blaspheming God. But if a man steals another person's clothing, or cuts his purse, his sides are whipped, and he is often handed over to death. Meanwhile, the one who blasphemes God has no charge brought against him by the pagan lawgivers.

And if a man seduces a female servant while he has a wife, this seems to be nothing to the pagan laws or to people in general.

10. Do you want to hear about some other things that show their foolishness? Just as they do not punish these acts, there are other things that they require by law. What are these things? They gather crowds to fill the theaters, and there they bring in choruses of prostitutes and prostituted children, yes, even those who trample on nature itself. They make all the people sit above and watch, and in this way they hold their city captive.

This is how they crown those mighty kings whom they constantly admire for their trophies and victories. And yet what could be more dull than this honor? What could be less pleasant than this pleasure? So then, are these the judges from whom you seek applause for your actions? Is it in the company of dancers, effeminate men, buffoons, and prostitutes that you want to enjoy the sound of praise? Answer me.

How can these things be anything but proof of extreme madness? For I would like to ask them this: is it, or is it not, a terrible thing to overturn the laws of nature and introduce unlawful sexual relations? They will certainly say that it is terrible. After all, they make a show of punishing that crime. Why then do you bring those abused wretches onto the stage? And why do you not only bring them in, but also honor them with countless honors and gifts too many to describe?

In other places, you punish those who dare to do such things. But here, as if they were common benefactors of the city, you spend money on them and support them at public expense.

However, you will say, they are infamous. Then why train them? Why choose people with bad reputations to honor kings? And why ruin our cities? Or why spend so much on these people? For if they are infamous, then banishment is most fitting for the infamous. Why, then, did you make them infamous? Was it in praise or in condemnation? Of course, it was in condemnation. So what comes next?

Even after condemning them and making them infamous, do you still run to watch them as if they were honorable, and admire them and praise them and applaud them? Why do I even need to speak about the kind of attraction found in horse races? Or in the fights with wild beasts? Those places also are full of mindless excitement. They train the people to become merciless, savage, and inhuman.

They accustom them to watch men being torn to pieces, blood flowing, and the fierceness of wild beasts throwing everything into confusion. Yet our wise lawgivers introduced all these things from the beginning, though they are so many plagues. And our cities applaud and admire them.

11. But if you wish, setting aside these things that are plainly and admittedly shameful, though they seemed not to be so to the pagan lawgivers, let us go on to their serious teachings. You will see that these too have been corrupted by the opinion of the crowd. For example, marriage is considered an honorable thing, Hebrews 13:4, both by us and by those outside the faith; and it is honorable. But when marriages are celebrated, such ridiculous things happen as you will hear at once.

This is because most people, controlled and deceived by custom, are not even aware of their absurdity, but need others to teach them. For then dancing, and cymbals, and flutes, and shameful words, and songs, and drunkenness, and wild partying, and the Devil's whole great heap of garbage is brought in.

I know that I will seem ridiculous for criticizing these things. Most people will accuse me of great foolishness, as if I were upsetting ancient laws. For, as I said before, custom has great power to deceive. Nevertheless, I will not stop repeating these things.

For there is, there surely is, a chance that even if not all, at least a few will accept what I say and will choose to be laughed at with us, rather than join them in a kind of laughter that deserves tears and overflowing punishment and vengeance.

How can this be anything but deserving the strongest condemnation? A young woman who has lived her whole life at home, and has been trained in modesty from early childhood, is suddenly forced to throw off all shame. From the very beginning of her marriage, she is taught recklessness. She finds herself put forward in the middle of men who are shameless, rude, unchaste, and effeminate. What evil will not be planted in the bride from that day on?

Immodesty, disrespect, insolence, and the love of empty praise. For they will naturally go on wanting all their days to be like these. This is why our women become costly and wasteful. This is why they lose modesty. From this come their countless evils.

And do not tell me about custom. If something is evil, it should not be done even once. But if it is good, it should be done consistently. Tell me, is not committing fornication evil? Should we then allow it to be done just once? By no means. Why? Because even if it is done only once, it is still evil. In the same way, if entertaining the bride in this manner is evil, let it not be done even once. But if it is not evil, then let it always be done.

"What then," someone says, "do you find fault with marriage? Tell me." Far be that from me. I am not so foolish. But I do find fault with the things that are added to marriage in such an unworthy way: painting the face, coloring the eyebrows, and all other excessive attention to appearance of that kind. For from that very day, she will attract many lovers even before her appointed husband.

But many people will admire the woman for her beauty. And what comes of that? Even if she is modest and careful, she will hardly escape evil suspicion. But if she is careless, she will quickly be overcome, since that very day she has found a starting point for immoral behavior.

Yet even though these evils are so great, some people, who are no better than brute beasts, call it an insult when these actions are left undone. They are angry that the woman is not displayed before a crowd, and that she is not made into a public stage show for everyone to see. But they should certainly think it an insult when these things do happen, and see it as something to be laughed at and as a farce.

Even now, I know that people will accuse me of great foolishness and make me a laughing stock. But I can bear their mockery when some good comes from it. For I really would deserve to be laughed at if, while I was urging others to despise the opinion of the crowd, I myself, more than anyone, were overcome by that feeling.

See, then, what follows from all this. Not only in the daytime, but also in the evening, they deliberately bring in men who have drunk heavily, are senseless, and are stirred up by rich food, to stare at the beauty of the young woman's face. And they do this not only in the house, but even through the marketplace they lead her in procession as a display. They escort her with torches late in the evening so that everyone may see her.

By what they do, they teach nothing except that from now on she should put aside all modesty. And they do not even stop there, but lead her along with shameful words. And among the crowd this is considered a law. Runaway slaves and convicts, thousands of them, men of desperate character, go along without punishment saying whatever they please, both against her and against the man who is going to take her into his home. There is nothing solemn in it, but everything is low and full of indecency.

Will this not be a fine lesson in chastity for the bride, to see and hear such things? There is also a kind of diabolical rivalry among these immoral people, as they try to surpass one another in eagerly using insults and filthy words. By this they make the whole company ashamed. And those go away victorious who have found the largest supply of abuse and the greatest indecencies to throw at their neighbors.

Now I know that I seem troublesome, unpleasant, and gloomy, as if I were taking away some of life's pleasure. But this is the very reason for my grief: things that are so shameful are considered a kind of pleasure. For tell me, how could it be anything but painful to be insulted and abused? To be spoken against by everyone, along with your bride? If someone in the marketplace speaks badly about your wife, you make endless trouble over it and think life is not worth living.

And can it be that, when you disgrace yourself with your future wife in the sight of the whole city, you are pleased and cheerful about it? What strange madness is this!

But someone says, "This is the custom." No. For that very reason, we should grieve over it even more, because the devil has surrounded the practice with custom. Marriage is a serious matter. It renews our human race and is the cause of many blessings. So that evil one, suffering inwardly and knowing that marriage was appointed as a barrier against uncleanness, uses a new scheme to bring all kinds of uncleanness into it. In fact, at such gatherings, many virgins have even been corrupted.

And if that does not happen in every case, it is because, for the time being, the devil is satisfied with those disgraceful words and songs, with openly putting the bride on display, and with leading the bridegroom in triumph through the marketplace.

Moreover, because all this happens in the evening, many torches are brought in, so that not even the darkness may hide these evils. They do not allow this shameful scene to be concealed. For what is the meaning of the huge crowd, and the drinking, and the pipes? Very clearly, it is to keep even those who are in their houses and plunged in deep sleep from being unaware of what is happening.

They are awakened by the pipe and lean out to look through the lattices, so that they too may be witnesses of this comedy, such as it is.

What can anyone say about the songs themselves? They are packed with every kind of impurity. They bring in monstrous love affairs, unlawful relationships, the ruin of households, and endless tragic scenes. They keep speaking of the names and roles of friend and lover, mistress and beloved. And what is even more painful is this: young women are present at these things, after casting off all modesty. They do this in honor of the bride—or rather, I should say, to insult her.

They even put their own salvation at risk. In the middle of lustful young men, they act shamelessly with their disorderly songs, their filthy words, and their devilish music. Tell me, then: do you still ask, from where do adulteries come? From where do fornications come? From where do violations of marriage come?

12. But you will say that the women who do these things are not noble or respectable. Then why do you laugh at me for this protest, when you yourself knew this rule before I said anything? I say this: if these actions are right, then allow well-born women to do them also. For what if these others live in poverty? Are they not virgins too? Should they not also be careful to keep their chastity? But now here is a virgin dancing in a public theater full of immoral young men;

and I ask, does she not seem to you more dishonored than a prostitute?

But if you say, "Female servants do these things," I still do not clear you of the charge. These things should not have been allowed for them either. For all these evils begin here: we pay no attention to our own household. But for us, it seems enough, in our contempt, to say, "He is a slave," and, "They are servant girls." And yet, day after day, we hear, "In Christ Jesus there is neither slave nor free," in Galatians 3:28.

Again, if it were a horse or a donkey, you would not neglect it, but would take every care that it not be of an inferior kind. But do you neglect your slaves, who have souls like your own? And why do I speak only of slaves, when I could speak of sons and daughters? What then must follow? It cannot be otherwise than that grief must immediately enter in when all these are going to ruin. And often, very great losses must also result, when valuable gold ornaments are lost in the crowd and confusion.

13. Then, after the marriage, if a child is born, we again see the same foolishness and many practices full of absurdity. For when the time comes to give the baby a name, they do not care to name it after the saints, as the ancient people first did. Instead, they light lamps and give the lamps names, and then name the child after the lamp that keeps burning the longest. From that, they guess that the child will live a long time.

But if there are many cases of a child dying before its time, and there are many, then the devil will have great reason to laugh, because he has made fools of them as if they were little children. What shall we say about the amulets, the bells hung on the hand, the scarlet thread, and the other things full of such extreme foolishness? They ought to place nothing on the child except the protection of the Cross.

But now the Cross is despised, even though it has converted the whole world, dealt a severe wound to the devil, and overthrown all his power. Meanwhile, the thread, the scarlet yarn, and other amulets like these are trusted to keep the child safe.

May I mention something else that is even more ridiculous than this? But let no one accuse us of speaking at the wrong time if our argument goes on to this example also. A person who wants to clean an ulcer will not hesitate to dirty his own hands first. So what is this very ridiculous custom? People count it as nothing, and that is why I am grieved. But it is the beginning of extreme foolishness and madness.

In the bath, women, nurses, and servant girls take mud and, with a finger, smear it to make a mark on the child's forehead. And if someone asks, "What does the mud and clay mean?" the answer is, "It turns away an evil eye, witchcraft, and envy." Amazing! What power is in the mud? What strength is in the clay? What great force does it have, that it drives away the whole army of the devil? Tell me, can you keep from hiding yourselves in shame?

Will you never understand the devil's traps, and how from the earliest years of life he slowly brings in the different evils he has invented? For if the mud has this effect, why do you not do the same thing to your own forehead, when you are a grown man and your character is already formed? You are more likely than the child to have people who envy you. Why not also smear mud over your whole body? I say, if its power is so great on the forehead, why not cover yourself all over with mud?

All this is amusement and stage-play for Satan. It is not only a joke, but hell-fire is the final end toward which these deceived people are heading.

14. It is no surprise if such things are done among the Greeks. But among those who worship the Cross, share in mysteries too great for words, and profess such a high moral way of life, it is especially something to be mourned again and again that such shameful behavior should prevail. God has honored you with spiritual anointing, and do you defile your child with mud? God has honored you, and do you dishonor yourself?

And when you should mark his forehead with the Cross, which gives invincible protection, do you neglect this and throw yourself into the madness of Satan?

If anyone looks on these things as trifles, let him know that they are the source of great evils. Not even Paul thought it right to overlook the lesser things. Tell me, what can be less than a man covering his head? Yet see what a great matter he makes of this, and with how great earnestness he forbids it, saying, among many things, "He dishonors his head." 1 Corinthians 11:4.

Now if the man who covers himself dishonors his head, how can the man who smears his child with mud be doing anything less than making it abominable? For how, I want to know, can he bring it to the hands of the priest? How can you require that the seal should be placed on that forehead by the hand of the presbyter, where you have been smearing the mud? No, my brothers, do not do these things.

But from earliest life surround them with spiritual armor, and instruct them to seal the forehead with the hand. And before they are able to do this with their own hand, do you imprint the Cross upon them.

Why should anyone speak of the other satanic practices connected with labor pains and childbirth, which the midwives bring in, to their own harm? Or of the cries that happen at each person’s death, and when he is carried out for burial? Or the senseless wailing, the foolish acts done at funerals, the concern people show for men’s tombs, the troublesome and ridiculous crowd of mourning women, and the keeping of special days—I mean the days of entering the world and of departing from it?

Then are these the people whose good opinion you are eager to follow? What could this be except the greatest foolishness: to seek so earnestly the praise of people whose thinking is so corrupt, and whose conduct is completely disorderly? We ought instead always to turn to the ever-watchful Eye, and in everything we do and say, look to His judgment. For even if these people approve of us, they will have no power to help us.

But if He accepts what we do, He will make us glorious even here, and on the future day He will give us a share in the unspeakable good things. May it be the portion of all of us to obtain these things, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. With whom, to the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

1 Corinthians 4:10

We are fools for Christ's sake. For it is necessary at this point to continue what we were saying. But you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have glory, but we have dishonor.

After filling his speech with great severity, which strikes harder than any direct accusation, and after saying, "You have reigned without us," and, "God has set us forth last, like men sentenced to death," he shows in what follows how they are sentenced to death. He says, "We are fools, and weak, and despised. We hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are beaten, and have no certain home, and labor, working with our own hands." These were clear marks of true teachers and apostles.

But the others took pride in the opposite things: wisdom, glory, wealth, and honor.

So, wanting to bring down their pride and show that in these matters they should not take credit for themselves, but should rather be ashamed, he first mocks them by saying, "You have reigned without us." It is as if he said, "My judgment is that the present time is not a time of honor or glory, the kind of things you enjoy, but a time of persecution and insult, like what we are suffering.

But if it is not so, if this is instead the time of reward, then, as far as I can see"—but he says this with irony—"you, the disciples, have become nothing less than kings. But we, the teachers and apostles, who above all should receive the reward, have not only fallen far behind you, but even, like people sentenced to die, that is, condemned criminals, spend our lives completely in dishonor, danger, and hunger.

Yes, we are insulted as fools, driven from place to place, and made to endure all kinds of unbearable things."

He said these things so that he might lead them also to think about this: they should eagerly seek the condition of the Apostles—their dangers and their humiliations, not their honors and glory. For these, and not the other things, are what the Gospel requires. But he does not say this directly, because he does not want to make himself unpleasant to them. Instead, in his usual way, he gives this rebuke indirectly. For if he had spoken to them directly, he would have said this:

"You are mistaken, and deceived, and have wandered far from the apostolic way of teaching. For every apostle and minister of Christ ought to be regarded as a fool, and ought to live in suffering and dishonor; this, in fact, is our condition, while you are in the opposite condition."

But saying it that way might have offended them even more, because it would have sounded like praise of the Apostles only. It might also have made them more fierce, since they were being rebuked for laziness, empty pride, and love of luxury. Therefore he does not make his point in that way, but in another way, more forceful yet less offensive. That is why he goes on to speak like this, using irony: “But you are strong and honorable.”

For if he had not used irony, he would have said something like this: “It is not possible for one man to be considered foolish and another wise, one strong and another weak, when the Gospel calls for both to be the same.” For if it were simply the nature of things that one person should be this and another that, perhaps there might be some reason in what you say. But as things are now, it is not allowed for anyone to be regarded as wise, or honorable, or free from dangers.

If it were otherwise, then it necessarily follows that you are preferred before us in the sight of God, you the disciples before us the teachers, and that after our endless hardships. If that is too terrible for anyone to say, then it remains for you to make our condition your concern.

And let no one, he says, think that I am speaking only about the past:

1 Corinthians 4:11

Even to this present hour, we are hungry and thirsty and poorly clothed. Do you see that the whole life of Christians must be like this, and not just for a day or two? For even if a wrestler wins in only one match and is crowned, he is not crowned again if he later falls.

And we are hungry, against those who live in luxury. And we are beaten, against those who are proud. And we have no certain dwelling place, for we are driven from place to place. And we are naked, against the rich.

1 Corinthians 4:12-13

And we labor. This is against the false apostles, who put up with neither hard work nor danger, while they themselves take the benefits. But we are not like that, he says. Along with the dangers we face from outside, we also push ourselves to the limit with constant labor. And what is even more important, no one can say that we are troubled by these things. For our return to those who treat us this way is the opposite. This, I say, is the main point:

not that we suffer evil, since that is common to all, but that we suffer without losing heart or becoming upset. But so far are we from losing heart that we are full of joy. And a clear proof of this is that we repay with the opposite response those who wrong us.

Now, about the fact that they did so, listen to what comes next.

When people insult us, we bless them. When we are persecuted, we endure it. When people slander us, we answer kindly. We have become like the filth of the world. This is what it means to be fools for Christ’s sake. For anyone who suffers wrong and does not take revenge, and is not upset, is considered a fool by the heathen, and thought dishonorable and weak. And so that he would not make his words too unpleasant by connecting the sufferings he spoke of to their city, what does he say?

“We have become the filth,” not of your city, but “of the world.” And again, “the off-scouring of all men,” not of you alone, but of everyone. So then, when he is speaking about the providential care of Christ, he passes over the earth, heaven, and the whole creation, and brings forward the Cross. In the same way, when he wants to draw them to himself, passing by all his miracles, he speaks of his sufferings for their sake. This is also our way.

When we are injured and despised by anyone, we bring forward whatever we have endured for them.

We have become the offscouring of all people, even until now. This was a strong blow that he gave at the end: “of all people.” He means not only the persecutors, but also those for whom we suffer these things. It is as if he says, “Oh, I am greatly indebted to them.” This is the language of someone who is deeply concerned. He is not hurting for himself, but wants to make them feel the blow, since a man who has countless complaints to make would still even greet them.

Therefore Christ commanded us to endure insults gently, so that we might both train ourselves in a very high kind of virtue and also put the other side to greater shame. A person does not produce that effect as well by reproach as by silence.

1 Corinthians 4:14

Then, since he saw that the blow would be hard to bear, he quickly heals it by saying, "I do not write these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children." He means, "I am not saying these things to disgrace you." The very thing he had done by his words, he says he had not done. Or rather, he admits that he had done it, but not with an evil or spiteful mind. This kind of calming is the very best. We should say what we need to say, and then add an explanation of our motive.

For it was impossible not to speak, since they would have remained uncorrected. But after speaking, to leave the wound untreated would have been harsh. Therefore, along with his severity, he offers an apology. This does not weaken the effect of the knife. Instead, it makes it go in deeper, while it softens the full pain of the wound. For when a person is told that these things are said not as a reproach but in love, he accepts correction more readily.

However, even here there is great strictness and a strong appeal to their sense of shame, because he did not say, "As a master," or, "As an apostle," or even, "As one who has you as my disciples," though that would have fit his claims on them well. Instead, he says, "I warn you as my beloved children." And not simply, "children," but children longed for. "Forgive me," he says. If anything unpleasant has been said, it all comes from love. And he did not say, "I rebuke you," but, "I admonish you."

Now who would not put up with a father who is grieving and giving good advice? Therefore he did not say this before, but after he had struck the blow.

What then? Someone might say, "Do not other teachers also spare us?" I do not say that they do not. But they do not carry their patience that far. However, he did not say this openly at once. Instead, he hinted at it by the names and titles he used, namely, "Tutor" and "Father."

1 Corinthians 4:15

4. For even if, he says, you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Here he is not presenting his rank, but the very great depth of his love. In this way, he did not insult the other teachers either, since he adds the phrase, "in Christ." Instead, he softened his words by calling those among them who were eager and willing to work hard not flatterers, but tutors. He also showed his own deep concern for them.

For this reason he did not say, "yet not many masters," but, "not many fathers." His aim was so far from claiming any title of honor, or arguing that they had received the greater benefit from him, that while he allows the others the great labor they had spent on the Corinthians, for that is the force of the word "tutor," he keeps for himself the greater love, for that again is the force of the word "father."

And he does not merely say, "No one loves you so much," a statement that could not be questioned. He also brings forward a real fact. What is this? "For in Christ Jesus I begot you through the Gospel." "In Christ Jesus." He does not credit this to himself. Again, he strikes at those who gave their own names to their teaching. For he says, "You are the seal of my apostleship." And again, "I planted," and here, "I begot."

He did not say, "I preached the word," but, "I begot," using the words of natural relationship. For his one care at that moment was to show the love he had for them. For they indeed received you from me and led you on. But that you are believers at all came to pass through me. So, because he had said, "as children," lest you should suppose that the expression was flattery, he also brings forward the fact itself.

1 Corinthians 4:16

“I beg you, be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.” The words “as I also am of Christ” are omitted in our version. The Vulgate has them. See 1 Corinthians 11:1. Astonishing! How great is our teacher’s boldness of speech! How fully finished the image is, when he can even urge others to this! He does not do this to exalt himself, but to imply that virtue is an easy thing. It is as if he had said, “Do not tell me, ‘I am not able to imitate you. You are a teacher, and a great one.’

For the difference between me and you is not so great as the difference between Christ and me. And yet I have imitated Him.”

On the other hand, when writing to the Ephesians, he does not mention himself at all. Instead, he leads them all directly to the one point: "Be imitators of God," as he says in Ephesians 5:1. But here, since his message was addressed to weak persons, he includes himself in passing.

And besides this, he also shows that it is possible to imitate Christ even in this way. For the one who copies the perfect mark of the seal also copies the original pattern.

Let us see, then, how he followed Christ. This kind of imitation does not need time or skill, but only a firm purpose. For if we go into a painter's workshop, we will not be able to copy the portrait, even if we see it ten thousand times. But in this case, we are able to copy him by hearing alone. Do you want us, then, to bring the tablet before you and sketch out Paul's way of life for you? Very well, let that picture be brought out, far brighter than all the images of emperors.

For its material is not boards glued together, nor stretched canvas. Its material is the work of God, since it is a soul and a body: a soul, the work of God, not of men, and a body likewise.

Did you applaud here? No, this is not the time for applause. That comes in what follows. Then there will be a time for applauding, I say, and also for imitating. So far, we have only the material that is common to all, without exception. Since one soul does not differ from another in being a soul, the difference is shown by the purpose of the heart.

For just as one body does not differ from another in so far as it is a body, and Paul's body is like everyone else's, only dangers make one body more glorious than another, so it is with the soul also.

6. Suppose, then, that our tablet is the soul of Paul. This tablet had lately been lying covered with soot and full of spider's webs, for nothing can be worse than blasphemy.

But when He came who transforms all things, and saw that his lines had been drawn this way, not through indolence or sluggishness, but through inexperience and because he did not have the tints of true piety—for he did have zeal, but the colors were not there, for he did not have zeal according to knowledge—He gave him the tint of the truth, that is, grace. And in a moment He displayed the royal image.

For after he had received the colors and learned what he had been ignorant of, he waited no time, but immediately appeared as a most excellent artist. First he shows the head of the king by preaching Christ. Then he also shows the rest of the body, the body of a perfect Christian life. Now we know that painters shut themselves up and carry out all their work with great care and in quiet, opening the doors to no one.

But this man set forth his tablet in the sight of the world, in the midst of universal opposition, uproar, and disturbance. Under such circumstances he worked out this Royal Image, and was not hindered. Therefore he said, "We are made a spectacle to the world." In the midst of earth, sea, and heaven, and the whole inhabited world, and the world both material and intellectual, he was drawing that portrait of his.

Would you like to see the other parts of it also, from the head down? Or do you want us to carry our description upward, starting from below? Then picture a statue of gold, or rather, of something more precious than gold, and one that could stand in heaven. It was not fastened with lead or set in one place. Instead, it hurried from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum, Romans 15:19, then went on to Spain, and was carried, as if on wings, over every part of the world.

For what could be more beautiful than these feet, which traveled through the whole earth under the sun? The prophet also proclaimed this long ago, saying, Isaiah 52:7, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace!" Have you seen how beautiful the feet are? Do you want to see the chest also? Come, let me show you this too, and you will see it far more splendid than these beautiful feet, yes, even more splendid than the chest itself of the ancient lawgiver.

For Moses carried tablets of stone, but this man had Christ Himself within him. He bore the very image of the King.

For this reason, he was more awe-inspiring than the Mercy Seat and the Cherubim. No such voice came from them as came from here. From them, it spoke with people mainly about things that can be sensed. But from the tongue of Paul, it spoke about the things above the heavens. Again, from the Mercy Seat it spoke oracles only to the Jews. But from here, it spoke to the whole world. And there it spoke through lifeless things, but here through a soul filled with virtue.

This Mercy Seat was brighter even than heaven. It did not shine with many stars or with rays from the sun. Rather, the very Sun of righteousness was there, and from there He sent out His rays. Again, in this heaven of ours, when a cloud passes over, it sometimes becomes dark. But that bosom never had any such storm pass across it. Or rather, many storms did pass over it, and often. But they did not darken the light. Instead, in the middle of temptation and dangers, the light shone out.

Therefore, even when he himself was bound with his chain, he kept crying out, "The word of God is not bound," 2 Timothy 2:9. So through that tongue, it was continually sending out its rays. And no fear or danger made that bosom dark. Perhaps the bosom seems to surpass the feet. However, both are beautiful: they as feet, and this as a bosom.

Do you want to see the belly also, with its proper beauty? Hear what he says about it. "If meat makes my brother stumble, I will eat no flesh while the world stands." First Corinthians 8:13. And again, "It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine, nor anything by which your brother stumbles, or is offended, or is made weak." Romans 14:21. And again, "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats." First Corinthians 6:13.

What could be more beautiful in its kind than this belly, taught to be quiet, taught all temperance, and knowing how both to hunger and be famished, and also to suffer thirst? For like a well-trained horse with a golden bridle, so this also walked with measured steps, having conquered the necessity of nature. For it was Christ walking in it. Now since this was so temperate, it is quite plain that all the rest of the body's vice also was done away.

Would you like to see his hands too, the ones he has now? Or would you rather first look at how wicked they once were? In Acts 8:3, this very man went into houses and dragged out men and women. He used hands that seemed not like the hands of a man, but of some fierce wild beast. But as soon as he received the colors of the Truth and spiritual experience, those hands were no longer the hands of an ordinary man, but spiritual hands, bound with chains day after day.

And they never struck anyone, but they themselves were struck countless times. Once, even a viper showed respect for those hands, in Acts 28:3-5. For they were no longer merely the hands of a human being, and so it did not even fasten onto them.

And do you want to see the back also, since it is like the other members? Listen to what he says about this too: "2 Corinthians 11:24-25: Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I spent a night and a day in the deep."

But lest we too should fall into an endless deep, and be carried far and wide by going over each of his members one by one, come, let us leave the body and look at another kind of beauty, namely, that which comes from his garments. Even devils showed reverence to this. Therefore they fled, and diseases took flight. And wherever Paul happened to show himself, they all withdrew and got out of the way, as if the champion of the whole world had appeared.

And just as those who have often been wounded in war, if they see even some part of the armor of the man who wounded them, feel a shudder, in much the same way the devils also were astonished at the sight of handkerchiefs alone. Where are the rich now, and those who think highly of wealth? Where are those who count over their own titles and their costly robes? If they compare themselves with these things, all they have of their own will seem like clay and dirt in their sight.

And why do I speak of garments and golden ornaments? Why, if someone would grant me the whole world as a possession, I would value the mere nail of Paul more than all that dominion; his poverty more than all luxury; his dishonor more than all glory; his nakedness more than all riches. I would compare no security with the buffeting of that sacred head, and no diadem with the stones for which he was a mark. Let us long for this crown, beloved.

And if there is no persecution now, let us meanwhile prepare ourselves. For the man of whom we speak was not glorious by persecutions alone. For he also said in 1 Corinthians 9:27, "I keep under my body." Now in this one may attain excellence without persecutions. And he exhorted us not, in Romans 13:14, to "make provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts of it." And again, in 1 Timothy 6:8, "Having food and covering, let us be content with these."

For for these purposes we have no need of persecutions. And he also sought to moderate the wealthy, saying in 1 Timothy 6:9, "They that desire to be rich fall into temptation."

If we train ourselves in this way, then when we enter the contest, we will receive the crown. And even if no persecution lies before us, we will receive many rewards for these things. But if we indulge the body and live like pigs, then even in times of peace we will often sin and suffer shame.

Do you not see whom we are wrestling against? We are wrestling against powers without bodies. How then, when we ourselves are flesh, can we overcome them? For if a person needs self-control in eating when wrestling with men, much more is this needed when wrestling with evil spirits. But when, along with a body made heavy by excess, we are also weighed down by wealth, how can we overcome our enemies? For wealth is a chain, a painful chain, for those who do not know how to use it.

It is a cruel and inhuman tyrant, forcing all its commands on those who serve it by violence. However, if we are willing, we can pull down this harsh tyranny from its throne and make it serve us instead of ruling us. How can this be? By giving our wealth to all. For as long as it stands against each of us one by one, like a robber in the wilderness, it carries out all its evil purposes.

But when we bring it out among others, it will no longer rule over us, because it will be held in chains on every side by all people.

8. I say these things not because riches are a sin. The sin is in not sharing them with the poor, and in using them wrongly. For God made nothing evil, but made all things very good. So riches too are good, if they do not rule over their owners, and if they remove the needs of our neighbors. Light is not good if, instead of driving away darkness, it makes the darkness worse. In the same way, I would not call that wealth which, instead of removing poverty, increases it.

For the rich person does not seek to take from others, but to help others. But the one who tries to receive from others is no longer rich, but plainly poor. So riches are not evil. Rather, it is the needy mind that turns wealth into poverty. Such people are more miserable than those who beg for alms in narrow streets, carrying a bag and crippled in body. I say that those beggars, clothed in rags as they are, are not as miserable as those dressed in silk and shining clothes.

Those who strut in the marketplace are more to be pitied than those who stay at the street corners, go into the courtyards, cry out from their shelters, and ask for charity. For these beggars speak praises to God, and speak words of mercy and strict morality. And so we pity them, stretch out our hand, and never blame them. But in the case of those who are rich in a bad way, the words they pour out are full of cruelty and lack of human feeling, greed, and satanic desire.

And so everyone hates them and laughs at them. Just consider this: which of the two is thought shameful by everyone, begging from the rich or begging from the poor? I suppose everyone sees at once that it is begging from the poor. Now if you notice, this is what the rich do. For they would not dare to ask from those richer than themselves, while those who beg ask from the wealthy. One beggar does not ask another beggar for alms, but asks a rich person. But the rich man tears the poor to pieces.

Tell me again, which is more honorable: to receive from people who are willing and who are under obligation to you, or to force and harass people when they are unwilling? Clearly, it is more honorable not to trouble those who are unwilling. But this is also what the rich do. The poor receive from willing hands, from people who are obligated to them. But the rich receive from people who are unwilling and resisting, and that shows greater poverty.

For if no one would even want to go to a meal unless the host were to feel obligated to him, how can it be honorable to take a share of someone’s property by force? Is this not why we get out of the way of dogs and run from their barking, because by constantly coming after us they practically force us away? Our rich men do this too.

But that fear should accompany the gift is more dignified. No, this is the most disgraceful thing of all. For he who moves heaven and earth over his gains, who could be more laughed to scorn than he? For even to dogs, not seldom, out of fear, we throw whatever we were holding. So I ask again, which is more disgraceful? That one clothed in rags should beg, or one who wears silk?

In the same way, when a rich man pays court to old and poor persons so as to get possession of their property, and this when there are children, what pardon can he deserve?

Further, if you want, let us examine the very words themselves, what the rich beggars say and what the poor say. What, then, does the poor man say? He says that the one who gives alms will never have to give by measure, perhaps, "will never hunger"; that he is giving from what belongs to God; that God loves mankind and repays even more abundantly. All these are words of high moral teaching, encouragement, and counsel.

For he urges you to look to the Lord, and he takes away your fear of the poverty that is to come. And a person may find much instruction in the words of those who ask alms. But what kind of words come from the rich? Why, the words of swine, and dogs, and wolves, and all other wild beasts. For some of them talk constantly about banquets, and dishes, and delicacies, and every kind of wine, and ointments, and clothing, and all the rest of that extravagance.

And others talk about interest on money and loans. And while drawing up accounts and increasing the pile of debts to an unbearable amount, as if it had begun in the time of men's fathers or grandfathers, they rob one man of his house, another of his field, and another of his slave, and of everything he has. Why should one speak of their wills, which are written in blood instead of ink?

For either by hemming people in with some unbearable danger, or by deceiving them with some cheap promises, whenever they see anyone in possession of a little property, they persuade them to pass over all their relatives, often when those relatives are perishing in poverty, and instead to put their own names in the will. Is there any madness or savagery of any kind of wild beast that these things do not put to shame?

Therefore I beg you, let us run away from all wealth like this, shameful as it is and full of deaths. Let us gain what is spiritual, and let us seek the treasures in heaven. For those who have these are the truly rich. They are wealthy both here and there, enjoying everything. Since the person who is poor according to the word of God has every person's house opened to him. For the one who, for God's sake, has stopped possessing anything, everyone will give something of his own.

But the one who holds on to even a little by injustice shuts everyone's doors against himself. So then, in order that we may gain both the good things here and the good things there, let us choose the wealth that cannot be taken away, that immortal abundance. May God grant that all of us may obtain it, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.

1 Corinthians 4:17

For this reason I have sent Timothy to you. He is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways that are in Christ Jesus.

Consider here also, I beg you, the noble soul, the soul more glowing and keener than fire. See how he especially desired to be present himself with the Corinthians, so disturbed and broken into parties. For he knew well what a help his presence was to the disciples, and what a mischief his absence was.

He declared the first in the Epistle to the Philippians, saying, "Not as in my presence only, but also now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," in Philippians 2:12. He signifies the second in this Epistle, saying, "Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you; but I will come." It seems that he was urgent and desirous to be present himself. But since this was not possible for a time, he corrects them by the promise of his coming.

And not only by this, but also by sending his disciple. "For this," he says, "I have sent to you Timothy." "For this cause": how is that? Because I care for you as for children, and as having begotten you. And the message is accompanied by a recommendation of his person: "Who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord." Now he said this both to show his love for him, and to prepare them to look on him with respect. And not simply "faithful," but "in the Lord";

that is, in the things pertaining to the Lord. Now if in worldly things it is high praise for a man to be faithful, much more in things spiritual.

If, then, he was his beloved child, consider how great Paul’s love was, since he chose to be separated from him for the sake of the Corinthians. And if he was also faithful, he will be beyond reproach in serving their needs.

Who will put you in remembrance. He did not say, "will teach," lest they should take it badly, since they were used to learning from himself. Therefore also toward the end he says, "For he works the work of the Lord, as I also do. Let no man therefore despise him," in 1 Corinthians 16:10-11. For there was no envy among the Apostles. They looked to one thing, the edification of the Church. And if the one employed was inferior to them, they supported him, as it were, with all earnestness.

Therefore he was not content with saying, "He will put you in remembrance." But because he intended to cut out their envy more completely, since Timothy was young, he adds, "my ways"; not his, but mine. That is, his methods, his divine arrangements, his dangers, his customs, his laws, his ordinances, his Apostolic Canons, and all the rest.

For since he had said, "We are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place," he says, he will remind you of all these things, and also of the laws of Christ, for destroying all heresies. Then, carrying his argument higher, he adds, "which be in Christ," ascribing all, as was his custom, to the Lord, and on that ground establishing the credibility of what is to follow. Therefore he adds, "Even as I teach everywhere in every church." I have spoken nothing new to you.

All the other Churches know of these actions of mine, as well as you. Further, he calls them "ways in Christ," to show that they have nothing human in them, and that with the help from that source he does all things well.

And after he had said these things and had calmed them, and was just about to begin his charge against the unclean person, he again speaks words full of anger. It was not because he felt this in himself, but in order to correct them. And passing over the fornicator, he directs his speech to the rest, because he does not think that man is even worthy of words from him, just as we do with our servants when they have greatly offended us.

Next, after he had said, "I am sending Timothy," notice what he says, so that they would not, because of that, take matters too lightly:

1 Corinthians 4:18

Now some are puffed up, as if I were not coming to you. Here he is pointing both to them and to certain others, and bringing down their pride. For the desire to be first is at fault when people use their teacher’s absence to do their own will. When he speaks to the people, notice how he does it by appealing to their sense of shame. But when he speaks to those who started the trouble, his manner is more forceful. So to the former he says, "We are the offscouring of all."

And to calm them, he says, "I do not write these things to shame you." But to the latter he says, "Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you," showing that their self-will showed a childish state of mind. For boys also become more careless when their master is absent.

So, one thing shown here is this. Another is that his presence was enough to correct them. For just as the presence of a lion makes all living creatures draw back, so also the presence of Paul makes those who corrupt the Church draw back.

1 Corinthians 4:19

And so he goes on: "But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills." Now, to say only this would seem like a mere threat. But to speak of coming himself, and also to require from them the proper proof through their actions, was the course of a truly noble spirit. So he added this too, saying,

And I will find out, not the speech of those who are puffed up, but their power. For this self-will did not come from any excellence of their own, but from their teacher's absence. This itself was also a sign that they looked down on him with a scornful mind. And this is why, after saying, "I have sent Timothy," he did not immediately add, "I will come." He waited until he had accused them of being puffed up. After that, he says, "I will come."

For if he had said it before the accusation, it would have seemed more like an excuse for himself, as though he had not been neglectful, rather than a threat. And even then, the statement would not have been convincing. But as it is, by putting it after the accusation, he made himself someone they would both believe and fear.

Notice also how firm and secure he makes his position. He does not simply say, "I will come," but, "If the Lord wills." And he sets no exact time. Since he might perhaps be delayed in coming, by leaving it uncertain he wanted to keep them watchful and concerned. And so that they would not fall back again because of this, he added, "shortly."

And I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. He did not say, “I will know not the wisdom,” or “not the signs,” but what? “Not the word.” By using this term, he at the same time lowers the one and lifts up the other. And for a time he is setting himself against the group in general who were supporting the fornicator. For if he were speaking about that man, he would not say, “the power,” but “the works,” the corrupt works that he did.

Now why do you not look for the true message? It is not because I lack words, but because everything we do is "in power." So then, in war, victory does not belong to those who talk a lot, but to those who accomplish a lot. In the same way here, it is not the speakers but the doers who win. You, he says, are proud of this fine speaking. Well, if this were a competition and a time for orators, you might reasonably be proud of it.

But if this is about Apostles preaching the truth and confirming it by signs, why are you puffed up over something unnecessary and unreal, and completely useless for the present purpose? For what could an impressive display of words do to raise the dead, or drive out evil spirits, or do any other such marvelous work? But these are what we need now, and by these our cause stands. Therefore he also adds,

1 Corinthians 4:20

For the kingdom of God is not in words, but in power. "By signs," he says, "not by fine speaking, we have prevailed." And we give the greater proof that our teaching is divine and truly announces the kingdom of heaven through the signs we do by the power of the Spirit. If those who are now puffed up want to seem like great people, then as soon as I come, let them show whether they have any such power.

And let me not find them hiding behind impressive words, because that kind of skill means nothing to us.

1 Corinthians 4:21

What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a gentle spirit?

There is much in this statement that is both frightening and gentle. To say, "I will know," was the language of someone still holding himself back. But to say, "What do you want? Must I come to you with a rod?" are the words of someone now taking the teacher's seat, speaking to them from there, and taking on all his authority.

What does “with a rod” mean? It means with punishment, with vengeance. That is, I will destroy; I will strike with blindness. This is the kind of thing Peter did in the case of Sapphira, and Paul himself did in the case of Elymas the sorcerer. From now on, he no longer speaks as if he is putting himself in close comparison with the other teachers, but with authority. And in the second Epistle also, he seems to say the same thing when he writes, “Since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me.”

Should I come with a rod, or with love? What then? Was coming with a rod not also an act of love? It surely was an act of love. But because his love is so great that he holds back from punishing, he speaks this way.

Further, when he spoke about punishment, he did not speak in a gentle spirit, but with a rod. Yet the Spirit was the author of that too. For there is a spirit of meekness, and a spirit of severity. However, he does not choose to call it that. Instead, he names it from its milder side. For a similar reason, even when God takes vengeance, it is often said of Him that He is gracious and patient, and rich in mercy and pity.

But that He is ready to punish is said perhaps only once or twice, and only rarely, and then for some urgent cause.

5. Consider, then, Paul's wisdom. Even though he held authority in his own hands, he left both his use of it and the decision about it in the power of others, saying, "What do you want?" The matter is in your hands.

For we also have both outcomes depending on us: both falling into hell and gaining the kingdom, since God has willed it this way. For, look, he says, "Fire and water are before you; stretch out your hand to whichever you choose," in Sirach 15:16. And, "If you are willing and will listen to me, you shall eat the good of the land," Isaiah 1:19, "but if you are not willing, the sword shall devour you."

But perhaps someone will say, "I am willing." And no one is so lacking in understanding that he would not be willing. But being willing is not enough for me. No, it is enough, if you are truly willing and do the actions of a person who is willing. But as things are, you are not very willing.

Let us try this with other things too, if you think it is good. Tell me, when a man wants to marry a wife, is he satisfied just to wish for it? Not at all. He looks for women who can help his proposal, and he asks friends to watch out with him, and he gathers money. Again, the merchant is not satisfied to sit at home and only wish. First he hires a ship. Then he chooses sailors and rowers. Then he borrows money at interest, and carefully asks about the market and the price of goods.

Is it not strange, then, that people show such great effort in earthly matters, but when they are about to venture for heaven, they are content with wishing only? Rather, I should say that not even in this do they show themselves truly earnest. For the person who truly wills something as he should also puts his hand to the means that lead to the thing he desires.

So, when hunger forces you to eat, you do not wait for food to come to you on its own, but you leave out nothing in gathering food together. It is the same in thirst, cold, and all other such needs. You are diligent and properly prepared to care for the body. Now do this also with respect to God's kingdom, and surely you will obtain it.

For this reason God made you free to choose, so that afterward you could not accuse God, as if some necessity had forced you. But you complain because of the very things in which you have been honored.

In fact, I have often heard people say, "But why did He make my goodness depend on me?" No, but how else was He to raise you to heaven, when you were drowsy and asleep, in love with every kind of sin, living in luxury, and indulging yourself? If He had done that, you would not have kept away from vice.

For if even now, when you are threatened, you still do not turn away from your wickedness, then if He had set nothing less than heaven as the goal of your course, when would you have stopped becoming even more careless and far worse?

Nor will you be able to say again, "He did show me what things were good, but He gave me no help," because His promise to help you is also abundant.

But you say, "Virtue is hard and unpleasant, while great pleasure is mixed with vice; and the one way is wide and broad, but the other is tight and narrow."

Tell me, then: are these things like that all the way through, or only at the beginning? In fact, what you are saying here, though you do not mean to, is actually speaking in favor of virtue. Truth is that powerful. Suppose there were two roads, one leading to a furnace and the other to Paradise. Suppose the road to the furnace was broad, and the road to Paradise was narrow. Which road would you choose?

Although you may argue against this just for the sake of contradiction now, you will not be able to deny things that are plainly accepted by everyone, no matter how shamelessly you try. Now I will try to show you, from what is perfectly obvious, that the road which begins with difficulty but does not end in difficulty is the better one to choose. And if you wish, let us first consider the trades and skills. Their beginning is full of hard work, but the end brings profit.

But you say, no one gives himself to a trade unless someone forces him. For, you add, as long as the boy is his own master, he would rather take his ease at first and suffer the hardship at the end, however great it may be, than live with hardship at the beginning and later enjoy the fruit of those labors. Well then, making that kind of choice comes from a mind left to itself, and from childish laziness. But the opposite choice comes from good judgment and courage. And it is the same with us.

If we were not childish in mind, we would not be like the boy just mentioned, abandoned as he is and without thought, but like one who has a father. So we must cast out our childish way of thinking and not blame the things themselves. We must put a charioteer over our conscience, one who will not let us give in to our desires, but will make us run and struggle with all our strength. For what could be more absurd than this:

we train our children to endure pain at first in pursuits that begin with labor but end well and pleasantly, while in spiritual matters we ourselves do exactly the opposite?

And even in earthly matters, it is not completely clear that the outcome will be good and pleasant. Since before now, an early death, or poverty, or a false accusation, or a reversal of fortune, or other such things, and there are many of them, have caused people, after all their long labor, to lose all its results. More than that, even when people succeed in such pursuits, the gain they receive is not very great. For all those things come to an end with this present life.

But here, our struggle is not for such fruitless and perishable things, and we do not fear the outcome. Instead, our hope after our departure from here is greater and more secure. What pardon, then, or what excuse can there be for those who are not willing to strip themselves for the sufferings that must be endured for virtue's sake?

And do they still ask why the way is narrow? You do not think it is right for any sexually immoral, shameless, or drunken person to enter the courts of earthly kings. And do you insist that people should be allowed into heaven itself while living in licentiousness, luxury, drunkenness, greed, and every kind of wickedness? And how could these things be pardonable?

No, you reply, I do not say that. But why does virtue not have a broad road? Actually, if we are willing, its road is very easy. Tell me, which is easier? To break through a wall and steal other people's property, and then be thrown into prison? Or to be content with what you have and be free from all fear? But I have not said everything yet. Tell me, which is easier? To steal everyone's goods and enjoy a few of them for a short time, and then be tortured and whipped forever?

Or to live in righteous poverty for a short time, and after that live forever in delight? For let us not ask yet which is more profitable, but for now, which is easier. Again, which is more pleasant? To see a pleasant dream and be punished in reality? Or after having an unpleasant dream, to really be enjoying yourself? Of course, the latter. Tell me then, in what sense do you call virtue harsh? I admit that it is harsh when compared with our carelessness.

However, that it is really easy and smooth, hear what Christ says in Matthew 11:30: "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." But if you do not feel this lightness, it is plainly because you lack courageous zeal. Since where that is present, even heavy things are light. And by the same rule, where it is not present, even light things are heavy. Tell me, what could be sweeter and easier to obtain than the meal of manna? Yet the Jews were dissatisfied, even while enjoying such delightful food.

What is more bitter than hunger and all the other hardships that Paul endured? Yet he sprang up, rejoiced, and said in Colossians 1:24, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings." What then is the cause? The difference lies in the mind. If, then, you shape your mind as it should be, you will see how easy virtue is.

What then, you say? Does she become this way only in the minds of those who chase after her? She is this way, not only because of their thinking, but by nature also. I prove it like this: If one thing were painful all the way through, and the other were entirely the opposite, then some corrupted people might with some reason say that the second was easier than the first.

But if they begin differently, one with hardship and the other with pleasure, and then their ends are again exactly opposite to these; and if those ends are both endless, with pleasure in the one and burden in the other; tell me, which is easier to choose?

Why, then, do many people not choose what is easy? Because some do not believe. Others do believe, but their judgment is corrupted, and they would rather have pleasure for a short time than what lasts forever. Is this, then, easy? No, it is not. Rather, this comes from a sick soul. The reason people with a fever crave cold drink is not that they have carefully decided that a moment of pleasure is better than being burned up from beginning to end.

It is because they cannot control their excessive desire. The same is true of these people. For if someone brought them to their punishment at the very moment of their pleasure, they surely would never have chosen it. So you see in what sense vice is not an easy thing.

8. But if you want, let us test this same point again with an example from the right subject. Tell me, for example, which is more pleasant and easier? Only let us not again take the desire of the crowd as our rule in this matter, since a judgment should be made not by the sick, but by the whole. In the same way, you might show me ten thousand men with a fever choosing unhealthy things, even though they will suffer for it afterward. But I would not accept such a choice.

So I ask again, which brings more ease? Is it to desire great wealth, or to be above that desire? For my part, I think it is the latter. If you do not believe it, let the argument be tested by the facts themselves.

Let us suppose, then, that one man strongly desires many things, while another desires nothing. Tell me, which condition is better, and which is more honorable? However, let that pass. Everyone agrees that the second man has the better character than the first. But that is not what we are asking right now. We are asking which man lives the easier and more pleasant life. Well then, the lover of money will not enjoy even what he has, because he cannot bear to spend what he loves.

He would even gladly cut away his own flesh rather than part with his gold. But the man who looks down on wealth gains this in the meantime: he enjoys what he has calmly and with great security, and he values himself more than his money. Which life, then, is more pleasant? Is it to enjoy what one has freely, or to live under a master, namely wealth, and not dare to touch even a single thing that belongs to oneself? It seems to me much like this:

if two men both had wives and loved them deeply, but were not on the same terms with them, and one was allowed to be with his wife and share her company, while the other was not even allowed to come near his wife.

There is another point I want to mention. It shows the pleasure of one person and the misery of the other. A greedy person will never stop wanting more, not only because it is impossible for him to get everyone else’s property, but also because whatever he may gain, he thinks he has nothing. But the person who despises riches will consider all of it unnecessary, and he will not have to torment his soul with endless desires.

I say torment, because nothing fits the definition of punishment more completely than desire that is denied satisfaction. This especially shows his twisted mind. Look at it this way. A man who longs for riches and has increased his wealth is the kind of person who feels as if he has nothing. So I ask, what disease is more complicated than this?

And the strange thing is not only this, but also that although he has things, he thinks he does not have the very things already in his hands, and he mourns as if he did not have them. If he should even get everyone’s goods, his pain only becomes greater. If he gains a hundred talents, he is upset that he has not received a thousand. If he receives a thousand, he is deeply stung because it is not ten thousand.

And if he receives ten thousand, he completely beats himself down with grief because it is not ten times as much. So gaining more becomes even greater poverty for him, because the more he receives, the more he desires. Therefore, the more he receives, the poorer he becomes, since whoever desires more is truly poorer. So then, when he has a hundred talents, is he not very poor? For he desires a thousand. When he has gained a thousand, he becomes even poorer.

For it is no longer a thousand, as before, but ten thousand that he declares he needs. Now if you say that wanting and not obtaining is pleasure, then it seems to me that you are very ignorant of the nature of pleasure.

9. To show that this kind of thing is not pleasure but punishment, consider another example, and let us examine it. When we are thirsty, do we not feel pleasure in drinking because we satisfy our thirst? And is drinking pleasant because it frees us from a great torment, I mean the desire to drink? I suppose everyone can tell. But if we were always to remain in that state of desire, we would be as badly off, in terms of punishment, as the rich man in the parable of Lazarus.

For his punishment was exactly this: he strongly desired one little drop, and did not get it. And it seems to me that all greedy people are continually suffering this same thing, and are like him when he begs to receive that drop and does not get it. For their soul is more on fire than his.

Someone has spoken well when he said that all lovers of money are, in a way, like people with dropsy. Just as those people, though they carry much water in their bodies, burn with even more thirst, so also greedy people, though they carry great wealth with them, still want more. The reason is that the first do not keep the water in the parts of the body where it should be, and the second do not keep their desire within the proper limits of right thinking.

Let us then flee this strange and empty disease. Let us flee the root of all evils. Let us flee what is a present hell. For the desire for these things is a hell. Just lay open the soul of each one, of the man who despises wealth and of the man who does not, and you will see that the one is like a distracted man, choosing neither to hear nor to see anything, while the other is like a harbor free from waves. And the one is a friend of all, while the other is an enemy.

For if someone takes anything of his, it gives him no annoyance. Or if, on the contrary, someone gives him anything, it does not puff him up. But there is a certain freedom about him, with complete security. The one is forced to flatter and pretend before everyone; the other is forced to do so before no one.

If loving money makes a person poor, fearful, deceptive, and hypocritical, and fills him with fears, severe suffering, and punishment, while the one who despises wealth enjoys all the opposite things, is it not perfectly clear that virtue is more pleasant?

Now we could have gone through all the other evils also, which show that there is no vice that has any pleasure in it, if we had not already spoken about this at such great length before.

Therefore, knowing these things, let us choose virtue, so that we may both enjoy this kind of pleasure here and attain the blessings that are to come, through grace and loving-kindness, etc. etc.

1 Corinthians 5:1-2

It is actually being reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and a kind of sexual immorality that is not even spoken of among the Gentiles: one of you has his father’s wife. And you are proud, instead of mourning so that the man who did this deed might be removed from among you.

When he was speaking about their divisions, he did not at once address them strongly, but more gently at first. Afterwards, he ended with an accusation, saying this, "For it has been made known to me concerning you, my brothers, by those of Chloe's household, that there are quarrels among you" in 1 Corinthians 1:11. But here, it is not so. Instead, he strikes immediately and makes the reproach of the accusation as general as possible. For he did not say, "Why did such a one commit fornication?"

but, "It is reported that there is fornication among you." He did this so that, as people completely removed from his charge, they might take it easily, yet might be filled with the anxiety that naturally comes when the whole body is wounded and the Church has fallen under reproach. For no one, he says, will put it this way, "Such a one has committed fornication," but rather, "In the Church of the Corinthians, that sin has been committed."

And he did not say, "Fornication is being committed," but, "It is reported"—something "not even named among the Gentiles." For he constantly uses the Gentiles as a rebuke to the believers. So, when writing to the Thessalonians, he said, "Let each one possess his own vessel in sanctification, not in the passion of lust, like the rest of the Gentiles." And to the Colossians and Ephesians he said, "You should no longer walk as the other Gentiles walk."

Now if doing the same sins was inexcusable when they even went beyond the Gentiles, what defense can we find for them? Tell me: since among the Gentiles, as he says, not only do they not dare to do such a thing, but they do not even give it a name. Do you see how far he intensified the charge? For when they are convicted of inventing forms of uncleanness that the unbelievers, far from daring to practice, do not even know about, the sin must be extremely great, beyond all words.

And the phrase, "among you," is also spoken with emphasis. That is, among you, the faithful, who have been favored with such great mysteries, sharers in secret things, guests invited to heaven. Do you see how his words overflow with indignation? With what anger against them all? For if he had not been full of great wrath, if he had not been taking his stand against them all, he would have spoken like this:

"Having heard that a certain person has committed fornication, I command you to punish him." But as it is, he does not speak that way. Instead, he challenges them all at once. And indeed, if they had written to him first, this is probably what he would have said. However, since far from writing to him, they had even hidden the fault, for this reason he makes his speech more forceful.

2. That one of you should have his father's wife. Why did he not say, "that he should violate his father's wife"? The extreme filthiness of the act made him draw back. So he passes over it quickly, with a kind of carefulness, as if it had already been stated clearly before. And by this again he makes the charge even stronger. He implies that such things are dared among them that even speaking of them plainly was unbearable for Paul.

Therefore, as he goes on, he uses the same way of speaking, saying, "Him who has done this thing." Again he is ashamed and blushes to say it openly. We also tend to do this with matters that are extremely shameful. And he did not say, "his stepmother," but, "his father's wife," so that he might strike much harder. For when the words themselves are enough to state the charge, he uses them plainly and adds nothing.

And do not tell me, he says, that the fornicator is only one person. The accusation has become common to all of you. Therefore he immediately added, "and you are puffed up." He did not say, "with the sin," because that would suggest a total lack of sense. But he meant that you were puffed up with the teaching you heard from that person. However, he did not state this directly himself, but left it undefined, so that he might strike a heavier blow.

And notice Paul's sound judgment. First he had overturned wisdom from outside the faith, and showed that by itself it is nothing, even if no sin were connected with it. Then, and not until then, he also speaks about the man's sin. For if, by comparing himself with the sexually immoral man, who perhaps was one of the wise, he had argued for the greatness of his own spiritual gift, he would not have done anything great.

But to bring down pagan wisdom and show that it is nothing, even when no sin goes along with it, was really to show its complete worthlessness. Therefore, as I said, after first making the comparison, he then mentions the man's sin also.

He does not even lower himself to argue with that man. By this, he shows how extremely dishonorable that man’s action is. But to the others he says, "You ought to weep and mourn, and cover your faces, but instead you do the opposite." This is the meaning of the next phrase: "And you are puffed up, and did not rather mourn."

And why should we weep? someone might say. Because the disgrace has spread even to the whole body of your Church. And what good will come from our weeping? That such a person should be taken away from among you. Even here he does not mention his name. Rather, I should say, he mentions it nowhere at all. This is our usual way in all monstrous things.

And he did not say, "You should rather have thrown him out." Instead, as when there is some disease or plague, there is need for mourning, he says, and for earnest prayer, "that he may be taken away." And you should have prayed for this, and left nothing undone so that he might be cut off.

Nor does he accuse them for failing to tell him about it. Instead, he accuses them because they did not mourn in such a way that the man would be removed. This means that even without their Teacher, they should have done this, because the offense was so well known.

1 Corinthians 5:3-5

For truly, though I am absent in body, I am present in spirit.

Notice his forcefulness. He does not allow them even to wait for his presence, or to receive him first and then give the sentence of binding. Instead, as if he were about to drive out a disease before it spreads to the rest of the body, he hurries to stop it. Therefore he adds the words, "I have already judged, as though I were present."

He said these things not only to push them to declare their sentence and to give them no chance to plan something else, but also to frighten them, as one who knew what had to be done and had already decided it there. For this is what it means to be present in spirit: Elisha was present with Gehazi, and said, "Did not my heart go with you?" 2 Kings 5:26. Wonderful! How great is the power of this gift. It makes everyone be together and as one, and it enables them to know things that are far away.

"I have already judged, as though I were present."

He does not allow them to use any other course. Now I have given my decision as if I were there in person: let there be no delays or putting things off, because nothing else must be done.

Then, so that he would not seem too commanding, and so that his words would not sound self-willed, notice how he makes them partners in the judgment also. For after saying, "I have judged," he adds, "concerning the one who has done this thing, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one to Satan."

Now what does this mean: “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”? It means, according to God, and not controlled by any human prejudice.

Some, however, read it this way: "Him that has so done this thing in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," and then they stop there, or make a break. After that, they add what follows, saying, "When you are gathered together, and my spirit, deliver such a one to Satan." They claim that the meaning of this reading is as follows: "Deliver to Satan the man who has done this thing in the Name of Christ," says St. Paul.

That is, deliver to Satan the man who has insulted the Name of Christ, the man who, after becoming a believer and being called by that name, has dared to do such things. But to me, the former explanation appears to be the truer one.

What then does this mean? "When you are gathered together in the Name of the Lord." That is, in His Name, for whose sake you have met, and who has brought you together.

And my spirit also. Again, he places himself at their head, so that when they pass sentence, they will cut off the offender only as if he were present. This is also so that no one would dare to judge him worthy of pardon, knowing that Paul would be aware of what was done.

Then, to make it even more serious, he says, "with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ." That means either that Christ is able to give you such grace that you have power to hand him over to the devil, or that Christ Himself is with you in passing that sentence against him.

And he did not say, "Give such a person up to Satan," but, "Deliver him"—thus opening the doors of repentance to him, and handing such a person over, as it were, to a schoolmaster. And again he says, "such a person." He cannot bear to mention his name anywhere.

For the destruction of the flesh. This was done as in the case of the blessed Job, but not for the same reason. In Job's case, it was for greater crowns. But here, it was for the removal of sins, so that Satan might strike him with a severe sore or some other disease. It is true that elsewhere he says, "We are judged by the Lord" in 1 Corinthians 11:32 when we suffer these things. But here, because he wanted to make them feel it more sharply, he hands him over to Satan.

And so this also happened, which God had determined: the man's flesh was disciplined. For because excessive eating and fleshly luxury give birth to sinful desires, it is the flesh that he disciplines.

So that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus; that is, the soul. This does not mean that the soul is saved by itself alone. Rather, the settled point was that if the soul is saved, then without any doubt the body also will share in its salvation. For just as the body became mortal because the soul sinned, so also, if the soul does what is right, the body in turn will also enjoy great glory.

But some say that the Spirit is the gracious gift that is put out when we sin. So then, in order that this may not happen, he says, let him be punished. Then, by becoming better through this, he may bring God's grace down on himself and be found keeping it safe on that day. So everything comes from one acting like a nurse or a doctor, not merely whipping or punishing carelessly and at random. For the benefit is greater than the punishment.

The one is only for a time, but the other is everlasting.

And he did not simply say, "that the spirit may be saved," but, "in that day." He rightly and appropriately reminds them of that day, so that they might more readily give themselves to the cure, and so that the person being rebuked might more readily receive his words, not as if they came from anger, but as the careful concern of an anxious father. For this reason also he said, "to the destruction of the flesh," setting limits for the devil and not allowing him to go one step too far.

As in the case of Job, God said in Job 2:6, "But do not touch his life."

Then, after finishing his statement and saying it briefly without spending much time on it, he brings in another rebuke and turns against them again.

1 Corinthians 5:6

Your boasting is not good. By this he means that, up to that time, they had kept him from repenting by taking pride in him. Next, he shows that he is taking this step in order to spare not only that man, but also those to whom he is writing. To this effect he adds,

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? For, he says, even though the offense is his, if it is neglected, it also has power to ruin the rest of the body of the Church. For when the first person who sins escapes punishment, others too will quickly commit the same faults.

By these words, he also shows that their struggle and their danger concern the whole Church, not just one person. For this reason, he also uses the example of leaven. For, he says, just as a little leaven changes the whole lump into its own kind, so also this man, if he is allowed to go unpunished and this sin is left unavenged, will also corrupt all the rest.

1 Corinthians 5:7-8

Clean out the old leaven, that is, this evil person. He is not speaking only about this one man. Rather, he is also pointing to others along with him. For the old leaven is not only sexual sin, but sin of every kind. And he did not say, "clean," but "clean out." That means to cleanse carefully, so that not even a remnant or a shadow of that kind remains. So when he says, "clean out," he shows that there was still wrongdoing among them.

But when he says, "that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened," he affirms and declares that wickedness was not controlling very many of them. Yet though he says, "as you are unleavened," he does not mean that all of them were actually clean. He means what kind of people they ought to be.

6. For Christ, our Passover, has also been sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven or with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. In the same way, Christ also called His teaching leaven. And Paul himself continues with the metaphor. He reminds them of an ancient history, and of the Passover and unleavened bread, and of their blessings both then and now, and their punishments and their plagues.

Therefore, the whole time in which we live is a festival. When he said, "Let us keep the feast," he was not speaking about the actual time of the Passover or Pentecost. Instead, he was showing that all time is a festival for Christians, because of the greatness of the good things that have been given to us. For what good thing has not happened? The Son of God became man for you. He set you free from death, and called you to a kingdom.

So then, you who have received such things and are still receiving them, how could it be anything less than your duty to keep the feast all your life? Let no one, then, be discouraged by poverty, disease, or the schemes of enemies. For the whole of our time is a festival. Therefore Paul says in Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice." On festival days, no one puts on filthy clothes. Then let us not do so either. For a marriage has been prepared, a spiritual marriage.

For He says, "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wished to make a marriage feast for his son," Matthew 22:1. Now if it is a king preparing a marriage, and a marriage for his son, what could be greater than this feast? Let no one, then, go in dressed in rags. I am not speaking about clothing, but about unclean actions.

For if, when everyone else was wearing bright clothing, one man was found at the marriage wearing filthy clothes and was thrown out in disgrace, consider how much strictness and purity are required to enter that marriage feast.

However, he reminds them of the unleavened bread not only for this reason, but also to show the connection between the Old Testament and the New. He also shows that, after the unleavened bread, it was impossible to go back again into Egypt. But if anyone chose to return, he would suffer the same things they suffered. For those things were a shadow of these, however stubborn the Jew may be. Therefore, if you ask him, he will speak of no small matter.

Rather, what he says will be great, but it will be nothing like what we speak of, because he does not know the truth. For he, on his part, will say, "The Egyptians who held us back were so changed by the Almighty that they themselves urged us on and drove us out, though before they had held us by force. They did not allow us even enough time to leaven our dough."

But if a man asks me, he will hear not about Egypt or Pharaoh, but about our deliverance from the deceit of demons and the darkness of the devil; not about Moses, but about the Son of God; not about a Red Sea, but about a Baptism overflowing with countless blessings, where the old man is drowned.

Again, if you ask the Jew why he removes all leaven from all his borders, he will be silent here too and will not even give a reason. This is because some of these details were both symbols of things to come and also connected to what was happening at that time. But others were not like that, so that the Jews might not act deceitfully and might not remain in the shadow. For tell me, what is the meaning of the lamb being male, unblemished, and a year old?

And what does it mean that "a bone shall not be broken"? And what is the meaning of the command to call the neighbors also, Exodus 12:4, and that it should be eaten standing and in the evening, or of protecting the house with blood? He will have nothing else to say except to repeat again and again that it was all about Egypt. But I can tell you the meaning of the blood, and of the evening, and of eating it altogether, and of the rule that everyone should be standing.

But first let us explain why the leaven is thrown out from all their borders. What, then, is the hidden meaning? The believer must be set free from all wickedness. For just as among them the person is destroyed wherever old leaven is found, so also with us, wherever wickedness is found. Since the punishment was so great in what was only a shadow, in our case it must certainly be much greater.

For if they so carefully clear leaven out of their houses, and even search into mouse holes, much more should we search through the soul, so that we may cast out every unclean thought.

However, they did this only in recent times, but not anymore. For everywhere a Jew is found, there is leaven. For the Feast of Unleavened Bread is kept in the middle of cities. This is now more like a game than a law. For since the Truth has come, the types no longer have any place.

So by this example also, he powerfully drives the fornicator out of the Church. For, he says, his presence is so far from helping that it actually does harm. He injures the common well-being of the body. For no one knows where the bad odor comes from while the rotten part is hidden, and so people blame the whole body for it. Therefore he strongly urges them to purge out the leaven, so that you may be, he says, a new lump, just as you are unleavened.

For Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us. He did not say, "has died," but, in a way that fits the subject better, "has been sacrificed." So then, do not look for unleavened bread of this kind, since you do not have a lamb of that kind either. Do not look for leaven of this sort, since your unleavened bread is not like this.

9. In the case of material leaven, what is unleavened might become leavened, but never the reverse. But here, the direct opposite may happen. However, he has not said this plainly. Notice his good sense. In the former Epistle, he gives the fornicator no hope of return, but orders that his whole life should be spent in repentance, lest he should make him less energetic through the promise.

For he did not say, "Deliver him up to Satan, so that after he has repented he may be commended again to the Church." But what does he say? "That he may be saved in the last day." He leads him on to that time in order to make him full of anxiety. And what favors he intended for him after the repentance, he does not reveal, imitating his own Master.

For as God says in Jonah 3:4, Septuagint, received text, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown," and does not add, "But if she repents she shall be saved," so also he did not say here, "But if he repents worthily, we will confirm our love toward him," 2 Corinthians 2:8. But he waits for him to do the work, so that he may then receive the favor. For if he had said this at the beginning, he might have set him free from fear.

Therefore he not only does not do this, but by the example of leaven he does not even allow him a hope of return, but reserves him to that day. "Purge out," he says, "the old leaven," and, "Let us not keep the feast with old leaven." But as soon as he had repented, he brought him in again with all earnestness.

10. But why does he call it old? Either because our former life was like this, or because what is old is ready to disappear, as Hebrews 8:13 says, and is tasteless and foul. That is the nature of sin. For He does not simply condemn the old, nor simply praise the new, but speaks in relation to the subject being discussed. So elsewhere He says, in Sirach 9:15, "New wine is like a new friend; but if it grows old, then you will drink it with pleasure."

In the case of friendship, he gives his praise more to the old than to the new. Again, "The Ancient of days sat," in Daniel 7:9. Here again, the word ancient is used as a word of praise that gives the highest honor. Elsewhere, Scripture uses the word old as a term of blame. For since things have different aspects, because they are made up of many parts, Scripture uses the same words in both a good and an evil sense, though not with the same meaning.

You can see an example of this in the blame spoken elsewhere about the old: Psalm 17:46 says, in the Septuagint, "They grew old, and they limped from their paths." Again, Psalm 6:7 says, in the Septuagint, "I have become old in the midst of all my enemies." And again, Daniel 13:52 says, in the history of Susanna, "You who have grown old in evil days." In the same way, leaven is often used for the kingdom of heaven, although here it is spoken of negatively.

But in that place it is used in one sense, and in this place in another.

11. But I strongly believe that the saying about the leaven also refers to priests who allow a great amount of the old leaven to remain within. They do not purge from their borders, that is, from the Church, the covetous, the extortioners, and whatever else would shut people out of the kingdom of heaven. For surely covetousness is an old leaven. Whenever it falls somewhere, and whatever house it enters, it makes unclean.

And even if you gain only a little by your injustice, it leavens all that you have. Therefore, not seldom, dishonest gain that was small has driven out the wealth that was honestly stored up, however abundant it was. For nothing is more rotten than covetousness. You may lock up that man's storeroom with key, and door, and bolt. You do it all in vain, while you shut up inside covetousness, the worst of robbers, able to carry everything away.

But what, you say, if there are many covetous people who do not experience this? First, they will experience it, even if it does not come at once. And if they escape now, then fear it all the more. For they are being kept for a greater punishment. Add to this that, even if they themselves escape, those who inherit their wealth will suffer the same thing. But how can this be just, you will say? It is completely just.

For a man who has succeeded to an inheritance full of injustice, even if he has committed no robbery himself, still keeps the property of others, and knows this perfectly well. And it is right that he should suffer for it. For if this or that person had robbed someone, and you received a thing, and then the owner came and demanded it back, would it help your defense to say that you had not seized it? Not at all. For what would your plea be when you were accused? Tell me.

That it was another who seized it? Well, but you are keeping possession. That it was he who robbed? But you are enjoying it. Even the laws of the heathen recognize these rules. For while they acquit those who have seized and stolen, they order that satisfaction be demanded from those in whose possession you happen to find your goods stored up.

If you know who has been wronged, make it right and do what Zacchaeus did, with much increase. But if you do not know, I offer you another way. I do not shut you out from the remedy. Give all these things to the poor, and in this way you will lessen the evil.

But if some people have passed these things on even to their children and descendants, they have still suffered other disasters as punishment.

12. And why am I speaking about things in this present life? At least on that day, none of these things will be said, when both people appear stripped bare, both those who were robbed and those who robbed them. Or rather, they will not be alike in being stripped bare. As to riches, both will be equally deprived of them. But one will also be loaded with the charges caused by those riches.

What then shall we do on that day, when before the fearful judgment seat, the one who was badly treated and lost everything is brought forward into the middle, and you have no one to say a word for you? What will you say to the Judge? For now, perhaps you may even be able to corrupt the judgment, since it is only men who judge. But in that court, and at that time, it will no longer be so. No, not even now will you be able to do that.

For even at this moment, that judgment seat is present, since God both sees what we do and is near to the person who has been wronged, even if he has not called on Him. For it is certain that whoever suffers wrong, even if he is himself unworthy to receive any help, nevertheless, since what is done does not please God, most certainly has One to avenge him.

How then, you will say, can a wicked person be well off? No, it will not be so in the end. Hear what the Prophet says in Psalm 37:1-2: "Do not fret because of evildoers, because they will quickly wither away like grass." For tell me, where is the one who practiced robbery after he has departed from here? Where are his bright hopes? Where is his great name? Have they not all passed away and gone? Is not everything that belonged to him a dream and a shadow?

And you must expect this in the case of every such person, both in the person himself while he is living, and in the person who comes after him. But the condition of the saints is not like this. Nor will it be possible for you to say the same things in their case, that what belongs to them is a shadow and a dream and a tale.

13. And if you wish, let the one who spoke these things be the example we set before you: the tent-maker, the man from Cilicia, the man whose family line is not even known. You will say, "How is it possible to become like he was?" Then do you truly desire it? Are you truly eager to become like that? "Yes," you will say. Well then, go the same way he went, and the way those with him went. Now what way did he go? One says, in 2 Corinthians 11:27, "In hunger, and thirst, and nakedness."

Another says, in Acts 3:6, "Silver and gold I have none." So they had nothing, and yet possessed all things, as 2 Corinthians 6:10 says. What could be nobler than this saying? What could be more blessed, or richer in abundance? Other people are proud of the opposite things. They say, "I have this many talents of gold, and endless acres of land, and houses, and slaves." But this man was proud that he was stripped of all things. He does not shrink from poverty, which is how the unwise feel.

He does not hide his face. Instead, he even wears poverty like an ornament.

Where are the rich men now? Where are those who calculate their interest, both simple and compound? Where are those who take from everyone and are never satisfied? Have you heard the voice of Peter, that voice which presents poverty as the mother of wealth? That voice owns nothing, yet is richer than those who wear crowns.

For this is the voice that, though it had nothing, raised the dead, made the lame stand upright, drove away demons, and gave such gracious gifts as those who wear purple robes and command mighty and fearsome armies were never able to give. This is the voice of those who have now been taken up into heaven, of those who have reached that height.

14. So it is possible for a person who has nothing to possess the goods of all people. In this way, the one who owns nothing may gain the goods of all, while if we were to get all people's goods for ourselves, we would lose everything. Perhaps this statement seems like a paradox, but it is not. But you will say, how does the one who has nothing possess the goods of all? Does not the one who has what belongs to everyone have much more? Not at all. In fact, the opposite is true.

For the one who has nothing has use of everything, just as they did. And throughout the world, all houses were open to them. Those who welcomed them counted their coming as a favor, and they went to them as to friends and relatives. For this is how they came to the woman who was a seller of purple, Acts 16:14, and she, like a servant, set before them what she had. They also came to the keeper of the prison, and he opened his whole house to them. The same was true with countless others.

So they had all things and had nothing. For in Acts 4:32 they said that none of the things they possessed was their own; therefore all things were theirs. For the one who thinks all things are shared in common will use not only his own things, but also the things of others as if they belonged to him. But the one who divides things up and sets himself up as master over only what is his own will not be master even of those things. And this is clear from an example.

A person who has nothing at all, no house, no table, no extra clothing, but for God's sake has been deprived of everything, uses the things that are common as his own. And he will receive from everyone whatever he may need. So the one who has nothing possesses the things of all. But the one who has some things will not be master even of those. First, no one will give to a person who already has possessions.

Second, his property will belong to robbers and thieves and informers and changing events, and it will be anybody's rather than his own. Paul, for example, traveled throughout the whole world carrying nothing with him, though he went neither to friends nor to relatives. No, at first he was a common enemy to all. Nevertheless, after he gained entrance, he had the goods of all people.

But Ananias and Sapphira, rushing to gain a little more than what was their own, lost everything, along with life itself. Therefore, withdraw from what is your own, so that you may use the goods of others as your own.

15. But I must stop. I do not know how I was carried away into such passion while speaking these words to people who think it is a great thing to give even a very little of what is their own. Therefore, let these words of mine be spoken to the mature. But to those who are less mature, this is what we may say: Give from what you have to those in need. Increase your wealth. For He says in Proverbs 19:17, "He who gives to the poor lends to God."

But if you are in a hurry and will not wait for the time of repayment, think about those who lend money to other people. Even they do not want to receive their interest at once. Instead, they want the principal to remain for a long time in the borrower's hands, as long as the repayment is secure and they do not distrust the borrower. Let the same be done in this case also. Leave what you have given with God, so that He may pay you your wages many times over.

Do not try to receive everything here. For if you get it all back here, how will you receive it back there? And for this reason God stores these things up there, since this present life is full of decay. But He gives even here also. For He says, "Seek the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be added to you." Matthew 6:33 So then, let us look toward the kingdom, and not be in a hurry to receive the whole repayment, lest we reduce our reward. But let us wait for the proper time.

For the interest in these matters is not of the ordinary kind, but such as is fitting for God to give. Then, having gathered this interest together in great abundance, let us depart from here, so that we may obtain both present and future blessings, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. With Him, to the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now, from now on, and forevermore. Amen.

1 Corinthians 5:9-11

I wrote to you in my letter to have no company with fornicators. Yet I did not mean altogether the fornicators of this world, or the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters. For then you would have to go out of the world. But now I write to you not to keep company, if any man who is called a brother is a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a drunkard, or a reviler, or an extortioner. With such a one, do not even eat.

For since he had said, "You have not rather mourned, that such a one should be taken away," and, "Purge out the old leaven," it was likely they would think it was their duty to avoid all sexually immoral people. For if the person who has sinned passes some of his own corruption to those who have not sinned, then it is even more fitting to keep away from outsiders. For if one ought not to spare a friend because of the harm that comes from him, much less should one spare others.

And with this idea in mind, they would probably separate themselves from the sexually immoral among the Greeks also. Since that would be impossible, they would have been even more troubled. So he corrected them in this way, saying, "I wrote to you to have no company with sexually immoral people, yet not altogether with the sexually immoral of this world." He uses the word "altogether" as if this were something already understood.

For he did not want them to think that he was not commanding this because they were still imperfect, and then try to do it under the mistaken idea that they were perfect. So he shows that this would be impossible to do, even if they very much wanted to do it. For it would be necessary to look for another world. Therefore he added, "For then you must needs go out of the world."

Do you see that he is not a harsh master, and that in his commands he always considers not only what can be done, but also what can be done easily? For how is it possible, he says, for a man who cares for a household and children, and is involved in the affairs of the city, or who is a craftsman or a soldier, to avoid the unclean people who are found everywhere, since most people are Greeks? For by "the sexually immoral of the world," he means those who are among the Greeks.

But now I write to you, if any brother is of this kind, with such a person, do not even eat. Here also he points indirectly to others who were living in wickedness.

But how can someone who is a brother be an idolater? It was like the case of the Samaritans in the past, who chose piety only halfway. Besides, he is also laying the groundwork ahead of time for the discussion about things offered in sacrifice to idols, which he intends to address after this.

Or greedy. For he also comes into conflict with these sins. Therefore he also said, "Why not rather accept being wronged? Why not rather let yourselves be cheated?" No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat others.

Or a drunkard. He also charges them with this later, when he says, "One is hungry and another is drunk," and, "Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food."

Or a slanderer, or a swindler; for he had corrected these people before as well.

Next, he also adds the reason why he does not forbid them to associate with heathens of that kind. He means that this is not only impossible, but also unnecessary.

1 Corinthians 5:12-13: "For what do I have to do with judging those outside the church? Is it not those inside the church that you are to judge? But God judges those outside. 'Put away the evil person from among yourselves.'"

For what do I have to do with judging those who are outside? He calls the Christians those within, and the Greeks those without. As he also says elsewhere, in 1 Timothy 3:7, "He must also have a good report of them that are without." And in the Epistle to the Thessalonians he speaks in the same way, saying, in 2 Thessalonians 3:14, "Have no intercourse with him, so that he may be put to shame." And, "Count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother."

Here, however, he does not add the reason. Why? Because in the other case he wished to soothe them, but in this case, not so. For the fault in this case and in that was not the same, but in the Thessalonians it was less. For there he is reproving indolence, but here fornication and other most grievous sins. And if anyone wished to go over to the Greeks, he does not prevent him from eating with such persons. This too is for the same reason. So also do we act.

For our children and our brothers, we leave nothing undone, but of strangers we do not make much account. How then? Did not Paul care for those who were without as well? Yes, he cared for them. But it was not until after they received the Gospel and he had made them subject to the doctrine of Christ, that he laid down laws for them. But so long as they despised, it was superfluous to speak the precepts of Christ to those who did not know Christ Himself.

Do you not judge those who are inside, while God judges those who are outside? For since he had said, "What have I to do with judging those outside?" he adds this so that no one would think those people were left unpunished. He sets another court over them, and it is a fearful one. He said this both to frighten those people and to comfort these. He also shows that this punishment, which lasts for a time, takes them away from the punishment that never dies and lasts forever.

He has also clearly said this elsewhere, in 1 Corinthians 11:32: "But now being judged, we are chastened, that we should not be condemned with the world."

3. Put away from among yourselves the wicked person. He used an expression found in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy 17:7. He partly hinted that they too would gain greatly by being freed, as it were, from some grievous plague. He also meant to show that this kind of thing is no innovation, but that even from the beginning it seemed good to the lawgiver that such people should be cut off. But in that case it was done with more severity; in this case, with more gentleness.

For this reason, one might reasonably ask why, in that case, he allowed the sinner to be severely punished and stoned, but in the present case not so. Rather, he leads him to repentance. Why then were the lines drawn one way in the former case and another way in the latter? For two reasons. One, because these people were led into a greater trial and needed greater long-suffering.

The other, and truer reason, is that these people were more easily corrected by their impunity, since they might come to repentance; but the others were likely to go on to greater wickedness. For if, when they saw the first person undergoing punishment, they persisted in the same things, then if no one at all had been punished, they would have felt this much more strongly. For this reason, in that divine arrangement, death is immediately inflicted on the adulterer and the manslayer.

But in this, if through repentance they are absolved, they escape the punishment. However, here too one may see some examples of heavier punishment, and in the Old Testament some less severe examples, so that it may be shown in every way that the covenants are akin to each other, and have one and the same lawgiver. And you may see the punishment following immediately both in that covenant and in this, and in both often after a long interval.

No, and often not even after a long interval, repentance alone being accepted as satisfaction by the Almighty. Thus in the Old Testament, David, who had committed adultery and murder, was saved by means of repentance. And in the New, Ananias, who withdrew only a small portion of the price of the land, perished together with his wife.

Now if examples of this kind are more frequent in the Old Testament, and examples of the contrary kind in the New, the difference in the persons produces the difference in the treatment adopted in such matters.

1 Corinthians 6:1-2

If any one of you has a case against his brother, does he dare to go to court before the unrighteous instead of before the saints?

Here again he makes his complaint on grounds that everyone admits are true. In that other place he says, "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you." And in this place he says, "Dare any one of you?" Right from the beginning he shows signs of his anger. He also implies that what he is speaking about comes from a bold and lawless spirit.

Now why did he bring in, by the way, that discussion about covetousness and about the duty of not going to law without the Church? He did it in fulfillment of his own rule. For it is his custom to set right things as they fall in his way. It is just as when, while speaking about the tables they used in common, he launched out into the discussion about the mysteries.

So here too, as you see, since he had mentioned covetous brothers, and was burning with anxiety to correct those in sin, he did not endure to keep exact order. Instead, he again corrects the sin that had been introduced out of the regular course, and so returns to the former subject.

So let us hear what he also says about this: “If any of you has a dispute, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?” For a time, he uses these personal words to expose, disgrace, and rebuke what they are doing. He does not, right at the beginning, completely overturn the custom of seeking judgment before believers. But after he has struck them down with many words, then he removes going to law entirely.

For first, he says, if a person must go to law, it is wrong to do so before the unrighteous. But you should not go to law at all. However, he adds this later. For now, he examines the earlier point very carefully, namely, that they should not submit their cases to outsiders for judgment. For, he says, how can it be anything but absurd for someone who is in conflict with his friend to take his enemy as the one to reconcile them?

And how can you help feeling shame and blushing when a Greek sits in judgment over a Christian? And if it is not right to go to law before Greeks about private matters, how shall we submit to their decisions about other things that are even more important?

Notice, also, how he speaks. He does not say, "before the unbelievers," but, "before the unrighteous." He uses the phrase that was most needed for the matter at hand, so that he might warn them and keep them away from it. For notice that his discussion was about going to court, and people involved in lawsuits want nothing so much as for the judges to care deeply about what is just. He uses this as a reason to persuade them not to do it, almost saying, "Where are you going?

What are you doing, O man? You are bringing on yourself the opposite of what you want, and in order to get justice, you are placing yourself in the hands of unjust men." And because it would have been too hard for them to be told at once not to go to court, he did not add that immediately. Instead, he only changed the judges, bringing the person involved in the trial from outside into the Church.

5. Then, since this seemed easy to despise—I mean, our being judged by those who were among us, and especially at that time—because they were perhaps not able to understand the matter, and were not like the pagan judges, who were highly skilled in law and rhetoric, since most of them were uneducated men, notice how he makes them worthy of trust by first calling them Saints.

But since this bore witness to purity of life, and not to skill in judging a case accurately, notice how he deals with this point also in an orderly way. He says, "Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?" How then can you, who are going to judge them in your day, put up with being judged by them now? They will not judge by sitting in person and demanding an account. Yet they will condemn. This is what he clearly said:

"And if the world is judged in you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?" He does not say "by you," but "in you," just as when He said in Matthew 12:42, "The queen of the south shall rise up and condemn this generation," and, "The men of Nineveh shall arise and condemn this generation." For when they see the same sun and share all the same things, and we are found to be believers while they are unbelievers, they will not be able to escape into ignorance.

For we will accuse them simply by the things we have done. And one will find many such ways of judgment there.

Then, so that no one would think he is speaking about other people, notice how he makes his statement general. And if the world is judged in you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

He says, "This is a disgrace to you, and an unspeakable reproach." For since it was likely that they would be ashamed at being judged by those who were within, he says, "No, on the contrary, the disgrace is when you are judged by those without. For those cases are the very small controversies, not these."

1 Corinthians 6:3

Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more, then, the things that belong to this life?

Some say that the priests are being hinted at here, but that is wrong. He is speaking about demons. For if he had been speaking about corrupt priests, he would have meant them in the earlier statement, when he said, "the world is judged in you." Scripture often calls evil people also "the world." He would not have said the same thing twice. Nor would he, as if he were saying something more serious, have put it afterward.

But he is speaking about those angels whom Christ speaks of when He says, "Depart into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels," in Matthew 25:41. And Paul says, "his angels disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness," in 2 Corinthians 11:15. For when even those incorporeal powers are found inferior to us, who are clothed with flesh, they will suffer heavier punishment.

But if some still insist that he is speaking about priests, let us ask, what kind of priests? Of course, they would be priests whose way of life has been worldly. In what sense, then, does he say, "We shall judge angels, much more things that relate to this life"? He mentions the angels in contrast to the things of this life. That is likely enough, because they are far removed from needing these things, because of the greater excellence of their nature.

1 Corinthians 6:4

6. So then, if you have to judge matters that belong to this life, appoint as judges those who are of no account in the Church.

He wanted to teach us as strongly as possible that they should not place themselves in the hands of outsiders, whatever the issue may be. So he first raises what might seem to be an objection, and then answers it. What he means is something like this: "Perhaps someone will say, 'Is no one among you wise, or able to give a judgment? Are all of you insignificant?'" What comes next? "Even if no one is wise," he says, "I tell you to entrust these matters to those who are least important."

1 Corinthians 6:5

But I say this to make you feel ashamed. These are the words of someone showing that their objection is only an empty excuse. Therefore he adds, "Is it really true that there is not a wise man among you, not even one?" In other words, he says, is the shortage really that great? Is there really such a lack of sensible people among you? And what he says next hits even harder. After saying, "Is it really true that there is not a wise man among you, not even one?"

he adds, "who will be able to judge the case of his brother?" For when brother goes to law with brother, there is never any need for great understanding or special skill in the person who steps in to settle the case. The natural feeling between them, and their relationship, greatly helps in settling such a quarrel.

But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers. Do you see with what effect he first spoke against the judges by calling them unrighteous? But here, to stir up shame, he calls them unbelievers. For it is surely extremely disgraceful if the priest could not be the source of reconciliation even among brothers, but help had to be sought from those outside.

So when he said, "those who are of no account," his main meaning was not that the Church's outcasts should be appointed as judges, but that he was finding fault with them. For he has shown that it was proper to refer the matter to those who were able to decide it by saying, "Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one?"

And with great force he silences them and says, "Even if there were not a single wise man, the hearing ought to have been left to you who are unwise, rather than that those outside should judge." For what else can it be but absurd, that when a quarrel arises in a house, we call in no one from outside, and are ashamed if news of what is happening indoors gets out among strangers; but where the Church is, the treasure of the unutterable Mysteries, there all things should be made public outside?

1 Corinthians 6:6

But brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers.

The charge has two parts: that he goes to court, and that he does so before unbelievers. For if it is already wrong in itself to go to court with a brother, then to do it also before outsiders, what pardon does it admit of?

1 Corinthians 6:7

No, it is already a complete failure on your part that you have lawsuits against one another.

Do you see for what point he saved this issue? And how he cleared up the discussion of it at the right time? For, he says, I am not yet speaking about who does the wrong or who is wronged. Up to this point, the very act of going to court brings both sides under his rebuke, and in that respect one is no better than the other at all. But whether a person goes to court justly or unjustly, that is a completely different subject. So do not say, "Who did the wrong?"

For on that very ground I condemn you at once, simply for the act of going to court.

Now if it is a fault to be unable to endure a wrongdoer, what charge could equal the wrongdoing itself? Why not instead accept being wronged? Why not instead let yourselves be defrauded?

1 Corinthians 6:8-10

No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat your brothers.

Again, it is a twofold crime, perhaps even threefold or fourfold. One, not knowing how to bear being wronged. Another, actually doing wrong. A third, committing the settling of these matters even to the unjust. And yet a fourth, that it should be so done to a brother. For men's offenses are not judged by the same rule when they are committed against just any person, and when they are committed against a fellow member. For it must be a greater degree of recklessness to dare that.

In the other case, the nature of the thing alone is trampled on. But in this, the quality of the person also.

8. You see that, after he had silenced them by arguments from general principles, and earlier by the rewards that were offered, he ends his appeal with a threat. He makes his words more direct and forceful, saying this: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:

neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor those who abuse themselves with men, nor covetous people, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the kingdom of God.” What are you saying? When speaking about covetous people, have you brought before us such a huge crowd of lawless people? “Yes,” he says, “but in doing this, I am not confusing my argument. I am proceeding in proper order.”

For just as, when speaking about the unclean, he mentioned them all together, so again, when mentioning the covetous, he brings them all forward. In this way, he makes his rebukes easier to accept for those who have such things on their conscience. For the repeated mention of the punishment stored up for others makes the reproof easier to receive when it comes against our own sins.

So in the present case, he gives this threat not because he knows they are doing such things, and not because he is calling them to account. That kind of approach has special power to hold the hearer and keep him from pulling away. The speech is not directed at him personally, but is spoken in a general way, and so it wounds his conscience secretly.

Do not be deceived. Here he is pointing to certain people who claim what, in fact, most people say now: that because God is good and kind to man, He does not take vengeance for our sins. So then, they say, we should not be afraid, because He will never demand justice from anyone for anything. It is because of these people that he says, "Do not be deceived."

For it is the height of error and delusion to depend on good and then meet the opposite, and to imagine such things about God as no one would think even about a human being. Therefore the Prophet says in His person, Psalm 49:21, "You have imagined evil, that I would be like you. I will rebuke you and set your sins before your face." And Paul says here, "Do not be deceived:

neither fornicators"—he puts first the one that had already been condemned—"nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor drunkards, nor revilers, shall inherit the kingdom of God."

Many have attacked this passage as extremely severe, since he places the drunkard and the reviler with the adulterer, the abominable, and the abuser of himself with mankind. And yet the offenses are not equal. How then is the punishment the same? What shall we say then? First, that drunkenness is no small thing, nor is reviling, since Christ Himself delivered over to hell the one who called his brother, "Fool." And often that sin has brought forth death.

Again, the Jewish people too committed the greatest of their sins through drunkenness. Next, he is not speaking so much here about punishment, but about exclusion from the kingdom. Now both the one and the other are equally thrust out from the kingdom. But whether in hell they will find any difference, it does not belong to the present occasion to inquire. For that subject is not before us just now.

1 Corinthians 6:11

And some of you were like that. But you were washed. But you were sanctified.

To deeply humble them, he adds this. It is as if he said, "Think about the evils from which God delivered us. Think about how great a proof and demonstration of His loving-kindness He gave us." He did not keep His redemption to simple deliverance, but greatly enlarged the gift. For He also made you clean. Was that all, then? No. He also sanctified you. And even that was not all. He also justified you. Even simple deliverance from our sins would have been a great gift.

But now He has also filled you with countless blessings. And He has done this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, not in this name or that one. Yes, also in the Spirit of our God.

Therefore, beloved, since we know these things and remember how great the blessing is that has been accomplished, let us continue to live with self-control, keeping ourselves pure from all the things that have been listed. Let us also avoid the courts that are in the public places of the Gentiles. And let us preserve to the end the noble birth that God has freely given us. For think how shameful it is that a Greek should sit and judge you.

But you will say, what if the one inside the church judges against the law? Why should he? Tell me. I want to know what kind of laws the Greek uses to judge, and what kind the Christian uses. Is it not perfectly clear that human laws are the rule for the Greek, but God's laws are the rule for the Christian? Then surely there is a greater chance of justice with the Christian, since these laws are even sent from heaven.

For when it comes to those outside, besides what has been said, there are many other things to suspect also: skill in speakers, corruption in magistrates, and many other things that ruin justice. But with us, there is nothing of this kind.

What then, you will say, if the opponent is a person in high position? All the more, for that very reason, a person ought to go to court before Christian judges. In the courts outside the church, he will certainly get the better of you. But what if he does not accept that, and instead looks down on those inside the church and drags the case by force into the outside courts?

It would be better to submit willingly to what you are likely to suffer by force, and not go to court, so that you may also receive a reward. For Matthew 5:40 says, "If anyone wants to go to law with you, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also." And Matthew 5:25 says, "Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him on the way." And why do I need to speak only of our own rules?

Even the lawyers in pagan courts often tell us this very thing, saying that it is better to settle matters out of court. But, O wealth, or rather, O absurd love of wealth! It overturns everything and throws everything down. Because of money, all things become to many people nothing but empty talk and fables. Now, it is no wonder that worldly people bring trouble into courts of law.

But that many of those who have said farewell to the world do the very same thing—this is something for which there is no excuse at all. For if you want to see, by the rule of Scripture, how far you should keep away from this kind of necessity—I mean the law courts—and to learn for whom laws are appointed, hear what Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:9: "Law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and unruly."

And if he says these things about the Mosaic Law, much more does this apply to the laws of the pagans.

10. So then, if you commit injustice, it is clear that you cannot be righteous. But if you are wronged and endure it, for this is a special mark of a righteous person, you have no need of outward laws. "How then," you say, "will I be able to endure it when I am wronged?" And yet Christ has commanded something even greater than this.

He has not only commanded you to endure it when you are wronged, but even to give much more to the one who wronged you, and in your eagerness to suffer wrong to go beyond his eagerness to do it. For He did not say, "To him who will sue you at law and take away your coat, give your coat," but, "Along with that, give your cloak also." "But I tell you," He says, "overcome him by suffering evil, not by doing evil. For this is the sure and glorious victory."

Therefore Paul also goes on to say, "Now then, it is altogether a defect in you that you have lawsuits with one another." And, "Why do you not rather accept wrong?" For I will make it clear to you that the person who is wronged overcomes, rather than the one who cannot endure being wronged. The one who cannot endure injury, even if he drags the other person into court and wins the judgment, is then most of all defeated.

For he has suffered the very thing he did not want, because his opponent has forced him both to feel pain and to go to law. For what does it matter that you have won? And what does it matter that you have gotten back all the money? In the meantime, you have endured what you did not want, since you were forced to settle the matter by law. But if you endure the injustice, you overcome. You may indeed be deprived of the money, but not at all of the victory that belongs to such self-control.

For the other person had no power to force you to do what you did not want.

And to show that this is true, tell me: which one won at the ash heap? Which one was defeated? Was it Job, who was stripped of everything, or the devil, who stripped him of everything? Clearly, it was the devil who was defeated. Which one do we admire for the victory: the devil who struck, or Job who was struck? Clearly, Job. And yet he could not keep his fading wealth or save his children. Why do I speak of riches and children? He could not even preserve his bodily health for himself.

Yet he is still the conqueror, the one who lost everything he had. He could not keep his riches, but he kept his godliness with complete care. And he could not help his children when they were dying. And what then? What happened made them more glorious, and besides that, in this way he protected himself against spiteful mistreatment. Now if he had not suffered harm and been wronged by the devil, he would not have won that remarkable victory.

If suffering wrong were an evil thing, God would not have commanded it to us, for God does not command evil things. What? Do you not know that He is the God of glory? It could not be His will to surround us with shame, ridicule, and loss, but rather to bring us into the opposite of these things. Therefore He commands us to suffer wrong, and He does everything to pull us away from worldly things and to convince us what glory is and what shame is, what loss is and what gain is.

But it is hard to suffer wrong and be treated with malice. No, my friend, it is not. It is not hard. How long will your heart keep trembling over present things? For you can be sure that God would not have commanded this if it were hard. Just think about it. The one who does wrong goes away with the money, but also with an evil conscience.

But the one who suffers the wrong is indeed cheated out of some money, yet is enriched with confidence before God, a gain more valuable than countless treasures.

Therefore, since we know these things, let us choose for ourselves to live by strict principles. Let us not be like the unwise, who think they have not really been wronged if their suffering comes as the result of a court case. But the exact opposite is true. That is the greatest harm. The same is true whenever we show self-restraint in these matters, not willingly, but only after we have been defeated on the other side.

It is no benefit if a man, after losing in court, puts up with it, because from then on it is a matter of necessity. What, then, is the glorious victory? It is when you rise above it, when you refuse to go to law.

What are you saying? "Have I been stripped of everything," someone says, "and do you tell me to keep silent? Have I been treated shamefully, and do you urge me to endure it gently? And how can I do that?" No. It is very easy, if you will look up to heaven, if you will see the beauty set before you, and remember where God has promised to receive you if you bear injustice nobly. Do this, then. Look up to heaven, and think that you are being made like Him who sits there upon the Cherubim.

For He also was wronged, and He endured it. He was insulted, and did not take revenge. He was beaten, yet He did not defend His own case. No. He repaid those who did these things with the opposite kind of return, with benefits beyond number. And He commanded us to be imitators of Him. Consider that you came naked out of your mother's womb, and that naked both you and the one who has wronged you will depart. Rather, he for his part will depart with countless wounds, producing worms.

Consider that present things last only for a time. Count the tombs of your ancestors. Learn carefully about past events, and you will see that the wrongdoer has made you stronger. For he has increased his own passion, I mean his greed, but he has lessened yours by taking away the food of the wild beast. And besides all this, he has set you free from cares, distress, envy, informers, trouble, anxiety, continual fear, and the filthy heap of evils he has piled up on his own head.

Then someone says, "What if I have to struggle with hunger?" Endure it with Paul, who says in 1 Corinthians 4:10, "Even to this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked." But you will say, "He did it for God's sake." Do it also for God's sake. For when you refuse to take revenge, you do so for God's sake.

But the one who wronged me takes pleasure with the rich. No, rather, with the devil. But you, be crowned with Paul.

Therefore, do not fear hunger, for Proverbs 10:3 says that the Lord will not let the souls of the righteous die from hunger. And again, another passage says in Psalm 55:23, "Cast your care on the Lord, and He will nourish you." For if He feeds the sparrows of the field, how will He not also feed you? Now let us not be of little faith or small-hearted, my beloved. For if He has promised the kingdom of heaven and such great blessings, how will He not also give us the things we need in the present?

Let us not desire unnecessary things, but let us be content with what is enough, and we shall always be rich. Let shelter and food be what we seek, and we shall receive all things, both these and things far greater.

But if you are still grieving and bowed down, I would like to show you the soul of the wrongdoer after his victory, and how it has become ashes. For truly, sin is that kind of thing: while a person is committing it, it gives a certain pleasure. But when it is finished, that trifling pleasure is gone, one does not know how, and dejection comes in its place. This is how we feel when we do hurt to someone. Afterward, at any rate, we condemn ourselves.

In the same way, when we overreach, we feel pleasure. But afterward we are stung by conscience. Do you see some poor man's home in another person's possession? Do not weep for the one who was spoiled, but for the spoiler. For he has not inflicted an evil, but sustained an evil. For he robbed the other of present things, but he himself cast himself out of the blessings which cannot be uttered.

For if the one who does not give to the poor will go away into hell, what will the one who takes the goods of the poor suffer?

But someone says, "Where is the benefit if I suffer harm?" The benefit is great indeed. God does not make your reward depend on punishing the person who harmed you, because that would not be a great thing. For what great good is it if I suffer harm and he also suffers harm? And yet I know many people who think this is the greatest comfort. They think they have been fully repaid when they see those who insulted them being punished. But God does not limit His repayment to this.

Do you really want to know how great the blessings are that are waiting for you? He opens all heaven to you. He makes you a fellow citizen with the saints. He prepares you to take part in their choir. He frees you from sins. He crowns you with righteousness. For if those who forgive people who offend them will receive forgiveness, then what blessing will those not inherit who not only forgive, but also give generously besides?

Therefore, do not bear it with a weak spirit. Instead, even pray for the one who injured you. You do this for your own sake. Has he taken your money? Well, he has taken your sins too, as happened with Naaman and Gehazi. How much wealth would you give to have your sins forgiven? Believe me, that is what is happening now. For if you endure it nobly and do not curse, a glorious crown is placed on you. This is not my word. You have heard Christ saying, "Pray for those who treat you spitefully."

And consider how great the reward is: "That you may be like your Father who is in heaven." So then, you have been deprived of nothing. Yes, you have gained. You have received no injury. Rather, you have been crowned, because your soul has become better trained, you are made like God, you are set free from concern about money, and you are made a possessor of the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, taking all these things into account, let us restrain ourselves when we are injured, beloved, so that we may both be freed from the turmoil of this present life and cast out all useless sadness of spirit, and may obtain the joy to come; through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. With whom, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now, from now on, and forever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 6:12

"Everything is lawful for me, but not everything is helpful. Everything is lawful for me, but I will not be controlled by anything."

Here he is taking aim at people who are gluttons. Since he plans to attack the fornicator again, and since sexual immorality comes from luxury and lack of self-control, he strongly rebukes this passion. He cannot be speaking here about things that are forbidden, because those are not lawful. He is speaking about things that seem to be morally indifferent. To make my meaning clear: it is lawful, he says, to eat and to drink, but it is not beneficial when done to excess.

And with that remarkable and unexpected turn that he often uses, bringing his argument clearly around to the opposite point, he does that here also. He shows that doing whatever is in one’s power is not only not beneficial, but is not even really part of freedom. It is part of slavery.

First, he tries to persuade them not to do this because it is not helpful, saying, "they are not expedient." Next, he does so because it goes against their own claim, saying, "I will not be brought under the power of any." This is his meaning: You are free to eat, he says. Very well, then stay free, and be careful not to become a slave to this desire. For the person who uses it rightly is its master.

But the one who goes beyond the proper limit is no longer its master, but its slave, since gluttony rules over him above all. Do you see how, where the man thought he had authority, Paul shows that he is actually under authority? For this is his custom, as I said before: to turn every objection in the opposite direction. This is exactly what he has done here. Notice: each of them was saying, "I have the power to live luxuriously."

He replies, "By doing this, you are not so much acting like someone who has power over a thing, but rather like someone who is himself under such a power." For you do not even have power over your own belly as long as you live without self-control, but it has power over you. And the same may be said about riches and other things as well.

1 Corinthians 6:13

“Foods are for the belly.” By “belly” here he does not mean the stomach itself, but the stomach’s greed. It is like when he says in Philippians 3:19, “whose god is their belly.” He is not speaking about that part of the body, but about greediness. To show that this is so, listen to what follows: “And the belly is for foods; but the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord.” And yet the belly is also part of the body. But he sets down two pairs of things:

foods and gluttony, which he calls “the belly”; and Christ and the body.

What, then, is the meaning of, "Foods for the belly"? He says that foods go well with gluttony, and gluttony with them. Therefore, it cannot lead us to Christ, but pulls us toward these things instead. For it is a strong and brutal passion. It makes us slaves, and sets us to serving the belly. Why then are you stirred up and greedily reaching after food, O man? For the end of that service is only this, and nothing more will come from it.

Like someone waiting on a mistress, it remains in this slavery and goes no further. It has no other work except this same useless one. And the two are joined together and destroyed together: the belly with the foods, and the foods with the belly, spinning out a kind of endless cycle. It is like worms being produced from a decaying body, and then the body being eaten up by the worms. Or it is like a wave that swells high and then breaks, having no further result.

But he is not saying these things about food and the body themselves. Rather, he is criticizing the passion of greediness and excess in eating. And what follows shows this. For he goes on:

But God will destroy both it and them. He is not speaking about the stomach, but about excessive desire; not about food, but about rich eating. He is not angry with the first things, but even gives rules about them, saying in 1 Timothy 6:8, "Having food and covering, we shall be content with these." However, this is how he marks the whole matter with disgrace, leaving its correction, after giving advice, to prayer.

But some say that these words are a prophecy. They say it declares what conditions will be like in the life to come, and that there will be no eating or drinking there. Now if even moderate use will come to an end, then we should much more avoid excess.

Then, so that no one would think he was criticizing the body itself, or suspect that he was blaming the whole from one part, and say that the nature of the body was the cause of gluttony or sexual immorality, listen to what follows. He says, "I am not blaming the nature of the body, but the excessive freedom of the mind." Therefore he adds, "Now the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord." For it was not made for this purpose:

to live in wild pleasure and commit sexual immorality, just as the stomach was not made to be greedy. Instead, the body was made to follow Christ as its Head, and for the Lord to rule over the body. Let us be ashamed. Let us be struck with horror that, after we have been counted worthy of such great honor as to become members of Him who sits on high, we defile ourselves with such great evils.

2. Having now clearly condemned the glutton, he also uses the hope of the things to come to turn us away from this wickedness, saying,

1 Corinthians 6:14

And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up through His power.

Do you see his apostolic wisdom again? He is always proving that the resurrection is trustworthy by pointing to Christ, and especially here. For if our body is a member of Christ, and Christ has risen, then the body also will surely follow the Head.

By His power. Since he had stated something that people did not believe and that reason could not grasp, he left the details of Christ's own Resurrection entirely to God's incomprehensible power. He presented this also as an important proof against them. And about Christ's Resurrection, he did not say, "And God will also raise up the Lord," because that had already happened and was over. Instead, how did he say it? "And God both raised up the Lord." There was no need for proof.

But about our resurrection, since it has not yet happened, he did not speak that way. Instead, how did he speak? "And will raise up us also through His power." By directing them to trust the power of the One who works, he silences those who argue against it.

Further, if he attributes Christ’s resurrection to the Father, do not let that trouble you at all. He did not write this as if Christ were powerless. For Christ Himself says in John 2:19, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." And again, in John 10:18, "I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again." Luke also says in Acts, in Acts 1:3, "He showed Himself alive." Why then does Paul speak this way?

Because the actions of the Son are also credited to the Father, and the actions of the Father to the Son. For He says in John 5:19, "Whatever things He does, the Son also does in the same way."

And very fittingly he mentions the Resurrection here. By that hope, he holds down the power of greedy desire. It is almost as if he is saying, "You have eaten and drunk to excess. And what is the result? Nothing except destruction. You have been joined to Christ. And what is the result? A great and wonderful thing: the future Resurrection, that glorious Resurrection, beyond all words."

Therefore, let no one keep refusing to believe in the Resurrection. But if anyone does not believe, let him think about how many things God made out of nothing, and let him accept this also as proof of the other. For the things that have already happened are far stranger and full of overwhelming wonder. Just think about it. He took earth and mixed it, and made man—earth that had not existed before this. Then how did the earth become a man? And how was it brought out of nothing?

And how did all the things made from it come to be? Think of the endless kinds of irrational creatures, of seeds, and of plants. In the one case, no birth pains came first. In the other, no rain had fallen. No farming was seen, no oxen, no plow, nor anything else helping to produce them. Why was this so? It was for this reason:

in the beginning, the lifeless and senseless thing was made to bring forth so many kinds of plants and irrational creatures, so that from the very start He might teach you the doctrine of the Resurrection. For this is more impossible to explain than the Resurrection. It is not the same thing to light again a lamp that has gone out, and to show fire that has never appeared at all.

It is not the same thing to raise again a house that has fallen down, and to produce one that has never existed at all. In the first case, even if nothing else, at least the material was there to work with. But in the second case, not even the substance had appeared. Therefore, He first made what seemed to be harder, so that by this you might accept what is easier. I say harder, not for God, but as far as our reasoning can follow the subject. For with God, nothing is difficult.

But just as a painter who has made one image can easily make ten thousand, so also with God it is easy to make worlds without number and without end. Or rather, just as it is easy for you to imagine a city and unlimited worlds, so it is easy for God to make them. Or rather still, it is far easier. For you spend time, short though it is, in imagining them. But God does not spend even this.

Instead, as much as stones are heavier than the lightest things, yes, even than our minds, so much is our mind surpassed by the speed of God's work of creation.

Are you amazed at His power on the earth? Then think again about how heaven was made when it did not yet exist; how the countless stars, the sun, the moon, and all these things also did not yet exist. Again, tell me how, after they were made, they remained fixed, and on what? What foundation do they have? And what about the earth? What comes next to the earth? And again, what comes after that which is next to the earth?

Do you see into what a whirlpool the eye of your mind is thrown, unless you quickly take refuge in faith and in the incomprehensible power of the Maker?

But if you want to take examples from human activities too, you will gradually find wings for your understanding. What human activities? someone may ask. Do you not see the potters, and how they shape a vase that had been broken into pieces and become misshapen? Those who melt ore from the mine, do they not make the earth in their hands turn into gold, or silver, or copper? Others who work with glass, do you not see how they turn sand into one solid and transparent substance?

Shall I speak of those who prepare leather, or of those who dye purple garments, and how they make what received their color appear as one thing when before it had been another? Shall I speak of the birth of our own race? Does not a small seed, at first without form or mark, enter into the womb that receives it? From where, then, comes the very intricate formation of the living creature? What about wheat? Is it not thrown into the earth as a bare seed?

After it is thrown there, does it not decay? From where then come the ear, the beard, the stalk, and all the other parts? Does not a small fig seed often fall into the ground and produce root, branches, and fruit? And do you accept each of these without making curious inquiries, but from God alone you demand an explanation, when He changes the form of our body? And how can such things be pardonable?

We say these things, and others like them, to the Greeks. For I have no need to speak at all to those who obey the Scriptures.

I say, if you intend to pry with curiosity into all His doings, what advantage would God have over men? And yet there are many things even about men that we do not ask about in this way. Much more, then, ought we to hold back from improper inquiry about the wisdom of God, and from demanding an account of it. First, because He who affirms it is trustworthy. Second, because the matter does not admit investigation by reasoning.

For God is not so miserably poor as to do only such things as can be grasped by the weakness of your reasoning. And if you do not understand the work of an artisan, much less the work of God, the best of artisans. Do not disbelieve the Resurrection, then, for you will be very far from the hope of what is to come.

But what is the clever argument of those who oppose this? Or rather, I should say, what is their extremely foolish argument? They say, “How can the body rise again when it has been mixed with the earth and has become earth, and then that earth has been carried somewhere else?” This seems impossible to you, but not to the Eye that never sleeps. For all things are clear to Him. In that confusion, you see no distinction between the parts. But He knows them all.

You do not even know your neighbor’s heart, or the things in it. But He knows everything. If, then, because you do not know how God raises people up, you do not believe that He does raise them, will you also refuse to believe that He knows what is in your mind? For that is not visible either. And yet in the case of the body, it is visible matter, even if it has been dissolved. But thoughts are invisible.

Shall He, then, who knows invisible things with complete certainty, not also see visible things, and easily separate the scattered parts of the body? I suppose this is clear to everyone.

So do not disbelieve the Resurrection, because this is a teaching of the Devil. This is what the Devil is eager for: not only that the Resurrection should be disbelieved, but also that good works should be done away with. For the person who does not expect to rise again and give an account of the things he has done will not quickly devote himself to virtue. He will then go on to disbelieve the Resurrection completely. For each of these supports the other:

vice is supported by unbelief, and unbelief by vice. For a conscience filled with many wicked deeds fears and trembles at the coming punishment. And since it is not willing to find comfort for itself by changing to what is best, it is eager to rest in unbelief. So when you deny resurrection and judgment, the other person, for his part, will say, "Then I will not have to give an account of my shameless deeds either."

4. But why does Christ say, in Matthew 22:29, "You do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God"? For God would not have done so many things if He had not intended to raise us up again, but instead to dissolve us and blot us out in annihilation. He would not have spread out this heaven. He would not have stretched the earth beneath us. He would not have made all the rest of the universe only for this short life.

But if all these things are for the present life, what will He not do for the life to come? If, on the contrary, there is to be no future life, then in this respect we are of far less account than the things that have been made for our sakes. For both the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the rivers, last longer than we do. And even some of the brute creatures do, since the raven, and elephants, and many other creatures, have a longer enjoyment of the present life.

Moreover, our life is both short and full of toil, but theirs is not. Theirs is both long, and freer from grief and cares.

What then? Tell me: has He made slaves better than masters? Please, do not think that way, O man. Do not be so poor in mind, and do not be ignorant of the riches of God when you have such a Master. For even from the beginning, God wanted to make you immortal, but you were not willing. For the things at that time were also dim signs of immortality:

walking with God, freedom from the troubles of life, freedom from grief, cares, and hard labor, and from other things that belong to this passing life. For Adam had no need of clothing or shelter, or any other provision of that kind. Instead, he was like the angels. He also knew beforehand many of the things that were to come, and he was filled with great wisdom. He even knew what God had done in secret, I mean concerning the woman.

Therefore he also said, "This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh." Genesis 2:23. Labor came afterward. So did sweat, shame, fearfulness, and lack of confidence. But on that day there was no grief, no pain, and no mourning. But he did not remain in that honor.

Then someone says, "What am I supposed to do? Must I perish because of him?" I reply, first, it is not because of him. You yourself have not remained without sin. Even if it is not the same sin, you have at least committed some other sin. And again, you have not been harmed by his punishment. Rather, you have gained from it. For if you had been going to remain completely mortal, then perhaps what is said would have had some reason in it.

But now you are immortal, and if you are willing, you may shine brighter than the sun itself.

5. But someone says, "If I had not received a mortal body, I would not have sinned." Then tell me this: did Adam have a mortal body when he sinned? Certainly not. For if it had been mortal before, it would not have become subject to death afterward as a punishment. And it is clear from what follows that a mortal body is no obstacle to virtue. Instead, it keeps people under control and is of the greatest help.

If the hope of immortality alone lifted Adam up so much, then if he had actually been immortal, how far would his arrogance not have gone? And as things are, after sinning, you may get rid of your sins because the body is lowly, wasting away, and subject to decay. These thoughts are enough to make a person sober-minded. But if you had sinned in an immortal body, your sins would likely have lasted longer.

So then, mortality is not the cause of sin. Do not blame it. The wicked will is the root of all the harm. For why was Abel not made worse at all by his body? Why are the devils not made better at all by being without bodies? Do you want to hear why the body becoming mortal, far from harming us, has actually been useful? Notice how much you gain from it, if you are self-controlled. It pulls you back and turns you away from wickedness through griefs, pains, labors, and other things like these.

But perhaps you will say, "It tempts people to uncleanness." Not the body, but lack of self-control, does this. For all the things I mentioned certainly do belong to the body. Because of this, it is impossible for a person who has entered this life to escape disease, pain, and discouragement. But it is possible for that person to commit no uncleanness. So it is clear that if the passions of vice were part of the body's nature, they would be universal, since all natural things are.

But committing fornication is not universal. Pain indeed comes from nature, but committing fornication comes from deliberate choice.

So then, do not blame the body. Do not let the Devil take away the honor God has given you. For if we choose, the body is an excellent bridle. It can restrain the wild impulses of the soul, bring down pride, hold back arrogance, and help us in the greatest works of virtue. Do not tell me about people who have lost their senses. We often see horses throw off their drivers and rush with their reins over cliffs, yet we do not blame the reins.

It was not the breaking of the reins that caused all this. The ruin of everything came from the driver not holding them. Reason the same way in this case. If you see a young person living as an orphan and doing countless evil things, do not blame the body. Blame the charioteer who is being dragged along. I mean the man's power of reason. For the reins do not trouble the charioteer. Rather, the charioteer is the cause of all the harm because he does not hold them properly.

And so the reins often punish him, becoming tangled around him, dragging him along, and forcing him to share in their disaster. So it is in this case also. "I," the reins say, "made the horse's mouth bloody as long as you held me. But since you threw me away, I demand payment for your contempt. I wrap myself around you and drag you along, so that I may not suffer the same treatment again." So let no one blame the reins, but blame himself and his own corrupt mind.

For over us also there is a charioteer, namely reason, and the reins are the body, joining the horses to the charioteer. If these are in good condition, you will suffer no harm. But if you let them go, you have destroyed and ruined everything. So let us be self-controlled, and place all blame not on the body but on the evil mind. For this is the Devil's special work: to make foolish people accuse the body and God and their neighbor, instead of their own twisted minds.

He does this so that they will not discover the cause and so become free from the root of their evils.

But you, since you know his plan, direct your anger against him. And after placing the charioteer on the chariot, turn the eyes of your minds toward God. For in all other cases, the one who arranges the games adds nothing, but only waits for the end. But in this case, the One who appointed the contest, God Himself, is all in all.

Therefore let us make Him favorable to us, and we will surely receive the blessings prepared for us, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now, from now on, and forevermore. Amen.

1 Corinthians 6:15-16

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? God forbid.

After moving from the sexually immoral person to the greedy person, he returns from the latter to the former. From now on, he is no longer speaking to that man directly, but to the others who had not committed sexual immorality. And while he is making them secure, so that they do not fall into the same sins, he attacks that man again.

For when a person has committed sin, even if you direct your words to someone else, he is still stung in that way, because his conscience has been fully awakened and is whipping him.

Now, the fear of punishment was enough to keep them sexually pure. But since he does not want to correct these matters by fear alone, he uses both warnings and reasons.

On that earlier occasion, after he had stated the sin, set the punishment, and shown the harm that association with the fornicator brought on everyone, he stopped there and moved on to the subject of covetousness. Then, after he had warned the covetous and all the others he mentioned that they would be shut out of the kingdom, he ended his discussion that way. But here he takes up the work of warning in an even more terrifying way.

For if a man only punishes a sin and does nothing to show how utterly lawless it is, his punishment does not have such a great effect. In the same way, if he only shames people and does not terrify them by the way he punishes, he does not strike very deeply at people with hardened minds. Therefore Paul does both. Here he shames them, saying, "Do you not know that we shall judge angels?" There he terrifies them, saying, "Do you not know that the covetous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?"

And about the man who is sexually immoral, Paul again uses this kind of argument. After frightening him by what he said before—first cutting him off and handing him over to Satan, and then reminding him of the day that is coming—he shames him again by saying, "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?" From this point on, he speaks as if to children of noble birth. For although he had said before, "Now the body is for the Lord," here he makes it even clearer.

And in another place too he does the same thing, saying, "Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it," in 1 Corinthians 12:27. He often uses the same image, though not for the same purpose. Sometimes he uses it to show Christ's love, and at other times to increase their fear. But here he uses it to shock them and fill them with alarm. "Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? God forbid."

Nothing could be better suited to stir up horror than these words. He did not say, "Shall I take the members of Christ, and join them to a harlot?" Instead, what did he say? "Make them members of a harlot." That wording would certainly strike them more sharply.

Then he shows how the sexually immoral person becomes this, by saying, "Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body with her?" How is this clear? "For the two," He says, "shall become one."

1 Corinthians 6:17

But the one who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

The union no longer lets the two remain two, but makes them both one.

2. Now notice again how he goes on by using the plain terms themselves, making his accusation through the names of the harlot and of Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:18

Flee fornication.

He did not say, “Keep away from fornication,” but, “Flee.” That means you should, with all eagerness, bring yourselves out of that evil. “Every sin that a person does is outside the body, but he who commits fornication sins against his own body.” This is less than what came before. But since he had to speak about those who commit fornication, he enlarges the charge against that sin by arguments drawn from every side, from greater things and smaller things alike, making the accusation serious.

In fact, that earlier argument was aimed at the more devout, but this one was aimed at the weaker kind of people. For this also shows the wisdom of Paul: he not only brings forward great things to put people to shame, but smaller things as well, and also the thought of what is disgraceful and improper.

What then, you say? Does not the murderer stain his hand? What about the greedy person and the extortioner? I suppose that is obvious to everyone. But since it was not possible to mention anything worse than the sexually immoral person, he makes the crime even greater in another way by saying that, in the sexually immoral person, the whole body becomes defiled. For it is polluted as if it had fallen into a vessel of filth and been plunged into uncleanness. And this too is our own custom.

From greed and extortion, no one would hurry to go into a bath, but as if nothing had happened, he returns to his house. But after intercourse with a prostitute, because he has become completely unclean, he goes to a bath. To such a degree the conscience keeps from this sin a certain sense of unusual shame. Yet both are evil, both greed and fornication, and both throw people into hell.

But Paul does everything with good judgment, and so, by whatever arguments he had, he made the sin of fornication seem greater.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? He did not merely say, "of the Spirit," but, "which is in you." This was the part of one who was also soothing. And again, explaining himself still further, he added, "which you have from God." He mentioned Him who gave also, both exalting the hearer and putting him in fear, both by the magnitude of the deposit and by the munificence of Him who made it.

And you are not your own. This is meant not only to humble people, but even to press them toward virtue. For why, he says, do you do whatever you want? You are not your own master. But he said these things not to take away free will. In the same way, when he says, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful," he does not take away our freedom. And here again, when he writes, "You are not your own," he does not take away freedom of choice.

Instead, he turns us away from vice and shows the Lord's watchful care. And therefore he added, "For you were bought with a price."

But if I do not belong to myself, on what basis do you ask me to do these duties? And why do you go on to say again, "Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's"? What, then, does "you are not your own" mean? And what is he trying to prove by it? He is trying to make them secure against sin, and against following the wrong desires of the mind. For we do have many wrong desires. But we must hold them back, because we can.

And if we could not, then exhortation would be useless. Notice, then, how he makes his point secure. For after saying, "You are not your own," he does not add, "but are under compulsion." Instead, he says, "You were bought with a price." Why do you say this? Someone might perhaps say, "Surely you should have persuaded people on another basis, by pointing out that we have a Master." But this is something the Greeks share with us as well.

Whereas the words, "You were bought with a price," belong especially to us. For he reminds us of the greatness of the benefit and of the way we were saved. He shows that when we had become estranged, we were bought. And not merely bought, but bought with a price.

So then, glorify God by taking him up and bearing him in your body and in your spirit. He says these things so that we may not only flee sexual immorality in the body, but also, in the spirit of our mind, keep away from every wicked thought and from driving away grace.

Which are God's. For as he had said, "your," he then added, "therefore, which are God's." He was constantly reminding us that all things belong to the Lord, both body and soul and spirit. For some say that the words "in the spirit" mean the gracious Gift. For if that is in us, God is glorified. And this will happen if we have a clean heart.

But He has spoken of these things as God's, not only because He brought them into being, but also because, when they were alienated, He won them again a second time, paying as the price the blood of the Son. Notice how He brought the whole to completion in Christ, and how He raised us up into heaven. "You are members of Christ," he says. "You are a temple of the Spirit." Do not then become members of a harlot.

For it is not your body that is insulted, since it is not your body at all, but Christ's. And he spoke these things both to make His loving-kindness clear, in that our body is His, and to draw us away from all evil license. For if the body is another's, he says, you have no authority to insult another's body, especially when it is the Lord's, nor to pollute a temple of the Spirit.

For if anyone who breaks into a private house and goes in carousing must answer for it most severely, think what dreadful things he will endure who makes a temple of the King a robber's lurking place.

Therefore, considering these things, revere Him who dwells within you. For He is the Paraclete. Tremble before Him who surrounds you and clings to you, for He is Christ. Have you really made yourselves members of Christ? Think in this way, and remain chaste. Consider whose members they were, and whose they have become. Before, they were members of a harlot, and Christ has made them members of His own Body. Therefore, from now on you have no authority over them. Serve Him who has set you free.

Suppose you had a daughter, and in utter madness you handed her over to a pimp for money, making her live as a prostitute. Then suppose a king's son passed by, freed her from that slavery, and married her himself. After that, you would have no power to bring her back to the brothel. For you gave her up once and for all, and sold her. This is also like our case. We handed over our own flesh for hire to the Devil, that cruel pimp.

Christ saw it and set it free, and took it away from that evil tyranny. So it is no longer ours, but His who delivered it. If you are willing to treat it as a king's bride, no one will stop you. But if you take it back to where it was before, you will suffer exactly what those should suffer who are guilty of such outrage. Therefore, you should adorn it rather than disgrace it. For you have no authority over the flesh for wicked lusts, but only in those things that God may command.

Let this thought enter your mind, at least from considering what great outrage God has delivered it from. For truly, no prostitute ever offered herself so shamefully as our nature did before this. For robberies, murders, and every wicked thought came in and lay with the soul, and the payment was small and vulgar: present pleasure. For the soul, being mixed up with all wicked schemes and deeds, received this reward and no other.

However, in the time before this, bad though it was to be like these people, it was not so bad. But after heaven, after the King's courts, after partaking of the awesome Mysteries, to be contaminated again, what pardon can this have? Or do you not think that the covetous too, and all those whom he listed before, have the Devil lying with them? And do you not judge that the women who beautify themselves for pollution have intercourse with him? Why, who can speak against this word?

But if anyone is contentious, let him uncover the soul of the women who behave in this unseemly manner, and he will surely see the wicked demon closely entwined with them. For it is hard, brothers, it is hard, perhaps even impossible, when the body is beautified in this way, for the soul to be beautified at the same time. One of them must necessarily be neglected while the other is cared for. For nature does not allow these things to happen together.

Therefore he says, "He who is joined to a prostitute is one body; but he who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit." For such a person becomes, from then on, Spirit, even though a body still surrounds him. For when nothing bodily, coarse, or earthly is around him, the body only surrounds him outwardly, since his whole direction is in the soul and the Spirit. In this way God is glorified. Therefore, in the Prayer we are commanded to say, "Hallowed be Your Name."

And Christ also says, "Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

In the same way, the heavens also glorify Him. They speak with no voice, but by the sight of them they draw people to wonder and point the glory to the Great Maker. So let us also glorify Him, or rather, let us glorify Him even more than they do. For we can, if we want to. For the heavens, or day, or night, do not glorify God as much as a holy soul does. When someone looks at the beauty of heaven, he says, "Glory be to You, O God! What a beautiful work You have made!"

In the same way, when he sees virtue in a person, he says this too, and even more in that case. For not everyone glorifies God because of these works of creation. Many even claim that the things that exist move by themselves. Others credit demons with the making of the world and its providence. These people are greatly and without excuse in error. But when it comes to the virtue of a human being, no one is able to hold such shameless opinions.

Instead, he will certainly glorify God when he sees a servant of God living a good life. For who can help being amazed when a person is a man, shares our common nature, and lives among other people, yet like adamant does not give in at all to the swarm of passions? When he is in the middle of fire and iron and wild beasts, yet is even harder than adamant and conquers everything for the sake of the Word of godliness? When he is wronged and blesses; when he is spoken evil of and praises;

when he is treated with contempt and prays for those who hurt him; when people plot against him and he does good to those who fight against him and set traps for him? These things, and others like them, glorify God far more than heaven does. For when the Greeks look at the heavens, they feel no awe. But when they see a holy man living a hard and disciplined life with complete strictness, they draw back and condemn themselves.

Since a man who shares the same nature as they do is so far above them, much more than heaven is above the earth, they are forced, even against their will, to think that it is a divine power that works these things. Therefore He says, "And glorify your Father who is in heaven."

5. Do you also want to learn from another passage how God is glorified both by the lives of His servants and by miracles? Nebuchadnezzar once threw the Three Children into the furnace. Then, when he saw that the fire had not overcome them, he says, in Daniel 3:28, "Blessed be God, who has sent His Angel and delivered His servants out of the furnace, because they trusted in Him and changed the word of the king." What are you saying?

Have you been treated with contempt, and do you admire those who spit on you? "Yes," he says, "and for this very reason, because I was treated with contempt." And he gives this as the reason for the wonder. So at that time, glory was given to God not only because of the miracle, but also because of the purpose of those who were thrown in. Now if anyone would examine this point and the other in themselves, this would appear no less than that.

For persuading souls to be brave enough to face a furnace is no less wonderful than delivering them from a furnace. For how could it be anything but astonishing that the Emperor of the world, with so many weapons around him, and legions, and generals, and viceroys, and consuls, and with land and sea under his rule, should be despised by captive children? How astonishing that those who were bound should overcome the one who bound them, and conquer that whole army?

There was no power in the king and his company to do what they wanted, not even with the furnaces as their ally. But those who were naked, and slaves, and strangers, and few—for what number could be more despised than three?—though in chains, defeated an innumerable army. For already death was being despised, since Christ was from now on about to dwell in the world.

And just as when the sun is about to rise, even before its rays appear, the daylight grows bright, so also, when the Sun of Righteousness was about to come, death from now on began to withdraw. What could be more splendid than that theater? What more visible than that victory? What more remarkable than those new trophies of theirs?

The same thing is happening in our time also. Even now there is a king of the Babylonian furnace. Even now he lights a flame fiercer than that one. Even now there is such an image, and someone who commands people to admire it. At his side sit satraps and soldiers and enchanting music. And many look at this image with admiration, so varied and so great. For covetousness is something like that image. It does not despise even iron.

But though the materials it is made of are different, it commands everyone to admire them all, both brass and iron, and things far more common than these.

And just as those things were true then, so even now there are some who imitate those children. They say, "We do not serve your gods, and we do not worship your images." Instead, for the sake of God's laws, they endure the furnace of poverty and every other kind of suffering. And the rich, for their part, often do now, just as they did at that time, worship this image too and are burned.

But those who have nothing, in spite of this, and though they are poor, are more in the dew than those who live in luxury. Just as at that time, those who threw them into the fire were burned up, but those in the middle of it found themselves as if in dew and rain. Then too, that tyrant was burned up by the flame more than those children were, because his wrath was burning fiercely within him. As for them, the fire had no power even to touch the ends of their hair.

But wrath burned up his mind more fiercely than that fire. For consider what a thing it was that, with so many people watching, he should be despised by captive children. And this was a sign that his capture of their city had not happened by his own power, but because of the sin of the multitude among them.

Since, if he did not have the power to overcome these men in chains, even when they were thrown into a furnace, how could he have overcome the Jews in ordinary warfare, if they had all been such as these? From this it is clear that the sins of the multitude betrayed the city.

6. But notice also the children's freedom from empty pride. They did not jump into the furnace on their own. Instead, beforehand they kept the command of Christ, where he says in Matthew 26:41, "Pray that you do not enter into temptation." Yet when they were brought to it, they did not draw back. They stood bravely in the middle of it. They did not fight without being called to it, and when they were called, they did not act like cowards.

Instead, they were ready for everything, noble, and full of all boldness in speech.

But let us also hear what they say, so that from this too we may learn their lofty spirit. Daniel 3:17: “There is a God in heaven able to deliver us.” They take no care for themselves. Even when they are about to be burned, the glory of God is all they think about. For what they say comes to this: “Lest perhaps, if we are burned, you should charge God with weakness, we now declare to you exactly our whole doctrine.

There is a God in heaven, not such as this image here on earth, this lifeless and mute thing, but able to snatch us even from the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Do not condemn Him then of weakness for permitting us to fall into it. He is so powerful that after our fall, He is able to snatch us out again from the flame. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.”

Observe that by a special divine arrangement they are ignorant of the future. For if they had known beforehand, there would have been nothing wonderful in their doing what they did. For what marvel is it if, when they had a guarantee of safety, they defied all terrors? Then God indeed would have been glorified in that He was able to deliver from the furnace. But they would not have been wondered at, since they would not have cast themselves into any dangers.

For this cause He allowed them to be ignorant of the future, so that He might glorify them the more. And just as they cautioned the king that he was not to condemn God of weakness though they might be burned, so God accomplished both purposes: the showing forth of His own power, and the causing the zeal of the children to appear more conspicuous.

Then where did their doubt come from, and why were they not fully sure that they would certainly be saved? It was because they thought they were too lowly and unworthy of such a blessing. And to show that I am not saying this as a guess, when they were thrown into the furnace, they mourned in this way, saying, "We have sinned, we have done wrong, we cannot open our mouth," Daniel 4:6-10. And that is why they said, "But if not."

But if they did not say this plainly, that is, "God is able to deliver us; but if He does not deliver us, it is because of our sins," do not be surprised. For to the barbarians, they would have seemed to be hiding God's weakness behind the excuse of their own sins. Therefore they spoke only of His power, and did not give the reason. Besides, they had been well taught not to be too curious about the judgments of God.

With these words, then, they entered the fire. They did not insult the king, and they did not tear down the statue. That is how a courageous person should be: self-controlled and gentle, especially in dangers. Then he will not seem to enter such contests with anger and empty pride, but with courage and self-control. For whoever acts arrogantly falls under suspicion of those faults.

But the one who endures, and is forced into the struggle, and goes through the trial with meekness, is admired not only as brave. His self-control and carefulness also make him no less praised. And this is what they did at that time. They showed complete courage and gentleness, and did nothing for a reward, or for repayment, or for anything in return. "Though He is not willing," so it stands, "to deliver us, we will not serve your gods."

For we already have our reward in being counted worthy to be kept from all impiety, and for that purpose to give our bodies to be burned.

So then, since we already have our reward—for we do have it, in that we have been granted full knowledge of Him and have been granted to become members of Christ—let us be careful not to make them members of a prostitute. For we must end our message with this most fearful saying, so that the fear of this warning may work in full strength, and so that we may remain purer than gold, with this fear helping to make us so.

For in this way, being set free from all sexual immorality, we will be able to see Christ. May God grant that all of us may look on Him with confidence on that day, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be glory forever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 7:1-2

Now about the things you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to have relations with a woman. But because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

After correcting the three most serious charges brought against them—first, the division of the Church; second, the matter of the man guilty of sexual sin; and third, the greedy person—he then uses a gentler way of speaking. He also adds some exhortation and advice about marriage and virginity, giving the listeners some relief from more unpleasant subjects. But in the second Epistle he does the opposite. He begins with the gentler topics and ends with the more painful ones.

And here also, after he has finished his teaching about virginity, he again moves on to matters more suited to reproof. He does not set everything down in a fixed order, but varies his teaching in both kinds, as the occasion required and as the needs of the matters at hand demanded.

Therefore he says, "Now concerning the things you wrote to me." They had written to him asking whether it was right to abstain from one's wife or not. So, in his reply to this question, and while giving instructions about marriage, he also brings in the teaching about virginity: "It is good for a man not to touch a woman." For, he says, if you ask what course is excellent and far better, it is better to have no relations at all with a woman.

But if you ask what is safe and helpful for your own weakness, then be joined in marriage.

But since it was likely, as also happens now, that the husband might be willing while the wife was not, or perhaps the opposite, notice how he speaks about each case. Some indeed say that he addressed this teaching to priests. But I, judging from what follows, could not say that this was so, since he would not have given his advice in general terms. For if he were writing these things only for priests, he would have said, "It is good for the teacher not to touch a woman."

But now he has made it apply to everyone, saying, "It is good for a man," not for a priest only. And again, "Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife." He did not say, "You who are a priest and teacher," but spoke in an indefinite way. And all his speech continues completely in the same tone. And when he says, "Because of fornications, let every man have his own wife," by the very reason given for this concession he leads people to self-control.

1 Corinthians 7:3-4

Let the husband give his wife the honor that is due to her. In the same way, let the wife give her husband the honor due to him.

Now what does proper honor mean? The wife does not have authority over her own body, but is both the servant and the mistress of her husband. And if you refuse the service that is owed, you have offended God. But if you want to withdraw, it must be with the husband's permission, even if it is only for a short time. For this is why he calls the matter a debt: to show that no one is his own master, but that they are servants to each other.

So when you see a prostitute trying to tempt you, say, "My body is not my own, but my wife's." In the same way, let the woman also say to those who would try to corrupt her chastity, "My body is not my own, but my husband's."

Now, if neither the husband nor the wife has authority even over his or her own body, much less do they have authority over their property. Hear this, all who have husbands and all who have wives: if you must not consider your body to be your own, much less should you consider your money to be your own.

Elsewhere, I agree that He gives the husband much greater authority, both in the New Testament and in the Old, where it says in Genesis 3:16, "Your turning shall be toward your husband, and he shall rule over you." Paul does this too by making a distinction and writing in Ephesians 5:25-33, "Husbands, love your wives," and, "let the wife see that she reverence her husband." But in this passage, we no longer hear about greater and less. Instead, the right is the same for both. Now why is this?

Because he was speaking about chastity. In all other things, he says, let the husband have the prerogative. But not so when the question is about chastity. The husband has no power over his own body, and neither does the wife. There is great equality of honor, and no prerogative.

1 Corinthians 7:5-9

Do not deprive one another, unless you both agree to it.

What, then, does this mean? He says that a wife should not practice self-control if her husband is unwilling, and a husband should not do so without his wife's consent. Why? Because great evils often come from this kind of self-control. Adulteries, sexual immorality, and the destruction of families have often come from it. For if men commit sexual immorality even when they have their own wives, they will do so even more if you deprive them of this comfort.

And he rightly says, "Do not defraud," and earlier, "debt," so that he might show how strict this mutual right and authority is. For if one person practices self-control against the will of the other, that is defrauding. But it is not defrauding if the other person agrees. In the same way, I do not consider myself defrauded if, after persuading me, you take something that is mine. For only the person who takes something against another's will and by force is defrauding.

This is what many women do. They produce sin rather than righteousness, and so they become responsible for their husband's impurity and tear everything apart. Instead, they should value harmony above all things, since this is more important than everything else.

If you are willing, let us look at this in real-life situations. Suppose there is a wife and a husband, and the wife practices self-control without her husband's consent. Then what if, because of this, he commits sexual sin? Or even if he does not commit sexual sin, what if he becomes upset and restless and stirred up, and starts quarreling and causing his wife all kinds of trouble? Then where is the benefit of the fasting and the self-control, if love has been broken? There is none.

For what bitter accusations, how much trouble, and how great a conflict will naturally arise! Since when a husband and wife in a house are against each other, that house is no better off than a ship in a storm when the captain is on bad terms with the man at the helm. Therefore he says, "Do not deprive one another, unless it is by mutual consent for a time, so that you may give yourselves to prayer." Here he means prayer with unusual earnestness.

For if he were forbidding those who have relations with each other to pray, then how could "pray without ceasing" have any place? So it is possible to live with a wife and still pay attention to prayer. But by self-control, prayer is made more complete. For he did not say only, "so that you may pray," but, "so that you may give yourselves to it," as if what he is speaking about caused not uncleanness, but many distractions.

And then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you. In this way, so that it would not seem to be a direct command, he adds the reason. And what is it? "So that Satan may not tempt you." And so that you may understand that it is not only the devil who causes this sin, I mean adultery, he adds, "because of your lack of self-control."

But I say this as permission, not as a command. For I want all people to be as I myself am, in a state of self-control. He does this in many places when he is giving advice about difficult matters. He sets himself forward and says, "Be imitators of me."

However, each person has his own gift from God, one in this way and another in that way. So after he had strongly warned them by saying, "because of your lack of self-control," he comforts them again with the words, "each one has his own gift from God." He does not mean that this virtue needs no effort from us. Rather, as I said before, he says this to comfort them.

For if it is a gift, and a person contributes nothing to it, then how can you say, "But I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am; but if they do not have self-control, let them marry"? Do you see Paul's strong wisdom? He both shows that self-control is better, and yet he puts no pressure on the person who cannot reach it, because he fears that some offense might arise.

For it is better to marry than to burn. He shows how great the tyranny of lust is. What he means is something like this: If you must endure strong force and burning desire, remove yourself from these pains and struggles, so that perhaps you may not be overcome.

1 Corinthians 7:10-11. To the married I give this command—not I, but the Lord: a wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does separate, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

But to those who are married, I give this command—not I, but the Lord.

Because this was a law clearly appointed by Christ, which he was about to quote to them, about not putting away a wife except for fornication, Matthew 5:32, 19:9; Mark 10:11; Luke 16:18, he therefore says, "Not I." What was said before is also true. Even if it was not stated so directly, it was still His command. But this, you see, He had given in clear words. So the words "I" and "not I" have this difference in meaning.

He added, "For I think that I also have the Spirit of God," so that you would not suppose that even his own words were merely human.

Now what did the Lord command for married people? "Let the wife not depart from her husband" in 1 Corinthians 7:11. But if she does depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband. Here he saw that separations did happen, whether because of self-control, other reasons given as excuses, or weakness of temper. He says it would be better if such things did not happen at all. However, if they do happen, let the wife remain connected to her husband.

If not by living with him, then at least by not bringing in another man to be her husband.

First Corinthians 7:12 through 14: But to the rest I say, I, not the Lord: If any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And if any woman has an unbelieving husband, and he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy by the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.

But to the rest I say, not the Lord: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, he must not leave her. And if any woman has a husband who does not believe, and he is willing to live with her, she must not leave him.

Just as, when he was speaking about separating from fornicators, he made the matter easier by correcting his words and saying, "However, not altogether with the fornicators of this world," so also here he makes the duty much easier by saying, "If any wife has an unbelieving husband, or any husband has an unbelieving wife, let him not leave her." What are you saying? If he is an unbeliever, let him stay with his wife, but not if he is a fornicator?

And yet fornication is a lesser sin than unbelief. I agree that fornication is a lesser sin. But God is very merciful to your weakness. This is what He also does about the sacrifice, when He says in Matthew 5:24, "Leave the sacrifice, and be reconciled to your brother." He does the same in the case of the man who owed ten thousand talents. He did not punish him for owing the ten thousand talents. But when he demanded back a hundred pence from his fellow servant, God took vengeance on him.

Then, so that the woman would not be afraid, as if she had become unclean because of relations with her husband, he says, "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband." And yet, if the man who is joined to a prostitute is one body with her, it is quite clear that the woman who is joined to an idolater is also one body with him. Very well, it is one body. Nevertheless, she does not become unclean.

Instead, the purity of the wife overcomes the uncleanness of the husband. And in the same way, the purity of the believing husband overcomes the uncleanness of the unbelieving wife.

How then, in this case, is the uncleanness overcome, so that the marriage relationship is allowed, while in the case of a woman who prostitutes herself, the husband is not condemned for sending her away? It is because here there is hope that the member who is lost may be saved through the marriage. But in the other case, the marriage has already been dissolved. And there, both are corrupted, but here the fault is only in one of the two. I mean something like this:

a woman who has committed fornication is completely detestable. If a man who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her, then he also becomes detestable by having relations with a prostitute. Therefore all purity flies away. But in the case before us, it is not like that. But how? The idolater is unclean, but the woman is not unclean. For if she were sharing with him in the thing in which he is unclean, that is, his impiety, then she herself would also become unclean.

But as it is, the idolater is unclean in one way, and the wife shares with him in another way, in which he is not unclean. For marriage and the union of bodies is the thing in which their sharing consists.

Again, there is hope that this man may be won back by his wife, because she has become fully his own. But for the other woman, this is not very easy. For how can she, who dishonored him in the past, became another man's, and destroyed the rights of marriage, have the power to win back the man she wronged? And he still remains like a stranger to her.

Again, in that case, after sexual immorality, the husband is no longer a husband. But here, even if the wife is an idolater, the husband's rights are not destroyed.

However, he does not simply advise living with the unbeliever. He adds this condition: if that person is willing. So he says, "And he himself be content to dwell with her." For tell me, what harm is there if the duties of godliness remain unharmed, and there is good hope for the unbeliever? In that case, those who are already joined should remain so, and should not create occasions for unnecessary conflict.

For the question here is not about those who have not yet come together, but about those who are already joined. He did not say, "If anyone wishes to take an unbelieving wife," but, "If anyone has an unbelieving wife." This means: if, after marrying or after being married, one person has received the word of godliness, and then the other person, who has remained in unbelief, still desires to live together, the marriage must not be broken off.

For, he says, "the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife." So great is the abundance of your purity.

What then? Is the Greek spouse holy? Certainly not. For he did not say, "He is holy," but, "He is sanctified in his wife." He said this not to show that the man is holy, but to free the woman as much as possible from her fear, and to lead the man to desire the truth. For uncleanness is not in the bodies that have union, but in the mind and the thoughts. And here the proof follows.

If you remain unclean and have children, then the child, since it is not from you alone, would of course be unclean, or half clean. But now it is not unclean. So he adds, "Otherwise your children would be unclean; but now they are holy." That is, they are not unclean. But the Apostle calls them "holy" because the strength of that expression drives out the fear that comes from that kind of suspicion.

1 Corinthians 7:15

But if the unbelieving spouse leaves, let that person leave. In that case, the matter is no longer fornication. But what does this mean: "if the unbelieving spouse leaves"? For example, suppose he tells you to sacrifice and join in his ungodliness because of your marriage, or else separate. It would be better for the marriage to be ended than for godliness to be violated. Therefore he adds, "A brother is not under bondage, nor a sister, in such cases."

If day after day he strikes you and keeps up these conflicts for this reason, it is better to separate. For this is what he points to when he says, "But God has called us in peace." For it was the other person who provided the cause for the separation, just as the one who committed uncleanness did.

1 Corinthians 7:16

For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? This again refers to the statement, "let her not leave him." That is, if he causes no trouble, remain with him, he says, because there may even be benefit in this. Stay, and advise him, give counsel, and persuade him. For no teacher will have as much power to persuade as a wife. On the one hand, he does not place any necessity on her or absolutely require this from her, so that he may not again do what would be too painful.

On the other hand, he does not tell her to give up hope. Instead, he leaves the matter unsettled because the future is uncertain, saying, "For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband?" Or, "How do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?"

1 Corinthians 7:17-22: Only let each person live the life the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is the rule I give in all the churches. Was anyone already circumcised when he was called? Let him not try to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone uncircumcised when he was called? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing. What matters is keeping the commandments of God.

Let each person remain in the condition he was in when he was called. Were you called while a slave? Do not let it trouble you. But if you can become free, rather make use of that opportunity. For he who was called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freedman. In the same way, he who was called while free is Christ's slave.

And again: "Only as God has given to each person, and as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God. Let each person remain in the calling in which he was called. Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it."

These things add nothing to faith, he says. So then, do not be contentious or troubled, for faith has cast out all these things.

Let each person remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you called while you had an unbelieving wife? Keep living with her. Do not send away your wife because of the faith. Were you called while you were a slave? Do not worry about it. Continue to be a slave. Were you called while uncircumcised? Remain uncircumcised. Were you circumcised when you became a believer? Remain circumcised. For this is the meaning of, "As God has distributed to each person."

For these things are not obstacles to godliness. One person is called while a slave, another while having an unbelieving wife, another while circumcised.

Astonishing! Where has he put slavery? Just as circumcision gives no benefit, and uncircumcision does no harm, so neither does slavery, nor yet freedom. And so that he might point this out with even greater clarity, he says, "But even if you can become free, use it rather." That is, rather remain a slave. Now on what possible ground does he tell the person who might be set free to remain a slave? He means to point out that slavery is no harm, but rather an advantage.

Now we are not ignorant that some say the words, "use it rather," are spoken with regard to liberty. They interpret it this way: "If you can become free, become free." But if Paul meant that, the expression would be very contrary to his usual manner. For when he was comforting the slave and showing that he was in no respect injured, he would not then have told him to get free. Since perhaps someone might say, "What then, if I am not able? I am an injured and degraded person."

This, then, is not what he says. But as I said, he means to point out that a man gains nothing by being made free. So he says, "Though you have it in your power to be made free, remain rather in slavery."

Next he also adds the reason: "For the one who was called in the Lord while being a slave is the Lord's freed person. In the same way, the one who was called while free is Christ's slave." For, he says, in the things that relate to Christ, both are equal. Just as you are Christ's slave, so your master is also. How then is the slave a free person? Because Christ has freed you not only from sin, but also from outward slavery, even while you remain a slave.

For He does not allow the slave to be a slave, even if he is a person still living in slavery. And this is the great wonder.

But how is a slave a free person while still remaining a slave? It is when he is set free from passions and the diseases of the mind, and when he looks down on riches, anger, and all other passions like these.

1 Corinthians 7:23-24. You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men. Brothers, let each one remain with God in the condition in which he was called.

"You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men." This statement is spoken not only to slaves, but also to free people. For it is possible for a person who is a slave not to be a slave, and for a person who is free to be a slave. How can someone be a slave and yet not be a slave? When he does everything for God, when he pretends nothing, and does nothing just for human approval. That is how a person who is a slave to men can be free.

And again, how does a person who is free become a slave? When he serves men in some evil service, whether for greed, or desire for wealth, or for the sake of office. For such a person, though he is free, is more of a slave than any man.

And consider both of these points. Joseph was a slave, but not a slave to men. Therefore, even in slavery he was freer than all those who are free. For example, he did not yield to his mistress. He did not yield to the purposes desired by the woman who possessed him. Again, she was free. Yet no one was ever so much like a slave, as she was, courting and begging her own servant. But she did not prevail upon him, who was free, to do what he did not want to do. This, then, was not slavery.

It was liberty of the highest kind. For what hindrance to virtue did his slavery give him? Let both slaves and free hear. Which one was the slave? The one who was entreated, or the woman who did the entreating? The woman who begged, or the man who despised her plea?

In fact, God Himself has set limits for slaves. He has also decided how far a person ought to obey them, and it is wrong to go beyond those limits. That is, when your master commands nothing that displeases God, it is right to follow and obey, but no farther. For in this way the slave becomes free. But if you go farther, then even if you are free, you have become a slave. At least he points to this when he says, "Do not be servants of men."

But if this is not the meaning, if he told them to forsake their masters and strive contentiously to become free, in what sense did he urge them, saying, "Let each one remain in the calling in which he is called"? And in another place, in 1 Timothy 6:1-2, "As many servants as are under the yoke, let them count their own masters worthy of all honor; and those that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brothers who partake of the benefit."

And when writing to the Ephesians and to the Colossians also, he lays down and requires the same rules. From this it is plain that it is not this slavery that he does away with, but that slavery which, being caused by vice, comes upon free men also. And this is the worst kind of slavery, even if the man in bondage to it is free. For what profit did Joseph's brothers have from their freedom?

Were they not more slavish than all slaves, lying to their father, deceiving the merchants, and also deceiving their brother? But the free man was not like that. Rather, everywhere and in all things he was true. And nothing had power to enslave him, neither chain nor bondage nor the love of his mistress nor his being in a strange land. But he remained free everywhere. For this is liberty in the truest sense, when it shines through even in bondage.

This is what Christianity is like: in slavery, it gives freedom. And just as a body that is naturally impossible to wound shows that it truly cannot be wounded when it is struck by a dart and is not harmed, in the same way a person who is truly free shows it most clearly when, even under masters, he is not made a slave. For this reason, his command is, remain a slave.

But if it were impossible for someone who is a slave to be the kind of Christian he ought to be, the Greeks would condemn the true religion as very weak. But if they can be taught that slavery does not harm godliness in any way, they will admire our teaching. For if death does not hurt us, nor whippings, nor chains, much less can slavery.

Fire and iron and countless tyrannies, and diseases and poverty and wild beasts and countless things more terrible than these, have not been able to harm the faithful. No, they have made them even stronger. So how can slavery be able to harm? It is not slavery itself, beloved, that harms; the real slavery is slavery to sin. And if you are not a slave in this sense, be confident and rejoice. No one will have power to do you any wrong, if you have a spirit that cannot be enslaved.

But if you are a slave to sin, even if you were free ten thousand times over, your freedom does you no good.

Tell me, what benefit is there if you are not a slave to a man, but still lie in subjection to your passions? Men often know how to show mercy. But those masters are never satisfied with your destruction. Are you a slave to a man? Why, your master is also your slave in arranging your food, taking care of your health, and looking after your shoes and all your other needs. And you do not fear offending your master nearly as much as he fears that any of those necessities might fail you.

But he sits down while you stand. And what of that? For the same may be said of you as of him. At times, when you are lying down and sleeping peacefully, he is not only standing, but enduring endless troubles in the marketplace. And he stays awake in more pain than you do.

For example, what did Joseph suffer from his mistress that could be compared with what she suffered from her evil desire? For he did not do the things she wanted to press on him. But she did everything her mistress ordered her to do, I mean her spirit of unchastity. It did not stop until it had brought her to open shame. What master gives such commands? What savage tyrant? “Entreat your slave,” that is the word. “Flatter the one you bought with your money. Beg the captive.

Even if he rejects you with disgust, attack him again. Even if you speak to him many times, and he does not agree, watch for him to be alone, and force him, and become an object of derision.” What could be more dishonorable? What more shameful than these words? And if even by these means you make no progress, then accuse him falsely and deceive your husband. Notice how mean, how shameful, how unmerciful and savage and frantic these commands are.

What master ever lays on his slave commands like those which her wantonness then laid upon that royal woman? And yet she did not dare disobey. But Joseph underwent nothing of this sort. Instead, everything was the opposite, things that brought glory and honor.

Would you like to see another man under strict orders from a harsh mistress, with no spirit to disobey any of them? Think about Cain, and what commands his envy laid on him. It ordered him to kill his brother, to lie to God, to grieve his father, and to throw away shame. And he did all of it, refusing nothing she commanded. And why should you be surprised that this mistress could have such great power over one person? She has often destroyed whole nations.

For example, the Midianite women took the Jews and all but held them captive. Their own beauty stirred up desire, and by this they defeated that whole nation. So Paul, to drive out this kind of slavery, said, "Do not become servants of men." That is, do not obey people when they command unreasonable things. No, do not even obey yourselves. Then, after lifting up their minds and making them rise on high, he says,

1 Corinthians 7:25-26.

Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord. But I give my judgment as one who has received mercy from the Lord to be faithful.

Advancing in regular order, he next goes on to speak about virginity. For after he had exercised and trained them in his words about continence, he goes on to what is greater, saying, "I have no commandment, but I judge it to be good." For what reason? For the very same reason he had mentioned concerning continence.

Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless, such people will have affliction in the flesh, but I spare you. But this I say, brothers: the time is shortened. From now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none; and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice;

and those who buy, as though they did not possess; and those who use this world, as not abusing it. For the form of this world is passing away. But I want you to be without cares. He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But he who is married cares for the things of the world, how he may please his wife. The wife and the virgin are divided. She who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit.

But she who is married cares for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

These words do not contradict what was said before. Instead, they fully agree with it. In that earlier place he also says, "Unless it is by mutual consent." Here he says, "Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek separation." This is not a contradiction. If it is done without consent, that makes a separation. But if both agree and live with self-control, it is not a separation.

Then, so that this would not seem like he was making a law, he adds, "But if you marry, you have not sinned" in 1 Corinthians 7:28. Next he points to the present situation, the current distress, the shortness of the time, and the trouble. For marriage brings many things with it. He has briefly referred to these both here and also in his discussion about self-control. There, he says, "the wife does not have power over herself"; and here, he uses the words, "You are bound."

But if you do marry, you have not sinned. He is not speaking about the woman who has chosen virginity, because if that were the case, she would have sinned. For if widows are condemned for entering second marriages after they have once chosen widowhood, then much more are virgins.

But such people will have trouble in the flesh. And pleasure too, you will say. But notice how he limits this by the shortness of the time, saying in 1 Corinthians 7:28, "the time is shortened." That is, we are being urged to leave now and go on our way, but you are running farther in. Yet even if marriage had no troubles, we still ought to press on toward the things to come. But when it also has affliction, why bring an additional burden on yourself?

What reason is there to take up such a load, when even after taking it, you must use it as though you did not have it? For even those who have wives must be, he says, as though they had none.

Then, after inserting something about the future, he brings his speech back to the present. Some of his subjects are spiritual. For example, one cares about the things of her husband, while the other cares about the things of God. Other subjects relate to this present life. For example, he says, "I want you to be free from cares." But even with all this, he still leaves the choice to them.

Since a man who, after showing what is best, goes back to compulsion seems not to trust his own statements, he does not force them. Therefore, he draws them rather by concession, and restrains them as follows:

1 Corinthians 7:35

I say this for your own benefit, not to trap you, but to guide you toward what is proper, so that you may serve the Lord without distraction. Let the virgins hear this: virginity is not defined by that one point alone. For a woman who is anxious about the things of the world cannot be a virgin, nor can she be proper. So when he said, "There is a difference between a wife and a virgin," he added this as the difference, and as the thing by which they are distinguished from each other.

In giving the definition of a virgin and of a woman who is not a virgin, he mentions not marriage or self-control, but freedom from obligations and from many obligations. For the evil is not in living together, but in the hindrance it brings to a strict way of life.

1 Corinthians 7:36-40. But if any man thinks he is not acting properly toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of her age, and it must be so, let him do what he wishes; he does not sin. Let them marry. But he who stands firm in his heart, having no necessity, but has authority over his own will, and has decided this in his heart, to keep his virgin unmarried, does well. So then, he who gives her in marriage does well, but he who does not give her in marriage does better.

A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives. But if her husband falls asleep, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. But in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

But if anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward his virgin.

Here he seems to be speaking about marriage. But everything he says relates to virginity. For he even allows a second marriage, saying, "only in the Lord." Now what does "in the Lord" mean? It means with chastity and with honor. For this is needed everywhere and must be pursued, or else we cannot see God.

Now, if we have passed quickly over what he says about virginity, let no one accuse us of carelessness. We have in fact written a whole book on this subject. There, with as much accuracy as we could, we went through every part of it. So we thought it would be a waste of words to bring it in again here. Therefore, as far as these matters are concerned, we refer the listener to that work. But we will say this one thing here: We must pursue self-control.

For he says, "Pursue peace, and the sanctification without which no one shall see the Lord." Therefore, so that we may be counted worthy to see Him, whether we are living in virginity, or in a first marriage, or a second marriage, let us pursue this, so that we may obtain the kingdom of heaven, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now, from now on, and forever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 8:1

Now about things sacrificed to idols: we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes a person proud, but love builds up.

First, it is necessary to say what this passage means. For then we will readily understand the Apostle's message. If someone sees a charge brought against a person, but does not first understand the nature of the offense, he will not understand what is being said. What then was he accusing the Corinthians of at that time? It was a heavy charge, and the cause of many evils. What was it?

Many among them had learned from Matthew 15:11 that it is not the things that enter into a man that defile him, but the things that come out. They had also learned that idols of wood and stone, and demons, have no power to hurt or help. But they made an immoderate use of this full knowledge, to the harm of both others and themselves. They had both gone in where idols were and had partaken of the tables there, and by this they were producing great and ruinous evil.

For, on the one hand, those who still kept the fear of idols and did not know how to despise them took part in those meals, because they saw the more perfect doing this. And so they received the greatest injury. For they did not touch what was set before them with the same mind as the others, but as things offered in sacrifice to idols. And this was becoming a way into idolatry.

On the other hand, these very persons who claimed to be more perfect were themselves harmed in no ordinary way, by taking part in the tables of demons.

So this was the cause of the complaint. Now this blessed man was about to correct it, but he did not begin by speaking harshly at once. What had happened came more from foolishness than from wickedness. Therefore, at first there was more need for encouragement than for severe rebuke and anger. Now notice his good judgment here, and how he begins at once to give instruction.

Now about things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Setting aside the weak, as he always does, he speaks first with the strong. This is what he also did in the Epistle to the Romans, when he said, "But you, why do you judge your brother?" in Romans 14:10. For this is the kind of person who is also able to receive rebuke readily. So he does exactly the same thing here also.

First, he tears down their pride by showing that the very thing they thought belonged especially to them, having perfect knowledge, was actually shared by everyone. So he says, "We know that we all have knowledge." If he had first allowed them to think highly of themselves, and then pointed out how harmful this was to others, he would have hurt them more than helped them.

That is because an ambitious soul, when it takes pride in something, clings tightly to it because of the tyranny of empty glory, even if that same thing harms others. Therefore Paul first examines the matter in itself, just as he had done earlier in the case of wisdom from outside the faith, crushing it forcefully. But in that earlier case, he did what we would expect, because the whole thing was completely blameworthy, and his task was very easy.

Therefore he shows that it was not only useless, but even opposed to the Gospel. But in the present case, he could not do that. What they were doing came from knowledge, and from perfect knowledge. So it was not safe to overthrow it. Yet there was no other way to cast out the pride that had come from it. What then does he do? First, by showing that it was common to all, he restrains their swelling pride.

For people who possess something great and excellent become more puffed up when they alone have it. But if it is shown that they share it with others, they no longer feel so much of this pride. So first he makes it the common possession of all, because they thought it belonged to them alone.

Next, after making it something shared by everyone, he does not present himself as the only one sharing in it with them. If he had done that, he would have made them more proud in that way too. For just as being the only one who has something makes a person proud, so also having one or two partners, perhaps among important people, can have the same effect. For this reason he does not mention himself, but includes everyone.

He did not say, "I too have knowledge," but, "We know that we all have knowledge."

This, then, is one way, and the first way, by which he brought down their pride. The next way is even stronger. What, then, is this? It is that he shows that even this thing itself was not complete in every respect, but imperfect, and very much so. And not only imperfect, but also harmful, unless something else was joined with it. For after saying, "We have knowledge," he added, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up."

So when knowledge is without love, it raises people up into complete arrogance.

And yet, you may say, even love has no value without knowledge. Well, Paul did not say that. Instead, he leaves it unsaid because everyone agrees on it, and he shows that knowledge is in great need of love. For the person who loves, since he fulfills the commandment that is the greatest of all, even if he has some faults, will quickly be blessed with knowledge because of his love, as Cornelius and many others were.

But the person who has knowledge and does not have love will not only gain nothing more, but will also be cast out from what he already has, and in many cases will fall into arrogance. It seems, then, that knowledge does not produce love. On the contrary, it keeps from love the person who is not careful, because it puffs him up and lifts him up with pride. For arrogance usually causes divisions, but love both brings people together and leads to knowledge.

And to make this clear he says, "But if anyone loves God, that person is known by Him." So then, I do not forbid this, he says, namely, that you should have perfect knowledge. But I command that you have it with love. Otherwise, it is no gain, but rather a loss.

Do you see how he is already striking the first note of his message about love? For all these evils were growing from this root: not from full knowledge, but from their not deeply loving or caring for their neighbors. From this came both their divisions and their self-satisfaction, and everything else he had accused them of. So, both before this and after it, he is constantly making provision for love, and in this way correcting the source of all good things.

“Now why,” he says, “are you puffed up about knowledge?” For if you do not have love, you will even be harmed by that knowledge. For what is worse than boasting? But if the other is added, the first also will be safe. For even if you know something more than your neighbor, if you love him, you will not exalt yourself, but will lead him also to the same knowledge. Therefore, after saying, “Knowledge puffs up,” he added, “but love edifies.”

He did not say, “It behaves modestly,” but something much greater and more beneficial. For their knowledge was not only puffing them up, but also tearing them apart. For this reason, he sets the one against the other.

And then he adds a third point, which was powerful enough to humble them. What, then, is this? It is that even if love is joined to it, our knowledge is still not perfect even in that case. Therefore he adds,

1 Corinthians 8:2

But if anyone thinks he knows anything, he still knows nothing as he ought to know. This is a deadly blow. I am not focusing, he says, on the fact that knowledge is common to all. I am not saying only that by hating your neighbor and by being arrogant, you do the greatest harm to yourself. But even if you had knowledge all by yourself, even if you were humble, even if you loved your brother, even in that case you would still be imperfect in knowledge.

For even now you know nothing as you ought to know. Now if we still do not possess exact knowledge of anything, how is it that some have rushed into such madness as to say that they know God with complete exactness? Yet even if we had exact knowledge of all other things, not even then would it be possible to have this knowledge to that degree. For it is impossible even to say how far He is above and apart from all things.

And notice how he brings down their swollen pride. He did not say, "You do not have the right understanding about the matters before us," but, "about everything." And he did not say, "you," but, "no one at all," whether Peter, or Paul, or anyone else. By this he both calmed them and carefully kept them humble.

1 Corinthians 8:3

But if anyone loves God, Paul does not say, "knows Him," but, "is known by Him." For we have not known Him, but He has known us. And that is why Christ said, "You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." And Paul says elsewhere, "Then I shall know fully, even as I also have been known."

Now observe, I pray, by what means he brings down their high-mindedness. First, he points out that they alone did not know the things they knew. For he says, "We all have knowledge." Next, he shows that the thing itself was hurtful so long as it was without love. For he says, "Knowledge puffs up." Third, he shows that even when joined with love, it is not complete or perfect. For he says, "If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know."

In addition to this, he shows that they do not even have this from themselves, but by gift from God. For he did not say, "has known God," but, "is known by Him." Again, he shows that this very thing comes from love, which they do not have as they ought. For he says, "If anyone loves God, the same is known by Him." Having thus at great length calmed their irritation, he begins to speak doctrinally, saying this.

1 Corinthians 8:4

4. Therefore, concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no God but one. See what a narrow place he has fallen into. For his purpose is indeed to prove both that one ought to abstain from this kind of banquet, and that it has no power to hurt those who take part in it. These things were not greatly in agreement with each other.

For when they were told that these things had no harm in them, they would naturally run to them as indifferent things. But when they were forbidden to touch them, they would suspect, on the contrary, that the prohibition happened because these things had power to do hurt. Therefore, you see, he puts down their opinion about idols, and then states as a first reason for their abstaining the scandals which they place in the way of their brothers, in these words:

"Now concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world." Again, he makes it common property and does not allow this to be theirs alone, but extends the knowledge all over the world. For not among you alone, he says, but everywhere on earth this doctrine prevails. What then is it? That no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no God but one. What then? Are there no idols? No statues? Indeed there are. But they have no power.

Neither are they gods, but stones and demons. For he is now setting himself against both parties: both the grosser sort among them, and those who were considered lovers of wisdom. For the former know of no more than the mere stones. The others assert that certain powers reside in them, which they also call gods. Accordingly, to the former he says that no idol is anything in the world; to the others, that there is no God but one.

Do you see how he writes these things? He is not simply teaching doctrine, but speaking against those outside the faith. This is something we must always watch carefully: whether he is saying something in a general way, or whether he is opposing certain people. This helps greatly in making our doctrinal understanding accurate and in understanding his words exactly.

1 Corinthians 8:5-6

For even if there are things called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

Since he had said that an idol is nothing and that there is no other God, and yet there were idols and there were beings that were called gods, he goes on to say this so that he would not seem to be contradicting obvious facts: "For even if there are things called gods," as indeed there are. He does not say that they truly are gods in an absolute sense, but that they are called gods. They do not really have this nature, but only the name.

When he says, "whether in heaven or on earth," by "in heaven" he means the sun and the moon and the rest of the company of stars, because the Greeks worshiped these also. And by "on earth" he means demons and all those human beings who had been made into gods. Yet for us there is one God, the Father. At first he said it without using the word "Father" and said, "there is no God but one." But now he adds this also, after he had completely cast out the others.

Next, he brings forward what is truly the greatest sign of divinity: "from whom are all things." This also means that those others are not gods. For it is said in Jeremiah 10:11, "Let the gods that did not make the heaven and the earth perish." Then he adds something that is no less important than this: "and we for Him." For when he says, "from whom are all things," he means creation and the bringing of things into existence out of nothing.

But when he says, "and we for Him," he is speaking of the word of faith and of mutual belonging, as he also said before in 1 Corinthians 1:30, "But of Him are you also in Christ Jesus." In two ways we are from Him: by being made when we did not exist, and by being made believers. For this too is a creation, as he also says elsewhere in Ephesians 2:15, "that He might create in Himself one new man out of the two."

And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things exist, and we exist through Him. And about Christ again, we must understand this in the same way. For through Him, the human race was both brought out of nothing into existence and brought back from error to truth. So the phrase "of whom" is not to be understood apart from Christ. For we were created by Him, through Christ.

6. And if you pay attention, he has not divided these names as if they belonged only to one person each, giving the name Lord to the Son and God to the Father. Scripture often uses these names interchangeably. For example, it says in Psalm 110:1, "The Lord says to my Lord." And again, in Psalm 65:8, "Therefore God, Your God, has appointed You." And in Romans 9:5, "From whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all." In many places, you can see these names changing places.

Besides, if these names had been assigned separately to each nature, and if the Son were not God, and God in the same way as the Father, while still remaining a Son, then after saying, "but to us there is but One God," it would have been unnecessary for him to add the word Father in order to make clear the Unbegotten. For the word God would have been enough to explain this, if it referred only to Him.

And this is not all. There is another point to make. If you say, "Because it says, 'One God,' the word God does not apply to the Son," then notice that the same argument also applies to the Son. For the Son also is called "One Lord," yet we do not claim that the title Lord applies only to Him. So the word One has the same force when it is used of the Son as it has when it is used of the Father.

And just as the Father is not excluded from being Lord, in the same sense that the Son is Lord, because the Son is spoken of as "One Lord," so also the Son is not excluded from being God, in the same sense that the Father is God, because the Father is called "One God."

Now if anyone were to say, "Why did he make no mention of the Spirit?" our answer might be this: His argument was with idolaters, and the dispute was about many gods and many lords. And this is why, after calling the Father "God," he calls the Son "Lord."

If he did not dare to call the Father "Lord" together with the Son, lest they might suspect him of speaking of two Lords, nor yet the Son "God" with the Father, lest he might be supposed to speak of two Gods, why be amazed that he did not mention the Spirit? His conflict was, so far, with the Gentiles. His point was to show that with us there is no plurality of gods.

Therefore he keeps holding continually to this word, "One," saying, "There is no God but One," and, "to us there is One God, and One Lord." From this it is plain that, to spare the weakness of the hearers, he used this way of explanation, and for this reason made no mention at all of the Spirit. For if this is not the reason, neither ought he to make mention of the Spirit elsewhere, nor to join Him with the Father and the Son.

For if He is rejected from the Father and Son, much more ought He not to be put in the same rank with them in the matter of Baptism, where most especially the dignity of the Godhead appears, and gifts are bestowed which pertain to God alone to give. So then I have given the reason why in this place He is passed over in silence. Now if this is not the true reason, tell me why He is ranked with Them in Baptism. But you cannot give any other reason except that He is of equal honor.

At any rate, when he has no such constraint on him, he puts Him in the same rank, saying this: "2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with you all:" and again, "1 Corinthians 12:4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit: and there are diversities of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of workings, but the same God."

But because now his speech was with Greeks, and with the weaker sort of the converts from among Greeks, for this reason he manages it so far. And this is what the prophets do regarding the Son, nowhere making mention of Him plainly because of the weakness of the hearers.

1 Corinthians 8:7

But not everyone has knowledge, he says. What knowledge does he mean? Is it knowledge about God, or about things offered in sacrifice to idols? For he may be referring either to the Greeks who say that there are many gods and lords, and who do not know Him who is truly God; or to the converts from among the Greeks who were still somewhat weak, people who did not yet clearly know that they should not fear idols, and that an idol is nothing in the world.

But by saying this, he gently comforts and encourages the latter. For there was no need to mention everything he had to rebuke, especially since he intended to visit them again and deal with them more severely.

But some people, because they are still used to idols, eat the food as if it were really sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. "They still tremble before idols," he says. Do not tell me about the present situation, or that you received the true religion from your ancestors. Instead, take your mind back to those earlier times.

Think about when the Gospel had just begun to spread, when ungodliness was still at its highest point, when altars were burning, and sacrifices and drink offerings were being presented, and most people were Gentiles. Think, I say, about those who had received ungodliness from their ancestors, who were the descendants of fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers like themselves, and who had suffered great misery from the demons. How must they have felt after such a sudden change?

How would they have faced the attacks of the demons, and trembled at them? For their sake also, he speaks with some restraint, saying, "But some, with conscience of the things sacrificed to an idol." In this way he neither exposed them openly, so as not to wound them deeply, nor passed over them completely. Instead, he mentions them in a general way, saying, "Now some, with conscience of the idol even until now, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol."

That is, they eat with the same thoughts they had before. "And their conscience, being weak, is defiled." They are not yet able to despise idols and once for all laugh them to scorn, but are still somewhat doubtful. It is like a man who thinks that by touching a dead body he would make himself unclean according to Jewish custom. If he then saw others touch it with a clear conscience, but he himself touched it without the same confidence, he would be defiled. That was how they felt at that time.

For "some," he says, "with conscience of the idol do it even until now." He did not add "even until now" without reason, but to show that they made no progress because others were unwilling to yield to them. For that was not the way to bring them along. Rather, it had to be done in another way, by persuading them with words and teaching.

And because their conscience is weak, it is defiled. Up to this point, he does not yet present his argument about the nature of the thing itself. Instead, he turns in different directions as he speaks about the conscience of the person who takes part. For he was afraid that, in wanting to correct the weak person, he might strike a heavy blow against the strong person and make him weak also. For this reason, he spares the one no less than the other.

Nor does he allow the thing itself to be thought important. Instead, he develops his argument very fully, so that no suspicion of that kind might arise.

1 Corinthians 8:8

But food does not bring us near to God. For if we eat, we are not any better; and if we do not eat, we are not any worse. Do you see how he again brings down their pride? First he said that not only they, but all of us, have knowledge, and that no one knows anything as he ought to know, and that knowledge puffs up. Then he calmed them by saying that this knowledge is not in everyone, and that weakness is the reason these people are defiled.

He said this so that they would not answer, "What is that to us if knowledge is not in everyone? Why does such a person not have knowledge? Why is he weak?" So, to keep them from replying in that way, he did not go on at once to say plainly that a person should abstain for fear of harming another. Instead, after first only touching on that point, he goes on to show something greater than that. And what is that? It is this:

even if no one were harmed, and no one else were led astray, it still would not be right to do this. For the earlier argument, by itself, does not do much. A person who hears that someone else is being hurt, while he himself is gaining something, is not very likely to abstain. But he is much more likely to abstain when he learns that he himself gets no benefit at all from the thing. Therefore Paul says this first: "But food does not commend us to God."

See how little value he gives to what was thought to come from perfect knowledge. "For if we eat, we are not any better," that is, we do not stand higher in God's sight, as though we had done something good or great. "Nor if we do not eat are we any worse," that is, we do not fall behind others in any way. So far, then, he has shown that the thing itself is unnecessary and amounts to nothing. For whatever gives no profit when done, and does no harm when left undone, must be unnecessary.

10. But as he goes on, he discloses all the harm that was likely to arise from the matter. For the present, however, his subject is what befell the brothers.

1 Corinthians 8:9

For he says, "Take heed, lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak among the brothers."

He did not say, "Your liberty has become a stumbling block." Nor did he state it plainly in that way, so that he might not make them more shameless. But how did he speak? "Take heed." In this way he frightened them, made them ashamed, and led them to disown any such conduct. And he did not say, "This your knowledge," which would have sounded more like praise. Nor did he say, "this your perfectness."

But he said, "your liberty," a thing that seemed to have more of rashness, obstinacy, and arrogance. Neither did he say, "To the brothers," but, "To those of the brothers who are weak," making his accusation stronger because they did not even spare the weak, and those too their brothers. For even if it were so that you do not correct them, nor stir them up, yet why do you trip them up and make them stumble, when you ought to stretch out your hand? But you have no mind to do that.

Well then, at least avoid casting them down. Since if one were wicked, he required punishment. If weak, healing. But now he is not only weak, but also a brother.

1 Corinthians 8:10

For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, eating in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be encouraged to eat food sacrificed to idols?

After saying, "Be careful that your freedom does not become a stumbling block," he explains how and in what way it becomes one. He keeps using the word "weakness," so that no one will think the harm comes from the nature of the thing itself, or that demons are powerful and frightening. It is like this: for the present, he says, a man is just about to pull himself away completely from all idols.

But when he sees that you like to spend time around them, he takes that as approval and stays there himself also. So then, not only his weakness, but also your badly timed behavior, helps advance the trap against him. For you are the one who makes him weaker.

1 Corinthians 8:11

And through your food, the weak one perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died.

There are two things that leave you without any excuse in this wrongdoing. One is that he is weak. The other is that he is your brother. Or rather, I should say there is also a third thing, and it is more terrible than all the rest. What is it? Christ did not refuse even to die for him, yet you cannot bear even to adjust yourself to him. In this way, you see, he also reminds the mature person of what he himself once was before, and that Christ died for him.

And he did not say, "For him it was your duty even to die," but something much stronger: that even Christ died for his sake. Did your Lord not refuse to die for him, and do you treat him as worth so little that you will not even stay away from a defiled table for his sake? Yes, do you allow him to perish after the salvation won in this way, and, what is even more painful, "for a piece of meat?" For he did not say, "for your maturity," nor, "for your knowledge," but, "for your meat."

So then there are four charges, and they are very serious: that he was a brother, that he was weak, that Christ valued him so greatly as even to die for him, and that after all this he is destroyed for a piece of meat.

1 Corinthians 8:12

And so, by sinning against the brothers and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

Do you see how quietly and gradually he has raised their offense to the very height of wickedness? And again, he mentions the weakness of the other group. So the very thing these people thought was in their favor, he turns back on their own heads everywhere. And he did not say, "putting stumbling blocks in their way," but, "wounding" them, so that by the strength of his wording he might show their cruelty. For what could be more savage than a man who wounds the sick?

And yet no wound is so severe as causing a person to stumble. In fact, this too is often a cause of death.

But how do they sin against Christ? In one way, because He treats the concerns of His servants as His own. In another way, because those who are wounded are part of His Body, and part of Him. In a third way, because they are destroying, for the sake of their ambition, that work of His which He built up by His own blood.

1 Corinthians 8:13

11. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will eat no flesh forever. This is like the best of teachers, to teach in his own person the things that he speaks. Nor did he say whether justly or unjustly, but in any case. I do not mean food offered in sacrifice to an idol, which is already forbidden for another reason. But if any even of those things that are within license and are permitted causes stumbling, from these also I will abstain.

And not for one or two days, but for all the time of my life. For he says, "I will eat no flesh forever." And he did not say, "Lest I destroy my brother," but simply, "That I make not my brother stumble." For indeed it comes from the greatest folly that the things which are greatly cared for by Christ, and such that He would even have chosen to die for them, these we should regard as so completely beneath our notice that we would not even abstain from foods on their account.

These things could well be said not only to them, but also to us. We too are quick to think lightly of our neighbors' salvation and to speak those satanic words. I call them satanic, because the saying, "What do I care if one person stumbles and another perishes?" has the flavor of his cruelty and inhuman mind. And yet in that case, the weakness of those who were offended also had some part in the outcome. But in our case, it is not so. We sin in such a way that we offend even the strong.

For when we strike, and rob, and cheat, and treat free people as if they were slaves, who would not be offended by this? Do not tell me that one man is a shoemaker, another a dyer, and another a brazier. Remember that he is a believer and a brother. For these are the people whose disciples we are:

the fishermen, the tax collectors, the tentmakers, and the One who was raised in the house of a carpenter, who accepted having the carpenter's betrothed wife as His mother, who after being wrapped in swaddling cloths was laid in a manger, and who had nowhere to lay His head. His journeys were so long that traveling itself was enough to wear Him out. He was also supported by others.

Think about these things, and consider human pride to be nothing. Count the tent-maker as much your brother as the man who rides in a chariot, has countless servants, and shows himself off in the marketplace. No, rather count the former more than the latter, since the word "brother" would more naturally be used where there is a greater likeness. Which one, then, is more like the fisherman? The one who lives by daily labor and has neither servant nor home, but is surrounded by hardships?

Or the other one, who is surrounded by such great display and acts against the laws of God? So do not despise the one who is more truly your brother of the two, for he comes nearer to the pattern of the Apostles.

But you say, "Not willingly, but by force, because he does not do this by his own choice." How can that be? Have you not heard, "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged"? But to convince yourself that he does not act against his own desire, go to him and offer him ten thousand talents of gold, and you will see him push it away.

And so, even if he received no wealth as an inheritance from his ancestors, still, when it is in his power to take it and he does not let it come near him or add it to his possessions, he gives strong proof that he despises wealth. For John was the son of Zebedee, that very poor man. Yet I suppose we should not say, for that reason, that his poverty was forced on him.

So whenever you see someone driving nails, striking with a hammer, and covered with soot, do not look down on him. Instead, admire him for that very reason. For even Peter tied up his clothes, handled the dragnet, and went fishing after the Lord's resurrection.

And why do I mention Peter? For this same Paul himself, after his constant traveling back and forth and all those great miracles, stood in a tent-maker's shop and sewed hides together, while angels honored him and demons trembled. And he was not ashamed to say, "For my needs, and for those who were with me, these hands provided," as in Acts 20:34. Why do I say he was not ashamed? Yes, he even gloried in this very thing.

But you will say, "Who is there now who can be compared with Paul's virtue?" I also know that there is no one. Yet for this reason, those who live now should not be looked down on. For if you give honor for Christ's sake, then even if a person is the least of all, if he is a believer, he should rightly be honored. For suppose a general and an ordinary soldier both come before you as friends of the king, and you open your house to both. In honoring which one would you seem to honor the king more?

Clearly, in honoring the soldier. For besides his loyalty to the king, the general had many other things that could lead you to show him such respect. But the soldier had nothing else except his loyalty to the king.

Therefore God told us to invite to our suppers and feasts the lame, the crippled, and those who cannot repay us. These are the deeds that are most properly called good deeds, because they are done for God's sake. But if you entertain some great and distinguished man, what you do is not mercy in such a pure form. Many times, some part of it is also for your own benefit, through vain glory, through the return of the favor, and through your rising in many people's opinion because of it.

In fact, I think I could point to many who, for this reason, pay court to the more distinguished among the saints. They do it so that, through them, they may gain closer friendship with rulers, and so that from there they may find them more useful in their own affairs and for their families. And they ask many such favors in return from those saints. This spoils the reward for their hospitality, because they seek it with that kind of motive.

And why do I need to say this about the saints? Since even a person who looks for the reward of his labor from God in this present life, and pursues virtue for the sake of good things in this world, will certainly lessen his reward. But the one who asks to receive all his crowns completely there is found to be much more admirable. He is like Lazarus, who is even now receiving there all his good things, as in Luke 16:25.

He is like those Three Children, who, when they were about to be thrown into the furnace, said, "There is a God in heaven able to deliver us; and if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up," as in Daniel 17:17-18. He is like Abraham, who even offered his son and slew him. And he did this not for any reward, but counting this one thing as the greatest reward: to obey the Lord.

Let us imitate these people as well. Then all our good deeds will be returned to us, and returned in abundance, because we do everything with this kind of attitude. Then we will also receive the brighter crowns. And may God grant that we may all receive them, through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. With him, to the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now, from now on, and through all everlasting ages. Amen.

1 Corinthians 9:1

Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?

Since he had said, "If meat makes my brother stumble, I will eat no flesh forever," he had not yet done this, but said that he would do it if need required. So that no one should say, "You boast at random, and are severe in what you say, and speak words of promise, which is easy for me or for anyone else. But if these words come from your heart, show by your deeds that you have set aside something you made light of, in order to avoid making your brother stumble."

For this cause, I say, in what follows he is compelled to give proof of this also, and to show how he was accustomed to give up even things that were permitted, so that he might not give offense, although there was no law forcing him to do so.

And we have not yet come to the most remarkable part of the matter. It is already remarkable that he even keeps away from things that are lawful, so that he may avoid causing offense. But what is even more remarkable is that he does this with so much trouble and danger to himself. For why, he says, should I speak only about food offered to idols? Even though Christ had commanded that those who preach the Gospel should live at the expense of their disciples, I did not do so.

Instead, if necessary, I chose to spend my life in hunger and to die the most painful kind of death, so that I might avoid receiving support from those whom I teach.

He did this, not because they would otherwise be made to stumble, but because his refusing to receive support would build them up. That was a much greater thing for him to do. To prove this, he calls on the very people among whom he used to live in hard work and hunger, being fed by others and driven into difficulties, so that he would not offend them. And yet they had no real reason to be offended, because he would only have been carrying out a lawful rule.

But even so, going beyond what was required, he usually spared them.

Now if he did more than what was required so that they would not be offended, and kept away even from things that were allowed in order to build up others, then what do those people deserve who do not keep away from sacrifices to idols? And this is so even when many are destroyed by it. This is something that, even aside from causing offense, a person ought to shrink from, because it is the table of demons.

So then, the main point of this whole subject is what he develops over many verses. But we need to take it up again and begin anew with what he has said. For he has not stated it in these exact words, as I have put it. Nor does he jump to it at once. Instead, he begins with another subject, speaking like this:

2. Am I not an Apostle? Besides all that has been said, this too makes no small difference: Paul himself is the one behaving in this way. It is like this. To prevent them from saying, "You may taste of the sacrifices," while at the same time ratifying that point, for the moment he does not oppose that statement. Instead, he argues, "Even if it were lawful, the harm to your brothers should keep you from doing so." Afterward he proves that it is not even lawful.

But here, in this particular place, he establishes the first point from circumstances relating to himself. And since he is about to say that he had received nothing from them, he does not put that down at once. Instead, he first declares his own dignity: "Am I not an Apostle? Am I not free?"

So, to keep them from saying, "True, you did not receive it, but the reason you did not was that it was not lawful," he first gives the reasons why he could rightly have received it, if he had been willing to do so.

Further, so that what he was saying would not seem offensive toward Peter and men like Peter, since they were not in the habit of refusing support, he first shows that they had the authority to receive it. Then, so that no one could say, “Peter had authority to receive, but you did not,” he prepares the listener beforehand with these words of praise about himself.

And since he saw that he had to praise himself, because that was the way to correct the Corinthians, yet did not like to say anything great about himself, notice how he balanced both concerns as the situation required. He limited his praise of himself, not by all that he knew about himself, but by what the subject necessarily required.

For he could have said, “More than anyone else, I had the right to receive, even more than they did, because ‘I labored more abundantly than they.’” But he leaves this out, because it was a point in which he was greater than they were. Instead, he mentions only those points in which they were great, and which were fair grounds for their receiving support, as follows:

Am I not an Apostle? Am I not free? That is, do I not have authority over myself? Am I under anyone, so that he can overrule me and forbid me from receiving?

But they have an advantage over you, because they were with Christ.

No, this is not denied to me either. With this in mind, he says,

Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? For, “Last of all,” he says in 1 Corinthians 15:8, “as to one born out of due time, He appeared to me also.” Now this too was no small honor. For He says, in Matthew 13:17, “Many Prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things you see, and have not seen them.” And, “Days will come when you will desire to see one of these days,” in Luke 17:22.

What then? Even if you are "an Apostle," and "free," and have "seen Christ," if you have not shown any work of an Apostle, how can it be right for you to receive anything? Therefore, after this he adds,

Are you not my work in the Lord? For this is the great thing, and those other things are worth nothing apart from this. Even Judas himself was an apostle, and was free, and saw Christ. But because he did not have the work of an apostle, all those things did him no good. So you see why he adds this too, and calls them to be witnesses of it.

Moreover, because what he had said was a great thing, see how he softens it by adding, "in the Lord." That is, the work is God's, not mine.

1 Corinthians 9:2

Even if I am not an apostle to others, I certainly am to you.

Do you see how careful he is not to expand his speech here without need? And yet he had the whole world to speak about, including barbarian nations, sea, and land. However, he mentions none of these things. Instead, he makes his point by concession, and even by granting more than he needed. It is as if he said, "Why do I need to speak about additional things, since these alone are enough for my present purpose?

I am not speaking, as you see, about my achievements in other places, but about those for which you are witnesses." From this it follows that, if from nowhere else, at least from you I had a right to receive. Nevertheless, from the very people from whom I had the most right to receive, even you, whose teacher I was, I received nothing.

"If I am not an Apostle to others, yet at least I am to you." Again, he makes his point by granting part of it. For the whole world had him as its Apostle. However, he says, I am not saying that. I am not arguing or disputing. I am only stating what concerns you. "For you are the seal of my Apostleship," that is, the proof of it. If anyone wants to learn how I am an Apostle, you are the people I present.

For I have displayed among you all the signs of an Apostle, and I have failed in none of them. He says the same in the Second Epistle, in 2 Corinthians 12:12: "Although I am nothing, truly the signs of an Apostle were worked among you with all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty works." For in what way were you made inferior to the other churches? Therefore he says, "You are the seal of my Apostleship."

For I both performed miracles, and taught by word, and faced dangers, and showed a blameless life. And you can see these points fully set out in these two Epistles, how he presents to them the proof of each one with complete exactness.

1 Corinthians 9:3

My defense to those who examine me is this. What does it mean when he says, "My defense to those who examine me is this"? He means this: to those who want to know how it is proved that I am an Apostle, or who accuse me of taking money, or who ask why I do not receive it, or who want to show that I am not an Apostle, to all such people, the instruction I gave to you, along with the things I am now about to say, may serve as a full explanation and defense. What then are these things?

1 Corinthians 9:4-5

Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to travel with a believing wife? Why, then, are these statements a defense? Because when it is clear that I even give up things that are permitted, it cannot be right to suspect me of being a deceiver or of acting for profit.

Therefore, from what I said before, from the instruction I have given you, and from what I have now said, I have enough to make my defense to you. And when anyone examines me, this is the ground on which I answer, pointing both to what has already been said and to what follows: "Do we have no right to eat and drink? Do we have no right to take along a wife who is a believer?" Yet even though I have this right, I do not use it.

What then? Did he not use to eat or drink? It would be most true to say that in many places he really did not eat or drink. For he says in 1 Corinthians 4:11, "In hunger," he says, "and in thirst, and in nakedness we were abiding." However, this is not his meaning here. But what is it? We do not eat or drink by receiving from those whom we instruct, though we have a right to receive in this way.

Do we have no right to lead about a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the Apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? Notice his skill. The leader of the choir stands last in his arrangement, since that is the time for laying down the strongest point of all. Nor was it so wonderful for someone to point out examples of this conduct in the rest, as in the foremost champion and in him who was entrusted with the keys of heaven.

But neither does he mention Peter alone, but all of them, as if he had said, "Whether you seek the lower sort or the more eminent, in all of them you find examples of this kind."

For the Lord's brothers too, after being freed from their earlier unbelief, as John 7:5 shows, had come to be among those who were approved, although they did not attain to the Apostles. And so this is the middle place that he assigned to them, placing before and after them those who were at the extremes.

1 Corinthians 9:6

Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to stop working?

See his humble mind and his soul free from envy. He is careful not to hide the man whom he knew shared this excellence with him. For if the other things are common to both, why is this not common also? Both they and we are apostles and are free, and have seen Christ, and have shown the works of apostles. Therefore, we also have the right to live without working and to be supported by our disciples.

1 Corinthians 9:7

What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Since he had already proved, and this was the strongest point, from the Apostles that it is lawful for them to receive support, he next turns to examples and to common practice, as he usually does. "What soldier serves at his own expense?" he says. But please consider how fitting these examples are to his subject, and how he first mentions the kind of work that involves danger: military service, weapons, and wars.

For the Apostleship was something like this, or rather much more dangerous than these. For their warfare was not only with men, but also with demons, and their battle line was drawn up against the ruler of those beings. What he means is this: Not even pagan rulers, cruel and unjust as they are, require their soldiers to serve, face danger, and live on their own resources. How then could Christ ever have required this?

And he is not satisfied with just one example. For a person who is somewhat simple and slow to understand, this too often brings great relief: seeing that common custom also agrees with the laws of God. Therefore he goes on to another point and says, "Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit?" For just as in the first example he pointed to his dangers, so in this one he points to his labor, his great effort, and his care.

He also adds a third example, saying, "Who feeds a flock and does not eat the milk of it?" He is showing the great care that a teacher ought to have for those under his guidance. In fact, the Apostles were soldiers, farmers, and shepherds, but not of the earth or of irrational animals, and not in wars that can be seen by the senses. Rather, they cared for reasonable souls and were lined up for battle against the demons.

It should also be noted how, everywhere, he keeps to a moderate way, seeking only what is useful, not what is excessive. For he did not say, "What soldier serves and is not made rich?" but, "What soldier ever serves at his own expense?" He also did not say, "Who plants a vineyard and does not gather gold, or does not collect all its fruit?" but, "Who does not eat of its fruit?" Nor did he say, "Who feeds a flock and does not make merchandise of the lambs?" But what did he say?

"And does not eat of its milk?" Not of the lambs, but of the milk. This shows that a little support should be enough for the teacher, even only his necessary food. This refers to those who would consume everything and gather all the fruit. In the same way, the Lord also commanded, saying, "The laborer is worthy of his food." Matthew 10:10

And he proves not only this by his examples, but he also shows what kind of man a priest ought to be. A priest ought to have the courage of a soldier, the diligence of a farmer, and the carefulness of a shepherd. And after having all these qualities, he should seek nothing more than what is necessary.

5. As you see, he has shown from the Apostles that it is not forbidden for the teacher to receive support. He has also shown this from examples found in everyday life. Then he goes on to a third point, saying this:

1 Corinthians 9:8

Am I saying these things in a merely human way? Or does not the Law also say the same thing?

Up to this point, he had not used anything from the Scriptures, but had presented common practice. So he says, "Do not think that I am relying only on these, or that I base these rules on human opinions. For I can show that these things are also pleasing to God, and I read an ancient law that commands them." Therefore, he continues his argument in the form of a question, which is fitting when speaking about things that are fully accepted. He says, "Do I say these things in a merely human way?"

That is, "Am I supporting myself only with human examples? Or does not the law also say the same thing?"

1 Corinthians 9:9-10

For it is written in the Law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain."

Why, then, did he mention this, when he already had the example of the priests? He wanted to establish the point far more strongly than the situation required. Also, so that no one might say, "And what do we have to do with the statement about oxen?" he explains it more exactly by saying, "Is it for oxen that God cares?" Does God, then, tell me, care nothing for oxen? Yes, He does care for them, but not in such a way as to make a law about this kind of matter.

So if he had not been pointing to something important—teaching the Jews mercy in the case of animals, and through them also speaking to them about teachers—he would not have been so concerned as even to make a law forbidding the muzzling of oxen.

In this, he also points out another thing: that the work of teachers is great, and ought to be great.

And there is another point again. What is it? It is that whatever the Old Testament says about caring for animals, in its main meaning is meant to teach human beings. In fact, the same is true of all the other commands also. For example, the commands about different kinds of clothing, and those about vineyards and seeds, and about not making the ground produce different kinds of crops, and those about leprosy—in a word, all the rest.

Because they were slower to understand, He was teaching them through these matters, leading them forward little by little.

And notice how, in what follows, he does not even try to prove it, because it is clear and obvious. After saying, "Is it for oxen that God cares?" he adds, "Or does he say it entirely for our sake?" He did not add the word "entirely" carelessly, but so that he would leave the listener with nothing at all to say in reply.

And he dwells on the metaphor, saying and declaring, "Yes, for our sakes it was written, because he who plows ought to plow in hope." That is, the teacher ought to enjoy the returns of his labors. And, "he who threshes ought to thresh in hope of partaking." And notice his wisdom, in that from the seed he transferred the matter to the threshing floor. Here also again he shows the many toils of the teachers, that in their own persons they both plow and tread the floor.

And about the plowing, because there was nothing to reap, but only labor, he used the word "hope." But about treading the floor, he immediately allows the fruit, saying, "He who threshes is a partaker of his hope."

Further, so that no one might say, “Is this, then, the return for so much labor?” he adds, “in hope,” that is, in the hope that is to come. Therefore, the unmuzzled mouth of this animal declares nothing else than this: teachers who work hard should also receive some return.

1 Corinthians 9:11

If we planted spiritual things among you, is it such a great thing if we receive material things from you?

Look, he also adds a fourth argument for the duty of giving support. Since he had said, "What soldier ever serves at his own expense?" and, "Who plants a vineyard?" and, "Who feeds a flock?" and had also brought in the ox that treads the grain, he now points out another very reasonable cause for why they could justly receive support. It is this: they had given much greater gifts, and not only labor. What is it then?

"If we sowed spiritual things among you, is it a great matter if we reap your material things?" Do you see how very fair this argument is, and how much more reasonable it is than all the others? In those other examples, he says, the seed is material, and the fruit is material too. But here it is not so. The seed is spiritual, but the return is material. So, to keep those who support their teachers from becoming proud, he showed that they receive more than they give.

It is as if he said, "Farmers receive the same kind of thing as what they sow. But we, when we sow spiritual things in your souls, reap material things." For that is the kind of support they give. Further, and even more, he says this to make them feel ashamed.

1 Corinthians 9:12

If others share this right over you, do we not have it even more?

Now consider another argument, also drawn from examples, though not the same kind. He is not speaking here about Peter or the Apostles, but about certain false men. Later he openly fights against them, and about them he says in 2 Corinthians 11:20, "If a man devours you, if he takes you captive, if he exalts himself, if he strikes you on the face." Even here he is already sounding the prelude to that conflict with them.

Therefore he did not say, "If others take from you," but, to point out their insolence, tyranny, and trading, he says, "if others partake of this right over you," that is, rule you, exercise authority over you, and use you as servants, not only taking you captive, but doing so with great power. Therefore he added, "do not we even more?" He would not have said this if he were speaking about the Apostles. But it is clear that he is hinting at certain destructive men who were deceiving them.

So then, besides the law of Moses, you yourselves also have made a law in support of the duty of giving.

And when he said, "Do not we do even more?" he did not explain why it was more. Instead, he left their own consciences to show them that. At the same time, he wanted both to alarm them and to make them more deeply ashamed.

Nevertheless, we did not use this right; that is, we did not receive it. Do you see how, after he had already proved in many ways that receiving support is not unlawful, he then says, "we do not receive," so that he would not seem to be avoiding it as if it were forbidden? For, he says, I do not refuse to receive because it is unlawful. It is lawful, and we have shown this in many ways: from the Apostles; from ordinary life, by the examples of the soldier, the farmer, and the shepherd;

from the law of Moses; from the very nature of the matter, since we have sown spiritual things among you; and from what you yourselves have done for others. But after saying these things, he did not want to seem to be putting the Apostles to shame, since they were accustomed to receiving support. He did not want to embarrass them or suggest that he was refusing it as if it were forbidden.

Then again, because of his many proofs, examples, and arguments showing that it is proper to receive support, he might seem eager to receive it himself, and to be saying these things for that reason. So now he corrects that impression. Later he says this even more clearly when he says, "And I wrote not these things, that it may be so done in my case." But here his words are, "we did not use this right."

And what is an even greater thing, no one could say this either: that when we had abundance, we refused to use it. Rather, when necessity pressed on us, we would not give in to that necessity. He also says this in the second Epistle: "I robbed other Churches, taking wages from them that I might minister to you; and when I was present with you, and was in want, I was not a burden on any man." 2 Corinthians 11:8-9. And again in this Epistle:

"We both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted." 1 Corinthians 4:11. And here again he hints at the same thing, saying, "But we bear all things." For by saying, "we bear all things," he points to both hunger and great straits and all the other things. But not even in this way, he says, have we been compelled to break the rule which we laid down for ourselves. Why? "That we may cause no hindrance to the Gospel of Christ."

For since the Corinthians were rather weak-minded, "lest we should wound you," he says, by receiving, we chose to do even more than was commanded, rather than hinder the Gospel, that is, your instruction. Now if we, in a matter left free to us, when we were both enduring much hardship and having Apostles for our pattern, practiced abstinence lest we should give hindrance—and he did not say, "subversion," but "hindrance";

nor simply "hindrance," but "any hindrance"—that we might not, so to speak, cause so much as the slightest suspense and delay to the course of the Word: if now, he says, we used such great care, how much more ought you to abstain, who both come far short of the Apostles and have no law to mention, giving you permission. But on the contrary, you are both putting your hand to things forbidden and to things which tend to the great injury of the Gospel, not to its hindrance only;

and you do not even have any pressing necessity in view. For he had taken up all this discussion because of those Corinthians who were making their weaker brothers stumble by eating things sacrificed to idols.

These things also let us listen to, beloved, so that we may not despise those who are offended, nor cause any hindrance to the Gospel of Christ, and so that we may not betray our own salvation. And do not say to me, when your brother is offended, that this or that by which he is offended has not been forbidden, and is permitted. For I have something greater to say to you. Although Christ Himself has permitted it, yet if you see anyone injured, stop and do not use the permission.

For Paul also did this. When he might have received, Christ having granted permission, he did not receive. Thus our Lord in His mercy has mingled much gentleness with His precepts, so that it might not be all merely a matter of commandment, but that we too might do much of our own mind. Since it was in His power, if He had not been so minded, to extend the commandments further and to say, "He who does not fast continually, let him be chastised.

He who does not keep his virginity, let him be punished. He who does not strip himself of all that he has, let him suffer the severest penalty." But He did not do so, giving you occasion, if you will, to be forward in doing more. Therefore, both when He was speaking about virginity, He said, "He that is able to receive, let him receive it." And in the case of the rich man, He commanded some things, but left some things to the determination of his mind.

For He did not say, "Sell what you have," but, "If you will be perfect, sell."

But we are not only unwilling to do more and go beyond the commands, we fall far short even of what has been commanded. Paul suffered hunger so that he might not hinder the Gospel. But we do not even have the heart to touch what is in our own storehouses, even though we see countless souls being ruined. Yes, someone says, let the moth eat, and do not let the poor eat. Let the worm devour, and do not let the naked be clothed.

Let everything be wasted away by time, and do not let Christ be fed, even when He is hungry. Why, who said this? someone will ask. No, this is the very complaint: these things are said not in words but in actions. For it would be less terrible to say them in words than to do them in actions. For is this not the cry, day after day, of that inhuman and cruel tyrant, Covetousness, to those she has taken captive?

Let your goods be laid out before informers and robbers and traitors for luxury, and not before the hungry and needy for their support. Is it not you, then, who make robbers? Is it not you who add fuel to the fire of the envious? Is it not you who make wanderers and traitors, by putting your wealth before them as bait? What madness is this? For it is madness, plain insanity.

You fill your chests with clothing, and overlook the one who is made in God's image and likeness, naked and shaking with cold, and barely able to stand.

But, someone says, he is only pretending this trembling and weakness. And are you not afraid that a thunderbolt from heaven, lit by these words, might fall on you? I am bursting with anger, so bear with me. You pamper and fatten yourself. You keep drinking until the middle of the night, and comfort yourself under soft blankets. Do you not think you are liable to judgment when you use God's gifts so lawlessly?

Wine was not made so that we should get drunk, nor food so that we should indulge our appetites, nor meat so that we should swell the belly. Yet from the poor man, the miserable man, from the one who is almost dead, you demand exact accounts. And do you not fear the judgment seat of Christ, so full of awe and terror? Why, even if he is acting like a hypocrite, he does it because of necessity and poverty, because of your cruelty and lack of mercy.

You make the use of such masks necessary, and you refuse every movement toward compassion. For who is so wretched and miserable that, without urgent need, he would accept such shame for one loaf of bread, cry over himself, and endure so severe a suffering? So his hypocrisy goes around proclaiming your inhumanity.

For since, by begging and pleading and speaking pitiful words and grieving and weeping and going around all day, he does not get even the food he needs, perhaps he came up with this trick as well. But the shame and blame for it fall not so much on him as on you. He is fit to be pitied, because he has fallen into such great need. But we deserve countless punishments, because we force the poor to suffer such things.

For if we were ready to give easily, he would never have chosen to endure such things.

And why do I speak of nakedness and trembling? I will tell something even more horrifying. Some people have even been forced to take away their children's sight at an early age, so that they might move our hard-heartedness. For when the children could see and went about naked, they could not win any favor from people without pity, either by their age or by their suffering. So their parents added another tragedy, even harsher than these great evils, so that they might escape hunger.

They thought it was a smaller thing to lose this common light, and the sunshine given to all, than to fight against constant famine and suffer the most miserable kind of death. So then, because you have not learned to pity poverty, but take pleasure in others' misfortunes, they satisfy your endless desire, and for both themselves and for us they kindle a fiercer flame in hell.

9. To convince you that this is why these and similar things are done, I will give you a well-known proof that no one can deny. There are other poor men who are weak and unstable in mind, and who do not know how to bear hunger. In fact, they would rather suffer anything than hunger. These men often tried to move us with pitiful gestures and words, but they found that this accomplished nothing. So they stopped making those pleas. From now on, even our so-called wonder-workers are outdone by them.

Some chew the leather of worn-out shoes. Some drive sharp nails into their heads. Others lie in frozen pools with their stomachs uncovered. Others endure different things even more horrible than these, so that they may gather ungodly spectators around them. And while these things are happening, you stand there laughing and marveling. You make a spectacle out of other people's miseries, and our common human nature disgraces itself. What more could a savage demon do?

Then you give him plenty of money, so that he may do these things more quickly. But to the man who prays and calls on God and comes with modesty, you give not even an answer or a glance. Instead, as he keeps bothering you, you say those hateful words: "Should this fellow live? Should he even breathe and look at this sun?" But toward the other kind of person, you are cheerful and generous, as if you had been appointed to hand out the prize for that ridiculous and satanic shamelessness.

Therefore, with better reason, those words could be spoken to the people who arrange these shows and give nothing until they see others tormenting themselves: "Should these men live, or even breathe, or look at the sun, these men who sin against our common nature and insult God?" For when God says, "Give alms, and I will give you the kingdom of heaven," you do not listen. But when the Devil shows you a head pierced with nails, suddenly you become generous.

And the scheme of the evil spirit, full of so much harm, has moved you more than the promise of God, which brings countless blessings. If money had to be paid to stop these things from being done, or to stop people from watching them when they are done, there is nothing you should not do or endure in order to get rid of such extreme madness. But instead, you do everything you can to make sure they are done, and you watch them being done. And do you still ask me why hell-fire exists?

No, do not ask that anymore. Ask instead how there is only one hell. For how many punishments do those people deserve who set up this cruel and merciless spectacle and laugh at what both they and you ought to weep over? Or rather, between the two, you deserve it even more, because you force them into such shameful acts.

But you say, "I do not force them." I would like to know: what else is this but forcing them? When people are more modest, and they weep and call on God, you are too impatient even to listen to them. But for these others, you find plenty of silver and gather many people around you to admire them.

"Well then, you say, let us stop feeling pity for them." And are you also telling us to do this? No, my friend, it is not pity to demand such a harsh punishment for a few pennies. It is not pity to order people to injure themselves for the food they need, and to cut the skin of their head into many pieces so cruelly and miserably. "Gently," you say, "for it is not we who pierce those heads." I wish it were you, because then the horror would not be so terrible.

For the one who kills a man does something far worse than the one who tells him to kill himself. And that is what happens in these cases. For these people suffer even more bitter pain when they are told to carry out these wicked commands on themselves.

And all this happened in Antioch, where people were first called Christians. There the most civilized people are brought up, and long ago the fruit of love flourished so greatly. For they used to send help not only to those nearby, but also to those far away, and they did this even when a famine was expected.

10. What then ought we to do? You ask. We ought to stop this savage practice, and to persuade all who are in need that by doing these things they will gain nothing. But if they come modestly, they will find your generosity to be great. Let them become aware of this just once. Even if they are the most miserable of all people, they will never choose to punish themselves so severely, I pledge myself.

No, they will even thank you for delivering them both from the mockery and the pain of that way of life. But as it is, for charioteers you would even hire out your own children, and for dancers you would throw away your very souls, while for Christ hungry, you do not spare even the smallest part of your property. But if you give a little silver, you think as much of it as if you had spent all that you have, not knowing that true almsgiving is not merely giving, but giving generously.

Therefore the prophet does not simply proclaim and call happy those who give, but those who give liberally. For he does not say simply, "He has given," but what? Psalm 112:8, "He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor." For what profit is it, when out of it you give, as it were, a glass of water from the sea, and even a widow's generosity is beyond your imitation?

And how will you say, "Pity me, O Lord, according to your great pity, and according to the multitude of your mercies blot out my transgression," while you yourself do not pity according to any great pity, no, perhaps not even according to any little pity?

For I am greatly ashamed, I admit, when I see many of the rich riding on their horses with golden bits, with a train of servants clothed in gold, and having couches of silver and other and greater display, and yet when there is need to give to a poor man, becoming more beggarly than the very poorest.

But what do they keep saying all the time? "He gets the common support given by the church," they say. And what is that to you? You will not be saved because I give. And if the Church gives, that does not erase your own sins. Is that why you do not give, because the Church is supposed to give to the needy? Because the priests pray, will you never pray for yourself? And because others fast, will you keep getting drunk?

Do you not know that God established almsgiving not so much for the sake of the poor as for the sake of the very people who give?

But do you distrust the priest? To begin with, that itself is a serious sin. However, I will not examine the matter too closely. Do it all yourself, and then you will receive a double reward. For what we say about giving to the poor, we do not say so that you should give it to us, but so that you should serve with your own hands. For if you bring your gift for the poor to me, perhaps you may even be taken captive by vain glory, and often you may also leave offended because you suspect some evil.

But if you do everything yourselves, you will be free both from offenses and from unreasonable suspicion, and your reward will be greater. So I am not saying these things to force you to bring your money here, nor because I am upset that priests are spoken of badly. For if anyone must be upset and grieve, it should be for you, who speak this evil.

Since those who are spoken against falsely and without cause receive a greater reward, but for those who speak, the condemnation and punishment are heavier. Therefore I do not say these things for their sake, but because of my concern and care for you.

For what wonder is it if some in our time are suspected, when even in the case of those holy men who lived like the angels, who owned nothing of their own, I mean the Apostles, there was a complaint in the serving of the widows, in Acts 6:1, that the poor were being overlooked? This happened when no one said that anything he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common, as Acts 4:32 says.

So then, let us not offer these excuses. And let us not think it is a valid excuse that the Church is wealthy. When you see how great her resources are, remember also the crowds of poor people on her list, the many sick people she cares for, and the constant causes of expense without end. Examine it. Look into it carefully. No one forbids you. In fact, they are even ready to give you an account. But I want to go much further.

Suppose we have given our accounts and shown that our spending is no less than our income, and sometimes even more. Then I would gladly ask you this further question: when we depart from here and hear Christ saying, "You saw me hungry, and gave me no food; naked, and you did not clothe me," what will we say? What defense will we make? Will we bring up this or that person who disobeyed these commands? Or some of the priests who were under suspicion? No, what is that to you?

For He says, "I accuse you of the things in which you yourself have sinned." And the defense for these things would be that you had washed away your own offenses, not that you point to others whose errors were the same as yours.

In fact, because of your stinginess, the Church is forced to have the property it now has. For if people did everything according to the apostolic laws, its income should have been your goodwill, which would have been both a secure chest and an endless treasury.

But now you store up treasures for yourselves on earth and keep everything locked in your own storehouses, while the Church is forced to pay for groups of widows, choirs of virgins, the lodging of strangers, the troubles of foreigners, the sufferings of prisoners, the needs of the sick and disabled, and other similar needs. So what must be done? Should it turn away from all these people and close up so many harbors?

Then who could endure the shipwrecks that would follow, and the weeping, the grieving, and the cries of sorrow that would come to us from every side?

So then, let us not speak carelessly, just saying whatever comes into our minds. For now, as I just said, we are in fact ready to give an account to you. But even if the opposite were true, and you had corrupt teachers who were robbing people and grabbing everything for themselves, even their wickedness would not be an excuse for you. For the Lover of mankind and All-wise, the Only-Begotten Son of God, sees all things.

He knew that over such a long time, and in so great a world, there would be many corrupt priests. So, to keep the carelessness of those under their authority from growing because of the priests' neglect, and to take away every excuse for indifference, He says, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Therefore, do whatever they tell you, but do not do what they do."

By this He means that even if you have a bad teacher, that will not help you if you do not pay attention to what is spoken. For God does not judge you by what your teacher has done, but by what you have heard and disobeyed. That is what God passes sentence on. So if you do what is commanded, you will stand with great boldness. But if you disobey what is spoken, then even if you bring forward ten thousand corrupt priests, that will not defend you at all. Judas also was an apostle.

Nevertheless, that will never be any excuse for the sacrilegious and the covetous. And no one, when accused, will be able to say, "Why, the Apostle was a thief and sacrilegious, and a traitor." In fact, this very thing will be our greatest punishment and condemnation: that we were not corrected even by the sins of others. For this reason, these things were also written, so that we might avoid imitating such deeds.

Therefore, leaving this person and that person aside, let us pay attention to ourselves. For each of us will give an account of himself to God. So that we may give this account with a good defense, let us order our own lives well and generously reach out a helping hand to those in need. We know that this alone is our defense: showing that we have rightly done the things commanded. There is no other defense at all.

And if we are able to show this, we will escape those unbearable pains of hell and obtain the good things to come. May we all attain them by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and world without end. Amen.

1 Corinthians 9:13-14

Do you not know that those who serve in sacred things eat from the temple? And those who attend the altar receive their share from the altar. In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should live from the gospel.

He is very careful to show that receiving support was not forbidden. So after saying so much before, he was still not satisfied, but goes on to the Law also. He gives an example that is more directly related to the point than the earlier one. For it was not the same thing to mention the oxen and to bring forward the law that was specifically given about priests.

But please consider Paul’s wisdom in this also, and how he speaks of the matter in a way that gives it dignity. For he did not say, “Those who serve in sacred things receive from those who make the offerings.” But what did he say? “They eat from the temple,” so that neither those who receive may be blamed, nor those who give may become proud. Therefore, he has also stated what follows in the same way.

For he did not say, "Those who serve at the altar receive from those who offer sacrifices," but, "they share with the altar." For the things being offered no longer belonged to those who offered them, but to the temple and the altar. And he did not say, "They receive the holy things," but, "they eat from the temple." By this he again shows their moderation, and that it is proper for them not to make money or become rich.

And although he says that they share with the altar, he does not mean an equal division, but support given to them as what is owed to them. And yet the case of the Apostles was much stronger. For in the first case, the priesthood was an honor, but in the second, it involved dangers, killings, and violent deaths. Therefore, all the other examples together did not rise to the level of the statement, "If we sowed spiritual things among you."

For when he says, "we sowed," he points to the storms, the danger, the traps, and the unspeakable evils they endured while preaching. Nevertheless, even though the superiority was so great, he was not willing either to lower the things of the old law or to lift up the things that belonged to himself. No, he even reduces his own claim, measuring the superiority not by the dangers, but by the greatness of the gift.

For he did not say, "if we put ourselves in danger" or "exposed ourselves to traps," but, "if we sowed spiritual things among you."

And, as much as possible, he honors the role of the priests. He says, "Those who serve in sacred things, and those who attend the altar," intending by this to show their constant service and endurance. Again, since he had spoken of the priests among the Jews, that is, both the Levites and the chief priests, he mentions each of these ranks, both the lower and the higher.

He refers to the lower by saying, "those who serve in sacred things," and to the higher by saying, "those who attend the altar." For not everyone was given the same work. Some were entrusted with the more ordinary duties, and others with the more honored offices. So he includes all of these, so that no one could say, "Why do you speak to us about the old law? Do you not know that ours is the time of more perfect commandments?"

After all those points, he then added what is strongest of all, saying,

In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who preach the gospel should make their living from the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9:14

Nor does he say here that they are supported by men. Instead, as in the case of the priests, the temple, and the altar, so also here he speaks of the Gospel. And just as there he says, "eat," so here he says, "live"—not make merchandise of it or store up treasures. For, he says, "the laborer is worthy of his hire."

1 Corinthians 9:15

But I have used none of these things.

But what if you have not used them now, someone says, and plan to use them later, and for this reason say these things? Far from it. He quickly corrected that idea by saying this:

I do not write these things so that this may be done in my case.

And see how strongly he denies and rejects this thing.

For it would be better for me to die than for anyone to make my boasting empty.

And he uses this expression not once or twice, but many times. Earlier he said, "We did not use this right." After that he says again, "that I may not misuse my right." And here he says, "But I have used none of these things." What are "these things"? The many examples. That is, many things gave me permission: the soldier, the farmer, the shepherd, the Apostles, the law, the things done by us for you, the things done by you for others, the priests, and the ordinance of Christ.

Yet none of these has led me to set aside my own rule and receive support. And do not speak to me about the past. Although I could say that I have endured much even in past times because of this, nevertheless I do not rely on that alone. I also pledge myself concerning the future, that I would rather die of hunger than be deprived of these crowns.

For it would be better for me to die, he says, than for anyone to make my boasting empty.

He did not say that someone should abolish my law, but my boasting. For someone might say, he does it, but not gladly. He does it with sorrow and grief. So, to show how great his joy was and how abundant his zeal was, he even calls this matter his boasting. He was so far from being troubled by it that he even boasts in it, and would rather die than lose this boasting. This course of action was dearer to him even than life itself.

Next, he also lifts it up for another reason. He shows that it was something great, not because he wanted to make himself famous, for he was very far from that attitude, but to show that he rejoices, and to remove all suspicion even more fully. For this reason, as I said before, he also called it a boasting. And what does he say?

1 Corinthians 9:16–18. If I preach the gospel, that gives me no reason to boast, because I am under necessity. Yes, woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. If I do this willingly, I have a reward. But if I do it unwillingly, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? It is that, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel of Christ free of charge, so that I do not misuse my authority in the gospel.

For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, because this duty has been laid on me. For woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this by my own choice, I have a reward. But if not by my own choice, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? It is this: that when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel of Christ free of charge, and so not make full use of my right in the gospel.

What are you saying? Tell me. If you preach the Gospel, that is not something you can boast about. But if you make the Gospel of Christ free of charge, then it is. Is this, then, greater than that? By no means. But from another point of view, it does have some advantage, since the one is a command, but the other is a good deed done by my own free will. For things done beyond the commandment have, in this respect, a great reward.

But things done in obedience to a commandment do not have so great a reward. So in this respect he says that the one is more than the other, though not in the actual nature of the thing. For what is equal to preaching, since it makes people compete even with the angels themselves? Nevertheless, since the one is a commandment and a debt, and the other is eagerness from free will, in this respect this is more than that. Therefore he says, explaining the same point that I just mentioned:

For if I do this by my own choice, I have a reward. But if not by my own choice, a stewardship has been entrusted to me. He takes the words "by my own choice" and "not by my own choice" to mean whether this charge was committed to him or not committed to him. And this is how we must understand the phrase, "necessity is laid upon me." It is not as if he did any of these things against his will—God forbid.

Rather, it means that he was bound by the commands given to him, and this stands in contrast to the freedom in receiving that was mentioned before. Therefore Christ also said to the disciples in Luke 17:10, "When you have done all, say, 'We are unprofitable servants; for we have done what was our duty to do.'"

What then is my reward? It is that when I preach the Gospel, I may offer the Gospel free of charge. What then? Tell me, does Peter have no reward? No. Who could ever have a greater reward than he does? And what shall we say about the other Apostles? How then did he say, "If I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, a stewardship is entrusted to me"? Do you see his wisdom here also?

For he did not say, "But if not of my own will, I have no reward," but, "a stewardship is entrusted to me." By this he shows that even in that case he still has a reward, but it is the kind received by someone who has done what was commanded, not the kind that belongs to someone who, from his own resources, has been generous and has gone beyond the commandment.

What then is the reward? It is this, he says: when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel free of charge, so that I do not make full use of my right in the gospel. See how all through this passage he uses the word "right." By this he shows what I have often pointed out: those who receive support are not worthy of blame either. But he added, "in the gospel," partly to show that this is reasonable, and partly also to keep us from applying this to every case.

For the teacher ought to receive support, but not the mere idler also.

1 Corinthians 9:19

4. Even though I was free from all people, I made myself a servant to everyone, so that I might win more of them.

Here again he introduces another great step forward. For it is a great thing even not to receive. But what he is about to mention is much more than that. What then does he say? "Not only have I not received," he says, "not only have I not used this right, but I have even made myself a slave, and in a slavery that is manifold and universal." For I have kept this same rule not only in money, but also, which was much more than money, in many and various tasks.

And I made myself a slave when I was subject to none, having no necessity in any respect. For this is the meaning of, "though I was free from all men." And I was not a slave to any one person, but to the whole world.

Therefore he also added, "I made myself a slave to all." That is, he was commanded to preach the gospel and to announce the things entrusted to him. But all the many other plans and methods beyond that came from his own zeal. He was only required to invest the money, but he did everything he could to gain a return from it, trying to do more than he was commanded. Since he did everything by his own free choice, zeal, and love for Christ, he had an endless desire for the salvation of humanity.

Therefore he regularly went far beyond the limits that had been set, rising in every way higher than heaven itself.

Next, after mentioning his slavery, he goes on to describe the different forms of it. And what are these?

1 Corinthians 9:20

And I became, he says, to the Jews like a Jew, so that I might win Jews. And how did this happen? It happened when he circumcised, so that he might abolish circumcision. Therefore he did not say, "a Jew," but "like a Jew," and this was a wise choice. What are you saying? The herald of the world, and the one who touched the very heavens and shone so brightly in grace, does he suddenly come down so low? Yes. For this is what it means to rise higher.

For you should not look only at the fact that he came down, but also at how he raised up the one who was bent down and brought him up to himself.

To those who are under the law, I became like one under the law, though I myself am not under the law, so that I might win those who are under the law. Either this explains what he said before, or he is hinting at something else in addition to the earlier point. By "Jews," he means those who were Jews by origin and from the beginning. But by "those under the law," he means the proselytes, or those who became believers and yet still held to the law.

For they were no longer Jews as before, yet they were still under the law. And when was he under the law? When he shaved his head, and when he offered sacrifice. Now he did these things not because his mind had changed, since that kind of behavior would have been wickedness, but because his love lowered itself to meet others. For in order to bring to this faith those who were truly Jews, he himself became like that, not in reality, but only in appearance.

He showed himself to be such, but he was not really such, nor did he do these things because his mind was set that way. Indeed, how could he? He was eager to convert others too, and he did these things only so that he might free from that degradation those who were doing them.

1 Corinthians 9:21

To those who were without law, I became as one without law. These were neither Jews, nor Christians, nor Greeks, but people "outside of the Law," like Cornelius, and any others like him. Among these people also, when he came among them, he would take on many of their ways. But some say that he is pointing to his speech with the Athenians, based on the inscription on the altar. So they understand him to mean, "to those who are without law, as without law."

Then, so that no one would think this was a change of mind, he added, "not being without law to God, but under law to Christ." That is, I am so far from being without law that I am not simply under the Law. Rather, I have a law much higher than the older one, namely, the law of the Spirit and of grace. Therefore he also adds, "to Christ."

Then again, after making them confident in his judgment, he also states the benefit of such condescension, saying, "that I might gain them that are without law." And everywhere he brings forward the reason for his condescension. He does not stop even here, but says,

1 Corinthians 9:22

"I became weak to the weak, so that I might gain the weak." In this part, he is coming down to their condition, and it is for this purpose that all these things have also been said. However, those were much greater matters, but this is more to the point. That is why he has placed it after them. In fact, he did the same thing in his Epistle to the Romans when he was correcting them about foods, and also in many other places.

Next, so as not to waste time by naming them all one by one, he says, "I have become all things to all men, so that by all means I may save some."

Do you see how far this goes? “I have become all things to all people,” not because I expect to save everyone, but so that I may save at least a few. And I have taken on such great care and service, as someone naturally would who was trying to save everyone, while still being far from hoping to win everyone. This was truly noble and a sign of burning zeal. In the same way, the sower sowed everywhere and did not save all the seed. Nevertheless, he did his part.

And after mentioning the small number of those who are saved, he again added, “by all means,” and so comforted those who were grieved by this. For though it is not possible for all the seed to be saved, it also cannot be that all should perish. Therefore he said, “by all means,” because someone with such eager zeal must certainly have some success.

1 Corinthians 9:23

And I do everything for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in it with others.

That is, so that I too may seem to have added some contribution of my own, and may share in the crowns laid up for the faithful. For just as he spoke of living from the Gospel, that is, from the believers, so also here he says, "that I may be a fellow partaker in the Gospel," so that I may be able to share with those who have believed in the Gospel. Do you see his humility, how in the reward of recompense he places himself as one of the many, though he had gone beyond all in his labors?

From this it is clear that he would do so in his reward also. Nevertheless, he does not claim to enjoy the first prize, but is content if somehow he may share with the others in the crowns laid up for them. But he said these things, not because he did this for any reward, but so that by this at least he might draw them on, and by these hopes might lead them to do all things for their brothers' sake. Do you see his wisdom? Do you see the excellence of his perfection?

How he worked beyond the things commanded, not receiving when it was lawful to receive. Do you see the surpassing greatness of his condescension? How he who was under law to Christ, and kept that highest law, was to those who were without law as one without law, and to the Jews as a Jew, in both ways showing himself preeminent and surpassing all.

Do this too, and do not think, if you are important, that you lower yourself when you accept some humiliation for your brother's sake. For this is not falling, but coming down. A man who falls lies flat on the ground and is hard to raise up again. But a man who comes down will also rise again with much benefit. In the same way, Paul did indeed come down alone, but he rose up with the whole world.

He was not pretending, for if he had been pretending, he would not have sought the gain of those who are saved. Since the hypocrite seeks people's ruin and pretends so that he may receive, not so that he may give. But the apostle was not like that. Instead, like a physician to the sick, like a teacher to the disciple, and like a father to the son, he humbles himself for the person's correction, not for his harm. Paul did the same.

To show that the things he said were not just pretense, consider a case where he is not forced to do or say anything like this, but is speaking to express his love and confidence. Hear him say in Romans 8:39, "Neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Do you see a love more burning than fire?

So let us also love Christ. For indeed, it is easy, if we are willing. For the Apostle was not like this by nature either. That is why, you see, his former life was recorded, so completely opposite to this, so that we may learn that this work depends on choice, and that for the willing, all things are easy.

Let us not despair, then. Even if you are a reviler, or covetous, or whatever you are, consider that Paul was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious, and the chief of sinners, as he says in 1 Timothy 1:13-16. Yet he suddenly rose to the very summit of virtue, and his former life was no hindrance to him. And yet no one clings to vice with such great frenzy as he did in the war against the Church. For at that time he put his very life into it.

And because he did not have ten thousand hands so that he might stone Stephen with all of them, he was vexed. Nevertheless, even so he found a way to stone him with more hands, namely, those of the false witnesses, whose clothes he kept. And again, when he entered into houses, like a wild beast, and rushed in in no other way, haling and tearing men and women, he filled all things with tumult and confusion and innumerable conflicts.

For instance, he was so terrible that the Apostles, even after his most glorious change, still did not dare to join themselves to him, as Acts 9:26 says. Nevertheless, after all those things he became such as he was. For I need not say more.

Where now are those who use fate to argue against the freedom of the will? Let them hear these things, and let their mouths be shut. For nothing keeps a person who wants to become good from becoming good, even if he was formerly one of the worst. In fact, we are more naturally inclined that way, since virtue fits our nature and vice goes against it, just as health fits us and sickness does not.

For God gave us eyes, not so that we might look with lust, but so that, by admiring his handiwork, we might worship the Creator. And that this is the purpose of our eyes is clear from the things we see. For we can see the brightness of the sun and the sky from a vast distance, but a woman's beauty cannot be made out from so far away. Do you see that this was the main purpose for which our eyes were given?

Again, he made the ear so that we should receive not blasphemous words, but teachings that save. Therefore you see that, when it receives anything harsh or out of tune, both our soul shudders and even our body does too. For, as one says in Sirach 27:5, "The talk of one who swears much makes the hair stand upright." And if we hear anything cruel or merciless, our flesh again creeps. But if we hear something decent and kind, we even exult and rejoice.

Again, if our mouth speaks shameful words, it makes us ashamed and causes us to hide ourselves. But if it speaks serious words, it speaks them with ease and complete freedom. No one blushes for things that are according to nature, but for things that are against nature. And when the hands steal, they hide themselves and look for excuses. But if they give alms, they even take pride in it. So, if we are willing, we have a strong pull toward virtue from every side.

But if you speak to me about the pleasure that comes from vice, consider that this too is something we gain even more from virtue. For to have a good conscience, to be respected by all, and to hold good hopes, is the most pleasant thing of all for one who understands the nature of pleasure. In the same way, the opposite is the most painful thing of all for one who knows the nature of pain:

to be reproached by all, to be accused by our own conscience, and to tremble and fear both about the future and the present.

So that what I am saying may become clearer, let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that one man has a wife, yet he corrupts his neighbor’s marriage bed and takes pleasure in this wicked theft, enjoying his lover. Then let us set against him another man who loves his own wife. And so that the victory may be greater and clearer, let the man who enjoys only his own wife also feel desire for the other woman, the adulteress, but hold back his passion and do nothing evil.

Even this is not pure chastity. However, we are allowing more than is necessary so that you may convince yourself how great the pleasure of virtue is. For this reason we have framed our example in this way.

Now then, after bringing them together, let us ask which life is more pleasant. You will hear one man boasting and rejoicing that he has conquered his lust. But as for the other man, there is really no need to wait for him to tell us anything. For you will see that, even if he denies it countless times, he is more miserable than men in prison. He fears and suspects everyone:

his own wife, the husband of the adulteress, the adulteress herself, servants, friends, relatives, walls, shadows, and even himself. Worst of all, he has his conscience crying out against him and barking loudly every day. And if he also calls to mind the judgment seat of God, he will not even be able to stand. The pleasure is short, but the pain that comes from it never stops.

In the evening, at night, in the desert, in the city, and everywhere, the accuser follows him, pointing to a sharpened sword and unbearable punishment. By that terror, it consumes and wears him away. But the other man, the chaste person, is free from all these things. He is at liberty, and he looks on his wife, his children, and his friends with peace, and meets everyone with unashamed eyes.

Now if the man who is in love, yet keeps control of himself, enjoys such great pleasure, then the man who gives in to no such passion and is truly chaste—what harbor, what calm, could be as sweet and peaceful as the state of mind he will gain? For this reason, you may see few adulterers but many chaste people. But if the former life were more pleasant, more people would choose it. And do not tell me about the fear of the laws. That is not what restrains them.

What restrains them is how deeply unreasonable it is, the fact that its pains are greater than its pleasures, and the sentence of conscience.

8. That, then, is what the adulterer is like. Now, if you please, let us bring before you the greedy person, and uncover another lawless passion. For we will see that he too is afraid of the same things and unable to enjoy true pleasure. He remembers both those he has wronged, those who sympathize with them, and the public judgment of everyone about him. Because of this, he has countless inner turmoils.

And this is not his only torment. He cannot even enjoy the thing he loves. For this is the way of greedy people: they do not possess things so that they may enjoy them, but so that they may not enjoy them. If this seems like a riddle to you, listen to what is even worse and harder to understand. They are deprived of the pleasure of their possessions not only because they do not dare to use them as they want, but also because they are never satisfied with them and live in constant thirst.

What could be more painful than that? But the righteous man is not like this. He is set free from trembling, hatred, fear, and this incurable thirst. And just as all people curse the one man, so all people join together to bless the other. And just as the one has no friend, so the other has no enemy.

So then, if these things are agreed on, what could be more hateful than vice, or more pleasant than virtue? No, even if we were to speak forever, no one would be able to describe in words either the pain of the one or the pleasure of the other until we experience them. For then we will find vice more bitter than gall, when we have fully tasted the honey of virtue. This is not to say that vice is not even now unpleasant, disgusting, and burdensome. Not even those devoted to it deny that.

But when we pull away from it, then we see more clearly how bitter its commands are. And if the crowd runs to it, that is no wonder. Children also often choose things that are less pleasant and reject what is more delightful. And the sick, for a moment of satisfaction, lose lasting and more certain joy. But this comes from the weakness and foolishness of those who are taken by such desire, not from the nature of the things themselves. For it is the virtuous person who lives in pleasure.

He is the one who is truly rich and truly free.

But if someone would allow that virtue gives all the other things — liberty, safety, freedom from worries, fearing no one, and suspecting no one — but would not allow that it gives pleasure, then I admit that the only thing left to do is laugh, and laugh heartily. For what else is pleasure except freedom from worry and fear and despair, and not being under anyone's power? And tell me, who is really enjoying pleasure:

the man in madness and turmoil, driven by many desires and not even master of himself, or the man who has been set free from all these waves and is established in the love of wisdom, as if in a harbor? Is it not obvious that it is the latter? But this seems to belong especially to virtue. So vice has only the name of pleasure, but it has none of the reality of it. And before the enjoyment, it is madness, not pleasure. But after the enjoyment, that too is immediately gone.

So then, if one cannot see its pleasure either at the beginning or afterward, when will it appear, and where?

So that you may understand more clearly what I am saying, let us test the force of the argument with an example. Consider this. A man is in love with a beautiful and lovely woman. As long as he cannot get what he wants, he is like a man out of his mind and frantic. But after he gets it, his desire is satisfied and dies down.

If, then, he feels pleasure neither at the beginning, because the matter is madness, nor at the end, because giving in to his lust cools his wild passion, then where are we to find the pleasure at all? But our actions are not like that. From the beginning, they are free from all disturbance, and the pleasure remains fresh to the end. Rather, our pleasure has no end, and our good things have no limit, and this pleasure never passes away.

Considering all these things, then, if we love pleasure, let us choose virtue, so that we may gain good things both now and in the life to come. May we all attain these things through grace and mercy, etc.

1 Corinthians 9:24

Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize?

After he had shown the many uses of condescension, and that this is the highest kind of perfection, he also showed that he himself had risen higher than everyone else in perfection. Or rather, he had gone even beyond it, because by refusing to receive anything, he had lowered himself below everyone else again. He had also made known to us the proper times for each of these, both for perfection and for condescension. Then, in what follows, he corrects them more sharply.

He quietly suggests that what they did, which was counted as a mark of perfection, was actually a kind of unnecessary and useless labor. But he does not say this openly, so that they would not become arrogant. Instead, the way he proves his point makes this clear.

And after saying that they sin against Christ and destroy the brothers, and that they gain nothing from this perfect knowledge unless love is added, he again goes on to a common example and says,

Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? He says this not as if only one out of many will be saved here also. Far from it. He says it to show the great diligence that we must use. For in a race, even though many enter the course, not many are crowned. This happens to one only. And it is not enough just to enter the contest, or to anoint yourself and wrestle. In the same way here, it is not enough simply to believe and to struggle in just any way.

Unless we have run in such a way that, in the end, we show ourselves blameless and come near the prize, it will profit us nothing. For even if you think you are perfect in knowledge, you have not yet attained the whole. Hinting at this, he said, "so run, that you may obtain." So then, it seems they had not yet attained. And after speaking this way, he also teaches them the manner of it.

1 Corinthians 9:25

And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.

What does "all things" mean? It means he does not avoid one thing and fail in another. Instead, he fully controls gluttony, sexual lust, drunkenness, and all his passions. For this, he says, happens even in the pagan games. During the contest, those who compete are not allowed to drink too much wine, or to live in sexual indulgence, because that would weaken their strength. They are not even allowed to busy themselves with anything else.

Instead, they separate themselves completely from everything and give themselves only to their training. Now if these things are true there, where the crown goes to one person, how much more is this true here, where the motive for eager striving is much greater. For here, it is not only one person who is crowned, and the rewards are far greater than the labors. Therefore he says it in a way that puts them to shame: "Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible."

1 Corinthians 9:26

Therefore I run in this way, not with uncertainty.

So, after he had put them to shame by using the example of those outside, he then presents himself also. This kind of thing is a very excellent way of teaching, and we find that he does this everywhere.

But what does "not uncertainly" mean? It means, he says, that I keep my eyes on a certain goal, and do not act at random or for no purpose, as you do. What benefit do you get from going into idol temples and putting your supposed maturity on display as if it were real? None. But I am not like that. Whatever I do, I do for the salvation of my neighbor. If I show maturity, it is for their sake. If I lower myself and adapt, it is again for their sake.

If I go beyond Peter in refusing to receive compensation, it is so that they may not be offended. Or if I go lower than everyone else, by being circumcised and shaving my head, it is so that they may not be led astray. This is what it means to act "not uncertainly." But as for you, why do you eat in idol temples? Tell me. No, you cannot give any reasonable cause. For food does not commend you to God.

Neither if you eat are you better, nor if you do not eat are you worse, as 1 Corinthians 8:8 says. So then, clearly, you are running at random. For this is what it means to act uncertainly.

So I fight, not like someone beating the air. By this he again shows that he was not acting aimlessly or for nothing. For I have an enemy I can strike, that is, the devil. But you do not strike him. You simply waste your strength.

So up to this point, he has been altogether patient with them, and speaks in this way. For since he had dealt somewhat vehemently with them in the earlier part, he now, on the contrary, holds back his rebuke, reserving the deepest wound of all for the end of the discourse. For here he says that they act at random and in vain.

But afterward he shows that they do so at the risk of nothing less than utter ruin to their own soul, and that even apart from all injury to their brothers, they themselves are not guiltless for daring to act in this way.

1 Corinthians 9:27

But I discipline my body and bring it under control, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not somehow be rejected.

Here he implies that they are ruled by the desires of the belly and give it free control. Under a pretense of perfection, they satisfy their own greed. This is the same idea he was trying to express earlier when he said, "Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods," in 1 Corinthians 6:13. Since sexual immorality is caused by luxury, and since luxury also gave birth to idolatry, he often naturally speaks strongly against this sickness.

And while showing how great the things were that he suffered for the Gospel, he includes this among them. "As I went beyond the commands," he says, "and this when it was no small matter for me"—for "we endure all things," it says—"so also here I submit to much labor in order to live with self-control." Stubborn as appetite is, and harsh as the rule of the belly is, nevertheless I hold it back. I do not give myself over to this passion, but endure every labor so that I may not be led away by it.

Please do not think that I reach this desired result by taking things lightly. It is a race and a struggle with many parts, and my nature rises up against me like a tyrant and keeps trying to break free. But I do not put up with it. I keep it down and bring it under control through many struggles. He says this so that no one will pull back from the struggles for virtue in despair because the task is hard. Therefore he says, "I buffet my body and bring it into bondage."

He did not say, "I kill it," or, "I punish it," for the flesh is not to be hated. Instead, he says, "I buffet it and bring it into bondage." This is what a master does, not an enemy; a teacher, not a foe; a trainer in athletics, not an adversary.

So that after I have preached to others, I myself might not somehow be rejected.

Now if Paul feared this, even though he had taught so many people, and feared it after his preaching, after becoming like an angel, and after taking on the leadership of the whole world, what can we say?

For he says, "Do not think that because you have believed, this is enough for your salvation." Since for me, not even preaching, teaching, or winning over countless people is enough for salvation unless I also show that my own conduct is blameless, it is much less enough for you.

3. Then he moves on to other examples again. Earlier, he had used the examples of the Apostles, ordinary custom, the priests, and himself. So here also, after presenting the examples of the Olympic games and of his own course, he again turns to the histories of the Old Testament. And because what he is about to say will be somewhat unpleasant, he makes his exhortation general. He speaks not only about the matter before him, but also generally about all the evils among the Corinthians.

And in the case of the pagan games, he says, "Do you not know?" But here,

1 Corinthians 10:1-4

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers.

He said this to show that they were not very well taught about these things. And what is it that you do not want us to be ignorant of?

He says, "Our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. However, with most of them God was not pleased."

And why does he say these things? To show that just as they gained nothing from enjoying such a great gift, so these people also will gain nothing by receiving Baptism and taking part in the spiritual Mysteries, unless they continue on and show a life worthy of this grace. Therefore, he also brings in the types of both Baptism and the Mysteries.

But what does this mean: "They were baptized into Moses"? It means this: just as we are baptized because we believe in Christ and in His resurrection, since we ourselves are meant to share in those same mysteries—for, he says, we are baptized for the dead, that is, for our own bodies—even so, they also trusted in Moses. That is, after seeing him cross first, they too dared to go into the waters. But because he wants to bring the type close to the truth, he does not say it in that way.

Instead, he uses the words of the truth even about the type.

Further, this was a symbol of the Font, and what follows was a symbol of the Holy Table. For just as you eat the Lord's Body, they ate the manna; and just as you drink the Blood, they drank water from a rock. Even though these were physical things that were brought forth, they were given in a spiritual way, not according to the order of nature, but according to the gracious purpose of the gift. Along with the body, they also nourished the soul and led it to faith.

For this reason, you see, he made no comment about the food, because it was completely different, not only in the way it was given but also in its nature, for it was manna. But concerning the drink, since only the manner in which it was provided was extraordinary and needed proof, after saying that they drank the same spiritual drink, he added, "for they drank of a spiritual Rock that followed them," and then he added, "and the Rock was Christ."

For it was not the nature of the rock that sent out the water, and that is what he means. Otherwise, it would have poured out before this time as well. But another kind of Rock, a spiritual One, did the whole work, namely Christ, who was everywhere with them and worked all the wonders. For this reason he said, "that followed them."

Do you see Paul’s wisdom? In both cases, he points to Him as the Giver, and in this way he brings the type close to the truth. For, he says, the One who set those things before them has also prepared this Table for us. And the same Person both brought them through the sea and brought you through Baptism. Before them He set manna, but before you He set His Body and Blood.

So then, this is how it was with His gift. Now let us also look at what follows and consider whether, when they showed themselves unworthy of the gift, He spared them. No, you cannot say that. Therefore he also added, "However, with most of them God was not well pleased," even though He had honored them with such great honor. Yes, it benefited them nothing, and most of them perished. In truth, they all perished.

But so that he might not seem to be foretelling complete destruction for these people also, he said, "most of them." And yet they were countless, but their great number benefited them nothing. And all these things were signs of love. But not even this benefited them, since they themselves did not show the fruits of love.

So, since most people do not believe what is said about hell because it is not present or visible, he points to things that happened before as proof that God does punish all who sin, even though He has given them countless benefits. For if you do not believe the things to come, this is what he means, surely you will not refuse to believe the things that have already happened. Consider, for example, how many great benefits He gave them. He set them free from Egypt and the slavery there.

He made the sea into a path for them. He brought down manna from heaven. From below, He caused strange and wonderful springs of water to come out. He was with them everywhere, doing wonders and protecting them on every side. Nevertheless, since they showed nothing worthy of this gift, He did not spare them, but destroyed them all.

1 Corinthians 10:5

For, he says, they were overthrown in the wilderness. By this word he shows both the great destruction, and the punishments and vengeance inflicted by God, and also that they did not even receive the rewards that had been set before them. When He did these things to them, they were not in the promised land. They were outside it and far away, somewhere distant and far from that country. In this way, He punished them with a double vengeance:

first, by not allowing them to see the land, even though it had been promised to them; and second, by inflicting actual severe punishment.

And what do these things have to do with us? you say. They certainly belong to you. Therefore he also adds,

1 Corinthians 10:6

Now these things were symbols of us.

For just as the gifts are figures, so the punishments are figures also. And just as Baptism and the Table were outlined beforehand in prophecy, so too, by what followed, the certainty of punishment coming on those who are unworthy of this gift was announced beforehand for our sake. This was so that we might learn self-control from these examples. Therefore he also adds,

This was written so that we would not desire evil things, as they also desired them. For just as, in the blessings, the types came first and the reality followed, so the same order will also be true in the punishments. Do you see how he shows not only that these people will be punished, but also the degree of it, more severely than those people of old? For if the one is the type and the other is the reality, then the punishments must be greater by as much as the gifts are greater.

And see whom he addresses first: those who eat in the idol temples. After saying, in general, that we should not desire evil things, he adds what is specific. He shows that each of their sins came from evil desire. And first he said this,

1 Corinthians 10:7-8

Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to play."

Do you hear how he even calls them idolaters? Here indeed he makes the declaration, but afterward he brings the proof. He also gave the reason why they ran to those tables, and this was gluttony. Therefore, after saying, "to the intent that we should not lust after evil things," and after adding, "nor be idolaters," he names the cause of such transgression, and this was gluttony. For "the people sat down," he says, "to eat and to drink," and he adds the end of it: "they rose up to play."

For just as they, he says, passed from sensuality into idolatry, so there is a fear lest you also may fall from the one into the other. Do you see how he shows that these, perfect men indeed, were more imperfect than the others whom they censured? Not only in this respect, that they did not bear with their brothers throughout, but also that the one sinned from ignorance, while the others sinned from gluttony.

And from the ruin of the former he reckons the punishment to these, but he does not allow these to place on another the cause of their own sin. Instead, he pronounces them responsible both for their injury and for their own sin.

And let us not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did. Why does he mention sexual immorality here again, after he has already spoken about it at such length before? It is always Paul's custom, when he brings a charge about many sins, both to set them out in order and to discuss each one separately, and then again, in his discussions of other matters, to mention the earlier ones also. God also used to do this in the Old Testament.

In speaking about each different sin, He reminded the Jews about the calf and brought that sin before them. So Paul does the same thing here. At the same time, he reminds them of that sin and teaches that luxury and gluttony were also the source of this evil. Therefore he adds, "And let us not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day."

And why does he not also name the punishment for their idolatry? Either because it was plain and more widely known, or because the plague at that time was not as great as it was in the matter of Balaam, when they joined themselves to Baalpeor. Then the Midianite women appeared in the camp and tempted them to sexual immorality, according to Balaam's advice. Moses shows later that this evil advice was Balaam's, in the following statement at the end of the Book of Numbers:

Numbers 31:8-16 in our translation, "They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword in the war of Midian, and they brought the spoils.... And Moses was angry, and said, 'Why have you saved all the women alive? For these women became a stumbling block to the children of Israel, according to the word of Balaam, causing them to turn away from and despise the word of the Lord for Peor's sake.'"

1 Corinthians 10:9

And let us not test Christ, as some of them also tested Him and were killed by snakes.

By this, he again hints at another accusation, which he also states at the end. He blames them because they argued about signs. And in fact, they were ruined because of these trials, saying, "When will the good things come? When will the rewards come?" Therefore he adds this, correcting them and warning them.

1 Corinthians 10:10

Do not grumble, as some of them grumbled and were destroyed by the destroyer.

What is required is not only to suffer for Christ, but also to bear well the things that happen to us, and to do it with complete joy. Since this is the nature of every crown. Yes, and unless it is so, punishment will come instead on people who take trouble in a bad spirit. Therefore, when the Apostles were beaten, they rejoiced, and Paul took pride in his sufferings.

1 Corinthians 10:11

Now all these things happened to them as an example, and they were written as a warning for us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

Again, he frightens them by speaking about the final end, and he prepares them to expect greater things than what had already happened. For, he says, it is clear from what has been said that we will suffer punishment, even for those who do not believe the statements about hellfire. But it is also clear that the punishment will be very severe, because we have received more blessings, and because those earlier things were only figures of these.

Since one set of gifts goes beyond the other, it is very clear that the same will also be true of the punishment. For this reason he both called them types, and said that they were written for us, and mentioned an end, so that he might remind them of the completion of all things. For the penalties then will not be such as can come to an end and pass away, but the punishment will be eternal.

For just as the punishments in this world end with the present life, so those in the next life continue without end. But when he said, "the ends of the ages," he meant nothing other than that the fearful judgment is from now on close at hand.

1 Corinthians 10:12

Therefore, let anyone who thinks he is standing secure be careful that he does not fall.

Again, he brings down the pride of those who thought highly of their knowledge. For if those who had such great privileges suffered these things, and some were punished so severely for murmuring alone, and others for testing God, then neither their great number moved God to change His mind, nor did the fact that they had received such blessings. It will be even more so in our case, unless we are self-controlled. And he rightly said, "the one who thinks he stands."

For it is not really standing as one should stand, if you rely on yourself. A person like that will quickly fall. For they too would not have suffered these things if they had not been proud and self-confident, but instead had a humble spirit. From this it is clear that pride above all, and carelessness, from which gluttony also comes, are the sources of these evils. Therefore, even if you stand, still take care that you do not fall.

For our standing here is not secure standing, not until we are delivered from the waves of this present life and have sailed into the calm harbor. Therefore, do not be proud because you are standing, but guard against falling. For if Paul feared, though he was more steadfast than all, how much more should we fear.

6. As we have seen, the Apostle's word was, "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." But we cannot even say this now. All of us, so to speak, have fallen and are lying flat on the ground. For to whom am I to say this? To the one who commits extortion every day? No, he is lying there after a terrible fall. To the sexually immoral person? He too has been thrown down to the ground. To the drunkard? He also has fallen, and does not even know that he has fallen.

So this is not the right time for that word, but for the saying of the prophet, which he spoke even to the Jews in Jeremiah 8:4: "If a man falls, does he not rise again?" For all have fallen, and they have no desire to rise again. So our encouragement is not about not falling, but about helping those who have fallen to be able to rise. Then let us rise again, beloved, even if it is late. Let us rise again, and let us stand with honor. How long will we lie on the ground?

How long will we remain drunk, made senseless by excessive desire for the things of this life? Now it is fitting to say, "To whom shall I speak and give warning?" in Jeremiah 6:10. For all people have become so deaf even to the teaching of virtue, and from there they are filled with all kinds of evils. And if it were possible to see their souls uncovered, then, just as in armies when the battle is over one may see some dead and some wounded, so also we would see this in the Church.

Therefore I beg and plead with you, let us reach out a hand to one another and fully raise ourselves up. For I myself am among those who have been struck down, and I need someone to apply remedies.

However, do not despair because of this. For what if the wounds are severe? They are not beyond healing. Such is our physician. We only need to feel our wounds. Even if we have reached the very limit of wickedness, He has opened many ways of salvation for us. So, if you refuse to be angry with your neighbor, your own sins will be forgiven. For He says, "If you forgive men, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." Matthew 6:14. And if you give to the poor, He will take away your sins.

For He says, "Break off your sins by alms." Daniel 4:24. And if you pray earnestly, you will receive forgiveness. The widow shows this, since she won over that cruel judge by the persistence of her prayer. And if you confess your own sins, you find relief. For He says, "Declare your iniquities first, that you may be justified." Isaiah 47:26. And if you are sorrowful because of these things, this too will be a strong remedy for you.

For He says, "I saw that he was grieved and went away sorrowful, and I healed his ways." Isaiah 57:17. And if, when you suffer some evil, you endure it nobly, you have put it all away. For Abraham also said this to the rich man, that Lazarus received his evil things, and here he is comforted. And if you show mercy to the widow, your sins are washed away. For He says, "Judge the orphan, and plead for the widow, and come and let us reason together, says the Lord.

And if your sins are as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; and if they are as crimson, I will make them white as wool." Isaiah 1:17. He does not even allow a single scar of the wounds to remain visible. Yes, even if we have come down to that depth of misery into which the man fell who wasted his father's property and fed on husks, if we repent, we will certainly be saved. And even if we owe ten thousand talents, if we fall down before God and hold no malice, everything is forgiven us.

Even if we have wandered away to the place where the sheep strayed from its shepherd, He brings us back even from there. We only need to be willing, beloved. For God is merciful. Therefore, in the case of the man who owed ten thousand talents, He was satisfied with his falling down before Him. In the case of the man who had wasted his father's goods, He was satisfied with his return alone. And in the case of the sheep, He was satisfied with its willingness to be carried.

Therefore, considering how great His mercy is, let us make Him favorable to us here, and let us come before His face with full confession, Psalm 95:2, so that we may not leave this life without excuse and have to suffer the most extreme punishment. For if in this present life we show even ordinary diligence, we will gain the greatest rewards. But if we leave this life without becoming any better here, then even if we repent there with the greatest earnestness, it will do us no good.

For it was our duty to struggle while we were still inside the contest, not to sit and mourn and weep after the assembly has broken up. That is what the rich man did, grieving and lamenting over himself, but for no purpose and in vain, because he neglected the time when he should have done these things. And not only he, but many others are like him now among the rich. They are not willing to despise wealth, but for the sake of wealth they despise their own souls.

I cannot help wondering at them when I see people constantly begging God for mercy, while they are doing incurable harm to themselves and treating their own soul without pity, as if it were an enemy. So then, beloved, let us not trifle. Let us not trifle or deceive ourselves by begging God to have mercy on us while we ourselves choose money and luxury, and in fact everything else, over this mercy.

For suppose someone brought a case before you and said in accusation against a certain man that, though he was about to suffer ten thousand deaths and had it in his power to escape the sentence by a little money, he chose rather to die than to give up any of his property. You would not say that he was worthy of any mercy or compassion. Now reason in this same way about yourself. For we too act this way. We make light of our own salvation, and we spare our money.

How then do you beg God to spare you, when you yourself are so unsparing toward yourself and honor money above your soul?

Therefore I am also greatly amazed to see how much witchery is hidden in wealth, or rather, not in wealth itself, but in the souls of those who are deceived by it. For there are, yes, there are people who have completely mocked this sorcery. For which of the things in it can really cast a spell on us? Is it not lifeless matter? Is it not passing away? Is not possessing it something unworthy of trust? Is it not full of fears and dangers? No, even of murders and conspiracies? Of enmity and hatred?

Of carelessness and much vice? Is it not dust and ashes? What madness is this? What disease?

But you say that we should not only bring such charges against those who are so sick, but also destroy the passion itself. And how else can we destroy it, except by showing how shameful it is and how full it is of countless evils?

But it is not easy to persuade a person in love when it concerns the things he loves. Well then, we must place before him another kind of beauty. But he cannot see incorporeal beauty, because he is still in his sickness. So then, let us show him some bodily beauty and say to him, "Look at the meadows and the flowers in them. They are brighter than any gold, and more graceful and clear than every kind of precious stone.

Look at the clear streams from their springs, and the rivers that flow quietly out of the earth like oil. Rise up to heaven and see the brightness of the sun, the beauty of the moon, and the stars gathered together like flowers." "Why, what is this?" you say. "We do not, I suppose, use these things the way we use wealth." No, we use them more than wealth, since their use is more necessary and the enjoyment of them is more secure.

For you do not fear that someone will take them away and leave, as with money. Instead, you can always be confident that you have them, and that without anxiety or care. But if you are troubled because you enjoy them together with others, and do not possess them alone as you do money, then it seems to me that it is not money but simple greed that you are in love with. And even money would not be an object of your desire if it had been made available for everyone to share.

8. Therefore, since we have found the thing you love, I mean Covetousness, come, let me show you how she hates and despises you. Let me show you how many swords she sharpens against you, how many pits she digs, how many nooses she ties, and how many cliffs she prepares. Then perhaps you may at least break her spell. From where, then, are we to get this knowledge? From the roads, from wars, from the sea, and from the courts of justice. For she has filled the sea with blood.

She often makes the swords of judges red with blood, against the law. She arms those who lie in wait on the roads day and night. She persuades people to forget nature. She makes parricides and matricides, and brings every kind of evil into human life. This is why Paul calls her a root of these things, in 1 Timothy 6:10. She does not allow her lovers to be in any better condition than those who work in the mines.

For just as they, always shut up in darkness and chains, labor without profit, so also these people, buried in the caves of greed, with no one forcing them, willingly bring punishment on themselves, putting on chains that cannot be broken. And those condemned to the mines are at least released from their labor when evening comes. But these people dig in these miserable mines both day and night. And for those others there is a fixed limit to that hard labor. But these know no limit.

The more they dig, the greater hardship they desire. And what if those others do it unwillingly, while these do it by their own choice? In saying that, you tell me the worst part of the sickness: that it is impossible for them to be rid of it, since they do not even hate their misery. But like a pig in mud, so these people also delight in rolling in the foul mire of greed, suffering worse things than those condemned men.

To see that they are in a worse condition, listen to the circumstances of the one group, and then you will know the state of the other.

It is said that the ground containing gold has certain cracks and hollow places in those dark caves. Then the criminal, sentenced to work in that place, takes a lamp and a pickaxe for that purpose. So, we are told, he goes inside and carries a small flask with him, so that he can pour oil from it into the lamp. This is because there is darkness there even during the day, without a ray of light, as I said before.

Then, when the time of day comes for his miserable meal, he himself, they say, does not know the time. But his jailer, standing above, strikes hard on the cave, and by that rattling sound announces to those working below that the day has ended.

Do you not shudder when you hear all this? Let us see now whether there are not things even worse than these in the case of the greedy. First, they too have a harsher jailer, namely greed. It is harsher by so much that it chains not only their body, but also their soul. And this darkness is more terrible than that darkness. For it is not something the senses can notice. Instead, they create it within themselves, and wherever they go, they carry it with them.

For the eye of their soul has been put out. That is why Christ, more than anyone, calls them miserable, saying, "But if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness." Matthew 6:23. Those prisoners at least have a lamp shining, but these people are deprived even of that ray of light. Therefore, every day they fall into countless traps. And when night comes upon the condemned, they have some relief, as they sail into that calm harbor shared by all the unfortunate;

I mean the night. But for the greedy, even this harbor is closed off by their own greed. They have such painful thoughts even at night, because then, with no one disturbing them and with complete leisure, they tear themselves to pieces.

That is what their condition is in this world. But who can describe what awaits in the next world? There are unbearable furnaces, rivers burning with fire, gnashing of teeth, chains that will never be loosed, the poisonous worm, lightless darkness, and miseries that never end. Let us fear these things, beloved. Let us fear the source of such great punishments: that never-satisfied madness, the destroyer of our salvation. For it is impossible to love both money and your soul at the same time.

Let us be convinced that wealth is dust and ashes. It leaves us when we depart from here. Or rather, even before our departure, it often flies away from us. And it harms us both in the life to come and in the present life. For even before hell fire and before that punishment, it surrounds us here with countless wars, and stirs up strife and conflict. For nothing is so likely to cause war as greed. Nothing is so likely to produce misery and beggary, whether it appears in wealth or in poverty.

For this painful disease also rises in the souls of poor people, and makes their poverty worse. And if there is a poor covetous man, such a person suffers punishment not in loss of money, but in hunger. For he does not allow himself to enjoy his modest means in comfort. Instead, he torments his stomach with hunger, and punishes his whole body with nakedness and cold. Everywhere he appears more dirty and miserable than any prisoners.

And he is always crying and grieving, as if he were more wretched than everyone else, though ten thousand are poorer than he is. If this man goes into the marketplace, he comes away with many blows. Or if he goes to the bath or to the theater, he will still receive more wounds, not only from the spectators, but also from those on the stage, where he sees quite a few immoral women shining with gold.

Again, if he sails on the sea, and sees the merchants, their heavily loaded ships, and their enormous profits, he will hardly think his life is worth living. Or if he travels by land, and counts up the fields, the farms near the city, the inns, the baths, and the income that comes from them, he will from now on count his own life as not worth living.

Or if you shut him up at home, he will only rub and irritate the wounds he received in the marketplace, and so do even greater harm to his own soul. And he knows only one comfort for the troubles pressing on him: death and release from this life.

And not only the poor man will suffer these things, but the rich man also, if he falls into this disease. In fact, he will suffer even more than the poor man, since this tyranny presses on him more violently, and his drunkenness is greater. Therefore he will think himself poorer than everyone else. Or rather, he is poorer. For wealth and poverty are not decided by the amount of possessions, but by the attitude of the mind.

And the poorest of all is the one who is always hungry for more and is never able to stop this wicked desire.

For all these reasons, let us run away from greed. It makes people beggars, destroys souls, is a friend of hell, an enemy of the kingdom of heaven, and the mother of all evils together. And let us look down on wealth so that we may truly enjoy wealth, and with wealth may also enjoy the good things stored up for us. May we all attain these things, and so on.

1 Corinthians 10:13

No temptation has come upon you except what people can bear. But God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear. Instead, with the temptation He will also make a way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it.

So, after he had greatly frightened them by telling the old examples and had thrown them into deep anxiety, saying, "Let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall," and even though they had gone through many temptations and had trained themselves in them many times—for, as he says, "I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling," in 1 Corinthians 2:3—he says this so that they would not reply, "Why do you frighten and alarm us? We are not untrained in these troubles.

We have been driven out and persecuted, and we have endured many constant dangers." So, holding back their pride again, he says, "No temptation has taken you except what man can bear," that is, what is small, short, and moderate. For he uses the words "man can bear" to mean what is small, just as when he says, "I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh," in Romans 6:19. So then, he says, do not think highly of yourselves, as if you had already overcome the storm.

For you have never yet seen a danger that threatened death, or a temptation meant to kill you. This is also what he said to the Hebrews: "You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin," in Hebrews 12:4.

Then, because he had frightened them, see how he lifts them up again, while at the same time urging moderation, in the words, "God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able." There are, therefore, temptations that we are not able to bear. And what are these? In a manner of speaking, all of them. For the ability lies in God's gracious help, a power that we draw down by our own will.

Therefore, so that you may know and see that it is not possible to endure easily, without help from God, not only those trials that go beyond our power, but not even those that are common to man, he added,

But with the temptation, he will also make a way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it.

For, he says, we cannot endure even those moderate temptations by our own power, as I was saying. Even in these, we need help from Him in our struggle, so that we may get through them, and until we have passed through them, endure them. For He gives patience and brings a quick release, so that in this way also the temptation becomes bearable. He hints at this indirectly when he says, "will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." And he refers everything to Him.

1 Corinthians 10:14

Therefore, my brothers, flee from idolatry.

Again, he appeals to them by calling them family, and urges them to get rid of this sin as quickly as possible. For he did not simply say, "leave," but, "flee." And he calls the matter idolatry. He no longer tells them to give it up only because it harms their neighbor, but shows that the thing itself is enough to bring great destruction.

1 Corinthians 10:15

I am speaking to you as wise people. Judge for yourselves what I say.

Because he had cried out loudly and made the charge stronger by calling it idolatry, he did not want to seem to provoke them or make his speech offensive. So in what follows, he leaves the judgment to them and places his judges on their tribunal with praise. For he says, "I speak as to wise men." This is the mark of someone who is very confident that he is right, because he makes the very people accused into judges of his charges.

In this way, he also lifts up the listener more. He speaks not as one giving orders or laying down the law, but as one advising them and actually pleading his case before them. With the Jews, who were more foolish and childlike in their attitude, God did not speak this way. He also did not, in every case, make known to them the reasons for His commands, but simply commanded them. But here, because we have the privilege of great freedom, we are even allowed to be counselors.

He speaks as with friends, and says, "I need no other judges. You yourselves pass this judgment on me. I take you as arbiters."

1 Corinthians 10:16

The cup of blessing that we bless—is it not a sharing in the Blood of Christ?

What are you saying, blessed Paul? When you want to call forth reverence in the hearer, when you are speaking of awful mysteries, do you give the name "cup of blessing" to that fearful and most tremendous cup? Yes, he says. And that title is no small one. For when I call it "blessing," I mean thanksgiving. And when I call it thanksgiving, I unfold the whole treasure of God's goodness and call to mind those mighty gifts.

Since we too, as we recount over the cup the unspeakable mercies of God and all that we have been made partakers of, so draw near to Him and commune, giving Him thanks that He has delivered the whole race of mankind from error; that when they were far off, He made them near; that when they had no hope and were without God in the world, He made them His own brethren and fellow-heirs. For these things and all such things, giving thanks, we thus approach.

How then are not your actions inconsistent, he says, O Corinthians? You bless God for delivering you from idols, yet you run again to their tables?

“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a sharing in the Blood of Christ?” He spoke very convincingly, and with awe. What he means is this: what is in the cup is the same thing that flowed from His side, and we partake of it. He called it a cup of blessing because, when we hold it in our hands, we lift up praise to Him in our hymn. We marvel and stand amazed at His unspeakable gift, blessing Him, among other things, for pouring out this very drink so that we might not remain in error.

And we bless Him not only for pouring it out, but also for giving it to all of us. Therefore, “If you desire blood,” He says, “do not redden the altar of idols with the slaughter of brute beasts, but My altar with My blood.” Tell me, what could be more awesome than this? What could be more tender and kind? Lovers do this too. When they see that those whom they love desire what belongs to strangers and despise their own gifts, they give what belongs to themselves.

In this way they persuade them to turn away from the gifts of those others. But lovers show this generosity with goods and money and clothing. No one ever did so with blood. But Christ, even in this, showed His care and fervent love for us. And in the old covenant, because they were in an imperfect state, He Himself accepted the blood that they used to offer to idols, so that He might separate them from those idols. This again was proof of His unspeakable love.

But here He transferred the service to something far more awesome and glorious. He changed the sacrifice itself, and instead of the slaughter of irrational creatures, He commanded that He Himself be offered.

The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the Body of Christ? Why, then, did he not say, "participation"? Because he meant to express something more and to show how close the union is. We commune not only by participating and receiving, but also by being united. For just as that body is united to Christ, so we also are united to him by this bread.

But why does he also add, "which we break"? Even though you can see this happen in the Eucharist, it did not happen on the cross. In fact, the exact opposite happened. For one says, "Not a bone of Him shall be broken." But what He did not suffer on the cross, He suffers in the offering for your sake. He allows Himself to be broken, so that He may fill all people.

Further, because he said, "a communion of the Body," and because the thing that shares is different from the thing in which it shares, he removed even this difference, small as it may seem. For after saying, "a communion of the Body," he then tried to express something even closer. Therefore he also added,

1 Corinthians 10:17

For we, though we are many, are one bread and one body. Why do I speak of communion? he says. We are that very same body. For what is the bread? The Body of Christ. And what do those who take part in it become? The Body of Christ. Not many bodies, but one body.

For just as bread made from many grains becomes one, so that the grains are no longer seen anywhere—they still exist, but their difference is not visible because they are joined together—so we too are joined both to each other and to Christ. There is not one body for you to be nourished by and another for your neighbor, but the very same body for everyone. Therefore he also adds,

For we all partake of the one bread. Now if we are all nourished from the same bread and all become the same, why do we not also show the same love, and in this way also become one? For this was the old way too in the time of our forefathers. For the text says, "The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul." Acts 4:32. But it is not so now. It is altogether the reverse.

Many and various are the contests among all, and we are more savage than wild beasts toward our fellow members. And Christ indeed made you, though so far apart, one with himself. But you do not even care to be rightly united to your brother, but separate yourself, though you have received from the Lord the privilege of so great love and life. For He did not simply give even His own body.

But because the former nature of the flesh, which was formed out of earth, had first become deadened by sin and destitute of life, He brought in, as one may say, another kind of dough and leaven, His own flesh, the same indeed in nature, but free from sin and full of life. And He gave it to all to partake of, so that, being nourished by this and laying aside the old dead material, we might be blended together with that which is living and eternal, by means of this table.

1 Corinthians 10:18

Look at Israel according to the flesh: do not those who eat the sacrifices share in the altar?

Again, he leads them to this point from the old covenant also. Because they were far below the greatness of the things that had been spoken, he persuades them by both earlier things and the things they were used to. And he rightly says, "according to the flesh," as if they themselves were according to the Spirit. What he means is this: even from people of a more ordinary sort, you may learn that those who eat the sacrifices share in the altar.

Do you see how he shows that those who seemed to be perfect do not have perfect knowledge, if they do not even know this: that the result of these sacrifices for many people is often a certain sharing and friendship with devils, since the practice gradually draws them in? For if among men, sharing salt and the table becomes a cause and sign of friendship, it is possible that this may happen in the case of devils also.

But please consider this: when he spoke about the Jews, he did not say that they share with God, but that they have fellowship with the altar. For what was placed on it was burned. But with respect to the Body of Christ, it is not so. How is it then? It is a communion in the Lord's Body. For we do not have communion with the altar, but with Christ Himself.

But after saying that they share in the altar, he then feared that he might seem to speak as if idols had some power and could do some harm. So see again how he tears down that idea, saying,

1 Corinthians 10:19

What am I saying, then? That an idol is anything? Or that food sacrificed to idols is anything?

It is as if he were saying, "I say these things now and try to draw you away from idols, not because they can harm you or have any power, for an idol is nothing, but because I want you to look down on them." "But if you want us to despise them," someone says, "then why do you so carefully draw us away from them?" Because they are not offered to your Lord.

1 Corinthians 10:20

For what the Gentiles sacrifice, he says, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.

Then do not run to what is opposed to this. For even if you were a king's son, with the privilege of your father's table, and you left it to choose food from the table of condemned men and prisoners in a dungeon, your father would not allow it. Instead, he would pull you away with great force. This would not be because the table could harm you, but because it dishonors your noble birth and the royal table. For truly these people also are servants who have offended.

They are dishonored, condemned, and prisoners kept for unbearable punishment, guilty of countless crimes. How then are you not ashamed to imitate that gluttonous and vulgar crowd? When these condemned people set out a table, you run there and eat the food. This is why I try to keep you away. For the intention of those who offer the sacrifices, and the character of those who receive them, make the things set before you unclean.

And I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. Do you see the kindness of a careful father? Do you also see the force of his very words, and how they express his feeling? For, he says, it is my desire that you have nothing in common with them.

Next, because he introduced this statement as an exhortation, some of the more dull-minded might make light of it, as if they had permission to do so, because he said, "I would not," and, "Judge for yourselves." So in what follows, he speaks positively and lays down the law, saying,

1 Corinthians 10:21

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord's table and in the table of demons.

And he is satisfied with using only the bare words, in order to keep them at a distance. Then he also speaks to their sense of shame.

1 Corinthians 10:22

Do we make the Lord jealous? Are we stronger than He is? That is, are we testing whether He is able to punish us, and stirring Him to anger by going over to His opponents and taking our stand with His enemies? He said this to remind them of an event from long ago and of their fathers' sin. Therefore he also uses this expression, which Moses also used long ago against the Jews, accusing them of idolatry in the person of God. For He says, "They made Me jealous with what is not God.

They provoked Me to anger with their idols." Deuteronomy 32:21

Are we stronger than He is? Do you see how severely and fearfully he rebukes them? He completely shakes them to their core. By showing the absurd result of their thinking, he wounds them deeply and brings down their pride. But someone may ask, why did he not say these things first, since they would be most effective in turning them away? Because it is his custom to prove his point by many details, to place the strongest point last, and to win his case by proving more than was necessary.

For this reason, he began with the lesser points, and then moved on to what is the sum of all evils. In this way, that last point also was accepted more easily, because their minds had been softened by the things said before.

1 Corinthians 10:23-24: "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but not all things build people up. Let no one seek his own good, but each one the good of his neighbor.

“Everything is lawful for me, but not everything is helpful. Everything is lawful for me, but not everything builds people up. Let no one seek his own good, but each person the good of his neighbor.”

Do you see his exact wisdom? Because it was likely that they might say, "I am perfect and master of myself, and it does me no harm to partake of what is set before me." "Even so," he says, "perfect you are and master of yourself. But do not look to this. Ask whether the result may involve not injury, but even subversion." For he mentioned both of these, saying, "All things are not expedient; all things edify not." He used the former with reference to oneself, and the latter to one's brother.

Since the words, "are not expedient," are a hidden hint of the ruin of the person to whom he speaks, but the words, "edify not," point to the stumbling block to the brother.

Therefore he also adds, "Let no one seek his own good." He keeps insisting on this throughout the whole Epistle, and also in the letter to the Romans, when he says, "For even Christ did not please Himself," in Romans 15:3. And again, "Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit," in 1 Corinthians 10:33. And again in this place. However, he does not fully develop the point here.

That is because, in what came before, he had already established it at length and shown that he nowhere seeks his own good. Instead, he became as a Jew to the Jews, and to those without law as one without law. He did not use his own liberty and right carelessly, but for the profit of all, serving all. So here he stopped, satisfied with a few words, because by these few words he was leading them to remember everything that had been said.

Knowing these things, then, beloved, let us also seek the good of our brothers and preserve unity with them. For that fearful and tremendous sacrifice leads us to this. Above all, it warns us to approach it with one mind and fervent love. By this, becoming eagles, we may rise up to heaven itself, yes, even beyond heaven. For, "Wherever the carcass is," He says, "there also will the eagles be," Matthew 24:28. He calls His body a carcass because of His death.

For unless He had fallen, we would not have risen again. But He calls us eagles, showing that he who draws near to this Body must be on high and have nothing in common with the earth. He must not wind himself downward and creep along, but must always be soaring toward heaven, and looking on the Sun of Righteousness, and having the eye of his mind sharp-sighted. For eagles, not daws, have a right to this table.

Those also, when He comes down from heaven, who now worthily have this privilege, shall meet Him. But those who do so unworthily shall suffer the extremest torments.

If a person would not carelessly receive a king—why do I say a king? No, even if it were only a royal robe, no one would casually touch it with unclean hands—even if he were by himself, alone, and no one else were there. And yet the robe is nothing but threads spun by worms. And if you admire its color, that too is the blood of a dead fish. Nevertheless, no one would choose to risk touching it with defiled hands. So I say this:

if even a man's garment is something no one would dare to touch carelessly, what shall we say about the Body of Him who is God over all, spotless and pure, sharing in the Divine Nature—the Body by which we exist and live, by which the gates of hell were broken down and the holy places of heaven were opened? How shall we receive this with such great insolence? Please, let us not, let us not kill ourselves by our irreverence. Instead, let us come near to It with all awe and purity.

And when you see It set before you, say to yourself, "Because of this Body I am no longer earth and ashes, no longer a prisoner, but free. Because of this I hope for heaven, and to receive the good things in it: immortal life, the portion of angels, fellowship with Christ. This Body, nailed and whipped, was too much for death itself to resist. This Body the sun itself saw being sacrificed, and it turned away its rays.

For this, both the veil was torn at that moment, and rocks were split apart, and all the earth was shaken. This is that very Body, stained with blood and pierced, from which the saving fountains flowed, one of blood and the other of water, for all the world."

Would you like to learn its power from another source also? Ask the woman who was sick with a flow of blood. She did not take hold of the Body itself, but of the clothing it wore; indeed, not even of the whole garment, but of its hem. Ask the sea, which carried it on its back. Ask even the Devil himself, and say, “From where did you receive that incurable blow? From where is it that you no longer have any power? From where is it that you are a captive? By whom were you seized as you fled?”

And he will give no other answer than this: “The Body that was crucified.” By this, his goads were shattered. By this, his head was crushed. By this, the powers and the principalities were made a public show. For he says, “Having put off from himself principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” Colossians 2:15

Ask Death also, and say, "From where is it that your sting has been taken away? Your victory abolished? Your sinews cut out? And you have become the laughing-stock of girls and children, though before you were a terror even to kings and to all righteous men?" And he will ascribe it to this Body. For when this was crucified, then the dead were raised up. Then that prison was burst. The gates of brass were broken. The dead were loosed. And the keepers of hell-gate all cowered in fear.

And yet, if He had been one of the many, death, on the contrary, should have become more mighty. But it was not so. For He was not one of the many. Therefore death was dissolved. And as those who take food that they are unable to retain, because of that, vomit up also what was before lodged in them, so also it happened to death. That Body, which he could not digest, he received. And therefore he had to cast forth what he had within him.

Yes, he travailed in pain while he held Him, and was straitened until he vomited Him up. Therefore the Apostle says, "Having loosed the pains of death." Acts 11:24. For never was a woman laboring with child so full of anguish as he was, torn and racked in sunder while he held the Body of the Lord. And what happened to the Babylonian dragon, when, having taken the food, it burst asunder in the midst, this also happened to him.

For Christ did not come forth again by the mouth of death, but after He had burst asunder and ripped up, in the very midst, the belly of the dragon, thus from His secret chambers, Psalm 19:5, He issued forth most gloriously and flung abroad His beams, not to this heaven alone, but to the very throne most high. For even there He carried it up.

He has given us this Body both to hold and to eat, a thing proper to intense love. For those whom we kiss passionately, we often even bite with our teeth. Therefore Job, showing the love his servants had for him, said that they often, because of their great affection for him, said, "Oh, that we were filled with his flesh!" Job 31:31. Even so, Christ has given us to be filled with His flesh, drawing us on to greater love.

8. Let us draw near to Him, then, with fervency and burning love, so that we may not have to endure punishment. For in proportion to the greatness of the benefits bestowed on us, so much more severely are we chastised when we show ourselves unworthy of such generosity. This Body, even while lying in a manger, the Magi reverenced. Yes, profane and barbarous men, leaving their country and their home, set out on a long journey. And when they came, they worshiped Him with fear and great trembling.

Let us, then, at least imitate those barbarians, we who are citizens of heaven. For they indeed, when they saw Him only in a manger, and in a hut, and when nothing like what you now behold was in sight, drew near with great awe. But you behold Him not in the manger, but on the altar; not a woman holding Him in her arms, but the priest standing by, and the Spirit hovering with exceeding bounty over the gifts set before us.

You do not see merely this Body itself as they did, but you also know Its power, and the whole divine arrangement, and are ignorant of none of the holy things brought to pass by It, having been exactly initiated into all.

Therefore, let us wake ourselves up and be filled with holy fear. Let us show a reverence far greater than that of those Barbarians, so that by careless and thoughtless approaches we may not heap fire on our own heads. But I say these things, not to keep us from approaching, but to keep us from approaching without careful thought. For just as approaching carelessly is dangerous, so also not taking part in those mystical suppers is famine and death.

For this Table is the strength of our soul, the bond of our mind, the foundation of our confidence, our hope, our salvation, our light, and our life. When we go out into the world with this sacrifice, we will step across the sacred threshold with great confidence, guarded on every side as if with golden armor.

And why am I speaking about the world to come? Since even here, this mystery makes the earth become a heaven for you. Open the gates of heaven just once and look inside. No, rather, not heaven, but the heaven of heavens. Then you will see what I have been talking about. For I will show you, lying on the earth, what is most precious of all there.

For just as in royal palaces, the most glorious thing of all is not the walls or the golden roofs, but the king himself sitting on the throne, so also in heaven it is the Body of the King. But now you are permitted to see this on earth. For I am not showing you angels, or archangels, or heaven, or the heavens of heavens, but the very Lord and Master of them all. Do you see how what is more precious than all things is seen by you on earth? And not only seen, but also touched.

And not only touched, but also eaten. And after receiving It, you go home.

Then make your soul clean, and prepare your mind to receive these mysteries. For if you were trusted to carry a king's child, along with the robes, the purple, and the crown, you would throw away everything earthly. But now it is not a human child, however royal, but the only-begotten Son of God Himself, whom you have received. So tell me, do you not tremble with awe, cast away all love for worldly things, and have no display except what adorns you properly?

Or do you still look toward the earth, love money, and long for gold? What pardon can you have then? What excuse? Do you not know that all this worldly luxury is hateful to your Lord? Was it not for this reason that at His birth He was laid in a manger and took to Himself a mother of low position? Was it not for this reason that He said to the man who was seeking gain, "But the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head"? Matthew 8:20

And what did the disciples do? Did they not follow the same rule, when they were taken into the houses of poor people and stayed there—one with a tanner, another with a tent-maker, and another with a seller of purple cloth? They did not ask about the splendor of the house, but about the virtues of people's souls.

Let us also imitate these things. Let us press on past the beauty of pillars and marble, and seek the dwellings above. And let us trample under our feet all the pride here below, along with all love of money, and gain a lofty mind. For if we are sober-minded, not even this whole world is worthy of us, much less porticoes and arcades. Therefore, I beg you, let us adorn our souls.

Let us prepare this house, which we will also have with us when we depart, so that we may attain the eternal blessings, through the grace and mercy, etc.

1 Corinthians 10:25

Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, and ask no questions for the sake of conscience.

After saying that they could not drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons, and after once and for all turning them away from those tables by Jewish examples, by human arguments, by the awe of the holy Mysteries, and by the rites performed among the idols, he had filled them with great fear. But he did not want this fear to push them into another extreme.

He did not want them, by using more scrupulous care than was needed, to become anxious that perhaps, even without their knowing it, something of that kind might come from the marketplace or from somewhere else. So, to free them from this difficulty, he says, "Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions." For, he says, if you eat without knowing it, and not knowingly, you are not subject to punishment. From that point on, it is a matter not of greed, but of ignorance.

He not only frees a person from this anxiety, but also from another one, giving them complete security and freedom. He does not even allow them to ask questions, that is, to search and investigate whether it is meat from an idol sacrifice or not. Instead, they are simply to eat everything that comes from the market, without even finding out what is set before them. So even the person who eats in ignorance may be free from anxiety.

For that is the nature of things that are not evil in themselves, but make a person unclean through the person's intention. Therefore he says, "Ask no questions."

1 Corinthians 10:26

For the earth belongs to the Lord, and everything in it. It does not belong to the devils. Now if the earth, its fruits, and the animals are all His, then nothing is unclean in itself. But it becomes unclean in another way, through our intention and our disobedience. Therefore he not only gave permission, but also,

1 Corinthians 10:27

He says, "If one of those who do not believe invites you to a meal, and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you, asking no questions for conscience' sake."

See again his moderation. He did not command them or make a law that they should withdraw, but he also did not forbid it. And if they did leave, he frees them from all suspicion. Now what is the reason for this? It is so that such careful questioning would not seem to come from fear and cowardice. For the person who makes a very exact inquiry does so because he is afraid. But the person who, after hearing the fact, refuses, refuses out of contempt, hatred, and aversion.

Therefore Paul, intending to establish both points, says, "Eat whatever is set before you."

1 Corinthians 10:28-29

But if anyone says to you, "This has been offered as a sacrifice to idols," do not eat it, for the sake of the one who told you.

So he does not tell you to stay away from them because they have any power. He tells you to avoid them because they are accursed. So then, do not run away from them as if they could harm you, because they have no strength. But also, do not take part without concern just because they have no strength, for it is the table of hostile and degraded beings. Therefore he said, "Do not eat it, for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience' sake.

For the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness of it."

Do you see how, both when he tells them to eat and when they must abstain, he brings forward the same testimony? For I do not forbid it, he says, because these things belong to others, since "the earth is the Lord's." Rather, I forbid it for the reason I mentioned: for conscience' sake, that is, so that it may not be harmed. Should a person therefore ask questions too carefully? No, he says, for I did not mean your conscience, but his. For I already said, "for his sake that showed it."

And again, in verse 29, "Conscience, I say, not your own, but the other's."

2. But perhaps someone may say, "You do indeed spare the brothers, as is natural, and you do not allow us to taste for their sake, lest their conscience, being weak, might be emboldened to eat the idol sacrifices. But if it is some heathen man, what is this man to you? Was it not your own word, 'What have I to do with judging those who are outside?' 1 Corinthians 5:12. Why then, on the contrary, do you care for them?" "It is not for him that I care," he replies, "but in this case also for you."

To this effect he also adds,

For why should my liberty be judged by another person’s conscience? By “liberty,” he means something that is left without warning or prohibition. For this is liberty: being free from Jewish bondage. And this is what he means: God has made me free and beyond all harm. But the Gentile does not know how to judge my way of life, or how to understand the generosity of my Master. Instead, he will condemn me and say to himself, “Christianity is a fable.

They keep away from idols, they avoid demons, and yet they hold on to the things offered to them. Great is their gluttony.” And then what? someone may say. What harm does it do us if he judges us unfairly? But it is much better to give him no chance to judge at all. For if you abstain, he will not even say this. “How,” you say, “will he not say it?”

For when he sees me not making these inquiries, either in the meat market or at the banquet, what would keep him from speaking this way and condemning me as one who takes part without making any distinction? It is not so at all. For you partake, not as if these were idol sacrifices, but as things that are clean. And if you do not make careful inquiries, it is so that you may show that you do not fear the things set before you.

This is the reason why, whether you enter a Gentile’s house or go into the market, I do not allow you to ask questions: namely, so that you may not become timid and confused, and cause yourself unnecessary trouble.

1 Corinthians 10:30

If I share in it by grace, why am I spoken against for something I give thanks for? What is it that you share in "by grace"? Tell me. It is the gifts of God. For His grace is so great that it keeps my soul unstained and above every kind of pollution. For just as the sun sends its rays down on many filthy places and takes them back pure, so also, and much more, we can remain pure while living in the middle of the world, if we are willing, because the power we have is even greater than the sun's.

Why then do we abstain? you say. Not because I would become unclean. Far from it. But for my brother's sake, and so that I may not become a partaker with devils, and so that I may not be judged by the unbeliever. For in this case, it is no longer the nature of the thing that makes me unclean, but disobedience and friendship with devils. And the intention of the heart produces the pollution.

But what does this mean: "Why am I spoken of as evil for something for which I give thanks?" "As for me," he says, "I give thanks to God that He has raised me up like this, and above the low condition of the Jews, so that I am not harmed from any side." But the Gentiles, not knowing my high way of life, will think the opposite. They will say, "These Christians are enjoying our customs. They are hypocrites of a sort. They speak against the demons and hate them, yet they run to their tables.

What could be more senseless than that? We conclude that they have turned to this teaching not for truth's sake, but because of ambition and love of power." Then what foolishness it would be if, in the very things by which I have been so helped that I even give solemn thanks, in these same things I should become the cause of evil talk. "But even so," you say, "the Gentile will make these claims when he sees me asking no questions." Not at all.

For not everything is full of idol sacrifices, so he would not suspect this. And you yourself do not eat them as idol sacrifices. So then, do not be too scrupulous. But on the other hand, if someone says that it is an idol sacrifice, do not eat it.

For Christ gave you grace and raised you up above all harm from that source, not so that people might speak evil of you, and not so that what has been such a gain to you, and a special reason for thanksgiving, should so hurt others that it makes them even blaspheme. "Then why," he says, "do I not say to the Gentile, 'I eat, and I am not harmed at all, and I do not do this as one who is in friendship with the demons'?'" Because you cannot persuade him, even if you say it ten thousand times.

He is weak and hostile. For if your brother has not yet been persuaded by you, much less will your enemy, the Gentile, be persuaded. If your brother is troubled by his awareness that it is an idol sacrifice, much more will the unbeliever be troubled. And besides, why do we need to bring on such great trouble?

What then? Since we have come to know Christ and give thanks, while they speak evil, should we also give up this custom? Certainly not. The matter is not the same. In the one case, there is great benefit for us in enduring the insult. But in the other case, there will be no benefit. Therefore he also said earlier, "For neither if we eat are we better, nor if we do not eat are we worse," in 1 Corinthians 8:8.

And besides this, he also showed that the thing should be avoided, so that they ought to abstain from it for another reason as well, not only for this reason, but also for the other reasons he gave.

1 Corinthians 10:31

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

Do you see how, from the subject he was speaking about, he extended the exhortation to something more general, giving us one goal, the greatest of all: that God should be glorified in everything?

1 Corinthians 10:32

"Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the Church of God." That is, give no handle to anyone. For in the case supposed, both your brother is offended, and the Jew will hate and condemn you even more, and the Gentile likewise will mock you as a gluttonous man and a hypocrite.

However, not only should the brothers receive no hurt from us, but, as far as lies in our power, not even those who are outside. For if we are light, and leaven, and luminaries, and salt, we ought to enlighten, not to darken; to bind, not to loosen; to draw the unbelievers to ourselves, not to drive them away. Why then do you put to flight those whom you ought to draw to you? Since even Gentiles are hurt when they see us turning back to such things.

For they do not know our mind, nor that our soul has come to be above all pollution of sense. And the Jews too, and the weaker brothers, will suffer the same.

Do you see how many reasons he has given for why we should stay away from food sacrificed to idols? Because it is unprofitable, because it is unnecessary, because it harms our brother, because it gives the Jew a reason to speak evil, because it gives the Gentile a reason to mock, because we should not share with demons, and because the thing is a kind of idolatry.

Further, because he had said, "Give no occasion for stumbling," he made them responsible for the harm done both to the Gentiles and to the Jews. And this statement was hard to hear. So see how he makes it acceptable and easier to bear, by putting himself forward and saying,

1 Corinthians 10:33

Just as I also try to please everyone in all things, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.

1 Corinthians 11:1

Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.

This is a rule of the most complete Christianity. This is a boundary line laid down with precision. This is the highest point of all: to seek what is for the good of everyone. Paul himself also said this when he added, "just as I also am of Christ." For nothing makes a person so much an imitator of Christ as caring for his neighbors. No, even if you fast, lie on the ground, and even choke yourself, but do not care for your neighbor, you have done nothing great.

You still stand far from this Image while acting that way. However, in the case before us, the thing itself is naturally useful, namely, keeping away from idol sacrifices. "But I," he says, "have also done many things that were not profitable, for example, when I practiced circumcision, when I offered sacrifice." If anyone were to examine these things in themselves, they actually destroy those who follow them and make them fall away from salvation.

Nevertheless, I submitted even to these for the sake of the benefit that came from them. But here there is nothing like that. For in that case, unless some benefit comes from them and unless they are done for the sake of others, then the thing becomes harmful. But in this case, even if no one is caused to stumble, one still ought to keep away from the forbidden things.

But I did not submit only to harmful things, but also to hard and tiring things. For, he says, "I robbed other Churches by taking wages from them," in 2 Corinthians 11:8. And when it was lawful for me to eat and not work, I did not seek that, but chose to die of hunger rather than offend someone else. This is why he says, "I please all men in all things." Even if it is against the rule, even if it is hard and dangerous, if it should be done, I endure everything for the good of others.

So then, though he was above all in perfection, he made himself lower than all in humble condescension.

No virtuous action can be truly great when it does not also share its benefit with others. This is shown by the man who returned the one talent safely, yet was cut in two because he had not gained more from it. So then, brother, even if you go without food, sleep on the ground, eat ashes, always mourn, and do no good to anyone else, you will not be doing any great work. For those great and noble people in the beginning made this their main concern.

Look carefully at their lives, and you will clearly see that none of them looked to his own interests, but each one to the interests of his neighbor. Because of this, they shone more brightly. Take Moses first. He did many great wonders and signs, but nothing made him so great as that blessed word he spoke to God: "If You will forgive their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out also." Exodus 32:32 David was like this too.

Therefore he said, "I the shepherd have sinned, and I have done wickedly, but these, the flock, what have they done? Let Your hand be upon me and upon my father's house." 2 Samuel 24:17 In the same way, Abraham did not seek his own profit, but the profit of many. Therefore he both put himself in danger and pleaded with God for those who did not belong to him at all.

Well, these indeed became glorious in this way. But as for those who sought their own, consider what harm they also received. The nephew of the last man mentioned, for example, because he listened to the saying, "If you will go to the right, I will go to the left," Genesis 13:9, and accepted the choice, sought his own profit, and did not even find his own. For that region was burned up, while the other remained untouched.

Jonah again, not seeking the profit of many, but his own, was in danger even of perishing. And while the city stood fast, he himself was tossed about and overwhelmed in the sea. But when he sought the profit of many, then he also found his own. So likewise Jacob among the flocks, not seeking his own gain, had exceeding riches for his portion. And Joseph also, seeking the profit of his brothers, found his own. At least, being sent by his father, Genesis 37:14, he did not say, "What is this?

Have you not heard that for a vision and certain dreams they even attempted to tear me in pieces, and I was held responsible for my dreams, and suffer punishment for being beloved of you? What then will they not do when they get me in the midst of them?" He said none of these things. He did not think of them, but preferred the care of his brothers above all. Therefore he also enjoyed all the good things that followed, which both made him very brilliant and declared him glorious.

Thus also Moses—for nothing hinders our mentioning him a second time, and seeing how he overlooked his own things and sought the things of others. I mean this Moses, being familiar with a king's court. Because he counted the reproach of Christ, Hebrews 11:26, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, and cast them all out of his hands, he became a partaker of the afflictions of the Hebrews. So far from being himself enslaved, he also liberated them from bondage.

Well, these are certainly great things, and worthy of an angelic life. But Paul's conduct goes far beyond this. For all the others gave up their own blessings and chose to share in the sufferings of others. But Paul did something much greater. It was not just that he agreed to share in other people's troubles. He chose for himself the worst extremes, so that other people might enjoy blessings.

Now, it is not the same thing for a person living in luxury to give up that luxury and suffer hardship, as it is for a person who is himself already suffering hardship to make others live in safety and honor. In the first case, it is indeed a great thing to trade prosperity for suffering for your neighbor's sake. Nevertheless, it brings some comfort to have others sharing in the trouble.

But to agree to be in distress by himself alone, so that others may enjoy good things, belongs to a much stronger soul, and to Paul's own spirit.

And he surpasses all those mentioned before not only in this way, but by another and greater excellence. Abraham and all the rest exposed themselves to dangers in this present life, and all they asked for was to die this kind of death once and for all. But Paul prayed in Romans 9:3 that he might be cut off from the glory of the world to come for the sake of the salvation of others.

I may also mention a third point of superiority. And what is this? Some of those men, though they interceded for the people who had conspired against them, still did so for those whose guidance had been entrusted to them. And it was as if someone stood up for a wild and lawless son, but still a son. But Paul wished to be accursed in place of those whose guardianship had not been entrusted to him. For he was sent to the Gentiles.

Do you see the greatness of his soul and the loftiness of his spirit, surpassing heaven itself? Imitate this man. But if you cannot, at least follow those who shone in the old covenant. For in this way you will find your own profit, if you seek that of your neighbor. Therefore, when you feel reluctant to care for your brother, considering that in no other way can you be saved, at least for your own sake stand up for him and his interests.

5. Even though what has been said is enough to convince you that there is no other way to secure our own good, you may also make sure of it by examples from ordinary life. Imagine that a fire starts somewhere in a house. Then some of the neighbors, thinking of their own advantage, refuse to face the danger. Instead, they shut themselves up and stay at home, afraid that someone might get in and steal part of their household goods. How great a punishment will they suffer?

For the fire will come and burn up their things as well. And because they did not look to their neighbor's good, they lose even their own besides. For God, wanting to bind us all to one another, has laid such a necessity on things that the good of one neighbor is tied to the good of another. And the whole world is ordered this way. Therefore, in a ship too, if a storm comes and the pilot, leaving aside the good of the many, seeks only his own, he will quickly sink both himself and them.

The same may be said of every craft. If it should look only to its own profit, life could never continue, nor even the craft itself that seeks only its own good. Therefore the farmer does not sow only as much grain as is enough for himself, because he would long ago have starved both himself and others. Instead, he seeks the good of the many. And the soldier goes out to face dangers, not so that he may save himself, but so that he may also make his cities secure.

And the merchant brings home not only as much as is enough for himself alone, but enough for many others as well.

Now if anyone says, "Each man does this, not looking to my interest, but to his own. For he engages in all these things to obtain money and glory and security for himself. So that in seeking my profit, he seeks his own," this also I say, and I have long wished to hear it from you. For this is why I have framed all my discourse this way: to show that your neighbor seeks his own profit when he looks to yours.

For since men would otherwise never make up their mind to seek the things of their neighbor, unless they were reduced to this necessity, therefore God has joined things together in this way, and does not allow them to arrive at their own profit unless they first travel through the profit of others.

Well then, this is natural to man: to follow after his neighbors' advantage. But one ought to be persuaded, not by this reason, but by what pleases God. For it is not possible to be saved without this. Even if you should practice the highest perfection of this work, and neglect others who are perishing, you will gain no confidence before God. From where is this clear? From what the blessed Paul declared:

"If I bestow my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing," 1 Corinthians 13:3, he says. Do you see how much Paul requires of us? And yet the one who bestowed his goods to feed the poor was not seeking his own good, but that of his neighbor. But this alone is not enough, he says. For he wants it to be done with sincerity and much sympathy. For this reason also God made it a law, that He might bring us into the bond of love.

Therefore, when He demands so great a measure, and we do not render even what is less, what forgiveness will we deserve?

And how, someone says, did God speak to Lot through the angels, saying, "Escape for your life" in Genesis 19:17? Tell me when, and why. It was when the punishment had come near, not when there was still a chance for correction, but when they had been condemned and were incurably diseased. Old and young alike had rushed into the same passions. From now on, they had to be burned up, on that day when the thunderbolts were about to be hurled.

Besides, this was not spoken about vice and virtue, but about the punishment inflicted by God. For what was he to do, tell me? Sit still and wait for the punishment, and, without helping them at all, be burned up? No, that would be the greatest folly.

For I am not saying that a person should punish himself without judgment and at random, apart from the will of God. But when someone remains in sin for a long time, then I tell you to act and correct him. If you are willing, do it for your neighbor's sake. But if not, then at least do it for your own benefit. It is true that the first way is better. But if you have not yet reached that height, then do it even for this reason. And let no one seek his own good in order to find his own good.

Remember that neither voluntary poverty, nor martyrdom, nor anything else, can speak in our favor unless we have the crowning virtue of love. Let us keep this more than all the rest, so that through it we may also receive all other blessings, both present and promised. May we all attain these through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 11:2

Now I praise you because you remember me in all things and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.

After finishing his teaching about meat sacrificed to idols, as was fitting for him, and after making it complete in every way, he moves on to another matter. This too was a complaint, but not as serious. For what I said before, I also say now: he does not list all the serious charges one after another without stopping. Instead, after arranging them in proper order, he places the lighter matters among them.

In this way, he softens what his readers might otherwise find offensive in his speech because he was constantly correcting them.

Therefore he also saved the most serious issue for last, the one about the resurrection. But for the moment he turns to another matter, a lighter one, saying, "Now I praise you because you remember me in all things." So when the offense is openly admitted, he both accuses them strongly and warns them. But when it is disputed, he first proves it and then rebukes them. And what was admitted, he makes more serious. But what was likely to be disputed, he shows to be admitted.

For example, their sexual immorality was something admitted. Therefore there was no need to prove that there was an offense. But in that case, he showed how great the sin was, and shaped his argument by comparison. Again, their going to law before outsiders was an offense, but not one so great. Therefore he dealt with it along the way, and proved it. The matter of food offered to idols, again, was disputed. It was, however, a very serious evil.

Therefore he both shows that it is an offense and makes it seem even more serious by his argument. But when he does this, he not only draws them away from their various sins, but also calls them to the opposite virtues. So he said not only that a person must not commit sexual immorality, but also that he ought to show great holiness. Therefore he added, "Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit."

1 Corinthians 6:20 And after saying again that one ought not to be wise with wisdom from outside, he is not satisfied with only this, but also tells him to become a fool. 1 Corinthians 3:18 And where he advises them not to go to law before those who are outside, and to do no wrong, he goes further and takes away even going to law itself. He advises them not only to do no wrong, but even to suffer wrong.

And while speaking about idol sacrifices, he said that one ought to abstain not only from forbidden things, but also from permitted things when offense is given. And one must not only avoid hurting the brothers, but not even Greeks or Jews. Thus he says, "Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the Church of God." 1 Corinthians 10:32

2. After finishing all his teaching about these matters, he then goes on to another accusation. And what was it? Their women used to pray and prophesy without a veil and with their heads uncovered, for at that time women also used to prophesy. But the men went so far as to wear long hair, as if they had spent their time in philosophy, and they covered their heads when praying and prophesying. Both of these were Greek customs.

Since he had already warned them about these things when he was present, some perhaps listened to him and others disobeyed. Therefore, in his letter, he again works on the problem like a physician by the way he speaks to them, and so corrects the offense. That he had warned them about this before in person is clear from how he begins.

Why else, after saying nothing about this matter anywhere earlier in the Epistle, but moving on from other accusations, does he immediately say, "Now I praise you that you remember me in all things, and hold fast the traditions, even as I delivered them to you"?

You see that some obeyed, and he praises them. Others disobeyed, and he corrects them by what he says next: "Now if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom." 1 Corinthians 11:16. For if some had done well and others had disobeyed, and he had included them all in one accusation, he would have made the first group bolder, and caused the others to become more careless.

But as it is, by praising and approving the one group and rebuking the other, he both encourages the first group more effectively and makes the other shrink back before him. The accusation by itself was enough to wound them. But now, because it is set beside others who have done well and are praised, it comes with a sharper sting. However, for the moment he does not begin with accusation, but with praise, and great praise, saying, "Now I praise you that you remember me in all things."

For this is Paul's way. Even when the matter is small, he weaves together high praise. He does not do this out of flattery. Far from it. How could he act that way, when he did not desire money, or glory, or anything else like that? Instead, he directs all his actions for their salvation. And this is why he enlarges his praise, saying, "Now I praise you that you remember me in all things."

All what things? Up to this point, his discussion had only been about their not wearing long hair and not covering their heads. But, as I said, he is very generous in his praise, making them more eager. Therefore he says,

"That you remember me in all things, and hold fast the traditions, just as I delivered them to you." It is clear, then, that at that time he used to hand down many things that were not written down. He shows this in many other places too. But at that time he only handed them down, while now he adds an explanation of the reason for them. In this way, he both makes the obedient group more firm, and brings down the pride of the others who set themselves against him.

Further, he does not say, "you have obeyed, while others disobeyed." Instead, without stirring up suspicion, he hints at it by the way he teaches in what follows, where he says,

1 Corinthians 11:3

But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of every woman, and God is the head of Christ.

This is his explanation for the reason behind it, and he gives it so that weaker people will pay closer attention. A person who is faithful, as he should be, and steady, does not need any reason or explanation for the things commanded to him, but is satisfied with the command itself. But a person who is weaker, when he also learns the reason, then both holds on to what is said more carefully and obeys much more readily.

Therefore, he did not state the reason until he saw that the commandment had been broken. What, then, is the reason? "The head of every man is Christ." Is He, then, also the Head of the Gentile? Certainly not. For if we are the Body of Christ, and individually members of it, as 1 Corinthians 12:27 says, and in this way He is our head, then He cannot be the head of those who are not in the Body and are not counted among the members.

So when he says, "of every man," you must understand this to mean the believer. Do you see how, everywhere, he appeals to the hearer's sense of shame by arguing from what is above? In this way, both when he was speaking about love, and when he was speaking about humility, and when he was speaking about giving to the poor, it was from there that he drew his examples.

3. But the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. Here the heretics rush at us with a certain claim of inferiority, which from these words they invent against the Son. But they stumble against themselves. For if the man is the head of the woman, and the head is of the same substance as the body, and the head of Christ is God, then the Son is of the same substance as the Father.

“No,” they say, “it is not that He is of another substance that we mean to show from here, but that He is under subjection.” What then are we to say to this? First, when anything lowly is said of Him, joined as He is with the flesh, there is no dishonor to the Godhead in what is said, because the divine arrangement admits the expression. However, tell me how you mean to prove this from the passage. “Why, as the man governs the wife,” he says, “so also the Father governs Christ.”

Then also, in the same way, as Christ governs the man, so likewise the Father governs the Son. For we read, “the head of every man is Christ.” And who could ever allow this? For if the superiority of the Son compared with us is the measure of the Father’s superiority compared with the Son, consider to what lowliness you will bring Him. So we must not test all things by the same measure with respect to ourselves and to God, even if the language used about them is similar.

Rather, we must assign to God a certain excellence proper to Him, and so great an excellence as belongs to God. For if they do not grant this, many absurdities will follow. For example: the head of Christ is God, and Christ is the head of the man, and the man is the head of the woman. Therefore, if we choose to take the word “head” in the same sense in all the clauses, the Son will be as far removed from the Father as we are from Him.

Yes, and the woman will be as far removed from us as we are from the Word of God. And what the Son is to the Father, that also we are to the Son, and the woman again to the man. And who will endure this?

But do you understand the term "head" differently in the case of the man and the woman than you do in the case of Christ? Therefore, in the case of the Father and the Son, must we understand it differently also. "How do we understand it differently?" says the objector. According to the occasion. For if Paul had meant to speak of rule and subjection, as you say, he would not have brought forward the example of a wife, but rather of a slave and a master.

For what if the wife is under subjection to us? She is so as a wife, as free, as equal in honor. And the Son also, though He did become obedient to the Father, did so as the Son of God, as God. For as the obedience of the Son to the Father is greater than what we find in men toward those who gave them life, so also His liberty is greater.

Since of course it will not be said that the circumstances of the Son's relation to the Father are greater and more intimate than among men, and the Father's to the Son less. For if we admire the Son because He was obedient so as to come even to death, even the death of the cross, and count this as the great wonder concerning Him, we ought to admire the Father also, that He begot such a Son, not as a slave under command, but as free, yielding obedience and giving counsel.

For one who gives counsel is no slave. But again, when you hear of one who gives counsel, do not understand it as though the Father were in need, but that the Son has the same honor as Him who begot Him. Do not therefore strain the example of the man and the woman to all particulars.

For among us, the woman is rightly placed under the man, because equal honor causes conflict. And this is not the only reason, but also because of the deception mentioned in 1 Timothy 2:14 that happened in the beginning. So you see, she was not placed under him as soon as she was made. Nor, when God brought her to the man, did she hear anything like this from God, nor did the man say any such word to her. He did say that she was bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, in Genesis 2:23.

But he said nothing to her anywhere about ruling or being under rule. But when she made bad use of her privilege, and she who had been made a helper was found to be one who ensnared him and ruined everything, then she is justly told for the future, "Your turning shall be to your husband," in Genesis 3:16.

Because of this, it was likely that this sin would have thrown our human race into a state of conflict. For the fact that the woman had been made out of the man would not have helped bring peace after this happened. No, it would rather have made the man even harsher, because she, made as she was out of him, had not spared even him who was a part of herself.

Therefore God, seeing the Devil's malice and the hostility that was likely to arise from his evil scheme, raised up the defense of this word. By this sentence, and by the desire implanted in us, He took away that hostility. In this way He pulled down the dividing wall, that is, the resentment caused by her sin. But in God, and in that undefiled Essence, one must not suppose anything like this.

Therefore, do not apply these examples to everyone in the same way. If you do, many serious errors will also come from this in other places. For at the beginning of this very Epistle, he says in 1 Corinthians 3:22-23, "All are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." What then? Are all things ours in the same way that we are Christ's, and Christ is God's? Not at all. Even the simplest person can see the difference, although the same expression is used for God, Christ, and us.

And elsewhere, after calling the husband the head of the wife, he adds in Ephesians 5:23, "Even as Christ is Head and Saviour and Defender of the Church, so also ought the man to be of his own wife." Should we then understand the statement in this text in the same way, and also everything written after this to the Ephesians about this subject? Far from it. It is impossible.

For although the same words are spoken about God and about men, they do not have the same meaning when applied to God and to men. Those must be understood in one way, and these in another. But on the other hand, not everything should be taken differently either. Otherwise, these expressions will seem to have been introduced randomly and for no purpose, and we will gain no benefit from them.

But just as we must not accept everything in exactly the same way, so we also must not reject everything completely.

To make what I am saying clearer, I will try to show it with an example. Christ is called the Head of the Church. If I am not to take anything from the human meaning of that idea, then why, I ask, is that expression used at all? But on the other hand, if I understand everything in a human way, it will lead to extreme absurdity. For the head shares the same feelings as the body and is subject to the same things. What, then, should we leave aside, and what should we accept?

We should leave aside the details I have mentioned, but accept the idea of a perfect union and of the first principle. And we should not take even these ideas in an absolute way. Here too, we must form, as best we can, some understanding of what is too high for us and fitting for the Godhead. For the union is more certain, and the beginning is more honorable.

Again, when you hear the word Son, do not in this case accept every detail. Yet you should not reject everything either. Instead, accept whatever is fitting for God, for example, that He is of the same essence, and that He is of God. But the things that do not fit, and belong to human weakness, leave on the earth.

Again, God is called Light. Should we then accept every quality that belongs to natural light? Not at all. For this light gives way to darkness, is limited by space, is moved by another power, and can be overshadowed. It is not lawful even to imagine any of these things about that Essence. Yet we should not reject everything because of this. Instead, we should take from the example something useful.

What we should gather from it is the illumination that comes to us from God, and the deliverance from darkness.

That is enough in answer to the heretics. But we must also go through the whole passage in order. For perhaps someone here may also have a question and ask within himself what kind of offense it was for the woman to be uncovered, or for the man to be covered. Now learn from here what kind of offense it is.

Many different signs have been given to both man and woman: to the man, signs of authority; to the woman, signs of submission. One of these signs is this: the woman should have her head covered, while the man should have his head uncovered. If these are signs, then you can see that both are in error when they upset the proper order, break God's arrangement, and go beyond their own proper limits.

The man does this by falling into the woman's lower place, and the woman does this by rising up against the man through her outward clothing.

If it is not lawful to exchange clothing, so that a woman should not be dressed with a cloak, and a man should not wear a mantle or a veil—for He says, "A woman shall not wear what belongs to a man, and a man shall not put on a woman's clothing," in Deuteronomy 22:5—then it is much more improper for these things to be exchanged. The first kind of clothing was ordered by men, even though God later approved it. But this other matter comes from nature, I mean the being covered or uncovered.

And when I say nature, I mean God, for He is the One who created nature. Therefore, when you overturn these boundaries, see how great the harm is that follows.

And do not tell me that the error is only small. First, it is serious in itself, because it is disobedience. Next, even if it were small, it became serious because of the greatness of the things of which it is a sign. However, that it is a serious matter is clear from the way it serves so effectively to keep good order among people, since both the ruler and the ruled are regularly kept in their proper places by it.

So, the person who breaks this order throws everything into confusion, betrays the gifts of God, and throws down the honor given to him from above. But this applies not only to the man, but also to the woman. For it is also one of her greatest honors to keep her own place. And one of the greatest disgraces is the conduct of a rebel. Therefore he stated it for both of them, saying,

1 Corinthians 11:4-5

Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head.

For there were, as I said, both men who prophesied and women who had this gift at that time, like the daughters of Philip in Acts 21:9, and others before them and after them. It is about them also that the prophet spoke long ago: "Your sons shall prophesy, and your daughters shall see visions," in Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17.

Well then, he does not force the man to be uncovered at all times, but only when he prays. For he says, "Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head." But he commands the woman to be covered at all times. Therefore, after saying, "Every woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head," he did not stop there. He went on to say, "for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven."

But if being shaven is always dishonorable, then it is clear that being uncovered is also always a disgrace. And he was not satisfied even with this, but added again, saying, "The woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels." He means that she ought to be covered not only at the time of prayer, but continually also. But with regard to the man, his discussion is no longer about covering, but about wearing long hair.

He forbids being covered only when a man is praying, but he speaks against wearing long hair at all times. Therefore, concerning the woman, he said, "But if she is not veiled, let her also be shorn." In the same way, concerning the man, "If he has long hair, it is a dishonor to him." He did not say, "if he is covered," but, "if he has long hair." Therefore he also said at the beginning, "Every man praying or prophesying, having anything on his head, dishonors his head."

He did not say, "covered," but, "having anything on his head," showing that even if he prays with his head bare, yet if he has long hair, he is like a man who is covered. For, he says, "the hair is given for a covering."

1 Corinthians 11:6

But if a woman does not wear a veil, then she should also have her hair cut short. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut short or shaved off, then she should wear a veil.

So, at first he simply requires that the head not be bare. But as he goes on, he shows that this rule is to continue, when he says, "for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven." He also shows that it must be kept with great care and diligence. For he did not just say "covered," but "covered over," meaning that she should be carefully wrapped on every side.

And by reducing the matter to an absurdity, he appeals to their shame, saying as a severe rebuke, "But if she is not covered, let her also be shorn." It is as if he had said, "If you throw away the covering appointed by the law of God, then throw away also that appointed by nature."

But if anyone says, "No, how can this be a shame to the woman, if she rises to the man's glory?" we might give this answer: She does not rise up. Instead, she falls away from her own proper honor. Since not staying within our own limits and the laws ordained by God, but going beyond them, is not an addition but a loss.

For just as the person who desires another man's goods and takes what is not his own has gained nothing more, but is reduced, since he has lost even what he had before—which also happened in paradise—so also the woman does not gain the man's dignity, but loses even the woman's decency that she had. And her shame and reproach come not only from this, but also from her covetousness.

So, after taking what everyone agreed was shameful and saying, "But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved," he then gives his own conclusion in what follows, saying, "Let her be covered." He did not say, "Let her have long hair," but, "Let her be covered." By this, he teaches that these two things go together. He supports them in both ways, from what was customary and from their opposites.

He both says that the covering and the hair are one, and also that a woman who is shaved is again the same as a woman whose head is uncovered. For, he says, "it is one and the same thing, as if she were shaven." But if anyone says, "How is it the same, if this woman has the covering of nature, but the other woman who is shaved does not even have this?" we answer that, as far as her own will is concerned, she threw that off as well by having her head uncovered.

And if it is not bare of hair, that is nature's doing, not her own. So, just as the woman who is shaved has her head bare, this woman is the same in that way. For this reason, He left it to nature to provide her with a covering, so that even from this she might learn this lesson and veil herself.

Then he also gives a reason, speaking as one would to people who are free. This is something I have pointed out in many places. What, then, is the reason?

1 Corinthians 11:7

A man, indeed, ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God.

This is another reason as well. He says that a man should not cover his head, not only because Christ is his head, but also because he has authority over the woman. For when a ruler comes before the king, he ought to have the sign of his authority. In the same way, no ruler would dare appear before the one who wears the crown without his military belt and cloak. So you also should not pray before God without the signs of your authority, one of which is having your head uncovered.

Otherwise, you may insult both yourself and Him who has honored you.

And the same thing may also be said about the woman. For it is also a disgrace for her not to have the signs of her submission. But the woman is the glory of the man. Therefore the man's authority is natural.

Then, after confirming his point, he again gives other reasons and causes also. He leads you back to the first creation and says this:

1 Corinthians 11:8

For man did not come from woman, but woman came from man.

But if it is a glory for someone to belong to another, it is much more a glory to be that person's image.

1 Corinthians 11:9

For the man was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man.

This is another point of superiority. No, rather, it is also a third and a fourth. The first is that Christ is our head, and we are the head of the woman. The second is that we are the glory of God, but the woman is our glory. The third is that we are not from the woman, but she is from us. The fourth is that we are not for her, but she is for us.

1 Corinthians 11:10

For this reason, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.

For this reason. What reason, tell me? Because of all the things that have been mentioned, he says. Or rather, not only because of these, but also because of the angels. For even if you look down on your husband, he says, still respect the angels.

So, being covered is a sign of being under authority and in submission. It leads her to lower her eyes, feel proper shame, and keep her virtue completely intact. For the virtue and honor of the one who is governed is to remain in obedience.

Again, the man is not required to do this, because he is the image of his Lord. But the woman is required to do it, and for good reason. Think, then, about how great this wrongdoing is: though you have been honored with such a high privilege, you put yourself to shame by taking the woman's clothing. You do the same thing as if, after receiving a crown, you threw the crown off your head and took a servant's garment instead.

1 Corinthians 11:11

Nevertheless, in the Lord, the man is not independent of the woman, nor is the woman independent of the man.

So, because he had given great honor to the man by saying that the woman is from him and for him and under him, he adds a correction. He does this so that he may neither raise men higher than is right nor put women down. See how he brings in the correction by saying, “However, in the Lord, the man is not without the woman, nor the woman without the man.” “Please do not look only at the first things,” he says, “and at that creation.”

Since if you look at what comes after, each of the two is the cause of the other. Or rather, not even in that way is each the cause of the other, but God is the cause of all. Therefore he says, “In the Lord, the man is not without the woman, nor the woman without the man.”

1 Corinthians 11:12

For just as the woman is from the man, so also the man is through the woman.

He did not say "of the woman," but repeats the phrase from 1 Corinthians 11:7 about the man. For this particular privilege still remains fully with the man. Yet these excellencies do not belong to the man, but to God. Therefore he also adds, "but all things are of God." If, then, all things belong to God, and he commands these things, obey and do not argue against it.

1 Corinthians 11:13

Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God without a veil? Again, he makes them judges of what he has said, just as he also did about food offered to idols. For there he says, "Judge what I say," in 1 Corinthians 10:15. So here too he says, "Judge in yourselves." And here he hints at something more fearful. For he means that the insult in this matter reaches even to God. He does not say this directly, however, but in a milder and more indirect way:

"Is it proper for a woman to pray to God unveiled?"

1 Corinthians 11:14

Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?

1 Corinthians 11:15

But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, because her hair is given to her as a covering.

Here too, his usual way is to use reasons that people already accepted. He appeals to common custom, and strongly shames those who were waiting for him to teach them things they could have learned from ordinary human practice. For even barbarians do not fail to know such things. And see how, everywhere, he uses sharp words: "Every man praying with his head covered dishonors his head." And again, "But if it is a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be veiled."

And here again, "If a man has long hair, it is a shame to him; but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering."

But if her hair is given to her as a covering, you may say, why does she need to add another covering? So that not only nature, but also her own will, may take part in her acknowledgment of being under authority. Nature itself has already made a law in advance that you ought to be covered. Now, please add your own part as well, so that you may not seem to overturn the very laws of nature. It is proof of the most insolent rashness to fight not only with us, but with nature also.

This is why God, accusing the Jews, said in Ezekiel 16:21-22, "You have slain your sons and your daughters: this is beyond all your abominations."

Again, Paul rebukes the immoral among the Romans and makes the charge stronger by saying that what they did was not only against the law of God, but even against nature. For they "changed the natural use into that which is against nature," as Romans 1:26 says. For this reason, here too he uses this argument to show the same thing: that he is not making some strange law, and that among the Gentiles, all their inventions would be counted as a kind of novelty against nature.

Christ also meant the same thing when He said, "Whatever you want people to do to you, do the same to them." In this way, He showed that He was not introducing anything new.

1 Corinthians 11:16

But if anyone seems determined to argue, we have no such custom, and neither do the churches of God.

So then, to oppose these things is not an act of reason, but of contentiousness. Nevertheless, even here he uses a restrained kind of rebuke, so that they would feel even more self-reproach. In fact, this made what he said more severe. For, he says, "We have no such custom," meaning no custom of arguing, fighting, and setting ourselves in opposition. And he did not stop there, but also added, "nor do the churches of God."

By this he showed that, by refusing to yield, they were resisting and opposing themselves to the whole world. However, even if the Corinthians were contentious at that time, now the whole world has both accepted and kept this rule. So great is the power of the Crucified.

But I am afraid that, although some of our women have taken on the outward dress, they may still be found immodest in their actions and uncovered in other ways. That is why, when Paul wrote to Timothy, he was not satisfied with saying only these things. He added more, saying that women should adorn themselves in modest clothing, with shamefacedness and self-control, not with braided hair or gold, 1 Timothy 2:9.

For if a woman ought not to have her head uncovered, but should everywhere carry the sign of authority, much more is it fitting to show the same spirit in her actions. In fact, the women of earlier times also used to call their husbands lords, 1 Peter 3:6, and to give them first place. But, you say, those husbands used to love their own wives. I know that as well as you do. I am not ignorant of it. But when we are urging you about your own duties, do not let their duties take all your attention.

If we tell children to obey their parents, saying that it is written, "Honor your father and your mother," they answer us, "Mention also what follows, 'And you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath,'" Ephesians 6:1-4. And when we tell servants that it is written that they should obey their masters, and not serve only when being watched, they again ask us to speak also about what follows, telling us to give the same advice to masters.

For Paul also told masters, they see, to stop threatening. But let us not act this way, or ask about the commands given to others when we ourselves are being charged concerning our own duty. For even if you find someone else to share the blame, that will not free you from blame. Look to one thing only: how you may clear yourself of the charges that lie against you. Adam also put the blame on the woman, and she in turn on the serpent, but that did not deliver them at all.

Therefore, do not say this to me now. Instead, take great care to give your husband what you owe him. In the same way, when I speak with your husband and urge him to love and care for you, I do not allow him to bring up the law appointed for the woman. I demand from him what is written for him. So you also should concern yourself only with the things that belong to you, and show yourself teachable toward your husband.

And if it really is for God's sake that you obey your husband, then do not tell me about the things he ought to do. Instead, do exactly the things for which the Lawgiver has made you responsible. For this especially is obedience to God: not to break the law even when you suffer things contrary to it. By the same rule, a person who loves someone who loves him is not considered to do anything great. But the one who serves a person who hates him, that is the one who above all will receive a crown.

In the same way, you also should consider that if your husband causes you distress, and you endure it, you will receive a glorious crown. But if he is gentle and mild, what will there be for God to reward in you? I say these things not to tell husbands to be harsh, but to persuade wives to endure even the harshness of their husbands. For when each person is careful to fulfill his own duty, the other person's part will quickly follow also.

When the wife is ready to endure even rough behavior from her husband, and the husband holds back from mistreating her when she is angry, then everything is calm, like a harbor free from waves.

7. It was the same with the people of old. Each person worked to do his own duty, not to demand that his neighbor do his. So, if you notice, Abraham took in his brother's son, and his wife found no fault with him. He told her to go on a long journey, and she did not speak against it at all, but followed. Again, after all those troubles and hardships and labors, when he had become lord of all, he gave the first place to Lot.

Sarah was so far from being offended by this that she did not even open her mouth. She did not say any of the things many women of these days say when they see their own husbands come off with the lesser share in such divisions, especially when dealing with inferiors. They reproach them and call them fools, senseless, unmanly, traitors, and stupid. But she said nothing like this, and did not even think it. Instead, she was pleased with everything he did.

And there was another thing, even greater than that: after Lot was given the choice, and had left the worse part to his uncle, a great danger came upon him.

When the patriarch heard this, he armed all his men and went out against the whole army of the Persians with only his own household servants. Even then she did not try to hold him back, or say what she very likely might have said: "Man, where are you going, throwing yourself over cliffs and exposing yourself to such great dangers for someone who wronged you, seized everything that was yours, and shed your blood? Yes, and even if you care little for yourself, at least have pity on me.

I left house and country and friends and relatives, and I have followed you through such a long journey. Do not bring me into widowhood and the miseries of widowhood." She said none of these things. She did not think of them, but endured everything in silence.

After this, though her womb remained barren, she herself did not suffer the grief of women, nor did she lament. But he complains, not to his wife, but to God. And see how each kept his own proper part. For he neither despised Sarah as childless, nor reproached her with anything of that kind. And she, in turn, was anxious to find some comfort for him in her childlessness by means of the handmaid. For these things had not yet been forbidden then, as they are now.

For now it is not lawful for women to indulge their husbands in such things, nor for men, with or without the wife's knowledge, to form such unions, even though the grief of their childlessness should trouble them without end. Since they too shall hear the sentence, "their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched." For now it is not permitted, but then it had not been forbidden. Therefore his wife commanded this, and he obeyed, yet not even then for pleasure's sake.

But look, it will be said, how he cast Hagar out again at her bidding. Well, this is what I want to point out: that he obeyed her in all things, and she him as well. But do not pay attention only to these things. Examine also, you who press this plea, what had gone before as well: Hagar insulting her, and boasting against her mistress. What could be more vexing to a free and honorable woman than that?

Let not the wife wait for the virtue of the husband, and then show her own. For this is nothing great. Nor, on the other hand, let the husband wait for the obedience of the wife, and then practice self-control. For this too would no longer be his own good deed. But let each, as I said, first provide his own share. For if, when Gentiles strike us on the right cheek, we must turn the other also, much more ought one to bear with harsh behavior in a husband.

I do not say this so that a wife should be beaten. Far from it. For this is the most extreme insult, not to the woman who is beaten, but to the man who beats her. But even if, through some misfortune, you have been given such a husband, do not take it badly, woman. Consider the reward laid up for such things, and also their praise even in this present life. And to you husbands also I say this:

make it a rule that there can be no offense so great that it brings you to the point of striking your wife. And why do I speak of a wife? A free man would not even endure to beat his maidservant and lay violent hands on her. But if it is a great shame for a man to beat a maidservant, it is much more shameful to stretch out his right hand against a woman who is free. One may see this even from pagan lawgivers.

They no longer force a woman who has been treated this way to live with the man who beat her, since he is unworthy of her fellowship. For surely this comes from extreme lawlessness: that your partner in life, she who is united with you in the closest relations and in the highest degree, should be dishonored by you like a worthless slave. Therefore such a man, if indeed one must call him a man and not rather a wild beast, I would say was like a parricide and a murderer of his mother.

For if, for a wife's sake, we were commanded to leave even father and mother, not wronging them but fulfilling a divine law, and a law so welcome to our parents that even they, the very people we are leaving, are thankful and bring it about with great eagerness, what could be more than extreme madness than to insult the woman for whose sake God commanded us to leave even our parents?

But we may rightly ask, is it only madness? There is also shame. I would like to know who could bear it. And what description can show it to us? Shrieks and wailing are carried through the streets, and people run to the house of the man who is dishonoring himself like this, both neighbors and passersby, as if some wild beast were raging inside. It would be better for the earth to open up for one so frantic than for him to be seen at all in the marketplace afterward.

"But the woman is insolent," he says. Still, remember that she is a woman, the weaker vessel, while you are a man. For this is why you were appointed to rule, and assigned to her as a head: so that you might put up with the weakness of the one set under you. Then make your rule honorable. And it will be honorable when the one under it suffers no dishonor from you.

Just as a king appears much more dignified when he shows dignity in the officer under him, but if he dishonors and devalues the greatness of that rank, he is also indirectly cutting away no small part of his own glory, so also, if you dishonor her who governs next after you, you will greatly damage the honor of your own rule.

Therefore, considering all these things, give this command to yourself. Also think about that evening when her father called you and gave you his daughter like a trust placed in your care. He separated her from everyone, from her mother, from himself, and from her family, and entrusted her entire care to your right hand. Consider that, under God, through her you have children and have become a father. For that reason also, be gentle toward her.

Do you not see the farmers? When the earth has received seed, they care for it in every possible way, even if it has countless disadvantages. For example, even if the soil is poor, or grows harmful weeds, or suffers from too much rain because of its location, they still work it carefully. You should do the same. For in this way, you will be the first to enjoy both the fruit and the peace. Since your wife is both a harbor for you and a strong healing comfort that gladdens your heart.

So then, if you free your harbor from winds and waves, you will enjoy much peace when you return from the marketplace. But if you fill it with shouting and turmoil, you are only preparing a more terrible shipwreck for yourself. Then, to prevent this, do what I advise. When anything unpleasant happens in the household, if she is in the wrong, comfort her and do not make the trouble worse.

For even if you were to lose everything, nothing is more painful than living with a wife who does not share your home with good will. And whatever offense you may name, you will tell me of nothing so painful as being in conflict with her. So, even for reasons like these alone, let her love be more precious than everything. For if we are to bear one another's burdens, much more should we bear our own wife's.

Even if she is poor, do not shame her for it. Even if she is foolish, do not crush her, but train her instead, because she is part of you, and you have become one flesh. But perhaps she is silly, drunk, and hot-tempered. Then you should grieve over these things, not be angry. You should ask God for help, encourage her, advise her, and do everything to remove the evil.

But if you strike her, you make the sickness worse, for harshness is removed by gentleness, not by matching it with more harshness. Along with these things, remember also the reward from God: when you are allowed to put her away, and you do not do so because of the fear of God, but endure such great faults, respecting the law appointed in these matters, which forbids putting away a wife whatever sickness she may have, you will receive a reward that cannot be spoken.

Yes, even before that reward, you will gain very much, both by making her more obedient and by becoming more gentle yourself through it. For example, it is said that one of the pagan philosophers had a bad wife, a silly woman and a quarrelsome one. When he was asked why he put up with such a wife, he replied that he might have in his house a school and training place for philosophy. "Then I will be gentler with everyone else," he says, "because I am trained here every day."

Have you cried out loudly? Then I am deeply grieving at this moment, when pagans prove to be greater lovers of wisdom than we are—we who are commanded to imitate angels, or rather, who are commanded to follow God Himself in gentleness.

But to go on: it is said that for this reason the philosopher did not cast out his bad wife, and some say that this was the very reason he married her. But I, because many men do not have fully reasonable attitudes, advise them first of all to do everything they can, and to be careful to choose a fitting wife, one full of every virtue.

However, if it happens that they fail in this, and the woman they have brought into the house proves to be neither good nor tolerable as a bride, then I would still have them try to be like this philosopher, and train her in every way, and think that nothing is more important than this.

For just as a merchant will not launch his ship into the deep, or attend to the rest of his business, until he has made an agreement with his partner that can secure peace, so let us use every effort to keep in complete peace the woman who is our partner in the business of life and with us in this ship. For in this way all our other affairs too will be calm, and we will travel with peace through the sea of this present life.

Compared with this, let house, and slaves, and money, and lands, and even public business, count as less to us. And let this be worth more than everything else in our eyes: that the woman who sits at the oars with us should not be in rebellion and division against us. For in this way our other matters will move forward with a favorable current, and in spiritual things also we will find ourselves much freer from hindrance, since we are pulling this yoke together in agreement.

And when we have done all things well, we will obtain the blessings laid up for us. May we all attain them through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 11:17

But in giving you this command, I do not praise you, because when you come together, it is not for the better but for the worse.

To consider the present charge, it is first necessary to state the occasion for it as well. For in this way, our discussion will again be easier to understand. What, then, is this occasion?

As in the case of the three thousand who believed in the beginning, all ate their meals in common and had all things in common. Such also was the practice at the time when the Apostle wrote this. Not exactly in the same way, indeed, but as if a certain overflow of that communion which remained among them had also come down to those who came after. And because, of course, some were poor and others rich, they did not lay all their goods down in the middle.

Instead, it seems, they made the tables open on appointed days. And when the solemn service was completed, after the communion of the Mysteries, they all went to a common meal. The rich brought their provisions with them, and the poor and destitute were invited by them, and all feasted together. But afterward this custom also became corrupt.

And the reason was that they were divided and gave themselves over, some to this party and others to that, saying, "I am of such a one," and, "I of such a one." To correct this also, he said at the beginning of the Epistle, "For it has been signified to me concerning you, my brothers, by them which are of the household of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I mean, that each one of you says, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas."

Not that Paul was the one to whom they were attaching themselves, for he would not have endured it. But wishing by concession to tear up this custom from the root, he introduced himself, showing that if anyone had even inscribed his name on himself while breaking off from the common body, even so what was done was profane and extreme wickedness. And if in his case it was wickedness, much more in the case of those who were inferior to him.

2. Since this custom had been broken, a custom that was excellent and very useful, he rightly speaks to them with severity. For it was a foundation of love, a comfort to the poor, a correction for the rich, an occasion for the highest philosophy, and a lesson in humility. Since he saw that such great benefits were about to be destroyed, he naturally addresses them sharply and says, "But in giving you this charge, I praise you not."

In the earlier charge, there were many who were keeping the ordinances, so he began differently and said, "Now I praise you that you remember me in all things." But here, by contrast, he says, "But in giving you this charge, I praise you not." And here is the reason why he did not place this after the rebuke of those who eat idol sacrifices.

Because that rebuke was unusually harsh, he inserted the discussion about long hair, so that he would not move from one set of strong reproofs to another set that might stir resentment, and so seem too harsh. Then he returns to the stronger tone and says, "But in giving you this charge, I praise you not." What does this mean? It means what I am about to tell you. What does "giving you this charge, I praise you not" mean?

"I do not approve of you," he says, "because you have made it necessary for me to give advice. I do not praise you, because you have needed instruction about this, because you have needed a warning from me." Do you see how, from the very beginning, he shows that what was done was very profane? For when a person who is in error should not need even a hint to keep him from falling into error, then the error would seem to be without excuse.

And why do I not praise you? Because, he says, when you come together, it is not for the better but for the worse. That is, you are not moving forward in virtue. It would be right for your generosity to increase and become greater in many ways. But instead, you have fallen away from the practice that already existed. And you have fallen so far from it that you even need a warning from me, so that you may return to the former order.

Further, so that he might not seem to say these things only because of the poor, he does not immediately begin speaking about the tables. Otherwise, he would make his rebuke seem like something they might easily think little of. Instead, he looks for words that are most shaming and very fearful. For what does he say?

1 Corinthians 11:18

First of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there are divisions among you.

And he does not say, "Because you are not eating together in common. For I hear that you feast privately, and not with the poor." Instead, he mentions what was most likely to deeply shake their minds: the name of division, which was also the cause of this harm. In this way, he reminded them again of what was said at the beginning of the Epistle, and of what had been reported by those of the house of Chloe in 1 Corinthians 1:11. And I partly believe it.

So that they would not say, "But what if the accusers are speaking falsely?" he says neither, "I believe it," because that might make them even more reckless, nor, on the other hand, "I do not believe it," because then he would seem to rebuke them without cause. Instead, he says, "I partly believe it," that is, "I believe it in a small measure." In this way, he makes them anxious and invites them to return to correction.

1 Corinthians 11:19

For there must also be divisions among you, so that those who are approved may be made known among you.

By "factions" here, he means not those that concern doctrine, but the divisions that exist at present. But even if he had been speaking about doctrinal heresies, he still would not have given them any support. For Christ Himself said, "It must needs be that occasions of stumbling come," in Matthew 18:7. He was not taking away the freedom of the will, or placing any necessity or force on human life. Instead, He was foretelling what would certainly result from the evil mind of men.

These things would happen, not because He predicted them, but because those who are beyond cure are so minded. For these things did not happen because He foretold them. Rather, because they were certainly going to happen, therefore He foretold them. Since, if occasions of stumbling came by necessity and not from the minds of those who bring them in, then it would be pointless for Him to say, "Woe to that man by whom the occasion comes."

But we discussed these things more fully when we were dealing with that passage itself. Now we must go on to what is before us.

After he said these things about these factions connected with the tables, and about that strife and division, he also made clear from what follows what divisions he meant. For after saying, "I hear that there are divisions among you," he did not stop there. But, showing what divisions he meant, he goes on to say, "Each one takes his own supper before the other." And again, "What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the Church of God?"

However, it is clear that he was speaking of these things. And if he calls them divisions, do not be surprised. For, as I said, he wishes to touch them by that expression. If they had been divisions of doctrine, he would not have spoken with them so mildly. Listen, for example, when he speaks of anything like that, how forceful he is both in assertion and in reproof.

In assertion, as when he says, "If even an angel should preach to you any other gospel than what you received, let him be accursed," Galatians 1:8. But in reproof, as when he says, "Whoever of you would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace," Galatians 5:4. And at one time he calls the corrupters dogs, saying, "Beware of dogs," Philippians 3:2. At another, he speaks of those "having their consciences seared with a hot iron," 1 Timothy 4:2.

And again, "angels of Satan," 2 Corinthians 11:14-15. But here he said nothing like that, but spoke in a gentle and subdued tone.

But what does this mean: "that those who are approved may be made known among you"? It means that they may shine more clearly. What he means is this: those who are steady and firm are not harmed at all by this. Instead, it reveals them more clearly and makes them more honored. For the phrase "that" does not always point to a cause. It often points to the result of things.

Christ Himself uses it this way when He says, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind." John 9:39 In the same way, Paul says in another place, when speaking about the law, "And the Law came in beside, that the trespass might abound." Romans 5:20 But the law was not given for the purpose of increasing the trespasses of the Jews, even though that did happen.

And Christ did not come for the purpose of making those who see become blind, but for the opposite. Yet that was the result. So here too, the phrase must be understood in this way: "that those who are approved may be made known." Heresies did not come into being for the purpose of making those who are approved known. But when these heresies appeared, that was the result. He said these things to comfort the poor among them, those who nobly endured that kind of contempt.

Therefore he did not say, "that they may become approved," but, "that those who are approved may be made known." This shows that they were already like this before. But they were mixed in with the crowd, and while they were receiving the help given to them by the rich, they were not very noticeable. But now this conflict and quarrels made them known, just as a storm reveals the pilot.

And he did not say, "that you may appear approved," but, "that those who are approved may be made known," meaning those among you who are like this. For when he is accusing people, he does not expose them plainly, so that he may not make them more reckless. And when he is praising people, he does not identify them plainly, so that he may not make them more boastful. Instead, he leaves both this statement and the other one unresolved, allowing each person's own conscience to apply what he says.

And here, it seems to me, he is not comforting only the poor, but also those who were not breaking the custom. For it was likely that there were also some among them who were keeping it.

And this is why he said, "I partly believe it." So he rightly calls these people approved. They not only followed the custom along with the rest, but even without the others they kept this good rule unchanged. And he does this because, by such praise, he wants to make both the others and these people themselves more eager.

Then, at last, he adds the very form of the offense. And what is it?

1 Corinthians 11:20

When you come together, he says, it is not possible to eat the Lord's Supper.

Do you see how strongly he appeals to their sense of shame? Even in telling the story, he manages to give them his advice. “The appearance of your assembly,” he says, “is different.” It is a gathering of love and brotherly affection. At least one place receives you all, and you are together as one flock. But the banquet, when you come to that, does not resemble the assembly of worshipers at all.

And he did not say, “When you come together, this is not to eat in common,” or, “This is not to feast with one another.” Instead, in a different way, and much more fearfully, he rebukes them by saying, “It is not possible to eat the Lord’s Supper.” By this he sends them from this point to that evening when Christ handed over the awesome Mysteries. Therefore he also called the early meal a supper. For that supper too had them all reclining at the table together.

And yet the distance between the rich and the poor was surely not as great as the distance between the Teacher and the disciples. For that distance is infinite. And why do I speak only of the Teacher and the disciples? Think of the distance between the Teacher and the traitor. Nevertheless, the Lord Himself both sat at the table with them and did not even cast him out, but both gave him his portion of salt and made him a partaker of the Mysteries.

Next, he explains why it is not possible to eat the Lord's Supper.

1 Corinthians 11:21

For when you eat, each person goes ahead and takes his own supper before the others. So one is hungry, and another is drunk.

Do you see how he hints that they were really bringing shame on themselves instead? What belongs to the Lord, they turn into a private matter. So they are the first to suffer this dishonor, because they take away from their own table its greatest honor. How, and in what way? Because the Lord's Supper, that is, the Master's supper, ought to be shared by all. What belongs to the master does not belong to one servant without also belonging to another, but belongs to all in common.

So by saying "the Lord's Supper," he means the shared nature of the meal. It is as if he said, "If it is your Master's, as it certainly is, you ought not to keep it back as private property. Instead, since it belongs to your Lord and Master, you should set it out in common before everyone." For this is the meaning of "the Lord's." But now you do not allow it to be the Lord's, because you do not allow it to be shared by all, but feast by yourself. Therefore he goes on to say,

For each person takes his own supper before the others. And he did not say, "cuts off," but, "takes before," quietly rebuking them for both greed and rushing ahead. The next words show this too. For after saying this, he added again, "and one is hungry, and another is drunk." Each of these showed a lack of self-control, both the craving and the excess. See also a second fault by which these same people are harmed. First, they dishonor their supper.

Second, they are greedy and drunk, and what is even worse, they do this while the poor are hungry. What was meant to be set before everyone in common, these men ate by themselves, and they went on to overeating and drunkenness. Therefore he did not say, "one is hungry, and another is filled," but, "is drunk." Now each of these sins, even by itself, deserves rebuke.

For it is a fault to be drunk even without despising the poor, and to despise the poor without being drunk is also a charge against a person. When both are joined together at the same time, consider how extremely great the sin is.

Next, after pointing out their profaneness, he adds his rebuke in what follows, with great anger, saying,

1 Corinthians 11:22

What? Do you not have houses where you can eat and drink? Or do you despise the Church of God and shame those who have nothing?

Do you see how he shifted the charge from the insult done to the poor to the Church, so that his words would leave a stronger feeling of disgust? Here you can now see a fourth accusation also: not only are the poor insulted, but the Church is insulted as well. For just as you make the Lord's Supper a private meal, so you also make the place itself private, using the Church like a house.

For it was made to be a Church, not so that we who come together might be divided, but so that those who are divided might be brought together. This very act of assembling shows that.

And put to shame those who do not have food. He did not say, "And kill with hunger those who do not have food," but, to make them feel even more ashamed, he says, "Put them to shame." This shows that what he cares about is not so much the food, but the wrong done to them. Look again at a fifth accusation: not only did they ignore the poor, but they even shamed them.

He said this partly because he treated the concerns of the poor with respect, and showed that they are grieved not so much by hunger as by shame; and partly also to lead the hearer to compassion.

After pointing out such great acts of ungodliness, dishonor to the Supper, dishonor to the Church, and the contempt shown toward the poor, he again softens the tone of his rebuke. He suddenly says, "Shall I praise you? In this I do not praise you." Here one might especially be amazed at him. When there was a need to strike and rebuke them more strongly after proving such great offenses, he does the opposite instead. He lets up and allows them to catch their breath. What, then, may be the reason?

He had wounded them more painfully than usual by making the charge more serious. And as a most excellent physician, he fits the cutting to the wounds. He does not cut lightly those parts that need a deep stroke. For you heard how he cut off from among those very people the man who had committed fornication. Nor does he hand over to the knife those cases that require milder remedies. For this reason, here also he speaks to them more gently.

And from another point of view as well, he especially wanted to make them gentle toward the poor. That is why he speaks to them in a more restrained tone.

5. Next, because he also wanted to shame them even more from another subject, he again took the points that were most important and wove his argument from them.

1 Corinthians 11:23

For I received from the Lord, he says, what I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread:

1 Corinthians 11:24

And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My Body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me."

Therefore, why does he mention the Mysteries here? Because that point was very necessary for what he was trying to say at that moment. It is like this: “Your Master,” he says, “counted everyone worthy of the same Table, even though it is deeply awe-inspiring and far above all dignity. But you consider them unworthy even of your own table, small and poor as we can see it is. And while they have no advantage over you in spiritual things, you rob them in temporal things.

For these things are not your own either.”

However, he does not say it that way, so that his words will not sound harsh. Instead, he puts it in a gentler way, saying that the Lord Jesus, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread.

And why does he remind us of the time, and of that evening, and of the betrayal? Not carelessly or without some reason, but so that he might fill them with deep compunction, if only from thinking about the time.

For even if someone is very much like stone, yet when he thinks of that night, how He was with His disciples, very heavy, how He was betrayed, how He was bound, how He was led away, how He was judged, how He suffered all the rest in order, he becomes softer than wax, and is drawn away from the earth and all the pomp of this world.

Therefore he leads us to remember all those things by His time, and His table, and His betrayal, putting us to shame and saying, "Your Master gave up even Himself for you, and you do not even share a little food with your brother for your own sake."

But how does he say that he received it from the Lord? He certainly was not present then, but was one of the persecutors. This is so that you may know that the first table had no advantage over the one that came later. For even today, it is He who does everything and gives it, just as He did then.

And he reminds us of that night not only for this reason, but also so that in another way he may lead us to deep sorrow. For we especially remember the words we hear last from those who are dying. And if their heirs dare to break their commands, when we want to shame them, we say, "Remember that these were the last words your father spoke to you, and until the evening, when he was about to breathe his last, he kept repeating these commands."

In the same way, Paul, wanting for this reason also to make his argument full of awe, says, "Remember that this was the last mysterious rite He gave to you, and on the night when He was about to be killed for us, He commanded these things; and after He gave us that Supper, He added nothing more."

Next he goes on to recount the very things that were done, saying, "He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, 'Take, eat: this is My Body, which is broken for you.'" Therefore, if you come for a sacrifice of thanksgiving, do nothing on your part that is unworthy of that sacrifice. By no means dishonor your brother, or neglect him in his hunger. Do not be drunk. Do not insult the Church.

As you come giving thanks for what you have received, so you yourself should make return in the same way, and not cut yourself off from your neighbor. Since Christ, on His part, gave equally to all, saying, "Take, eat." He gave His Body equally. But do you not give even common bread equally? Yes, it was indeed broken for all alike, and became the Body equally for all.

1 Corinthians 11:25

In the same way, after supper He also took the cup and said, "This cup is the New Covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."

What are you saying? Are you holding a memorial for Christ, and yet you despise the poor and do not tremble? Why, if a son or a brother had died and you were holding a memorial for him, your conscience would have struck you if you had not kept the custom and invited the poor. And when you are holding a memorial for your Master, do you not even give a share from the Table?

But what does He mean when He says, "This cup is the New Covenant"? It is because there was also a cup of the Old Covenant: the drink offerings and the blood of animals. For after they offered sacrifices, they used to collect the blood in a cup and a bowl, and then pour it out. So then, since He brought in His own Blood instead of the blood of animals, He reminds them of that ancient sacrifice, so that no one would be troubled when hearing this.

6. Next, after speaking about that Supper, he connects the present things with the things of that time, so that just as people were affected on that very evening, while reclining on that very couch and receiving this sacrifice from Christ himself, so also people might be affected now; and he says,

1 Corinthians 11:26

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

For just as Christ, about the bread and the cup, said, "Do this in remembrance of Me," He was showing us the reason for giving this Mystery. Along with the other things He said, He declared that this was enough reason to make us deeply reverent. For when you think about what your Master has suffered for you, you will better deny yourself. In the same way, Paul also says here, "As often as you eat, you proclaim His death." And this is that Supper.

Then, showing that it remains until the end, he says, "till He come."

1 Corinthians 11:27

Therefore, whoever eats this bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord.

Why is that? Because he pours it out and makes it look like a killing, no longer a sacrifice. In the same way, those who pierced Him then did not pierce Him so that they might drink, but so that they might shed His blood. So also, the person who comes to it in an unworthy way and gains no benefit from it does the same kind of thing. Do you see how fearful he makes his message, and how strongly he speaks against them?

He shows that if they drink in this way, they partake of the elements unworthily. For how can it be anything but unworthy when a person neglects the hungry? And more than neglecting him, he also puts him to shame. Since not giving to the poor casts a person out of the kingdom of heaven, even if that person is a virgin—or rather, not giving generously does so. For those virgins also had oil, but they did not have enough of it.

So consider how great the evil must be when someone has committed so many acts of impiety.

"What impieties?" you say. Why do you say, "What impieties?" You have shared in such a Table, and when you should be gentler than everyone else and like the angels, no one has become as cruel as you. You have tasted the Blood of the Lord, and even after that you do not recognize your brother. What forgiveness, then, are you worthy of? Even if before this you had not known him, you should have come to know him from the Table.

But now you dishonor the Table itself, because he has been counted worthy to share in it, and yet you do not judge him worthy of your food. Have you not heard how much the man suffered who demanded the hundred pence? How he canceled the gift granted to him? Does it not come to your mind what you were and what you have become? Do you not remember that if this man is poor in possessions, you were much poorer in good works, being full of ten thousand sins?

Nevertheless, God delivered you from all those sins and counted you worthy of such a Table. But not even in this way have you become more merciful. Therefore, of course, nothing remains except that you should be handed over to the tormentors."

7. Let all of us also listen to these words, all who in this place come to this holy Table together with the poor, but when we go out, do not seem even to have seen them. Instead, we get drunk and carelessly pass by the hungry. These are the very things for which the Corinthians were accused. And when does this happen, you say? Indeed, at all times, but especially at the festivals, when above all times it ought not to happen.

Is it not true that at such times, right after Communion, drunkenness follows, along with contempt for the poor? And after taking part in the Blood, when it should be a time for you to fast and keep watch, you give yourself over to wine and wild partying. And yet, if by chance you have eaten something good in your morning meal, you are careful not to spoil its taste with some other unpleasant food. But now, after feasting on the Spirit, you bring in a luxury that is satanic.

Consider what the Apostles did when they shared that holy Supper. Did they not give themselves to prayers and the singing of hymns? To holy vigils? To that long work of teaching, so full of self-denial? For at that time He told them and gave to them those great and wonderful things, after Judas had gone out to call those who were about to crucify Him.

Have you not heard that the three thousand also, after taking part in the Communion, continued in prayer and teaching, not in drunken feasts and wild partying? But before you partake, you fast, so that in a certain way you may seem worthy of the Communion. But when you have partaken, and ought to increase your self-control, you ruin it all. And surely it is not the same thing to fast before this and after it.

For although it is our duty to be temperate at both times, it is especially so after we have received the Bridegroom. Before, so that you may become worthy to receive; after, so that you may not be found unworthy of what you have received.

What then? Should we fast after receiving Communion? I do not say this, and I do not force it. This would indeed be good. However, I do not require it. But I urge you not to feast to excess. For if a person should never live in luxury, and Paul showed this when he said, "She who gives herself to pleasure is dead while she lives," 1 Timothy 5:6, then much more would she be dead at such a time. And if luxury is death for a woman, much more for a man.

And if doing this at another time is destructive, much more is it so after Communion in the Mysteries. And after taking the bread of life, do you do something that belongs to death and not tremble? Do you not know what great evils luxury brings in? Untimely laughter, disorderly speech, foolish joking full of ruin, useless trifling, and all the other things that are not proper even to name.

And you do these things when you have shared in the Table of Christ, on the very day when you were counted worthy to touch His flesh with your tongue. What then should be done to prevent these things? Purify your right hand, your tongue, and your lips, which have become a threshold for Christ to walk upon. Think about the time when you came near and set out a material table. Lift up your mind to that Table, to the Supper of the Lord, to the watch of the disciples on that night, that holy night.

No, rather, if one examines carefully, this present time itself is night. Let us keep watch, then, with the Lord. Let us be pierced in our hearts with the disciples. This is a time for prayers, not for drunkenness; always indeed, but especially during a feast. For a feast is appointed for this reason: not so that we may behave shamefully, not so that we may heap up sins, but rather so that we may wipe out the sins that already exist.

I know that I am saying these things in vain, and yet I will not stop saying them. For even if not all of you obey, surely not all of you will disobey. Or rather, even if all of you should be disobedient, my reward will be greater, though your condemnation will also be greater. However, so that it may not be greater, I will not stop speaking for this reason. For perhaps, perhaps, by continuing steadily I will be able to reach you.

Therefore I beg you, let us not do this in a way that brings condemnation. Let us feed Christ, let us give Him drink, let us clothe Him. These things are worthy of that Table. Have you heard holy hymns? Have you seen a spiritual marriage? Have you shared in a royal Table? Have you been filled with the Holy Spirit? Have you joined in the choir of the Seraphim? Have you become a partaker of the powers above? Do not throw away so great a joy. Do not waste the treasure.

Do not bring in drunkenness, the mother of sadness, the devil's joy, the parent of ten thousand evils. For from this come sleep like death, heaviness of head, disease, forgetfulness, and an image of the condition of dead men. Further, if you would not choose to meet a friend while drunk, then when you have Christ within you, tell me, do you dare to force upon Him such great excess?

But do you love pleasure? Then for this very reason, stop getting drunk. For I also want you to enjoy yourself, but with true pleasure, the kind that never fades. What, then, is true pleasure, always in bloom? Invite Christ to dine with you, as in Revelation 2:20. Let Him share in what is yours, or rather, in what is His own. This brings pleasure without limit, and it stays forever in its full strength. But the things of the senses are not like that.

Instead, as soon as they appear, they vanish away. And the person who has enjoyed them is no better off than the person who has not, or rather, he is worse off. For the one is settled, as it were, in a harbor. But the other throws himself into a kind of torrent, into a besieging army of sicknesses, and does not even have the power to endure the first swell of the sea.

Therefore, so that these things may not be so for us, let us practice moderation. For in this way we will be in a good condition in body, and we will keep our souls safe, and we will be delivered from both present and future evils. May we all be delivered from them and attain the kingdom, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. With him, to the Father together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 11:28

But let a person examine himself, and then let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

What do these words mean, when a different subject is set before us? This is Paul's custom, as I said before. He not only speaks about the things he first intended to discuss, but also, if some argument connected to his purpose comes up, he goes on to deal with that too, with great care. He does this especially when it concerns matters that are very necessary and urgent.

So, when he was speaking to married people, and the question about servants came up along the way, he treated it very strongly and at great length. Again, when he was speaking about the duty of not going to law before those courts, and then came upon the warning about covetousness, he spoke at length about that subject also. Now he has done the same thing here. Once he found an opportunity to remind them of the Mysteries, he decided it was necessary to continue on that subject.

For it was not an ordinary matter. Therefore he spoke about it in a very solemn way, providing for what is the greatest of all good things, namely, that they should come to those Mysteries with a pure conscience. So he was not satisfied with the things he had said before only, but adds these words also, saying,

But let a person examine himself. He also says this in the second Epistle: "Test yourselves; prove yourselves," in 2 Corinthians 13:5. We do not do this now. Instead, we come because of the season, rather than from any serious readiness of mind. For we do not think about how we may come prepared, with the evils within us cleaned out, and with hearts full of deep sorrow for sin. Instead, we think about how we may come on festival days, and whenever everyone else does.

But Paul did not tell us to come in that way. He knows only one season for coming and receiving communion: the purity of a person's conscience. Since even a meal that the bodily senses know cannot be eaten by us when we have a fever and are full of unhealthy conditions, without danger of dying, it is much more unlawful for us to touch this Table while we have profane desires, which are worse than fevers.

Now when I say profane desires, I mean both the desires of the body, and greed for money, and anger, and malice, and, in a word, everything that is profane. The one who comes forward must first empty himself of all these things, and then touch that pure sacrifice. And if someone is spiritually lazy and unwilling, he should not be forced to come just because it is a festival. On the other hand, if someone is repentant and prepared, no one should keep him away because it is not a festival.

For a festival is the showing forth of good works, and reverence of soul, and carefulness in conduct. And if you have these things, you may keep festival at all times and approach at all times. Therefore he says, "But let each person examine himself, and then let him approach." And he does not tell one person to examine another, but each person to examine himself, making the court not a public one, and the judgment one without a witness.

1 Corinthians 11:29

For the one who eats and drinks in an unworthy way eats and drinks judgment on himself.

What are you saying? Tell me. Has this Table, which is the source of so many blessings and full of life, become a cause of judgment? He says it is not by its own nature, but by the will of the person who comes near. For just as His presence, which brought us those great and unutterable blessings, brought even more condemnation on those who did not receive it, so also the Mysteries become a cause of greater punishment for those who take part in them unworthily.

But why does he eat judgment on himself? Because he does not discern the Lord's body. That is, he does not examine it or keep in mind, as he should, how great the things are that are set before him. He does not value the greatness of the gift. For if you came to know clearly who it is that lies before you, and who he is that gives himself, and to whom he gives himself, you would need no other argument. This alone would be enough to make you use all vigilance, unless you had completely fallen.

1 Corinthians 11:30

For this reason, many among you are weak and sick, and quite a few have died.

Here he no longer uses examples from other people, as he did in the case of food sacrificed to idols, when he told the ancient stories and the punishments in the wilderness. Instead, he uses examples from the Corinthians themselves. This made his message hit them more sharply. He had said, "he eats judgment on himself," and, "he is guilty." But so that he would not seem to be speaking empty words, he also points to actual events and calls them as witnesses against themselves.

This kind of proof affects people more than a threat does, because it shows that the threat has already come true in real life. But he was not satisfied with only these things. From them he also brought in and confirmed the argument about hell-fire, frightening them in both ways. He also answers a question that is discussed everywhere. I mean this:

since many ask one another where untimely deaths come from, and where people's long sicknesses come from, he tells them that many of these unexpected events depend on certain sins. What then? you may say. Do those who remain healthy all the time and live to a fresh old age not sin? No. Who would dare say that? Then why, you ask, are they not punished? Because there they will suffer a harsher punishment. But we, if we are willing, need not suffer it either here or there.

1 Corinthians 11:31

For if we judged ourselves, he says, we would not be judged.

And he did not say, "if we punished ourselves" or "if we took revenge on ourselves," but only that if we were willing to admit our offense, pass sentence on ourselves, and condemn the wrong things we have done, we would be free from punishment both in this world and in the next. For the person who condemns himself makes God favorable in two ways: by admitting his sins, and by being more watchful in the future.

But since we are not willing to do even this small thing, as we ought to do it, God still does not choose to punish us along with the world. Even so, He spares us by requiring punishment in this world, where the penalty lasts only for a time and the comfort is great. For the result is both freedom from sins and a good hope for the things to come, which lessens the present troubles. He says these things at the same time to comfort the sick and to make the rest more serious. Therefore he says,

1 Corinthians 11:32

But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord.

He did not say, “We are being punished.” He did not say, “Vengeance is being taken on us.” Instead, he said, “We are being disciplined.” For what is happening is more for warning than for condemnation, more for healing than for vengeance, and more for correction than for punishment. And not only that. By the threat of a greater evil, he makes the present suffering seem light, when he says, “so that we may not be condemned with the world.”

Do you see how he brings in hell also, and that dreadful judgment seat, and shows that this judgment and punishment are necessary and must certainly happen? For if the faithful, and those for whom God has special care, do not escape without punishment when they sin in any way, and this is clear from what is happening now, then much more will the unbelieving, and those who commit sins that cannot be pardoned or healed, not escape.

1 Corinthians 11:33

Therefore, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

So, while their fear was still at its highest and the terror of hell still remained, he chooses again to bring in the appeal on behalf of the poor, which was the reason he said all these things. He means that if they do not do this, they must partake in an unworthy way. But if not sharing our goods keeps us from that Table, then taking them away by force does so much more.

And he did not say, "Therefore, when you come together, give to those in need," but, in words that sound more reverent, "wait for one another." For this also prepared the way for that and pointed to it, and in a fitting manner introduced the exhortation. Then, further to shame them,

1 Corinthians 11:34

If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home.

By allowing it, he stops it, and more strongly than he would by giving a direct command against it. He sends such a person out of the church and back to his own house. In this way, he sharply rebukes them and even makes them look foolish, as people enslaved to their stomachs and unable to control themselves. For he did not say, "If anyone looks down on the poor," but, "If anyone is hungry," speaking as if to impatient children, or like brute beasts enslaved to appetite.

For it would indeed be very ridiculous if, just because they were hungry, they had to eat at home.

Yet he was not satisfied with this, but added another, more fearful warning. He said that your coming together must not be for judgment. In other words, you must not come together for correction and punishment, while insulting the Church and dishonoring your brother. For this is why you come together, he says: so that you may love one another, and so that you may help others and be helped. But if the opposite happens, it would be better for you to eat at home.

However, he said this so that he might draw them more strongly to himself. Yes, this was the very purpose of both pointing out the harm that would come from this, and saying that the condemnation was not a small matter, and frightening them in every way: by the Mysteries, by the sick, by those who had died, and by the other things mentioned before.

Then he warns them again in another way when he says, "And I will set the rest in order whenever I come." This may refer either to some other matters or to this very issue. He says this because it was likely that they would still have some arguments to make, and it was not possible to put everything right by letter. So, he says, for now, let the things I have instructed you about be observed. But if you have anything else to bring up, let it wait until I come.

He is speaking either about this matter, as I said, or about other things that were not very urgent. He does this so that, in this way also, he may make them more serious. For by being concerned about his coming, they would correct the error. For Paul's stay in any place was no small matter. To show this, he said, "Some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you," in 1 Corinthians 4:18.

And elsewhere again, "Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," in Philippians 2:12. Therefore, he did not simply promise that he would come, because they might not believe him and might become more careless. Instead, he also gives a necessary reason for his stay with them when he says, "I will set the rest in order when I come."

This means that correcting the things that still remained would have brought him there, even if he had not otherwise wanted to come.

Therefore, after hearing all these things, let us take great care of the poor, control our appetites, free ourselves from drunkenness, and be careful to receive the Mysteries in a worthy way. And whatever we suffer, let us not take it bitterly, either in our own case or in the case of others, such as when an untimely death happens or long sicknesses come. For this is deliverance from punishment. This is correction. This is the best warning. Who says this? The one who has Christ speaking in him.

But even after this, many of our women are still so foolishly minded that they go beyond unbelievers in the excess of their grief. Some do this because their passion blinds them. But others do it for show, and to avoid the criticism of those who are outside the faith. In my judgment, these women have the least excuse of all. For she says, "So that such a person may not accuse me, let God be my accuser.

So that men more senseless than brute beasts may not condemn me, let the law of the King of all be trampled underfoot." Why, how many thunderbolts do not these words deserve?

Again, if anyone invites you to a funeral meal after your loss, no one says anything against it, because there is a human law that requires such things. But when God, by His law, forbids your mourning, everyone opposes it like this. Does not Job come to your mind, woman? Do you not remember his words at the loss of his children? Those words adorned that holy head more than ten thousand crowns and made a proclamation louder than many trumpets.

Do you not consider how great his disasters were, that unmatched shipwreck, and that strange and fearful tragedy? You may perhaps have lost one child, or a second, or a third. But he lost so many sons and daughters, and the man who had many children suddenly became childless. And the pain in his heart did not waste him away little by little. Instead, in one stroke, all the fruit of his body was taken from him.

Nor did this happen by the common law of nature, when they had reached old age, but by a death that was both early and violent. And they all died together, when he was not present and not sitting beside them, so that he could not even hear their last words and find some comfort for their very bitter end. Instead, contrary to all expectation, and without his knowing anything of what had happened, they were all overwhelmed at once, and their house became both their grave and their trap.

And not only their early death, but many other things besides were enough to grieve him. They were all in the prime of life. They were all virtuous and loving. They all died together, and not one was left, male or female. This did not happen by the ordinary course of nature. It came after such a great loss. And though he was aware of no sin in himself or in them, he still suffered these things. Each one of these circumstances by itself is enough to trouble the mind.

But when they all come together, imagine how high those waves were, and how great that storm was. And what was especially greater and worse than his loss was this: he did not even know why all these things had happened. So then, since he could name no cause for the disaster, he rises to the good pleasure of God and says, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. As it pleased the Lord, so it happened. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever."

Job 1:21 He said these things when he saw himself, after following every virtue, brought to the very end of suffering, while evil men and deceivers were prospering, living in luxury, and celebrating on every side. Yet he spoke no such words as some weaker people would likely have spoken: "Was it for this that I raised my children and trained them so carefully?

Was it for this that I opened my house to everyone who passed by, so that after all those efforts on behalf of the needy, the naked, and the orphans, I might receive this reward?" Instead of saying these things, he offered up words better than any sacrifice, saying, "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there." If, however, he tore his clothes and shaved his head, do not be surprised. For he was a father, and a loving father.

And it was fitting that both the compassion of his nature should be shown, and also the self-control of his spirit. For if he had not done this, perhaps someone would have thought that his self-control came only from a lack of feeling. Therefore he shows both his natural love and the exactness of his piety, and in his grief he was not overcome.

Yes, and when his testing went further, he was again given other crowns because of his answer to his wife. He said, "If we have received good from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil?" Job 2:10. In fact, by this time his wife was the only one left. Everything else had been completely destroyed: his children, his possessions, and even his own body. She was kept alive to tempt him and trap him.

And this was indeed the reason why the devil did not destroy her with the children or ask for her death, because he expected that she would contribute greatly to trapping that holy man. Therefore he left her for himself like a kind of tool, and a terrible one. For, "If I cast mankind out of paradise by her means," he says, "much more will I be able to trip him up on the dunghill."

And notice his cunning. He did not use this trick when the oxen or donkeys or camels were lost, or even when the house fell and the children were buried under it. Instead, while he watched the fighter, he allowed her to stay silent and still.

But when the fountain of worms burst out, when the skin began to rot and fall off, and the flesh wasted away and gave off a most horrible discharge, and when the devil’s hand was wearing him down with pain sharper than gridirons and furnaces and any flame, consuming his body on every side and eating it away more cruelly than any wild beast, and when a long time had passed in this misery, then he brings her to him, prepared and worn down.

If she had come to him at the beginning of his trouble, she would not have found him so weakened, and she would not have had such power to enlarge and exaggerate his suffering by her words. But now, when she saw that over a long time he was thirsting for relief and longing for the end of what was pressing on him so violently, then she comes upon him. To show that he was completely worn out, and by this time had become unable even to breathe, yes, and even desired to die, hear what he says:

"For I wish I could lay hands on myself, or ask another person, and he would do it for me." And notice, I ask you, the wickedness of his wife, and from what subject she begins at once: that is, from the length of time. She says, "How long will you hold out? You sit all night in the open air, while I am a wanderer and a servant, going from place to place and from house to house, waiting for the sun to set so that I may rest from my labors and from the pains that now press hard on me.

But say some word against the Lord, and die."

Now, if words alone have often been enough to break a person's courage even when no real trouble existed, think what he was likely to feel then, when, besides those words, the actual events themselves were also causing him pain. And what seemed worst of all was that it was his wife speaking this way—a wife who had completely fallen into despair and was giving herself up to it, and for this reason was trying to throw him also into despair.

However, so that we may see more clearly the weapon that was brought against that adamant wall, let us listen to the very words. What then are they? "How long will you hold out?" In other words, "Look, I am waiting a little longer, still hoping for my salvation." "No," she says, "time has exposed the foolishness of your words. It keeps dragging on, and yet shows no way of escape." And she said these things not only to drive him into despair, but also to reproach him and make fun of him.

As she kept pressing him, he was always trying to comfort her and put her off. He would say something like this: “Wait a little longer, and these troubles will soon come to an end.” So she answers him with reproach and says, “Will you say the same thing again now? A long time has passed already, and no end of these troubles has appeared.” Notice her malice. She does not mention the oxen, the sheep, or the camels, because she knew he was not deeply troubled about those.

Instead, she goes straight to what is natural and reminds him of his children. For when they died, she saw him both tear his clothes and shave his head. And she did not say, “Your children are dead.” Instead, in a very moving way, she says, “Your memorial has perished from the earth,” meaning the very reason children were so greatly desired.

For if, even now, after the resurrection has been made known, children are desired because they preserve the memory of the dead, then this was much more so at that time. Therefore her curse also becomes more bitter for that reason. For in that case, the one who cursed did not say, “Let his children be completely rooted out,” but, “his memorial from the earth.” “Your sons and your daughters.” So although she said, “the memorial,” she then again carefully mentions both sexes.

But if, she says, you do not care about these things, then at least think about what is mine: the pains of my womb, and the labors I have endured in sorrow for no purpose. What she means is this: I, who endured more, am being wronged for your sake, and after bearing the hardships, I am deprived of the fruit of them.

And see how she neither plainly mentions the loss of his property, nor stays silent about it and passes over it quickly. Instead, she refers to it indirectly in the way that could be told most sadly. For when she says, "I too am a vagabond and a slave, going from place to place, from house to house," she both hints at the loss and shows her great distress. These words even make that misfortune seem worse. For, she says, "I come to other people's doors.

I do not only beg, but I am also a wanderer and serve in a strange and unusual slavery. I go around everywhere, carrying the signs of my calamity and teaching all people about my sufferings." And this is the most pitiful thing of all: to move from one house to another. And she did not stop even with these laments, but went on to say, "Waiting for the sun to set, so that I may rest from my miseries and the pains that surround me, by which I am now pressed hard."

So then, she says, what is sweet to others, to look upon the light, is painful to me. But the night and the darkness are desirable. For only this gives me rest from my labors. Only this becomes a comfort in my miseries. "But speak somewhat against the Lord, and die." Do you see here also her cunning wickedness? She did not immediately give the deadly advice at the moment of advising. First, she sorrowfully told of her misfortunes and drew out the tragedy at length.

Then, in a few words, she hid what she wanted to recommend. She did not even say it plainly. Instead, by putting a veil over it, she offered him the escape he greatly longed for, and promised death, the very thing he then desired most of all.

Notice from this also the devil’s malice: because he knew Job’s deep longing for God, he did not let Job’s wife accuse God, so that Job would not at once turn away from her as an enemy. For this reason, she never mentions God anywhere, but keeps talking again and again about the actual disasters.

And besides what has been said, add this point also: it was a woman who gave this advice, a remarkable speaker who could deceive the careless. In fact, many people, even without any outside circumstances, have been brought down by the advice of a woman alone.

6. So what did that blessed saint do, that man firmer than adamant? He looked at her with bitterness, and by his expression, even before he spoke, he drove back her schemes. She had no doubt expected to stir up streams of tears. But he became fiercer than a lion, full of anger and indignation, not because of his sufferings, but because of her devilish suggestions. He showed his anger by his look, and then in a quiet tone he gave his rebuke. For even in trouble he kept control of himself.

And what does he say? "Why do you speak like one of the foolish women?" "I have not taught you this," he says. "I did not raise you this way." And this is why I do not now even recognize my own wife. For these words are the advice of a foolish woman, and of one who is out of her mind. Do you see here an example of wounding with restraint, and giving a blow only strong enough to cure the disease?

Then, after the blow had fallen, he adds advice that is enough to comfort her on the other side, and it is very reasonable. He speaks like this: "If we have received our good things from the hand of the Lord, should we not also endure our troubles?" For, he says, remember those earlier things and think about the One who gave them, and you will bear even these troubles in a noble way. Do you see the man's humility? He does not credit his patience to his own courage at all.

Instead, he says it was the natural result of what had happened. For what did God give us those earlier good things in return for? What payment was he giving back? None. He gave them only out of his goodness. For they were a gift, not a repayment; grace, not a reward. Well then, let us bear these troubles nobly as well.

Let both men and women keep this message written down and engraved in their minds, along with these words and the ones that came before them. Let us draw in our minds, as if in a picture, the story of his sufferings. I mean the loss of wealth, the death of children, the sickness of his body, the insults, the mockings, his wife's schemes, the devil's trap, and, in short, all the troubles of that righteous man.

Let us remember them exactly, so that we may provide ourselves with a very great harbor of refuge. Then, by enduring everything nobly and thankfully, we may both cast off all despair in this present life and receive the rewards that belong to this good way of bearing such things, by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. With whom, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and forever, world without end. Amen.

1 Corinthians 12:1-2

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that when you were Gentiles, you were led away to those dumb idols, however you might be led.

This whole passage is very hard to understand. But the difficulty comes from our ignorance of the facts being referred to, and from the fact that these things have ceased. They were the kind of things that used to happen then, but no longer happen now. And why do they not happen now? Look, the cause of the difficulty has led us to another question again. That is, why did they happen then, but do so no more now?

However, let us put this off until another time. But for the present, let us state what things were happening then. Well then, what did happen then? Whoever was baptized immediately spoke with tongues. And not with tongues only, but many also prophesied, and some also performed many other wonderful works.

For since, when they came over from idols, they had no clear knowledge or training in the ancient Scriptures, yet at once upon baptism they received the Spirit, and yet they did not see the Spirit, for It is invisible, therefore God's grace gave some sensible proof of that working. One immediately spoke in Persian, another in Roman, another in Indian, and another in some other such tongue. And this made it clear to those outside that it was the Spirit Himself speaking in the person.

Therefore he also calls it this, saying, "But to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for profit," 1 Corinthians 12:7. He calls the gifts a manifestation of the Spirit. For just as the Apostles themselves had first received this sign, so also the faithful kept receiving it, I mean, the gift of tongues. Yet not only this, but many others also, since many even used to raise the dead, and to cast out devils, and to perform many other such wonders.

And they also had gifts, some less and some more. But more abundant than all was the gift of tongues among them. And this became to them a cause of division, not from its own nature, but from the perverseness of those who had received it. For on the one hand, those who possessed the greater gifts were lifted up against those who had the lesser. And these again were grieved, and envied the owners of the greater gifts. And Paul himself, as he goes on, hints at this.

Since they were being seriously harmed by the breaking apart of their love, he is very careful to correct it. This had happened in Rome also, but not in the same way. That is why, in the Epistle to the Romans, he brings it up, but in a less direct and shorter way. He says, "For as we have many members in one body, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

And having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the measure of our faith; or ministry, let us devote ourselves to ministry; or the one who teaches, to teaching."

Romans 12:4-8 That the Romans also were becoming self-willed because of this, he hints at in the beginning of that passage, when he says, "For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think so as to think soberly, according as God has given to each person a measure of faith." Romans 12:3 However, he spoke to them in this way because the sickness of division and pride had not gone very far.

But here he speaks with great concern, because the disease had spread widely.

And this was not the only thing that troubled them. There were also many soothsayers in that place, since the city was more devoted than usual to Greek customs. This, along with the other things, was leading to offense and disturbance among them. That is why he begins by first explaining the difference between soothsaying and prophecy. For this reason also they received discernment of spirits, so that they could tell and know who was speaking by a pure spirit and who by an impure spirit.

Because it was not possible, at that moment, to prove the truth of what was being spoken by the words themselves. Prophecy proves its own truth, not when it is spoken, but when the event happens. And it was not easy to tell the true prophet from the false one. For the devil himself, cursed as he is, had entered those who were prophesying, bringing in false prophets, as though they also could foretell the future.

Also, people were easily deceived, because what was spoken could not yet be tested before the events happened that the prophecy was about. For the outcome showed who was a false prophet and who was a true one. Therefore, so that the hearers would not be deceived before the end, he gives them a sign that, even before the event, could show which person was one and which was the other.

And so, following this order and starting point, he goes on to speak about the gifts also, and he corrects the spirit of conflict that had come from this as well. For now, however, he begins the discussion about the soothsayers by saying this.

2. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I would not have you ignorant. He calls the signs spiritual because they are the works of the Spirit alone, and human effort contributes nothing to the working of such wonders. And since he intends to speak about them, first, as I said, he lays down the difference between soothsaying and prophecy, saying this:

You know that when you were Gentiles, you were led away to those mute idols, however you were led. What he means is this: in the idol temples, he says, if someone was at any time possessed by an unclean spirit and began to give divinations, then, like a person being dragged away, he was pulled by that spirit as if in chains, knowing nothing of the things he was saying. For this is the special mark of the soothsayer:

to be out of his right mind, to be under compulsion, to be pushed, to be dragged, to be hauled along like a madman. But the prophet is not like that. Instead, with a sober mind, a calm spirit, and full knowledge of what he is saying, he speaks everything. Therefore, even before the event happens, you should use this to tell the difference between the soothsayer and the prophet.

And consider how he removes all suspicion from what he says by calling as witnesses the very people who had tested this matter. It is as if he had said, "I am not lying, nor am I carelessly slandering the religion of the Gentiles by making things up like an enemy. You yourselves can bear witness, because you know how, when you were Gentiles, you were pulled and dragged away then."

But if anyone says that these men also are open to suspicion because they are believers, come, I will show you this even from those who are outside the faith. Listen, for example, to Plato saying this: “Just as those who deliver oracles and the fortune-tellers say many great and excellent things, but know nothing of what they are saying.” Listen again to another man, a poet, giving the same hint.

By certain mystical rites and acts of sorcery, a certain person had imprisoned a demon in a man, and the man gave divinations. While he was prophesying, he was thrown down and torn, and he could not endure the violence of the demon, but was about to perish in that convulsion. So the poet says to the people who were practicing such mystical arts,

Please untie me, I pray you:

The mighty God, no longer mortal flesh.

Untie my wreaths, and wash my feet with drops.

From the pure stream, erase these mysterious lines,

Because of these things, and others like them—for one could mention many more—show us these two facts that follow: the force that keeps the demons under control and makes them slaves, and the violence suffered by those who once give themselves over to them, so that they turn away even from their natural reason. And consider the Pythoness too. I am forced now to bring up and expose another of their shameful customs.

It would be better to pass it by, because it is unfit for us even to mention such things. But so that you may know their shame more clearly, it is necessary to mention it, so that at least from this you may come to know the madness and extreme mockery of those who use soothsayers. This Pythoness, then, is said to be a woman who at times sits astride on the tripod of Apollo. Then the evil spirit rises from below and enters the lower part of her body.

It fills the woman with madness, and with her hair loose and disordered she begins to rave like a bacchant and foam at the mouth. Then, in this frenzy, she speaks the words of her madness. I know that you are ashamed and blush when you hear these things. But they glory both in the disgrace and in the madness that I have described.

Paul was referring to these things, and all others like them, when he said, "You know that when you were Gentiles, you were led away to those dumb idols, however you might be led."

And because he was speaking with people who already knew these things well, he did not explain everything in exact detail. He did not want to burden them. He only reminded them and brought it all back to their memory. Then he quickly left that point and hurried on to the subject before him.

But what does he mean by, "to those mute idols"? These fortune-tellers used to be led and dragged to them.

But if they themselves were mute, how did they give answers to others? And why did the demon lead them to the images? He did it as with people taken in war and put in chains, while at the same time making his deceit seem believable. So, to keep people from thinking it was only a mute stone, they were eager to fasten the people to the idols, so that their own way and title might be written on them. But our sacred practices are not like that.

He did not, however, mention our practices, and I mean prophecy. For this was well known to them all, and prophecy was active among them, as was fitting for their condition, with understanding and complete freedom. Therefore, you see, they had the power either to speak or to keep silent. For they were not forced by necessity, but were honored with a privilege. For this reason Jonah fled, Jonah 1:3. For this reason Ezekiel delayed, Ezekiel 3:15.

For this reason Jeremiah excused himself, Jeremiah 1:6. And God does not drive them by force, but advises, urges, and warns them. He does not darken their mind. For causing confusion and madness and great darkness is the proper work of a demon. But it is God's work to give light and to teach the things that are needed with understanding.

This, then, is the first difference between a fortune-teller and a prophet. But there is also a second difference, and a different one, which he states next when he says,

1 Corinthians 12:3

Therefore I want you to understand this: no one speaking by the Spirit of God says that Jesus is accursed. And another thing: no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

"When you see," he says, "anyone not speaking His name, or anathematizing Him, he is a soothsayer. Again, when you see another saying all things with His Name, understand that he is spiritual." What then, you say, must we say concerning the Catechumens? For if no one can say that Jesus is the Lord except by the Holy Spirit, what must we say of those who indeed name His Name, but are without His Spirit? But his discourse at this time was not concerning these.

For there were not at that time Catechumens, but believers and unbelievers. What then? Does no demon call upon God's Name? Did not the demoniacs say, "We know who You are, the Holy One of God," Mark 1:24? Did they not say to Paul, "These men are the servants of the Most High God," Acts 16:17? They did, but upon scourging, upon compulsion; never of their own will, and never without being scourged.

But here it is right to ask both why the demon said these things and why Paul rebuked him. He did it by following his Teacher, because Christ also rebuked demons in the same way, since he did not want testimony from them. And why did the devil also do this? He meant to throw the proper order of things into confusion, to take for himself the dignity of the Apostles, and to persuade many people to pay attention to demons.

If that had happened, they could easily have made themselves seem trustworthy because of this, and then brought in their own plans. So, to keep these things from happening, and to keep the deceit from getting a beginning, Paul stopped their mouths even when they were speaking the truth. He did this so that, when they spoke falsehoods, people would not listen to them at all, but would shut their ears completely to the things they said.

4. After making the soothsayers and the prophets clear by the first sign and also by the second, he next speaks about miracles. He does not move to this subject without reason. Rather, he does so in order to remove the division that had arisen from it, and to persuade both those who had the lesser share not to grieve and those who had the greater share not to become proud. Therefore he also began in this way.

1 Corinthians 12:4

Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit.

First, he speaks to the one who had the smaller gift and was upset because of it. "Why," he says, "are you discouraged? Is it because you have not received as much as someone else? Still, remember that it is a free gift and not a debt, and you will be able to calm your pain." That is why he said this at the very beginning: "There are different kinds of gifts." He did not say "signs" or "wonders," but "gifts."

By using the name "free gifts," he was persuading them not only not to be sad, but even to be thankful. And consider this too, he says: even if you are lower in the amount of what is given, still, because you have been allowed to receive from the same source as the other person who received more, you have equal honor. For surely you cannot say that the Spirit gave the gift to him, but an angel gave it to you, since the Spirit gave it to both you and him.

Therefore he added, "but the same Spirit." So even if there is a difference in the gift, there is no difference in the Giver. For both you and he are drawing from the same Fountain.

1 Corinthians 12:5

And there are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.

So, to make the comfort greater, he also mentions the Son and the Father. Then he gives these gifts another name, and by this too he means to increase their comfort. Therefore he says, "There are different kinds of ministries, but the same Lord." For when someone hears about a gift and has received a smaller share, perhaps that person may feel grief. But when we call it a ministry, the situation is different. For that word implies labor and sweat.

Why then do you grieve, he says, if he has told another person to labor more, while sparing you?

1 Corinthians 12:6

And there are different kinds of workings, but the same God works all things in everyone.

1 Corinthians 12:7

But to each person, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all.

And what, someone says, is a working? And what is a gift? And what is a ministration? They are only different names, since the things themselves are the same. For what he calls a gift, he also calls a ministration and an operation. So he says, "Fulfill your ministry," in 2 Timothy 4:5. And again, "I magnify my ministration," in Romans 11:13, using "ministration" for the same thing.

And writing to Timothy he says, "Therefore I put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God, which is in you," in 2 Timothy 1:6. Again, writing to the Galatians, he said, "For he that wrought in Peter to the Apostleship, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles," in Galatians 2:8. Do you see that he shows there is no difference in the gifts of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost? Not confusing the Persons, God forbid, but declaring the equal honor of the Essence.

For what the Spirit bestows, he says God also works; and this the Son likewise appoints and grants. Yet surely if the one were inferior to the other, or the other to it, he would not have spoken this way, nor would this have been his way of comforting the person who was troubled.

5. After this, he also comforts him in another way. He does it by showing that the measure granted to him is profitable for him, even if it is not so great. For after saying that it is the same Spirit, and the same Lord, and the same God, and after restoring him by this, he brings in another consolation again, saying, "But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for profit." For lest someone should say, "What if it is the same Lord, the same Spirit, and the same God?

Yet I have received less," he says that it was profitable for him to have received less.

But he calls miracles a manifestation of the Spirit, and for a clear reason. To me, as a believer, a person who has the Spirit is shown by the fact that he has been baptized. But to an unbeliever, this will not be clear at all except through miracles. So here again there is no small comfort. For even though there is a difference in gifts, the evidence is the same. Whether you have much or little, you are equally shown to have the Spirit.

So if you want to show that you have the Spirit, you have enough proof.

Therefore, now that the Giver is one, and what is given is a pure gift, and the revelation happens through this, and this is more helpful for you, do not grieve as if you had been looked down on. For God has done this, not to dishonor you or to declare you inferior to someone else, but to spare you and for your well-being. To receive more than a person is able to bear is actually unhelpful and harmful, and it is a proper cause for discouragement.

1 Corinthians 12:8

For to one person, through the Spirit, is given the message of wisdom; and to another, according to the same Spirit, the message of knowledge.

1 Corinthians 12:9

To another is given faith by the same Spirit; to another are given gifts of healing by the one Spirit.

Do you see how he adds this everywhere, saying, "through the same Spirit" and "according to the same Spirit"? For he knew that the comfort from that was great.

1 Corinthians 12:10

To one person is given the working of miracles; to another, prophecies; to another, the ability to discern spirits; to another, various kinds of tongues; and to another, the interpretation of tongues.

So, since they were boasting about this, he put it last and added,

1 Corinthians 12:11

But one and the same Spirit does all these works.

The universal remedy in which his comfort lies is this: they all receive from the same root, from the same treasures, and from the same streams. So, by returning again and again to this expression, he removes the seeming inequality and comforts them. Earlier, he pointed to the Spirit, and the Son, and the Father, as the ones who provide the gifts. But here he was satisfied to mention only the Spirit, so that even from this you may again understand that their dignity is the same.

But what is the word of wisdom? It is what Paul had, and what John had, the son of thunder.

And what is the word of knowledge? It is what most of the faithful had. They did have knowledge, but they were not therefore able to teach it, nor easily explain to another what they knew.

And to another is given faith. By this he does not mean the faith of doctrines, but the faith that works miracles. About this, Christ says, "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Move,' and it will move." Matthew 17:20 The Apostles also asked Him about this, saying, "Increase our faith." Luke 17:5 For this kind of faith is the mother of miracles. But having the power to work miracles is not the same as having gifts of healing.

The one who had a gift of healing used only to cure people. But the one who had powers for working miracles also used them to punish. For a miracle is not only healing, but also punishing, just as Paul inflicted blindness, and Peter killed.

To another are given prophecies, and to another the discernment of spirits. What is the discernment of spirits? It is knowing who is spiritual and who is not; who is a prophet and who is a deceiver. As he said to the Thessalonians, "Do not despise prophecies, but test all things; hold fast to what is good." 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 For at that time there was a great surge of false prophets, as the devil was secretly trying to replace the truth with falsehood.

To another are given various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. One person knew what he himself was speaking, but was not able to explain it to someone else. Another had received both of these gifts, or one of the two. Now this seemed to be a great gift, because the Apostles received it first, and most of the Corinthians had obtained it. But the gift of teaching was not like that. Therefore he puts that first, but this last.

For this was because of that, and so indeed were all the rest also: prophecies, workings of miracles, various kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues. For none of these is equal to this. Therefore he also said, "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching." 1 Timothy 5:17 And he wrote to Timothy, saying, "Give attention to reading, to exhortation, to teaching; do not neglect the gift that is in you."

1 Timothy 4:13-14 Do you see how he also calls it a gift?

Next, he again sets before us the comfort he gave earlier when he said, "the same Spirit." Here also he says, "But all these are worked by the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one individually as he wills." He not only gives comfort, but also shuts the mouth of the one who argues against this, by saying here, "dividing to each one individually as he wills."

For it was necessary not only to heal, but also to bind up, as he also does in the Epistle to the Romans when he says, "But who are you that replies against God?" Romans 9:20. In the same way here, he says, "dividing to each one individually as he wills."

And what belongs to the Father, he also shows to belong to the Spirit. For about the Father he says, "but it is the same God who works all things in all." In the same way, about the Spirit he says, "but one and the same Spirit works all these things." But someone will say, "He does this because God moves Him to do it." No; he never says this anywhere. You are inventing it. For when he says, "who works all things in all," he says this about people.

You would hardly say that he also includes the Spirit among those people, unless your foolishness and madness were beyond measure. Because he had said, "through the Spirit," he adds this so that you would not think that the word "through" means inferiority or that the Spirit is being moved by another. He adds that the Spirit works; He is not worked upon. And He works as He wills, not as He is commanded. For about the Father, the Son says that He raises the dead and gives them life.

In the same way, about Himself, He says that He gives life to whom He wills, John 5:21. So also, in another place, Scripture says about the Spirit that He does all things with authority, and that nothing hinders Him. For the words, "blows where it wills," in John 3:8, though spoken about the wind, are useful for establishing this point. But here the text says that He works all things as He wills.

And from another place we learn that He is not one of the things being acted upon, but one of those that act. For he says, "For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of the person that is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God," 1 Corinthians 2:11. Now that a man's spirit, that is, the soul, does not need to be moved by another in order to know its own things is, I suppose, clear to everyone.

Therefore the Holy Spirit also does not need to be moved by another in order to know the things of God. For his meaning is like this: the hidden things of God are known to the Holy Spirit just as the hidden things of a person are known to that person's own soul. But if the soul is not moved by another for that purpose, then much less would the One who knows the depths of God, and needs no outside moving for that knowledge, require some power to move Him in order to give gifts to the Apostles.

But besides these things, I will now mention again what I spoke of before. What is it, then? It is this: if the Spirit were lower and of a different substance, his comfort would have been of no help, and it would have done us no good to hear the words, "of the same Spirit." For if someone has received something from the king, I admit that it may greatly comfort him to know that the king himself gave it to him.

But if it came from a slave, he is more likely to be upset when someone reminds him of it. So even from this, it is clear that the Holy Spirit is not of the substance of the servant, but of the King.

Therefore, just as he comforted them when he said that there are different kinds of ministries, but the same Lord, and different kinds of workings, but the same God, so also he did the same when he said earlier, "there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit." And after this, again, when he said, "But all these are worked by the one and the same Spirit, who gives to each person individually as He wills."

He says, "Please, let us not be confused. And let us not be upset, saying, 'Why have I received this and not that?' Let us not demand an explanation from the Holy Spirit. For if you know that he granted it out of providential care, then understand that from that same care he has also given its measure. So be content and rejoice in what you have received. But do not complain about what you have not received. Rather, confess God's favor, because you have not received things beyond your power."

5. And if we should not be overly curious about spiritual things, then much more should we not be overly curious about earthly things. Instead, we should be calm and not ask too exactly why one person is rich and another is poor. For first of all, not every rich person is rich because of God. Many are rich because of injustice, robbery, and greed. For if He forbade people to be rich, how could He have allowed what He forbade them to receive?

But so that I may, far more than this matter requires, silence those who argue against us about these things, come, let us take our discussion farther back, to the time when God used to give riches, and answer me this. Why was Abraham rich, while Jacob lacked even bread? Were not both of them righteous? Does He not say about all three alike, "I am the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob"? Exodus 3:6 Why then was one a rich man, and the other a hired servant?

Or rather, why was Esau rich, even though he was unrighteous and his brother's murderer, while Jacob was in bondage for such a long time? Why again did Isaac live in comfort his whole life, but Jacob in hard labor and misery? For this reason he also said, "Few and evil are my days." Genesis 47:9

Therefore, why did David, who was both a prophet and a king, himself also live his whole life in toils? While Solomon his son spent forty years in greater security than all other men, enjoying deep peace, glory, and honor, and passing through every kind of delight. What again could be the reason that, among the prophets also, one was afflicted more and another less? Because this was expedient for each. Therefore, on each matter our remark must be, "Your judgments are a great deep," Psalm 36:6.

For if those great and wonderful men were not exercised by God in the same way, but one by poverty and another by riches, one by ease and another by trouble, much more ought we now to keep these things in mind.

8. But besides this, we should also consider that many things that happen do not take place according to His will, but arise from our own wickedness. So do not say, "Why is one man rich though he is wicked, while another is poor though he is righteous?" First of all, these things can also be explained. The righteous man suffers no harm from his poverty. In fact, it brings him an even greater honor.

And the evil man, in his riches, possesses only a store of punishment for the road before him, unless he changes. Even before punishment comes, his riches often become the cause of many evils for him, and lead him into ten thousand traps. But God permits this, both to show the free choice of the will, and also to teach everyone else not to be mad or to rave after money.

How is it, then, you ask, that a man can be wicked, rich, and suffer nothing terrible? If he is good and has wealth, then he has it justly. But if he is bad, what should we say? We should say that even in that he is to be pitied. Wealth added to wickedness makes the harm worse. But is he a good man and poor? Then he is not harmed at all. Is he a bad man and poor? Then this is just, and what he deserves, or rather it is even for his own benefit.

But, you say, such a man received his riches from his ancestors, spends it on harlots and parasites, and suffers no evil. What are you saying? If he commits sexual immorality, do you say he suffers no evil? If he is drunk, do you think he is living in true luxury? If he spends his money for no good purpose, do you judge that he should be envied? No. What could be worse than this kind of wealth, which destroys the very soul?

If his body were twisted and crippled, you would say that his condition should be deeply mourned. And do you see his whole soul mutilated, and still count him happy? But, you say, he does not realize it. Well then, for this very reason he is again to be pitied, just like all mad people are. For the man who knows he is sick will, of course, seek a physician and accept treatment. But the man who does not know it has no chance at all of being rescued. Tell me, do you call such a person happy?

But this is no surprise, because most people do not understand true love of wisdom. That is why we suffer the worst penalty. We are corrected, yet we do not even pull ourselves away from the punishment. This is why there is anger, discouragement, and constant disorder: because when God has shown us a life without sorrow, the life of virtue, we leave it and choose another path, the path of riches and money, which is full of endless evils.

We act as if a man could not tell what makes a human body beautiful, but thought it all came from clothing and jewelry. Then, when he saw a beautiful woman with natural beauty, he would quickly pass her by. But when he saw a woman who was ugly, poorly formed, and deformed, yet dressed in beautiful clothes, he would take her as his wife. In much the same way, the crowd now thinks about virtue and vice.

They accept the one that is naturally deformed because of her outward ornaments, but they turn away from the one who is fair and lovely because of her plain beauty, though for that very reason they should especially choose her.

Therefore, I am ashamed that among the foolish heathen there are some who practice this philosophy, if not in their actions, at least in their judgment. They know that present things perish. But among us, some do not even understand this. Their very judgment has been corrupted. And this is so while Scripture keeps sounding in our ears again and again, saying, "In his sight the vile person is contemned, but he honors them that fear the Lord," Psalm 15:4; "the fear of the Lord excels everything";

"fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole of man," Ecclesiastes 12:13; "be not thou envious of evil men," Psalm 37:1; "all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass," Isaiah 40:7. Even though we hear these and similar things every day, we are still nailed to the earth. And like ignorant children who keep learning their letters, if they are tested on their order after the letters have been mixed up, and name one instead of another, they cause much laughter.

In the same way, when I repeat these things here in order, you follow along in a way. But when I ask you outside, and not in any set order, what we ought to put first among things, and what next, and which after which, you do not know how to answer, and so you become ridiculous.

Tell me, is it not a great matter for laughter that those who expect immortality and the good things "which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man," should struggle over the things that remain here and think them worthy of envy? For if you still need to learn that riches are not a great thing, that present things are a shadow and a dream, and that like smoke they melt away and fly off, then for now stand outside the sanctuary.

Remain in the vestibule, since you are not yet worthy to enter the palace courts above. For if you do not know how to discern the nature of things that are unstable and always passing away, when will you be able to despise them?

But if you say you know, then stop asking curious questions and troubling yourself about why one person is rich and another is poor. When you ask these questions, you are doing the same kind of thing as if you went around asking why one person is handsome and another dark, or why one has a hooked nose and another a flat nose. For just as these things make no difference to us, whether they are one way or another, so it is also with poverty and riches, which matter even less.

Everything depends on the way we use them. Whether you are poor, you may live cheerfully while denying yourself. Or if you are rich, you are the most miserable of all people if you flee from virtue. For these are what really concern us: the things of virtue. And if these things are not added, the rest are useless. This is also the reason for those constant questions: most people think that indifferent things are important to them, but they make no account of the important things.

For what is important to us is virtue and love of wisdom.

Because you stand, I do not know where, at some great distance from her, there is confusion in your thoughts. That is why there are so many waves. That is why there is a storm. For when people fall away from heavenly glory and the love of heaven, they desire present glory and become slaves and captives. And how is it, you ask, that we desire this? It comes from not greatly desiring that. And how does this very thing happen? From negligence. And where does the negligence come from? From contempt.

And where does the contempt come from? From folly, from clinging to present things, and from being unwilling to examine carefully the true nature of things. And where does this last thing come from? From neither paying attention to the reading of Scripture nor spending time with holy men, and from following the gatherings of the wicked.

So that this may not always be so, and so that wave after wave may not sweep us away into the deep misery and completely drown and destroy us, let us endure while there is still time. Let us stand on the rock, that is, on the divine teachings and words, and look down on the storm of this present life. For in this way, we ourselves will escape it. And after pulling up others who are being shipwrecked, we will obtain the blessings that are to come, through grace and mercy, and so on.

1 Corinthians 12:12

For the body is one, and it has many parts. And all the parts of the body, though they are many, are one body. So it is with Christ.

After calming them by reminding them that what was given was a free gift; that they all received everything from one and the same Spirit; that it was given for their benefit; that even the smaller gifts made the Spirit known; and also by stopping their mouths with the duty of yielding to the Spirit’s authority—for, he says, “all these are worked by the one and the same Spirit, who divides to each person individually as he wills”;

therefore it is not right to be too curious—he now goes on to calm them in the same way by using another example that applied to all. He turns to nature itself, as he often did.

When he was speaking about the hair of men and women, after everything else he also drew a lesson from that to correct them. He said, "Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her?" 1 Corinthians 11:14-15. And when he spoke about food sacrificed to idols, forbidding them to touch it, he also drew an argument from the examples of people outside the faith.

He mentioned the Olympic games, where he says, "They which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize." 1 Corinthians 9:24. He also supported these points by examples from shepherds, soldiers, and farmers. Therefore, here too he brings forward a common example. By it he strongly urges and labors to prove that no one was really placed in a worse condition. To be able to show this was wonderful and surprising, and it was able to refresh the weaker kind of people.

I mean the example of the body. For nothing so comforts a person with little courage and lesser gifts, or so persuades him not to be troubled, as being convinced that he has not been left with less than his share. Therefore Paul also, while proving this point, speaks like this: "For as the body is one and has many members."

Do you see how exact his thought is? He is showing that the same thing is both one and many. Therefore he adds, pressing the point more strongly, "and all the members of the one body, though many, are one body." He did not say, "though many, are of one body," but that the one body itself is many, and that those many members are this one thing. If, then, the one is many and the many are one, where is the difference? Where is the superiority? Where is the disadvantage? For, he says, all are one.

And not just simply one. If they are considered strictly in regard to what is most important, that is, their being a body, they are all found to be one. But when they are considered as to their individual natures, then the difference appears, and the difference is present equally in all. For none of them by itself can make a body. Each one is equally lacking when it comes to making a body, and there is a need for coming together.

Since when the many become one, then, and not until then, there is one body. Therefore, quietly hinting at this very thing, he said, "And all the members of the one body, though many, are one body." And he did not say, "the superior and the inferior," but, "though many," which is something shared by all.

And how can they be one? They can be one when you set aside the differences between the members and think about the body. For in the matter of being a member and making up one body, the eye is the same as the foot. In this respect, there is no difference. Nor can you say that one member by itself makes a body, but another does not. For they are all equal in this, precisely because they are all one body.

But after saying this and showing it clearly from the judgment commonly accepted by all, he added, "so also is Christ." And though he should have said, "so also is the Church," because that was the natural next statement, he does not say that. Instead, he uses the name of Christ. He lifts the discussion to a higher level and appeals more and more to the hearer's reverence. But this is what he means: "So also is the body of Christ, which is the Church."

For just as the body and the head are one man, so he said that the Church and Christ are one. Therefore he put Christ in place of the Church, giving that name to His body. So then, he says, our body is one thing, though it is made up of many parts. In the same way, in the Church we all are one thing. For though the Church is made up of many members, those many form one body.

So then, as you see, after restoring and lifting up the one who thought he was looked down on by using this common example, he again leaves the subject of ordinary experience and moves to another one, a spiritual one. This brings greater comfort and shows a great equality of honor. What then is this?

1 Corinthians 12:13

For by one Spirit, he says, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free people.

Now this is what he means: the one Spirit is what made us into one body and gave us new birth. For one person was not baptized in one Spirit and another person in another Spirit. And not only is the one who baptized us one, but also what He baptized us into, that is, the purpose for which He baptized us, is one. For we were not baptized so that many separate bodies might be formed, but so that we might all keep with one another the complete nature of one body.

That is, we were all baptized into the same thing so that we might all be one body.

So both the One who formed it is one, and that into which He formed it is one. And he did not say, "that we might all come to be of the same body," but, "that we might all be one body." He always tries to use the stronger and clearer words. And he rightly said, "we all," including himself also. For not even I, the Apostle, have anything more than you in this matter, he says. For you are the body just as I am, and I just as you are.

We all have the same Head and have gone through the same birth pains. Therefore we are also the same body. And why do I speak, he says, only of the Jews? Since even the Gentiles, who were so far away from us, He has brought into the fullness of one body. Therefore, after saying, "we all," he did not stop there, but added, "whether Jews or Greeks, whether slave or free."

Now if, when we were once so far apart, we were joined together and became one, much more now that we have become one, we should have no right to grieve and lose heart. Yes, in fact, the difference has no place. For if to Greeks and Jews, to slave and free, He has granted the same blessings, how can it be that after granting this, He divides them, now that He has given an even greater perfection of unity through the giving of His gifts?

And all were made to drink of one Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:14

The body is not made up of one part, but of many.

That is, we have come to the same initiation, and we share the same Table. And why did he not say, "We are nourished by the same body and drink the same blood"? Because by saying "Spirit," he included both, the flesh as well as the blood. For through both, we are made to drink of the Spirit.

But to me, he now seems to be speaking about that visitation of the Spirit which takes place in us after Baptism and before the Mysteries. And he said, "We were made to drink," because this figurative way of speaking fit his subject extremely well. It is as if he had spoken about plants and a garden, and said that all the trees are watered by the same fountain, or by the same water. In the same way here, he says, we all drank the same Spirit; we all shared the same grace.

If one Spirit formed us and gathered us all together into one body—for this is what it means when it says, "we were baptized into one body"—and if that Spirit granted us one table and gave us all the same drink—for this is what it means when it says, "we were made to drink into one Spirit"—and if the Spirit united people who were so far apart, and if many things become one body when they are made one, then why, I ask, do you keep focusing on their differences?

But if you say, "Because there are many members, and they are different," then know that this very thing is the wonder and the special excellence of the body: that things which are many and different become one. But if they were not many, it would not be so wonderful and astonishing that they should be one body. No, rather, they would not be a body at all.

3. However, he says this last. But for now, he turns to the members themselves and says this:

1 Corinthians 12:15

If the foot says, "Because I am not the hand, I am not part of the body," is it therefore not part of the body?

1 Corinthians 12:16

And if the ear says, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," is it therefore not part of the body?

For if one is made lower and another higher, and this does not allow them to be of the body, then the whole is done away with. Therefore do not say, "I am not of the body because I am lower." For the foot also has the lower place, yet it is of the body. For being or not being part of the body does not come from one lying in this place and another in that, which is what makes a difference of place, but from being joined together or separated.

For being a body or not being a body comes from having been made one or not. But please notice his careful way, how he applies their words to our members. For as he said above, "These things have I in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos," in 1 Corinthians 4:6, so here also, to make his argument free from ill will and acceptable, he introduces the members as speaking.

So when they hear nature answering them, and are thus convicted by experience itself and by the common voice, they may have nothing further to oppose. For, he says, say this very thing if you will. Murmur as you please. You cannot be out of the body. For as the law of nature guards all things, much more does the power of grace guard all things and preserve them entire. And see how he kept to the rule of having nothing superfluous.

He does not work out his argument with all the members, but with two only, and these the extremes. He has named both the most honorable of all, the eye, and the lowest of all, the feet. And he does not make the foot speak with the eye, but with the hand, which is set a little above it, and the ear with the eyes. For we are accustomed to envy not those who are very far above us, but those who are a little higher. Therefore he also conducts his comparison in this way.

1 Corinthians 12:17

If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?

So, after speaking about the different parts of the body and mentioning feet, hands, eyes, and ears, he had led them to think about who seemed lower and who seemed higher. See how he comforts them again, showing that this arrangement was necessary. Their being many and different is exactly what makes them a body. But if they were all just one part, they would not be a body. Therefore, he says, "If they were all one member, where would the body be?" However, he does not say this until later.

Here he is also pointing out something more: not only is it impossible for one part alone to be a body, but this would even remove the existence of the other parts.

For if the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be, he says.

Then, because they were still troubled after all this, he does the same thing here that he did earlier. There, he first appealed to what was beneficial to comfort them, and afterward he strongly silenced their objections by saying, "But all these works are done by the one and the same Spirit, who gives to each person individually just as He wills."

In the same way here, after stating the reasons for which he showed that it was profitable for everything to be so, he again refers the whole matter to the counsel of God, saying,

1 Corinthians 12:18

But now God has placed each one of the members in the body, just as it pleased Him.

Just as he said about the Spirit, "as He wills," so here also he says, "as it pleased Him." Now do not look further for the reason why it is this way and not that way. For even if we had countless reasons to give, we still would not be able to show as well that it was done rightly as when we say that it happened as the best Craftsman was pleased to do it. For He wills it as it is beneficial.

Now if, in our own body, we do not carefully question the members, much more should we not do so in the Church. And see his wisdom: he does not describe the difference that comes from their nature, or the difference that comes from their work, but the difference that comes from their place. For now, he says, "God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, even as it pleased Him." And he spoke well when he said, "each one," showing that this applies to all.

For you cannot say, "He Himself placed this one, but not that one." Rather, every one is placed according to His will. So then, it is profitable even for the foot that it should be placed that way, and not only for the head. And if the foot should reverse the order, and leave its own place and go to another, even if it seemed to have improved its condition, it would bring destruction and ruin on the whole body. For it would both fall away from its own place and fail to reach the other position.

1 Corinthians 12:19-20: If they were all one part, where would the body be? But now there are many parts, yet one body.

And if they were all one part, where would the body be? But now they are many parts, yet one body.

So, after he had silenced them enough by God's own arrangement, he again gives reasons. He does not always do one thing or the other. Instead, he alternates and varies his way of speaking. On the one hand, a person who only silences others leaves the listener confused. On the other hand, a person who trains him to ask for reasons for everything harms him in the matter of faith. For this reason, Paul constantly does both. He does this so that they may believe and may not be confused.

And after silencing them, he again gives a reason as well. Notice his eagerness in the struggle and how complete his victory is. For from the very things by which they thought they were unequal in honor, because there was great diversity among them, from those same things he shows that for this very reason they are equal in honor. How? I will tell you.

He says, "If everyone were one part, where would the body be?"

What he means is this: if there were not great differences among you, you could not be a body. And if you were not a body, you could not be one. And if you were not one, you could not be equal in honor. It follows, then, that if you were all equal in honor in the same way, you would not be a body. And if you were not a body, you would not be one. And if you were not one, how could you be equal in honor? But as things are, because you have not all been given the same gift, you are a body.

And because you are a body, you are all one, and in this you do not differ from one another: you are a body. So this very difference is the main cause of your equal honor. And so he adds, "But now they are many members, yet one body."

6. So let us think about these things too, and throw out all envy. Let us neither resent those who have greater gifts nor look down on those who have lesser ones. For this is how God has willed it. So let us not set ourselves against Him. But if you are still troubled, consider that your work is often the kind your brother is not able to do. So even if you are lower, in this way you have the advantage. And though he is greater, in this respect he is at a disadvantage. And so there is equality.

For in the body, even the smaller members seem to add a great deal, and the larger ones themselves are often harmed when these are removed. I mean the smaller members. For example, what in the body is more insignificant than hair? Yet if you remove it, small as it is, from the eyebrows and the eyelids, you have ruined all the grace of the face, and the eye will no longer seem equally beautiful. And yet the loss is only of a small thing. Nevertheless, even so, all the beauty is destroyed.

And not only the beauty, but also much of the use of the eyes. The reason is that each of our members has both a function of its own and one that is shared with the others. In the same way, there is in us a beauty that is particular and another that is common. These kinds of beauty seem to be divided, but they are completely joined together, and when one is destroyed, the other also perishes with it. To explain what I mean:

let there be bright eyes, a smiling cheek, a red lip, a straight nose, and an open brow. Nevertheless, if you damage even the smallest one of these, you have damaged the shared beauty of them all. Everything is filled with sadness. Everything will appear ugly to look at, though before it was so beautiful. In the same way, if you crush only the tip of the nose, you have brought great deformity on the whole face. And yet only a single member has been injured. The same is true in the hand.

If you take away the nail from one finger, you will see the same result. And if you want to see that the same thing happens with their function also, take away one finger, and you will see that the rest are less active and no longer do their part equally.

Since the loss of one body part is a deformity shared by all, and its safety is beauty to all, let us not become proud or trample on our neighbors. For even the great member is made fair and beautiful through that small member, and the eye is adorned by the eyelids, small as they are. So the one who fights against his brother fights against himself. For the harm done reaches not only that one, but he himself also will suffer no small loss.

So then, to keep this from happening, let us care for our neighbors as for ourselves. Let us now apply this picture of the body to the Church also, and let us care for everyone as for our own members. For in the Church there are many and different members. Some are more honorable, and some are more lacking. For example, there are choirs of virgins, there are groups of widows, and there are fellowships of those who shine in holy marriage. In short, there are many degrees of virtue.

The same is true in giving to the poor. Some give away all their possessions. Others are content with enough and seek nothing beyond what they need. Others give from their excess. Nevertheless, all these adorn one another. And if the greater person should despise the lesser, he would greatly injure himself. So, if a virgin looks down on a married woman, she has cut off no small part of her reward.

And if the one who has given up everything should insult the one who has not done so, he has deprived himself of much of the fruit of his labors. And why do I speak of virgins, widows, and those without possessions? What seems lower than those who beg? And yet even these serve a very important role in the Church. They stay by the doors of the sanctuary and provide one of its greatest ornaments. Without them, the full completeness of the Church could not be achieved.

It seems that the Apostles also saw this and made it a rule from the beginning. As with all other matters, so also they provided that there should be widows. And they took such great care about this matter that they even appointed seven deacons over them. For just as bishops and presbyters and deacons and virgins and continent persons are included in my list when I count the members of the Church, so also are widows. Yes, and the office they fill is not a small one.

For you come here when you want. But these women both day and night sing psalms and keep watch. They do this not only for alms. For if that were their purpose, they could walk in the marketplace and beg in the side streets. But there is also no small amount of piety in them. Just look at the furnace of poverty they live in. Yet you will never hear a blasphemous word from them, or an impatient one, as you do from many rich men's wives.

Some of them often go to sleep hungry, and others remain constantly chilled by the cold. Nevertheless, they spend their time in thanksgiving and giving glory. Even if you give only a penny, they give thanks and ask ten thousand blessings on the giver. And if you give nothing, they do not complain. Even then they bless you and think themselves happy to have their daily food.

"Yes," it is answered, "because whether they want to or not, they have to endure it." Why, tell me? Why have you spoken this bitter saying? Are there not shameful trades that bring profit to old men and women? Did they not have the power to support themselves very well by those means, if they had chosen to throw off all care for upright living? Do you not see how many people of that age, by becoming pimps and panders and by doing other such services, both live and live in luxury?

But these do not do that. Instead, they choose rather to die of hunger than to dishonor their own life and betray their salvation. And they sit through the whole day, preparing a medicine of salvation for you.

No doctor, when he reaches out his hand to use the knife, works as effectively to cut corruption out of our wounds as a poor man does when he stretches out his right hand and receives alms, removing the scars left by those wounds. And what is truly wonderful is that they do this excellent surgery without pain or suffering.

We who are appointed over the people and give you so much helpful instruction do not speak more truly than the man who sits at the church doors, by his silence and by his face. For we too say these things in your ears every day: "Do not be proud, O man. Human nature quickly declines and is ready to fall.

Our youth hurries on to old age, our beauty to ugliness, our strength to weakness, our honor to contempt, our health declines into sickness, our glory into lowliness, and our riches into poverty. Our affairs are like a violent stream that never stands still, but keeps rushing down the slope."

They give the same advice in another way, and even more than this, by their appearance and by their own experience. This is an even clearer kind of warning. For example, how many of those who now sit outside were once in the full strength of youth and did great things? How many of these dreadful-looking people once surpassed many others in both bodily strength and beauty of face? No, do not doubt it or laugh at it. Surely life is full of countless examples like this.

For if many people of low and humble status have often become kings, what is surprising if some who were once great and glorious have been brought low and made humble? The first is far more extraordinary, but the second happens all the time. So no one should find it hard to believe that some of them once flourished in skill, in war, and in great wealth. Instead, we should pity them with deep compassion and fear for ourselves, in case we too someday suffer the same things.

For we too are human and are subject to this swift change.

8. But perhaps some careless person, one of those who like to mock, will object to what has been said and completely make fun of us. He may say, "How long will you keep bringing poor men and beggars into your speeches, and predicting troubles for us, and warning us that poverty is coming, and trying to make us beggars?" O man, I do not say these things because I want to make you beggars. I say them because I am eager to open to you the riches of heaven.

In the same way, when someone speaks to a healthy man about the sick and tells him of their suffering, he does not say it to make him sick, but to keep him healthy. By the fear of their troubles, he cuts off the other man's carelessness. Poverty seems to you to be something terrible and frightening, so frightening that even its name alarms you. Yes, and that is why we are poor: because we are afraid of poverty, even if we have ten thousand talents.

For the poor man is not the one who has nothing, but the one who trembles at poverty. In other human troubles also, we do not pity and call miserable those who suffer great evils, but those who do not know how to endure them, even if those evils are small. But the man who knows how to endure them is, as everyone knows, worthy of praise and crowns. And to show that this is true, whom do we praise in the games?

Do we praise those who are struck many times and do not lose heart, but keep their head high? Or those who run away after the first blows? Do we not crown the first as brave and noble, while we laugh at the others as unmanly and cowardly? So then, let us do the same in the affairs of life. Let us crown the man who bears everything easily, as we do that noble athlete.

But let us weep over the man who shrinks back and trembles at his dangers, and who is already dead from fear before he even receives the blow. For it is the same in the games. If someone, before he even raised his hands, should run away at the mere sight of his opponent stretching out his right hand, even though he had received no wound, he would be laughed at as weak, soft, and untrained in such contests.

This is like what happens to those who fear poverty and cannot endure even the expectation of it.

Clearly, then, it is not we who make you wretched, but you yourselves. For how could the devil not from now on make sport of you, when even before the blow you are afraid and trembling at the threat? Or rather, once you think of this as a threat, he will no longer need even to strike you. He can leave you to keep your wealth, and by the expectation that it may be taken away, he will make you softer than any wax.

And because it is our nature, so to speak, not to think the things we fear are as dreadful after we have suffered them as before, while they are still untried, therefore, to keep you from gaining even this virtue, he holds you at the very height of fear. By the fear of poverty, before you have any experience of it, he melts you like wax in the fire. Yes, such a man is softer than any wax, and lives a life more wretched than Cain himself. For over the things he has in excess, he is afraid.

For the things he does not have, he is in grief. And again, over what he has, he trembles, keeping his wealth shut up within like a runaway slave, and being beset by strange and unaccountable passions. For unaccountable desire, and many kinds of fear and anxiety, and trembling on every side, toss such people about. And they are like a vessel driven by opposing winds from every direction, enduring many heavy seas.

And how much better for such a man to depart than to go on enduring a continual storm? Since for Cain also it would have been more tolerable to die than to be trembling forever.

So then, so that we may not suffer these things, let us treat the devil’s scheme with scorn. Let us break his cords apart. Let us snap the point of his terrible spear and strengthen every way he might attack. For if you laugh at money, he has no place to strike, and no place to get a hold on you. Then you have pulled up the root of evils. And when the root is gone, no evil fruit will grow.

9. Good. We are always saying these things, and we never stop saying them. But whether what we say does any good, that Day will show it, the Day that is revealed by fire, which tests every person's work, as in 1 Corinthians 3:13. It will show which lamps are bright and which are not. Then the one who has oil and the one who does not will be made clear. But may no one then be found without this comfort.

Instead, may all bring with them an abundance of mercy, keep their lamps bright, and enter in together with the Bridegroom.

Since nothing is more terrifying and full of pain than that voice which those who departed without abundant giving to the poor will hear then from the Bridegroom, “I do not know you,” Matthew 25:12, may we never hear this voice. Instead, may we hear that most pleasant and deeply desired one, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” Matthew 25:34.

For in this way we will live the blessed life and enjoy all the good things that even go beyond human understanding. May we all attain these things through grace and mercy, etc.

1 Corinthians 12:21

And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you." Nor again can the head say to the feet, "I have no need of you."

After he had restrained the envy of those with lower rank, and removed the discouragement they would likely feel because greater gifts had been given to others, he also humbles the pride of those who had received the greater gifts. In fact, he had done the same earlier in what he said to the first group. For when he said it was a gift and not an achievement, he meant to show this. But now he does it again, even more strongly, while staying with the same image.

For, starting from the body in what follows, and from the unity that comes from it, he goes on to the direct comparison of the members, which was the very thing they especially wanted to be taught about. For there was not as much power to comfort them in the fact that they were all one body, as there was in the conviction that, even in the very things with which they were gifted, they had not been left far behind.

And he says, "The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you," or again, "the head to the feet, I have no need of you."

For even if the gift is less, it is still necessary. And just as, when one part is missing, many functions are hindered, so also without the other there is an injury in the fullness of the Church. And he did not say, "will not say," but, "cannot say." So even if it wanted to, even if it were actually to say this, it would be impossible, and the thing would not agree with nature. For this reason, after taking the two extremes, he tests his argument with them:

first with the hand and the eye, and second with the head and the feet, giving more force to the example.

What is lower than the foot? Or what is more honorable and more necessary than the head? More than anything else, the head is the man. Nevertheless, it is not enough by itself, nor could it do everything alone. If that were so, our feet would be an unnecessary addition.

And he did not stop there, but looked for another way to make it even stronger. This is the kind of thing he always does, striving not only to be equal, but even to go beyond. Therefore he also adds, saying,

1 Corinthians 12:22

No, much more, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are necessary.

1 Corinthians 12:23

And the parts of the body that we think are less honorable, we treat with greater honor; and our less attractive parts are given greater modesty and dignity.

In every part of his argument, he adds the word "body." By doing this, he both comforts one group and restrains the other. For, he says, I do not say only that the greater members need the lesser ones. I say that they need them very much. Since if there is anything in us that is weak, or anything dishonorable, it is necessary and receives greater honor.

And he wisely said, "which seem" and "which we think," showing that this judgment does not come from the nature of the things themselves, but from the opinion of most people. For nothing in us is dishonorable, since it is God's work. For example, what is thought to be less honorable in us than our genital members? Nevertheless, they receive greater honor. Even very poor people, though the rest of their body may be uncovered, cannot bear to show those members uncovered.

But this is not how truly dishonorable things are treated. If they were dishonorable, it would be natural for them to be despised more than the rest. For in a house, a servant who is dishonored does not receive greater care. Far from it, he is not even given an equal share. In the same way, if this member were dishonorable, then instead of having greater privileges, it should not even receive the same treatment. But as it is, it has a greater share of honor.

And this also is the result of the wisdom of God. For to some parts, by their nature, He has given no need for this honor. But to others, since He did not grant it to them by nature, He has led us to give it to them. Yet they are not dishonorable because of that. For even animals, by nature, have what is sufficient, and most of them need neither clothing, nor shoes, nor a roof. Yet our body is not less honorable than theirs because it needs all these things.

Yes rather, if someone were to look carefully, these parts in question are by nature itself both honorable and necessary. In fact, Paul himself followed this same judgment. He approved of them, not because we care for them or because they receive greater honor, but because of the very nature of the things.

Therefore, when he calls them weak and less honorable, he uses the phrase, "which seem." But when he calls them necessary, he no longer adds, "which seem." Instead, he gives his own judgment and says, "they are necessary," and very rightly so. For they are useful for having children and for the continuation of our race. Therefore, the Roman lawgivers also punish those who mutilate these body parts and make men eunuchs, because they injure our common human stock and insult nature itself.

But woe to those who live without self-control and bring disgrace on the works of God. Many people are used to cursing wine because of drunkards, and women because of the sexually immoral. In the same way, they also consider these body parts shameful because of those who do not use them as they should. But that is wrong. Sin does not belong to a thing as part of its nature. Rather, transgression comes from the will of the person who dares to do it.

But some people think that when Paul speaks of "the weaker members," and "less honorable," and "necessary," and those that "receive more abundant honor," he means the eyes and the feet. They say he speaks of the eye as weaker and necessary, because although it lacks strength, it has greater usefulness. And they say he speaks of the feet as less honorable, because these also receive much care from us.

Next, not to make the explanation any longer, he says,

1 Corinthians 12:24

But our presentable parts have no need.

That is, so that no one might say, “Why, what kind of teaching is this—to look down on the honored parts and give attention to the less honored ones?” “We do not do this out of contempt,” he says, “but because they have no need.” And see how much praise he gives in just a few words, and then quickly moves on. This is done in a very fitting and useful way.

And he is not content with this alone, but also adds the reason, saying, “But God tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked.”

1 Corinthians 12:25

So that there may be no division in the body.

Now if He joined it together in this way, He did not allow what was less presentable to stand out. For what is mixed together becomes one thing, and it does not appear as what it was before. Otherwise, we could not say that it was joined together. And notice how he keeps pressing the point by speaking of defects, saying, "that which lacked."

He did not say, "to that which is dishonorable," or, "to that which is unseemly," but, "to that which lacked" — that is, what lacked by nature — "giving more abundant honor." And why? "That there should be no division in the body." So, although they had an endless supply of comfort, they still gave way to grief, as if they had received less than others. He shows that they were actually honored more. For his words are, "Giving more abundant honor to that which lacked."

Next he adds the reason also, showing that he both made it lacking and gave it greater honor for their benefit. And what is the reason? "That there should be no division in the body," he says. He did not say, "in the members," but, "in the body." For there would be a great and unfair advantage if some members were cared for both by nature and by our own attention, while others were cared for by neither.

Then they would be cut off from one another, because they could not endure being joined together. And when these were cut off, the rest would also be harmed. Do you see how he shows that greater honor must be given to what lacks it? For if this had not been so, the injury would have become common to all, he says. And the reason is this: unless these members received great care from us, they would have been treated harshly, since they did not have nature's help.

This harsh treatment would have been their ruin. Their ruin would have divided the body. And once the body was divided, the other members also would have perished, even though they are much greater than these.

Do you see that caring for these latter parts is tied to providing for those others? For these parts do not exist so much by their own nature as by their being united as one through the body. Therefore, if the body is destroyed, they gain nothing from whatever health they each have by themselves. But if the eye or the nose remains and keeps its proper function, yet the bond of unity is broken, they will never again be of any use.

On the other hand, if that bond remains and those parts are injured, they are both sustained through it and quickly return to health.

But perhaps someone may say, this makes sense in the body, where "the part that lacked received more abundant honor." But how can this be shown among people? In fact, this happens most clearly among people. Those who came at the eleventh hour received their pay first. The sheep that had wandered made the shepherd leave the ninety-nine behind and run after it. And when he found it, he carried it instead of driving it. The prodigal son received more honor than the son who had been approved.

And the thief was crowned and proclaimed before the Apostles. You can also see this in the case of the talents. The one who received five talents and the one who received two were granted the same rewards. Yes, the very fact that he received the two showed even greater provident care for him. For if he had been entrusted with the five, because of his lesser ability, he would have lost everything.

But since he received the two and fulfilled his own duty, he was counted worthy of the same reward as the one who had gained the five. In this he had the advantage: with less labor, he obtained the same crown. And yet he too was a man, just like the one who traded with the five. Nevertheless, his Master did not call him to a strict account at all, or force him to do the same as his fellow servant. Nor did he say, "Why can you not gain the five?" though he could justly have said this.

Instead, he assigned him his crown as well.

Therefore, knowing these things, you who are greater should not trample on those who are less, or else, instead of harming them, you will harm yourselves. For when they are cut off, the whole body is destroyed. What else is a body except the existence of many members? Paul himself also says that the body is not one member, but many. If this is what makes a body a body, let us be careful that the many remain many. Since, unless this is fully preserved, the blow falls on the vital parts.

That is also why the Apostle does not ask only that they not be divided, but also that they be closely joined together. For example, after saying that there should be no division in the body, he was not satisfied with this, but added that the members should have the same care for one another. He added this as another reason why the lesser members receive more honor.

For God arranged it this way not only so that they would not be separated from one another, but also so that there might be abundant love and harmony. For if each person's well-being depends on the safety of his neighbor, then do not tell me about the less and the more. In this case there is no greater and less. As long as the body remains, you may see the difference; but when it perishes, you no longer do. And it will perish unless the lesser parts also remain.

If even the greater parts will perish when the lesser ones are cut off, then the greater parts should care for the lesser ones in the same way they care for themselves, since when these are safe, the greater parts also remain safe. So then, even if you say ten thousand times that such a member is dishonored and inferior, still, if you do not care for it in the same way as for yourself, if you neglect it as inferior, the harm will pass on to you.

Therefore he did not say only that the members should care for one another, but he added that they should have the same care for one another. That is, the smaller should receive the same watchful care as the greater.

So do not say that such a person is just an ordinary person. Instead, consider that he is a member of that body which holds the whole together. And just like the eye, he also helps make the body a body. For where the body is being built up, no one has anything more than his neighbor. A body is not made by one part being greater and another less, but by there being many different parts.

For just as you, because you are greater, helped make up the body, so he also, because he is less, did the same. So when the body is being built up, his comparative weakness turns out to be equal in value to yours in making this noble contribution. Yes, he is just as useful as you are. And this is clear from what follows. Let there be no member greater or less, and none more or less honorable. But let all be eye, or all head. Would not the body perish? Everyone can see that it would.

Again, if all were lesser members, the same thing would happen. So in this respect also, the lesser members are shown to be equal. Yes, and if one must say something more, the reason the lesser members are less is so that the body may remain. So for your sake he is less, in order that you may continue to be great. And here is the reason he asks the same care from all. And after saying that the members should have the same care for one another, he explains the same thing again by saying,

1 Corinthians 12:26

And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Yes, he says, He made the care He requires something shared by all for no other reason than this: to create unity in such great diversity, so that in every case there might be complete sharing. Because if our care for our neighbor is our common safety, then our glory and our sadness must also be shared by all. So here he requires three things. First, that we not be divided, but be united in perfection. Second, that we have the same care for one another.

Third, that we treat everything that happens as something shared by all. And just as above he says, "He has given more abundant honor to that part which lacked," because it needed it, showing that its very inferiority became the way to greater honor, so here he makes them equal also in the care they give one another. For this is why he caused them to share in greater honor, he says: so that they would not receive less care.

And the members are joined to one another not only in this way, but also by everything that happens to them, whether good or painful. For example, when a thorn gets stuck in the heel, the whole body feels it and cares for it. The back bends. The belly and thighs draw in. The hands come forward like guards and servants and pull out what was stuck there. The head bends down over it. The eyes look at it with great care.

So even if the foot is lower because it cannot rise upward, yet by bringing the head down it becomes equal in this way and receives the same honor. This happens especially whenever the feet are the cause of the head's coming down, not as a favor, but because they have a claim on it. So even if the more honorable part has an advantage because it is more honorable, yet because, being such, it owes such honor and care to the lesser part, and also equal sympathy, this shows a great equality.

For what is lower than the heel? And what is more honorable than the head? Yet that member reaches to it and moves them all together with itself. Again, if something is wrong with the eyes, all complain and all become inactive. The feet do not walk, the hands do not work, and the stomach does not enjoy its usual food, even though the trouble is in the eyes. Why do you make the stomach waste away? Why keep your feet still? Why tie up your hands?

Because they are bound to the feet, and in a way beyond words the whole body suffers. For if it did not share in the suffering, it would not endure to share in the care. Therefore, after saying that the members should have the same care for one another, he added, "If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it." And how do they rejoice with it, you ask? The head is crowned, and the whole person is honored.

The mouth speaks, and the eyes laugh and are delighted. Yet the credit does not belong to the beauty of the eyes, but to the tongue. Again, if the eyes appear beautiful, the whole woman is adorned. Indeed, when a straight nose, an upright neck, and other members are praised, these also rejoice and appear cheerful. And again, they pour out many tears over griefs and misfortunes, even though they themselves remain unharmed.

6. Let us all then, considering these things, imitate the love of these members. Let us not in any way do the contrary, trampling on the miseries of our neighbor and envying his good things. For this is the part of madmen and people beside themselves. Just as he who digs out his own eye has shown a very great proof of senselessness, and he who devours his own hand gives clear evidence of outright madness.

Now if this is the case with the members, the same is true when it happens among the brothers. It fastens on us the reputation of folly and brings no small harm. For as long as he shines, your beauty also is plain to see, and the whole body is made beautiful. For he does not at all keep the beauty to himself alone, but allows you also to glory in it. But if you put him out, you bring a common darkness on the whole body, and the misfortune you cause is shared by all the members.

In the same way, if you keep him bright, you preserve the bloom of the whole body. For no one says, "The eye is beautiful." But what do they say? "Such a woman is beautiful." And if the eye too is praised, it comes after the praise of the whole person. So it is in the Church also. I mean, if there are any celebrated persons, the community receives a good report from it. For the enemies are not inclined to divide the praises, but to join them together.

And if anyone is brilliant in speech, they do not praise him alone, but the whole Church as well. For they do not say only, "Such a man is wonderful," but what do they say? "The Christians have a wonderful teacher." And so they make the possession common.

Now let me ask: do the heathens join together, while you divide and fight against your own body and oppose your own members? Do you not know that this destroys everything? For, he says, even a kingdom divided against itself will not stand. Matthew 12:25

But nothing divides and separates so much as envy and jealousy, that grievous disease, beyond all pardon, and in some respect worse than the root of all evils, 1 Timothy 6:12. For the covetous man is then pleased when he himself has received. But the envious man is then pleased when another has failed to receive, not when he himself has received. For he thinks the misfortunes of others are a benefit to himself, rather than their prosperity.

He goes about as a common enemy of mankind, and strikes the members of Christ. What could be more akin to madness than that? A demon is envious, but of men, not of any demon. But you, being a man, envy men, and withstand what is of your own tribe and family, which not even a demon does. And what pardon shall you obtain? What excuse? You tremble and turn pale at the sight of a brother prospering, when you ought to crown yourself, and to rejoice and exult.

If you truly want to imitate him, I do not forbid that. Imitate him, but do it so that you may become like the one who is approved. Do not do it to put him down, but so that you may reach the same high level and show the same excellence. This is healthy rivalry. It is imitation without conflict. It does not grieve over the good things others have, but is troubled by our own faults. Envy does the opposite. It ignores its own evils and wastes away over the good fortune of other people.

So the poor man is not as troubled by his own poverty as by his neighbor's abundance. And what could be more painful than that? Yes, in this way the envious person, as I said before, is worse than the covetous person. One rejoices in gaining something for himself, while the other delights in seeing someone else fail to receive something.

Therefore I beg you, leave this evil way and turn to a right kind of emulation. This kind of zeal is a violent thing, and hotter than any fire. By it you can gain great blessings. Paul also used this to lead those of Jewish origin to the faith. He said, "If by any means I may provoke to emulation those who are my flesh, and may save some of them." Romans 11:14. For the person whose emulation is like what Paul wanted does not waste away when he sees another person honored.

He is troubled when he sees that he himself has been left behind. But the envious person is not like that. He is pained at the sight of another person's success. He is like a drone, harming the work of other people, while never caring to rise himself. Instead, he weeps when he sees another person rising, and does everything to throw him down. What, then, can this passion be compared to? It seems to me like this:

a sluggish donkey, heavy with too much flesh, is yoked together with a winged racehorse. The donkey is not willing to rise itself, and tries to drag the other one down by the weight of its body. In the same way, this person does not care or strive to free himself from this deep sleep. Instead, he does everything to trip up and throw down the one who is flying toward heaven, becoming an exact imitator of the devil.

For the devil too, when he saw man in paradise, did not seek to change his own condition, but to cast man out of paradise. And again, seeing man seated in heaven and the rest hurrying there, he keeps to the same plan. He trips up those who are hurrying there, and in this way piles up the furnace for himself even more. For this happens in every case: the one who is envied, if he is watchful, becomes more distinguished; and the one who envies gathers more evils upon himself.

So Joseph became distinguished. So also did Aaron the priest. The plot of those who envied him caused God again and again to declare in his favor, and it became the occasion for the rod to bud. So Jacob gained his great wealth and all those other blessings. In this way the envious pierce themselves through with countless evils. Since we know all these things, let us flee from such emulation. For why, tell me, do you envy? Is it because your brother has received spiritual grace?

And from whom did he receive it? Answer me. Was it not from God? Then clearly it is God against whom you are making yourself an enemy, since He is the giver of the gift. Do you see where this evil is leading, with what kind of point it crowns the heap of your sins, and how deep a pit of punishment it is digging for you?

So then, beloved, let us run away from it. Let us neither envy others, nor fail to pray for those who envy us, and do everything we can to put out their passion. Let us not think like foolish people do, who want to punish them and do everything in their power to make their flame burn even more. Let us not do that. Instead, let us weep for them and mourn for them.

For they are the ones who are harmed, since a constant worm keeps gnawing at their heart, and they are gathering up a fountain of poison more bitter than any gall. Come now, let us beg the merciful God both to change their state of mind and to keep us from ever falling into that disease. For heaven is truly closed to anyone who has this wasting sore, and even before heaven, this present life itself is not worth living in with it.

For wood and wool are not eaten through by moth and worm living in them as completely as the fever of envy devours the very bones of the envious and destroys all self-control in their soul.

So then, in order to deliver both ourselves and others from these countless troubles, let us drive out this evil fever from within us, this thing that is worse than any gangrene. Then, after we have regained spiritual strength, we may both finish our present course and receive the crowns to come. May we all attain them by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. With Him, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 12:27

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a member of it.

So that no one might say, "What example is the body for us? The body is a slave to nature, but our good deeds come from choice," he applies the example to our own situation. To show that we ought to have the same harmony of purpose that the body's parts have by nature, he says, "Now you are the body of Christ." But if our own body ought not to be divided, much less should the body of Christ be divided, and all the more because grace is more powerful than nature.

But what does the phrase "severally" mean? It means, at least as far as it applies to you, and as far as a part would naturally be built up from you. For he had said, "the body." But the whole body was not the Corinthian church alone. It was the Church in every part of the world. Therefore he said, "severally." That is, the church among you is a part of the Church that exists everywhere, and a part of the body made up of all the churches.

So then, you ought to be at peace not only among yourselves, but also with the whole Church throughout the world, if indeed you are members of the whole body.

1 Corinthians 12:28

And God has appointed some in the Church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, forms of guidance, and various kinds of tongues.

So what I spoke about before, he is doing here also. Because they thought highly of themselves because of speaking in tongues, he puts that gift last everywhere. The words "first" and "second" are not used here by him carelessly. He uses them in order, listing them to show which gifts are more honorable and which are less so. Therefore he also put the apostles first, because they had all the gifts in themselves.

And he did not say simply, "God has set certain ones in the Church, apostles," or "prophets." Instead, he uses "first," "second," and "third," showing the same thing that I told you about.

Second, prophets. For people used to prophesy, like the daughters of Philip, like Agabus, and like those very persons among the Corinthians, about whom he says, "Let the prophets speak, two or three." 1 Corinthians 14:29 Writing also to Timothy, he said, "Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy." 1 Timothy 4:14 And there were many more who prophesied.

And if Christ says, "The Law and the Prophets prophesied until John," Matthew 11:13 He says this about those prophets who proclaimed His coming beforehand.

Third, teachers. The one who prophesies speaks everything from the Spirit. But the one who teaches sometimes also speaks from his own mind. That is why he also said, "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching," in 1 Timothy 5:17. But the one who speaks everything by the Spirit does not labor.

This, then, is the reason why he placed the teacher after the prophet, because one is completely a gift, but the other also involves human labor. For the teacher says many things from his own mind, though they agree with the sacred Scriptures.

Then come miracles, and then gifts of healing. Do you see how he again separates healings from power, just as he did before? For power is greater than healing. The one who has power can both punish and heal, but the one who has the gift of healing only cures. And notice how good the order is that he used when he placed prophecy before miracles and healings.

Earlier, when he said, "To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge," he was not arranging them in order, but mentioning them without ranking them. Here, however, he gives a first and a second rank. Why then does he put prophecy first? Because even in the old covenant this is the order of things.

For example, when Isaiah was speaking with the Jews, and showing proof of the power of God, and presenting evidence that the demons were worthless, he also gave this as the greater proof of God's divinity: that He foretells things to come, Isaiah 41:22-23. And Christ Himself, after doing so many signs, says that this was no small proof of His divinity. He constantly adds, "But these things I have told you, so that when it has come to pass, you may believe that I am He," John 13:19; 14:29; 16:4.

So then, the gifts of healing are rightly lower than prophecy. But why are they also lower than teaching? Because declaring the message of preaching and planting godliness in the hearts of the hearers is not the same as working miracles. Miracles are done only for the sake of that. Therefore, when someone teaches both by word and by life, he is greater than all. For he especially calls those men teachers who both teach by their actions and instruct by their words.

For example, this is what made the Apostles themselves become Apostles. And in the beginning, some other people of no great worth also received those gifts, like those who said, "Lord, did we not prophesy by Your Name, and do mighty works?" And after this they were told, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you that work iniquity." Matthew 7:22 But no bad man would ever take up this twofold way of teaching, I mean teaching by deeds and by words. Do not wonder that he puts the prophets first.

For he is not speaking simply about prophets, but about those who also teach by prophecy and say everything for the common good. As he goes on, he makes this clearer to us.

"Helps, governments." What does "helps" mean? It means supporting the weak. Is this also a gift, tell me? First of all, this too comes from the Gift of God: fitness for the work of a protector, and the giving out of spiritual things. Besides this, he also calls many of our own good deeds "gifts." He does not mean that we should lose heart.

Rather, he is showing that in every case we need God's help, preparing them to be thankful, and in that way making them more eager and stirring up their minds.

Different kinds of tongues. Do you see where he has placed this gift, and how he everywhere gives it the lowest rank?

Further, since by this list he had again pointed out a great difference, and had stirred up the disorder already mentioned in those who had lesser gifts, he suddenly strikes at them in what follows with great vehemence. He does this because he had already given them many proofs that they had not been left much inferior. What I mean is this. After hearing these things, they were likely to say, "Why then were we not all made Apostles?" Earlier, he had used a gentler way of speaking.

He had shown at length that this result was necessary, even from the image of the body. For he says, "The body is not one member." And again, "But if all were one member, where were the body?" He also showed it from the fact that the gifts were given for use. For he says, "To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit, to profit with it." He also showed it from all being watered from the same Spirit, and from the fact that what is bestowed is a free gift and not a debt.

For he says, "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." He also showed it from the manifestation of the Spirit being made alike through all. For he says, "To each one is given the manifestation through the Spirit." He also showed it from the fact that these things were arranged according to the pleasure of the Spirit and of God. For he says, "All these works the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one separately as He wills."

And, "God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, as it pleased Him." He also showed it from the fact that even the inferior members are necessary. For he says, "Those which seem to be more feeble are necessary." He also showed that they are alike necessary, since the greater members also need the lesser ones. For he says, "The head cannot say to the feet, I have no need of you." He also showed that these latter enjoy even more honor.

For he says, "To that which lacks, He has given more abundant honor." He also showed that the care for them is common and equal. For he says, "All the members have the same care for one another." And he showed that there is one honor and one grief for them all. For he says, "Whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it."

Whereas earlier he had exhorted them by these arguments, here and from now on he uses language to bear them down and rebuke them. For, as I said, we should neither always urge people on nor always silence them. Therefore Paul himself, because he had exhorted them at length, now vehemently attacks them, saying,

1 Corinthians 12:29

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Do all have gifts of healing?

And he does not stop with the first and second gift, but goes on to the last. He may mean that not everyone can be everything, just as he says there, "If all were one member, where would the body be?" Or he may also be making another point along with this, one that again brings comfort. What is this point, then? He is showing that even the lesser gifts are desired just as much as the greater ones, since not even these were given to everyone without exception.

For why, he says, are you grieved that you do not have gifts of healing? Think about this: what you have, even if it is less, is often not possessed by the one who has the greater gift. Therefore he says,

1 Corinthians 12:30

Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?

For just as God has not granted all the great gifts to all people, but to some this gift and to others that, so also with the lesser gifts, He did not set these before everyone either. And He did this, thereby producing abundant harmony and love, so that each one, standing in need of the other, might be brought close to his brother. This divine arrangement He established also in the arts, also in the elements, also in the plants, and in our members, and indeed in absolutely all things.

Then he adds an even stronger comfort, enough to restore them and calm their troubled souls. And what is this?

1 Corinthians 12:31

Earnestly desire the better gifts, he says. And I show you a still more excellent way.

By saying this, he gently hinted that they were the reason they had received the lesser gifts, and that it was in their power, if they were willing, to receive the greater ones. For when he says, "desire earnestly," he requires from them complete diligence and a strong desire for spiritual things. And he did not say, "the greater gifts," but "the better" ones, that is, the more useful ones, the ones that would bring profit. And this is what he means:

keep desiring gifts, and I am showing you a fountain of gifts. For he did not say, "a gift," but "a way," so that he might speak even more highly of what he is about to mention. It is as if he said, "I am not pointing out to you one, or two, or three gifts, but one way that leads to all these," and not merely a way, but both a more excellent way and one that is open to everyone alike. For the gifts are not given this way:

some receive these gifts, others receive those, but not everyone receives all of them. But in this case, it is a gift for all. Therefore he invites everyone to it. "Desire earnestly," he says, "the better gifts; and yet I show to you a more excellent way," meaning love toward our neighbor.

Then, since he intended to go on to the discussion about it and the praise of this virtue, he first lowers these gifts by comparing them with it, showing very thoughtfully that they are nothing without it. For if he had spoken of love at once, and after saying, "I show you a way," had added, "but this is love," and had not led his discussion by way of comparison, some might perhaps have scoffed at what was said.

They would not have clearly understood the force of what was spoken, but would still have been hanging on these gifts. Therefore he does not unfold it at once, but first stirs up the hearer by the promise, and says, "I show you a more excellent way." Then, after leading him to desire it, he does not even then go straight to it. Instead, by increasing and extending their desire still more, he first speaks of these very things, and shows that without it they are nothing.

In this way he brings them to the greatest necessity of loving one another, especially since from neglect of it came what caused all their evils. So in this respect also it might rightly appear great: if the gifts not only did not bring them together, but divided them even when they were united, this virtue, when many were so divided, would reunite them by its own power and make them one body. However, he does not say this at once.

Instead, he sets down what they chiefly longed for, namely, that this thing was a gift and a most excellent way beyond all the gifts. So that, even if you will not love your brother on account of friendship, yet for the sake of obtaining a better sign and an abundant gift, cherish love.

6. And see where he begins first: with what seemed marvelous and great in their eyes, the gift of tongues. And when he brings up that gift, he mentions it not only as much as they had it, but far beyond that. For he did not say, "If I speak with tongues," but,

1 Corinthians 13:1

If I speak with the languages of men—

What does “of men” mean? It means of all nations in every part of the world. And he was not content with making it greater in this way, but he also uses another much greater addition, adding the words, “and of angels.” And if I do not have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.

Do you see how highly he first lifted up the gift, and then how far he lowered it and threw it down afterward? For he did not simply say, "I am nothing," but, "I have become sounding brass," which is a senseless and lifeless thing. But in what way is it sounding brass? It does make a sound, but it does so randomly and in vain, and for no good purpose. Since I gain nothing myself, most people also consider me someone who gives useless trouble, an irritating and tiresome person.

Do you see how a person without love is like lifeless and senseless things?

Here he speaks about the tongues of angels, but he is not giving angels a body. What he means is this: even if I were to speak as angels are accustomed to speak with each other, without this I am nothing. Rather, I am a burden and an annoyance. In the same way, to give one other example, when he says, "To Him every knee shall bow, of things in heaven and things on earth, and things under the earth," in Philippians 2:10, he is not saying this as if he were giving angels knees and bones.

Far from it. He means to show their intense worship by using a human way of speaking. So also here, he calls it a tongue, not meaning an instrument of flesh, but intending to show their communication with each other by a way of speaking that is known among us.

Then, so that his teaching may be accepted, he does not stop with the gift of tongues. He goes on to the other gifts as well. After he has shown that all of them are of less value without love, he then describes the image of love. And because he chose to make his argument stronger by enlarging it, he begins with the lesser things and rises to the greater. For when he listed their order before, he put the gift of tongues last.

But now he places it first, gradually, as I said, rising to the greater gifts. So after speaking of tongues, he goes on at once to prophecy, and says:

1 Corinthians 13:2

And if I have the gift of prophecy.

And here again, he speaks of this gift in an especially excellent form. For in that earlier case, he did not mention tongues in a simple way, but the tongues of all people, and then, as he went on, the tongues of angels. Then he showed that the gift was nothing without love. In the same way here, he does not mention prophecy alone, but the very highest kind of prophecy.

After saying, "If I have prophecy," he added, "and understand all mysteries and all knowledge," showing this gift also in its strongest form.

After this, he goes on to the other gifts. Again, so that he would not seem to tire them by naming each gift one by one, he mentions the mother and fountain of them all, and he does this in an excellent way, saying, "And if I have all faith." He was not satisfied even with this. He also added what Christ spoke of as the greatest thing, saying, "so as to remove mountains," and, "have not love, I am nothing." Consider how here again he lowers the dignity of tongues.

In the case of prophecy, he points to the great benefit that comes from it: understanding mysteries and having all knowledge. In the case of faith, he points to no small work, even the removing of mountains. But in the case of tongues, after naming only the gift itself, he leaves it.

But please consider this too: in a few words he included all gifts when he named prophecy and faith, because miracles are done either by words or by deeds. And how does Christ say that even the smallest amount of faith can remove a mountain? For did He speak of something very small when He said, "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Move,' and it shall move," Matthew 17:20, while Paul says that this is all faith? What, then, should one say?

Since removing a mountain was a great thing, he mentioned it for that reason. He did not mean that all faith can do only this. Rather, because this seemed great to more unspiritual people, because of the size of the visible mass, he uses this also to exalt his subject. And this is what he means:

If I have all faith, so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:3

And if I give away all I own to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good at all.

What a wonderful enlargement of the point. He makes this even stronger by adding something more. He did not say, "If I give half my goods to the poor," or "two or three parts," but, "even if I give all my goods." And he did not say simply, "give," but, "distribute in morsels," so that to the cost itself there may also be added the personal serving out of it with every care.

But even now I have not yet shown the full greatness of it, until I bring forward the testimonies of Christ that were spoken about almsgiving and death. What then are His testimonies? To the rich man He says, "If you would be perfect, sell what you have and give to the poor, and come, follow Me." Matthew 19:21. And when He speaks likewise about love for one's neighbor, He says, "Greater love has no man than this, that a man may lay down his life for his friends." John 14:13.

From this it is clear that even before God this is the greatest of all. But, Paul says, even if we should lay down our life for God's sake, and not merely lay it down, but even so as to be burned, for this is the meaning of, "if I give my body to be burned," we shall have no great advantage if we do not love our neighbor. Well then, that the gifts are of no great profit without charity is no marvel, since our gifts are secondary to our way of life.

At any rate, many have displayed gifts, and yet, after becoming vicious, have been punished, like those who prophesied in His name, and cast out many demons, and did many mighty works, and like Judas the traitor. While others, showing as believers a pure life, have needed nothing else for their salvation. Therefore, that the gifts should, as I said, require this is no marvel.

But that even an exact life should avail nothing without it, this is what strongly brings out the force of the expression and causes great perplexity, especially when Christ appears to award His great rewards to both these, I mean the giving up of our possessions and the dangers of martyrdom. For to the rich man He says, as I observed before, "If you will be perfect, sell your goods, and give to the poor, and come, follow Me."

And when speaking with the disciples about martyrdom, He says, "Whoever shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it"; and, "Whoever shall confess Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father who is in heaven." For great indeed is the labor of this achievement, and it almost surpasses nature itself. This is well known to those who have had these crowns granted to them. For no language can set it before us. Such a deed belongs to a noble soul, and it is exceedingly wonderful.

9. Nevertheless, Paul says that this very wonderful thing was of no great benefit without love, even if giving up one’s possessions is added to it. Why, then, does he speak this way? I will now try to explain it. But first let me ask this: How is it possible for someone who gives all his possessions to feed the poor to still lack love? I agree that a person who is ready to be burned and has the gifts might perhaps not have love.

But if someone not only gives his possessions, but even hands them out in small portions, how can he not have love? What, then, are we to say? Either Paul is presenting an unreal case as if it were real. He often does this when he wants to put before us something beyond the ordinary. For example, when writing to the Galatians, he says, "If we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what you received, let him be accursed."

Galatians 1:8 Yet neither he himself nor an angel was going to do such a thing. But to show that he meant to press the matter as far as possible, he even stated something that could never happen. Again, when he writes to the Romans and says, "Neither angels, nor principalities, nor powers, shall be able to separate us from the love of God," no angels were going to do this either. And here too he supposes something unreal.

He does the same in what follows, when he says, "nor any other creature," though there is no other creature, because he had already included the whole creation by speaking of everything above and below. Nevertheless, here also he mentions what is not real as a hypothesis, so that he may show the greatness of his desire. He does the same thing here too, when he says, "If a man gives all, and does not have love, it profits him nothing."

Either, then, we may say this, or that his meaning is that those who give should also be closely joined to those who live in want, and not merely give without sympathy, but in pity and condescension, bowing down and grieving with the needy. For this is also why almsgiving was established by God. God might have nourished the poor even without this.

But so that He might bind us together in charity, and so that we might be thoroughly fervent toward one another, He commanded that they should be nourished by us. Therefore one says in another place also, "A good word is better than a gift," Sirach 18:16-17, and, "behold, a word is beyond a good gift," Sirach 18:16-17. And He Himself says, "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice," Matthew 9:13; Hosea 6:6.

For it is usual both for men to love those whom they have benefited, and for those who receive benefits to be more kindly affected toward their benefactors. He made this law, making it a bond of friendship.

But the question raised above is this: how can Christ say that both of these belong to perfection, while Paul says that without love they are imperfect? He is not contradicting Christ—far from it. Instead, he agrees with Him, and exactly so. For in the case of the rich man, Christ did not say only, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” He also added, “Come, follow Me.” Now, not even following Him shows that a man is Christ’s disciple as fully as loving one another does.

For He says, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35. And when He also says, “Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it,” Matthew 10:39, and, “Whoever confesses Me before men, I also will confess before My Father who is in heaven,” He does not mean that love is unnecessary. Rather, He declares the reward stored up for these labors.

That He requires this also along with martyrdom, He strongly shows elsewhere when He says, “You will indeed drink My cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with,” Matthew 20:23. That is, you will be martyrs; you will be killed for My sake. But, He says, “to sit at My right hand and at My left”—not as though some actually sit on the right and the left, but meaning the highest rank and honor—“is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

Then, showing for whom it has been prepared, He calls them and says, “Whoever among you wants to be chief, let him be servant to you all,” Matthew 20:26, teaching humility and love. And the love He requires is intense. Therefore He did not stop even there, but added, “even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many,” pointing out that we ought to love so greatly that we would even be killed for those we love.

For above all, this is what it means to love Him. Therefore He also says to Peter, “If you love Me, feed My sheep.” John 21:16

11. And so that you may learn how great a work of virtue this is, let us describe it in words, since we do not see it appearing anywhere in actions. Let us consider how great the benefits would be if it were abundant everywhere. Then there would be no need for laws, or courts, or punishments, or acts of revenge, or anything else like these. For if all loved and were loved, no one would injure another.

Yes, murders, and strife, and wars, and divisions, and robberies, and frauds, and all evils would be removed, and vice would be unknown even by name. Miracles, however, would not have done this. Instead, they would make those who are not on their guard swell with vainglory and folly.

Again, this is what is truly wonderful about love: all other good things have evils joined to them. A person who gives up his possessions is often puffed up because of it. An eloquent person is troubled by a fierce desire for glory. A humble-minded person, for that very reason, also often thinks highly of himself in his own conscience. But love is free from every harm like this. For no one could ever be lifted up against the person he loves.

And please do not imagine only one person loving, but that all love in the same way; then you will see its power. Or rather, if you wish, first imagine one person being loved, and one person loving, yet loving as one ought to love. Why, he will live on earth as if it were heaven, enjoying peace everywhere and weaving countless crowns for himself.

For such a man will keep his own soul pure from envy, wrath, jealousy, pride, vain glory, evil desire, every unholy love, and every sickness of the soul. Yes, just as no one would injure himself, so this man would not injure his neighbors either. And being such a person, he will stand with Gabriel himself even while he walks on earth.

This is what a person with love is like. But if someone works miracles and has perfect knowledge, yet does not have love, he will gain very little, even if he raises ten thousand people from the dead. He is cut off from everyone else and cannot bear to join himself to any of his fellow servants. For this reason alone Christ said that the sign of perfect love toward Him is loving one's neighbors. For "if you love Me," He says, "O Peter, more than these, feed My sheep."

John 21:15 Do you see how here also He quietly suggests when this is greater than martyrdom? For if someone had a beloved child, and for that child he would even give up his life, and another person claimed to love the father but paid no attention at all to the son, that would greatly anger the father. Nor would he feel that the love for himself was real, because his son was neglected.

Now if this happens in the case of a father and son, it is much more so in the case of God and human beings, since God is surely more loving than any parents.

Therefore, after saying, "The first and great commandment is, You shall love the Lord your God," He added, "And the second"—He did not leave it unspoken, but stated it also—"is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." And notice how He requires this too with almost the same greatness. For about God, He says, "with all your heart." So also about your neighbor, He says, "as yourself," which means the same as "with all your heart."

Yes, and if this were properly practiced, there would be neither slave nor free, neither ruler nor ruled, neither rich nor poor, neither small nor great. Nor would any devil ever have been known then. I do not mean Satan only, but any other such spirit there may be. No, even if there were a hundred or ten thousand of them, they would have no power as long as love existed. For grass would endure fire sooner than the devil would endure the flame of love. Love is stronger than any wall.

It is firmer than any diamond. Or, if you can name any material stronger than that, the strength of love goes beyond them all. Neither wealth nor poverty can overcome it. No, rather, there would be no poverty and no excessive wealth if there were love, but only the good parts from each condition. For from the one we would gain its abundance, and from the other its freedom from care. And we would have to endure neither the worries of riches nor the fear of poverty.

12. And why do I mention the advantages that come from it? Rather, consider how great a blessing it is in itself to practice love. Consider what cheerfulness it produces, and in how great grace it establishes the soul. This, above all, is one of its choice qualities. For the other parts of virtue each have their troubles yoked with them. Fasting, temperance, and watching have envy, concupiscence, and contempt. But love, along with the gain, also has great pleasure and no trouble.

Like a busy bee, gathering sweetness from every flower, it lays it up in the soul of the one who loves. Even if someone is a slave, love makes slavery sweeter than liberty itself. For he who loves rejoices not so much in commanding as in being commanded, although to command is sweet. But love changes the nature of things and comes with all blessings in her hands, gentler than any mother, wealthier than any queen. She makes difficulties light and easy.

She causes our virtues to be easy, but makes vice very bitter to us. For example, to expend seems grievous, yet love makes it pleasant. To receive other men's goods seems pleasant, but love does not allow it to appear pleasant. Instead, it forms our minds to avoid it as an evil. Again, to speak evil seems pleasant to everyone. But love makes this bitter, and causes speaking well to be pleasant. For nothing is so sweet to us as praising one whom we love. Again, anger has a kind of pleasure.

But in this case it no longer does. Rather, all its sinews are taken away. Even if the one who is beloved grieves the one who loves him, anger appears nowhere. Instead there are tears, exhortations, and supplications. So far is love from being exasperated. And if she sees someone in error, she mourns and is in pain. Yet even this pain itself brings pleasure. For the tears and grief of love are sweeter than any mirth and joy.

For instance, those who laugh are not so refreshed as those who weep for their friends. And if you doubt it, stop their tears, and they complain of it just like people who have been badly mistreated. But someone says, "There is an unbecoming pleasure in love." Go away and keep silent, whoever you are. For nothing is so pure from such pleasure as genuine love.

Do not tell me about the ordinary kind, common among vulgar and small-minded people. That is a sickness rather than love. Instead, tell me about the kind of love Paul seeks, the kind that looks to the good of the people who are loved. Then you will see that no fathers are as affectionate as people of this kind.

And just as those who love money cannot bear to spend it, but would more gladly live in hardship than see their wealth grow less, so also a person who is kindly disposed toward someone would choose to suffer ten thousand evils rather than see the one he loves harmed.

How then, someone says, did the Egyptian woman who claimed to love Joseph want to harm him? It was because she loved him with this devilish kind of love. But Joseph did not love in that way. He loved with the kind of love Paul requires. Think, then, how great his love was, as shown by his words, and think about the action she was urging him to do.

It was as if she were saying, "Insult me, make me an adulteress, wrong my husband, destroy my whole household, and throw away your confidence before God." These are the words of someone who was so far from loving him that she did not even love herself. But because Joseph truly loved her, he tried to turn her away from all these things. And to show you that he was concerned for her, learn this from the advice he gave.

He did not only push her away, but also gave an appeal strong enough to put out every flame. He said, "Because of me, my master knows nothing that is in his house." At once he reminded her of her husband, so that he might make her ashamed. And he did not say, "your husband," but "my master." This was more fitting to hold her back and make her think about who she was and who it was she desired: a mistress desiring a slave. For if he is lord, then you are mistress.

Be ashamed, then, to have such closeness with a servant. Think whose wife you are, with whom you want to join yourself, toward whom you are becoming ungrateful and thoughtless, and how I am repaying him with greater goodwill. And see how Joseph speaks of his master's kindness. Since that savage and corrupt woman could not take in anything noble, he tried to shame her by human motives, saying, "He knows nothing through me."

That is, he is a great benefactor to me, and I cannot strike my protector in a deadly way. "He has made me second lord in his house, and nothing has been kept back from me except you." Here Joseph tries to lift up her mind, so that at least in this way he might persuade her to be ashamed and show her how great her honor was. Nor did he stop there. He also added a name enough to restrain her, saying, "Because you are his wife; and how shall I do this wickedness?" But what are you saying?

That your husband is not here, and does not know he is being wronged? But God will see it. She gained nothing from his advice, however, and still tried to draw him in. For she did these things because she wanted to satisfy her own madness, not because she loved Joseph. This is clear from what she did afterward. She set up a trial, made an accusation, gave false witness, handed over to a wild beast a man who had done no wrong, and threw him into prison.

Or rather, as far as she was concerned, she even killed him, so fiercely did she arm the judge against him. What then? Was Joseph also like her? No, exactly the opposite. He neither argued back nor accused the woman. Yes, someone may say, because he would not have been believed. And yet he was greatly loved. This is clear not only from the beginning but also from the end.

For if his barbarian master had not loved him deeply, he would even have killed him while he remained silent and made no defense. After all, he was an Egyptian and a ruler. He thought his marriage bed had been violated, and by a servant, and by a servant to whom he had shown such great kindness. But all these things gave way to his affection for Joseph and to the grace God poured out on him. Along with this grace and love, Joseph also had other strong proofs, if he had wanted to defend himself:

the garments themselves. For if she had been the one attacked by force, her own clothing should have been torn and her face scratched, instead of her still holding his garments. But she says, "He heard that I lifted up my voice, and he left his garments and went out." Why then did you take them from him? For when someone is suffering violence, the one thing wanted is to be rid of the attacker.

But I can show his goodwill and love not only from this, but also from what happened afterward. Yes, even when he had to mention why he was in prison and why he remained there, he still did not tell the whole story. What does he say? "I also have done nothing. Indeed, I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews." He never mentioned the adulterous woman, and he did not praise himself in the matter.

Anyone might have done that, if not out of vanity, then at least so that he would not seem to have been thrown into that prison cell for some evil reason. For if people, even while doing wrong, still do not hold back from blaming those same things, although this brings reproach on themselves, then how greatly should he be admired? He was pure, yet he did not mention the woman's passion or display her sin.

Nor, when he rose to the throne and became ruler over all Egypt, did he remember the wrong the woman had done to him or demand any punishment.

Do you see how he cared for her? But what she felt was not love, but madness. For it was not Joseph that she loved, but she wanted to satisfy her own lust. And if anyone examines her very words carefully, they too were full of wrath and great blood-thirstiness. For what does she say? "You have brought in a Hebrew servant to mock us," reproaching her husband for his kindness. And she displayed the garments, having herself become more savage than any wild beast. But he was not like that.

And why do I speak of his good will toward her, when we know that he was such even toward his brothers who wanted to kill him, and never said one harsh thing about them, either indoors or outdoors?

14. Therefore Paul says that the love we are speaking of is the mother of all good things, and he prefers it to miracles and all other gifts. For just as, where there are garments and sandals of gold, we still require some other clothing by which to distinguish the king, but if we see the purple robe and the diadem, we do not need to see any other sign of his royalty, so it is here also.

When the diadem of love is upon our head, it is enough to point out the true disciple of Christ, not only to ourselves, but also to unbelievers. For, He says, "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another," John 13:35. So this sign is surely greater than all signs, because by it the disciple is recognized. For even if some should do ten thousand signs, but are at strife with one another, they will be a scorn to unbelievers.

But if they do no sign, and yet love one another exactly, they will continue both honored and inviolable by all men. Since we admire Paul himself for this reason, not for the dead whom he raised, nor for the lepers whom he cleansed, but because he said, "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?" 2 Corinthians 11:29. For if you compare ten thousand miracles with this, you will have nothing equal to it to mention.

Since Paul himself also said that a great reward was laid up for him, not because he worked miracles, but because to the weak he became as weak. For, he says, "What is my reward? That, when I preach the Gospel, I may make the Gospel without charge." 1 Corinthians 9:18. And when he compares himself with the Apostles, he does not say, "I have worked more miracles than they," but, "I have labored more abundantly than they." 1 Corinthians 15:10.

He was even willing to perish by famine for the salvation of the disciples. For, he says, "It were better for me to die than that any man should make my glorying void," 1 Corinthians 9:15. He said this not because he was glorying, but so that he might not seem to reproach them. For nowhere is he accustomed to glory in his own achievements when the occasion does not call for it. But even if he is compelled to do so, he calls himself a fool.

But if he ever glories, it is in infirmities, in wrongs, and in greatly sympathizing with those who are injured. As here also he says, "Who is weak, and I am not weak?" These words are greater even than perils. Therefore he places them last, giving greater force to his argument.

What, then, should we be considered worthy of compared with him, when we do not even look down on wealth for our own sake, or give up the extra things we own? But Paul was not like that. Instead, he used to give up both soul and body, so that those who stoned him and beat him with rods might obtain the kingdom. For, he says, this is how Christ has taught me to love. Christ left behind His new commandment about love, and He Himself also carried it out in action.

For although He was Lord of all and shared that Blessed Nature, He did not turn away from men who had been created by Him out of nothing and had received countless benefits from Him, even when they insulted Him and spit on Him. Instead, for their sake He even became man, and lived among harlots and tax collectors, and healed the demon-possessed, and promised heaven. And after all these things, they seized Him and beat Him with rods, bound Him, scourged Him, mocked Him, and at last crucified Him.

And even then He did not turn away. Even while He was lifted up on the cross, He says, "Father, forgive them their sin." But the thief, who before this had insulted Him, He brought into paradise itself. And He made Paul the persecutor into an Apostle. And He gave up His own disciples, who were close to Him and fully devoted to Him, to death for the sake of the Jews who crucified Him.

Therefore, remembering in our minds all these things, both the things of God and the things of men, let us imitate these great deeds and make the love that is above all gifts our own, so that we may receive both the blessings of this present life and the blessings to come. May we all obtain these blessings through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. With Him, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. It does not brag, and it is not puffed up with pride.

So, after he had shown that faith, knowledge, prophecy, tongues, gifts, healing, a perfect life, and even martyrdom are of no great benefit if love is absent, he next had to give an outline of its unmatched beauty. He decorates its image with the parts of virtue as if they were colors, and he puts all its parts together with exactness. But, beloved, do not quickly pass over what was said.

Instead, examine each point very carefully, so that you may know both the treasure in the subject and the skill of the painter. Consider, for example, where he began at once, and what he placed first as the cause of all love's excellence. And what is this? Long-suffering. This is the root of all self-denial. Therefore a certain wise man also said, "A man that is long-suffering is of great understanding, but he that is hasty of spirit is very foolish."

And by comparing it to a strong city, he said that it is even more secure than that. For it is both an unbeatable weapon and a kind of tower that cannot be taken, easily driving away every trouble. And just as a spark falling into the deep sea does it no harm, but is itself quickly put out, so whatever unexpected thing falls on a patient soul quickly disappears, but does not disturb the soul. For truly nothing is so impossible to break through as long-suffering.

You may speak of armies, money, horses, walls, weapons, or anything else at all, but you will name nothing like long-suffering. For the man who is surrounded by those things is often overcome by anger, upset like a foolish child, and fills everything with confusion and storm. But this man, settled as if in a harbor, enjoys deep calm. Though you surround him with loss, you have not moved the rock. Though you bring insult on him, you have not shaken the tower.

And though you beat him with stripes, you have not wounded the adamant.

Yes, and for this reason he is called long-suffering, because he has a kind of long and great soul. For what is long is also called great. But this virtue is born from love, and it brings no small benefit both to those who have it and to those who receive its effects. For do not tell me about those ruined wretches who do evil and suffer nothing, and so become worse. In this case, that result comes not from his long-suffering, but from those who misuse it.

So do not tell me about them, but about those gentler people who gain great benefit from it. For when, after doing wrong, they suffer nothing, they admire the mildness of the one who suffers it, and by this they learn a very great lesson in self-control.

But Paul does not stop there. He also adds another great quality of love, saying, "is kind." For some people practice patience, not because they deny themselves, but because they want to punish those who have provoked them and make them burst with anger. He says that love does not have this fault either. Therefore he also added, "is kind." Those who have love are gentle with angry people, not at all to stir up the fire in those who are already burning with anger, but to calm it and put it out.

And they heal the sickness and cure the wound of passion, not only by enduring bravely, but also by soothing and comforting them.

It is not envious. For a person can be patient and still be envious, and in that way this virtue is spoiled. But love avoids this too.

It does not boast itself; that is, it is not reckless. Love makes the person who loves thoughtful, serious, and steady. In fact, one sign of those who love in an unlawful way is that they lack this quality. But the person who knows this love is, of all people, the one most completely freed from these evils. For when there is no anger within, both recklessness and insolence are completely taken away. Love is like an excellent farmer.

It takes its place deep within the soul and does not allow any of these thorns to grow up.

It is not proud. We often see many people think highly of themselves because of these very qualities. For example, they may pride themselves on not being envious, bitter, small-minded, or reckless. These evils belong not only to wealth and poverty, but even to things that are naturally good. But love completely cleanses them all away. And consider this. A person who is patient is not necessarily also kind.

But if he is not kind, that quality becomes a vice, and he is in danger of falling into malice. Therefore, love provides a remedy, I mean kindness, and keeps the virtue pure. Again, a kind person often becomes too eager to please. But love corrects this too. For, he says, love "does not boast, is not puffed up." A kind and patient person is often showy, but love takes away this vice also.

And see how he adorns her not only by what she has, but also by what she does not have. For he says that she both brings in virtue and pulls out vice. Rather, she does not even allow it to grow up at all. So he did not say, "She does envy, but overcomes envy," or, "She is arrogant, but corrects that passion." Instead he says, "She does not envy, does not boast, is not puffed up." This truly is most admirable:

even without toil she accomplishes her good works, and without war or battle her trophy is set up. She does not allow the one who possesses her to labor and so gain the crown, but brings him her prize without labor. For where there is no passion fighting against sound reason, what labor can there be?

Does not behave in an improper way. No, why, he says, do I say that love "is not puffed up," when it is so far from that feeling that, even when it suffers the most shameful things for the one it loves, it does not even consider it improper? Again, he did not say that love suffers shameful treatment but bears the shame nobly. He says that love does not even feel any sense of shame at all.

For if people who love money put up with all kinds of insults for the sake of their filthy business, and instead of hiding their faces even take pride in it, much more the one who has this praiseworthy love will refuse nothing at all for the safety of those he loves. No, nothing that he can suffer will make him feel shame.

So that we do not take our example from anything low, let us look at this same statement as it applies to Christ. Then we will see the force of what has been said. For our Lord Jesus Christ was both spit on and beaten with rods by miserable slaves. Yet He not only did not think this was shameful, but He even rejoiced in it and called it glory. He also brought a robber and murderer into paradise with Himself before the others.

And He spoke with a prostitute, even while the people standing by were all accusing Him. He did not consider this disgraceful. Instead, He allowed her to kiss His feet, to wet His body with her tears, and to wipe them away with her hair, and He did this in the middle of a crowd of watchers who were foes and enemies. For love does nothing unseemly.

Therefore, even fathers, though they are the greatest philosophers and speakers, are not ashamed to speak like little children with their children. No one who sees them blames them for it. Instead, people consider this so good and proper that it is even something worthy of prayer. Again, if their children become vicious, the parents keep correcting them and caring for them. They lessen the reproaches brought against them, and they are not ashamed.

For love does nothing improper, but, as if with certain golden wings, it covers all the faults of the beloved.

In the same way, Jonathan loved David. And when he heard his father say, in 1 Samuel 20:30, "You son of women who have run away from their homes, you womanly-bred one," he was not ashamed, though the words were full of great reproach. For this is what he means: "You son of mean harlots who are mad after men, who run after those passing by, you unnerved and effeminate wretch, who have nothing of a man, but live to the shame of yourself and the mother who bore you." What then?

Did he grieve at these things, and hide his face, and turn away from the one he loved? No, quite the opposite. He displayed his affection as an ornament. And yet the one was at that time a king, and a king's son, namely Jonathan. The other was a fugitive and a wanderer, I mean David. But not even so was he ashamed of his friendship. For love "does not behave itself unseemly." Yes, this is its wonderful quality:

it not only does not allow the injured man to grieve and feel galled, but even leads him to rejoice. So he too, the one we are speaking of, after all these things, went away just as though a crown had been put on him, and fell on David's neck. For love does not know what sort of thing shame is. Therefore it glories in those things for which another hides his face. For the shame is this: not to know how to love; not, when you love, to incur danger and endure all for the beloved.

But when I say, "all," do not think I also mean harmful things. For example, helping a young man in a love affair, or anything else harmful that someone may beg another person to do for him. A person like that does not love. I showed you this recently from the example of the Egyptian woman. In truth, the only real lover is the one who seeks what is beneficial for the one who is loved.

So if anyone does not pursue this, then even if what he does seems right and good, and even if he makes ten thousand claims of love, he is more hostile than any enemies.

In the same way, Rebecca long ago, because she was deeply devoted to her son, committed a theft and was not ashamed if she was found out. She was not afraid, even though the danger was very great. And even when her son had doubts, she said, "Upon me be your curse, my son." Do you see, even in a woman, the soul of the Apostle?

Just as Paul chose, if one may compare a small thing with a great one, to be accursed for the sake of the Jews, Romans 9:3, so she also chose to be nothing less than accursed, so that her son might be blessed. And the good things she gave to him. For it seems that she was not going to be blessed along with him, but she was ready to suffer the evils herself alone.

Nevertheless, she rejoiced and hurried, even with such a great danger before her, and she was troubled by the delay in carrying it out. For she feared that Esau might get ahead of them and make her wisdom useless. Therefore she cut the conversation short and urged the young man on. She only allowed him enough time to answer what had been said, and then she gave a reason strong enough to persuade him.

For she did not say, "You say these things without reason, and your fear is useless, since your father has grown old and cannot see clearly." What did she say? "Upon me be your curse, my son." Only do not ruin the plan, or lose what we are pursuing, or give up the treasure.

And this same Jacob, did he not serve his relatives for wages for two periods of seven years? Was he not, along with being in bondage, also exposed to mockery because of that trick? What then? Did he feel insulted by the mockery? Did he think it was disgraceful conduct that, though he was a free man, free-born, and well raised, he endured treatment like a slave among his own relatives? This is the kind of thing that is usually most painful, when a person receives shameful treatment from friends.

Not at all. And the reason was his love, which made the long time seem short. For, as he says in Genesis 29:20, they seemed to him like a few days. He was so far from being hurt and ashamed by this bondage. Therefore the blessed Paul rightly said, "Love does not behave itself unseemly."

Love does not seek its own interests and is not provoked.

After saying, "does not behave in an unseemly way," he also shows the attitude of mind that keeps love from acting that way. And what is that attitude? It is that love does not seek its own. For love considers the beloved to be everything. It thinks it acts in an unseemly way only when it cannot free the beloved from such unseemliness. So if it is possible, by its own unseemly conduct, to help the beloved, it does not even count the thing as unseemly.

For after that, the other person is yourself, when you love. Since this is friendship: the one who loves and the one who is loved are no longer two separate persons, but in a sense one single person. And this cannot happen except through love. Therefore, do not seek your own, so that you may find your own. For the one who seeks his own does not find his own. Therefore Paul also says, "Let no man seek his own, but each his neighbor's good."

1 Corinthians 10:24 For your own benefit lies in your neighbor's benefit, and his benefit lies in yours. So, if a man had his own gold buried in his neighbor's house, and refused to go there and look for it and dig it up, he would never find it. In the same way here, the one who will not seek his own benefit in the advantage of his neighbor will not receive the crowns due for this. For God Himself has arranged it this way, so that we should be bound together with one another.

It is like someone waking a sleepy child and trying to make him follow his brother when he is unwilling to do so. He puts into the brother's hand the thing the child wants and longs for, so that, because he wants to get it, he may run after the one who is holding it. And so it happens. In the same way here, God has given each man's own benefit to his neighbor, so that from now on we may run after one another and not be torn apart.

And if you want, see this in our own case, we who speak to you. My benefit depends on you, and your benefit depends on me. On the one hand, it benefits you to be taught the things that please God. But I have been entrusted with this, so that you might receive it from me, and therefore be led to come running to me. On the other hand, it benefits me that you should become better, because the reward I will receive for this will be great. But this again depends on you.

Therefore I am compelled to pursue you, so that you may become better, and so that I may receive my benefit from you. Therefore Paul also says, "For what is my hope? Are not even you?" And again, "My hope, and my joy, and the crown of my rejoicing." 1 Thessalonians 2:19 So Paul's joy was his disciples, and they had his joy. Therefore he even wept when he saw them perishing.

Again, their benefit depended on Paul. So he said, "For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain." Acts 28:20 And again, "These things I endure for the elect's sake, that they may obtain eternal life." 2 Timothy 2:10 You can also see this in ordinary life. For, he says, "The wife does not have authority over her own body, nor does the husband. The wife has authority over the husband's body, and the husband over the wife's."

1 Corinthians 7:4 In the same way, when we want to bind two people together, we do this. We leave neither one under his own control. Instead, by stretching a chain between them, we cause each one to be held by the other. Do you also want to see this in the case of rulers? The one who judges does not sit in judgment for himself, but seeks the benefit of his neighbor.

On the other hand, those who are governed seek the benefit of the ruler by their attendance, by their service, and by all other such things. Soldiers take up arms for us, because for our sake they put themselves in danger. And we are under pressure for them, because their supplies come from us.

But if you say that each person does this while seeking his own good, I say the same thing too. But I add that a person gains his own good through the good of another. So the soldier, unless he fights for those who support him, has no one to serve him for that purpose. And in the same way, unless that other person feeds the soldier, he has no one to arm himself on his behalf.

Do you see love, how it reaches everywhere and directs all things? But do not grow tired until you have become fully familiar with this golden chain. For after saying, "does not seek its own," he again mentions the good things that come from this. And what are these?

It is not easily provoked and thinks no evil. See again how love not only holds down vice, but does not even allow it to arise at all. For he did not say, "though provoked, she overcomes," but, "is not provoked." And he did not say, "does no evil," but, "does not even think evil." That is, she is so far from planning any evil that she does not even suspect it in the beloved. How then could she do any evil, or how could she be provoked?

For one who does not even allow an evil suspicion to enter is free from the source from which anger flows.

1 Corinthians 13:6-7

"Does not rejoice in unrighteousness" means that love does not take pleasure in those who suffer harm. And not only this, but what is much greater, it "rejoices with the truth." He says that love takes pleasure with those who are spoken well of, as Paul says, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." Romans 12:15

For this reason, she does not envy, and for this reason, she is not puffed up, since she counts the good things of others as her own.

Do you see how, little by little, love makes the one it nurtures like an angel? For when a person is free from anger, pure from envy, and free from every tyrannical passion, consider that he has, from now on, been delivered even from human nature, and has reached the very calmness of angels.

Nevertheless, he is not content with these, but has something even more than these to say, according to his plan of stating the stronger points later. Therefore he says, "bears all things." From her long-suffering, from her goodness, whether they are burdensome, or grievous, or insults, or stripes, or death, or whatever else. And this again one may see from the case of blessed David.

For what could be more intolerable than to see a son rise up against him, aim at usurpation, and thirst for a father's blood? Yet that blessed man endured this, and not even so could he bear to throw out one bitter expression against the would-be parricide. But even when he left all the rest to his captains, he gave a strong command concerning his safety. For the foundation of his love was strong. Therefore it also bears all things.

Here the Apostle points to its power, and in what follows, he points to its goodness. For he says, "It hopes all things, believes all things, endures all things." What does "hopes all things" mean? It does not give up hope for the loved one, he says. Even if that person is worthless, it keeps trying to correct him, provide for him, and care for him.

Love believes all things. For, he says, it not only hopes, but also believes because of its great love. And even if these good results do not happen as it hoped, and the other person proves even more unbearable, it bears even this. For, he says, it endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:8

5. Love never fails.

Do you see when he placed the crown on the whole argument, and what, above all things, is special to this gift? For what does, "It fails not," mean? It is not cut off. It is not worn out by what it endures. For it puts up with everything. Since whatever happens, the one who loves can never hate. This, then, is the greatest of its excellencies.

Paul was such a person. Therefore he also said, "If by any means I may provoke to emulation those who are my flesh," in Romans 11:14, and he kept on hoping. And he gave Timothy this command, saying, "The Lord's servant must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all... correcting with meekness those who oppose themselves, if perhaps God may give them the knowledge of the truth," in 2 Timothy 2:24-25.

What then, someone says, if they are enemies and heathens, should a person hate them? You must hate, not them, but their teaching; not the person, but the wicked behavior, the corrupt mind. For the person is God's work, but the deceit is the devil's work. Therefore, do not confuse the things of God with the things of the devil.

Since the Jews were blasphemers, persecutors, violent, and spoke countless evil things against Christ, did Paul then hate them, though he loved Christ more than all others? Not at all. Instead, he both loved them and did everything for their sake. At one time he says, "My heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is that they may be saved," Romans 10:1; 9:3. And at another time, "I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for their sake."

In the same way, Ezekiel, when he saw them killed, says, "Alas, O Lord, will You wipe out the remnant of Israel?" Ezekiel 9:8. And Moses says, "If You will forgive their sin, forgive." Exodus 32:32.

Why then does David say, "Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord? And do I not waste away because of Your enemies? I hate them with complete hatred." Psalm 139:21-22

First, not everything spoken in the Psalms by David is spoken as if David himself were the speaker. For he himself says, "I have lived in the tents of Kedar," in Psalm 120:5, and, "By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept," in Psalm 137:1. Yet he neither saw Babylon nor the tents of Kedar.

But besides this, we now need more complete self-control. That is why, when the disciples asked for fire to come down, as in the case of Elijah, Christ said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of." Luke 9:55 For at that time, they were commanded to hate not only ungodliness, but also the ungodly themselves, so that friendship with them might not become a cause of transgression for them.

Therefore He cut off their connections, both by blood and by marriage, and fenced them off on every side.

But now, because he has brought us to a fuller self-control and lifted us high above that mischief, he tells us instead to receive such people and soothe them. For we get no harm from them, but they get good from us. What then does he say? We must not hate them, but pity them. Since if you hate, how will you easily convert the one who is in error? How will you pray for the unbeliever? That we ought to pray, hear what Paul says:

"I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men." 1 Timothy 2:1. But that not all were believers at that time is, I suppose, evident to everyone. And again, "for kings and all that are in high place." But that these were ungodly and transgressors is also equally plain.

Further, when he also mentions the reason for the prayer, he adds, "for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who wills that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." Therefore, if he finds a Gentile wife living with a believer, he does not dissolve the marriage. Yet what is more closely joined than a man to his wife? For "they two shall be one flesh," Genesis 2:24, and in that case the charm is great, and the desire is ardent.

But if we are to hate ungodly and lawless men, we will go on to hate sinners also. And so, in regular course, you will be cut off even from your own brothers, or rather from all. For there is not one, no, not one, without sin. For if it is our duty to hate the enemies of God, one must hate not only the ungodly, but sinners also. And so we shall be worse than wild beasts, shunning all, and puffed up with pride, like that Pharisee. But Paul did not command us this way. Instead, how?

"Admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, be long-suffering toward all." 1 Thessalonians 5:14.

6. What then does he mean when he says, "If any obeys not our word by this epistle, note that man, that you have no company with him"? Second Thessalonians 3:14. First, he says this of brothers, though not even so without limitation, and this too with gentleness. For do not cut off what follows, but add the next clause also. After saying, "keep no company with him," he added, "Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother."

Do you see how he told us to hate the evil deed, and not the man? For indeed it is the work of the devil to tear us apart from one another, and he has always used great diligence to take away love, so that he may cut off the way of correction, and may retain him in error and you in enmity, and thus block up the way of his salvation.

For when both the physician hates the sick man and stays away from him, and the sick man turns away from the physician, when will the diseased person be restored, since neither the one will call in the other's help, nor will the other go to him?

But tell me, why do you turn away from him at all and avoid him? Is it because he is ungodly? Truly, for that very reason you ought to welcome him and care for him, so that you may lift him up in his sickness. But even if he is sick beyond cure, you have still been commanded to do your part. Judas also was diseased beyond cure, yet God did not stop caring for him. Therefore, you too must not grow weary.

For even if, after much labor, you fail to rescue him from his ungodliness, you will still receive the reward of one who tried to rescue him. And you will make him marvel at your gentleness, and so all this praise will pass on to God. For even if you should work wonders, raise the dead, and do every kind of mighty work, the heathen will never marvel at you as much as when they see you showing a meek, gentle, mild spirit.

And this is no small accomplishment, since many will even be completely delivered from their evil way. For nothing has such power to draw people as love. In the first case, I mean signs and wonders, they will rather be jealous of you. But for this, they will both admire and love you. And if they love you, they will also, in time, take hold of the truth. But if he does not become a believer all at once, do not be surprised and do not rush him. Do not demand everything at once.

Instead, allow him for the present to praise and to love, and in due time he will come to this also.

7. And so that you may clearly know how great a thing this is, hear how even Paul made his defense when he stood before an unbelieving judge. He says, "I think myself happy that I am to make my defense before you." Acts 26:2 He said these things not to flatter him. Far from it. He said them because he wished to win him by his gentleness. And he did partly win him. The man who had until then been thought condemned took his judge captive instead.

And the victory is confessed by the very man who was taken captive, crying out with a loud voice before all, "With but little persuasion you would make me a Christian." Acts 26:28-29 What then does Paul say? He spread his net wider and says, "I would to God, that not only you, but also all that hear me this day, might become such as I am, except these bonds." What are you saying, Paul? "Except these bonds"?

What confidence remains for you, if you are ashamed of these things and flee from them, and this before so great a multitude? Do you not everywhere in your Epistles boast of this matter and call yourself a prisoner? Do you not everywhere carry this chain before our eyes like a diadem? What then has happened now, that you shrink from these bonds? "I myself do not shrink from them," he says, "nor am I ashamed of them. But I condescend to their weakness.

For they are not yet able to receive my glorying. And I have learned from my Lord not to put 'a piece of undressed cloth upon an old garment:' Matthew 9:16 therefore I spoke this way. For in fact, up to this time they have heard evil reports about our doctrine and abhor the cross. If I should add bonds also, their hatred becomes greater. Therefore I removed these, so that the other might be made acceptable."

So it is that being bound seems disgraceful to them, because they have not yet tasted of the Glory that is with us. One must therefore condescend. And when they have learned about the true life, then they will also know the beauty of this iron, and the luster that comes from these bonds. Furthermore, when speaking with others, he even calls the thing a free gift, saying, "It has been granted in behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer in His behalf."

Philippians 1:29 But for the present time, it was a great thing for the hearers not to be ashamed of the cross. For this reason he proceeds gradually. Thus, when someone is introducing a person to a palace, before he sees the vestibule, he does not force him, while he is still standing outside, to look at what is within. For in that way, it will not even seem admirable, unless a person enters in and so becomes acquainted with everything.

So then, let us also deal with the heathen in a gentle and humble way, with love. For love is a great teacher. It is able both to draw people away from error, and to reform their character, and to lead them by the hand to self-denial, and to make men out of stones.

8. If you want to learn love’s power, bring me a man who is timid and afraid at every sound, and who trembles at shadows; or a man who is hot-tempered, harsh, and more like a wild beast than a man; or one who is immoral and undisciplined; or one completely given over to wickedness. Hand him over to love, and bring him into this school, and you will quickly see that cowardly and fearful person become brave and great-hearted, ready to dare everything with cheerfulness.

And what is amazing is that these things do not come from any change in his nature. Rather, love shows its special power in that very cowardly soul. It is much like making a sword of lead, without turning it into steel and while it still remains lead by nature, do the work of steel. For example, Jacob was "a plain man," Genesis 25:27, living in a house and untrained in hard work and dangers.

He lived a relaxed and easy life, and like a virgin in her room, he was mostly forced to stay indoors and keep the house. He was far removed from the public square and all its disturbances, and from all such affairs, continuing in comfort and quietness. What then happened? After the torch of love set him on fire, see how it made this plain man, who stayed at home, strong in endurance and eager for labor. And do not hear this from me, but from what the patriarch himself says.

When he rebukes his relative, he says, "These twenty years I have been with you," Genesis 31:36. And how did you live during those twenty years? For he adds this also: "Consumed by the heat in the daytime, and by the frost at night, and sleep departed from my eyes." This is what that plain man says, the one who stayed at home and lived that easy life.

Again, it is clear that he was timid, because when he expected to see Esau, he was almost dead with fear. But see again how this timid man became bolder than a lion because of love. He put himself forward like a champion in front of the others. He was ready to be the first to meet that fierce brother, who, as he thought, was breathing slaughter, and to use his own body to buy safety for his wives. The man he feared and trembled before, he wanted to face first in the line.

For this fear was not as strong as his love for his wives. Do you see how, though he was timid, he suddenly became bold, not because his character changed, but because love gave him strength? For it is clear that even after this he was still timid, as shown by his moving from place to place.

But let no one think that what has been said is an accusation against that righteous man. Being timid is not a disgrace, because it belongs to human nature. What is disgraceful is doing anything improper because of timidity. For a person who is timid by nature can become courageous through godliness. What about Moses? Did he not flee in fear of a single Egyptian, and go away into exile?

Nevertheless, this fugitive, who could not endure the threat of one man, after he tasted the honey of love, courageously and without being forced by anyone, was ready to perish together with those whom he loved. For "if You will forgive their sin," he says, "forgive; and if not, blot me, I pray You, out of Your book which You have written." Exodus 32:32

9. Also, we no longer need examples to show that love makes fierce people gentle, and immoral people pure, because this is clear to everyone. Even if a man is more savage than any wild animal, love can make him as gentle as a sheep. For example, what could have been more savage and out of control than Saul? But when his daughter let his enemy escape, he did not speak even one bitter word against her. He was the same man who, for David’s sake, put all the priests to the sword without mercy.

Yet when he saw that his daughter had sent David away from the house, he was not angry with her, not even in words. And this was so even though such a great deception had been carried out against him, because he was held back by the stronger bridle of love.

Just as self-control is a normal result of love, so is chastity. If a man loves his own wife as he ought to love her, then even if he is very inclined to sexual sin, he will not put up with looking at another woman, because of his love for his wife. For, as someone says in Canticles 8:5, "Love is strong as death." So then, immoral behavior comes from no other source than a lack of love.

Since love is the maker of every virtue, let us plant it in our own souls with great care. Then it may bring us many blessings, and we may always have its fruit growing in abundance, fruit that is always fresh and never fades. For in this way we will receive eternal blessings as well. May we all receive them through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and forever, and world without end. Amen.

1 Corinthians 13:8

But if there are prophecies, they will be done away with. If there are tongues, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will be done away with.

After showing the excellence of love by proving that it is necessary both for spiritual gifts and for the virtues of life, and by listing all its good qualities, and by showing that it is the foundation of complete self-denial, he points out its value again from a third angle.

He does this first because he wants to persuade those who seemed to be considered inferior that it is in their power to have the greatest of all signs, and that if they have this, they will be no worse off than those who possess the gifts, but much better. Second, he speaks to those who had the greater gifts and had become proud because of them. He wants to bring them down and show them that they have nothing unless they have this.

In this way, they would love one another, because envy and pride would be taken away by this. And as they loved one another in return, they would drive these passions away even more. For love does not envy and is not puffed up. So on every side he surrounds them with an unbreakable wall and with deep unity. This first removes all their disorders, and then makes that unity even stronger again. Therefore he also brought forward countless reasons that could comfort their discouragement.

For example: the same Spirit, he says, is the giver; and He gives for profit; and He divides as He wills, and what He divides is a gift, not a debt. Even if you receive only a little, you still contribute equally to the body, and even in this way you receive much honor. And the one who has the greater gift needs you who have the lesser. And love is the greatest gift, and "the more excellent way."

He said all this for two reasons, to tie them more closely to each other. First, if they had this, they would not think they were being looked down on. Second, after they sought it and gained it, they would no longer feel human weakness. That is because they would have the root of all gifts, and because, even if they had nothing, they would no longer be able to be quarrelsome. For a person who has once been taken captive by love is set free from quarrels.

And this is why, as he showed them how great the benefits would be that they would gain from it, he outlined its fruits. By praising it, he also held back their disorders, since each of the things he mentioned was enough medicine to heal their wounds. Therefore he said, "suffers long," to those who were fighting with one another; "is kind," to those who kept their distance from each other and held a secret grudge; "envies not," to those who looked with resentment on their superiors;

"vaunts not itself," to those who were divided; "is not puffed up," to those who boasted against others; "does not behave itself unseemly," to those who did not think it was their duty to stoop down to others; "seeks not her own," to those who ignored the rest; "is not provoked, takes not account of evil," to those who were insolent; "rejoices not in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth," again to those who were envious; "bears all things," to those who were treacherous;

"hopes all things," to those who were despairing; "endures all things, never fails," to those who quickly separated themselves.

2. Then, after he had shown in every way that love is extremely great, he does so again from another very important point. By a new comparison, he lifts up her dignity and says this: "But whether there are prophecies, they will be done away; whether there are tongues, they will cease." For if both of these were brought in for the sake of faith, then when faith has been spread everywhere, the use of these is from now on unnecessary. But loving one another will not cease.

Rather, it will go even further, both here and hereafter, and then more than now. For here there are many things that weaken our love: wealth, business, passions of the body, and disorders of the soul. But there, none of these exist.

But although it is no surprise that prophecies and tongues should pass away, and that knowledge should pass away, this is what may cause some confusion. For he also added, "Whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away." What then? Are we to live in ignorance? Far from it. No, it is especially likely that our knowledge then becomes stronger. That is why he also said, "Then shall I know, even as also I am known."

For this reason, if you notice, so that you would not think this passes away in the same way as prophecy and tongues, after saying, "Whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away," he did not stop there, but also added the manner of its passing away, immediately adding these words,

1 Corinthians 13:9-10: "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when what is perfect has come, then what is in part will be done away."

We know only in part, and we prophesy only in part. But when what is perfect has come, then what is partial will be done away.

So, it is not knowledge itself that will be done away with, but the fact that our knowledge is only partial. For we will not only know as much as we do now, but even much more. To make this clear by an example: now we know that God is everywhere, but we do not know how. We know that He made the things that exist out of things that did not exist, but we do not know the manner of it. We know that He was born of a virgin, but we do not yet know how.

But then we will know somewhat more, and more clearly, about these things. Next, he also shows how great the distance is between the two, and that our deficiency is not a small one, saying,

1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I felt like a child, and I thought like a child. But now that I have become an adult, I have put away childish things.

And by another example also, he shows the same thing again, saying,

1 Corinthians 13:12

For now, we see in a mirror. Also, because the mirror shows us the thing seen in an unclear way, he added, "darkly," to show very strongly that our present knowledge is very partial.

But then, face to face. Not that God has a face, but this expresses the idea of greater clarity and plainness. Do you see how we learn everything little by little?

"Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I also have been known." Do you see how, in two ways, he brings down their pride? First, because their knowledge is only partial. Second, because they do not even have this knowledge from themselves. For, he says, "I did not know Him, but He made Himself known to me." Therefore, just as He first knew me now and quickly came to me, so then I also shall hasten toward Him, much more than I do now.

For a person sitting in darkness, as long as he does not see the sun, does not on his own hurry to meet the beauty of its rays, though the sun shows itself as soon as it begins to shine. But when he notices its brightness, then he too at last follows its light. This, then, is the meaning of the words, "even as I also have been known." It does not mean that we shall know Him exactly as He is.

Rather, it means that just as He hastened toward us now, so we also shall cling to Him then, and shall know many things that are now hidden, and shall enjoy that most blessed fellowship and wisdom. For if Paul, who knew so much, was a child, consider what those things must be. If these things are a mirror and a riddle, then from this again understand how great a thing God's open Face is.

But so that I may explain to you a small part of this difference, and give some faint ray of this thought to your soul, I want you to remember how things were in the Law, now that grace has shone forth. For those things too, which came before grace, had a certain great and wonderful appearance. Nevertheless, hear what Paul says about them after grace came: "What was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that surpasses it." 2 Corinthians 3:10

But to make what I am saying even clearer, let us apply the argument to one of the rites performed at that time. Then you will see how great the difference is. And if you wish, let us compare that Passover with this one. Then you will understand our superiority. The Jews did celebrate it, but they celebrated it as if in a mirror, and in darkness. They never even imagined these hidden mysteries, or what those things pointed to ahead of time.

They saw a lamb being killed, the blood of an animal, and doorposts sprinkled with it. But they did not know that the incarnate Son of God would be slain, would set the whole world free, would grant both Greeks and Barbarians to taste this Blood, would open heaven to all, and would offer to the whole human race the things that are there.

And after taking His blood-stained flesh, He would raise it above heaven, above the heaven of heavens, and, in a word, above all the hosts on high—angels, archangels, and all the other powers—and would cause it, shining with glory beyond words, to sit on the very throne of the King, at the right hand of the Father. These things, I say, no one among them, or among the rest of mankind, ever knew beforehand or was ever able even to imagine.

4. But what do those say who shrink from nothing? That the words, "now I know in part," are spoken in relation to divine arrangements. For they say that the Apostle had the perfect knowledge of God. And does he now call himself a child? How does he see in a mirror? How darkly, if he has the fullness of knowledge?

And why does he refer to this as something belonging especially to the Spirit, and to no other power in creation, saying, "For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the things of God no one knows, except the Spirit of God"? 1 Corinthians 2:11.

And Christ again says that this belongs to Himself alone, saying, "Not that any man has seen the Father, except He who is from God, He has seen the Father," John 6:46, giving the name "sight" to the clearest and most perfect knowledge.

And how can he who knows the Essence be ignorant of the divine arrangements? Since that knowledge is greater than this.

Are we then, he says, ignorant of God? Far from it. We know that He is, but what He is, as regards His Essence, we do not yet know. And so that you may understand that he did not speak the words, "now I know in part," about the divine arrangements, hear what follows. He then adds, "but then shall I know, even as also I have been known." He surely was known not by the divine arrangements, but by God.

Therefore, let no one think this is a small or simple sin. It is double, and triple, yes, many times over. For not only is there this ungodliness, that they boast of knowing things that belong only to the Spirit and to the only-begotten Son of God, but also this: Paul could not gain even this partial knowledge without revelation from above, yet these men say they have gained the whole of it by their own reasoning.

For they are not able to show that Scripture has spoken to us anywhere about these things.

But however, leaving aside their madness, let us pay attention to the words that follow about love. For he was not satisfied with these things, but adds again, saying,

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.

Faith and hope do cease when the good things that were believed and hoped for finally come. To show this, Paul says, "Hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?" In the same way, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the proving of things not seen." Romans 8:24; Hebrews 11:1 So faith and hope cease when those things appear. But love is then lifted up even more, and becomes stronger. This is another praise of love.

He is not satisfied with the points already mentioned, but tries to find still another one. Notice this: he has said that it is a great gift, and an even more excellent way than these. He has said that without it there is no great profit in our gifts. He has described its image at length. Now he intends once again, and in another way, to exalt it and show that it is great because it remains. Therefore he also said, "But now faith, hope, love, these three remain;

but the greatest of these is love." How then is love the greater? It is greater because those pass away.

If the power of love is so great, then he rightly adds, "Pursue love." We surely need to pursue it, and to run after it with great force, because it flies from us in this way, and because so many things trip us up as we go after it. Therefore, we always need great eagerness if we are going to catch up with it. And to make this clear, Paul did not say, "Follow love," but, "Pursue it," stirring us up and setting us on fire to take hold of it.

From the beginning, God arranged countless ways to plant this in us. First, He gave one head to all, Adam. Why do we not all come out of the earth? Why are we not full-grown, as he was? It was so that birth, the raising of children, and being born from another person might tie us to one another. For this reason, He did not make woman out of the earth either.

And because being of the same substance was not by itself enough to make us ashamed of discord and lead us to unity, unless we also had the same forefather, He provided for this too. Since even now, when we are separated only by place, we think of ourselves as strangers to one another, this would have happened much more if our race had had two beginnings. For this reason, then, as if from one head, He joined together the whole body of the human race.

And because from the beginning they seemed, in a way, to be two, see how He joins them together again and gathers them into one through marriage. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cling to his wife, and they shall be one flesh." Genesis 2:24. And He did not say, "the woman," but, "the man," because the desire is stronger in him too.

Yes, and for this reason He also made it stronger, so that it might bend the stronger party under the complete rule of this passion, and subject it to the weaker. And since marriage also had to be brought in, He made the one from whom she came the husband of the woman. For in the sight of God, all things are second to love.

And if, when things had begun this way, the first man at once became so frenzied, and the devil sowed such great conflict and envy among them, what would he not have done if they had not come from one root?

Further, so that one might be subject and the other might rule, He did not allow it to be a democracy, because equality often brings in conflict. Instead, He made it a monarchy. This order can be seen in an army, and also in every family. For example, the husband holds the rank of monarch. The wife holds the rank of lieutenant and general. The children too are given a third place of authority. After these comes a fourth order, that of the servant.

For servants also rule over those below them, and one of them is often placed over the whole household, always holding the master's position, yet still as a servant. Along with this, there is again another command, and among the children themselves there is yet another, according to their age and sex, since among the children the female does not have equal authority.

And everywhere God has made governments close together and many in number, so that all might remain in harmony and in very good order. Therefore, even before the human race had increased into a multitude, when only the first two existed, He commanded the man to govern and the woman to obey. And again, so that he might not look down on her as inferior and keep himself apart from her, see how He honored her and made them one, even before her creation.

For He says, "Let us make for man a help fit for him," showing that she was made because he needed her, and by this drawing him toward her who was made for his sake. For we are more kindly disposed toward all things that are done for our sake. But so that she, on the other hand, might not become proud because she was given to him for help, and so might not break this bond, He made her out of his side, showing that she is a part of the whole body.

And so that the man also might not become proud because of this, He no longer allows that to belong to him alone which had before been his alone. Instead, He brought in the procreation of children, and in this too He gave the chief honor to the man, yet without allowing the whole to belong to him.

Do you see how many ties of love God has made? He has placed these in us by the force of nature itself, as signs of harmony. Our sharing the same nature leads to this, because every living creature loves its own kind. The woman also was brought forth from the man, and then the children from both. From this come many kinds of affection. We love one person as a father, another as a grandfather; one as a mother, another as a nurse. We love one as a son, or a grandson, or a great-grandson;

and another as a daughter or a granddaughter. We love one as a brother, another as a nephew; one as a sister, another as a niece. And why is there any need to list all the names of blood relationships?

He also created another basis for affection. By forbidding marriage between relatives, he led us to those who were strangers and then drew them to us. Since it was not possible for them to be joined to us by natural family ties, he joined us to them in a new way through marriage. In this way, through one bride, he united whole families and blended entire peoples with other peoples.

For the Lord says, "Do not marry your sister," Leviticus 18:6, "nor your father's sister, nor any young woman who has such blood relationship with you as completely forbids marriage." In this way He names the degrees of such relationship. Your affection toward them is enough, because you were the fruit of the same birth-pangs, and because the others stand in a different relation to you. Why do you narrow the breadth of love?

Why do you idly throw away a ground of affection toward her, when by that very thing you might provide yourself with a distinct source from which affection could spring? I mean by taking a wife from another family, and through her gaining a chain of kinsmen: mother, father, brothers, and their relations.

Do you see how many ways He has tied us together? Yet even this was not enough for Him. He also made us need one another, so that in this way too He might bring us together, because needs more than anything else create friendships. For this same reason, He did not allow everything to be produced in every place. By this also, He meant to force us to associate with one another. But while He made us need one another, He also made that contact easy.

If it had not been so, the matter would have become painful and difficult in another way. For if someone who needed a physician, or a carpenter, or any other workman, had to leave on a long journey to a foreign land, the whole arrangement would have come to nothing. This is why He also founded cities and brought everyone into one place.

And so, that we might easily keep up contact with distant countries, He spread the flat surface of the sea between us and gave us the speed of the winds, thus making our sea voyages easy. At the beginning, He even gathered all people together in one place, and did not scatter them until those who first received this gift misused their unity for sin. However, He has brought us together in every way: by nature, by blood relationship, by language, and by place.

And just as He did not will that we should fall from paradise—for if He had willed it, He would not have placed there at all the man whom He had formed, but the one who disobeyed was the cause—so also it was not His will that men should have different languages, since otherwise He would have made it so from the beginning. But as it was, the whole earth was of one language, and all had one speech. Genesis 11:1

This is the reason why, when it was necessary for the earth to be destroyed, He did not make us from different material even then, nor did He remove the righteous man. Instead, He left him in the middle of the flood, like a kind of spark of the world, and from there He kindled our human race again through the blessed Noah. And from the beginning He established only one authority, by placing the man over the woman.

But after our race rushed into extreme disorder, He also appointed other authorities, those of masters and those of governors, and He did this too out of love. That is, since vice tended to break up and overthrow our race, He placed those who carry out justice in the middle of our cities like a kind of physicians, so that by driving away vice, as if it were a plague against love, they might gather everyone together into one.

And so, not only in cities, but also in each family, there might be great unity, He honored the man with rule and superiority. On the other hand, He armed the woman with desire. He also committed the gift of having children to both of them together. Along with this, He also provided other things fitted to bring about love. He did not entrust everything to the man, nor everything to the woman. Instead, He divided these things also separately to each one.

To her He entrusted the house, and to him the market. To him He gave the work of providing food, for he tills the ground. To her He gave the work of clothing, for the loom and distaff are the woman's. For it is God Himself who gave womankind skill in woven work. Woe to covetousness, which does not allow this difference to appear! For the general effeminacy has gone so far as to bring our men to the looms, and put shuttles, woof, and threads into their hands.

Nevertheless, even in this the forethought of the divine arrangement shines out. For we still greatly need the woman in other more necessary things, and we require the help of our inferiors in those things which hold our life together.

8. This need is so strong that even if a person were richer than everyone else, he still would not be free from this close connection, or from needing what is beneath him. For we see that it is not only the poor who need the rich, but the rich also need the poor. In fact, the rich need the poor more than the poor need them. To make this clearer, let us imagine, if you please, two cities. Let one be made up only of rich people, and the other only of poor people.

In the city of the rich, let there be no poor person at all; and in the city of the poor, no rich person at all. Let us remove both classes completely, and see which city is better able to support itself. For if we find that the city of the poor is able to do so, it is clear that the rich would have even greater need of them.

Now then, in that city of the affluent, there would be no manufacturer, no builder, no carpenter, no shoemaker, no baker, no farmer, no brazier, no rope-maker, nor any other trade like these. For which of the rich would ever choose to follow these crafts, since even the very men who take them in hand, when they become rich, no longer endure the discomfort caused by these works? How then will our city stand? Someone replies, "The rich, by giving money, will buy these things from the poor."

Well then, they will not be sufficient for themselves. Their needing the others proves that. But how will they build houses? Will they buy this too? But the nature of things cannot allow it. Therefore they must invite the craftsmen there, and destroy the law that we made at first when we were founding the city. For you remember that we said, "Let there be no poor man within it." But look, necessity, even against our will, has invited and brought them in.

From this it is clear that it is impossible for a city to exist without the poor. For if the city continues refusing to admit any of these, it will no longer be a city, but will perish. Clearly then, it will not support itself unless it gathers the poor within itself as a kind of preservers.

But let us also look at the city of the poor, and see whether it too would be in the same kind of need if it were deprived of the rich. First, in our discussion, let us clearly explain the nature of riches and show plainly what they are. What, then, are riches? Gold, silver, precious stones, and garments made of silk, purple cloth, and cloth embroidered with gold. Now that we have seen what riches are, let us drive them away from our city of the poor.

If we are going to make it a city made up only of poor people, then let no gold appear there, not even in a dream, nor garments of that kind. If you wish, let there be no silver either, and no silver vessels. What then? Because of this, will that city and its affairs live in want? Tell me. Not at all. For suppose, first, that there is need to build.

What one needs is not gold, silver, and pearls, but skill and hands, and not just any hands, but hands made hard with labor, fingers hardened, great strength, wood, and stones. Suppose again that someone wants to weave a garment. Here too we do not need gold and silver, but, as before, hands and skill, and women to do the work. And what if someone needs farming and digging the ground? Are rich men wanted, or poor? It is clear to everyone that the poor are wanted.

And when iron must be worked, or anything else of that kind must be done, this is the kind of people we need most. In what way, then, do we still need the rich? Unless the thing needed is to tear down this city. For if that kind of people should enter, and if these philosophers—for I call those philosophers who seek nothing unnecessary—should begin to desire gold and jewels, and give themselves over to idleness and luxury, they will ruin everything from that day on.

9. But someone says, "If wealth is not useful, then why has God given it? And how is it clear that being rich comes from God? Scripture says, 'The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,' and, 'To whomever I will, I will give it.'" Haggai 2:8. Here, if it were not improper, I could laugh out loud at those who say such things. They are like little children allowed at a king's table, who stuff into their mouths not only the food there, but everything else they can grab.

In the same way, these people secretly mix their own ideas in with the divine Scriptures. For I know that the Prophet did say, "The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine." But the words, "To whomever I will, I will give it," are not added there. Those words have been inserted by these vile people. And I will explain why the first words were spoken. The Prophet Haggai kept promising the Jews, after their return from Babylon, that he would show the temple in its former appearance.

Some doubted what was said, and thought it was nearly impossible that, after being reduced to dust and ashes, the house would appear again as it once was. So, to remove their unbelief, he says these words in the person of God, as if he were saying, "Why are you afraid? And why do you refuse to believe? 'The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine.' I do not need to borrow from others in order to beautify the house."

And to show that this is the meaning, he adds, "And the glory of this latter house shall be greater than the glory of the former." Therefore, let us not weave spiders' webs into the royal robe. For if a person is caught weaving a false thread into a purple garment, he will suffer the most severe punishment. How much more, then, in spiritual matters, since the sin committed here is no ordinary sin. And why do I speak only of adding and taking away?

Even by a single mark, and by a mere way of reading aloud, many ungodly ideas have often been introduced.

"Then where do the rich come from?" someone says. For it has been said, "Riches and poverty are from the Lord." So let us ask those who raise these objections against us whether all riches and all poverty are from the Lord. No, who would say that? For we see that many people gather great wealth by robbery, by wickedly breaking open tombs, by witchcraft, and by other such schemes. And those who possess it are not worthy even to live. What then? Tell me, do we say that this wealth is from God?

Far from it. Then where does it come from? From sin. In this way, the prostitute becomes rich by dishonoring her own body. And a handsome young man often sells his youthful beauty in shame and gets gold for himself. And the grave robber gathers unjust wealth by breaking open people's tombs. And the thief does it by digging through walls. Therefore, not all wealth is from God. "What then," someone says, "shall we say to this statement?"

First, understand a kind of poverty that does not come from God, and then we will go on to the statement itself. I mean this: when some wasteful young man spends his wealth on prostitutes, or on sorcerers, or on any other evil desires, and becomes poor, is it not very clear that this has come not from God, but from his own reckless living?

Again, if some become poor through laziness, if some are brought down to begging through foolishness, if some are reduced to poverty by taking up dangerous and unlawful activities, is it not completely clear that none of these people, and others like them, have been brought down to this poverty by God?

So then, does Scripture speak falsely? God forbid! No. But people act foolishly when they fail to examine carefully everything that is written. For if, on the one hand, we admit that the Scriptures cannot lie, and if, on the other hand, it is proved that not all wealth comes from God, then the difficulty is caused by the weakness of careless readers.

10. It would be right for me to send you away now, since I have defended Scripture on this point, so that you might suffer this correction from me for your carelessness about the Scriptures. But because I am very gentle with you, and I can no longer bear to see you confused and troubled, let me also give the answer. First I will mention who is speaking, when it was said, and to whom it was said.

For God does not speak in the same way to everyone, just as we do not deal with children and adults in the same way. So when was it said, and by whom, and to whom? It was spoken by Solomon in the Old Testament to the Jews, who understood nothing beyond material things, and who measured God's power by such things. For these are the people who say, "Can He also give bread?" and, "What sign do You show us? Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness," whose god is their belly. Psalm 78:24;

Matthew 12:38; John 6:31; Philippians 3:19 Since they were testing Him by these things, He says to them, "This also is possible with God: to make both rich and poor." Not that He Himself, of course, is the one who makes them so, but that He can do it when He wills. It is just like when he says, "Who rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers," in Nahum 1:4, even though this never actually happened. Then how does the prophet say this?

He says it not as something God is always doing, but as something God is able to do.

What kind of poverty, then, does He give, and what kind of wealth? Remember the patriarch, and you will know the kind of wealth that is given by God. For He made both Abraham rich, and after him Job, just as Job himself says, "If we have received good from the Lord, shall we not also receive evil?" Job 2:10. And Jacob's wealth also began from there. There is also a poverty that comes from Him, the kind that is praised.

This is the kind He once wanted to teach that rich man about when He said, "If you would be perfect, sell your goods, and give to the poor, and come, follow Me." Matthew 19:21. And again He made it a rule for the disciples, saying, "Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor two coats." Matthew 9:10. Do not say, then, that all wealth is His gift, since there are cases where it has been gathered by murderers, by robbery, and by countless other schemes.

But again, the discussion returns to our earlier question: if the rich are in no way useful to us, then why are they made rich? What, then, should we say? We should say that those who make themselves rich are not useful. But those whom God makes rich are most useful. Learn this from the actions of the very people we just mentioned. Abraham had wealth for all strangers and for all who were in need.

When three men came near, as he thought, he killed a calf and kneaded three measures of fine flour, even while he was sitting at his door in the heat of the day. Think about how generously and readily he used to spend what he had on everyone. Along with his possessions, he also gave the service of his own body, and this at such an advanced age. He was a harbor for strangers and for all who had fallen into any kind of need.

He treated nothing as his own, not even his son, since at God's command he actually gave up even him. And along with his son, he also gave up himself and all his household when he hurried to rescue his brother's son from danger. He did this not for profit, but simply out of human kindness. For example, when those whom he had saved wanted to place the spoils at his disposal, he refused all of it, even to a thread and a sandal strap. Genesis 14:23

Such also was the blessed Job. For he says, "My door was open to everyone who came"; Job 20:15. "I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. I was a father of the helpless. The stranger did not lodge outside. And whatever need the helpless had, he did not fail of it. Neither did I allow any helpless man to go out of my door with an empty bosom." And much more than these things also, which we will not now recount in full, he continued to do, spending all his wealth on the needy.

Will you also look at those who have become rich, but not by God, so that you may learn how they used their wealth? Look at the man in the parable of Lazarus, and see how he did not give even a share of his crumbs. Look at Ahab, and see how not even the vineyard was free from his extortion. Look at Gehazi. Look at all such people. So then, those who gain wealth justly, as having received it from God, spend it according to the commands of God.

But those who offend God in the way they gain it do the same in the way they spend it also. They waste it on prostitutes and parasites, or they bury it and lock it away, but spend nothing on the poor.

And why, someone says, does God allow such men to be rich? Because He is patient. Because He wants to lead us to repentance. Because He has prepared hell. Because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world, Acts 17:31. If He had punished at once those who were rich and did not live virtuously, Zacchæus would not have had an appointed time for repentance, so that he could restore four times as much as whatever he had taken unjustly, and also add half of his goods.

Nor would Matthew have been converted and become an Apostle, since he would have been cut off before the proper time. Nor would many others like them. Therefore He bears with them, calling all to repentance. But if they are unwilling, and continue in the same ways, they shall hear Paul saying that, after their hardness and unrepentant heart, they are storing up for themselves wrath for the day of wrath, and revelation, and the righteous judgment of God, Romans 2:5.

To escape that wrath, let us become rich with the riches of heaven, and pursue that praiseworthy kind of poverty. For in this way we shall also obtain the good things to come. May we all obtain them through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and forever, and world without end. Amen.

1 Corinthians 14:1

Pursue love, and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.

So, since he had carefully told them all about the excellence of love, he now urges them to pursue it eagerly. Therefore he also said, "Follow after." For a person who is chasing something looks only at what is being chased. He stretches himself toward it and does not stop until he takes hold of it. When a pursuer cannot catch it by himself, he catches up to the one fleeing by means of those ahead of him. He urgently begs those who are near to seize it and hold it for him until he arrives.

Let us do this too. When we cannot reach love by ourselves, let us ask those who are near her to hold her until we catch up with her. And when we have taken hold of her, let us not let her go again, so that she may not escape us once more. For she is always springing away from us, because we do not use her as we should, but put all things before her. Therefore we ought to make every effort to keep hold of her completely.

For if this is done, we will not need much labor from now on, or rather hardly any at all. Instead, as we take our ease and keep holiday, we will go forward on the narrow path of virtue. Therefore he says, "Follow after her."

Then, so that they might not think he brought up the teaching about love for no other reason than to put an end to the gifts, he adds the following:

But earnestly desire spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy.

1 Corinthians 14:2

For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people, but to God. For no one understands him; yet in the Spirit he speaks mysteries.

1 Corinthians 14:3

But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their building up, encouragement, and comfort.

At this point, he compares the gifts and puts the gift of tongues lower than the others. He shows that it is not completely useless, but it is also not very profitable by itself. In fact, they were very puffed up because of this gift, since it was considered a great one. And it was thought to be great because the Apostles received it first, and in such a striking way. However, that did not mean it should be valued above all the other gifts. Why then did the Apostles receive it before the rest?

Because they were going to go out everywhere. And just as, at the time of building the tower, one language was divided into many, so then many languages often came together in one man. The same person used to speak in Persian, Roman, Indian, and many other languages, with the Spirit sounding within him. And this gift was called the gift of tongues because he could speak many languages all at once. See, then, how he both lowers it and lifts it up.

By saying, "He that speaks with tongues speaks not to men, but to God, for no man understands," he lowered it, showing that its profit was not great. But by adding, "but in the Spirit he speaks mysteries," he raised it again, so that it would not seem to be unnecessary, useless, or given for nothing.

But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their building up, encouragement, and comfort.

Do you see how he shows the excellent nature of this gift? That is, by its benefit to everyone. And do you see how, everywhere, he gives greater honor to what helps many people? For do not those who speak in tongues also speak to people? Tell me. But they do not bring as much strengthening, encouragement, and comfort. So being empowered by the Spirit is common to both the one who prophesies and the one who speaks with tongues.

But in this matter, the one who prophesies has the advantage, because he is also useful to the hearers. For those who spoke with tongues were not understood by those who did not have the gift.

What then? Did they build up no one? Yes, he says, only themselves. Therefore he also adds,

1 Corinthians 14:4

The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself.

And how can he do that if he does not know what he is saying? For now, he is speaking about those who understand what they say—they understand it themselves, but do not know how to express it to others.

But the one who prophesies builds up the Church. Now the difference between these two gifts is as great as the difference between one person and the whole Church. Do you see his wisdom? He does not cast out the gift or treat it as nothing. Instead, he shows that it has some benefit, small as it is, and enough only for the one who has it.

Next, so that they would not think he was putting down the gift of tongues out of envy toward them, since most of them had this gift, he says this to correct their suspicion.

1 Corinthians 14:5

I want all of you to speak in tongues, but even more, I want you to prophesy. For the one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the Church may be built up.

But the words "rather" and "greater" do not show opposition. They show superiority. So from this also it is clear that he is not putting down the gift. Instead, he is leading them to better things. He is showing both his care for them and a spirit completely free from envy. For he did not say, "I wish that two or three of you spoke with tongues," but, "that all of you spoke with tongues." And not only this, but also, "that you prophesied";

and he prefers this more than that, for greater is the one who prophesies. Since he has established and proved this, he next goes on to state it plainly, though not without a qualification. So he adds, "except he interpret." For if he is able to do this, I mean the interpreting, he has become equal to the prophet, so he says, because then many receive the benefit from it. This is something that should be especially noticed: all through this passage, before everything else, this is his aim.

1 Corinthians 14:6

But now, brothers, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, unless I speak to you either by way of revelation, or of knowledge, or of prophesying, or of teaching?

And why, he says, should I speak about the others? No, let the one who speaks in tongues be Paul himself. Even then, no good will come to the hearers. He says these things to show that he is seeking their benefit, not holding any grudge against those who have the gift. For he does not hesitate to point out its lack of usefulness even in his own case. In fact, it is his usual way to handle unpleasant matters by speaking about himself. As he said at the beginning of the Epistle, "Who then is Paul?

And who is Apollos? And who is Cephas?" So he does the same thing here also, saying, "Not even I will profit you, unless I speak to you either by revelation, or by prophesying, or by knowledge, or by teaching." What he means is this: if I do not say something that you can understand and that is clear, but only put on a display of having the gift of tongues—tongues that you do not understand—you will leave without any profit at all.

For how could you profit from a voice that you do not understand?

1 Corinthians 14:7

Even lifeless things that give a sound, whether a pipe or a harp, if they do not make a distinction in the notes, how will it be known what is being played?

"And why do I say," he says, "that in our case this is unhelpful, and that only what is clear and easy for the hearers to understand is useful? Since even in lifeless musical instruments, one may see this. Whether it is a pipe or a harp, if it is played or blown in a confused and unskillful way, without proper rhythm or harmony, it will delight none of the hearers. For even in these sounds without words, there needs to be some clearness.

And if you do not strike the harp or blow into the pipe skillfully, you have accomplished nothing. Now if we require so much clearness, harmony, and fitness from lifeless things, and if we work and strive to put so much meaning into those wordless sounds, much more should a person make meaningfulness his aim in human beings who have life and reason, and in spiritual gifts."

1 Corinthians 14:8

For if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who will get ready for war?

So he moves from things that are only for ornament to things that are more necessary and useful. He says that this same effect can be seen not only in the harp, but also in the trumpet. For the trumpet also has certain patterns of sound. At one time it gives a note for war, and at another a different note. Sometimes it calls men out to the battle line, and at other times it calls them back from it. And if someone does not know this, there is great danger.

This is exactly what he means, and this is the harm he is showing, when he says, "Who shall prepare himself for war?" So then, if it does not have this quality, it brings ruin to everything. "And what is this to us?" someone says. Truly, it concerns you very much. Therefore he also adds,

1 Corinthians 14:9

In the same way, unless you speak with your tongue in words that are easy to understand, you will be speaking into the air. That is, you will be calling to nobody and speaking to no one. So everywhere he shows that it is unprofitable.

But if it is unprofitable, someone says, why was it given? It was given so that it might be useful to the one who received it. But if it is also to be useful to others, interpretation must be added. He says this to bring them closer to one another, so that if a person does not himself have the gift of interpretation, he may take someone else who does have it and make his own gift useful through that person. Therefore he points out its imperfection everywhere, so that he may bind them together.

In any case, the person who thinks it is enough by itself does not praise it so much as he dishonors it, because he does not allow it to shine clearly through interpretation. For the gift is excellent and necessary indeed, but it is so when it has someone to explain what is spoken. The finger too is a necessary thing, but when you separate it from the other members, it is not equally useful. And the trumpet is necessary, but when it sounds without order, it is more an annoyance.

Yes, no skill can be made known without material placed under it, nor is material shaped if no form is given to it. Suppose, then, that the voice is like the material, and the clear meaning is like the form. If that is not present, the material will be of no use.

1 Corinthians 14:10

There may be many kinds of voices in the world, and no kind is without meaning. That is, there are many languages and many forms of speech: those of Scythians, Thracians, Romans, Persians, Moors, Indians, Egyptians, and countless other nations.

1 Corinthians 14:11

If then I do not know the meaning of the voice, I will be a barbarian to the one speaking. For suppose not, he says, that this happens only in our case. Rather, one may see this happening among all. So I do not say this to disparage the voice, but to show that it is useless to me as long as it is not understood. Next, so that he may not make the accusation unpleasant, he makes the charge the same for both, saying, "He will be to me a barbarian, and I to him."

This comes not from the nature of the voice, but from our ignorance. Do you see how little by little he draws people to what is related to the subject? This is his usual way: to bring in examples from far away, and to end with what more properly belongs to the matter. For after speaking of a pipe and harp, in which there is much that is inferior and unprofitable, he comes to the trumpet, which is more useful. Next, from that he goes on to the very voice itself.

In the same way before, when he was speaking to show that it was not forbidden for the Apostles to receive, he began first with farmers, shepherds, and soldiers. Then he brought the discussion to what was nearer to the subject, the priests in the old covenant.

But please consider how, everywhere, he has been careful to keep the gift from being blamed, and to turn the charge back on those who receive it. For he did not say, "I shall be a barbarian," but, "to the one who speaks, I am a barbarian." Again, he did not say, "the one who speaks shall be a barbarian," but, "the one who speaks shall be a barbarian to me."

5. “What then must be done?” he says. Why, far from speaking badly of it, a person ought to recommend it and teach it, as he himself also does. For after he had accused it and rebuked it and showed that it was unprofitable, he goes on to advise them, saying,

1 Corinthians 14:12

In the same way, since you are eager for spiritual gifts, try to have more of them so that the church may be built up.

Do you see his purpose everywhere? In every case, he keeps looking to one thing: the good of all, and the benefit of the Church. He lays this down as a kind of rule. And he did not say, "so that you may receive the gifts," but, "so that you may abound," that is, so that you may possess them in great fullness. So far am I from wanting you not to have them, that I even want you to abound in them, but only so that you use them for the common good. And how is this to be done?

He adds this when he says,

1 Corinthians 14:13

Therefore, let the one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.

1 Corinthians 14:14

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind does not produce any fruit.

1 Corinthians 14:15

What is it, then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with understanding.

Here he shows that it is in their power to receive the gift. For, "let him pray," he says. That is, let him do his own part, since if you ask earnestly, you will certainly receive. So ask not only to have the gift of tongues, but also the gift of interpretation, so that you may be useful to everyone and not keep your gift shut up in yourself alone. For, he says, "If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful."

Do you see how, step by step, as he brings his argument to its point, he shows that such a person is useless not only to others, but also to himself, if his understanding is unfruitful? For if a man speaks only in Persian, or in any other foreign language, and does not understand what he is saying, then of course he will from now on be a barbarian even to himself, and not only to another, because he does not know the meaning of the sound.

For in former times there were many who also had a gift of prayer along with a tongue. They prayed, and the tongue spoke, praying either in the Persian or Latin language, but their understanding did not know what was being said. Therefore he also said, "If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays," that is, the gift given to me, which moves my tongue; "but my understanding is unfruitful."

What, then, is the thing that is best in itself and that does good? And how should a person act, or what should he ask from God? He should pray both with the spirit, that is, with the gift, and with the understanding. That is why he also said, "I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also."

Here too he means the same thing: the tongue may speak, but the mind should not be ignorant of what is being said. For if this is not so, there will be another kind of confusion as well.

1 Corinthians 14:16

Otherwise, he says, if you give a blessing with the spirit, how will the person who fills the place of the unlearned say the Amen at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying?

1 Corinthians 14:17

For you truly give thanks well, but the other person is not built up.

Notice how, here again, he tests his stone against the plumb line, always seeking the building up of the Church. By “the unlearned,” he means the laypeople. He shows that the layman also suffers no small loss when he is unable to say the Amen. What he means is this: if you give a blessing in a foreign tongue, not knowing what you are saying and not able to interpret it, the layman cannot answer, “Amen.”

Since he does not hear the words, “forever and ever,” which come at the end, he does not say the Amen. Then, to comfort the speaker, so that he might not seem to think too little of the gift, he says the same kind of thing he said above: that he speaks mysteries, and speaks to God, and builds up himself, and prays with the spirit. He means these things to give no small comfort. So he says here, “For you indeed give thanks well,” since you are speaking as one moved by the Spirit.

But the other person hears nothing and does not know what is being said, and so stands there receiving no great benefit from it.

Further, because he had spoken against those who had this gift, as if they did not have something so great, he did not want to seem to be looking down on them because he himself lacked it. So see what he says:

1 Corinthians 14:18

I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.

He does the same thing in another place. He means to take away the advantages of Judaism and to show that from now on they are nothing. So he begins by saying that he himself had these advantages, yes, and to a very great degree. Then he calls them a loss, saying, "If any man thinks he has confidence in the flesh, I more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; as touching zeal, persecuting the Church;

as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless." Philippians 3:4-7 Then, after showing that he had more advantage than them all, he says, "However, what things were gain to me, those I have counted loss for Christ." In the same way he does here also, saying, "I speak with tongues more than you all." Therefore do not boast as if only you had the gift. For I also have it, yes, more than you.

1 Corinthians 14:19

However, in the church I would rather speak five words that I understand, so that I might also teach others.

What does this mean: "to speak with my understanding, so that I may also instruct others"? It means understanding what I say, and using words that I can both explain to others and speak intelligently, so that I may teach the hearers. This is better than ten thousand words in a tongue. Why? "That I may instruct others," he says. For the one has only display, but the other has great usefulness. This is what he seeks everywhere, I mean the common good.

And yet the gift of tongues was unusual, while prophecy was familiar and ancient, and had before now been given to many. This gift, on the other hand, was first given then. However, he did not care much for it. Therefore he did not use it, not because he did not have it, but because he always sought the things that were more profitable. For he was free from all vain glory, and considered only one thing: how he might make the hearers better.

And this is the reason he was able to see what was helpful, both for himself and for others: he was free from vanity. For anyone who is truly enslaved by it, far from seeing what is good for others, will not even know his own good.

Such was Simon. Because he was looking for vain glory, he did not even see what was for his own good. The Jews were the same. Because of this, they handed over their own salvation to the devil. From this also idols arose. By this same madness, the pagan philosophers stirred themselves up and were wrecked in their false teachings. Notice also how twisted this passion is. Because of it, some of them made themselves poor, while others were eager to be rich.

Its tyranny is so strong that it rules even over complete opposites. One man is vain about chastity, and another, on the contrary, about adultery. One is vain about justice, and another about injustice. The same is true of luxury and fasting, modesty and recklessness, riches and poverty. Yes, I say poverty. Some of those outside the faith, even when it was in their power to receive, refused to receive for the sake of admiration. But the Apostles were not like that.

They showed by what they did that they were free from vainglory. When some people were calling them gods and were ready to offer sacrifice to them with oxen and garlands, they did not simply forbid what was being done. They even tore their clothes. Acts 14:13-14. And after they had made the lame man stand upright, when everyone was staring at them in amazement, they said, "Why do you look so earnestly at us, as though by our own power we had made this man walk?"

Those others lived among people who admired poverty, and so they chose a life of poverty for themselves. But the Apostles lived among people who despised poverty and praised wealth. And if the Apostles received anything, they used it to serve those in need. So then, not vain glory but kindness was the reason for everything they did. But those others were exactly the opposite. They did such things only as enemies and plagues of our common human nature.

So one man sank all his goods into the sea for no good reason, imitating fools and madmen. Another turned all his land into common pasture for sheep. In this way they did everything for vain glory. But the Apostles were not like that. Instead, they both received what was given to them and distributed it to the needy with such great generosity that they themselves lived in constant hunger.

But if they had been in love with glory, they would not have done this, receiving and distributing, because they would have feared that suspicion might arise against them. For a man who throws away his own possessions for glory will refuse even more to receive the things of others, so that he may not be thought to need others or come under suspicion. But as you see, these men were both serving the poor and begging on their behalf. So truly were they more loving than any fathers.

9. Notice also how balanced their rules were, and how free they were from all empty pride. For he says, "If we have food and clothing, let us be content with these," in 1 Timothy 6:8. It was not like the man from Sinope, who dressed in rags and lived in a barrel for no good reason. He amazed many people, but helped no one. Paul did none of these things, because he was not aiming at show.

Instead, he wore ordinary clothes in a proper way, lived continually in a house, and showed the highest care in practicing every other virtue. The Cynic despised these things, lived in impurity, publicly disgraced himself, and was carried away by his mad desire for glory. For if anyone asks why he lived in a barrel, he will find no other reason than empty pride alone. But Paul even paid rent for the house where he stayed in Rome.

Yet he who was able to do things much harder could certainly have endured this also. But he was not looking for glory, that savage monster, that fearful demon, that plague of the world, that poisonous viper. For just as that animal tears through its mother's womb with its teeth, so this passion also tears to pieces the person who gives birth to it.

10. Then how can a person find a remedy for this many-sided sickness? By bringing forward those who have trampled it underfoot, and by ordering his own life while looking at their example. Abraham the patriarch did this. No one should accuse me of repeating myself if I mention him often and in every situation. This is exactly what shows how remarkable he was, and it leaves those who refuse to imitate him with no excuse.

For if we point to one person doing well in this matter, and another in that matter, someone might say that virtue is hard to reach. He might say that it is scarcely possible to succeed in all these things together, when each of the saints has done only one part. But when one and the same person is found to have them all, what excuse will they have? They live after the law and grace, yet they are not able to reach the same measure as those who lived before the law and grace.

How then did this patriarch overcome and subdue this monster when he had a dispute with his nephew? Genesis 13:8 In that case, he came off worse and lost the first share, yet he was not upset. But you know that in such matters, for ordinary people, the shame is worse than the loss, especially when a person has everything in his own power, as Abraham did then, and when he was the first to show honor but was not honored in return. Nevertheless, none of these things upset him.

He was content to take second place. And when he was wronged by the young man, though he himself was old, and by a nephew though he was an uncle, he was not offended or resentful, but loved him just the same and served him. Again, after he had won that great and terrible battle and had powerfully put the barbarians to flight, Genesis 14 he did not add display to his victory or set up a trophy. He wanted only to save, not to put himself on display.

Again, he welcomed strangers, yet he did not do this for vainglory. Instead, he himself ran to them and bowed down to them, acting not as if he were giving a benefit, but receiving one. He called them lords without knowing who had come to him, and he placed his wife in the position of a servant. Genesis 18 And earlier in Egypt, when he had appeared such an extraordinary man, and had received back this same woman, his wife, and had enjoyed such great honor, Genesis 12 he told no one about it.

And though the people of that place called him a prince, he himself even paid the price for the tomb. Genesis 23:6 And when he sent to arrange a wife for his son, he gave no order to speak about him in proud and impressive terms, Genesis 24 but only to bring the bride.

11. Will you also examine the behavior of those under grace, when the glory of the teaching was flowing around them from every side? Then you will see that this passion was cast out there also. Think, please, about this same Apostle who says these things. See how he always gives the whole credit to God. He keeps mentioning his sins, but never his good deeds, unless it may be necessary to correct the disciples. And even if he is forced to do this, he calls it folly. He gives first place to Peter.

He is not ashamed to work with Priscilla and Aquila. Everywhere he is eager to show himself humble. He is not swaggering in the marketplace or leading crowds around with him, but taking his place among the unnoticed. Therefore he also said, "But his bodily presence is weak," in 2 Corinthians 10:10. That is, he was easy to despise, and not at all surrounded by display. And again he says, "I pray that you do no evil, not that we may appear approved."

And what is surprising if he despises this glory? He even despises the glory of heaven, and the kingdom, and hell, for what was pleasing to Christ. For he wishes himself to be accursed from Christ for the glory of Christ. If he says that he is willing to suffer this for the Jews' sake, he says it for this reason: so that none of those who lack understanding might think to claim for themselves the promises made to them.

If, then, he was ready to pass by those things, what is surprising if he despises human things?

But the people of our time are overcome by everything, not only by the desire for glory, but also, on the other hand, by insult and by fear of dishonor. So if someone praises you, it puffs you up. And if he blames you, it casts you down. And just as weak bodies are harmed by ordinary accidents, so too are souls that crawl along on the earth. For such people, not only poverty destroys, but wealth does too; not only grief, but also joy, and prosperity even more than adversity.

For poverty forces a person to be wise, but wealth often leads into some great evil. And just as men with a fever are hard to satisfy in anything, so also those who are corrupt in mind are harmed from every side.

Since we know these things, let us not avoid poverty, and let us not admire riches. Instead, let us prepare our soul to be strong enough for every condition of life. For when someone builds a house, he does not think about how rain might never fall on it, or how sunlight might never shine on it, because that would be impossible. Instead, he thinks about how to make it able to endure everything.

In the same way, when someone builds a ship, he does not make and design it so that waves will never crash against it, or so that no storm will ever rise on the sea, because that too would be impossible. Instead, he makes sure the sides of the ship are ready to withstand it all. Again, the person who cares for the body does not try to make sure there will never be any change in temperature. Instead, he tries to make the body able to endure all these things easily.

So let us act the same way with respect to the soul. Let us not be anxious to escape poverty or to become rich, but to manage each condition for our own safety.

Therefore, setting these things aside, let us make our soul fit for both wealth and poverty. For even if no disaster that people are subject to should happen, which for the most part is impossible, still, the person who does not seek wealth but knows how to bear everything easily is better off than the person who is always rich. And why? First, such a person has safety from within, but the other has it from outside.

And just as a soldier is better who trusts in his own bodily strength and skill in battle than one whose strength is only in his armor, so the person who relies on wealth is inferior to the one who is protected by virtue. Second, because even if he does not fall into poverty, it is impossible for him to be without trouble. For wealth has many storms and troubles. Virtue is not like that. It brings only pleasure and safety. Yes, it also puts a person out of reach of those who set traps for him.

But wealth does the exact opposite, making him easy to attack and capture. And as among animals, deer and hares are the easiest of all to catch because of their natural fearfulness, but the wild boar, the bull, and the lion would not easily fall into the path of those lying in wait, so also one may see this in the case of the rich and those who choose to live in poverty. The one is like the lion and the bull, and the other like the deer and the hare. For whom does not the rich man fear?

Are there not robbers, rulers, envious people, and informers? And why do I speak of robbers and informers, when a man in such a case even suspects his own household servants?

13. And why do I say, while he is alive? Not even when he is dead is he free from the wickedness of robbers. Death does not have the power to keep him safe. Instead, evil men plunder him even after death. Wealth is such a dangerous thing. For they not only dig into houses, but even break open tombs and coffins. What, then, could be more miserable than this man? Not even death can give him this safety. That wretched body, even when life has left it, is not freed from the evils of life.

Those who do such wicked things rush to make war even against dust and ashes, and even more cruelly than when the man was alive. For then, perhaps, when they entered his storeroom, they would carry off his chests, but leave his person alone, and would not go so far as to strip the body itself. But now the cursed hands of grave robbers do not even spare these. They move the body and turn it over, and with great cruelty insult it.

For after it has been laid in the ground, they strip it both of its covering of earth and of the covering made by its grave clothes, and then leave it there to be thrown out.

What enemy, then, is as deadly as wealth? It destroys both the soul of the living and dishonors the body of the dead. It does not even allow the body to lie buried in the ground, which is granted even to the condemned and to those caught in the worst crimes. For after the lawmakers have carried out the punishment of death on such people, they ask no more of them. But wealth, even after death, demands a very bitter punishment from these people.

It leaves them naked and unburied, a dreadful and pitiful sight. Even those who suffer this by legal sentence and by the anger of judges do not suffer as terribly as these do. For they remain unburied for the first and second day, and then they are laid in the ground. But these, after they have been laid in the ground, are then stripped naked and insulted. And if the robbers leave without taking the coffin also, wealth still deserves no thanks for that.

Even in this case, the credit belongs to poverty, for poverty is what protects it. Most certainly, if we had trusted wealth even with this, and instead of making the coffin out of stone had made it out of gold, we would have lost this too.

Wealth is so treacherous. It belongs not so much to those who have it as to those who try to seize it. So it is a needless argument to try to show that wealth is irresistible, since not even on the day of their death do its possessors gain security. And yet who is not reconciled with the departed, whether he is a wild beast, or a demon, or whatever else? The very sight is enough to bend even someone who is completely iron-hearted and far past feeling.

Therefore, as you know, when someone sees a corpse, even if it is a public or private enemy whom he sees, he still weeps for him together with his dearest friends. His wrath is extinguished with life, and pity is brought in. And during mourning and the carrying out for burial, it would be impossible to distinguish an enemy from one who is not. So greatly do all men honor their common nature, and the customs that have been introduced concerning it.

But wealth, not even after obtaining this, relaxes its anger against its possessors. No, it makes even those who have not been wronged at all enemies of the dead, if indeed to strip a dead body is the act of people very bitter and hostile. Nature, for her part, even then reconciles his enemies to him. But wealth makes enemies of those who have nothing to accuse him of, and cruelly treats the body in its utter desolation.

And yet in that case there are many things that might lead a person to pity: that it is a corpse, that it cannot move, that it is going to earth and corruption, and that no one is there to help. But none of these things soften those accursed wretches, because of the tyranny of their vile greed. For the passion of covetousness, like some ruthless tyrant, is at hand, commanding those inhuman acts and, having made wild beasts of them, bringing them to the tombs.

Yes, like wild beasts attacking the dead, they would not even keep away from their flesh, if their limbs were in any way useful to them. Such is our enjoyment of wealth: to be insulted even after death, and to be deprived of burial, which even the most desperate criminals obtain.

So then, tell me, are we still to be fond of so grievous an enemy? No, I beg you, no, my brothers! But let us flee from it without turning to look. And if it comes into our hands, let us not keep it, but bind it fast through the hands of the poor. For these are the bonds that have more power to hold it, and from those treasuries it will never escape again.

And so this faithless thing remains, for the time to come, faithful, tractable, and tame, because the right hand of Mercy produces this effect on it.

As I said, if it ever comes to us, let us hand it over to her. But if it does not come, let us not go looking for it, or trouble ourselves, or think that those who have it are happy. What kind of idea of happiness is that? By that reasoning, you would also have to say that those who fight wild beasts are to be envied, because those costly animals are kept shut up and reserved by the men who arrange such contests for themselves. Yet those men do not dare to go near or touch the beasts.

Instead, they fear and tremble because of them, and hand other people over to them. I say that the rich are in much the same condition when they shut up their wealth in their treasuries as if it were some savage beast, and receive countless wounds from it every day. In one way, however, this is unlike the beasts. Beasts hurt the people they meet only when they are led out. But wealth destroys its owners and hoarders when it is shut up and stored away.

But let us make this beast gentle. And it will become gentle if we do not shut it up, but place it in the hands of all who are in need. In this way, we will receive the greatest blessings from it. We will live in the present life with safety and good hope, and on the day to come we will stand with boldness. May we all attain this through grace and mercy, etc., etc.

1 Corinthians 14:20

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. However, in malice be like babies, but in your thinking be mature.

As would be expected, after his long argument and proof, he uses a stronger style and gives much more rebuke. He also mentions an example that fits the subject. Children too usually get excited about small things and are easily stirred up, but they do not admire very great things as much. So these people also had the gift of tongues, which was the least of all the gifts, and they thought they had everything. Therefore he says, "Do not be children."

That is, do not be without understanding where you ought to be thoughtful. But be childlike and simple where evil is, where empty glory is, and where pride is. For the person who is a baby in wickedness ought also to be wise. Since wisdom joined with wickedness would not be wisdom, so also simplicity joined with foolishness would not be simplicity. For in simplicity, one must avoid foolishness, and in wisdom, wickedness.

For just as neither bitter medicines nor sweet medicines do good when they are excessive, so neither simplicity by itself nor wisdom by itself does good. And this is why Christ, commanding us to combine both, said, "Be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." Matthew 10:16

But what does it mean to be a baby in wickedness? It means not even to know what wickedness is. Yes, this is what he wanted them to be. That is why he also said, "It is actually reported that there is fornication among you." 1 Corinthians 5:1 He did not say, "it is done," but, "it is reported," as if he were saying, "You are not without knowledge of this matter. You have heard about it for some time." I say that he wanted them to be both grown people and children.

They were to be children in wickedness, but grown in wisdom. For in this way, a man may truly become a man, if he is also a child. But as long as he is not a child in wickedness, neither will he be a man. For the wicked person, instead of being mature, will only be a fool.

1 Corinthians 14:21

In the Law it is written, "Through men with foreign tongues and through the lips of strangers I will speak to this people. And even then they will not listen to me," says the Lord.

But surely this is written nowhere in the Law. As I said before, he always uses the word "Law" for the whole Old Testament, including both the prophets and the historical books. He brings his proof from Isaiah the prophet. Again, in a hidden way, he lowers the glory of the gift for their benefit. Even so, he still presents it as something worthy of praise. For the words, "not even so," show that the miracle was enough to astonish them, and if they did not believe, the fault was theirs.

And why did God work it, if they were not going to believe? So that in every case He might clearly be seen to have done His part.

So then, after showing even from the prophecy that the sign in question is not very useful, he adds,

1 Corinthians 14:22

Therefore, tongues are a sign not for those who believe, but for unbelievers. But prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers, but for those who believe.

1 Corinthians 14:23

If the whole church gathers together, and everyone speaks in tongues, and people who are unlearned or unbelieving come in, will they not say that you are mad?

1 Corinthians 14:24

But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninstructed person comes in, he is corrected by all, and judged by all.

1 Corinthians 14:25

And so the secrets of his heart are made known. Then he will fall facedown and worship God, declaring that God really is among you.

There is a great difficulty here, which seems to come from what is being said. For if tongues are a sign for those who do not believe, how can he say that, if those who do not believe see you speaking in tongues, they will say that you are mad? And if prophecy is not for unbelievers, but for those who believe, how will unbelievers also gain from it?

For if someone who does not believe comes in while you are prophesying, he is corrected by everyone and judged by all.

And not only this, but after this another question comes up. It may seem that tongues are greater than prophecy. For if tongues are a sign for unbelievers, but prophecy is for those who believe, then what brings outsiders in and makes them part of the household seems greater than what guides those who are already in the household. What, then, does that statement mean? It is nothing difficult or unclear, and it does not go against what was said before.

Rather, it fits very well with it, if we pay attention. The meaning is that prophecy is suitable for both groups, but tongues are not. Therefore, after saying about tongues, "it is for a sign," he adds, "not to those who believe, but to unbelievers," and to them as a sign, that is, for astonishment, not so much for instruction.

But someone may say that in the case of prophecy, he did the same thing, when he said, "But prophesying serves not for the unbelieving, but for those who believe." For the believer has no need to see a sign, but needs only teaching and instruction. How then, he says, do you say that prophecy is useful to both, when Paul says, "not to the unbelieving, but to those who believe"? If you examine this carefully, you will understand what is being said.

For he did not say that prophecy is not useful to unbelievers. Rather, he said that it is not for a sign, as a tongue is, that is, a mere sign without benefit. Nor is the tongue in any way useful to believers, for its only work is to astonish and to confuse. The word "sign" is one of those words that can be taken in two ways. For example, when he says, "Show me a sign for good," in Psalm 86:17. And again, "I have become as a wonder to many," in Psalm 71:7, that is, a sign.

To show you that he uses the word "sign" here not as something that naturally does good, he adds what comes from it. And what is that? "They will say," he says, "that you are mad." Yet this does not come from the nature of the sign, but from their foolishness. But when you hear about unbelievers, do not think the same people are meant every time. Sometimes it means those who are beyond cure and remain uncorrected.

At other times it means those who can be changed, like those in the time of the Apostles who marveled at the mighty works of God they heard about, as in the case of Cornelius. So his meaning is this: prophecy is useful both among unbelievers and among believers. But as for tongues, when unbelieving and careless people hear them, instead of being helped by them, they mock the speakers as madmen. For in fact, to them it is only a sign, that is, only something to astonish them.

But those who had understanding also used to profit from it, and that was the purpose for which the sign was given. For just as there were some who accused them of being drunk, there were also many who marveled at them for speaking of the wonderful works of God. It is clear, then, that the mockers were those without understanding. Therefore Paul did not simply say, "They will say that you are mad," but added, "the unlearned and unbelievers."

But prophecy is not only a sign. It is also fitting and useful for faith, and for the benefit of both groups. And this, if not directly, he explained more clearly afterward when he said, "he is reproved by all." For, he says, if all prophesy, and an unbelieving or unlearned person comes in, he is reproved by all. He is judged by all. And so the secrets of his heart are made known. Then he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is truly among you.

So prophecy is greater not only in this way, in how it helps each group, but also in how it draws in the more shameless unbelievers. For the wonder was not the same when Peter exposed Sapphira, which was a work of prophecy, and when he spoke in tongues. In the first case, everyone drew back in fear. But when he spoke in tongues, he was even thought to be out of his mind.

3. So, after saying that a tongue did not profit, and then qualifying that statement by turning the charge against the Jews, he goes on to show that it can even cause harm. Why, then, was it given? So that it might be spoken along with interpretation. Without this, it has the opposite effect among those who do not understand. For, he says, if all speak with tongues, and unbelievers or unlearned people come in, they will say that you are mad.

In fact, even the Apostles were suspected of being drunk, for it says, "These men are filled with new wine," Acts 2:13. But this is not the fault of the sign. It is the fault of their lack of understanding. Therefore he added, "unlearned and unbelievers," to show that this opinion comes from their ignorance and lack of faith. For, as I said before, his purpose is to place that gift not among things that are despised, but among things that do not greatly profit.

He does this in order to restrain them and to bring them to the point where they must seek an interpreter. Since most of them were not paying attention to this, but were using it for display and rivalry, this is the very thing he especially tries to draw them away from. He shows that their reputation is harmed, because they bring on themselves the suspicion of madness. And this is especially what Paul continually tries to establish whenever he wants to lead people away from anything:

he shows that the person suffers loss in regard to the very things he wants.

You should do the same. If you want to lead people away from pleasure, show that the thing is bitter. If you want to draw them away from vain glory, show that it is full of dishonor. Paul also used to do this. When he wanted to pull the rich away from their love of money, he did not only say that wealth is harmful. He also said that it throws people into temptations. For "they that desire to be rich," he says, "fall into a temptation," in 1 Timothy 6:9.

So, since wealth seems to free people from temptations, he gives it the opposite quality from what the rich imagined. Others held tightly to outside wisdom, as if they were using it to support Christ's teaching. He shows that it not only gives no help to the cross, but even makes it empty. They insisted on going to law before outsiders, thinking it was not fitting to be judged by their own people, as if those outside were wiser.

He points out that going to law before those who are outside is shameful. They clung to things offered in sacrifice to idols, as if this showed perfect knowledge. He makes it clear that this is actually a sign of imperfect knowledge: they do not know how to act in matters that concern their neighbors. So also here, because they were obsessed with this gift of tongues through their love of glory, he shows that this, on the contrary, more than anything else brings shame on them.

It not only takes away their glory, but also brings them under suspicion of madness. But he did not say this at once. First he said many things beforehand. Then, after he had made his message acceptable, he introduced this point, which was so contrary to their opinion. And this is really just the common rule: anyone who intends to completely shake a deep-rooted opinion and turn people to the opposite view must not state the opposite at once.

Otherwise, he will seem ridiculous in the eyes of those who are already controlled by the opposite belief. Since something very unexpected cannot easily be accepted at the beginning, you must first carefully undermine it with other arguments, and then turn it to the opposite conclusion.

He did this, for example, when he spoke about marriage. Many people thought marriage was something that brought comfort. He wanted to show that not marrying was the easier way. If he had said that right away, they would not have accepted it so easily. But instead, he said it after much other teaching, and he introduced it at exactly the right time. In this way, he strongly affected his hearers. He did the same thing about virginity also.

Before saying this, he had said much, and after it, more again. At last he says, "I spare you," and, "I would have you to be free from cares," in 1 Corinthians 7:28-32.

This, then, is what he does concerning tongues. He shows that they not only take away glory, but also bring shame on those who have them in the eyes of unbelievers. But prophecy, on the other hand, is free from reproach among unbelievers, and has very great esteem and usefulness. For no one will say about those who prophesy, "They are mad." Nor will anyone mock those who prophesy. Instead, people will be amazed at them and admire them. For he is reproved by all.

That is, the things in his heart are brought forward and shown to all. Now it is not the same thing for someone to come in and see one person speaking Persian and another speaking Syriac, as it is to come in and hear the secrets of his own mind. This may happen whether he comes as a tempter and with an evil mind, or sincerely. It may also reveal that he has done such and such a thing, and planned another thing. For this is much more awful and more profitable than the other.

For this reason, when he says about tongues, "You are mad," he is not saying this as his own judgment, but as theirs. That is, "They will say that you are mad," he says. But here, on the contrary, he uses both the verdict of the facts and the verdict of those who receive the benefit. For he says, "He is reproved by all, he is judged by all." And so the secrets of his heart are made manifest. Then he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is indeed around you.

Do you see that this is not capable of two interpretations? In the first case, what is done may be doubted, and here and there an unbeliever might think it is madness. But here there will be nothing like that. Instead, he will both wonder and worship, first making a confession by his deeds, and then also by his words. In this way Nebuchadnezzar also worshiped God, saying, "Of a truth, your God, He is the God that reveals secrets, seeing you could reveal this secret." Daniel 2:47.

Do you see the might of prophecy, how it changed that savage man, brought him under instruction, and introduced him to faith?

1 Corinthians 14:26

4. What is it then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edifying.

Do you see the foundation and rule of Christianity? Just as it is a builder's job to build, so it is a Christian's job to help his neighbors in all things.

But since he had strongly spoken against the gift, lest it might seem to be unnecessary, as though he had done this only to pull down their pride and nothing more, he again counts it among the other gifts, saying, "has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue." For in former times they also used to make psalms by a gift and to teach by a gift. Nevertheless, let all these look to one thing, he says, the correction of their neighbor. Let nothing be done at random.

For if you do not come to edify your brother, why do you come here at all? In fact, I do not make much account of the difference of the gifts. One thing concerns me. One thing is my desire: to do all things for edifying. Thus also the one who has the lesser gift will outrun the one who has the greater, if this is not lacking. Yes, this is why the gifts are bestowed, that each might be edified. Since unless this takes place, the gift will rather turn to the condemnation of the receiver.

For what, tell me, is the use of prophesying? What is the use of raising the dead, when there is no one who profits by it? But if this is the end of the gifts, and if it is possible to bring it about in another way without gifts, do not boast yourself on account of the signs, nor bewail yourself if the gifts are denied to you.

1 Corinthians 14:27

5. If anyone speaks in a tongue, let it be by two, or at most by three, and in turn; and let one interpret.

1 Corinthians 14:28

But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the church, and let him speak to himself and to God.

What are you saying? Tell me. After saying so much about tongues—that the gift is unprofitable and unnecessary if there is no interpreter—are you now again telling them to speak in tongues? "I am not commanding it," he says, "and I am not forbidding it either." It is like when he says, "If any unbeliever invites you to a meal, and you are willing to go." He does not say that as a law requiring them to go, but as something he is not preventing. It is the same here.

"And let him speak to himself and to God." If he cannot bear to be silent, he says, but is so ambitious and vain-glorious, let him speak by himself. In this way, by allowing it, he strongly restrained them and put them to shame. He does this elsewhere also, when speaking about relations with a wife and saying, "But I say this because of your lack of self-control." But he did not speak this way when he was discussing prophecy. How did he speak then? In a tone of command and law:

"Let the prophets speak, two or three." And here he nowhere looks for an interpreter, nor does he silence the person who prophesies as he did in the former case, when he said, "If there is no interpreter, let him keep silence." That is because the person who speaks in a tongue is not enough by himself. Therefore, if anyone has both gifts, let him speak. But if he does not, and still wants to speak, let him do so with the interpreter's help.

For the prophet is an interpreter, but of God, while you are of man. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silence. For nothing should be done unnecessarily, and nothing for ambition. Only let him speak to himself and to God, that is, mentally, or quietly and without noise, at least if he insists on speaking. This is surely not the tone of someone making a law.

Rather, it may be the tone of someone who puts them to shame even more by permitting it, as when he says, "But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home." By seeming to give permission, he rebukes them more sharply. For you do not come together for this purpose, he says, so that you may show that you have a gift, but so that you may build up the hearers. This is what he said before also: "Let all things be done for edification."

1 Corinthians 14:29

Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge what is said.

Nowhere does he add this absolute limit, as he did in the case of tongues. “And how is that?” someone says. “For he shows that prophecy is not enough by itself, if he allows others to judge it.” No, prophecy certainly is enough. That is why he did not silence the prophet, as he did the one speaking in tongues when there is no interpreter. In that case he said, “If there is no interpreter, let him keep silent.”

But in the case of the prophet, he did not also say, “If there is no one to judge, let him not prophesy.” He only protected the hearer. He said this for the hearers’ assurance, so that no diviner might push himself in among them. At the beginning he also told them to be on guard against this, when he made a distinction between divination and prophecy. And now he tells them to examine and test the matter, so that no satanic teacher might secretly come in.

1 Corinthians 14:30

But if a revelation is given to another person who is sitting there, let the first person keep silent.

1 Corinthians 14:31

For all of you can prophesy one by one, so that everyone may learn, and everyone may be encouraged.

What can this statement mean? “If, while you are prophesying and speaking,” he says, “the Spirit stirs up another person, then be silent from that point on.” For here too he requires the same thing he said about speaking in tongues: it must be done one at a time. Only here it is in a more divine way. For he did not use the exact words, “in turn,” but instead said, “if a revelation is made to another.”

Since what further need was there for the first person to keep speaking when the second had been moved to prophesy? Should they both speak, then? No. That would be profane and would create confusion. Should only the first speak? That too would be out of place. For the reason the Spirit moved the other person while the first was speaking was so that he too might say something.

So then, to comfort the one who had been silenced, he says, "For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn, and all may be comforted." Do you see how again he gives the reason why he does everything?

For if he completely forbids the one who speaks in tongues to speak when there is no interpreter, because it is not useful, then it is reasonable that he also tells prophecy to be restrained if it does not have this same quality, but instead creates confusion, disorder, and untimely commotion.

1 Corinthians 14:32

And the spirits of the prophets are under the control of the prophets.

Do you see how he put him to shame earnestly and fearfully? For so that the man might not strive nor be factious, he shows that the gift itself was under subjection. For by "spirit" here, he means its actual working. But if the spirit is subject, much more you, its possessor, cannot justly be contentious.

Then he shows that this is also pleasing to God, adding these words and saying,

1 Corinthians 14:33

For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as I teach in all the churches of the saints.

Do you see how many reasons he uses to lead him to be silent and to calm him, while he gives way to the other person? First, and most importantly, he was not being shut out by doing this. For, he says, “you can all prophesy one by one.” Second, this seems good to the Spirit Himself. For “the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.” Besides these, this is also in agreement with the mind of God. For, he says, “God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.”

And fourth, this custom is followed in every part of the world, and nothing strange is being required of them. For, he says, “this is how I teach in all the Churches of the saints.”

What now could be more fearful than these things? For truly, the Church was like heaven then. The Spirit ruled everything, moved each of the leaders, and made him inspired. But now we keep only the signs of those gifts. For even now, two or three of us speak, and we do so in turn. When one is silent, another begins. But these are only signs and reminders of those former things.

Therefore, when we begin to speak, the people answer, "And with your spirit," showing that in earlier times they used to speak in this way, not from their own wisdom, but as they were moved by the Spirit. But it is not so now. I speak this about myself, at least as far as I am concerned. But the Church today is like a woman who has fallen from her former prosperous days, and in many ways keeps only the signs of that ancient prosperity.

She still displays the storerooms and jewel boxes of her golden ornaments, but she has been stripped of her wealth. The Church today is like that. And I do not say this only about spiritual gifts, for it would be nothing remarkable if that were all. I say it also about life and virtue. So then, the number of her widows and the company of her virgins once brought great beauty to the churches. But now she has become deserted and empty, and only the signs remain.

There are widows now, and there are virgins also. But they do not keep that adornment that women should have who are preparing themselves for such struggles. For the special mark of the virgin is to care only for the things of God and to serve Him without distraction. And the mark of the widow should not be simply that she does not enter a second marriage, but even more these other things:

charity to the poor, hospitality, persistence in prayer, and all the other things that Paul, writing to Timothy, requires with great care. One may also see married women among us showing great modesty and propriety. But this is not the only thing required. What is especially required is eager care for those in need, and by this the women of old shone most brightly. It is not like the way most are now.

For then, instead of gold, they were clothed with the beautiful adornment of giving to the poor. But now, after giving this up, they are decorated on every side with cords of gold, woven from the chain of their sins.

Shall I speak of another storehouse too, one emptied of its inherited splendor? In former times, they all came together and sang psalms together. We also do this now. But then, among them all, there was one soul and one heart. Now, however, you cannot see that unity even in a single soul. Instead, there is great conflict everywhere.

Even now, the one who presides over the Church prays for peace for everyone, as he enters, so to speak, into his Father's house. But while the word "peace" is often spoken, the reality of it is nowhere to be found.

At that time, even homes were churches. But now the church itself has become like a house, or rather worse than any house. In a house, you can see much good order. The woman of the house sits in her chair with proper dignity, the young women weave in silence, and each servant has the task appointed to him. But here there is great noise and great confusion, and our gatherings are no different from a wine shop. The laughter is so loud, and the disorder is so great.

It is like the public baths or the marketplaces, where shouting and uproar are everywhere. And these things happen only here. Elsewhere, it is not allowed even to speak to your neighbor in church, not even if you have just met again a friend who has been away for a long time. Those things are done outside, and very properly so. For the church is not a barber's shop or a perfumer's shop, nor any other merchant's store in the marketplace.

It is a place of angels, a place of archangels, a palace of God, heaven itself. Therefore, if heaven were opened and you were brought into it, even if you saw your father or your brother, you would not dare to speak. So neither should anyone make any sound here except those that are spiritual. For truly, the things in this place are also a heaven.

And if you do not believe, look at this table. Call to mind for whose sake it is set here, and why. Think about who it is that is coming out here. Tremble with awe even before the time comes. For when someone sees only the throne of a king, his heart is stirred up as he waits for the king to come out. You should do the same. Be filled with awe even before that awe-inspiring moment.

Lift yourself up, and before you see the veils drawn aside and the choir of angels coming forward, rise up to heaven itself.

But the person who has not been instructed does not know these things. So then, for his sake also, it is necessary to bring in other subjects. For we will not lack reasons, even for him, that are able to stir him deeply and make him rise higher.

So then, when you do not know these things, and you hear the prophet saying, "Thus says the Lord, leave the earth; you also ascend to heaven," consider who it is that is speaking to you through him.

But as things are, for a buffoon who stirs up laughter, or for a whorish and abandoned woman, so vast an assembly of spectators is gathered, listening in complete silence to what is spoken, and this when no one commands silence. If you are standing by, whether young or old, rebuke them if you see it. Reprimand them more sharply. If he does not take it well, call the deacon. And there is neither tumult, nor cry, nor even the least noise.

But when God is speaking from heaven on matters so awful, we behave more impudently than dogs, and we pay greater respect even to harlot women than to God.

Does it make your skin crawl to hear about these things? No, rather let it crawl much more when you do them.

9. What Paul said about those who despised the poor and feasted alone, "What, have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise the Church of God, and shame those who have not?" in 1 Corinthians 11:22, allow me to say in the same way also about those who make a disturbance and hold conversations in this place. What? Do you not have houses to trifle in? Or do you despise the Church of God, and corrupt even those who would be modest and quiet?

But it is sweet and pleasant for you to talk with your friends. I do not forbid this. But let it be done in the house, in the market, in the baths. For the church is not a place of conversation, but of teaching. But now it differs in no way from the market. No, if it is not too bold a word, perhaps not even from the stage. So greatly do the women who gather here adorn themselves more wantonly than the unchaste women who are found there.

Accordingly, we see that even here many profligate men are enticed by them. And if anyone is trying, or intending, to corrupt a woman, I suppose there is no place that seems to him more suitable than the church. And if anything is to be sold or bought, the church appears more convenient than the market. For on such matters too, there is more talk here than in the shops themselves. Or if any wish to tell or hear any scandal, you will find that this too is had here more than in the forum outside.

And if you wish to hear anything about political matters, or the affairs of private families, or the camp, do not go to the judgment hall, nor sit in the apothecary's shop. For here, here, I say, are those who report all these things more accurately. And our assemblies are anything rather than a church.

Could it be that I have pierced you to the heart? For my part, I do not think so. As long as you keep doing the same things, how am I supposed to know that you have been moved by what was said? Therefore I must deal with the same subjects again.

Must these things be put up with? Must they be endured? Every day we tire ourselves out and trouble ourselves so that you may not leave without learning something useful. Yet none of you go away any better. Instead, you are harmed even more. Yes, you come together for judgment, because you no longer have any excuse for your sin, and you push out those who are more modest, troubling them on every side with your foolish behavior.

But what do the crowds say? "I do not hear what is being read," one says, "nor do I know what the words are that are being spoken." It is because you make noise and confusion, and because you do not come with a reverent soul. What are you saying? "I do not know what is being said." Well then, for that very reason you ought to pay attention. But if even the obscurity does not stir up your soul, then even more, if things were clear, you would rush past them.

Yes, this is the reason why not everything is clear, so that you may not become lazy; and not everything is obscure, so that you may not fall into despair.

That eunuch, that foreigner in Acts 8:20, said none of these things. Instead, even though he was surrounded by many important matters and was traveling, he had a book in his hands and was reading. But you, who have many teachers and also have others who can read to you in private, give me excuses and pretexts. Do you not know what is said? Then pray so that you may learn. Yet it is certainly impossible to be ignorant of everything, because many things are plain and clear by themselves.

And even if you are ignorant of everything, you still ought to be quiet and not interrupt those who are paying attention. Then God, accepting your quietness and your reverence, may make the obscure things plain also. But if you cannot be silent, then go out, so that you will not become a harm to others also.

For truly, there should always be only one voice in the church, just as there is only one body. So the one who reads speaks alone, and the Bishop himself is satisfied to sit in silence. The one who chants chants alone. And though everyone speaks the response, the sound is carried as if from one mouth. The one who gives a homily gives it alone. But when many people are talking about many different subjects, why do we trouble you for no good reason?

Surely, if you did not think that we were only troubling you for no good reason, you would not, in the middle of our speaking about such great matters, talk about things that do not matter.

10. Therefore, there is great corruption not only in your behavior, but even in the way you judge things. You crave what is unnecessary, and leaving the truth, you chase all kinds of shadows and dreams. Are not all present things a shadow and dreams, and even worse than a shadow? For even before they appear, they fly away. And before they have flown away, the trouble they bring is great, and greater than the pleasure. Let a man gain in this world and bury in the earth as much wealth as possible.

Yet when the night is over, he will leave here naked, and this is no wonder. For even those who are rich only in a dream, when they rise from their bed, have nothing of what they seemed to have while sleeping. So it is also with those greedy for gain, or rather, it is not so, but they are in a much worse condition. For the man who dreams that he is rich neither has the money he imagined he had, nor, when he wakes up, is any other harm found to have come to him from that fantasy.

But this man is not only deprived of his riches, he also has to depart filled with the sins that come from them. In his wealth, he enjoyed only a fantasy. But the evils that result from his wealth he no longer sees as a fantasy, but in the actual truth of things. His pleasure was in dreams, but the punishment that follows his pleasure turns out to be no dream. It is something he actually experiences. Yes, rather, even before that punishment, even here he pays the heaviest penalty.

In the very gathering of his wealth, he wears himself down with countless sorrows, anxieties, accusations, slanders, tumults, and disturbances.

Therefore, so that we may be set free both from dreams and from the evils that are not in dreams, let us choose giving to the poor instead of greed, and mercy toward others instead of robbery. For in this way we will receive the good things of both the present life and the life to come, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. With Him, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 14:34

Let your women keep silent in the churches, because they are not permitted to speak. Instead, let them be in submission, as the law also says.

After calming the disorder caused by speaking in tongues and by prophecies, and after making a rule to prevent confusion—that those who speak in tongues should do so one at a time, and that those who prophesy should be silent when another begins—he next turns to the disorder that came from the women. He cuts off their untimely boldness in speaking, and he does this at exactly the right time.

For if even those who have spiritual gifts are not allowed to speak carelessly or whenever they want, even though they are moved by the Spirit, much less should those women who chatter idly and without purpose be allowed to do so. Therefore he restrains their babbling with great authority. He also brings the law with him, and in this way he shuts their mouths. He is not merely urging them here or giving advice, but strongly commanding them by repeating an ancient law about this matter.

For after saying, "Let your women keep silence in the churches; and it is not permitted for them to speak, but let them be in subjection," he added, "as also says the law." And where does the law say this? "Your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you." Genesis 3:16 Do you see Paul's wisdom, and what kind of testimony he brought forward? It was one that not only commands silence, but silence with fear, and with as much fear as a female servant ought to keep herself quiet.

Therefore, after saying himself, "it is not permitted for them to speak," he did not add, "but to be silent." Instead of "to be silent," he stated something greater, namely, being in subjection. And if this is true in relation to husbands, it is much more true in relation to teachers, fathers, and the whole assembly of the Church. But if they are not even to speak, someone says, nor ask a question, why are they to be present? So that they may hear what they ought to hear.

But let them learn at home from their husbands about the matters being discussed. Therefore he also added,

1 Corinthians 14:35

If they want to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home.

So then, he says, women are not only forbidden, it seems, to speak casually, but they are not even allowed to ask any question in the church. Now if they should not ask questions, then even more, speaking whenever they please is against the law. And what is the reason he places them under such great submission? Because a woman is, in a certain sense, weaker, easily led astray, and quick to change her mind. Here you see why he placed their husbands over them as teachers, for the good of both.

In this way he made the women orderly, and he made the husbands careful, since they had to explain very accurately to their wives what they had heard.

Further, because they thought this was something that honored them, I mean speaking in public, he turns the discussion again to the opposite point and says, "For it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church." That is, first he proved this from the law of God, and then from common reason and our accepted custom. Even when he was speaking to the women about long hair, he said, "Does not even nature herself teach you?" 1 Corinthians 11:14 And everywhere you can find that this is his way:

he puts them to shame not only by the divine Scriptures, but also by common custom.

2. But besides these things, he also puts them to shame by pointing to what everyone agreed on, and what was commanded everywhere. He has also stated that point here, saying,

1 Corinthians 14:36

What? Did the word of God go out from you? Or did it come to you alone?

So he also brings in the other churches as holding this rule. In this way, he reduces the disturbance by pointing out how new this matter is, and by the common voice of all, he makes what he says easier to accept. Therefore, elsewhere he also said, "Who shall put you in remembrance of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in all the churches." First Corinthians 4:17. And again, "God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints."

First Corinthians 14:33. And here, "What? Was it from you that the word of God went forth? Or did it come to you alone?" That is, you were neither the first believers nor the only believers, but the whole world believes. He also said this when writing to the Colossians: "even as it is bearing fruit and increasing in all the world," Colossians 1:6, speaking about the Gospel.

But at another time he uses this also to encourage his hearers, as when he says that they were the firstfruits and were known to everyone. So, writing to the Thessalonians, he said, "For from you the word of God has sounded out, and in every place your faith toward God has gone out." 1 Thessalonians 1:8 And again to the Romans, "Your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world." Both kinds of statements are able to shame people and stir them up:

both when others praise them, and when others share in their judgment. Therefore he also says here, "What? Did the word of God go out from you? Or did it come to you only?" For you cannot say this, he says: "We were made teachers to the rest, and it would not be right for us to learn from others." Nor can you say, "The faith remained in this place only, and no examples from other places should be accepted." Do you see by how many arguments he put them to shame?

He brought in the law, he showed the shamefulness of the thing, and he set the other churches before them.

Next, he puts the strongest point last. He says, “God appoints these things, even now, through me.”

1 Corinthians 14:37

So then, if anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things I write to you are the Lord's commandments.

1 Corinthians 14:38

But if anyone is ignorant, let him remain ignorant.

And why did he add this? He was showing that he was not using force or arguing in a hostile way. That is a mark of people who do not want to push their own views, but who seek what is helpful for others. So in another place he also says, "But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom." 1 Corinthians 11:16 But he does not do this everywhere. He does it only where the offenses are not very serious, and even then, mainly to make them feel ashamed.

For when he speaks about other sins, he does not speak this way. But how does he speak? "Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor effeminate, shall inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 And again, "Behold, I Paul say to you, that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing." Galatians 5:2 But here, since he was speaking about silence, he does not attack them very sharply. By this very approach, he draws them more effectively.

Then, as he always does, he brings his discussion back to the earlier subject, from which he had turned aside to say these things, as follows:

1 Corinthians 14:39

Therefore, brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.

For this too is his custom: not only to deal with what is directly before him, but also, starting from that, to correct whatever seems to him to be related to it in any way. Then he returns again to the earlier subject, so that he may not seem to wander from it. For in this way, when he was speaking about their harmony at their meals, he turned aside to their Communion in the Mysteries.

And after shaming them by that, he returns again to the first subject, saying, "Therefore, when you come together to eat, wait for one another." 1 Corinthians 11:33

And here, accordingly, after speaking about good order in their gifts, and that it is a duty neither to lose heart over the lesser gifts nor to be puffed up because of the greater, then, after making an excursion from there to the sobriety becoming women and establishing it, he returns again to his subject, saying, "Therefore, brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking with tongues." Do you see how, to the end, he preserved the difference between these?

And how he shows that the one is very necessary, but the other not so? Therefore of the one he says, "earnestly desire," but of the other, "do not forbid."

Then, in a brief summary, setting everything in order, he adds these words,

1 Corinthians 14:40

Let everything be done properly and in order.

Again, he strikes at those who chose to behave in a shameful way for no reason, and to bring on themselves the charge of madness, and who do not keep their proper place. For nothing builds up as much as good order, peace, and love, just as their opposites tend to tear things down. And this can be seen not only in spiritual matters, but in all other things as well.

For example, whether it is in a dance, a ship, a chariot, or an army camp, if you confuse the order, and by throwing the greater out of their proper place bring the lesser into their position, you ruin everything, and so things are turned upside down. Let us not destroy our order, then, or put the head below and the feet above. This happens when we cast down right reason and set our desires, passions, and pleasures over the rational part.

From this come violent waves, great confusion, and an unbearable storm, since everything is wrapped in darkness.

And, if you wish, let us first examine the shame that comes from this, and then the loss. How can this become clear to us and be fully understood? Let us set before us a man in that state of mind, in love with a prostitute and overcome by a shameful passion. Then we will see the ridicule that comes from it. For what could be more disgraceful than a man watching at the doors of a prostitute’s room, being beaten by a prostitute, weeping, grieving, and turning his glory into shame?

And if you also want to see the loss, then think, I pray, of the money spent, the extreme dangers, the fights with rival lovers, the wounds, and the beatings received in such clashes.

The same is true of those who are trapped by the desire for wealth. Or rather, they act even more shamefully. For while those others are completely taken up with one person, greedy people concern themselves with everyone else's property, both poor and rich, and they long for things that do not exist. More than anything, this shows how wild their passion is. For they do not say, "I would like to have this person's property, or that person's only."

Instead, they want the very mountains to be gold, and the houses, and everything they see. They go out into another world, and they feel this passion without limit, and they never stop lusting. What words can show us the storm of those thoughts, the waves, the darkness? And when the waves and storm are so great, what pleasure can there be? There is none. There is only turmoil, anguish, and black clouds that bring great sorrow of heart instead of rain.

This is the kind of thing that usually happens to those who are in love with beauty that does not belong to them. Therefore, those who have no passionate love at all have more pleasure than any lovers.

5. No one would deny this. But to me, even the man who is in love but holds back his desire seems to live more pleasantly than the man who is always enjoying his mistress. The proof is somewhat hard, but even so, I must try to make the argument. The reason it is harder is not because of the subject itself, but because there are not suitable hearers for this high moral teaching. So then, tell me:

which is more pleasant for the lover, to be despised by the woman he loves, or to be honored and to look down on her? Clearly, the latter. Then tell me, which man will the prostitute value more? The one who is her slave and has already been taken captive by her will, or the one who rises above her traps and flies higher than her arrows? Everyone can see it is the latter. And about which man will she care more, the one who has fallen, or the one who has not yet fallen?

Of course, the one who has not yet fallen. And which man will be more desired, the one who has been overcome, or the one who has not yet been captured? The one who up to this point has not yet been captured. And if you do not believe it, I will prove it from what happens within yourselves. For example, which woman would a man be more deeply in love with? One who easily gives in and gives herself to him, or one who refuses and causes him trouble?

Clearly, the latter, because in that case desire is stirred up more strongly. So then, of course, exactly the same thing happens in the woman's case also. The man they honor and admire more is the one who looks down on them. But if this is true, then this is also true: the man who is more honored and more loved enjoys greater pleasure. For a general leaves alone the city that has already been taken, but the one that still resists and keeps up the struggle he attacks with great care.

And when the hunter catches the animal, he keeps it shut up in darkness, as the prostitute does her lover. But he chases the one that runs away from him.

But someone will tell me, one man gets what he wants, while the other does not. But tell me, is it a small pleasure to be free from disgrace and from being a slave under her harsh commands? Is it a small pleasure not to be led and dragged around by her like a servant, beaten, spit on, and thrown headfirst? No.

If anyone would carefully examine these things, and could gather together all their insults, complaints, and endless quarrels, some caused by their tempers, others by their shameless behavior, along with their hatreds and everything else, things known only by those who suffer them, he will find that no war has more truces than this miserable life of theirs. So what pleasure do you mean? The short and passing pleasure of sexual relations?

But strife quickly comes after it, and storms, and rage, and the same madness again.

We have said these things as someone would speak when talking with immoral young men who are not very willing to listen patiently to what we say about the kingdom and about hell.

And now, as we bring up these subjects too, it is not even possible to say how great the pleasure of the self-controlled person is. If someone forms in his mind that person’s crowns, rewards, fellowship with the angels, the proclamation of him before the world, his boldness, and those blessed and immortal hopes he has, it cannot be described.

But sexual relations have a certain pleasure. This is what they keep saying. Meanwhile, the self-controlled person continually suffers pain as he struggles against the tyranny of nature. No, someone will find exactly the opposite result. This violence and turmoil are found with the unchaste person instead. There is a violent storm in his body, and not even a sea in a storm is so severely troubled as he is.

He never stands against his passion, but is always being struck by it, like those who are possessed and are continually torn apart within by evil spirits. But the temperate person, like a noble champion, is continually striking it down. He gains the greatest pleasures, sweeter than ten thousand pleasures of that sort. And this victory, his good conscience, and those glorious trophies are ornaments he can continually wear.

As for the other man, even if he gets a little rest after his sexual act, it should count as nothing. For the storm comes again, and the waves rise again. But the one who controls himself does not let this uproar take hold of him at all. He does not let the sea rise or the wild beast roar. And even if he suffers some force while restraining such an impulse, the other man suffers it too. He is constantly receiving blows and stabs, and he cannot bear the sting.

It is just like a wild horse, raging and struggling, when one man checks it with the bridle and skillfully holds it in, while another man gives it free rein to avoid the trouble, and is dragged along by it and carried here and there.

If I have said these things more plainly than is proper, let no one blame me. For I do not want to impress people with serious-sounding words, but to make my hearers serious.

Therefore, the prophets also do not hold back such words. They want to root out the Jews' lawless behavior, and they speak against them even more openly than we have in what we have said now. For a doctor who wants to remove an ulcer does not think about how to keep his hands clean, but about how to free the patient from the ulcer. And the one who would lift up a person who has been brought low first makes himself lowly.

And the one who seeks to kill a conspirator stains himself with blood along with the other man, and this makes him more glorious. For if someone were to see a soldier returning from war, stained with gore and blood and brains, he would not hate him or turn away from him because of this. Instead, he would admire him even more. So let us do the same.

When we see someone returning covered with blood after killing his evil desire, let us admire him more, share in his battle and victory, and say to those who give themselves to this savage passion, "Show us the pleasure you get from lust. For the self-controlled person has what comes from his victory, but you have nothing from anywhere." But if you mention what is connected with the sinful act, even then the other man's benefit is clearer and more satisfying.

For from the pleasure of indulgence, you get something brief and barely noticeable. But he, from his conscience, has a greater joy, an enduring joy, and a sweeter joy. Surely the company of a woman does not have as much power as self-control has, to keep the soul undisturbed and to give it wings.

Well then, as I said, the self-controlled man clearly shows us what his pleasure is. But in your case, I see the sadness that comes from defeat. I do not find the pleasure that wants to be seen. For what moment do you count as pleasure? Is it the time before the sinful act? No, it is not. That is a time of madness, delirium, and frenzy. To grind your teeth and be out of your mind is not pleasure at all.

And if it were pleasure, it would not produce in you the same effects that people in pain suffer. For those who strike with their fists and those who are struck grind their teeth. Women in labor, driven wild by pain, do the same. So this is not pleasure, but frenzy, confusion, and turmoil. Shall we say, then, that it is the time after the act? No, not that either. For we could not say that a woman who has just given birth is in pleasure, but rather that she has been released from certain pains.

But this is not pleasure at all. It is weakness and collapse instead, and there is a great difference between these two. What, then, is the time of pleasure? Tell me. There is none. But if there is any, it is so brief that it cannot even be noticed. At least, though we have eagerly searched in many ways to find it and grasp it, we have not been able to do so. But the time of the chaste man's pleasure is not like that. Rather, it is broad and clear to all.

Or rather, his whole life is lived in pleasure: his conscience is crowned, the waves are calmed, and no disturbance rises within him from any side.

Since this person's life has more pleasure, while a life spent in the love of pleasure is full of misery and unrest, let us flee from sexual immorality. Let us hold fast to self-control, so that we may also receive the good things to come, through grace and mercy, and so on.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2

Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, and in which you also stand. By which also you are saved, in what words I preached it to you.

After finishing his teaching about spiritual gifts, he moves on to what is most necessary of all: the resurrection. For in this matter too they were seriously mistaken. And just as in people's bodies, when a fever takes hold of the solid parts, I mean the nerves, the veins, and the basic elements, the harm becomes incurable unless it receives great attention, so it was likely to happen then as well. For the harm was spreading to the very foundations of godliness.

Therefore Paul speaks with great earnestness. From now on, his discussion was not about morals, or about one man being sexually immoral, another greedy, and another having his head covered. It was about the very sum of all good things. For they were divided even about the resurrection itself. Since this is all our hope, the devil made a violent attack against this point. At one time, he was completely overthrowing it. At another time, his teaching was that it had already happened.

Paul, writing to Timothy, also called this a gangrene. I mean this wicked doctrine. And he marked those who brought it in with shame, saying, "Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have wandered away from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened, and they overthrow the faith of some." 2 Timothy 2:17-18 So at one time they said this, but at another time they said that the body does not rise again, and that the resurrection is the purification of the soul.

But the wicked demon persuaded them to say these things, because he wanted not only to destroy belief in the resurrection, but also to show that everything done for our sake is a made-up story. For if he could persuade them that there is no resurrection of bodies, he would gradually persuade them that Christ was not raised either. Then, in time, he would also bring in this idea: that Christ had not come and had not done what He did. For this is the devil's way.

Therefore Paul also calls it cunning craftiness, because the devil does not immediately show what he intends to do, for fear of being found out. Instead, he puts on one kind of mask and carries out another kind of scheme. Like a clever enemy attacking a walled city, he secretly digs under it from below, so that people can hardly guard against him and he can succeed in what he tries to do.

Therefore, because these traps of his were constantly being discovered, and because this admirable and mighty man tracked down these cunning ambushes, he said, "For we are not ignorant of his devices." 2 Corinthians 2:11 In the same way here, he reveals all the devil's deceit and points out all his schemes. Whatever the devil especially wants to accomplish, Paul sets before us and goes through it all very carefully.

Yes, and for this reason he placed this point after the others, both because it was absolutely necessary and because it includes our whole condition.

Notice how thoughtfully he proceeds. First he reassures his own people. Then he goes even further in his argument, and powerfully reduces those outside to silence. Now he reassures his own people, not by reasonings, but by things that had already happened, and that they themselves had received and believed had taken place. This was especially fit to shame them, and able to lay hold on them.

For if they were unwilling to believe after this, they would no longer be disbelieving Paul, but themselves. And this was a censure on those who had once for all received it and then changed their minds. For this reason he also begins from here, implying that he needs no other witnesses to prove that he is speaking the truth, except those very people who had been deceived.

2. But so that what I say may become clearer, we must, in what follows, pay attention to the very words. What then are these words? "I make known to you, brothers," he says, "the gospel which I preached to you." Do you see with what modesty he begins? Do you see how from the beginning he shows that he is bringing in nothing new or strange? For he who makes known what was already known, but afterwards had fallen into oblivion, makes it known by calling it back to memory.

And when he called them brothers, even by this he laid the foundation for no small part of the proof of what he was saying. For we became brothers for no other reason than through the divine arrangement of Christ according to the flesh. And this is exactly why he called them this. At the same time, he was soothing and winning them over, and also reminding them of their countless blessings.

And what comes next again shows the same thing. What is it, then? The gospel. For the whole message of the Gospels begins here: that God became man, was crucified, and rose again. Gabriel also preached this gospel to the Virgin. The prophets also preached it to the world, and all the apostles did too.

I preached this to you, and you also received it, and you stand in it. By it you are also being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

Do you see how he calls them to be witnesses of the things that were spoken? And he does not say, “which you heard,” but, “which you received.” He asks this of them as something entrusted to them, like a deposit. He shows that they received it not only in words, but also through deeds and signs and wonders, and that they should keep it safe.

Next, because he was speaking about things long past, he also referred to the present time and said, "in which you also stand." He took his position from their present condition, so that denying it would be out of their power, even if they wanted to do so very much. And this is why, at the beginning, he did not say, "I teach you," but, "I make known to you" what has already been made clear.

And how does he say that those who had been so tossed by waves are standing firm? He pretends not to know, so that he may help them. He also does this in the case of the Galatians, but not in the same way. Since in that case he could not pretend ignorance, he shapes his words differently and says, "I have confidence toward you in the Lord, that you will be none otherwise minded." Galatians 5:10 He did not say, "that you were none otherwise minded," because their fault was admitted and obvious.

Instead, he speaks about the future. Yet even this was uncertain. But he did it to draw them to himself more effectively. Here, however, he does pretend ignorance, saying, "wherein also ye stand."

Then comes the benefit by which you also are saved, in the words in which I preached it to you. So then, this present explanation is for making the teaching clear and for interpreting it. For the teaching itself, he says, you do not need to learn, but to be reminded of it and corrected. He says these things so that he leaves them no room at all to throw themselves into recklessness.

But what does this mean: "In what message I preached it to you"? "In what way did I tell you," he says, "that the resurrection happens?" For I would not say that you doubt there is a resurrection. But perhaps you want a clearer understanding of what was said. So this is what I will provide for you. For I am quite sure that you hold this doctrine. Next, because he had just said directly, "in which also you stand," he did not want to make them more careless by that.

So he warns them again, saying, "if you hold it fast, unless you believed in vain." He is showing that the blow falls on the main point, and that the struggle is not about small matters, but about the whole faith. For the present he says this with restraint. But as he goes on and becomes more intense, he removes the veil and goes on to cry out and say, "But if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, and your faith also is vain. You are still in your sins."

But at the beginning he does not speak this way, because it was necessary to proceed gently and little by little.

1 Corinthians 15:3

For first of all, I passed on to you what I also received.

Here too he does not say, "I said to you," or, "I taught you." Instead, he uses the same wording again and says, "I delivered to you what I also received." And here again he does not say, "I was taught," but, "I received." In this way he establishes two things. First, a person should bring in nothing from himself. Next, they were fully persuaded by proof from his actions, not by mere words.

And little by little, while he makes his argument believable, he refers everything to Christ and shows that there was nothing human in these teachings.

But what does this mean, “For I delivered to you first of all”? For that is his wording. It means, in the beginning, not just now. By saying this, he brings in time as a witness. He shows that it would be the greatest disgrace for those who had been persuaded for so long a time to change their minds now. And not only this, but also that the teaching is necessary. Therefore it was delivered among the first things, and immediately from the beginning. And what did you deliver in this way? Tell me.

But he does not say this right away. First he says, “I received.” And what did you receive? “That Christ died for our sins.” He did not immediately say that there is a resurrection of our bodies. Yet in fact he does establish this very thing, but from a distance and by other points. He says that Christ died, and in this way he lays down a kind of strong base and unshakable foundation for the teaching about the resurrection.

For he did not simply say that Christ died, although even this would have been enough to declare the resurrection, but he added, “Christ died for our sins.”

But first, it is worthwhile to hear what those who are infected with Manichaean teachings say here. They are enemies of the truth, and they fight against their own salvation. What, then, do they claim? They say that by death here, Paul means nothing except our being in sin, and by resurrection, our being set free from our sins. Do you see how nothing is weaker than error? And how it is caught by its own wings, and does not need any battle from outside, but is pierced through by itself?

Consider these men, for example. They too have pierced themselves through by their own statements. For if this is what death means, and Christ did not take a body, as you suppose, and yet died, then according to you He was in sin. For I say that He took a body to Himself, and I say that His death was the death of the flesh. But if you deny this, you will be forced to say the other. But if He was in sin, how does He say, "Which of you convicts Me of sin?"

and, "The prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me"? John 8:46; 14:30 And again, "Thus it becomes Us to fulfill all righteousness"? Matthew 3:15 No, how did He die at all for sinners, if He Himself was in sin? For the one who dies for sinners ought to be without sin himself. Since if he himself also sins, how will he die for other sinners? But if He died for the sins of others, then He died without sin.

And if He died without sin, then He died, not the death of sin—for how could He, being without sin?—but the death of the body. Therefore Paul did not simply say, "He died," but added, "for our sins." By this he both forces these heretics, against their will, to admit Christ's bodily death, and also shows that before death He was without sin. For it follows that the one who dies for the sins of others must himself be without sin.

Nor was he content with this, but added, "according to the Scriptures." By this he again makes his argument credible, and also shows what kind of death he means. For it is the death of the body that the Scriptures everywhere proclaim. For He says, "They pierced My hands and My feet," in Psalm 21:18, and, "They shall look on Him whom they pierced," in John 19:37 and Zechariah 12:10. And there are many other examples too, too many to name one by one.

In them, partly in words and partly in types, one may see these things stored up: that He was slaughtered in the flesh, and that He was slain for our sins. For one says, "For the sins of my people He came to death," and, "The Lord delivered Him up for our sins," and, "He was wounded for our transgressions," in Isaiah 53. But if you cannot bear the Old Testament, hear John crying out and declaring both His slaughter in the body and the cause of it.

Thus he says, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world," in John 1:29. And Paul says, "For Him who knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him," in 2 Corinthians 5:21. And again, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us," in Galatians 3:13. And again, "Having put off principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them," in Colossians 2:15.

And there are ten thousand other sayings to show what happened at His death in the body, and because of our sins. Yes, and Christ Himself says, "For your sakes I sanctify Myself," and, "Now the prince of this world has been condemned," showing that, having no sin, He was slain.

1 Corinthians 15:4

And that he was buried.

This also confirms the earlier points, because what is buried is clearly a body. And here he no longer adds, "according to the Scriptures." He could have, yet he does not add it. Why is that? Either because the burial was plain to everyone, both then and now, or because the phrase, "according to the Scriptures," is written for both statements together.

Why then does he add, in this place, "according to the Scriptures," and, "that He rose on the third day according to the Scriptures," instead of being satisfied with the earlier phrase spoken for both in common? Because this also was unclear to most people. Therefore here again he brings in the Scriptures by inspiration, having formed this thought in so wise and divine a way.

Why is it, then, that he does the same thing about His death? Because in that case too, although the cross was plain to everyone, and He was stretched out on it in the sight of all, the reason for it was not equally plain. Everyone knew the fact of His death. But it was not equally known to the crowd that He suffered this for the sins of the world. Therefore, he brings in the testimony of the Scriptures.

This, however, has been proved well enough by what we have already said. But where have the Scriptures said that He was buried and would rise again on the third day? They said it through the sign of Jonah, which He Himself also uses when He says, "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so also the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12:40 They also said it through the bush in the desert.

For just as it burned and yet was not consumed, Exodus 3:2 so also that body truly died, but death did not continue to hold it. The dragon in Daniel also foreshadows this. For just as the dragon, after taking the food the prophet gave it, burst open in the middle, so also Hades, after swallowing that Body, was torn open, because the Body itself cut open its womb and rose again.

Now, if you want to hear in words also the things you have seen in symbols, listen to Isaiah, who says, "His life is taken from the earth," Isaiah 53:8-11, and, "It pleases the Lord to cleanse Him from His wound... to show Him light." And David, before him, says, "You will not leave My soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption." Psalm 16:10

Therefore Paul also sends you to the Scriptures, so that you may learn that these things were not done without cause or by chance. For how could they be, when so many prophets described them and announced them beforehand? And whenever Scripture mentions our Lord's death, it does not mean the death of sin. It means the death of the body, and a burial and resurrection of the same kind.

1 Corinthians 15:5

5. And that He appeared to Cephas: he immediately names the one who was most trustworthy of all. Then He appeared to the twelve.

1 Corinthians 15:6

Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time. Most of them remain until now, but some have fallen asleep.

1 Corinthians 15:7

Then he appeared to James, and then to all the Apostles.

1 Corinthians 15:8

And last of all, he appeared also to me, as to one born at the wrong time.

So, since he had mentioned the proof from the Scriptures, he also adds proof from the events themselves, bringing forward as witnesses of the resurrection, after the prophets, the apostles and other faithful men. But if he meant that other resurrection, the deliverance from sin, it would be pointless for him to say, "He appeared to this one and that one." For this is the argument of someone establishing the resurrection of the body, not of someone obscurely teaching deliverance from sins.

Therefore he did not say once for all, "He appeared," although that would have been enough for him to do, using the expression in a general way. But now he uses it twice and three times, and almost in each separate case of those who had seen Him. For, he says, "He appeared to Cephas," "He appeared to more than five hundred brothers," "He appeared to me also." Yet surely the Gospel says the opposite, that He was seen by Mary first, in Mark 16:9.

But among men He was first seen by the one who most of all longed to see Him.

But which twelve apostles is he speaking about here? After He was taken up, Matthias was added to their number, not immediately after the resurrection. But it is likely that He appeared even after He was taken up. In any case, this apostle of ours himself was called and saw Him after His ascension. Therefore he does not give the time, but simply tells of the appearance without specifying when it happened. For indeed, it is probable that many appearances took place.

Therefore John also said, "This was now the third time He was manifested," in John 21:14.

Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers. Some say that "above" means "from above," that is, from heaven. In other words, He appeared to them not while walking on the earth, but above and overhead. They add that Paul's purpose was to confirm not only the resurrection, but also the ascension. Others say that the expression, "above five hundred," means "more than five hundred."

Most of them are still alive even now. So, he says, although I am telling about events from long ago, I still have living witnesses. But some have fallen asleep. He did not say, "are dead," but, "have fallen asleep." By this wording he again confirms the resurrection. After that, He was seen by James. I suppose this means His brother. For it is said that the Lord Himself appointed him and first made him Bishop in Jerusalem. Then He was seen by all the apostles.

For there were also other apostles, such as the seventy.

And last of all He appeared to me also, as to one born out of due time. This is an expression of modesty more than anything else. For it was not because he was the least that He appeared to him after the rest. Since even if He did call him last, yet he appeared more illustrious than many who were before him, yes, rather than all. And the five hundred brothers too were surely not better than James, because He appeared to them before him.

Why did He not appear to everyone at the same time? So that He might first plant the seeds of faith. The one who saw Him first, and was completely and fully convinced, told the rest. Then their report came first, and it made the hearer expect this great wonder. It also prepared the way for faith based on sight. Therefore, He did not appear to everyone together.

Nor did He appear to many at the beginning, but first to one person alone, and to the leader of the whole group, and the most faithful one. There was great need for a very faithful soul to be the first to receive this sight. Those who saw Him after others had already seen Him, and who heard it from them, had in their testimony something that helped their own faith in no small way and prepared their minds beforehand.

But the one who was first counted worthy to see Him needed, as I have said, great faith, so that he would not be confused by a sight so contrary to expectation. Therefore, He appears to Peter first. For the one who first confessed that He was the Christ was also rightly counted worthy to see His resurrection first. And He appears to him first not only for this reason, but also because Peter had denied Him. He did this to comfort him more fully and to show that he had not given up on him.

Before the rest, He granted him even this sight, and to him first He entrusted His sheep. Therefore, He also appeared to the women first. Because this sex was made inferior, therefore in both His birth and His resurrection this sex first tastes His grace.

But after appearing to Peter, He also appeared to each of them at different times, sometimes to fewer and sometimes to more. In this way, He made them witnesses and teachers for one another, and made His apostles trustworthy in everything they said.

6. Last of all, he appeared to me also, as to one born at the wrong time. What do these humble words mean here, and why are they fitting? If he wants to show that he is worthy of belief and to count himself among the witnesses of the resurrection, he seems to be doing the opposite of what he wants. It would seem proper for him to speak highly of himself and show that he was important, which he does in many places when the situation requires it.

But the very reason he speaks modestly here also is that he is about to do this. Yet he does not do it at once. Instead, with his own special wisdom, he first speaks humbly and piles up many charges against himself. Then he speaks of the great things concerning himself. Why is this?

It is so that, when he comes to say that great and lofty statement about himself, "I labored more abundantly than all," his words may be more acceptable, both because of this and because they are spoken as a result of what came before, and not as his main subject from the start. Therefore, when writing to Timothy and planning to say great things about himself, he first lists the charges against himself. For when people speak highly of others, they do so freely and boldly.

But a man who is forced to praise himself, especially when he also calls himself as a witness, is troubled and ashamed. Therefore this blessed man first declares his own misery, and then speaks that lofty statement. He does this partly to lessen the offense of speaking about himself, and partly so that by this he might make them more ready to believe what he would say afterward.

For a man who truthfully states the things that bring him dishonor, and hides none of them, such as that he persecuted the Church and laid waste the faith, by this also makes the honorable things about him beyond suspicion.

And consider how very great his humility was. For after saying, "And last of all He appeared to me also," he was not satisfied with only this. For He says, "Many that are last shall be first, and the first last," in Matthew 20:16. Therefore he added, "as to one born out of due time." And he did not stop there, but also adds his own judgment, with a reason, saying,

1 Corinthians 15:9

For I am the least of the apostles. I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God.

And he did not say this about the twelve only, but also about all the other apostles. He said all these things both as someone speaking modestly and because he was truly disposed this way, as I said. He was also preparing beforehand for what he intended to say and making it easier to accept.

For if he had come forward and said, "You ought to believe me that Christ rose from the dead, because I saw Him, and of all people I am the most worthy to be believed, since I have labored more," that statement might have offended the hearers. But instead, by first speaking about the humbling matters and the things that involved accusation, he both removed what might have been offensive in such an account and prepared the way for them to believe his testimony.

For this reason, as I said, he does not simply say that he is the last and unworthy to be called an apostle. He also gives the reason, saying, "because I persecuted the Church." And yet all those things were forgiven. Nevertheless, he himself never forgot them, because he wanted to show how great God's favor was. Therefore he goes on to say,

1 Corinthians 15:10

7. But by the grace of God, I am what I am.

Do you see another great act of humility here? He blames himself for his faults, but says nothing about his good deeds. Instead, he gives everything to God. Next, so that he might not make his hearer lazy by this, he says, "And His grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain." And again he says this with restraint, because he did not say, "I have shown diligence worthy of His grace," but only, "it was not found vain."

But I worked harder than all of them. He did not say, "I was honored," but, "I worked." And when he had dangers and deaths to speak of, he again softens his words by calling them "work."

Then again, following his usual humility, he quickly passes over this too and gives everything to God, saying, "Yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." What could be more admirable than a soul like this? After humbling himself in so many ways and speaking only one exalted word, he does not even claim this as his own. In every way, both from the things said before and from the things that follow, he finds ways to draw back that exalted statement, because he had to come to it.

But consider how he overflows with expressions of humility. For he says, "To me last of all He appeared." Therefore, when speaking of himself, he mentions no other, and says, "as to one born out of due time," and that he himself is the least of the apostles, and not even worthy of this name. And he was not content even with these words. But so that he might not seem humble-minded only in words, he states both reasons and proofs:

the proof that he was one born out of due time is that he saw Jesus last; and the proof that he was unworthy even of the name of apostle is that he persecuted the Church. For one who is simply humble-minded does not do this. But one who also sets down the reasons speaks it all from a contrite mind.

Therefore he also mentions these same things elsewhere, saying, "And I thank Him who enabled me, even Christ Jesus our Lord, because He counted me faithful, appointing me to His service, though I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious." 1 Timothy 1:12-13

But why did he say that high statement at all, “I labored more abundantly than they”? He saw that the situation forced him to say it. For if he had not said this, if he had only spoken lowly of himself, how could he boldly call himself as a witness, count himself with the rest, and say,

1 Corinthians 15:11

So then, whether it is I or they, this is what we preach.

For a witness should be trustworthy and important. But he showed above how he worked harder than they did when he said, "Do we have no right to eat and drink, as the other Apostles do?" And again, "To those who are without law, I became as without law." So, both when exactness had to be shown, he went beyond them all; and when there was need to come down to others' level, he again showed the same great superiority.

But some point to the fact that he was sent to the Gentiles and traveled through the greater part of the world. From this it is clear that he received more grace. For if he worked harder, the grace was also greater. But he received more grace because he also showed greater diligence. Do you see how, by the very points he uses to argue and to put his own matters in the background, he is shown to be first of all?

8. When we hear these things, let us also openly admit our faults, but say nothing about our excellent qualities. Or if the situation forces us to speak of them, let us speak with restraint and give all the credit to God's grace. This is what the Apostle also does. Again and again, he puts a bad mark on his former life, but he credits his later condition to grace, so that from every side he might show the mercy of God:

both in saving him when he was such a man as he was, and after saving him, making him again such a man as he now is. Therefore, let none of those who are in sin despair, and let none of those who are in virtue be self-confident. Instead, let the one be deeply fearful, and the other eager. For no lazy person will be able to remain in virtue, and no diligent person will be too weak to escape from evil. Blessed David is an example of both. After he dozed for a little while, he had a great fall.

But when his heart was pierced, he quickly hurried back to his former height. In fact, both despair and laziness are equally evil. The one quickly throws a man down from the very height of heaven, and the other does not allow the fallen man to rise again. Therefore, about the first, Paul said, "Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall," in 1 Corinthians 10:12. But about the other, he says, "Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts," in Hebrews 4:7.

And again, "Lift up the hands that hang down and the palsied knees," in Hebrews 12:12. So too, the man who had committed fornication but repented, Paul quickly comforts, "that such an one might not be swallowed up with his overmuch sorrow," in 2 Corinthians 2:7.

Why then are you cast down over other kinds of grief, O man? Since if excessive grief does much harm even for sins, where grief alone is beneficial, it does much more for all other things. For why do you grieve? Is it because you have lost money? No. Think of those who are not even filled with bread, and you will very quickly receive consolation. And in each of the things that grieve you, do not mourn the things that have happened. Instead, give thanks for the disasters that have not happened.

Did you have money and lose it? Do not weep for the loss, but give thanks for the time when you enjoyed it. Say like Job, "Have we received good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive evil?" Job 2:10. And together with that, use this argument also: even if you lost your money, yet your body is still sound, and with your poverty you do not also have to grieve that it is maimed. But has your body too endured some outrage? Yet even this is not the very bottom of human calamities.

You are still only in the middle of the descent. For many, along with poverty and maiming, also wrestle with a demon and wander in deserts. Others again endure other things more grievous than these. For may it never be our lot to suffer all that it is possible for one to bear.

Always keep these things in mind. Remember those who suffer more than you, and do not be troubled by any of these things. But when you sin, then sigh, then weep. I do not forbid this. No, I even urge it. Yet even then, do it with moderation, remembering that there is a way back and there is reconciliation. But do you see others living in luxury while you are poor, and another dressed in fine clothing and holding high position? Do not look only at these things.

Also consider the miseries that come from them. And in your poverty, do not think only about the hardship. Also take into account the pleasure that comes from it. For wealth does have a cheerful appearance, but inside it is full of gloom. Poverty is the opposite. And if you could uncover each person's conscience, you would see great security and freedom in the soul of the poor. But in the soul of the rich, you would see confusion, disorder, and storms.

And if you are grieved when you see him rich, he is much more troubled than you when he sees someone richer than himself. And just as you fear him, so he fears another, and in this he has no advantage over you. But you are troubled to see him in office, because you are a private citizen and one of those being governed. Yet remember the day when he will stop holding office.

And even before that day, remember the uproars, the dangers, the labors, the flatteries, the sleepless nights, and all the miseries.

9. We say these things to people who do not care for high moral living. If you understand this, there are other and greater things by which we could comfort you. But for now, we must use simpler arguments with you. So, when you see someone who is rich, think of someone richer than he is, and you will see that he is in the same condition as you. After that, look also at someone poorer than yourself.

Think about how many have gone to bed hungry, have lost their family property, live in a dungeon, and pray for death every day. For poverty does not produce sadness, and wealth does not produce pleasure. Rather, our own thoughts usually produce both the one and the other in us. And consider this, starting from the lowest level. The scavenger grieves and is troubled because he cannot get free from this work of his, which is so miserable and considered so shameful.

But if you free him from it, and make it possible for him to have plenty of the necessities of life with security, he will grieve again because he does not have more than he needs. And if you give him more, he will want to double it again, and so he will trouble himself no less than before. And if you give him two or three times as much, he will lose heart again because he has no share in public office.

And if you provide this also, he will count himself miserable because he is not one of the highest officers of state. And when he has gained this honor, he will mourn because he is not a ruler. And when he becomes a ruler, he will mourn because he does not rule a whole nation. And when he rules a whole nation, he will mourn because he does not rule many nations. And when he rules many nations, he will mourn because he does not rule them all.

When he becomes a deputy, he will trouble himself again because he is not a king. And if he becomes a king, he will mourn because he is not the only one. And if he is the only one, he will mourn because he does not also rule barbarian nations. And if he rules barbarian nations, he will mourn because he does not rule even the whole world. And if he rules the whole world, why not another world too? So his line of thinking goes on without end and never allows him to be satisfied.

Do you see that even if you raised a man from being lowly and poor to being a king, you would not remove his sadness unless you first corrected his way of thinking, since it is in love with always having more?

Come, let me show you the opposite also. Even if you bring down to a lower place a man of good sense from a higher position, you will not throw him into despair and grief. If you want, let us go down the same ladder. You bring the satrap down from his throne, and in thought strip him of that rank. I say that he will not be troubled because of this, if he chooses to keep in mind the things I have spoken of.

For he will not count up the things he has lost, but the things he still has, namely the honor that comes from his office. But if you take this away also, he will think of those who are private citizens and have never risen to such power, and his riches will be enough to comfort him. And if you cast him out from this also, he will look at those who have only a modest income.

And if you take away even moderate wealth, and allow him to share only in the food he needs, he may think about those who do not even have this, but struggle with never-ending hunger and live in prison. And even if you bring him into that prison, when he thinks about those who suffer from incurable diseases and hopeless pain, he will see that he is in much better circumstances.

And just as the scavenger mentioned earlier would not gain any joy even if he were made a king, so this man will never be troubled even if he becomes a prisoner. So then, wealth is not the foundation of pleasure, and poverty is not the foundation of sadness. Rather, it is our own judgment, and the fact that the eyes of our mind are not pure, and are not fixed anywhere and do not remain steady, but wander around without limit.

And just as healthy bodies, if they are fed with bread alone, remain well and strong, but sickly bodies, even if they enjoy a rich and varied diet, become that much weaker, so it usually happens with the soul also. The weak-spirited cannot be happy, not even with a crown and honors beyond words. But the self-denying person, even in chains and fetters and poverty, will enjoy pure pleasure.

Keeping these things in mind, let us always look at those who are below us. I do admit that there is another comfort, but it calls for a very high moral attitude and rises above the crude way most people think. What is it? It is this: wealth is nothing, poverty is nothing, disgrace is nothing, and honor is nothing. They differ from each other only for a short time and only in words. Along with this, there is also another source of comfort, greater than this one:

thinking about the things to come, both evil and good, the things that are truly evil and truly good, and being comforted by them. But since many people, as I said, keep away from these teachings, we were forced to speak about other matters, so that in time we might lead those who had accepted what was said before on to these things.

So then, taking all these things into account, let us shape ourselves rightly in every way, and we will never be distressed by these unexpected events. For if we saw rich people in a painting, we would not say they should be envied. In the same way, if we saw poor people painted there, we would not call them miserable and pitiable, even though those painted images are surely more lasting than the people we think of as wealthy. For a person remains rich in a painting longer than in real life.

One image often lasts and appears that way even for a hundred years. But the other person, sometimes not having even one year to enjoy his possessions in comfort, has suddenly been stripped of everything. Thinking, then, on all these things, let us build up cheerfulness on every side as a defense against our irrational sorrow, so that we may both live this present life with joy and obtain the good things to come, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

With him, to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and forever, and world without end. Amen.

1 Corinthians 15:11

So whether it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

After lifting up the Apostles and lowering himself, he then lifts himself above them again so that he may show that they are equal. He did establish that equality when he showed that he had advantages over them, just as they had advantages over him. In this way, he proved that he was worthy of trust. Even so, he does not leave them there, but again places himself among them and points out their agreement in Christ.

Still, he does not do this in a way that would make him seem to have been merely added to them. Instead, he shows that he also stands in the same rank. For this was profitable for the Gospel. Therefore, he was equally eager, on the one hand, not to seem to ignore them, and on the other hand, not to be looked down on by those under his authority because of the honor given to them. Therefore he now makes himself equal with them again, saying,

So then, whether it is I or they, this is how we preach. "Learn from whoever you choose," he says. "There is no difference between us." And he did not say, "If you will not believe me, believe them." Instead, while showing that he himself is worthy of trust and is sufficient on his own, he also says the same about them on their own. For the difference between the persons made no difference, because their authority was equal. And in the Epistle to the Galatians he does this too.

He joins them with himself, not because he also needed them, but while saying that he himself was indeed sufficient: "For those who were of repute added nothing to me" in Galatians 2:6. Nevertheless, even so, I pursue agreement with them. For "they gave me their right hands," he says, in Galatians 2:9. For if Paul's credit always depended on others and had to be confirmed by testimony from others, then the disciples would have suffered endless harm from this.

Therefore, he does this not to exalt himself, but because he fears for the Gospel. That is why he also says here, making himself equal with them, "Whether it is I or they, this is how we preach."

He was right to say, "we preach," because this showed his great boldness in speaking. For we do not speak in secret or in some corner. Instead, we speak with a voice clearer than a trumpet. And he did not say, "we preached," but even now, "so we preach." And so you believed. Here he did not say, "you believe," but, "you believed." Because their minds were shaken, he went back to earlier times and then added the witness that came from them themselves.

1 Corinthians 15:12

Now if Christ is preached as having been raised from the dead, how can some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

Do you see how well he argues, and how he proves the resurrection from the fact that Christ was raised, after first establishing the former in many ways? For, he says, both the prophets spoke of it, and the Lord Himself showed it by appearing, and we preach it, and you believed it. In this way he weaves together his fourfold testimony: the witness of the prophets, the witness of the events themselves, the witness of the apostles, and the witness of the disciples. Or rather, it is fivefold.

For this very cause itself also points to the resurrection, namely, that He died for the sins of others. If this, then, has been proved, it is clear that the other point also follows, namely, that the rest of the dead also are raised. And this is why, when speaking about an accepted fact, he challenges them and asks, "Now if Christ has been raised, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?"

By this also, he again lowers the boldness of those who argue against him. He did not say, "How can you say this?" He said, "How do some among you say this?" So he does not accuse everyone, and he does not openly name the exact persons he is charging, so that he will not make them more reckless. But, on the other hand, he does not hide the matter completely, because he wants to correct them.

For this reason, by separating them from the whole group, he prepares himself to fight this dispute against them. In this way, he both weakens and confuses them, and he makes the rest stand more firmly in the truth in their struggle against these people. He does not allow them to go over to those who were trying to destroy them. In fact, he was prepared to speak in a forceful way.

Further, so that they could not say, "It is clear and obvious to everyone that Christ has been raised, and no one doubts it. But this does not necessarily mean the other thing also, that is, the resurrection of mankind. For the one was both proclaimed beforehand and has happened, and it was confirmed by His appearing"—that is, the fact of Christ's resurrection—"but the other is still only hoped for," meaning our own resurrection—see what he does. Again, from the other side, he proves it.

This is a sign of great power. So, "Why do some say," he says, "that there is no resurrection of the dead?" Then of course, this also overturns the former point in turn, namely, the fact that Christ has been raised. Therefore he also adds, saying,

1 Corinthians 15:13

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either.

Do you see Paul’s energy, and his spirit for the struggle, so impossible to defeat? Do you see how he proves what is questioned not only from what is clear, but also tries to prove to those who argue against him that earlier clear point by using what is questioned? It is not because what had already happened needed proof, but so that he might show that this was just as worthy of belief as that.

3. “And what kind of consequence is this?” someone says. “For if Christ has not been raised, then it does follow that others should not be raised. But if others are not raised, why should it follow that Christ also has not been raised? What reason is there for that?” Since this does not seem very reasonable, see how Paul works it out wisely. From the beginning, from the very foundation of the Gospel, he has already planted these points:

that Christ died for our sins and was raised, and that He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For the firstfruits of what can He be, except of those who are raised? And how can He be firstfruits if those of whom He is the firstfruits do not rise? How then are they not raised?

Again, if the dead are not raised, why was Christ raised? Why did He come? Why did He take on flesh, if He was not about to raise flesh again? For He had no need of it Himself, but for our sake. But he sets these things down later as he goes on. For now he says, "If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised," as though that were connected with this. For if He had not intended to raise Himself, He would not have done that other work.

Do you see how, little by little, their words and their unbelief in the resurrection overthrow the whole divine arrangement? But for now he says nothing about the incarnation, only about the resurrection. For it was not His becoming incarnate, but His dying, that took away death, since while He had flesh, the tyranny of death still had dominion.

1 Corinthians 15:14

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is useless, and your faith is also useless.

Although what would naturally have followed was, "But if Christ has not risen, you fight against things that are evident, and against so many prophets, and against the truth of the facts," nevertheless he says what is much more fearful to them: "Then our preaching is vain, and your faith also is vain." For he wants to shake their mind thoroughly. "We have lost all," he says. "All is over, if He has not risen." Do you see how great the mystery of the divine arrangement is? It is like this:

if after death He could not rise again, then sin is not loosed, nor death taken away, nor the curse removed. Yes, and not only have we preached in vain, but you also have believed in vain.

And he does not show the wickedness of these evil teachings by this alone. He also argues strongly against them, saying,

1 Corinthians 15:15

Yes, and we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified about Him that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.

But if this is absurd, as it is a charge against God and a false accusation, and if He did not raise Him, as you say, then not only this absurdity but other absurdities too will follow.

And again he confirms it completely, and returns to it, saying,

1 Corinthians 15:16

For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.

If He had not intended to do this, He would not have come into the world. And he does not mention this, but the result instead, namely, His resurrection; through it drawing all things to Himself.

1 Corinthians 15:17

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless.

Using what is clear and openly admitted, he keeps building the case for Christ's resurrection. By using the stronger point, he makes even what seems weak and doubtful become strong and clear.

You are still in your sins. For if He was not raised, then He did not die. And if He did not die, then He did not take away sin, because His death was the taking away of sin. For look, someone says, "The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world," in John 1:29. But how does He take it away? By His death. That is why he also called Him a Lamb, as one who is slain. But if He did not rise again, then He was not slain. And if He was not slain, then sin was not taken away.

And if it was not taken away, you are still in it. And if you are in it, we have preached in vain. And if we have preached in vain, you have believed in vain that you were reconciled. Besides this, death remains immortal if He did not arise. For if He too was held by death and did not loosen its pains, how could He release all others while He Himself was still held by it? That is why he also adds,

1 Corinthians 15:18

Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

And why do I speak of you, he says, when all those others also have died? They did everything, and they are no longer subject to the uncertainty of the future. But by the phrase "in Christ," he means either in the faith, or those who died for His sake, who endured many dangers and many sufferings, and who walked in the narrow way.

Where are those foul-mouthed Manichees who say that the resurrection here means freedom from sin? For these compact and connected arguments, since they also work in reverse, show nothing of what they claim, but rather what we affirm. It is true that rising again is said of someone who has fallen. This is why he goes on explaining, and says not only that He was raised, but also adds this: from the dead. And the Corinthians too did not doubt the forgiveness of sins, but the resurrection of bodies.

But why is it necessary at all to say that unless mankind is without sin, Christ Himself must not be without sin either? If He were not going to raise people up, then it would make sense to ask, "Why did He come, take our flesh, and rise again?" But on our view, it is not so. Yes, whether people sin or do not sin, with God there is always an impossibility of sinning.

What happens to us does not affect Him, nor does one case correspond to the other by way of reversal, as it does in the matter of the resurrection of the body.

1 Corinthians 15:19

If our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than all other people.

What are you saying, Paul? How is it true that we have hope only in this life, if our bodies are not raised, while the soul remains and is immortal? Because even if the soul remains, even if it is endlessly immortal, as indeed it is, it will not receive those hidden good things without the flesh. And in the same way, it will not truly be punished without it.

For everything will be made clear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10. Therefore he says, if we have hope in Christ only in this life, we are the most pitiable of all people. For if the body does not rise again, the soul remains without a crown, apart from that blessedness which is in heaven. And if this is so, then we will enjoy nothing at all in the life to come.

And if nothing is there, then our reward is in the present life. What, then, could be more miserable for us in this respect? he says.

But he said these things both to strengthen them in the teaching about the resurrection of the body and to persuade them about that immortal life, so that they would not think that all our concerns end with the present world. For after he had firmly proved his point by the earlier arguments, and had said, "If the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.

But if Christ has not been raised, we have perished, and we are still in our sins," he adds this also, completely tearing down their arrogance. For when he is about to bring in any necessary teaching, he first strongly shakes their hardness of heart by fear. That is what he did here also. Earlier he had already planted those seeds and made them anxious, as people who had lost everything.

And now again, in another way, and in a way they would feel most sharply, he does the same thing and says, "We are of all people most pitiable," if after such great struggles and deaths and those countless evils, we are to lose such great blessings, and if our happiness is limited to the present life. For in fact everything depends on the resurrection.

So even from this it is clear that his speech was not about a resurrection from sins, but about bodies, and about the present life and the life to come.

1 Corinthians 15:20

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

After showing how great the harms are that come from not believing in the resurrection, he takes up the argument again and says, "But now Christ has been raised from the dead," continually adding, "from the dead," so as to shut the mouths of the heretics. "The firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." But if he is the firstfruits of them, then they themselves also must certainly rise again.

If he were speaking about resurrection from sins, and no one is without sin—for even Paul says, "I know nothing against myself, yet I am not thereby justified"—then how can there be any who rise again, according to you? Do you see that his argument was about bodies? And so that he might make it believable, he continually brings forward Christ, who rose again in the flesh.

Next, he also gives a reason. For, as I said, when someone makes a claim but does not give the reason, the crowd does not easily accept what he says. What, then, is the reason?

1 Corinthians 15:21

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man.

But if it was by a man, then it was certainly by one who had a body. And notice his careful thinking, and how he makes his argument unavoidable on another basis also. It is like this: the one who was defeated, he says, must also renew the struggle in his own person. The same nature that was cast down must itself also win the victory. For in this way the reproach was wiped away.

But let us see what kind of death he is talking about.

1 Corinthians 15:22

For just as all die in Adam, so also all will be made alive in Christ.

What then? Tell me, did everyone die in Adam with the death of sin? If so, then how was Noah righteous in his generation? And how was Abraham? And how was Job? And how were all the rest? And also, I ask, will all be made alive in Christ? Then where are those who are led away into hell fire? So, if this is said about the body, the teaching stands. But if it is said about righteousness and sin, it no longer stands.

Further, so that when you hear that being made alive is common to all, you will not also think that sinners are saved, he adds,

1 Corinthians 15:23

But each person in his own order.

Do not think, just because you hear about a resurrection, that everyone will receive the same benefits. For if not all will suffer equally in punishment, but there is a great difference, then much more will the separation be even greater where there are sinners and righteous people.

Christ is the firstfruits; then come those who belong to Christ, that is, the faithful and those who are approved.

1 Corinthians 15:24

Then comes the end.

For when these have risen again, all things will come to an end. It is not as it is now, when after Christ's resurrection things still remain unsettled. Therefore he added, "at His coming," so that you may understand that he is speaking about that time when He will hand over the kingdom to God the Father, when He will abolish all rule and all authority and power.

6. Now listen to me carefully, and make sure that no part of what I say escapes you. For our struggle is against enemies. Therefore we must first use the method of reducing their view to absurdity, which Paul also often uses. In this way, what they say will be easiest to expose. So let us first ask them, what does this saying mean: "When he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father"?

For if we take this exactly as it stands, and not in a sense fitting for Deity, then after this He will no longer keep it. For the one who has handed something over to another no longer keeps that thing himself. And not only does this absurdity follow, but this one also: the other person who receives it will be found not to have possessed it before receiving it. Therefore, according to them, the Father was not a King before, governing our affairs.

And it will also seem that after this the Son will not be a King. Then how is it, first of all, that the Son Himself says about the Father, "My Father works until now, and I work," in John 5:17? And how is it that Daniel says of Him, "His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, which shall not pass away," in Daniel 7:14? Do you see how many absurdities are produced, and how contrary they are to the Scriptures, when someone takes what is spoken in a merely human way?

But what rule does he say Christ puts down here? The rule of the angels? Far from it. The rule of the faithful? That is not it either. What rule, then? The rule of the devils. About this he says, "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness," Ephesians 6:12. For now, it has not yet been put down completely, since they are at work in many places. But then they will cease.

1 Corinthians 15:25

For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.

Again, another absurdity comes from this too, unless we understand this also in a way fitting for God. For the word "until" points to an end and a limit. But this does not apply to God.

1 Corinthians 15:26

The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

How is it the last? Because it comes after everything else, after the devil, and after all the other things. For in the beginning also, death came in last. First came the devil's counsel, then our disobedience, and then death. So then, in one sense it is already abolished now, but in actual fact, that will be at that time.

1 Corinthians 15:27

7. For He has put all things under His feet. But when He says, "All things are put under Him," it is clear that this does not include the One who put all things under Him.

1 Corinthians 15:28

And when all things have been made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be made subject to Him who made all things subject to Him.

And yet earlier he did not say that it was the Father who put all things under Him. He said that He Himself abolishes them. For he says, "When He shall have abolished all rule and authority." And again, "He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet." How then does he say here that it is the Father?

And not only is there this clear difficulty, but he is also afraid with a very strange kind of fear, and adds a correction. He says, "He is excepted, who did subject all things to Him," as if someone might suspect that the Father Himself might not be subject to the Son. What could be more irrational than that? Nevertheless, he is afraid of this.

How then is it? In truth, many questions come one after another. So give me your careful attention. We first need to speak about Paul's purpose and his mind, which can be seen shining through everywhere. Then we will add our answer, since this itself is part of the answer.

What then is Paul's meaning, and what is his custom? He speaks in one way when he speaks of the Godhead alone, and in another when he turns to the argument of the divine arrangement. So, once he has taken hold of our Lord's Flesh, he then freely uses all the sayings that humble Him, without fear, as though His human nature could bear all such expressions.

Therefore let us see here also whether his discourse is about the simple Godhead, or whether, in view of the incarnation, he says these things of Him. Or rather, let us first point out where he did this very thing of which I have spoken. Where then did he do this? Writing to the Philippians, he says, "Who, being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men:

and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even to death, yes, the death of the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him." Philippians 2:6-9

Do you see how, when he was speaking about the Godhead alone, he spoke those great things: that He was in the form of God, and that He was equal with Him who begot Him, and that the whole refers to Him? But when he showed Him to you as made flesh, he lowered the speech again. For unless you distinguish these things, there is great inconsistency between the things spoken. Since, if He were equal with God, how did He highly exalt One equal with Himself?

If He were in the form of God, how did He give Him a name? For he who gives, gives to one who does not have, and he who exalts, exalts one who was first brought low. Then He will be found to be imperfect and in need before He received the exaltation and the Name, and many other absurd conclusions will follow from this. But if you add the incarnation, you will not go wrong in saying these things. Consider these things here also, then, and with this understanding receive these expressions.

8. Along with these points, we will also give other reasons why this passage of Scripture was written in this way. But for now, it is necessary to mention this first: Paul's discussion was about the resurrection, something people considered impossible and strongly refused to believe. Also, he was writing to the Corinthians, among whom there were many philosophers who always mocked such things.

For although they argued with each other about other matters, on this point they all joined together, as if with one mouth, firmly declaring that there is no resurrection. So, since he was arguing for a subject that was so widely disbelieved and ridiculed, both because people had already formed this prejudice and because the matter itself was difficult, and since he wanted to show that it was possible, he first does this by means of the resurrection of Christ.

And after proving it from the prophets, from those who had seen Christ, and from those who had believed, and after reaching an argument accepted by his hearers that showed the absurdity of the opposite view, he then proves in what follows the resurrection of mankind also. For "if the dead do not rise," he says, "then Christ has not been raised either."

Further, after pressing these opposite arguments closely in the earlier verses, he tries again in another way. He calls Him the firstfruits, and points to His destroying all rule and authority and power, and finally death itself. How then, he says, could death be destroyed unless He first set free the bodies that death held?

Since he had spoken great things about the Only-Begotten—that He gives up the kingdom, that is, that He Himself brings these things to pass, that He Himself is the victor in the war, and puts all things under His feet—he adds this to correct the unbelief of the crowd: "For He must reign till He has put all His enemies under His feet." He did not use the word "till" as if He were ending the kingdom, but to make what was said believable and to lead them to confidence.

For, he says, do not be afraid because you have heard that He will destroy all rule and authority and power—that is, the devil, the companies of demons, however many there are, the crowds of unbelievers, the tyranny of death, and all evils. Do not fear as if His strength could be used up. For until He has done all these things, He must reign. He does not say this as if, after He has done it, He does not reign anymore. Instead, he is establishing this other point:

even if it is not happening now, it certainly will happen. For His kingdom is not brought to an end. Yes, He rules and overcomes and remains until He has set all things right.

You can also find this way of speaking in the Old Testament. For example, it says, "But the word of the Lord abides forever," in Psalm 119:89, and, "You are the same, and Your years shall not fail," in Psalm 102:27. The Prophet says these things, and others like them, when he is speaking about things that require a long period of time to be completed and that must certainly come to pass. By saying this, he removes the fear of the slower-minded hearers.

But to show that the words "until," when spoken of God, and "to," do not mean an end, listen to what Scripture says: "From everlasting to everlasting, You are God" in Psalm 90:2. And again, "I am, I am," and, "Even to your old age I am He" in Isaiah 46:4.

For this reason, he places death last, so that after victory over the other enemies, the unbeliever might also more easily accept this. For when He destroys the devil, who brought in death, He will much more put an end to his work.

9. Since then he referred all things to Him—the abolishing of rule and authority, the perfecting of His kingdom, I mean the salvation of the faithful, the peace of the world, the taking away of evils, for this is to perfect His kingdom, and the putting an end to death—and since he did not say, "the Father by Him," but, "He Himself shall put down," and, "He Himself shall put under His feet," and nowhere mentioned Him who begot Him, he was afraid afterward lest, because of this, among some of the

more irrational persons, either the Son might seem to be greater than the Father, or to be a certain distinct principle, unbegotten. Therefore, gently guarding himself, he qualifies the greatness of his words, saying, "For He put all things in subjection under His feet," again referring these high achievements to the Father. Not as though the Son were without power. For how could He be, when he had testified such great things about Him before, and had referred to Him all that was said?

But it was for the reason I mentioned, and so that he might show that all things done on our behalf are common to the Father and the Son. For that He Himself alone was sufficient to put all things in subjection under Him, hear Paul again saying in Philippians 3:21, "Who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself."

Then he also uses a correction, saying, "But when He says, 'all things are put in subjection,' it is evident that He is excepted who subjected all things to Him,'" showing from this also no small glory to the Only-Begotten. For if He were less and much inferior, this fear would never have been entertained by him. Nor is he content with this, but he also adds another thing, as follows. I say this, lest anyone should ask with doubt, "And what if the Father has not been put under Him?"

This does not at all hinder the Son from being the mightier. Fearing this impious supposition, because that expression was not enough to point out this also, he added, going very much beyond it, "But when all things have been subjected to Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subjected," showing His great concord with the Father, and that He is the principle of all other good things and the first Cause, who has begotten One so great in power and in deeds.

10. But if he said more than the subject required, do not marvel. For he does this in imitation of his Master. Since He too, when He meant to show His agreement with the One who begot Him, and that He had not come without His mind, went as far, I do not say, as the proof of agreement required, but as far as the weakness of those present required. For He prays to His Father for no other reason than this. And when He states the reason, He says, "that they may believe that You have sent Me."

John 11:42. Therefore Paul also, in imitation of Him, goes beyond what was required here in his way of speaking. Not so that you might suspect any forced servitude. Far from it. But so that he might more completely cast out those impious doctrines. For when he means to pull anything up by the roots, he is accustomed to do this, and to add much more besides.

So also, for example, when he spoke of a believing wife and an unbelieving husband, joined to one another by the law of marriage, so that the wife might not think herself defiled by that intercourse and by the embraces of the unbeliever, he did not say, "the wife is not unclean," nor, "she is in no way harmed by the unbeliever." Instead, what was much more, he said that the unbeliever is even "sanctified" by her.

He did not mean to show that the heathen was made holy through her, but by the very great force of the expression he was anxious to remove her fear. So also here, his zeal to take away that impious doctrine by a very strong saying made him speak as he did. For to suspect the Son of weakness is extreme impiety. Therefore he corrects it, saying, "He shall put all enemies under His feet." But on the other hand, it is still more impious to consider the Father inferior to Him.

Therefore he takes that away also with exceeding force. And notice how he says it. For he did not simply say, "He is excepted who put all things under Him," but, "it is manifest." For even if it be admitted, he says, nevertheless I make it sure.

And so that you may learn that this is the reason for the things spoken, I would ask you this question: Does some additional subjection come upon the Son at that time? And how can this be anything but impious and unworthy of God? For the greatest subjection and obedience is this: that He who is God took the form of a servant. How then will He be subjected? Do you see that, to take away the impious notion, he used this expression? And this too in a fitting, though restrained, sense.

For since He is a Son and a divine Person, He obeys, not in a human way, but as one acting freely and having all authority. Otherwise, how is He enthroned together with the Father? How, just as the Father raises up, even so He gives life to whom He wills? John 5:21 How are all things that the Father has His, and all that He has, the Father's? John 16:15 For these phrases show us an authority exactly measured by that of Him who begot Him.

11. But what is this, "When He shall deliver up the kingdom"? Scripture acknowledges two kingdoms of God, one by appropriation and the other by creation. Thus, He is King over all, both Greeks and Jews and devils and His adversaries, in respect of His creation. But He is King of the faithful and willing and subject, in respect of His making them His own. This is the kingdom which is also said to have a beginning.

For concerning this He also says in the second Psalm, "Ask of Me, and I shall give You the heathen for Your inheritance." Psalm 2:8. Touching this also, He Himself said to His disciples, "All authority has been given to Me by My Father," Matthew 28:18, referring all to Him who begot Him, not as though He were not sufficient of Himself, but to signify that He is a Son, and not unbegotten. This kingdom then He does deliver up, that is, bring to a right end.

Then someone may ask, "What can be the reason why he said nothing about the Spirit?" It is because he was not speaking about the Spirit at that time, and he does not mix everything together. In the same way, when he says, "There is one God the Father, and one Lord Jesus," he is certainly not being silent because he considers the Spirit inferior. Rather, because it was not urgent at that time, he spoke in that way.

For he is also accustomed to mention only the Father, yet we must not, because of that, cast out the Son. He is also accustomed to speak only of the Son and of the Spirit, yet for that reason we are not to deny the Father.

But what does this mean: "that God may be all in all"? It means that all things may depend on Him, and that no one may think there are two authorities without beginning, or another kingdom set apart from His. It means that nothing may exist independently of Him. For when the enemies are lying under the feet of the Son, and the Son, having them cast under His feet, is in no way at variance with His Father but is in complete agreement with Him, then He Himself will be all in all.

But some say that he said this to declare the removal of wickedness, as if from now on everyone would yield and no one would resist or do evil. For when there is no sin, it is clear that God will be all in all.

12. But if bodies do not rise again, how can these things be true? The worst enemy of all, death, still remains, having done whatever it wanted. "No," someone says, "because people will sin no more." And what about that? Paul is not speaking here about the death of the soul, but about the death of the body. So then how is death overthrown? Victory means winning back the things that were carried off and kept. But if human bodies are kept in the earth, then death's tyranny still remains.

Those bodies are still held by it, and there is no other body in which death could be defeated. But if what Paul said happens, as it certainly will, then God's victory will be shown, and it will be a glorious victory, because He is able to raise again the bodies that were held by death. An enemy is defeated when a man takes back the spoils, not when he lets them remain in the other person's possession. But unless someone dares to take back what is his, how can we say that the enemy is defeated?

Christ Himself also speaks of victory in this way in the Gospels. He says, "When he binds the strong man, then he will also plunder his goods." Matthew 12:29 For if it were not so, it would not be a clear victory at all. For in the case of the soul's death, "he who has died is justified from sin." Romans 6:7 And yet we cannot call this a victory. A man is not the victor because he adds no more to his wickedness, but because he has destroyed the former captivity of his passions.

In the same way here also, I would not call it a splendid victory if death were only stopped from feeding on human bodies. Rather, the real victory is that the bodies once held by death should be snatched away from it.

But if they are still argumentative and say that these things were spoken about the death of the soul, how can this be the last thing destroyed? In each person, it has already been completely destroyed at Baptism. But if you are speaking about the body, then the phrase is acceptable. I mean the statement that it will be destroyed last.

But if anyone wonders why, when speaking about the resurrection, he did not bring up the bodies of those who rose again during the time of our Lord, our answer could be this: that example could not be used to support the resurrection. To point to people who rose and then died again did not fit someone who was trying to prove that death is completely destroyed. Yes, this is the very reason why he said that death is destroyed last: so that you would never again think that it might rise again.

For when sin is taken away, death will cease even more. It is completely unreasonable for the stream to keep flowing when the spring has dried up, and for the fruit to remain when the root has been destroyed.

13. Since, on the last day, the enemies of God will be destroyed, along with death and the devil and the evil spirits, let us not be discouraged by the prosperity of God’s enemies. For “the enemies of the Lord, at the moment of their glory and exaltation, perish; yes, they have vanished like smoke.” Psalm 37:20 When you see any enemy of God rich, with armed attendants and many flatterers, do not be cast down. Instead, grieve, weep, and call on God, so that He may enroll him among His friends.

And the more he prospers while being God’s enemy, the more you should mourn for him. For we should always mourn for sinners, but especially when they enjoy wealth and many good days, just as we should mourn for the sick when they eat and drink to excess.

But there are some who, when they hear these words, are so misguided that they sigh bitterly and say, "Tears should be shed for me, because I have nothing." You have said well, "who have nothing"—not because you do not have what someone else has, but because you think that kind of thing should be called happiness. Yes, for this reason you deserve endless grieving. It is like this:

if a healthy person were to think that a sick man, lying on a soft bed, was happy, the sick man would not be nearly as miserable as the healthy one, because the healthy one would have no sense of his own blessings. We can see the same thing in these people also. In fact, this is how our whole life is thrown into confusion and disorder. For these sayings have ruined many people, handed them over to the devil, and made them more pitiful than those who are wasting away from hunger.

Yes, that those who crave more are more miserable than beggars, because they are held by a greater and more bitter sorrow, is clear from what follows.

A drought once came over our city, and everyone was trembling before the last of evils. They were begging God to rid them of this fear. Then one could see what was spoken by Moses in Deuteronomy 28:23: the heavens became brass, and a death, the most horrible of all deaths, waited for us every day. But afterward, when it seemed good to the merciful God, beyond all expectation a great and plentiful rain was sent down from heaven.

From then on, everyone was in holiday and feasting, as people who had come up from the very gates of death. But in the middle of such great blessings and the common gladness of all, one of those exceedingly wealthy men went about with a gloomy and downcast face, almost dead with sorrow. And when many asked the reason why, in the common joy of all men, he alone was sorrowful, he could not even keep his savage passion within himself.

Urged on by the tyranny of this disease, he declared before them all the reason. "Why," he says, "I have ten thousand measures of wheat, and I have no means left to dispose of them." Shall we then count him happy, tell me, for these words, words for which he deserved to be stoned? Him who was more cruel than any wild beast, the common enemy? What do you say, man? Are you sad because all did not perish, so that you might gather gold?

Have you not heard what Solomon says in Proverbs 11:26, "He that withholds grain, the people shall curse him"? But you go about as a common enemy of the blessings of the world, and a foe to the liberality of the Lord of the world, and a friend of Mammon, or rather his slave. No, does not that tongue deserve to be cut out, and that heart to be quenched, which brought forth these words?

14. Do you see how gold does not allow people to remain human, but turns them into wild beasts and demons? For what could be more miserable than this rich man, whose daily prayer is that there may be a famine, so that he may get a little gold? Yes, by this point his passion has turned into the opposite of itself. He does not even rejoice in his great supply of the fruits of the earth. Instead, for that very reason, he grieves even more.

He has come to such a condition that his possessions are beyond counting. Although a person who has much should be joyful, this man is cast down for that very reason. Do you see that, as I said, the rich do not gain as much pleasure from what they already have as they suffer sorrow over what has not yet been added? For the man who had countless amounts of wheat grieved and mourned more than the man who was hungry.

While the one, simply because he had the food he needed, was crowning himself, leaping for joy, and giving thanks to God, the other, who had so much, was fretting and thought he was ruined. So then, it is not having more than enough that gives us pleasure, but a self-controlled mind. Without this, even if a person gains and possesses everything, he will feel like someone who has nothing and will mourn accordingly.

That is true because this man we are speaking about, even if he had sold all he had for as large a sum as he wanted, would still have grieved that it was not for more. And if he could have gotten more, he would again have looked for another increase. And if he had sold the bushel for one pound, even then he would have been distressed with sorrow because the half-bushel could not be sold for as much. And if the price was not set so high at first, do not be surprised.

For drunkards too are not inflamed at first. But when they have filled themselves with much wine, then they stir the flame to greater fierceness. In the same way, the more these men have grasped, the greater poverty they find in themselves. And those who gain more than others are the very ones who are most in need.

But I say these things not only to this man, but also to every person who is sick with the same disease. I mean those who raise the prices of their goods and make profit from their neighbors' poverty. No one anywhere cares about humanity. Instead, greedy desire shows itself everywhere at the time of selling. One person sells oil and wine more quickly, and another more slowly, but neither does it out of concern for others.

Rather, one seeks profit, and the other tries to avoid loss from his goods spoiling. So, because most people pay little attention to God's laws, and shut everything up and keep it indoors, God leads them to humanity by other means, so that, if only by necessity, they may do something kind. He has put into them the fear of greater loss, by not allowing the fruits of the earth to last a long time.

His purpose is that, simply because they fear the damage that comes when goods spoil, they may put up for sale to those in need, even against their will, the things they wickedly hide and store at home. However, even after all this, some are so impossible to satisfy that not even this corrects them. For example, many have gone so far as to empty whole casks, without giving even a cup to a poor man, or a piece of money to a needy person.

But after the wine has become vinegar, they pour it all out on the ground and destroy the casks along with what was in them. Others, who would not give part of a single loaf to the hungry, have thrown whole storehouses of grain into a river. Because they did not listen to God, who told them to give to the needy, at the command of the moth they emptied out everything they had in their houses, though unwillingly, into complete ruin and waste.

And along with this loss, they brought down on their own heads much scorn and many curses.

That is how things go for them here. But what words can describe what comes afterward? In this world, people throw their moth-eaten grain, which has become useless, into rivers. In the same way, God throws the people who do such things into the river of fire, because they too have become useless for this very reason. For just as grain is eaten up by moths and worms, so their souls are eaten up by cruelty and lack of human feeling.

And the reason for these things is that they are fastened to the things of the present life and hunger only for this life. So these people are filled with endless sadness. Name any pleasure you want, and the fear of their end is enough to destroy it all. Such a person is dead even while still alive, as 1 Timothy 5:6 says.

Now, it is no surprise that unbelievers feel this way. But when those who have shared in such great mysteries, and have learned such high standards of self-denial about the things to come, still love to live for present things, what excuse do they deserve?

16. Then where does their love for living in present things come from? It comes from giving their mind to luxury, fattening their flesh, making their soul soft, making their burden heavy, making their darkness great, and making their veil thick. For in luxury, the better part is enslaved, but the worse part rules.

The better part is blinded on every side and dragged along in its crippled condition, while the other draws people and leads them everywhere, even though it ought to be among the things that are led.

The bond between the soul and the body is very great. The Maker arranged it this way so that no one would lead us to hate the body as something foreign to us. God told us to love our enemies. But the devil has become so successful that he has led some people even to hate their own body. When a man says that the body is from the devil, he proves nothing except this: he has gone to the greatest foolishness.

For if it is from the devil, then what explains this perfect harmony, which makes the body fit in every way for the activities of the self-controlled soul? But someone says, "If it is fit, then how does the body blind the soul?" It is not the body that blinds the soul, far from it, O man. It is luxury. But where does our desire for luxury come from? Not from the fact that we have a body, certainly not, but from an evil choice. The body needs food, not rich food.

The body needs nourishment, not to be ruined and broken down. You see that luxury is hostile not only to the soul, but also to the body itself that receives the food.

For it makes the body weaker instead of stronger, softer instead of firmer, sickly instead of healthy, heavier instead of lighter, slighter instead of solid, ugly instead of handsome, foul-smelling instead of fragrant, impure instead of clean, full of pain instead of at ease, useless instead of useful, old instead of young, decaying instead of strong, slow and dull instead of quick, and crippled instead of whole.

But if the body were from the devil, it ought not to be harmed by the things of the devil, that is, by sin.

17. But neither the body nor food is of the devil, but luxury alone. For by means of it that malignant fiend brings about his countless evils. In this way he made a whole people his victims. For, as one says, "The beloved grew fat, and grew thick, and was enlarged, and kicked," Deuteronomy 32:15. And from there also came the beginning of those thunderbolts on Sodom. And to show this, Ezekiel said, "But this was the iniquity of Sodom:

in pride and fullness of bread and refinements they grew wanton," Ezekiel 16:4. Therefore Paul also said, "She that gives herself to pleasure is dead while she lives," 1 Timothy 5:6. How can this be? Because, like a sepulcher, she carries her body about, bound close to countless evils. You move about, wearing your death upon you. And if the body so perishes, how will the soul be affected? What disorder, what waves, what a tempest will fill her?

By this, you see, she becomes unfitted for every duty, and will not easily have power to speak, or hear, or take counsel, or do anything that is needful. But as a pilot, when the storm has overcome his skill, is plunged into the deep, with vessel and sailors and all, so also the soul, together with the body, is drowned in the grievous abyss of insensibility.

In fact, God has placed the stomach in our bodies like a kind of mill. He has given it the right amount of power and assigned it a set amount that it should grind each day. So if someone throws in more than that, it stays undigested and harms the whole body. That is why diseases, weakness, and deformity come. In truth, luxury makes a beautiful woman not only sickly, but also ugly to look at.

For when she is constantly giving off unpleasant smells, and breathes the fumes of old wine, and is redder than she should be, and ruins the proper shape that suits a woman, and loses all her grace, and her body becomes soft and flabby, and her eyelids are bloodshot and swollen, and her size becomes too great, and her flesh is a useless burden, think about how much disgust all this produces.

Moreover, I have heard a physician say that many people have been kept from reaching their proper height by nothing so much as luxurious living. For when the breath is blocked by the large amount of things taken in, and is occupied with digesting them, what ought to be used for growth is spent on digesting these excesses. Why should anyone speak of gout, mucus spread everywhere, the other diseases that come from this, and the whole abomination?

For nothing is so disgusting as a woman pampering herself with much food. Therefore, among poorer women, one may see more beauty. Their excess is used up and does not cling to them like useless extra clay, bringing no use or benefit. For their daily exercise, labors, hardships, simple table, and spare diet give them much bodily health, and from there also much bloom.

18. But if you are talking about the pleasure of luxury, you will find that it goes no farther than the throat. As soon as it passes the tongue, it is gone, and it leaves behind much that is disgusting in the body. So, please, do not look only at pleasure-lovers while they are at the table. But when you see them get up, then follow them, and you will see bodies more like those of wild beasts and irrational creatures than of human beings.

You will see them with headaches, swollen, stopped up, needing a bed and a couch and plenty of rest. They are like men tossed in a great storm who need others to save them, and who long for the condition they were in before they were swollen almost to bursting. They carry their bellies around with a burden like that of pregnant women, and they can hardly step forward, hardly see, hardly speak, and hardly do anything.

But if it happens that they sleep a little, they again see strange dreams, full of all kinds of fantasies.

What should one say about that other madness of theirs? I mean the madness of lust, for this also has its source from here. Yes, like horses gone wild after the female, they too, driven on by the sting of their drunkenness, leap on everyone. They are more irrational than those horses, and more frenzied in their wild movements. They also commit many other shameful acts, which it is unlawful even to name. In fact, they no longer know what they suffer or what they do.

But it is not so for the person who stays away from luxury. Instead, he sits safely in the harbor, watching other people's shipwrecks, and enjoys a pleasure that is pure and lasting, as he pursues the life that fits one who is free.

Knowing these things, therefore, let us run from the evil feasts of luxury and hold fast to a simple table, so that, having a sound condition in both soul and body, we may practice every virtue and also attain the good things to come, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. With Him, to the Father together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.

1 Corinthians 15:29

Otherwise, what will those people do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they baptized for the dead?

He now takes up another subject again. Sometimes he proves what he said from what God does, and at other times from the very things these people do. This too is no small argument in defense of a case, when a man brings forward the objectors themselves as witnesses, by their own actions, to what he says. What then does he mean? Or do you want me first to explain how those infected with the Marcionite heresy twist this expression? I know indeed that I will stir up much laughter.

Nevertheless, for that very reason I will mention it, so that you may more completely avoid this disease. When any catechumen dies among them, they hide a living man under the bed of the dead man. Then they come to the corpse, speak to him, and ask whether he wishes to receive baptism. When he gives no answer, the man hidden underneath answers in his place that of course he wishes to be baptized. And so they baptize him instead of the dead man, like people making jokes on the stage.

So great is the devil's power over the souls of careless sinners. Then, when they are called to account, they bring up this expression. They say that the Apostle also said, "They who are baptized for the dead." Do you see how utterly ridiculous they are? Is it fitting, then, to answer such things? I think not, unless it were necessary to discuss with madmen the things they say in their madness.

But so that none of the more simple people may be led astray, one must go ahead and answer even these men. For example, if this was Paul's meaning, why did God threaten the man who is not baptized? For once this idea has been invented, it would be impossible for anyone not to be baptized from now on. Besides, the fault would no longer lie with the dead, but with the living. And to whom did He speak when He said, "Unless you eat My flesh, and drink My blood, you have no life in yourselves"?

John 6:53. To the living, or to the dead? Tell me. And again, "Unless a man is born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:5. For if this were allowed, and there were no need for the mind of the one receiving it, nor for his agreement while he lives, what would prevent both Greeks and Jews from becoming believers in this way, with other people doing these things in their place after their death?

But so that we do not waste more useless effort tearing apart their little spider webs, come, let us explain to you the meaning of this expression. What, then, is Paul speaking about?

But first I want to remind you who have been initiated of the response that, on that evening, those who introduce you to the mysteries tell you to make. Then I will also explain what Paul says. In this way, it will also be clearer to you, since after all the other things, we are adding what Paul now says. I do want to say it plainly, but I do not dare because of those who are not initiated.

For they make our explanation harder, forcing us either not to speak clearly or else to declare to them the ineffable mysteries. Nevertheless, as much as I am able, I will speak as though through a veil.

For example, after those mysterious and awe-inspiring words are spoken, and after the solemn rules of the teachings that have come down from heaven, we also add this at the end when we are about to baptize them. We tell them to say, "I believe in the resurrection of the dead," and it is on this faith that we are baptized. For after we have confessed this along with the rest, then at last we are lowered into the fountain of those sacred waters.

So Paul, calling this back to their minds, said, "If there is no resurrection, why then are you baptized for the dead?" That is, for the dead bodies. In fact, this is the purpose for which you are baptized: for the resurrection of your dead body, believing that it no longer remains dead. And in your words you do mention a resurrection of the dead. But the priest, as in a kind of image, shows you by the act itself the things that you have believed and confessed in words.

When you believe without a sign, then he gives you the sign also. When you have done your own part, then God also fully assures you. How, and in what way? By the water. For being baptized and immersed, and then coming up again, is a symbol of the descent into Hades and the return from there. Therefore Paul also calls baptism a burial, saying, "Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death." Romans 6:4.

By this he also makes believable what is still to come, I mean the resurrection of our bodies. For wiping away sins is a much greater thing than raising up a body. And Christ, declaring this, said, "For which is easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Take up your bed, and walk?'" Matthew 9:5.

"The former is the more difficult," He says, "but since you do not believe it because it is hidden, and instead of the more difficult you make the easier one the proof of my power, I will not refuse to give you this proof either." Then He says to the paralyzed man, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."

"And how is this difficult," someone says, "when it is possible even for kings and rulers? For they too forgive adulterers and murderers." You are joking, O man, when you say these things. For only God can forgive sins. But rulers and kings, whether they forgive adulterers or murderers, do indeed release them from present punishment. But they do not cleanse away their sin.

Even if they should raise those who have been forgiven to offices, even if they should clothe them with the purple robe itself, even if they should place the diadem on their heads, they would only make them kings. They could not free them from their sin. God alone does this. And this is exactly what He brings about in the Laver of Regeneration. For His grace touches the very soul, and from there pulls sin up by the root.

This is why a person forgiven by a king may still be seen with an impure soul. But the soul of the baptized person is no longer like that. Instead, it is purer than the very rays of the sun, and such as it was when it was first formed, or rather much better than that. For it is blessed with the Spirit, who kindles it on every side and makes its holiness intense.

And just as when you melt down iron or gold again, you make it pure and new once more, so also the Holy Spirit, recasting the soul in baptism as in a furnace and consuming its sins, causes it to shine with more purity than the purest gold."

Further, he again shows you that the resurrection of our bodies is believable by what comes next. Since sin brought in death, now that the root has dried up, no one should after that doubt that the fruit will also be destroyed. Therefore, after first mentioning the forgiveness of sins, you next confess the resurrection of the dead also. The first leads you, as if by the hand, to the second.

Then again, the term Resurrection is not enough to show the whole meaning. Many people, after rising, died again, such as those in the Old Testament, Lazarus, and those at the time of the crucifixion. So a person is instructed to say, "and the life everlasting," so that no one may think there will still be death after that resurrection.

So Paul reminds them of these words and says, "What will those do who are baptized for the dead?" For if there is no resurrection, he says, then these words are only an outward show. If there is no resurrection, why do we persuade them to believe things that we do not actually give them?

It is as if someone told another person to sign a document saying that he had received a certain amount of money, but never gave him the amount named in it, and then, after the signature, demanded that he pay the stated sum. What then is left for the one who signed to do, now that he has made himself responsible without receiving what he admitted he had received? This, then, is what he says here about those who are also baptized.

"What will those do who are baptized," he says, after confessing the resurrection of dead bodies, if they do not receive it but are cheated? And what need was there at all for this confession, if the reality did not follow?

1 Corinthians 15:30-31. “And why are we in danger every hour? I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.”

Why are we also in danger every hour?

I protest by my boasting in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord: I die every day.

See again where he tries to establish the teaching: from his own testimony, or rather, not from his alone, but also from that of the other apostles. And this too is no small matter. The teachers you point to were filled with strong conviction, and they showed this not only by words, but also by their actions. Therefore, you see, he does not simply say, "we are persuaded," because that alone was not enough to persuade them. He also provides proof by facts.

It is as if he were saying, "To confess these things in words may perhaps seem to you no great wonder. But if we also bring before you the voice that deeds speak, what can you say against that? Hear, then, how by our dangers also, day after day, we confess these things." And he did not say, "I," but "we," bringing all the apostles with him. By this he was at once speaking modestly and adding credibility to what he said.

What can you say, then? Can you say that we are deceiving you when we preach these things, and that our teachings come from vain glory? No, our dangers do not allow you to make that judgment. For who would choose to live in constant danger for no purpose and no result? That is why he also said, "Why do we also stand in danger every hour?" For even if someone should choose this because of vain glory, he would do so only once or twice, not through his whole life, as we do.

For we have given our whole life to this purpose.

I protest by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. By "boasting" here, he means their advancement. So, since he had hinted that his dangers were many, lest he might seem to say this as a complaint, he says, far from grieving, "I even glory in suffering this for your sake." And he says that he takes double delight in it: both because he is in danger for their sakes, and because he sees their progress.

Then, as he usually does, because he had spoken great things, he refers both to Christ.

But how does he die daily? By being ready and prepared for that event. And why does he say these words? Again, by these also, he is establishing the teaching of the resurrection. For who would choose, he says, to go through so many deaths, if there is no resurrection and no life after this?

Yes, if even those who believe in the resurrection would hardly put themselves in danger for it, unless they were very noble in heart, then much more would the unbeliever, as he says, not choose to go through so many deaths, and such terrible ones. So then, see how little by little he rises to a very high point. He had said, "We stand in danger." He added, "every hour." Then, "daily." Then, "I do not only stand in danger," he says, "but I even die."

He then ends by pointing out what kind of deaths they were, saying this:

1 Corinthians 15:32

If, speaking in human terms, I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what benefit is that to me?

What does "after the manner of men" mean? It means, as far as it concerns men, I fought with beasts. But what if God rescued me from those dangers? Then I am the one who should be most concerned about these things. I am the one who suffers such great dangers and still have not received any return. For if no time of reward is near, and our reward is limited to this present world, then our loss is greater. For you believed without danger, but we are being killed every day.

But he said all these things, not because there was no benefit even in suffering itself, but because of the weakness of many people, and to make them firm in the teaching of the resurrection. It was not because he himself was working for pay. For it was reward enough for him to do what was pleasing to God.

So when he adds, "If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most pitiable," he says that again for their sake, so that by fear of this misery he might overthrow their unbelief about the resurrection. He speaks this way in condescension to their weakness. For in truth, the great reward is to please Christ at all times. And even apart from any recompense, it is a very great reward to be in danger for His sake.

4. If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

Be sure that this statement is spoken as mockery. Therefore, he did not bring it up on his own. Instead, he called on the prophet with the loftiest voice, Isaiah. While speaking about certain unfeeling and rejected people, Isaiah used these words: "Who kill oxen and slaughter sheep, to eat meat and drink wine, who say, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.' These things are revealed in the ears of the Lord of Hosts, and this sin shall not be forgiven you until you die."

Isaiah 22:13-14, Septuagint. Now if those who spoke this way were denied pardon, much more will this be so in the time of Grace.

Then, so that he might not make his teaching too harsh, he does not stay long on this argument that reduces the matter to absurdity, but turns again to urging them on, saying,

1 Corinthians 15:33

Do not be deceived: bad company corrupts good character.

He said this for two reasons. First, he wanted to rebuke them for lacking understanding. Here, in a kind way, he calls “good” what is easily deceived. Second, as much as he could, he wanted to make some allowance for their past, with a view to their return. He also wanted to take the greater part of his accusations away from them and place it on others, and in this way also draw them to repentance.

He does the same thing in the Epistle to the Galatians, saying, “But he that troubles you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.” Galatians 5:10

1 Corinthians 15:34

Wake up to what is right, and do not sin.

It is as if he were speaking to drunk people and to those who are out of their minds. To throw everything out of their hands all at once was what drunk people and madmen would do. They no longer saw what they had seen, and they no longer believed what they had earlier confessed. But what does “righteously” mean? It means with a view to what is profitable and useful. For it is possible to wake up in an unrighteous way, when a person is fully stirred up in a way that harms his own soul.

And he rightly added, “Do not sin,” implying that this is where the sins of their unbelief came from. In many places he quietly shows that a corrupt life is the parent of evil doctrines, as when he says, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, which some, by reaching after it, have been led astray from the faith.” 1 Timothy 6:10. Yes, many of those who know they are wicked, and who would gladly not pay its penalty, are also harmed by this fear in their faith about the resurrection.

In the same way, those who live very virtuously desire to see it even every day.

For some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to shame you.

See how again he transfers his accusations to others. For he did not say, "You have no knowledge," but, "Some have no knowledge." Because not believing the resurrection is the attitude of one who is not fully aware that the power of God is irresistible and sufficient for all things. For if out of the things that are not He made the things that are, much more will He be able to raise again those whose bodies have been dissolved.

And because he had wounded them deeply and strongly mocked them, accusing them of gluttony, foolishness, and madness, he softens those words by saying, "I speak to shame you." That is, he means to correct them, bring them back, and make them better through this shame. For he was afraid that, if he cut too deeply, he might cause them to pull away.

But let us not think these words were spoken only to them. They are also addressed now to all who suffer from the same sickness and live a corrupt life. For the truth is that not only those who hold corrupt teachings are drunk and out of their minds, but also those who are trapped in serious sins. Therefore it may rightly be said to them also, "Wake up," and especially to those who are weighed down by the dull sleep of greed, who steal in wicked ways. For there is a kind of robbery that is good:

the robbery of heaven, which harms no one. And although, in money matters, it is impossible for one person to become rich unless another first becomes poor, this is not true in spiritual things. In fact, the exact opposite is true. It is impossible for anyone to become rich without making another person's store plentiful. For if you help no one, you will not be able to grow rich. So, in earthly things, giving away causes decrease. But in spiritual things, giving away brings increase.

And not giving away produces great poverty and brings severe punishment. This is shown by the man who buried the talent. Yes, the person who has a word of wisdom increases his own abundance by sharing it with another and making many wise. But the one who buries it at home takes away from his own abundance by failing to gain the profit that comes from helping many. Again, the one who had other gifts increased his own gift by healing many.

He was not emptied himself by sharing it, and he filled many others with his own spiritual gift. And in all spiritual things, this rule remains firm. So also in the kingdom, the one who makes many share with him in the kingdom will, in return, have its fruits more fully. But the one who does not try to have anyone share in it will himself be cast out from those many blessings.

For if the wisdom of this visible world is not used up even though ten thousand people seize it by force, and if a craftsman does not lose his own skill by making many other craftsmen, much less does the one who seizes the kingdom make it smaller. Rather, our riches will increase when we call many to join us for that purpose.

So let us take hold of the things that cannot be used up, but grow even as we take hold of them. Let us take hold of the things that no one can rob us of by false accusation, and that no one can envy us for. For suppose there were one place with a fountain of gold pouring out in a constant stream, and flowing even more as more was drawn from it. And suppose there were another place with a treasure buried in the ground. From which place would you want to become rich?

Would it not be from the first? Of course it would. But so that this may not seem like only an idea in words, think about the air and the sun. All people share these, and they satisfy everyone. Yet whether people enjoy them or not, they remain the same and are not lessened. But what I spoke of is something much greater. Spiritual wisdom does not remain the same whether it is shared or not shared. Instead, it increases as it is shared.

But if anyone cannot accept what I have said, and still clings to the poverty of worldly things, grabbing at things that grow less, let him remember the manna in Exodus 16:20 and tremble at the example of that punishment. For what happened then, the same result can also be seen now in greedy people. What happened then was that worms came from their greed. The same thing happens to such people now. For the measure of food is the same for all, since we all have only one stomach to fill.

Only you who eat luxuriously have more to get rid of. And just as, in that case, those who stored up in their houses more than the lawful amount gathered not manna, but more worms and decay, so also in luxury and greed, the gluttonous and drunken gather not more delicacies, but more corruption.

6. Nevertheless, the people of our own time are much worse than they were. Those people went through this once for all and were corrected. But these people bring into their own houses this worm, far worse than that one, every day. Yet they neither notice it nor are they ever satisfied. That these things are like those earlier things, in regard to our useless labor on them—for in regard to punishment, these are much worse—here is proof for you to consider.

Tell me, in what way is the rich man different from the poor man? Does he not have one body to clothe? One stomach to feed? Then what advantage does he have? He has more worries, wears himself out more, disobeys God, corrupts the flesh, and ruins the soul. Yes, these are the things in which he has an advantage over the poor. For if he had many stomachs to fill, perhaps he might have something to say, namely, that his need was greater and the expense was more necessary.

But even now, someone may reply that rich people fill many stomachs, those of their servants and their maidservants. But this is done, not out of need or for the sake of kindness to people, but only from pride. Therefore, their excuse cannot be accepted.

Why do you have so many servants? Just as in our clothing we should follow only what we need, and the same with our food, so also with our servants. What need is there, then? None at all. In fact, one master needs only one servant, or rather, one servant is enough for two or three masters. But if this seems hard, think about those who have none and receive quicker service. For God has made people able to serve themselves, or rather, to serve their neighbor as well.

And if you do not believe this, hear Paul say, "These hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me." Acts 20:34. After this, when he, the teacher of the world and one worthy of heaven, did not think it beneath him to serve countless others, do you think it is disgraceful unless you are surrounded by whole herds of slaves? You do not know that this is actually what brings the most shame on you. For God gave us both hands and feet for this very reason:

so that we would not need servants. The class of slaves was not introduced because of necessity. Otherwise, a slave would have been made along with Adam. But slavery is the penalty of sin and the punishment for disobedience. But when Christ came, He also brought this to an end. For "in Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free." Galatians 3:28. So it is not necessary to have a slave. Or if it is necessary at all, let it be only one, or at most two.

What is the meaning of these swarms of servants? Our rich men make their rounds in the baths and in the forum like sellers of sheep and slave-dealers.

However, I will not be too strict. We will allow you to keep a second servant. But if you gather many servants, you do it not for the sake of humanity, but for self-indulgence. For if it is out of care for them, I tell you not to use any of them to serve you. Instead, after you have bought them and taught them trades by which they can support themselves, let them go free. But when you whip them, when you put them in chains, it is no longer an act of humanity.

And I know that I am offending my hearers. But what must I do? This is what I was appointed for, and I will not stop saying these things, whether anything comes from them or not. For what is the point of clearing the way in front of you in the marketplace? Are you walking among wild beasts, so that you drive away those who meet you? Do not be afraid. Those who come near you and walk beside you do not bite. Or do you think it is an insult to walk beside other people? What madness is this?

What enormous foolishness? When a horse follows close behind you, you do not think that brings you any insult. But if it is a man, unless he is driven a hundred miles away, you think he disgraces you. And why do you also have servants to carry fasces, using free people as slaves, or rather living yourself more shamefully than any slave? For truly, lower than any servant is the man who carries around so much pride.

Therefore, those who have enslaved themselves to this grievous passion will not even catch sight of true liberty. No, if you must drive something off and clear it away, do not drive away those who come near you. Drive away your own pride instead. Do it not by your servant, but by yourself; not with this scourge, but with the spiritual one.

For now your servant drives away those who walk by your side, but you yourself are driven from your high place more disgracefully by your own self-will than any servant can drive your neighbor. But if, getting down from your horse, you drive away pride by humility, you will sit higher and place yourself in greater honor, and you will need no servant to do this.

I mean that when you have become modest and walk on the ground, you will be seated on the chariot of humility, which carries you up to the very heavens, that chariot with winged horses. But if you fall from it and pass into that of arrogance, you will be in no better condition than the beggars who are dragged along the ground. No, you will be much more wretched and pitiable than they are.

For the weakness of their bodies forces them to be dragged that way, but in your case it is the disease of your own arrogance. For "everyone who exalts himself," He says, "shall be abased." Matthew 23:12. So then, that we may not be abased but exalted, let us draw near to that exaltation. For in this way we shall also find rest for our souls, according to the divine oracle, and shall obtain the true and highest honor. May we all obtain it, through grace and mercy, etc. etc.

1 Corinthians 15:35-36. But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?" Foolish person, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?" You foolish person, what you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies.

Although the apostle is, for the most part, gentle and humble everywhere, here he uses a much sharper style because of the ungodliness of those who oppose him. But he is not satisfied with this alone. He also uses reasons and examples, and by these he brings even the argumentative under control. Earlier he says, "Since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man." But here he answers an objection raised by the Gentiles. And see how he again softens the force of his rebuke.

He did not say, "But perhaps you will say." Instead, he stated the objector in an indefinite way, so that, even while using his bold style very freely, he might not wound his hearers too severely. And he presents two difficulties: one about the manner of the resurrection, and the other about the kind of bodies. For they raised questions about both, saying, "How is what has been dissolved raised up?" and, "With what kind of body do they come?" But what does "with what kind of body" mean?

It is as if they had said, "Do they come with this body, which has been wasted away and has perished, or with some other body?"

Then, to show that what they were asking about was not doubtful, but something already accepted, he immediately answers them more sharply. He says, "Foolish one, what you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies." We also usually do the same when dealing with people who argue against things that are already acknowledged.

2. And why did he not appeal at once to the power of God? Because he is speaking with unbelievers. When he speaks to believers, he does not have much need for reasons. So, when he says elsewhere, "He will change the body of your humiliation, so that it may be made like the body of his glory," in Philippians 3:21, and points to something even greater than the resurrection, he gives no comparisons.

Instead of any proof, he brings forward the power of God, and goes on to say, "according to the working by which He is able to subject all things to Himself." But here he also presses the matter with reasons. That is, after proving it from the Scriptures, he adds these further points in what follows, for the sake of those who do not obey the Scriptures. And he says, "O foolish one, what you sow";

that is, you have the proof of these things in yourself, by what you do every day, and do you still doubt? Therefore I call you foolish, because you do not understand the things that are done daily by your own hand. You are yourself a maker of a resurrection, and yet you doubt concerning God. So he said very strongly, "what you sow," you who are mortal and perishing, "you sow," and so on. The force or emphasis may be understood like this:

if God gives a body to that seed which you sow for your own use and benefit, much more will the same God give a body to the seed which He Himself sows, since the reason He sows it is not your temporary benefit or advantage, but His own immortal glory.

And see how he uses words that fit the purpose he had in mind. So he says, "It is not made alive unless it dies." You see, he leaves aside the words that properly fit seed, such as that it sprouts, grows, and breaks down. Instead, he uses words that fit our flesh: "it is made alive" and "unless it dies." These do not properly belong to seeds, but to bodies.

And he did not say, "After it is dead, it lives." Instead, he says something greater: "Therefore it lives because it dies." Do you see what I am always pointing out? He keeps turning their argument in the opposite direction. So the very thing they used as clear proof that we will not rise again, he makes into proof that we will rise. For they said, "The body does not rise again, because it is dead." What then does he say, turning their argument back on them?

"No, unless it died, it could not rise again. And therefore it rises again because it died." For Christ also makes this very point more clearly in the words, "Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit," John 12:24.

From there Paul also drew this example, and did not say, "It does not live," but, "It is not made alive," again pointing to the power of God and showing that it is not the nature of the ground, but God Himself, who brings it all to pass.

And what could be the reason that he did not bring up what was closer to the subject, namely, the seed of mankind? For our own generation also begins from a kind of decay, just as the grain does. Because it was not equally strong as an example, but the other was more complete. He wants a case of something that completely perished, while in this case only a part did. Therefore he mentions the other instead. Besides, that comes from a living body and falls into a living womb.

But here it is not flesh, but the earth, into which the seed is cast. And in that same earth it is dissolved, like the body when it is dead. Therefore, for this reason also, the example was more fitting.

1 Corinthians 15:37

And the one who sows does not sow the body that will be.

What was said earlier answers the question of how the dead are raised. But this part deals with the doubt about what kind of body they come with. What does this mean: "You do not sow the body that will be"? It is not a whole head of grain, or fresh grain. Here his discussion is no longer about the resurrection itself, but about the manner of the resurrection. He is asking what kind of body will rise again, whether it will be the same kind, or a better and more glorious one.

And he uses the same comparison to teach both points, showing that it will be much better.

But the heretics pay no attention to any of these things. They rush at us and say that one body falls, and another body rises again. Then how can there be a resurrection? A resurrection is the raising of what has fallen. But where is that wonderful and astonishing victory over death, if one body falls and another rises again? Then Christ would no longer seem to have given back the very thing that death had captured. And how can their supposed comparison fit what was said before?

It is not one substance that is sown and another substance that is raised. It is the same substance, but made better. Otherwise, Christ also would not have taken up the same body again when He became the firstfruits of those who rise again. According to you, He threw away His former body, even though it had not sinned, and took another one. Then where did that other body come from? This body was from the Virgin, but that other one, where was it from?

Do you see what absurdity this argument has come to? Why then does He show the actual marks of the nails? Was it not to prove that it was the same body that was crucified, and the same body again that rose from the dead? And what does His sign of Jonah mean? Surely it was not one Jonah that was swallowed and another Jonah that was thrown out onto dry land. And why did He also say, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up"?

For the very thing that was destroyed, that same thing He clearly raised again. Therefore the Evangelist also added that He was speaking about the temple of His body. John 2:19-21

What then does he mean when he says, "You do not sow the body that will be"? He means, not the ear of grain. For it is the same, and yet not the same. It is the same because the substance is the same. But it is not the same because this one is more excellent. The substance remains the same, but its beauty becomes greater, and the same body rises up new. Since if this were not so, there would be no need of a resurrection. I mean, if it were not going to rise again improved.

For why did He tear down His house at all, unless He was going to build it more glorious?

You see, he said this to people who think it is complete destruction. Next, so that no one might again suspect from this passage that he was speaking of another body, he explains the obscure saying and interprets his own words. He does not allow the listener to turn his thoughts in any other direction from this point. Then what need is there for our arguments? Listen to him speaking and explaining the phrase, "You do not sow the body that shall be."

For he immediately adds, "but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat, or of some other kind." That is, it is not the body that shall be, not clothed in that way, for example, not having a stalk and beard, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat, or of some other kind.

1 Corinthians 15:38

But God gives it a body just as He pleased.

"Yes," someone says, "but in that case it is the work of nature." What nature, tell me? For in that case also, God surely does the whole thing, not nature, or the earth, or the rain. Therefore, to make these things clear, he leaves out the earth and the rain, the air, the sun, and the hands of farmers, and adds, "God gives it a body as it pleased Him." So then, do not ask too curiously or trouble yourself about how or in what way it happens when you hear of the power and will of God.

And to each seed He gives its own body. So then, where is the foreign matter they talk about? For He gives to each one what belongs to it. So when he says, "You do not sow the body that will be," he is not saying that one substance is raised up in place of another. Rather, he means that it is improved and made more glorious. For, he says, to each of the seeds is given a body of its own.

From here on, in what follows, he also introduces the difference that will exist in the resurrection then. Do not suppose that, because grain is sown and all rise up as ears of grain, there will therefore also be an equality of honor in the resurrection. For first of all, even among seeds there is not just one rank. Some are more valuable, and some are inferior. Therefore he also added, "to each seed a body of its own."

However, he is not satisfied with this, but looks for another difference that is greater and more clear. So that you may not, when you hear, as I said, that all rise again, think that all receive the same reward, he had already set out the beginnings of this idea in the earlier verses by saying, "But each in his own order." But here he makes it even clearer, saying,

1 Corinthians 15:39

Not all flesh is the same kind of flesh. For why, he says, am I speaking about seeds? Let us discuss this point by looking at bodies, which is what we are talking about now. Therefore he also adds and says,

But there is one kind of flesh for human beings, another kind for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.

1 Corinthians 15:40

There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the glory of the heavenly is one kind, and the glory of the earthly is another.

1 Corinthians 15:41

The sun has one kind of glory, the moon has another kind of glory, and the stars have another kind of glory. For one star differs from another star in glory.

And what does he mean by these statements? Why did he move from the resurrection of the body to speaking about the stars and the sun? He did not wander away, and he did not break off from his purpose. Far from it. He is still keeping to it. For after he had established the teaching about the resurrection, he shows in what follows that there will then be a great difference in glory, even though there is only one resurrection. For the present, he divides the whole subject into two kinds:

heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. That bodies are raised again, he showed by the example of the grain. But that they do not all have the same glory, he shows by this example. For just as unbelief in the resurrection makes people careless, so also the thought that all are given the same reward makes them lazy. Therefore he corrects both errors. The first he had finished in the earlier verses, but this second one he begins now.

And after making two groups, the righteous and sinners, he divides these same two again into many parts. He shows that neither the righteous nor sinners will receive the same thing. Not all righteous people will be alike with other righteous people, and sinners will not be alike with other sinners.

Now, as you see, he first makes one distinction between the righteous and sinners when he says, "bodies celestial, and bodies terrestrial." By the earthly bodies he means the sinners, and by the heavenly bodies, the righteous. Then he goes further and introduces a difference among sinners themselves, saying, "All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of fishes, another of birds, and another of beasts." And yet all are bodies. But some are in greater vileness, and some in less.

This is true both in their way of life and in their very nature.

After saying this, he rises again to heaven, saying, "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon." For just as there is a difference among earthly bodies, so also there is among heavenly bodies. And this difference is not a small one, but reaches to the greatest extent. There is not only a difference between the sun and the moon, and the stars, but also between one star and another star.

For even though they are all in heaven, some have a greater share of glory, and others a lesser share. What do we learn from this? That although they are all in God's kingdom, not all will enjoy the same reward. And though all sinners are in hell, not all will suffer the same punishment. Therefore he added,

1 Corinthians 15:42

The resurrection of the dead is like this also.

So then, how? With a great difference. Then, after leaving this teaching as already proved enough, he comes again to the proof of the resurrection itself and to the way it happens, saying,

5. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. Notice his careful choice of words. In the case of seeds, he used the term proper to bodies when he said, "It is not made alive unless it dies." So also in the case of bodies, he used the expression that belongs to seeds when he said, "It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption." He did not say, "is produced," so that you would not think it was a work of the earth, but "is raised."

And by "sowing" here, he does not mean our generation in the womb, but the burial of our dead bodies in the earth, their decay, and their ashes. Therefore, after saying, "It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption," he adds,

1 Corinthians 15:43

It is sown in dishonor. For what is more unpleasant to look at than a decaying corpse? It is raised in glory.

It is sown in weakness. For before thirty days pass, the whole body is gone, and the flesh cannot hold itself together or last even one day. It is raised in power. For nothing will prevail against it for all the future.

This is why he needed those earlier comparisons. Otherwise, when many people heard these things—that the dead are raised in incorruption, glory, and power—they might think there is no difference among those who rise again. For all do rise again, both in power and in incorruption. Yet, in the glory of that incorruption, not all are in the same condition of honor and safety.

1 Corinthians 15:44

It is sown as a natural body; it is raised as a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

What are you saying? Is not this body spiritual? It is spiritual indeed, but then it will be much more so. For now, when people commit great sins, the abundant grace of the Holy Spirit often flies away. And again, even when the Spirit remains present, the life of the flesh depends on the soul. In such a case, the result is emptiness, without the Spirit. But in that day it will not be so.

Rather, He will remain continually in the flesh of the righteous, and the victory will be His, while the natural soul is also present.

For perhaps this is what he meant when he said, "a spiritual body." Or he meant that it will be lighter, more refined, and able even to be carried through the air. Or rather, he meant both. And if you do not believe this teaching, look at the heavenly bodies. They are so glorious and, for the present time, so lasting. They remain in unchanging calm. From this, believe that God can also make these corruptible bodies incorruptible, and far more excellent than the visible bodies.

1 Corinthians 15:45

So also it is written in Genesis 2:7, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

And yet one thing is written, but the other is not written. How then did he say, "it is written"? He adjusted the wording to fit the outcome of events, as he constantly does. In fact, this is the way of every prophet. For example, the prophet said that Jerusalem would be called a city of righteousness, in Isaiah 1:26, yet it was not actually called that. What then? Did the prophet speak falsely? By no means. He was speaking about the outcome of events.

In the same way, Christ was to be called Immanuel, in Isaiah 7:14, yet he was not actually called that. But the facts themselves declare this. So also here, the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

He said these things so that you may learn that the signs and guarantees of both the present life and the life to come have already come upon us. That is, Adam is the sign of the present life, and Christ is the sign of the life to come. Since he presents the better things as matters of hope, he shows that their beginning has already happened, and that their root and source have been revealed. But if the root and the source are clear to all, there is no need to doubt the fruits.

Therefore he says, "The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit." And in another place too, "He shall give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you." Romans 8:11. So then, it is the Spirit's work to give life.

Further, so that no one might say, "Why are the worse things older? And why has one kind, that is, the natural kind, happened not only in the firstfruits but completely, while the other has happened only in the firstfruits?" he shows that the first principles of each were ordered that way also.

1 Corinthians 15:46

For, he says, what comes first is not the spiritual, but the natural; then comes the spiritual.

And he does not say, "why?" but is content with the ordinance of God. He has the evidence from the facts, testifying to that most excellent divine arrangement of God. He also implies that our condition is always moving forward to what is better. At the same time, by this also he adds credibility to his argument. For if the lesser things have come to pass, much more ought we to expect the better things.

Since, then, we are going to receive such great blessings, let us stand in this line of battle. Let us not mourn for those who have died, but rather for those who have ended their life badly. For when a farmer sees grain breaking down, he does not grieve. Instead, as long as he sees it still whole in the ground, he is afraid and trembling. But when he sees it broken down, he rejoices, because the beginning of the future harvest is its breaking down.

So we also should rejoice when this corruptible house falls, when the person is sown. And do not be surprised if he called burial a sowing, for truly this is the better sowing. That sowing is followed by deaths and labors and dangers and cares. But this one, if we have lived well, is followed by crowns and rewards. That one ends in corruption and death, but this one in incorruption and immortality, and those endless blessings. That kind of sowing had embraces and pleasures and sleep before it.

But this one has only a voice coming down from heaven, and everything is completed at once. And the one who rises again is no longer led into a life full of toil, but to a place where anguish and sorrow and sighing have fled away.

If you need protection and therefore mourn your husband, turn to God, the common Protector and Savior and Benefactor of all, to that irresistible alliance, to that ready aid, to that lasting shelter which is present everywhere and is like a wall to us on every side.

But living with him was something desirable and lovely. I know that too. But if you will trust sound reason in this grief, and will consider for yourself who has taken him away, and that by bearing it nobly you offer your mind as a sacrifice to our God, then even this wave will not be too strong for you to withstand. And what time would bring about, do that yourself by self-control. But if you give in to weakness, your sorrow will indeed pass in time, but it will bring you no reward.

Along with these reasons, gather examples too, some from the present life and some from the Holy Scriptures. Consider that Abraham lifted his hand against his own son, and neither shed a tear nor spoke a bitter word. But you say, "He was Abraham." No, you surely have been called to a nobler field of action. And Job did grieve, but only as much as was proper for a father who loved his children and was very anxious for the departed.

What we now do, however, is surely the part of haters and enemies. For if a man were taken up to court and crowned, and you were striking yourself and lamenting, I would not say that you were a friend of him who was crowned, but a great enemy and adversary. "No," you say, "it is not even as things are that I mourn for him, but for myself." Well then, this is not the part of an affectionate person:

for your own sake, you wish that he were still in the conflict and subject to the uncertainty of the future, when he might be crowned and come to anchor; or that he should be tossed in mid-ocean, when he might have been in port.

8. "But I do not know where he has gone," you say. Why do you not know? Tell me. For according to whether he lived well or not, it is clear where he will go. "No," you say, "I grieve for this very reason, because he died as a sinner." This is only a pretext and an excuse. For if this were the reason for your mourning for the dead man, you should have guided and corrected him while he was alive. The truth is that everywhere you are looking at what concerns yourself, not him.

But even if we allow that he died with sin still on him, even then we should rejoice for this reason: he was stopped before going farther in his sins and did not add more to his wrongdoing. And we should help him as much as possible, not by tears, but by prayers, pleas, alms, and offerings. For these things were not established without purpose.

Nor is it in vain that we mention the departed during the divine mysteries, and come before God on their behalf, begging the Lamb who is before us, who takes away the sin of the world. This is not in vain, but so that some refreshment may come to them through these things. It is not in vain that the one standing by the altar cries out when the awesome mysteries are being celebrated, "For all who have fallen asleep in Christ, and for those who make commemorations on their behalf."

For if there were no commemorations for them, these words would not have been spoken, since our worship is not a mere stage show. God forbid. Yes, these things are done by the ordinance of the Spirit.

So then, have you become alone and lost a protector? No, never say that. For you have certainly not lost your God. And as long as you have Him, He will be better for you than a husband, father, child, or relative, since even when they were alive, it was He who did everything.

Therefore, think about these things, and say with David, "The Lord is my light and my Savior; whom shall I fear?" Psalm 27:1 Say, "You are a Father of the fatherless, and a Judge of the widows." Psalm 68:5 Draw down His help, and you will have Him care for you now even more than before, because you are in greater difficulty.

Or have you lost a child? You have not lost it. Do not say so. This thing is sleep, not death; a removal, not destruction; a journey from the worse to the better. Do not then provoke God to anger, but appease Him. For if you bear it nobly, some relief will from there come both to the departed and to yourself. But if the contrary, you kindle God's anger even more.

For if, when a servant was chastised by his master, you stood by and complained, you would make the master even more angry with yourself. Do not then do so. But give thanks, so that by this also this cloud of sadness may be scattered from you. Say with that blessed one, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away." Job 1:21 Consider how many others, more pleasing in His sight, have never received children at all, nor been called fathers.

"Nor would I wish to have been so," you say, "for surely it were better not to have had experience than, after having tasted the pleasure, to fall from it." No, I beg you, do not say so. Do not in this way also provoke the Lord to wrath. But for what you have received, give Him thanks; and for what you have not to the end, give Him glory. Job did not say what you say unthankfully, "It were better not to have received." But for the one he gave thanks, saying, "The Lord gave";

and for the other he blessed God, saying, "The Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord forever." And in this way he silenced his wife, justifying himself against her, and speaking those admirable words, "Have we received good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive evil?" And yet after this a fiercer temptation came upon him. Yet not even in this way was he unnerved, but in like manner he bore it nobly and glorified God.

Do this too, and think to yourself that it was not man who took him, but God who made him. God cares for him more than you do, and knows what is good for him. He is not an enemy or someone lying in wait. See how many people, while still living, have made life unbearable for their parents. But perhaps you say, "Do you not see the upright ones?" I see them too. But even they are not as secure as your child is. For although they are approved now, it is still uncertain what their end will be.

But for him, you no longer have any fear, and you do not tremble lest anything happen to him or lest he undergo any change.

Think about these things also in regard to a good wife and the one who guards your household, and give thanks to God for everything. Even if you lose a wife, give thanks. Perhaps it is God's will to lead you to continence. He is calling you to a nobler kind of struggle. He was pleased to set you free from this bond. If we train ourselves in this way, we will both gain the joy of this life and receive the crowns that are to come, and so on.

1 Corinthians 15:47

The first man is from the earth and made of dust; the second man is the Lord from heaven.

After saying that the natural came first, and the spiritual came afterward, he again points out another difference by speaking of the earthly and the heavenly. The first difference was between the present life and the life to come. But this difference is between life before grace and life after grace. He said this with a view to the highest way of life.

For, as I said, he wanted to keep people from becoming so confident in the resurrection that they would grow careless in how they live and in pursuing perfection. So from this subject also he again makes them concerned and urges them to virtue, saying, "The first man is of the earth, earthly; the second man is the Lord from heaven." He calls the whole person by the name "man," and he names one from the better part and the other from the worse part.

1 Corinthians 15:48

Just as the earthly one is, so also are those who are earthly; and so they will perish and come to an end. Just as the heavenly one is, so also are those who are heavenly; and so they will remain immortal and glorious.

What then? Did not this Man also die? He certainly died, but he was not harmed by it. Instead, by this he put an end to death. Do you see how, in this part of his subject also, he uses death to establish the teaching of the resurrection? For having, as I said before, the beginning and the head, he speaks in this way. Do not doubt, then, about the whole body.

Moreover, in this way he also gives his advice about the best way to live. He sets before us the standards of a high and strict life, and of a life that is not like that. He also presents the basic principles of both: for the one, Christ; but for the other, Adam. Therefore, he did not simply say, "of the earth," but "earthy," that is, coarse and fixed to present things. And again, in regard to Christ, he says the opposite: "the Lord from heaven."

2. But if anyone says, then the Lord does not have a body because He is said to be from heaven, although what was said before is enough to shut their mouths, still nothing prevents us from silencing them by this point also. That is, what does "the Lord from heaven" mean? Is he speaking about His nature, or about His completely perfect life? I suppose it is clear to everyone that he is speaking about His life. Therefore he also adds,

1 Corinthians 15:49

Just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, that is, just as we have done evil, let us also bear the image of the heavenly man, that is, let us practice every kind of goodness.

But besides this, I would gladly ask you: when it says, "he that is of the earth, earthy," and, "the Lord from heaven," is that speaking about nature? "Yes," someone says. Then what follows? Was Adam only earthly, or did he also have another kind of substance, fitted to heavenly and incorporeal beings, which Scripture calls soul and spirit? Everyone can see that he had this also. Therefore, the Lord was not only from above, even though He is said to be from heaven, but He also took on our flesh.

But Paul’s meaning is like this: as we have borne the image of the earthly, that is, evil deeds, let us also bear the image of the heavenly, that is, the way of life that belongs to heaven. But if he were speaking about nature, there would be no need for exhortation or advice. So from this also it is clear that the expression relates to our way of life.

Therefore, he presents this statement as advice and calls it an image. In this too, he again shows that he is speaking about conduct, not nature. For we became earthly because we did evil, not because we were originally formed from earth, but because we sinned. For sin came first, and then death, and then the sentence, "Dust you are, and to dust you shall return." Genesis 3:19 Then the swarm of the passions also entered in.

For it is not simply being born from the earth that makes a person earthly, since the Lord also was from this mass and lump, but doing earthly things. In the same way, a person is made heavenly by doing things fit for heaven.

But enough of this. Why do I need to work so hard to prove it, when the apostle himself goes on to explain the meaning to us, saying,

1 Corinthians 15:50

Now I say this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

Do you see how he explains himself again and saves us the trouble? He often does this. Here, by “flesh” he means people’s evil deeds, as he does in other places too. For example, he says, “But you are not in the flesh,” and again, “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:8-9. So when he says, “Now this I say,” he means only this: I have said these things so that you may learn that evil deeds do not lead to a kingdom.

In this way, from the resurrection he immediately brought in the teaching about the kingdom also. Therefore he adds, “neither does corruption inherit incorruption,” that is, wickedness will not inherit that glory and the enjoyment of the incorruptible things. For in many other places he gives wickedness this name, saying, “He that sows to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption.” Galatians 6:8.

Now if he were speaking about the body and not about evil doing, he would not have said “corruption.” For he never calls the body “corruption,” since it is not corruption, but something that is corruptible. Therefore, when he goes on to speak about the body itself, he calls it not “corruption” but “corruptible,” saying, “for this corruptible must put on incorruption.”

Next, after finishing his teaching about how we should live, he returns again to the teaching about the resurrection of the body, following his usual way of closely joining one subject to another. He says this:

1 Corinthians 15:51

Look, I am telling you a mystery.

He is about to speak of something awe-inspiring and beyond words, and not everyone knows it. This also shows how great the honor is that he gives them. I mean that he is speaking mysteries to them. But what is this?

"We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." He means this: we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed, even those who do not die. For they too are mortal. Therefore, do not fear just because you die, he says, as if you would not rise again. For there are, yes, there are some who will even escape this. Yet even that is not enough for the resurrection. Even those bodies that do not die must be changed and transformed into incorruption.

1 Corinthians 15:52

In a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet.

After he had spoken at length about the resurrection, he then points out, at the right time, its very wonderful nature. He says, in effect, that it is not only wonderful that our bodies first become corrupt and then are raised. It is not only wonderful that the bodies raised again after their corruption are better than the ones we have now. It is not only wonderful that they pass into a much better condition, or that each person receives back his own body and not someone else’s.

It is also wonderful that so many things, so great, and beyond all human reason and understanding, are done in a moment, that is, in an instant of time. And to make this even clearer, he says, "in the twinkling of an eye," while a person can blink an eyelid. Further, because he had said something great and astonishing—that so many and such great results should happen so quickly—he brings forward, as proof, the trustworthiness of the One who does it.

He says, "For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." By the word "we," he does not mean himself, but those who will then be found alive.

1 Corinthians 15:53

For this body that can decay must put on what cannot decay.

So that no one, after hearing that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, would think that our bodies do not rise again, he adds, "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." Now the body is corruptible, and the body is mortal. So the body itself remains, because it is the body that puts these on. But its mortality and corruption disappear when immortality and incorruption come upon it.

Therefore, do not question from now on how it will live an endless life, now that you have heard that it becomes incorruptible.

1 Corinthians 15:54

But when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this moral has put on immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

So, since he was speaking about great and hidden things, he again uses the prophecy in Hosea 13:14 to confirm what he says. "Death is swallowed up in victory." That is, it is completely swallowed up. Not even a piece of it remains, nor any hope that it will return, because incorruption has consumed corruption.

1 Corinthians 15:55

O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?

Do you see his noble soul? Like someone offering sacrifices for victory, he is filled with inspiration. He already sees future things as if they were past. So he leaps forward and tramples on death as it lies fallen at his feet, and he shouts a cry of triumph over its head where it lies. He cries out loudly and says, "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" It is completely gone. It has perished. It has utterly vanished away.

And all those things you did before were done in vain. For He not only disarmed death and conquered it, but even destroyed it, and made it completely cease to exist.

1 Corinthians 15:56

Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

Do you see how the discussion is about the death of the body? Therefore it is also about the resurrection of the body. For if these bodies do not rise again, how is death swallowed up? And not only this, but how is the law the power of sin? For it is clear that sin is indeed the sting of death, and more bitter than death, and that through sin death has its power. But how is the law also the power of sin? Because without the law sin was weak.

It was practiced indeed, but it was not able to condemn so completely, since although the evil took place, it was not so clearly pointed out. So the change the law brought in was no small one. First, it caused us to know sin better, and then it increased the punishment. And if, while meaning to check sin, it only developed it more fearfully, this is no charge against the physician, but against the abuse of the remedy.

Since even the presence of Christ made the Jews' burden heavier, yet we must not therefore blame Christ's presence for this. Rather, we should admire it all the more, and hate them all the more, because they were injured by the very things that ought to have profited them. Yes, to show that it was not the law itself that gives strength to sin, Christ Himself fulfilled it all and was without sin.

But I want you to consider how, from this subject also, he confirms the resurrection. For if this was the cause of death, namely, that we commit sin, and if Christ came and took away sin, and freed us from it through baptism, and along with sin also brought the law to an end, since sin consists in breaking it, why do you still doubt the resurrection? For after all this, from where can death still have power? Through the law? No, it has been done away with. Through sin?

No, it has been completely destroyed.

1 Corinthians 15:57

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

He Himself set up the victory trophy, but He has also let us share in the crowns. And He did this not because He owed it to us, but only out of mercy.

1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, brothers, be steadfast, unmovable.

This exhortation is just and timely after all that had gone before. For nothing troubles us so much as the thought that we are being beaten about for no reason and with no benefit.

Always abounding in the work of the Lord, that is, in a pure life. And he did not say, "doing what is good," but "abounding," so that we might do it in abundance and go beyond the limits.

Knowing that your work in the Lord is not in vain.

What are you saying? Work hard again? Yes, but this is followed by crowns, and by rewards higher than the heavens. That earlier labor, after man's expulsion from paradise, was the punishment for his sins. But this labor is the basis for the rewards to come. So in fact, it cannot really be called labor, both for this reason and because of the great help it receives from above. That is why he also adds, "in the Lord." The purpose of the former was that we might suffer punishment.

But the purpose of this is that we might obtain the good things to come.

Therefore, let us not sleep, my beloved. For it cannot, it cannot be, that anyone will reach the kingdom of heaven through laziness, nor will those who live in luxury and comfort. Yes, it is a great thing if, by straining ourselves, keeping the body under control, and enduring countless labors, we are able to reach those blessings. Do you not see how great the distance is between heaven and earth? And how great a struggle lies before us? And how inclined man is to evil?

And how easily sin traps us? And how many snares are in the way?

Why then do we draw on ourselves such great cares beyond those of nature, and give ourselves more trouble, and make our burden greater? Is it not enough that we have to care for our food and clothing and houses? Is it not enough to think about necessary things? Although even from these Christ draws us back, saying, "Do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on." Matthew 6:25.

But if one ought not to be anxious for necessary food and clothing, nor for tomorrow, when will those who bring on such a great mass of rubbish and bury themselves under it have power to come out? Have you not heard Paul saying, "No soldier on service entangles himself in the affairs of this life"? 2 Timothy 2:4. But we even live luxuriously, and eat and drink to excess, and endure buffeting for outward things. But in the things of heaven we act like cowards.

Do you not know that the promise is too high for man? It cannot be that one walking on the ground should ascend the arches of heaven. But we do not even try to live like men, but have become worse than the brutes.

Do you not know before what kind of judgment seat we will stand? Do you not consider that we must give an account for both our words and our thoughts, and yet we pay no attention even to our actions? For He says, "Whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her." Matthew 5:28 And yet those who will be held accountable for a mere lustful look do not refuse even to lie rotting in the sin itself.

"Whoever says to his brother, 'You fool,' will be cast into hell fire." Matthew 5:22 But we even dishonor them with countless insults and secretly plot against them. He who loves one who loves him is no better than the heathen, Matthew 5:46-47 but we even envy them. What mercy, then, will we have, when we are commanded to go beyond the old limits, yet we measure out our way of life by a standard even smaller than theirs? What defense will rescue us?

Who will rise up and help us when we are punished? There is no one. Instead, it must be that with wailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth, we will be led away in torment into that lightless darkness, into pains that no prayer can turn away, into punishments that cannot be eased.

Therefore I entreat and beseech you, and lay hold of your very knees, that while we have this scant provision for the journey of life, you may be pierced in your hearts by what has been said, that you may be converted, that you may become better men; so that we may not, like that rich man, lament to no purpose in that world after our departure, and from then on continue in incurable wailings.

For even if you have a father or son or friend or anyone at all who has confidence toward God, none of these will ever deliver you, your own works having destroyed you. For such is that tribunal: it judges by our actions alone, and in no other way is it possible there to be saved.

I say these things not to make you sad or to drive you to despair, but so that we will not be fed by empty and cold hopes, or put our confidence in this person or that person, and so neglect our own proper goodness. For if we are lazy, there will be no righteous person, prophet, apostle, or anyone else to stand by us.

But if we have been earnest, and have in full the defense that comes from each person's own works, we will depart with confidence and will obtain the good things laid up for those who love God. May we all attain them, etc. etc.

1 Corinthians 16:1

Now about the collection for the saints: do the same as I directed the churches of Galatia.

After finishing his teaching about doctrine, and as he was about to move on to what belongs more to moral living, he sets everything else aside and goes on to the chief of good works, speaking about almsgiving. He does not discuss moral living in general. After dealing with this one subject, he stops. This is clearly unlike what he did everywhere else. In the other Epistles, at the end, he speaks about almsgiving, self-control, meekness, patience, and all the other virtues.

Why then does he deal here with only this one part of practical morality? Because most of what he had said earlier was also ethical in nature. I mean where he rebuked the man guilty of sexual sin; where he corrected those who go to law before Gentiles; where he warned the drunkards and the gluttons; where he condemned the rebellious, the quarrelsome, and those who loved to have first place; where those who approach the Mysteries unworthily were handed over by him to that unbearable sentence;

and where he spoke about love. For this reason, I say, he mentions only the subject that pressed on him most, namely, the help needed for the saints.

And notice his careful judgment. After he had persuaded them about the resurrection and made them more eager, then, and not before, he also discusses this point.

It is true that he had spoken to them about these matters before, when he said, "If we sowed spiritual things among you, is it a great matter if we reap your material things?" And, "Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit?" But because he knew how great this moral achievement was, he did not refuse to mention it again at the end of his letter.

And he calls the collection logian, meaning a contribution, so that from the very beginning he shows that this is easy to do. For when everyone gives together, the burden on each person becomes light.

But after speaking about the collection, he did not immediately say, "Let each of you store something up for himself," even though that would naturally follow. Instead, he first said, "As I gave orders to the churches of Galatia," and then he added this. In this way, he stirred them to imitate others by telling them about the good actions of other people, and he presented it as part of a report. He did this also when writing to the Romans.

There too, while seeming to explain why he was going to Jerusalem, he then brings in his teaching about giving to the poor: "But now I go to Jerusalem, ministering to the saints: for it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints." Romans 15:25 He encourages those people by mentioning the Macedonians and Corinthians; but these people by mentioning the Galatians.

For he says, "As I gave orders to the churches of Galatia, so also do you." They would surely feel ashamed afterward if they were found to be less than the Galatians. And he does not say, "I advised," or, "I counseled," but, "I gave orders," which is more authoritative. And he does not mention one city, or two, or three, but a whole nation. He does this also in his doctrinal teaching, saying, "Even as also in all the churches of the saints."

For if this is powerful for proving doctrines, it is much more powerful for leading people to imitate actions.

1 Corinthians 16:2

So then, what did you command?

On the first day of the week, that is, the Lord's Day, let each one of you put something aside and store it up, as he prospers. Notice how he urges them even by the time itself. The day itself was enough to lead them to giving to the poor. Therefore, he says, remember what you received on this day: how all the blessings that cannot be spoken, and that which is the root and beginning of our life, took place on this day. But the time is fitting for eager generosity not only for this reason.

It is also fitting because it brings rest and freedom from labor. When souls are freed from work, they become more ready and more able to show mercy. Also, sharing on that day in such tremendous and immortal Mysteries fills people with great eagerness. So on that day, let each one of you, not just one person or another, but each one of you, whether poor or rich, woman or man, slave or free, store something up.

He did not say, "Let him bring it to the church," so that they would not feel ashamed because the amount was small. Instead, by little additions, let each person increase the gift, and then bring it out when I have come. But for now, he says, keep it at home, and make your house a church, and your little box a treasury. Become a guard over sacred wealth, a steward of the poor by your own choice. Your generous mind gives you this priesthood.

Even now, our treasury is a sign of this. But the sign remains, while the thing itself is nowhere to be found.

Now I know that many in this congregation will again criticize me when I speak about these matters. They will say, "Please, do not be harsh and unpleasant to your listeners. Make allowances for their attitude. Yield to the minds of those who hear you. In a case like this, you really put us to shame. You make us blush." But I cannot put up with such words. Paul was not ashamed to keep troubling people again and again about matters like these, and to use words like beggars use.

I admit that if I were saying, "Give it to me, and store it in my house," then there might perhaps be something shameful in what I said. Yet hardly even then. For we read that those who serve at the altar share in what comes from the altar, in 1 Corinthians 9:13. Still, someone might perhaps criticize him, as though he were making an argument for his own benefit. But now I am making my appeal for the poor. No, not so much for the poor as for your sake, you who give the gift.

Therefore I speak boldly. For what shame is there in saying, "Give to your Lord in His hunger. Put clothing on Him as He goes about naked. Welcome Him as a stranger"? Your Lord is not ashamed, before the whole world, to speak in this way: "I was hungry, and you gave Me no food," He who is free from all need and requires nothing. And should I be ashamed and hold back? Far from it. This kind of shame comes from the devil's trap. So I will not be ashamed, but I will say it, and say it boldly:

Give to the needy. I will say it with a louder voice than the needy themselves. It is true that if anyone can show and prove that by saying these things we are drawing you to ourselves, and that under the excuse of helping the poor we are making profit for ourselves, then such conduct would deserve, I do not say shame only, but even ten thousand thunderbolts. And even life itself would be more than people who act that way deserve.

But if, on the other hand, by the grace of God, we are not troublesome to you at all about our own needs, but have preached the Gospel to you without charge, though we do not labor like Paul, and are content with what is our own, then I will say with complete boldness: Give to the needy. Yes, and I will not stop saying it, and I will strongly accuse those who do not give. For if I were a general and had soldiers, I would not be ashamed to ask for food for my men.

For I care deeply about your salvation.

But so that my argument may be stronger and more effective, I will take Paul as my companion. Like him, I will speak and say, "Let each one of you put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper." Notice also how he avoids being a burden. He did not say, "this much" or "that much," but, "as he may prosper," whether it is much or little. He also did not say, "whatever anyone has earned," but, "as he may prosper." By this he shows that the supply comes from God.

And not only that, but by not commanding them to set it all aside at once, he makes his advice easy to follow. Since it is gathered little by little, people do not feel the burden and the cost so much. Here you also see why he did not command them to bring it immediately, but gave them a long time. Adding the reason for this, he says, "That there be no gatherings when I come."

This means that when the time comes to pay the contributions, you will not be forced to collect them at that very moment. This too greatly encouraged them again, because the expectation of Paul's coming would certainly make them more eager.

1 Corinthians 16:3

And when I arrive, I will send with letters whoever you approve to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

He did not say, "this person" or "that person," but, "whomever you approve, whomever you choose." In this way, he removed suspicion from his service. Therefore, he leaves to them the right to vote in choosing those who are to carry it. He is very far from saying, "The money is yours, but the right to choose those who will carry it is not yours." Then, so that they might not think he was completely absent, he adds his letters, saying, "Whomever you approve, I will send with letters."

It is as if he were saying, "I also will be with them and take part in this service through my letters." And he did not say, "These I will send to carry your alms," but, "your bounty," to show that they were doing great things, and to show that they themselves were the ones gaining by it. And elsewhere he calls it both "a blessing" and "a distribution," in 2 Corinthians 9:5-13. He uses one term so that he might not make them less eager, and the other so that he might not make them proud.

But in no case has he called it "alms."

1 Corinthians 16:4

And if it is fitting for me to go as well, they will go with me.

Here again he urges them to be generous. He means this: if the gift is important enough to require my presence too, he says, I will not refuse that either. But at first he did not promise this, or say, "When I come, I will carry it." If he had written that from the beginning, he would have made too much of it. Later, however, he adds this well and at the right time. So here you have the reason why he did not promise it at once, and yet did not stay completely silent about it.

After saying, "I will send," he then finally adds that he himself may go also. And here again he leaves it to their own decision by saying, "If it is fitting for me to go also." This depended on them, namely, on making their collection large enough, so large that it would affect his plans and lead him to make the journey in person.

1 Corinthians 16:5

But, he says, I will come to you when I have passed through Macedonia. He had said this above also, but there he spoke with anger. He even added, in 1 Corinthians 4:19, "And I will know not the speech of those who are puffed up, but the power." But here he speaks more gently, so that they might even long for his coming. Then, so that they might not say, "Why is it that you honor the Macedonians above us?"

he did not say, "When I depart," but, "When I have passed through Macedonia," for I do pass through Macedonia.

1 Corinthians 16:6

But it may be that I will stay with you, or even spend the winter there. For I do not want merely to visit you while passing by. Instead, I want to remain with you and spend some time there. For when he wrote this letter, he was in Ephesus, and it was winter, as you can tell from his words: "Until Pentecost I will stay at Ephesus." But after this I will go away to Macedonia, and after I have gone through it, I will be with you in the summer. And perhaps I will even spend the winter with you.

And why did he say, "perhaps," instead of stating it positively? Because Paul did not know all things, and this was for good reasons. Therefore he does not speak absolutely, so that if it did not happen, he would have something to fall back on. First, because his earlier mention of it was not definite. And next, because the power of the Spirit was leading him wherever It willed, not where he himself wanted.

He also says this in the second Epistle, when he excuses himself for his delay and says, "Or the things which I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be the yes yes and the no no?" 2 Corinthians 1:17

So that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. This also is a sign of love and of strong affection.

1 Corinthians 16:7

For I do not want to see you now only in passing, because I hope to stay with you for a while, if the Lord permits.

He said these things both to show his love and to frighten the sinners, but not openly. Instead, he did it with an outward show of friendship.

1 Corinthians 16:8

But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost.

As we should expect, he tells them everything clearly and lets them know as friends. This too is a sign of friendship: to tell them why he was not with them, why he was delayed, and where he was staying.

1 Corinthians 16:9

For a great and effective door has been opened to me, and there are many opponents.

Now if it was something great, how could there be opponents? It was for this very reason that there were many opponents: because people's faith was great, and because the entrance was great and wide. But what does "a great door" mean? It means that many are prepared to receive the faith, and many are ready to come near and be converted. There is a wide entrance for me, since things have now reached the point that the minds of those who are coming are at their strongest for obeying the faith.

For this reason, the blast of the devil's breath was violent, because he saw many turning away from him.

You see, then, that for both reasons it was necessary for him to remain: because the benefit was great, and because the struggle was intense.

And with this he also encouraged them. He did this by saying that from now on the word works everywhere and springs up quickly. And if there are many who plot against it, this too is a sign that the Gospel is advancing. For that evil demon never becomes fierce unless he sees that his goods are being taken from him in great amount. Matthew 12

6. Then, when we want to do anything great and noble, let us not focus on how hard the work is. Instead, let us look at the benefit. Look, for example, at Paul. He did not delay or draw back because there were many opponents. Rather, because there was a great door open to him, he kept pressing on and enduring. Yes, and as I was saying, this was a sign that the devil was being stripped of his power.

You may be sure that it is not by small and lowly achievements that people stir that evil monster to anger. So when you see a righteous person doing great and excellent deeds, yet suffering countless troubles, do not be amazed. On the contrary, it would be more surprising if the devil, after receiving so many blows, were to stay quiet and endure the wounds gently.

In the same way, you would not be surprised if a serpent, constantly provoked, became fierce and jumped at the person who provoked it. Now no serpent comes at you as fiercely as the devil, who leaps up against everyone. And like a scorpion with its sting lifted up, he lifts himself up. So do not let this trouble you. Of course, the one who returns from war, victory, and slaughter must be covered in blood, and often he has also received wounds.

So, for your part, when you see someone giving alms and doing countless other good works, and in this way cutting down the devil's power, and then falling into temptations and dangers, do not be troubled by it. This is the very reason he fell into temptations: because he struck the devil with great force.

And how did God allow it? you may ask. He allowed it so that the righteous man might be crowned more clearly, and so that the other might receive a more severe wound. For when a person suffers after receiving benefits, and suffers greatly, yet still keeps giving thanks, that is a blow to the devil. It is a great thing to show mercy and stay faithful to virtue even when our lives are going well. But it is far greater not to give up this noble work when severe troubles come.

This is the person who can most truly be said to do it for God's sake. So then, beloved, even if we are in danger, even if we suffer very greatly, let us apply ourselves with even greater zeal to our labors for the sake of virtue. For this is not at all the time for repayment.

So then, let us not ask for our crowns now. If the crowns come at the proper time, we may lessen our reward. For in the case of craftsmen, those who support themselves while they work receive higher pay. But those whose employers also provide their living have a considerable part of their wages reduced. It is the same with the saints.

The one who does great good and suffers severe evil has a reward that is untouched, and a much greater payment, not only for the good things he has done, but also for the evil he has suffered. But the one who enjoys ease and luxury here will not have such shining crowns there. So then, let us not look for our reward here. Instead, above all, let us rejoice when we suffer wrong while doing good.

For God has stored up for us in that world not only the reward for our good deeds, but also the reward for our trials.

But to explain myself more clearly: suppose there are two rich and merciful men, and both give to the poor. Then let one remain rich and enjoy every kind of success. Let the other fall into poverty, sickness, and troubles, and still give God thanks. Now when they have gone into the other world, which one will receive the greater reward?

Is it not perfectly clear that it will be the one who is sick and suffering, since he did good and suffered evil, yet did not respond in the weak way human nature usually does? I think this is clear to everyone. And truly, this is the statue of adamant; this is the thoughtful servant. See Matthew 25:21.

But if we ought not to do any good thing for the hope of the kingdom of heaven, but because it pleases God, which is greater than any kingdom, then what does the person deserve who, because he does not receive his reward here, has become more careless about virtue?

Let us then not be troubled when we see that such a man, who invited widows and gave continual feasts, lost his house by fire, or suffered some other similar disaster. Yes, for this very reason he will receive his reward. For even Job was not so much admired for his almsdeeds as he was for his afflictions afterward.

For this reason his friends also are little esteemed and thought to be of no account, because they looked for the recompenses of the present world, and with this in view gave sentence against the just man. Let us then not seek for our return here. Let us not become poor and needy, since surely it is extreme meanness, when heaven is set before us, and the things above heaven, to be looking around at the things here. Let us by no means do so.

But whatever unexpected things come upon us, let us continually hold fast the commands of God, and obey the blessed Paul.

And let us make a little chest for the poor at home. Let it be put near the place where you stand praying. And as often as you go in to pray, first put in your alms, and then send up your prayer. And just as you would not want to pray with unwashed hands, so also do not do so without alms. Since not even the Gospel hanging by your bed is more important than having alms laid up for you. For if you hang up the Gospel and do nothing, it will do you no such great good.

But if you have this little chest, you have a defense against the devil. You give wings to your prayer. You make your house holy, having food laid up there for the King, as in Matthew 25:34. And for this reason let the little chest also be placed near the bed, and the night will not be troubled with fantasies. Only let nothing be put into it that is the fruit of injustice. For this thing is charity, and it cannot be that charity should ever spring out of hardheartedness.

Do you also want me to mention the resources from which you should make your deposits, so that in this respect too this kind of contribution may be easy? For example, let the craftsman, the sandal-maker, the leather-cutter, the brass-founder, or any other workman, when he sells any article of his trade, give the first-fruits of its price to God. Let him cast in a small portion here, and assign something to God out of his portion, even if it is rather scanty. For I do not ask any great thing.

But let us cast in just as much as the childish ones among the Jews, full as they are of countless evils, we who look forward to heaven. And I say this not as laying down a law, nor as forbidding more, but as recommending a deposit of not less than a tenth part. And you too should practice this not only in selling, but also in buying and in receiving payment. Let those also who possess land observe this law regarding their rents.

Yes, let it be a law for all who gather their income in an honest way. For I have no concern with those who demand usury, nor with soldiers who do violence to others and turn their neighbors' calamities to their own advantage. Since God will accept nothing from that source. But I say these things to those who gather their substance by righteous labor.

Yes, if we train ourselves in this kind of habit, our conscience will keep stinging us whenever we fail to follow this rule. After a while, we will not even think it is hard. Little by little, we will reach greater things. By learning to look down on wealth, and by pulling up the root of evils, we will both pass this present life in peace and obtain the life to come. May it be the portion of all of us to attain this, and so on.

1 Corinthians 16:10

Now if Timothy comes to you, make sure that he is with you without fear.

Perhaps someone may think there is something unworthy of Timothy’s courage in this advice. But this was not said because of Timothy. It was said for the sake of the listeners, so that by their plot against him they would not harm themselves. As for Timothy, he was always in a place of danger.

For, he says, just as a child serves a father, so Timothy served with me in advancing the gospel. But Paul did not want their boldness toward the disciple to go on to the teacher also, and make them even worse. So he restrains them from a distance by saying, "that he may be with you without fear." That means that none of those reckless people should rise up against him. For perhaps Timothy intended to rebuke them about the same things Paul had also written about.

In fact, Paul openly says that he is sending him for this very reason. For he says, in 1 Corinthians 4:17, "I have sent Timothy to you, who shall remind you of my ways in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church." So, in order that they might not, because they were confident in their noble birth and wealth, in the support of the people, and in worldly wisdom, attack him, spit on him, and plot against him, being upset by the rebukes he brought them;

or lest, in revenge for the teacher's rebuke, they should demand satisfaction from him, and so punish the other man; therefore he says, "that he may be without fear with you." It is as if he had said, "Do not tell me about those who are outside, the Gentiles and unbelievers. It is your conduct that I am asking about, you for whom this whole letter was also written, the very people whom at the beginning, at the outset, he had frightened." Therefore he says, "with you."

Then, because of his ministry, he presents him as someone who should be fully trusted, saying, "For he is doing the work of the Lord." That is, he says, do not look at this: that he is not rich, or highly educated, or old. Instead, look at what charges have been given to him, and what work he is doing. "For he is doing the work of the Lord." And this stands in place of all noble birth, wealth, age, and wisdom for him.

And he is not satisfied with this, but adds, "Just as I also do." And a little earlier he says, "He is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ." Since Timothy was young, and had been entrusted by himself alone with the guidance of so many people, and since both of these things could lead others to look down on him, he adds, as we would expect,

1 Corinthians 16:11

Therefore, let no one look down on him. He asks not only for this, but for even greater honor. That is why he also says, "send him on his way in peace." In other words, do it without fear. Cause no quarrels or arguments, no hostility or hatred, but give him full respect and submission as to a teacher.

"That he may come to me; for I expect him with the brothers." This also was the language of one who wanted to alarm them. That is, so that they might become more thoughtful, knowing that everything about Timothy's treatment would be told to him, he therefore adds, "for I expect him." And besides, by this he both shows that Timothy is worthy of their confidence, since, being about to depart, he waits for him;

and he also shows the love that he has toward them, since it appears that for their sakes he sent away one so useful to him.

1 Corinthians 16:12

But concerning Apollos the brother, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers.

This man seems to have been both well educated and also older than Timothy. So they might say, "Then why did he not send the grown man, but the younger man instead?" Notice how Paul softens this point too. He calls him a brother, and he says that he urged him strongly. He says this so that he would not seem to honor Timothy more than him, or to raise Timothy higher, and for that reason not send him, and so make their envy break out even more. So he adds, "I urged him strongly to come."

What then? Did the other man refuse and not agree? Did he resist and show himself to be contentious? He does not say this. Instead, so that he would not stir up prejudice against him, and also so that he might excuse himself, he says, "It was not at all his will to come now." Then, to keep them from saying that all this was an excuse and a pretense, he added, "But he will come to you when he has opportunity."

This served both as an excuse for him and as comfort to those who wanted to see him, because it gave them hope that he would come.

Then he showed that they should place their hope for salvation not in their teachers, but in themselves. He says,

1 Corinthians 16:13-14: Stay awake. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. Let everything you do be done in love.

Stay alert, and stand firm in the faith.

Not in wisdom that is outside the faith. There, it is not possible to stand firm, but only to be carried along. But in the faith, you may stand firm. Act like men. Be strong. Let everything you do be done in love. Now when he says these things, he seems to be giving advice, but he is really rebuking them for being lazy. Therefore he says, "Watch," as if they were asleep. "Stand," as if they were swaying back and forth. "Act like men," as if they were behaving like cowards.

"Let everything you do be done in love," as if they were divided by quarrels. And the first warning refers to the deceivers: "Watch, stand." The next refers to those who plot against us: "Act like men." The third refers to those who form factions and try to divide people: "Let everything you do be done in love." This love is the bond of perfection, and the root and fountain of all blessings.

But what does, "Let all things be done in love," mean? "Whether anyone rebukes," he says, "or rules or is ruled, or learns or teaches, let all be in love." For in fact, all the things that have been mentioned came from neglect of it. For if this had not been neglected, they would not have been puffed up. They would not have said, "I am of Paul," and, "I of Apollos." If this had existed, they would not have gone to law before heathens, or rather they would not have gone to law at all.

If this had existed, that notorious person would not have taken his father's wife. They would not have despised the weak brothers. There would have been no factions among them. They would not have been vain-glorious about their gifts. Therefore he says, "Let all things be done in love."

1 Corinthians 16:15-16. Now I urge you, brothers: you know the household of Stephanas, that they are the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints. I ask that you also submit yourselves to such men, and to everyone who works and labors with them.

Now I beg you, brothers—you know the household of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to ministering to the saints.

At the beginning, he also mentions this man, saying, "I baptized also the household of Stephanas." And now he speaks of him as the firstfruits not only of Corinth, but also of all Greece. This too is no small praise: he was the first to come to Christ. Therefore, in the Epistle to the Romans, while praising certain people for this same reason, he said, "Who also were in Christ before me," in Romans 16:7.

And he did not say that they were the first who believed, but that they were the firstfruits. This means that along with their faith, they also showed an excellent life, proving themselves worthy in every way, as firstfruits should. For the firstfruits ought to be better than the rest of the things of which they are the firstfruits. By this expression, Paul gives this kind of praise to these people also.

That is, they not only had a true faith, as I was saying, but they also showed great godliness, the highest virtue, and generosity in giving to the poor.

And he shows their godliness not only from this, but also from another point: they had filled their whole house with devotion to God.

He also shows that they were flourishing in good works by what he says next: "They have devoted themselves to serving the saints." Hear how great the praise of their hospitality is. For he did not say, "they serve," but, "they have devoted themselves." They have chosen this way of life completely. This is their work, and they are always busy with it.

Be in submission to such people also. That means you should share with them both in spending money and in personal service. Be partners with them. Then their work will be lighter when they have fellow workers, and the results of their active kindness will reach more people.

And he did not simply say, "Be fellow workers with them." He added, "Whatever instructions they give, obey." By this, he meant the strictest obedience. And so that he might not seem to be showing favoritism to them, he adds, "and to everyone who helps in the work and labors." Let this, he says, be a general rule. For I am not speaking only about them. If there is anyone like them, let that person also have the same honor.

And so, when he begins to praise them, he calls on them themselves as witnesses, saying, "I urge you, you know the household of Stephanas." For you yourselves also know, he says, how they labor, and do not need to learn it from us.

1 Corinthians 16:17

But I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus came, because they supplied what was lacking from your side.

1 Corinthians 16:18

For they refreshed my spirit and yours.

So, since it was natural for them to be very upset with these men, because they were the ones who had come and told him all about the division, and since the questions about virgins and married people had also been written by them, notice how he calmed their feelings. He did this both at the beginning of his letter, when he said, "It has been made known to me by those of Chloe's household," thus hiding these men at first and bringing forward the others instead.

For it seems that the latter gave their information through the former. And he does it again here, saying, "They have supplied what was lacking on your part, and have refreshed my spirit and yours." By this he shows that they had come in place of all of them, and had chosen to take such a long journey for their sake. How, then, can this special praise of theirs become something shared by all? If you make up for what was lacking on your part by your kindness to them;

if you honor them, if you welcome them, if you join them in doing good. Therefore he says, "Acknowledge, then, those who are such." And while praising those who came, he also includes the others in his praise, the ones who sent them as well as the ones who were sent, when he says, "They refreshed my spirit and yours; therefore acknowledge such as these," because for your sake they left their country and home. Do you see his thoughtfulness?

He means that they had helped not only Paul, but the Corinthians also, because they carried, in themselves, the presence of the whole city. This both gave them greater honor and kept the others from separating themselves from them, since in these men they had presented themselves to Paul.

1 Corinthians 16:19

All the churches of Asia greet you. By this greeting, he is continually causing the members to join together and hold fast as one.

Aquila and Priscilla send you many greetings in the Lord. He was staying with them, because he was a tent-maker. And he also sends greetings with the church that is in their house. This too is no small excellence: they had made their very house into a church.

1 Corinthians 16:20

4. All the brothers greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. He adds this mention of the holy kiss only here. What may the reason be? They had been widely at odds with one another because they were saying, "I am of Paul," and "I of Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and "I of Christ." It was also because one was hungry and another drunk, and because they had contentions and jealousies and lawsuits. And from the gifts there was much envy and great pride.

Having then joined them together by his exhortation, he naturally tells them to use the holy kiss also as a means of union. For this unites and produces one body. This is holy when it is free from deceit and hypocrisy.

1 Corinthians 16:21

"The greeting of me, Paul, with my own hand," shows that the Epistle was written with great seriousness. Therefore he added,

1 Corinthians 16:22

If anyone does not love our Lord Jesus Christ, let that person be accursed.

By this one word he strikes fear into all: those who made their members the members of a harlot; those who put stumbling blocks in the way of their brothers by the things offered in sacrifice to idols; those who named themselves after men; those who refuse to believe the resurrection. And he not only strikes fear, but also points out the way of virtue and the fountain of vice.

That is, just as when our love toward Him has become intense, there is no kind of sin that is not extinguished and cast out by it, so when it is too weak, it causes the same sin to spring up.

"Maran atha." Why is this word used? And why is it in the Hebrew language? Pride was the cause of all the evils, and worldly wisdom produced this pride. This was the main point and substance of all the evils, and it especially troubled Corinth. So, in order to hold back their pride, he did not even use the Greek language, but Hebrew. By this he showed that he was so far from being ashamed of that kind of simplicity that he even embraced it very warmly.

But what is the meaning of Maran atha? Our Lord has come. For what reason then does he use this phrase in particular? To confirm the doctrine of the divine arrangement. From this class of topics, more than any other, he has put together those arguments which are the seeds of the Resurrection. And not only this, but also to rebuke them. It is as if he had said, The common Lord of all has condescended to come down this far, and are you in the same state, and do you remain in your sins?

Are you not thrilled with the greatness of His love, the crown of His blessings? Yes, consider only this one thing, says he, and it will be enough for your progress in all virtue, and you will be able to extinguish all sin.

1 Corinthians 16:23

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

This is like a teacher, helping not only by giving advice, but also by offering prayers.

1 Corinthians 16:24

My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.

So that they would not think he ended this way just to flatter them, he says, "in Christ Jesus." This has nothing human or fleshly in it, but is spiritual in nature. Therefore it is completely genuine. In fact, these words came from someone who loved them deeply. It is as if, because he was separated from them in place, he reached out his right hand and drew them in with the arms of his love, saying, "My love be with you all," as if he were saying, "I am with all of you."

By this he shows that what he wrote did not come from wrath or anger, but from careful concern. For even after so serious an accusation, he does not turn away from them. Instead, he loves them, and embraces them while they are far away, throwing himself into their arms through these letters and writings.

5. This is how one who corrects ought to act. The person who acts only from anger is merely satisfying his own feeling. But the one who, after correcting the sinner, also shows the offices of love, shows that whatever words he spoke in reproof were also words of deep affection. So let us also chasten one another. Let neither the one who corrects be angry, for this belongs not to correction but to passion, nor let the one being corrected take it badly. For what is done is healing, not spite.

If physicians use cautery and are not blamed, and that often though they completely miss their aim, and if even in their pain those who undergo cautery and amputation regard as benefactors the ones who cause this pain, then much more ought the one who receives reproof to be so disposed. He should listen to the one who corrects him as he would to a physician, and not as to an enemy. And let us also, when we rebuke, come with great gentleness and great prudence.

If you see a brother committing sin, as Christ commanded, do not make your rebuke public, but between you and him alone. Matthew 18:15. Do not reproach or insult him when he is down, but speak in pain and with a melting heart. And show yourself ready also to receive reproof, if you commit error in anything.

So that what I am saying may be clearer, let us imagine a case and test our rule that way. For God forbid that we should actually have such an example. Suppose a brother is living in the same house with a virgin, with honor and chastity, and yet even so does not completely escape a bad reputation. If you then hear people talking about their living together, do not be scornful, and do not say, "Why, does he have no understanding? Does he not know for himself what is good for him?

Gain love for nothing, but do not for nothing gain hatred. Why should I take on hostility for no reason?" These are the foolish words of wild beasts, or rather of demons. For a man is not hated for nothing when he does this to correct his brother; instead, it is for great blessings and crowns too great to be spoken.

But if you say, "What? Has he no understanding?" you will hear from me that he has not. He is drunk with his passion. For if in the heathen courts of justice, those who are injured must not speak for themselves while burning with wrath, although there is no fault in that kind of sympathy, how much more is this true of those whom evil habit holds in subjection? Therefore I say that, great as his wisdom may be, his mind is not awake.

For what can be wiser than David, the man who said, "The dark and hidden things of Your wisdom You have made known to me"? But when he looked on the wife of the soldier with unjust eyes, then, according to what he himself said in Psalm 107:27 of those who sail on the raging sea, all his wisdom was swallowed up. He stood in need of others to correct him, and did not even perceive in the midst of what evils he was.

Therefore also, mourning over his offenses, he said, "As a heavy burden they weighed grievously upon me: my wounds stank and were corrupt because of my folly." Psalm 38:5 He therefore that commits sin has no understanding. For he is drunk and is in darkness. Do not then say these things, nor add that other remark, "I care not at all about it. For each man shall bear his own burden."

Galatians 6:5 No, it also grows into a grievous accusation against yourself, that when you see one in error, you do not restore him. For if it was not right, according to the law of the Jews in Exodus 23:4-5, to ignore an enemy's beast, then what pardon shall he obtain who does not neglect the beast of burden, nor yet the perishing soul of an enemy, but does neglect that of a friend?

Yes, it is not enough for our excuse that he has understanding. For even we, after our many repeated warnings, have not been enough, and have not helped ourselves. So keep this in mind also about the one who is in error: it is natural that he should receive the best advice from you rather than from himself.

And do not say, "But why should I care about these things?" Fear the one who first spoke that word, for the saying, "Am I my brother's keeper?" in Genesis 4:9 leads to the same point as this. This is the mother of all our evils: we treat the concerns of our own body as if they were nothing to us. What are you saying? You do not care for your brother? Then who is to care for him? The unbeliever, who rejoices over him and reproaches and insults him? Or the devil, who urges him on and trips him up?

And where does this come from? “How do I know that I will accomplish anything,” he says, “even if I speak and give right advice?” But how is it clear that you will do no good? Why, this again is extreme foolishness. While the outcome is still uncertain, you bring on yourself great blame by openly showing indifference. And yet God, who foresees the future, often speaks and does no good. Even so, He does not give up, even though He knows that He will not persuade people.

Now if He, who knows beforehand that He will gain no advantage, does not stop the work of correction, what excuse will you have? You are completely ignorant of the future, and yet you grow faint and become numb. Yes, many have succeeded by repeated attempts. And when they despaired most of all, then they most of all gained their point. And even if you gain no advantage, you have done your own part.

So do not be inhuman, unmerciful, or careless. It is clear from what follows that these words come from cruelty and indifference. What is the reason that, when one part of your body is in pain, you do not say, "What do I care?" Why is it clear that, if proper care is given to it, it is restored? Yet you leave nothing undone, so that even if you do not benefit it, you will not have to blame yourself for failing to do anything that should have been done. So I ask this:

should we take such care for the parts of our own body and neglect the members of Christ? No. How can such things deserve pardon? For if I do not move you by saying, "Take care of your own member," so that you may become better even if only through fear, then I remind you of the body of Christ. But how can it be anything but horrifying to see His flesh rotting and neglect it? And if you had a slave or a donkey suffering from a deadly sore, you would not have the heart to neglect it.

But do you see the Body of Christ full of scabs, and rush past it? And do you not think that such things deserve countless thunderbolts? For this reason all things are thrown into confusion: because of this inhumanity of ours, because of our indifference. Therefore now, I beg you, let this cruelty be cast out from among us.

6. Go near the person I am speaking of, as he lives with a virgin, and offer a little praise for your brother, gathering it from the other excellent qualities he has. Warm him with your praise, as if with warm water, and so lessen the swelling of his wound. Speak of yourself also as miserable. Accuse the whole human race. Point out that we are all in sins. Ask for pardon, saying that you are attempting things too great for you, but love persuades you to dare everything.

Then, when you give your advice, do it not in a commanding way, but in a brotherly way. And when by all these means you have reduced the swelling and soothed the pain that comes from the sharp rebuke you are preparing for him, and when you have again and again begged and urged him not to be angry, when you have restrained him by these things, then use the knife. Neither press the matter too closely, nor loosen it too much.

Then he will neither pull away on the one hand, nor on the other hand think little of it. For if you do not strike to the quick, you have done no good. And if your blow is violent, you make him jump away.

Therefore, even after all this, when you are just about to correct him, mix praise in with your rebuke again. And since this action, considered by itself, cannot be praised—for it is not proper to keep a virgin girl in your house—make his intention your point in order to do this. Say, "I do know that you are doing it for God's sake, and that the lonely and unprotected condition of that poor woman caught your eye and moved you to help her."

Even if he may not be doing it for that reason, you should still speak this way. After this, add what comes next, excusing yourself again and saying, "I say these things not to command you, but to remind you. You do it for God's sake; I know that too. But let us see whether some other evil may not come from it. And if none does, keep her in your house, and hold fast to this excellent purpose. No one is stopping you.

But if some harm comes from this that is greater than the benefit, let us take care, I beg you, lest while we are eager to comfort one soul, we put a stumbling block in the path of ten thousand." And do not immediately add the punishments that are due to those who cause offense. Instead, use his own testimony too, saying, "You do not need to learn these things from me; you yourself know, 'if anyone offend one of these little ones,' how great a penalty is threatened."

In this way, after making your speech gentle and calming his anger, apply the medicine of your correction. And if he again brings up her abandoned condition, do not expose his excuse even then. Instead, say to him, "Do not let anything of this kind make you afraid. You will have a strong defense: the offense given to others. For it was not from indifference, but from care for them, that you gave up this purpose."

Keep the advice itself brief, because there is no need for much teaching. But let your words of patience and gentleness be many, and let them come one after another. Keep returning to the subject of love. In this way, you will soften the pain of what you say, while still leaving him full freedom. Say, "This is what I advise and recommend, as far as I am concerned. But you alone must decide whether to accept the advice.

For I do not compel or force you, but leave the whole matter to your own judgment."

If we manage our reproof in this way, we will easily be able to correct those who are in error. But what we do now is surely more like the conduct of wild beasts or irrational creatures than of men. For if people now see someone committing errors of this kind, they do not speak with the person himself at all. Instead, like silly old women who have drunk too much, they whisper with someone else.

And in their opinion, the saying, "Get love for nothing, but do not get hatred for nothing," has no place here. But when they want to speak evil, they do not care about being hated for nothing, or rather, I should say, being punished. For this produces not only hatred, but punishment also. But when there is need of correction, they bring up this saying, and countless other excuses. Yet that would be the time to think of these things, when you speak evil, when you slander.

I mean the saying, "Do not be hated for nothing," and, "I can do nothing," and, "It is no care of mine." But as things are, in the first case you are intensely and uselessly curious, and you do not care about hatred and countless evils. But when you should be taking thought for the salvation of your brother, then it pleases you to be someone who refuses to get involved so as not to offend. And yet from evil speaking arises hatred both on God's part and on men's, and this is no great care to you.

But by giving advice privately, and reproofs of that kind, both he and God will become your friends. And even if he should hate you, God will love you all the more on this account. No, in fact, not even so will he hate you, as when his hatred came from your evil speaking. In that case he will avoid you as a foe and an enemy, whereas now he will consider you more worthy of honor than any father. And if he seems to take it badly, inwardly and privately he will feel much obliged to you.

7. Therefore, keeping these things in mind, let us take care of ourselves, and not sharpen the tongue against one another. Let us not speak words that may do harm, undermining our neighbor's good name, and, as in war and battle, giving and receiving blows. For after all, what good is fasting or watching, when the tongue is drunk and feasts itself at a table more unclean than dog's flesh;

when it has grown ravenous for blood, pours out filth, and makes the mouth a channel of a sewer, or rather something more abominable than that? For what proceeds from there pollutes the body, but what comes from the tongue often suffocates the soul.

I say these things not because I am worried about those who are being falsely spoken against. When they endure such words with nobility, they are worthy even of crowns. But I say this because I am worried about you who speak that way. For Scripture calls the person blessed who is falsely spoken against. But it drives the slanderer away from the holy Mysteries, and even from the sacred courts themselves. For it says in Psalm 101:5, "The one who secretly speaks against his neighbor, I drove out."

And He also says that such a person is not worthy to read the sacred books. For He says in Psalm 50:16, "Why do you declare My righteous laws, and take My covenant in your mouth?" Then He adds the reason, saying in Psalm 49:20, "You sat and spoke against your brother." And here He does not clearly add whether the things spoken are true or false. But elsewhere this also is part of His prohibition. He means that even if you speak what is true, such things should not be spoken by you.

For He says, "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged," in Matthew 7:1, since the man who spoke evil of the tax collector was also condemned, even though what he charged his neighbor with was true.

What then, you will say? If someone is bold and corrupt, should we not correct him? Should we not expose him? We should both expose him and correct him, but in the way I mentioned before. But if you do it by insulting him, be careful that your imitation of that Pharisee does not cause you to fall into the same condition. For no good comes from this. It helps neither you who speak, nor him who hears you, nor the person being accused. Instead, that person becomes more reckless.

As long as he is not noticed, he feels shame. But as soon as he is made public and becomes well known, he throws off the restraint that this feeling placed on him.

And the listener, in turn, will be harmed even more. For if he is aware in himself of good deeds, he becomes proud and puffed up by the accusation brought against another. Or if he is aware of faults, then he becomes even more eager to do wrong.

Third, the speaker himself will also fall under the listener’s bad opinion, and he will stir God to even greater anger against himself.

Therefore, I beg you, let us throw away every unwholesome word. If there is anything good for building others up, let us say that.

But do you want to get revenge on the other person? Then why punish yourself instead of him? No, you who are so eager to get payback from those who have troubled you, take revenge in the way Paul recommended. "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink." Romans 12:20 But if you do not do this, and only make plans against him, you are pointing the sword at yourself.

Therefore, if the other person speaks evil of you, answer him with praise and commendation. In this way, you will be able both to take vengeance on him and to free yourself from evil suspicion. For the person who feels pain when he hears bad things said about himself is thought to feel that way because he is aware of some evil in himself. But the person who laughs with scorn at what is said shows a very clear sign that he is not aware of any evil thing in himself.

Since, then, you help neither the person who hears you, nor yourself, nor the one being accused, and only turn your sword against yourself, let even these thoughts teach you to be more self-controlled. A person should indeed be moved by the thought of the kingdom of heaven and of what pleases God. But since you are of a more coarse disposition and bite like a wild beast, let even this instruct you.

Then these arguments, having corrected you, may enable you to guide yourself simply by considering what pleases God. And after you have risen above every passion, may you obtain the heavenly blessings—which may God grant to us all through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and His mercy toward mankind. With Him, to the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and from now on, and to everlasting ages. Amen.