Homilies on First Corinthians 15

It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even named among the Gentiles, that a man should have his father's wife.

And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

When he was discoursing about their being torn apart by divisions, he did not at once use vehement language, but first more gently, and only afterward ended in accusation, speaking thus:

For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by them of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you.

But here it is not so; rather at once he strikes hard, and makes the reproach of the charge as common as possible.

For he did not say, 'Why did such a one commit fornication?' but, 'It is actually reported that there is fornication among you';

so that they might not grow slack as though wholly unconcerned in the accusation, but might become filled with anxiety, as of the common body being stricken and the Church being brought into disrepute.

For no one, he says, will say that 'such a one committed fornication,' but that 'in the Church of the Corinthians the sin has taken place.'

And he did not say, 'Fornication is dared,' but 'is reported'—such as is not even named among the Gentiles.

For indeed he always reproaches the faithful by comparison with the heathen;

and writing to the Thessalonians he said:

Let each one of you possess his own vessel in sanctification, not in the passion of lust, even as also the rest of the Gentiles;

and to the Colossians and Ephesians:

That you no longer walk even as the rest of the Gentiles walk.

But if for them to commit the very same sins is unpardonable, where, tell me, shall we place their even surpassing the heathen? For among those men, he says, not only is nothing of the kind dared, but it is not even named.

Do you see how he heightened the charge? For when they are seen to be inventing such modes of licentiousness as the unbelievers not only do not dare but do not even know of, the excess of the sin is beyond words.

And the phrase 'among you' too is spoken emphatically, that is, 'among you the faithful, who have enjoyed so many mysteries, who have shared in things unspeakable, who have been called to heaven.'

Do you see with how much heaviness of spirit the discourse is filled? with how much indignation against all? For had he not been filled with much wrath, nor extended his words against all, he would thus have spoken:

'Since I have heard that such a one committed fornication, punish him';

but as it is, not so; rather he strips himself for the contest against all.

For indeed, if they had anticipated him and written first, he would have said those things;

but since they not only did not write, but even threw a veil over the fault, for this reason he uses more vehement language.

So that a man should have his father's wife.

Why did he not say, 'So as to commit fornication with a woman'? He avoided the exceeding shamefulness.

Therefore he passed it over more decorously, as already declared in what precedes, and in this too again heightening the charge, and showing that such things are dared among them as Paul could not even bear to speak plainly.

For this reason also, as he proceeds, he uses the same manner, saying:

Him who has so wrought this thing.

And again he is ashamed and blushes to speak plainly—which very thing we too are accustomed to do in the case of things exceedingly shameful.

And he did not say 'his stepmother,' but 'his father's wife,' so as to strike far more severely.

For indeed, when the names suffice for accusation, he proceeds by means of them, adding nothing.

And do not tell me, he says, that it is one man who has committed fornication;

the charge has become common to all.

And you are puffed up.

He did not say 'over the sin' (for that would be senseless), but over the teaching that came from him.

But he himself did not set this down; rather he left it in suspense, that he might strike the harder.

And consider the discernment of Paul.

Having first pulled down the wisdom from without, and shown it to be nothing in itself, even if no sin were attached to it, then at length he discourses also about the sin.

For if, by comparison with the fornicator—who perhaps was some wise man—he had affirmed the spiritual gift to be a great thing, he would have done nothing great;

but to pull down and to declare to be nothing the wisdom from without even apart from sin—this was to show it to be exceedingly worthless.

Therefore, having first made the comparison in this way, he then also makes mention of the fault itself.

And with that man he does not deign to converse (and in this too he shows the excess of the dishonor);

but to these he says, that 'You ought to mourn and lament and hide your faces';

but now you do the contrary;

And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned.

'And what has happened,' he says, 'that we should mourn?' That the reproach against the Church has gone forth to become public.

'And what shall we achieve by mourning?' That such a one might be taken away from among you.

And not even here does he set down his name—nay, nowhere at all—which very thing we are wont to do in the case of things exceedingly monstrous.

And he did not say, 'Ought you not rather to have cast him out?' but, as in the case of some disease and pestilence, there is need of mourning and of earnest supplication: 'That he might be taken away,' he says;

and one must employ prayer to this end, and do everything, so that he may be cut off.

And he does not blame them because they did not report it to him, but because they did not mourn so that he might be taken away—showing that even apart from the teacher this ought to have been done, because of the notoriety of the transgression.

For I indeed, as being absent in body but present in spirit—

he does not even suffer them to await his coming, nor to expect him and then bind the man, but as one about to drive off some pestilence before it be spread into the rest of the body, he presses to lay hold of it.

And this he said not only urging them on to the sentence, and not allowing them to deliberate anything else, but also frightening them, as one who knows the things that shall be done and judged there.

For this is to be present in spirit, just as Elisha was present with Gehazi, and said:

Did not my heart go with you? Wonderful!

How great is the power of the gift, when it makes all men together and at the very same point, and enables them to know things far off!

He does not suffer them to entertain any other thought;

For indeed I have pronounced the sentence as though present;

tell me not of delays and postponements;

for nothing else needs to be done.

Then, that his authority might not seem to be excessive, nor his word become too self-willed, see how he makes them too partakers of the judgment.

For having said, 'I have judged,' he added:

Him who has so wrought this thing.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, and my spirit, with the

power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one to Satan.

And what does it mean, 'In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ'? Instead of 'according to God,' being held fast by no human prejudice.

But some read it thus:

him who has wrought this thing in this manner, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

and putting a comma here, or making it the middle point, they thus append what follows, saying:

'When you are gathered together, and my spirit, to deliver such a one unto Satan.'

And they say that the meaning of such a reading is this:

'Him who has wrought this,' he says, 'in the name of Christ, deliver unto Satan;'

that is, him who has outraged the name of Christ, who after becoming a believer and being called by that appellation dared to do such things—him deliver unto Satan.

But to me the former reading seems the truer.

And what is this? 'In the name of the Lord, when you are gathered together;'

that is, that name itself gathering you together, for whose sake you assemble.

Again he sets himself among them, so that when they pass judgment they may cut him off as though Paul himself were present, and that none may dare to deem him worthy of pardon, knowing that Paul will learn of what has been done.

Then, making it yet more terrible, he says:

'With the power of our Lord Jesus Christ'—that is, either that Christ is able to give you such grace that you may be able to deliver a man unto the devil;

or that He Himself, together with you, casts His vote against him.

And he did not say, 'to yield up such a one to Satan,' but 'to deliver,' thus opening to him the doors of repentance, and handing such a one over as though to a tutor.

'Such a one'—and nowhere does he suffer himself to make mention of the man's name.

As it happened in the case of the blessed Job, yet not for the same purpose.

For there it was for the sake of more brilliant crowns, but here for the loosing of sins, that Satan might scourge him with a grievous sore or some other disease.

And indeed elsewhere he says that 'we are judged of the Lord,' when we suffer these things.

But here, wishing rather to lay firm hold upon him, he delivers him to Satan.

And this too was done according to God's good pleasure, that his flesh might be chastised.

For since from gluttony and from the luxury of the flesh lusts are born, it is this that he chastises.

'That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.'

not as though this alone were being saved, but because it is agreed that, this being saved, beyond all contradiction the body also will share in the salvation.

For indeed it became mortal because of the soul that sinned;

and if this soul does righteously, the body too will again enjoy much glory.

But some say that 'the spirit' means the gift, which is quenched when we sin.

In order, then, that this may not happen, he says, let him be punished, that having thereby become better he may draw the grace to himself, and be found presenting it whole in that day.

So that it is the act of one who cares for him and heals him, not of one who simply cuts him off, nor who punishes idly and in vain.

For the gain is greater than the punishment;

for the one is temporary, but the other perpetual.

And he did not simply say, 'That the spirit may be saved,' but 'In that day.'

Well and seasonably does he remind them of that day, that both they themselves may come more eagerly to the healing, and that man may the more readily accept it, taking these as words not of wrath but as the forethought of a caring father.

For on this account he said, 'And unto the destruction of the flesh;'

already laying down laws for the devil, and not suffering him to proceed further;

as in the case of Job God said:

'Only touch not his soul.'

Then, having completed the sentence and having uttered it briefly and without dwelling upon it, he again brings in a rebuke, directing it against those men:

'Your glorying is not good;'

showing that they, up to the present, had not allowed him to repent, since they gloried over him.

Then he makes it plain that he does this not sparing that man alone, but these very people also:

'Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?' For even though the sin be his, he says, yet if it be neglected it can corrupt the rest of the body of the Church also.

For when the first sinner does not pay the penalty, quickly others too will transgress in these matters.

And this he says, showing that their struggle and peril is on behalf of the whole Church, not on behalf of one man;

wherefore also he had need of the image of the leaven.

'For as that,' he says, 'though it be small, changes the whole lump to its own nature;'

so also this man, if he be let go unpunished and this sin remain unavenged, will corrupt the rest as well.

'Purge out the old leaven.'

That is, this wicked man;

or rather, he speaks not of this man only, but hints also at others.

For not fornication only is old leaven, but every kind of wickedness.

And he did not say, 'Cleanse,' but 'Purge out;'

cleanse with exactness, so that there be neither remnant nor shadow of such a thing.

Now by saying, 'Purge out,' he shows that there was still wickedness among them;

but by saying, 'That ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened,' he declares and makes manifest that the wickedness did not prevail over very many.

And if he says, 'As ye are unleavened,' he does not mean this—that all were pure—but as it is fitting for you to be.

'For our passover also was sacrificed for us, even Christ.'

'So then let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.'

Thus also Christ called teaching leaven.

And he too continues in the metaphor, reminding them of the ancient history, of the passover and the unleavened bread, of the benefits both then and now, and of the chastisements and punishments.

The present time, then, is a time of festival.

For in saying, 'Let us keep the feast,' he said it not because the Passover was at hand, nor because Pentecost was near, but showing that all time is a season of festival for Christians because of the exceeding greatness of the good things given.

For what good thing has not come to pass? The Son of God became man for your sake;

He delivered you from death, He called you into a kingdom.

You then, who have obtained and are obtaining such things, how ought you not to keep festival all your life? Let none, then, be downcast because of poverty or sickness or plotting;

for the whole of our time is a season of festival.

'Rejoice in the Lord; rejoice, again I will say, rejoice.'

At festivals no one puts on filthy garments;

for a wedding has taken place, a spiritual wedding.

'For the kingdom of heaven,' he says, 'is likened unto a certain king, who would make a marriage for his son.'

And where a king makes a wedding, and a wedding for his son, what could be greater than this festival? Let none, then, enter clad in rags.

Our discourse is not about garments, but about unclean deeds.

For if, when all were clothed in splendid attire, one man alone was found at the wedding wearing filthy garments, and was cast out with dishonour, consider how great is the strictness and purity which entrance into that wedding demands.

It is not for these reasons alone that he reminds them of the unleavened bread, but also to show the kinship of the Old Covenant with the New, and to show moreover that after the unleavened bread one may not go back again into Egypt, but that if anyone should wish to turn back, he will suffer the same things as those of old.

For those things were a shadow of these, however shamelessly the Jew may behave.

Wherefore, even if you question him, he will say nothing great.

Or rather, he will indeed say something great, yet nothing such as we say, since he does not know the truth.

For he will say that God so changed the Egyptians who held them captive, that those who before had held us fast by force, and would not allow us to leaven our dough, themselves thrust us out.

But if anyone should ask me, he will hear not of Egypt nor of Pharaoh, but of freedom from the deceit of demons and from the darkness of the devil.

Not of Moses, but of the Son of God.

Not of the Red Sea, but of a baptism teeming with countless good things, in which the old man was drowned.

Again, if you ask the Jew for what reason he drives out the leaven from all his borders, here too he will be silent and will give no cause.

For since some things were types of things to come, and had causes for what was done, while others no longer were such, this was so that it might not be possible for the Jews to do mischief, and that they might not persist in the shadow.

For tell me, what does it mean that it should be a male, and without blemish, and a year old, and, 'A bone of it shall not be broken'? And what does it mean that they should also call in their neighbours?

Or that they should eat standing? Or that they should eat in the evening? Or that the house should be fortified with the blood? That man will say nothing else, but only bandies Egypt up and down.

But I will tell also what the blood means, and the evening, and their all eating together, and their all standing.

But first let us say why the leaven is driven out from all the borders.

What then is the enigma? The believer must be rid of all wickedness.

For just as that man perishes wherever old leaven is found, so also among us, wherever wickedness is found.

For surely it is not the case that under the shadow the punishment is so great, but for us it is not far greater.

For if they thus cleanse their houses of the leaven, and search even the holes of the mice, much more must we search out the soul, so as to cast out every unclean thought.

But this took place among them formerly, and now no longer.

For everywhere there is leaven where a Jew is.

For in the midst of the cities the unleavened bread is made, which is now rather a plaything than a law.

For since the truth has come, the types no longer have any place.

So that by this example too he vehemently drives out of the Church the man who has committed fornication.

For not only, he says, does he do no good by his presence, but he even does harm, corrupting once more the common body.

For no one knows whence the stench comes, since the rotten part is hidden, but he reckons it to the whole.

Wherefore he also urges them very earnestly to purge out the leaven.

'That you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened.'

'For our Passover also, even Christ, was sacrificed for us.'

He did not say, 'He died,' but, more fitting to the matter in hand, 'He was sacrificed.'

Seek not then such unleavened bread, since you have no such lamb either.

Seek not such leaven, since your unleavened bread too is not of that kind.

Now in the case of sensible leaven, the unleavened may become leavened, but the leavened can no longer become unleavened.

But here the opposite of this can come about again.

Nevertheless, he did not make this plain.

In the former Epistle he gives no hopes of return to the man who had committed fornication, but commands his whole life to be spent in repentance, lest by the promise he should make him more careless.

For he did not say, 'Deliver him to Satan, that having repented he may again be given back to the Church,' but what? 'That he may be saved in the last day.'

For he defers him to that time, that he may keep him in a state of struggle.

And what he was about to grant him after his repentance, he does not disclose, imitating his own Master.

For just as God says, 'Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown,' and did not add, 'But if it repent, it shall be saved,'

so this man also did not say, 'But if he repent worthily, we will ratify love toward him,'

but he waits for him to do the work, and then to receive the grace.

For if he had said this from the beginning, he would have loosed his fear.

Wherefore he not only does not do this, but by the example of the leaven he does not even allow him to hope for return, but reserves him for that day, saying, 'Purge out the old leaven,' and, 'Let us not keep the feast with old leaven.'

But when he had repented, he brought him in again with all diligence.

But why does he call it old? Either because our former life was of this kind;

or because that which is old is near to vanishing, and is both foul-smelling and shameful, such as sin is.

For neither is the old absolutely disparaged, nor is the new absolutely praised, but always with reference to the matters in question.

'But if it be aged, then with gladness shall you drink it,'

commending in the matter of friendship the old rather than the new.

And again, 'The Ancient of Days did sit,' and here again he takes the old in the sense of highest commendation and glory.

But elsewhere the Scripture takes the old in a sense of blame.

For since things are manifold, composed of many elements, and it uses the same terms both for good and for evil, not according to the same signification.

See then also elsewhere the old being blamed:

'They have grown old, and have halted from their paths;'

and again, 'I have grown old among all my enemies;'

and again, 'O you that are aged in evil days.'

Often it is taken for the kingdom of heaven, though here it was disparaged;

but there with reference to one thing, and here with reference to another.

But to me it seems that the discourse about the leaven is directed most of all also against the priests, who suffer much old leaven to be within, not purging out from the borders, that is, from the Church, the covetous, the rapacious, and everything that may cast a man out of the kingdom of heaven.

For covetousness is old leaven, and wherever it falls, and into whatever house it enters, it makes it unclean.

And should you gain but a little from injustice, it has leavened your whole substance.

For this reason often the little that has been brought in wrongly has cast out the much that lay honestly there.

For nothing is more rotten than covetousness.

And though you put a key upon such a storehouse, and a door, and a bolt, you do all in vain, having shut up within covetousness, the most grievous robber, and able to carry off everything.

What then, he says, when many who are covetous do not suffer these things? Assuredly they shall suffer, even if they do not suffer forthwith;

but if they now escape, then fear the more;

for they are being kept for a greater punishment.

Or rather, even if they themselves escape, yet those who inherit their goods shall suffer the same things.

And how is this just? he says. Indeed, it is exceedingly just.

For he who has inherited an estate laden with injustice, even if he himself did not plunder, nevertheless holds what belongs to others;

and of this he is fully persuaded, and for this reason it was just that he should suffer.

For if, when someone had plundered, you received the goods, and then the man who was robbed came and demanded them back, would it suffice for your defence that it was not you who plundered? By no means.

For what would you say, tell me, when you are charged? That another stripped him? But it is you who hold the goods.

That the other man plundered? But it is you who enjoy the profit.

These things even the laws of those outside the faith know, which, dismissing those who plundered and stole, command that restitution be demanded from those in whose hands one may find all his own possessions lying.

If, then, you know those who have been wronged, make restitution, and do what Zacchaeus did, with much added over and above;

but if you do not know them, I give you yet another way, and I do not shut you out from healing;

distribute all these goods among the needy, and in this way too you will assuage the calamity.

And if some have passed these things on to their children and descendants, yet they suffered other dreadful things in their stead.

And why do I speak of things here below? For surely these words will not be spoken on that Day, when both shall appear naked, both those who were plundered and those who plundered;

or rather, they will not be naked in like manner.

For as regards riches, each of the two will be alike naked, but the one will also be laden with the accusations arising from them.

What, then, shall we do on that Day, when before the dread tribunal the man who has suffered wrong and lost all that was his is led forth into the midst, while you have no advocate? What will you say to the Judge? For now indeed you are able even to corrupt the human court, but that court then you can no longer corrupt;

for indeed that tribunal is present even now.

For God beholds the things that are done, and is near to those who are wronged, even when He is not called upon.

For the man who has suffered wrong, even if he himself be unworthy to obtain any vindication, nevertheless, since the things done are displeasing to God, he has by all means One who avenges him.

How is it, then, someone says, that such a man prospers though he is wicked? But not to the end.

Hear what the prophet says:

Do not be envious of evildoers, for like grass they shall swiftly wither away.

For tell me, where, after his removal hence, is the plunderer? Where are his brilliant hopes? Where the illustrious name? Have not all things passed away? Are not all his affairs a dream and a shadow? Expect this also concerning each of such men, both the one now living and the one who comes after him.

But not such are the things of the holy men, nor will you be able to say the same of them—that their affairs are a shadow and a dream and mere tales.

And if you will, let us bring into the midst the very man who spoke these words, the tentmaker, the Cilician, of whom it was not even clear who his father was.

And how is it possible, he says, to become such a one? For do you really desire it? Do you truly long and wish to become such? Yes, he says.

Then come, walk the road that this man walked, and those who were with him.

What sort of road did he walk? The one says:

In hunger and thirst and nakedness;

and the other, Silver and gold I do not possess.

Thus they had nothing, and yet they possessed all things.

What is more dignified than this utterance? What more blessed and more richly endowed? For others indeed gave themselves airs over the opposite things, saying:

I have so many and so many talents of gold, and boundless acres of land and houses and slaves;

but this man gloried in being destitute of all things;

and he is not overwhelmed by poverty, as the foolish suffer, nor does he hide his face for shame, but he even prides himself and takes it as an adornment.

Where now are the wealthy, who count up interest and interest upon interest, who take what belongs to all men and are never satisfied? Have you heard the voice of Peter, which displays poverty to be the mother of wealth—the voice of one who had nothing, yet was richer than those who wear diadems? For she who had nothing raised the dead, and set the lame upright, and drove out demons, and freely bestowed such gifts as those clad in purple and leading great and dreadful armies were never able to do;

this is the voice of those who have already passed over into heaven, of those who have laid hold of that summit.

Thus it is possible, having nothing, to hold fast the things of all men;

thus it is possible, acquiring nothing, to have acquired the things of all.

But if we should acquire the things of all, we are deprived of all things.

Perhaps what has been said seems to be a riddle, but it is not.

But how, he says, does the man who has nothing hold fast the things of all? Not much more the man who has the things of all? By no means, but altogether the contrary.

For the man who has nothing gives orders to all, as those men also did;

for indeed the houses throughout the world were all open to them, and those who provided for them counted it a favour, and they came to them as to friends and kinsfolk.

For indeed they came to the seller of purple, and she, like a handmaid, set forth all her own possessions;

and to the jailer, and he too opened his whole house to them;

Thus they had all things, and had nothing.

For they said that none of their possessions was their own;

For he who regards what exists as common will use not only his own things, but also the things of others, as though they were his own;

but he who severs himself off, and makes himself lord of his own things alone, will not be lord even of these.

And this is plain from an illustration.

The man who possesses nothing at all, neither house nor table nor a superfluous garment, but for God's sake is destitute of all things, uses what is common as though it were his own, and will receive from all men whatever he may wish;

and thus the man who has nothing holds fast the things of all.

But he who has something will not be lord even of these things;

for no one will give to him who already possesses, and he will belong to robbers and thieves and false accusers and the vicissitude of affairs and to everything rather than to that man—the things which belong to him.

At any rate Paul traversed the whole world, carrying nothing with him, not going off to friends, nor to acquaintances;

for indeed at the beginning he was a common enemy to all;

but nevertheless, after he had entered in, he had the things of all men.

But Ananias and Sapphira, in their haste to acquire some little of their own, fell away from everything, together with life itself.

Withdraw, therefore, from your own possessions, that you may use the things of others as though they were your own.

But indeed I know not how I have been carried away to such an excess, uttering such things to men to whom it is a welcome thing even to impart some small portion of their goods.

Wherefore let these things have been said by us to the perfect;

but to those more imperfect let us say this: Give of your goods to those in need, increase your substance.

For he who gives to the poor, it says, lends to God.

But if you are impatient, and do not wait for the time of the recompense, consider those who lend their money to men.

For neither do these wish to receive the interest at once, but they rather desire that the principal should remain a longer time in the hands of the borrower, provided only that the repayment be secure, and they do not suspect the one who has received it.

Let this, then, take place here also;

leave those goods with God, that He may repay you the reward many times over;

for if you receive it all in full here, how shall you receive it there? For this reason God treasures it up there, since the present life happens to be perishable.

For seek, it says, the kingdom

of the heavens, and all these things shall be added unto you.

But let us look toward that recompense, and not press for the repayment of all things at once, lest we diminish our reward; rather, let us await the appointed time.

For such are not these interest-payments, but rather such as are fitting to be given by God.

Having therefore gathered these together in great abundance, let us so depart hence, that we may attain both the present and the future good things, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, and honour, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.