Homilies on Second Corinthians 14

'We wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we defrauded no one.'

'For I have said before, as I also said before, that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together.'

Again he sets in motion the discourse concerning love, softening the harshness of the rebuke.

For since he had reproved and rebuked them, as those who were loved, but who did not love in like manner, but were breaking away from love toward him and mingling with other corrupters, again he smooths down the vehemence of the rebuke, saying, 'Receive us,' that is, 'Love us,' and he asks to receive a favour that is without burden, and profitable to those who grant it rather than to those who receive it.

And he did not say, 'Love,' but more piteously, 'Receive us.'

'Who drove us out,' he says? 'who cast us out of your mind? whence are we straitened among you?' For since he had said above, 'You are straitened in your own affections;'

here, showing this more plainly, he said, 'Receive us,' and by this again drawing them to himself.

For nothing so produces friendship, as for the one loved to learn that he who loves him greatly desires his love.

See how again he does not set forth his benefits, but frames his discourse in another way, both more free from burden and more affecting.

And at the same time he also hints at the false apostles, saying, 'We wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we defrauded no one.'

What is, 'We corrupted'? That is, we deceived no one;

just as he also says elsewhere, 'Lest, as the serpent deceived Eve, so your minds should be corrupted.'

we did not plunder, we did not scheme.

And for the present he does not say, 'We have benefited you in this and that,' but, framing his words in a way more likely to shame them, he says, 'We have wronged no one';

as much as to say: Even if we had done you no good service at all, not even so ought you to have turned away from us;

for you have nothing, whether small or great, to charge against us.

Then, since he perceived the weight of his words, he softens them again by way of correction.

And he neither kept silent altogether,

nor did he leave the harshness of his speech uncorrected;

And what does he say? 'I speak not to condemn you.'

Whence is this plain? 'For I have said before,' he says, 'that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.'

This is the greatest love, when a man, even though despised, still chooses both to die with them and to live with them.

'For you are not simply in our hearts,' he says, 'but even so, as I said'—that is, to die together and to live together.

And observe here too his unspeakable wisdom.

For he did not speak of what he had already done on their behalf, lest he should seem again to be reproaching them, but he makes a promise concerning things to come.

'For if it should happen,' he says, 'that some danger be brought upon us, I am ready to suffer all things for your sake; and neither death nor life appears to me anything in itself;'

'but wherever you may be, that is more precious to me—death rather than life, or life rather than death.'

But dying, it is plain, belongs to friendship; yet as for living, who would not choose it, even among those who are not friends? Why then does he set it forth as something great? Because it truly is exceedingly great.

For many, when their friends are in adversity, share their grief, but when their friends prosper they no longer rejoice with them; nay, they even envy them.

But not so we; rather, whether you are in misfortunes, we are not afraid to share your ill fortune with you;

or whether you prosper, we are not smitten with envy.

Then, since he had continually turned these things over, saying, 'You are not straitened in us,' and, 'You are straitened in your own bowels,' and, 'Make room for us,' and, 'Be you also enlarged,' and, 'We have wronged no one,' and all these seemed to be a condemnation of them;

see how he soothes this severity in yet another way, saying, 'Great is my boldness of speech toward you.'

'For this reason I dare to say such things,' he says, 'not speaking to condemn you, but because of my great boldness of speech;'

which also he made plain above when he said, 'Great is my glorying on your behalf.'

'For do not suppose,' he says, 'that because I say these things, I speak as one who has condemned you once for all;'

'for I take great pride in you and glory in you exceedingly;'

'but rather it is because I care for you and desire that you should advance yet more greatly toward virtue;'

which he also said to the Hebrews after much rebuke;

'But we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.'

'And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence unto the full assurance of hope even to the end.'

So then here also: 'Great is my glorying on your behalf.'

'We glory to others on your behalf,' he says.

Do you see how genuinely he consoled them? 'And I do not glory simply,' he says, 'but even exceedingly.'

At any rate he adds, saying, 'I am filled with comfort.'

With what comfort? With that which comes from you, in that, having been set right, you comforted me by your works.

This is the mark of one who loves—both to complain of not being loved, and to fear lest, by complaining beyond measure, he should grieve them.

For this reason he says, 'I am filled with comfort, I overflow with joy.'

'But these things,' he says, 'seem to be contrary to the former.'

But they are not; rather they are exceedingly in agreement.

For these things make those former ones easy to receive, and the praise conveyed through these renders more genuine the benefit derived from those reproofs, stealing away their painfulness.

Wherefore he has used these words very genuinely and with an eager, honoring affection.

For he did not say, 'I am filled with joy,' but, 'I abound';

or rather, not even 'I abound,' but, 'I superabound'; and hereby again showing his longing, that even if he be so loved as to rejoice and exult, he does not yet reckon himself to be loved as one ought to be loved, nor to have received the whole;

so insatiable was he in his intense love for them.

For to be loved in any way whatever by those whom one loves brings great joy, because of the intensity of one's own love for them.

So that this again was a sign of his own love.

And concerning the comfort he says, 'I am filled';

'I have received back that which was owing to me';

but concerning the joy, 'I superabound';

that is: I was disheartened toward you, but you defended yourselves sufficiently and consoled me;

for you not only removed from me the ground of my grief, but also caused me the more abundant joy.

Then, to make plain its greatness, he shows it not by this alone—by saying, 'I superabound with joy'—but also by adding, 'in all our affliction.'

For so great was the delight that came to us because of you, that not even by so great an affliction was it dimmed; but by the abundance of its own greatness it overcame the sorrows that had overtaken us, and did not suffer us to gain any perception of them.

'For even when we had come into Macedonia, our flesh had no relief.'

For since he had said, 'by the affliction,' he also tells of what kind of affliction it was, and he exalts it in his speech, so that he may show great to be the comfort arising from these things;

and the joy too, seeing that it repelled so great a pain.

How 'in everything'? 'Without were fightings,' from the unbelievers;

'within were fears,' because of the weak among the believers, lest they be swept away.

For such things came to pass not among the Corinthians alone, but also elsewhere.

'But he that comforts the lowly comforted us by the coming of Titus.'

For since he had borne great witness to them, in order that he might not seem to flatter, he brings forward Titus the brother as a witness—who had come from them to Paul after the former epistle, relating to him the matters of their amendment.

But do you consider with me how everywhere he makes much of the coming of Titus.

For indeed above he says, 'When I came to Troas for the gospel, I had no relief in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother';

and here again he says, 'By the coming of Titus we were comforted.'

For indeed he wishes to establish the man as worthy of credit in their eyes, and to make him very dear to them.

And see how he accomplishes both.

For by saying, 'I had no relief in my spirit,' he shows the greatness of that man's virtue;

and by saying that 'in our affliction his coming sufficed for comfort'—and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort wherewith he was comforted concerning you—he endears the man to the Corinthians.

For nothing so makes and cements friendship as to speak something kindly and sound concerning a person;

which he also testifies of Titus, saying that 'when he came he made us take wing for delight;'

such things did he report concerning you.

For this reason his coming gladdened us.

For we rejoiced not only at his coming, but also at the comfort with which he was comforted concerning you.

And how was he comforted? By your virtue, by your good deeds.

Wherefore he also adds: 'While he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me.'

These things, he says, gladdened him; these comforted him.

Do you see how he shows even Titus himself to be a fervent lover of them, seeing that he accounts their good repute to be his own comfort, and gloried before Paul as over his own personal blessings? And observe how warmly he reports these things:

'Your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal.'

For it was likely that they mourned and grieved, asking why the blessed Paul was so displeased, and why he stayed away so long a time.

Therefore he did not simply say 'tears,' but 'mourning'; nor 'desire,' but 'earnest longing'; nor 'anger,' but 'zeal'—and again a zeal on his behalf, a zeal against the fornicator, a zeal against his accusers.

For you were set on fire, he says, and kindled when you received my letter.

For these reasons he abounds in joy, for these reasons he is filled with comfort, because his words took hold of them.

But to me it seems that these things were said not only for the consolation of those aforementioned, but also for the encouragement of those who had accomplished these very things.

For even though I consider some to be liable to the former charges, and unworthy of these praises,

yet nevertheless he does not separate them, but sets forth in common both the commendations and the accusations, giving it to the conscience of his hearers to choose out for themselves what belongs to each.

For thus those charges became free from offense, and these praises led on to much zeal.

So too now ought those who are accused to be disposed, to lament and to mourn; so ought they to long for their teachers, so to seek after them even more than after fathers.

For through the latter comes our being, but through the former comes our living well.

So ought one to bear the rebukes of fathers; so ought those in authority to grieve together over those who sin.

For the whole matter lies not in them alone, but also in you.

For if the one who has sinned sees that he has been rebuked by his father but flattered by the brethren, he becomes more careless.

But when the father rebukes, do you also share in the indignation, whether as caring for a brother, or as sharing your father's displeasure;

only show great earnestness, and grieve—not that he was rebuked, but that he sinned.

But if I build up, while you pull down, what have we gained more than labors? Nay rather, the loss to you does not stop there, but you also bring punishment upon yourself.

For he who hinders a wound from being healed has no less punishment than he who inflicted it, but even more.

For it is not the same thing to strike, and to hinder the stricken part from being healed;

for the latter altogether brings forth death, but the former does not altogether do so.

But these things have been said by me to you, that you may share in the indignation of your rulers, in matters over which they justly are displeased; so that, when you see anyone being rebuked, you may all turn away from him even more than the teacher does.

Let the offender fear you rather than the rulers.

For if he fears the teacher only, he will quickly sin;

but if he is guarded round about by so many eyes, so many mouths, he will be in greater safety.

For just as, if we do not do these things, we shall pay the uttermost penalty;

so, if we work these things, we shall share in the gain that comes from the correction.

And though someone should say, 'Show kindness to the brother, this befits Christians,'

let him learn that it is the one who is angry who shows true kindness, not the one who calls him back before the fitting time, and does not even allow him to gain a sense of his offense.

For tell me, who pities the one burning with fever and held fast by frenzy: the one who lays him upon the bed, and binds him, and keeps him from food and drink that are not fitting, or the one who gives him strong wine to drink his fill, and bids him be at liberty, and to do all that a healthy man may do? Does not this latter, who seems to show kindness, aggravate the disease, while the former sets it right? So then even here let us give our verdict.

For it belongs to true kindness not to gratify the sick in everything, nor to flatter their unseemly desires.

No one so loved the fornicator among the Corinthians as Paul, who bade him be delivered to Satan;

no one so hated him as those who supported and coddled him.

For those puffed him up, and made the inflammation greater;

but this one both repressed it, and did not desist until he had brought him to pure health;

and the former added to the evil that already existed, but this one plucked up even that which had arisen from the beginning.

Let us too learn these laws of true kindness.

For if you see a horse rushing down a precipice, you throw in the bit, and rein him back with force, and often ply the whip;

and yet this is punishment, but this punishment is the mother of safety.

So do also in the case of those who sin;

bind the offender, until he has appeased God;

do not let him go loosed, lest he be the more bound in the wrath of God.

If I bind, God no longer binds;

but if I do not bind, the unbreakable bonds remain upon him.

For if we judged ourselves, we should not be judged.

Do not then think such conduct to be cruelty and inhumanity, but rather the utmost gentleness, and the best physician's art, and much tender care.

But they have given punishment for a sufficient time, someone says.

A year, and two years and three? But it is not this that I seek—a length of time—but the amendment of the soul.

Show me this, then—whether they were pricked to the heart, whether they were changed—and the whole thing is accomplished;

for if this be not so, there is no profit from the time.

For neither do we ask whether the wound has been bandaged many times, but whether the bandaging profited anything.

If then it has profited, even in a short time, let it be applied no longer;

but if it has profited nothing, let it still be applied even after ten years;

and let this be the limit of the loosing—the gain of the one bound.

If thus we care both for ourselves and for the rest, and look not to the glory and shame that comes from men, but consider the punishment and reproach that is yonder, and above all the provoking of God, we shall vehemently apply the medicines of repentance;

and we shall come quickly to pure health, and shall attain the good things to come;

which may it be for us all to attain, by the grace and love toward man of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.