Homilies on Second Corinthians 29

This is the third time I am coming to you. At the mouth of two witnesses and of three shall every word be established.

From many other quarters, but especially from this, one may behold the love of wisdom of Paul, and his great tenderness of affection;

how vehement and forceful he is in his exhortations, but slow and hesitant in his punishments.

For he did not straightway punish those who sinned, but exhorted them once and a second time;

and not even so, when they disobeyed, does he take vengeance, but again he exhorts, saying, This is the third time I am coming to you, and even before I come, I write again.

Then, lest the delay should breed negligence, see how from this very point also he sets things right, continually threatening and holding the blow in suspense, and saying, If I come again, I will not spare.

And, 'Lest, when I come, I should have to mourn over many.'

He both does and says these things, in this too imitating the Master of all;

since God also continually threatens and often warns, yet does not often chastise and punish.

This very thing he himself also does;

and for this reason he had also said before, that 'To spare you, I came no more to Corinth.'

What does 'To spare you' mean? It means: that I might not, finding you sinning and remaining uncorrected, bring chastisement and punishment upon you.

And here too: 'This is the third time I am coming to you.'

'At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.'

He joins the unwritten to the written;

which he has done elsewhere also, saying that 'He who is joined to a harlot is one body;'

'for the two,' he says, 'shall become one flesh.'

And yet this was spoken concerning lawful marriage;

but he applied it profitably to this end, so as to strike a greater fear.

So indeed he does here too, setting his own comings and his warnings in the place of witnesses.

'Once I said, and a second time, when I was present;'

'I say it now also by letter.'

And truly, if you will listen to me, what I desired has come to pass;

but if you disregard it, then it becomes necessary at last to make good what has been said, and to bring on the punishment.

Therefore he says, 'I have said beforehand, and I foretell, as when present the second time, so also now being absent I write to those'

'who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare.'

For if at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established, I was present a second time and spoke, and I say it now also by the Epistle;

it therefore becomes necessary for me at last to prove true.

For do not suppose that the written words carry less weight than my presence;

for as when present I used to speak, so also now being absent I write.

Did you see a father's tender care? Did you see teaching and fitting forethought? He neither kept silence nor chastised, but both foretells often, and continues persistently threatening, and defers the punishment;

and if they should remain uncorrected, then he threatens to bring the trial upon them.

'And what did you foretell when present, and now being absent do you write?' 'That, if I come again, I will not spare.'

Having shown first that he cannot do this unless he be compelled, and having called the matter a mourning and a humiliation;

for 'lest,' he says, 'when I come, my God should humble me before you, and I should mourn over many of those who have sinned before and have not repented;'

and having pleaded with them that he had foretold it once and twice and thrice, and that he does and contrives everything so as to ward off the punishment, and by the fear of his words to make them better, then at last he laid down this burdensome and fearful saying, 'That, if I come again, I will not spare.'

He did not say, 'I will take vengeance and chastise and exact the penalty,' but again in fatherly words he even sets down the punishment itself, showing his tender affections and the mind that suffers together with them, because he was ever sparing and deferring.

Then, that they might not even now suppose that it was again a mere deferral and simply a threat of words, for this reason he had also said before:

'At the mouth of two and three witnesses shall every word be established;'

and, 'That, if I come again, I will not spare.'

'I will defer no longer, if I find them uncorrected — which God forbid — but I will certainly bring it on, and make good what I have said.'

Then, with much wrath and vehement indignation against those who mocked him as weak, and who scoffed at his presence, and said, 'His presence is weak, and his speech contemptible,' as though addressing himself to these, he says:

'Since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?' For this he said at once smiting them, and at the same time laying hold of them.

'Since you wish to test whether Christ dwells in me, and demand an account, and for this reason mock me as mean and contemptible, as being destitute of that power;'

'you shall know that we are not destitute of it, if you give occasion — which God forbid.'

'Do you then chastise, because they seek a proof?' 'By no means,' he says;

'for if I sought this, I would have chastised them from the first when they sinned, and would not have deferred.'

And that he does not seek this, he showed more clearly as he went on, saying, 'Now I pray that you do no evil, not that we may appear approved, but that you may do what is honourable, though we be as reprobate.'

He therefore does not set it down as giving a reason, but rather in indignation, rather laying hold of those who despised him.

'I indeed do not wish,' he says, 'to give you such a proof;'

'but if you yourselves furnish the occasion, and should wish to provoke me, you shall know it by the very deeds.'

And observe how he makes the word burdensome.

For he did not say, 'Since you seek a proof of me,' but, 'Of Christ speaking in me;'

showing that it was against Him that they were sinning.

And he did not simply say, 'Of Him who dwells within,' but, 'Of Him who speaks,' showing that the words were spiritual.

But if He does not display His might, neither does He chastise;

for henceforth he transferred the discourse from himself to Christ, making the threat more fearful;

'Let no one therefore reckon His forbearance to be weakness.'

For why do you marvel if He does not now proceed against sinners, nor exact the penalty, but bears with them and is longsuffering — seeing that He Himself even endured to be crucified, and though suffering such things did not chastise? Therefore he added, 'Who toward you is not weak, but is mighty in you.'

For even if He was crucified through weakness, yet He lives by the power of God.

These words carry much obscurity, and confusion to the weaker sort.

Therefore it is necessary to unfold them more clearly, and to state the meanings of this expression about which lies the obscurity, that no one, even of the simpler sort, may be caused to stumble.

What then is that which is said, and what does the name 'weakness' signify, and in what sense is it spoken — this it is necessary to learn.

For the word is one, but the things signified by it are many.

For weakness is used of the body's sickness;

wherefore also in the Gospel it is said, 'Behold, he whom you love is sick,' concerning Lazarus;

and He Himself said, 'This sickness is not unto death;'

and Paul, concerning Epaphroditus;

'For indeed he was sick nigh unto death, but God had mercy on him;'

and concerning Timothy, 'Use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities.'

For all these signify bodily sickness.

Again, weakness is used of not being simply firmly established in the faith, nor being perfect and complete.

And Paul, making this plain, said:

'Him who is weak in the faith receive, but not to the deciding of doubtful thoughts;'

and again, 'One believes that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats herbs;'

signifying him who is weak in the faith.

Behold, there are two things signified by 'weakness';

and yet a third besides, which is also called weakness.

And what is this? The persecutions, the plottings, the insults, the trials, the assaults brought against him.

And Paul, making this plain, said:

'For this I besought the Lord three times;'

'and He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you;'

'for My power is made perfect in weakness.'

What does 'in weakness' mean? In persecutions, in dangers, in trials, in plottings, in deaths.

And making this plain he said, 'Therefore I take pleasure in weakness.'

Then, to show what kind of weakness he means, he did not speak of a fever, nor of any doubt concerning the faith, but what? 'In insults, in persecutions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.'

'For when I am weak, then am I strong;'

that is, When I am persecuted, when I am driven out, when I am plotted against, then am I strong; then all the more do I prevail and get the better of those who plot against me, for the grace dwells within me the more abundantly.

It is in accordance with this third sense that Paul has set down 'weakness';

aiming once more at that point which I also mentioned before, namely, that he seemed to them to be mean and contemptible.

For he did not wish to boast, nor to seem to be what in fact he was, nor to display the power he had to chastise and to punish;

wherefore he was also thought to be mean.

Since, then, holding this opinion, they were in great sloth and insensibility, and did not turn back from their sins, taking a fitting occasion he discourses very vigorously concerning these matters also, showing that it was not out of weakness that he did nothing, but out of long-suffering.

Then, as I said, transferring the discourse from himself to Christ, he heightens the fear and increases the threat.

For, 'even if I do something,' he says, 'and chastise and punish those who have sinned, am I the one who chastises and punishes? It is He who dwells in me, Christ Himself.'

'But if you do not believe this, and wish to receive a proof, you shall soon know it through the works of Him who dwells in me;'

'for He is not weak toward you, but is mighty.'

And why did he add, 'toward you,' although He is mighty everywhere? For if He should wish to chastise unbelievers, He is able; and demons, and anything whatsoever.

What then does the addition intend? The word is meant to shame them exceedingly, from the very things of which they have already had experience;

or else it declares this, that meanwhile He displays His power among you, upon those who ought to be corrected.

'For what have I to do with judging those that are outside?'

For those outside, he says, He will then require satisfaction from, on the day of judgment;

but from you even now, so that you may be delivered from that punishment.

But nevertheless, though this too proceeds from watchful care and from tender affection, observe how he sets it forth with fear and with much wrath, saying:

'Who is not weak toward you, but is mighty in you.'

'For even though He was crucified through weakness, yet He lives through the power of God.'

What does 'if He was crucified through weakness' mean? For even if, he says, He chose to endure a thing that seemed to bear the appearance of weakness,

— such a supposition — yet this in no way interrupts His power;

for this power remains invincible, and the thing that seemed to be of weakness did it no injury; rather, this very thing especially demonstrates His strength, that He endured such a thing and yet His power was in no way maimed.

Let not, therefore, the word 'weakness' disturb you;

for elsewhere too he says:

'The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men;'

and yet God has nothing either foolish or weak;

but he called the cross thus, expounding the notion the unbelievers held concerning it.

Hear him at least interpreting himself:

'For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God;'

'But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God;'

and again, 'But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit.'

See how everywhere he expounds the notion of the unbelievers, who reckon the cross to be foolishness and weakness.

So indeed here too he does not speak of an actual weakness, but of that which is suspected by the unbelievers.

He does not therefore say this, that being weak He was crucified—away with the thought!

For that He was able not to be crucified He showed by all His deeds—now casting men backward to the ground, now turning back the sun's rays, and withering a fig tree, and blinding the eyes of those who came against Him, and working ten thousand other wonders.

What then does he mean by 'through weakness'? That even though He was crucified, having endured danger and plotting (for we have shown that 'weakness' is called danger and plotting), yet nevertheless He suffered no injury.

And these things he was saying while drawing the example round to bear upon his own case.

For since they saw them persecuted, driven out, despised, and neither defending themselves nor taking revenge, teaching them that they too do not suffer these things through feebleness, nor through being unable to retaliate, he leads the discourse up to the Master;

since He too, he says, was crucified, was bound, suffered ten thousand things, and did not retaliate, but endured, submitting to things that seemed to be of weakness, and by this very means displaying His own power—that even without retaliating or defending Himself, He is in no way at all injured.

At all events the cross did not cut short His life, nor did it hinder the resurrection, but He both rose and lives.

But when you hear of a cross and of life, understand the word as spoken concerning the economy of the incarnation;

for all this discourse is concerned with that.

And if he says, 'through the power of God,' [it is not as though He Himself were too feeble to give life to the flesh, but it is a matter of indifference to him whether he speaks of the Father or of the Son;

for having said, 'through the power of God,'] he has said 'through His own power.'

For that He Himself also raised it and holds it together, hear Him saying:

'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'

And if He says that what is His own belongs to the Father, be not troubled;

'For all that is the Father's is Mine,' He says;

and again, 'All Mine is Yours, and Yours is Mine.'

As then that Crucified One suffered no injury, he says, so neither do we, though persecuted and warred against;

'For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him through the power of God.'

What does 'we are weak in Him' mean? We are persecuted, driven out, we suffer the utmost things. But what does 'in Him' mean? On account of the preaching, he says, and the faith that is in Him.

But if we endure the gloomy and burdensome things for His sake, it is plain that we shall also share the bright things;

wherefore he added also, 'But we are saved in Him through the power of God.'

'Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove your own selves.'

'Or do you not know your own selves, that Christ is in you, unless indeed you are reprobate? But I hope that you will know that we are not reprobate.'

For since through what has been said he showed that, even though he does not proceed against them, it is not as one who does not have Christ within himself, but as one imitating the long-suffering of that Crucified One who did not defend Himself, again in another manner he works out this same point, and from a still greater abundance;

establishing his argument from the disciples.

For why do I speak of myself, he says, who am the teacher, and have such great care, and have been entrusted with the whole inhabited world, and have wrought so many signs? For if you are willing to examine your very selves who are in the rank of disciples, you shall see that Christ is in you also;

And if He is in you, much more is He in your teacher.

For if you have the faith, Christ also is in you.

And this very thing was said also concerning those believers who wrought miracles;

for they who then believed used to work wonders;

wherefore he also went on to add, 'Examine yourselves, prove your own selves, whether you are in the faith.'

'Or do you not recognize yourselves, that Christ is in you, unless indeed you are reprobates? And if He is in you, much more is He in your teacher.'

But to me it seems that here he means by 'faith' also that of the signs.

'For if you have that faith,' he says, 'Christ is in you, unless indeed you have become reprobates.'

Do you see how again he strikes fear, and moreover shows out of his abundance that Christ is with him? For here he seems to me to be hinting at their manner of life as well.

For since faith alone does not suffice to draw down the spiritual working—yet he had said, 'If you are in the faith, you have Christ within you'—and since it happened that many who had faith were destitute of this working, resolving the difficulty he says, 'unless indeed you are reprobates,' that is, unless you have a corrupt manner of life.

'But I hope that you shall know that we are not reprobate.'

The natural sequel would have been to say, 'But if you have become reprobate, yet we have not;'

yet so he does not speak, that he may not wound them, but hints at it faintly, neither declaring and saying, 'You are reprobate,' nor advancing it by way of question and saying, 'But if you are reprobate,' but leaving this aside, he indicates it enigmatically, adding, 'But I hope that you shall know that we are not reprobate.'

Here again great is the threat, mighty the fear.

For since, he says, hence—if you wish, by the chastisement inflicted upon you, to receive the proof—we shall not be at a loss to give you the demonstration.

But so he does not speak, rather with more weight and threatening:

'But I hope that you shall know that we are not reprobate.'

For even without this, he says, you ought to know our affairs, and that we have Christ speaking and working in us;

but since you wish also to receive the trial by works, you shall know that we are not reprobate.

Then, since he had stretched out the threat, and had brought the chastisement, so to speak, to the very doors, and had set them trembling, and made them expect punishment;

see how again he sweetens the word, and soothes their fear, and displays his freedom from ambition, his tender care for the disciples, the philosophic temper of his mind, its loftiness and freedom from vainglory.

For all these things he shows by what he goes on to say: 'Now I pray to God that you do no evil, not that we may appear approved, but that you may do that which is good, though we be as reprobate.'

'For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.'

'For we rejoice when we are weak, and you are strong.'

'For this also we pray for, even your perfecting.'

What could be equal to such a soul? He was despised, spat upon, mocked, jeered at, as a mean fellow, as contemptible, as a boaster, as one who vaunted himself in words but on the matter of deeds could not show even a little of his own power;

and not only does he defer it, not only does he draw back, but he even prays that he may not fall into so great a case;

'For I pray,' he says, 'that you do no evil, not that we may appear approved, but that you may do that which is good, though we be as reprobate.'

What is it that he says? 'I beseech God,' he says, 'I entreat Him, that I may find no one uncorrected, no one impenitent;'

or rather, not this only, but that you may not sin at all from the beginning;

'For I pray that you do,' he says, 'no evil;'

but if indeed you should sin, that you may change, and correct yourselves beforehand, and repel all wrath.

'For neither do I make this my aim, that we may thus be approved, but the very opposite, that we may not appear approved.'

'For if you remain,' he says, 'sinning without repentance, we must needs punish you;'

to take vengeance, to maim your bodies;

which very thing happened in the case of Sapphira and of the Sorcerer;

and we gave proof of our power.

But we do not pray for this, but the contrary, that neither may we thus appear approved;

that is, 'That we may not thus display the proof of the power that is in us, by punishing and taking vengeance on you who sin and are incurably diseased, but what? That you may do that which is good—this we pray, that you may be ever in virtue, ever in amendment—while we be as reprobate,' not displaying our punitive power.

For he was not going to be reprobate even if he did not punish, but for this very reason approved;

'but even if some suspect us,' he says, 'of being contemptible and cast off because we do not display our strength, this concerns us not at all.'

Better that we should be thought this among them, than that we should display upon their wounds and upon the uncorrected state of their mind the power which God gave us.

'For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.'

For that it might not seem that he was showing them favor (for this belongs to a mind that loves vainglory), but that he was doing what the nature of the matter itself demands, he added, saying:

'For we can do nothing against the truth.'

'For if we find you,' he says, 'in good repute, having repelled your sins through repentance, having obtained boldness toward God;'

neither shall we be able, even if we wish, to punish you thereafter; but even if we attempt it, God will not cooperate.

For unto this end He gave us the power, that we might bear a true and just sentence, and not one contrary to the truth.

Do you see how on every side he makes his word inoffensive, and soothes the harshness of the threat? Yet, just as he was earnest for this, so also he wishes to show that his own mind is bound up with them by affection;

wherefore he also added, 'For we rejoice when we are weak, and you are strong.'

'And this also we pray for, even your perfecting.'

For most of all, he says, we can do nothing against the truth—that is, we cannot punish you when you are well-pleasing;

yet since we cannot, for this reason we do not wish to, and on the contrary we desire it.

But for this very reason indeed do we most rejoice, when we do not find you affording us occasion to display our power in chastising.

For even if doing such things shows us illustrious and approved and strong, yet we wish the contrary: that you should be approved and beyond reproach, and that we should never reap the glory that comes therefrom.

Wherefore he says, 'For we rejoice when we are weak.'

What is, 'we are weak'? When we are thought weak;

not when we are weak, but when we are thought weak;

for this they were thought among their enemies, no longer displaying their punitive power.

But nevertheless we rejoice, when you so conduct yourselves as not to afford us a pretext for punishing you.

And this too is sweet to us, when we are thus thought weak, if only you may be beyond reproach;

wherefore he adds, 'and you be strong;'

that is, approved, virtuous.

And not only do we wish these things, but we also pray for these things: that you be beyond reproach, made perfect, affording us no handle.

This belongs to a father's tender heart: to prefer the salvation of his disciples above his own good repute;

this most of all releases from the bonds of the body, and makes one soar aloft from earth to heaven, namely to be pure from empty glory;

just as the contrary leads into many sins.

For it is not possible for one who is not clean of empty glory to become lofty and great and noble; but he must needs be dragged along the ground, and corrupt many things, being a slave to a foul mistress and one more savage than any barbarian.

For what could be more savage than she, who, when she is most served, then most turns savage? And yet not even the wild beasts have this trait, but by much attendance are tamed.

But vainglory does the very opposite of all.

When it is despised it grows tame, but when it is honored it turns savage and arms itself against the one who honors it.

The Jews honored this thing, and were chastised with great severity;

the disciples dishonored it, and were crowned.

And why do I speak of chastisement and crowns? For as regards the very appearing in splendor, it is above all the spurning of it that avails.

And here too you will see that those who honor it are harmed, while those who dishonor it are benefited.

For the disciples who dishonored it (for nothing hinders our using the same example again) and preferred the things of God, shine brighter than the sun, having gained an immortal remembrance even after death;

but the Jews who bowed themselves beneath it have become cityless, homeless, without honor, fugitives, uprooted, worthless, and utterly contemptible.

You too, therefore, if you wish to receive glory, thrust glory away;

but if you pursue glory, you will fall away from glory.

And, if you please, let us exercise this reasoning also in the affairs of everyday life.

Whom do we mock in our jeerings? Is it not those who are eager for glory? Then these especially are the ones who are deprived of it, having countless accusers and being dishonored by all.

And whom do we admire, tell me? Is it not those who despise it? Then these are the ones who are glorified.

For just as the rich man is not he who needs much, but he who needs nothing;

so the glorious man is not he who loves glory, but he who looks down upon it;

for this glory is but a shadow of glory.

No one who sees a loaf of bread painted in a picture, though he be ten thousand times gripped by hunger, will lay hold of the painting.

Do not you either, then, pursue shadows;

for this is a shadow of glory, not glory.

And that you may learn that this is so, consider the following:

whenever the thing is slandered among men, whenever it seems to all a thing to be shunned—even to those very ones who desire it—whenever the one who possesses it, or the one who craves it, is ashamed to be called by its name.

Whence, then, comes this desire, one asks, and how does the passion arise? From littleness of soul (for one must not merely accuse but also set right), from an imperfect understanding, from a childish disposition.

Let us therefore cease to be children, and let us become men, and everywhere let us pursue the truth, not the shadows—whether in wealth, in pleasure, in luxury, in glory, or in power;

and this sickness, and many others besides, will cease.

For to pursue shadows is the mark of a madman.

Wherefore Paul also said, 'Awake to righteousness, and sin not.'

For there is yet another madness, more grievous than that which comes from demons, than that which comes from frenzy.

For the one admits of pardon, but this is deprived of all defense, when the soul itself is corrupted and its judgment is no longer upright but has utterly perished;

and the instrument of the frenzy is a bodily affliction, but this madness is of the very craftsman-mind itself.

As, then, among fevers those are more grievous and incurable which fasten upon the solid parts of the body, and lurk deep within the sinews, and lie hidden in the veins;

so also this madness, since it lurks deep in the understanding itself, perverting and ruining it.

For how is it not a plain and manifest madness, and an affliction more grievous than any madness, continually to despise the things that abide, but to cling with all zeal to the things that perish? For tell me, if a man pursued the wind or attempted to seize it, should we not say that he was mad? If a man held on to shadows, neglecting the real things, and hated his own wife but embraced her shadow, or turned away from his son yet loved that son's shadow instead, would you seek any clearer sign than this to prove his madness? Such indeed are these men too, who gape after present things.

For indeed all things are a shadow—whether you name glory, or dominion, or good repute, or wealth, or luxury, or anything else of this life.

For this very reason the prophet also said, 'Surely man walks about in an image;'

and again, 'Our days have declined like a shadow.'

And elsewhere he calls human things smoke and the flower of the grass.

And not only good things are a shadow, but also grievous things—whether you name death, or poverty,

or sickness, or anything else whatsoever.

What then are the things that abide, both the good and the grievous? The eternal kingdom, and the never-ending hell.

For neither shall the worm come to an end, nor shall the fire be quenched;

and these shall rise to life

eternal, and those to eternal punishment.

In order, then, that we may flee the one and enjoy the other, let us leave the shadow and cling with all zeal to the true realities;

for so shall we attain the kingdom of heaven;

which may it be for us all to obtain, by grace and lovingkindness, and so forth.