Homilies on Second Corinthians 9

'Being afflicted in every way, yet not distressed;

perplexed, but not in despair;

persecuted, but not forsaken.'

He still continues showing that the whole is the work of the power of God, repressing the proud thoughts of those who boast in themselves.

For it is not this alone, he says, that is wonderful—that we keep this treasure in earthen vessels—but that even while suffering ten thousand dreadful things and being buffeted on every side, we preserve it and do not lose it.

And yet, even if the vessel had been of adamant, it would not

have had strength to bear so great a treasure, nor would it have sufficed against so many plots;

but as it is, it both bears it and suffers no dreadful thing, because of the grace of God.

'For being afflicted in every way,' he says, 'yet not distressed.'

What is 'in every way'? Among enemies, among friends, in necessities, in the other needs, by foes, by our own household.

And observe how he sets down contrary things, that from this too he may show the strength of God.

'For being afflicted,' he says, 'we are not distressed';

'perplexed, we are not in despair';

that is, we do not fall away utterly.

For in many things we are pained and we fail, but not so as to fall away from the things set before us;

for these things have been permitted by God for our exercise, not for our defeat.

'Persecuted, but not forsaken.'

struck down, yet not destroyed.

For the trials indeed befall us, but the effects that come from the trials do so no longer.

And this too comes to pass through the power and grace of God.

But elsewhere he says that these things were permitted both for the sake of their own humility and for the safety of others.

For 'lest I should be exalted above measure,' he says, 'there was given to me a thorn.'

And again: 'Lest any man should think of me above that which he sees me to be, or that he hears anything from me.'

And again elsewhere: 'That we should not trust in ourselves.'

Here, however: 'That the power of God might be made manifest.'

Do you see how great is the gain from the trials? For they both showed forth the power of God and revealed His grace in greater measure.

'For My grace is sufficient for you,' He says.

And He anointed them unto humility, and prepared others to be restrained, and wrought in them a greater endurance.

'For patience,' he says, 'works experience, and experience hope.'

For those who had fallen into countless dangers, and had recovered themselves through hope in God, were taught to hold fast the more to it in all things.

'Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.'

And what is the dying of the Lord Jesus which they bore about? The daily deaths, through which the resurrection also was shown forth.

'For if anyone disbelieves,' he says, 'that Jesus died and rose again, let him, seeing us who die and rise every day, henceforth believe the resurrection.'

Do you see how he has found yet another cause for the trials? And what is this? 'That His life also might be made manifest in our body,' he says, in His snatching us out of dangers.

So that this very thing, which seems to be of weakness and abandonment, this proclaims His resurrection.

For His power would not have appeared so plainly, had we suffered nothing grievous, as it is now shown, when we suffer indeed, yet are not overcome.

'For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in us in our mortal flesh.'

For everywhere, whenever he says anything obscure, he interprets himself again.

This very thing he did here also, clearly interpreting what he had said.

'For therefore we are delivered up,' he says—that is, we bear about the dying—'that the power of His life might be made manifest,' since He does not suffer mortal flesh, though enduring so much, to be overcome by the storm of evils.

And it may also be understood in yet another way.

How? As he says elsewhere: 'If we died with Him, we shall also live with Him.'

For just as we now endure His death, and, though living, choose to die for His sake,

so also will He then choose to bring us who have died back to life.

For if we pass from life to death, He also will lead us by the hand from death to life.

'So then death works in us, but life in you.'

He is no longer speaking of death, but of trials and of ease.

'For we,' he says, 'are in dangers and in trials, but you are in ease, reaping the life that comes from these dangers;

and we endure the perilous things, while you enjoy the good things;

for you do not endure so many trials.'

'And having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written:'

'we also believe, and therefore also we speak;'

'knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus.'

He has reminded us of a Psalm full of much wisdom, and most fitting.

For that righteous man uttered this saying while in great dangers, out of straits from which there was no other way to recover than through the help of God.

Since therefore he knows especially how to console by what is kindred, for this reason he says, 'Having the same spirit;'

that is, from the same alliance by which that man was saved, we too are saved;

from the Spirit by which he spoke, we also speak.

Whereby he shows that there is great agreement of the New with the Old, and that the same Spirit wrought in both; and that not we alone are in dangers, but all the ancients also were; and that we must set ourselves right by faith and hope, and not seek at once a deliverance from the things that press upon us.

For since he had shown by these reasonings both the resurrection and the life, and that the danger was not of weakness nor of abandonment,

he next introduces faith also, and commits the whole matter to it.

Yet nonetheless he furnishes a proof of this very faith—namely, the resurrection of Christ—saying:

that 'We also believe, and therefore also we speak.'

What do we believe, tell me? That He who raised up Jesus will raise up us also, and will present us with you.

'For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, having abounded, through the thanksgiving of the many, might overflow unto the glory of God.'

Again he fills them with high resolve, that they may not feel gratitude to men—I mean, to the false apostles.

For the whole is God's, who wills to bestow grace upon many, so that the grace may be seen to be the greater.

For your sakes, then, is the resurrection, and all the other things.

For He did not do these things for the sake of one only, but of all.

'But though our outward man is decaying, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.'

How is it decaying? By being scourged, driven about, suffering countless dreadful things.

'But the inward man is renewed day by day.'

How is it renewed? By faith, by hope, by eagerness of spirit.

It remains, then, that one must be bold in the face of dreadful things.

For the more the body suffers countless things, the more excellent are the hopes the soul possesses, and it becomes the brighter, just as gold refined the more in the fire.

And observe how he does away with the griefs of the present life.

'For our momentary light affliction,' he says, 'works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.'

Having shut up the matter into hope—and that which he said in the Epistle to the Romans, that 'By hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope'—establishing this here also, he sets the present things in parallel with the things to come: the momentary against the eternal, the light against the heavy, the affliction against the glory.

And not even with these is he content, but he adds another expression, doubling it, and saying, 'Exceedingly unto excess.'

Then he shows also the manner in which the burden of so many afflictions is light.

How, then, is it light? 'While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.'

Thus this present thing too is light, and that thing to come is great, if we lead ourselves away from the things that are seen.

'For the things which are seen are temporal.'

Therefore the afflictions also are of this kind.

'But the things which are not seen are eternal.'

Therefore the crowns also are of this kind.

And he did not say, 'The afflictions are of this kind,' but, 'All the things which are seen,' whether it be punishment, or whether it be rest.

so that we may neither be made careless by the one nor overborne by the other.

For this reason, even when speaking of things to come, he did not say, 'The kingdom is eternal,' but, 'The things which are not seen are eternal'—whether it be a kingdom, or again whether it be punishment;

so as both to strike fear from the one side, and to urge men onward toward the other.

Since, then, the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal, let us look toward those things.

For what excuse could we possibly have, if we choose the temporal things instead of the eternal? For even though the present be pleasant, yet it is not lasting;

whereas its grievous part is both lasting and beyond pardon.

For what excuse will they have who have been counted worthy of the Spirit and have enjoyed so great a gift, and yet become grovelling and fall down to the earth? For indeed I hear many uttering these ridiculous words:

'Give me today, and take tomorrow.'

'For if things there be such,' he says, 'as you affirm, then it has come out one for one;'

'but if there be nothing at all, then it is two for one.'

What could be more lawless than these words? What more foolish? We are discoursing about heaven, and about those unspeakable good things;

and you drag into our midst the affairs of the horse-races, and are not ashamed nor cover your face while uttering such things as belong to the deranged? Do you not blush, being thus nailed to the things that are present? Will you not cease to rave and be beside yourself and to trifle in your youth? And that Greeks should say such things is no wonder;

but that believing men should talk such folly—what pardon can it have? Do you altogether suspect those immortal hopes? Do you altogether reckon these things to be doubtful? And how are these things worthy of pardon? 'And who,' he says, 'has come and brought back word of what is there?' Of men indeed no one; but God, who is more worthy of belief than all, has declared these things.

'But you do not see the things there.' Neither indeed do you see God;

will you then hold that there is no God, because you do not see Him? 'Nay, I most certainly hold that there is,' he says.

If, then, one of the unbelievers should ask you, 'And who came from heaven and brought back word of these things?'—what will you say? Whence do you know that there is a God? 'From the things that are seen,' he says, 'from the good order that is in all creation, from this being manifest to all.'

Well then, receive the doctrine concerning the judgment in the same way.

This God is just, and renders to each according to his desert;

or is it the contrary—that He wills the unjust to prosper and live in luxury, but the good to be in adversity? By no means, he says;

for not even a man would do this.

Where then shall those who have done well here enjoy good things? And where shall the wicked enjoy the contrary, if there is to be no life and recompense after these things? Do you see that so far it is one for one, and not two for one? But I will show you as I proceed, that it will not even be one for one, but two for one to the righteous, and to the sinners who here live in luxury, the entire contrary.

For those who have here revelled in luxury did not receive even one for one;

but those who spend their lives in virtue receive two for one.

For who are they that live at ease—those who have misused the present life, or those who have lived in self-restraint? You perhaps will name the former, but I point to the latter, calling as witnesses those very men, those who have enjoyed the things present;

and they will not be shameless in the face of what I am about to say.

For indeed they have often cursed the match-makers, and the day on which the bridal chambers were entwined, and have counted blessed those who never married.

And many of the young men, though it was in their power to marry, declined it for no other reason than the burdensomeness of the thing.

And I say these things not to disparage marriage (for it is honourable), but to censure those who have used it ill.

But if those who have entered into marriage have often reckoned life not worth living, what should we say concerning those who have plunged into the pits of harlotry, and have been reduced to a condition more slavish and more wretched than any captive? What of those who have rotted away in luxury, and have wrapped their bodies about with countless diseases? 'But to be in glory is sweet.'

Nay, there is nothing more bitter than this bondage.

For indeed the vainglorious man is more slavish than all bondmen, seeking to please every chance person;

but he who has trodden this under foot is higher than all—the man who takes no thought for the glory that comes from others.

'But to have riches is a thing to be desired.'

But we have often shown that in greater wealth and ease are those who are rid of these things and possess nothing.

And who could deny this? If then not to be rich is sweeter than to be rich, and not to marry than to marry, and not to court vainglory than to court it, and not to live in luxury than to live in luxury;

then even here the greater portion belongs to those who are not nailed to the things present.

And I do not yet mention that the one, even though he be racked with ten thousand torments, has the good hope to bear him up;

whereas the other, even though he enjoy ten thousand delights, has the fear of the future troubling and confounding his pleasure.

For indeed this too is no small kind of punishment, just as the opposite is a kind of luxury and ease.

And besides these there is yet a third kind.

And what is this? That the things of worldly luxury, not even while they exist, appear to be anything, being convicted both by their nature and by time;

but those things not only exist, but also remain unmoved.

so that we shall be able to reckon not merely two for nothing, but even three, and five, and ten, and twenty, and ten thousand for nothing. And that you may learn this very thing by an example: the rich man and Lazarus—the one enjoyed the things present, the other the things to come.

Does it then seem to you to be one and the same—to be punished throughout all time, and to hunger for a brief hour? To be sick in a corruptible body, and to be grievously fried in an immortal one? To be crowned and to revel immortally after that little sickness, and to be tormented without end after that brief enjoyment of things? And who could say such a thing? For what would you have us set down? The quantity, the quality, the ordering of God, His sentence upon each? How long will you utter the words of dung-beetles, of those who wallow perpetually in the mire? For these are not the words of rational men—to fling away a soul so precious for nothing, when for a little labour one might lay hold of the heavens.

Would you have me teach you from yet another quarter, that there is a fearful tribunal there? Open the doors of your conscience, and behold the judge that sits in your understanding.

But if you condemn yourself, and that though you are a lover of self, and could not endure to bring in a judgment that was not just;

will not God much more take great forethought for what is just, and pronounce upon all things His incorruptible sentence, rather than suffer all things to be borne along simply and at random? And who could say such a thing? There is no one;

but both Greeks and barbarians, both poets and philosophers, and the whole race of men agree with us in these matters, even if not in the same way, and affirm that there are certain tribunals in Hades;

so manifest and so acknowledged is the matter.

'And for what reason does He not punish here?' he says.

That He may display His own long-suffering, and grant us the salvation that comes of repentance, and may not then snatch away our race, nor cut off from salvation, before their time, those who through an excellent change might be saved.

For if He straightway punished according to men's sins and destroyed them, how would Paul have been saved, and how Peter, those chief teachers of the world? How would David have reaped the salvation that comes of repentance? How the Galatians? How many others besides? For this very reason He neither exacts punishment of all here, but of some out of all, nor of all there, but the one here and the other there—that both He may rouse the utterly senseless by those He punishes, and may make men look for the things to come by those He does not punish.

Or do you not see many being punished here—such as those who were buried beneath the tower, such as those whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, such as those who died an untimely death among the Corinthians because they partook unworthily of the mysteries, such as Pharaoh, such as those of the Jews who were slaughtered by the barbarians, and many others, both then and now and continually? And others again, though they sinned much, departed without paying the penalty here;

as the rich man in the story of Lazarus, and many others.

And He does these things, both rousing those who disbelieve the things to come, and making more diligent those who believe yet are slothful.

For God is a righteous judge, and strong, and long-suffering, and not bringing on His wrath every day.

But if we abuse His long-suffering, there will be a time when He will no longer be long-suffering even a little, but will straightway bring on the penalty.

Let us not therefore, that we may revel for a single moment (for this is the present life), draw upon ourselves the punishment of ages without end; but let us toil for a moment, that we may be crowned for ever.

Do you not see that even in worldly affairs the greater part of men do thus, and choose the little labour for the sake of the long repose, even though the contrary result befalls them? For here there is an equal share of both toil and gain;

but often it is the reverse—the labour is boundless, but the fruit is scanty;

whereas in the case of the kingdom it is the other way about—the toilsome part is little, but the sweet and boundless part is great.

The husbandman toils throughout the whole year, and at the very end of his hope often falls short of the fruit of his many labours.

Again the pilot and the soldier are in wars and toils even to extreme old age, and often each of them

departed—the one bereft of the wealth of his cargoes, the other having fallen away from both the victory and life itself.

What excuse then shall we have, tell me, if in worldly affairs we prefer the toilsome things, that we may rest a little—or not even a little (for the hope is uncertain);

but in spiritual things do the reverse, and draw upon ourselves unspeakable punishment through a little slothfulness? Wherefore I entreat you all, late though it be, to come to yourselves at last out of this madness.

For no one will deliver us in that day—not brother, not father, not child, not friend, not neighbour, nor any other;

but if we are betrayed by our own works, all will be gone, and we shall utterly perish.

How greatly did that rich man lament, and beseech the patriarch, and ask that Lazarus might be sent? But hear what Abraham said to him:

'There is a great gulf betwixt you and us, so that even to those who would, it is not possible to pass over there.'

How earnestly did those virgins entreat their companions for a little oil! But hear what the others say in reply:

'Lest there be not enough for us and for you.' And no one had power to bring them into the bridal chamber.

And no one had strength to lead them into the bridal chamber.

Reflecting therefore on these things, let us too take care for our own life.

For however many labors you may name, and however many punishments you may set forth, all these together will be as nothing when compared with the good things to come.

Set before yourself, then, if you will, fire and iron and wild beasts, and anything yet more grievous than these;

yet even so, these are not so much as a shadow when set beside those torments.

For these present sufferings, when they are laid on more severely, then above all become light, bringing about a swift release, since the body is not sufficient to endure both the intensity and the length of the chastisement;

but there it is not so; rather both come together, both prolongation and excess, alike in the good things and in the painful.

While therefore there is yet time, let us come before His face with confession, that we may then behold Him mild and serene, and may escape those threatening powers.

Do you not see the soldiers here who serve the rulers, how they drag men, how they bind, how they scourge, how they pierce their sides, how they apply torches to the tortures, how they behead? Yet all these things are but play and laughter compared with those punishments.

For these chastisements are but for a season;

but there neither does the worm die, nor is the fire quenched;

for indeed the body is then incorruptible.

But God forbid that we should learn these things by experience; rather, may the terrors stop for us at the mere word of them;

and may we not be delivered over to those tormentors, but be brought to soberness here.

How much shall we then say, accusing ourselves? How much shall we lament? How much shall we wail? But there will be no profit left in it;

since neither can the sailors, once the ship is broken up and has sunk, be of any further help;

nor the physicians, once the sick man is departed;

but they will often say indeed, 'This and that ought to have been done'; yet all in vain and to no purpose.

For so long as hopes of amendment remain, one must both say and do everything;

but when we are no longer masters of anything, the whole being ruined, everything is both said and done in vain.

For indeed the Jews too will say then, 'Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord';

but they will be able to gain nothing from this cry, so as to escape the punishment;

for when they ought to have said it, they did not say it.

In order, therefore, that we too may not suffer this in the matter of our conduct, let us change even now from this present time, that we may stand before the judgment-seat of Christ with all boldness;

which may it be granted us all to attain, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, and so forth.