Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 50

But Paul, perceiving that the one part was of the Sadducees

and the other of the Pharisees, cried out in the council:

'Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee;

concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged.'

And when he had said this, there arose a dissension between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and the multitude was divided.

For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit;

but the Pharisees confess both.

Again he reasons in a human way, and does not everywhere enjoy the benefit of grace, but is even permitted to contribute something of his own;

And this indeed is what he does; both in this and in what follows he makes his defense, wishing to divide the multitude that was wickedly of one mind against him.

And here too he does not lie, when he calls himself a Pharisee;

for he was a Pharisee from his forefathers.

For this reason he makes his defense in this manner:

'I am a Pharisee, a son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged.'

For since those men were unwilling to say for what reason they were judging him, he is therefore constrained himself to declare it openly.

But the Pharisees, he says, confess both.

How then does he say 'both'? Either because spirit and angel are one, or because the expression is taken to refer not only to two but even to three.

So he spoke thus in a loose sense, and not with strict propriety of speech.

When he took his stand with them, then they make their defense on his behalf.

'For there arose,' it says, 'a great outcry;'

'and the scribes of the party of the Pharisees rose up and contended, saying:'

'We find nothing evil in this man.'

'And if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.'

And why did they not make their defense on his behalf before this? Because he had not yet mingled with them, nor was it evident, before he made his defense, that he was a Pharisee from of old.

Do you see, when the passions have given way, how the truth is found? And what they say is this:

What sort of charge is it, if an angel spoke to him, if a spirit, and having been instructed by it he thus teaches concerning the resurrection? Let us therefore withdraw from him, lest by warring against him we be found also to be fighters against God.

See how prudently they plead in his defense, and how Paul gives them no handle against himself.

And when a great dissension had arisen, the tribune, fearing lest Paul should be torn to pieces by them, commanded the troops to go down and snatch him out of their midst, and to bring him into the barracks.

The tribune is now afraid, lest he be torn to pieces, since he had said that he was a Roman;

whence indeed the matter was not without danger.

Do you see that he rightly confessed himself to be a Roman? For otherwise not even now would he have been afraid.

And the troops then snatch him away.

But when the abominable men saw that all was to no purpose, they do the whole thing by themselves, having wished it even before this, but having been hindered.

So nowhere does wickedness stand still, though checked by so many obstacles;

and yet how much had been so ordered, that their wrath might be abated, and that they might learn by what means they could recover themselves!

But none the less they set upon him.

That defense at least was sufficient—that the man who was about to be torn to pieces should be snatched away, and should escape so many dangers;

'But on the following night the Lord stood by him and said:'

'For as you have testified concerning me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.'

'And when it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under a curse, neither to eat nor to drink until they had killed Paul.'

'And there were more than forty who had made this conspiracy.'

'They bound themselves under a curse,' it says.

Do you see how vehement and combative they are in wickedness? What is the meaning of 'They bound themselves under a curse'? It stands for this: they said they would be outside the faith toward God, unless they carried out their design against Paul.

So then those men are forever under a curse;

for they did not kill Paul.

And forty come together at once.

For such is that nation: whenever they must agree for a good end, not even two run together;

but when for an evil end, a whole populace.

And they take even the rulers as partners;

wherefore, to make this plain, he added:

'Who came to the chief priests and the elders, and said:'

'We have bound ourselves under a solemn curse to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.'

'Now therefore, you together with the council make it known to the tribune, that he bring him down to you, as though you were about to determine his case more precisely;'

'and we, before he draws near, are ready to kill him.'

'But when the son of Paul's sister heard of the ambush, he came and entered the barracks and reported it to Paul.'

'And Paul, having called one of the centurions, said:'

'Lead this young man to the tribune;'

'for he has something to report to him.'

'So he took him and brought him to the tribune.'

Again he is saved by human forethought.

Paul lets no one learn of it, not even the centurion, so that the matter might not become widely known.

'And the centurion came and reported to the tribune, saying:'

'Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you, since he has something to tell you.'

'And the tribune took him by the hand, and withdrawing privately, inquired:'

'What is it that you have to report to me?' And he said, that the Jews had agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were about to inquire something more precisely concerning him.

'You therefore, do not be persuaded by them;'

'for more than forty men of them lie in wait, who have bound themselves under a curse neither to eat nor to drink until they have killed Paul;'

'and now they are ready, awaiting the promise from you.'

'So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him to tell no one that you have disclosed these things to me.'

The tribune does well to command that it be hidden, so that it should not become known.

And then he speaks to the centurions, at the very time when it also had to be done:

and thereupon he is sent to Caesarea, that there too he might discourse before a greater theater and a more illustrious audience;

that the Jews might not be able to say, 'If we had seen Paul, we would have believed, if we had heard him teaching.'

And so this excuse of theirs is thereby cut off.

'And the Lord,' it says, 'stood by him and said to him:'

'For as you have testified concerning me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.'

See how, even after appearing to him, he again permits him to be saved in a human way.

And it is worthy of amazement in Paul, how he was not thrown into confusion, nor said:

'What then does this mean? Have I perhaps been deceived by Christ?' But he thought no such thing, nor did he suffer such a feeling, but only believed.

It was not because he believed that he fell asleep, but because he was unable, by human wisdom, to comprehend the things at hand.

And observe how those men laid a certain necessity upon themselves through the curse.

Behold, fasting is here the mother of murder!

Just as Herod laid upon himself the necessity arising from his oath,

For such are the snares of the devil:

under the pretense, forsooth, of piety he sets his traps.

And indeed they ought to have come forward, they ought to have laid a charge, to have convened a tribunal;

for these deeds belong not to priests but to bandit-chiefs, not to rulers but to destroyers.

Not content with destroying one another, they attempt also to destroy the ruler together with themselves;

wherefore it was so ordered that he too should learn of their plot.

But they, not only by having nothing to say, but also by attempting the thing secretly, convicted themselves of being nothing.

And it is likely that even after he had been sent away, the chief priests came making their request, and were put to shame, being dismissed with nothing accomplished.

And with good reason does the tribune do this;

for he was by no means willing either to grant them a favor or to yield his assent.

And how, one may ask, did he believe that the things reported by the young man were true? From what had already happened he conjectured that this too was a likely thing for them to do.

just as they had laid a compulsion upon the chief priests as well.

For if they themselves chose so great a thing and took upon themselves every danger, much more was it likely that those others would also do this.

Do you see how through the verdict of those outside Paul is proved innocent, even as Christ also was before Pilate? But behold too how wickedness is destroyed by its own self.

For they delivered him up, so as both to slay and to condemn him;

but the contrary comes to pass, and he is saved and found innocent.

For had it not been so, he would surely have been torn in pieces;

had it not been so, he would surely have perished, would surely have been condemned.

And the tribune not only rescues him from that onset, but even becomes his minister, so that he might be brought safely through, without danger, with so great an escort;

And having summoned two of the centurions, he said:

'Make ready for me two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen, from the third hour of the night, and provide beasts, that they may set Paul upon them and bring him safely to Felix the governor';

having written a letter containing this form:

'Claudius Lysias, to the most excellent governor Felix, greeting.

This man, having been seized by the Jews and being about to be slain by them, I rescued, coming upon them with the troop, having learned that he is a Roman;

and wishing to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down into their council.

Whom I found accused concerning questions of their law, but having no charge against him worthy of death or of bonds.

And when it was disclosed to me that a plot against the man was about to be laid by the Jews from among themselves, I sent him to you, having also charged his accusers to state before you the things they had against him.'

Observe too that the letter contains a defense on his behalf ('For,' he says, 'I found no charge against him worthy of death'), but an accusation against those others, or rather against this man himself:

And first he says that 'Being about to be slain by the Jews, I rescued him';

then he adds that 'And I brought him down to them';

and not even so did those men find anything to charge him with;

and whereas they ought to have been struck with dismay at the former thing and put to shame, they attempt again to slay him, so that once more the word in his behalf became yet more illustrious.

And why then does he send the accusers? That in the tribunal, where these matters are more strictly examined, he might be found innocent.

Let us therefore examine from the beginning the things that have been said.

'I,' he says, 'am a Pharisee.'

This he said in order to draw them over to himself.

Then, that he might not seem to be flattering them, he adds:

'Concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged.'

From their own accusation and slander he establishes himself;

for the Sadducees say that there is no angel, nor spirit.

The Sadducees acknowledge nothing incorporeal—perhaps not even God—being a gross and carnal sort of men;

whence they are unwilling even to believe that there is a resurrection.

'And there arose,' it says, 'scribes of the party of the Pharisees, and contended.'

'We find no evil in this man.'

The tribune too hears that the Pharisees acquitted him of the charges, and gave their vote in his favor; and with greater boldness he snatches him away.

And the very words spoken by Paul were full of wisdom.

And on the following night the Lord stood by him and said:

'For as you have testified concerning me at Jerusalem, so must you bear witness also at Rome.'

First he praises him, then he does not permit him to be afraid even of the uncertainty of the journey to Rome;

'You shall not only depart thither, but shall also exercise so great a boldness.'

Hereby it was shown not that he should be saved, but that he should also bear witness amid great crowns in the great city.

But why did He not appear to him before he fell into the danger? Because God ever comforts us in tribulations (for then He appears more longed-for), and trains us in the midst of dangers.

And besides, at that former time he was at ease, having been released from his bonds;

but now dreadful things were about to overtake him.

'Because we have bound ourselves under a curse,' it says, 'to eat nothing nor to drink.'

they subject themselves to the curse without reason.

'That he might bring him down,' it says, 'to you, as though about to examine more accurately the things concerning him.'

What say you? Did he not address you a second time? Did he not call himself a Pharisee? What then was the point of it? Thus they feared nothing—neither tribunals nor laws;

so utterly was there nothing that they would not dare.

They both propose the plan and undertake the deed.

'And when the son of Paul's sister heard of the ambush'

This henceforth was of God's dispensation—that they did not perceive that he would hear of it.

What then does Paul do? He was not thrown into confusion, but perceived that this was God's work;

and having cast the whole matter upon Him, he had his salvation as good as accomplished.

And observe how God ordered all things unto good.

The young man told the plot, he was believed, and thus henceforth Paul is preserved.

And if he was acquitted of the charge, why then did they send the accusers? So that the examination might be made more exact,

so that the man might be all the more cleared.

Such are the dispensations of God:

by the very things through which we seem to be harmed, through these we are profited.

So too Joseph was plotted against by his mistress;

and she seemed indeed to be plotting against him, yet in plotting she established him in safety.

For the prison was far gentler than that house in which that wild beast was being nourished.

For while he was there, even though he was waited upon, yet he lived in continual fear, lest at some time his mistress should assail him; and this fear pressed upon him more grievously than a prison.

But after the accusation he was thenceforth in freedom from fear and in quiet, delivered from that beast, from its shamelessness and from its plotting.

For it was better for him to be together with wretched men than with a raving mistress.

Here, then, he could console himself, that it was for the sake of chastity that he had fallen;

but there he had been in dread lest he should receive the blow upon his very soul.

For nothing is more oppressive to a young man than a woman in love with him when he is unwilling; nothing more accursed, nothing more burdensome;

this is more grievous than all bonds.

So that he did not fall into a prison, but was set free from a prison;

she did not make his master an enemy to him, but reconciled him to God, and made him more intimate with the true Master, the real one;

she cast him out from his oversight in the house, but she made him a member of the Master's household.

Again, his brothers sold him, but they delivered him from dwelling together with enemies, from envy and much malice, from daily plotting; they set him far away from those who hated him.

For what is worse than this, when one is compelled to dwell together with brothers who envy him, when one is held in suspicion, when one is plotted against? So that these men and that woman did indeed one thing, but great things were being dispensed on behalf of the righteous man.

When he was in honor, then he was in danger;

when he was in dishonor, then he was in safety;

the eunuchs did not remember him;

and rightly so, that the occasion of his going forth might become more glorious;

that the whole thing might be reckoned not to human favor, but to divine dispensation;

that, coming forward at the opportune moment when there was need, he might bring it to pass;

that Pharaoh might cast him out of the prison not as one conferring a benefit, but as one receiving a benefit.

that the gift should not become a slave, but that the king should be brought into need;

for it was necessary that his wisdom should become manifest.

For this reason the eunuch forgets him, that Egypt might not fail to know him, that the king might not remain ignorant of him.

For if he had been brought out then, perhaps he would even have desired to depart to his own land;

for this reason he is held fast by a thousand necessities, first by servitude, secondly by the prison, thirdly in the kingdom, that these things might be dispensed.

As, then, when a noble colt wishes to leap away to its own kind, God held him back there through glorious causes.

For that he longed to see his father and to relieve him of his grief is plain from his summoning him thither.

Would you have us also look at other plots, that they come to pass for our sake, not only in that they carry a reward, but also in that at that very moment they accomplish what is for our good? This man's uncle plotted against his father and drove him from his fatherland;

what then? He too set him far away from the danger;

for he too came to be in safety;

it made him more given to wisdom, it caused him to behold the dream.

But did he serve in a foreign land? Yet going to his own kin he receives a bride, and appears worthy in the eyes of his father-in-law.

But did that man too deceive him? Yet this also turned out for good, that he might become the father of many children.

But did he wish to plot against him? Yet this too was for good, that he might at length return to his own land;

for if he had been in prosperity, he would not so have longed for his own country.

But did he take away his wages? Yet the more was gained.

Thus everywhere, the more they were plotted against, by so much the more did their affairs flourish.

If he had not taken the elder daughter, he would not so quickly have become the father of so many children, but would have dragged out a long time in childlessness, and would have mourned even as the wife did.

For she indeed mourned with good reason, inasmuch as she had not become a mother;

but he had consolation;

wherefore he even thrusts her aside.

Again, if he had not deprived him of his wages, he would not have longed to see his own land, the man's love of wisdom would not have appeared, they would not have been more closely bound to him.

'By devouring he has devoured us and our money.'

So that this became the cause of their affection.

He had handmaids thenceforth in place of wives, and was loved by them, than which possession nothing could be equal;

for nothing, nothing is more precious than thus to be loved by a woman and to love.

'And a wife,' it says, 'accommodating herself to her husband.'

This one thing the wise man sets among the things to be counted blessed;

for when this is present, all wealth, all prosperity abounds;

just as, on the other hand, when it is absent, there is no profit in the rest, but everything is overturned and full of unpleasantness and confusion.

Therefore let us also seek this before all things.

He who seeks money does not seek this.

Let us seek those things which are able to be lasting.

Let us not seek a marriage from the wealthy, lest the immoderation of substance beget arrogance in the wife, lest that arrogance become the cause of ruin.

Do you not see what God has done? how he subjected her? Why are you ungrateful? why are you insensible? That which he graciously gave you from nature, do not corrupt its help.

So that one must not seek a wealthy wife, but that we may take a partner of life for the establishment of the bearing of children.

It was not that a wife might bring in money that God gave her, but that she might be a helper.

But she who brings in money becomes also a plotter [and a mistress instead of a wife;

or perhaps a wild beast instead of a wife], claiming to be high-minded on account of her wealth.

Nothing is more shameful than a man who plans to grow rich in this way.

For if wealth itself is full of temptations, where shall we place wealth gained in this manner? For do not look at it, if someone rarely and contrary to expectation and beyond reason has succeeded;

for neither in the other matters which some enjoy, and at which they succeed unexpectedly, ought we to give heed;

but let us look at the thing according to reason itself, whether the matter is not full of countless unpleasantnesses.

You yourself are not only brought into disrepute, but you also put your children to shame, leaving them poor, should it come to pass that you depart before her, and you give her many occasions again to consort with a second bridegroom.

Or do you not see that this has become for many the occasion of a second marriage—the wish not to be despised, the seeking of those who will watch over one's possessions? Let us not, then, work so many evils for the sake of money;

but let us forsake all things, and seek a beautiful soul,

that we may also obtain love.

This is the great wealth, this the mighty treasure, these the countless good things;

of all which may it be granted us to have due enjoyment, and to live according to the laws of God, that we may be able also to attain the good things to come, 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.