Homilies on Colossians 9

Put to death your members that are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; for the sake of which the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience, among whom you also once walked, when you were living in them.

I know that many were displeased at the discourse before this one;

but what am I to do? You heard what the Master commanded.

For am I the cause? What shall I do? Do you not see the creditors, when their debtors act senselessly, how they put collars upon them? Did you hear what Paul cried out today? 'Put to death,' he says, 'your members that are upon the earth—fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.'

What is worse than such covetousness? This is heavier than what I was speaking of—the madness and folly concerning silver.

'And covetousness,' he says, 'which is idolatry';

do you see where the evil ends up? Do not, then, be indignant;

for I do not willingly, nor without reason, wish to have enemies; rather, I would have wished you to come to such a height of virtue that I might hear from you the things that are needful.

So then, this belongs not to authority nor to rank, but to grief and pain.

I do not wish to behave unbecomingly by discoursing on such matters, but I am compelled.

It is not for the sake of the poor's suffering that I say these things, but for the sake of your salvation;

for they shall perish, they shall perish, those who have not fed Christ.

For what if you feed a poor man? Yet so long as you thus live riotously and thus indulge yourself, all is superfluous.

For it is not the giving of much that is required, but the not giving less than one's own substance allows.

'Put to death, therefore, your members,' he says, 'that are upon the earth.'

What do you say? Did you not say that you were buried? that you were buried together with Him? that you were circumcised? that we have put off the body of the sins of the flesh? How then do you again say, 'Put to death'? Do not mock;

do you discourse as though these things were still in us? There is no contradiction;

but just as if someone, having scoured a rust-covered statue—or rather, having recast it in bronze and made it shine bright anew—should say that the rust has been consumed and destroyed, yet should also urge them to be zealous to lay aside the rust, he is not contradicting himself;

for it is not the rust which he scoured off, but that which afterwards comes upon it, that he urges to be put away;

so too he speaks not of the former mortification, nor of those former fornications, but of those that come afterwards.

'But behold,' the heretics say, 'Paul slanders the creation';

for he said before, 'Set your minds on the things above, not on the things upon the earth';

and again he says, 'Put to death your members that are upon the earth.'

But 'upon the earth' here is indicative of sin, not a slandering of the creation.

For thus he calls the sins themselves 'the things upon the earth,' either because they are wrought from an earthly reasoning and upon the earth, or because they show those who sin to be earthy.

'Fornication, uncleanness,' he says.

He passed over the deeds which it is not even seemly to mention, and by the word 'uncleanness' he indicated them all.

'Passion,' he says, 'evil desire.'

Behold, he stated the whole thing generically;

for all things are evil desire—envy, anger, grief.

'And covetousness,' he says, 'which is idolatry.'

'For because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.'

By many considerations he led them away from these;

by the benefits already bestowed, by the coming evils from which we have been delivered, telling who we are, and for what cause, and all those matters.

as, for instance, who we were and in what state, and that we were delivered from them, how and in what manner and upon what conditions.

but more forcible than all is this—unpleasant indeed to tell, yet not without profit, but even profitable:

'For the sake of which,' he says, 'the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.'

He did not say, 'Upon you,' but, 'Upon the sons of disobedience.'

'Among whom you also once walked, when you were living in them.'

By way of putting them to shame, 'When you were living,' he says, 'in them,' and with commendation, as of those who now no longer live in them;

But now do you also put away all these things.

And he speaks both universally, as always, and particularly:

Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth.

'Filthy speech,' he says, 'out of your mouth,' emphatically, because it is this very thing that defiles it.

Having put off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new, which is renewed unto knowledge after the image of Him that created him.

It is worth inquiring here why in the world he calls the corrupt life 'members' and 'a man' and 'a body,' and then again gives the same names to the virtuous life.

And if the sins are the man, how does he say, 'With his deeds'? For he once called it the 'old man,' showing that man is not this thing but that other; for the will is more sovereign than the substance, and this is man rather than that.

For it is not the substance that casts one into hell, nor that leads one into the kingdom, but the will itself; and we neither love nor hate anyone insofar as he is a man, but insofar as he is such and such a man.

If then the substance is the body, and this is not accountable in either case, how does he say that it is evil? (2)

But what does he mean by 'With his deeds'? The will together with the works.

He calls it 'old,' wishing to show its shamefulness, its ill-favoredness, and its feebleness;

and 'new,' as if to say, 'Do not expect,' he says, 'that this one too will suffer the same, but the very opposite;'

for the further it advances, the more it presses on, not toward old age, but toward a youth greater than the former.

For when it receives greater knowledge, and is counted worthy of greater things, it flourishes the more and grows the stronger, not from its youthfulness alone, but also from the form toward which it tends.

Behold, the best manner of life is called a 'creation';

for this is the meaning of 'After the image of Him that created him';

since Christ also did not come to His end in old age, but was so beautiful that one could not even describe it.

Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond, free, but Christ is all, and in all.

Behold a third praise of this man, when neither difference of nation, nor of rank, nor of ancestry comes in, when he has nothing of outward things, nor has need of them;

for all outward things are of this sort.

'bond, free, Greek,' that is, a proselyte;

'and Jew,' that is, one from his ancestors.

If you have only this One, you shall obtain the same things as the others who possess them.

'But Christ,' he says, 'is all, and in all;'

that is, Christ shall be all things to you, both rank and family, and in all things He Himself shall be to you.

Or he means something else, that 'You all became one Christ,' being His body.

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved.

He shows the easiness of virtue, so that one may both hold it continually, and use it as a most excellent adornment.

And the exhortation comes with praise;

for they had become holy, but not elect;

but now they are both elect and holy and beloved.

He did not say 'mercy,' but more emphatically by the two words.

And he did not say that one ought to be disposed toward them as toward brethren, but as fathers toward children.

For do not tell me that he has sinned;

And he did not say 'compassion,' lest he should cheapen them, but 'bowels of compassion.'

Kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;

forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any;

as Christ forgave you, so also do you.

For from kindness comes humility, and from this longsuffering.

'Forbearing,' he says, 'one another,' that is, overlooking one another's faults.

And see how he made it out to be nothing, by calling it a 'quarrel.'

Even as Christ forgave you.

which he always does, urging them on from the example of Christ.

There indeed he showed it to be a small matter;

but when he brought forward the example, he persuaded them that even if we have great things to lay to another's charge, we must forgive.

For the word 'Even as Christ' signifies this;

and not this only, but also that it should be from the whole heart;

and not this only, but that one ought also to love.

For Christ, once brought into the midst, introduces all these things;

namely, that even though the offences be great, even though we chanced not to have been the ones first wronged, even though we be great and they small, even though they be about to insult us afterwards as well, and that we ought even to lay down our life for them;

for the word 'Even as' demands these things;

and that we must not stand firm only unto death, but, if possible, even after that.

And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.

For since it is possible for one who forgives not to love, 'Yes,' he says, 'and to love also,' and he shows the way by which it is possible to forgive.

For it is possible for one to be kind and meek and humble-minded and longsuffering, and yet not to yearn for the other.

Therefore, beginning, he said, 'Bowels of compassion, and love, and mercy.'

And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.

But what he wishes to say is this, that those things are of no profit;

for all those things are dissolved, if they be not done with love.

This binds all those things fast together;

whatever good you may name, if this be absent, it is nothing, but flows away.

And just as in a ship, though the tackling be great, yet if the undergirders be not there, it is of no profit;

and in a house, if there be no bindings;

and in a body, though the bones be great, yet if the ligaments be not there, it is of no profit.

For whatever good deeds one may have, they are all gone, if love be not present.

He did not say that it is the summit, but what is greater, the bond;

this is more necessary than that.

For the summit is the intensifying of perfection, but the bond is the holding together of the things that make up perfection, as it were the root.

And let the peace of God arbitrate in your hearts, unto which also you were called in one body;

The peace of God is this, that which is firmly fixed and secure.

If you have peace on account of a man, it is quickly dissolved;

but if it is on account of God, it is no longer so.

And though he spoke of love in its universal sense, yet again he comes to the particular.

For there is also an immoderate love, as when out of great love a man makes accusations without cause, and picks quarrels, and turns away.

No, he says, I do not want that; but as God made peace toward you, so do you also act.

And how did He make it? By willing it Himself, not by receiving anything from us.

What does it mean, 'Let the peace of God arbitrate in your hearts'? If two reasonings contend, do not let anger take its stand, do not let the spirit of insult win and hold the prize, but let peace win it.

For instance, suppose someone has been unjustly insulted;

from the insult two reasonings are born, the one bidding him retaliate, the other bidding him bear it, and they wrestle with one another.

If the peace of God stands presiding as arbiter, it awards the prize to the reasoning that bids him bear it, and puts the other to shame.

How? By persuading him that God is peace, that He has made peace with us.

Not without reason does he show that the struggle over the matter is great.

Let not anger, he says, arbitrate, nor contentiousness, nor a merely human peace;

for human peace comes from retaliating, from suffering no harm.

But it is not this peace I want, he says, but that other, which Christ Himself left us.

He has made an arena within, among the reasonings, and a contest and a wrestling and an arbiter.

that is, 'unto which you were also called.'

He reminded them of how many good things peace is the cause.

For this He called you, on account of this He called you, so as to make it credible.

For why did He make us one body? Was it not that this peace might prevail? Was it not that we might have an occasion for keeping peace? Why are we all one body? And how are we one body? Through peace we are one body, and because we are one body, we keep peace.

But why did he not say, 'Let the peace of God conquer,' but 'Let it arbitrate'? He made it more worthy of trust.

He did not permit the wicked reasoning to wrestle against it, but to stand beneath it.

And the very name of 'prize' roused the hearer.

For if it were to award the prize to the good reasoning, no matter how shamelessly the other behaved, there would be no further profit.

But otherwise, that wicked reasoning knows that, whatever it may do, it will not receive the prize;

however hard it may breathe and attempt to assail more violently, since it labors to no purpose it will desist.

And well did he add, 'And be thankful.'

For this is to be thankful, and that in a way that greatly puts one to shame: to treat one's fellow servants in the same manner as God treats oneself; to yield to the Master, to obey, to give thanks for all things, even if someone insults or strikes.

For surely he who gives thanks to God for what he has suffered will not avenge himself on the one who did it;

since he who avenges himself does not give thanks.

But let us not become like that man who owed the hundred denarii, lest we hear, 'Wicked servant';

for nothing is worse than this ingratitude.

So then, those who avenge themselves are ungrateful.

But why did he come first to fornication? For having said, 'Put to death your members which are upon the earth,' he immediately says, 'Fornication,' and he does this almost everywhere.

Because this passion especially holds sway;

for indeed, when writing to the Thessalonians also, he did this.

And what wonder? seeing that to Timothy also he says, 'Keep yourself pure';

and again in another place, 'Pursue peace with all men, and sanctification, without which no one shall see the Lord.'

'Put to death,' he says, 'your members.'

You know what a dead thing is like: hateful, abominable, decaying.

If you put it to death, it does not remain dead, but is at once corrupted, just as the body.

Quench then the heat, and nothing remains dead.

He shows this doing the very thing which Christ did at the laver;

for this reason too he calls them 'members';

as though bringing in some champion, and leading on to a greater emphasis.

And well did he say, 'Which are upon the earth';

for here it abides, and here it perishes, far more than these members of the body.

So then the body is not so much from the earth as sin is earthy;

for the body at times even appears fair, but those things never do.

And these members lust after all the things upon the earth.

If the eye be such, it does not see the things in the heavens;

if the hearing, if the hand, if you name whatever member.

The eye sees bodies and beauties and riches;

these are the things from the earth, in these it delights;

in what is soft and effeminate, in harp and pipe and foul talk.

Since then he had set them on high beside the throne, then he says, 'Put to death your members which are upon the earth.'

For it is not possible to stand on high together with these members;

for there is no place there for that in which they must be active.

And this clay is worse than that other;

for that clay becomes gold;

for, he says, 'This corruptible must put on incorruption';

but this clay can no longer be smelted and recast.

So then these things are upon the earth more than those.

For this reason he did not say 'From the earth,' but 'Which are upon the earth';

for it is possible for these not to be from the earth.

For these things must of necessity be upon the earth, but those are no longer of necessity.

For when the hearing hears nothing of the things here, but of the things spoken in the heavens; when the eye sees nothing of the things here, but of the things above, it is not upon the earth;

when the mouth utters nothing of the things here, it is not upon the earth;

when the hand does nothing of the wicked things, it is not of the things upon the earth, but of the things in the heavens.

This too Christ says: 'If your right eye offends you'—that is, 'If you look with unchastity, cut it out';

That is to say, the wicked reasoning.

But it seems to me that by 'fornication,' 'uncleanness,' 'passion,' and 'evil desire' he means one and the same thing, namely fornication, drawing us away from the matter through all these terms.

Drawing us away from the matter through all these expressions.

For this is in truth a passion.

And just as the body suffers, whether it is stricken with fever or wounded, so also is it with this.

And he did not say, 'Restrain,' but 'Mortify,' so that it may never rise up again.

What is put to death we cast off.

For example, if there are calluses upon the body, that part of the body is dead, and we cast it off.

But if you cut it while it is still living, it causes pain; whereas if it has been mortified, we do not even feel it.

But if it has been mortified, we feel nothing at all.

So indeed it is also with the passions.

It makes the soul unclean; it renders passible the soul that is immortal.

How covetousness is called idolatry, we have often explained.

For the things that most tyrannize over the human race are these: covetousness, licentiousness, and evil desire.

On account of which things, he says, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

He calls them 'sons of disobedience,' depriving them of pardon and showing that it is because of their refusal to be persuaded that they are in these sins.

'Among whom,' he says, 'you also once walked, and were persuaded.'

He shows them to be still among them, and thus he commends them, saying:

'But now do you also put away all these: wrath, anger, malice.'

He directs his discourse not against them but against others, so as not to wound them.

And by 'blasphemies' he means revilings, just as he calls wickedness 'anger.'

But elsewhere, by way of shaming them, he says that 'We are members one of another.'

As though he were fashioning them into craftsmen of men, the one casting away, the other receiving.

There he said 'the members'; here he says 'all things'—the heart, the wrath, the mouth, the blasphemy, the eyes, the fornication, the covetousness, hands and feet, falsehood, the very understanding, and the old mind.

It has one royal form, that of Christ.

These, against whom he directs his words, seem to me to be rather of the Gentiles, showing that the members have one royal form, even though one be greater and another lesser.

For just as the earth, being sand, first loses its own form and afterward becomes golden;

and just as wool, of whatever sort it may be, takes on another appearance and hides its former one;

'Forbearing,' he says, 'one another.'

Do you bear with him, and he with you;

which very thing he says in the Epistle to the Galatians: 'Bear one another's burdens.'

'And be thankful,' he says.

Indeed, he seeks this above all, everywhere;

for this is the sum of all good things.

Let us therefore give thanks in all things, whatever may happen;

For to do this in prosperity is no great thing;

for the very nature of the circumstances impels one to it;

but when, being in the most extreme straits, we give thanks, then it is marvelous.

For when, in circumstances over which others blaspheme and despair, we give thanks, see how great is the wisdom.

First, you have gladdened God;

second, you have put the devil to shame;

third, you have shown what has happened to be nothing.

For at the same moment that you give thanks, God cuts short the pain, and the devil departs.

For if you despair, then, having accomplished what he wished, he stands over you; and God, being blasphemed, forsakes you, and the calamity is intensified;

but if you give thanks, then, as one profiting nothing, he departs; and God, being honored, honors you in return the more greatly;

and it is impossible for a man who gives thanks amid evils to feel the evils.

For the soul rejoices as one that has done rightly; straightway it has a cheerful conscience, and delights in its own praises;

and it is impossible for the cheerful soul to be gloomy.

But there, along with the misfortune, the conscience also presses in, scourging;

whereas here it crowns and proclaims aloud.

Nothing is holier than that tongue which, amid evils, gives thanks to God;

in truth it falls nothing short of that of the martyrs;

in like manner both this one and that one is crowned.

For over this one too there stands an executioner, compelling him to deny God through blasphemy; the devil stands over him, tearing him with executioner-like reasonings, with despondencies.

If therefore one bears the pains and gives thanks, he has obtained the crown of martyrdom.

For instance, a child is sick, and the parent gives thanks to God;

Than what torture is despondency not worse? Yet it does not compel one to cast forth a bitter word.

Again she gave thanks? She has become a daughter of Abraham.

For even if she did not slay with her own hand, yet she rejoiced in the sacrifice, which is the same thing;

for she was not vexed when the gift was taken.

She did not make amulets? It is reckoned to her as martyrdom;

for she offered up her son in her resolve.

For what if those things profit nothing at all, but are a matter of deceit and mockery? Yet nevertheless there were those persuading her that they profit;

and she chose rather to see her child dead than to endure idolatry.

Just as, therefore, this woman is a martyr, whether she does this thing in her own case, or in the case of her child, or of her husband, or of any other of those most dear to her;

so the other woman is an idolatress.

For it is plain that she would have sacrificed, had there been anything to sacrifice;

or rather, she has already done the deed of sacrifice.

For as to the amulets—even though those who make a living from them philosophize ten thousand times, saying that 'we invoke God, and do nothing more,' and all such things, and that the old woman is a Christian and a believer—the practice is idolatry.

Are you a believer? Then make the sign of the cross; say so.

This weapon alone I have, this remedy alone.

Tell me, if a physician should come and, laying aside the medicines of his art, resort to chanting incantations, shall we call this man a physician? By no means.

For we do not see in him the medicines of the healing art.

So neither here do we see the medicines of Christianity.

Others again attach the names of rivers, and dare countless such things.

Behold, I declare and foretell to you all, that if any be caught doing so, I will not spare him again—whether he make an amulet, or an incantation, or anything else of that kind of craft.

'What then,' one says, 'is the child to die?' If it live in this way, then it has died; but if it die without those things, then it has lived.

But if it die apart from those things, then it has lived.

But now, if you see him consorting with harlots, you pray that he be buried, and you say:

'For what profit is there in his living?' Yet when you see him in peril for his salvation, do you wish to see him alive? Have you not heard Christ saying that 'He who loses his life shall find it,

but he who finds it shall lose it'? Do you believe the words that were spoken, or do they seem to you to be fables? Tell me then, if someone should say, 'Take him into an idol's temple, and he shall live,' would you endure it? 'No,' he says.

Why? 'Because it compels to idolatry.'

'But here,' he says, 'there is no idolatry, but merely an incantation.'

For this is the satanic device, this the diabolical stratagem: to conceal the deception, and to administer the deadly drug in honey.

Since he knows he cannot persuade you by that route, he has traveled this road—to amulets and old wives' fables.

And the cross is dishonored, while the written charms are given preference;

Christ is cast out, and a drunken, doting old woman is brought in;

our mystery is trampled underfoot, and the deception of the devil dances in triumph.

'Why then,' one says, 'does not God convict it?' In many places He has convicted the help that comes from such things, and yet He has not persuaded you.

'For God,' Scripture says, 'gave them over to a reprobate mind.'

But these things not even a Greek in his right mind would tolerate.

It is told that once at Athens a certain demagogue had such things hung upon him;

then a certain philosopher, that man's teacher, seeing it, rebuked, blamed, stung, and ridiculed him.

But we are in so wretched a condition that we even put faith in these things.

'And why,' one says, 'are there not now those who raise the dead and accomplish healings?' Why, for the present I do not say;

but why are there not now those who despise the present life? Why do we serve God for a reward? When human nature was weaker, when the faith needed to be planted, there were many such men;

but now He does not wish us to hang upon these signs, but to be ready for death.

Why then do you cling to the present life? Why do you not look to the things to come? And for the sake of this life you even endure to practice idolatry, but for the sake of that life you cannot restrain even a fit of despondency? For this reason there are not now such men, because that life has appeared worthless in our eyes, seeing that

for the sake of that life we do nothing, but for the sake of this present life we decline to endure nothing.

And what of that other absurdity—ashes and soot and salt? And again the little old woman brought into the midst?

'And an eye,' she says, 'has snatched the child.'

How long shall these satanic practices continue? How shall the Greeks not laugh? How shall they not mock, when we tell them, 'Great is the power of the cross'? How shall they be persuaded, when they see us needing the very things they themselves deride? Was it for this that God gave physicians and medicines? What then, if those do not heal, but the child departs? Where does it depart to, tell me, wretched and miserable one? Does it depart to the demons? Does it depart to some tyrant? Does it not depart to heaven? Does it not depart to its own Master? Why then do you grieve? Why do you weep? Why do you mourn? Why do you love the child more than your Master? Do you not have this child also through Him? Why are you ungrateful, loving the gift more than the Giver? 'But I am weak,' one says, 'and cannot bear the fear of God.'

For if in bodily ills the greater hides the lesser, much more, if fear were present in the soul, would fear have dissolved fear, and grief grief.

Was the child beautiful? Yet whatever it may be, it is not fairer than Isaac.

Was it born to you in old age? So was he.

But is it comely? Yet whatever it may be, it is not fairer than Moses, who drew even a barbarian's gaze to desire, and that at the very age when the bloom of youth does not yet appear;

yet nevertheless his parents cast this beloved one into the river.

You, at least, both see him lying there, and deliver him to burial, and go to the tomb;

but they did not even know whether he would be food for fishes, or for dogs, or for some other of the beasts that feed in the sea;

and this they did, knowing as yet nothing about the kingdom, nor about the resurrection.

But is it not an only child, but did it too depart after many others? Yet not as with Job was the calamity sudden and more grievous;

for the roof did not fall in, nor were they feasting in the midst of it, nor were the disasters announced one upon another.

But was it loved by you? Yet not more than Joseph, who became the prey of wild beasts;

yet nevertheless bear the calamity, and the one after it, and the one after that.

The father wept, but did not commit impiety;

he mourned, but did not lose heart, but stopped short at these words, saying:

'Joseph is not, Simeon is not, and will you take Benjamin also? Upon me have all these things come.'

Do you see how the tyranny of famine persuaded that man to make light of his children;

yet with you the fear of God does not have as much force as famine had? Weep—I do not forbid it—but neither say nor do anything blasphemous.

Whatever the child may be, it is not as Abel;

yet Adam said nothing of the sort.

And yet that calamity was grievous;

for what is more grievous than to have had one's brother slain? But since I have opportunely called to mind others also who slew their brothers—

such as when Absalom slew Amnon the firstborn;

and David the king loved the child, and yet sat in sackcloth and ashes.

He neither brought in soothsayers nor enchanters, though there were such at that time;

what that righteous man did, do you also;

say the same words when the child dies:

'I shall go to him, but he shall not come to me.'

This is wisdom, this is tender affection.

However much you may love the child, you do not love it so much as he loved his then;

in that blessed man the yearning for the mother was at its height, even though the child was born of adultery.

And you know that offspring share in the deep affection borne toward those who begat them.

And so great was his love, that he wished even his accuser to live;

yet nevertheless he gave thanks to God.

What do you think Rebecca suffered, when the brother threatened Jacob? She did not grieve her husband, but bade him send the son away.

Consider things worse than these whenever you suffer some grievous thing, and you will have sufficient consolation;

and reckon: what if it had died in war? What if in fire? And whatever we may

suffer, let us think upon the more terrible things, and we shall have consolation enough;

and let us ever look around at those who have suffered more terrible things, and consider whether we ourselves have ever suffered heavier ones.

So too Paul exhorts, as when he says:

'You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin,' and again, 'No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man.'

Whatever, then, we may suffer, let us look about us at the worse things;

for we shall find them, and thus shall we become thankful.

But above all, let us give thanks for all things without ceasing;

for thus these very things also shall cease, and we shall live to the glory of God, and shall attain the good things that have been promised;

which may it be granted to us all to attain, by the grace and love toward man of our Lord Jesus Christ.