Homilies on Ephesians 14

Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor, because we are members one of another.

'Be angry, and sin not;'

'let not the sun go down upon your wrath;'

'neither give place to the devil.'

Having spoken of the old man in a general way, he next proceeds to describe him also in detail.

For this kind of teaching is more easily learned, when we learn it also part by part.

And what does he say? 'Wherefore, putting away falsehood.'

What sort of falsehood? Does he mean the idols? By no means.

For these things too are indeed a falsehood;

for they have nothing in common with those idols.

Rather, he means falsehood toward one another, that is to say, the deceitful and the treacherous.

'Let each one speak truth with his neighbor.'

Then he adds what is yet more likely to shame them: 'For we are members'

'one of another; let no one deceive his neighbor;'

which the Psalmist says over and over again:

'Deceitful lips are in the heart, and in the heart he has spoken evil things.'

For there is nothing, nothing whatever, that so produces enmity as to deceive and to defraud.

Observe how everywhere he puts them to shame by means of the body.

'Let not the eye,' he says, 'lie to the foot, nor the foot to the eye.'

For instance, if there be a deep pit, and then above it, upon the ground, reeds are laid out and covered over with earth, so that on the surface it presents to the eyes the appearance of solid ground, will not the eye make use of the foot, and learn whether what is below is empty and hollow, or whether it holds firm and resists? Does the foot lie, and not rather report the very thing that it is? And again: if the eye see a serpent or a wild beast, does it lie to the foot? Does it not at once report it, and the foot, learning this from it, no longer advances?

And what of this? When neither the eye nor the foot is able to discern, but the whole matter belongs to the sense of smell—as, for instance, whether something is a deadly poison or not—does the sense of smell lie to the mouth? By no means.

Why so? Because it would also destroy itself along with it;

rather, it tells exactly what presents itself to it.

And what of this? Does the tongue lie to the stomach? Does it not, when a thing is bitter, cast it out, but when it is sweet, pass it on? Behold the ministry and the mutual repayment of service;

behold a providence born out of truth, and, as one might say, done with all zeal and heartiness.

So then let us also not lie to one another, if we are members one of another.

This is a token of friendship, but the opposite is a token of enmity.

'What then,' someone says, 'if he plots against me?' Learn the truth:

for if he plots against you, he is no longer a member.

But he said, 'Do not lie to the members.'

'Be angry, and sin not.'

He tells us how we may not sin, and even when we have disobeyed, he does not abandon us again;

for his spiritual bowels of compassion do not let us go.

For just as the physician prescribes to the sick man what he must do, and even when the patient will not endure it, still does not despise him, but bringing in counsel by way of persuasion, heals him once more—so also does Paul.

For the one who acts in that former way seeks only his own glory, and is stung because he was despised;

but the one who everywhere seeks the health of the sick man looks to this one thing alone—how he may raise up the one that is laid low.

And if at any time anger should arise from a falsehood, this too he heals once more.

For what does he say? 'Be angry, and sin not.'

For it is a good thing not to be angry at all;

but if a man should at some time fall into the passion, yet let it not be to such an excess.

'For let not the sun,' he says, 'go down upon your wrath.'

Do you wish to have your fill of anger? One hour suffices you, or a second, or a third;

let not the sun depart, leaving you enemies.

It rose from goodness; let it not depart having shone upon the unworthy.

For if the Master sent it forth out of his great goodness, and He indeed forgave you your sins, but you do not forgive your neighbor, consider how great the evil is.

The blessed Paul fears the night, lest, catching the injured man still inflamed in his solitude, it should rekindle the fire.

For as long as many things are beating it back, while it is yet day, you are able to take your fill of it;

but when evening is about to come on, be reconciled, and quench the evil while it is yet fresh.

For if night overtakes it, the following day will not suffice to quench the evil that was gathered and heaped up in the night;

but even though you should cut away the greater part, yet not be able to remove the whole, from what is left it again gives the next night power to make the flame more violent.

And just as the sun, if it cannot with its daily warmth soften and disperse the part of the air that has been clouded and thickened through the night, furnishes occasion for a storm, since the night lays hold of the remnant and again nourishes it with fresh vapors—

'Neither give place to the devil.'

So then, to war against one another is to give place to the devil.

For whereas all ought to be banded together and to stand against him, we, having relaxed our enmity against him, order ourselves to turn against one another.

For never does the devil find so much place as in enmities.

From this source countless evils are born.

And just as, so long as stones are well fitted together and have no gap between them, they stand unbroken;

but should there come to be a crack running right through, or a fissure occupying but the space of a hair, this destroys and ruins the whole;

so also is it in the case of the devil.

For so long as we are compacted together and fitted to one another, he introduces nothing at all of his own;

but as soon as he has loosened us a little, he pours himself in like some winter torrent.

For everywhere he needs only a beginning, and this is what is hard to set right;

but once this has come about, he himself widens all things for himself;

for from then on the ears are opened to slanders, and those who speak lies are the more believed;

for they have enmity to give the verdict, not truth to judge.

And just as, when there is friendship, even the true evil things appear false;

so, when there is enmity, even the false things appear true;

there is another mind, another tribunal, which does not hear on equal terms, but with much bias and partiality.

For just as in a balance a piece of lead, when added, drags down the whole;

so also here, the weight of enmity, being heavier than lead.

Wherefore, I beseech you, let us do all things so as to quench our enmities before the sun sets.

For if you do not master it on the first day and the next, you have often prolonged it even for a whole year, and then the enmity has grown of itself, and no longer needs anything to feed it.

For it makes words spoken in one sense to be suspected in another, and gestures too, and whatever else there is, and it turns a man into a beast and makes him savage, and puts him in a worse state than the mad, so that he can neither bear to speak the name nor to hear it, but utters everything by way of insults.

How then shall we soften our wrath? How shall we quench the flame? If we call to mind our own sins, and how much we are answerable to God;

if we consider that it is not our enemy whom we are avenging ourselves upon, but our own selves;

if we consider that we are gladdening the devil, that we are wronging our own member for the sake of him who is our real enemy, the true enemy.

Do you wish to be a bearer of grudges and an enemy? Then be an enemy, but of the devil, not of your own member.

It is for this reason that God armed us with wrath: not that we should plunge the sword against our own bodies, but that we should bury the whole blade in the breast of the devil.

There sink the sword up to the hilt, and, if you will, the very hilt as well, and never draw it out, but drive in another besides.

And this will come to pass when we spare our own selves, when we are peaceably disposed toward one another.

Away with money, away with glory and good repute;

more precious to me than all these is my own member.

Let us say these things to ourselves;

let us not wrong our own nature in order to gain money, in order to attain glory.

Let him that stole steal no more, he says.

Do you see what are the members of the old man? Falsehood, the bearing of grudges, theft.

Why did he not say, Let him that stole be punished, be tormented, be racked, but rather, Let him steal no more;

nay rather, let him labour, working that which is good with his hands, that he may have to give to him that has need? Where are those who are called the Pure, who are full of every defilement, and yet dare to call themselves by this name? For it is possible, it is indeed possible, to put off the accusation, not merely by ceasing from the sin, but also by working some good.

Do you see how sins ought to be done away with? They stole; this is to commit the sin;

they stole no more; this is not to loose the sin;

but how then? If they laboured, and gave a share to others;

he does not simply wish us to work, but so as to labour, so as to give a share to others;

for the thief also works, but at that which is evil.

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth.

What is 'corrupt'? That which he elsewhere calls also 'idle': evil-speaking, filthy talking, jesting, foolish talking.

Do you see how he cuts out the roots of anger, falsehood, theft, unseasonable talk? And in saying, Let him steal no more, he speaks not so much to pardon them, as to make those who have been wronged gentle, and to exhort them to be content with no longer suffering the same things.

And well does he also teach concerning words.

For it is not for deeds only, but also for words, that we pay the penalty.

But if any word is good, he says, for edification as the need may be, that it may give grace to them that hear.

That is to say: Speak only that which edifies your neighbour, and nothing superfluous.

For it is for this that God gave you a mouth and a tongue;

God gave them that you should give thanks to Him, that you should edify your neighbour;

so that if you pull down the edifice, it were better to be silent, and never to utter a word.

For indeed the hands of a craftsman, if instead of weaving together the walls they learn to pull them down, would justly be cut off.

For the Psalmist too says this:

The Lord shall utterly destroy all deceitful lips.

This is the cause of all evils, the mouth;

or rather, not the mouth, but those who use it wickedly.

From this come insults, revilings, blasphemies, the kindlings of pleasures, murders, adulteries, thefts; all these are born of this.

And how, one asks, murders? From insult you passed to anger, from anger to blows, from blows to murder.

How adulteries? Such a woman loves you, one says; she spoke something kind about you, she relaxed your firmness, and then in you too the fires of desire are kindled in this way.

For this reason Paul said, If any word be good.

Since then the flood of words is great, he fitly spoke without precise limitation, bidding them utter those things, and giving a pattern of discourse.

What pattern is this? By saying, If any word edifies.

Or he means this, that he who hears may be thankful to you.

For instance, your brother committed fornication;

you have been of no profit to the hearer, but have even harmed him, quite reasonably, in that you have given him a nail.

If, however, you exhort him concerning the things that ought to be done, you confer great grace upon him;

if you train him to have a well-speaking mouth, if you teach him to slander no one, you have chiefly trained his own self, and have given him grace;

if you discourse about compunction, about reverence, about almsgiving, all these things soften his soul.

For all these things he will acknowledge his thanks.

If, however, you stir up laughter, if you utter something shameful, you have rather set him ablaze;

if you praise wickedness, you have cast him down and destroyed him.

Or he spoke thus in order that he might render them full of grace.

For just as perfume gives grace to those who partake of it, so also does a good word;

wherefore also one said, Your name is as perfume poured forth;

it made them breathe out of that fragrance.

Do you see that what he ever exhorts, this too he says now, charging each one to edify his neighbour according to his own ability? He therefore who exhorts others to such things, much more will edify his own self.

And grieve not, he says, the Holy Spirit.

This is more awful and more fearful, which he says also in the Epistle to the Thessalonians;

for there too he says something of this kind:

For he that despises, despises not man, but God.

If you speak an insulting word, if you strike your brother, you have not struck him, but you have grieved the Spirit.

Then there follows the mention of the benefit, that the accusation may become the greater.

And grieve not the Holy Spirit, he says, in whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption.

This it was that showed us to be a royal flock; this it was that set us apart from all the first things; this it was that did not suffer us to lie among those who are liable to the wrath of God—and do you grieve Him? See how there he speaks fearfully, For he that despises, he says, despises not man, but God;

but here he speaks so as to shame us, Grieve not the Holy Spirit, he says, in whom you were sealed.

Let this seal be set upon the mouth;

a spiritual mouth utters no such thing.

Say not, It is nothing, if I speak something shameful, if I insult such a one.

It is for this very reason that it is a great evil, because it seems to be nothing.

For things that seem to be nothing are easily despised; and things despised also grow; and things that grow become incurable.

Do you possess a spiritual mouth? Consider what word you uttered the moment you were born anew, and how worthy of that mouth of yours it is.

Do you call God your Father, and yet straightway insult your brother? Consider from what source you call God Father.

From nature? But that you could not have.

From virtue? But neither is it from this.

But from what, then? From loving-kindness alone, from tender compassion, from great mercy.

When therefore you call God Father, do not consider only this—that in insulting your brother you act unworthily of that high nobility—but also that it is from His loving-kindness that you have this nobility.

Do not, then, put it to shame, having received it from loving-kindness, yet dealing in cruelty toward your brethren.

Do you call God Father, and yet insult others? But these are not the ways of the Son of God.

The work of the Son of God is to forgive enemies, to pray for those who crucify Him, to shed His blood for those who hate Him.

These are the things worthy of the Son of God: to make enemies, the ungrateful, thieves, the insolent, and plotters into brethren and heirs—not to insult as slaves those who have become brethren.

Consider what words your mouth has uttered, and of what table it is worthy;

consider what it touches, what it tastes, of what food it partakes.

Do you think you do nothing dreadful in accusing your brother? How then do you call him brother? And if he is not a brother, how do you say, 'Our Father'? For the word 'Our' signifies many persons.

Consider with whom you stand at the time of the mysteries: with the Cherubim, with the Seraphim.

The Seraphim do not insult, but their mouth fulfils only this one office: to give glory, to glorify God.

How then will you be able, together with those beings, to say, 'Holy, holy, holy,' while using your mouth for insult? Tell me, if there were a royal vessel, ever full of royal viands and set apart for this use, and then one of the household servants should use it for filth—would he dare afterward to lay it back, still full of filth, among those vessels that are set apart for such holy purposes? By no means.

Such a thing is evil-speaking; such a thing is insult.

And what then? Is this all? Listen also to what follows.

Straightway you said, 'Our Father who art in the heavens,' and the word raised you up, gave wings to your mind, and showed that you have a Father in the heavens.

Do nothing, say nothing of the things of earth.

He has set you in that rank above; He has enrolled you in that choir.

Why do you drag yourself down below? You stand beside the royal throne, and do you insult others? Do you not fear lest the King account the deed an outrage? For if among us a servant should strike or insult his fellow-servant—even if he did so justly—we straightway rebuke him, accounting the deed an outrage;

and do you, standing with the Cherubim beside the throne of the King, insult your brother? Do you not see these holy vessels? Is not their use forever for one purpose only? Does anyone dare to use them for anything else? You are holier than these vessels, and by far holier;

why then do you defile and pollute yourself? You stand in the heavens, and do you insult others? You have your citizenship with angels, and do you insult others? You have been counted worthy of the Master's kiss, and do you insult others? With so many angelic hymns has God adorned your mouth, with food no longer angelic but above the angelic, with His own kiss, with embraces of Himself—and do you insult others? Do not so, I beseech you.

The thing is the cause of great evils; far be it from a Christian soul.

Do we not persuade you by speaking, nor put you to shame? Then it is fitting henceforth to strike you with fear;

for hear Christ Himself saying:

'Whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be liable to the hell of fire.'

But if the lightest of all offenses brings on hell, of what will he not be worthy who speaks the more reckless words? Let us train our mouth to speak what is good;

great is the gain from this, and great is the harm from insult;

here there is no money to be spent.

Let us set a door and a bar upon our lips; let us bite ourselves back, should any burdensome word ever leap out from between our teeth;

let us entreat God, let us entreat the one insulted; let us not think it beneath our dignity;

we have wounded ourselves, not him;

let us apply the remedy—prayer, and reconciliation with the one insulted.

If we take such forethought in our words, much more let us lay down laws for ourselves in our deeds.

And if we have friends, whoever they may be, and they should speak ill of anyone or insult him, call them to account and exact the penalty.

Let us learn, above all, that such a thing is indeed a sin;

for if we learn this, we shall quickly desist from it.

And may the God of peace keep both your mind and your tongue, and fortify them with the sure wall of His fear, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit.