Homilies on Philippians 6

'For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus;'

'who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.'

Our Lord Jesus Christ, in exhorting his disciples to great things, sets himself forth as an example, and the Father, and the prophets, as when he says:

'For so did they to the prophets that were before you;'

and again, 'If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you;'

and, 'Learn of me, for I am meek;'

and again, 'Be ye merciful, as your Father which is in heaven.'

This the blessed Paul also does.

For in exhorting them to humility, he brought Christ into the midst;

and not here only, but also when he discourses concerning love of the poor, he speaks somewhat thus:

'For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.'

For nothing so rouses the great and philosophic soul to the working of good things, as to learn that in this it is made like unto God.

For what is equal to this for exhortation? Nothing.

This Paul too knew, and so, in exhorting them to humility, he first entreated them, and made supplication;

then he also spoke by way of reproof, 'That ye stand fast in one spirit;'

he said, 'That to them it is a token of perdition, but to you of salvation.'

'For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.'

Attend, I beseech you, and rouse yourselves.

For just as a sharp sword whetted on both edges, wherever it falls, even upon ten thousand ranks, easily cleaves them asunder and destroys them, because it is sharp on every side and nothing can withstand its edge;

even so also are the words of the Spirit.

For by these words he overthrew the followers of Arius of Alexandria, and of Paul of Samosata, and of Marcellus the Galatian, and of Sabellius the Libyan, and of Marcion of Pontus, and of Valentinus, and those of Manes, and those of Apollinarius of Laodicea, and Photinus, and Sophronius, and simply all the heresies.

As those, therefore, who are about to behold such a spectacle, and so many ranks falling by a single blow, rouse yourselves, that the delight of the sight may not pass you by.

For if, in the contests of racing chariots, in the contests of horses, there is nothing so delightful as when one dashes whole chariots together with their charioteers and overturns them, and, having hurled many four-horse teams onto their backs together with the drivers set upon them, drives past alone to the turning-post and the goal of the race, while on every side a great clapping and shouting rises to heaven;

and he, as though winged by that joy and by the applause, thus runs the whole course together with his horses;

how much more shall the pleasure here be greater, when we overthrow whole systems of heresies and diabolical workshops together with their charioteers by the [word of the Spirit].

By the grace of God, all at once and together? And, if it seems good, let us first marshal the heresies themselves in order.

Will you have the order of their impiety, or the order of their dates? But let us take the order of dates, for the order of their impiety is hard to discern.

For it is difficult to survey the sequence of their impiety.

Let Sabellius the Libyan, then, be brought forward first.

What, then, does this man say? That 'Father,' and 'Son,' and 'Holy Spirit' are bare names applied to one single Person.

But Marcion of Pontus says that the God who framed all things is not good, nor the Father of the good Christ, but some other, a just God; and that the Son did not take flesh on our behalf.

Marcellus and Photinus and Sophronius say that the Word is an energy, and that this energy dwelt in Him who was of the seed of David, and not a subsistent, self-existent substance.

Arius confesses the Son, but in word only;

for he says that He is a creature, and much less than the Father.

But others say that He has no soul.

You have seen the chariots drawn up? Behold, then, their overthrow as well—how, striking them all down together, he casts them down, and that with a single blow and all at once.

How, then, does he cast them down? 'Let this mind be in you,' he says, 'which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.'

Hence fell Paul of Samosata also, and Marcellus, and Sabellius;

for 'Being,' he says, 'in the form of God.'

If He was in the form, how then do you say, O foul one, that He began from Mary, and before this did not exist? And how again do you say that He was an energy? For 'being in the form of God,' it says, 'He took the form of a servant.'

For tell me, is the form of the servant an energy of a servant, or the nature of a servant? Assuredly you will say, 'The nature' of a servant.

Therefore the form of God also is the nature of God.

Behold, Marcellus the Galatian, and Sophronius, and Photinus have fallen also.

'He thought it not robbery,' it says, 'to be equal with God.'

But 'equal' is not said of one Person;

for that which is equal is equal to something.

Do you see the subsistence of two Persons, and not bare names uttered apart from realities? Have you heard of the pre-eternal existence of the Only-begotten? But these things are addressed to those men;

what, then, shall we say next to Arius, who says that the Son is of another substance? Tell me then, this phrase, 'He took the form of a servant,' what does it mean? 'He became man,' he says.

Therefore also 'being in the form of God,' He was God;

for 'form' is set over against 'form.'

The form of the servant is 'man by nature';

therefore the form of God also is 'God by nature.'

And not only this, but he also testifies to His equality with Him, just as John does too, and that He is in no respect less than the Father;

'He thought it not robbery,' it says, 'to be equal with God.'

But what is their clever argument? 'Nay,' he says, 'it shows the very opposite';

for he said that, being in the form of God, He did not seize by force to be equal with God;

and indeed, if He was God, how could He have seized it? And how is this not utterly unthinkable? For who would say that so-and-so, being a man, did not seize by force to be a man? For how could anyone seize that which he already is? 'No,' he says;

'but rather, being a lesser God, He did not seize by force to be equal with the great and greater God.'

Is there both a small God and a great God? And are you bringing in the notions of the Greeks into the doctrines of the Church? For among them indeed there is a great and a small god;

but whether there is such among you too, I do not know.

For in the Scriptures you will nowhere find it, but everywhere 'great,' and 'small' nowhere.

For if He is small, how is He also God? If 'small' and 'great' do not make a man to be no man, but there is one nature, and whatever is not of this one nature is not a man—how could He be a small God and a great God who is not of that nature? He who is small is not God;

for everywhere in Scripture He is called great;

'Great is the Lord,' says David, 'and greatly to be praised.'

for everywhere he calls Him Lord;

and again, 'Great art Thou, and doest wondrous things';

and again, 'Great is our Lord, and great is His power, and of His greatness there is no end.'

But these things are spoken concerning the Father;

yet just as of the Father, so also of the Son he speaks.

For hear Paul saying, 'Looking for the blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of the great God.'

But surely he did not speak of an 'appearing' with respect to the Father? And that he might convict you all the more, he added, 'according to the appearing of the great God.'

Was it then, perchance, spoken concerning the Father? By no means;

for what follows does not permit it, saying, 'And the appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.'

How then do you call Him small and great? Hear the prophet also calling Him the Angel of great counsel.

Is not the Angel of great counsel great? Is not the mighty God great, but small? What then do these shameless and reckless men say—that being small He is God? I repeat what they say again and again, that you may the more flee from them;

'Being small,' he says, 'though God, He did not seize by force to be according to the great One.'

For tell me (only do not suppose these to be our own words): if He was small according to them, and far falling short of the power of the Father, how could He ever have been able to seize by force to be equal with God? For being by nature less, He could not seize by force to be in the great state;

as, for instance, a man could not seize by force to be equal to an angel according to nature;

a horse could not seize by force, even if it wished, to be equal to a man according to nature.

And apart from this, I will say that also;

What does Paul wish to establish by means of this example? To lead the Philippians into humility of mind, you will certainly say.

What, then, tell me—would he have brought this forward into the midst? For no one wishing to exhort to humble-mindedness says this:

'Be humble, and think less of yourself than of your equals in honour;

for so-and-so the servant did not rise up against his Master.'

And indeed one might say that this is not a mark of humility, but of madness.

Learn, then, what humility is, you who have a devilish arrogance.

What, then, is humility? It is to be lowly-minded;

and he is lowly-minded, not who is lowly by necessity, but who humbles himself.

What I mean is this (and pay attention):

When someone, though able to be high-minded, is lowly-minded, this man is humble;

but when he is lowly-minded because of an inability, he is no longer humble;

for instance, if a king submits himself to a governor, he is humble, because he has come down from his high estate;

the governor, however, if he does this, is not being humble;

for how could he be? For he did not humble himself down from a high estate.

But it is not possible to be humble in any other way, unless one be in a position of authority.

For if a man must be humbled even against his will, then the achievement no longer belongs to his good sense nor to his purpose, but to necessity.

It is called humble-mindedness for this very reason, that it is a humbling of the mind.

Tell me: if someone who has no power to overreach his neighbour should remain content with what is his own, shall we praise him for righteousness? By no means.

Why? Because necessity has stripped away the commendation that belongs to free choice.

Tell me: if someone who is unable to play the tyrant or to reign should remain a private man, shall we praise him as one who avoids meddling? By no means.

For praise, O most unlearned of all men, arises not in abstaining from these things, but in the doing of good deeds.

The former indeed is free from blame, yet it does not thereby partake of praise.

But the latter is worthy of commendation.

Observe, then, that Christ too praises in this way, when He says:

'Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;

for I was hungry, and ye gave Me to eat;

I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink.'

He did not say, 'Because ye did not overreach,' nor, 'Because ye did not plunder' (for these are small things), but, 'Because ye saw Me hungry, and fed Me.'

And who would ever have praised in this way, whether friends or enemies? No one would have praised even Paul so.

Why do I speak of Paul? No one would have praised even an ordinary man, as you praise Christ, on the ground that he did not assume an authority that did not belong to him.

For to marvel at people on these grounds is the mark of those who testify to great baseness in them.

How so? Because in the case of such persons that sort of thing is praise—like the thief, if he no longer steals;

but in the case of the good it is no longer so.

For a good man is not praiseworthy on the ground that he did not seize an authority which did not belong to him, and the like.

But otherwise—yet attend, I beseech you,

for the discourse is long—who could ever have exhorted to humble-mindedness by these arguments? For the examples ought to be far greater than the subject to which we are exhorting;

for no one would be persuaded by things foreign to the matter.

For example, Christ exhorted us to do good to our enemies;

He brought forward a great example, that of the Father: 'For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.'

He exhorted us to endure wrong;

He brought forward Himself as an example.

'Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.'

And again: 'If I, your Lord and Teacher, do these things, how much more ought ye?' Do you see how the examples are not remote? For they ought not to be so very far removed;

for indeed we too act in this way.

But here also the example is not even close.

How so? Because if He is a servant, He is both inferior and subject to His superior.

But this is not humble-mindedness;

for the very opposite ought to have been done—to show one who is greater rendering obedience to one who is lesser.

But since he did not find this in the case of God—I mean a greater and a lesser—he at least established their equality.

Now if the Son were inferior, this would not be sufficient to exhort to humble-mindedness.

Why? Because it is not humble-mindedness for the lesser not to rise up against the greater, not to snatch at authority, to render obedience even unto death.

But moreover, observe also what he says after the example:

'In humble-mindedness esteeming one another as surpassing yourselves.'

For since you are both one according to essence and one according to the honour that comes from God, the matter must henceforth be a thing of esteem.

But in the case of the greater and the lesser he would not have said this, 'esteeming,' but rather, 'Honour those who surpass you';

just as he also says elsewhere: 'Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves.'

There the subjection belongs to the very nature of the matter;

here it must arise from our own judgement.

'In humble-mindedness,' he says, 'esteeming one another as surpassing yourselves,' even as Christ also did.

And so their arguments are overturned;

but our own we must now state, having first summed up theirs in brief: that in exhorting to humble-mindedness he would not have brought forward one who is inferior and rendering obedience to the greater.

For if he were exhorting servants to obey their masters, it would be reasonable;

but if free men were being exhorted with respect to free men, what bearing did a servant's subjection to his master have upon it? What bearing did that of the lesser to the greater? For he did not say, 'Let the lesser obey the greater,' but, 'Being of equal honour with one another, obey; esteeming one another as surpassing yourselves.'

But why did he not bring forward at least the example of the wife—that 'As the wife obeys her husband, so also do ye obey'? Now if he did not bring forward even that which is a matter of equality and befitting the free, since it was on the whole but a small subjection, how much less would he have brought forward that of the servant? I said before that no one praises a man in this way from his abstinence from evils, nor mentions it at all;

nor, wishing to praise a chaste man, would anyone say that he did not commit adultery, but rather that he even kept away from his own wife.

For nowhere do we reckon abstinence from evils as a merit.

I said that the form of the servant is a true one, and not even inferior;

therefore the form of God also is perfect, and not inferior.

Why did he not say, 'Having become in the form of God,' but, 'Being'? This is equivalent to saying, 'I am He that is.'

The 'form' shows the invariableness, inasmuch as it is a form.

But it is not possible, being of another essence, to have the form of another;

as for instance no man has the form of an angel,

nor does an irrational creature have the form of a man.

Then, in our own case, since we are composite, the form is that of the body;

but in the case of that which is simple and uncompounded, it is altogether that of the essence.

And if you say that, because it is spoken without the article, it does not indicate the Father—in many places this is shown to be said without the article.

And why do I say in many places? For in this very passage, straightway, 'He counted it not robbery,' he says, 'to be equal with God';

and he did not say it with the article, though speaking about God the Father.

I wish to add our own considerations as well, but I am afraid lest we overwhelm your understandings.

For the present, then, remember what has been said for the overthrow of those men;

for the present let us cut out the thorns, and then we shall cast in the good seed—after the thorns have been cut out and the ground has drawn breath a little, so that, having laid aside all the wickedness that came from thence, it may with much virtue receive the divine seeds.

Let us give thanks to God for what has been spoken;

let us count Him worthy to grant their guarding and preservation, so that both we and you may rejoice, and the heretics may be put to shame.

Let us beseech Him also for the future to open our mouth, so that we may again with the same diligence set forth our own arguments;

let us entreat Him also to grant us a life worthy of the faith, that we may live to His glory, that His name may not be blasphemed on our account.

For 'Woe unto you,' he says, 'through whom the name of God is blasphemed.'

And yet what is more truly one's own than a son? If, then, when we have a son and are blasphemed on his account, we disown him, turn away from him, and will not receive him,

how much more shall God, when He has thankless servants who blaspheme and insult Him, turn away from them and hate them? And whomsoever God shall hate and turn away from, who will take him up? No one, save only the devil, save only the demons.

And whomsoever the demons take up, what hope of salvation will he have? What consolation of life? So long as we are in the hand of God, no one is able to snatch us away;

but when we fall out of that hand and out of that help, we are undone; we lie ready and exposed to all for plunder, to all for trampling, like a wall that leans and a fence that is thrust down.

For when a wall is weak, it will be easy for all to scale.

For do not suppose that what I am about to say was spoken only concerning Jerusalem, but also concerning every man.

And what was said concerning Jerusalem? 'I will sing now to my beloved a song of my well-beloved touching his vineyard.'

'My well-beloved had a vineyard on a horn, in a fruitful place.'

'And I set a fence about it, and staked it, and planted a choice vine (Sorek), and built a tower in the midst of it, and dug out a winepress in it; and I waited for it to bring forth grapes, but it brought forth thorns.'

'And now, O men of Judah, and you that dwell in Jerusalem, judge between me and my vineyard.'

'What more ought to have been done to my vineyard that I have not done for it? Because I waited for it to bring forth grapes, but it brought forth thorns.'

'Now therefore I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard:'

'I will take away its fence, and it shall be for plunder; and I will pull down its wall, and it shall be for trampling.'

'And I will let my vineyard go to waste; it shall not be pruned nor digged;'

'and thorns shall come up in it as in a wasteland;'

'and I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it.'

'For the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah a beloved new planting.'

'I waited that it should do judgment;'

'but it wrought iniquity, and not righteousness, but a cry.'

This is said also concerning each soul.

For when the God who loves mankind has fulfilled all that was needful, and then it produces thorns instead of grapes, He will take away the fence and pull down the wall, and we shall be given over to plunder.

For hear how another prophet also speaks:

'Why hast thou pulled down its fence, so that all they that pass by the way pluck it? The boar out of the wood hath laid it waste, and the wild solitary beast hath devoured it.'

There, then, he speaks concerning the Mede and the Babylonian;

but here it cannot be said of such, but the boar and the solitary beast is the devil, and all his power.

And he called it a solitary beast, wishing to set forth its wildness and uncleanness.

For when Scripture wishes to make plain his rapacity, it says:

'He goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour;'

but when it wishes to show his venomous, deadly, and destructive nature, it calls him a serpent and a scorpion:

'For you tread,' He says, 'upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy;'

and when it wishes to show him both mighty and venomous together, it calls him a dragon, as when it says:

'This dragon, which thou hast formed to make sport with him.'

And everywhere it calls him a dragon, and a crooked serpent, and an asp.

For the beast is manifold and cunning, and has great strength;

he sets everything in motion, throws everything into confusion, turns everything upside down.

But do not be afraid, do not be dismayed;

only watch, and he will be as a sparrow.

'For you tread,' He says, 'upon serpents and scorpions.' He has made him a thing to be trampled under our feet, if we so will.

See, then, how great a mockery, how great a wretchedness it is, that the one we have received to trample under foot, this same one we behold standing over our head.

And how does this come to pass? From ourselves.

If we will it, he is great;

if we will it, he becomes small.

If we take heed to ourselves and are with our King, he shrinks and will fare no better than a little child in his battle against us;

but when we depart from Him, he puffs himself up mightily, roars, gnashes his teeth, seeing that he has taken us bereft of that great ally;

for he does not draw near unless God permit.

For if he did not dare to fall upon a herd of swine without God's permission, much more upon the souls of men.

And God permits it, either as chastening, or as exacting a penalty, or as making us more approved, as in the case of Job.

Do you see him not drawing near, nor daring to come close, but fearing and trembling? And why do I speak of Job? For when he leaped upon Judas, he did not dare, until Christ had severed him from the sacred choir, to take him wholly and enter into him.

At that time, then, he assailed from without, but within he did not dare to enter;

but when he saw him severed from the sacred flock, he sprang upon him more fiercely than any wolf, and did not depart until he had destroyed him with a twofold death.

These things were written for our admonition.

For what profit is it to know that one of the twelve betrayed Him? What benefit? What advantage? Great.

For when we learn from what source that man came to this ruinous design, we too shall guard ourselves against it, that we suffer not the same things.

From what source, then, did he come to this? From the love of money;

by this he was so intoxicated with the passion, that he betrayed the Master of the whole world for thirty pieces of silver.

What is worse than this madness? He whom nothing can equal or match, He beside whom the nations were counted as nothing, this One he betrayed for thirty pieces of silver.

For grievous is the tyranny of the love of money, terrible in driving the soul out of its senses.

No one is so deranged by drunkenness as by the love of money;

no one so by madness and derangement, as by the love of money.

For why, tell me, do you betray Him? He called you when you were obscure and unknown, and made you one of the twelve, imparted teaching to you, promised you countless good things, made you to work miracles; of table, of ways, of converse, of fellowship, of all that the rest shared, you also had a share.

Were these things not enough to restrain you? For what cause, then, did you betray Him? What complaint had you, O accursed one? In what were you not well treated? He knew your mind, yet did not cease to bestow what was His own upon you;

many times He said, 'One of you shall betray me;'

He spared you, and though He knew you to be such a one, He did not cast you out of the choir;

still He bore with you, still He honored you as a true disciple and one of the twelve, still He loved you.

At the last, oh, the abomination!

even taking a towel, He washed with those undefiled hands your foul feet, and not even this held you back;

and that you might not advance to a greater evil, He bore even this;

For if you were a wild beast, if you were a stone, ought you not to have been changed by the benefits shown to you, by the miracles, by the teachings? But even so, brutish as you were, He kept calling you, and by His wondrous works He kept drawing you, you who were more senseless than stones.

But you were made no better by any of these things.

Perhaps you marvel at the traitor's exceeding folly.

Then fear that wound of his;

it was from the love of money that he became such a man, from the passion for wealth.

For such are the diseases it breeds.

It makes men impious, and disposes them to be ignorant of God, even though we be shown kindness ten thousand times over.

It is no ordinary thing; it knows how to breed deaths ruinous and beyond number.

We have seen that man's calamity;

let us fear lest we ourselves fall into the same things.

For this reason it was written, that we too might not suffer the same things;

for this reason all the Evangelists related it, that they might bring us to soberness.

It is not only this that is covetousness, to love many things, but rather to love money at all.

It is a dreadful covetousness, to ask for more than one's need.

For was it talents of gold that then persuaded the traitor? They were thirty pieces of silver;

for thirty pieces of silver he betrayed the Master.

Do you then remember, when I said before this, that covetousness is shown not in receiving much, but far rather in receiving little? Behold how great an evil this man wrought for the sake of a little gold;

or rather, not for gold, but for pieces of silver.

It cannot be, it cannot be, that a covetous man should ever behold the face of Christ;

and if he who has but one vice falls from that glory, where shall he stand who bears the root of it? It is not possible for one who is a slave to money to be a true slave of Christ.

Christ Himself declared that the thing is impossible;

'You cannot,' He says, 'serve God and mammon;'

and, 'No man can serve two masters.'

Christ says, Spare the poor;

mammon says, Strip off from them even the things they have;

Christ says, Empty yourself of what you have;

mammon says, Take even what they have.

Do you see the opposition, do you see the war? Would you have us show how one cannot easily obey both, but must despise the one? Or is there no need of argument? How so? Do we not see this in our deeds, that Christ is despised while mammon is honored? Do you see how even the words are grievous? How much more the deeds! Yet in the deeds they do not appear grievous in like manner, because we are held fast by the passion.

For now, so long as the soul stands here and is even a little clean of the passion, it is able to judge rightly;

but when it has gone thither and is held fast by the fever, and has come to be within the pleasure of the thing, it no longer has a pure faculty of judgment, no longer has an incorruptible tribunal;

Christ says, Whosoever does not renounce all that he has, he cannot be My disciple;

mammon says, Take the bread from him that hungers;

Christ says, Clothe the naked;

this one says, Strip the naked;

Christ says, You shall not overlook your own kindred of your seed;

mammon says, You shall not have mercy on the kindred of your own seed, but even if you see your mother, even if your father, despise them.

And why do I speak of father and mother? Even your own soul—destroy that too;

for he who commands things cruel and harsh and brutish is listened to rather than He who bids us

things that are fair and bring us salvation.

For this reason there is Gehenna, for this reason fire, for this reason a river of fire, for this reason a worm that never dies.

I know that many do not gladly hear us when we say these things.

For neither do I gladly say them;

for what need is there to say these things? I would rather be recounting to you always the things concerning the Kingdom—the rest, the water of rest, the place of green pasture.

For 'He nourished me,' it says, 'by the water of rest, and there He made me to dwell in a place of green pasture.'

I would rather be speaking of that place from which pain and sorrow and sighing have fled away;

I would rather be recounting the delight of communion with Christ;

and yet it surpasses all speech and all understanding;

but nevertheless, according to my ability, I would rather be saying these things.

But what am I to do? It is not possible to speak of the Kingdom to one who is in a fever and grievously ill;

for meanwhile one must discourse concerning his health.

It is not possible to discourse of honor to one who is liable to judgment;

for meanwhile the thing sought is to be delivered from judgment, and from punishment and vengeance;

and if this does not come to pass, how shall that other be? For this reason I say these things continually, that we may come quickly to those other things.

For God also for this reason threatened Gehenna, that no one might fall into Gehenna, that we might all attain the Kingdom.

And we too for this reason continually make mention of Gehenna, that we may thrust you toward the Kingdom, that having softened your mind by fear, we may prepare you to do things worthy of the Kingdom.

Do not therefore chafe at the heaviness of the words;

for the heaviness of the words works for us souls made light from their sins.

Since iron too is heavy, and the hammer is heavy, yet they fashion serviceable vessels of gold and silver, and set straight things that are twisted;

for if it were not heavy, it could not have availed to straighten the distorted material.

So too our word, being heavy, has power to shape the soul aright.

Let us not therefore flee the heaviness of the words, nor the blows that come from them.

Not that it may shatter, nor that it may crush the soul, is the blow brought down, but that it may set it straight.

We know how to strike, how to bring down the blow by the grace of God, so as not to break the vessel in pieces, but so as to smooth it, to straighten it, to make it serviceable to the Master, so as to present it gleaming with health and beautifully wrought against that Day on which comes the river of fire, so as to present it having no need of that fire yonder.

For unless we set you afire here, you must of all necessity be set afire yonder, and it cannot be otherwise;

for 'The Day of the Lord is revealed in fire.'

It is better that you be burned for a little while by our words than forever by that flame.

For that this shall surely be, is plain, and I have often set before you arguments that admit of no contradiction.

For it were fitting to be persuaded from the Scriptures alone;

but since some are contentiously disposed, we have brought forward much from reasonings also.

And nothing hinders our stating the same ones now also.

And what were they? God is just;

we all confess this—Greeks and Jews and heretics and Christians alike.

But in this present life many of those who have sinned have departed without being punished;

while many even of those who have lived rightly have departed after suffering ten thousand dreadful things.

If then God is just, where will He render good things to these, where the punishments to those, if there be no hell, if there be no resurrection? Therefore keep ever chanting this argument both to them and to yourselves, and it will not permit you to disbelieve in the resurrection.

And he who does not disbelieve in the resurrection will be diligent to live with much watchfulness,

so as to attain unto the eternal good things;

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, might, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.