Homilies on Romans 0

As I continually hear the Epistles of the blessed Paul read aloud — and that twice each week, and often three and even four times, whenever we keep the memorials of the holy martyrs — I rejoice, delighting in that spiritual trumpet; I am roused, and I grow warm with longing, recognizing the voice so dear to me, and I all but imagine him present and see him conversing with me.

But I am pained and grieved that this man is not known by all as he ought to be known; rather, some are so ignorant of him that they do not even clearly know the number of his Epistles.

And this comes to pass not from want of learning, but from being unwilling to converse continually with this blessed man.

For neither do we ourselves know whatever we do know — if indeed we know anything — through natural cleverness or sharpness of mind, but through continually cleaving to the man and being deeply devoted to him.

For those who love know the affairs of the ones they love before all others, inasmuch as they are anxious for them.

This very thing the blessed one also showed when he said to the Philippians:

'Even as it is right for me to think this concerning you all, because I have you in my heart, both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel.'

So then, if you too are willing to attend to the reading with eagerness, you will need nothing else;

for the word of Christ is without falsehood, which said:

'Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.'

But since the greater part of those who gather here have taken upon themselves the rearing of children, the care of a wife, and the management of a household, and for this reason could not endure to give themselves wholly to this labor —

at least rouse yourselves to receive what has been gathered by others, and give as much diligence to the hearing of what is spoken as you give to the gathering of money.

For though it be shameful to demand from you only so much, yet it would be welcome if you would at least give this much.

For hence have sprung up ten thousand evils — from ignorance of the Scriptures;

hence has burgeoned the great plague of heresies; hence come lives of neglect; hence come labors that bring no gain.

For just as those deprived of this light could not walk aright,

so those who do not look toward the ray of the divine Scriptures are constrained to sin much and continually, inasmuch as they are indeed walking in the most grievous darkness.

That this may not happen, let us open our eyes toward the radiance of the apostolic words;

for his tongue shone brighter than the sun, and he surpassed all others in the word of teaching;

for since he labored more than they, he also drew to himself much grace of the Spirit.

And this I affirm not from the Epistles alone, but also from the Acts.

For if anywhere there was occasion for public speaking, everywhere they yielded place to him;

wherefore he was even thought to be Hermes by the unbelievers, because he took the lead in speech.

But as we are about to descend into this Epistle, it is necessary also to state the time at which it was written.

For it is not, as many suppose, prior to all the rest; rather, of those written from Rome it is the first of all, but of the others it is later — though not later than all of them;

for both Epistles to the Corinthians were sent before this one.

And this is clear from what he wrote at the end of it, saying thus:

'But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister.'

'For it pleased Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem.'

But writing to the Corinthians he said:

'If it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me' — speaking of those who were to carry that money thither.

Whence it is clear that when he wrote to the Corinthians, such a journey of his was still doubtful;

but when he wrote to the Romans, it was by then settled.

And this being agreed, that too is plain — that this Epistle came after those.

And the Epistle to the Thessalonians also seems to me to be earlier than the one to the Corinthians.

For having written to them first, and having stirred up among them the discourse concerning almsgiving, when he said:

'But concerning brotherly love we have no need to write unto you;'

'for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another;'

'for indeed you do it toward all the brethren' —

then he wrote to the Corinthians.

And this very thing he makes plain, saying:

'For I know your readiness, of which I boast on your behalf to the Macedonians, that Achaia has been prepared since last year;'

'and your zeal has stirred up the greater number.'

By which he showed that he had discoursed with those first about this matter.

This Epistle, then, is later than these, but the first of those written from Rome;

for he had not yet set foot in the city of the Romans when he wrote this Epistle;

'For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift.'

But from Rome he wrote to the Philippians;

wherefore he says, 'All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household.'

And to the Hebrews likewise from there;

wherefore he says that all those from Italy salute them.

And the Epistle to Timothy, this one too he sent from Rome while a prisoner in bonds;

or rather it seems to me to be the last of all the Epistles;

and this is clear from the end:

'For I am already being poured out as a drink offering,' he says, 'and the time of my departure is at hand.'

And that he ended his life there is somehow plain to everyone.

But the Epistle to Philemon is also among the last, this one too;

for he wrote it when he was near to extreme old age:

'As Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner in Christ Jesus;'

it is, however, prior to the one to the Colossians;

and this again is plain from the end.

For writing to the Colossians he says that 'Tychicus will make known to you all things, whom I have sent along with Onesimus the faithful and beloved brother.'

Now this Onesimus was the one on whose behalf he composed the Epistle to Philemon.

And that this was not another man of the same name as that one is plain also from Archippus;

for the one whom he took as a fellow-worker in the Epistle to Philemon for the entreaty on behalf of Onesimus — this same man, when writing to the Colossians, he rouses up, saying:

'Take heed to the ministry which you have received, that you fulfill it.'

And it seems to me that the Epistle to the Galatians is also earlier than the one to the Romans.

But if in the books they have a different arrangement, that is no wonder;

since even the twelve prophets, though not consecutive to one another in point of time but greatly separated from one another, are nevertheless placed consecutively in the arrangement of the books.

Thus Haggai and Zechariah and others prophesied after Ezekiel and Daniel, and many after Jonah and Zephaniah and all the rest.

And yet, for all that, they are bound together with all those from whom they are separated by so great an interval of time.

Let no one regard this labour as a mere by-work, nor account such an inquiry as superfluous curiosity;

for the dating of the Epistles contributes to us in no small measure toward the matters we are seeking.

For when I see him writing to the Romans and to the Colossians about the same matters, yet not in the same way about the same things—but to the former with much condescension, as when he says:

'Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations;'

'one believeth that he may eat all things;'

'but he that is weak eateth herbs;'

yet to the Colossians he writes not thus concerning the same matters, but with greater boldness of speech:

'For if ye died with Christ,' he says, 'from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances—Touch not, taste not, handle not; which all are to perish with the using—not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh?'

I can find no other cause for this difference than the difference in the time of the readers.

For at the beginning it was needful to condescend, but afterwards no longer so.

And in many other places too one may find him doing this.

Thus too are the physician and the teacher wont to act;

for neither will the physician treat those who are but newly sick and those who have at length come near to the end of their recovery, nor will the teacher deal in the same way with children who are but beginning to learn and with those who need more advanced instruction.

Now to the others he wrote as moved by some cause and occasion (and this he makes plain to the Corinthians when he says so,

and to the Galatians also, showing the same thing at once from the preface and throughout the whole Epistle);

but to these—for what reason, and why? For he plainly bears witness to them that they are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish others.

For what reason then did he write? 'Because of the grace of God,' he says, 'which is given to me, that I should be a minister of Jesus Christ.'

'I am a debtor'—that is, so far as in me lies I am ready—'to preach the gospel to you also that are at Rome.'

For indeed the things said—as that they are able to admonish others, and all such things—are rather matter of commendation and encouragement;

yet the correction given through the letters was necessary for these also.

For since he had not yet come to be present with them, he sets the men in order in a twofold way, both by the benefit of the letters and by the expectation of his coming.

For such was that holy soul:

it embraced the whole world, and carried all men about within itself, esteeming the kinship according to God to be the greatest kinship of all;

and as though he had himself given birth to them all, so did he love them—nay rather, he displayed a tender affection greater than that of any father.

For such is the grace of the Spirit:

it overcomes the pangs of the flesh, and shows forth a warmer longing.

And this one may see most of all in the soul of Paul, who, having become as it were winged by love, was continually going about to all men, nowhere abiding nor standing still.

For since he had heard Christ saying, 'Peter, lovest thou me? feed my sheep,' and putting forth this as the greatest measure of love, he showed it in surpassing degree.

Let us then also, emulating this man, if not the whole world, nor entire cities and nations, yet let each of us order his own household—the wife, the children, the friends, the neighbours.

And let no one say to me, 'I am unskilled and a mere layman.'

Nothing was more unlearned than Peter, nothing more of a layman than Paul;

and this he himself confessed, and was not ashamed to say:

'But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge.'

Yet nevertheless this layman and that unlearned man conquered countless philosophers, silenced countless orators, having wrought the whole by their own zeal and the grace of God.

What excuse then shall we have, who are not sufficient even for twenty souls, nor are of any use even to those who dwell with us? These are but pretexts and excuses;

for it is neither ignorance nor want of learning that hinders teaching, but sloth and slumber.

Let us then shake off this slumber, and with all diligence lay hold of our own members, that both here we may enjoy much calm, ordering according to the fear of God those who are near to us, and there may partake of countless good things, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom, to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.