Homilies on Romans 1

'Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy Scriptures.'

Moses, though he wrote five books, nowhere set down his own name, nor did those who came after him and composed the histories that followed; nay, neither did Matthew, nor John, nor...

but the blessed Paul everywhere in his epistles sets his own name at the beginning.

Why so? Because they wrote to those who were present, and it was superfluous to make themselves known while present;

but he sent his writings from far away, and in the form of a letter;

therefore the addition of the name was necessary.

But if in the Epistle to the Hebrews he does not do this, this too was according to his prudence.

For since they were hostilely disposed toward him, lest hearing his name from the very outset they should shut the door against his word, he wisely stole away their hearing by concealing his name.

But if prophets set down their own names, and Solomon likewise, this I leave to you henceforth to inquire—for what reason some set them down and others did not;

for you ought not to learn all things from me, but should yourselves also toil and inquire, lest ye become the more sluggish.

'Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ.'

For what reason did God change his name and call him Paul who was Saul? That in this too he might be no less than the apostles, but that the same distinction which the chief of the disciples had received, this he too might obtain, and might have ground for a closer intimacy.

And he did not say simply that he was a servant of Christ;

for there are many kinds of servitude.

One is that according to creation, in respect of which he says, 'All things are thy servants,' and according to which he says:

'My servant Nebuchadnezzar;'

for the work of the Maker is his servant;

another kind is that which is from faith, concerning which he says:

'But thanks be to God, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you; and being made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.'

another is that which is from manner of life, according to which he says:

'Moses my servant is dead;'

and yet all the Jews too were servants, but Moses pre-eminently, shining forth in his manner of life.

Since then Paul was a servant according to all the kinds of servitude, he sets this down in place of the greatest dignity, saying:

and he puts forward the names belonging to the dispensation, ascending from below upward.

For indeed the angel came from the heavens bearing the name 'Jesus,' when he was born of the Virgin;

and he is called 'Christ' from being anointed, which too belonged to the flesh.

'And with what oil,' one may say, 'was he anointed?' With oil indeed he was not anointed, but with the Spirit;

and the Scripture knows how to call such persons also 'anointed ones' (christs).

For that which takes precedence in the anointing is the Spirit;

wherefore the oil also is taken up in addition.

And where does it call those who were not anointed with oil 'anointed ones'? Where it says, 'Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.'

For at that time there was not even the preparation of the anointing with oil.

Everywhere he calls himself 'called,' displaying his own right-mindedness, and showing that it was not he who sought and found, but that, having been called, he came and obeyed.

And he names the faithful in the same way, 'called saints.'

For they were called only as far as believing, but he was singled out for something more besides—the apostleship, a thing laden with countless blessings, and both greater than all the gifts and comprehending them all.

And what more need one say, than that the very work which Christ did when He came, He entrusted to them and departed? This too Paul proclaims aloud, exalting the dignity of the apostles, when he says:

'We are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating you through us'—that is, in Christ's stead.

'Separated unto the Gospel of God.'

Just as in a household each person is set apart for different tasks, so also in the Church there are different distributions of the ministries.

But to me it seems that here he is hinting not only at the allotment, but that long ago and from the beginning he had been appointed to this.

Which very thing Jeremiah too says that God spoke concerning him:

'Before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, I have appointed you a prophet unto the nations.'

For since he was writing to a city that was boastful and puffed up on every side, he shows throughout that his ordination is God's own:

for God Himself both called and Himself set apart.

And he does this in order to make the epistle trustworthy and readily acceptable.

Nor was Mark, just as neither was this man alone an apostle, but those others were also; even if, by way of distinction, the one is said to be of this, and the others of that.

And he calls it 'Gospel' not only on account of the good things that have already come to pass, but also on account of those that are yet to come.

But how does he say that God is preached as good tidings through Him? For he says, 'Separated unto the Gospel of God':

for the Father was manifest even before the Gospels.

But even if He was manifest, it was to the Jews only, and not even to all of these, as was fitting:

for neither did they know Him to be Father, and they then imagined many things unworthy of Him:

wherefore Christ also said, 'The true worshippers shall come':

and that 'The Father seeks such to worship Him.'

But afterwards He too, together with the Son, was made manifest to the whole world:

which very thing Christ also foretold when He said:

'That they may know Thee, the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send, Jesus Christ.'

And he calls it the 'Gospel of God,' setting the hearer upright from the very outset.

For he came announcing nothing gloomy, as the prophets did—accusations and charges and rebukes—but good tidings, and good tidings of God, treasuries of countless blessings that abide and are unshaken.

'Which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures.'

For 'The Lord shall give the word,' it says, 'to them that preach good tidings with great power':

and again, 'How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace!'

Do you see that both the name and the manner of the Gospel are expressly laid down even in the Old Testament? For he says, 'We proclaim it not by words only, but also by deeds':

for it was not a thing of man, but also divine and unspeakable and transcending all nature.

And since they charged the matter with being an innovation, he shows that it is older than the Greeks, and pre-delineated among the prophets.

But if He did not give it from the beginning, it was because of those who were unwilling to receive it:

at any rate, those who were willing did hear.

'Abraham your father,' He says, 'rejoiced to see My day':

How then does He say, 'Many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which ye see, and saw them not'? In this way, He says—as ye see and hear, that is, the flesh itself, and the very signs before their eyes.

But do you consider for me how many years before these things were foretold:

for whenever God is about to prepare some great things beforehand, He proclaims them many years in advance, training the hearing for the reception of their coming.

For the prophets not only spoke, but also wrote the very things they spoke:

and they not only wrote, but also prefigured them by deeds—as Abraham leading Isaac, and Moses lifting up the serpent, and stretching out his hands over Amalek, and slaying the paschal lamb.

'Concerning His Son, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.'

What are you doing, O Paul? Having lifted up our souls and raised them on high, and made us imagine great and unspeakable things, and having spoken of a Gospel, and a Gospel of God, and brought in a chorus of prophets, and shown them all proclaiming beforehand, many years in advance, the things that were to be—where now do you bring us down again to David? Of what man are you discoursing, tell me, and do you give him for a father the son of Jesse? And how are these things worthy of what has been said? Most exceedingly worthy indeed:

for our discourse is not about a mere man, he says.

For this very reason I added the words 'according to the flesh,' hinting that there is also a birth of the same One according to the Spirit.

And why did he begin from this point, and not from that other, from the loftier things? Because Matthew too begins here, and Luke and Mark.

For one who is going to lead by the hand up to heaven must lead by the hand from below upward:

for thus also was the matter dispensed.

First, at any rate, they saw Him as a man upon the earth, and then they understood Him to be God.

In the very way, therefore, in which He Himself gave the teaching, in that same way His disciple too cuts the road that leads thither.

First, then, he speaks of the birth according to the flesh, not because it was first, but because from this he was leading the hearer up to that other.

'Who was declared the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead—Jesus Christ.'

What is said is obscure by reason of the words:

wherefore it is necessary to break it down.

'We proclaim Him who was born of David,' he says.

But whence is it that this One who was made flesh is also the Son of God? First, from the prophets:

wherefore he said, 'Which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures.'

And this manner of proof is no small one.

Then also from the very manner of the birth:

which He Himself also declared, saying:

'Of the seed of David according to the flesh':

for He loosed the law of nature.

Thirdly, from the miracles which He wrought, furnishing a proof of great power:

for this is the meaning of 'with power.'

Fourthly, from the Spirit which He gave to those who believed in Him, and through which He made all men holy:

wherefore he says, 'According to the Spirit of holiness':

for it belonged to God alone to bestow such gifts.

Fifthly, from the resurrection of the Lord:

for He was the first and the only one to raise Himself:

which very thing He Himself especially declared, above all else, to be a sign sufficient even to stop the mouths of the shameless.

'For destroy this temple,' He says, 'and in three days I will raise it up.'

And again: 'When ye have lifted me up from the earth, then shall ye know that I am he.'

And again: 'This generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given unto it, save the sign of Jonah.'

What then is the meaning of 'declared'? It means shown forth, made manifest, judged, confessed by the mind and vote of all men—by the prophets, by the marvellous birth after the flesh, by the power that was in the signs, by the Spirit through whom He bestowed sanctification, and by the resurrection through which He overthrew the tyranny of death.

'Through whom we have received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith.'

Behold the good sense of a servant!

He wills that nothing should be his own, but all things his Master's.

And indeed it was the Son who gave this Spirit;

"I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now;

but when He is come, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you into all the truth."

And again, "Set apart for Me Paul and Barnabas."

And in the Epistle to the Corinthians too he says, that "To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge";

and that "He Himself divides all things severally, even as He wills."

And when addressing the Milesians in public, he said:

"In which the Holy Spirit has made you shepherds and overseers."

Do you see that he calls the things of the Spirit the Son's, and the things of the Son the Spirit's? "Grace and apostleship";

that is to say, It was not we who by our own achievement brought it about that we became apostles;

For it was not by having laboured much and toiled that we obtained this dignity;

but we received grace, and the achievement was the work of the gift from above.

It was not, then, the apostles who wrought these things, but the grace that went before them and prepared the way.

For theirs was the going about and the preaching, but the persuading belonged to God who worked in them;

even as Luke also says, that 'He opened their heart';

and again, 'To whom it was given to hear the word of God.'

He did not say, 'For inquiry and speculation,' but, 'For obedience.'

'For we were not sent,' he says, 'to reason things out, but to deliver that which was committed to our charge.'

For when the Master pronounces anything, they that hear ought not to pry curiously into what is said and busy themselves with meddling, but only to receive it.

For the apostles were sent for this purpose: that they might speak the things which they heard, not that they should add anything of their own;

and we too, in what remains, that we should believe.

That we should believe what? Concerning His name.

not that we should pry into His essence, but that we should believe on His name;

for this was what the signs also wrought.

'For in the name of Jesus Christ,' he says, 'rise up and walk.'

And this very thing also requires faith, and none of these things can be grasped by reasoning.

'Among all the nations, among whom are ye also, the called of Jesus Christ.'

What then? Did Paul preach to all the nations? That from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum he ran his course, and thence went out again to the very ends of the earth, is plain from what he wrote to the Romans.

But even if he did not reach all, not even so is what is said false;

for he speaks not concerning himself alone, but also concerning the twelve apostles, and all

who proclaimed the word, of those who came after them.

And in another way too, no one could find the word convicted of falsehood even in his own case, if he will consider that man's zeal, and that after his death he ceases not to preach in every part of the inhabited world.

But observe how he exalts the gift, and shows it to be great and far loftier than the former;

seeing that the things of old came to pass concerning one nation, but this drew both land and sea unto itself.

And consider for me this also, how the soul of Paul is free from all flattery.

For in discoursing to the Romans, who sat as it were upon some summit of the whole inhabited world, he gives them nothing more than the rest of the nations, nor, because they then held sway and reigned, does he say that in spiritual things they too have anything more;

but, 'Even as,' he says, 'we preach to all the nations, so also to you,' numbering them with the Scythians and Thracians;

since, if he had not meant to make this plain, it would have been superfluous to say, 'Among whom are ye also.'

And this he does to pull down their pride, and to empty out the swelling of their mind, and to teach them their equality of honour with the rest.

Wherefore he added this very thing, saying:

'Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ';

that is to say, 'With whom ye also are.'

And he did not say that 'He called the others together with you,' but 'you together with the others.'

For if in Christ Jesus there is neither slave nor free, much more is there neither king nor common man;

for ye also were called, and came not of your own selves.

'To all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.'

See how continually he sets down the name of 'the called,' saying, 'A called apostle.'

'Among whom are ye also called';

'To all that are in Rome, called.'

And this he does not out of mere redundancy of words, but wishing to remind them of the benefit.

For since it was likely that among the believers there were both nobles and consuls, and also poor men and commoners, casting out this inequality of ranks he addresses one and the same title to all.

But if in the more necessary and spiritual things all things are set forth in common to slaves and to freemen alike—such as the love that comes from God, the calling, the Gospel, the adoption, grace, peace, sanctification, and all the rest—how would it not be the height of folly to divide, on the basis of earthly affairs, those whom God has joined together and made equal in honour in the greater things? For this very reason this blessed man, from the very opening words casting out this grievous disease, leads them up into the mother of all good things, humility.

This also made servants better, as they learned that they would in no way be harmed by their servitude, since they possessed the freedom that is truly freedom;

and this likewise disposed masters to be moderate, as they were taught that their freedom profited them nothing unless the things of faith held the first place.

And that you may learn that in doing this he was not working confusion and mixing everything together, but knew also the best kind of distinction, he did not write simply 'to all that are in Rome,' but with a definition: 'To the beloved of God.'

For this is the best of distinctions, and it shows whence sanctification comes.

Whence then comes sanctification? From love.

For having said 'To the beloved,' he then added 'called to be saints,' making it plain that from this source flows for us the fountain of all good things;

and he calls all the faithful 'saints.'

O title that brings ten thousand good things!

This too Christ enjoined upon the apostles as the first word to speak when entering into the houses.

For this reason Paul too everywhere begins his prefaces from this point, from grace and peace.

For it was no small war that Christ brought to an end, but one manifold and of every kind and long-enduring; and this not by our own labours, but through His own grace.

Since then love bestowed grace, and grace bestowed peace, having set these down in the manner of a salutation, he prays that they may remain continual and unmoved, so that no other war may be kindled up again;

and he beseeches the Giver to keep these things firm, speaking thus:

'Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.'

Behold, here the word 'from' is common to the Father

and to the Son—which is equivalent to 'out of whom.'

For he did not say, 'Grace to you and peace from God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ,' but, 'From God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.'

Wonder of wonders! How great was the power of the love of God!

Those who were enemies and dishonoured have suddenly become saints and sons.

For when he called Him Father, he thereby declared them sons;

and when he said 'sons,' he uncovered the whole treasure of good things.

Let us therefore continue to display a manner of life worthy of the gift, keeping both peace and holiness.

For the other dignities are temporary, and are dissolved together with the present life, and may be bought with money;

wherefore one might say that they are not dignities at all, but only the names of dignities, having their power in the wrapping of garments and in the flattery of spear-bearing attendants;

but this dignity, inasmuch as it is given by God—the gift of holiness and of adoption—is not cut off even by death, but both makes us illustrious here and journeys away with us into the life to come.

For he who keeps his adoption, and guards his holiness with exactness, is by far more illustrious and more blessed than the very man who wears the diadem and bears the purple, and in the present life too he revels in much calm and is nourished with good hopes, having no occasion of tumult and disturbance, but enjoying continual delight.

For cheerfulness and joy are wont to be produced neither by greatness of office, nor by abundance of wealth, nor by the weight of power, nor by strength of body, nor by a costly table, nor by the adornment of garments, nor by any other of human things, but only by spiritual achievement and a good conscience.

And he who has this in a purified state, even though he be clothed in rags and wrestling with hunger, is more cheerful than those who live in great luxury;

just as, on the other hand, he who is conscious of wickedness in himself, even though he be wrapped about with all men's riches, is of all men the most wretched.

For this reason Paul, living in continual hunger and nakedness, and scourged day by day, both rejoiced and reveled more than those who then wore the crown;

whereas Ahab, though a king and enjoying costly luxury, after he had wrought that sin, groaned and was dejected, and his countenance was fallen both before the sin and after the sin.

If therefore we wish to enjoy pleasure, before all other things let us flee wickedness and pursue virtue, since it is not possible to partake of this in any other way, even if we should ascend to the very royal throne itself.

'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.'

Let us therefore nourish this fruit within ourselves, that we may both enjoy the joy that is here and attain the kingdom to come, by the grace and love toward mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.