let him not be circumcised. Let him not think the faith of the Lord to be a cause of division. 'And circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but the keeping of the commandments of God. Let each abide with God in that calling wherein he was called.' It neither hinders nor profits in this present time. 'Are you called being a slave? let it not be a care to you.' Some wish servitude to be understood as marriage. 'But if you can be made free, use it rather.' Because God regards not conditions, but mind and will: nor say, 'How can I please God? I am a slave.' 'For he who is called a slave in the Lord is the Lord's freedman: likewise he who is called free is Christ's slave.' He who is man's slave is free before God: and he who is free before men is God's slave:
therefore both are one. For there is no respect of persons with God. 'You are bought with a price, do not become the slaves of men. Let each, brethren, abide with God in that state wherein he was called.' Let him not serve for men's sake with eye-service, to please men: but let him do all things for God's sake, believing that you will receive a reward from God. 'Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord.' He answers to what was written: because they were saying, 'Where is virginity commanded?'—that they might show it to be superfluous, because what is under commandment, if not fulfilled, is punished, but if fulfilled, has no reward. He gives counsel, the Saviour saying, 'Not all receive this word: but those to whom it is given.' For if it were general, what one can do, all could also do.
The occasion of chastity is abstinence: but the occasion of incontinence is luxury. And it is given by God, because it is his own proper gift, as the prophet says: 'Since I know that no one is continent unless you have granted it.' 'But I give counsel.' He fulfils that of the Lord, which he said to him under the figure of the innkeeper: 'Whatever you shall spend over and above, I, coming again, will repay you.' 'As one who has obtained mercy of the Lord, that I may be faithful.' He refers all things to the mercy of God, that by his own example he may teach that one must glory in nothing except in God. A faithful servant is he who, all else set aside, is always occupied in the service of his Lord, to which he provokes them by his own example, that they may desire to serve him alone.
And let no one presume upon his own merits, since he testifies that, in order to be faithful, he has obtained the mercy of the Lord. 'I think therefore that this is good.' 'I think'—this not as though doubtful, but certain: just as is 'I think that I too have the Spirit of God.' 'On account of the present necessity.' Whether of keeping justice, or of being free from the world's care. 'That it is good for a man so to be.' 'Are you bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed.' It is therefore an evil not to be so, because he first loses the reward of chastity: not that he sins. 'Are you loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.' Thus he says: neither to be bound, just as not to be loosed. 'But if you take a wife, you have not sinned.' You who are free, if you do not wish to be greater, be at least lesser.
'And if a virgin marry, she has not sinned.' Marriage in itself has no sin, but through the care of the world it often incurs sin. 'Yet such shall have tribulation of the flesh.' Subjecting themselves to the curse of Eve, who therefore received the curse in childbearing, because God knew that men would be incontinent, so that at least by fear of pain they might restrain themselves from lust. There are added also the wailings of infants, the deaths of children, and moreover miscarriages. 'But I spare you.' Because, according to indulgence, I do not altogether forbid marriages. 'This therefore I say, brethren.' Here he exhorts all to continence. 'The time is short.' It remains that those also who have wives be as though not having them.
The time of our life is short, because it is soon dissolved either by the death of one or of both. It is thus to be understood, that on account of its brevity these things are to be reckoned as nothing in comparison with the things to come. 'And those who weep, as though weeping not; and those who rejoice, as though rejoicing not; and those who buy, as though possessing not; and those who use this world, as though not using it.' In this age, because all things shall shortly come to an end. Solomon describes the brevity of times: 'A time and times'; but we daily see men dying, and yet we believe that we shall be eternal, as though we were of another nature. For the wise man is corrected by the misfortunes of others. Therefore Solomon says: 'The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of the fool in the house of feasting.'
'For the figure of this world passes away.' This age is a figure of the age to come. If the figure is such, of what sort will the truth be? Just as a star is a figure of the sun. 'But I wish you to be without care.' Therefore one does not marry, that care may depart from him toward the world, lest thorns choke the seed, and lest they say: 'I have bought a farm, I have bought oxen, I have married a wife': and he cannot dine with the bridegroom. 'He who is without a wife is careful for the things of the Lord, how he may please God. But he who is with a wife is careful for the things of the world, how he may please his wife.' It must be asked whom it is expedient to please: God, or a woman who is to die. 'And he is divided.' The unmarried woman and the virgin thinks upon the things of the Lord. If divided, he cannot be one: for unity does not admit division.
'That she may be holy both in body and in spirit.' In body, by abstinence; in spirit, by freedom from care or from the concupiscence of thoughts. 'But she who is married thinks upon the things of the world.' She who is married, if she thinks upon the things of the world—him whom she desires to please—the married one will begin to be preferred to it, she who has an excuse for thinking upon the things of the world, by occasion of her husband. 'How she may please her husband.' She is holy neither in body nor in spirit. 'Moreover, this I say for your own profit.' Lest he should seem to have spoken harshly to the weak, he now excuses himself; but this very excuse is to be considered. 'Not that I may cast a snare upon you.' I do not impose necessity upon the unmarried, but I give counsel as to what is more expedient for you.
'But for that which is honourable, and which may give you power to entreat the Lord without hindrance.' Therefore what they wished was neither useful nor honourable. 'But if any man think that he seems unseemly toward his virgin, because she is overgrown in age.' He will seem unseemly if, when she has come to full age, he decides neither course—neither to preserve virginity nor to marry; or if, when she wishes to marry, he does not permit it, and she commits fornication. For if each man refers this to his own flesh, and sees that he cannot preserve virginity, let him marry, lest by fornicating he appear unseemly. 'And so it must be done.' So it is necessary, on account of the girl's will. 'Let him do what he wishes: he does not sin, if she marries.'
Parents indeed ought to guard her until she is of mature age, and to teach her chastity. But if she is unwilling, let what is necessary be done: neither the girl's father nor the girl herself sins if she marries. 'For he who has stood firm in his heart.' He has stood firm whose daughter's will has strengthened his own will. 'Having no necessity.' From this it is recognized that he who has necessity of his daughter is the one of whom he said, 'But having power over his own will, and has judged this in his heart, to keep his own virgin, does well.' He can do what he wishes. Therefore both he who joins his virgin in marriage does well, and he who does not join her does better. It is a conclusive summing-up: the prudent must always pursue the better things.
'A woman is bound as long as her husband lives.' Here he begins to speak of widows, for they too had consulted him. 'But if her husband sleeps, she is set free. Let her marry whom she wishes, only in the Lord.' Set free from the marriage-bond according to the law: if not even then she can contain herself, let her marry whom she wishes, only in Christ. 'She will be happier if she remains thus.' The wife who has a husband, if she can keep righteousness and knows her husband only for the sake of children: happier still is the widow, because she labors more than the married woman, and has the reward of chastity, and can pray daily with a free conscience. Most blessed is the virgin, because by a brief labor she can attain to a great reward. 'According to my counsel'; which I give to virgins.
'And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.' Do not suppose that this which I say is from myself: it is the Spirit of God who speaks in me, whom it is not expedient to despise. Here, I think, he signifies no doubt. CHAPTER VIII. 'Now concerning those things which are sacrificed to idols.' They had written to him of these things too, as of the matters above, because they used to eat in the temples, saying, 'Every creature of God is good, and an idol is nothing'; and by this appearance rather than by the truth of reason they went astray. 'We know that we all.' We all: for not those of whom he says, 'But not in all is there knowledge,' that is, knowledge given by the Lord. 'We have knowledge.' He has this custom, that he first enters gently, and at the last shows the force of his discourse. 'Knowledge puffs up.'
'That folly is with God.' If knowledge puffs up, why does he still wish them to press on to more of it? He himself also says of himself, 'Though rude in speech, yet not in knowledge'; and he prays for the Ephesians that they may be filled with knowledge; and in this very epistle he gives thanks that they have been filled with such knowledge, the knowledge which shows the appearance of reason rather than the truth: not the knowledge which can be reproached. 'But charity edifies.' That charity which seeks not the things that are its own, but how through it the body of Christ may profit. Knowledge without charity puffs up; with charity it edifies. 'If any man thinks that he knows anything.' If anyone seems to himself wise, he is not wise.
For he who is truly wise believes himself more foolish than all, and he is truly wise who testifies that whatever good he understands he has received from God. 'He has not yet known as he ought to know.' He who by foolish presumption attributes to himself what he knows, does not know how he ought to know. 'But if any man loves God, this man is known by him.' By building up the Church he loves God, because him also, as a neighbor, the Lord has known, for 'the Lord has known those who are his.' 'Now concerning the meats that are offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one.' He repeats what he had said above, 'we know,' and shows what it is, namely, that an idol is nothing. 'For although there are those who are called gods.'
It may be said that a thing is spoken of, yet is not so. 'Whether in heaven or on earth: for indeed there are many gods and many lords; yet to us there is one God the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him.' The angels and saints, to whom he says, 'I have said, You are gods,' and 'lords,' the holy ones of those whom they shall judge. Or thus: gods in heaven, and lords on earth. Here the Arians cavil, denying that Christ is God, because he is called only Lord. To them it must be answered: If therefore he will not be God because the Father is one God, then neither will the Father be Lord, because Christ is the one Lord. 'And one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him.' He who made all things from nothing—here understand the Trinity. 'But not in all is there knowledge.'
'Not all know' that you do this out of contempt for the idol, but they suppose you do it out of veneration. 'And some, with conscience of the idol until now, eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.' They still hold in their conscience as they did before they believed. 'But food does not commend us to God: neither if we do not eat shall we be the worse, nor if we eat shall we be the better.' As the prophet Haggai says, 'And if you eat and drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?' 'But take heed lest this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to the weak.'
This can be said at the same time also of those religious men or clerics who by their example destroy what they teach in word, while they both brood over riches and are wrapped in costly garments. 'For if anyone sees him who has knowledge reclining at table in an idol's temple, shall not his conscience, being weak, be built up to eat things offered to idols? And the weak brother, for whom Christ died, perishes in your knowledge.' Thus sinning against your brothers and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 'Whoever shall scandalize one of these little ones, it were better for him that a millstone were hung about his neck and he were cast into the depth of the sea': grievous as that is, this is lighter.
'Wherefore, if food scandalizes my brother, I will never eat flesh, lest I scandalize my brother.' Not food and flesh alone, but all other things. CHAPTER IX. 'Am I not free? Am I not an apostle?' It is to be understood thus: Am I not? He repeats to them his own example, that although he had all things in his power, he was unwilling to do what was permitted him, for the sake of the salvation of others. 'Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?' When he appeared to him on the way. 'Are you not my work in the Lord? And if to others I am not an apostle, yet to you at least I am.' To others, to whom I was not sent. 'For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.' The proof of my apostleship is that you believed in the Lord through me.
'My defense against those who examine me is this.' By these things I am defended as being an apostle. 'Have we not power to eat and to drink?' At your expense, without our labor. 'Have we not power to lead about a woman, a sister?' Who would minister to us. He did not say 'to marry,' but 'to lead about,' lest anyone should think he was speaking of a wife of his own. 'As also the other apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas.' He does not point to them as offenders; but because they preached to more faithful people, they more freely received their daily bread, for among the Jews this too was the custom of teachers. 'Or is it I only and Barnabas who have not power to do this?' We who were sent to the Gentiles. 'Who serves as a soldier.'
He gives other examples by which he may prove that this was owed to him. 'At his own charges ever?' And not at the public's. 'Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit?' By this comparison he here calls the people a vineyard, as elsewhere, 'You brought a vine out of Egypt.' 'Who feeds a flock and does not eat of the milk of the flock?' 'And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, and they shall feed you with discipline.' 'Do I say these things according to man?' Of myself. 'Or does not the law also say this?' 'For it is written in the law of Moses, You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain.' He confirms all things by the testimonies of the law. 'Is it for oxen that God cares?' As, then, God cares for the sparrows, and in Jonah it is said of Nineveh, in which there are more than 120,000 men and much cattle?
But these also were created for the sake of man; for when man fails, these too will fail. 'Or does he say it altogether for our sakes?' For it was written altogether for our sakes: 'That he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes, in hope of receiving fruit.' He ought to hope for the fruit of his labor, and he who threshes ought to eat of the threshing-floor itself; so that by this comparison it may be freely rendered to those who labor in the word. 'If we have sown to you spiritual things, is it a great matter?' It was no great matter—we did not burden you, though we wished to receive; but we would not, for your sakes. 'If we reap your carnal things?' Whatever is necessary. 'If others are partakers of this power over you, why not rather we? But we have not used this power.'
He speaks of the false apostles, to whom nothing was owed, since they had bestowed nothing on them. 'But we endure all things.' Both hunger and thirst and nakedness. 'Lest we should give any offense to the Gospel of Christ.' Lest our preaching in any way displease, lest those to whom we evangelize be made to stumble through us, our adversaries seizing the occasion to devour them. 'Do you not know that they who work in the sanctuary eat the things that are of the sanctuary? They who serve the altar share with the altar.' Among the Jews, according to the law. 'So also the Lord has ordained that they who announce the Gospel should live by the Gospel.' As he says, 'The laborer is worthy of his wages.'
The Apostle says that it was indeed lawful for him and permitted by the Lord that those who announce the Gospel should live by the Gospel—that is, should have from the Gospel the things necessary for this life—yet that he did not abuse this power. For there were many who wished to have an occasion of acquiring and selling the Gospel; wishing to cut this off from them, the Apostle supported his own livelihood with his own hands. For of these he says in another place: 'That I may cut off the occasion of those who seek occasion.' Although, like the other good apostles, he might by the Lord's permission live by the Gospel, nevertheless he did not make sustenance the end of his evangelizing, so as to evangelize in order to attain food and whatever such necessities there are.
But he took these things for this reason, that he might fulfill his task, lest he should evangelize not willingly but of necessity. 'But I have used none of these things. Yet I have not written this that it should be so done in my case.' I do not write this that what has not been done should be done, but I give you an example of how to act. 'For it is good for me rather to die than that anyone should make void my glory.' Even if I should die of hunger, this glory which I have according to God will not be made void, namely, that I take nothing from you. 'For if I evangelize, it is no glory to me, for necessity lies upon me.' When you have done all things, say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done what it was our duty to do.' 'For woe is me if I do not evangelize.' I have punishment. 'For if I do this willingly, I have a reward.'
'But if unwillingly, a stewardship is committed to me.' It will then be voluntary, if the very duty is despised. 'What then is my reward? That preaching the Gospel I may present the Gospel without expense.' Whence do I have a reward? And he answers himself: 'That I may announce it without charge.' 'That I may not abuse my power in the Gospel.' Or, that I may not use the power I have received. Or, that while I wish to receive, I might make my power cheap, when I am thought to teach for the sake of my belly. 'For though I was free from all, I made myself the servant of all, that I might gain the more.' Though I might use my liberty and not care for the rest, yet I had compassion on all, that I might save them. 'And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews.'
When he purified himself in the temple, which in the time of grace he knew to be superfluous. 'To those who are under the law, as under the law.' He shows how he too was a Jew with them, that occasion might be given him of preaching to them. 'Though I myself was not under the law, that I might gain those who were under the law.' He is not under the law—which was given to little ones—who by grace fulfills the law; for the law is not laid down for the righteous. 'To those who were without the law, as without the law'—though I was not without the law of God. From the Gentiles I sought at first faith alone, as though I did not have the precepts of the law of Christ which I would teach them to observe. 'But being under the law of Christ, that I might gain those who were without the law.' Against the Arians, who deny that Christ is God.
For when he says that he is not without the law of God, but is under the law of Christ, he confesses Christ to be God. 'To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak.' With the weak I ate vegetables, though I could eat flesh without fear. Or that saying: 'I judged myself to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.' 'I became all things to all men.' Seeking for myself nothing that is useful to me. 'That I might make all men saved.' We must consider that God took upon himself man, and though he was without sin, he bore our sins. But we are men, sinners. We ought to consider that the sickness, whether of soul or body, which we see in another man, we too could have had, or may have.
Let us therefore show to him whose weakness we wish to bear that which we would wish to be shown to us by him, if we were in that state and he were not. To this pertains: 'Bear one another's burdens.' 'But I do all things for the Gospel's sake, that I may be made partaker of it.' That I may have a part in it. 'Do you not know that those who run in the race all indeed run, but one receives the prize?' We ought all to run; for if there one who has conquered receives it, how much more we, who all by the gift of God can conquer, and all alike be crowned through his mercy? 'So run that you may all attain.' If to faith, let faith be with works; if to doctrine, let doctrine be confirmed by example.
'But everyone who strives in the contest abstains from all things. And he indeed that he may receive a corruptible crown.' From all foods that hinder the course, or by which another is scandalized. 'So let us run that we may attain': for all who run rightly attain. It is not as in the theatrical contest, where all indeed run, but one receives the palm. Let us run by believing, hoping, desiring; let us run by chastising the body, and by almsgiving, in giving good things and pardoning evils, doing this cheerfully and from the heart, and praying that the strength of those who run may be aided; and thus let us hear the precepts of perfection, lest we neglect to run to the fullness of charity, and lest we attribute to ourselves that we run. 'But we an incorruptible.'
They run for an uncertain end, because not all can conquer. 'I therefore so run, not as into uncertainty.' He who preaches for the sake of human favor is uncertain of his reward. 'So I fight, not as one beating the air, but I chastise my body.' I do not feign the struggle, nor fight in vain. 'And bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others'—by abstinence, as Elijah in his mantle, Isaiah in sackcloth, and others in various ways—'I myself should become a castaway.' He himself becomes a castaway who teaches only by word, not by example. CHAPTER X. 'For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud.'
Let no one trust in himself either in baptism, or in spiritual food, or drink, and think that God will spare him if he sins criminally. All the things that were done to the people of Israel in a figure happen to us in truth: as they were freed from Egypt through Moses, so we from the world through baptism; then as catechumens we are led through the deserts, that through the training we may forget the pleasure of Egypt, and may not know how to return to the world; and when we have crossed the sea, Pharaoh with his army dies to us; afterward we shall receive the manna, and water from the rock; and afterward the brightness of knowledge shall be shown to us, and the refreshment of consolation. But if after all these things we commit a capital sin, these things do not profit us.
But as ungrateful men we shall be subjected to a greater punishment, if we do not wash this away through penance, as he says to the Hebrews: 'He who makes void the law of Moses is punished without any mercy; how much more the baptism of Christ?' 'And all passed through the sea.' The Red Sea signifies baptism, adorned with the blood of Christ. 'And all were baptized in Moses.' Moses the leader signifies Christ; the people passing over signifies the faithful; the death of the Egyptians signifies the abolition of sins—'in the cloud and in the sea,' which cloud has moisture, that is, the water of baptism. 'And all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. And they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ.'
In a mystery. 'But with the greater part of them God was not well pleased. For they were laid low in the desert.' The manna as a type of the body of Christ. 'Now these things were done as a figure of us, that we should not be desirers of evil things, as they also desired.' To them it was then the reality, yet it prefigured our figure. 'Neither become idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them fornicated, and there fell in one day twenty-three thousand.' On account of those who reclined at table in the idol-temples. 'Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted, and perished by the serpents.' Saying, 'Can God?'
And here Christ is shown to be God, because it is written that God said, 'And they tempted me'—this ten times. And he says they tempted him for this reason, as he says to them, 'Do you seek a proof of him who speaks in me, Christ?' 'Neither murmur, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer.' In tribulations. 'Now all these things happened to them in a figure. All the things that happened to them they received indeed according to their deeds; but nevertheless they were written for this reason, that we should not think we sin with impunity: if he did not spare them who were little ones, how much more us, who have received the perfect law, if we do not keep it. And they were written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.'
Upon whom all perfection falls—that is, that which they either foretold or prefigured is completed. 'Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.' By this very thing, that he thinks he stands, he falls, while he grows proud and presumes upon himself. 'Let no temptation take hold of you but such as is human.' There are human temptations, when a man of good disposition slips in some counsel merely according to human frailty, or is provoked against a brother out of zeal to correct, yet somewhat more than Christian tranquility demands: of which the Apostle says, 'Let no temptation take hold of you but such as is human.' Do not make any temptation for yourselves: if men should force you with torments, you ought not to consent, so as to depart from the faith.
Human temptation is the vain presumption of the will, or as he himself said above: 'For while there is envy and rivalry among you, are you not carnal, and walking according to man?' What is so human as to judge wrongly of the hidden things of men?—so that one believes to be good whom he does not know to be evil, and again by uncertain opinion believes to be evil whom he has not proved to be evil, and judges before the time what he does not know. Human temptation may also be called the wicked suggestion which either rises up in the soul, or is suggested through wicked men; such as to bear false witness, or to nurse enmities, or to seek vengeance, and the rest of this kind.