歌羅西書講道集 第 4 章

And you, who once were enemies and alienated in your mind by wicked works, yet now has He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and unreprovable in His sight.

Here, then, he shows that even while we were unworthy of reconciliation, He reconciled us.

For to say that they were under the power of darkness shows the calamity in which they were.

But lest, hearing 'the power of darkness,' you should think there was some compulsion, he adds:

'And you who were alienated;'

so that he seems indeed to say the same thing, but he does not;

for it is not the same thing to deliver from evils one who has suffered ill by compulsion and one who has endured this willingly.

For the former is worthy of pity, but the latter of hatred.

Not those who were unwilling, nor those constrained, but those who willingly and of their own desire leaped away from Him, and were unworthy—these He delivered.

And since he made mention of the things in heaven, he shows that all the enmity had its beginning from here below, not from above.

For those above of old had willed it, and so had God.

And throughout he shows that the angels availed nothing in the times below, if indeed men remained enemies, and were able neither to persuade them, nor, once persuaded, to deliver them from the devil.

For neither did persuasion bring any gain, if he that held them captive were not bound;

nor did the binding bring any gain, if those held captive were not willing to return.

But both were needful; of which they accomplished neither, but Christ accomplished both.

So that to persuade was more wonderful than to loose death.

For the latter was wholly His, and He alone was Lord of it;

but of the former He was not alone the master, but we also;

and we more easily accomplish those things of which we ourselves are masters.

Accordingly, since it was the greater, he sets it down afterward.

And he did not simply say, 'being at enmity,' but 'alienated,' which belongs to great enmity;

nor merely 'estranged,' but not even expecting to return.

And 'enemies,' he says, 'in your mind,' showing by this that their alienation was not only in their purpose;

but what then? 'And in your wicked works.'

'And you were enemies,' he says, 'and you did the deeds of enemies.'

'But now has He reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and unreprovable before Him.'

Here he sets down also the manner of the reconciliation—that it was in the body, and that not merely by being smitten, nor scourged, nor sold, but even by dying the most shameful death.

Again he makes mention of the cross, and again he sets down another benefit.

For He not only delivered us, but also, as he said above, 'made us meet'; and this too he here hints at.

'Through His death,' he says, 'to present you holy and blameless and unreprovable before Him.'

For He not only delivered us from our sins, but also set us among those who are well approved.

For He suffered so many things not only that He might deliver us from evils, but that we might also attain the chief good things;

just as if one should not only free a condemned criminal from his punishment, but also raise him up to honor.

And He ranked us among those who had committed no sin;

or rather, not only among those who had not sinned, but even among those who had achieved the greatest things;

and what is even greater, that He gave us holiness which is in His sight.

And 'unreprovable' is an intensification of 'blameless';

for a man is then called unreprovable, when nothing has been done by us that reaches even to condemnation, nor even to accusation.

But since he had set down the whole of it, saying that He accomplished these things through His death, lest anyone should say, 'Then we have need of nothing,' he therefore added:

'If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Gospel.'

Here he checks their indolence.

And he did not simply say, 'Continue';

for it is possible to continue while being shaken and divided;

it is possible to stand and abide while being carried about.

'If indeed you continue,' he says, 'grounded and steadfast, and not moved away.'

Astonishing! How great a turn of phrase he has used!

'not only not being shaken,' he says, 'but not even moved.'

For the present he lays down nothing burdensome nor toilsome, but faith and hope.

That is to say, if you remain believing that the hope of things to come is true.

But in the matter of virtue it is not possible to escape being shaken, even a little;

'from the hope,' he says, 'of the Gospel, which you heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven.'

And what is the hope of the Gospel, but Christ? For He Himself is our peace, and He it is who has wrought all these things.

So that he who ascribes these things to others has been moved away;

for he has lost everything, unless he believes in Christ.

Again he brings them forward as witnesses, then the whole world.

not merely being preached, but already believed and proclaimed;

which very thing he did also at the beginning, wishing to establish these also from the testimony of the many.

'of which I Paul became a minister.'

And this too contributes to its being worthy of belief.

'I,' he says, 'Paul, a minister.'

For great by this time was his dignity, since he was celebrated everywhere and was the teacher of the whole world.

'Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the Church.'

And what is the connection here? It seems to be disjointed, yet it has a close connection.

That is to say: 'Bringing in nothing of my own, but proclaiming the things of Another.'

And thus I believe, so that I also suffer for His sake;

and I do not merely suffer, but even rejoice in suffering, looking toward the hope that is to come;

and I suffer not for my own sake, but for your sake.

'And I fill up,' he says, 'that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh.'

What he has uttered seems to be a great thing, yet it is not of arrogance—God forbid—but rather of great tender affection toward Christ;

for he does not wish the sufferings to be his own, but Christ's.

And he spoke thus, wishing to bind these people closely to Him.

'And what I suffer,' he says, 'I suffer on His account;

so that you should render thanks not to me, but to Him.'

Just as if someone, having been sent to another, should make a request of a third person, saying:

'I beseech you, go on my behalf to so-and-so';

and then that one should say, 'For this man's sake I do these things.'

So then he is not ashamed even to call these his own sufferings.

For not only did He die for us, but even after dying He is ready to be afflicted for our sake.

He was earnest and strove to show that Christ is even now imperiled for the sake of the Church through His own body; and he directs it to this end, that 'You are not brought near through us, but through Him, even though it is we who do these things;

for we did not take upon ourselves a work of our own, but His.'

And it is the same as if some rank of soldiers, having obtained as their general the one who shields them, should stand firm in the war; then, when he had departed, the lieutenant should take upon himself that general's wounds until the war were brought to an end.

Then, that he also does these things for His sake, hear:

'For the sake of His body,' he says;

wishing to say this, that 'I do not do you a favor, but Christ;

for the things which He ought to have suffered, these I suffer in His stead.'

He shows the greatness of his love;

just as, writing in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, he said, 'In us He has placed the ministry of reconciliation';

and again, 'We are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating through us';

this also he says here, 'For His sake I suffer,' that he may the more draw them to himself.

That is to say: 'Even if He who was your debtor has departed, yet I make the repayment.'

For on this account he said 'that which is lacking,' that he might show that he does not yet consider himself to have suffered the whole.

'For your sake,' he says, 'He suffers even after death, if indeed anything still remained lacking.'

This he does otherwise in the Epistle to the Romans, saying:

'Who also intercedes for us';

showing that He was not content with death alone, but even after this does ten thousand things.

It is not, then, to exalt himself that he says these things, but wishing to show that Christ even now, still, cares for them.

And he shows the word to be worthy of credit by adding, 'For the sake of His body.'

For that it is so, and nothing improbable, is plain from the fact that these things come to pass for the sake of His body.

See how he has joined us to himself.

Why then do you bring in angels in the midst? 'Of which,' he says, 'I became a minister.'

Why do you bring in other angels? I am a minister.

Then he shows that he himself did nothing, if indeed he is a minister.

'Of which,' he says, 'I became a minister according to the stewardship of God which was given to me toward you, to fulfill the word of God'—a stewardship.

Either he means this: that 'Thus He willed, when He had departed, that we

should succeed to the stewardship, that you might not be disposed as though forsaken;

for He is the very one who suffered, He the one who intercedes';

or he means this: that 'Me, who was above all men a persecutor, He therefore permitted to persecute, that I might be worthy of credit when I preach';

or he calls it a 'stewardship' in the sense that 'He sought not works, nor deeds, nor achievements, but faith and baptism.'

For otherwise you would not have received the word.

'Toward you,' he says, 'to fulfill the word of God.'

He speaks concerning the Gentiles, showing them to be still wavering, by saying 'to fulfill.'

For that the Gentiles, cast off as they were, should be able to receive so great a height of doctrines, was not Paul's doing, but of the stewardship of God;

'Since I,' he says, 'should not have been able.'

Having shown the greater thing, that His sufferings are Christ's own, then he adds the plainer point, that 'This too is of God, namely to fulfill the word toward you.'

And he shows here, [not] openly, that 'This too is of the stewardship, namely that it is now said that you are able to hear, and this not out of negligence, but so that you might become receptive.'

For God does not do all things at once, but employs condescension because of His great love for mankind.

And this is the reason that Christ came now, and not long ago.

Thus also He shows in the Gospel that on this account He sent the servants first, that they might not come to the murder of the Son.

For if they did not reverence the Son even when He came after the servants, much more would they not have done so before this;

if they did not hearken to the lesser commands, how would they have hearkened to the greater? What then does he say? Are there not Jews even now, and Greeks in a more imperfect condition? This henceforth is an excess of sloth.

For to remain still imperfect after so long a time, after so many teachings, is a mark of great dullness.

Whenever therefore the Greeks say, 'Why did Christ come now?' let us not permit them to say this, but, if He did not accomplish His work, let us question them.

For just as, even if He had come at the beginning and had not accomplished it, the time would not have sufficed us for a defense;

so, since He did accomplish it, we would not be just in demanding an accounting of the time.

For no one demands of a physician who has dispelled the disease and brought one back to health an accounting of the healing, nor does anyone examine a victorious general as to why at this time and why in this place.

For these were things to ask had he not been successful;

but when he has succeeded, one should even give him thanks.

For who, tell me, is more worthy of credit—your reasoning and slander, or the perfection of the deed itself? Did He conquer, or did He not conquer? Show this;

did He prevail, or did He not prevail? Did He bring to a conclusion the things which He said, or not? These are the accountings.

Tell me now: you surely confess that God exists, even if not Christ? I ask you then:

is God without beginning? You will certainly say so.

Tell me now: why did He not make mankind ten thousand years earlier? For they would have lived a longer time.

For if to exist is good, much more is it good to exist yet more fully.

But were they then wronged for the time in which they did not yet come to be? No, they were not wronged.

As to how this is so, He who made them knows it Himself.

Again I ask you: why did He not make all men at once, but the soul of such a one, who came into being first, has existed for so many years, while another that has not yet come to be is thereby diminished? Why did He make the one first and the other later, to be brought forth into this world? Such questions are indeed worthy of inquiry, but not of idle meddling.

But I will state the reason which I have already mentioned.

For suppose with me that human nature is like a single lifetime, and that our race in its earliest ages held the rank of a boy, in the times after that of a young man, and these ages near to old age that of an elder.

Consequently, when the soul is at its prime, and the members of the body are relaxed, and the warfare is stilled, then were we led on to the pursuit of wisdom.

And yet the very opposite happens, someone says.

While they are but boys we teach them, but not the great doctrines; rather rhetoric and cleverness of speech.

These greater things, then, we teach when they come to their prime.

Observe too that God did these very things in the case of the Jews.

For just as to children, so to the Jews He set Moses over them as a teacher of letters; and as with little children, so did he lead them up, sketching things in outline, just as we do with the elements of the alphabet.

For the Law had a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the realities.

Just as we, then, for our little children buy cakes and give them coins, requiring one thing only of them in return, that for the present they go off to school;

so too God then gave both wealth and luxury, purchasing from them one thing only, through His great indulgence, namely, that they should give heed to Moses.

For this reason He handed them over to a teacher, that they might not despise Him, but might cling to him as to an affectionate father.

For observe how they feared him alone.

For they did not say, Where is God? but, Where is Moses? and merely by being present he was awe-inspiring.

At any rate, when they did wickedly, see how he chastened them.

For God indeed wished to disown them, but he would not permit it;

or rather, the whole thing was God's doing, as of a father threatening, while the other, as it were a teacher, interceded for him and said, Forgive them for my sake, and from now on I take charge of them.

Thus the wilderness became a schoolroom.

And just as children who have lingered long at their studies wish to withdraw,

so too those people at that time were continually longing for Egypt, and wept, saying:

We are lost, we are utterly consumed, we have perished!

And Moses shattered their tablet, on which he had written for them, as it were, certain letters of the alphabet;

doing the very thing that a teacher too would do, who, taking up the writing-tablet and seeing it badly written, throws down the very tablet, wishing to show his great displeasure;

and even if he breaks it, the father is not angry.

For he himself was intent on writing;

but they, not looking to him but turned elsewhere, were behaving unruly;

and just as in the schoolroom the boys strike one another, so too at that time He commanded them to strike and slay one another.

And again, as one who gives lessons and then demands them back, and, not finding them learned, punishes,

the things done in Egypt were letters that made known the power of God.

But these letters made plain the plagues, and that He chastises His enemies, and it was for them an exact schoolroom.

For what else was the punishment of the enemies but your benefit? And in another way too He was benefiting you;

and it came to the same as if someone should claim to know the elements of the alphabet, but, being questioned about them at random, could not find the answer, and were beaten.

So too those people said indeed that they knew the power of God, but when the knowledge was demanded of them at random, they could not produce it;

Have you seen water? You ought to be reminded of the water in Egypt.

For He who made blood out of water will be able to do this also;

just as we too often say to our little children:

When you see in the book the letter alpha, remember that you had it on your tablet.

Have you seen famine? Remember that it was He who destroyed the crops.

Have you seen wars? Remember the drowning in the sea.

Have you seen that they who inhabit the land are mighty? But they are not mightier than the Egyptians.

Then He who took you from their very midst, would He not much more save you now that you are outside? But they did not know how to be questioned on the elements at random;

They ate and drank, and kicked back in rebellion.

They ought not to have sought luxury in the manna, having learned the evil that comes from it.

And they did the very same thing as if a freeborn boy, sent to school, should seek to be classed with the slaves and to wait upon them, and, though he receives the necessary and fitting food of a free man and sits at his father's table, should wish to enjoy the servants' foul and turmoil-filled fare.

So too these people longed for Egypt, and said to Moses, Yes, Lord, all that you say we will do and we will hearken.

And what happens in the case of exceedingly incorrigible children, when the father wishes to destroy them and the teacher

continually intercedes, this too was what happened at that time.

Why, then, have these things been said by us? Because we differ in no way from children.

Do you wish to hear their doctrines too, how childish they are? An eye for an eye, He says, and a tooth for a tooth.

For nothing is so bent on retaliation as a childish mind.

For since this passion belongs to unreason, and unreason is great, and great is the barrenness of reason at that age, the child is naturally tyrannized over by anger;

and so great is the tyranny of anger, that often when a child has stumbled and picked himself up, in his vexation he either strikes his knee or overturns the footstool, and thus relieves his pain and quenches his wrath.

Something of this kind God also did, granting an eye to be plucked out for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, and destroying the Egyptians and the Amalekites who had grieved them.

And He makes such promises as one might say:

Father, so-and-so struck me;

so-and-so is a bad man, and let us hate him.

So too God says, To those who are hostile to you I will be hostile, and those who hate you I will hate.

And again, when Balaam was pronouncing his curses, the condescension shown to them was of a childlike sort.

For just as in the case of children, when they see something not really fearful, such as a tuft of wool or some other such thing, they are suddenly frightened;

and so that the fear may not remain in them, we bring it under their hands and get the nurses to point it out to them;

so too God did.

For since the seer was fearful, He turned their fear into confidence.

And just as children who are being weaned have everything in their little baskets;

so too He gave them everything, and supplied abundant luxury.

But the child still seeks the breast;

so too these people sought Egypt, and the meat there.

So that one would not err in calling Moses both a teacher, a nurse, and a tutor;

for great was the wisdom of the man.

But it is not the same thing to guide men already able to pursue wisdom, and to rule over irrational children.

And, if you are willing to hear yet another example, it is just as the nurse says to the little child:

'When you relieve yourself, lift up your garments,' and again the same when you sit down;

And just as in children all the passions play the tyrant (for they do not yet possess the charioteer to rein them in)—vainglory, desire, unreason, wrath, envy—

so also among the Jews all these things held sway;

they spat upon Moses, they struck him.

And just as a little child picks up a stone, and we all cry out;

so also did they take up stones against their father, but he fled.

And just as, if the father should have some ornament, the little child, being fond of finery, begs it from him;

so indeed did the followers of Dathan and Abiram act, rising up in rebellion against the priesthood.

And they were of all men the most envious, and faint-hearted, and in every respect imperfect.

Was it then, tell me, that Christ ought to have appeared? Was it then that these philosophic ordinances should have been given—when they were mad with desire, when they were like stallions frenzied for the mare, when they were slaves of money, slaves of the belly? Nay, He would have poured out the teachings of true wisdom in vain, conversing with those who were senseless;

and they would have learned neither these things nor those.

And just as one who tries to teach reading before the letters will never even teach the letters themselves, so also would it have been then.

But by the grace of God great is the forbearance, and great the virtue, that has been planted everywhere.

Let us therefore give thanks for all things, and not be over-curious.

For it is not we who know the fitting season, but He who is the Maker of the season and the Creator of the ages.

Let us then yield all things to Him;

for this is to glorify God—not to demand of Him an accounting for the things He does.

Thus also Abraham gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that what He had promised He was able also to perform.

That man did not even ask about what was to come;

but we scrutinize even the account of things already past.

See how great is the folly, how great the ingratitude!

there is no gain, but rather great harm;

and let us be graciously disposed toward our Master, and send up glory to God, that, offering up thanksgiving for all things, we may be counted worthy of His loving-kindness—by the grace and loving-kindness 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.