羅馬書講道集 第 9 章

'Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned to him for righteousness;

but for our sake also, to whom it shall be reckoned, who believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.'

Having said many and great things concerning Abraham—concerning his faith and his righteousness and the honor he received from God—lest the hearer should say, 'And what is that to us? for it was he who was justified,'

he sets us once more close beside the patriarch.

So great is the power of spiritual words.

For the man from among the Gentiles, but lately come, who had wrought nothing, he declared to be not a whit inferior to the believing Jew—nay, not even to the patriarch;

or rather, if one must say something marvelous, even much more.

For such is our nobility, that his faith is a type of ours.

And he did not say, 'If it was reckoned to him, it is likely that it is so for us also,' lest he make it a mere inference;

but he speaks from the authority of the divine laws, and makes the whole matter a pronouncement of Scripture.

'For why was it written,' he says, 'except that we too might learn that we are justified in the same manner? For we have believed in the same God, concerning the same things, even if not in the case of the same persons.'

And having spoken of our faith, he tells also of the unspeakable lovingkindness of God, which he continually turns about, bringing the cross into the midst;

which he now also declared, saying:

'Who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.'

See how, having stated the cause of the death, he makes the same thing also a proof of the resurrection.

For why was He crucified? he asks. Not for any sin of His own;

and this is plain from the resurrection.

For if He had been a sinner, how did He rise? but if He rose, it is very plain that He was not a sinner.

But if He was not a sinner, how was He crucified? For the sake of others.

And if it was for the sake of others, then most certainly He also rose again.

How, being liable for so many sins, can we be justified? He pointed to the One who blotted out all our sins, so that both from the faith of Abraham, by which he was justified, and from the saving Passion, through which we were delivered from our sins, he might establish his argument.

And having spoken of His death, he speaks also of His resurrection.

For He did not die on this account, that He might hold men liable to punishment and condemnation, but that He might do them good;

for it was for this that He both died and rose again, that He might make men righteous.

Being therefore justified by faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

What does it mean, 'Let us have peace'? Some indeed say that it means: Let us no longer be in strife, contending to bring in the Law;

but to me it seems that henceforth he is discoursing to us concerning the manner of life.

For since he had discoursed at length concerning faith and the righteousness that is by works, and had set it forth;

in order that no one might suppose that what he had said furnished a pretext for slothfulness, he says—

that is, Let us sin no more, nor return to our former ways;

for this is to be at war with God.

And how is it possible, one asks, no longer to sin? How was the former thing possible? For if, being liable for so many sins, we were delivered from them all through Christ, much more shall we be able, through Him, to abide in the state in which we now are.

For it is not the same thing to receive peace where there was none, and to hold fast what has been given, since keeping is harder than gaining;

yet nevertheless the harder thing came to pass, and was brought to accomplishment.

Therefore the easier thing too will be readily achievable by us, if we cleave to Him who accomplished those other things for us.

But here he seems to me to be hinting not only at what is easy, but also at what is reasonable.

For if He Himself reconciled us when we were at enmity, it is reasonable that we should abide in the reconciliation, and render Him this recompense in return, lest He should seem to have reconciled to the Father men perverse and thankless.

For through Him, he says, we have also had our access by faith.

If then, when we were far off, He brought us near, much more, now that we have become near, will He hold us fast.

But consider with me how everywhere he sets down the two things—both what is from Him and what is from us.

Yet the things that are His are manifold and many and diverse;

for He both died for us, and reconciled us, and brought us near, and gave us grace unspeakable;

while we brought in faith only;

wherefore he says, 'By faith into this grace wherein we stand.'

What grace, tell me? To have been counted worthy of the knowledge of God, to have been delivered from error, to have come to know the truth, to have attained all the good things that come through baptism;

for it was to this end that He brought us near, that we might receive these gifts;

for it was not merely that there might be forgiveness and deliverance from sins only, but that we might also enjoy countless dignities.

And He did not stop even here, but promised yet other things also—those unspeakable good things that surpass both mind and speech.

For by saying 'grace' he made plain the present things which we have received;

and by saying 'And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God,' he unveiled all the things to come.

And well did he say, 'Wherein we stand.'

For such is the grace of God;

it has no end, it knows no bound, but ever advances to greater things;

which is not possible in the case of men.

A man receives office and glory and power, but he does not stand in it continually; rather he quickly falls from it, and even if no man takes it away, death, coming upon him, will assuredly take it away.

But the things of God are not like this;

for neither man, nor time, nor the changing circumstances of affairs, nor the devil himself, nor death, coming upon us, will be able to cast us out from them;

but when we die, then we hold them all the more securely, and, ever advancing, we enjoy them in greater abundance.

So that if you disbelieve the things to come, then from the present things and from what you have already received, believe those also.

For it was on this account that he said, 'And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God,' that you might learn what manner of soul the believer ought to have.

For one ought to be fully assured not only concerning the things already given, but also concerning the things to come as though they were already given;

as one is confident concerning the things already bestowed.

Since therefore the hope of the things to come is thus sure and clear, even as that of the things already given, he says, in that hope too we likewise rejoice;

and for this reason he even called them 'glory.'

For if it contributes to the glory of God, it will most assuredly come to pass, even if not for our sake, yet for His own.

And why do I speak, he says, of the good things to come as worthy of boasting? Nay, the very present evils are enough to adorn us, and to make us take pride in them;

and not only so, but we also glory in tribulations.

Consider, then, how great are the things to come, when even in what seem to be grievous things we are high-minded.

So great is the gift of God, and so utterly is there nothing unpleasant in it.

For in outward affairs the contests bring toil and pain and hardship, while the crowns and the prizes bring the pleasure;

but here it is not so; rather, the wrestlings are no less pleasant to us than the prizes.

For since at that time the trials were many, while the kingdom was in hope, and the dreadful things were at hand, but the good things in expectation, and this unnerved the weaker sort, he gives them the prizes even before the crowns, saying that we ought to glory even in tribulations.

And he did not say, 'Ye ought to glory,' but 'We glory,' bringing in the exhortation in his own person.

Then, since what was said seemed strange and paradoxical—that a man wrestling with hunger, in chains and in torments, insulted and reproached, ought to glory—he thereupon establishes it;

and, what is more, he says that they are worthy of boasting not only because of those things to come, but even because of the present things themselves;

for the tribulations themselves, in and of themselves, are a good thing.

For what reason? Because they train us unto endurance.

Wherefore, having said, 'We glory in tribulations,' he added the reason also, saying—

'Knowing that tribulation worketh patience.'

See again the earnest zeal of Paul, how he turns his argument round to the very opposite.

For since the tribulations were chiefly what made them lose heart concerning the things to come, and cast them into despair, he says that for these very reasons they ought to take courage, and not to despair of the things to come.

For tribulation, he says, worketh patience, and patience probation, and probation hope, and hope maketh not ashamed.

For not only are the tribulations not destructive of such a hope, but they are actually productive of it.

For even before the things to come, tribulation has patience for its greatest fruit, and the making of him who is tried into one approved;

and it contributes something also toward the things to come;

for it makes hope to flourish in us.

For nothing so prepares us to hope for good things as a good conscience.

None, at any rate, of those who have lived aright are in doubt concerning the things to come, even as many of those who have been careless, being oppressed by an evil conscience, do not even wish there to be a judgment or a recompense.

What then? Are our good things held only in hope? In hope indeed, yet not a human hope, the kind that often fails and puts to shame the one who hoped, when that which was looked for either dies before it is attained, or, while it yet lives, is changed.

But our hope is not of that sort; rather it is sure and unshakable.

For He who made the promise ever lives, and we too who are to enjoy those good things, even if we die, shall rise again; and there is nothing whatsoever that can put us to shame, as though we had been lifted up on empty and vain and rotten hopes.

Having thus sufficiently freed them from all doubt by these words, he does not halt his discourse at things present, but again brings in things to come, knowing that the weaker sort seek after present things and are not content with these.

And he confirms these things from what has already been given.

For lest anyone should say, «What then, if God is not willing to bestow these on us?» — for that He is able, and abides, and lives, we all know;

but whence is it clear that He will also be willing? From the things that have already come to pass.

What things that have come to pass? The love which He displayed toward us.

By doing what, he says? By giving the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, having said, «Hope does not put to shame,» he added the proof of this, saying, «Because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts.»

He did not say «has been given,» but «has been poured out in our hearts,» thereby showing its abundance.

For that which was the greatest gift, this He gave — not heaven and earth and sea, but that which was more precious than all these, and which made men into angels and sons of God and brethren of Christ.

And what is this? The Holy Spirit.

But if He were not willing to bestow great crowns upon us after our labors, He would not have given us so many good things before the labors.

As it is, the warmth of His love is shown from this: that He did not honor us gently and little by little, but poured out the fountain of good things all at once, and this before the contests. So that even if you are not very worthy, do not despair, having as a mighty advocate before the Judge His love.

For this reason he too, having said, «Hope does not put to shame,» attributed the whole not to our own achievements, but to the love of God.

Having spoken of the gift of the Spirit, he passes again next to the cross, saying thus:

«For while we were yet weak, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.»

«For scarcely for a righteous man will one die;»

«yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.»

«But God commends His own love toward us.»

And what he means is this:

For if for a virtuous man one would not readily choose to die, consider the love of your Master, when He is shown to have been crucified not for the virtuous, but for sinners and enemies.

Which is exactly what he says thereafter as well:

«For if, while we were sinners, Christ died for us, how much more then, being now justified by His blood, shall we be saved through Him from wrath.»

«For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.»

And what has been said seems to be a mere repetition, but it is not so to one who gives careful attention.

He wishes to assure them concerning things to come.

And first he moves them by the mind of the righteous man, saying that he too was fully persuaded that what God has promised He is able also to perform;

then from the grace that has been given; then from the afflictions, that they are sufficient to lead us into hope;

and again from the Spirit, which we have received;

and finally he establishes this also from the death, and from our own former wickedness.

And, as I said before, what has been stated seems to be one thing, but it is found to be two and three and far more.

In the second place, that it was for the ungodly;

in the third, that He reconciled us, that He saved us, that He justified us, that He made us immortal, that He made us sons and heirs.

«We ought not, then,» he says, «to draw strength from the death alone, but also from what has been given us through the death;»

and yet, even if He had only died for us who were such as we were, what came to pass would have been the greatest token of love;

but when He is shown, even in dying, to be bestowing gifts — and such gifts, and on such persons — what has come to pass conceals all excess, and leads even the utterly insensible to faith.

For there is no other who is to save us, but that same One who so loved us while we were sinners as even to give Himself up.

Do you see how great a support this passage has toward the hope of things to come? For before this, two things were hard for us with regard to salvation: both that we were sinners, and that we had to be saved through the death of the Master;

which, before it happened, was even incredible, and needed much love in order to come to pass;

but now, since these things have come about, what remains is easier;

for we have become friends, and there is no longer any need of death.

He, then, who so spared His enemies as not to spare His own Son, will not fail to protect them now that they are friends, when there is no longer even any need of giving up the Son. For it is either through not being willing, or through not being able even if he is willing, that a man often fails to save;

of which nothing can be said in the case of God, as is clear from His having given up the Son.

And that He is also able, this too He likewise demonstrated from the fact that He justified us while we were sinners.

What, then, remains that hinders us from obtaining the things to come? Nothing.

Then again, lest, having heard yourself called a sinner and an enemy and weak and

ungodly, you should be ashamed and blush, hear what he says:

«And not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.»

What is the meaning of «And not only so»? «We have not only been saved,» he says, «but we also glory for this very reason, for which one might suppose that we should be covered with shame.»

For that we, who lived in such great wickedness, were saved, is the greatest sign of our being exceedingly loved by the One who saved us.

For it was not through angels or archangels, but through the Only-begotten Himself, that He saved us.

So that both the fact of saving, and the saving of us who were such, and the doing of this through the Only-begotten, and not simply through the Only-begotten, but through His blood — all these weave for us countless crowns of boasting.

For nothing is equal, in respect of glory and boldness, to being loved by God and to loving Him who loves us.

This it is that makes the angels glorious, this the principalities and powers, this is greater than a kingdom;

for this cause Paul also set this before the kingdom;

for this cause I too count the bodiless powers blessed, because they both love Him and obey Him in all things.

It was for this, at any rate, that the prophet also marveled at them, saying:

«Mighty in strength, that do His word.»

From this too Isaiah proclaimed the Seraphim, exhibiting their great virtue from their standing near that glory, which was a sign of the greatest love.

Let us, then, also emulate the powers above, and let us be zealous not only to stand near the throne, but also to have Him who sits upon the throne dwelling within us.

For He indeed loved us even when we hated Him, and He continues to love us;

for «He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.»

But do you at least love Him who loves you.

«And how,» one may say, «does He who loves threaten with hell and punishment and torment?» For this very reason — because He loves;

for by cutting off your wickedness, and by holding back with fear, as with a kind of bridle, your rushing toward the worse, He does and contrives all things, both by pleasant things and by grievous ones restraining you from your downward course, and leading you back to Himself, and drawing you away from all vice, which is harsher than hell.

But if you laugh at what has been said, and prefer ten thousand times over to live in wickedness rather than to be punished for a single day, it is nothing to wonder at;

for this too is a sign of your imperfect understanding, and of drunkenness, and of an incurable disease;

since little children too, when they see the physician bringing either fire or the knife, flee and leap away, wailing and struggling, and choose rather to perish by a perpetual rotting of the body than, by enduring a temporary pain, to enjoy the health that follows thereafter.

But those who have sense know that to be sick is more grievous than to be cut, just as to be in an evil state is worse than to be chastised;

for the one is to be healed and to be in health, but the other is to perish and to abide in perpetual infirmity.

That health is better than sickness is surely plain to everyone;

since even in the case of robbers, it is not when their sides are being pierced that they deserve our tears, but when they are breaking through walls and committing murder.

For if the soul is better than the body—as indeed it is—then when the soul perishes, it is far more just to groan and to lament;

and if it does not perceive its own state, on that very account we ought to mourn for it all the more.

For indeed those who are inflamed with an unchaste love are more to be pitied than those who suffer sorely from fever, and drunkards more than those who are put to the torture.

'And if these things are more grievous,' says one, 'why then do we rather choose them?' Because to many of mankind, as the proverb has it, the worse is pleasing, and these they choose, passing by the better.

And this one may see happening in the case of foods, and in modes of life, and in the pursuit of different manners of living, and in the enjoyment of pleasure, and in wives, and in houses, and in slaves, and in fields, and in everything else.

For which, tell me, is the more pleasant—to consort with women or with males? with women or with mules? Yet nonetheless we shall find many passing by women, coupling with brute beasts, and outraging the bodies of males; and this though the natural is more pleasant than the unnatural.

But nonetheless there are many who pursue as pleasant the things that are ridiculous and loathsome and fraught with punishment.

'For to those men these things seem pleasant,' says one.

Nay, but for this very reason they would be wretched, that they even account to be pleasant the things which are not pleasant.

So too do they reckon the punishment to be worse than the sin;

but it is not so—rather, quite the contrary.

For if it were an evil to sinners, God would not have added evils to their evils, nor would He have willed to make them worse;

for He who does all things to the end that wickedness may be quenched would not increase it.

It is not then the being punished that is an evil to the transgressor, but the not being punished while in such a state, just as it is an evil for the sick man not to be healed.

For nothing is so great an evil as an inordinate desire;

and when I say 'inordinate,' I mean also the desire of luxury, and of untimely glory, and of dominion, and, in a word, of all things beyond need.

For such a man, who lives the soft and dissolute life, seems indeed to be the most blessed of all, but is in truth the most wretched of all, bringing in upon his own soul harsh mistresses and tyrants.

For this cause God made the present life laborious for us, that He might deliver us from that bondage and lead us into pure freedom;

for this cause also He threatened punishment, and allotted toils together with our life, tightening up our slackness.

Thus at least it was even with the Jews: when they were bound to the clay and the brickmaking, they were both submissive and continually called upon God; but when they enjoyed freedom, they murmured and provoked the Master, and pierced themselves through with ten thousand evils.

'What then,' says one, 'wouldst thou say to those who are often overturned by affliction?' That the overturning is not the work of the affliction, but of their own weakness.

For neither, if a man having a weak stomach should refuse to take a bitter medicine able to purge him, but should even be worn away thereby, shall we blame the medicine, but the sickness of the member—just as here too we blame the pliancy of the will.

For indeed he who is overturned by affliction will much rather suffer this from ease;

for if he falls while bound (for this is what affliction is), much more will he fall when loosed;

if he is overturned while braced up, much more when relaxed.

'And how,' says one, 'shall I be able not to be overturned when afflicted?' If thou consider that, whether thou wilt or wilt not, thou shalt bear what is laid upon thee;

but if with thanksgiving, thou shalt gain the greatest things; while if repining and vexed and blaspheming, thou wilt neither thereby make the calamity less, and wilt only make the storm the greater.

Considering these things, then, let us make to be a matter of our own choice that which is a matter of necessity.

One man has lost a true-born son, another his whole substance;

if thou consider that what has happened cannot be undone, but that it is possible even from the incurable calamity to reap some fruit—namely, the bearing nobly of what has befallen—and if in place of blasphemous words thou offer up thanksgiving to the Master, then the evils that were brought upon thee against thy will shall become to thee the good deeds of thine own choosing.

Hast thou seen a son snatched away untimely? Say, 'The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away.'

Hast thou seen thy substance made empty? Say, 'Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return.'

Hast thou seen the wicked prospering, and the righteous faring ill and suffering ten thousand dreadful things, and thou wast not able to find the cause of what has come to pass? Say, 'I was as a beast before Thee; nevertheless I am continually with Thee.'

But if thou also seek the cause, consider that He has appointed a day on which He is about to judge the world, and thou shalt cast out all perplexity;

for then shall each one receive his due, even as did Lazarus and the rich man.

Remember the apostles;

for they too, when scourged and driven and suffering ten thousand things, rejoiced that they were counted worthy to be dishonoured for the name of Christ.

Thou too, then, if thou fall sick, bear it nobly, and give thanks unto God, and so shalt thou receive the same reward as they.

But how, being in sickness and in pains, shalt thou be able to know thanks to the Master? If thou love Him genuinely.

For if the three children, cast into the furnace, and others who were in prisons and in ten thousand other evils, did not cease from giving thanks,

much more shall those who are in diseases and in grievous infirmities—

even while held fast, they shall be able to do this.

For there is nothing, nothing at all, which love does not conquer;

and when it is the love of God, it is higher than all things, and neither fire, nor sword, nor poverty, nor sickness, nor death, nor any other such thing will appear dreadful to him who possesses this love; but, laughing all these to scorn, he will take his flight toward heaven, and will be no whit worse disposed than those who dwell there, seeing nothing else—neither heaven, nor earth, nor sea—but strained toward that one only beauty, the beauty of that glory;

and neither will the sorrowful things of the present life be able to abase him, nor the prosperous and pleasant things to lift him up and puff him up.

Let us therefore be enamoured of this love (for there is nothing equal to it), both for the sake of things present and for the sake of things to come;

or rather, before these, for the very nature of the love itself;

for we shall be delivered both from the chastisements of the present life and from those of the age to come, and shall enjoy the kingdom.

Yet neither the deliverance from hell nor the enjoyment of the kingdom is any great thing compared with what is now about to be said;

for greater than all these is to have Christ as one at once beloved and loving.

For if, among men, this happening—to love and be loved—is above all pleasure, when in the case of God both come to pass, what speech, what mind will be able to set forth the blessedness of that soul? There is none other, but experience alone.

In order, then, that through experience we may learn this spiritual gladness and the blessed life and the treasure of ten thousand good things, let us, forsaking all else, cleave to that love, unto our own gladness and unto the glory of the God whom we long for;

for to Him be the glory and the might, together with the Only-begotten and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of all ages. Amen.