論得救的富人 第 1 章 第 2/3 段

Why on earth? Was it because they too had possessed much money? But these very things—their little nets and hooks and the small boats they used in their service—they had long ago left behind, which were all that they had.

What, then, were they afraid of when they said:

"Who can be saved?" They heard rightly, and as disciples, that which had been spoken parabolically and obscurely

by the Lord, and they perceived the depth of the words.

On the score of being without money, then, they were of good hope concerning salvation;

but since they were conscious that they had not yet wholly laid aside the passions (for they were but recent learners and had only just been enlisted by the Saviour), they were exceedingly amazed and despaired of themselves no less than that man rich in money who clung so terribly to his possessions, which indeed he preferred to eternal life.

It was therefore altogether right that the disciples should be afraid, if both the man who possessed money and the man pregnant with the passions (in which they too were rich) were alike to be driven away from the heavens;

for salvation belongs to souls that are free from passion and pure.

But the Lord answers that what is impossible with men is possible with God.

Again, this also is full of great wisdom:

that man, when by himself he exercises and labours hard for freedom from passion, accomplishes nothing; but if he shows himself exceedingly desirous and earnest for it, he prevails by the added power that comes from God.

For God breathes together with souls that are willing; but if they fall away from their eagerness,

then the Spirit given from God is also withdrawn;

for to save the unwilling belongs to one who uses force, but to save those who choose belongs to one who bestows grace.

Nor does the kingdom of God belong to those who sleep and are slack, but the violent take it by force;

to those who cling violently—or rather firmly—he yielded and gave way;

for God rejoices to be overcome in such things.

Accordingly, when the blessed Peter heard these things—

he the chosen one, the first of the disciples, on behalf of whom alone, together with himself, the Saviour pays the

tribute—he quickly caught up and laid hold of the saying.

And what does he say? "Behold, we have left all and have followed you." Now if by "all" he means his own possessions, he would be boasting, as the saying goes, of having left perhaps four obols, and in declaring the kingdom of heaven to be worth no more than these, he would unawares be belittling it;

but if, as we are now saying, they cast away the old spiritual possessions and the diseases of the soul and follow in the footsteps of the Teacher, this would indeed apply to those who are to be enrolled among those in the heavens.

For this is truly to follow the Saviour—to pursue his sinlessness and perfection, and, looking to him as to a mirror, to adorn and order the soul and to dispose all things in all respects accordingly.

"Truly I say to you, whoever leaves his own property and parents and brothers and money for my sake and for the gospel's sake shall receive a hundredfold." But let not even this trouble us, nor that which, still harder than this, is uttered elsewhere in these words:

"Whoever does not hate father and mother and children, and besides his own soul also, cannot be my disciple." For the God of peace does not enjoin hatred and separation from those most dear.

He who exhorts us even to love our enemies

—and if enemies are to be loved, then by analogy, rising up from them, also those nearest in kin;

or if those of one's own blood are to be hated, then much more, descending, does the saying teach us to thrust away our enemies, so that the sayings would be convicted of destroying one another.

But they neither destroy one another nor anything like it; for it is from the same mind and disposition and with the same limit that one would hate a father and love an enemy—the man who neither takes vengeance on an enemy nor honours a father more than Christ.

For in the former saying he cuts off hatred and the doing of evil, and in the latter the excessive deference toward those who are kindred.

If, then, a man's father or son or brother be godless and become a hindrance to faith and an obstacle to the life above, let him not agree or be of one mind with him, but let him dissolve the fleshly kinship on account of the spiritual enmity.

Suppose the matter to be a lawsuit.

Let the father seem to stand by your side and say: "I begot you and reared you; follow me and join with me in wrongdoing, and do not obey the law of Christ"—and whatever else a blasphemous man, dead in his nature, might say.

But from the other side, hear the Saviour:

"I begot you anew, you who had been begotten to death by the world for ill; I set you free, I healed you, I redeemed you.

I will give you life unceasing, eternal, beyond the world;

I will show you the face of the good Father God;

do not call any man on earth your father; let the dead bury the dead, but follow me; for I will lead you up to rest and to the enjoyment of unutterable and unspeakable good things, which neither eye has seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of men—things into which angels long to look and to behold, the good things which God has prepared for the saints and for the children who love him. I am your nourisher, giving myself as bread, of which whoever tastes no longer makes trial of death, and daily supplying the drink of immortality;

I am the teacher of supra-heavenly instructions;

for your sake I struggled to the death against death and paid the price of your death, which you owed because of your former sins and your unbelief toward God." Having listened to these words from both sides on your own behalf, give judgment for yourself and cast your vote for your own salvation;

and even if a brother say the like, or a child, or a wife, or anyone whatever, before all let Christ the Victor reign within you;

Are you able to be set even above your money? Say so, and Christ does not draw you away from possession; the Lord does not begrudge it.

But do you see yourself being overcome by them and overturned? Let go, cast them away.

Even if your right eye offends you, quickly pluck it out; better is the kingdom of God for the one-eyed than the fire for the whole-bodied;

even if it be a hand or a foot or the soul, hate it.

For if here it be lost for Christ's sake, there it shall be saved.

And in like manner what follows holds to this same sense.

"But now in this present time, to have fields and money and houses and brothers along with persecutions"—to what end? For he does not call to life those who are without money, or without home, or without brothers, since he has also called the rich; but in the manner we have said before, and brothers in the same way as Peter with Andrew and James with John, the sons of Zebedee—but brothers who are of one mind both with one another and with Christ.

But to have each of these things along with persecutions—this he disapproves;

and persecution is of two kinds: the one comes upon men from without, when, whether through enmity or through envy or through love of gain or by diabolical operation, they drive out the faithful;

but the most grievous persecution is from within, sent forth from the very soul of each, when it is ravaged by godless desires and manifold pleasures and base hopes and corrupting fancies, whenever, ever craving more and raging under savage lusts and inflamed, it is, as it were by goads or gadflies—the passions that beset it—stung to bleeding, driving it toward frantic pursuits and despair of life.

This persecution is heavier and more grievous, springing from within, ever present, which the one persecuted cannot even escape;

for he carries the enemy about within himself everywhere.

So also the burning that falls upon one from without works out testing, but that from within accomplishes death;

and war that is brought from without is easily ended, but that within the soul is measured out even unto death.

If, along with such persecution, you have sensible wealth and brothers of your own blood and the other pledges of affection, abandon the entire possession of these things which is unto evil; grant yourself peace, set yourself free from a long persecution, turn away from them to the gospel, choose the Saviour before all things—the advocate and comforter of your soul, the president of life unbounded.

For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal; and in the present time they are short-lived and unstable, but in that which is to come there is eternal life. "The first shall be last and the last first." This saying is fruitful as regards its hidden meaning and its interpretation, yet it does not at present demand investigation;

for it inclines not only to those of many possessions, but simply to all men who once for all give themselves over to faith.

So let this for the present be laid aside.

But as for the matter set before us, I think it has been shown to be in no way short of the promise: that the Saviour has in no manner shut out the rich, on the very ground of wealth and the abundance of possessions, nor has he barred off salvation from them, provided they are able and willing to submit to the commandments of God, and to prefer their own life to transient things, and to look toward the Lord with steadfast gaze, as those who look to the nod of a good helmsman—what he wills, what he commands, what he signals, what watchword he gives to his own sailors, where and whence he promises the anchorage.

...there has been settled among men a numerous race also, strong in money and prevailing by wealth? For if, on account of his involuntary birth in wealth, a man is driven out of life, he is wronged rather by the God who begot him—deemed worthy of transient luxury, yet deprived of everlasting life. And why should wealth ever have sprung up from the earth at all, if it is the supplier and procurer of death? But if a man is able to bend within the inward bound of his possessions and of their power, and to be of moderate mind and self-controlled, and to seek God alone and to breathe God and to share citizenship with God, this man stands by the commandments as a poor man—free, unconquered, unsick, unwounded by money;

but if not, sooner shall a camel pass through a needle's eye than such a rich man enter into the kingdom of God.

Now let the camel that reaches the rich man by way of the narrow and afflicted road also signify something loftier—a mystery of the Saviour which is to be learned in the exposition concerning first principles and theology;

nevertheless, let what appears first, and for the sake of which the parable was spoken, be presented.

Let it teach the well-to-do that they must not neglect their own salvation as though already condemned beforehand, nor, on the other hand, must they sink wealth in the sea or condemn it as a plotter and enemy against life, but must learn in what manner and how wealth is to be used and life to be gained.

For since neither is a man in every case lost because he is rich and afraid, nor in every case saved because he is confident and believes that he will be saved, come, let us consider what hope the Saviour sketches out for them, and how the thing unhoped-for might become assured, and the thing hoped-for might come into possession.

Now the Teacher, when asked which is the greatest of the commandments, says:

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your strength," and there is no commandment greater than this. And quite reasonably so.

For this command concerns the First and the Greatest, even God Himself our Father, through whom all things came into being and exist, and to whom all that is being saved returns again.

Since, then, we were first loved by Him and owe to Him our very existence, it is not holy to set anything else as more honorable or more precious, repaying only this small thanks for the greatest gifts, having nothing else we could devise as recompense to a God who lacks nothing and is perfect—except by loving the Father with all our might and strength, and thereby gaining incorruptibility.

For the more one loves God, the deeper that one penetrates into God.

And He says that second in order, yet in no way lesser than this, is the command:

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Therefore one must love God above all.

And when his questioner asked, "Who is my neighbor?" He did not, in the manner of the Jews, define beforehand the blood-relative, nor the fellow-citizen, nor the proselyte, nor one likewise circumcised, nor one who lived by one and the same law;

but in His parable He brings down a certain man from Jerusalem to Jericho, and shows him pierced through by robbers, cast half-dead upon the road, passed by by a priest, overlooked by a Levite, but pitied by the Samaritan—the despised and outcast one—who did not pass by by chance as those others did, but came prepared with what the endangered man needed: wine, oil, bandages, a beast of burden, and payment for the innkeeper—part given at once, part promised in addition.

"Which of these," He said, "became neighbor to the man who suffered these terrible things?" And when the man answered, "The one who showed mercy to him,"

He said: "You too, then, go and do likewise"—since love buds forth into good deeds.

So He assigns the second place to the neighbor.

And who else could this neighbor be but the Savior Himself? Or who has had more mercy on us than He, when we were all but slain by the world-rulers of darkness with our many wounds—fears, lusts, angers, griefs, deceits, and pleasures? Of these wounds Jesus alone is the physician, cutting out the passions utterly by the roots—not, as the Law did, merely the bare effects, the fruits of the evil plants, but laying His own axe to the very roots of wickedness.

This is He who poured the wine, the blood of David's vine, upon our wounded souls; this is He who brought and lavished the oil, the mercy from the Father's bowels of compassion; this is He who displayed the unbreakable bonds of health and salvation—love, faith, hope; this is He who commanded angels and principalities and powers to minister to us, with a great reward, because they too shall be freed from the vanity of the world at the revelation of the glory of the sons of God.

This One, therefore, we must love equally with God.

And he loves Christ Jesus who does His will and keeps His commandments.

For "not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father." And:

"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not the things which I say?" And:

"Blessed are you who see and hear what neither the righteous nor the prophets saw and heard—if you do the things which I say."

First, then, is he who loves Christ; and second is he who honors and cares for those who have believed in Him.

For whatever one does to a disciple, this the Lord takes as done to Himself and accounts wholly His own.

"Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me to eat, and I was thirsty and you gave me to drink, and I was a stranger and you took me in, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying:

"Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick and visit you, or in prison and come to you?" And the King will answer them:

"Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of these

least of my brothers, you did it to me." And conversely, those who did not render these things to them He casts into the eternal fire, as having not rendered them to Himself.

"He who receives you receives me, and he who does not receive you rejects me." These He calls children and little ones and infants and friends, and "little ones" here in view of their future greatness above.

"Do not despise," He says, "one of these little ones;

for their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven." And elsewhere:

"Do not fear, little flock;

for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom of heaven."

In the same way, He says that the least in the kingdom of heaven—that is, His own disciple—is greater than the greatest among those born of women, John.

"He who receives a righteous man or a prophet in the name of a righteous man or a prophet shall receive their reward; and he who gives a disciple even a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple shall by no means lose his reward." Therefore this reward alone is the one that is never lost.

It is righteous and salutary to bring rest to one of those who possess what is eternal.

Observe, first, how He has not commanded you to be petitioned, nor to wait until you are importuned, but rather yourself to seek out those who will be well treated and are worthy disciples of the Savior.

Beautiful, then, is also the saying of the Apostle:

"God loves the one who rejoices in giving and sows not sparingly"—lest he also reap thus—"and who shares without grumblings or discrimination or grief," which is pure beneficence.

But better than this is what was spoken by the Lord in another place:

"Give to everyone who asks you"—for such generosity is truly of God.

But this word here surpasses all that is divine: not to wait to be asked, but oneself to seek out whoever is worthy of being well treated; and then to appoint so great a reward for fellowship—eternal, a tabernacle.

O excellent merchandise! O divine marketplace!

One purchases incorruptibility with money, and by giving the perishable things of the world receives in exchange an eternal abode of these in the heavens.

To this festal assembly, O rich man, even if need be, travel round the whole earth; spare not perils and toils, that here you may purchase a heavenly kingdom.

Why do transparent stones and emeralds so delight you, and a house—fuel for fire or the plaything of time, the casualty of an earthquake, or the insolent prey of a tyrant? Desire rather to dwell in the heavens and to reign with God; this kingdom a man, imitating God, shall give to you.

Here, receiving small things, there he will make you his fellow-dweller throughout all the ages.

Hasten, strive, be afraid lest he disregard you;

for he has been commanded not to receive, but you to provide.

Indeed, the Lord did not even say:

"Give, or provide, or do good, or help," but "make a friend."

And a friend is not made from a single act of giving, but from a whole repose and a long companionship;

for neither faith nor love nor endurance is of a single day, but "he who endures to the end, this one shall be saved."

How, then, does the man give these things? Because it is for the sake of His honor, goodwill, and intimacy that the Lord gives;

"For I will give," He says, "not only to my friends, but also to the friends of my friends." And who is this friend of God? You, then, do not judge who is worthy and who is unworthy;

for it is possible that you may err concerning the opinion you form.

And since this is a matter of doubtful ignorance, it is better even to do good to the unworthy for the sake of the worthy, than, while guarding against the less good, also to fail to encounter the earnest ones.

For from sparing and pretending to scrutinize those who will or will not justly receive, it is possible that you may even neglect some who are beloved of God—the penalty for which is fiery eternal punishment;

but from giving freely to all in turn who are in need, you must by all means find some of those who are able to save you before God.

Judge not, therefore, that you be not judged;

for with the measure you measure, with the same it shall be measured to you again;

"a good measure, pressed down and shaken together, running over, shall be given to you." Open your bowels of compassion to all who are enrolled as disciples of God, looking neither disdainfully at the body, nor disposed carelessly toward age, nor, if anyone appears destitute or ill-clad or unsightly or weak, on this account being vexed in soul and turning away.

This is but an outward form thrown about us as a pretext for our entrance into the world, that we might be able to enter into this common school of training;

but within dwells, hidden, the Father and His Child, who died for us and rose with us.

This visible form deceives death and the devil;

for the inward riches and beauty are unseen by them.

And they rage about the poor flesh, which they despise as weak, being blind to the inward possessions, not knowing what a great treasure we bear in an earthen vessel, walled about by the power of God the Father, the blood of God the Child, and the dew of the Holy Spirit.

But you, at least, do not be deceived—you who have tasted of the truth and been counted worthy of the great redemption—but, contrary to other men, enlist for yourself an army that is unarmed, unwarlike, bloodless, free from wrath, undefiled: God-fearing old men, God-beloved orphans, widows armed with gentleness, men adorned with love.

Acquire such as these with your wealth, as bodyguards for your body and soul—whose general is God—for whose sake even a ship sinking is buoyed up, steered by the prayers of the saints alone; and a disease at its height is subdued, driven off by the laying on of hands; and an onslaught of robbers is disarmed, stripped of its spoil by godly prayers; and the violence of demons is shattered, refuted by their vigorous commands.

All these soldiers are active and faithful guards; none is idle, none useless.

One is able to obtain for you something from God; another to comfort you when you are weary; another to weep and groan in sympathy on your behalf to the Lord of all; another to teach you something useful for salvation; another to admonish you with boldness; another to counsel you with goodwill; and all to love you truly, without guile, without fear, without hypocrisy, without flattery, without pretense.

O sweet ministrations of those who love! O blessed services of those who are confident! O sincere faith of those who fear God alone! O truth of words among those who cannot lie! O beauty of works among those persuaded to minister to God, to persuade God, to please God!

They seem to touch not your flesh, but each one his own soul; and to speak not to a brother, but to the King of the ages who dwells in you.

All the faithful, then, are good and godly and worthy of the title which, like a diadem, they wear about them.

Nevertheless, there are already some even among the elect who are more elect than the elect, and so much the more in proportion as they are less conspicuous—drawing themselves, as it were, up out of the surge of the world like a ship hauled to safety, not wishing to seem holy, and ashamed if anyone calls them so, hiding the unutterable mysteries in the depth of their mind, and disdaining to have their nobility seen in the world—these the Word calls the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

This is the seed, the image and likeness of God, His genuine child and heir, sent here as if into a sojourn abroad by the great dispensation and design of the Father;

on whose account also both the visible and the invisible things of the world have been created—some for service, some for discipline, some for instruction to him—and all things, so long as the seed remains here, are held together; but when it has been gathered up, all things shall most swiftly be dissolved.

For what more is needed? Behold the mysteries of love, and then you will gaze upon the bosom of the Father, whom the only-begotten God alone has made known.

God Himself is also love, and out of love He let Himself be seen by us.

And what is unutterable in Him is Father, while that which has compassion toward us has become Mother.

In loving, the Father became womanly; and the great sign of this is the One whom He Himself begot out of Himself.

And the fruit born of love is love.

For this reason He Himself came down, for this He put on humanity, for this He willingly suffered the things of men, so that, measured to our weakness, He might in turn measure us, whom He loved, to His own power.

And about to be poured out as a libation, and giving Himself as a ransom, He leaves us a new covenant:

"I give you My love." And what is this love, and how great? For each of us He laid down His life, the life equal in worth to the whole universe;

and this He demands back from us on behalf of one another.

Shall we shut one another out—those whom the fire will soon claim? Divinely and by inspiration John says: "He who does not love his brother is a murderer," a seed of Cain, a nursling of the devil; he has no compassion of God, no hope of better things; he is seedless, barren; he is no branch of the ever-living, supernal vine; he is cut off and awaits the gathered fire.

But learn the surpassing way which Paul shows toward salvation:

"Love seeks not its own, but is poured out upon the brother;

for him it flutters with eagerness, for him it is soberly beside itself.

Love covers a multitude of sins;

perfect love casts out fear;

it does not boast, is not puffed up, does not rejoice over wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth;

it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things.

Love never falls away; prophecies are abolished, tongues cease, healings are left behind on earth;

but these three abide: faith, hope, love;

and the greatest of these is love. And rightly so;

for faith departs when, by our own seeing of God, we are persuaded;

and hope vanishes when the things hoped for are bestowed; but love comes together unto fullness, and rather increases as the perfect things are handed over.

If anyone implants this in his soul, then even though he was born in sins, even though he has done many forbidden things, by increasing love and receiving pure repentance he is able

to make good again the faults he has committed.

Nor let this be left to you for despair and madness, if you should learn who the rich man is that has no place in heaven; and in what way one who uses his possessions might escape both the ill repute of riches and the peril to life, and be able to enjoy the eternal good things; and if he should happen, whether through ignorance or weakness or some involuntary circumstance, after the seal and the redemption to fall into certain sins or transgressions, so as to be utterly carried away—lest he suppose that he is altogether condemned by God.

For to everyone who turns to God in truth, from his whole heart, the doors are opened, and the Father most gladly receives the son who truly repents;

and true repentance is no longer to be liable to the same sins, but to uproot utterly from the soul the sins for which one has passed sentence of death upon himself;

for when these are taken away, God will again make His dwelling in you.

For He says there is great and unsurpassable joy and festivity in heaven, before the Father and the angels, over one sinner who turns and repents.

"I desire mercy, and not sacrifice;

I do not will the death of the sinner, but his repentance;

though your sins be like crimson wool, I will make them white as snow; and though darker than darkness, washing them I will make them white as wool." For to God alone is it possible to grant forgiveness of sins and not to reckon transgressions.

since indeed the Lord also enjoins us each day to forgive the brothers who repent.

And if we, being evil, know how to give good gifts, how much more the Father of mercies—

the good Father of all comfort,

the One full of compassion and rich in mercy, whose nature it is to be long-suffering;

He waits for those who turn back;

and to turn back is truly this: to cease from sins and no longer to look to the things behind.

Now then, of past sins God gives forgiveness; but of those to come each one gives it to himself.

And this is to change one's mind: to condemn the things that are past and to ask of the Father forgetfulness of them;