But if there were no free will, a man would be dragged unwillingly to those things which he does not wish. 53. IN WHAT SENSE THE WISDOM OF THE FLESH IS HOSTILE TO GOD, OR WHAT IS THAT WISDOM WHICH IS NOT SUBJECT TO THE LAW OF GOD? This question does not differ in sense from the one above; for in speaking of the flesh it was made clear what it signifies, and from this what its wisdom is can easily be discerned. We said, therefore, that all the elements are called 'flesh,' that is, the substances of visible things, whose reasoning is such that they judge nothing can come to pass without a spiritual commingling, shrinking from and judging foolish the principle of a simple power.
For these men, who, distrusting spiritual things, follow after carnal things, savour and hold for true nothing other than what the reasoning of the elements contains; so that they believe neither that a virgin gave birth nor that there is a resurrection of the flesh, because the reasoning of the flesh, that is of the elements, does not admit this — for all things that are begotten in time are generated by the working of a mixture — and they hold that bodies once dead and dissolved cannot again be restored to life, because each single element, once the mixture is separated, returns to its own proper nature. Puffed up in these ways, they deny that what we believe shall be or has been done; and on this account their assertion is hostile to God, since it deems foolish and empty what God made and what He promised He would do. 54. (54 = 77.) 55.
HOW IS IT THAT, ALTHOUGH JOHN THE BAPTIST HAD FIRST BORNE WITNESS TO THE SAVIOUR, HE AFTERWARDS DOUBTED, SAYING THROUGH HIS DISCIPLES: 'ARE YOU HE WHO IS TO COME, OR DO WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER?' Those who think John doubted detract from the Saviour. For either they rightly assert that John doubted, or else they convict the Saviour of ignorance, since, as they suppose, He praised one who thought ill of himself. But since it is impossible for the Saviour to be deceived, John was rightly praised by Him. If he was rightly praised, he did not doubt; for at the very time when John sent his disciples from prison to Jesus, saying, 'Are you He who is to come, or do we look for another?', then Jesus answered His disciples, saying: 'Go, tell John what you have seen and heard.'
The blind see, the deaf hear, the lepers are cleansed, the lame walk, the dead rise again; and blessed is he who shall not be offended in me. And as John's messengers departed, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John the Baptist: 'What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed shaken by the wind, or a man clothed in soft garments? Behold, those who are clothed in soft garments are in kings' houses. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? I tell you, more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written: Behold, I send my angel before your face, who shall prepare your way.' Then even the tax-collectors praised God, being baptized with John's baptism. How great, then, was the praise given to John, that he should be called more than a prophet!
And the Saviour calls blessed the one who is not offended in Him: in what way was John being praised if by doubting he was offended? But assuredly he did not doubt. For the praise proves that he is blessed, since he was not offended. For the Saviour too, on this account, broke forth at that very time into praise of John, in order to show that John's mind was free from the doubt of his disciples. For John, wishing to strengthen his wavering disciples in faith toward the Saviour, and knowing that his own end was at hand, willed that the things which he said about Him should be confirmed by His mouth. Therefore, that he might be a true witness, he implores the testimony of one greater, so that by their agreement all ambiguity might be removed.
This was John's device: to send his doubting disciples as though with his own words, so that, hearing the same things from the Saviour which they had heard from John, they might be confirmed, knowing that the testimony of a worthy steward and of the heavenly Lord cannot be called into doubt. Therefore the Saviour too answered, as it were, John, so that between John questioning and the Saviour answering they might learn the truth. 56. (56 = 78.) 57. WHAT DOES THE APOSTLE MEAN WHEN HE SAYS TO THE GALATIANS: 'I MARVEL THAT YOU ARE SO QUICKLY TRANSFERRED FROM HIM WHO CALLED YOU INTO GRACE, TO ANOTHER GOSPEL, WHICH IS NOT ANOTHER. IF IT IS CERTAINLY ANOTHER, IT IS NOT THE SAME; IF IT IS NOT THE SAME, HOW IS IT NOT ANOTHER?'
He therefore said 'another gospel,' to which they had been called, because it was not the same as that which the Galatians afterwards began to follow. For from the gospel of Christ they had been drawn away and dragged into Judaism under the name of Christ, as though this were to be followed; and they were affirming something other than what the Apostle preached. Hence it is implied: 'as they persuade you.' For the false apostles, when they were deceiving the believing Gentiles, were saying that what they themselves taught had been handed down by the Saviour, as is contained in the Acts of the Apostles: that unless you are circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. Hence the Apostle, moved by grief at their overthrow, writes to them, saying:
I marvel that you are so quickly transferred from Him who called you into grace, to another gospel, which is not another. He marvels, then, that after a mild and less burdensome matter they should be devoted to harshness and to a burden — that is, that after the simplicity of faith they should allow themselves to be circumcised on account of the elements, and should observe new moons and the sabbath, being subject to the elements. And lest he should seem to have given occasion to the false apostles who said that what the Galatians had received was something other than the truth of the tradition holds, he at once added: which is not another, except that there are some who trouble you and wish to pervert the gospel of Christ.
The gospel, therefore, to which they had been called by the Apostle, was 'another' than that which they had begun to follow at the instigation of the false apostles; yet it was not another than what Christ had handed down — so that even by this they might recognize that they had been led into error, and might follow faith alone, professing Christ to be God, and that He alone suffices for granting salvation, through whom they had obtained the remission of sins, not through the law, because apart from the law the grace of God forgives transgressions. 58. SINCE MANY SINS SEEM TO BE COMMITTED AGAINST THE BODY — FOR EVERYONE WHO DOES VIOLENCE TO ANY PART OF HIS BODY CERTAINLY SINS AGAINST HIS OWN BODY; FOR THERE IS ONE WHO MUTILATES HIMSELF, ONE WHO ENDS HIS LIFE BY A NOOSE, ONE WHO DRIVES A SWORD INTO HIMSELF — WHY DOES THE APOSTLE:
SAYS, 'EVERY SIN THAT A MAN COMMITS IS OUTSIDE THE BODY; BUT HE WHO COMMITS FORNICATION SINS AGAINST HIS OWN BODY'? Do you think the Apostle was unskilled, or do you desire the force of the saying to be explained? For the Apostle, in saying '(body),' did not signify a single human being, but at the same time comprehended also the woman, since the woman is a portion of the man. For all the aforesaid crimes, which each one violently commits against himself, do not defile the whole body; for the single person sins, and on this account he alone becomes guilty. But in fornication the whole body is polluted, because the consent to the contamination holds fast both the man and the woman: therefore fornication is a grave offence. For one sins most grievously when he seeks a partner for his wicked deed unto perdition.
For if, just as one who lives well will also receive a reward on behalf of the one whom he has gained, so too the wicked man becomes guilty not only in himself, but also in the one whom he wished to have as a sharer of his damnation — how much more he who commits fornication, who clearly defiles himself, as it were, twice by a single offence! For if he sins against flesh which is of himself, he assuredly commits adultery against himself twice. But if anyone thinks to transform this question, so as to apply this saying either to the Church or to the body of Christ, it will not stand.
For it would be improperly said, and he would be like the Novatians, who, to establish the ground of their fury, declare that he who commits fornication sins not against his own body, but against Christ's, because Christians are members and the body of Christ — so that fornication should be the same as sacrilege, and such a one should be said to sin against Christ, like one who denies Christ. But this indeed is weak and frail, because from any side it sticks fast in the snare and does not escape. For if he who commits fornication sins against the body of Christ, then the other sins will not be committed against Christ — so that if a Christian should kill his brother, or sacrifice to idols, or commit any other kind of sin, since every sin is outside the body except fornication; but if every —
— sin is not outside the body, but whatever is done is committed against Christ, then he who steals, or perjures himself, or lies, or strikes his brother, or commits any other such thing, would be said to sin against Christ or against the Holy Spirit, which is utterly absurd. And yet the Apostle calls the Church members and the body of Christ, so that we are members of one another. In what way, then, does he who commits fornication sin against his own body and not rather against Christ's? Because according to the mystery of the Church we are called not our own body, but Christ's. And this is far from the point at issue, since he who fornicates sins against his own body for this reason, that the whole of Adam is contaminated. 59. (59 = 79.) 60.
WHY DID THE APOSTLE PAUL REPROVE PETER, HIS FELLOW-APOSTLE, BECAUSE, 'FEARING THOSE WHO WERE OF THE CIRCUMCISION, HE WITHDREW HIMSELF' FROM THE GENTILES, WHEN HE HIMSELF ALSO, FEARING THOSE WHO WERE OF THE CIRCUMCISION, 'TOOK AND CIRCUMCISED' TIMOTHY, WHICH HE FORBADE TO BE DONE; AND THEREFORE IS HE HIMSELF ALSO TO BE REPROVED? It is incredible that so great an apostle should have reproved another in that very matter in which he knew that he himself had given way. It is not lawful to believe that such a thing was done by so great a man, since it befits those who live carnally. Therefore the deed of the Apostle Paul lacks any ground for reproof.
For when he was preaching that men should not be circumcised, yet wishing to take Timothy with him — who was born of a Jewish mother but a Greek father — and since it would be a stumbling-block to the Jews to take with him one born of a Jewess uncircumcised, he then submitted himself to subjection for the moment, and taking him, circumcised him. He did, then, a superfluous thing, with the permission of Him who suffered it. For because Timothy was of a Jewish mother, trained from infancy in the synagogue in the sacred letters — that is, in the volumes of the Hebrews — Paul permitted him to be circumcised, that he might remove the stumbling-block from the Jews, since they were zealous for their own race. Finally, when Titus, he says, was a Greek, he was not compelled to be circumcised.
But Timothy, because he was of a Jewish mother, as I said, the Jews would not suffer to be taken up among the teachers uncircumcised. For this reason the Apostle took him up, that he might ordain him a bishop, as indeed he did. For having been instructed in the prophetic letters, he was found to be a suitable teacher for asserting Christ. Now the Apostle Peter would not have been reproved if he had separated himself from the Gentiles out of fear of the Jews, lest he be a stumbling-block to them. But this was reproved in the Apostle Peter, that, whereas before he had been living in Gentile fashion with the believing Greeks, when the Jews came from James, being subjected to fear, he taught that the Gentiles ought to Judaize. Hence he hears: if you, being a Jew, live after the manner of the Gentiles, how do you compel the Gentiles to Judaize?
For he had caused doubt concerning the evangelical discipline, which is a crime, while he was destroying what he had built. Therefore the Apostle Paul calls this 'dissimulation' — Paul, who, it is agreed, if he had circumcised Timothy, would not have kept silent that he was doing a superfluous thing on account of their stumbling-block, and that he therefore yielded because he had a Jewish mother. For the Jews would not have insisted, except by reason of the Jewish mother, since by this discovery they might disprove it to the Gentiles and not easily take stumbling from those who were not of the race of Israel. Therefore he did not do this by dissimulation, but by constraint; for the aforesaid cause involved no slight dissimulation.
For many were reproved in this matter, so that some of the Jews and even Barnabas consented to this dissimulation. 61. WHAT SPIRIT DOES THE APOSTLE ASSERT IS TO BE SAVED, WHEN HE SAYS THAT SUCH A MAN IS TO BE DELIVERED TO SATAN FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FLESH? The destruction of the flesh is when someone, given over to carnal pleasures and desires, procures hell for himself; for he acquires destruction from the work of the flesh. For from these things he becomes wholly carnal, because, just as one who lives according to the law becomes wholly spiritual, so that even the flesh is said to be what the soul is, so likewise, if one lives according to the desires of the world and the pleasures of lusts, the whole man becomes flesh, advancing into the destruction of the flesh;
that is, just as the flesh — because it is fleeting, corruptible, and mortal — is deformed when the soul is lost, and, lacking form, slips away into destruction (for it perishes when it loses the vigour of all its members), so also the soul is deformed from such a body, by whose vigour it had been despised, suffering punishment together with the flesh in which it defiled itself with vices, so that there is no profit to the flesh through the soul, but the soul has destruction through the flesh, because it did not govern the body spiritually — though it was given as queen to the flesh — but the soul itself teaches carnal works.
Therefore, when the Church casts out such a man, it keeps its spirit safe — that is, holy — which is the guardian of the Church; because, if they should suffer to have such a one among them, who has defiled his father's wife by lust, so that they could compel him by the law lest he contaminate all, and yet the Holy Spirit should withdraw from the Church on account of the polluted one, the Church would not keep its spirit safe. For what is lost is not safe, and on the day of the Lord those found naked of the Spirit cannot be reckoned among the sons of God. For the Spirit bears witness that we are sons of God. The Apostle speaks these things to the people, because as yet bishops had not been ordained to the churches in all places.
Therefore he bids the people do that which a bishop would have done, had one been appointed there: that, conspiring together into one, they should cast him out of their assembly, lest they seem to consent to his deeds; because he who does not reprove the one whom he can, but receives him as though not erring, furnishes him kindling for transgressing — for which cause he too is contaminated, driving the Holy Spirit away from himself. For to the Thessalonians, in like manner, among other things he says: may your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved without complaint at the coming of our Lord. The meaning is the very same; for this is what it is to be 'safe,' namely 'whole.' For the king says to Daniel: are the seals safe, Daniel? And he answered:
they are safe, O king — that is, whole — so that our spirit may be whole within us, when it does not forsake us. For those whom the Spirit forsakes will no longer be whole in the matter of regeneration, because they do not have Him through whom they were being called sons of God. Nor is this a contradiction, if we say that the Spirit itself forsakes us when we sin and is not whole. For He is not whole in this sense, that while He forsakes us — He who was our guide and ruler — because, if He is our head, we also are His members. But when we do something adverse, it is not He that forsakes us, but we that seem to forsake Him; and then He seems not to be whole, when He loses us. For this is true and manifest, that it is not He who turns Himself away from us, but we from Him, when we sin.
And to the Colossians, among other things, he says: from whom the whole body, being supplied and joined together, grows into the increase of the Lord — which, if we take it according to the mere sound of the words, does not fit (for God lacks nothing, that He should make increase through us); but when we return to the Author of our life and confess Him, the Godhead acquires us unto salvation and makes increase in us, and therefore in those who depart from Him there is loss. This, then, is what it is not to be whole, which is also to suffer loss. 62. WHY DOES THE SAVIOUR SAY, 'PRAY THAT YOUR FLIGHT BE NOT IN WINTER NOR ON THE SABBATH,' WHEN THE TIME OF THIS PERSECUTION CANNOT BE DEFERRED, SINCE THE APOSTLE SAYS, 'WHO WILL BE REVEALED IN HIS OWN TIME,' AND IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES:
'DETERMINING,' HE SAYS, 'THE TIMES AND BOUNDS OF THEIR DWELLING'? AND WHY IS IT NOT PERMITTED TO FLEE IN WINTER OR TO GO OUT ON THE SABBATH? In winter flight is not safe; for there are frosts, continual rains, it snows, it freezes, the rivers overflow; and therefore it is most grievous for those fleeing. For they cannot lie hidden in the woods, nor in the mountains, nor in caves. But on the sabbath, according to the Jews, it is not lawful to go far from the city nor to ascend a height, and on this account you cannot flee on the sabbath. Now, just as these seasons do not make flight safe on account of the aforesaid hindrances, so also our flight will not be safe, if the foretold persecution should find us bound by carnal hindrances.
For worldly desires and earthly resources hold men fast as if with fetters, so that they cannot escape the seduction of the devil. Therefore we must pray that, at the time when we must flee, the condition of winter and of the sabbath be not found in us, but that God's help may render us free from these hindrances, so that there be nothing to enslave us, captured by its own desire, to the world. Since, then, the Saviour was speaking of the last persecution, which is to come in the time of Antichrist, He therefore set down 'winter,' which is the last season;
and likewise 'the sabbath,' which is the last day, so that, just as in these seasons flight is harsh and difficult, He might thereby signify that in that time the persecutions and afflictions will be so grievous that scarcely anyone can escape them. 63. (63 = 80.) 64. (64 = 81.) 65. WHAT DOES THE APOSTLE MEAN WHEN HE SAYS: 'NO ONE CAN SAY THE LORD JESUS EXCEPT IN THE HOLY SPIRIT'? THEN CAN PHOTINUS, WHO DENIES THAT CHRIST IS GOD, CONFESS OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IN THE HOLY SPIRIT? AND CAN MARCION AND MANICHAEUS, WHO DENY THAT CHRIST CAME IN THE FLESH, SAY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IN THE HOLY SPIRIT?
OR CAN HARLOTS AND THE FILTHY, SINCE THE HOLY SPIRIT DOES NOT DWELL IN A BODY SUBJECT TO SINS, AND WISDOM DOES NOT ENTER INTO A MALICIOUS SOUL? Truth is not proved nor disproved from the person; for whatever is well and truly said is, without doubt, said in the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if someone is guilty in other matters, it is not for this reason to be held against him in the matter of what truth he speaks. Yet it is not held against him, but contradiction is made against Christ the Lord. For he who denies that such a one speaks the truth does injury to Christ. But if the truth is spoken, and it is denied that what is true is spoken in the Holy Spirit — which Christ also admits, for no one of the good convicts one who speaks true things about himself —
for what is learned through tradition is not learned by revelation — no one speaking the truth can be disproved. 66. IF NO ONE IS JUSTIFIED IN THE LAW BEFORE GOD, WHY IS IT WRITTEN: 'CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT CONTINUE IN ALL THINGS THAT ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO DO THEM'? IF MEN ARE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH AND NOT BY THE LAW, WHY IS HE CURSED WHO HAS NOT FULFILLED THE LAW, SINCE IT PROFITS NOTHING UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS? The law given through Moses did indeed have a righteousness, but an earthly one, so that those keeping the law might be righteous for the present, that they might not become guilty. For he is righteous by the law who harms no one. Hence the Apostle:
the law, he says, is not of faith, but he who does these things shall live in them — that is, he who does the law shall not die, but shall live for the present; but the righteousness which is of faith justifies men before God, that they may be rewarded in the age to come. For they added the righteousness of faith to the temporal righteousness. For it is just to know from whom and through whom we are, so that the true confession of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit may lead us to the heavenly kingdoms; for even the ancients, who not only kept the law of the precepts but also loved God, having hope in the promise, were justified before God. For he says that the law alone does not justify men before God, just as neither does faith alone;
but together with good works he commends them to God; rather, the earthly and the divine righteousness, when kept, make men perfect. Hence the Lord says: unless your righteousness shall abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens. 67. IF IN CHRIST ALL THE TREASURES OF WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE ARE HIDDEN, HOW IS IT THAT THE SAME SAVIOUR SAYS OF THE DAY AND HOUR OF THE FUTURE JUDGMENT THAT HE DOES NOT KNOW IT? BUT IF HE KNOWS AND SAYS HE DOES NOT KNOW, HE SEEMS TO LIE. This saying contains a twofold sense. For He says that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are thus hidden in Christ,
so that he who has Christ in place of all wisdom and knowledge should yield to Him, so that to know Christ is to know all and to have comprehended all wisdom — as he says to the Colossians: let no one beguile you through philosophy and vain seduction, according to the elements of this world and not according to Christ, because in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; that is, he who believes in Christ lacks nothing unto salvation, but this abounds to him, because the fullness of the Godhead is in his faith. And again in the same epistle, among other things, he says:
let no one seduce you in humility of heart and in the worship of angels, intruding into things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh, and not holding the Head, from which the whole body, being supplied and joined together, grows into the increase of God. If, therefore, those who believe in Christ venerate the Head of all principality and power, they lack nothing, but have all that is needful unto salvation; nor will it harm them to be ignorant of inferior things, which contribute nothing to salvation, when they know what is necessary. Such men, therefore, are to be said to know all, who know that which profits them unto salvation.
There is also this: that in the Saviour all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden, for all the Father's mysteries are known to Him, and He Himself measures every creature; and neither does the Father judge anyone, but has given all judgment to the Son; and no one knows the things that are in God except the Spirit of God, who is also Christ's. How, then, is He to be said to be ignorant of the day and hour of the future judgment, whose Spirit knows the things that are in God, of which He said that 'He has received of Mine'? If, therefore, He who has received of His knows the things that are to come, how does Christ not know, who sent us the Holy Spirit? And can it be that the Judge does not know the day of the future judgment, seeing that He has given all the signs of when it is to be expected?
Perhaps too He may be said truly not to know those to whom He will say: amen I say to you, I do not know you. Nor will He be said not to know the foolish and improvident virgins, because He said also — when they themselves said: Lord, Lord, open to us — amen I say to you, I do not know you. There is, then, a reason why He should say He does not know what He knows. Finally, He says thus: watch therefore, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come. So then, in order to make us solicitous and watchful, when questioned He said He did not know the day and hour of the future judgment; but for our profit He denied that He knew what He knows. For while we are ignorant, what profits us — for we wish to know that which, if we knew it, would harm us — but Christ,
the provider of our salvation, lest we should hear what was against us, said that He did not know. Surely, if someone in pain demands a sword that he may slay himself, and the one who has it answers that he does not have it, will he be convicted of lying in denying that which, if he did not deny it, he knows would be to the other's harm? 68. (68 = 82.) 69. THE SAVIOUR SAYS: 'WHOEVER DOES NOT FORSAKE ALL THAT HE HAS' — THAT IS, HOUSE AND FIELD AND THE REST — 'CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE'; AND ON THE CONTRARY THE EVANGELIST SAYS: 'THERE CAME JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, A RICH MAN, WHO HIMSELF ALSO WAS A DISCIPLE OF JESUS, WAITING FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD': HOW IS IT THAT THE EVANGELIST PROFESSES HIM TO BE A DISCIPLE WHOM THE SAVIOUR DENIED?
FOR ZACCHAEUS TOO WAS RICH, AND CORNELIUS THE CENTURION WAS RICH, AND THE WOMEN WHO MINISTERED TO HIM OUT OF THEIR OWN SUBSTANCE. The Apostle resolves this meaning in a few words, saying: let those who have be as those not having, and those who use this world as not using it, and those who buy as not possessing. He, therefore, who so has these things as though he had them not, is seen to have forsaken them. For when he does not presume upon them nor boast of them, but walks humbly, not only in dress but also in mind, understanding himself to have been given as a dispenser and minister of them, he is seen to have forsaken all that he has. For that is said to be forsaken which one withdraws from desire and does not hold in favour. 70. WHY DOES THE SAVIOUR SAY TO MARY, WHO WISHED TO TOUCH HIM OUT OF JOY: DO NOT TOUCH ME;
FOR I HAVE NOT YET ASCENDED TO THE FATHER,' WHEN WE READ THAT HE WAS TOUCHED AND WORSHIPPED BY THE OTHER WOMEN? They are the words of one indignant who says: do not touch me. For although she longed for the Saviour, yet, while the others believed in His resurrection, she stood weeping at the tomb, she who ought already to have rejoiced. For she had heard from the apostles John and Peter that the Lord had risen. For thus you have it: and he saw the linen cloths and the napkin in one place, and believed; for as yet they did not know the Scriptures, that He must rise from the dead. But Mary, because she had not seen Him risen, did not believe. For her excessive love made her doubt. In short, those whom we love, if they suffer some misfortune, we do not believe that they escape it;
but those whom we hate, if they are now near to death, it is incredible to us. To Mary, therefore, because she was stupefied and was suffering grief out of love — she who ought to have followed the faith of the disciples — the Lord first showed Himself, that she might cease from grief, yet not without indignation. Hence she hears: do not touch me — that is: 'you are following a carnal perception; refrain from it and follow the spiritual things which are not seen.' For I have not yet, He says, ascended to the Father. This is like that saying of John the Baptist, who sent his disciples to Jesus and said: go and say: John the Baptist sent us to you, saying, are you He who is to come, or do we look for another? Under his own person he was pleading his disciples' case.