Grieving The Spirit

Et nolite contristare Spiritum sanctum Dei, in quo signati estis in diem redemptionis. Cum bene agimus, gaudet in nobis Spiritus sanctus, datus nobis, videns monita sua proficere utilitatibus nostris, sicut dictum est a Domino: Ita gaudium erit in coelo in uno peccatore poenitentiam agente. Gaudet ergo Spiritus sanctus saluti nostrae, non sibi, qui non indiget laetitia; ita, e contrario, si obedientes ei non fuerimus, contristatur, quia non habet profectum in nobis; vult enim nos pertinere ad vitam. Non tamen sic contristatur, ut patiatur, quippe cum impassibilis sit: sed cum eum contristatum dicit, nostri causa hoc significat; quia deserit nos eo quod laeserimus eum, contemnendo monita ejus. Contristatio itaque ejus indignitas nostra est, quae filios nos Dei prohibet appellari; ipse enim est Spiritus sanctus, qui sanctificat filios Dei, manens in nobis. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam ad Ephesios, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 17.393a

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you have been signed for the day of redemption. 1 When we act well, the Holy Spirit that has been given to us rejoices in us, seeing that His warnings have advanced our usefulness, as it was said by the Lord 'Thus there will be joy in heaven for the repentance of one sinner.' 2 Therefore the Holy Spirit rejoices in our salvation, and not for Himself since He does not lack any joy. Thus, on the contrary, if we are not obedient to Him, He is aggrieved, because He does not note any improvement in us, He who wishes to lead us to life. But is not that when He is grieved that He suffers, for certainly He is impassible, but when it says that we grieve Him, it signifies that we are the cause, because of which He deserts us, since we oppose Him and scorn His warnings. Thus His grieving is our unworthiness, which forbids us to be called sons of God, for it is by the Holy Spirit’s remaining in us that we are sanctified as sons of God. Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The Letter of Saint Paul To The Ephesians, Chapter 4 1 Ephes 4.30 2 Lk 15.10

For The Benefit Of Souls

Ita ut elegit nos in ipso ane constitiutionem mundi, ut essemus sancti.. Ergo mysterio quod hic implevit, et carne, et cruce, et morte, et resurrectione, subventum est animis: etsi in Christo fides sumatur, ille suscipit hujusmodi animas et adjuvat et liberat. Christum enim credere, et in Christum fidem sumere, jam spiritaliter sentire, et jam tolli a desideriis carnalibus et materialibus: et ex hoc veluti cognatio intelligendi nos jungit et sociat Christo: et dum Christo sociaverit, inquit, et Deo. Per Christum enim Deo jungimur, neque spes ulla salutis nostrae nisi Christum credere. Hoc est spiritaliter jam sentire, et capere sensum, et mundi et materiae motibus non exagitari: quibus omnibus homo totus in spiritu vero est, et ex hoc jam in Christo est vita: cum autem in Christo vita est; jam mysterio acto a Christo recipimur, et per Christum in numerum filiorum suscipimur a Deo, spiritales facti, ut nos quoque de mundo resurgamus et de morte per Dei voluntatem, sed in Christo tamen. Hoc enim et nunc, et saepe et ubique praecipitur, ut in Christo tota sit vita nostra, tota spes, totus intelligendi labor. Omnis enim ratio aeternitatis nostrae et gloriae et salvationis, et Christus est, et in Christo est, si projicientes omnia spiritaliterque sentientes, separemus a nobis mundanas cogitationes, mundanos affectus, carnalia quodammodo desideria, carnales dignitates, carnales potestates, et mundi etiam velle potentias vel dignitates. Omne enim quidquid mundanum est, licet coeleste sit in mundo etiam vel aetherium vel quodlibet aliud divinum nominatur secundum mundum et aeternum, sed secundum mundum tamen, neque divinum est neque aeternum est; etenim materiale: et quicquid materiale est, et temporale est et caducum et corruptibile. Victorinus Afrus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Liber Primus, Caput I Source: Migne PL 8.1240c-1241a

Thus He chose us before the establishment of the world, so that we would be holy... 1 Therefore in a mystery He fulfills it, and the flesh and the cross and the death and the resurrection were for the benefit of souls. Even if we have taken up faith in Christ, He is the one who takes up souls and helps and frees them. For to believe in Christ and to take up faith in Christ is to understand spiritually, and so to be taken from carnal desires and things. And from this, with a certain likeness of understanding, we are joined and associated with Christ, and while we associate with Christ, he says, it is also with God. For it is through Christ that we are joined to God, and there is no hope of salvation unless to believe in Christ. This is to understand spiritually, and to grasp the sense, and not to be troubled by the changes of the world and matter, because of which the whole man becomes truly spiritual, and through this there is now life in Christ, and when there is life in Christ we are received by Christ in mystery, and through Him we are taken up into the number of the sons of God, having been made spiritual, so that we also rise up from the earth and from death by the will of God, but in Christ. Indeed here and now, and often and everywhere, it is exhorted that our whole life, our whole hope, the whole work of our understanding, should be in Christ. For every cause of our eternity and glory and salvation is Christ, and is in Christ, if advancing in all spiritual understanding we separate ourselves from worldly thought, and from worldly loves, and from every carnal desire and honour and power, and every office and dignity of the world. For everything worldly, even if named celestial, ethereal, or divine, is named according to the world and eternity, but according to the world there is nothing divine nor anything eternal, for matter, and whatever is of matter, is transient, and passes away and is corruptible. Victorinus Afrus, On the Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, Book One, Chapter One 1 Ephes 1.4

The Sacrifice

Et ambulate in dilectione, sicut Christus dilexit nos, et tradidit semetipsum pro nobis hostiam et oblationem Deo in odorem suavitatis. Sicut Dei Patris imitatores nos esse vult in benignitate et misericordia, ita et Christi filii ejus in dilectione; ut sicut ille dilexit nos, tradens se pro nobis, ita et nos invicem pro nobis etiam animas ponere debeamus. Quod etiam Joannes apostolus dixit, Exemplo Domini pro fratribus animas ponendas. Si itaque Christi mors in odorem suavitatis est Deo, mortem ejus libenter Deus accepit. Quod si verum est, non peccaverunt qui illum secundum Dei voluntatem crucifixerunt. Sed non ita est, quia Christus Deo se dicitur obtulisse, dum occidi se passus est, in Dei Patris sui voluntate perdurans; quia qui juste occiditur diabolo se offerens, voluntatem ejus facit, ut occidi mereatur. Ita et Christus dum Dei voluntati adhaeret, diabolo displicuit, et ideo illum occidit, quia Deo se obtulit, justitiam exsequendo. In oblatione enim justitia signatur et veritas; hanc enim respicit Deus, et hoc est ejus sacrificium acceptum. Itaque immeritus, qui occiditur, placet Deo; non quia occiditur, sed quia usque ad mortem justitiam conservavit. Suscepit enim hanc mortem Christus ad vitam; unde et odor suavitatis appellatur Deo: ad Romanos tamen dicit quia Deus illum tradidit pro nobis omnibus. Nunc quaerendum est quomodo illum Deus tradidit, aut quomodo se ipse obtulit Deo; nam hoc quantum ad verba pertinet, videtur contrarium. Deus illum tradidisse dicitur, dum illum occidi permisit, sicut dicit Dominus ad Pilatum: Non haberes adversum me potestatem, nisi data tibi esset desuper. Data est enim ei, sed volenti, potestas, hoc est, permissum est illi facere quod voluit, et hoc est tradere: dum enim dissimulat, tradit; si enim noluisset permittere, non fuisset occisus. Permisit ergo occidi eum, sed ab eis qui eum volebant non coacte, sed sponte occidere. Non ergo immunes a poena sunt, quia hoc eis permissum est, quod volebant; damnatio enim in eo competit, quia voluerunt. Quod ideo tamen permisit Deus; quia scivit istum adversum diabolum futurum pro multis. Dignum enim fuit ut quod inimicus impraescius futurorum contra se, quasi pro se facere putabat, permitteretur ei; ut impraescientiam suam sibi imputans, facti sui poenitentia torqueretur. Quod autem Christus ipse se obtulit, aut Deus illum tradidit, unum est; quia amborum una voluntas est. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam ad Ephesios, Caput V Source: Migne PL 17.394a-c

And walk in love, as Christ loved us, He who gave Himself for us, a sacrifice and an oblation to God, a sweet fragrance. 1 As he wishes us to be imitators of God the Father in kindness and compassion, so even as His sons of Christ in love, so that as He loved us, giving Himself for us, so even we should lay down our souls for one another. Which indeed is what John the Apostle said, 'With the example of the Lord let us lay down our souls for our brothers.' 2 If, then, the death of Christ is a sweet fragrance to God, God readily accepts His death. Which if true means that they did not sin who crucified Him according to the will of God. But it is not so, because Christ, it is said, offered Himself to God, and suffered in His death, cleaving to the will of God His Father. He who is slain justly, offering himself to the devil, makes his will, so that he deserves to be killed. So while Christ adhered to the will of God, He vexed the devil, and he killed Him, because He offered Himself to God and accomplished righteousness. For in the offering righteousness is a sign of truth, and God looks on this and His sacrifice is acceptable. Thus it is not right to say that he who is killed pleases God , because it is not that he is killed, but that He cleaves to righteousness until death. For Christ took up this death for life, hence He is named a sweet fragrance to God. In the letter to the Romans, however, it says that God handed Him over for all of us. 3 Now it must be asked how God handed Him over and how He offered Himself to God, for according to the letter these statements seem to be contrary. God is said to have handed Him over because he allowed Him to be killed, as the Lord said to Pilate, 'You do not have power over me, unless it has been given to you from above.' 4 For power was given to Him to will, that is, he was permitted to do to Him what He wished, and this is to give Him over, for while it seems He does not, He does give Him over, for had He had he not wished it to happen, He would not have been killed. Therefore He permits Him to be killed, but by those who without any coercion but of their own wills wish to kill him. Therefore they are not immune from punishment because they were allowed to do what they wished, but they have condemnation from Him because they wished it. And therefore God permitted it, because He knew this would be in opposition to the devil for the future. It was right to permit it so that the enemy who did not know what would be set against him in the future, thought that he acted for himself, and then attributing his lack of foresight to himself, he would be tormented by regret for what he had done. And that Christ offers himself, or God hands him over, is one, because both are one will. Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The Letter of Saint Paul To The Ephesians, Chapter 5 1 Ephes 5.2 2 1 Jn 3.16 3 Rom 8.32 4 Jn 19.11

Renewal And Creation

Renovamini autem sensu mentis vestrae, et induimini novum hominem, qui secundum Deum creatus est in veritate et justitia. Justum et verum est rectam viam sequi: hic autem rectam viam sequitur, qui devotus creatori suo in voluntate ejus ambulat, quam gentilitas nescit. Innovatus enim spiritu mentis novum hominem dicitur indutus, qui est Christus; Christum enim induitur, qui per fidem renatus in Christo, aemulus est vitae, quam tradidit Christus; ut juxta Deum creatus videatur: in eo enim quis creatus est, in quo sapit; et ideo veritas et justitia Dei a gentilibus ignoratur. Cum enim credentes Deum agnoscunt creatorem, servantes mandata ejus, in justitia et veritate creantur. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam ad Ephesios, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 17.391b-c

Be renewed in the sense of your minds, and put on the new man, who is created according to God in truth and justice. 1 Is it just and true to follow the right way, and he follows the right way who devoted to his Creator walks in His will, which will the Gentiles do not know. He is said to be renewed who is endowed with the new man in the spirit of his mind, which is Christ, for he is endowed with Christ who is reborn through faith in Christ, eager for the life which Christ has given, for which reason he appears created by God, for in whom he has been created he is wise, and therefore the truth and justice of God is unknown to the Gentiles, for it is when they believe in God that they know the creator, and in keeping His commandments that they are created in justice and in truth. Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The Letter of Saint Paul To The Ephesians, Chapter 4 1 Ephes 4.23-24

Ascending And Descending

Quod autem ascendit, quid est nisi qui et descendit in inferiora terrae? Positum est in psalmo ascendens altitudinem ex quo verbo capiamus intelligentiam quia is ascendit, qui descendit. Natura etenim rei sic se habet, ut ascendere in coelum non possit nisi qui inde descendit. Hoc circa coelestia: nam circa alia hujusmodi terrena potest aliquis ascendere, qui non descendit: sed in coelum atque in coelos nemo ascendit, nisi qui inde descendit. Sic enim Salvator in Evangelio dixit: nisi quis renatus fuerit, non potest regnum Dei tenere. Deinde subjunxit, quoniam quod ex carne nascitur, caro est; quod autem ex spiritu nascitur, spiritus est. Spiritus autem de supernis est; ergo spiritus ad superna redit. Nam et cum resurrectio fuerit, omnia spiritus erunt; et totus homo spiritus factus, in coelum ascendet, scilicet per spiritum. Ergo necessarium factum est ut qui ascendit in coelum, ipse sit qui descendit. Christus ergo, de quo dictum est, quia ascendit in coelum, intelligitur quod descenderit: et si descendit, utique in terrae inferiora descendit; non solum in terram, sed in inferiora terrae. Lectum est enim, quia in infernum descendit Salvator passione illa crucis, ut omnem animam liberaret, et ex omnibus locis redimeret membra sua. Victorinus Afrus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Liber Secundus, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 8.1273d-1274a

And who ascends but he who descends into the interior of the earth? 1 It has been written in the Psalm: 'Rising to the height,' 2 from which we should understand that this one who ascends is he who descends. Indeed the nature of it is such that he who ascends into heaven cannot do so unless he came down from there. And this ascent is into the heavenly places, for someone is able to ascend into some other terrestrial place who does not descend, but no one ascends into heaven and heavenly things unless he who descends from there. So the Saviour says in the Gospel: 'Unless a man has been reborn, he is not able to lay hold of the kingdom of God.' Then He continues, 'Because what is born from flesh is flesh and what is born from the spirit is spirit.' 3 And the spirit is from above, therefore the spirit returns to things above. For come the resurrection everything will be spirit, and having been made a spirit the whole man will ascend into heaven, that is, through the spirit. Therefore it was necessary that he who ascends into heaven is he who descends. Therefore Christ says about this that he who ascends into heaven is understood as he who has descended, 4 and if he descends, he descends even into the interior of the earth; and not only to earth, but even into the interior of the earth. For it is written that in the passion of the cross the Saviour descended to hell so that he might free every soul and redeem his members from every place. 5 Victorinus Afrus, On the Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, Book Two, Chapter Four 1 Ephes 4.9 2 Ps 67.19 3 Jn 3.5-6 4 Jn 3.13 5 1 Peter 3.18-19

The Faithful and the Sanctified

Omnibus sanctis qui sunt Ephesi, et fidelibus in Christo Jesu. Quoniam sanctificata est mulier in fratre fideli et vir infidelis sanctificatus est in muliere fideli. Et sunt vasa quoque sancta, et mutae pecudes quae Deo mactantur in templo: propterea eos quos sanctos dixerat, vocavit et fideles: quia fides ex mente propriae descendit arbitrio: sanctificatio vero ex sanctificantis interdum, absque voluntate nostra, sumimur largitate. Sanctus Hieronymus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Liber Primus Source Migne PL 26.444a-b

'To all the saints in Ephesus, and to the faithful in Jesus Christ.' 1 Because a woman is sanctified by a faithful brother and a faithless man is sanctified by the faithful wife, 2 and there are sacred vessels and there are dumb beasts that are sacrificed to God in the temple, 3 besides those whom he speaks of as sanctified, he also names the faithful, because faith comes from the judgement of one's own mind, but sanctification is from the one who sanctifies, that without our will we receive by largess. Saint Jerome, Commentary On The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, Book 1 1. Ephes 1.1 2 1 Cor 7.14 3 Num 4. 21

Withering And Flowering

...ἐπαλαιώθην ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἐχθροῖς μου ... Ὅρα εἰ δύναται τὸ, Ἐπαλαιώθν ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς μου, καὶ ἑτέραν νόησιν ἔχειν. Ὅτε σὺν δικαιοσύνῃ ἔζων, ἐνέαζον ἀεὶ ζῶν κατὰ τὴν καινότητα τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ τὴν καινὴν διαθήκην· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐξ ἀποροσεξίας ἡμετέρας μετέστην τοῦ ἐπαινετῶς ζῇν παρὰ τοῖς ἑχθροῖς γενάμενος, πεπαλαίωμαι, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐκείνου παλαιότητα, ὄν ἐνδυσώμεθα τὸν νέον ἄνθρωπον, τὸν κατὰ Θεὸν κτισθέντα ἐν ὁσιότητι καὶ γνώσει τῆς ἀληθείας· οὗτος δὲ ἐστιν ὁ βίος ὁ ἀκηλίδωτος. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμος Ϛ’ Source: Migne PG 39.11177c-d

...I withered amid all my enemies... 1 Note that 'I have withered amid all my enemies' can have another meaning. 'When I was living righteously, I was always being renewed in my life according to the newness of the spirit and new faith. But after, because of fault, cut off from the midst of that glorious life, I withered among enemies, as if with old age, like that old man whom Paul exhorts us to slough off, so that we may put on the new man, who is created according to God in holiness and the knowledge of the truth, 2 and this is the immaculate life. Didymus the Blind, Commentary on The Psalms, from Psalm 6 1 Ps 6.8 2 Ephes 4.24

Teaching And Vice

Qui desperantes semetipsos tradiderunt impudicitiae, in opertionem omnis immunditae et avartiae... De gentibus loquitur, quibus caecatum cor est, et nihil sperant, id est mortales se et fatentur et probant; neque de aeternitate sua aliquid credunt: ac propterea vitam mundi, quasi ea frui volentes, et rapiunt, et libidinose vivunt, et cum impudicitia exercentes, ut credunt, voluptatem habendi cupidi, et in usu vivendi ducti omnibus turpissimis voluptatibus. Vos autem non ita didicistis Christum; si tamen audistis illum et in illo credidistis. Contra Ephesios docet non ita vivere ut gentes: quippe qui didicerint Christum: quia Christus ut immortales nos faceret, egit mysterium, praesto in carne fuit, docui ut cognosceremus patrem, et in ipsum fidem haberemus, et est aeternitas nobis viventibus secundum ejus mandata. Vos igitur non ita didicistis, ut gentes: quippe quia vos Christum audistis, si tamen audistis illum, id est intellexistis et credidistis. Hoc est enim quod adjunxit, qui in illum credidistis: quia, ut diximus et dicimus semper, credere in Christum, immortalitem consequi est, et vitam aeternam mereri; ipse enim est vita, ipse lux, ipse aeternitas, ipse qui mortem vincit et vicit, et nobis vicit, per mysterium quod implevit. Victorinus Afrus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Liber Secundus, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 8.1277b-c

Who despairing of themselves have given themselves over to shamelessness, to the doing of every vile thing, and avarice... 1 He speaks of the Gentiles, whose hearts are blind, and who hope for nothing, for they confess themselves to be mortal and act on it, believing nothing of eternal things, and thus they seize on the world's life as something to be enjoyed, and they live lustfully and exert themselves in shamelessness, so that, as they think, they will have the joy of their desires, and by such a way of life they have been led away into every sort of vile pleasure. You did not learn this from Christ, if indeed you have listened to Him and believed in Him... Opposing the Ephesians, he teaches that they should not live like the Gentiles, certainly if they have learnt from Christ, because Christ, so that He might make us immortal, worked a mystery, coming forth in the flesh and teaching so that we might come to know the Father and have faith in Him, and it is eternity for us to live according to His commands. You, therefore, did not have the learning of the Gentiles, but certainly you listened to Christ, if indeed 'you listened to Him,' that is, if you understood and believed. For this is what he adds, you who 'believed in Him,' so that as we have said, and as we shall always say, to believe in Christ achieves immortality, and it merits eternal life, for He is the life and the light and eternity, He is the one who conquers death and conquered it, and conquered for us, through the mystery which He fulfilled. Victorinus Afrus, On the Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, Book Two, Chapter Four 1 Ephes 4.19

Perfection And Knowledge

Ut ultra non simus parvuli fluctantes... Cum enim non sumus perfecti, parvuli sumus: et cum parvuli eramus, fluctuabamus: cum autem fide confirmamur, non fluctamus. Cum cognoscimus Christum, viri efficimur. Et jam non parvuli circumferamur, omni vento doctrinae, in nequitia hominum, in astutia, ad remedium erroris. Cum enim perfecti non sumus, et in fide labimur et vacillamus et multa nos perturbant; cum per doctrinas plurimas discurrentes, vento intelligendi vario agitamur. Quae doctrina, nequitia est hominum et calliditas et astutia, et quasi quaedam remedia erroris; ut quod sentis, quasi quorumdam sapientium sensu et intelligentia sentire credas; et sit erroris tui remedium intellectus alienus. Quae omnia dimittenda sunt, ut his duabus rebus refecti simus, et virum compleamus, fide scilicet et agnitione Christi. Denique haec veluti duo scilicet fides Christi, id est in Christum, et agnitio Christi, beatum faciunt: qui vir beatus non fluctuat, non circumfertur doctrina, in nequitia hominum. Haec ita tetigit beatus propheta Davd in eodem primo psalmo: nam beatus, inquit, vir: quem nos dicimus fieri fide et Christi cognitione; qui nescit doctrinas, nescit nequitiam et errores: quos errores doctrinasque sic enumerat David dicendo: qui non abiit in consilio impiorum, et in via peccatorum non stetit, et in cathedra pestilentiae non sedit. In cathedra pestilentiae sedere, est docere haereticas disciplinas: abire in consilium impiorum, est in nequitia hominum versari: stare in via peccatorum, est in astutia versari ad remedium erroris. Victorinus Afrus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Liber Secundus, Cap IV Source: Migne PL 8.1276b-1277a

So that we are no longer children, thrown about...' 1 We are children when we are not perfect, and when we were children we were thrown about here and there, but when we are confirmed in the faith we are not thrown about. We are made men when we know Christ, and now not children 'carried away by every wind of teaching in the wickedness of men, in cleverness,' 1 it is the cure for error. For when we are not perfect, we stumble and and we waver even in the faith and many things trouble us, and rushing about among many teachings we are disturbed by the shifting winds of understanding, which teachings are from the wickedness of men and their cleverness and cunning, as if they were a sure cure of error, so that you think you know through the sense and understanding of such wise fellows, and that such estranged minds are a cure for confusion. Which must be utterly dismissed so that we may be renewed and attain maturity by these two things, faith and the knowledge of Christ. Finally, the faith of Christ is as if twofold, that is, what makes one blessed is to be in Christ and to have knowledge of Christ. He who is a blessed man is not thrown about, nor is he whirled about by teachings amid the wickedness of men. The prophet David has touched on this in the first Psalm. 'Blessed is the man,' he says, the man whom we say has the faith and knowledge of Christ, who does not know the mentioned teachings, nor wickedness and error. Which errors and teachings David enumerates, saying, 'He who has not gone off into the counsel of the wicked, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the chair of pestilence.' 2 To sit in the chair of pestilence is to teach heresy. To go off into the counsel of the impious is to be embroiled in the wickedness of men. To stand in the way of sinners is to be striving amid cleverness as a cure for error. Victorinus Afrus, On the Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, Book Two, Chapter Four 1 Ephes 4.14 2 Ps 1.1

Grace And Salvation

Et vos cum essetis mortui delictis et peccatis vestris, in quibus aliquando ambulastis secundum saeculum hujus mundi... Totus hic sensus jugendus est, et de Ephesiis quod in peccatis fuerint, et de se ipso quod Paulus in desideriis carnis et in consiliis carnalibus fuerit. Illis, inquam, omnibus, jugendum est illud quod Deus, qui dives in misericordia, salvos omnes fecerit, et ipsum Paulum, et Ephesios. Sic enim concludit, cujus gratia estis salvi facti, cum ambularetis mortui delicitis; et vos cum ambulaveritis mortui delictis et peccatis vestris. Frequenter monui, mortem duplici modo accipi, illam unam notam, cum fine vivendi in mundo anima separatur a copore; aliam, cum in ipso corpore constituta, desideria carnis agit atque in peccatis vivit. Vos, inquit, cum essetis mortui: et designavit mortis genus, delictis et peccatis vestrs, in quibus aliqunado ambulastis secundum saeculum hujus mundi. Ostendit quae sunt peccata, scilicet desideria in mundo, de mundo, divitiarum, vel voluntatis vel scientiae mundanae, vel religionis de mundo, et caetera hujus mundi quae animam perdunt errantam a scientia veritatis. Quod autem dixit saeculum hujus mundi, sunt enim et superiora, et illa saecula aeterna, quae quomodo intelligantur, et quam significantiam habeant, aliis a me libris est replicatum. Saeculum hujus mundi autem omnis regio mundana, vel omnis mundus, in mundo motus rerum tempus faciens et involvens. Non eodem modo saeculum in aeternis est: esse autem aeternorum saecula, etiam Paulus declaravit, et omnes prophetae: siquidem dicitur et frequentur dicitur benedictus Deus in saecula saeculorum. Etenim saeculum finitur; saecula autem saeculorum, et de aeternis et in aeternum sunt. Victorinus Afrus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Liber I, Cap II Source: Migne PL 8.1252d-1253b

And you when you were dead in your errors and in your sins, in which you walked according to the age of this world... 1 One should join together all the meaning here, both regarding the Ephesians, that they were in sin, and concerning Paul who was in the desires of the flesh and the counsel of it. Then to all these one must join God, who is rich in mercy and would save everyone, 2 Paul himself and the Ephesians. So indeed it concludes that by His grace you have been saved, 3 when you were walking dead in your errors, and when you had walked dead in your errors and sins. I have frequently given the warning that death should be understood in two ways, that one is to be noted in the separation of the soul from the body at the end of this life in the world, and the other is when in the body a man works the desires of the flesh and lives in sin. 'You,' he says, 'when you were dead,' and then specifies the type of death, 'in your errors and your sins, in which you were walking according to the age of this world,' He reveals what sins are, that is, the desires of the world, and for the world, the wealth of it, either the wish for or the knowledge of worldly things, or for the cults of the world, and the rest of the things of this world which ruin the soul, which is a wandering from the knowledge of the truth. Whence he says 'the age of this world', for there are greater things, even the eternal ages, and how they should be understood, and what signficance they have, I have treated in other books. For the age of this world is every part of the world, or the whole world, in which world time makes and unmakes amid the changes of things. But in no way is it the age of eternity. And what the ages of eternity are, even Paul has declared and all the prophets, as it is said, and frequently, 'Blessed be God in the age of the ages.' Indeed the age ends, but the age of the ages speaks of eternal things which are in eternity. Victorinus Afrus, On the Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, Book One, Chapter Two 1 Ephes 5.13 2 cf Ephes 1.7 3 Ephes 2.4-5

Gifts And Riches

Ut det vobis, secundum divitias gloriae suae, virtute confortari per spiritum ejus in interiorem hominem: habitare Christum per fidem in cordibus vestris: in charitate radicati et fundati: ut possitis comprehendere cum omnibus sanctis quae sit latitudo, et longitudo, et profundum, et altitudo: Scire etiam supereminentem scientiae charitatem Christi, ut impleamini in omni plenitudine Dei. Propterea, inquit, curvo genua mea ad Patrem, ad cujus similitudinem omnis in coelo et in terra paternitas nominatur, deprecans eum atque obsecrans, ut tribuat vobis virtutem gloriae suae, id est, majestatis suae habere consortium: vosque roboret atque confirmet per Spiritum sanctum: quia nulla fortitudo absque Spiritu sancto est: Roboret autem atque confirmet in interiorem hominem. Non enim corporis vires, sed animae quaerimus: nec exteriorem, sed interiorem hominem cupimus roborari: ut postquam habitaverit Christus in interiore homine, in ipsius interiori hominis habitet principali, id est, in cordibus nostris: nequaquam per cuncta ejus membra discurrens, sed in rationabili ejus habitans: et in eo domicilium, sedemque suam ponens. Hoc autem totum per fidem fiet, si credamus in eum. Quamobrem ait: Habitare Christum per fidem in cordibus vestris. Habitatio autem ista quae per exordium fidei fabricatur, radices et fundamentum in charitate habet: ut quoniam Dei agricultura sumus, Dei aedificatio, omnia in charitate succrescant atque aedificentur. Sanctus Hieronymus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Lib II, Cap III Source: Migne PL 26.490a-c

That he might give to you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened through His spirit in the interior man, to dwell with Christ through faith in your hearts, rooted and established in love, that with all the holy ones you are able to understand what is the breadth and the length and the depth and the height, indeed to know the surpassing love of the knowledge of Christ, that you be filled with the fullness of God. 1 'Because of this,' Paul says, 'I bend my knee to the Father, in whose likeness every paternity in heaven and earth is named,' 2 praying to Him and beseeching, that He give to you the virtue of His glory, that is, that you be associates in His majesty, and He strengthen you and confirm you with the Holy Spirit, because there is no fortitude without the Holy Spirit, He who strengthens and confirms the interior man. For we do not seek strength of body but of soul. We desire to be strengthed in the interior man, that after Christ might dwell in the interior man, in the foundation of the interior of that man, that is, in our hearts, not spreading through every one of his members, but dwelling in the rational part, there established and placing His throne. And this all may be done through faith, if we believe in Him. As he says: 'To dwell with Christ through faith in your hearts.' But this habitation which is fashioned by the beginning of faith has its roots and foundation in love, so that since we are the field of God's work, the building of God, 2 eveything grows up and is built up in love. Saint Jerome, Commentary On The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, Book 2, Chapter 3 1 Ephes 3.16-19 2 Ephes 3.14-15 3 1 Cor 3.9

Anger And The Devil

Sol non occidat super iracundiam vestram: nolite locum dare diabolo... Iram transire vult, nec retineri in pectore, ut die orta, cum die decidat, quia si in animo manserit, dat occasionem diabolo gloriandi. Necesse est enim iratus animus mala cogitet, quod cupit diabolus; invenit enim mentem paratam ad malum, cui se inserens, affectu suo decipit hominem factum ad vitam; quia hominis cogitare est diaboli implere. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam ad Ephesios, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 17.392b

Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Do not give a space to the devil. 1 He wants anger to pass away, not to be retained in the heart, that having risen in the day, it is cut off in the day, because if it remains in the soul, it gives occasion for the devil to glory. The soul which is angry must think on evil, which is what the devil desires. He finds a mind prepared for evil, and inserting himself in it, with his own passion he deludes a man to act in life, for then it is of the man to think, the devil to fulfil. Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The Letter of Saint Paul To The Ephesians, Chapter 4 1 Ephes 4.27

Guarding Peace

Cum omnia humilitate animi et modestia, cum magnanimitate, sufferentes invicem in charitate, sollicite servantes unitatis spiritum in vinculo pacis. Nunc dissensionem prohibet, charitati autem studendum monet; ne spiritum unitatis et pacis amittant: ac per hoc ut invicem se sufferant cum patientia. Modestia enim profectum parit; quia cum se invicem tolerant, cum lenitate animi monentes, corriguntur ad effectum, et pax in eis manebit, per quam Filiii Dei non immerito vocabuntur; quia dixit Domnius: Beati pacifici, quoniam filii Dei vocabuntur. Perturbatio enim vel inquietudo contentionem facit, quae solet etiam ea quae mala novit, velle defendere; ne cedere videatur. Hinc oritur discordia, quae corrumpit pacis foedera. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam ad Ephesios, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 17.385d-386a

In all humility of soul and in modesty, and with magnanimity, suffering one another in charity, taking care to guard the spirit of unity in the bond of peace. 1 Now he prohibits dissension, for he warns them to attend to charity, lest they lose the spirit of unity and peace, and thus that they should suffer one another in patience. Indeed modesty brings forth progress, since when they endure one another, when they admonish in a spirit of mercy, they correct effectually, and peace remains with them, by which they are rightly called the sons of God, because the Lord said, 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.' 2 Disturbance and disquiet makes contention, which is accustomed to wish to defend even those things it knows are evil, lest it seem to have fallen. From which arises discord, that destroys the bond of peace. Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The Letter of Saint Paul To The Ephesians, Chapter 4 1 Ephes 4.2-3 2 Mt 5.9

Light And Illumination

Omnia autem quae objurgantur, a lumine manifestantur.... Quia praeceptum dedit ut et objurgent male facientes, adjuecti quantum sit munus objurgatio: quoniam peccata illa in occulto, quasi lumine manifestantur cum objurgantur. Is enim qui objurgat, ostendit quantum malum sit illud quod objurgat: et dum ostendit, quasi illuminat malum: quod cum intellixerit ille qui admittit, discutit tenebras et ad lumen accedit. Omne enim quod manifestatur, lumen est. Ostendit ipse, quod exposuimus. Intellectum enim quodcumque est, et manifestatur, et lux est, et videtur, et apertum. Victorinus Afrus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Liber Secundus, Caput V Source: Migne PL 8.1285c

All things which are chastised are made manifest by light... 1 Because he has given the teaching that they should chastise all who do evil, he adds how great the gift of chastisement may be, that is, that when hidden sins are chastised they are made manifest as by light. The one who chastises shows how much evil there is in what he chastises, and while he shows it, it is as he illuminates the evil, because when the other understands, he who admits it, he drives off the darkness and comes to the light. 'Everything which is made manifest is light.' 1 Which shows what we have explained. For that which is understood is made manifest, and it is light, and it appears, and it is revealed. Victorinus Afrus, On the Letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, Book Two, Chapter Five 1 Ephes 5.13

Love And Fulfillment

In charitate radicati et fundati: ut possitis comprehendere cum omnibus sanctis quae sit latitudo et longitudo et profundum et altitudo: scire etiam supereminentem scientiae charitatem Christi, ut impleamini in omni plenitudine Dei. Cum autem radicati et fundati in charitate, in interiore homine habitare Christum tota mentis fiducia noverimus: tunc incipiemus cum caeteris sanctis etiam ad illa nos tendere: ut sagaci animo comprehendamus quae sit latitudo, et longitudo, profundum, et altitudo: et non solum hoc, sed etiam supereminentem scientiae charitatem Chrsiti scire cupiemus; ut postquam haec omnia fuerint in nobis ordine et ratione completa, tunc impleamur in omnibus plenitude Dei Sanctus Hieronymus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Lib II, Cap III Source: Migne PL 26.490c-d

Rooted and founded in love, so that you may be able to grasp with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. 1 When we have been rooted and founded in love and know with the full confidence of our mind that Christ dwells in our inner man, then with the other saints we shall begin to stretch ourselves out 2 to those things which follow, so that, with eager soul, 'we may grasp what is the breadth and length and depth and height,' and not only this, but that even we desire 'to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge' so that after all these things are fulfilled in us in their order and reason, then in everything 'we may be filled with God'. Saint Jerome, Commentary On The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, Book 2, Chap 3 1 Ephes 3.17 2 Philip 3.13

Being Done With Pride

Cum omni humilitate et mansuetudine, cum patientia. Qui terram et cinerem esse se novit, et post paululum in pulverem dissolvendum, numquam superbia elevabitur. Et qui Dei aeternitate perspecta, breve et pene ad puncti instar humanae vitae spatium cogitarit, ante oculos suos semper habebit interitum, et erit humilis atque dejectus. Corruptibile enim corpus aggravat animam, et terrenum hoc tabernaculum, sensum opprimit multa curantem. Propter quod cum omni humilitate dicamus: Domine non exaltatum cor ceum, neque elati sunt oculi mei. Omnis autem humilitas, non tam in sermone, quam in mente est, ut humiles non esse conscientia, noverit, numquam nos vel scire, vel intelligere, vel esse aliquid aestimemus. Mansuetudo quoque illa est, quae nulla passione turbatur: et specialiter ira et furore non rumpitur. Quam qui habuerit, beatitudinem, quae Domini voce promissa est, consequetur: ut possideat terram, id est, imperet corpori suo, domineturque subjecto; et haec sit ejus prima haereditas, in carne non carnaliter vivere. Sanctus Hieronymus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Liber II, Cap IV Source: Migne PL 26.493c-494a

With all humility and meekness, and with patience. 1 He who knows himself to be earth and ashes, and that after a brief time that he must be resolved into dust, shall never be elevated by pride. And he who thinks of how the span of human life appears as a mere point in the sight of Divine eternity, having his death always before his eyes, he shall be humble and lowly. 'For the corruptible body burdens the soul and this terrestrial tabernacle weighs down the mind with many troubles.' 2 On account of which in all humility we say: 'Lord, my heart is not exalted, nor are my eyes lifted up.' 3 For nothing of humility is to be found in a mere word, but it is in the mind, that being humble we are conscious that we know should never think ourselves or understand ourselves or reckon ourselves something. And this is meekness, not to be troubled by any passion, especially the bursting forth of wrath and rage. He who has it is blessed and from it follows what the voice of the Lord has promised: that he shall possess the earth, 4 that is, he shall command his body, and ruling over it, subject it. And this is his primary inheritance, that in the flesh he does not live in the flesh. 5 Saint Jerome, Commentary On The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, Book 2, Chap 4 1 Ephes 4.2 2 Wisd 9.15 3 Ps 130.1 4 Mt 5.4 5 Rom 8.9

Christ's Dwelling

In interiore homine Christum habitare per fidem in cordibus vestris. In eo petit eos magis firmari, ut non ambigant, sed magis credant Christum habitare in se, quem non vident his oculis; ut Spiritus datus hoc eis per Dei donum infundat, ut certi sint de Christo quod vivit, et Filius Dei est, et habitat per fidem in cordibus nostris, ipsum habere videamur. Quod eo proficit, ut securi simus de auxiliis ejus; quia non deserit nos, sed semper adest propter fidem suam, quam videt in nobis: quippe cum ideo Spiritus ejus, qui et Dei Patris est, detur nobis; ut vice ejus tutos praestet nos, si ei assentiamus, ut et occulta revelet; per quem utique ipsum in nobis habitare ambigere non debemus. Est enim hic alius paraclitus, inter quos personarum disantia est, non naturae; quia et de eo accipit, et a Deo procedit. In quibus enim naturae unitas est, invicem sui sunt; unde dicit Dominus: Omnia Patris mea sunt, et mea omnia Patris. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam ad Ephesios, Caput III Source: Migne PL 17.384a-b

'To have Christ dwelling in the interior man by faith in your hearts.' 1  By this he seeks their greater firmness, that they not doubt but rather that they more believe that they have Christ dwelling in them, whom they do not see with these eyes, and as the Spirit is poured into them by the gift of God, so that they be certain that Christ lives and is the Son of God, and He dwells by faith in their hearts, let us also appear to have Him. Which profits because by that we are made confident of His help, since He does not abandon us, but He is always near on account of His faith, which He sees in us, for when His Spirit, who is of God the Father, is given to us, so His protection of us excels, if we assent to Him, so that He reveals hidden things, by which we will no longer doubt that He dwells in us. For there is another comforter, among them distinct in person and not by nature, since from God he is given who from God proceeds. 2 In which is the unity of nature of each one of them, whence the Lord says, 'Everything that is my Father's is mine, and what is mine is my Father's' 3 Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The Epistle of Saint Paul To The Ephesians, Chapter 3 1 Ephes 3.17 2 Jn 15.26 3 Jn 16.15

Losing The Way

Hoc igitur dico, et testificor in Domino, ut jam non ambuletis, sicut et gentes ambulant in vanitate sensus sui, tenebris obscuratum intellectum, alienati a vita Dei per ignorantiam, quæ est in illis, propter cæcitatem cordis ipsorum, qui desperantes, semetipsos tradiderunt impudicitiae, in operationem immunditiae omnis in avaritiam. Hoc, ergo, ait, dico vobis, O Ephesii, ut quia occursuri estis in mensuram aetatis plenitudinis Christi, non ambuletis sicut ambulant gentes, quae idolis servientes, et sensu et mente abutuntur in prava. Quae cum ideo acceperint animam et intellectum, ut cognoscerent Deum, abalienati sunt a via ejus, quam aliam absque Christo non novimus, et in sui cordis ambulant caecitate. Atque utinam peccasse sufficeret, et vel sero agerent poenitudinem, damnarentque vitia in quibus juigiter inhiarunt, esset remedium resipiscere post erroem. Nunc vero desperantes, se, et in ritum irrationabilium bestiarum, coeno voraginique mergentes, tradiderunt impudicitiae atque luxuriae, operantes quidquid corpus voluit, mens desideravit, libido suggessit. Et cum nihil omnino praetermiserint quod immundum sit, hoc totum fecere in avaritia, dum numquam luxuriando satiantur, nec eorum terminum habet voluptas. Aut certe ultra concessam viri ad feminam conjunctionem, ad majora conscendunt, masculi in masculos turpitudinem operantes, et mercedem erroris sui in semetipsis recipientes. Vanitas sensus, et mentis obscuritas, bifariam dividitur, in saeculi hujus negotia, et in sapientiam saecularem: quando aut in his quae mundi hujus sunt, et cito transeunt, detinemur, aut non profutura cognoscimus. Nonne vobis videtur in vanitate sensus et obscuritate mentis ingredi, qui deibus ac noctibus in dialectica arte torquetur: qui physicus perscrutator oculos trans coelum levat, et ultra profundum terrarum et abyssi quoddam inane demergit, qui iambum struit, qui tantam metrorum silvam in suo studiosus corde distinguit et congerit: et, ut altream partem transeam, qui divitias per fas et nefas quaerit: qui adulatur regibus, haereditates captat alienas, et opes congregat, quas in momento cui sit relicturus, ignorat? Quod autem ait, qui desperantes semetipsos, id est, ἀπηλγηκότες ἑαυτοὺς, multo aliud in Graeco significat quam in Latino: desperantes quippe ἀπηλγηκότες nominantur; ἀπηλγηκότες autem hi sunt, qui postquam peccaverint, non dolent: qui nequaquam sentientes ruinam suam, feruntur in pronum, et tamquam bestiae ferrum videntes, in mortem ruunt. Pone mihi duos in uno vitio deprehensos: alterum qui intelligat, plangatque quod fecit: alterum qui delectetur in scelere, et non solum non doleat, verum etiam glorietur, et putet se quamdam turpitudinum palmam et victoriam consecutum: nonne tibi videtur ille dolere, et hic penitus non dolere? Expriamus, si possimus, verbum de verbo, et dicamus ἀπηλγηκότες, indolentes, sive indolorios. Nam et quidam philosophorum ἀναλγησίαν, id est, indoloriam praedicavit. Hi qui naturas varias introducunt, sciant propterea gentes in vanitate sensus obscuratis mentibus ambulare: quia ignorantiae se et caecitati dederint. Nemo enim imperitus appellatur et caecus, nisi is qui cognoscere potest et videre. Nec dicimus caecum esse lapidem, et brutum animal ignorare: quia non ab eo quaeritur, nec ejus naturae est, ut cognoscat et videat. Sin autem in natura gentium fuit, ut Dei vitam intelligerent et viderent: non choicorum et spiritualium natura varia, sed voluntas. Dixeramus supra operationem immunditiae omnis in avaritia, non ad avaritiam, ut sonat simpliciter, pertinere; sed ad libidinem atque luxuriam. Debemus hunc sensum alterius loci testimonio comprobare. In prima ad Thessalonicenses Epistola scribitur: Haec est enim voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra, ut abstineatio vos a fornicatione: it sciat unusquisque vestrum summ vas possidere in sanctificatione et honore: non in libidine desiderii, sicut et gentes, quae non noverunt Deum: ut ne quis supergrediatur, et circumscribat in negotio fratrem suum: quoniam vindex est Dominus de his omnibus: sicut et praediximus vobis, et testificati sumus. Non enim vocavit nos Deus in immunditia, sed in sanctificatione. Diligenter observa, quia ad castitatem nos provocans, et volens uxoribus tantum esse contentos, dixerit: Ne quis supergrediatur, et circumscribat in negotio fratrem suum, id est, ne suam conjugem derelinquens, alterius polluere quaerat uxorem. Ubi nos habemus, et circumscribat in negotio fratrem suum, in Graeco legitur, καὶ πλεονεκτεῖν ἐν τῷ πράγματι τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ. Πλεονεξία autem avaritia nuncupatur, quam nos possumus, vim verbi transferentes, sic in praesenti loco exprimere: ut ne quis supergrediatur, et avarus fraudet in negotio fratrem suum. Quae enim consequentia est, vel in illo capitulo quod nunc ad exemplum vocavimus, vel in hoc quod principaliter ad Ephesios conamur exponere, inter impudicitiam et immunditiam, castitatem quoque et affectum conjugalem, extraordinarie repente avaritiam nominari? Non vobis molestum sit, si diu in obscurioribus immoremur: causati enim in principio sumus, inter omnes Pauli Epistolas, hanc vel maxime et verbis, et sensibus involutam. Sanctus Hieronymus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Liber II, Cap IV Source: Migne PL 26.504a-505d

This, therefore, I say, and I bear witness in the Lord, that you do not walk as the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds, having their understand veiled in darkness, being estranged from the life of God by ignorance, which is theirs according to the blindess of their hearts, who despairing give themselves to shamelessness in the work of every uncleanliness in avarice. 1 This, therefore, I say to you, O Ephesians, he says, because you have been advanced according to the measure of the span of the fullness of Christ, do not walk like the Gentiles walk, who serve idols, and who in their senses and minds are bound to depravity. They who receiving their souls and understanding, that they might know God, have been estranged from His way, which other way without Christ we do not know, and walk in the blindness of their own hearts. O, that having sinned they were able, however late, to do penance, and condemn the vices under which yoke they groaned, and be restored to reason after error. Now however despairing, in the way of irrational beasts, they drown themselves in mires of feasts, giving themselves over to shamelessness and luxury, doing whatever pleases the body, the mind desires, lust counsels. And when they neglect nothing at all which may be foul, they do all in greed, luxury not sating them, nor do their pleasures have an end. And indeed beyond what is allowed a man they couple with women, and to graver things embark, men acting shamelessly with men, and they receive the reward of error in themselves. 2 Vain are the senses, and benighted the mind, which in two parts is divided, in the business of this world, and in worldly wisdom, when either they are detained in the things of this world which swiftly pass away, or they know things which do not profit. For does it not seem to you that he enters into the vanity of the senses and a benighted mind, who is tormented day and night by the study of dialectics, who studies nature by sweeping uplifted eyes across the heavens, and then plunging wildly down beyond the depths of earth and the abyss, who toils over verses, studiously distinguishing and storing up in his heart such a forest of measurements, and, to pass on to another part, who seeks wealth by fair or foul means, who esteems powerful men, who seizes on the inheritances of others, and heaps up riches which he is ignorant that in a moment he shall lose? When he says: 'despairing in themselves,' in Greek this is, 'apelgekotes heautous,' which signifies something more in Greek than the Latin 'despairing' which is given for 'apelgekotes,' for 'apelgekotes' they are who after they have sinned do not grieve, who have no sense at all of their ruin, who rush forward in their fall, and as beasts seeing the blade, charge onto their deaths. Give to me two emboiled in one vice: one who understands and laments what he has done, and another who delights in his evil and not only does he not grieve but in truth he glories in it, and let one think who gains first place in baseness and who obtains victory; does it seem to you the one who grieves or the one who does not sorrow at all? Let us express it, if we capable, word for word, and let us say, 'apelgekotes' is a state of being griefless or those griefless. For even the 'analgesian' of the philosophers means griefless. And they who introduce different natures of men, 3 let them know that the Gentiles walk in the vanity of the senses and the benightedness of the mind because they have given themseves to ignorance and blindness. No one is called ignorant and blind unless he is able to know and see. For we do not say a stone is a blind and a dumb animal ignorant, because that is not demanded which is not in its nature, that is, to know and to see. If, however, it was in the nature of the Gentiles to know and to see the life of God, there is no difference of a 'material' and a 'spiritual' nature, but it is a matter of the will. We have spoken before of every work of uncleanliness in avarice, not for the sake of avarice, does it mean, but for lust and luxury. We should compare this meaning with a passage given in another place. In the first letter to the Thessalonians it is written: 'This is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication, that each one of you know that you possess a vessel for sanctification and honour, not for the lust of desires, as the Gentiles who do not know God, so that you do not transgress and delude your brother in his affairs, because the Lord will have vengeance for all these things, as we have told you and given witness. For God did not call us to uncleanliness but to sanctification.' 4 Carefully observe, because he calls us to chastity, and wishes us to be content only with our wives, that he has said: 'Do not transgress and delude your brother in his affairs,' that is, that abandoning his own marriage, he seeks to defile another woman. Where we have, 'and you delude your brother in his affairs'; the Greek reads: 'And make your brother greedy in affairs'. And greed is named for avarice, which we are able, if we translate the force of the word, in the present place to express it: 'lest you transgress and draw your brother into greed in his affairs.' For what is the reason, either in that passage which now we have given as an example, or in this passage of Ephesians which we are presently trying to explain, that between shamelessness and uncleanliness, and also chastity and loving marriage, suddenly avarice is especially named? May it not trouble you if we are delayed in such obscure matters; in the beginning we have given the excuse that among all the letters of Paul, this one, especially in words and meanings, is most elaborate. 3 Saint Jerome, Commentary On The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, Book 2, Chap 4 1 Ephes 4.17-19 2 Rom 1.27 3 A Gnostic idea, that there were' material' or 'animal' men incapable of salvation and spiritual men 4 1 Thes 4.3-7

Bearing With One Another

Sufferentes invicem in charitate. Si quis intelligit quid sit, sufferentes invicem in charitate, non putabit in sanctos viros hoc convenire mandatum: verum in eos qui sunt in virtutum initiis? constituti. Sancti quippe non habebunt quod inter se invicem sufferant: sed hi qui quasi homines aliqua adhuc passione seperantur. Nec mirum si Ephesi haec audiant, cum in multitudine credentium sint aliqui qui adhuc invicem sufferre se debeant. Hoc ipsum mihi videtur significare et ? quod ad Galatas scribitur: 'Alterutrum onera vestra portate.' Possumus ergo utrumque testimonium et aliter interpretari: ut vel alterutrum onera portate, vel sufferre invicem in charitate, et eos complere dicamus, qui divites sunt, et inopiam pauperum sublevant. Si quis aegrotanti fratri praebet obsequium, suffert eum in charitate. Si quis in coelibatu beatam transigens vitam, alium qui et uxorem habet et liberos, et seipsum vix potest pascere, adjuverit, et utcumque ? potest, fuerit consolatus, alienum onus portasse laudabitur. Est qui matrem vel sororem viduam cernens egestate tabescere, non potest adjuvare: huic si quis porrexerit manum, sustinuit eum in charitate. Sive autem superiorem sensum, sive posteriorem sequamur: nec peccantem fratrem, nec inopem consolatur, qui non habet charitatem, et contemnit verba Apostoli commonentis: Debemus autem nos, qui fortiores sumus, infirmitates imbecillorum portate, et non nobismetipsis placere. Sanctus Hieronymus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Liber II, Cap IV Source: Migne PL 26.494a-c

Bearing with one another in love. 1 If someone would understand what this may be: 'Bearing with one another in love,' he should not think this is a command that befits one who is among holy men, those who are established on the foundations of virtue; for the holy do not have among themselves anything to endure, but rather this is for those who are yet separated by passion. Do not wonder if the Ephesians hear these things, when amid the multitude of the faithful they are some whom they should yet endure. This to me seems to intend what was written to the Galatians: 'Bear one another's burdens.' 2 We are able therefore to understand both testimonies in this way: Either you bear the burdens of others, or suffer one another in love. And we should say that they fulfill this who being rich relieve the poverty of the poor. And if someone offers service to a sick brother, he endures with him in love. If someone passing a blessed life in celibacy helps him who has a wife and children who he is barely able to support, and, as he is able, he comforts him, he shall be praised as bearing the burdens of others. Is there someone who has a widowed mother or sister withering in need, who he is not able to help? If someone offers him a hand, he sustains him in love. Either the first or second sense let us follow. He who does not console an erring brother, nor a poor man, does not have love, and he spurns the words of the Apostle, which we recall: 'We who are stronger should bear the infirmities of the weak and not please ourselves.' 3 Saint Jerome, Commentary On The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, Book 2, Chap 4 1 Ephes 4.2 2 Galat 6.2 3 Rom 15.1

Grace And Creation

Ipsius enim sumus factura, creati in Christo Jesu in operibus bonis, quae praeparavit Deus, ut in illis ambulemus. Reddidit causas, quare gratia salvati sumus per fidem, et hoc ipsum non ex nobis, sed ex munere Dei, dicens: Ipsius enim factura sumus, hoc est, quod vivimus, quod spiramus, quod intelligimus, et credere possumus, ipsius est, quia ipse conditor noster est. Et diligenter observa, quia non dixerit, ipsius figuratio sumus atque plasmatio: sed, ipsius factura sumus. Plasmatio quippe originem de terrae limo trahit: factura vero juxta similitudinem et imaginem Dei sumpsit exordium. Quod in centesimo quoque octavo decimo psalmo simul positum diversa significat: Manus tuae fecerunt me, et plasmaverunt me. Factura primum locum tenet: deinde plasmatio. Et quia creationis, et conditionis nomen ad magna semper solet opera copulari, verbi causa: illa urbs condita est, et ab initio creatus est mundus, et unusquisque sanctorum per varia dogmata atque virtutes, in semetipso mundus est totus: propterea nunc creati in Christo dicimur, et creati in operibus bonis sive quae ipsi fecimus, vel facturi sumus, sive in aliis creaturis, ad quae nostra conversatio transferenda est, ut quae praeparavit Deus, in illis ambulemus, spe magna jam nobis data, dum in his ambulaturi sumus, quae Deus magnopere praeparavit. Et quia semel ad nomen creaturae venimus, et Sapientia in Proverbiis Salomonis dicit se creatam initium viarum Dei, multique timore, ne Christum creaturam dicere compellantur, totum Christi mysterium negant, ut dicant, non Christum in hac sapientia, sed mundi sapientiam significari: nos libere proclamamus, non esse periculum eum dicere creaturam, quem vermem, et hominem, et crucifixum, et maledictionem, tota spei nostrae fiducia profitemur: maxime cum ex duobus versiculis quae praecedunt, ipsa sapientia promittat se esse dicturam quae post saecula sunt. Cum autem saecula Christus fecerit, et quae deinceps loquitur, ea sint quae post saecula dicturum se esse promiserit, ad incarnationis mysterium, non ad naturam Dei referenda sunt quae sequuntur: licet in Hebraeis codicibus non habeatur: Dominus creavit me initium viarum suarum: sed, Dominus possedit me. Inter possessionem autem, et creationem multa distantia est: quia qui possidetur, is utique est atque subsistit, et est proprius, qui possidetur. Creator vero ille qui non erat antequam fieret: aut certe de eo quod erat, transfertur in aliud, sicut et nos nunc creati dicimur in Christo Jesu. Creati utique, non quia ante non fuimus, sed creati in operibus bonis. Quod David quoque in psalmo quinquagesimo deprecatur, dicens: Cor mundum crea in me, Deus. Et certe mundum cor ante peccatum habuerat, quando de eo Dominus loquebatur: Inveni David filium Jesse secundum cor meum: sed ut ibi creatio instaurationem sonat: ita et in nobis et in Christo per singula opera et profectus, creatura atque conditio accipi potest: ut quotidie in credentibus, quia varie secundum merita diversa montes dicuntur, et valles, et colles, atque campestria, Christus creatus, natus et conditus sit. Sanctus Hieronymus, In Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Liber II, Cap IV Source: Migne PL 26.470b-471c

For we are his work; God has created us in Christ Jesus, that we walk in the good works He has prepared beforehand. 1 He has given the reasons how we have been saved by grace through faith and that this is not from us but from the gift of God, saying: 'we are His work,' that is, that we live, that we breathe, that we understand, and that we are able to have faith is His doing, because He is our Creator. And carefully observe that he has not said we are a figure of Him and a thing shaped, but, 'we are His work.' Something shaped has its origin drawn from the mud of earth, but a work begins according to the likeness and image of God. Which difference is signified in the one hundredth and eighteenth Psalm: 'Your hands made me, and they shaped me.' 2 The work is placed first, then comes the shaping. And because it is a matter of creation, on account of that greatness, the name of Creator is always accustomed to be associated with it. For example: a city is founded but from the beginning the world is created. And so whoever among the holy by various teaching and virtues in himself is completely pure, on account of that we are spoken of as created in Christ and created in good works, by what we did, or what we shall do, or in other creatures, according to the influence of our conduct, as God has prepared it, that in which we should walk, with that great hope now given to us while we walk in these things which God has munificently prepared. And because we have touched on the name of creature and Wisdom in the Proverbs of Solomon speaks of itself as a thing created at the beginning of the ways of God, 3 there is great fear, lest there be need to call Christ a creature, denying the whole mystery of Christ, and so they say that Christ is not in this wisdom but it signifies the wisdom of this world, but we freely proclaim that it should not be perilous to speak of Him as a creature, which a worm and a man and the crucified, and curse, with all the confidence of our hope we profess, especially when in the preceding verses the same wisdom is promised to be spoken beyond the ages. 4 When indeed Christ made the ages, that which then is spoken, that which is promised to be spoken beyond the ages, concerns the mystery of the Incarnation and does not refer to the nature of God. And then it is not written in the Hebrew: 'The Lord created me in the beginning of the ways,' but 'the Lord possessed me.' There is a great difference between possession and creation, because he who possesses, that which is possessed depends on him, and is his own who possesses it. However the Creator is He who before whom there was nothing, and from Him came what was, passing into something, as even now we are said to be created in Jesus Christ. Thus we are created, not because we did not exist before, but because we have been created in good works. So that which David prays for in the fiftieth Psalm: 'A pure heart create in me, O God' 5 And certainly a heart is pure before it has sin, and concerning this the Lord said, 'I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man according to my heart.' 6 And here creation means a restoration, so even in us and in Christ, with each work and advance, it is possible to receive creation and founding, and that every day among the faithful, who because they vary according to their merits, are called mountains, and valleys and hills, and fields, so Christ is created, born and established. Saint Jerome, Commentary On The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, Book 2, Chap 4 1 Ephes 2.10 2 Ps 118.73 3 Prov 8. 4 Prov 22. 5 Ps 50.11 6 Acts 13.22