Judging And Judgement

Existimas autem hoc, o homo, qui judicas eos qui talia agunt, et facis ea, quia tu effugies judicium Dei? an divitias bonitatis ejus, et patientiae, et longanimitatis contemnis? ignoras quoniam benignitas Dei ad poenitentiam te adducit? Tu autem secundum duritiam, et impoenitens cor, thesaurizas tibi iram in die irae, et revelationis justi judicii Dei, qui reddet unicuique secundum opera ejus : iis quidem qui secundum patientiam boni operis, gloriam, et honorem, et incorruptionem quaerunt, vitam aeternam... Hoc est, nunquid tibi examen datum est vel potestas judicandi de malis et stupris, cum eadem agis, et non est qui de te ad praesens judicet? Effugies judicium Dei. Non utique in futuro evades. An divitias bonitatis ejus, et patientiae, et longanimitatis contemnis? Divitiae bonitatis Dei, quibus bona pro malis dat. Patientia vero est, qua peccatores impunitos patienter converti tolerat. Longanimitas est, qua longum spatium poenitentiae dat. Divitias bonitatis ille agnoscere potest, qui considerat quanta in terris mala quotidie homines gerant, tamen his Deum producentem solem suum quotidie, et pluvias ministrantem. Sustentatio vero, vel longanimitas, ac patientia in hoc videtur differre, quod qui infirmitate magis quam proposito delinquunt, sustentari dicuntur: qui vero pertinaci mente velut insultant in delictis suis, patienter ferri dicendi sunt. Sed sicut omnia in mensura fecit Deus, et pondere et numero, ita etiam patientiae ejus certa mensura est. Tu autem secundum duritiam, et impoenitens cor. Impunitatem sperans peccatorum non solum durat, inconversibilis et incontrectabilis manens, sed adhuc peccat, securus quod non sit ultio futura. Cor durum in Scripturis dici videtur, cum mens humana, velut cera a frigore iniquitatis obstricta, signaculum imaginis divinae non recipit. Thesaurizas tibi iram. Hujus verbi in Scripturis significantiam triplicem legimus: dicitur enim in Evangelio thesauros esse quosdam in terris, in quo prohibet Dominus thesaurizari; et alios thesauros in coelo jubet fideles recondere; et hic nunc Apostolus dicit irae thesauros. Ira autem Dei nihil aliud quam justa vindicta intelligitur. Crassitudo vero cordis est, ubi subtilis et spiritualis intelligentiae non recipitur sensus. Qui reddet unicuique secundum opera sua. Sciendum quod ex Jeremia Apostolus hoc testimonium sumpserit. Illud quod in Ezechiele scriptum est, huic sententiae videtur adversari; dicit enim: Cum avertit se justus a justitia sua, et fecerit iniquitatem secundum omnes iniquitates quas fecit iniquus, omnes justitiae ejus quas fecerit non commemorabuntur in lapsu ejus, quo lapsus est: sed in peccatis qui peccavit, in ipsis morietur . In quo videtur latenter hujusmodi inseruisse intellectum, ut si forte non secundum omnes iniquitates quas fecit iniquus, fecerit justus, non omnes justitiae ejus de memoria auferantur. His quidem qui secundum patientiam boni operis gloriam, et honorem, et incorruptionem quaerunt, vitam aeternam. Boni operis merces per patientiam exspectatur, quod in praesenti vita non redditur; per fidem enim ambulamus, et non per speciem: patientiam autem boni operis in illis esse certum est, qui agones et certamina perferunt. Gloriam. Decus formae qua sancti fulgebunt sicut sol. Honorem. Filiorum Dei, quo nihil est majus, per quem etiam angelos judicabunt. Incorruptionem. Vitae scilicet perpetuae. Signanter autem addidit incorruptionem, propter indiscretionem saecularis gloriae atque honoris, qui corruptibilis est. Sedulius Scotus, Collectanea in omnes B. Pauli epistolas, In Epistolam ad Romanos, Caput II Source: Migne PL 103.24b-25b

And you think this, O man, who judges those who do such things and you do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you scorn the riches of His goodness, and patience, and longsuffering? Do you not know that the benevolence of God should lead you to penance? But you, according to your hardness, and an impenitent heart, you heap up anger for yourself against the day of anger, and the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will return to every one according to his works. To those indeed, who according to patience in good work, seek glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life:.. 1 That is, the investigation and power of judgement of evils and foolishness was never given to you when you do these things, and there is no one to judge you in the present. 'You will not escape the judgement of God.' You will not escape in the future. 'Or do you scorn the riches of His goodness and patience and longsuffering?' The riches are the goodness of God, which gives good for evil. But patience is to endure unpunished sinners patiently for the sake of conversion. Long suffering is the granting of a long time for penitence. He is able to know the riches of goodness who considers how much evil men do in the world every day, yet God brings forth the sun for them and the ministering rains. But endurance and longsuffering and patience seem to differ in this, that they are said to be endured who go astray by weakness more than intent, and they are to be borne with patiently who with a stubborn mind offend with misdeeds. But as God has a measure in all things, and a weight and a number, so indeed His patience has a certain measure. 'But you according to hardness, and an impenitent heart.' The hope that there is no punishment for sins not only hardens, so that one remains unconverted and intractable, but it errs in being secure in the thought that there shall not be a reckoning in the future. In Scripture a hard heart seems to mean that the human mind is frozen like wax by the coldness of wickedness and it does not receive the seal of the Divine image. 'You heap up anger for yourself.' We read a threefold meaning in these words in Scripture, for it is said in the Gospel there is a certain treasure on the earth which the Lord prohibits us to heap up, and there is another treasure in heaven which He commands the faithful to gather, 2 and now here the Apostle speaks of a heaping up of anger. The anger of God is to be understood as nothing else than just punishment, but there is a thickness of heart, when the mind does not receive the subtle and spiritual understanding. 'He who shall return to each one according to a his works.' It must be known that the Apostle takes this testimony from Jeremiah. 3 That which is written in Ezekiel, seems opposed to this sentence, for it says, 'When the righteous man shall turn away from his righteousness and act wickedly according to all the wickedness which the wicked man does, all the good that he had done shall not be remembered in his fall by which he has fallen, and in his sins which he has sinned he shall perish.' 4 In which it seems there is a latent understanding that if perhaps according to his wickedness a wicked man acted, the righteous man who will do so, all his righteous works will be forgotten. 'To those indeed, who according to patience in good works, seek glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life.' The reward of good works which is not given in the present life is expected by patience, for we walk through faith and not by appearance, but the patience of good works is certain in those who endure trials and struggles. 'Glory.' The fairness of form with which the holy shall shine like the sun. 'Honour.' Of the sons of God, to whom nothing is greater, and by whom even angels shall be judged. 5 Incorruption. That is, of eternal life. The reason he adds incorruption is to distinguish it from worldly glory and honour which is corruptible. Sedulius Scotus, Commentary On The Letters of Saint Paul, On the Letter to the Romans, Chapter 2 1 Rom 2.3 2 Mt 6.19 3 Jerem 25.14 4 Ezek 18.24 5 1 Cor 6.3

Prayer And The Spirit

Sed ipse Spiritus postulat pro nobis gemitibus inenarrabilibus. Hic gratiam Spiritus Spiritum nominavit; postulat autem, quia postulare nos facit gemitibus qui enarrari non possunt. Sicut tentare nos dicitur Deus, ut sciat, hoc est, scire nos faciat quales sumus. Sed et usu communi quo aliquis fieri jubet, ipse dicitur operari, ut: ille aedificavit domum, aut, ille codicem fecit, cum nec ille scripserit, nec ille struxerit. Qui autem scrutatur corda, scit quid desideret Spiritus, quia secundum Deum postulat pro sanctis. Ostendit quidem, non tam verba nostra in oratione, quam cor mentemque perpendi: ipse enim est qui scrutator est cordis et renum. Scimus enim quoniam diligentibus Deum omnia cooperantur in bonum. Hoc dicit, quia si imperite precati sunt, non illis oberit, quia propositum cordis eorum sciens Deus, non illis imputat quae adversa postulant, sed ea annuit quae danda sunt a Deo amantibus; unde et Dominus ait: Scit enim Pater vester quid opus sit vobis antequam petatis ab eo. His qui secundum propositum vocati sunt sancti. Secundum quod proposuit salvare sola fide quos praescierat credituros, et quos gratis vocavit ad salutem, multo magis glorificabit operantes. Sedulius Scotus, Collectanea in omnes B. Pauli epistolas, In Epistolam ad Romanos, Caput VIII Source: Migne PL 103.78c-79a

But the Spirit Himself asks for us with inexpressible groans. 1 Here He named the grace of the Spirit the Spirit, and He prays because He makes us pray with inexpressible groaning. Just as God is said to test us so that He might know, that is, He makes us know ourselves. And even in common speech when someone commands something he is said to do it, as he made a house or a book, when he neither wrote nor built. And He who scrutinises hearts knows what the Spirit desires, because He prays for those who are holy according to God. Certainly it shows not so much in our words in prayer as in the weight in our hearts and minds, for He is the scrutiniser of the heart and inner being. We know that to the lovers of God everything begins in goodness. He says this, that if they have prayed with little skill, they will not be blamed, because God knows the wish of their hearts and He does not grant to them what would be harmful to them when they ask for it, but He bestows the things He gives to the lovers of God. Hence the Lord says, 'The Father knows what you need before you ask it from Him,' 2 to those who according to their wish have called out for holy things. According to which He promised to save for faith alone those who He foresaw to be believers, and whom He freely called to salvation, and much more shall He glorify the workers. Sedulius Scotus, Commentary On The Letters of Saint Paul, On the Letter to the Romans, Chapter 8 1 Rom 8.26 2 Mt 6.8

Power And The Gospel

Non enim erubesco super evangelium, virtus enim Dei est in salutem omni credenti... Hoc est, sicut quidam doctores erubescebant, qui doctrinam coelestem adjunctis miraculis corroborare nequibant. Virtus enim Dei est, etc. Nulla major virtus est quam quae, devicta morte, homini perditam reddidit vitam, quamvis incredulis infirmitas videbatur? Definiens ergo quid sit evangelium, pronuntiat. Virtus enim Dei est, inquit, in salutem omni credenti. Quod autem dixit quod virtus Dei est in salutem, videtur ostendere, quod sit aliqua virtus Dei quae non sit ad salutem, sed ad perditionem: sicut in Psalmis legitur: In virtute tua disperde illos; virtus enim in dextera est qua salvamur, ut virtus in qua disperdit, sinistra dicatur Sedulius Scotus, Collectanea in omnes B. Pauli epistolas, In Epistolam ad Romanos, Caput Primam Source: Migne PL 103.18c-d

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, it is a power of God for the salvation of all who believe ... 1 That is, not as certain teachers who have been ashamed, who were unable to confirm heavenly teaching with adjoining miracles. 'For it is a power of God.' What power is greater than that which having conquered death returns a destroyed life to a man, although weakness deemed it unbelievable? Therefore he proclaims the definition of the Gospel, that it is a power of God for the salvation of all who believe. That he said it is a power of God for salvation, seems to show that there is a power of God that is not for salvation, but for damnation, as is read in the Psalms, 'With your power scatter them.' 2 For as there is a power of the right hand by which we are saved, so it may be said there is a power of the left hand by which He scatters. Sedulius Scotus, Commentary On The Letters of Saint Paul, On the Letter to the Romans, Chapter 1 1 Rom 1.16 2 Ps 58.12

Prayer And Righteousness

Quod sine intermissione mentionem vestri faciam in omnibus orationibus meis. Dicit Apostolus: Semper gaudete, sine intermissione orate. Quis autem postest ita semper orare, et sine defectu vel intermissione precibus insistere, ut nec alimentis sumendis, aut dormiendi tempus habeat? Aut ergo dicendum est, eum semper orare et non deficere, qui canonicis orationibus quotidie juxta ritum ecclesiasticae traditionis, psalmodiis, precibusque consuetis Dominum laudare et rogare non desistit. Et hoc est quod Psalmista dicebat: Benedicam Dominum in omni tempore, semper laus ejus in ore meo. Aut certe omnia quae justus secundum Deum gerit et dicit, ad orationem esse reputanda: qui eim justus est, sine intemissione quae justa sunt agit, per hoc sine intermissione justus orabit, nec unquam ab oratione cessabit, sive justus esse desistet. Sedulius Scotus, Collectanea in omnes B. Pauli epistolas, In Epistolam ad Romanos, Caput Primam Source: Migne PL 103.16 b-c

Without ceasing I remember you in all my prayers... 1 The Apostle says, 'Rejoice always, pray without ceasing.' 2 But who can always pray and without fault or intermission take to prayer, so that he neither takes food or has time to sleep? Therefore it must be said that to pray always and not to stop is of him who keeps the canonical ours every day according to the rite of the Church which has been handed down, and with Psalms and the accustomed prayers does not cease to praise and entreat God. And this is what the Psalmist said, 'I shall bless the Lord at all times, His praise always in my mouth.' 3 Or certainly it may be that everything which the righteous man does and says is according to God and should be reputed to him as prayer, for he who is righteous does what is righteous without interruption, and by this the righteous man shall pray without intermission, not at any time ceasing from prayer, or from being righteous. Sedulius Scotus, Commentary On The Letters of Saint Paul, On the Letter to the Romans, Chapter 1 1 Rom 1.9 2 1 Thes 5.16-17 3 Ps 33.2

Separated For The Gospel

Segregatus in evangelium Dei. Εὐαγγέλιον, bonum nuntium interpretatur, quo peccatores ad indulgentiam convocantur. Apostolus autem quo modo in Judaismo locum doctoris habebat, ut pote Pharisaeus, ita a Judaismi praedicatione separatum se dicit in evangelium Dei, ut a lege dissimulans Christum praedicaret. Aliter: Segregatus, hoc est, a grege apostolico separatus, ut gentibus praedicaret. Sicut in Actibus apostolorum Spiritus sanctus dicit: Segregate mihi Saulum et Barnabam, in opus ad quod elegi eos. Segregatus dicitur in evangelium Dei, sicut alibi ipse de se dicit: Cum autem placuit Deo, qui me segregavit de utero matris meae, ut revelaret Filium suum in me: ex quo intelligimus, quod justi separentur a ventre. Ergo et Paulus quidem segregatus in Evangelium dicitur, segregatus a ventre matris suae. Causas in eo et merita quibus in hoc segregari debuerit, vidit ille quem non latet mens: praevidit enim quod abundantius quam caeteri omnes laboraturus esset in evangelio, quod in siti, et in fame, et in frigore, et in nuditate, in periculis latronum, in periculis fluminum, in periculis maris praedicaturus esset evangelium Christi. In evangelium Dei. Unum atque idem est dicere, et evangelium Dei, evangelium Christi, quod ipse Dominus dicit: Ego et Pater unum sumus. Et iterum dicit ad Patrem: Omnia mea tua sunt, et tua mea. Ergo evangelium Patris, evangelium Filii est. Sedulius Scotus, Collectanea in omnes B. Pauli epistolas, In Epistolam ad Romanos, Caput Primam Source: Migne PL 103.12a-c

Separated for the Gospel of God... 1 Euaggelion is translated as good news, by which sinners are called to forgiveness. The Apostle held the position of teacher in Judaism, while a Pharisee, and thus he says that he was separated from the preaching of Judaism for the Gospel of God, so that detached from the law he might preach for Christ. Otherwise, he was separated from the flock of the Apostles so that he might preach to the Gentiles. As in the Acts of the Apostles when the Holy Spirit says, 'Set apart for me Saul and Barnabas, I have chosen them for a work.' 2 It is said, then, he was separated for the Gospel of God and also elsewhere he says of himself, 'When it was pleasing to God, he separated me from the womb of my mother, so that He might reveal His Son in me.' 3 From which we understand that the righteous are separated from the womb. Therefore Paul is said to be separated for the Gospel by being separated from the womb of his mother. The reasons and merits by which he deserved to be separated for this, He sees whom nothing escapes, for He foresees that he would labour more abundantly then any other in the the Gospel, so that in thirst and in hunger, and in cold and in nakedness, and in peril of bandits and in peril of rivers and of seas, he would preach the Gospel of Christ. 4 'For the Gospel of God.' One and the same thing is it to say the Gospel of God and the Gospel of Christ, since the Lord says, 'I am the Father are one.' And again He says to the Father, 'Everything mine is yours and yours is mine.' 5 Therefore the Gospel of the Father is the Gospel of the Son. Sedulius Scotus, Commentary On The Letters of Saint Paul, On the Letter to the Romans, Chapter 1 1 Rom 1.1 2 Acts 13.2 3 Galat 1.15-16 4 2 Cor 11.27 5 Jn 10.30, 17.10