Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.” (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. (Eph 4:1–16)

The love Paul requires of us is no common love, but that which cements us together, and makes us cleave inseparably to one another, and effects as great and as perfect a union as though it were between limb and limb. For this is that love which produces great and glorious fruits. Hence he says, there is “one body”; one, both by sympathy, and by not opposing the good of others, and by sharing their joy, having expressed all at once by this figure. He then beautifully adds, “and one Spirit,” showing that from the one body there will be one Spirit: or, that it is possible that there may be indeed one body, and yet not one Spirit; as, for instance, if any member of it should be a friend of heretics: or else he is, by this expression, shaming them into unanimity, saying, as it were, “You who have received one Spirit and have been made to drink at one fountain, ought not to be divided in mind”; or else by spirit, he means their zeal. Then he adds, “Even as you were called in one hope of your calling,” that is, God has called you all on the same terms. He has bestowed nothing upon one more than upon another. To all He has freely given immortality, to all eternal life, to all immortal glory, to all brotherhood, to all inheritance. He is the common Head of all; “He has raised all” up, “and made them sit with Him” (Eph. 2:6). You then who in the spiritual world have so great equality of privileges, how is it that you are high-minded? Is it that one is wealthy and another strong? How ridiculous must this be? For tell me, if the emperor someday were to take ten persons, and to array them all in purple, and seat them on the royal throne, and to bestow upon all the same honor, would any one of these, think you, venture to reproach another, as being more wealthy or more illustrious than he? Surely never. And I have not yet said all; for the difference is not so great in heaven as here below we differ. There is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Behold “the hope of your calling. One God and Father of all, who is overall, and through all, and in all.” For can it be, that you are called by the name of a greater God, another, of a lesser God? That you are saved by faith, and another by works? That you have received remission in baptism, while another has not? “There is one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.” “Who is over all,” that is, the Lord and above all; and “through all,” that is, providing for, ordering all; and “in you all,” that is, who dwells in you all.

John Chrysostom, Homily on Ephesians 11

But this whole building up by which the body of the Church is increased through its parts will be completed in mutual love for itself.… A child grows up and, unperceived, matures in time to full age. The hand will have increased its size, the feet will undergo their growth, the stomach, without our knowledge, is filled out, the shoulders, although our eyes are deceived, have broadened, and all the members throughout the parts thus increase according to their measure yet in such a way that they appear not to be increased in themselves but in the body. So, therefore, it will be in the restoration of all things when Christ Jesus, the true physician, shall come to heal the body of the whole Church which is now scattered and torn apart. Each one, according to the measure of his “faith and recognition of the Son of God” (whom he is said to recognize because he had known him earlier and afterward had ceased to know him) will receive his place and will begin to be that which he was, yet not so that, as another heresy has it, all are placed in one age, that is all are transformed into angels, but each individual member is perfected in accordance with its measure and duty so that, for example, the rebellious angel begins to be that which it was created and human beings, who were cast out of paradise, are again restored to the cultivation of paradise. But all these things will happen in such a way that they are mutually joined among themselves in love. And while member rejoices with member and is delighted in the advancement of another, the body of Christ, the Church of the first-born, will dwell in the heavenly Jerusalem which the apostle calls the mother of the saints in another passage (cf. Gal. 4:26).

Jerome, Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians 4

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:14–19)

We must investigate, therefore, how “all paternity in heaven and on earth has been named from” God “the Father.” And at the same time, before anything is examined it should be noted that he did not say, “from whom all paternity in heaven and on earth” has been born, or created, but “from whom all paternity in heaven and on earth is named.” For it is one thing to be worthy of the title “paternity” but another to have participation in its nature.… When I occupy myself with the rest, that is, where I might also read the term paternity of the Gentiles, I do not, nevertheless, now discover another occurrence except for the testimony of the twenty-first Psalm where it is written, “And all the paternities of the Gentiles shall worship in His sight” (Ps. 21:28), and that of the twenty-eighth, “Bring to the Lord, O paternities of the Gentiles, bring to the Lord the sons of rams” (Ps. 28:1). As, then, God bestows the name of His essence and of His substance as well on other elements so that they themselves also are said to exist (not that they exist according to nature—for there was a time when all things did not exist and, if He wished, they might be turned into nothing again—but as they are said to exist they have the gift by the goodness of God), so also the name of paternity has been imparted to all from Himself.

But to make this clearer, let me cite the testimony of the Scriptures. The Lord says in Exodus, “I am who I am,” and, “You shall say this to the sons of Israel, ‘He who is sent me’” (Exod. 3:14). Was God alone and there were no other things? There were certainly angels, heaven, earth or the seas, and Moses himself to whom the Lord was speaking, and Israel and the Egyptians to whom and against whom he was sent as leader and adversary. How does God lay claim to the common appellation of substance as peculiar to Himself? The reason is, as we have said, that other things receive substance by the mediation of God, but God—who always is and does not have His beginning from another source but is Himself the origin of Himself and the cause of His own substance—can not be understood to have something which has existence from another source. Warmth, indeed, is something which belongs to fire, but something which has been warmed is something else. Fire cannot be understood without heat; other things which become warm from fire borrow its heat and, if the fire should withdraw, the heat gradually decreases and they return to their own nature and are by no means referred to as warm.

It is in this sense also that it is said in the Gospel to the man who thought of the Savior not as the Son of God but as a good teacher, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one, God” (Mark 10:18). We certainly read also of a good land, a good man, and a good shepherd. No one, however, is good by nature except God alone. Other things acquire goodness from his goodness so that they may be designated good. As, therefore, the good alone causes good, and the immortal alone imparts immortality, and He who is true alone bestows the name of truth, so also the Father alone, because He is the creator of all things and is the cause of the substance of all things, grants to others that they may be said to be fathers. From earthly things, we may contemplate heavenly things. Adam, whom God formed first and was his creator and Father, certainly knew that he owed the fact that he existed to God the Father. Again those who have been born from Adam understand him from whom they have their origin to be their father. Whence also in the Gospel according to Luke when little by little the generation has been reckoned backward from Christ to David and Abraham Scripture says at the end, “of the son of Seth, of the son of Adam, of the son of God” (Luke 3:38), so that it shows that the designation of paternity on earth has its origin in the first instance from God.…

We can say, therefore, that because God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to His substance and the only begotten is Son not by adoption but by nature, other creatures also merit the name of paternity by adoption. We know, furthermore, that whatever we say of the Father and the Son has been said of the Holy Spirit. Our Savior also knew Himself to be a father when he said, “Son, your sins are forgiven,” and, “Daughter, your faith has made you well,” and “My little children, yet a little while I am with you” (Mark 2:5; Matt. 9:22; John 13:33). All who are just are adopted as sons through the Holy Spirit.

Jerome, Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians 3

Atonement

’Twas in the year when Judah’s Archon died
    That I beheld the Lord upon the tree,
Exalted, lifted up, and crucified,
    While seraphim were singing rev’rently
The Sanctus of the Holy Trinity,
    Which chanting made the very thresholds quake;
And I, with unclean lips, cried, “Woe to me!”
    As Jesus bled and did atonement make.
With tongs a seraph winged his flight to take
    the flesh of Him who died all-gloriously,
And touched it to my eager lips, and spake,
    “Take, eat; the body of the Lord for thee.”
“Amen! Amen!” with clean lips I replied,
And went down from the temple justified.

Andrew Richard, “Atonement”, Christian Culture, Issue 1, pg. 8

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. (Eph 2:14–18)

For we are, in the mystery of having been reconciled to God, now no longer repugnant or opposed to Him. We worshiped and served their idols, and with that, He crucified, as it were, the enmity we had this day with our Father, that is, with God. Christ, in mystery, at the center of His passion reconciled us to Himself. Christ, he says, “is our peace.” Elsewhere Paul calls Him mediator. He interposed Himself of His own accord between divided realms. Souls born of God's fountain of goodness were being detained in the world. There was a wall in their midst, a sort of fence, a partition made by the deceits of the flesh and worldly lusts. Christ by His own mystery, His cross, His passion, and His way of life destroyed this wall. He overcame sin and taught that it could be overcome. He destroyed the lusts of the world and taught that they ought to be destroyed. He took away the wall in the midst. It was in His own flesh that He overcame the enmity. The work is not ours. We are not called to set ourselves free. Faith in Christ is our only salvation. . . .

Their souls have thus been reconciled to the eternal and the spiritual, to all things above. The Savior, through the Spirit, indeed the Holy Spirit, descended into souls. He thereby joined what had been separated, spiritual things and souls, so as to make the souls themselves spiritual. He has established them in Himself, as he says, “in a new person.” What is this new person? The spiritual person, as distinguished from the old person, who was soul struggling against flesh. . . .

He distinguishes “those who are far off” from “those who are near.” This refers to the Gentiles and Jews. For the Jews are obviously close and the Gentiles far off. Yet the Savior Himself has brought the gospel to the Gentiles. Paul here mentions first that Christ by his advent has truly preached peace also to those who are far off, that is, the Gentiles, as is shown by many evidences, for those who come to belief from Gentile backgrounds ironically have a greater claim to be called sons than those from Jewish backgrounds. And yet, so that it may not be denied to the latter, he adds “and those who are near.” Both Jews and Gentiles “have access to the Father” through Christ Himself. But how? “In one Spirit.” For the Spirit, who is one with Christ, enters into us when we believe in Christ. We then feel God's presence, know God, and worship God. Thus we come to the Father in that same Spirit through Christ. No one, whether Jew or Gentile, comes to the Father except through Christ.

Marius Victorinus, Epistle to the Ephesians 2.14–15, 17–18

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (Eph 1:3–14)

He has conferred on us the gifts of the Holy Spirit, gave the hope of resurrection, the promises of immortality, the guarantee of the kingdom of heaven, the dignity of sonship. These Paul called spiritual blessings, and added “in heavenly places,” because these gifts are heavenly.

Since, however, some formed the idea the message was recent and despised it as later than the way of life of the Law, he necessarily teaches about it as well. From the beginning, before the formation of the world, He both foreknew our situation and predetermined it. He brings out also why He chose us: to be holy and blameless before Him. And how did He choose those who were not then in existence? He foresaw us, loved us, and predetermined our calling so that we might enjoy the gift of adoption through the Incarnation of our Savior. The phrase to Himself refers to the Father—that is so that we might be called His children. Then struck by the greatness of the generosity, he went on: He willed this (he is saying), this pleased Him. It is in fact, customary with the Holy Scriptures to refer to the intention of doing a favor as good pleasure.…

The extraordinary degree of beneficence moves even the tongues of the ungrateful to thanksgiving. The death of the Lord has made us worthy of love. In shedding through him the toils of sin and being freed from slavery to the tyrant, we have been drawn toward the characteristics of God’s image. He also teaches how we attained these features: He makes the springs of mercy gush forth, and withs its torrents bedews us on all sides.

He called His hidden will mystery: having predetermined this from the beginning (he is saying), He revealed it later.… Only God's nature needs nothing. The whole creation stood in need of his healing order of gifts. For, since the elements came into being to serve human needs, he made them subject to corruption, for he could foresee that transgression was going to make humanity mortal also. As for the unseen powers, they were naturally aggrieved when they saw human beings living in wickedness: if they rejoice at one sinner who repents, as the Lord said, it is very obvious that they grieve to behold the opposite. But the Incarnation of the Only-begotten, by doing away with death, revealing the resurrection, and giving the pledge of the common resurrection, dissipated that dismal cloud. By gather together he means the complete transformation of things. For through the gift given through Christ the Lord, the human nature is raised anew and puts on incorruptibility. Ultimately the visible creation, delivered from corruption, will receive incorruption. The hosts of unseen powers will rejoice continually, because sorrow and grief and sighing have fled away. This is what the divine apostle teaches through these words; for he said not simply “heaven and earth” but “those in heaven” and “those on earth.”

Having predestined us from the beginning, the One who does everything He wishes chose us for this life. He brings out more clearly also for what kind of inheritance He has predestined us: when men look at us, who have believed in Christ, all sing the praises of Christ, who is responsible for these good things. You not only heard but also believed; hence you also attained the grace of the all-holy Spirit.… You gained the gift of the Spirit like a kind of seal. He calls it a promise since the Lord promises to send the grace of the Spirit.

He shows how great are our expectations. This grace is already being given, through which miracles were worked: the dead were raised, lepers cleansed, and demons driven out. All of these and similar things have the status of a pledge, so it will become obvious that the faithful will enjoy in the future a much greater grace. This pledge, he is saying, has been given to us at present so as to free us from the tyranny of the Enemy and bring us into a relationship with God, so that mindful of the grace, we may always sing His praises.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Epistle to the Ephesians 1

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:7–10)

God told Paul that it was enough that he could raise the dead, cure the blind, cleanse lepers, and do other miracles. He did not need exemption from danger and fear as well, or complete freedom to preach without any form of hindrance. Indeed, when these troubles come, God's power of deliverance is shown, and the gospel triumphs in spite of persecution. The more the trials increased, the more grace increased as well.

John Chrysostom, Homilies in the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians 26

Still, we must realize that as you cannot have a persecution without evil on the part of the devil or a trial of faith without persecution, the evil that seems required for the trial of faith is not the cause of persecution but only its instrument. The real cause of the persecution is the act of God's will, choosing that there be a trial of faith; then there follows evil on the part of the devil as the chosen instrument of persecution which is the proximate cause of the trial of faith. For in other respects too, insofar as evil is the rival of justice, to that extent it provides material to give testimony of that of which it is a rival, and so justice may be said to be perfected in injustice, as strength is perfected in weakness. For the weak things of the world are chosen by God that the strong may be put to shame, and the foolish things of this world to put to shame its wisdom. Thus even evil may be used that justice may be glorified when evil is put to shame.

Tertullian, Flight in the Time of Persecution 2

Paul showed the weakness of nature, saying, I begged to be free of the trials. He showed also the Lord’s comforting: he said the abundance of grace was sufficient for consolation, while the weakness and patient endurance of the preachers brings out also the power of what is preached.… He did not say I endure, but I take pleasure, that is I rejoice, I am happy, I accept with pleasure what befalls: the apparent weakness is the source of real power to me.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians