Homilies on 2 Corinthians 23.2–23.6

See, then, that you do not suffer this, he says, and nothing will protect you. For that one too deceived her by promising greater things. From this it is plain that these men too deceived them by bragging and puffing them up. And one may conjecture this not only from this, but also from what he says afterwards: "For if the one who comes preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit which you did not receive, or a different gospel which you did not accept, you would do well to bear with it" [2 Cor 11:4]. And he does not say, "lest, as Adam was deceived," but shows that those who suffer these things are women; for being deceived belongs to women. And he did not say, "so you too may be deceived," but, staying still in the metaphor, he says, "lest your minds be corrupted from the simplicity that is toward Christ." From your simplicity, I mean, not from wickedness; it is neither from wickedness nor from your unbelief, but from simplicity. But nevertheless even so those who are deceived do not deserve pardon; and Eve made this plain. And if this does not deserve pardon, much less when someone suffers it through vainglory. "For if the one who comes preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach." From this he shows that the Corinthians were not being corrupted from among themselves, but that the deceivers came to them from elsewhere; that is why he says, "the one who comes." "Or you receive a different spirit, or a different gospel which you did not accept, you would do well to bear with it." What are you saying? You who said to the Galatians, "If anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed" [Gal 1:9], now say, "You would do well to bear with it"? Surely for this reason one ought not to bear with it but to leap away; but if they say the same things, one ought to bear with them. How then do you say, since they say the same things, that one ought not to bear with them? For if they said different things, he says, ought one to bear with them? Let us pay attention, then; for the danger is great and the precipice deep, if we run past it lightly, and what has been said gives an entrance to all the heresies. What, then, is the meaning of these words? Those men bragged as though the apostles taught imperfectly, as though they themselves brought in something more. For it is likely that [with much idle talk they were bringing in] senseless [things to overlay] these doctrines. That is why he recalled the serpent and Eve, who was so deceived by the expectation of more. He hinted at this in the first letter too, saying, "Already you have become rich; without us you have reigned" [1 Cor 4:8]; and again, "We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ" [1 Cor 4:10]. Since, then, it is likely that they talked much nonsense, using outside wisdom, he says this: if these men said anything more, and preached another Christ who ought to have been preached, but we left him out, you would do well to bear with it; for this is why he added, "whom we did not preach." But if the heads of the faith are the same, what is the more? For whatever they say, they will say nothing more than what we have said. And see how exactly he sets it down. For he did not say, "If the one who comes says something more"; for they did say something more, haranguing with greater license and with much beauty of words; that is why he did not say this, but what? "The one who comes preaches another Jesus," which had no need of preparation by words; "or you receive a different spirit" (and here too there was no need of words), that is, makes you richer in grace; "or a different gospel which you did not accept"; nor did this again need words: "you would do well to bear with it." But consider, I pray you, how everywhere he uses the qualification which shows that nothing superfluous, nothing more, has been brought in by them. For having said, "If the one who comes preaches another Jesus," he added, "whom we did not preach"; and "you receive a different spirit," he added, "which you did not receive"; "or a different gospel," he added, "which you did not accept"; showing by all of them that one must not simply attend if they say something more, but only if they say something more that ought to have been said and was left out by us. But if it ought not even to have been said, which is why it was not said by us either, why [do you gape after them]?

"And yet," someone says, "if they say the same things, why do you hinder them?" Because, using hypocrisy, they bring in other doctrines. But this he does not say for the present, but sets it down later, when he says, "They disguise themselves as apostles of Christ" [2 Cor 11:13]; but for the present he draws the disciples away from their authority by milder arguments, not out of envy of those men, but to secure these people. Otherwise, why does he not hinder Apollos, though he was an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures [Acts 18:24], but even entreats him and promises to send him [1 Cor 16:12]? Because with his learning he also kept the orthodoxy of the doctrines; but these men did the opposite. That is why he makes war on them, and accuses the disciples who gape after them, saying: if we left out anything that ought to have been said, and they supplied it, we do not forbid you to attend; but if everything has been completed by us and nothing is left out, how did they take hold of you? That is why he adds, saying, ["For I reckon that I am in nothing behind the super-]apostles" [2 Cor 11:5], no longer making the comparison with those men, but with Peter and those with him. So that if they know anything more than I, they know more than those too. And see how here too he is moderate. For he did not say, "The apostles said nothing more than I"; but how? "I reckon": so I think, that "I am in nothing behind the super-apostles." For since this too seemed a deficiency in him, that those men, having come first, had a greater name, and the glory was greater about them, and these men were going to slip themselves in alongside them, for this reason he makes the comparison with them, with the bearing fitting for him. That is why he mentions them with praise too, not saying simply "the apostles," but "the super-apostles," meaning Peter and James and John.

"But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not in knowledge" [2 Cor 11:6]. For since those who were corrupting the Corinthians had the advantage in this, that they were not unskilled, he sets this down too, showing that he is not ashamed of it but even prides himself on it. And he did not say, "Even if I am unskilled in speech, so are those"; for this would have seemed to slander those too and to exalt these men; but he pulls down the thing itself, outside wisdom. And in the first letter he contends vehemently about it, saying that not only does it contribute nothing to this preaching, but it even overshadows the glory of the cross: "For I came to you," he says, "not with superiority of speech or wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be made void" [1 Cor 2:1; 1:17]; and many other such things; [and he shows] that they were unskilled in knowledge, which is the utmost unskilfulness. When, then, he had to compare himself in great matters, he compares himself with the apostles; but when he had to show what seemed a deficiency, no longer, but grapples with the thing itself and shows that it has become an advantage. And when no necessity pressed, he says he is the least of the apostles and not worthy even of the name [1 Cor 15:9]; but here again, when the occasion called, he says he is in nothing behind the super-apostles. For he knew this would above all help the disciples. That is why he adds, saying, "But in everything we have been made manifest among all to you." For here again he accuses the false apostles of walking in craftiness. And he said these things about himself earlier too, that he did not live for appearance, nor preach the word deceitfully or peddling it [2 Cor 2:17; 4:2]. But those men were one thing and appeared another; but not he. That is why everywhere he prides himself on doing nothing for the glory of men, and on not concealing his own affairs. As he said earlier, "by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience" [2 Cor 4:2]; and now he says, "In everything we have been made manifest to you." What is this? We are unskilled, he says, and do not hide it; we receive from some, and do not keep silent. We receive from you, then, and do not pretend not to receive, as these men do while receiving; but we make everything plain to you. And this was the part of one who was very confident and who announced everything with truth. That is why he calls them as witnesses, both now in saying "among all to you," and earlier in saying, "For we write to you nothing other than what you read or also acknowledge" [2 Cor 1:13].

Then, since he had defended himself on his own account, he adds the next point weightily, saying, "Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted?" [2 Cor 11:7]. And explaining it, he says, "I robbed other churches, [taking wages] for your service" [2 Cor 11:8]. What he says is this: I lived in straits; for this is "humbling myself." Do you have this to charge me with? And were you exalted through this? And how were they exalted while he was in straits? They were the more built up and not scandalized; which would be the greatest accusation against them and a charge of their weakness, that it was not possible to lead them on otherwise than by his humbling himself first. [Do you blame] me, then, because I became lowly? But it was through this that you were exalted. For since he said above too that they slandered him as being lowly when present but bold when absent [2 Cor 10:1], [in defending himself he strikes them again here,] saying, "And this too was for your sakes." ["I robbed other churches." Here he speaks reproachfully, but] what went before does not let these things appear burdensome. For he said, "Bear with me a little in my foolishness"; and before his other achievements he boasts first in this. For this is what worldly people seek above all, and those men of the opposite party too prided themselves on this. That is why he does not first launch into the account of his dangers, nor of his signs, but into that of his contempt for money, since they prided themselves on this; and at the same time he hints that they were rich.

And what is admirable in him is this: though he could have said that he also supported himself by his own hands, he did not say this, but says what most shamed them and was no praise of himself: that "I received from others," ["I robbed"], that is, I stripped them and made them poor. And what is greater, not for abundance, but for the need of necessities; for when he says "wages," he means necessary food. And what is harder still: "for your service." We preach to you, and though we ought to be supported by you, we enjoyed this from others. The charge is double, or rather triple: that while he was among them and serving them and seeking necessary food, he had others supplying him. And great is the superiority of these over those. For the one were in carelessness, the others in earnestness; the one sent to him even when he was far off, the others did not support him even when present.

Then, since he had attacked them vehemently, he gently relaxes again the vehemence of his rebuke, saying, "And when I was present with you and in need, I was a burden to no one" [2 Cor 11:9]. For he did not say, "You did not give to me," but, "I did not receive." For he still spares them; but nevertheless even in the softening of his words he strikes again unnoticed; for "being present" is very emphatic, and "in need." For so that they may not say, "What then, if you had enough?" he added, "and being in need I was a burden to no one." Here again he strikes them moderately, as contributing such a burden reluctantly, as being weighed down. Then the reason too, full of accusation and charged with jealousy. That is why he set it down not as his main point, but as if explaining where and from whom he was supported, so as to rouse them without suspicion again to the subject of almsgiving. "For what I lacked," he says, "the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied." Do you see how he stirs them again by bringing into view those who ministered to him? For having first led them to want to learn who they might be, he then names them as well; which also urged them on to almsgiving. For those who were beaten in not supporting the apostle he persuades not to be beaten in helping the poor as well. And he says this when writing to the Macedonians themselves: "For you sent to my needs once and again" [Phil 4:16], and "at the beginning of the gospel" [Phil 4:15]; which was the greatest praise of them, that they shone from the very beginning. But see how he everywhere speaks of his need, and nowhere of abundance. By saying, then, "when I was present" and "in need," he showed that he ought to have been supported by the Corinthians; but by saying, "the brothers supplied what I lacked," he shows that he did not even ask. And he gives a reason that is not the real one. What is this? That he received from others: "For what I lacked," he says, "those who came supplied." That is why he says, "I was a burden to no one," not because he lacked confidence. And yet he does it for this very reason, and shows it by what follows; but he does not say it plainly, but shadows it over, leaving it to the conscience of his hearers. And he shows it unnoticed by what follows, saying, "And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and I will keep myself." For do not think, he says, that I say these things in order to receive. And "I will keep myself" is heavier, if he no longer has confidence in them, but has utterly given up receiving anything from them. And he shows that they even thought this a burden; that is why he said, "I kept myself from being burdensome, and I will keep myself." He says this in the first letter too: "I have not written these things so that it may be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void" [1 Cor 9:15]. And here again: "I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and I will keep myself."

Then, so that he may not seem to say this in order to draw them on the more, he says, "As the truth of Christ is in me" [2 Cor 11:10]. Do not think that I said this in order to receive, in order to draw you more; for "the truth is in me," he says, "that this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia." For so that no one may think again that he is pained at this, or says it in anger, he calls the thing a boasting too. And in the first letter he contrived it in the same way. For so as not to strike them there either, he says, "What then is my reward? That in preaching the gospel I may make the gospel of Christ free of charge" [1 Cor 9:18]. And as there he calls it a reward, so here a boast, so that they may not be greatly ashamed at what is said, as not supplying one who asked. For what if you give? he says. But I do not accept. And "will not be stopped" is a metaphor from rivers, as his fame was flowing everywhere that he does not receive. You do not stop up my boldness by your giving. But he did not say, "You do not stop it up," which would have struck harder, but, "It will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia." This again was the part of one dealing a mortal blow, and very able to pull them down and grieve them, if indeed he refused them alone. For if he boasted, he ought to boast everywhere; but if among you alone, it is perhaps because of your weakness. So that they may not despond reasoning thus, see how he corrects it: "Why? Because I do not love you? God knows" [2 Cor 11:11]; quickly adding the solution, and in a way easy to accept. But nevertheless not even so did he free them from the charges. For he did not say, "You are not weak," nor that "you are strong," but, "because I love you"; which above all heightened the accusation against them. For it was from loving them greatly that he did not receive from them, since [they felt it a burden].

So he did opposite things out of love, both receiving and not receiving; and the opposition was due to the condition of the givers. And he did not say, "For this reason I do not receive, because I love you greatly," since that would have contained an accusation of their weakness and thrown them into perplexity; but he turned the word to another reason. What is this? "So that I may cut off the occasion from those who want an occasion, so that in what they boast of they may be found just as we are" [2 Cor 11:12]. For since they were looking to find some handle, he must remove this too. For this is the only thing in which they pride themselves. So that they may have nothing more, this too had to be set right; for in other things they were inferior. For nothing, as I said, so edifies worldly people as not receiving. The devil, then, being wicked, let down this bait above all, wishing to bring them down into other things. And this too seems to me to belong to hypocrisy. That is why he did not say, "in what they have achieved," but what? "in what they boast of"; which was the language of one scoffing at their boastfulness; for they boasted of what they did not even possess. But the noble man must not boast, not only of what he does not have, but not even of what he possesses; as this blessed man did, as the patriarch Abraham did, saying, "But I am earth and ashes" [Gen 18:27]. For since he could not speak of sins, but shone with achievements, having run round everywhere and found no great charge against himself, he flees to his nature; and since the name of earth is somehow honorable, he added that of ashes too. That is why another too said, "Why is earth and ashes proud?" [Sir 10:9].

For do not tell me of the bloom of the countenance, nor the neck held high, nor the cloak and the horse and the attendants; but reckon and add where all these things end. And if you speak of what appears, I too will tell you of the things in the Scriptures, which are far more glorious than these. But just as we do not admire those things for their appearance, seeing that their substance is all clay, so neither these. For these too are clay; or rather, even before being dissolved and becoming dust. Show me this man with the high neck in a fever, at his last gasp; and then I will talk with you, and ask what became of that great ornament, where the great flattery has gone, and the attendance of slaves, and the abundance of money and possessions, what wind has come in and blown everything away. But you will say that even lying on his bed he bears the tokens of his wealth and pride, a splendid robe laid on him, poor and rich escorting him, crowds praising him. Above all these too are a mockery; but even these are at once refuted, wasting away like a flower. For when we cross the threshold of the city gates, and return after handing the body over to the worms, I will ask again: where is that great crowd going? What has become of the shouting and the uproar? Where are the torches? Where are the choirs of women? Was it not all a dream? And what became of the cries? Where are those many mouths that shouted and bade him take courage, since no one is immortal? These things should not have been said now to one who does not hear, but when he was [plundering others], they should have said: "You must not be confident; no one is immortal; check your madness, quench your desire"; but "take courage" belongs to the one who is wronged. For to say such things to him now is the part of those who spare and who mock; for it is not for this that he ought now to be confident, but to fear and tremble. But even if this is said to him [to no purpose], let those of the rich who [suffer the same sickness] and follow him to the tomb hear it. For since before, through the drunkenness of their money, they think of nothing of the kind, at that moment, when even the sight of the one lying there confirms what is said, let them be sobered, let them be instructed, considering that a little later those who lead away will come for them too, to those dreadful accounts, and to pay the penalty for what they seized and what they took by greed.

"And what is this to the poor?" someone says. Above all this too is sweet to many, to see the wrongdoer punished. "But to us it is not sweet; what is sweet is not to suffer harm." I praise you greatly and approve, that you do not rejoice over others' calamities, but seek your own safety. Come, then, I will guarantee you this too. For if we suffer harm from men, we cut off no small part of our debt, if we bear what happens nobly. So we are not wronged; for God reckons the injury against our debt, not by the rule of justice, but by the rule of lovingkindness. That is why from of old too he did not avenge the one who suffered harm. "From where is this plain?" someone says. The Jews once suffered harm from the Babylonians, and God did not prevent it, but children and women were led away; but afterwards this captivity became for them a comfort in proportion to their sins. That is why he says to Isaiah, "Comfort, comfort my people, priests; speak to the heart of Jerusalem, that she has received from the hand of the Lord double for her sins" [Isa 40:1–2 LXX]; and again, "Give us peace, for you have rendered everything to us" [Isa 26:12 LXX]. And David says, "See my enemies, how many they have become, and forgive all my sins" [Ps 25:19, 18]. And when he bore with Shimei, he says, "Let him alone, so that the Lord may see my humiliation and repay me in return for this day" [2 Sam 16:11–12]. For when he does not avenge those who are wronged, it is then above all that we are helped; for it is reckoned to us as an achievement, if we bear it with thanksgiving.

So when you see a rich man robbing a poor man, leave the one who is wronged and weep for the robber. For the one puts off filth, the other rubs filth on himself. So it happened to the servant of Elisha in the case of Naaman [2 Kgs 5:20–27]; for even if he did not rob, yet to take by deceit is injustice. What then happened? With the injustice he took the leprosy as well; and the one who was wronged was benefited, while the one who did wrong is harmed most greatly. This happens now too in the case of the soul. And so great is this that this alone has often made God gracious; even if the one who suffers harm is unworthy of help, when he suffers it beyond measure, he draws God both to pardon him and to take vengeance on the wrongdoer from this alone. That is why God said of old to the barbarians, "I gave them up for a little, but they joined in to do evil" [Zech 1:15]; for this reason they will suffer incurable things. For there is nothing, there is nothing that so provokes God as robbing and violence and greed. Why? Because it is very easy to abstain from this sin. For it is not a natural desire that troubles us, but it comes from carelessness. "How then does the apostle call it a root of evils [1 Tim 6:10]?" I too say this; but the root is from us, not from the nature of the thing. And, if you wish, let us make a comparison and see which is more tyrannical, the desire of money or of bodies; for whichever is found to have cast down great men, that is the harder. Let us see, then, what great man the desire of money held. None; but pitiable men: Judas, the Jewish priests. But the desire of bodies overcame the great prophet David. And I say this not to give pardon to those caught by such desire, but rather to make them sober. For when I show the passion to be great, then above all I show them deprived of all pardon. For if you were ignorant of the beast, you could flee to this very excuse; but now, knowing it and falling in, you could have no defense. And after him, it took his son with a greater excess; and yet no one was wiser than he, and he went through all the rest of virtue; but nevertheless he was so vehemently caught by this that he received the blow in a vital part. And the father rose up and renewed the wrestling and was crowned again; but this one showed nothing of the kind. That is why Paul too said, "It is better to marry than to burn" [1 Cor 7:9]; and Christ, "He who is able to receive it, let him receive it" [Matt 19:12]. But about money it is not so, but: "Whoever has left his possessions will receive a hundredfold" [Matt 19:29].

"How then," someone says, "did he say of the rich that they will hardly attain the kingdom [Matt 19:23]?" Again hinting at their sluggishness, not at the tyranny of money, but at their excessive slavery to it. And this is plain from what Paul counseled. For he draws us away from that desire, saying, "But those who wish to be rich fall into temptation" [1 Tim 6:9]; but in the case of this other one, no longer, but having separated them only for a season, and that by agreement, [he brings them together] again on account of desire, lest it cause a grievous shipwreck [1 Cor 7:5]. This passion is also more vigorous than anger; for one cannot be angry when there is nothing provoking, but one must feel desire even when the sight that moves to it does not appear. That is why he did not cut anger off entirely, but added "without cause" [Matt 5:22]; nor did he remove desire itself, but the unjust kind: "For because of desires," he says, "let each man have his own wife" [1 Cor 7:2]. But to lay up treasure he allowed neither without cause nor with cause. For these passions were implanted in us for need: desire for the begetting of children, anger for helping those who are wronged; but the desire of money not at all. So the passion is not even natural. So when you are caught by it, you will suffer the more shameful things. For this very reason Paul, while permitting even a second marriage [1 Cor 7:39], demands great strictness about money, saying, "Why do you not rather suffer wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be defrauded?" [1 Cor 6:7]. And when discussing virginity he says, "I have no command of the Lord" [1 Cor 7:25], and, "I say this for your own benefit, not to lay a noose upon you" [1 Cor 7:35]; but when his discourse is about money, "Having coverings and food," he says, "with these we shall be content" [1 Tim 6:8].

"How then," someone says, "are many caught more by this?" Because they are not so arrayed against it as against licentiousness and sexual immorality. For if it seemed equally terrible, [the virgins] would not have been cast out of the bridal chamber [Matt 25:10–12], since, having cast down the greater antagonist, they were overthrown by the weaker one that is nothing. Besides this one may also say that if someone who masters desire is conquered by money, often he does not even master desire, but has received from nature not to be much troubled by it; for not all are equally prone to it. Knowing these things, then, and continually turning over among ourselves the example of the virgins, let us flee this evil beast. For if virginity profited them nothing, but they perished after countless labors and sweats because of love of money, who will rescue us if we fall into this passion? Therefore I exhort you to do everything so as neither to be caught nor, having been caught, to remain so, but to burst these grievous bonds. For so we shall be able to stand before heaven and to obtain the countless good things; which may we all attain, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, might, honor, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.