Homilies on 2 Corinthians 7.7–8.4

For great, great is the tyranny of habit, so great that it comes to have the force of natural necessity. And if habit gives birth to love, it is plain that it also quenches it. Many in love, at any rate, have stopped loving in this way, by not seeing the one they loved. For a short time this seems bitter and very unpleasant; but in time it becomes sweet, and even if they wished, they could no longer recover the passion. “What then if someone is captured at first sight, without habit?” Here too the cause is idleness of body, or luxury, and not caring for what is fitting, nor being occupied in necessary affairs. For such a man, going about like a vagrant, is pierced by every evil; and like a child left to itself, such a soul is enslaved by anyone who wishes. For since the soul is used to being active, when you stop its activity in good things, since it cannot be idle, it is compelled to bring forth other things. As the earth, when it is not [sown, puts forth weeds] at random, so too the soul, when it has nothing necessary to do, longing in any case to act, gives itself to wicked things. And as the eye does not stop seeing, and for this reason will see wicked things when good things are not set before it, so too the reasoning, when it draws itself away from necessary things, turns about among useless ones; since … and care, is plain from many things. So when you see a beautiful woman and feel something toward her, look at her no more, and you are freed. “And how shall I be able not to look again,” he says, “when I am dragged by desire?” Give yourself to other things that draw the soul away: to books, to necessary cares, to protecting and helping the wronged, to prayers, to wisdom about the things to come; bind the soul to such things. So you will easily rub off a fresh wound. For if an insult persuades a lover to end his love, as the proverb says, how will not these spiritual charms much more overcome the evil, if only we are willing to stand aloof? But if we always keep company and associate, speaking and hearing what comes from such people, we feed the disease. How then do you expect the fire to be quenched, when you kindle the flame every day? Let this, then, be said by us about habit, to the young; for to men who know how to be wise, greater than all is the fear of God, the remembrance of Gehenna, the desire for the kingdom of heaven; for these are enough to quench the fire. And along with these, consider this too: that what is seen is nothing else than phlegm and blood and the juice of digested food. “But the bloom of the face is bright,” someone says. But no bloom of the flowers of the earth is brighter; yet these too rot and wither. So here too do not attend to the bloom, but pass further inward with your reasoning, and, stripping off in thought that fair skin, examine what lies beneath it. For the body of those with dropsy too shines bright, and its surface has nothing ugly; but at the thought of the fluid stored within we cannot love such people. “But the eye is liquid and lively, the brow beautifully arched, the lashes dark, the pupil gentle, the gaze serene.” But see that this too is nothing else than nerves and veins and membranes and arteries. Consider this beautiful eye when sick, when aging, how quickly it perishes from dejection, and vanishes faster than painted things. From these things lead your mind away to true beauty. “But I do not see the beauty of a soul,” someone says. If you will, you will see it; and as one can admire with the mind people who are beautiful and absent without having seen them with the eyes, so it is possible to see the beauty of a soul without eyes. Have you not often sketched in your mind a comely form and been moved toward the figure? Picture now too the beauty of a soul, and delight in its loveliness. “I do not see incorporeal things,” someone says. And yet we see them with the mind more than bodies. That is why we admire angels and archangels, though we do not see them, and the characters of men and the virtue of the soul. If you see a man who is gentle and moderate, you will admire him more than that comely face; and if you see someone insulted and bearing it, wronged and enduring it, along with admiring you love such people, even if they are old. For such is the beauty of the soul: even in old age it has many lovers, and it never withers but blooms continually. So that we too may acquire it, let us hunt out those who have it and become theirs. For so we too, having received this loveliness, shall be able to obtain the eternal good things; which may we all share, by the grace and love for humankind, and so on.

“Therefore, having this ministry, as [we received mercy, we do not lose heart; but we have renounced] the hidden things of shame.”

Since he had uttered great things and set himself above Moses, and all the faithful too, perceiving the excess and greatness of what had been said, see how he speaks modestly again. For he had to exalt because of the false apostles and the hearers, and again to soften the swelling, not to pull it down, since that would have been the act of one making sport. So he handles it differently, by showing that it came about not from their own achievements, but that the whole was from God’s love for humankind. That is why he says, “having this ministry.” “For we contributed nothing more, but only became ministers, and served what was given by God.” That is why he did not say “provision” or “supply,” but “ministry”; and he was not content even with this, but added, “as we received mercy.” “For this very thing,” he says, “our ministering these things, came from mercy and love for humankind.” And yet it belongs to mercy to free from evils, not also to give such great goods; but God’s mercy has this too. “We do not lose heart.” This too must be reckoned to his love for humankind. For consider that “as we received mercy” is said both of the ministry and of “we do not lose heart.” And see how eager he is to pull down his own merits. “For one counted worthy of such and so great things,” he says, “and that from mercy alone and love for humankind, does nothing great in showing such labors, in being in danger, and in enduring temptations. That is why we not only do not collapse, but even rejoice and speak boldly.” Having said, then, “We do not lose heart,” he added, “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not [adulterating] the word of God.” And what is “the hidden things of shame”? “We do not announce and promise great things,” he says, “and show other things in our deeds, as they do”—that is why he said, “Look at what is before your face”—“but we are such as we are seen, having no doubleness, nor saying and doing things that must be hidden and covered over by people who blush.” And explaining this he added, “not walking in craftiness.” For what they thought a praise, he declares shameful and ridiculous. What is “in craftiness”? They had the reputation of not taking, yet they took and concealed it; they had the reputation of saints and approved apostles, yet were full of countless evils. “But we,” he says, “have renounced these things” (for these too he calls the hidden things of shame), “being such as we appear, and having nothing covered over, not in our life only, but in the preaching itself too.” For this is what “nor adulterating the word of God, but by the open statement of the truth” means: not by appearance and display, but by the very proof of the facts.

“Commending ourselves to every human conscience.” “For we are plain not only to the faithful but to unbelievers too, [lying open] to all to test our affairs as they wish; and from this we commend ourselves, not from playing a part and carrying about a bright mask. We say, then, that we take nothing, and we call you as witnesses; we say that we are conscious of nothing evil in ourselves, and again we draw the testimony for this from you; not as they do, who deceive many by covering over their own affairs. But we set our life before all in the midst, and the preaching …” Then, since the unbelievers were ignorant of its power, he added that this charge is not ours, but belongs to their insensibility. That is why he says, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers.” What he said earlier, “To some an odor from death to death, to others an odor from life to life,” he says here too.

[2.] What is “the god of this age”? Those sick with Marcion’s disease say that this was said of the Creator, who is only just and not good; for they say that there is a God who is just and not good. The Manichees say that the devil is meant here, wishing by this to bring in another creator of the world beside the one who is—very foolishly. For Scripture often calls something “god” not from the dignity of what is so called, but from the weakness of those subject to it; as when it calls mammon “lord” and the belly “god.” But the belly is not on this account a god, nor mammon a lord, except to those who prostrate themselves under them. We say that this is not said of the devil, but of the God of the universe, and it must be read thus: “God has blinded the minds of the unbelievers of this age.” For the age to come has no unbelievers, but only the present one. And even if someone reads it otherwise, “the God of this age,” not even this gives them any handle; for it does not show him to be the God of this age only. For he is called the God of heaven, but he is not the God of heaven only; and we say “the God of the present day,” and we do not say this shutting up his rule to that day alone; and he is called the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and he is not their God only. And one could find many other such testimonies in the Scriptures. How then did he blind them? Not by working to this end—far from it—but by letting it be and permitting it; for this is Scripture’s custom of speaking; as when it says, “God gave them up to a base mind.” For since they first disbelieved and made themselves unworthy to see the mysteries, he too then let them be. But what should he have done? Dragged them by force, and uncovered the mysteries to those who did not want to see? But they would have despised them the more and would not have seen. That is why he added, “so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ might not shine on them”: not that they should disbelieve God, but that unbelief should not see what is within; which he commanded us too, bidding us not to throw pearls before swine. For if he had uncovered them to unbelievers, their disease would have been aggravated the more. For if you force a man with diseased eyes to look at the sun’s rays, you increase his weakness; that is why physicians shut such people up in darkness, so as not to aggravate the disease. So here too we must understand that these men became unbelievers through themselves; and having become unbelievers, they no longer saw the secret things of the gospel, God thereafter shutting off its rays from them. This he said to the disciples too: “This is why I speak to them in parables, because hearing they do not hear.” And to make what I say clearer by an example, suppose some Greek who thinks our things are myths. How will he be helped more, by going in and seeing the mysteries, or by staying outside? That is why he says, “so that the light might not shine on them,” still keeping to the story of Moses. For what happened to the Jews in his time happens in the case of the gospel with all unbelievers. And what is it that is covered over, and that has not been illumined for them? Hear him saying, “so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine on them.” For instance, that the cross is the salvation of the world and his glory; that this very one who was crucified will come with great splendor; all the other things, present, to come, seen, unseen; the unspeakable splendor of the things expected. That is why he said “shine,” so that you might not seek the whole here; for what has been given of the Spirit is only a kind of shining. To show this above too, he said “fragrance,” and again “pledge,” showing that the greater part remains there. Yet all these things have been hidden from them; and they are hidden because they disbelieved first. Then, showing that those who have not seen this glory are ignorant not only of Christ’s glory but of the Father’s too, he added, “who is the image of God.” “Do not stop at Christ alone. For as through him one sees the Father, so if you are ignorant of his glory, you will not know the Father’s either.” “For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.”

And what sort of sequence is this? What has this in common with what was said? Either he is hinting at those men as exalting themselves and persuading the disciples to name themselves after them, as he said in the first letter, “I am of Paul, I of Apollos”; or at something else, very serious. What is it? Since they were warring hard against them and plotting against them on every side, he says, “Are you fighting and warring against us, or against him who is preached through us? For we do not preach ourselves. I am a slave, I am a minister even of those who receive the preaching, doing everything for another and doing anything whatever for his glory; so that in warring against me you are overthrowing his cause. For I am so far from drawing to myself any of the things of the gospel, that I will not even refuse to be your slave for Christ’s sake, since it seemed good to him to honor you so, since he so loved you and did everything for you.” That is why he says, “and ourselves your slaves for Christ’s sake.” Do you see a soul pure of vainglory? “For not only do we appropriate nothing of the Master’s,” he says, “but we even subject ourselves to you for his sake.”

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts.” Do you see how again, to those seeking that surpassing glory—I mean Moses’—he shows it flashing with something added? “As on the face of Moses,” he says, “so he shone on your hearts.” And first he recalls what happened at the beginning of creation, the light perceptible to the senses and the darkness perceptible to the senses, showing that this creation is greater. And where did he say, “Let light shine out of darkness”? At the beginning, in the opening of creation: “For darkness was,” it says, “upon the abyss. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” But then he said, “Let there be,” and there was; now he did not say it, but he himself has become light for us. For he did not say that he said it now too, but that he himself shone. That is why, with this light shining, we see not things of sense, but God himself through Christ. Do you see the exact likeness of the Trinity? Of the Spirit he says, “But we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord, the Spirit”; of the Son, “so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine on them”; and of the Father, “He who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in your hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” For as, having said, “of the gospel of the glory of Christ,” he added, “who is the image of God,” showing that they were deprived of the Father’s glory too, so, having said, “of the knowledge of God,” he added, “in the face of Christ,” showing that through him we know the Father, just as we are brought to him through the Spirit.

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from us.” Since he had said many great things about the unspeakable glory, so that no one might say, “And how, enjoying such glory, do we remain in a mortal body?” he says that this itself above all is the wonderful thing and the greatest proof of God’s power: that an earthen vessel was able to carry such brightness and guard so great a treasure. Wondering at this himself, then, he said, “so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from us,” hinting again at those who boasted of themselves. For both the greatness of what was given and the weakness of those who received it show the power: not only that he bestowed great things, but that he bestowed them on small ones. For he said “earthen,” hinting at the fragility of mortal nature and showing the weakness of our flesh. For it is in no better state than earthenware, so easily is it injured, being readily dissolved by death and diseases and changes of weather and countless other things. He said this both to check their pride and to show all that nothing of ours is human.

For God’s power shows through most of all when he works great things through mean ones. That is why he said elsewhere, “For my power is made perfect in weakness.” And in the Old Testament too he [overthrew] whole armies of barbarians through gnats and flies (that is why he called the caterpillar his great power); and in the beginning, merely by confusing tongues, he brought down that great tower in Babylon. And in wars he now drove off countless armies through three hundred men, now pulled down cities by trumpets; and after this, through a small and humble boy, David, he routed the whole battle line of the barbarians. So here too, sending out only twelve, he overcame the world—twelve, and [those persecuted and warred against]. [4.] Let us, then, [be amazed at] God’s power, let us marvel, let us worship. Let us ask the Jews, let us ask the Greeks: who persuaded the whole world to depart from its ancestral customs and pass over to another way of life? The fisherman, or the tentmaker? … unless it was divine power that achieved everything through them? And what did they say to persuade? “Be baptized in the name of the one who was crucified.” Of whom? Of one whom they had not seen nor beheld. Yet saying and preaching this, they persuaded men that those who give oracles, handed down to them from their ancestors, are not gods, but that the one who was nailed up, this Christ, drew everyone to himself. And yet that he was crucified and buried was plain to everyone; but that he rose again, no one saw except a few. Yet they persuaded even those who had not seen of this too; and not only that he rose, but that he went up into heaven and is coming to judge the living and the dead. Where, then, did these words get their persuasiveness, tell me? From nowhere else but from God’s power. For first, the very novelty offended everyone; and when someone introduces such novelties, the thing becomes harder, when he heaves up the foundations of old custom, when he tears laws up from their base. Besides this, the preachers themselves did not seem trustworthy, but were of a nation hated by all, and cowardly and unlearned. How then did they overcome the world? How did they drive out you and your forefathers, who seemed to be philosophers, together with your gods? Is it not plain that it was from having God with them? For these are not achievements of human power, but of some divine and unspeakable power. “No,” someone says, “but of sorcery.” Then the rule of the demons ought to have increased and the worship of idols to have intensified. How then has it been pulled down and made to vanish, and our things are opposite to those? So from this too it is plain that what happened was God’s decree, not from the preaching only but also from the way of life itself. For when was such virginity planted everywhere on earth? When such contempt for money, and for life, and for everything else? Villains and sorcerers could achieve nothing of the kind, but everything opposite. But these men brought in for us the way of life of angels; and not only brought it in but achieved it, in our land, in that of the barbarians, in the very ends of the earth. From this it is plain that the power of Christ, present everywhere, accomplished everything, shining everywhere and illuminating the minds of men more swiftly than any lightning. Reckoning all these things, then, and taking what has happened as a clear proof of the promise of things to come, worship with us the invincible strength of the crucified one, so that you may escape the unbearable punishments and obtain the eternal kingdom; which may we all obtain, by the grace and love for humankind, and so on.