The way which seems right to us for understanding the Scriptures and the investigation of their meaning, we consider to be the following: we are instructed by Scripture itself regarding the ideas that we ought to form of it. In the Proverbs of Solomon we find just such instruction for the examination of holy Scripture. For your part, he says, describe these things to yourself in a threefold manner in counsel and knowledge, that you may answer words of truth to those who question you.^[1] Each one, then, ought to describe in his own mind, in a threefold manner, the understanding of the divine letters, that is, so that the simple may be edified, so to speak, by the very body of Scripture; for that is what we call the common and historical meaning. But if some have begun to make considerable progress and are able to see something more than that, they may be edified by the very soul of Scripture. And those who are perfect and resemble those of whom the apostle says, We speak wisdom among them that are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are doomed to pass away. But we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, which God has decreed before the ages for our glorification.^[2] Such people may be edified by the spiritual law^[3] which has a shadow of the good things to come, edified as if by the Spirit. For just as man is said to consist of body, and soul and spirit, so also does sacred Scripture, which has been granted by God’s gracious dispensation for the salvation of man.

For as in painting, so long as one only draws the outlines, it is a sort of shadow, but when one has added the bright paints and laid in the colors, then it becomes an image. Something of this kind also was the law.

You are able to understand it in this way. It has been said by Gregory in his sacred writings, in his Apologetics and in his To the Governors, that the present divine mysteries are antitypes of even greater mysteries. And again in his treatise Concerning the Resurrection he says, Let us receive the Passover, now in a typological fashion, but hereafter in a more complete manner. For the Passover under Mosaic law, I dare to say and in fact say it, was a prefigurement of a prefigurement. Gregory said these things in the following sense. The apostle knew among these things the shadow and the image and the coming good things, which he also calls the substance, that is, the true things. For inasmuch as he makes clear what are the true matters—for that is also the truth—by comparing it with the shadow and the image, he first knows the things in the law as the shadow and second our things (those of Christians) as an image, but the coming good things and the true substance the things in the coming age. For just as the image is not entirely in accord with the truth, so also the shadow is not entirely in accord with the image. For even if the image does not have the very truth, except that it exists as a visible imitation of the truth by preserving the shape through its surfaces and the proportion of its members and the complexion of the substrate. But the shadow is an indistinct appearance of the image, showing none of the things of which it is the image. And I believe that Gregory in his sacred writings has been led forth by these apostolic writings to say what is most likely. And many other fathers say things similar to Gregory.

That the first sense, which we have called the literal one, is profitable in that it is capable of imparting edification is witnessed by the multitude of those believers who accept the faith genuinely and simply. But of that interpretation which is referred back to the soul, there is an illustration in Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians. He says, You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain. Then he adds, Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was for our sake, no doubt, that this was written: that the plowman should plough in hope, and the thresher thresh in hope of a share in the crop.^[1] And there are numerous interpretations adapted to the multitude which are in circulation, and which edify those who are unable to understand the higher meanings, which have something of the same character. But the interpretation is spiritual when one is able to show of what heavenly things the Jews according to the flesh served as a copy and a shadow, and of what future blessings the law has a shadow.^[2] And, speaking generally, we must investigate, according to the apostolic promise, the wisdom in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world for the glory of the righteous, which none of the rulers of this world knew.^[3] And the same apostle says somewhere, after mentioning certain events from Exodus and Numbers, that these things happened to them as a warning, but that they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come.^[4] He also gives hints to show what things these were figures of, when he says, For they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.^[5]

And in another epistle, when outlining the various matters relating to the tabernacle, he used the words: You shall make everything according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.^[6] Further, in the epistle to the Galatians, as if reproaching those who think that they are reading the law and yet do not understand it, judging that those do not understand it who do not believe that allegories are contained under what is written, he says: Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written, Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, the son of the free woman through promise. Now this is an allegory: for these women are the two covenants,^[7] and so on. Now we must carefully mark each word spoken by him. He says: You who desire to be under the law (not You that are under the law), do you not hear the law?—hearing being understood to mean understanding and knowing.

And in the epistle to the Colossians, briefly epitomizing the meaning of the entire system of the law, he says, Therefore let no man judge you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. These are only a shadow of things to come.^[8] Further, in the epistle to the Hebrews, when discoursing about those who belong to the circumcision, he writes, They serve a copy and shadow of heavenly things.^[9] Now it is probable, from these illustrations, that those who have once admitted that the apostle is divinely inspired will entertain no doubt with respect to the five books of Moses; but they wish to know if the rest of the history also happened figuratively.^[10] We must note, then, the expression in the epistle to the Romans, I have left to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal,^[11] quoted from the third book of Kings. Paul has understood this to stand for those who are Israelites according to election,^[12] for not only are the Gentiles benefited by the coming of Christ, but also some who belong to the divine race.^[13]

Those who lived before grace, because they were under law,^[1] found themselves sitting under its shadow. But those who have come into existence after the coming of grace and day have been delivered from the shadow, truly from the slavery of the law.^[2] That is to say, they have risen above it, having been taken up on high as by a ladder, namely, the gospel way of life. They are living with the lawgiver, being themselves lawgivers rather than keepers of law.

But if in every detail of this outer covering, that is, the actual history, the sequence of the law had been preserved and its order maintained, we should have understood the Scriptures in an unbroken course and should certainly not have believed that there was anything else buried within them beyond what was indicated at a first glance. Consequently the divine wisdom has arranged for certain stumbling blocks and interruptions of the historical sense to be found therein, by inserting in the midst a number of impossibilities and incongruities. [This was done] in order that the very interruption of the narrative might as it were present a barrier to the reader and lead him to refuse to proceed along the pathway of the ordinary meaning. And so, by shutting us out and debarring us from that, [the writers] might recall us to the beginning of another way, and might thereby bring us, through the entrance of a narrow footpath, to a higher and loftier road and lay open the immense breadth of the divine wisdom.. . . The aim of the Holy Spirit was chiefly to preserve the connection of the spiritual, meaning, both in the things that are yet to be done and in those which have already been accomplished. [Thus] whenever he found that things which had been done in history could be harmonized with the spiritual meaning, he composed in a single narrative a texture comprising both kinds of meaning, always, however, concealing the secret sense more deeply. But wherever the record of deeds that had been done could not be made to correspond with the sequence of the spiritual truths, he inserted occasionally some deeds of a less probable character or which could not have happened at all, and occasionally some that might have happened but in fact did not. Sometimes he does this by a few words, which in their bodily sense do not appear capable of containing truth and at other times by inserting a large number.

This is found to happen particularly in the law, where there are many things that as literal precepts are clearly useful, but also a considerable number in which no principle of utility whatever is disclosed, while sometimes even impossibilities are detected. All this, as we have said, the Holy Spirit supervised, in order that in cases where that which appeared at the first glance could neither be true nor useful we should be led on to search for a truth deeper down and needing more careful examination. And [we] should try to discover in the Scriptures which we believe to be inspired by God a meaning worthy of God.

And not only did the Holy Spirit supervise the writings which were previous to the coming of Christ, but because he is one and the same Spirit and proceeds from the one God, he has acted similarly in regard to the Gospels and the writings of the apostles. For even the narratives that he inspired through them were not woven together without the spell of that wisdom of his, the nature of which we explained above. And so it happens that even in them the Spirit has mingled not a few things by which the historical order of the narrative is interrupted and broken, with the object of turning and calling the attention of the reader, by the impossibility of the literal sense, to an examination of the inner meaning.

The law was indeed given through Moses, and there it was determined by a heavenly rule what was to be done and what was to be avoided, but what it commanded was completed only by the grace of Christ. On the one hand, that law was capable of pointing out sin, teaching justice and showing transgressors what they are charged with. On the other hand, the grace of Christ, poured out in the hearts of the faithful through the spirit of charity,^[1] brings it about that what the law commanded may be fulfilled. Hence that which was written, do not covet,^[2] is the law given through Moses because it is commanded, but grace comes through Christ when what is commanded is fulfilled. Truth came through Christ because the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of these realities. And, as the apostle says elsewhere, These things happened to them as a figure.^[3] But in place of a shadow Christ displayed the light of truth, and in place of the figure of the law he displayed the exact image of the things which were prefigured when, with the giving of the grace of the Spirit, he made clear to his disciples the meaning so that they could understand the Scriptures.^[4] The law was given through Moses when the people were commanded to be made clean by the sprinkling of the blood of a lamb.^[5] The grace and truth which were prefigured in the law came through Jesus Christ when he himself, having suffered on the cross, freed us from our sins by his blood.^[6]

It is a great thing to have passed from the law to the shadow of Christ. For Christ is the way, Christ is truth and life; and when we come under his shadow we have the shade of the way, are overshadowed by the truth and live in life’s shadow. And whereas we have only glimpses of knowledge, like a confused reflection in a mirror,^[1] if we follow this way we shall eventually come to see face to face what at first we saw confusedly as a shadow.

The law, then, and everything in the law, being inspired, as the apostle says, until the time of amendment, is like those people whose job it is to make statues and cast them in metal. Before they tackle the statue itself, the one they are going to cast in bronze, silver or gold, they first make a clay model to show what they are aiming at. The model is a necessity, but only until the real statue is finished. The model is made for the sake of the statue, and when the statue is ready the sculptor has no further use for the model. Well, it is rather like that with the law and the prophets. The things written in the law and the prophets were meant as types or figures of things to come. But now the artist himself has come, the author of it all, and he has transferred the law, which had only the shadow of the good things to come, to the very image of the things.

Many partake of this sacrifice the Eucharist once in the whole year, others twice, others many times. Our word then is to all, not to those only who are here but to those also who are settled in the desert. For they partake once in the year and often indeed at intervals of two years. What then? Which shall we approve? Those who receive once in the year? Those who receive many times? Those who receive few times? Neither those who receive once, nor those who receive often, nor those who receive seldom, but those who come with a pure conscience, from a pure heart, with an irreproachable life. Let such draw near continually, but those who are not such, not even once. Why, you will ask? Because they receive to themselves judgment, yea, and condemnation and punishment and vengeance. And do not wonder. For as food, nourishing by nature, if received by a person without appetite, ruins and corrupts all the system and becomes an occasion of disease, so surely is it also with respect to the awful mysteries. Do you feast at a spiritual table, a royal table, and again pollute your mouth with mire? Do you anoint yourself with sweet ointment and again fill yourself with ill savors? Tell me, I ask, when after a year you partake of the communion, do you think that the forty days are sufficient for you for the purifying of the sins of all that time? And again, when a week has passed, do you give yourself up to the former things? Tell me now, if, when you have been well for forty days after a long illness, you should again give yourself up to the food which caused the sickness, have you not lost your former labor too? For if natural things are changed, much more those which depend on choice. As for instance, by nature we see, and naturally we have healthy eyes, but oftentimes from a bad habit of body our power of vision is injured. If then natural things are changed, much more those of choice. You assign forty days for the health of the soul, or perhaps not even forty, and do you expect to propitiate God? Tell me, are you ready for this?

These things I say, not as forbidding you the one and annual coming but as wishing you to draw near continually.

We must also know that just as there is a law which contains a shadow of the good things to come, which have been revealed by the law proclaimed in accordance with truth, so also the gospel, which is thought to be understood by all who read it, teaches a shadow of the mysteries of Christ.

And that which John calls an eternal gospel,^[1] which would properly be called a spiritual gospel, clearly presents both the mysteries presented by Christ’s words and the things of which his acts were symbols, to those who consider all things face to face^[2] concerning the son of God himself.

Paul distinguishes three levels in the law: the shadow, the image and the truth. . . . The law contains the shadow of future good things but not the very image of the realities, and this clearly shows that the image of the realities is different from what is designated as the shadow of the law. If anyone can describe the ceremonies of the Jewish worship, let him view the temple as not having had the image of realities but only their shadow. Let him see the altar as a mere shadow, and the rams and the calves brought to sacrifice also as a shadow. According to the Scripture, our days on the earth are like a shadow.^[1]

If someone wishes to go beyond this shadow, let him come to the image of the realities, and let him behold the coming of Christ made flesh. Let him contemplate him in his role as high priest, offering victims to the Father henceforth and in the future; let him understand that all this is an image of spiritual realities and that heavenly functions are denoted by corporeal functions. We employ the term image to refer to that which is intelligible at present and which human nature can observe.

If you can penetrate the heavens with your understanding and your mind and follow Jesus, who has penetrated the heavens and who stands as our intercessor before the face of God, you will find there those good things whose shadow the law contained and whose image Christ revealed through his incarnation. Those good things . . . have been prepared for the blessed, which neither eye has seen nor ear heard, and which no person has ever even imagined or thought of.

He showed both the law’s limitations and its usefulness: while it cannot remove sins, it mounts an accusation against them, instills fear and obliges one to have recourse to grace.

If they had become perfect, their priesthood would have ceased, because they should have abstained from their sacrifices. And if their conscience was cleansed from sin, at the same time they would have been cleansed from the impurity of flesh. But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every day. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Therefore our Lord, who came to this world, said through the mouth of David, Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me,^[1] so that the victims of sacrifices might be abolished through his sacrifice.

For he says that the sacrifices were offered not only for sins that had taken place, but rather for all sins, on the grounds that the sacrifices that had already taken place could not put the sins away.

These things have been spoken to those in Babylon who wanted to say to God, You did not demand sacrifices from me but only to obey you and to do your will. And right away the things pertaining to the quotation have become unambiguous as far as I am concerned. Changing it he speaks in this way about the person of Christ, saying, I will establish a body instead of I will establish ears.^[1]

Christ spoke, while coming into the world,^[1] not after he had entered it. But manifestly he was already entering it when he promised David and maintained that he would seat one from the fruit of his loins on his throne until the age would come.^[2] Therefore, while entering into the world because of the promises made to David, he also says this through him, since you did not wish for sacrifice and offering, neither were you well pleased^[3] with the rites in the law. And he did not say, you are not well pleased nor wish, but you did not want nor were you well pleased, all but saying, From their very institution and introduction the sacrifices were not entirely satisfactory and well pleasing. But really if any of them were accepted by you, it was accepted owing to the weakness of the one who brought them. Since then I reject these things and ‘I prepare a body for myself,’ then ‘I have come’ in order ‘to do your will.’ For this also is spoken concerning me not in a simple manner and in passing, but as the chief matter and the supposition of the book which foretold about me. And he calls the book the whole Old Testament. For the chief thing and the most noteworthy supposition of the Old Testament are the predictions about Christ.

How could the blood of brute beasts declare guiltless some murderer or parricide? This is the reason blessed David also said, Had you wanted it, I would have offered sacrifice; you will take no delight in burned offerings.^[1]

Do you see that the law takes its force from the place? And, since the city is gone, there can no longer be a priesthood. There can be no emperor if there are no armies, no crown, no purple robe, none of the other things that weld together an empire. So, too, there can be no priesthood if sacrifice has been destroyed, if offerings are forbidden, if the sanctuary has been trampled into the dust, if everything that constituted it has disappeared. For the priesthood depended on all these things. . . .

That great and wonderful prophet, David . . . made it clear that the one kind of sacrifice would be abolished and another brought in to take its place when he said, You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be numbered.^[1] See how wise the prophet is. He said, You have multiplied your wondrous deeds, and he stood aghast at God’s power to work miracles. But he did not go on to tell us about the creation of the things we see—of heaven, earth, and oceans, of water in Egypt or of any other miracles like those. What did he say were wondrous works? Sacrifice and offering you do not desire.^[2] . . .

David went on to say, But a body you have fitted to me.^[3] By this he meant the Lord’s body which became the common sacrifice for the whole world, the sacrifice which cleansed our souls, canceled sin, put down death, opened heaven, gave us many great hopes and made ready all the other things which Paul knew well and spoke of when he exclaimed, O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways.^[4]

David, then, foresaw all this when he said, Many are the wondrous works you have done, O Lord my God. He went on to say, speaking of the person of Christ, In holocausts and sin offerings you had had no pleasure, and then continued, Then I said, ‘Lo, I come.’^[5] When was then? When the time was ripe for more perfect instructions. We had to learn the less perfect lessons through his servants, but the loftier lessons which surpass the nature of humankind we had to learn from the lawgiver himself.

Here he does not blame those who offer, showing that it is not because of their wickednesses that he does not accept them, as he says elsewhere, but because the thing itself has been convicted for the future and shown to have no strength or any suitableness to the times. What then has this to do with the sacrifices being offered oftentimes? Not only from their being oftentimes offered, he means, is it manifest that they are weak and that they effected nothing, but also from God’s not accepting them, as being unprofitable and useless. And in another place it is said, If you had desired sacrifice, I would have given it.^[1] Therefore by this also he makes it plain that he does not desire it. Therefore sacrifices are not God’s will, but the abolition of sacrifices. Wherefore they sacrifice contrary to his will.

By first he meant the sacrifice of brute beasts, by the second the rational one, offered by himself. . . . He brought out clearly that God’s will is the salvation of humankind. The Lord also said as much, This is the will of my Father, that everyone who believes in me may not be lost but may have eternal life.^[1]

He calls them the same sacrifices because they are always being offered for the same things, since those sacrifices and offerings which have taken place and are taking place are not strong enough to strip away any sin purely and completely.

Do not then, having heard that he is a priest, suppose that he is always executing the priest’s office. For he executed it once and thenceforward sat down. Lest you suppose that he is standing on high and is a minister, he shows that the matter is part of a dispensation or economy. For as he became a servant, so also he became a priest and a minister. But as, after becoming a servant, he did not continue a servant, so also, having become a minister, he did not continue a minister. For it belongs not to a minister to sit but to stand.

In the former case a multitude of priests, a multitude of victims, and no benefit, whereas in this case priest and victim are one and the same, he achieved abolition of sins and needs no further service; instead, he is seated with the Father who begot him, awaiting the end of the present life. At that time, in fact, all the adversaries will adore him as God and Lord. Among his foes will be, first, the devil and the mass of the demons, then those of the Jews and the Gentiles who did not accept the illumination of the faith, and along with them the bands of the heretics guilty of the blasphemies against him.

He sat down at the right hand of God, then to wait—why the delay?—until his enemies be put under his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. But perhaps someone might say, Why did he not put them under at once? For the sake of the faithful who should afterwards be brought forth and born. Whence then does it appear that they shall be put under? By the saying He sat down. He called to mind again that testimony which says, until I put the enemies under his feet.^[1] . . . But who are the enemies? All unbelievers. . . . And intimating the greatness of their subjection, he said not subjected but put under his feet. Let us not therefore be among the number of his enemies. For not they alone are enemies, the unbelievers and Jews, but those also who are full of unclean living. For the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, for neither can it be.^[2] What then, you say? Carnality is not a ground of blame. Rather, it is very much a ground of blame. For the wicked person, as long as that one is wicked, cannot be subject to God’s law. That one can, however, change and become good. Let us then cast out carnal minds. But what is meant by carnal? Whatever injures the soul even while making the body flourish and do well, as, for instance, wealth, luxury, glory—all these things are of the flesh—carnal love. Let us not then love gain but ever follow after poverty, for this is a great good. But, you say, it makes one humble and of little account. True, for we have need of this, for it benefits us much. Poverty, it is said, humbles a man.^[3] And again Christ says, Blessed are the poor in spirit.^[4] Do you then grieve because you are upon a path leading to virtue? Do you not know that this gives us great confidence?

But, one says, the poor man’s wisdom is despised.^[5] And again another says, Give me neither poverty nor riches,^[6] and, Deliver me from the furnace of poverty.^[7] And again, if riches and poverty are from the Lord, how can either poverty or riches be an evil? Why then were these things said? They were said under the old covenant, where there was much account made of wealth, where there was great contempt of poverty, where the one was a curse and the other a blessing. But now it is no longer so. But will you hear the praises of poverty? Christ sought after it and said, But the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.^[8] And again he said to his disciples, Take no gold, nor silver, nor two tunics.^[9] And Paul in writing said, as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.^[10] And Peter said to him who was lame from his birth, I have no silver and gold.^[11] Yes, and under the old covenant itself, where wealth was held in admiration, who were the admired? Was not Elijah, who had nothing save the sheepskin? Was not Elisha? Was not John?

Let none then be humiliated on account of their poverty. It is not poverty which humiliates but wealth, which compels us to have need of many and forces us to be under obligations to many.

And what could be poorer than Jacob, tell me, who said, If God give me bread to eat and clothing to wear?^[12] Were Elijah and John then wanting in boldness? Did not the one reprove Ahab and the other Herod? The latter said, It is not lawful for you to have your brother Philip’s wife.^[13] And Elijah said to Ahab with boldness, I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house.^[14] You see that this—poverty—especially produces boldness? For while the rich man is a slave, being subject to loss, and in the power of everyone wishing to hurt him, those who have nothing fear not confiscation nor fine. So if poverty had made people wanting in boldness, Christ would not have sent his disciples in poverty to a work requiring great boldness. For the poor are very strong and have nothing from which they may be wronged or evil entreated. But the rich person is assailable on every side, just as one in the same way would easily catch a man who was dragging many long ropes after him, whereas one could not readily lay hold on a naked person. So here also it falls out in the case of the rich person; slaves, gold, lands, affairs innumerable, innumerable cares, difficult circumstances, necessities make this one an easy prey to all.

Now, this happened through the new covenant: we receive also in all-holy baptism the forgiveness of sins. In the life to come, when immortality is granted us, we shall live differently from everyone else, sin no longer capable of troubling those who have become immortal. May it be our good fortune to attain this life. We shall attain it if in the present life we embrace with enthusiasm the effort virtue involves and accept the struggles it requires. The Lord himself, who is the source of the future goods, will work with us.

Therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the sanctuary, which is faith. In his blood he renewed for us the way of faith that the former priests had already. But since it had become obsolete among them, he renewed it for us at that time through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.

The people I am speaking about, whom I call heretics, say there is no one in our time among us who is able to keep the gospel commandments and become like the holy fathers. Such a person would be, first of all, one who is faithful and active—for faith is shown through works,^[1] as the likeness of a face is shown through a mirror. Further, this person would be both the greatest of contemplatives and one who sees God, by being illumined, obviously, and receiving the Holy Spirit, and through him seeing the Son together with the Father. Well then, those who say that this is impossible possess not one particular heresy but all of them, if I may say so, because this one outdoes all of those and covers them with irreverence and excess of blasphemy. The one who makes this heretical claim overthrows all the divine Scriptures. I think this vain person is saying that the present reciting of the holy Gospel is in vain, and affirms solemnly that the reading of the writings of Basil the Great and the rest of our priests and holy fathers is in vain, or even that they were written in vain. If, then, the things which God says, all of which all the saints first practiced and then also wrote about and left for our instruction^[2]—if these things are impossible for us to do in deed and to keep completely, why is it that those folks labored and wrote about them back then and they are now read in church? Those who are saying these things are shutting heaven, which Christ opened for us, and they cut off the ascending path to that place which he himself inaugurated for us. For even though God, who is above all,^[3] stands on high at the gate of heaven, as it were, and peers out and is seen by the faithful, and through the holy Gospel cries out and says, Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,^[4] these enemies of God, or rather, enemies of Christ, are saying, This is impossible, impossible!

For the entrance into the sanctuary. What does he mean here by entrance? Heaven and the access to spiritual things. Which he opened, that is, which he prepared and which he began. For the beginning of using is thereafter called the opening, which he prepared, he means, and by which he himself passed. The new and living way. Here he expresses the full assurance of hope. New, he says. He is anxious to show that we have all things greater; since now the gates of heaven have been opened, which was not done even for Abraham. The new and living way, he says, for the first was a way of death, leading to Hades, but this of life. And yet he did not say, of life, but called it indeed living namely, that which persists by God’s own command. Through the curtain, he says, of his flesh. . . . And with good reason did he call the flesh a curtain. For when it was lifted up on high, then the things in heaven appeared.

If any of our own people inquire, not from love of debate but from love of learning, why he suffered death in no other way save on the cross, let them also be told that no other way than this was good for us, and that it was well that the Lord suffered this for our sakes. For if he came himself to bear the curse laid upon us, how else could he have become a curse unless he received the death set for a curse? And that is the cross. For this is exactly what is written: Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree.^[1] Again, if the Lord’s death is the ransom of all, and by his death the dividing wall of hostility^[2] is broken down, and the calling of the nations is brought about, how would he have called us to him had he not been crucified? For it is only on the cross that a man dies with his hands spread out. Thus it was fitting for the Lord to bear this also and to spread out his hands, that with the one he might draw the ancient people and with the other those from the Gentiles and unite both in himself. For this is what he himself has said, signifying by what manner of death he was ransom to all: I, when I am lifted up, he says, will draw all men to myself.^[3] For the devil, the enemy of our race, having fallen from heaven, wanders about our lower atmosphere and there, bearing rule over his fellow spirits, as the devil’s peers in disobedience, not only works illusions by their means in them that are deceived but tries to hinder them that are going up. About this the apostle says, Following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience,^[4] while the Lord came to cast down the devil and clear the air and prepare the way for us up into heaven, as said the apostle, Through the curtain, that is to say, his flesh—and this must be by death. Well, by what other kind of death could this have come to pass than by one which took place in the air, I mean, the cross? For only he that is perfected on the cross dies in the air. Therefore, it was quite fitting that the Lord suffered this death. For thus being lifted up, he cleared the air of the malignity both of the devil and of demons of all kinds, as he says, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven,^[5] and made a new opening of the way up into heav-en, as he says once more, Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors!^[6] For it was not the Word himself that needed an opening of the gates, being Lord of all; nor were any of his works closed to their maker; but it was we who needed it, whom he carried up by his own body. For as he offered it to death on behalf of all, so by it he once more made ready the way up into the heavens.

He says, recent,^[1] lest anyone say, Then if it is recent, it too will cease; for it will age and grow old and it will also be destroyed like that of the old testament. Not in the least, he says. But since it is always recent, it remains new and will be living, for it never receives death and destruction.

He calls the faithful the house of God in accordance with the passage of Scripture that states, I will dwell among them and walk in their midst.^[1]

Taking a hint from what has been said by Paul, who partially uncovered the mystery of these things, we say that Moses was earlier instructed by a type in the mystery of the tabernacle that encompasses the universe. This tabernacle would be Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God, who in his own nature was not made with hands, yet capable of being made when it became necessary for this tabernacle to be erected among us. Thus, the same tabernacle is in a way both unfashioned and fashioned, uncreated in preexistence but created in having received this material composition.

But now, when He has poured out His grace upon the world through His own Coming, He has descended not in an earthquake, not in a fire, not in a terrible and mighty sound,^[1] but as the rain upon a fleece, and rain-drops that fall upon the earth^[2] softly, and He was seen conversing with us after another fashion. This came to pass when, as though in a treasury, He concealed His majesty with the veil of His flesh and among us spoke with us in that body which His own bidding wrought for Him out of the womb of the Virgin, even Mary the Theotokos. All this He did so that, on beholding Him Who was of our race conversing with us, we should not be smitten with terror by the vision of Him. Wherefore every man has put on Christ when he is clothed with the raiment wherein the Creator was seen through the body that He put on. For the likeness in which He was seen by His own creation and in which He kept company with it, He willed to put on in His inner man, and to be seen therein by His fellow-servants.^[1] Instead of a robe of honour and outward glory, He was arrayed in this. When rational and irrational creation beholds any man clad in this likeness, it worships him as master, for the sake of its own Master’s honour, Whom it beheld clad and walking therein. For what creature does not feel reverence at the spectacle of a humble man? And yet until the glory of humility was revealed to all, this vision which is filled with holiness was held in disdain. But now its majesty has dawned on the eyes of the world, and every person honours this likeness in every place where it is seen. In this mediator, creation has been counted worthy of receiving the vision of its Creator and Maker. Wherefore not even by the enemies of the truth is it despised; and even if he who has acquired it is the most impoverished of all creation, yet by it he is honoured as though by the diadem and the purple. ^[2]

Let us draw near, he says, with a true heart. To what should we draw near? To the holy things, the faith, the spiritual service. With a true heart, in full assurance of faith, since nothing is seen, neither the priest henceforward, nor the sacrifice, nor the altar. And yet neither was the Old Testament priest visible, but stood within, and they all without, the whole people. But here not only has this taken place, that the priest has entered into the Holy of Holies, but that we also enter in.

For since a person’s nature is twofold, compounded of soul and body, the purification is also twofold, incorporeal for the incorporeal part, bodily for the body. For as the water purifies the body, so the Spirit seals the soul, that having our hearts sprinkled and our bodies washed with clean water, we may draw near to God. Therefore, when about to enter the water, do not regard it as mere water, but look for its saving power by the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, for without both you cannot be made perfect. It is not I who say this, but the Lord Jesus, who has the power in this matter, says, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.^[1] Neither does he who is baptized but has not been deemed worthy of the Spirit possess perfect grace; nor will one who acts virtuously, but does not receive the seal by water, enter into the kingdom of heaven. This may appear a bold saying, but it is not mine, for it was Jesus who pronounced it.

Let us therefore serve God with a pure heart, and we shall be upright. But if, by not believing in God’s promises, we do not serve him, we shall be wretched. For the word of the prophet says, Wretched are the double-minded, those who doubt in their soul and say, ‘We have heard these things long ago, even in our fathers’ times, and day after day we have waited and have seen none of them.’^[1] You fools! Compare yourselves to a tree. Take a vine: First it sheds its leaves, then comes a bud, and after this, a sour grape, then a ripe bunch. So my people too have had turmoils and troubles; but after that [they] will receive good things. So, my brothers and sisters, we must not be double-minded. Rather must we patiently hold out in hope so that we may also gain our reward. For he can be trusted who promised to pay each one the wages due for his work. If, then, we have done what is right in God’s eyes, we shall enter his kingdom and receive the promises what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived.^[2] 2

For he who promised is faithful. Promised what? That we are to depart from here and enter into the kingdom. Do not then be over-curious nor demand reasonings. Our religion needs faith. And, he says, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. And again in other places, The Lord is at hand; have no anxiety about anything.^[1] For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.^[2]

What is, not neglecting to meet together? He knew that much strength arises from being together and assembling together. For where two or three, it is said, are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them;^[3] and again, That they may be one, even as we are;^[4] and, They were of one heart and soul.^[5] And not this only, but also because love is increased by our gathering together, and, because love is increased, the things of God must follow. And earnest prayer, it is said, was made by the people.^[6] As is the habit of some. Here he not only exhorted but also blamed them.

And let us consider, he says, how to stir up one another to love and good works. He knew that this also arises from meeting together. For as iron sharpens iron,^[7] so also association increases love. For if a stone rubbed against a stone sends forth fire, how much more will soul mingled with soul! But not unto emulation, he says, but unto the sharpening of love. What is this? It means to love more, and to be loved more. And good works, that so they might acquire zeal. For if doing has greater force for instruction than speaking, you also have in your number many teachers who effect this by their deeds.

This then let us confirm toward each other. For love is the fulfilling of the law.^[1] We have no need of labors or of sweatings if we love one another. It is a pathway leading of itself toward virtue. For on the highway, if one finds the beginning, he is guided by it and has no need of one to take him by the hand. So is it also in regard to love. Only lay hold on the beginning, and at once you are guided and directed by it. Love does no wrong to a neighbor^[2] and thinks no evil.^[3] Let each person consider how he is disposed toward himself. He does not envy himself. He wishes all good things for himself. He prefers himself before all. He is willing to do all things for himself. If then we are so disposed toward others also, all grievous things are brought to an end; there is no enmity; there is no covetousness, for who would choose to overreach himself? No one. On the contrary, we shall possess all things in common and shall not cease assembling together. And if we do this, the remembrance of injuries would have no place, for who would choose to remember injuries against himself? Who would choose to be angry with himself? Do we not make allowances for ourselves most of all? If we were thus disposed toward our neighbors also, there will never be any remembrance of injuries.

Christ asks nothing impossible, seeing that many have even gone beyond his commands. Who has done this? Paul, Peter, all the company of the saints. Hardly. If I say that they loved their neighbors, I say no great matter, but they have loved their enemies. They have loved them even more than those who would think like themselves. For who would choose for the sake of those like-minded, to go away into hell when he was about to depart for a kingdom? No one. But Paul chose this for the sake of his enemies, for those who stoned him, those who scourged him. What pardon then will there be for us, what excuse, if we shall not show toward our friends even the very smallest portion of that love which Paul showed toward his enemies?

And before him too, the blessed Moses was willing to be blotted out of God’s book for the sake of his enemies who had stoned him. David also, when he saw those slain who had stood up against him, said, I, the shepherd, have sinned, but these, what have they done?^[1] And when he had Saul in his hands, he would not kill him but saved him—and this when he himself would be in danger.^[2] But if these things were done under the old covenant, what excuse shall we have who live under the new covenant and do not attain even to the same measure with them? For if, unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven,^[3] how shall we enter when we have even less than they?

Love your enemies, he says.^[4] Love your enemy, therefore, for you are doing good not to your enemy but to yourself. How? You are becoming like God. One whom you love has no great gain, for he is loved by a fellow servant; but you, in loving your fellow servant, have gained much, for you are becoming like God. Do you see that you are being kind not to him but to yourself? For he appoints the prize not for him but for you.

What if he is evil, you say? So much greater is the reward. You ought to feel grateful to him for his wickedness, even if he continues in his evil despite receiving ten thousand kindnesses. For if he were not exceedingly evil, your reward would not have been exceedingly increased. . . . That he is evil is the very reason for loving him. Take away the contestant, and you take away the opportunity for the crowns. Do you not see how the athletes exercise when they have filled the bags with sand? But there is no need for you to practice this; life is full of things that exercise you and make you strong. Do you not also see that the trees, the more they are shaken by the winds, become ever stronger and firmer? We then, if we are longsuffering, shall also become strong.

Let us stir up one another, concerning those things whose meddlesomeness and inquiry and observation sharpen us in love and edification. And they do this who do not permit any fault concerning one another but receive everything (even whatever things seem to be worse) for the good and the better.

But encouraging. Whom?^[1] Their gathering together, that is, one another. For that is how the gathering together is commonly understood. And the comfort of the assembly becomes for them a way to be eagerly renewed and in a short space of time.

It is not separation but assiduous effort at unity that is the work of love.

Now, it was not that he was ruling out repentance in these statements; rather, he was claiming there is no second sacrifice: our Lord was immolated for us once and for all. He used the term deliberately to emphasize that what is done against our free will enjoys a degree of pardon.

So a person who has received pardon for sins must refrain from future sin. For in the light of the first and only repentance of sins—sins committed earlier in a person’s first, pagan life, I mean, a life led in ignorance—repentance is immediately available to those who are called, and it cleanses the region of the soul from anything discordant to provide a foundation for faith. The Lord, who knows the heart,^[1] and foreknowing all that is going to happen, has a foreknowledge from the very first of human instability and the devil’s crooked villainy. [The Lord has knowledge] of how the latter is jealous of the forgiveness of human sins and, by his mischievous calculations to induce them to share in his fall, will introduce other occasions for God’s servants to sin.

So in his great mercy he gave yet another chance of repentance to those who, despite their faith, fall into some form of disharmony, so that if anyone should, after their calling, fall into temptation and be forced or tricked into sin, they may have one more chance of a repentance that brings no regret.^[2] For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a fearful prospect of judgment and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries. Continual and repeated repentance for sins is no different from those who have once and for all turned away from faith, except alone in the consciousness of sin. I do not know which is worse: deliberate sin, or, after repentance for sin, offending again. . . . To repeat an action repented is a deliberate accomplishment of an action already condemned.

Each one should conciliate, as far as he is able, anyone at variance with him. He should not hold past wrongs against the repentant sinner but from his heart should pardon him.^[1] He who says that he repents of his sin should not only feel remorse for the sin which he has committed but should also bring forth fruits befitting repentance.^[2] If he who has been corrected for his first sins and has been deemed worthy of pardon again falls, he prepares for himself a more wrathful judgment.

At this place we are again assailed by those who take away repentance as well as by those who delay to come to baptism. The one says that it is not safe to come to baptism, since there is no second remission. The other asserts that it is not safe to impart the mysteries to those who have sinned, if there is no second remission. What shall we say then to them both? The Lord does not thrust away or cast down those who are fallen into despair. Nor does he take away repentance or the propitiation itself through an act of repentance. He is not thus an enemy of our salvation. But what means no longer? He takes away the second washing. For he did not say that no more is there repentance or no more is there remission, but no longer is there a sacrifice; that is, there is no need for a second cross. For this is what he means by sacrifice. For by a single offering, he says, he has perfected for all time those that are sanctified,^[1] unlike the Jewish rites. For this reason he has so consistently shown, concerning the sacrifice, that it is one, and one only. This calls us to be more steadfast.

He did not speak of people who have sinned, but he addressed the reckless and desired to admonish those who wish to remain in sin until the end. Hence it is especially clear that he does not destroy the possibility of repentance.

Those who have changed from the better to the worse must in the end be handed over to punishment, when they rise from the dead, since they did not allow any repentance in this life. For not merely in the present life does such an individual abolish repentance, but by his inability to assent to repentance he remains content with his fall and takes no notice of his stumbling, accomplishing every sort of sin with much pleasure by a certain lack of reason.

Once more, note, he brings out the difference under the guise of exhortation, namely, the Son in one case and the slave in the other, those sacrifices of brute beasts in one case and in the other this rational and all-holy sacrifice. To the law he set in opposition not a law but the blood and the Spirit. Through them salvation comes to us.

According to the law, the adulterer and the adulteress were put to death.^[1] They could not say, We seek repentance and we pray for mercy. There was no place for tears, and no opportunity was granted for any correction, but in every way it was necessary for those who had contravened the law to be punished. This was observed in certain individual offenses for which the death penalty was ascribed. But among Christians, if adultery has been committed, the precept is not that the adulterer and adulteress be punished by the destruction of the body. No power was given to episcopal authority to sentence an adulterer to immediate death, as had happened earlier according to the levitical law who gave this power to elders. What does this mean? That while the law of Moses takes adultery seriously enough to punish it unmercifully, the gospel of Christ through gentleness frees the adulterer to go from bad to worse? It is not so. For this reason, we brought forth the word of Paul, saying above, How much worse punishment will be deserved by one who has spurned the Son of God, etc. Hear, therefore, how neither was the law cruel then, nor does the gospel now appear dissolute because of the abundance of mercy, but in both instances the benevolence of God is held in a different dispensation.

And who have outraged the Spirit of grace, which is in us? These are the people who consider the gospel to be equal to the law of Moses.

But if you sin again, the old reproaches return again against you and all the more so, since it is a much greater crime to spurn the Son of God and to profane the blood of the covenant than to neglect the law of Moses.

Knowing then these things, let us be patient when we suffer evil and forthright in offering kindness. This is all the stronger if we think lightly of wealth and honor. He that has stripped himself of those affections is of all people most generous and wealthier even than he who wears the purple. Do you not see how many evils come through money? I do not say how many through covetousness, but merely by our attachment to these things. Just think of one who loses his money and leads a life more wretched than any death. Why do you grieve, my friend? Why do you weep if God has delivered you from excessive watching? Better that you come before God in fear and trembling. Again, if someone might chain you to a treasure, commanding you to sit there perpetually and to keep watch for other people’s goods, you are grieved, you are disgusted. But would you, having been bound with these chains, grieve when you yourself are delivered from the slavery?

These things I say to the overreaching, and it is well to say them also to those who are overreached. Bear their overreaching generously; they are ruining themselves, not you. They indeed defraud you of your money, but they strip themselves of the good will and help of God. And he that is stripped of that, though he clothe himself with the whole wealth of the world, is of all people most poor, just as he who is the poorest of all, if he has God’s help, is the wealthiest of all. For the Lord, it is said, is my shepherd, and I shall lack nothing.^[1] Tell me now, if you had had a husband, a great and admirable man, who thoroughly loved you and cared for you, and then you knew that he would live always and not die before you and would give you all things to enjoy in security as your own, would you then have wished to possess anything? Even if you had been stripped of all, would you not have thought yourself the richer for this?

Why then do you grieve? Because you have no property? But consider that you have had the occasion of sin taken away. Or do you grieve because you had property and have been deprived of it? But remember that you have acquired the good will of God. And how have I acquired it, you say? He has said, Why do you not rather suffer wrong?^[2] He has said, Blessed are they who bear all things with thankfulness.^[3] Consider therefore how great a good you will enjoy, if you show forth those things by your works. For one thing only is required from us, in all things to give thanks^[4] to God, and then we have all things in abundance. I mean, for instance, have you lost ten thousand pounds of gold? Give thanks unto God, and you have acquired ten times ten thousand, by that word and thanksgiving.

For, tell me, when do you account Job blessed? When he had so many camels and flocks and herds, or when he uttered that saying: The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away?^[5] Therefore also the devil causes us losses, not that he may take away our goods only, for he knows that is nothing, but that through them he may compel us to utter some blasphemy. So in the case of the blessed Job too, the devil did not strive after this only to make him poor but also to make him a blasphemer. At any rate, when he had stripped him of everything, observe what he says to him through his wife, Curse God, and die.^[6] And yet, O accursed one, you had stripped him of everything. But, he says, this is not what I was striving for, for I have not yet accomplished that for which I did it all. I was striving to deprive him of God’s help. . . . This is what I wish, the other is nothing. If this be not gained, he not only has not been injured at all, but has even been benefited. Do you see that even that wicked demon knows how great is the loss in this matter?

Then, after he discouraged them from sinning, Paul returned to talk to them about the first topic, that is, that of the joy which was at the beginning of their discipleship. Recall, he says, the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.

The best physicians, after they have made a deep incision and have increased the pains by the wound, soothing the afflicted part and giving rest and refreshment to the disturbed soul, proceed not to make a second incision but rather soothe that which has been made with gentle remedies and such as are suited to remove the violence of the pain. This Paul also did after he had shaken their souls and pierced them with the recollection of hell and convinced them that he who does insult to the grace of God must certainly perish. After he had shown from the laws of Moses that they also shall perish . . . and had said, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, then, lest the soul, desponding through excessive fear, should be swallowed up with grief, he soothes them by commendations and exhortation and gives them zeal derived from their own conduct. For, he says, recall the former days, when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings. Powerful is the exhortation from deeds already done, for he who begins a work ought to go forward and add to it. It is as if he had said, when you were brought in to the church, when you were in the rank of learners, you displayed such great readiness, such great nobleness. But now it is no longer so. And he who encourages thus especially encourages them from their own example.

And he did not simply say, you endured a struggle but a hard struggle. Moreover he did not say temptations but struggle, which is an expression of commendation and of very great praise. Then he also enumerates them particularly, amplifying his discourse and multiplying his praise. How? Sometimes, he says, you are being publicly exposed to reproaches and affliction. Reproach is a heavy weight and calculated to pervert the soul and to darken the judgment. The prophet remembers those who say to me continually, ‘Where is your God?’^[1] . . . For since the human race is exceedingly vainglorious, it is easily overcome by this. And he did not simply say by reproaches, but that even with greater intensity, being publicly exposed. For when a person is reproached alone, it is indeed painful, but far more so when in presence of all.

Now exposures to abuse and persecutions they had to endure, because the law imposed on them the requirement to reveal their sins over their offerings. However, these exposures to abuse discouraged people from revealing their sins. These difficulties, he says, that you had in revealing your sins, and the shames that prevented you from revealing them, these fumes of the consciousness, which were like fierce pains and great sufferings of bitterness—all these have been taken away from you through the baptism of the waters and with the single expiation that you received.

I cannot say, he says, that you suffered these things indeed and were grieved, but you even rejoiced exceedingly. He expressed this by saying, You became partners with those so treated, and he brings forward the apostles themselves. Not only, he means, were you not ashamed of your own sufferings, but you even shared with others who were suffering the same things. This too is the language of one who is encouraging them. He said not, Bear my afflictions, share with me, but respect your own.

You had compassion on those who were bound. You see that he is speaking concerning himself and the rest who were in prison. Thus you did not account bonds to be bonds, but you stood as noble wrestlers. For not only did you need no consolation in your own distresses, but you even became a consolation to others.

Do not throw away your confidence, your boldness based on your works, based on your faith, based on your periods of testing, based on your endurance. For these things bestow great confidence on us, that we will obtain the promise.

In the next place, having praised them, he says, Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. What do you mean? He did not say, you have cast it away, and recovered it. Rather he tended more to strengthen them when he says, you have it. For to recover again that which has been cast away requires more labor, but not to lose that which is held fast does not. To the Galatians he says the very opposite, My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you,^[1] and he says this with good reason, for they were more indifferent and needed a sharper word. These, however, were more faint-hearted, so that they rather needed what was more soothing. Therefore do not throw away, he says, your confidence, so that they were in great confidence toward God. Which has, he says, a great reward. And when shall we receive them? someone might say. Behold! All things on our part have been done. Therefore he anticipated them on their own supposition, saying in effect, if you know that you have in heaven a better substance, seek nothing here. For you have need of endurance, not of any addition to your labors, that you may continue in the same state, that you may not throw away what has been put into your hands. You need nothing else but to stand as you have stood, that when you come to the end, you may receive the promise. For, he says, you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised. You have need of one thing only, to bear with the delay, not that you should fight again. You are at the very crown, he means. You have borne all the combats of bonds, of afflictions; your goods have been spoiled. What then? Henceforward you are standing to be crowned. Endure this only—the delay of the crown. Oh, the greatness of the consolation! It is as if one should speak to an athlete who had overthrown all and had no antagonist and then was to be crowned but could not show up for the ceremony in which the president of the games comes and places the crown upon him. Instead, he is so impatient that he wishes to go out and escape, as though he could not bear the thirst and the heat. He then also says, so as to hint in this direction: Yet a little while and the coming one shall come and shall not tarry.^[2] For lest they should say, And when will he come? he comforts them from the Scriptures. For thus also when he says in another place, salvation is nearer,^[3] he comforts them, because the remaining time is short. And this he says not of himself but from the Scriptures. But if from that time it was said, Yet a little while and the coming one shall come and shall not tarry, it is plain that now he is even nearer.

The will of God is to believe sincerely in him and to do virtuous deeds and to contend for them even to the point of blood when the time calls. For such people receive what is promised.^[1]

And here it is clearly foretold that that one will come whom prophecy says will come. Who could this be but he who is referred to in the words, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord, the Lord God also has shone upon us?^[1] With which also Zechariah agrees, when he says, Behold a man, the Dawn is his name, and he shall rise from below.^[2] The same prophet too, noting the time, adds, At eventide it shall be light. If he delays, wait for him.^[3] Instead of this, Aquila reads, If he tarry expect him, for he that comes will come and will not tarry. And the epistle to the Hebrews has this in mind. . . . But note how clearly the epistle arranges what was obscure in the prophetic writing, because of the inversion of the clauses. For the prophecy says, He that comes will come and will not tarry, and then adds, If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. Without what follows, this addition would seem absurd. For how could it be said of the just that God takes no pleasure in him? But the placing side by side of the divided clauses by a change in the arrangement of them preserves the sense. For after Yet a little while, and the coming one shall come and shall not tarry, it adds next, but my righteous one shall live by faith. Then what was first in the prophecy it places second, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

For as Scripture has already once foretold through the prophecy that the light promised to all nations by Christ’s coming shall rise late and in the evening, and shall not deceive (for so Aquila interprets instead of come to nothing), it next exhorts to patience, because the coming of the subject of the prophecy is to be late and in the evening, as seen in the words, If he tarry await him, or if he delay expect him, for he that comes will come and will not tarry. Thus he encourages the hearer to trust the prediction, saying that he that trusts it, shown by his very faith to be just, shall live the life according to God. On the other hand, he that does not trust, drawing back through lack of boldness, and putting no faith in the words My soul has no pleasure in him. So, then, if we follow this course and place the first clause last and the last first, we shall preserve the sense of the passage, putting The just shall live by faith after For he that comes will come and will not tarry, by transposing the clauses and adding to this, If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. And Aquila agrees with this interpretation, saying, If he delay, expect him, for he that comes will come and will not tarry. Lo, if he be sluggish, my soul is not true in him, and the just shall live by faith.

God has said this through the inspired authors, he is saying; and so even when the law was in force, the remedy of faith secured salvation. . . . Through faith we are related to God.

Faith working through love,^[1] comes not so much by fearing punishment as by loving justice. Still, as the soul does not become just except by sharing in the better one who justifies the ungodly—for what has it that it has not received?^[2]—it ought not to glory as if it had not received it, by attributing to itself what comes from God. That is why it was said to him, Be not high-minded, but fear. And that fear is also commanded for those who live by faith and are heirs of the new covenant, being called to freedom.

No man living is righteous before you,^[1] yet the righteous one lives by faith. The saints are clad in justice,^[2] one more, another less; yet no one lives here without sin. In this also, one more, another less, but he is best who has least sin.

What is closer to your ears than a heart that is penitent and a life founded on faith?

Will there be any of us bold enough to say, I am just? I assume, after all, that I am just amounts to the same thing as I am not a sinner. . . . Here we are with people who have been justified from their sins. We can’t deny it. There remains, however, the struggle with the flesh, there remains the struggle with the world, there remains the struggle with the devil. When you are struggling, you sometimes hit, sometimes you get hit; sometimes you win, sometimes you’re done for; it remains to be seen how you leave the stadium. Because If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.^[1] Again, if we say we have no justice at all, we are telling a lie about God’s gifts. You see, if we have no justice at all, we have no faith either; and if we have not faith, we are not Christians. But if we do have faith, we already have at least some justice. Do you want to know how much that some is? The just live by faith. The just, I repeat, live by faith, because they believe what they cannot see.

This justice is the grace of the New Testament, by which the faithful are just while they live by faith until, by the perfection of justice, they are brought to the face-to-face vision, as they are also equally brought to immortality of the body itself by the perfection of salvation. Hence, in another place the apostle says, So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. And then he adds, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin—that is, a sacrifice for sin, for in that law offerings made for sins were called sin—so that in him we might become the righteousness of God,^[1] that is, in his body, which is the church, of which he is the head, that we may be the justice of God.

The just one lives when endurance and faith are found in that one. But if somebody is oppressed by doubts and scruples, because the rewarder did not appear, my soul has no pleasure in him on that day.

But we are not victims of scruples, which destroy our path to heaven and bring us to perdition; we have faith instead, through which we obtain the salvation of our soul.