He shows both those before the law and those under the law becoming God’s friends through faith and enjoying distinction. In this he achieves two things at the same time: he brings out the power of faith (faith accomplishing what the law did not achieve) and provides encouragement to those dispirited at the insurrections of the adversaries, showing everyone in possession of everlasting repute to have traveled through the same storms. First he teaches the very definition of faith: through it we see what is unseen, and it acts as an eye for discernment of what is hoped for. Faith depicts for us in advance the resurrection of those still lying dead in their tombs and causes the immortality of the dust of our bodies to become evident.

Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?^[1] The majority do not turn their minds to the sort of things they encounter, and, if they are taught, they do not acquire knowledge, although they think they do. So says the admirable Heraclitus. Do you not realize that he is another critic of nonbelievers? The righteous shall live by his faith, says the prophet.^[2] One of the other prophets remarks, If you do not believe, you emphatically will not understand either.^[3] How could a soul come to the study of these things, itself exceptional, if, deep within, lack of faith over the teaching is fighting against it? Faith, which the Greeks think alien and useless and which they consequently malign, is in fact preconception by the will, an act of consenting to religion and, as the divine apostle puts it, the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old received divine approval. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

He has made use of many proofs, since he knew the Jews especially questioned faith by means of a certain line of argument. For the Jews were setting forth the law and righteousness by their works, but Christians set forth faith, saying that even if someone should be guilty of ten thousand evils, by only believing in Christ he receives immediately deliverance from all of them, being deemed worthy of justification from him. Therefore, having determined this, then partly to appropriate the things that had been said before and partly to be able to show that faith appeared among all the virtuous men of old, he adds, by faith the men of old received divine approval.

Rejoice that whatever the shadows of the Old Testament used to veil beneath the testimonies of prophets has been brought out into the open through the mystery of the Lord’s passion. As a result, the various kinds of sacrifices and the different means of purification have come to a halt. Thus, the precept of circumcision, the distinction between foods, the sabbath rest, and the killing of the paschal lamb have ceased, since the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.^[1]

Figures came first so that their fulfillment could follow. When the reality which had been announced finally arrived, there was no longer any need for the services of heralds. Reconciliation of the human race was conducted in such a way that the salvation which comes in Christ should have been available to all generations under the same justification. Delaying this salvation was a calculated move. It had the advantage of causing those things which were believed long before they actually took place to be honored without interruption. When the strength of faith has been established in those things that do not lie open to our vision, heavenly doctrine treats us more leniently. . . . To help us understand more easily, we benefit from many more prophets and witnesses than former ages.

Now our faith is not destroyed by despair because it was made firm by true hope. And there are witnesses who testify about it. In fact, even though faith was hidden from the people of the middle generation, it had nonetheless been revealed to those of the first. And there is a proof that reveals what is not evident. What proof? Certainly the one through which the testimony about the people of the first generation was made, that is, the narrative of scripture, that testified about the faith, through which the ancient fathers were put to test.

If they are not seen, how can you be convinced that they exist? Well, where do these things that you see come from, if not from one whom you cannot see? Yes, of course you see something in order to believe something, and from what you can see to believe what you cannot see. Please do not be ungrateful to the one who made you able to see; this is why you are able to believe what you are not yet able to see. God gave you eyes in your head, reason in your heart. Arouse the reason in your heart, get the inner inhabitant behind your inner eyes on his feet, let him take to his windows, let him inspect God’s creation.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Notice how great a dignity the Lord bestows on you in transferring you from the order of catechumens to that of the faithful. The apostle Paul says as much when he affirms, God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ.^[1] Since God is here called faithful, you also in receiving this title receive a great dignity. God is called faithful in the same way that he is called good, just, almighty and maker of the universe. Consider therefore to what kind of dignity you are rising, seeing you are to become a partaker of a title of God.

Here, then, it is further required that each of you be found faithful in his conscience: for a faithful man it is hard to find^[2]—not that you need to reveal to me what is on your conscience, for you are not to be judged by man’s judgment.^[3] But you are supposed to show the sincerity of your faith to God, who tries the reins and hearts^[4] and knows the thoughts of men.^[5] A faithful person is a great thing, being richest of all rich people. For to the faithful person belongs the whole world of wealth,^[6] in that he disdains and tramples on it. For they who in appearance are rich and have many possessions are poor in soul: since the more they gather, the more they pine with longing for what is still lacking. But the faithful person (a strange paradox, indeed) is rich in poverty. Such a person knows that we only need to have food and clothing and, being content with these,^[7] he has trampled riches under foot.

It is not only among those of us who bear the name of Christ that the dignity of faith is great. Rather, all things that are accomplished in the world, even by those who are strangers to the church, are accomplished by faith. By faith the laws of marriage yoke together those who have lived as strangers. Because of the faith in marriage contracts, a stranger is made partner of another stranger’s person and possessions. By faith, farmers are also sustained, for the one who does not believe that he shall receive a harvest is not going to endure the work. By faith seafaring men, trusting to the thinnest plank, exchange that most solid element, the land, for the restless motion of the waves, committing themselves to uncertain hopes and carrying with them a faith more sure than any anchor. By faith therefore most of men’s affairs are held together: and not among us only has there been this belief, but also, as I have said, among those who are outside the church. For if they receive not the Scriptures but bring forward certain doctrines of their own, even these they accept by faith.

But I will make the matter more plain by an example. Christ said that Jerusalem should be taken and should be so taken as no city ever was before, and that it should never be raised up, and in fact this prediction came to pass. He said that there should be great tribulation,^[1] and it came to pass. He said that, as a grain of mustard seed is sown,^[2] so should the preaching of the gospel be extended, and every day we see this happening over the world. He said that they who left father or mother or brothers or sisters should have both fathers and mothers,^[3] and this we see fulfilled by facts. He said, In the world you have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world;^[4] that is, no one shall get the better of you. And this we see by events has come to pass. He said that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church,^[5] even though persecuted, and that no one shall quench the preaching of the gospel; and the experience of events bears witness to this prediction also. And yet, when he said these things, it was very hard to believe him. Why? Because all these were words, and he had not as yet given proof of the things spoken. So that they have now become far more credible. He said that the gospel will be preached throughout the whole world, then the end will come.^[6] Lo! Now you have arrived at the end, for the greater part of the world has been preached to; therefore, the end is now at hand. Let us tremble, beloved. But what, tell me? Are you anxious about the end? It indeed is itself near, but each person’s life and death is nearer. For it is said, The days of our years are seventy years; but if one be in strength, fourscore years.^[7] The day of judgment is near. Let us fear. A brother does not redeem; shall man redeem?^[8] There we shall repent much, but in death no man shall praise him.^[9] Wherefore he says, Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving,^[10] that is, his coming. For here in this life indeed, whatever we do has efficacy; but there, no longer. Tell me, if a person placed us for a little while in a flaming furnace, should we not submit to anything in order to escape, even were it necessary to part with our money or to undergo slavery? How many have fallen into grievous diseases and would gladly give up all to be delivered from them, if the choice were offered them? If in this world, then, a disease of short duration so afflicts us, what shall we do yonder, when repentance will be of no avail?

When you hope, you do not yet have what you are hoping for, but, by believing it, you resemble someone who does possess it. For faith will eventually take hold, but our very faith stands for the thing itself. I mean, you do not have your hands on anything when you have them on faith, nor are they empty if they are full of faith. The reason faith is greatly rewarded is that it does not see and yet believes. I mean, if it could see, what reward would there be? . . . But faith does not falter, because it is supported by hope. Take away hope, and faith falters. How, after all, when you are walking somewhere, will you even move your feet, if you have no hope of ever getting there? If, though, from each of them, that is from faith and hope, you withdraw love, what is the point of believing; what is the point of hoping, if you do not love? Indeed, you cannot even hope for anything you do not love. Love, you see, kindles hope; hope shines through love. But when we attain the things that we have been hoping for while believing in and not seeing them, what faith will there be then to be praised? Considering that faith is the conviction of things not seen, when we do see, it will not be called faith. After all, you will be seeing, not believing.

Oh, what an expression has he used in saying an evidence of things not seen. For we say there is evidence in the case of things that are very plain. Faith then is seeing things not plain, he means, and brings what are not seen to the same full assurance with what are seen. So then neither is it possible to disbelieve in things which are seen, nor, on the other hand, can there be faith unless a person is more fully assured with respect to things invisible than he is with respect to things that are most clearly seen. For since the objects of hope seem to be unsubstantial, faith gives them substantiality or, rather, does not give it, but is itself their substance. For instance, the resurrection has not come, nor does it exist substantially, but hope makes it substantial in our soul. This is the meaning of the substance of things.

If therefore it is an evidence of things not seen, why do you wish to see them, so as to fall away from faith and from being just? Since the just shall live by faith, you, if you wish to see these things, are no longer faithful. You have labored, he says; you have struggled. I too allow this; nevertheless, wait, for this is faith. Do not seek the whole here.

Faith needs a generous and vigorous soul, one rising above all things of sense and passing beyond the weakness of human reasonings. For it is not possible to become a believer otherwise than by raising one’s self above the common customs of the world.

Inasmuch then as the souls of the Hebrews were thoroughly weakened—though they had begun from faith, yet from circumstances, I mean sufferings, afflictions, they had afterwards become faint-hearted and of little spirit and were shaken from their position—he encouraged them first indeed from these very things, saying, Recall the former days;^[1] next from the Scripture, saying, But the righteous shall live by faith;^[2] afterwards from arguments, saying, But faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And now again from their forefathers, those great and admirable people, as much as saying, If, where the good things were close at hand, all were saved by faith, much more are we.

For when a soul finds one that shares its same sufferings, it is refreshed and recovers breath. This we may see both in the case of faith and in the case of affliction, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.^[3] For people are very distrustful, cannot place confidence in themselves, are fearful about whatever things they think they possess and have great regard for the opinion of the many.

What then does Paul do? He encourages them by the patriarchs. . . . Since faith is slandered as being a thing that cannot be demonstrated and rather a matter of deceit, he shows that the greatest things are attained through faith and not through reasonings. And how does he show this, tell me? It is manifest, he says, that God made the things which are out of things which are not, things which appear out of things which appear not, things which subsist out of things which subsist not. But where is it shown that he did this even by a Word? For reason suggests nothing of this kind, but, on the contrary, suggests that the things that appear are formed out of things that appear.

Therefore the philosophers expressly say that nothing comes out of things that are not being sensual^[4] and trusting nothing to faith. And yet these same people, when they happen to say anything great and noble, are caught entrusting it to faith. For instance: They say that God is without beginning and unborn—yet reason does not suggest this, but the contrary. Consider how great their folly, I ask you. They say that God is without beginning, and yet this is far more wonderful than the creation out of things that are not. For to say that he is without beginning, that he is unborn, neither begotten by himself nor by another is more full of difficulties than to say that God made the things which are out of things which are not. For here there are many things uncertain, as that some one made it, that what was made had a beginning, that, in a word, it was made. But in the other case, what? He is self-existing, unborn; he neither had beginning nor time. Tell me, do not these things require faith? But he did not assert this, which was far greater, but the lesser. How does it appear, he would say, that God made these things? Reason does not suggest it. No one was present when it was done. How is it shown? It is plainly the result of faith. By faith we understand that the world was created. Why by faith? Because the things that are seen were not made of things which do appear. For this is faith.

The body’s eye did not recognize the God of all as creator; instead faith instructed us that God, who has always existed, created what did not exist. There is, after all, no example of this among human beings; yet though learning nothing of the kind from nature, we have in faith a teacher of the unexpected. Human beings, of course, make something out of something, whereas the God of all produced what exists out of nothing.

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, who brought offerings selected without care. The faith of Abel and the infidelity of Cain were sealed up in their offerings. If Abel had not believed in the promise, he would not have chosen and brought the best offerings. He had actually seen his brother, who picked up everywhere the vile ears [vegetable offerings] with contempt and offered them by laying them on the altar. For that faith Abel obtained testimony about himself that he was righteous and certainly not from a human being but from God, who testified of his gifts, so that up to this time Abel talks through his faith, that is, is put to test through it.

The phrase he is still speaking means, To this day he is famous and celebrated and enjoys a good name among all religious people.

He speaks by his fame, by his glory and by his memory.

Although he died, through it he still speaks,^[1] that is, because his very sacrifice furnished his brother with an opportunity for malice and jealousy, and his brother produced murder. Even if he died, through it he speaks. For this very reason Abel was always to be remembered and never forgotten. If someone should investigate both matters more accurately, the phrase through it (as is commonly understood) applies equally to dying and to he speaks.

He still speaks. He is always to be remembered. He says that Abel’s deed done in faith does not allow him to fall into obscurity.

The one who does not believe that this is so does not put up with the hardships of virtue; the farmer would not sustain the sweat of farming unless he believed he would gather the fruits of his labors; likewise the steersman puts up with untold dangers only by keeping his eyes on the harbors.

With the aid of your prayers, I hope to give a true picture of the plans of Paul, that holy man. He was very knowledgeable and skilled in these matters of God, and he knew the power of the Lord’s teaching. So he deemed it necessary to teach first about Christ and the mystery of the incarnation. Only then did he point to things in their lives that needed to be corrected. He wanted them first to know the Lord and then to want to do what he told them. For if you don’t know the one who leads the people in observing God’s commands, you are not very likely to obey them.

Moses, that famous and faithful minister of God, used this method. When he set forth those things having to do with the divine system of laws, he first dealt with the knowledge of God, Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord.^[1] Then, after describing God to the people, teaching them about the one in whom they should believe, and informing them concerning the one who is truly God—only then did he tell how a person can please God. Only then did he say, You shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal, and the other commandments. The reason for this order of teaching is given to us in the apostolic writings. God is sought by godly and righteous acts, as the prophet tells us.^[2]

Become guileless and be like the guileless sheep whose wool is sheared off without their saying a word. Do not go from one place to another, saying, I will find God here or there. God has said, Do I not fill heaven and earth?^[1] and again, When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;^[2] and again, The rivers shall not overwhelm you.^[3] My son, be aware that God is within you, so that you may dwell in God’s law and commandments. Behold, the thief was on the cross, and he entered paradise; but behold, Judas was among the apostles, and he betrayed his Lord. Behold, Rahab was in prostitution, and she was numbered among the saints; but behold, Eve was in paradise, and she was deceived. Behold, Job was on the dung heap, and he was compared with his Lord; but behold, Adam was in paradise, and he fell away from the commandment. Behold, the angels were in heaven, and they were hurled into the abyss; but behold Elijah and Enoch, who were raised into the kingdom of heaven. Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually!^[4] Seek God out like Abraham, who obeyed God and offered his son in sacrifice to God, who called him my friend. Seek God out like Joseph, who did battle against impurity, so that he was made ruler over his enemies. Seek him out like Moses, who followed his Lord, and God made him lawgiver and let him come to know God’s own likeness. Daniel sought God out, and God taught him great mysteries; God saved him from the lions’ gullet. The three saints sought God out and found God in the fiery furnace. Job took refuge with God, and God cured him of his sores. Susanna sought God out, and God saved her from the hands of the wicked. Judith sought God out and found God in the tent of Holofernes. All these sought God out, and God delivered them; and God delivered others also.

By faith Enoch was taken up and did not taste death. If he had not believed that the observation of the commandment could introduce him again to the place from which the house of Adam had come out because of the transgression, he would not have applied himself to please God for three hundred years. In fact, without faith, that is, if that person did not believe that the true God exists and rewards those who seek him, he would have never tried to please and seek him.

How was it by faith that Enoch was taken up? Because his pleasing God was the cause of his being taken, and faith the cause of his pleasing God. For if he had not known that he should receive a reward, how could he have pleased God? But without faith it is impossible to please God. How? If a person believes that there is a God and a retribution, that person will have the reward.

Jesus continually nourished his believing disciples with his words and gave them life by his closeness. But when the woman from Canaan asked for help, he did not answer her,^[1] because she was not yet a believer—even though she desperately needed food from him. He behaved this way not because he despised her; far from it. For the Lord is loving and good to humankind. That is why he went to Tyre and Sidon in the first place. No, it was because she did not believe, because she was an impious woman who had no idea of God’s requirements.

What he did was most appropriate, brothers and sisters, because it was not right for her to put her request before faith. Rather, she needed to support her prayer by her faith. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him; and that without faith it is impossible to please him. That is what Paul teaches.

And so that the favors of heavenly condescension might not be lacking to any period of this transitory world, those who lived from the inception of the world up to the time of the giving of circumcision, and those from other countries who lived after the giving of circumcision, also pleased God. [They did so] either by the offering of sacrificial offerings or alternatively by the virtue of faith alone, since they committed their souls and those of their own to the Creator, and so [they] took care to free themselves from the bonds of the original guilt. For without faith it is impossible to please God. And as it is written in another place, The just person lives by faith.^[1]

I believe, therefore, is placed in the forefront [of the Apostles’ Creed], as the apostle Paul, writing to the Hebrews, says, The one who comes to God must first of all believe that he is, and that he rewards those who believe on him. The prophet also says, Unless you believe,^[1] you shall not understand. In order that the way to understand, therefore, may be open to you, you do the right thing in first of all professing that you believe. For no one embarks upon the sea and trusts himself to the deep and liquid element unless he first believes it is possible that he will have a safe voyage. The farmer does not commit his seed to the furrows and scatter his grain on the earth unless he believes that the showers will come together with the sun’s warmth, through whose fostering influence, aided by favorable winds, the earth will produce and multiply and ripen its fruits. In essence, nothing in life can be transacted if there is not first a readiness to believe.

Is it any wonder then that when we come to God, we first of all profess that we believe, seeing that, without this, not even common life can be lived? We have premised these remarks at the outset, since the pagans are wont to object to us that our religion, because it lacks reasons, rests solely on belief. We have shown, therefore, that nothing can possibly be done or remain stable unless it is preceded by belief. Finally, marriages are contracted in the belief that children will be born; and children are committed to the care of teachers in the belief that the teaching of these teachers will be transferred to the pupils. In the same way, one person assumes the emblems of empire, believing that peoples and cities and a well-equipped army also will obey him. But if no one enters upon any one of these several undertakings except in the belief that the results spoken of will follow, must not belief be much more requisite if one would come to the knowledge of God?

A sound faith is a mighty bulwark, a true faith to which nothing has to be added or taken away. Unless it is one, it is no faith, as the apostle says, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.^[1] Cling to this unity, dearly beloved, with minds unshaken, and follow after all holiness^[2] in faith. Carry out the Lord’s commands in faith because without faith it is impossible to please God. Without faith nothing is holy, nothing is pure, nothing alive: for the just lives by faith.^[3] The one who, by the devil’s deception, loses it is dead even though he is living because, as righteousness is gained by faith, so too by a true faith eternal life is gained. This is exactly what our Lord and Savior says, And this is life eternal, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.^[4] May he make you to advance and persevere to the end, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

The lesson also which was read today invites you to the true faith, by setting before you the way in which you also must please God. It affirms that without faith it is impossible to please him. For when will an individual resolve to serve God, unless he believes that He is a giver of reward? When will a young woman choose a virgin life, or a young man live soberly, if they don’t believe that for chastity there is a crown that does not fade away?^[1] Faith is an eye that enlightens every conscience and imparts understanding. The prophet says, And if you do not believe, you shall not understand.^[2] Faith stops the mouths of lions,^[3] as in Daniel’s case, for Scripture says concerning him, Daniel was brought up out of the den, and he was found to be hurt in no way, because he believed in his God.^[4] Is there anything more fearful than the devil? Yet even against him we have no other shield than faith, an impalpable buckler against an unseen foe. For he sends forth various arrows and shoots down in the dark night^[5] those that are not watching. However, since the enemy is unseen, we have faith as our strong armor, according to the saying of the apostle, In all things taking the shield of faith with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.^[6] A fiery dart of desire to indulge one’s baser instincts is often shot from the devil’s bow. But faith, suggesting a picture of the judgment, cools down the mind and quenches the dart.

It is necessary to believe that God is, not what God is. If that God is needs faith and not reasonings, it is impossible to comprehend by reasoning what God is. If that God is a rewarder needs faith and not reasonings, how is it possible by reasoning to compass God’s essence? For what reasoning can reach this? For some persons say that the things that exist are self-caused. Do you see that, unless we have faith in regard to all things—not only in regard to retribution but also in regard to the very being of God—all is lost to us? But many ask about where Enoch was translated, and why he was translated, and why he did not die, neither he nor Elijah, and, if they are still alive, how they live, and in what form. But to ask these things is superfluous. For that the one was translated, and that the other was taken up, the Scriptures have said; but where they are, and how they are, they have not added, for they say nothing more than is necessary. For this indeed took place, I mean his translation, immediately at the beginning, the human soul thereby receiving a hope of the destruction of death, and of the overthrow of the devil’s tyranny, and that death will be done away; for he was translated, not dead, but that he should not see death. Therefore, he added, he was translated alive, because he was well pleasing unto God. . . . A father, when he has threatened his son, wishes indeed immediately after he has threatened to relax his threat but endures and continues resolute, that for a time he may chasten and correct him, allowing the threat to remain firm. So also God, to speak, as it were, after the manner of men, did not continue resolute but immediately showed that death is done away. And first God allows death to happen, wishing to terrify the father through the son: For, wishing to show that the sentence is verily fixed, God subjected to this punishment not wicked people at once, but even him who was well-pleasing, I mean, the blessed Abel; and almost immediately after him, God translated Enoch. Moreover, God did not raise the former, lest they should immediately grow bold; but God translated the other being yet alive, having excited fear by Abel, but by this latter giving zeal to be well pleasing unto God. Therefore they who say that all things are ruled and governed of themselves and do not expect a reward are not well pleasing; as neither are the heathen. For God becomes a rewarder of them that diligently seek God by works and by knowledge.

Since then we have a rewarder, let us do all things that we may not be deprived of the rewards of virtue. For indeed the neglecting of such a recompense, the scorning of such a reward, is worthy of many tears. For as to those who diligently seek God, God is a rewarder. But to those who do not seek God, the contrary.

Seek, he says, and you will find,^[1] but how can we find the Lord? Consider how gold is found, with much labor. I sought the Lord with my hands, it is said, by night before God, and I was not deceived,^[2] that is, just as we seek what is lost, so let us seek God. Do we not concentrate our mind thereon? Do we not inquire of every one? Do we not travel from home? Do we not promise money?

For instance, suppose that any one among us has lost a son. What do we not do? What land, what sea do we not make the circuit of? Do we not reckon money and houses and everything else as secondary to finding him? And should we find him, we cling to him, we hold him fast; we do not let him go. And when we are going to seek anything whatever, we busy ourselves in all ways to find what is sought. How much more ought we to do this in regard to God, as seeking what is indispensable; no, rather, not in the same way, but much more! But since we are weak, at least seek God as you seek your money or your son. Will you not leave your home for God? Have you never left your home for money? Do you not busy yourself in all ways? When you have found it, are you not full of confidence?

Seek, he says, and you will find. For things sought after need much care, especially in regard of God. For many are the hindrances, many the things that darken, many the things that impede our perception. For as the sun is manifest and set forth publicly before all, we have no need to seek it; but if, on the other hand, we bury ourselves and turn everything upside down, we need much labor to look at the sun. So truly here also, if we bury ourselves in the depth of evil desires, in the darkness of passions and of the affairs of this life, we look up with difficulty, we raise our heads with difficulty, we see clearly with difficulty. Whoever is buried underground, in whatever degree that one sees upwards, in that degree does that one come towards the sun. Let us therefore shake off the earth; let us break through the mist that lies upon us. It is thick and close and does not allow us to see clearly.

And how, you say, is this cloud broken through? If we draw to ourselves the beams of the sun of righteousness. The lifting up of my hands, it is said, is an evening sacrifice.^[3] With our hands let us also lift up our mind. You who have been initiated know what I mean; perhaps too you recognize the expression and see at a glance what I have hinted at. Let us raise up our thoughts on high.

I myself know many people almost suspended apart from the earth, and beyond measure stretching up their hands, and out of heart be-cause it is not possible to be lifted into the air, and thus praying with earnestness. Thus I would have you always praying with earnestness and, if not always, at least very often; and if not very often, at least now and then, at least in the morning, at least in the evening prayers. For tell me, can you not stretch forth the hands? Stretch forth the will, stretch forth as far as you will, yes, even to heaven itself. Even should you wish to touch the very summit, even if you would ascend higher and walk there, it is open to you. For our mind is lighter and higher than any winged creature. And when it receives grace from the Spirit, oh, how swift is it! How quick is it! How does it compass all things! How does it never sink down or fall to the ground! Let us provide these wings for ourselves. By means of them shall we be able to fly even across the tempestuous sea of this present life. The swiftest birds fly unhurt over mountains and woods and seas and rocks in a brief moment of time. Such also is the mind; when it is winged, when it is separated from the things of this life, nothing can lay hold of it; it is higher than all things, even than the fiery darts of the devil.

The devil is not so good a marksman as to be able to reach this height; he sends forth his darts, indeed, for he is void of all shame, yet he does not hit the mark; the dart returns to him without effect, and not without effect only, but it falls upon his own head. For what is sent forth by him must of necessity strike something. As, then, that which has been shot out by humans either strikes the person against whom it is directed or pierces bird or fence or garment or wood or the mere air, so does the dart of the devil also. It must of necessity strike, and, if it strikes not the one that is shot at, it necessarily strikes the one that shoots it. And we may learn from many instances that, when we are not hit, without doubt the devil is hit himself. For instance, he plotted against Job; he did not hit him but was struck himself. He plotted against Paul; he did not hit him but was struck himself. If we watch, we may see this happening everywhere. For even when he strikes, he is hit—much more then when he does not hit.

Let us then turn the devil’s weapons against him, and, having armed and fortified ourselves with the shield of faith, let us keep guard with steadfastness, so as to be impregnable. Now the dart of the devil is evil concupiscence. Anger especially is a fire, a flame; it catches, destroys, consumes; let us quench it, by long-suffering and by forbearance. For as red-hot iron dipped into water loses its fire, so an angry man, falling in with a patient one, does no harm to the patient man but rather benefits him and is himself more thoroughly subdued.

For nothing is equal to long-suffering. Such a person is never insulted, but, as bodies of the adamant are not wounded, so neither are such souls. For they are above the reach of the darts. The long-suffering person is high and so high as not to receive a wound from the shot. When one is furious, laugh; but do not laugh openly, lest you irritate that one, but laugh mentally on that one’s account. For in the case of children, when they strike us passionately, as though thereby they were avenging themselves, we laugh. If then you laugh, there will be as great difference between you and that one as between a child and an adult, but, if you are furious, you have made yourself a child, for the angry are more senseless than children. If one looks at a furious child, does that one not laugh at the child? The poor-spirited, it is said, is mightily simple.^[1] The simple, then, is a child, and that one who is long-suffering, it is said, is abundant in wisdom. Let us then follow after this abundant wisdom, that we may attain to the good things promised us in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Ghost, be glory, power, honor, now and forever and world without end. Amen.

By faith Noah was warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, that is, about things which would have happened 120 years after he had received the warning, and [he] took heed of those distant threats of punishment [and] constructed an ark with great toil for the saving of his household. By that same faith the world which did not believe was condemned, and that same faith made Noah the heir of the promise.

Noah became, he says, an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith. That is, by his believing God, he was shown to be righteous. For this is the part of a soul sincerely disposed toward God and judging nothing more reliable than God’s words, just as unbelief is the very contrary. Faith, it is clear, works righteousness. For as we have been warned of God respecting hell, so was Noah. Yet at that time he was laughed at, reviled and ridiculed, but he regarded none of these things.

Not even when Abraham arrived in the promised land did he control it. Instead, he himself, his son and grandson lived the life of aliens, in what was their own by promise sojourning as though in a foreign land. Hence, instead of owning houses they spent the time living in tents. Yet they believed the promise to be true, even if not seeing the testimony of fact conforming to their faith.

By faith Abraham obeyed and left his father and family to go not to his private estate but to an inheritance prepared for him. Constantly supporting himself by faith through his wanderings, he sojourned and lived in the land of promise as in a foreign land, that is, as in a foreign inheritance, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. Through the promised inheritance, which they did not receive, it became evident that they looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

The metaphor is of persons on shipboard, seeing from afar the longed-for cities. Before they enter, they by their words of greeting already are beginning to occupy. . . . Do you see that they received the promises in this sense, in their already accepting them and being confident respecting them? If then to be confident is to receive the promise, it is in your power also to receive. These faithful did not yet fully enjoy the future blessing but yet by their longing still saw it. Why now do these things happen? That we might be put to shame, in that they indeed, when things on earth were promised them, regarded them not, but sought the future city. God again and again speaks to us of the city that is above, and yet we seek that which is here.

By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age. She, who was barren gave birth—that is, received the powers and youth that were necessary for conception and bearing—even though her old age was unable to cope with these things. And all this happened to her because, in the midst of the pagan Canaanites, she considered him faithful who had promised to give her these things.

It is written in the epistle to the Hebrews, Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed. For both were old, as the Scripture testifies; but she was also barren and had ceased to menstruate, so that she could no longer bear children even if she had not been barren. Further, if a woman is advanced in years yet still retains the custom of women, she can bear children to a young man but not to an old man, although that same old man can beget, but only of a young woman; as after Sarah’s death Abraham could of Keturah, because he met with her in her lively age. This, then, is what the apostle mentions as wonderful, saying, besides, that Abraham’s body was now dead; because at that age he was no longer able to beget children of any woman who retained now only a small part of her natural vigor. Of course we must understand that his body was dead only to some purposes, not to all; for if it was so to all, it would no longer be the aged body of a living man but the corpse of a dead one. Although that question, how Abraham begot children of Keturah, is usually solved in this way, that the gift of begetting which he received from the Lord remained even after the death of his wife. Yet I think that solution of the question which I have followed is preferable, because, although in our days an old man of a hundred years can beget children of no woman, it was not so then, when men still lived so long that a hundred years did not yet bring on them the decrepitude of old age.

Let [the one who is waiting for the Lord’s second coming] therefore wait for that time then which is, necessarily, in the same time frame as the development of humanity. For even while Abraham and the patriarchs desired to see the promised better things, they did not stop seeking the heavenly country. This is what the apostle says when he declares that even now they are in a condition of hoping for that grace: God having provided some better thing for us,^[1] according to the words of Paul, that they without us should not be made perfect. If those then, who by faith alone and by hope saw the good things afar off and embraced them—if they bear the delay as the apostle bears witness, and if they place the certainty that they will enjoy the things for which they hoped in the fact that they judged him faithful who has promised, what should the rest of us do who perhaps do not have a grasp of that better hope from the character of our own lives? Even the prophet’s soul fainted with desire, and in his psalm he confesses this passionate love, saying that his soul has a desire and longing to be in the courts of the Lord.^[1] [He still has this desire] even if he has to be demoted to a place amongst the lowest, since it is a greater and more desirable thing to be last there than to be first among the ungodly tents of this life. Nevertheless he was patient during the delay, considering, indeed, the life there blessed, and accounting a brief participation in it more desirable than thousands [of days] of time. For, he says, one day in your courts is better than thousands.^[2] And yet, he did not become dejected at the necessary dispensation concerning existing things. He thought it was sufficient bliss for a person to have those good things even by way of hope. This is why he says at the end of the psalm, O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that hopes in you.^{[3] [4]}

There is much to tell of faith, and the whole day would not be enough time for us to describe it fully. At present let us be content with Abraham only, as one of the examples from the Old Testament, seeing that we have been made his sons through faith. He was justified not only by works but also by faith: for though he did many things well, yet he was never called the friend of God except when he believed. Moreover, his every work was performed in faith. Through faith he left his parents, left country and place and home through faith. Therefore, you too should be justified in the same way he was justified. In his body he was already dead in regard to offspring, and Sarah his wife was now old, and there was no hope left of having children. God promises the old man a child, and Abraham, without being weakened in faith, though he considered his own body now as good as dead, did not look at the weakness of his body but at the power of him who promised because he counted him faithful who had promised. And so, beyond all expectation, [Abraham] gained the child from bodies already dead, as it were. And when, after he had gained his son, he was commanded to offer him up, although he had heard the word, In Isaac shall your seed be called, he proceeded to offer up his son, his only son, to God, believing that God is able to raise up even from the dead. And having bound his son and laid him on the wood, he did in purpose offer him. But he received his son alive through the goodness of God in delivering to him a lamb instead of his child. Being faithful in these things, he was sealed for righteous-ness and received circumcision as a seal of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, having received a promise that he should be the father of many nations.

Let us see, then, how Abraham is the father of many nations. Of Jews he is confessedly the father, through succession according to the flesh. But if we hold to the succession according to the flesh, we shall be compelled to say that the oracle was false. For according to the flesh he is no longer father of us all: but the example of his faith makes us all sons of Abraham. How and in what manner? With people it is incredible that one should rise from the dead, just as it is also incredible that there should be offspring from aged persons who are as good as dead. But when Christ is preached as having been crucified on the tree, and as having died and risen again, we believe it. By the likeness therefore of our faith we are adopted into the sonship of Abraham. And then, following upon our faith, we receive like him the spiritual seal, being circumcised by the Holy Spirit through baptism, not in the foreskin of the body but in the heart, according to Jeremiah, where he says, And you shall be circumcised unto God in the foreskin of your heart,^[1] and according to the apostle, in the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, and the rest.^[2]

From one person^[1] means from Abraham; but if we were to take the one to mean both of them [Abraham and Sarah], we would not be wide of the mark: the two will be one flesh, Scripture says.^[2]

The patriarch Abraham spoke in these terms to the Hittites, I am a stranger and an alien residing among you; give me property among you for a burying place, so that I may bury my dead out of sight.^[1] The one in receipt of the promise of the whole earth did not even own a plot three cubits long.

Of what kind of promises is he speaking? Isaac and Jacob received the promises of land, but, as to Noah and Abel and Enoch, what kind of promises did they receive? Either then he is speaking concerning these three, or, if concerning those others also, the promise was not this, that Abel should be admired, or Enoch translated, or Noah preserved. These things came to them for their virtue’s sake and were a sort of foretaste of things to come. For God from the beginning, knowing that the human race needs much condescension, bestows on us not only the things in the world to come but also those here. For instance, Christ said to the disciples, Whoever has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother shall receive a hundredfold and inherit everlasting life.^[1] And again, Seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be yours as well.^[2] Do you see that these things are given by him in the way of addition, that we might not faint? Athletes who are engaged in combat have the benefit of careful attention. They live under strict rules. They are not at ease. But after the combat, they enjoy it entirely. So God also does not grant us here to partake of entire ease.

For what language, what intellect, can represent that blessedness and virtue, that pleasure, that glory, that happiness, that splendor? What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived^[1] (he did not say that they simply surpass what we imagine; but that none has ever conceived) what God has prepared for those who love him. For of what kind are those good things likely to be, of which God is the preparer and establisher? For if immediately after God had made us, when we had not yet done anything, God freely bestowed so great favors—paradise, familiar intercourse with God’s own self, immortality, a life happy and free from cares—what will God not bestow on those who have labored and struggled so greatly and endured on God’s behalf? For us God did not spare God’s only begotten. For us when we were enemies God gave up God’s own son to death.^[2] Of what will God not count us worthy, having become God’s friends? What will God not impart to us, having reconciled us to God’s own self?

So he says that they believed the promises, having seen them from afar through hope, because they also rejoiced in them and embraced them, all but wrapping themselves in them.

They called themselves, therefore, strangers, but Paul said something much beyond this; for not merely did he call himself a stranger, but he said that he was dead to the world and that the world was dead to him. For the world, he says, has been crucified to me, and I to the world.^[1] But we, both citizens and quite alive, busy ourselves about everything here as citizens. And what righteous people were to the world—strangers and dead—that we are to heaven. And what they were to heaven—live and acting as citizens—that we are to the world. Therefore we are dead, because we have refused that which is truly life and have chosen this, which is but for a time. Therefore, we have provoked God to wrath, because when the enjoyments of heaven have been set before us, we are not willing to be separated from things on earth, but, like worms, we turn about from the earth to the earth, and again from this to that. And in short [we] are not willing to look up even for a little while or to withdraw ourselves from human affairs, but as if drowned in torpor and sleep and drunkenness, we are stupefied with imaginations.

Did they mean that they were strangers from the land that is in Palestine? By no means. They were strangers in relation to the whole world. And with reason, for they saw in it none of the things which they wished for, but everything foreign and strange. They indeed wished to practice virtue, but here there was much wickedness, and things were quite foreign to them. They had no friend, no familiar acquaintance, save only some few. But how were they strangers? They had no care for things here. And this they showed not by words but by their deeds. In what way? God said to Abraham, Leave that which seems your country and come to one that is foreign. And Abraham did not cleave to his kindred but gave it up as unconcernedly as if he were about to leave a foreign land. God said to him, Offer up your son, and he offered him up as if he had no son; as if he had divested himself of his nature, so he offered him up. The wealth that he had acquired was visible to any passers-by, yet this he accounted as nothing. He yielded the first places to others. He threw himself into dangers. He suffered troubles innumerable. He built no splendid houses, he enjoyed no luxuries, he had no care about dress, which all are things of this world; but he lived in all respects as belonging to the city beyond. He showed hospitality, brotherly love, mercifulness, forbearance, contempt for wealth and for present glory, and for all else.

And his son too was such as himself. When he was driven away, when war was made on him, he yielded and gave way, as being in a foreign land. For foreigners, whatever they suffer, endure it, as not being in their own country. Even when his wife was taken from him, he endured this also as being in a strange land and lived in all respects as one whose home was above, showing sober-mindedness and a well-ordered life. For after he had begotten a son, he had no more intercourse with his wife; and it was when the flower of his youth had passed that he married her, showing that he did it not from passion but in subservience to the promise of God. And what did Jacob do? Did he not seek bread only and raiment, which are asked for by those who are truly strangers, by those that have come to great poverty? When he was driven out, did he not as a stranger give place? Did he not serve for hire? Did he not suffer afflictions innumerable, everywhere, as a stranger?

And in all these things, he says, they were seeking their own country. Ah, how great is the difference! They indeed were in travail pains each day, wishing to be released from this world and to return to their country.

What sort of country was this? Was it that which they had left? By no means. For what hindered them if they wished, from returning again and becoming citizens? But they sought that which is in heaven. Thus they desired their departure, and so they pleased God, for God was not ashamed to be called their God.

Ah! How great a dignity! God was willing to be called their God. What do you say? We are speaking of the God of the earth and the God of heaven. Mark it as a great thing that God is not ashamed to be called their God? How great and truly great this is. It is a proof of exceeding blessedness. How? Because God is called God of earth and of heaven as of the Gentiles, in that God created and formed them; but God of those holy men, not in this sense, but as some true friend.

And I will make it plain to you by an example. As in the case of slaves in large households, when any of those placed over the household are very highly esteemed and manage everything themselves and can use great freedom toward their masters, the master is called after them, and one may find many so called. But what do I say? As we might say the God, not of the Gentiles but of the world, so we might say the God of Abraham. But you do not know how great a dignity this is! We do not attain to it. Now God is called the Lord of all Christians, and yet the name goes beyond our deserving. Consider the greatness if God were called the God of one person! He who is called the God of the whole world is not ashamed to be called the God of three people,^[1] and with good reason. For the saints would turn the scale, I do not say against the world, but against ten thousand worlds.

The saints who preceded Jesus’ bodily sojourn, who had a somewhat greater mental grasp than the majority of believers, perceived the mysteries of divinity because the word of God was teaching them even before he became flesh, for he was always working, being an imitator of his Father of whom he says, My Father is working still.^[1]

He says, perhaps to the Sadducees who do not believe in the doctrine of the resurrection, Have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.^[2] If, therefore, God is not ashamed to be called the God of these people, and they are numbered among the living by Christ, and all the believers are sons of Abraham,^[3] since all the nations are blessed in the faithful Abraham^[4] whom God appointed father of the nations,^[5] are we hesitant to accept that the living have known the lessons of the living, since they were instructed by Christ, who has existed before the morning star,^[6] before he became flesh?

What shall we then do that we may be saved? Let us begin the practice of virtue, as we have opportunity. Let us portion out the virtues to ourselves, as laborers do their husbandry. In this month let us master evil speaking, injuriousness, unjust anger. And let us lay down a law for ourselves and say, Today let us set this right. Again, in this month let us school ourselves in forbearance, and in another, in some other virtue. And when we have got into the habit of this virtue let us go to another, just as in the things we learn at school, guarding what is already gained, and acquiring others.

After this let us proceed to contempt for riches. First let us restrain our hands from grasping, and then let us give alms. Let us not simply confound everything, with the same hands both slaying and showing mercy. After this, let us go to some other virtue, and from that, to another.

It was opportune of him to use the phrase he is not ashamed. The Lord of the powers, Master of the angels and Maker of heaven and earth when asked, What is your name? passed over all others and said, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. This is my name forever, and how I am to be remembered by generations of generations.^[1]

God promised to bring to light a vast number of Isaac’s offspring like sand on the seashore, and he it was who bade Isaac become a victim. Beset by the two conflicting thoughts, then, and with nature tearing at him more harshly than any torturer, the patriarch easily overcame it all and offered the sacrifice. He brings out as well the thoughts he employed in banishing the others, God was able to raise men even from the dead. He took issue with the thought arising in regard to the great number of offspring, believing that his son, even if slaughtered, could come back to life, God willing. Figuratively speaking, he did receive him back, that is, by way of a symbol and type of the resurrection. Put to death by his father’s zeal, he came back to life at the word of the one who prevented the slaughter. In him the type of the saving passion was also prefigured. Hence the Lord also said to the Jews, Your father Abraham rejoiced at the prospect of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.^[1]

Great indeed was the faith of Abraham. In the case of Abel, Noah and Enoch, there was an opposition of reasonings to be overcome, and it was necessary to go beyond human reasonings. In the case of Abraham, however, it was necessary not only to go beyond human reasonings but to manifest also something more. For what was of God seemed to be opposed to what was of God; and faith opposed to faith, and command opposed to promise. I mean this: God had said, Go from your country and your kindred, and I will give you this land.^[1] But then he said, He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length.^[2] Do you see how what was done was opposed to the promise? Again, God said, Through Isaac shall your descendants be named,^[3] and he believed, and again God says, Sacrifice to me this one, who was to fill all the world from his seed. Do you see the opposition between the commands and the promise? He enjoined things that were in contradiction to the promises, and yet not even so did the righteous man stagger nor say he had been deceived. . . . But you endure nothing except what was promised, and still you are troubled.

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac as a victim, even though he had received this child with the promise that through him his descendants would have been named. And Abraham never doubted, not even when he was about to kill him, that through him his descendants would have been named.

He decided in his mind and accepted the idea that God is able to raise men even from the dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back, that is, so that in him he might come to know the resurrection of the dead, and in him might know the children of the spirit whom he would have had.

The apostle says, He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all.^[1] This explains why Isaac himself, just like the Lord carrying his cross, carried to the place of sacrifice the wood on which he was to be placed. . . . Note that when Abraham first saw the ram, it was caught by its thorns in a thicket of briers. This surely is a symbol of Jesus, crowned with thorns by the Jews before he was immolated.

He heard the opposite of the promises from the one who had made them, and yet he was not disturbed but did them as if they had been in harmony. For they were in harmony, being opposed indeed according to human calculations, but in harmony when viewed by faith. And how this was, the apostle himself has taught us, saying, accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead. By the same faith, he means, by which he believed that God gave what was not and raised up the dead, by the same was he persuaded that God would also raise him up after he had been slain in sacrifice. For it was similarly impossible—to human calculation, I mean—for a womb which was dead and grown old and already become useless for childbearing to give a child, and to raise again one who had been slain. But his previous faith prepared the way for things to come.

Give me your attention, you who have approached God, who believe yourselves to be faithful. Consider diligently how the faith of the faithful is proved from these words that have been read to us. After these things, the text says, God tested Abraham and said to him, ‘Abraham, Abraham.’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’^[1] Observe each detail that has been written. For, if one knows how to dig into the depth, one will find a treasure in the details. Perhaps also the precious jewels of the mysteries lie hidden where they are not esteemed.

This man was previously called Abram. Nowhere do we read that God called him by this name or said to him, Abram, Abram. For God could not call him by a name that was to be abolished, but he calls him by this name which God gave; and not only does God call him by this name, but he also repeats it. And when he had responded, Here I am, God says to him, Take your dearest son Isaac, whom you love, and offer him to me. Go, the text says, into the high land, and there you shall offer him for a holocaust upon one of the mountains which I shall show you.^[2]

Why God gave him this particular name and called him Abraham, he himself has interpreted. Because, the text says, I have made you a father of many nations.^[3] God gave him this promise when he had his son Ishmael, but it is promised him that the promise will be fulfilled in a son who will be born of Sarah. He had kindled his soul, therefore, in love for his son not only because of posterity but also in the hope of the promises.

But this son, in whom these great and marvelous promises have been made, this son, I say, on whose account his name is called Abraham, he is ordered to offer for a holocaust to the Lord on one of the mountains.

What do you say to these things, Abraham? What kind of thoughts are stirring in your heart? A word has been uttered by God that is such as to shatter and try your faith. What do you say to these things? What are you thinking? What are you reconsidering? Are you thinking, are you turning over in your heart that, if the promise has been given to me in Isaac, but I offer him for a holocaust, it remains that that promise holds no hope? Or rather do you think of those well-known words, and say that it is impossible, for him who promised, to lie;^[4] be that as it may, the promise shall remain?

But I, because I am the least,^[5] am not able to examine the thoughts of such a great patriarch nor can I know what thoughts the voice of God which had proceeded to test him stirred in him, what feeling it caused, when he was ordered to slay his only son. But since the spirit of prophets is subject to the prophets,^[6] the apostle Paul, who, I believe, was teaching by the Spirit what feeling, what plan Abraham considered, has revealed it when he says, By faith Abraham did not hesitate, when he offered his only son, in whom he had received the promises, thinking that God is able to raise him up even from the dead.

The apostle, therefore, has reported to us the thoughts of the faithful man, that the faith in the resurrection began to be held already at that time in Isaac. Abraham, therefore, hoped for the resurrection of Isaac and believed in a future that had not yet happened. How, then, are they sons of Abraham^[7] who do not believe what has happened in Christ, which Abraham believed was to be in Isaac? No, rather, that I may speak more clearly, Abraham knew himself to prefigure the image of future truth; he knew the Christ was to be born from his seed, who also was to be offered as a truer victim for the whole world and was to be raised from the dead.

And he shows another thing too, by saying that God tempted Abraham.^[1] What then? Did not God know that the man was noble and approved? Why then did God tempt him? Not that God might learn but that God might show to others and make his fortitude manifest to all. And here also he shows the cause of trials, that they may not suppose they suffer these things as being forsaken of God.

Here is a man of true faith, for when the Lord asked him to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, he was willing to do so. By faith he offered up the one through whom the Lord had given him the promise of a nation of descendants. And in offering his son he worshiped the Son of God. When the Lord held him back from sacrificing Isaac, Abraham saw the Messiah in the ram that was ultimately offered as the sacrifice to God.^[1]

We see, then, that the patriarch was tested by means of Isaac—not that Isaac was sacrificed but rather the one who was pointed out in Isaiah, He shall be like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb.^[2] He was, in truth, tested by him who took away the sin of the world.

That is why Abraham was held back from laying his hand on the boy. If he had sacrificed Isaac, the Jews might very well have rejected all the prophecies concerning the Savior. Undoubtedly they would have especially rejected such prophecies given by the psalmist as, You have not wanted sacrifice and offering; for you have prepared a body for me.^[3] They would have referred all such prophecies to the son of Abraham.

Thus the sacrifice was not for the sake of Isaac but of Abraham, who was tested by being called upon to make this offering. And of course, God accepted his intentions, but God prevented him from slaying Isaac. The death of Isaac would not buy freedom for the world. No, that could be accomplished only by the death of our Savior, by whose stripes we are all healed.^[4] He alone picked up the falling, healed the sick, satisfied those who were hungry and filled the poor. Above all else, he alone raised us all from the dead, and having abolished death, he has brought us from sorrow and sighing to the rest and gladness of this feast. That, dear friends, is a joy that reaches heaven!

Afterwards, that no one may suppose he does this in despair, and in consequence of this command had cast away that faith, but may understand that this also was truly of faith, he says that he retained that faith also, although it seem to be at variance with this. But it was not at variance. For he did not measure the power of God by human reasonings but committed all to faith. And hence he was not afraid to say that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead.

From this also he received him in a figure, that is in idea, by the ram, he means. How? The ram having been slain, he was saved, so that by means of the ram, he received him again, having slain it in his stead. But these things were types, for here it is the Son of God who is slain. And observe, I beseech you, how great is God’s lovingkindness. For inasmuch as a great favor was to be given to humanity, God, wishing to do this, not by favor but as a debtor, arranges that a man should first give up his own son on account of God’s command. God does this in order that God might seem to be doing nothing great in giving up God’s own Son, since a man had done this before God, so that God might be supposed to do it not of grace but of debt. We do kindness to those we love. We may seem to give all when they have first received something little. We boast more of the receiving than of the giving. We do not say, We gave him this, but, We received this from him. From this also are his words, he received him in a figure, that is, as in a riddle, for the ram was, as it were, a figure of Isaac or as in a type. For since the sacrifice had been completed and Isaac slain in purpose, therefore he gave him back to the patriarch.

Isaac is a type of the infant Lord as son, and, in fact, Isaac was the son of Abraham as Christ is of God, victim as was the Lord. But he was not cut down like the Lord; no, Isaac only carried the wood of the sacrifice, as the Lord did his cross. He laughed mystically by way of prophesying that the Lord fills us with joy, we who have been redeemed by his blood. He did not suffer but left to the Logos, as is fitting, the first fruits of suffering. What is more, because he was not immolated, he signifies also the divinity of the Lord. For after his burial, Jesus was raised up, thus leaving suffering behind, just as Isaac had escaped the sacrifice.

He obtained it in accordance with his faith. For believing in the resurrection, he received him who had died symbolically. For the fact that he suffered nothing, although he fully expected to die, was a symbol of the one who would truly rise, inasmuch as, having tasted death for a short time,^[1] he rose, having suffered nothing under death’s power. For this was done in a parable instead of in symbols.

One can understand the statement hence, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back in the following sense: Abraham received Isaac in a figurative way. For, as he says, since he showed some untold obedience and a faith that conquers even the laws of nature itself, he received his son again, not merely because he offered his son but because he offered him with great assent and his worthy faith. For Abraham received Isaac, who bore a figure and likeness to the Son of God and God himself. For such faith can set matters aright. But if you understand in a figurative way to apply to Abraham and Isaac, in that Abraham acted as a type of the Father and as a figure and likeness of him, while Isaac acted as a type of the Son, this interpretation would accord well with the understanding we have already stated. Abraham’s faith brought him such a gain, he says, because after offering him he received him back with great addition. What sort of addition? That he would receive him again in a figurative manner and likeness of the action with the Father and the Son, that is, he received his son with so great profit, since both became a type of the offering with which the Father thought it good to be completed in his Son.

Or one can understand it as follows. God in a figurative way received Isaac, that is, because of the faith and zeal of Abraham. To be sure, later a ram was offered, and even then it was not brought out of Abraham’s flock but was also provided by God. Nonetheless, God received the sacrifice in this way, as if Abraham had offered Isaac himself albeit in a symbolic manner and through the substitution of the ram. Therefore he says, He received him, namely, Isaac, in a figurative way and substitution^[1] of the ram, that is, the intended and fulfilled purpose of Abraham and the desire of his faith. Thus God received the sacrifice of Abraham in this manner.

Do you see that what I am constantly saying is shown in this case also? When we have proved that our mind is made perfect and have shown that we disregard earthly things, then earthly things also are given to us, but not before, lest, being bound to them already, we receiving them should be bound still. Loose yourself from your slavery first, he says, and then receive, so that you may receive no longer as a slave but as a master. Despise riches, and you shall be rich. Despise glory, and you shall be glorious. Despise avenging yourself on your enemies, and then you shall attain it. Despise repose, and then you shall receive it, that in receiving you may receive not as a prisoner or as a slave but as a free person.

For as with little children, when the child eagerly desires childish playthings, as a ball, for instance, and such things, we hide them from the child with much care, that the child may not be hindered from necessary things. But when the child thinks little of them and no longer longs for them, we allow them fearlessly, knowing that no harm can come to the child from them, because the desire no longer has strength enough to draw the child away from things necessary. So God also, when God sees that we no longer eagerly desire the things of this world, henceforth permits us to use them. For we possess them as free people, not as children.

By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. First he gave it to Jacob, then to Esau, not according to the sequence of their birth but according to the order of spiritual blessing.

The tree of life that was planted by God in paradise prefigured this honorable cross, for, since death came by a tree, it was necessary for life and the resurrection to be bestowed by a tree. It was Jacob who first prefigured the cross, when he adored the top of the rod of Joseph.^[1] And when he blessed Joseph’s sons with his hands crossed,^[2] he most clearly described the sign of the cross. Then there was the rod of Moses which struck the sea with the form of a cross and saved Israel while causing Pharaoh to be swallowed up;^[3] his hands stretched out in the form of a cross and put Amalek to flight;^[4] the bitter water being made sweet by a tree,^[5] and the rock being struck and gushing forth streams of water.^[6] Further, the rod of Aaron miraculously confirmed the dignity of the priesthood,^[7] a serpent was raised in triumph upon a tree, as if dead, with the tree preserving those who with faith beheld the dead enemy,^[8] even as Christ was nailed up in flesh of sin but which had not known sin.^[9] . . . May we who adore this attain to the portion of Christ the crucified. Amen.

Thereupon he not only spoke but he also was bold to demonstrate it to coming generations by his action. For since another king would arise from Ephraim, for this very reason he says, and Jacob bowing in worship over the head of his staff, that is, being an old man, he bowed down to Joseph, showing the obeisance of the whole people that would take place for him. And this has already come to pass, when the brothers bowed down to him, and it was about to come to pass later through the ten tribes.

Many prophets and righteous men, it is said, longed to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.^[1] Did then those righteous people know all the things to come? Yes, most certainly. For if, because of the weakness of those who were not able to receive him, the Son was not revealed, he was with good reason revealed to those conspicuous in virtue. This Paul also says, that they knew the things to come, that is, the resurrection of Christ.

Or he does not mean this, but that by faith, concerning things to come means not concerning the world to come but concerning things to come in this world. For how, except by faith, could a man sojourning in a strange land, give such blessings?

On the other hand, he obtained the blessing and yet did not receive it. You see that what I said with regard to Abraham may be said also of Jacob, that he did not fully enjoy the blessing. The blessings went to his posterity, while he himself obtained the things to come. For we find that his brother rather enjoyed the blessing. For Jacob spent all his time in servitude, working as a hireling amid dangers and plots and deceits and fears; when asked by Pharaoh, he says, Few and evil have my days been,^[2] while the other lived in independence and great security and afterwards was an object of terror to Jacob. Where then did the blessings come to their accomplishment, save in the world to come?

Do you see that from the beginning the wicked have enjoyed things here, but the right-eous the contrary? Not all, however, for behold, Abraham was a righteous man, and he enjoyed things here as well, though with affliction and trials, for indeed wealth was all he had, seeing all else relating to him was full of affliction. For it is impossible that the righteous man should not be afflicted, though he be rich, for when he is willing to be overreached, to be wronged, to suffer all other things, he must be afflicted. So while he may enjoy wealth, it is still not without grief. . . . By faith, he says, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. Esau was the elder; but he puts Jacob first for his excellence. Do you see how great his faith was? How did he promise to his sons so great blessings? Entirely from his having faith in God.

By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph. Here we ought to set down the blessings entirely, in order that both his faith and his prophesying may be made manifest. And worshiped leaning, he says, upon the top of his staff. Here, he means, he not only spoke but was even so confident about the future things as to show it also by his act. For inasmuch as another king was about to arise from Ephraim, therefore it is said, And he bowed himself upon the top of his staff. That is, even though he was now an old man, he bowed himself to Joseph, showing the obeisance of the whole people which was to be directed to him. And this indeed had already taken place, when his brethren bowed down to him, but it was afterwards to come to pass through the ten tribes. Do you see how he foretold the things which were to be afterwards? Do you see the great faith they had, and how they believed concerning the things to come?

For some of the things here, the things present, are examples of patience only and of enduring ill treatment and of receiving nothing good, as, for instance, what is mentioned in the case of Abraham and Abel. But others are examples of faith, as in the case of Noah, that there is a God, that there is a recompense. . . . And the things that concern Joseph are also of faith only. Joseph heard that God had made a promise to Abraham, that God had engaged God’s word, to you and to your seed will I give this land; and, though in a strange land and not yet seeing the engagement fulfilled, he never faltered even so, but believed so as even to speak of the exodus and to give directions concerning his burial. He then not only believed himself but led the rest also to faith, that, having the exodus always in mind—for he would not have given directions concerning his burial unless he had been fully assured of this—they might look for their return to Canaan.

On hearing this, some people say, See! Even righteous people had care about their sepulchers. Let us reply to them that it was for this reason—that he knew that the earth is the Lord’s and all that is therein.^[1] He could not indeed have been ignorant of this, who lived with such great love of wisdom, who spent his whole life in Egypt. And yet if he had wished, it was possible for him to return and not to mourn or vex himself. But when he had taken up his father, why did he enjoin them to carry up then his own bones also? Evidently for this same reason.

Tell me, are not the bones of Moses himself laid in a strange land? And those of Aaron, of Daniel, of Jeremiah? And as to those of the apostles, we do not know where those of most of them are laid. For of Peter, indeed, and Paul and John and Thomas, the sepulchers are well known, but those of the rest, being so many, have nowhere become known. Let us not therefore lament at all about this or be so little-minded. For wherever we may be buried, the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.^[2] Certainly what must take place does take place. Inordinately to mourn, however, and lament and bewail the departed arises from littleness of mind.

Joseph would not have given directions about his remains if he had not believed the divine promises.

Joseph did not say, God did not give the land to me in my lifetime, nor to my father or my grandfather, whose excellence too ought to have been reverenced. Will God give to these wretched people what God did not give to them? He said nothing like this, but by faith he both conquered and went beyond all these things. The apostle has named Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph—all illustrious and admirable men. But then he makes the encouragement greater by bringing the matter down to ordinary persons. For that the admirable should feel thus is nothing wonderful, and to appear inferior to them is nothing dreadful; but to show oneself inferior even to people without names, this is awesome.

He begins with the parents of Moses, obscure persons who had nothing so great as their son had. Then he goes on to increase the strangeness of what he says by enumerating even women who were harlots and widows. For by faith, he says the harlot Rahab did not perish with them that believed not, for she had received the spies with peace. And he mentions the rewards not only of belief but also of unbelief, as in the case of Noah.

But at present we must speak of the parents of Moses. Pharaoh gave orders that all the male children should be destroyed, and none had escaped the danger. How did these expect to save their child? By faith. What sort of faith? They saw, he says, that the child was beautiful. The very sight of him drew them on to faith. Thus from the beginning—yes, from the very swaddling clothes—great was the grace that was poured out on that righteous man, this being not the work of nature. For observe, the child immediately on its birth appears fair and not disagreeable to the sight. Whose work was this? Not that of nature but of the grace of God, which also stirred up and strengthened that barbarian woman, the Egyptian, and took and drew her on.

Paul says, By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin; considering abuse suffered for the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward. It is as though Paul had said to them, No one of you has left a palace, yes a splendid palace, or such treasures. None of you, when you might have been a king’s son, has despised this. But Moses did. And he did not simply leave it there. He further expressed it by saying, he refused, that is, he hated, he turned away. For when heaven was set before Moses, it was superfluous to admire an Egyptian palace.

And see how admirably Paul has put it. He did not say, Esteeming heaven and the things in heaven, greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, but what? Abuse suffered for the Christ. For he accounted being abused for the sake of Christ better than being thus at ease; and this itself by itself was reward.

Choosing rather, he says, to suffer ill treatment with the people of God. For you indeed suffer on your own account, but Moses chose to suffer for others and voluntarily threw himself into so many dangers, when it was in his power both to live religiously and to enjoy good things, rather than, he says, to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He called unwillingness to suffer ill treatment with the rest sin. This, he says, Moses accounted to be sin. If then he accounted it sin not to be ready to suffer ill treatment with the rest, it follows that the suffering ill treatment must be a great good, since he threw himself into it from the royal palace.

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter. If he had not believed in the promise of Abraham, he would have not refused to be corrupted by sin, nor would he have chosen to share ill treatment with the people of God. He considered the emulation of Christ, about whom he indeed wrote, to be more important than the wealth of the Egyptians, which he would have received, because in his expectation he was looking ahead to the reward.

What was a type of Christ, the similarity to the reproaches of Christ, was committed against religion by the adversaries.

What is the abuse suffered for the Christ? It is bearing the reproach of such things, while revealing the reproach that Christ endured. Or it can mean that Moses endured reproach because of Christ—for the rock was Christ^[1]—since it was likely that Moses was vilified when he heard, You don’t wish to kill me in the same way that you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?^[2] That is the abuse suffered for the Christ, namely, to suffer ill until one’s end and last draught of breath, just as Christ himself was reviled and heard, If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.^[3] For both were reviled by their very own countrymen for whom they were doing good works.

He did not fear lest Pharaoh’s wrath be so great so as to investigate him as he fled. Therefore he did not run far away, but from where he could return.^[1] And that was done by faith.

If then we too always see God with our mind, if we always think in remembrance of God, all things will appear endurable to us, all things tolerable. We shall bear them all easily. We shall be above them all. If you see one whom you love, or remember that one, you are reawakened in spirit and elevated in thought and you bear all things easily while delighting in the remembrance. Then when will one who has in mind the one who has promised to love us indeed, remembering that one, either feel anything painful or dread anything fearful or dangerous? When will he be of cowardly spirit? Never.

Paul wants to establish many things incidentally and is very full of thoughts. For such is the grace of the Spirit. He does not comprehend a few ideas in a multitude of words but includes great and manifold thought in brevity of expressions. Observe at least how, in the midst of exhortation and when discoursing about faith, he reminds us of the source of the reality as seen in its type and mystery. By faith, he says, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first-born should touch them.

But what is the sprinkling of blood? A lamb was slain in every household, and the blood was smeared on the doorposts, and this was a means of warding off the Egyptian destruction. If then the blood of a lamb preserved the Jews unhurt in the midst of the Egyptians, and under so great a destruction, much more will the blood of Christ save us, who have had it sprinkled not on the doorposts but in our souls. For even now also the Destroyer is going about in this depth of night, so let us be armed with that sacrifice. . . . For God has brought us out from Egypt, from darkness, from idolatry. Although what was done was nothing, what was achieved was great. For what was done was blood, but what was achieved was salvation and the stopping and preventing of destruction. The angel feared the blood, for he knew of what it was a type. He shuddered, thinking on the Lord’s death; therefore he did not touch the doorposts. Moses said, Smear, and they smeared and were confident. And you, having the blood of the Lamb himself, are you not confident?

How would he, without faith, have believed that death would be prevented by the blood of a sheep? He recognized in advance the reality in the type and had a premonition of the power of the Lord’s blood.

Again he compares one whole people with another, lest they should say, We cannot be as the saints. By faith, he says, they passed through the Red Sea as if by dry land, which the Egyptians were drowned in trying to do. Here he leads them also to a recollection of the sufferings in Egypt. How by faith? Because they had hoped to pass through the sea, and therefore they prayed, or rather it was Moses who prayed. Do you see that everywhere faith goes beyond human reasonings and weakness and lowliness? Do you see that at the same time they both believed and feared punishment, both in the blood on the doors and in the Red Sea? And he made it clear that it was really water, through those that fell into it and were choked. He made it clear that it was not a mere appearance. Rather it was, as in the case of the lions, those who were devoured proved the reality of the facts; and in the case of the fiery furnace, those who were burned. Here also you see that the same things become to the one a cause of salvation and glory, and to the other of destruction.

So great a good is faith. When we fall into perplexity, then are we delivered, even though we come to death itself, even though our condition is desperate. For what else was left for them? They were unarmed, surrounded by the Egyptians and the sea. They must either be drowned if they fled, or fall into the hands of the Egyptians. But nevertheless God saved them from impossibilities. That which was spread under the one as land overwhelmed the others as sea. In the former case, it forgot its nature; in the latter, it actually armed itself against them.^[1]

By faith they crossed the Red Sea. In fact, the people who entered into it believed and crossed it as if on dry land. On the other hand, the Egyptians went into it without faith and received the reward for their crimes in the midst of it.

By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days. For assuredly the sound of trumpets cannot throw down stones, even if one blows for ten thousand years, but faith can do all things.

Do you see that in all cases it is not by natural sequence, nor yet by any law of nature, that it was changed, but all is done contrary to expectation? Accordingly, in this case also, all is done contrary to expectation. For since he had said again and again that we ought to trust to future hopes, he again introduced all this argument with good reason, showing that not now only, but even from the beginning, all the miracles have been accomplished and achieved by means of it.

Lawlessness of life did not prevent salvation; faith covered the wounds of sin. Now, it is worth admiring the apostle’s wisdom—or, rather, we ought sing the praises of the activity of the divine Spirit in associating a foreign woman and prostitute with Moses, Abraham, Noah, Enoch, and the other saints so as to establish the power of faith and repress the Jews’ conceit. After all, six hundred thousand of them were consumed in the desert on account of lack of faith, as they gained no benefit from the way of life of the law. She on the contrary, though removed from kinship with Abraham, living outside the way of life of the law and spending most of her time in licentious behavior, through faith reaped salvation and foreshadowed in type the church. Just as she with faith gave admission to the spies, so the church did to the apostles. And as she was given the scarlet cord as a sign of salvation, so the church through the Lord’s blood enjoyed the eternal goods.

It would be disgraceful, if you should appear more faithless even than a harlot. Yet she merely heard what the men related and then believed. Thereupon the end also followed, for, when all perished, she alone was preserved. She did not say to herself, I shall be with my many friends. She did not say, Can I possibly be wiser than these judicious men who do not believe—and shall I believe? She said no such thing, but [she] believed what had taken place, which it was likely that they would suffer.

Indeed, through the rumors about the miracles which had happened in Egypt and the desert, she believed that they would have possessed the land of Canaan, as God had said to Abraham. The apostle also added some words about the explorers, who were received by her in peace, because he wanted to show that they came out of her house in purity and honesty. In fact, they had not entered that place for the sake of fornication.

So also did Rahab the harlot, while condemning herself because she was a Gentile, receive the three speculators who were spying out the land—which three were doubtless the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—and hid them in her home. And when the entire city in which she lived fell to ruins at the sounding of the seven trumpets, Rahab and all her house were preserved, through faith in the scarlet sign. So the Lord declared to those who did not receive the Lord—the Pharisees, that is—and to those who despised the scarlet thread, which signified the Passover and the redemption and the exodus from Egypt, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you.^[1]

The red rope, which the spies sent by Joshua, son of Nun, gave to Rahab the harlot in Jericho, instructing her to tie it to the same window through which she lowered them down to escape their enemies, was a symbol of the blood of Christ. By [this blood] those of every nationality who were once fornicators and sinful are redeemed, receiving pardon of their past sin and avoiding all sin in the future.

This episode in the Old Testament is a series of important types [sacramenta] of future spiritual events. The harlot takes into her house the two spies sent by Jesus [Joshua] to survey the land. The church, which was a sinner, receives the law and the prophets, sent to spy out the faith of men, and acknowledges that God is in heaven above and on the earth beneath. She receives from these same spies the scarlet sign of salvation, a color which is manifestly the color of royalty when considered as a dignity, and, when looked at, the color of blood. Both these features were found in the passion—the Lord was clothed in scarlet, and blood flowed from his side. Manasseh^[1] also received scarlet as a sign. The dwellings in Egypt marked with blood were spared, and with blood the book of the covenant was sprinkled and the people sanctified. Every member of the family found outside the house was guilty—a lesson that those apart from those called are responsible for their own death.

She who was formerly a harlot receives this injunction: All who shall be found in your house shall be saved. . . if anyone wishes to be saved, let him come into the house of her that was a harlot. Even if anyone of this people [the Jews] wishes to be saved, let him come into this house to obtain salvation. Let him come into this house in which the blood of Christ is the sign of redemption. Let there be no mistake, let no one deceive himself: outside this house, that is outside the ecclesia, there is no salvation. If anyone does go forth, he is the cause of his own death.^[1]

Rahab, who is a type of the church, suspended the scarlet thread from her window as a sign of salvation, to show that the nations would be saved through the Lord’s passion. . . . The house of Rahab and all those with her were saved through the scarlet sign when Jericho was destroyed and burned and its king, a type of the devil, slain. So when this world is destroyed by fire and the devil who now has dominion over the world is overthrown, no one will be preserved for eternal salvation if that one is not found inside the house of the ecclesia which is marked with the scarlet sign, that is, with the blood of Christ. Or again, as in the flood, no one escaped the drowning of the world save those who were preserved in the ark of Noah, which is a type of the church.

Our Jesus [Joshua] sent his spies to the king of Jericho. There they are welcomed by a harlot. But this harlot who received the spies sent by Jesus did so that she might no longer be a harlot. The soul of every one of us was that harlot when we lived in the desires and lusts of the flesh. But our souls received the messengers of Jesus, the angels, whom he has sent before his face to prepare his ways. Every soul who receives them with faith, lodges them not in unworthy and inferior places but in those which are more elevated, because we do not receive Jesus from low and earthly places but as coming forth from the Father and descending from heaven.