The prophet expounds on the destiny of those in Israel who believed in Christ, because Israel did not perish completely, as the remnant of Israel was saved, according to the prophecy. Quite a number of people believed in Christ, and his apostles were, so to speak, the first fruit. Therefore at that time the Lord of hosts will be as a crown of hope and a diadem of glory to the remnant of his people. The Lord of hosts will crown the believers with hope and glory, that is, with hope of future blessings and with glory because they will reign with him. They will become the recipients of the highest honor and will be worthy of adoration and glory. What glory can be compared with that received in the kingdom of Christ? In another passage Isaiah also says, You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of your God,^[1] since Christ will crown those who believe in him with unending glory and bless them with the most joyous hope. And the remnant of Israel will participate in all of this after the others, the Gentiles, are received in Christ. Realizing their glory in Christ, they cry to their heavenly God and Father, O Lord, crown us with the shield of your favor.^[2] For when it pleased their God and Father, he revealed himself as an unbroken shield and became the Christ who defends us from the arrows of the evil one and keeps his people.

In fact, our fathers passed their lives in hunger, thirst and great mortification, by which they acquired purity. Above all they fled the wine habit, which is full of every evil. Troubles, tumults and disorders are caused in our members through the abuse of wine; this is a passion full of sin, it is sterility and the withering of fruit. For sensuality in unquenchable thirst stupefies the understanding, makes conscience overbold and snaps the rein on the tongue. Total joy is when we do not grieve the Holy Spirit, or become deranged by sensuality. As it is said, The priest and the prophet were deranged by wine. . . . Therefore, all who have prepared to become disciples of Jesus should abstain from wine and drunkenness.

My conscience is at rest, and I know that it is not from any fault of mine that I am suffering; moreover affliction in this world is a ground for expecting a reward hereafter.^[1] When the enemy was more than usually forward and ventured to reproach her to her face, she used to chant the words of the Psalter. . . .When she felt herself tempted, she dwelt upon the words of Deuteronomy. . . . In tribulations and afflictions she turned to the splendid language of Isaiah: You that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts, look for tribulation upon tribulation, for hope also upon hope. Yet a little while must these things be by reason of the malice of the lips and by reason of a spiteful tongue. This passage of Scripture she explained for her own consolation as meaning that the weaned, that is, those who have come to full age, must endure tribulation upon tribulation that they may be accounted worthy to receive hope upon hope.

We read in the book of Job how, while the first messenger of evil was yet speaking, there came also another;^[1] and in the same book it is written, Is there not a temptation—or as the Hebrew better gives it—a warfare to man upon earth?^[2] It is for this end that we labor, it is for this end that we risk our lives in the warfare of this world, that we may be crowned in the world to come. That we should believe this to be true of people is nothing wonderful, for even the Lord was tempted,^[3] and of Abraham the Scripture bears witness that God tested him.^[4] It is for this reason also that the apostle says, We glory in tribulations . . . knowing that tribulation works perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint.^[5] And in another passage [we read], Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or family or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, ‘for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’^[6] The prophet Isaiah comforts those in a similar case in these words: You who are weaned from the milk, you who are drawn from the breasts, look for tribulation upon tribulation, but also for hope upon hope. For, as the apostle puts it, The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.^[7]

It is not therefore necessary that every one of the faithful should cast out demons or raise the dead or speak with tongues, but such a one only who is graciously given this gift. For [it may contribute] to the salvation of the unbelievers, who are often put to shame not with the demonstration of the world but by the power of the signs, that is, such as are worthy of salvation. For all the ungodly are not affected by wonders, and hereof God is a witness, as when he says in the law: With other tongues will I speak to this people, and with other lips, and yet will they by no means believe. For neither did the Egyptians believe in God, when Moses had done so many signs and wonders;^[1] nor did the multitude of the Jews believe in Christ, as they believed Moses, who yet had healed every sickness and every disease among them.^[2]

Thus at times all the sayings of the ancient covenant of the sacred Scriptures are designated together by the name of law. For the apostle cites the testimony from the prophet Isaiah, where he says, In other tongues and with other lips I will speak to this people, and yet he had prefaced this by saying, In the law it is written.^[1]

Someone might well ask how the apostles drew to themselves all these people. How did men who spoke only the language of the Jews win over the Scythian, the Indian, the Sarmatian and the Thracian? Because they received the gift of tongues through the Holy Spirit.^[1] Not only did the apostles say this but also the prophets when they made both these facts clear, namely, that the apostles received the gift of tongues and that they failed to win over the Jews. Hear how the prophet showed this when he said, ‘In foreign tongues and with other lips I shall speak to this people, and in this way they shall not hear me,’ says the Lord.

They spoke with strange tongues and not those of their native land; and the wonder was great, a language spoken by those who had not learned it. And the sign is to them that do not believe, not to them that believe, that it may be an accusation of the unbelievers, as it is written, With other tongues and other lips will I speak to this people, and not even so will they listen to me, says the Lord. But they heard. Here stop a little and raise a question. How are you to divide the words? For the expression has an ambiguity, which is to be determined by the punctuation. Did they each hear in their own dialect so that if I may so say, one sound was uttered but many were heard; the air being thus beaten and, so to speak, sounds being produced more clear than the original sound? Or are we to put the stop after they heard and then to add them speaking in their own languages to what follows, so that it would be speaking in the hearers’ own languages, which would be foreign to the speakers? I prefer to put it this latter way; for on the other plan the miracle would be rather of the hearers than of the speakers; whereas in this it would be on the speakers’ side. And it was they who were reproached for drunkenness, evidently because they by the Spirit wrought a miracle in the matter of the tongues.

What, then, are the burdens that he censures? None but those which they were accumulating of their own accord, when they taught for commandments the doctrines of men; for the sake of private advantage joining house to house, so as to deprive their neighbor of his own; cajoling the people, loving gifts, pursuing rewards, robbing the poor of the right of judgment, that they might have the widow for a prey and the fatherless for a spoil. Of these Isaiah also says, woe^[1] to them that are strong in Jerusalem!

When you renounce Satan, trampling underfoot every covenant with him, then you annul that ancient league with hell, and God’s paradise opens before you, that Eden, planted in the east, from which for his transgression our first father was banished.

He has become my help and my protector unto salvation.^[1] They are said to be helpers who grant us their cooperation through specific acts. Protectors, however, are those who defend us with their power. Protection can take a variety of forms. For some, God is a protection, but deception becomes a protection for others, who lie about themselves, as Isaiah said: We have established deception as our hope, and we are protected by lies.

The foundation of justice therefore is faith, for the hearts of the just dwell on faith. And the just man that accuses himself builds justice on faith, for his justice becomes plain when he confesses the truth. So the Lord says through Isaiah: Behold, I lay a stone for a foundation in Zion. This means Christ as the foundation of the church. For Christ is the object of faith to all; but the church is as it were the outward form of justice; it is the common right of all.

Therefore, brothers, we should be careful neither to give scandal to others nor to take it ourselves when another gives it. It is scandal that troubles the senses, perturbs the mind, confuses our judgment otherwise sharp. It is a scandal that changed an angel into the devil, an apostle into a traitor; that brought sin into the world and allured humankind to death. . . . Scandal tempts the saints, fatigues the cautious, throws down the incautious, disturbs all things, confuses all people. . . . He uttered a warning to keep anyone else from coming to this, by saying, It is impossible that scandals should not come; but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung about his neck and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.^[1]

Why a millstone and not an ordinary stone? Because, while a millstone is grinding the grain, and pouring out the flour and separating the bran from the meal, it is simultaneously furnishing bread to those who are dutifully toiling. Rightly, therefore, is a millstone tied to the neck of the person who chooses to be a minister of scandal rather than of peace; the very same thing that should have drawn him to life may drag him down to death. For [such a person] has changed those senses given to aid him toward life into a stumbling block bringing death. Then they persuaded him to see something else, and hear, feel and relish something else than was in Christ and in his saving knowledge. In this way he has encompassed the cornerstone, the stone symbolizing help, the stone cut out without hands, that is, Christ, and he has turned it into a stumbling for the weak.

Jacob, hastening to seek a bride, met Rachel unexpectedly at the well. And a great stone lay upon the well, which a multitude of shepherds were [accustomed] to roll away when they came together and then gave water to themselves and to their flocks. But Jacob alone rolls away the stone and waters the flocks of his spouse.^[1] The thing is, I think, a dark saying, a shadow of what should come. For what is the stone that is laid but Christ? For of him Isaiah says, And I will lay in the foundations of Zion a costly stone, precious, elect; and Daniel likewise, A stone was cut out but not by hand,^[2] that is, Christ was born without a man.

Therefore, with the exception of this cornerstone,^[1] I do not see how people are to be built into a house of God, to contain God dwelling in them,^[2] without being born again, which cannot happen before they are born.

To the one group,^[1] the infant at birth is shown as the chief cornerstone announced by the prophet; to the other group he is manifested at the very outset of his career. He has already begun to weld together in himself the two walls originally set in different directions, bringing shepherds from Judea and magi from the East.

Was his tomb made with hands? Does it rise above the ground, like the tombs of kings? Was the sepulcher made of stones joined together? And what is laid upon it? Tell us exactly, O prophets, about his tomb also, where it lies, and where we shall look for it. But they answer, Look upon the solid rock which you have hewn,^[1] look and see. . . . I, who am the chief corner stone, chosen, precious,^[2] lie for a while within a stone, I, who am a stone of stumbling^[3] to the Jews but of salvation to them that believe.

Who can the cornerstone be other than the one who is the living and precious stone supporting two structures with his teaching making them one? He established the building of Moses, which was to remain until his day, and then he joined on to one side our building of the gospel. This is why he is called the cornerstone.

Your stone is one that ruin follows and the disastrous collapse of tumbling towers; but our stone, laid by the hand of God, builds up, strengthens, lifts, fortifies and adorns the grace of the restored work with the splendor of everlasting immortality.

For Isaiah says of this at the behest of the Holy Spirit: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I lay a stone for the foundations of Zion, a precious stone, elect, a chief cornerstone, honored, and he that shall believe in it shall not be confounded.

A stone anointed; why a stone? Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, elect, precious; and he that believes on him shall not be confounded. Why anointed? Because Christ comes from anointing (chrisma).

Isaiah wrote, Behold, I lay a cornerstone in Zion as its foundation, elect and precious; he who believes in it will not be ashamed. The cornerstone is Christ, who, when Nathaniel came to him, explained what Jacob had seen in his dream: You will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.^[1] For the Christ who descended is the same one who ascends above all the heavens that he might fill everything.^[2] But he lays a narrow path that leads to life.^[3]

This cornerstone^[1] joins together both walls and restores two peoples to unity, concerning which God said through Isaiah: Behold, I will lay a cornerstone in Zion as its foundation, elect and precious; the one who believes in it will not be ashamed. It was his will to build further upon this cornerstone and other cornerstones, so that the apostle Paul would be able to say boldly, built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.^[2]

Here is what one believes with the heart unto justice and makes confession of with the mouth unto salvation. But you’re afraid to confess it, in case people taunt you with it; and not ones who have not come to believe, because they too believe it inwardly. But in case those who are ashamed to confess it should taunt you with it, listen to what comes next. For Scripture says, Nobody who believes in him shall be put to shame. Reflect on all this; stick to it all. This is prey, food not for the belly but for the intelligence.

Peter also spoke confidently about this stone of assistance:^[1] This is the stone rejected by you builders, which was made the cornerstone.^[2] And Isaiah said, Behold, I will lay a cornerstone in Zion as its foundation, elect and precious; the one who believes in it will not be ashamed.

Therefore I say to you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to the people who produce its fruit.^[3] As I have said, the kingdom of God is often to be understood as sacred Scripture, which the Lord removed from the Jews and gave to us that we might produce its fruits. This is the vineyard that was given to the tenant farmers and vinedressers who did no work in it; possessing the Scriptures in name only, they will lose the fruits of the vineyard.

Whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but the one upon whom it falls will be destroyed.^[4] It is one thing to offend Christ through evil deeds but another thing to deny him. The sinner who nevertheless still believes in him is the one who falls on the stone and is broken but not altogether destroyed, for he is preserved for salvation through patience. But the one upon whom it falls, that is, the one upon whom the stone itself rushes, is the one who denies Christ inwardly. He is destroyed so completely that not even a shard with which to draw a little water will remain.

And again the prophet says, seeing that as a hard stone he was ordained for crushing, Behold, I will put into the foundations of Zion a stone very precious, elect, a chief cornerstone, honorable. Then again [read] what he says: And whosoever shall set his hope on him shall live forever.^[1] Is our hope then set upon a stone? Far from it. But it is because the Lord has set his flesh in strength. For he says, And he set me as a hard rock.^[2]

And if in reading the Scripture you stumble on a good thought that is a stumbling stone and a rock of offense,^[1] blame yourself. For do not despair that this stumbling stone and rock of offense have meanings so as to fulfill the saying, And the one who believes will not be put to shame.^[2] Believe first, and you will discover much holy aid beneath the supposed offense. For if we ourselves receive the commandment not to speak a careless word as we will render an account of it on the day of judgment,^[3] and if we earnestly aspire, as far as possible, to make it so that every word coming out of our mouth works both on us who speak it and on those who hear it, what else is there need to understand about the prophets than that every word spoken through their mouth was one which works? And do not be amazed if every word spoken by the prophets works a work which is fitting for a word. For I think that every extraordinary letter written in the words of God works, and there is not an iota or one dot^[4] written in the Scripture which does not work in those who know to use the power of the Scriptures.

The Judge wishes to have mercy on you and to share his own compassion, but on condition that he finds you humble after sin, contrite, lamenting much for your evil deeds, announcing publicly without shame sins committed secretly, begging the brothers to labor with you in reparation. In short, if he sees that you are worthy of pity, he provides his mercy for you ungrudgingly. But if he sees your heart unrepentant, your mind proud, your disbelief of the future life and your fearlessness of the judgment, then he desires the judgment for you. [This is like] a reasonable and kind doctor [who] tries at first with hot applications and soft poultices to reduce a tumor. But, when he sees that the mass is rigidly and obstinately resisting, casting away the olive oil and the gentle method of treatment, he prefers henceforth the use of the knife. Therefore [God] loves mercy in the case of those repenting, but he also loves judgment in the case of the unyielding. Isaiah says some such thing, too, to God: Your mercy in measure. For he compares the mercy with the judgment of him who gives compensation by scale and number and weight according to the deserts of each.

Discourse awhile on our present heavy blow,^[1] about the just judgments of God, whether we grasp their meaning or are ignorant of their great depth.^[2] How again mercy is put in the balance, as holy Isaiah declares. For goodness is not without discernment, as the first laborers in the vineyard^[3] fancied, because they could not perceive any distinction between those who were paid alike. [Perceive] how anger, which is called the cup in the hand of the Lord^[4] and the cup of falling which is drained,^[5] is in proportion to transgressions, even though he shows mercy to every one according to what they are due and dilutes with compassion the unmixed draught of his wrath. For he inclines from severity to indulgence toward those who accept chastisement with fear, and who after a slight affliction conceive and are in pain with conversion, and bring forth the perfect spirit of salvation. But nevertheless he reserves the dregs,^[6] the last drop of his anger, that he may pour it out entire upon those who, instead of being healed by his kindness, grow obdurate, like the hard-hearted Pharaoh,^[7] that bitter taskmaster, who is set forth as an example of the power^[8] of God over the ungodly.

Every time is suitable for your ablution, since any time may be your death.^[1] With Paul I shout to you with that loud voice, Behold now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation;^[2] and that now does not point to any one time but is every present moment. And again Awake, you that sleep, and Christ shall give you light,^[3] dispelling the darkness of sin. For as Isaiah says, In the night hope is evil, and it is more profitable to be received in the morning.

Now righteous people conceive a dread of God before his indignation is stirred up against them; they fear him at rest, lest they should feel him as moved. But, on the other hand, the wicked then for the first time fear to be smitten when they are under the rod, and terror then rouses them from the sleep of their insensibility when vengeance is troubling them. And hence it is said by the prophet, And only the vexing alone shall supply understanding to the hearing. For when they have begun to be stricken in vengeance for the contempt and neglect of God’s precepts, then they understand the thing that they heard.

The glory of the God of Israel was there^[1] not to delight the neighborhood but to annihilate the idol of jealousy and the temple by his very presence. Hence the destruction of the city and the temple followed shortly thereafter. It is also written in Isaiah that a narrow bed cannot hold two persons, nor can a short blanket cover both, prefiguring that saying of the apostle: What does Christ have in common with Belial, or the temple of God with an idol?^[2]

Hence Isaiah, contemplating our salvation and [Christ’s] passion, well said: That he may do his work, his strange work; that he may perform his work, his work is strange to him. For the work of God is to gather the souls that he created and call them back to the joys of the eternal light. But it is not the work [of] God in his essence to be flogged, to be smeared with spittle, to be crucified, to die and to be buried, but this is the work of a sinful person who deserved all these things for his sins. But [Jesus] himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. And he who in his own nature always remains incomprehensible deigned to be comprehended in our nature and to be flogged, because if he had not assumed the attributes of our weakness he could never have raised us to the power of his fortitude. . . . And he does his strange work that he might do his proper work, because insofar as he bore our sins in infirmity he led us who are his creatures to the glory of his fortitude in which he lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through ages of ages. Amen.

They do not understand that God grants to each period of time what is appropriate. As he commanded marriage in the law, so in the gospel does he recommend virginity. In the law, an eye is to be offered for an eye, but in the gospel, the other side of the cheek is to be offered to one’s assailant.^[1] The former arrangement was for a weak people, whereas the latter is for the perfect. Nevertheless each order was adapted to its proper time. Yet it is not to be believed on the basis of this change that God is mutable. Instead, it should be proclaimed a miracle that while remaining immutable himself, God gave to each era its own distinctly appropriate order.

Sins were of lesser guilt under the Old Testament because only a shadow of the truth, not truth itself, was present therein. For the higher precepts of the New Testament reveal that we are to forsake some of those things to which the people of the shadow of truth were bound. Previously, for instance, fornication and the taking of retribution for injuries were permitted without punishment. In the New Testament, however, they are condemned with severe punishments.

The creed and the Lord’s Prayer replace the whole law in sufficing to obtain the kingdom of heaven for the little ones of the church. For the entire breadth of Scripture is contained briefly in the Lord’s Prayer and the creed. Thus does the prophet Isaiah say, I heard from the Lord God of hosts about an abbreviation upon all the earth.

I praise wedlock, I praise marriage, but it is because they give me virgins. I gather the rose from the thorns, the gold from the earth, the pearl from the shell. Does the plowman plow all day to sow? Shall he not also enjoy the fruit of his labor?^[1] Wedlock is the more honored, the more what is born of it is loved. Why, mother, do you grudge your daughter her virginity? She has been reared on your milk, she has come from your womb, she has grown up in your bosom. Your watchful affection has kept her a virgin. Are you angry with her because she chooses to be a king’s wife and not a soldier’s? She has conferred on you a high privilege; you are now the mother-in-law of God.