Grace is not bestowed according to human merits; otherwise grace would be no longer grace.^[1] For grace is so designated because it is given gratuitously.

Richness of knowledge and wisdom brings us many angels,^[1] but an impure person is even separated from the angel given to him at birth. Spiritual friendship is virtue and knowledge of God, through which we bind ourselves to friendship with the holy powers. Thus it is said that human beings who repent give cause for joy to the angels.^[2] Thus also the Savior calls his servants friends,^[3] since they are ready to receive greater wisdom. So also Abraham, rich in knowledge, offered that mystical table to the friends who appeared to him in the middle of the day.^[4]

There are true martyrs and false ones, because there are true and false witnesses. But Scripture says, The false witness shall not go unpunished. If the false witness will not escape punishment, neither will the true witness be denied a crown. And it was, indeed, easy to bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ and the truth, because he is God; but to do so to the death, that was a great work.

Each person shows himself to be less wise the more he proves to be less patient. He cannot truly impart good by his teaching if he does not know how to bear calmly the evils done him by another.

Who are the two or three who gather in the name of Christ with the Lord in their midst?^[1] By three does he not mean husband, wife and child? A wife is united with her husband by God. But if a man wishes to be unencumbered and prefers to avoid producing children because of the time it takes up, then, says the apostle, he had better stay unmarried like me.^[2]. . . God through his Son is with those who responsibly marry and produce children, and it is the same God who in the same way is with the man who shows self-control in the light of the Logos.

When a certain wise man says, It is by the Lord that a man is matched with a woman, he means this: God made marriage, and not that it is God that joins together every man that comes to be married with a woman. For we see many that come to be with one another for evil, even by the law of marriage, and this we should not ascribe to God.

Let us lend to God almsgiving so we may receive from him clemency in exchange. Oh, how wise is this statement! Whoever has mercy upon the poor lends to God. Why did he not say, Whoever has mercy upon the poor gives to God instead of lends? Scripture recognizes our greediness; it understood that our insatiate desire, which looks longingly toward greediness, asks for an excess. This is why it did not say simply, Whoever has mercy upon the poor gives to God, so you may not think that the recompense will be customary; rather, it said, Whoever has mercy upon the poor lends to God. Since God borrows from us, then, he is our debtor. How do we want to have him, as judge or debtor? The debtor is ashamed before his lender; the judge does not put to shame the one who borrows.

The lesson, therefore, which he teaches us is love for the poor, which is precious in the sight of God. Do you feel pleasure in being praised when you have any friends or relatives feasting with you? I tell you of something far better: angels shall praise your bounty, and the rational powers above, and holy men as well; and he too shall accept it who transcends all, and who loves mercy and is kind. Lend to him fearing nothing, and you will receive with interest whatever you gave, for he, it says, who has pity on the poor lends unto God.

If a trustworthy man said to you, Give me one gold coin, and I will repay you one hundred solid gold coins, would you not gladly give him the one in order that you might receive the hundred? Now the God of heaven and earth says to you, He who has compassion on the poor lends to God; moreover, As long as you did it for one of the least of these, you did it for me;^[1] and in the Psalms, Well for the man who is gracious and lends.^[2] How much more, then, should you lend to God on earth, in order that you may receive a manifold return in eternal life? Then you will deserve to come before the tribunal of the eternal judge in the sight of the angels and can say with assurance and a clear conscience, Give, Lord, because I have given; have mercy because I have shown mercy.

What lies hidden in the designs of God I confess I do not know—I am only a man—but this I know with full certainty, that, whatever it is, it is more just, more wise, and more solidly based on incomparable perfection than all the judgments of people.

If you want to take Scripture as a witness that sinners are punished for the education of others, even if those unabashed may be beyond treatment, hear Solomon in the Proverbs who says, When a pest is being whipped, the fool will be more astute. He did not say that he who is being whipped will be more astute and more sensible through the whips, but he said that the fool will change from foolishness into common sense through whips employed on the pest. For this is signified here by the term astute, and the fool changes because he sees others who are whipped. Hence the punishment of others is useful for us if we learn greater readiness for salvation through others who are punished.