Homilies on First Corinthians 21 part 1/2

'Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?' (Homily 21, section 1)

Since he had said, 'If meat causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh for ever'—which indeed he had not yet done, but had promised to do, should need require it—

in order that no one might say, 'You boast in vain, and philosophise in words, and promise by mere sayings what is easy both for me and for anyone';

for if you say these things from your soul, show by your deeds what you have despised—

for the sake of not causing your brother to stumble;

for this reason he is henceforth constrained to descend to the proof of these things, and to show how, even from things permitted, he refrained for the sake of not causing offence,

and that too though no law at all constrained him to this.

And this is not yet the wonderful thing—though it be wonderful—that he refrained from things permitted, not only for the sake of not causing offence, but that he did this with much toil and danger.

For why need one speak of things sacrificed to idols? he says;

For though Christ commanded that those who preach the Gospel should live from those whom they instruct, I did not do this;

but I chose rather, if it were necessary, even to end my life by hunger and to die the most grievous death, than to receive anything from those I catechised;

not because they would be caused to stumble if he did not receive, but because they would be edified—which was far greater.

And of this he brings them forward as witnesses, among whom he lived both working and hungering, and being fed by others, and suffering want, so as not to cause them to stumble;

and this though they were being caused to stumble without cause;

yet nevertheless out of his abundant care he spared them.

But if he himself went beyond the law, that they might not be caused to stumble, and refrained even from things entrusted to him for the edification of others, of what would these men be worthy who do not abstain from things sacrificed to idols—and that when many are thereby destroyed, a thing which ought to have been fled even apart from the offence, because the table is that of demons? This, then, is the whole substance of the matter, which he works out through many verses.

But we must go over the matters before us from the beginning.

For he has not set it down plainly thus, as I said, nor does he leap upon it at once, but begins from another quarter, saying thus:

'Am I not an apostle?' For besides what has been said, this too is no small difference—that it is Paul who does these things.

For lest they say, 'It is permitted to one who consecrates to taste,' for the present he does not take his stand against this, but says that 'Even if it were permitted, one ought not to do this because of the harm to the brethren';

but later he shows that it is not even permitted.

For the present, however, he establishes the former point from his own case;

and being about to say that he received nothing from them, he does not set it down at once, but first speaks of his own dignity, saying:

'Am I not an apostle? Am I not free?' For lest they say, 'Even though you did not receive, it was because it was not permitted that you received not,' therefore he first sets down the reasons on account of which he might reasonably have received, had he been willing to receive.

Then, lest he seem to say these things in disparagement of Peter and his company (for they did receive), he first shows what it was permitted to those men to receive;

then, lest anyone say, 'To Peter indeed it was permitted to receive, but to you it was not,' he forestalls the hearer with the encomiums concerning himself.

And seeing that there was a necessity to praise himself (for thus the Corinthians were being set right), yet wishing to say nothing great about himself, mark how he has used both to good purpose, praising himself so much—not so much as he was conscious of in himself, but as much as the need of the matter before him required.

For though he might have said, 'It was I above all men who ought to have received,'

and rather than they, because I laboured more abundantly than they—this he does not say, though it was his point of pre-eminence;

but those things by which they were great, and on account of which they justly received, these alone he sets down, saying thus:

'Am I not an apostle? Am I not free?' That is, 'Have I not authority over myself? Am I under anyone who compels me and hinders me from receiving?' But they have something more—that of having been with Christ.

But neither am I deprived of this;

and therefore he says, 'Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?' For, he says, 'last of all, as to one born out of due time, he appeared also to me.'

And this too was no small dignity.

For 'many prophets and righteous men,' he says, 'desired to see the things which you behold, and did not see them';

and, 'Days will come, when you will desire to see one of these days.'

What then? If you are indeed an apostle and free and have seen Christ, yet have displayed no work of an apostle, on what ground ought you to receive support? For this reason he added afterward:

'Are you not my work in the Lord?' For this is the great thing;

for those other things profit nothing apart from this.

Judas too was both an apostle and free and saw Christ;

but since he had not the work of an apostle, those things availed him nothing.

For this very reason, then, he adds this also, and calls them themselves as witnesses.

And since he had uttered something great, observe how he tempers it, saying, 'In the Lord';

that is, 'It is God's work, not mine.'

'If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least to you I am.'

Do you see how he is not excessive? And yet he might have spoken of the whole inhabited world, and of barbarian nations, and of land and sea;

yet nonetheless he mentions none of those things, but conquers by way of concession and out of superabundance.

'For what need have I,' he says, 'of superfluous things, when even these suffice for the matter now before me? I do not, then, allege the good deeds wrought by me among others, but those of which you are witnesses.'

So that even if from nowhere else, from you above all I ought to have received.

But nonetheless, from those from whom I most ought to have received (for I became your teacher), from these I did not receive.

'If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least to you I am.'

Again he sets down his argument by way of concession;

for indeed he was an apostle of the whole inhabited world.

'But nonetheless I do not say this,' he says, 'nor do I contend and strive, but I set forth what is yours.'

'For the seal of my apostleship are you;'

'And should anyone wish,' he says, 'to learn whence it is that I am an apostle, I put you forward;'

'for all the marks of the apostle I displayed among you, and left nothing wanting;'

which very thing he says also in the second epistle.

saying, 'Though I am nothing, yet truly the signs of the apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.'

'For what is there in which you were made inferior to the rest of the Churches?' For this reason he says:

'The seal of my apostleship are you.'

'For indeed I both displayed signs, and taught by word, and endured dangers, and furnished a blameless life.'

And all these things one may see throughout these two epistles, how with all exactness he furnishes them a demonstration of each of these points.

'My defence to those who examine me is this.'

What does it mean, 'My defence to those who examine me is this'? To those who seek to learn whence it is that I am an apostle, or who accuse me of taking money, or ask the reason for which I do not take it, or who wish to prove me to be no apostle—your instruction, and the things I am about to say, become a demonstration and a defence.

What then are these things? 'Have we not authority to eat and to drink? Have we not authority to lead about a sister as wife?' And how are these a defence? Because when I am seen abstaining even from what is permitted, I could not justly be suspected as a deceiver or as one acting for money's sake.

The things said before, then, and your own instruction, and these things which I have mentioned, suffice for a defence to you, and from this ground I take my stand against all who examine me, alleging both those things and these:

'Have we not authority to eat and to drink? Have we not authority to lead about a sister as wife?' But nonetheless, even while having it, I abstain.

What then? Did he neither eat nor drink? In many places, indeed, he neither ate nor drank;

for indeed he says, 'In hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness we passed our time.'

Here, however, he does not say this, but what? 'We neither eat nor drink by taking from our disciples, and yet we have authority to take.'

'Have we not authority to lead about a sister as wife, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?' Observe his wisdom;

he has placed the chief one last;

for the stronger of the main points is set down at that point.

For it was not so wonderful to show the others doing this, as to show the leader, the one entrusted with the keys of heaven, doing it.

Yet he does not set down him only, but all, all but saying:

whether you seek those of lower rank, or those of eminence, the examples of all are set before you.

For the brothers of the Lord too, having been freed from their former unbelief, had become of the approved, even if they did not attain to the apostles.

Wherefore indeed he has placed them in the middle, setting the extremes on either side.

'Or is it only I and Barnabas who have not authority to forbear working?' Observe the humility, and the soul purified from all envy, how the one whom he knew

to share with him in this strictness, he did not conceal.

For if the other things are common, how is this not common? Apostles were both they and we, and free, and we have seen Christ, and we have displayed the things belonging to apostles.

Therefore we too have authority both to live without laboring, and to be maintained by our disciples.

'Who ever serves as a soldier at his own expense?' Since he had demonstrated from the apostles what was strongest—that it is permitted to do this—he next proceeds to examples and common custom, which was his wont to do, saying, 'Who serves as a soldier at his own expense?'

But consider for me how exceedingly fitting to the subject before him were the examples he brought forward, and how he first mentions the perilous one—of soldiery and arms and wars.

For such is the apostolate—nay rather, far greater even than these things.

For their war was not against men only, but also against demons, and their battle-array was against the leader of those demons.

What, then, he says is this: that what not even the rulers outside require—the cruel and unjust ones—namely that those who serve as soldiers should campaign and face danger, and yet be fed at their own charge—

how then would Christ ever have required this? And he is not content with a single example.

For this above all is wont to give rest to the simpler and duller sort—to see even the common custom agreeing with the laws of God.

Wherefore he proceeds also to another, and says:

'Who plants a vineyard, and does not eat of its fruit?' For by the former he signified the dangers, and by this one the toil and the great hardship and diligence.

And he adds yet a third example, saying:

'Who tends a flock, and does not eat of the milk of the flock?' He shows the great care, befitting a teacher, concerning those under his charge.

For indeed the apostles were both soldiers and husbandmen and shepherds—not of earth, nor of irrational creatures, nor of perceptible wars, but of rational souls and of the battle-array against the demons.

And this too must be observed, how everywhere he preserved the due measure, seeking only what is needful, not what is superfluous.

For he did not say, 'Who serves as a soldier, and does not grow rich?'

but, 'Who ever serves as a soldier at his own expense?' Nor did he say, 'Who plants a vineyard, and does not gather gold, or does not reap the whole fruit?' but, 'Does not eat of its fruit?' Nor did he say, 'Who tends a flock, and does not trade in the lambs?' but how? 'And does not eat of the milk of the flock?'—not of the lambs, but 'of the milk';

showing that the teacher ought to be content with a small solace, and with the necessary food alone.

These things are against those who wish to devour everything and to reap the whole fruit.

Thus also the Lord ordained, saying:

The laborer is worthy of his food.

But he does not establish this point by examples alone; he also shows what manner of man the priest ought to be.

For he must possess the courage of a soldier, the diligence of a farmer, and the watchful care of a shepherd; and after all these, he must seek nothing beyond what is necessary.

Having shown, then, both from the apostles that the teacher is not forbidden to receive, and from the examples drawn from ordinary life, he comes to a third head, speaking thus:

Do I speak these things after the manner of men? or does not the law also say the same? For since up to this point he had said nothing from the Scriptures, but had put forward the common custom, he says: Do not suppose that I rely on these alone, nor that I lay down these ordinances merely from what seems good to men.

For I am able to show that these things seem good to God as well, and I can read out an ancient law that commands them.

Wherefore he advances his argument by way of question, as is done in matters that are exceedingly well agreed upon, speaking thus:

Do I speak these things after the manner of men? That is, Do I rely upon human examples alone? or does not the law also say the same? For in the law of Moses it is written:

And for what reason did he make mention of this, when he had the example of the priests at hand? Because he wished to establish it out of great abundance.

Then, lest anyone should say, And what has that saying about the oxen to do with us? he works it out with exactness.

Does God care for oxen? Does not God, then, tell me, care about the oxen? He does indeed care, yet not in such a way as to lay down a law on their behalf.

So that, unless he were hinting at something great—training the Jews by means of the irrational animals to be merciful, and from these very things discoursing to them concerning teachers also—he would not have shown such great earnestness as to write a law that oxen should not be muzzled.

From this he also shows another thing: that the labor of teachers both is, and ought to be, great.

What, then, is this? That whatever is said in the Old Testament concerning the care of irrational animals contributes chiefly to the instruction of men.

just as, indeed, all the other things also—such as those concerning garments of diverse kinds, and those concerning vineyards and seeds and not making the ground bear differing crops, those concerning leprosy, and, so to speak, all the rest.

For it was with such things that he discoursed to them, seeing they were of a grosser sort, gradually leading them upward.

And observe how he no longer even establishes this point, inasmuch as it is manifest and clear of itself.

For having said, Does God care for oxen? he added, Or does he say it altogether for our sakes? not adding even the word Altogether without purpose, but so as not to allow the hearer to gainsay in the least.

And he continues in the metaphor, saying and declaring:

For it was written for our sakes, that he who plows ought to plow in hope;

that is, the teacher ought to have the recompense of his labors;

and he that threshes ought to partake in hope of his hope.

For he transferred the matter from the sowing to the threshing-floor, here again setting forth the many sweats of the teachers, that they themselves both plow and tread out the threshing-floor.

And in the case of plowing, since there was as yet no fruit to be reaped, but only toil, he set down hope;

but in the case of treading out the threshing-floor, he now bestowed the enjoyment, saying:

And he that threshes partakes of his hope.

Then, lest anyone should say, Is this, then, the recompense of so many sweats? he added, In hope—that is, in the hope that is to come.

Therefore the unmuzzled mouth of this animal cries out nothing else than that the teachers who toil ought also to enjoy a recompense.

If we have sown to you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things? Behold, he adds a fourth reasoning as to the necessity of providing for them.

For since he had said, Who ever serves as a soldier at his own charges? and, Who plants a vineyard? and, Who tends a flock? and had brought forward the ox that threshes, he now shows another most reasonable cause on account of which they were justly entitled to receive—as having furnished far greater things, no longer merely as having labored.

What, then, is it? If we have sown to you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things? Do you see a most just cause, and more reasonable than the former ones? For there, he says, the seed is carnal, and the fruit likewise carnal;

but here it is not so; rather, the seed is spiritual, while the recompense is carnal.

For lest those who provide for their teachers should be highminded, he showed that they receive greater things than they give.

For the farmers receive the very things which they sow;

but we, sowing spiritual things into your souls, reap carnal things;

for such is the food that is given by them.

Then he speaks yet more so as to shame them:

If others partake of this authority over you, do not we much more? Behold, yet another reasoning again, and this too from examples, but from examples not of the same kind.

For neither does he here make mention of Peter, nor of the apostles, but of certain others, spurious ones, against whom he later strips himself for combat, and concerning whom he says:

If anyone devours you, if anyone takes from you, if anyone exalts himself, if anyone smites you on the face;

and he sounds beforehand the prelude to the war against those men.

Wherefore he did not even say, If others receive from you, but, displaying their arrogance and tyranny and trafficking, he says:

If others partake of authority over you;

that is, they hold sway over you, they lord it over you, they have used you as household slaves, not merely receiving, but with great eagerness and highhandedness.

Wherefore he added, Do not we much more? which he would not have said, had the discourse been about the apostles.

he hints at ravagers and deceivers of them.

So that, together with the law of Moses, you yourselves also have laid down a law that provision ought to be made.

But having said, Do not we much more? he does not go on to establish why not much more, but leaves the reproof to their own conscience, wishing at once both to strike fear into them and to shame them the more.

But we did not use this authority.

Do you see through how many things he first established that to receive is not unlawful, and then said that We do not receive, lest he should seem to abstain as from something forbidden? For it is not, he says, because it is not permitted that I do not receive;

for it is permitted—and this we have proved from many sources: from the apostles, from the affairs of ordinary life, from the soldier, the farmer, and the shepherd, from the law of Moses, and from the very nature of the matter, namely, that we have sown to you spiritual things, out of which you have acted toward others;

but just as, lest he should seem to put to shame the apostles who do receive, he set down these things, shaming the Corinthians and showing that he abstains not from a forbidden thing;

so again, lest through his much argument and his many examples—by which he showed that one ought to receive—he should seem to be seeking after receiving, and to be saying these things for that reason, he now corrects it:

and more plainly he sets it down later, when he says:

But I have not written these things that it should be so done in my case;

and here he says that We did not use this authority.

And what is yet greater: that no one could even say this, that Being in a time of ease we did not use it; but even when necessity pressed hard upon us, we did not yield to the necessity;

which he also says in the second epistle:

I robbed other churches, taking wages of them for your service;

and when I was present with you and in want, I was not burdensome to anyone;

And we hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted.

And here again he hints at the same thing, saying, But we bear all things.

For having said that We bear all things, he hints both at famine and at much straitening and all the rest.

But not even so, he says, were we compelled to break the law which we had laid down for ourselves.

Wherefore? That we might not give any hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

For since the Corinthians were rather weakly disposed, That we may not wound you, he says, by receiving, we chose even to do beyond what was enjoined, rather than to give any hindrance to the gospel—that is, to your instruction.

But if we—although it was committed to us, and although we suffered much violence, and although we had the apostles as an example—did not do it, That we might not give a hindrance (and he did not say, an overthrow, but a hindrance, and not simply a hindrance, but a certain hindrance;

that we might not cause even any chance delay, so to speak, or postponement to the course of the word);

if, then, we used such great earnestness, he says, how much more ought you—who fall far short of the apostles, and who cannot even allege a law that permits it, but who on the contrary lay hold of forbidden things and of things that are to the great harm of the gospel—not only to give no hindrance, but, even seeing no necessity pressing upon you, to abstain? For he set in motion this whole discourse on account of those men who, by the eating of things sacrificed to idols, were causing the weaker brethren to stumble.

And let us also give heed to these things, beloved.

that we may not despise those who are made to stumble, nor put any hindrance in the way of the Gospel of Christ;

that we may not betray our own salvation.

For do not say to me, when your brother is made to stumble, that such and such a thing, at which he stumbles, is not forbidden, and that it is permitted.

For I tell you something greater: that even if Christ Himself has granted the permission, yet if you see someone being harmed, hold back and do not make use of the permission.

For this is what Paul also did: though it was lawful for him to receive, since Christ had allowed it, yet he did not receive.

For the Master, being a lover of mankind, tempered His commandments with much gentleness, that we might do many things not only from command, but also of our own free purpose.

For He could, had He not willed this, rather have made the commandments more severe, and have said:

Let him who does not remain a virgin be punished;

let him who does not strip himself of all his possessions pay the uttermost penalty.

But He did not do this, leaving it to you, if you should so wish, to strive for the higher honor.

For this reason also, when He was speaking about virginity, He said:

He who is able to receive it, let him receive it;

and in the case of the rich man, some things He commanded, but other things He left to the authority of one's own mind.

For He did not say, Sell your possessions, but, If you would be perfect, sell.

But we not only do not strive for higher honor, nor go beyond the commandments, but we even fall very far short of the measure of what is commanded.

And Paul indeed went hungry, that he might not give any hindrance to the Gospel;

but we do not even dare to touch the goods laid up for us, though we see countless souls being overthrown.

For let the moth eat, one says, and let not the poor man eat;

let the worm devour, and let not the naked be clothed;

let all be consumed by time, and let not Christ be fed, and that too when He hungers.

For this is the very terrible thing, that these things are said not in words, but in deeds.

For it would be less terrible if spoken in words, than when done in deeds.

Or does not this cruel and savage tyranny, the love of money, cry out these very things every day to its own captives? Let your goods be set out for luxury even to slanderers and robbers and plotters, and let there be no sustenance for the hungry nor for the needy.

For is it not you who make the robbers? Is it not you who provide fuel for the fire of the envious? Is it not you who make the runaways and the plotters, setting out your wealth for them as a bait? What is this madness? For it is madness and manifest derangement to fill one's chests full of garments, but to overlook him who was made after the image and likeness of God, naked and trembling with the cold, and scarcely able to stand upright.

But he pretends, one says, the trembling and the weakness.

Then are you not afraid that a thunderbolt, kindled from above by this very word, may fall down upon you? For I am torn asunder by indignation;

For while you cram your belly and grow fat, and prolong your drinking into deep evening, and are kept warm in soft coverlets, do you not think it right to pay the penalty for using the gifts of God so lawlessly (for wine did not come to be that we should get drunk;

nor did food come to be that we should stuff our bellies;

nor did victuals come to be that we should burst the belly asunder);

but from the poor man, the wretched one, who is in no better state than a corpse, from him you demand a strict reckoning, and are you not afraid of that dread and fearful tribunal of Christ? For even if he is playing a part, of necessity he plays it, both out of want, and because of your savagery and inhumanity, which requires such masks and is not bent to compassion.

For who is so wretched and miserable that, without any necessity pressing him, he would for the sake of a single loaf disgrace himself in such ways, and beat himself, and endure so great a penalty? So that his play-acting goes about as a herald proclaiming your inhumanity.

For since, though he supplicates and entreats and utters piteous words, and laments and weeps and goes about the whole day long, he does not obtain even the necessary food, perhaps he devised this contrivance too, which brings not so much shame upon him as accusation upon you.

For he indeed is worthy of pity, because he came down to such necessity;

but we are worthy of countless punishments, because we compel the poor to suffer such things.

For if we were readily moved to compassion, that man would never have chosen to endure such things.

And why do I speak of nakedness and trembling? For I will tell you something more horrifying than this: that some have even been compelled to maim their children while these were of tender age, that they might reach our insensibility.

For since, when they were seeing and going about naked, they drew not the merciless to pity, neither by their age nor by their calamity, they added to so many evils another and more grievous tragedy, that they might loose the famine, thinking it lighter to be deprived of this common light and of the ray given to all, than to wrestle with perpetual hunger and to endure the most piteous of deaths.

For since you have not learned to pity poverty, but to take delight in calamities, they fill up your insatiable desire, kindling for both themselves and you a flame more grievous than Gehenna.

And that you may learn that these things and such as these happen for this reason, I will tell you a proof acknowledged among you, against which no one will contradict.

There are other poor men, light and unsteady in their souls, and not knowing how to bear hunger, but enduring anything rather than this.

These men, having often met you with piteous gestures and words, since they gained nothing, left off those supplications and thereafter brought before you the wonder-workers: some chewing the leather of worn-out sandals, others driving sharp nails through their heads, others clasping to their naked bellies waters frozen by the cold, and others enduring things yet more monstrous than these, that they might set up their wretched theater.

But you, while these things are being done, stand laughing and marveling, and making a show of your delight in others' evils, while our common nature is being disgraced.

And what more could a savage demon accomplish than these things? Then, that he may do these things more eagerly, you give money more liberally.

And to him who prays and calls upon God, and approaches with fitting decency, you do not even deign to answer nor to look, but you even utter those burdensome words to him, whenever he importunes you continually:

Ought this man to live? Or to breathe at all, or to look upon this sun? But toward those others you are both cheerful and generous, as though you were some presider over that ridiculous and satanic disgrace.