Homilies on Romans 8 part 1/2

What then shall we say that Abraham our father found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has ground for boasting, but not before God.

Having said that the world had become subject to judgment before God, and that all had sinned, and that there is no way to be saved otherwise than through faith, he now presses on to show that this salvation is not a matter of shame, but is also the cause of resplendent glory, and of a greater glory than that which comes through works.

For since to be saved with shame carried with it a certain despondency, he now removes this suspicion as well.

And indeed he had already hinted at this, when he called it not merely salvation but also righteousness.

For 'the righteousness of God,' he says, 'is revealed in it.'

For he who is thus saved is saved as a righteous man, with boldness.

And not righteousness only, but also a demonstration of God.

But God demonstrates himself in things glorious, resplendent, and great.

Nevertheless he establishes this also from what has already been set forth, advancing his argument by way of question, which he is always accustomed to do both for the sake of clarity and to give confidence in what is said.

For indeed he did so above as well, saying, 'What advantage then has the Jew?'

and, 'What then? Are we better than they?'; and again, 'Where then is the boasting? It is excluded.'

and here, 'What then shall we say of Abraham our father?' For since the Jews were constantly turning this over, that the patriarch and friend of God was the first to receive circumcision, he wishes to show that even he was justified by faith.

which was the abundance of a great victory.

For that one who has no works should be justified by faith is nothing surprising.

but that one abounding in good deeds should become righteous not from these, but from faith, this was the wonder, and that which especially displays the strength of faith.

Therefore, passing by all the others, he brings his argument up to this man.

And he called him father according to the flesh, casting them out from genuine kinship with him, and preparing the way for the nations' close relationship with him.

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has ground for boasting, but not before God.

namely, that God justifies the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith; and having established this sufficiently in what went before, he shows it through Abraham even more fully than he had promised, and sets faith in contest against works, and stakes the whole struggle upon the righteous man.

Wherefore also he greatly honours him by calling him forefather, and lays upon them the necessity of obeying him in all things.

For do not, he says, name to me the Jew, nor bring forward into the midst this man or that.

for I go up to the summit of all, and to the very source from which circumcision took its beginning.

For if Abraham, he says, was justified by works, he has ground for boasting, but not before God.

It is therefore necessary to make this clearer.

For there are two kinds of boasting: the one from works, the other from faith.

Having said, then, 'If he was justified by works, he has ground for boasting, but not before God,' he showed that from faith too one may have ground for boasting, and that far greater.

For the great power of Paul is shown especially in this, that he turned the matter round to the opposite, and that very thing which salvation by works possessed—namely, boasting and speaking with boldness—he showed to belong far more to faith.

For he who boasts in works has his own labours to put forward.

but he who glories in having believed God displays a far greater occasion for boasting, inasmuch as he has glorified and magnified the Lord.

For those things which the nature of visible things did not suggest, these he accepted from his faith in Him, and thereby both displayed his genuine love toward Him and gloriously proclaimed His power.

And this belongs to a most noble soul, a philosophic disposition, and a lofty mind.

For not to steal and not to murder belongs even to ordinary men.

but to believe that God can do things impossible requires a great and generous soul, and one deeply devoted to Him.

for this too is a sign of genuine love.

For he who fulfils the commandments does indeed honour God, but much more does this man who lives philosophically through faith.

for the former obeyed Him, while the latter received a fitting opinion concerning Him, and glorified and marvelled at Him far more than by the display of works.

That boasting, then, belongs to the one who has done rightly; but this glorifies God, and is wholly His.

for he boasts in conceiving great things concerning Him, which pass over into His glory.

For this reason he says that his boasting is toward God.

and not for this reason only, but also for another.

For the believer boasts again, not only that he loved God genuinely, but also that he enjoyed much honour and love from Him.

For just as he himself loved Him, having conceived great things concerning Him.

so also God loved him, though he was liable to ten thousand charges, not only delivering him from punishment, but also making him righteous. He has, therefore, ground for boasting, as one counted worthy of a great love.

For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness.'

'Now to him who works, the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt.'

'Is not this, then, the greater thing?' one may say. By no means.

For to the believer also it is reckoned.

and it would not have been reckoned, unless he too had contributed something.

So that this man too has God as his debtor, and not a debtor for trifling things, but for great and lofty matters.

For to show his greatness of mind and his spiritual understanding, he did not simply say 'to the believer,' but 'to him who believes on Him that justifies the ungodly.'

'His faith is reckoned for righteousness.'

For consider how great a thing it is to be persuaded and fully assured that God is able suddenly not only to free from punishment this man who has lived in ungodliness, but also to make him righteous, and to count him worthy of those immortal honours.

Do not, therefore, suppose that this man is diminished because it is not reckoned to him according to grace.

For this very thing especially makes the believer illustrious: that he enjoyed so great a grace, that he displayed such faith.

And observe that the recompense too is greater.

For to the one a reward is given, but to this one righteousness.

for righteousness is the recompense most comprehensive of many rewards.

Having shown this, then, from Abraham, he next brings in David also, casting his vote in agreement with what has been said.

What then does David say, and whom does he call blessed? The one abounding in works, or the one who has enjoyed grace, who has obtained forgiveness and a free gift? And when I speak of blessedness, I mean the summit of all good things.

For as righteousness is more than a reward, so blessedness is more than righteousness.

Having shown righteousness to be better, then, not only because Abraham received it, but also from reasonings ('For he has ground for boasting,' he says, 'but not before God').

he in yet another way declares it more venerable, bringing in David to cast his vote for it.

for he too, he says, calls blessed the one thus justified, saying:

'Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven.'

And it seems that he is bringing forward a testimony that does not fit.

'Blessed are they whose faith is reckoned for righteousness.'

But he does this deliberately, not in ignorance, in order that he may show the surpassing greatness the more.

For if he is blessed who has received forgiveness by grace, much more is he who has been justified, and who has displayed faith.

But where there is blessedness, all shame has been done away, and great is the glory; for blessedness is an intensification both of rewards and of glory.

for blessedness is an intensification both of rewards and of glory.

For this reason, that which is the advantage of the one he sets down without a written testimony, saying:

'For to him that works, the reward is not reckoned according to grace';

but that which is the pre-eminence of the believer, this he establishes by a written testimony, saying:

'Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.'

For what do you say, he asks? That not according to debt but according to grace you receive forgiveness? But behold, this is the very one who is called blessed;

and he would not have called him blessed, unless he had also seen him enjoying great glory.

This forgiveness, then, is it upon the circumcision?

But what? Is this blessedness then (which was the greater thing) upon the circumcision, or upon the uncircumcision? For it is now inquired with which of the two this good and great thing stands—whether with the circumcision, or with the uncircumcision.

for he shows that it not only does not flee the uncircumcision, but even dwells fondly with it before the circumcision.

For since he who pronounced the blessing, David himself, was also within the circumcision, and was conversing with those in the circumcision, observe how earnestly Paul contended to bring what was said over to the uncircumcised.

For having joined the blessedness to the righteousness, and having shown the two to be one, he inquires how Abraham was justified.

For if the blessedness belongs to the righteous man, and Abraham was justified, let us see how he was justified—being uncircumcised or being within the circumcision.

How then was it reckoned? While he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

Having said above 'For what does the Scripture say?' he asks,

'Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness'—here he further takes up the judgement even of those who make the objection, and shows that the righteousness came to be in the uncircumcision.

Then from these things he resolves another objection that arises;

for if, being uncircumcised, he says, he was justified, for what purpose did circumcision come in afterwards? He received, he says, a sign and a seal of the righteousness which came to him through the faith he had while he was uncircumcised.

Do you see how he showed the Jews to be, as it were, in the rank of hangers-on? Or rather, that these too, who are in circumcision, are but appended to those in uncircumcision? For if he was justified while uncircumcised and was crowned, but afterwards received circumcision, and afterwards the Jews came in, then Abraham is first the father of the uncircumcised who belong to him through faith, and only then of those in circumcision;

for he is a twofold forefather.

Do you see faith shining forth? For until it came, the patriarch was not justified.

Do you see the uncircumcision in no way hindering? For indeed he was uncircumcised, and was not prevented from being justified.

Circumcision therefore is later than faith.

And why do you marvel that circumcision is later than faith, when it is even later than the uncircumcision? And it is not only later than faith, but far inferior to it also,

and inferior in as great a degree as the sign is inferior to the very thing whereof it is a sign;

just as, for example, the seal of the soldier.

And for what purpose, one asks, did he need a seal? It was not he himself who needed it.

For what purpose then did he receive it? That he might become a common father both of those who believe through uncircumcision and of those in circumcision;

but not simply of those in circumcision;

'to those who are not of the circumcision only.'

For if he is a father of the uncircumcised—not because he is uncircumcised is he for that reason their father, though indeed he was justified in uncircumcision, but because they emulated his faith—much more will he not be the forefather of the circumcised on account of the circumcision, unless faith also be added.

For he received circumcision, he says, that both parties might have him as their forefather, and that the uncircumcised might not thrust away those in circumcision.

Do you see how these first had him as forefather? But if circumcision is honourable because it proclaims righteousness, no small precedence has the uncircumcision also, in that it received that righteousness before the circumcision;

you will then be able to have him as forefather, when you walk in the footsteps of faith, and neither contend nor stir up strife by bringing in the Law.

Of what faith, tell me? Of that in the uncircumcision.

Again he abases the Jewish pride, reminding them of the time of the righteousness.

And he said well, 'In the footsteps,' that you might believe, like him, in the resurrection of dead bodies.

For indeed that one also displayed his faith concerning this;

so that if you cast out the uncircumcision, learn clearly that there is no profit to you, not even from circumcision.

For unless you follow the footsteps of faith, though you be circumcised ten thousand times over, you will not be a descendant of Abraham;

since for this very reason he received circumcision also, that you who are in uncircumcision might not be cast out.

Do not, then, demand this of him also;

for the matter became a help to you, not to him.

But it is a sign of righteousness, he says.

And this too was for your sake, since now it is not even that;

for then you had need of bodily signs, but now there is no need of these.

For from his faith, he says, was it not possible to discern the virtue of his soul? It was indeed possible, but you had need of this addition also.

For since you did not emulate the virtue of the soul, nor were able to see it, the perceptible circumcision was given to you, that having practised on this bodily thing, you might little by little be led by the hand even to the philosophy of the soul, and having received it with much diligence as a very great dignity, you might be trained to imitate and to reverence your forefather.

And this God contrived not in circumcision only, but in all the other things also—I mean, for instance, in sacrifices and sabbaths and feasts.

For that he received circumcision for your sake, hear what follows;

for having said that he received a sign and a seal, he sets down the reason also, saying:

'That he might become the father of circumcision'—to those who also take on the spiritual circumcision;

so that if you have this alone, nothing more will accrue to you.

For it is then a sign, when the thing whereof it is a sign appears in you—that is, faith;

since, if you do not have this, the sign can no longer be a sign at all.

For of what will it be a sign, and of what a seal, if there is nothing being sealed? just as if you were to show us a purse bearing a seal, with nothing laid up inside;

so that circumcision is ridiculous, when faith is not within.

For if it is a sign of righteousness, but you have not righteousness, neither have you the sign.

For this cause you received the sign, that you might seek after the thing whereof you have the sign;

since, if you were going to seek after it apart from this, you would have had no need of this.

But circumcision does not proclaim this alone—namely righteousness—but also the righteousness that is in uncircumcision.

Circumcision, therefore, proclaims nothing else than that there is no need of circumcision.

'For if they who are of the Law are heirs,

faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect.'

He showed that faith is necessary, that it is older than circumcision, that it is mightier than the Law, that it establishes the Law.

For if all have sinned, it is necessary;

if, being uncircumcised, he was justified, it is older;

if through the Law comes the knowledge of sin, but it has been manifested apart from the Law, it is mightier.

If faith is attested by the Law and itself establishes the Law, then it is not opposed to the Law, but is its friend and ally.

He shows again, and from another quarter, that it was not even possible to receive the inheritance by means of the Law.

And having set it side by side with circumcision, and having carried off the prize of victory, he once more marshals it against the Law, speaking thus:

For if they which are of the Law be heirs, faith is made void.

For lest anyone should say that it is possible both to have faith and to keep the Law, he shows that this is impossible.

For he who clings to the Law as though it saves, dishonours the power of faith.

That is to say, there is no need of the salvation that comes by grace;

for it cannot even display its own strength;

and the promise is rendered void.

For indeed the Jew might perhaps say:

What need have I of faith? If then this be true, together with faith the things of the promise also are done away.

See how in all these things he contends from the very beginning, starting from the patriarch.

For having shown from that source that righteousness is jointly allotted to faith, he shows that the promise likewise is.

For lest the Jew should say:

'What does it matter to me if Abraham was justified through faith?' Paul says that it does concern you, since the promise of the inheritance cannot come into effect apart from that faith;

And what promise, he asks? That he should be heir of the world, and that in him all should be blessed.

And how, he asks, is this promise rendered void?

Because the Law works wrath;

for where there is no law, neither is there transgression.

But if it works wrath and makes men liable to transgression, it is plain that it makes them liable to the curse as well;

and those who are under the curse and punishment and transgression are not worthy to inherit, but rather to pay the penalty and be cast out.

What then comes to pass? Faith comes, drawing grace along with it, so that the promise may go forth into effect. For where there is grace, there is remission;

and where there is remission, there is no punishment;

and punishment being done away, and righteousness supervening from faith, there is nothing to hinder us from becoming heirs of the promise that is from faith.

For this reason, he says, it is of faith, that it might be according to grace; to the end that the promise of God might be sure to all the seed, not to that which is of the Law only, but also to that which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

Do you see that faith not only establishes the Law, but also does not allow the promise of God to fall to the ground;

whereas the Law, on the contrary, both nullifies faith when it is kept out of due season, and hinders the promise? Through these things he shows that faith is not only not superfluous, but so necessary that without it one cannot even be saved.

For the Law indeed works wrath;

for all transgressed it;

but faith does not even allow the wrath to arise in the first place;

For where there is no law, he says, neither is there transgression.

Do you see how it not only abolishes sin once it has come into being, but does not even allow it to sprout up? For this reason he says:

To what end? Not that they might be put to shame, but that the promise might be sure to all the seed.

Here he sets down two good things: that what is given is both sure, and to all the seed—thereby bringing in with them those of the Gentiles, and showing that the Jews are shut out, if they wrangle against faith.

For this is more sure than that;

for faith does you no harm—do not wrangle—but even rescues you when you are in danger from the Law.

Then, since he had said 'to all the seed,' he defines to what kind of seed.

'To that which is of faith,' he says, joining kinship with the Gentiles, and showing that those who do not believe as he did cannot even pride themselves upon Abraham.

Behold, faith has wrought yet a third thing;

for it made the kinship with the righteous man more exact, and declared him to be the forefather of more numerous descendants;

wherefore he did not say simply 'Abraham,' but 'the father of us who believe.'

Then, sealing what has been said with the testimony, he says, 'Even as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations.'

Do you see these things ordered from on high? What then, one says, if he says this concerning the Ishmaelites, or the Amalekites, or the Hagarenes? This indeed, as he proceeds, he shows more clearly not to have been spoken concerning those peoples;

for the present he presses on to another point, through which he also shows this very thing, defining the manner of such kinship, and doing so with much care.

For what does he say? 'Before Him whom he believed, even God.'

And what he says is of this kind:

Just as God is not a partial God, but the Father of all, so too is Abraham himself.

And again: Just as God is a Father not according to natural kinship, but according to the appropriation of faith, so too is Abraham himself;

for it is obedience that makes him the father of us all.

For since they thought this kinship to be nothing, clinging to that grosser one, he shows this to be the more authoritative, tracing it up to God the Word.

And along with these things he also intimates this: that Abraham received this as the recompense of his faith;

so that, unless this be so, even were he father of all who dwell upon the earth, the word 'before Him' finds no place, but the gift of God is mutilated;

for 'before Him' means 'in like manner.'

For where is the wonder, tell me, in being father of those born of him? For this every man among us possesses.

For the marvel is this: that those whom he did not have by nature, these he received from the gift of God.

So that, if you wish to believe that the patriarch was honoured, believe that he is the father of all.

And having said, 'Before Him whom he believed, even God,' he did not stop there, but went on to add:

'Who quickens the dead, and calls the things that are not as though they were';

already laying beforehand the foundation of the discourse concerning the resurrection.

And it was also serviceable to the matter set before him.

For if it is possible for Him to quicken the dead, and to bring forth the things that are not as though they were, it is possible for Him also to make those who were not begotten of Abraham to be his children.

For this reason he did not say, 'And bringing forth the things that are not as though they were,' but 'calling'—thereby signifying the greater ease.

For just as it is easy for us to call the things that are, so for Him it is easy—and far easier—to give substance to the things that are not.

And having spoken of the gift of God as being great and unutterable, and having discoursed concerning His power, he shows also that Abraham's faith was worthy of the gift, lest you should suppose that he was honoured to no purpose.

And having roused up the hearer, lest the Jew be troubled, or doubt and say, 'And how is it possible for those who were not children to become children?' he shifts the discourse to the patriarch, and says:

'Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken:'

'So shall thy seed be.'

How did he against hope believe in hope? Against human hope, in the hope that is of God.

For he shows both the greatness of the matter, and does not allow what is said to be disbelieved;

which things are contrary to one another, yet faith blended them together.

But if he were speaking of those descended from Israel, this saying would be superfluous;

for they were born not according to faith, but according to nature.

But he brings Isaac also into the midst;

for it was not on behalf of those Gentiles that he believed, but concerning the one who was to come from the barren woman.

If, then, the reward is to become the father of many nations, it is clear that it refers to those nations on whose behalf he believed.

That you may learn that he is speaking of these, listen to what follows:

'And not being weak in faith, he considered not his own body now already dead, when he was about a hundred years old, nor yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.'

Do you see how he sets forth both the obstacles and the lofty resolve of the righteous man that overcame them all? 'Beyond hope,' he says, was that which was promised;

for he had no other Abraham to look to who had received a child in such a manner.

For those who came after him looked to him;

but he looked to no one, save to God alone.

Wherefore also he said, 'Beyond hope.'

Then, the body already dead;

and the deadness of Sarah's womb;

this too, a third and a fourth thing.

'But at the promise of God he wavered not through unbelief.'

For God gave no demonstration, nor did He work any sign, but there were bare words alone, promising the very things which nature did not warrant.

Yet nonetheless, 'He wavered not,' he says.

He did not say, 'He disbelieved not,' but 'He wavered not';

that is, he neither hesitated nor doubted, and that though the obstacles were so many.

From this we learn that even should God promise things impossible without number, and the hearer receive them not, the weakness lies not in the nature of the things, but in the folly of him who receives them not.

For since the discourse was about those who work and those who believe, he shows that the one who believes works more than the other, and needs greater power and much strength, and endures no ordinary toil.

For they made light of faith as though it involved no toil.

Setting himself, then, against this, he shows that not only he who achieves chastity or some other such virtue, but also he who displays faith, has need of greater power.

For just as the former has need of strength that he may beat off the reasonings of licentiousness,

so also the latter has need of a mighty soul, that he may thrust away the notions of unbelief.

How, then, did he become strong? 'By faith,' he says, having committed the matter not to reasonings.

And how did he achieve this very faith? 'By giving glory to God,' he says, 'and being fully persuaded that what He had promised He was able also to perform.'

So then, not to be over-curious is to glorify God, just as to be over-curious is to transgress.

And if we, by being over-curious and inquisitive about things below, fail to give glory, much more shall we, by prying into the birth of the Master, suffer the utmost penalties as those who commit outrage.

For if we ought not to inquire into the manner of the resurrection, much more into those ineffable and awful things.

And he did not say simply 'having believed,' but 'being fully persuaded.'

For such is faith: clearer than the demonstration that comes from reasonings, and more persuasive;

for it is not possible that another reasoning, coming in upon it, should thereafter shake it.

For he who is persuaded by arguments can also be persuaded to change his mind;

but he who is established by faith has thenceforth walled off his hearing against the words that would corrupt it.

Having said, then, that he was justified by faith, he shows that he also glorified God by faith;

which is most especially the mark of a good life.

'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.'

Behold, this was shown to belong to faith.

And again, just as works have need of power, so also does faith.

For in the case of works, oftentimes the body too shares in the sweat;

but there the achievement belongs to the naked soul.

So that the toil is the greater, when it has not even the body to share the struggles with it.

Do you see how he has shown that all that belonged to works pertains, with even greater abundance, to faith — such as glorying before God, having need of power and toil, and again glorifying God? And having said, 'That what He had promised He was able also to perform,' he seems to me to be proclaiming beforehand something concerning the things to come;

for He promised not only present things, but also things to come.

So then, not to believe is the mark of a feeble and petty and wretched mind.

Wherefore, when some accuse us for our faith, let us in turn accuse them for their unbelief, as being wretched and faint-hearted and senseless and weak, and in no wise better disposed than asses.

For just as to believe is the mark of a lofty and nobly-gifted soul,

so to disbelieve is the mark of a most irrational and mean soul, one sunk down to the senselessness of the brutes.

Wherefore, leaving these, let us emulate the patriarch, and glorify God, even as he gave glory to Him.

And what is it, 'He gave Him glory'? He pondered upon His righteousness, His boundless power;

and having formed a fitting conception concerning Him, he was thus fully persuaded concerning the promises.

Let us, too, therefore glorify Him, both by faith and by works, that we may also receive as our reward to be glorified by Him;

for 'Those who glorify Me I will glorify,' He says.

And indeed, even were no reward laid up, this very thing were glory — to be counted worthy to glorify God.

For if men, when uttering praises to kings, pride themselves on this very thing alone, even though there be nothing else to be gained;

consider how great glory it would be that our Master should be glorified because of us — even as it is punishment that He should be blasphemed because of us;

and yet even this very being glorified He wills to come about for our sakes;

for He Himself has no need of the thing.

For how great do you think the distance is between God and men? Is it as great as that between men and worms?

But I have as yet said nothing, even in placing so great a distance between;

for it is not even possible to tell how great it is.

Would you, then, be willing to have great and splendid glory among worms? By no means.

If, then, you who are a lover of glory would not be willing to have this;