Vv. 8, 9. And if they shall be in chains, and be bound with the cords of poverty, he will show them their works, and their wicked deeds, because they have been violent. 55. The saints reckon themselves bound in chains so long as they live here.—The chains of obligation are this very present holding-back of our pilgrimage. Paul had seen himself bound with these chains when he said: 'Having a desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ' (Phil. 1:23). He perceived himself bound with the cords of poverty when, gazing on the true riches, he besought them even for the disciples, saying: 'That you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints' (Eph. 1:18). And well is it added after these words:
He will show them their works, and their wicked deeds, because they have been violent. For when, by loving the supernal glory, we come to know it, then we perceive that the evils we have done were more grievous. Whence also Paul, after receiving the grace of heavenly things, recognized that those pursuits of virtue which he had believed to be in himself had now been wicked deeds, saying: 'Who before was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and contumelious; but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief' (1 Tim. 1:13). Or certainly: 'But the things that were gain to me, the same I have counted loss for Christ' (Phil. 3:7). Whence also it is fittingly added: