12. But now, that as bearing
with the infirmity of men he did this, let us hear what follows:
“For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself
servant unto all, that I might gain the more. To them that are
under the law, I became as under the law, that I might gain them
that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without
law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,)
that I might gain them that are without law.”2505
Which thing he did, not with
craftiness of simulation, but with
mercy of
compassion with others;
that is, not as if to
feign himself a
Jew, as some have thought, in
that he observed at
Jerusalem the things prescribed by the old
law.
2506
| 2506 S. Jerome in Ep. inter
Augustinianas, 75, n. 9–11. |
For he did
this in accordance with his free and openly declared sentence, in
which he says, “Is any called being circumcised? let him not
become
uncircumcised.” That is, let him not so
live, as though he
had become
uncircumcised, and covered that which he had laid bare:
as in another place he saith, “Thy
circumcision is become
uncircumcision.”
2507
It was in accordance then with
this his sentence, in which he saith, “Is any called being
circumcised? let him not become
uncircumcised. Is any called in
uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised;”
2508
that he did those things, in
which, by persons not understanding and not enough attending, he
has been accounted to have feigned. For he was a
Jew, and was
called being circumcised; therefore he would not become
uncircumcised; that is, would not so
live as if he had not been
circumcised. For this he now had in his
power to do. And
“under” the
law, indeed, he was not as they who servilely
wrought it; but yet “in” the
law of
God and of
Christ. For that
law was not one, and the
law of
God another, as accursed Manicheans
are wont to say. Otherwise, if when he did those things he is to be
accounted to have feigned, then he feigned himself also a pagan,
and sacrificed to
idols, because he says that he became to those
without
law, as without
law. By whom, doubtless, he would have us
to understand no other than Gentiles whom we call Pagans. It is one
thing therefore to be under the
law, another in the
law, another
without
law. “Under the
law,” the
carnal Jews; “in the
law,”
spiritual men, both
Jews and
Christians; (whence the former
kept that
custom of their fathers, but did not impose unwonted
burdens upon the believing Gentiles; and therefore they also were
circumcised;) but “without
law,” are the Gentiles which have
not yet believed, to whom yet the
Apostle testifieth himself to
have become like, through sympathy of a merciful
heart, not
simulation of a changeable exterior; that is, that he might in that
way succor
carnal Jew or Pagan, in which way himself, if he were
that, would have wished to be succored: bearing, to wit, their
infirmity, in likeness of
compassion, not deceiving in fiction of
lying; as he straightway goes on, and says, “I became to the
weak
as
weak, that I might
gain the
weak.”
2509
For it was from this point that he
was speaking, in saying all those other things. As then, that he
became to the
weak as
weak, was no
lie; so all those other things
above rehearsed. For what doth he mean his
weakness towards the
weak to have been, but that of suffering with them, insomuch that,
lest he should appear to be a seller of the
Gospel, and by falling
into an
ill suspicion with ignorant men, should
hinder the
course of
God’s word, he would not accept what by warrant of the
Lord was his due? Which if he were willing to accept, he would not
in any
wise lie, because it was truly due to him; and for that he
would not, he did not in any
wise lie. For he did not say, it was
not due; but he showed it to be due, and that being due he had not
used it, and professed that he would not at all use it, in that
very thing becoming
weak; namely, in that he would not use his
power; being, to wit, with so merciful affection endued, that he
thought in what way he should wish to be dealt withal, if himself
also were made so weak, that possibly, if he should see them by
whom the Gospel was preached to him, accepting their charges, he
might think it a bringing of wares to market, and hold them in
suspicion accordingly.
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