Homily
X.
2 Cor. v. 1
For we know, that if the earthly house of our
tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not
made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
Again he arouses
their zeal because many trials drew on652
. For it was likely that they, in
consequence of his absence, were weaker in respect to this
[need]. What then saith he? One ought not to wonder that we
suffer affliction; nor to be
confounded, for we even
reap many
gains thereby. And some of these he mentioned before; for
instance, that we “bear about the dying of
Jesus,” and present
the greatest
proof of His
power: for he says, “that the
exceeding greatness of the
power may be of
God:” and we exhibit
a clear
proof of the Resurrection, for, says he, “that the
life
of
Jesus may be manifested in our
mortal flesh.” But since
along with these things he said that our inward man is thus made
better also; for “though our outward man is decaying,” saith
he, “yet the inward man is
renewed day by day;” showing again
that this being
scourged and
persecuted is proportionately useful,
he adds, that when this is done thoroughly, then the countless good
things will spring up for those who have
endured these things.
For lest when thou hearest that thy outward man
perishes, thou
shouldest
grieve; he says, that when this is completely effected,
then most of all shalt thou
rejoice and shalt come unto a better
inheritance
653
. So that
not only ought not one to
grieve at its perishing now in part, but
even earnestly to
seek for the completion of that
destruction, for
this most
conducts thee to immortality. Wherefore also he added,
“For we know, that if the earthly
house of our
tabernacle be
dissolved: we have a
building from
God, a
house not made with
hands,
eternal in the heavens.” For since he is urging
654
again the
doctrine of the Resurrection in respect to which they were
particularly unsound; he calls in aid the
judgment of his hearers
also, and so establishes it; not however in the same way as before,
but, as it were, arriving at it out of another subject: (for they
had been already corrected:) and says, “We know that if the
earthly
house of our
tabernacle be dissolved, we have a
building
from
God, a
house not made with
hands,
eternal in the heavens.”
Some indeed say that the ‘earthly
house’ is this
world; But I
should maintain that he alludes rather to the body.
655
| 655 [In this view that the building from God is the
resurrection body, Chrysostom has the support of nearly all the
recent expositors—Hodge indeed contends stoutly and ably that the
house not made with hands is heaven itself, yet not with success.
For if the earthly house is a body, the heavenly house must be one
also, else the comparison fails much in force and point; moreover,
a body which is said to be now in heaven and afterwards to come
from heaven can hardly be identical with heaven. C.] |
But
observe, I
pray, how by the terms [he uses,] he shows the
superiority of the future things to the present. For having said
“earthly” he hath opposed to it “the heavenly;” having
said, “
house of
tabernacle,” thereby declaring both that it is
easily taken to pieces and is temporary, he hath opposed to it the
“
eternal,” for the name “
tabernacle” often times denotes
temporariness. Wherefore He saith, “In My
Father’s
house are
many
abiding places.” (
John xiv. 2.) But if He anywhere also
calls the resting places of the
saints tabernacles; He calls them
not
tabernacles simply, but adds an epithet; for he said not, that
“they may receive you” into their
tabernacles, but “into the
eternal tabernacles.” (
Luke xvi. 9.) Moreover also in
that he said, “not made with
hands,” he alluded to that which
was made with
hands. What then? Is the body made with
hands?
By no means; but he either alludes to the
houses here that are made
with
hands, or if not this, then he called the body which is not
made with
hands, ’a
house of
tabernacle.’ For he has not used
the term in antithesis and contradistinction
656
| 656 πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολήν
ἀντέθηκεν. |
to this, but to heighten those
eulogies and swell those commendations.
[2.] Ver. 2. “For verily in this we
groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from
heaven.”
What habitation? tell me. The incorruptible
body. And why do we groan now? Because that is far better.
And “from heaven” he calls it because of its
incorruptibleness. For it is not surely that a body will come
down to us from above: but by this expression he signifies the grace which is
sent from thence. So far then ought we to be from grieving at
these trials which are in part that we ought to seek even for their
fulness657
, as if he
had said: Groanest thou, that thou art
persecuted, that this thy
man is decaying?
Groan that this is not done unto excess and that
it
perishes not entirely. Seest thou how he hath turned round
what was said unto the contrary; having
proved that they ought to
groan that those things were not done fully; for which because they
were done partially; they
groaned. Therefore he henceforth calls
it not a
tabernacle, but a
house, and with great reason. For a
tabernacle indeed is easily taken to pieces; but a
house abideth
continually.
Ver. 3. “If so be that
being unclothed658
| 658 ἐκδυσάμενοι. This doubtless was what St.
Chrysostom wrote, as appears from what follows; but the mss. all agree in reading ἐνδυσάμενοι, as the
Rec. text of the N.T. reads in the Epistle. |
we shall not
be found
naked.”
That is, even if we have put off the body, we shall
not be presented there without a body, but even with the same one
made incorruptible. But some read, and it deserves very much to
be adopted, “If so be that being clothed we shall not be found
naked.” For lest all should be confident because of the
Resurrection, he says, “If so be that being clothed,” that is,
having obtained incorruption and an incorruptible body, “we shall
not be found naked” of glory and safety. As he also said in the
former Epistle; “We shall all be raised; but each in his own
order.” And, “There are celestial bodies, and bodies
terrestial.” (1 Cor. xv. 22; 23.) (ib. 40.) For the Resurrection
indeed is common to all, but the glory is not common; but some
shall rise in honor and others in dishonor, and some to a kingdom
but others to punishment. This surely he signified here also,
when he said; “If so be that being clothed we shall not be found
naked.”
[3.] Ver. 4. “For indeed we that
are in this tabernacle do groan659
| 659 “Being burdened,” Rec. text, which St.
Chrysostom omits. |
, not for that we would be
unclothed, but that we would be
clothed upon.” Here again he
hath utterly and manifestly stopped the mouths of the
heretics,
showing that he is not speaking absolutely of a body differing in
identity
660
, but of
corruption and incorruption: ‘For we do not therefore
groan,’
saith he, ‘that we may be
delivered from the body: for of this
we do not wish to be unclothed; but we hasten to be
delivered from
the
corruption that is in it.’ Wherefore he saith, ‘we wish
not to be unclothed of the body, but that it should be
clothed upon
with incorruption.’ Then he also
interprets it [thus,] “That
what is
mortal may be
swallowed up of
life.” For since putting
off the body appeared to many a grievous thing; and he was
contradicting the judgments of all, when he said, “we
groan,”
not wishing to be set free from it; (‘for if,’ says one, ‘the
soul in being separated from it so
suffers and laments, how sayest
thou that we
groan because we are not separated from it?’) lest
then this should be urged against him, he says, ‘Neither do I
assert that we therefore
groan, that we may put it off; (for no one
putteth it off without
pain, seeing that
Christ says even of Peter,
‘They shall “carry thee,” and lead thee “whither thou
wouldest not;”—
John xxi. 18.) but that we may have
it
clothed upon with incorruption.’ For it is in this respect
that we are burdened by the body; not because it is a body, but
because we are encompassed with a corruptible body and liable to
suffering
661
, for it is
this that also causes us
pain. But the
life when it arriveth
destroyeth and useth up the
corruption; the
corruption, I say, not
the body. ‘And how cometh this to pass?’ saith one. Inquire
not;
God doeth it; be not too
curious. Wherefore also he
added,
Ver. 5.
“Now he that hath wrought us for this very thing is God.”
Hereby he shows that these things were prefigured
from the first. For not now was this decreed: but when at the
first He fashioned us from earth and created Adam; for not for this
created He him, that he should die, but that He might make him even
immortal. Then as showing the credibility of this and furnishing
the proof of it, he added,
“Who also gave the earnest of the
Spirit.” For even then He fashioned us for this; and now He
hath wrought unto this by baptism, and hath furnished us with no
light security thereof, the Holy Spirit. And he continually calls
It an earnest, wishing to prove God to be a debtor of the662
| 662 ὁφειλέτην τοῦ παντὸς. |
whole, and
thereby also to make what he says more credible unto the grosser
sort.
663
| 663 [The argument of these verses is thus
presented by Beet, in lo. “By Christians now death is
looked upon without terrible recoil, as being the only entrance
into Life. We bow to the inevitable. But in the early
Christians the possibility of surviving the coming of Christ woke
up with new intensity man’s natural love of life, and made death
seem very dark. They therefore longed eagerly for Christ’s
return, hoping thus to clothe themselves with immortal raiment
without laying aside their mortal bodies. This yearning for an
immortal body, Paul felt to be divinely implanted, and therefore
not doomed to disappointment. But the possibility of death was to
Paul too real to be ignored. Therefore, in view of it, his
yearning for an immortal body assured him that if his present body
be removed by death a heavenly body awaits him. For otherwise, he
will stand before Christ as a naked spirit, in utter contradiction
to yearnings which he felt to be divine and of whose realization he
had a divine pledge. In other words his instinctive clinging to
his present body was to him a divine intimation that when Christ
comes we shall not be naked spirits, but spirits clothed in bodies;
and was therefore a proof that if our present body be removed by
death a heavenly and eternal body awaits us. Thus a purely human
instinct, not weakened but intensified by Christianity, and
sanctified by the felt presence of the Holy Spirit, is seen to be a
prophecy of God’s purpose concerning us. Similar argument
in Romans viii.
23.” C] |
[4.] Ver. 6. “Being therefore always
of good courage, and knowing.”
The word “of
good courage” is used with reference to the persecutions, the
plottings, and the continual deaths: as if he had said, ‘Doth
any vex and persecute and slay thee? Be not cast down, for thy
good all is done. Be not afraid: but of good courage. For
that which thou groanest and grievest for, that thou art in bondage
to corruption, he removes from henceforward out of the way, and
frees thee the sooner from this bondage.’ Wherefore also he
saith, “Being therefore always of good courage,” not in the
seasons of rest only, but also in those of tribulation; “and
knowing,”
Ver. 7, 8. “That whilst we are at
home in the body, we are absent from the Lord (for we walk by
faith, not by sight); we are of good courage, I say, and are
willing to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the
Lord.”
That which is greater than all he has put
last, for to be with Christ is better, than receiving an
incorruptible [body.] But what he means is this: ‘He
quencheth not our life that warreth against and killeth us; be not
afraid; be of good courage even when hewn in pieces. For not only
doth he set thee free from corruption and a burden, but he also
sendeth thee quickly to the Lord.’ Wherefore neither did he
say, “whilst we ‘are’ in the body:” as of those who are
in a foreign and strange land. “Knowing therefore that whilst
we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: we are
of good courage, I say, and willing to be absent from the body, and
to be at home with the Lord.” Seest thou how keeping back what
was painful, the names of death and the end, he has employed
instead of them such as excite great longing664
, calling them presence with
God;
and passing over those things which are accounted to be sweet, the
things of
life, he hath expressed them by
painful names, calling
the
life here an absence from the
Lord? Now this he did, both
that no one might fondly linger amongst present things, but rather
be aweary of them; and that none when about to
die might be
disquieted
665
, but might
even
rejoice as departing unto greater goods. Then that none
might say on hearing that we are absent from the
Lord, ‘Why
speakest thou thus? Are we then estranged from Him whilst we are
here?’ he in anticipation corrected
666
such a thought, saying, “For we
walk by
faith, not by sight.” Even here indeed we know Him, but
not so clearly. As he says also elsewhere, (
1 Cor. xiii. 12.) “in a mirror,” and
“darkly.”
“We are of good courage, I say, and willing.”
Wonderful! to what hath he brought round the discourse? To an
extreme desire of death, having shown the grievous to be
pleasurable, and the pleasurable grievous. For by the term, “we
are willing” he means, ‘we are desirous.’ Of what are we
desirous? Of being “absent from the body, and at home with the
Lord.” And thus he does perpetually, (as I showed also before)
turning round the objection of his opponents unto the very
contrary.
Ver. 9.
“Wherefore also we make it our aim whether at home or absent, to
be well pleasing unto him.”
‘For what we seek for is this,’ saith he,
‘whether we be there or here, to live according to His will; for
this is the principal thing. So that by this thou hast the
kingdom already in possession without a probation.’ For lest
when they had arrived at so great a desire of being there, they
should again be disquieted at its being so long first, in this he
gives them already the chief667
of those good things. And what is
this? To be well “pleasing.” For as to depart is not
absolutely good, but to do so in [
God’s]
favor, which is what
makes departing also become a good; so to remain here is not
absolutely grievous, but to remain offending Him. Deem not then
that departure from the body is enough; for
virtue is always
necessary. For as when he spoke of a Resurrection, he allowed
[them] not by it alone to be of good
courage, saying, “If so be
that being
clothed we shall not be found
naked;” so also having
showed a departure, lest thou shouldest think that this is enough
to
save thee, he added that it is needful that we be well
pleasing.
[5.] Seeing then he has persuaded them by
many good things, henceforth he alarms them also by those of
gloomier aspect668
. For our
interest consists both in the attainment of the good things and the
avoidance of the
evil things, in other words,
hell and the
kingdom. But since this, the avoiding of
punishment, is the more
forcible motive; for where penalty reaches only to the not
receiving good things, the most will bear this contentedly; but if
it also extend to the suffering of
evil, do so no longer: (for
they ought, indeed, to consider the former intolerable, but from
the
weakness and grovelling
nature of the many, the latter appears
to them more hard to bear:) since then (I say) the giving of the
good things doth not so arouse the general hearer as the
threat of
the punishments, he is obliged to conclude with this,
saying,
Ver. 10. “For we must all be made
manifest before the judgment-seat.”
Then having alarmed and shaken669
the hearer
by the mention of that
judgment-seat, he hath not even here set down the woful
without the good things, but hath mingled something of
pleasure,
saying,
“That each one may receive the things done
in the body,” as many670
| 670 So Chrysostom here, but below with the Received
text, “according to that,” &c. |
as “he hath done, whether” it
be “good or bad.”
By saying these words, he both reviveth671
those who
have done virtuously and are
persecuted with those hopes, and
maketh those who have fallen back more earnest by that
fear. And
he thus confirmed his words touching the resurrection of the
body. ‘For surely,’ sayeth he, ‘that which hath
ministered
to the one and to the other shall not stand excluded from the
recompenses: but along with the
soul shall in the one case be
punished, in the other
crowned.’ But some of the
heretics say,
that it is another body that is
raised. How so? tell me. Did
one
sin, and is another
punished? Did one do virtuously, and is
another
crowned? And what will ye answer to
Paul, saying, “We
would not be unclothed, but
clothed upon?” And how is that
which is
mortal “
swallowed up of
life?” For he said not, that
the
mortal or corruptible body should be
swallowed up of the
incorruptible body; but that
corruption [should be
swallowed up]
“of
life.” For then this happeneth when the same body is
raised; but if, giving up that body, He should prepare another, no
longer is
corruption swallowed up but continueth dominant.
Therefore this is not so; but “this corruptible,” that is to
say the body, “must put on incorruption.” For the body is in
a middle
state672
, being at
present in this and hereafter to be in that; and for this reason in
this first, because it is
impossible for the incorruption to be
dissolved. “For neither doth
corruption inherit
incorruption,” saith he, (for, how is it [then] incorruption?)
but on the contrary, “
corruption is
swallowed up of
life:”
for this indeed survives the other, but not the other this. For
as
wax is melted by
fire but itself doth not melt the
fire: so
also doth
corruption melt and
vanish away under incorruption, but
is never able itself to get the better of incorruption.
[6.] Let us then hear the voice of Paul,
saying, that “we must stand at the judgment-seat of Christ;”
and let us picture to ourselves that court of justice, and imagine
it to be present now and the reckoning to be required673
. For I
will speak of it more at large. For
Paul, seeing that he was
discoursing on
affliction, and he had no
mind to
afflict them
again, did not dwell on the subject; but having in brief expressed
its austerity
674
, “Each one
shall receive according to what he hath done,” he quickly passed
on. Let us then
imagine it to be present now, and reckon each one
of us with his own conscience, and account the
Judge to be already
present, and everything to be
revealed and brought forth. For we
must not merely stand, but also be manifested. Do ye not blush?
Are ye not astonied? But if now, when the reality is not yet
present, but is granted in supposition merely and imaged in
thought; if now [I say] we
perish conscience-struck; what shall we
do when [it] shall arrive, when the whole
world shall be present,
when
angels and
archangels, when ranks upon ranks, and all hurrying
at once, and some caught up
675
on the
clouds, and an array full of
trembling; when there shall be the
trumpets, one upon another,
[when] those unceasing voices?
For suppose there were no hell, yet in the
midst of so great brightness to be rejected and to go away
dishonored;—how great the punishment! For if even now, when the
Emperor rideth in and his train with him, we contemplating each one
of us our own poverty, derive not so much pleasure from the
spectacle, as we endure dejection at having no share in what is
going on about the Emperor, nor being near the Sovereign; what will
it be then? Or thinkest thou it is a light punishment, not to be
ranked in that company, not to be counted worthy of that
unutterable glory, from that assemblage and those untold good
things, to be cast forth some-wither far and distant? But when
there is also darkness, and gnashing of teeth, and chains
indissoluble, and an undying worm, and fire unquenchable, and
affliction, and straitness, and tongues scorching like the rich
man’s; and we wail, and none heareth; and we groan and gnash our
teeth for anguish, and none regardeth; and we look all round, and
no where is there any to comfort us; where shall we rank those that
are in this condition? what is there more miserable than are those
souls? what more pitiable? For if, when we enter a prison and see
its inmates, some squalid, some chained and famishing, some again
shut up in darkness, we are moved with compassion, we shudder, we
use all diligence that we may never be cast into that place; how
will it be with us, when we are led and dragged away into the
torture-dungeons676
themselves
of
hell? For not of
iron are those
chains, but of
fire that is
never quenched; nor are they that are set over us our fellows whom
it is often possible even to mollify; but
angels whom one may not
so much as look in the face, exceedingly enraged at our insults to
their Master. Nor is it given, as here, to see some bringing in
money, some
food, some words of
comfort, and to meet with
consolation; but all is irremissible there: and though it should
be
Noah, or Job,
or Daniel, and he should see his own
kindred punished, he
dares not
succor. For even
natural sympathy too comes then to be done
away. For since it happeneth that there are
righteous fathers of
wicked children, and [
righteous]
children of [
wicked] fathers; that
so their
pleasure may be unalloyed, and those who
enjoy the good
things may not be moved with
sorrow through the
constraining force
of sympathy, even this sympathy, I
affirm, is extinguished, and
themselves are indignant together with the Master against their own
bowels. For if the common
run of men, when they see their own
children vicious, disown
677
and
cut them off from that
relationship; much rather will the
righteous then. Therefore let
no one
hope for good things, if he have not
wrought any good thing,
even though he have ten
thousand righteous ancestors. “For each
one shall receive the things done in the body according to what he
hath done.” Here he seems to me to be alluding also to them
that
commit fornication: and to raise up as a wall
678
unto them
the
fear of that
world, not however to them alone; but also to all
that in any
wise transgress.
[7.] Let us hear then, us also. And if
thou have the fire of lust, set against it that other fire, and
this will presently be quenched and gone. And if thou purposest
to utter some harsh sounding679
[
speech], think of the gnashing of
teeth, and the
fear will be a
bridle to thee. And if thou
purposest to plunder, hear the
Judge commanding, and saying,
“
Bind him
hand and
foot, and cast him into the outer
darkness,”
(
Matt. xxii.
13.) and thou wilt cast
out this
lust also. And if thou art
drunken, and surfeitest
continually, hear the
rich man saying, ‘Send
Lazarus, that with
the tip of his
finger he may cool this scorching
tongue;’ (
Luke xvi. 24.) yet not obtaining
this; and thou wilt hold thyself aloof from that distemper
680
. But if
thou lovest luxury, think of the
affliction and the straitness
there, and thou wilt not think at all of this. If again thou art
harsh and cruel, bethink thee of those
virgins who when their
lamps
had gone out missed so of the bridal
chamber, and thou wilt quickly
become humane. Or
sluggish art thou, and remiss? Consider him
that hid the
talent, and thou wilt be more
vehement than
fire. Or
doth desire of thy
neighbor’s substance
devour thee? Think of
the
worm that dieth not, and thou wilt easily both put away from
thee this
disease, and in all other things wilt do virtuously.
For He hath enjoined nothing irksome or
oppressive. Whence then
do His injunctions appear irksome to us? From our own
slothfulness. For as if we
labor diligently, even what appears
intolerable will be
light and easy; so if we are
slothful, even
things tolerable will seem to us difficult.
681
| 681 [Chrysostom appears distinctly to accept the
common faith of the church that the things done in the body
(literally, “through the body,” as the channel by which
purposes pass into actions) furnish the basis upon which the last
assize proceeds. He makes no reference to any post mortem
probation, but (on pages 331, 332) asserts the contrary, “Here
the opportunities of salvation exist, but there are found no
longer.” Nor is his view of the retributions of the judgment
inconsistent with his repeated assertions of salvation as wholly
gratuitous. Entrance into eternal life is God’s free gift to
all who believe. But the degree of glory will be measured by the
faithfulness of service, just as the degree of the punishment of
the lost will be by the number and aggravation of their sins.
Hence it follows that although the salvation of any is due to
God’s undeserved favor, still each one that stands at the bar
will receive an exact recompense for his entire conduct in the days
of his flesh. “A remembrance of this exact recompense,” it
has well been said, “will make us comparatively indifferent about
life or death, and emulous so to act as to please our Judge.”
C.] |
Considering then all these things, let us think not
of the luxurious, but what is their end; here indeed filth and
obesity, there the worm and fire: not of the rapacious, but what
is their end; cares here, and fears, and anxieties; there chains
indissoluble: not of the lovers of glory, but what these things
bring forth; here slavery and dissemblings, and there both loss
intolerable and perpetual burnings. For if we thus discourse with
ourselves, and if with these and such like things we charm
perpetually our evil lusts, quickly shall we both cast out the love
of the present things, and kindle that of the things to come. Let
us therefore kindle it and make it blaze. For if the conception
of them, although a faint sort of one, affords so great pleasure;
think how great the gladness, the manifest experience itself shall
bring us. Blessed, and thrice blessed, yea, thrice blessed many
times, are they who enjoy those good things; just as, consequently,
pitiable and thrice wretched are they Who endure the opposite of
these. That then we may be not of these but those, let us choose
virtue. For so shall we attain unto the good things to come as
well; which may all we attain, through the grace and love towards
men of our Lord Jesus Christ; by Whom, and with Whom, to the
Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, and honor,
now and for ever, and world without end. Amen.
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