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| Ephesians 6:1-3
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Homily
XXI.
Ephesians vi. 1–3
“Children, obey your
parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother
(which is the first commandment with promise), that it may be well with
thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.”
As a
man in forming a body, places the head first, after that the neck, then
the feet, so does the blessed Paul proceed in his discourse. He has
spoken of the husband, he has spoken of the wife, who is second in
authority, he now goes on by gradual advances to the third
rank—which is that of children. For the husband has authority
over the wife, and the husband and the wife over the children. Now then
mark what he is saying.
“Children,441
| 441 [“The address to children in a letter to the Church
presupposes that the Apostle regards them as belonging to the Church,
present at public worship, understanding the word read to and
applicable to them.”—Braune in
Lange.—G.A.] | obey your parents in the Lord; for this is
the first commandment with promise.”
Here he has not a word of
discourse concerning Christ, not a word on high subjects, for he is as
yet addressing his discourse to tender understandings. And it is for
this reason, moreover, that he makes his exhortation short, inasmuch as
children cannot follow up a long argument. For this reason also he does
not discourse at all about a kingdom, (because it does not belong to
the tender age of childhood to understand these subjects,) but what a
child’s soul most especially longs to hear, that he says, namely,
that it shall “live long.” For if any one shall enquire why
it is that he omitted to discourse concerning a kingdom, but set before
them the commandment laid down in the law, he does this because he
speaks to them as infantile, and because he is well aware that if the
husband and the wife are thus disposed according to the law which he
has laid down, there will be but little trouble in securing the
submission of the children. For whenever any matter has a good and
sound and orderly principle and foundation, everything will
thenceforward go on with method and regularity, with much facility: the
more difficult thing is to settle the foundation, to lay down a firm
basis. “Children,” saith he, “obey your parents in
the Lord,” that is, according to the Lord. This, he means to say,
is what God442
| 442 [“ἐν κυρί& 251·. Not God, as Chrysostom, and not κατὰ
κύριον, as
Chrysostom, but denoting the sphere to which the action is to be
limited.”—Ellicott.—G.A.] | commands you. But what then if they
shall command foolish things? Generally a father, however foolish he
may be himself, does not command foolish things. However, even in that
case, the Apostle has guarded the matter, by saying, “in the
Lord”; that is, wherever you will not be offending against God.
So that if the father be a gentile or a heretic, we ought no longer to
obey, because the command is not then, “in the Lord.” But
how is it that he says, “Which is the first commandment”?
For the first is, “Thou shalt not commit adultery;—Thou
shalt not kill.” He does not speak of it then as first in rank,443
| 443 τάξει.
[“Paul says πρώτη, having
before his mind not only the Decalogue, but also ‘the entire
series of divine precepts,’ which begins with the
Decalogue.”—Meyer.—G.A.] | but in respect of the promise. For upon
those others there is no reward annexed, as being enacted with
reference to evil things, and to departure from evil things. Whereas in
these others, where there is the practice of good, there is further a
promise held out. And observe how admirable a foundation he has laid
for the path of virtue, that is, honor and reverence towards parents.
When he would lead us away from wicked practices, and is just about to
enter upon virtuous ones, this is the first thing he enjoins, honor
towards parents; inasmuch as they before all others are, after God, the
authors of our being, so that it is reasonable they should be the first
to reap the fruits of our right actions; and then all the rest of
mankind. For if a man have not this honor for parents he will never be
gentle toward those unconnected with him.
However, having given the
necessary injunctions to children, he passes to the fathers, and
says,
Ver.
4.
“And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but nurture
them up in the chastening and admonition of the Lord.”
He does not say, “love
them,” because to this nature draws them even against their own
will, and it were superfluous to lay down a law on such subjects. But
what does he say? “Provoke not your children to wrath,” as
many do by disinheriting them, and disowning them, and treating them
overbearingly, not as free, but as slaves. This is why he says,
“Provoke not your children to wrath.” Then, which is the
chief thing of all, he shows how they will be led to obedience,
referring the whole source of it to the head and chief authority. And
in the same way as he has shown the husband to be the cause of the
wife’s obedience, (which is the reason also why he addresses the
greater part of his arguments to him, advising him to attach her to himself by the
power of love,) so, I say, here also, he refers the efficiency to him,
by saying, “But bring them up in the chastening and admonition of
the Lord.” Thou seest that where there are spiritual ties, the
natural ties will follow. Do you wish your son to be obedient? From the
very first “Bring him up in the chastening and admonition of the
Lord.” Never deem it an unnecessary thing that he should be a
diligent hearer of the divine Scriptures. For there the first thing he
hears will be this, “Honor thy father and thy mother”; so
that this makes for thee. Never say, this is the business of monks. Am
I making a monk of him? No. There is no need he should become a monk.444
| 444 Fathers were very suspicious in St. Chrysostom’s day of the
influence of Christianity tending to make their children monks. In
consequence of this prejudice against the monastic life, he wrote his
Adv. Oppugn. Mon. Vit. | Why be so afraid of a thing so replete
with so much advantage? Make him a Christian. For it is of all things
necessary for laymen445
to be acquainted
with the lessons derived from this source; but especially for children.
For theirs is an age full of folly; and to this folly are superadded
the bad examples derived from the heathen tales, where they are made
acquainted with those heroes so admired amongst them, slaves of their
passions, and cowards with regard to death; as, for example, Achilles,
when he relents, when he dies for his concubine, when another gets
drunk, and many other things of the sort. He requires therefore the
remedies against these things. How is it not absurd to send children
out to trades, and to school, and to do all you can for these objects,
and yet, not to “bring them up in the chastening and admonition
of the Lord”? And for this reason truly we are the first to reap
the fruits, because we bring up our children to be insolent and
profligate, disobedient, and mere vulgar fellows. Let us not then do
this; no, let us listen to this blessed Apostle’s admonition.
“Let us bring them up in the chastening and admonition of the
Lord.” Let us give them a pattern. Let us make them from the
earliest age apply themselves to the reading of the Scriptures. Alas,
that so constantly as I repeat this, I am looked upon as trifling!
Still, I shall not cease to do my duty. Why, tell me, do ye not imitate
them of old? Ye women, especially, emulate those admirable women. Has a
child been born to any one? Imitate Hannah’s example
(1
Sam. i. 24.); look at what she did. She brought him up at once to the
temple. Who amongst you would not rather that his son should become a
Samuel than that he should be king of the whole world ten thousand
times over? “And how,” you will say, “is it possible
he should become such a one?” Why is it not possible? It is
because thou dost not choose it thyself, nor committest him to the care
of those who are able to make him such a one. “And who,” it
will be said, “is such a one as this?” God. Since she put
him into the hands of God. For not even Eli himself was one of those in
any great degree qualified to form him; (how could he be, he who was
not able to form even his own children?) No, it was the faith of the
mother and her earnest zeal that wrought the whole. He was her first
child, and her only one, and she knew not whether she should ever have
others besides. Yet she did not say, “I will wait till the child
is grown up, that he may have a taste of the things of this life, I
will allow him to have his pastime in them a little in his childish
years.” No, all these thoughts the woman repudiated, she was
absorbed in one object, how from the very beginning she might dedicate
the spiritual image446
to God. Well may
we men be put to the blush at the wisdom of this woman. She offered him
up to God, and there she left him. And therefore was her married state
more glorious, in that she had made spiritual objects her first care,
in that she dedicated the first-fruits to God. Therefore was her womb
fruitful, and she obtained other children besides.447
| 447 [On
the authority of three mss., Savile and other
editors concurring, we have departed here from the text of Field, which
reverses the order of this and the following sentence, and leaves the
sense less clear. v. 1 Sam. ii. 21.—G.A.] | And therefore she saw him honorable even
in the world. For if men when they are honored, render honor in return,
will not God much more, He who does this, even without being honored?
How long are we to be mere lumps of flesh? How long are we to be
stooping to the earth? Let everything be secondary with us to the
provident care we should take of our children, and to our
“bringing them up in the chastening and admonition of the
Lord.” If from the very first he is taught to be a lover of true
wisdom, then wealth greater than all wealth has he acquired and a more
imposing name. You will effect nothing so great by teaching him an art,
and giving him that outward learning by which he will gain riches, as
if you teach him the art of despising riches. If you desire to make him
rich, do this. For the rich man is not he who desires great riches, and
is encircled with great riches; but the man who has need of nothing.448
| 448 [This reminds one of the saying of Socrates: To want nothing
belongs to the gods, and to want as little as possible is to make the
nearest approach to them.—G.A.] | Discipline your son in this, teach him
this. This is the greatest riches. Seek not how to give him reputation
and high character in outward learning, but consider deeply how you
shall teach him to despise the glory that belongs to this present life.
By this means would he become more distinguished and more truly
glorious. This it is possible for the poor man and the rich man
alike to accomplish. These are lessons which a man does not learn from
a master, nor by art, but by means of the divine oracles. Seek not how
he shall enjoy a long life here, but how he shall enjoy a boundless and
endless life hereafter. Give him the great things, not the little
things. Hear what Paul saith, “Bring them up in the chastening
and admonition of the Lord”; study not to make him an orator, but
train him up to be a philosopher. In the want of the one there will be
no harm whatever; in the absence of the other, all the rhetoric in the
world will be of no advantage. Tempers are wanted, not talking;
character, not cleverness; deeds, not words. These gain a man the
kingdom. These confer what are benefits indeed. Whet not his tongue,
but cleanse his soul. I do not say this to prevent your teaching him
these things, but to prevent your attending to them exclusively. Do not
imagine that the monk alone stands in need of these lessons from
Scripture. Of all others, the children just about to enter into the
world specially need them. For just in the same way as the man who is
always at anchor in harbor, is not the man who requires his ship to be
fitted out and who needs a pilot and a crew, but he who is always out
at sea; so is it with the man of the world and the monk. The one is
entered as it were into a waveless harbor, and lives an untroubled
life, and far removed from every storm; whilst the other is ever on the
ocean, and lives out at sea in the very midst of the ocean, battling
with billows without number.
And though he may not need it
himself, still he ought to be so prepared as to stop the mouths of
others.449
| 449 [The
following part of the paragraph explains this
sentence.—G.A.] | Thus the more distinguished he is in the
present life, so much the more he stands in need of this education. If
he passes his life in courts, there are many Heathens, and
philosophers, and persons puffed up with the glory of this life. It is
like a place full of dropsical people. Such in some sort is the court.
All are, as it were, puffed up, and in a state of inflammation. And
they who are not so are studying to become so. Now then reflect how
vast a benefit it is, that your son on entering there, should enter
like an excellent physician, furnished with instruments which may allay
every one’s peculiar inflammation, and should go up to every one,
and converse with him, and restore the diseased body to health,
applying the remedies derived from the Scriptures, and pouring forth
discourses of the true philosophy. For with whom is the recluse to
converse? with his wall and his ceiling? yea, or again with the
wilderness and the woods? or with the birds and the trees? He therefore
has not so great need of this sort of discipline. Still, however, he
makes it his business to perfect this work, not so much with a view of
disciplining others as himself. There is then every need of much
discipline of this sort to those that are to mix in the present world,
because such an one has a stronger temptation to sin than the other.
And if you have a mind to understand it, he will further be a more
useful person even in the world itself. For all will have a reverence
for him from these words, when they see him in the fire without being
burnt, and not desirous of power. But power he will then obtain, when
he least desires it, and will be a still higher object of respect to
the king; for it is not possible that such a character should be hid.
Amongst a number of healthy persons, indeed, a healthy man will not be
noticed; but when there is one healthy man amongst a number of sick,
the report will quickly spread and reach the king’s ears, and he
will make him ruler over many nations. Knowing then these things,
“bring up your children in the chastening and admonition of the
Lord.”
“But suppose a man is
poor.” Still he will be in no wise more insignificant than the
man who lives in kings’ courts, because he is not in kings’
courts; no, he will be held in admiration, and will soon gain that
authority which is yielded voluntarily, and not by any compulsion. For
if a set of Greeks, men worthless as they are, and dogs,450
| 450 τριωβολιμαῖοί
τινες καὶ
κύνες. | by taking up that worthless philosophy of
theirs, (for such the Grecian philosophy is,) or rather not itself but
only its mere name, and wearing the threadbare cloak, and letting their
hair grow, impress many; how much more will he who is a true
philosopher? If a false appearance, if a mere shadow of philosophy at
first sight so catches us, what if we should love the true and pure
philosophy? Will not all court it, and entrust both houses, and wives,
and children, with full confidence to such men? But there is not, no,
there is not such a philosopher existing now. And therefore, it is not
possible to find an example of the sort. Amongst recluses, indeed,
there are such, but amongst people in the world no longer. And that
amongst recluses there are such, it would be possible to adduce a
number of instances. However, I will mention one out of many. Ye know,
doubtless, and have heard of, and some, perhaps, have also seen, the
man whom I am now about to mention. I mean, the admirable Julian. This
man was a rustic, in humble life, and of humble parentage, and totally
uninstructed in all outward accomplishments, but full of unadorned
wisdom.451
| 451 St.
Julian was a native of Cilicia, perhaps of Tarsus, and was martyred at
Ægæ in the Dioclesian persecution. One of St.
Chrysostom’s orations is in his praise. | When he came into the cities, (and this was but
rarely,) never did such a concourse take place, not when orators, or
sophists, or any one else rode in. But what am I saying? Is not his
very name more glorious than that of any king’s, and celebrated
even to this day? And if these things were in this world, in the world
in which the Lord promised us no one good thing, in which He hath told
us we are strangers, let us consider how great will be the blessings
laid up for us in the heavens. If, where they were sojourners they
enjoyed so great honor, how great glory shall they enjoy where their
own city is! If, where He promised tribulation, they meet with such
attentive care, then where He promises true honors, how great shall be
their rest!
And now would ye have me exhibit
examples of secular men? At present, indeed, we have none; still there
are perhaps even secular men who are excellent, though not arrived at
the highest philosophy. I shall therefore quote you examples from the
saints of the ancient times. How many, who had wives to keep and
children to bring up, were inferior in no respect, no, in no respect to
those who have been mentioned? Now, however, it is no longer so,
“by reason of the present distress” (1 Cor. vii.
26.),
as this blessed Apostle saith. Now then whom would ye have me mention?
Noah, or Abraham? The son of the one or of the other? Or again, Joseph?
Or would ye have me go to the Prophets? Moses I mean, or Isaiah?
However, if you will, let us carry our discourse to Abraham, whom all
are continually bringing forward to us above all others. Had he not a
wife? Had he not children? Yes, for I too use the same language to you,
as you do to me. He had a wife, but it was not because he had a wife
that he was so remarkable. He had riches, but it was not because he had
riches that he pleased God. He begat children, but it was not because
he begat children that he was pronounced blessed. He had three hundred
and eighteen servants born in his house, but it was not on this account
that he was accounted wonderful. But would you know why it was? It was
for his hospitality, for his contempt of riches, for his chastened
conduct. For what, tell me, is the duty of a philosopher? Is it not to
despise both riches and glory? Is it not to be above both envy and
every other passion? Come now then, let us bring him forward and strip
him, and show you what a philosopher he was. First of all, he esteemed
his fatherland as nothing. God said, “Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred” (Gen. xii. 1.), and
immediately he went forth. He was not bound to his house, (or surely he
would never have gone forth,) nor to his love of familiar friends, nor
to anything else whatever. But what? glory and money he despised above
all others. For when he had put an end to war by turning the enemy to
flight, and was requested to take the spoil, he rejected it.
(Gen.
xiv. 21–23.)
Again, the son of this great man
was reverenced, not because of his riches, but for his hospitality: not
because of his children, but for his obedience: not because of his
wife, but for the barrenness inflicted on his wife. (Gen. xxv.
21.)
They looked upon the present
life as nothing, they followed not after gain, they despised all
things. Tell me, which sort of plants are the best? Are not those which
have their strength from themselves and are injured neither by rains,
nor by hailstorms, nor by gusts of wind, nor by any other vicissitude
of the sort, but stand naked in defiance of them all, and needing
neither wall nor fence to protect them? Such is the true philosopher,
such is that wealth of which we spoke. He has nothing, and has all
things: he has all things, and has nothing. For a fence is not within,
but only without; a wall is not a thing of nature, but only built round
from without. And what again, I ask, what sort of body is a strong one?
Is it not that which is in health, and which is overcome neither by
hunger nor repletion, nor by cold, nor by heat; or is it that which in
view of all these things, needs both caterers, and weavers, and
hunters, and physicians, to give it health? He is the rich man, the
true philosopher, who needeth none of these things. For this cause it
was that this blessed Apostle said, “Bring them up in the
chastening and admonition of the Lord.” Surround them not with
outward defenses. For such is wealth, such is glory; for when these
fall, and they do fall, the plant stands naked and defenseless, not
only having derived no profit from them during the time past, but even
injury. For those very shelters that prevented its being inured to the
attacks of the winds, will now have prepared it for perishing all at
once. And so wealth is injurious rather, because it renders us
undisciplined for the vicissitudes of life. Let us therefore train up
our children to be such, that they shall be able to bear up against
every trial, and not be surprised at what may come upon them;
“let us bring them up in the chastening and admonition of the
Lord.” And great will be the reward which will be thus laid up in
store for us. For if men for making statues and painting portraits of
kings enjoy so great honor, shall not we who adorn the image of the
King of kings, (for man is the image of God,) receive ten thousand
blessings, if we effect a true likeness? For the likeness is in this,
in the virtue of the soul, when we train our children to be good, to be
meek, to be forgiving, (because all these are attributes of God,) to be
beneficent, to be humane; when we train them to regard the
present world as nothing. Let this then be our task, to mold and to
direct both ourselves and them according to what is right. Otherwise
with what sort of boldness shall we stand before the judgment-seat of
Christ? If a man who has unruly children is unworthy to be a Bishop
(Tit.
i. 6.), much more is he unworthy of the kingdom of Heaven. What sayest
thou? If we have an unruly wife, or unruly children, shall we have to
render account? Yes, we shall, if we do not with exactness bring in
that which is due from ourselves; for our own individual virtue is not
enough in order to salvation. If the man who laid aside the one talent
gained nothing, but was punished even in such a manner, it is plain
that one’s own individual virtue is not enough in order to
salvation, but there is need of that of another also. Let us therefore
entertain great solicitude for our wives, and take great care of our
children, and of our servants, and of ourselves. And in our government
both of ourselves and of them, let us beseech God that He aid us in the
work. If He shall see us interested in this work, and solicitous about
it, He will aid us; but if He shall see us paying no regard to it, He
will not give us His hand. For He does not vouchsafe us His assistance
when we sleep, but when we labor also ourselves. For a helper, (as the
name implies,) is not a helper of one that is inactive, but of one who
works also himself. But the good God is able of Himself to bring the
work to perfection, that we may be all counted worthy to attain to the
blessings promised us, through the grace and compassions of His only
begotten Son, with Whom together with the Holy Ghost be unto the
Father, glory, might, and honor, now and ever, and throughout all ages.
Amen. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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