Chapter XIII.
They who have committed a “sin unto death”
are not to be abandoned, but subjected to penance, according to St.
Paul. Explanation of the phrase “Deliver unto
Satan.” Satan can afflict the body, but these afflictions
bring spiritual profit, showing the power of God, Who thus turns
Satan’s devices against himself.
59. Lastly, Paul
teaches us that we must not abandon those who have committed a sin unto
death, but that we must rather coerce them with the bread of tears and
tears to drink, yet so that their sorrow itself be moderated. For
this is the meaning of the passage: “Thou hast given them
to drink in large measure,”3005
that their
sorrow itself should have its measure, lest perchance he who is doing
penance should be consumed by overmuch sorrow, as was said to the
Corinthians: “What will ye? Shall I come to you with
a rod, or in love and a spirit of meekness?”3006
But even the rod is not severe, since
he had read: “Thou shalt beat him indeed with the rod, but
shalt deliver his soul from death.”3007
60. What the Apostle means by the rod is
shown by his invective against fornication,3008
his denunciation of incest, his reprehension of pride, because they
were puffed up who ought rather to be mourning, and lastly, his
sentence on the guilty person, that he should be excluded from
communion, and delivered to the adversary, not for the destruction of
the soul but of the flesh. For as the Lord did not give power to
Satan over the soul of holy Job, but allowed him to afflict his
body,3009
so here, too, the sinner is delivered to
Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the serpent might lick the
dust3010
of his flesh, but not hurt his
soul.
61. Let, then, our flesh die to lusts, let it be
captive, let it be subdued, and not war against the law of our mind,
but die in subjection to a good service, as in Paul, who buffeted his
body that he might bring it into subjection, in order that his
preaching might become more approved, if the law of his flesh agreed
and was consonant with the law of his flesh. For the flesh dies
when its wisdom passes over into the spirit, so that it no longer has a
taste for the things of the flesh, but for the things of the
spirit. Would that I might see my flesh growing weak, would that
I were not dragged captive into the law of sin, would that I lived not
in the flesh, but in the faith of Christ! And so there is greater
grace in the infirmity of the body than in its soundness.
62. Having explained Paul’s meaning,
let us now consider the words themselves, in what sense he said that he
had delivered him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, for the
devil it is who tries us. For he brings ailments on each of our
limbs, and sickness on our whole bodies. And then, too, he smote
holy Job with evil sores from the feet to the head, because he had
received the power of destroying his flesh, when God said:
“Behold, I give him up unto thee, only preserve his
life.”3011
This the
Apostle took up in the same words, giving up this man to Satan for the
destruction of the flesh, that his spirit might be saved in the day of
our Lord Jesus Christ.3012
63. Great is the power, great is the gift, which
commands the devil to destroy himself. For he destroys himself
when he makes the man whom he is seeking to overthrow by temptation
stronger instead of weak, because whilst he is weakening the body he is
strengthening his soul. For sickness of the body restrains sin,
but luxury sets on fire the sin of the flesh.
64. The devil is then deceived so as to wound
himself with his own bite, and to arm against himself him whom he
thought to weaken. So he armed holy Job the more
after he wounded him, who, with his whole
body covered with sores, endured indeed the bite of the devil, but felt
not his poison. And so it is well said of him, “Thou shalt
draw out the dragon with an hook, thou wilt play with him as with a
bird, thou shalt bind him as a boy doth a sparrow, thou shalt lay thine
hand upon him.”3013
| 3013 Job xli. 1, 5, 8 [LXX.]. |
65. You see how he is mocked by Paul, so that,
like the child in prophecy, he lays his hand on the hole of the asp,
and the serpent injures him not; he draws him out of his hiding-places,
and makes of his venom a spiritual antidote, so that what is venom
becomes a medicine, the venom serves to the destruction of the flesh,
it becomes medicine to the healing of the spirit. For that which
hurts the body benefits the spirit.
66. Let, then, the serpent bite the earthy part of
me, let him drive his tooth into my flesh, and bruise my body; and may
the Lord say of me: “I give him up unto thee, only preserve
his life.” How great is the power of Christ, that the
guardianship of man is made a charge even to the devil himself, who
always desires to injure him. Let us then make the Lord Jesus
favourable to ourselves. At the command of Christ the devil
himself becomes the guardian of his prey. Even unwillingly he
carries out the commands of heaven, and, though cruel, obeys the
commands of gentleness.
67. But why do I commend his
obedience? Let him be ever evil that God may be ever good, Who
converts his ill-will into grace for us. He wishes to injure us,
but cannot if Christ resist him. He wounds the flesh but
preserves the life. And then it is written: “Then
shall the wolves and the lambs feed together, the lion and the ox shall
eat straw, and they shall not hurt nor destroy in My holy mountain,
saith the Lord.”3014
For this is
the sentence of condemnation on the serpent: “Dust shall be
thy food.”3015
What
dust? Surely that of which it is said: “Dust thou
art, and into dust shalt thou return.”3016
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