Letter Ix
LETTER IX
A.D. 339
St. Paul, faithful to the Lord and clothed with every godly characteristic (cf. Eph. 6:14) — remember, he did not know of anything in himself which was out of harmony with God's love and purpose (cf. 1 Cor. 4:4)—was so engrossed in holiness that he was carried up to heavenly places. He was taken to Paradise
(2 Cor. 12:4), so that even as his way of life was better than that of other people, he might be given an experience higher than theirs.
After he descended from that experience, he preached to all:
"We know in part and we prophesy in part .
. here I know in part; but then I shall know just as I am known" (1 Cor. 13:9, 12).
He truly was already known to the saints in heaven, as their fellow citizen (cf. Eph. 2:19). With respect to those things that are future and perfect, he did know only in part. But with respect to what the Lord had committed and entrusted to him, he was already perfect — as he himself said, "We who are perfect should be thus minded" (Phil. 3:15).
As we know, the gospel of Christ is the fulfillment and realization of the ministry of the Law of Israel. In the same way, future things will be the completion of what presently exists, and the gospel will then be fulfilled. The faithful will receive those things which they do not yet see but hope for, as Paul says, "For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for the things we do not see, then we wait patiently for them" (Rom.
8:24, 25).
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AFFLICTION GIVES WAY TO HAPPINESS
Since that blessed man had such fine character and had the grace of apostleship committed to him, he appropriately wished that everyone should be like him (cf. 1 Cor. 7:7). For godliness is generous, and the kingdom of heaven is very large —a place where thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads serve the Lord.
And although the entrance is "strait and narrow," once inside we see a vast and limitless space, greater than any other anywhere. We have been told of these things by eyewitnesses and heirs. They speak of their trials and distresses: "You have placed afflictions before us" (Ps. 66:11), but then add, "You brought us out into a spacious place" (Ps. 66:12)—and also, "You gave us space in our distress" (Ps. 4:1).
It is a fact, brothers and sisters, that the path of the saints in this life is one full of troubles. They either endure the pain of longing for that which is to come, like the one who said, "Woe is me that I have such a long pilgrimage" (Ps. 120:5, Septuagint) or they are distressed by their longing for the salvation of others, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "I'm afraid that when I come to you, God may humble me and cause me to weep and mourn over many who have sinned and not repented of the impurity, fornication and licentiousness which they have practiced" (2 Cor. 12:21). In the same way, Samuel mourned because of the destruction of Saul, and Jeremiah wept because of the captivity of the people of Israel.
Still, after all this affliction and sorrow and mourning, the saints receive divine gladness, pleasure, and exultation when they leave this world. Pain, sorrow, and weeping are left behind.
THE UNIVERSALITY OF ST. PAUL'S TEACHING
With that to look forward to, brothers and sisters, let us never leave the path of godliness. St. Paul urged us to be like him, saying, "Follow me, as I follow Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1). This
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advice was not meant only for the Corinthians, for since he was "a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth" (1 Tim. 2:7), he was not an apostle only to them. Rather, he admonished all of us through them.
In short, all of his various letters to different people contain commands that apply to everybody. He exhorted some people, as we see in his letters to the Romans, to the Ephesians, and to Philemon. Some he reproved, such as the Corinthians and the Galatians. To some he gave advice, as he did to the Colossians and the Thessalonians. He approved of the Philippians and indicated that they made him happy. He taught the Hebrews that the Law was a picture to them, a shadow of what was to come.? When his chosen sons Timothy and Titus were with him, he taught them; when they were away from him, he reminded them of that teaching.
St. Paul truly was all things to all men. Being mature and godly, he adapted his teaching to the needs of all, so that by all means he might rescue some of them (cf. 1 Cor. 9:22). Therefore, his teaching was not fruitless; rather, it remains planted and productive everywhere, even until now.
And why, dear friends? That's an appropriate question, for we need to understand what the apostle had in mind. He used persuasion and warnings, not only when he opened his letters, but also when he closed them, and even in the middle.
THE ORDER OF RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION
With the aid of your prayers, I hope to give a true picture of the plans of that holy man. He was very knowledgeable and skilled in these matters of God, and he knew the power of the Lord's teaching. So he deemed it necessary to teach first about Christ and the mystery of His incarnation. Only then did he point to things in their lives that needed to be corrected. He
2As was pointed out earlier, St. Athanasius apparently considered St. Paul the author of the Letter to the Hebrews. Though the Pauline authorship is commonly doubted today, the letter was traditionally attached to his writings, and many early Fathers simply accepted him as the author.
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wanted them to first know the Lord and then to want to do what He told them. For if you don't know the One who leads His people in observing His commands, you are not very likely to obey them.
Moses, that famous and faithful minister of God, used this method. When he set forth those things having to do with the divine system of laws, he first dealt with the knowledge of God:
"Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord" (Deut. 6:4).
Then, after picturing Him to the people, teaching them about the One in whom they should believe, and informing them concerning Him who is truly God — only then did he tell how one can please Him. Only then did he say, "You shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal," and the other commandments.
The reason for this order of teaching is given to us in the apostolic writings: "He who draws near to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him"
(Heb. 11:6). He is sought by godly and righteous acts, as the prophet tells us: "Seek the Lord, and when you have found
Him, call upon Him; when He is near you, let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts (Isa.
55:6, 7).
In the beginning of his book the Shepherd states: "First of all, believe that God is one, who created and completed all things and made all that is from that which is not."
The blessed evangelists, the men who recorded the words of the Lord, each placed at the beginning of his Gospel those things concerning the Savior Himself. They did that so that first having made known the Lord, the Creator, they would be believed when they described the events that took place. Who would have believed their descriptions — of the man who was born blind (and other blind men) recovering sight, of people who rose from the dead, of water turned into wine, or of lepers who were cleansed — if they had not first taught of Him as the Creator, writing as John did, "In the beginning was the Word"
3Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate I. See Jack Sparks, ed., The Apostolic Fathers (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1978), p. 183.
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(John 1:1)? Or as Matthew wrote, that He who was born of the seed of David was Emmanuel, the Son of the living God? They first presented Him whom the Jews, along with the Arians, reject, but whom we acknowledge and worship.
ST. PAUL'S INSTRUCTIONS TO TIMOTHY
As was proper, the apostle sent instructions to many people, but especially reminded his own son (Timothy) that he should not despise the instruction he had given him (cf. 2 Tim. 3:14).
He also commanded him to "Remember Jesus Christ, descended from David and risen from the dead, according to my
Gospel" (2 Tim. 2:8).
But he does not just speak of these things so as to remind Timothy of them, but adds, "Meditate on these things and practice them" (1 Tim. 4:15). Constant attention to and meditation upon godly teaching strengthens devotion to God and produces a love for Him which, being deeper than mere words, is actually inseparable from Him. Having that attitude, St. Paul speaks on behalf of himself and others of the same mind, saying boldly, "What shall separate us from the love of God?" (Rom.
8:35). Such people are firmly fixed in the Lord and enjoy an unshakable relationship with Him. As the Scripture says, "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him" (1 Cor. 6:17).
Thus, they are as solid as Mount Zion, and although they may face ten thousand violent trials, they are founded upon the rock
—Christ (1 Cor. 10:4; Matt. 7:25; Ps. 125:1).
THE UNSTABLE CHARACTER OF THE WICKED
The careless, however, do not take any delight in the Lord.
Since they do not center their minds on good thoughts, they are dirtied by the daily attacks of sin. Being unfaithful, they value nothing more highly than the things of here and now. For .
"either the cares of this world, or the deceitfulness of riches, chokes them" (Matt. 13:22). Or, as Jesus put it in the parable that refers to them, they stay with the faith only for a little while because they haven't taken root in it, and then as soon as
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they face persecution or some problem arises because of the Word, they are offended.
People who cling to evil thoughts do not stand for truth, but for falsehood. They do not stand for righteousness, but for iniquity, because their tongue learns to speak lies. They have done evil, never pausing so that they could repent. Persevering with delight in wicked actions, they run to them without even looking back. They even tread underfoot the commandment about neighbors, and instead of loving them they plot evil against them. As the ancient saint testifies, "Those who plot evil against me have spoken lies and plan treachery all day long"
(Ps. 38:12).
But the divine proverb tells us that failure to follow instruction is the cause of such concentration on evil: "The son who forsakes the commandment of his father meditates on evil words" (Prov. 19:27, Septuagint). The Holy Spirit rebukes and reproves this kind of deliberation because it is evil, saying,
"Your hands are polluted with blood, your fingers with sins; your lips have spoken lawlessness and your tongue speaks wickedness: none of you tells the truth, nor is there true judgment"
(Isa. 59:3,4).
He follows that up immediately by giving the result of such perverse thinking: "They trust in futile things and speak lies; for they conceive mischief and bring forth lawlessness. They have hatched the eggs of an asp and woven a spider's web; he who eats their eggs dies, and when one is crushed a snake is hatched" (Isa. 59:4,5).
He also tells us what hope such people have: "Because righteousness could never reach them, they received darkness when they looked for light; when they waited for brightness, they walked in a thick fog. They shall grope for the wall like the blind, like those who have no eyes; they shall stumble at noonday as if it were midnight; when dead, they shall groan. They shall roar like bears and mourn like doves" (Isa. 59:9-11).
CORRUPTION DESTROYS THE CORRUPT
One thing you can count on: Corruption does not save those
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who get into it. On the contrary, it sets itself up against them, tears them down, and brings about their doom. Woe to those people against whom this prophecy is written! For the evil they pursue is sharper than a two-edged sword, and it will first slay those who lay hold of it. Even their own tongue, as the psalmist points out, "is a sharp sword, and their teeth are spears and arrows' (Ps. 57:4).
But the wonderful part is that the one these people plan to harm actually suffers nothing, while they, on the other hand, are pierced by their own spears. That is because inside themselves they have built up anger, wrath, malice, guile, hatred, and bitterness. Although they may not be able to turn these evil thoughts upon others, they find themselves eaten up by their own internal poison. It works out as the psalmist prays, "Let their sword enter into their own heart" (Ps. 37:15). There is also a similar proverb: "The wicked is encircled by the chain of his sins" (Prov. 5:22).
When the Jews plotted togethés and agreed to treat the Lord unjustly, they forgot that they were bringing wrath upon themselves. Consequently, the Word mourns for them, saying,
"Why do they exalt themselves and the nations plot in vain?"
(Ps. 2:1). For the schemes of the Jews really were vain when they planned to kill the Life* and invented irrational plots against the Word of the Father.
Anyone today who sees how they have been scattered can rightly say, "Woe to them, for they have devised an evil scheme, injuring their own soul by saying, let us bind the righteous man because he is not pleasing to us" (Isa. 3:9, 10,
Septuagint5). That describes them very well, brothers and sisters, for when they purposely misinterpreted 'the Scriptures they did not know that "he who digs a pit for his neighbor falls in it; and he who tears down a hedge will be bitten by a snake"
(Eccl. 10:8).
If they had not turned away from the Lord, they would have 4The parallel clause of this sentence shows that "Life" means Christ. Athanasius used the word that way quite often.
5Also, Wisdom 2:12.
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feared what was written in the divine Psalms: "The heathen are caught in the pit which they made; their own foot is trapped in the snare which they hid. The Lord is known when He executes judgment: the sinner is taken by the work of His hands" (Ps.
9:15, 16). Let them take note of this fact and see how "the snare they do not know shall come upon them, and the net they hid shall take them" (Ps. 35:8). But they did not understand these things, for if they had, "they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2:8).
THE RIGHTEOUS ARE DIFFERENT
How different are the righteous and faithful servants of the Lord!
They are "made disciples of the kingdom of heaven and bring forth both new and old things from it" (Matt. 13:52). They
"meditate on the words of the Lord when they sit in their houses, when they lie down, when they rise up, and when they walk by the way" (Deut. 6:7). They have a good hope because of the promise of the Spirit, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of mockers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord and he meditates on His law day and night" (Ps.
1:1,2).
Being grounded in faith, rejoicing in hope, zealous in spirit, they boldly say, "My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be understanding" (Ps. 49:3). And they add, "I meditate on all You have done, and think about the works of Your hands" (Ps. 143:5). And further, "I think of You on my bed and meditate on You in the morning" (Ps. 63:6).
Then, advancing in boldness, they say, "Let the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight" (Ps. 19:14). And what is the reward of such a person? The psalmist adds immediately,
"The Lord is my Helper and my Redeemer" (Ps. 19:14).
Nothing truly bad can happen to those who examine themselves in this way and bring the desires of their hearts into agreement with the Lord. Indeed, their hearts are strengthened by confidence in the Lord, as it is written, "Those who trust in
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the Lord shall be as Mount Zion: those who live in Jerusalem shall never be moved" (Ps. 125:1, Septuagint). For if the crafty one should be so bold as to presume to drive a wedge between the saints and divide them, they will look to the Lord not only as their avenger, but if the enemy has already gained an advantage over them, as their deliverer also. We have a promise from God: "The Lord shall fight for you" (Exod. 14:14).
GOD COMFORTS THE RIGHTEOUS
Although the righteous may face persecution and troubles from outside themselves, they will follow the apostle's words and be "steadfast in tribulation and constant in prayer' (Rom.
12:12). By so doing and by keeping their minds on the Lord's commands, they can stand against whatever they have to face.
Consequently, pleasing the Lord, they are able to say, "Distress and anguish have come upon me, but Your commandments are my guide" (Ps. 119:143). And since people do good not only in action but also in thought, the righteous one adds, "I awaken before dawn so that I can think about Your promises" (Ps.
119:148).
It is quite proper for those who have been made whole to think about good even before they do it. Our Savior, in His instructions about virtue, begins with the mind, saying, "Who-ever looks on a woman to lust for her, has already committed adultery" (Matt. 5:28). And, "Whoever is angry with his brother is guilty of murder" (Matt. 5:22). After all, murder doesn't happen if no anger is built up, and if the mind is clear of lust there will be no adultery.
It follows then that meditation on God's commands and continual occupation with good things are both necessary so "that the saint may be complete, prepared for every good work" (2
Tim. 3:17). Paul, in the passage in which he called such constant contemplation "exercise," told Timothy that it leads to the promise of eternal life: "Exercise yourself in godliness; while bodily exercise is of little profit, godliness is valuable in all ways, since it holds promise not only for the present life but also for that which is eternal" (1 Tim. 4:7,8).
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Now there is a man whose holiness is worth admiring, brothers and sisters! Through Timothy he points out to all of us the need to devote our minds to godliness in preference to everything else, and above all to set our minds upon faith in God.
THE WICKED: CORRUPT IN THOUGHT
AND DEED But what grace can the unrighteous person expect even if he thinks he keeps commandments? In actual fact, such a person can't keep even part of the law because his actions will betray what is inside. As the Spirit said, "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God" (Ps. 14:1). This statement is directly followed by one pointing out that their actions correspond with their thoughts: "They are corrupt, and their behavior is evil." The unrighteous person, then, corrupts his body in every possible way: stealing, committing adultery, cursing, getting drunk, and doing similar things.
The prophet Jeremiah condemns Israel for these very crimes, crying out, "Oh, that I had a lodge far off in the wilderness!
Then I would leave my people and go there: for they are all adulterers, a body of treacherous people. They bend their tongue like a bow: falsehood has prevailed over truth in the land and they go from one evil to another. But they do not know
Me" (Jer. 9:2). Thus, because of their wickedness and lying — and also because of their wicked deeds in running from evil to evil — he rebukes their schemes. But the reason he charges them with unrighteousness is because they did not know the Lord and they were a faithless people.
FAITH AND GODLINESS
Faith and godliness, you see, are so closely allied that they can be considered sisters. Anyone who believes in the Lord is godly, and the person who is godly believes all the more [cf.
John 7:17]. Contrariwise, one who is in a state of wickedness will certainly wander from the faith, and one who falls from