Argument

I keep hearing the letters of the blessed Paul read — twice every week, and often three or four times, whenever we are celebrating the memorials of the holy martyrs. And each time I gladly enjoy that spiritual trumpet. I am roused and warmed with longing as I recognize the voice so dear to me, and I almost imagine him standing before my eyes, and see him talking with me.

But it grieves and pains me that not everyone knows this man as well as they ought to know him. Some are so ignorant of him that they do not even know for certain how many letters he wrote. And this does not come from lack of ability, but from not wanting to keep constant company with this blessed man. For it is not through any natural quickness or sharpness of wit that I myself know as much as I do — if I know anything at all. It is because I have clung to the man constantly and have loved him earnestly. For those who love someone know better than anyone else what concerns the ones they love, because they take an interest in them.

This blessed apostle shows this too, in what he said to the Philippians: “Just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the good news” (Philippians 1, verse 7). And so you too, if you are willing to apply yourselves to reading him with a ready mind, will need no other help. For the word of Christ is true which says, “Seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7, verse 7).

But most of those who gather here with us have taken on the raising of children, the care of a wife, and the charge of a household, and for this reason they cannot afford to give their whole time to this. At least, then, be roused to receive what others have gathered together, and give as much attention to hearing what is said as you give to gathering possessions. For although it is unfitting to ask only this much of you, still one must be content if you give even that much. [a]

For this is where our countless evils have come from — from ignorance of the Scriptures. From this the plague of heresies has broken out; from this come careless lives; from this, labor that brings no profit. Just as people deprived of this daylight could not walk straight, so those who do not look to the gleaming light of the Holy Scriptures are bound to sin often and constantly, since they are walking in the worst darkness.

So that this does not happen to us, let us keep our eyes open to the bright shining of the apostle’s words. For this man’s tongue shone out brighter than the sun, and he went beyond all the rest in the word of teaching. Since he labored more abundantly than they did, he also drew on himself a large measure of the Spirit’s grace (First Corinthians 15, verse 10). And I affirm this constantly, not only from his letters but also from the Acts. For wherever there was an occasion for speaking, everyone gave way to him. That is why the unbelievers took him for Hermes, because he was the one who led in speaking (Acts 14, verse 12).

Since we are about to go fully into this letter, we must also give the time at which it was written. It is not, as most people think, earlier than all the others. It is earlier than all those written from Rome, but later than the rest — though not all of them. Both the letters to the Corinthians were sent before this one. That is plain from what he wrote at the end of this letter, where he says: “But now I am going to Jerusalem to serve the saints; for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a certain contribution for the poor saints who are at Jerusalem” (Romans 15, verses 25 and 26).

For in writing to the Corinthians he says, “If it is fitting that I go too, they will go with me” (First Corinthians 16, verse 4), meaning those who were to carry the money from there. From this it is plain that when he wrote to the Corinthians, this journey of his was still undecided; but when he wrote to the Romans, it was already settled. [c]

Once this is granted, the other point is plain too: this letter came after those. But the letter to the Thessalonians also seems to me to come before the letter to the Corinthians. He had written to them first and had raised the question of almsgiving with them, when he said, “But concerning brotherly love, you have no need for me to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. And indeed you do it toward all the brothers and sisters” (First Thessalonians 4, verses 9 and 10). Then he wrote to the Corinthians. He makes this very point plain in the words, “For I know your eagerness, for which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia has been ready since a year ago; and your zeal has stirred up very many” (Second Corinthians 9, verse 2). From this he shows that they were the first he had spoken to about this.

This letter, then, is later than those, but earlier than those written from Rome. For he had not yet set foot in the city of the Romans when he wrote it, and he shows this by saying, “For I long to see you, so that I may share with you some spiritual gift” (Romans 1, verse 11).

But it was from Rome that he wrote to the Philippians. That is why he says, “All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household” (Philippians 4, verse 22). He wrote to the Hebrews from there as well, which is why he also says, “All those from Italy greet them” (Hebrews 13, verse 24). And he sent the letter to Timothy from Rome too, while he was in prison. That letter also seems to me to be the last of all his letters, and this is plain from its ending: “For I am now ready to be offered,” he says, “and the time of my departure is near” (Second Timothy 4, verse 6). And that he ended his life there is clear, I might say, to everyone. [d]

The letter to Philemon is also very late — he wrote it in extreme old age, which is why he said, “as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner in Christ Jesus” (Philemon, verse 9) — yet it is earlier than the letter to the Colossians. This again is plain from the ending. For in writing to the Colossians he says, “Tychicus will tell you all about my affairs; I have sent him with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother” (Colossians 4, verse 7).

This was the same Onesimus on whose behalf he wrote the letter to Philemon. And that this was no other man of the same name is plain from the mention of Archippus. For Archippus is the one he had taken as a fellow worker with himself in the letter to Philemon, when he pleaded with Philemon for Onesimus; and when writing to the Colossians he stirs him up, saying, “Say to Archippus, ‘Pay attention to the ministry you have received, so that you fulfill it’” (Colossians 4, verse 17). [f]

And the letter to the Galatians seems to me to come before the letter to the Romans.

If the letters stand in a different order in the Bibles, that is nothing surprising. The twelve Prophets do not follow one another in order of time; they stand at great distances from one another. Yet in the arrangement of the Bible they are placed one after another. So Haggai and Zechariah and the Messenger prophesied after Ezekiel and Daniel, and long after Jonah and Zephaniah and all the rest. Yet they are joined all the same with all those from whom they stand so far off in time.

But let no one think this an undertaking beside the point, or this kind of inquiry a piece of needless curiosity. The dates of the letters contribute no small amount to what we are looking for. I see him writing to the Romans and to the Colossians about the same subjects, and yet not in the same way about them. To the Romans he writes with much stooping down to meet them, as when he says, “Receive the one who is weak in the faith, but not for disputes over doubtful points; for one believes he may eat anything, while another, who is weak, eats vegetables” (Romans 14, verses 1 and 2). [h]

But to the Colossians he does not write this way, though it is about the same things. He writes with greater boldness: “If, then, you died with Christ,” he says, “why, as though you were living in the world, do you submit to regulations — ‘Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle’ — which all perish as they are used, not in any honor, to the satisfying of the flesh?” (Colossians 2, verses 20 to 23). I find no other reason for this difference than the time at which each was written. At first it was necessary to stoop down to meet them; afterward it was no longer so.

And in many other places one may find him doing this. This is what the physician and the teacher both usually do. For the physician does not treat his patients alike when they are in the first stage of their illness and when they have reached the point of being well from then on; nor does the teacher treat alike the children who are just beginning to learn and those who need more advanced lessons. [j]

Now, to the others he was moved to write by some particular cause and subject, and he shows it. To the Corinthians, for example, he says, “Now concerning the things you wrote to me about” (First Corinthians 7, verse 1). And to the Galatians, too, he writes from the very beginning of the whole letter in a way that shows the same thing. But to the Romans — for what purpose, and why, does he write? For one finds him bearing witness that they are “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish others” (Romans 15, verse 14).

Why, then, does he write to them? “Because of the grace of God,” he says, “that was given to me, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ” (Romans 15, verses 15 and 16). That is also why he says at the beginning, “I am a debtor; so, as far as it is in me, I am ready to preach the good news to you also who are at Rome” (Romans 1, verses 14 and 15). What he says — that they are able to exhort others too, and the like — belongs rather to praise and encouragement. Even these people needed the correction a letter could give. And since he had not yet been there in person, he brings them to good order in two ways: by the benefit of his letter and by the expectation of his coming.

For such was that holy soul: it took in the whole world and carried all people about within itself, thinking the closest kinship to be the kinship in God. And he loved them as if he had fathered them all — or rather, he showed a greater natural affection than any father. For such is the grace of the Spirit: it goes beyond the pangs of the flesh and shows a more ardent longing than theirs. One may see this especially in the soul of Paul. Having, as it were, grown wings through love, he went continually around to everyone, staying nowhere and never standing still. For he had heard Christ saying, “Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep” (John 21, verse 15). And since Christ had set this out as the greatest test of love, Paul showed it to a very high degree.

Let us too, then, imitate him, and let each of us bring into good order — if not the world, if not whole cities and nations — at least his own household: his wife, his children, his friends, his neighbors. And let no one say to me: “I am unskilled and uneducated.” No one was less educated than Peter, no one more untrained than Paul. He admitted it himself, and was not ashamed to say, “Though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge” (Second Corinthians 11, verse 6).

Yet all the same, this untrained man and that uneducated one overcame countless philosophers, silenced countless orators, and did it all by their own readiness of mind and the grace of God. What excuse, then, will we have, if we are not equal to twenty names (Acts 1, verse 15, and 2, verse 41), and are not even of use to those who live with us? This is only a pretext and an excuse. It is not lack of learning or of instruction that hinders our teaching, but drowsiness and sleep. [l]

So let us shake off this sleep and with all diligence hold on to our own members. Then even here we will enjoy great calm, by setting in order in the fear of God those who are related to us; and hereafter we will share in countless blessings, through the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to all ages. Amen.