Homily 7 — Romans 3, verses 9 to 18

“What then do we have more than they? For we have proved that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin. As it is written: There is no one righteous, no, not one; there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become useless; there is no one who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” [a]

He had accused the Gentiles; he had accused the Jews. The next thing in order was to speak of the righteousness that is by faith. For if the law of nature was no help, and the written law did no good, but both weighed down those who did not use them rightly and made it plain that they deserved greater punishment, then after this the salvation that is by grace was necessary. So speak of it, Paul, and put it on display!

But he does not yet venture to do so. He has his eye on the violence of the Jews, and so he turns once more to accusing them. And first he brings in David as their accuser, saying at length the same things that Isaiah had said in few words. In this way he puts a strong bridle on them, so that they will not bolt, and so that none of his hearers, when the matters of faith are laid open to them, will shy away afterward, since the accusations of the prophets have already held them securely in check. For the prophet sets down three extremes. He says that all of them together did evil; that they did not do good mixed in with the evil, but pursued wickedness alone; and that they pursued it with all their energy.

Next, so that they could not say, “What of it, if these things were said about others?” he goes on: [c]

Verse 19: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law.”

This, then, is why he brought in David next to Isaiah, who was admittedly aiming at them: to show that these words too belonged to the same subject. For what need was there, he means, for a prophet sent to correct you to accuse other people? The law was not given to anyone but you. And why did he not say, “We know that whatever the prophet says,” but “whatever the law says”? Because Paul is accustomed to call the whole Old Testament the law. In another place he says, “Do you not hear the law, that Abraham had two sons?” (Galatians 4, verses 21 and 22). And here he calls the psalm the law when he says, “We know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law.”

Next he shows that he did not say these things merely to accuse them, but so that he might once again pave the way for faith. So close is the kinship of the Old Testament with the New: even its accusations and rebukes were entirely aimed at this, that the door of faith might open brightly to those who hear. The chief thing that ruined the Jews was that they were so full of themselves. He mentions this as he goes on: “For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10, verse 3). So the law and the prophet got in ahead of them, cast down their proud thoughts, and brought their conceit low. Brought to consider their own sins, emptied of all their unreasonableness, and seeing themselves in the most extreme danger, they would run with great eagerness to the one who offered them the forgiveness of their sins, and accept grace through faith. And this is what Paul hints at even here, when he says, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”

Here, then, he shows them stripped of the confidence that comes from works, with nothing but a parade of words and shameless behavior. That is why he uses such a blunt, literal expression, saying, “so that every mouth may be stopped”: to point out how shameless and almost uncontrollable their boastful talk was, and that their tongue was now, in the strictest sense, reined in. It had been rushing along like an unstoppable torrent, but the prophet stopped it. And when Paul says, “so that every mouth may be stopped,” he does not mean that they sinned in order that their mouth might be stopped. He means that they were rebuked so that they would not commit this very sin in ignorance. [d]

“And all the world may become guilty before God.” He does not say “the Jew,” but the whole human race. For the phrase “so that every mouth may be stopped” is the language of someone hinting at them without saying it plainly, so that the words would not be too harsh. But the words “that all the world may become guilty before God” are said of Jews and Greeks together. This is no small thing for bringing down their unreasonableness, since here too they have no advantage over the Gentiles, but are given up alike as far as salvation is concerned. For the one who is properly called guilty is the one who can find no excuse to help himself, but needs the help of another. And that was the plight of all of us, since we had lost the things that lead to salvation.

Verse 20: “For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.”

He comes down on the law again, though with restraint, for what he says is not an accusation of the law but of the carelessness of the Jews. Still, since he was about to bring in his teaching on faith, he has taken pains here to show how utterly weak the law is. If you boast in the law, he means, it only puts you to greater shame: it solemnly parades your sins before you. Only he does not word it so harshly, but again in a muted tone: “For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” And so the punishment is greater, but the fault is the Jew’s. The law did its part in exposing sin to you; after that it was your duty to flee from it. Since you did not flee, you have brought a heavier punishment on yourself, and the law’s kindness has become for you a supply of greater vengeance.

Having added to their fear, then, and brought them to long for the forgiveness of their sins, he next brings in the gifts of grace, and says:

Verse 21: “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law has been brought to light.”

Here he says a great thing, one that needed a great deal of proof. For if those who lived under the law not only did not escape punishment but were weighed down all the more by it, how is it possible, without the law, not only to escape vengeance but even to be counted righteous? He has set down two high points here: being counted righteous, and gaining these blessings without the law. That is why he does not say simply “righteousness” but “the righteousness of God”: by the dignity of the one who shows it, he makes plain how great the grace is, and that the promise can be kept. For to him all things are possible. [e]

And he does not say “was given” but “has been brought to light,” so cutting away the charge of novelty. For what is brought to light is something old that had been hidden. And not only this, but what follows also shows that this is nothing recent. For after saying “has been brought to light,” he goes on:

“Being witnessed by the law and the prophets.”

Do not be troubled, he means, because it has only now been given, and do not be alarmed as though at something new and strange. Long ago both the law and the prophets foretold it. Some passages he has pointed out in the course of this argument, and others he will point out shortly. In what came before he brought in Habakkuk saying, “The righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1, verse 17); in what comes after he brings in Abraham and David, who also talk with us about these things. The regard they had for these men was great, for the one was a patriarch and a prophet, and the other a king and a prophet; and besides, the promises about these things had been made to them both. That is why Matthew, at the very beginning of his Gospel, mentions these two first, and then brings forward the forefathers in order.

For after saying, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ” (Matthew 1, verse 1), he does not wait, after Abraham, to name Isaac and Jacob as well, but mentions David along with Abraham. And what is truly remarkable, he has even set David before Abraham, speaking this way: “the son of David, the son of Abraham,” and only then begins the list of Isaac and Jacob and all the rest in order. That is why the apostle here keeps presenting them in turn, and speaks of the righteousness of God being witnessed by the law and the prophets. [g]

Then, so that no one would say, “How are we to be saved without contributing anything at all toward it?” he shows that we too bring no small thing toward it: I mean our faith. So after saying “the righteousness of God,” he adds at once, “through faith, to all and upon all who believe.”

Here again the Jew is alarmed, because he has nothing more than the rest and is counted in with the whole world. So that he will not feel this, Paul brings him down again with fear, adding, “For there is no difference, for all have sinned.” Do not tell me it is this or that Greek, this or that Scythian, this or that Thracian; all are in the same plight. For even if you have received the law, there is only one thing you have learned from the law: to know sin, not to flee from it.

Next, so that they could not say, “Even if we have sinned, it was not in the same way they did,” he added, “and have fallen short of the glory of God.” [h]

So even if you have not committed the same sins as others, you are still just as stripped of the glory, since you belong among those who have offended; and the one who has offended belongs not among those who are glorified, but among those who are put to shame. Yet do not be afraid. My reason for saying this was not to push you into despair, but to show the Master’s love for humankind. And so he goes on:

Verses 24 and 25: “Being counted righteous freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth as the means of winning his favor, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness.”

See how many proofs he uses to establish what he has said. First, from the dignity of the person: it is not a man who does these things, so that he might be too weak for it, but God, who is all-powerful. For it is to God, he says, that the righteousness belongs. Second, from the law and the prophets: you need not be afraid when you hear “apart from the law,” since the law itself approves this. Third, from the sacrifices of the old covenant. That is why he said “in his blood”: to call to their minds those sheep and calves. For if the sacrifices of animals without reason cleared people of sin, he means, much more would this blood. And he does not simply say “ransom,” but “redemption,” a ransom that is complete, to show that we would never again fall into such slavery. For this same reason he calls it the means of winning God’s favor: to show that if the type had such force, much more would the reality show that same force.

But to show again that this was nothing novel or recent, he says “foreordained.” And by saying that God “foreordained,” and so showing that the good deed is the Father’s, he shows that it is the Son’s as well. For the Father “foreordained,” but Christ, in his own blood, carried the whole thing through. [j]

“To declare his righteousness.” What is this declaring of righteousness? It is like the declaring of his riches: not only that he is rich himself, but that he also makes others rich. Or of his life: not only that he himself is living, but that he makes the dead live. Or of his power: not only that he himself is powerful, but that he makes the weak powerful. So too the declaring of his righteousness is not only that he himself is righteous, but that he also suddenly makes righteous those who are rotting with the festering sores of sin. And to explain this, that is, what “declaring” means, he has added, “that he might be righteous, and the one who counts righteous the one who believes in Jesus.”

So do not doubt, for it is not of works but of faith. And do not shrink back from the righteousness of God, for it is a blessing in two ways: it is easy, and it is open to everyone. And do not be embarrassed or ashamed. If he himself openly declares that he does this, and, so to speak, finds delight and pride in it, how can you be downcast and hide your face at what your Master glories in?

Now after raising his hearers’ hopes by saying that what had happened was a declaring of the righteousness of God, he next uses fear to urge on anyone who is slow and slack about coming, speaking as follows:

“Because of the slackening of sins that were committed before.” Do you see how often he keeps reminding them of their wrongdoing? Earlier he did it by saying, “Through the law comes the knowledge of sin,” and then by saying, “For all have sinned,” but here in still stronger language. For he does not say “for the sins,” but “for the slackening,” that is, the deadness. There was no longer any hope of recovering health; but as a paralyzed body needs a hand from above, so does a soul that has been deadened. [k]

And what is worse still, he sets something down as a charge and shows it to be a heavier accusation. What is it? That this last state was brought on during God’s forbearance. You cannot plead, he means, that you have not enjoyed much forbearance and goodness.

But the words “at this time” are those of someone pointing out the greatness of his power and his love for humankind. It is as if he were saying: After we had given up on everything, when it was time for us to be sentenced, when the evils had grown great and our sins were at their full, then he displayed his own power, so that you might learn how great is the abundance of righteousness with him. For if this had happened at the beginning, it would not have looked so wonderful and so extraordinary as it does now, when every kind of cure had been found useless.

Verse 27: “Where then is boasting? It is excluded,” he says. “By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.”

Paul takes great pains to show that faith is mighty to a degree the law was never even imagined to be. After saying that God counts people righteous by faith, he grapples with the law again. And he does not say, “Where then are the good deeds of the Jews? Where is their righteous conduct?” but “Where then is the boasting?” In this way he takes every opportunity to show that they only use big words, as though they had something more than others, and have no deeds to show. And after saying, “Where then is the boasting?” he does not say “it has been put out of sight” or “it has come to an end,” but “it is excluded,” a word that rather expresses that it is out of season, since there is no longer any ground for it.

For just as, once the judgment has come, those who would like to repent no longer have the season for it, so now, with the sentence already passed, and everyone on the point of perishing, and he at hand who by grace would break these terrors, they no longer had the season to plead any improvement brought about by the law. If it was right to rest their strength on these things, it should have been before his coming. But now that he who would save by faith had come, the season for those efforts was taken from them. Since all were convicted, he therefore saves by grace. And this is why he has come only now: so that they could not say, as they would have if he had come at the beginning, that it was possible to be saved by the law and by our own labors and good deeds. To curb this brazenness of theirs, he waited a long time, so that, once they had been plainly convicted by every argument of being unable to help themselves, he might then save them by his grace. And for this reason too, after saying above, “To declare his righteousness,” he added, “at this time.”

If anyone objects, then, he is doing the same as a man who, after committing great crimes, could not defend himself in court, but was condemned and about to be punished, and was then forgiven by a royal pardon, and after his forgiveness had the brazenness to boast and say he had done nothing wrong. Before the pardon came was the time to prove that; after it came, he would no longer have the season for boasting.

This is what happened in the case of the Jews. Since they had betrayed themselves, that was why he came, doing away with their boasting by his very coming. For the man who says he is “a teacher of babes” and “boasts in the law,” and calls himself “an instructor of the foolish,” can no longer have any pretext for boasting if he needed a teacher and a Savior just as they did. For if even before this his circumcision had become uncircumcision, much more is it so now, since it is shut out in both periods. [m]

But after saying that “it is excluded,” he also shows how. How then does he say it was excluded? “By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.” See, he calls faith a law as well, delighting to keep to the familiar names, and so to soften the seeming novelty. But what is “the law of faith”? It is being saved by grace. Here he shows God’s power: he has not only saved them, but has even counted them righteous and brought them to boasting, and this without needing works, looking for faith alone.

In saying this he tries to bring the Jew who has believed to think modestly of himself, and to calm the one who has not believed in such a way as to draw him over to his own view. For the one who has been saved, if he is proud because he keeps to the law, will be told that he himself has stopped his own mouth, has accused himself, has renounced any claim to his own salvation, and has excluded boasting. And the one who has not believed, humbled by these same means, will be able to be brought over to the faith. Do you see how great faith’s preeminence is? How it has moved us away from the former things, not even allowing us to boast of them?

Verse 28: “Therefore we conclude that a human being is counted righteous by faith apart from the deeds of the law.” [n]

Having shown that by faith they were superior to the Jews, he goes on with great confidence to speak about faith itself, and once again he heals what seemed to trouble them in it. For two things confused the Jews. One was whether it was possible for people who had not been saved with works to be saved without them. The other was whether it was just for the uncircumcised to enjoy the same blessings as those who had been brought up in the law for so long a time; and this second thing confused them far more than the first. So, having proved the first, he goes on next to the other, which so perplexed the Jews that even after they believed they complained against Peter over this very point.

What does he say, then? “Therefore we conclude that by faith a human being is counted righteous.” He does not say “a Jew” or “one under the law.” Instead, having led his teaching out into a broad space and opened the doors of faith to the world, he says “a human being,” the name our whole race shares. And then, taking his occasion from this, he meets an objection that had not been spoken. It was likely that the Jews, on hearing that faith counts every human being righteous, would take it badly and be offended, so he goes on:

Verse 29: “Is he the God of the Jews only?”

As if to say: On what grounds, then, does it seem wrong to you that every human being should be saved? Is God partial? In this way he shows that in wanting to slight the Gentiles, they are really insulting God’s glory, if, that is, they will not allow him to be the God of all. But if he is the God of all, then he cares for all; and if he cares for all, then he saves all alike by faith. That is why he says, “Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also.” For he is not partial, as the gods of the pagans’ myths are, but common to all, and one. And that is why he goes on: [o]

Verse 30: “Since there is one God.”

That is, the same Master rules over both these and those. And if you point me to the old state of things, even then the care of Providence was shared by both, though in different ways. As the written law was given to you, so the natural law was given to them; and they fell short in nothing, if only they were willing. Indeed, they were able even to surpass you. And so he goes on, alluding to this very thing: “Who will count the circumcision righteous by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.” In this way he reminds them of what he said before about uncircumcision and circumcision, where he showed that there was no difference. But if there was no difference then, much less is there any now. And this he now establishes on still clearer grounds, and so demonstrates that both alike stand in need of faith.

Verse 31: “Do we then,” he says, “make the law void through faith? Far from it! On the contrary, we establish the law.” [q]

Do you see how varied his judgment is, and how far beyond words? The mere use of the word “establish” shows that the law was not standing then, but had worn out. Notice, too, Paul’s surpassing power, and how he proves what he sets out to prove with more than enough to spare. For here he shows that faith, far from doing the law any harm, actually helps it, just as the law, for its part, prepared the way for faith. For as the law bore witness to faith beforehand (for he says, “being witnessed by the law and the prophets”), so here faith establishes the law, now that the law had lost its strength.

And how did faith establish it, he would ask? What was the aim of the law, and what was the goal of all its commands? Why, to make a person righteous. But this it had no power to do: “for all,” it says, “have sinned.” Faith, when it came, accomplished it. For once a man believes, he is counted righteous at once. So faith has established the law’s intention, and what all its commands were aiming at, faith has brought to completion.

So faith has not abolished the law; it has made it complete. Here, then, he has proved three things: first, that it is possible to be counted righteous without the law; next, that the law could not bring this about; and third, that faith is not opposed to the law. For the chief thing that perplexed the Jews was that faith seemed to be opposed to the law. So he shows more than the Jew could wish: that far from being against the law, faith is its close ally and works together with it. And this was what they especially longed to hear proved. [r]

But since, after this grace by which we were counted righteous, we also need a life to match it, let us show an eagerness worthy of the gift. And we will show it if we hold eagerly to love, the mother of good deeds.

Now love is not bare words, or mere polite greetings to people, but taking care of them and showing itself in deeds: for instance, by relieving poverty, helping the sick, rescuing people from dangers, standing by those in difficulties, weeping with those who weep, and rejoicing with those who rejoice (Romans 12, verse 15). For even this last is a part of love. It seems a small thing, rejoicing with those who rejoice; yet it is very great, and it calls for the spirit of true wisdom. We can find many who do the more bitter part, and yet lack the strength for this. Many weep with those who weep, yet do not rejoice with those who rejoice, but are in tears when others rejoice; and this comes from grudging and envy.

So the good deed of rejoicing when our brother rejoices is no small one; it is even greater than the other. And perhaps it is greater not only than weeping with those who weep, but even than standing by those who are in danger. There are many, at any rate, who have shared danger with people in danger, yet were cut to the heart when those same people came into honor. That is how great the tyranny of a grudging spirit is! And yet the one is a matter of toil and labor, and the other of choice and disposition only. All the same, many who have endured the harder task have not managed the easier one. They pine and waste away when they see others in honor, when a whole church is benefited by someone’s teaching or in some other way. And what could be worse than this? For such a person is no longer fighting with his brother, but with the will of God.

Think about this, and be rid of the disease. Even if you are unwilling to set your neighbor free, at least set yourself free from these countless evils. Why carry war into your own thoughts? Why fill your soul with turmoil? Why stir up a storm? Why turn everything upside down? In this state of mind, how will you be able to ask forgiveness for your sins? For if he does not forgive those who refuse to let pass the wrongs done to themselves, what forgiveness will he grant to those who set out to injure people who have done them no injury at all? This is proof of the worst wickedness. People like this are fighting on the devil’s side against the church, and perhaps they are even worse than he is. For one can be on guard against him; but these people cloak themselves under a mask of friendship and secretly light the pyre. They throw themselves into the furnace first, and they suffer from a disease that deserves no pity and even earns a great deal of ridicule.

For tell me, why are you pale and trembling and afraid? What evil has happened? Is it that your brother is in honor, looked up to, well thought of? Why, you ought to weave garlands, and rejoice, and glorify God that your own limb is in honor and looked up to! Or are you pained that God is glorified? Do you see where this war leads? But someone will say: “It is not because God is glorified, but because my brother is.” Yet the glory goes up to God through him; and so your war goes up against God as well. He will say: “But that is not what grieves me. I would like God to be glorified through me.” Well then! Rejoice that your brother is in honor, and then God is glorified again, through you as well, and everyone will say: “Blessed be God, whose household is of such a mind, wholly free from envy and rejoicing together at one another’s good!”

And why do I speak of your brother? Even if he were your foe and enemy, and God were glorified through him, you ought to make him your friend for that very reason. But you make your friend an enemy because God is glorified by his being in honor. If someone healed your body when it was in a bad way, you would count him from then on among the first of your friends, even if he had been an enemy. And do you reckon the man who brings gladness to the face of Christ’s body, the church, and who is your friend besides, to be an enemy still? How could you make war on Christ more plainly?

For this reason, even if a man works miracles, has celibacy to show, and fasting, and sleeping on the bare ground, and by this virtue comes near to the angels themselves, he will still be the most accursed of all while he has this defect. He will be a greater breaker of the law than the adulterer, the sexually immoral man, the robber and the grave robber. And so that no one will condemn this language as exaggeration, I would like to put a question to you. If someone came with fire and a pickaxe, destroying and burning this house and digging up this altar, would not every one of you here stone him as accursed and a lawbreaker? What, then, if someone brought a flame more consuming than that fire — I mean envy — which does not ruin buildings of stone or dig up an altar of gold, but overturns and scornfully wrecks what is far more precious than either walls or altar, the teachers’ building: what leniency would he deserve?

Let no one tell me that he has often tried and failed, for actions are judged by the intent behind them. Saul did kill David, even though he did not hit him (First Samuel 19, verse 10). Tell me, do you not see that you are plotting against the sheep of Christ when you make war on his shepherd? Those are the sheep for whom Christ even shed his blood, and for whom he told us to do and to suffer everything. Do you not remind yourself that your Master sought your glory and not his own, while you are seeking not your Master’s glory but your own? And yet if you had sought his, you would have gained your own as well. But by seeking your own before his, you will never gain even that.

What, then, will be the remedy? Let us all join in prayer, and let us lift up our voice together on their behalf, as for the demon-possessed; for these are even more wretched than they, since their madness is their own choice. [v]

For this affliction needs prayer and much pleading. If the man who does not love his brother gains nothing, even though he empties out all his money and has the glory of martyrdom too, think what punishment the man deserves who makes war even on someone who has not wronged him in anything. He is worse even than the pagans. For if loving those who love us gives us no advantage over them, tell me, in what rank will the man be placed who envies those who love him? For envy is worse even than war. The man at war puts an end to his hatred when the cause of the war is at an end; but the envious man would never become a friend. The one wages an open kind of battle, the other a hidden one. The one often has a reasonable cause to give for the war; the other has nothing but madness and a satanic spirit.

To what, then, is one to compare a soul like this? To what viper? To what asp? To what devouring worm? To what scorpion? For there is nothing so accursed or so deadly as a soul of this sort. It is this, yes, this, that has overthrown churches; this that has given birth to the heresies; this that armed a brother’s hand, and dipped his right hand in the blood of a righteous man, and tore up the laws of nature, and threw open the gates for death, and put that curse into action. It would not let that wretch call to mind the pains of his birth, or his parents, or anything else. It made him so furious, and drove him to such a pitch of frenzy, that even when God urged him, saying, “His turning will be toward you, and you will rule over him” (Genesis 4, verse 7), he did not give way even then. And yet God both forgave him the fault and made his brother subject to him. But his disease is so incurable that even if thousands of remedies are applied, it keeps festering with its own rot.

For why are you so vexed, most miserable of men? Is it because God has had honor shown him? No, that would show a satanic spirit. Is it, then, because your brother outstrips you in good name? As for that, you are free to outstrip him in your turn. So if you want to be the winner, do not kill, do not destroy, but let him live on, so that the material for the contest may be kept, and beat him while he is alive. That way your crown would have been a glorious one; but by destroying him like this you pass a harsher sentence of defeat on yourself. But a grudging spirit has no sense of any of this. And what glory could you covet in such solitude? For they were at that time the only people living on the earth. Still, even this did not hold him back. He cast everything out of his mind and took his place in the devil’s ranks; for it was the devil who then led the war on Cain’s side.

It was not enough for him that man had become subject to death. By the manner of the death he tried to make the tragedy still greater, and he persuaded Cain to murder his own brother. He was straining, as though in labor, to see the sentence carried out, for he is never satisfied with our miseries. Imagine someone who had an enemy in prison and saw him under sentence, and who pressed to see him butchered inside the city before he was even led out of it, not waiting even for the proper time. That is what the devil did then. Though he had heard that man must return to the earth, he was in labor with the desire to see something worse: a son dying before his father, a brother destroying a brother, a violent slaughter before its time. Do you see what great service envy has done him? How it has filled the insatiable spirit of the devil, and laid for him a table as great as he longed to see? [x]

Let us, then, escape from the disease. For it is not possible — truly it is not — to escape the fire prepared for the devil unless we get free of this sickness. And we will get free if we keep in mind how Christ loved us, and how he told us to love one another. What love did he show for us? He shed his precious blood for us when we were enemies and had done him the greatest wrong. Do the same yourself in your brother’s case; for this is the point of his saying, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 13, verse 34). Or rather, even then the measure is not matched, for he did this on behalf of his enemies. And are you unwilling to shed your blood for your brother? Why then do you go so far as to shed his blood, disobeying the commandment to the point of turning it upside down? Yet what he did was not owed; while you, if you do it, are only paying a debt.

So too the servant who had been let off the ten thousand talents and then demanded the hundred denarii was punished, not merely for demanding them, but because even the kindness done to him had not made him any better, and he did not follow where his master had led the way and cancel the debt. For on the servant’s part, the thing would have been only a debt after all, had he done it. For everything we do, we do in payment of a debt. That is why he himself said, “When you have done everything, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what was our duty to do’” (Luke 17, verse 10).

So if we show love, if we give our goods to those in need, we are paying a debt. And that is not only because he was the first to begin doing good, but because it is his goods that we are handing out whenever we do give. Why, then, deprive yourself of what he wants you to have the right to? The reason he told you to give them to another was so that you might have them yourself. For as long as you keep them to yourself, not even you have them; but when you have given them to another, then you have received them yourself. What magic spell could do as much as this?

He poured out his blood for his enemies; we will not even give money for our benefactor. He did it with his own blood; we will not even do it with money that is not ours. He did it first; we will not do it even after his example. He did it for our salvation; we will not do it even for our own advantage. For he is to gain nothing from our kindness to others; the whole gain comes to us. This is the very reason we are told to give our goods away: so that we may not be robbed of them. Think of someone who gives a little child money and tells him to hold it tight, or to give it to the servant to keep, so that it is not there for anyone who likes to snatch it away. That is what God does. For he says: “Give to the one in need, so that no one snatches it away from you — an informer, for instance, or a false accuser, or a thief, or, if you escape all these, death. For as long as you keep it yourself, you have no safe hold on it. But if you give it to me through the poor, I will keep all of it for you exactly, and at the right time I will give it back with great increase. I do not receive it to take it away, but to make it a larger sum and to keep it more carefully, so that I may have it kept safe for you against that time when there is no one to lend or to pity.” [z]

What, then, could be more hard-hearted than for us, after such promises, not to bring ourselves to lend to him? Yes, this is why we go before him destitute and naked and poor, without the things entrusted to our charge: because we do not deposit them with him who keeps them more carefully than anyone. And for this we will be punished most severely. For when we are called to account for them, what will we be able to say about their loss? What excuse will we put forward? What defense? What reason is there why you did not give?

Do you not believe you will get it back? How can that be reasonable? He gave to you when you had given him nothing; how will he not much more give once he has received? Does the sight of your goods please you? Then give all the more for this very reason, so that you may be the more delighted there, where no one can take them from you. For now, if you keep them, you will suffer countless evils besides. The devil leaps at the rich like a dog, trying to snatch from them, as from a child holding a crust of bread or a cake. So let us give them to our Father. If the devil sees this done, he will certainly go away; and when he has gone, then the Father will give them all back to you safely, in the world to come, where the devil cannot trouble you. For as things are now, the rich are no different from little children set upon by dogs, with all of them barking around them, tearing and pulling — and not people only, but shameful passions too: gluttony, drunkenness, flattery, impurity of every kind.

When we have money to lend, we are very anxious to find those who pay well, and we look especially for honest dealers. But here we do the opposite. God deals honestly, and pays not one in the hundred but a hundredfold, and him we abandon; and we go looking for those who will not give us back even the principal. For what return will our belly make us, when it swallows the larger share of our goods? Dung and rot. What will empty glory give back? Envy and grudging. What will stinginess? Worry and anxiety. What will impurity? Hell and the venomous worm! These are the debtors of the rich, and this is the interest they pay on the principal: evils now, and dreadful things to come. Tell me, will we lend to these, with such punishment for our interest, and not entrust the same goods to Christ, who holds out to us heaven, immortal life, blessings beyond words? What excuse will we have? How is it that you do not give to him who will surely repay, and repay more abundantly? Perhaps it is because he takes so long to repay. [aa]

Yet surely he repays even here. For the one who says it is true: “Seek the kingdom of heaven, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6, verse 33). Do you see this lavish generosity? He is saying: “Those goods have been stored up for you, and they are not growing less; these here I give you as an addition, over and above.” But besides all this, the very fact that it will be so long before you receive it only makes your riches greater, since the interest is more. For when people borrow money, we see that this is what the lenders do: they lend more readily to those who pay back after a long time. The man who pays back everything at once cuts off the growth of the interest, while the one who keeps the money longer makes the gain from it greater too. When it is a man, then, we do not take offense at the delay, but even use tricks to make it longer; and when it is God, will we be so small-minded as to hang back and pull out on this very ground? [ab]

And yet, as I said, he gives even here; and besides the reason I mentioned, he keeps the whole in store there because he is also planning some other, greater advantage for us. For the abundance of what is given, and the excellence of that gift, surpass this present worthless life. In this perishable body, doomed to die, it is not even possible to receive those unfading crowns; nor, in our present state, troubled and full of distress and open to so many changes, to attain that unchangeable and untroubled lot.

Now suppose someone owed you gold, and you were staying in a foreign country, with no servants and no means of carrying it across to where you live, and he promised to pay you the loan there. You would beg him in countless ways to pay it, not in the foreign land, but at home instead. And do you think it right to receive those spiritual things, beyond words, in this world? What madness that would be! If you receive them here, they must certainly be perishable; but if you wait for that time, he will repay them to you imperishable and unmixed. If you receive here, you have got lead; if there, refined gold. [ac]

Still, he does not deprive you even of the good things of this life. For along with that promise he has placed another, to this effect: that everyone who loves the things of the world to come will receive “a hundredfold in this present life, and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19, verse 29). If, then, we do not receive the hundredfold, it is we ourselves who are to blame for not lending to him who can give so much. For all who have given have received much, even if they gave only a little.

For tell me, what great thing did Peter give? Was it not a torn net, and a rod and a hook, and nothing more (Luke 5, verses 6 and 11)? Yet God opened the houses of the world to him, and spread land and sea before him, and everyone invited him to share their possessions. Or rather, they sold what was their own and brought it to the apostles’ feet — to their feet, not into their hands, for they did not dare, so great was the honor they paid him, and so great their open-handedness. But you will say: “But he was Peter!” What of it, my friend? It was not to Peter only that he made this promise. He did not say, “You, Peter, and you alone, will receive a hundredfold,” but “everyone who has left houses or brothers will receive a hundredfold.” For he takes no account of who a person is, only of what is rightly done. But someone will say: “But I have a circle of little children around me, and I want to leave them well provided for.” Then why do we make them paupers? For if you leave them everything, you are still entrusting your goods to a keeping that may betray you. But if you leave them God as their co-heir and guardian, you have left them countless treasures. When we avenge ourselves, God does not help us, but when we leave it to him, more comes about than we expect. So too with our goods: if we worry over them ourselves, he withdraws his providence from them; but if we cast everything on him, he will set both them and our children in complete safety. And why are you amazed that it is so with God? You can see it happen even among men.

For if, when you are dying, you do not ask any of your relatives to take care of your children, it often happens that even one who is entirely willing holds back, and is too modest to leap to the task of his own accord. But if you place the charge on him, he will feel that a very great honor has been shown him, and in return he will repay it with very great returns. So if you want to leave your children great wealth, leave them God’s care. He gave you a soul, formed your body, and granted you life without your having done anything. When he sees you showing such generosity, and sharing out their inheritance between them and himself, he will surely open every kind of riches to them. If Elijah, after being fed with a little flour, made threshing floors and oil presses appear in the widow’s little hut because he saw that the woman honored him above her own children, think what loving care the Lord of Elijah will show! So let us not think about how to leave our children rich, but how to leave them virtuous. [af]

For if they have riches to rely on, they will care about nothing else, since in their abundant riches they have a way of screening the wickedness of their conduct. But if they find themselves without the comfort that comes from that source, they will do everything they can to find in virtue a plentiful consolation for their poverty. So leave them no riches, so that you may leave them virtue. It is utterly unreasonable that while we are alive we do not make them masters of all our goods, and yet after we are dead we hand the careless nature of youth a complete release from fear. Besides, while we are alive we will have the power to call them to account, and to sober them and rein them in, if they misuse their goods. But if after we are dead — just when they have lost us, and while they are still young — we give them the power that wealth brings, there is no end to the cliffs we will push those unhappy and miserable creatures over. We will be heaping fuel on a flame and dripping oil into a raging furnace. [ag]

So if you want to leave them rich and safe as well, leave God as their debtor, and put their inheritance into his hands. If they receive the money themselves, they will not even know whom to entrust it to, and they will fall in with many scheming and callous people. But if you lend it out at interest to God beforehand, the treasure is safe from attack from then on, and that repayment will be made with great ease. For God is glad to repay us what he owes. He looks with a kinder eye on those who have lent to him than on those who have not, and he loves most those to whom he owes most. So if you want to have him as your friend always, make him your debtor for a large sum. No lender is as pleased to have people owing him as Christ is delighted to have people lending to him. Those to whom he owes nothing he runs away from; but those to whom he owes something he even runs toward.

So let us use every means to get him as our debtor. This is the season for loans, and he is in need now. If you do not give to him now, he will not ask it of you after you have left this world. It is here that he is thirsty, here that he is hungry. He is thirsty because he thirsts for your salvation. That is why he even begs; that is why he even goes about naked, bargaining for immortal life on your behalf. So do not neglect him. It is not that he wants to be fed, but to feed; not to be clothed, but to clothe you, and to dress you in the golden garment, the royal robe.

Do you not see how even the more devoted kind of physicians, when they bathe the sick, bathe themselves as well, though they have no need of it? In the same way he too does everything for your sake, because you are sick. This is also why he uses no force in asking, so that he may make you great returns — so that you may learn that he asks of you not because he is in need, but to set right what you are lacking. This is why, too, he comes to you in humble form, with his right hand held out.

And if you give him a penny, he does not turn away; and even if you refuse him, he does not leave, but comes back to you again. For he longs — yes, he longs intensely — for our salvation. So let us despise money, so that we may not be despised by Christ. Let us despise money even for the sake of gaining money itself. For if we keep it here, we will lose it entirely, both here and hereafter. But if we distribute it with generous spending, we will enjoy abundant wealth in both lives. So whoever wants to become rich, let him become poor, so that he may be rich. Let him spend so that he may collect; let him scatter so that he may gather. [ai]

If this sounds new and strange, look at the sower, and consider that he cannot gather more in any other way than by scattering what he has and letting go of what is in his hand. So let us sow and cultivate heaven now, so that we may reap in great abundance and obtain everlasting goods, through the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.