Homily 30 — Second Corinthians 13, verses 10 to 14

“For this reason I write these things while I am absent, so that when I am present I may not have to deal sharply, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.” [a]

He was aware that he had spoken more severely than was his habit, especially toward the end of the letter. For earlier he had said, “Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the gentleness and mildness of Christ — I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away. Yes, I beg you that when I am present I may not have to be bold with the confidence with which I intend to be bold against some who regard us as though we walked according to the flesh” (Second Corinthians 10, verses 1 and 2). And: “being ready to punish every disobedience, once your obedience is complete” (Second Corinthians 10, verse 6). And: “I am afraid that when I come I may find you not as I would wish, and that I may be found by you not as you would wish” (Second Corinthians 12, verse 20). And again: “that when I come my God may humble me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned before and have not repented of the loose living and impurity they have committed” (Second Corinthians 12, verse 21). And after that: “I told you before, and I tell you in advance, as if I were present the second time, and now, being absent, I write it: if I come again I will not spare — since you are seeking proof of Christ who speaks in me” (Second Corinthians 13, verses 2 and 3).

So since he had said these things and more besides — frightening them, shaming them, reproaching them, lashing them — he says, to excuse it all, “For this reason I write these things while I am absent, so that when I am present I may not have to deal sharply.” “I want the sharpness to stay in my letters and not in my actions. I want my threats to be severe so that they may remain threats and never go on to become deeds.” Yet even in this defense of himself he makes his words more frightening, by showing that it is not he who will punish, but God. For he added, “according to the authority which the Lord gave me.” And again, to show that he does not wish to use his power to punish them, he added, “not for tearing down, but for building up.” He hinted this much now, as I said, but he left them to draw the conclusion for themselves: that if they remained uncorrected, even this is building up — to punish those who think this way. For that is how it is, and he knew it, and he showed it by his actions.

Verse 11: “Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, be made perfect, be comforted, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.”

What does “Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice” mean? “You have pained them, terrified them, thrown them into anguish, made them tremble and fear — so how can you tell them to rejoice?” “Why, for this very reason I tell them to rejoice. For if your part follows upon mine, nothing will stand in the way of that joy. All my part has been done. I have been patient, I have waited, I have held back from cutting anyone off, I have pleaded, I have advised, I have alarmed you, I have threatened you, so as to gather you in by every means to the fruit of repentance. Now your part must be done, and then your joy will never fade.”

“Be made perfect.” What does “be made perfect” mean? “Be complete; fill up what is lacking.”

“Be comforted.” Since their trials were many and their dangers great, he says: “‘Be comforted’ — by one another, by us, and by your own change for the better. For if you have joy of conscience and become complete, nothing is lacking to your cheerfulness and comfort. Nothing produces comfort like a clean conscience, even when countless trials surround you.”

“Be of one mind, live in peace.” He made this request at the opening of the former letter too. For it is possible to be of one mind and yet not live in peace — for instance, when people agree in doctrine but are at odds in their dealings with one another. But Paul requires both. [c]

“And the God of love and peace will be with you.” For he really does not only recommend and advise; he also prays. Either he prays for this, or he foretells what will happen — or rather, both. “For if you do these things — if, for instance, you are ‘of one mind’ and ‘live in peace’ — God too will be with you. For he is ‘the God of love and of peace,’ and in these things he delights and rejoices. From his love, peace too will be yours; from it every evil will be taken away. Love saved the world, love ended the long war, love joined heaven and earth together, love made human beings angels. So let us imitate it too, for love is the mother of countless good things. By it we were saved; by it all those good things beyond words have come to us.”

Then, to lead them on to it, he says — verse 12 — “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” [e]

What does “holy” mean? Not hollow, not treacherous, like the kiss Judas gave Christ. For the kiss is given for this purpose: to be fuel for love, to kindle affection, so that we may love one another as brothers love brothers, as children love parents, as parents love children — or rather, far more even than that. For those are affections planted by nature, but these by spiritual grace. So our souls are bound to one another. That is why, when we come back after being away, we kiss each other: our souls are hurrying toward one another’s company. For the mouth is the member that most of all makes known to us the workings of the soul.

But something more may be said about this holy kiss. What is it? We are the temple of Christ; so when we kiss one another, we are kissing the doorway and entrance of the temple. Do you not see how many people kiss even the doorway of this temple here, some bending down to it, others taking hold of it with their hand and putting their hand to their mouth? And through these gates and doors Christ has entered into us, and does enter, whenever we receive the mysteries. You who share in the mysteries understand what I am saying. For it is no ordinary honor our lips receive when they receive the Lord’s Body. It is chiefly for this reason that we kiss here.

Let those listen who speak filthy things, who hurl insults, and let them shudder to think what a mouth it is they are dishonoring. Let those listen who kiss obscenely. Hear what things God has proclaimed through your mouth, and keep it undefiled. He has spoken of the life to come, of the resurrection, of immortality, of how death is not death, and of those other countless mysteries. For the one who is about to be initiated comes to the priest’s mouth as to an oracle, to hear things full of awe. He lost his life all the way back in his first ancestors, and he comes to seek it again, and to ask how he might find it and get it back. Then God announces to him how it may be found, and that mouth becomes more awe-inspiring than the mercy seat itself. For the mercy seat never sent out a voice like this. It spoke much of lesser things — of wars, and of the kind of peace there is here below. But this mouth speaks wholly of heaven and the life to come, of things new and beyond understanding.

And having said, “Greet one another with a holy kiss,” he added — verse 13 — “All the saints greet you.”

By this too he gives them good hopes. He added this in place of the kiss, knitting them together by the greeting — for the words also come from the same mouth as the kiss. Do you see how he brings them all together, both those who are far apart in body and those who are near: the near by the kiss, and the distant by the written greeting? [g]

Verse 14: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” After uniting them to one another by the greetings and the kisses, he again closes what he has to say with prayer, taking great care to unite them to God as well.

Where now are those who say that, because the Holy Spirit is not included in the openings of the letters, he is not of the same essence? For look — here he has listed him with the Father and the Son. Besides this, one may observe that when writing to the Colossians and saying, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father,” he said nothing of the Son, and did not add, as in all his other letters, “and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” Is the Son, then, not of the same essence either, because of this? No — these reasonings are utter folly. For this very thing above all shows him to be of the same essence: that Paul uses the phrase, or leaves it out, without distinction.

And to show that what I am saying is no guess, hear how he mentions the Son and the Spirit and says nothing at all of the Father. Writing to the Corinthians he says, “But you were washed, you were made holy, you were counted righteous in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (First Corinthians 6, verse 11). What then, tell me? Were these people not baptized into the Father? Then surely they were neither washed nor made holy. But were they baptized into the Father? Certainly they were. So why did he not say, “You were washed in the name of the Father”? Because to him it made no difference to mention this Person at one time and that one at another. And you can see this habit in many places in the letters. For writing to the Romans he says, “I urge you therefore by the mercies of God” (Romans 12, verse 1), though those mercies are the Son’s; and, “I urge you by the love of the Spirit” (Romans 15, verse 30), though love belongs to the Father. Why, then, did he not name the Son with “the mercies,” or the Father with “the love”? Because these things are plain and agreed, he passed over them in silence. [l]

Moreover, he will be found once again putting the gifts themselves the other way around. Having said here, “The grace of Christ, and the love of God and the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,” in another place he speaks of “the fellowship of the Son” and of “the love of the Spirit.” For “I urge you,” he says, “by the love of the Spirit” (Romans 15, verse 30). And in his letter to the Corinthians: “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son” (First Corinthians 1, verse 9). So the things of the Trinity are undivided. Though fellowship belongs to the Spirit, it has been found to belong to the Son; and though grace belongs to the Son, it belongs also to the Father and to the Holy Spirit. For we read, “Grace to you from God the Father.” And in another place, after listing many forms of it, he added, “But all these are the work of one and the same Spirit, who distributes to each one individually as he wills” (First Corinthians 12, verse 11). And I say these things not to blur the Persons together — far from it! — but knowing both the individuality and the distinctness of the Persons, and the oneness of their essence.

So let us keep holding these teachings exactly, and let us also draw the love of God to ourselves. For before, he loved us when we hated him, and reconciled us when we were his enemies; but from now on he wishes to love us as people who love him. So let us keep loving him, so that we may also be loved by him. For if, when we are loved by powerful men, everyone is afraid of us, how much more when we are loved by God! And if we must give wealth, or our body, or even life itself for this love, let us not begrudge them. For it is not enough to say in words that we love; we must also give the proof of deeds. For he did not show his love by words only, but by deeds too. [m]

So you too, show it by your deeds, and do the things that please him; that is how you yourself will reap the benefit in return. For he needs nothing we have to give. And this too is a particular proof of sincere love: when one who needs nothing, and is under no necessity, does everything for the sake of being loved by us. That is why Moses too said, “For what does the Lord God require of you, but to love him, and that you be ready to walk after him?” (Deuteronomy 10, verse 12). So when he commands you to love him, then above all he shows that he loves you. For nothing so secures our salvation as loving him. [n]

See, then, how all his commands together tend to our rest, our salvation and our good name. For when he says, “Blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the gentle, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5, verses 3 to 9), he himself gains nothing from these; he commands them to adorn us and to set us in tune. And when he says, “I was hungry,” it is not because he needs that service from us, but to rouse you to kindness toward others. For he was well able to feed the poor man even without you; but he laid these commands on you as one giving you a surpassing treasure. For if the sun, which is only a created thing, does not need our eyes — it remains in its own brightness even if no one looks at it, and it is we who gain when we enjoy its rays — how much more is this so with God!

But learn this another way too. How great will you say the distance is between God and us? As great as between gnats and us, or much greater? Plainly it is much greater — indeed, infinite. If, then, we creatures full of empty glory need no service or honor from gnats, much less does the divine nature need any from us, since it cannot suffer and needs nothing. The measure of what he enjoys from us is only the greatness of our benefit and the delight he takes in our salvation.

That is why he often gives up what is his own and seeks what is yours. “For if anyone,” he says, “has a wife who does not believe, and she is content to live with him, let him not divorce her” (First Corinthians 7, verse 12). And, “Whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery.” Do you see his goodness beyond words? “If a wife is a prostitute, I do not compel the husband to live with her; and if she is an unbeliever, I do not forbid him to.” And again: “If you are hurt by anyone, I command the one who hurt you to leave my gift and run to you.” For he says, “If you are offering your gift and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5, verses 23 and 24).

And what does the parable of the man who had squandered all he had say (Matthew 18, verse 24 and following)? Does it not show this? When he had eaten up those ten thousand talents, his master had mercy on him and let him go; but when he demanded a hundred denarii from his fellow servant, the master called him wicked and handed him over to punishment.