Homily 2 — Ephesians 1, verses 11 to 14

“In whom we also were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” [a]

Paul works hard on every occasion to display, to the utmost of his power, God’s love for humankind toward us, a love beyond words. That it cannot be displayed as it deserves, hear from his own words: “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!” (Romans 11, verse 33). Still, as far as it can be done, he does display it.

What, then, is he saying here: “In whom we also were made a heritage, being predestined”? Above he used the words “he chose us”; here he says, “we were made a heritage.” But a lot is a matter of chance, not of deliberate choice, or of virtue. It is closely tied to ignorance and accident, and it often passes over the virtuous and brings the worthless into view. So notice how he corrects this very point: “having been foreordained,” he says, “according to the purpose of him who works all things.” That is to say, we have not simply been made a heritage — just as we have not simply been chosen, for it is God who chooses — and so neither have we simply been allotted, for it is God who allots; but it is “according to a purpose.”

He says the same in the letter to the Romans (Romans 8, verses 28 to 30): “to those who are called according to his purpose,” and “those whom he called, he also counted righteous; and those whom he counted righteous, he also glorified.” Having first used the expression “to those who are called according to a purpose,” and wanting at the same time to show how privileged they were compared with the rest of humankind, he speaks also of an inheritance by lot — yet in such a way as not to strip them of free will. So the very point that belongs more properly to good fortune is the one he presses. For an inheritance by lot does not depend on virtue but, as one might say, on the way things happen to fall out.

It is as though he had said: lots were cast, and he chose us; yet the whole thing is a matter of deliberate choice. “Predestined” means that he chose them for himself and set them apart. He saw us, so to speak, chosen by lot before we were born. For God’s foreknowledge is marvelous, and knows all things before they begin.

But notice now how on every occasion he takes pains to show that this is not the result of any change of plan, but that these things had been shaped this way from the very first, so that we are in no way behind the Jews in this respect; and notice how, because of this, he does everything with this aim. How is it, then, that Christ himself says, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15, verse 24)? And said again to his disciples, “Do not go on any road of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans” (Matthew 10, verse 5)? And Paul himself says again, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first. Since you thrust it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, look, we are turning to the Gentiles” (Acts 13, verse 46)?

These words, I tell you, were spoken for this purpose: so that no one would suppose that this work came about only by the way. “According to the purpose,” he says, “of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” That is to say, he did nothing as an afterthought; having shaped all things from the very first, he leads all things forward in this way, “according to the counsel of his will.” So it was not merely because the Jews did not listen that he called the Gentiles, nor was it from mere necessity, nor did anything on their part induce him to it.

Verses 12 and 13: “So that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had hoped in Christ beforehand. In whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the good news of your salvation…” [d]

That is to say, “through whom.” Notice how on every occasion he speaks of Christ as the author of all things, and never gives him the title of a subordinate agent or a servant. So again elsewhere, in his letter to the Hebrews, he says that “God, having spoken long ago to the fathers in the prophets, has at the end of these days spoken to us in his Son” (Hebrews 1, verse 1) — that is, “through” his Son.

“The word of truth,” he says — no longer the word of the type, or of the image.

“The good news of your salvation.” He does well to call it the good news of salvation, pointing by the one word to a contrast with the law, and by the other to a contrast with the punishment to come. For what is this message but the good news of salvation, which holds back from destroying those who deserve destruction?

Verse 14: “In whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is a down payment of our inheritance.” [e]

Here again the word “sealed” is a sign of special foresight. He does not speak only of our being predestined, or of our being allotted, but, further, of our being sealed. Just as someone might make plain those who had fallen to his lot, so God too set them apart for believing, and sealed them for their share in the things to come.

You see how, as time goes on, he makes them objects of wonder. As long as they existed only in his foreknowledge, they were plain to no one; but when they were sealed, they became plain — though not in the same way as we are, for they will be plain, except a few. The Israelites too were sealed, but that was by circumcision, like animals without reason and creatures that lack reason. We too are sealed, but as sons, “with the Spirit.”

But what does “with the Spirit of promise” mean? Surely it means that we have received that Spirit according to a promise. For there are two promises: the one through the prophets, the other from the Son.

Through the prophets: listen to the words of Joel: “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions” (Joel 2, verse 28). And listen again to the words of Christ: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest part of the earth” (Acts 1, verse 8). [g]

And truly, the apostle means, God ought to have been believed simply because he is God. Yet Paul does not rest his claim on this, but examines it as one would a case involving a man, much as he does in the letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 6, verse 18), where he says, “that by two unchangeable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong encouragement.” So here too he makes the things already given a sure token of the promise of the things still to come. That is why he also calls it a “down payment” (see also Second Corinthians 1, verse 22); for a down payment is a part of the whole. He has bought the thing that matters most to us, our salvation, and has given us a down payment in the meantime. Why, then, did he not give the whole at once?

Because we, on our part, have not done the whole of our work either. We have believed. This is a beginning; and he, on his part, has given a down payment. When we show our faith by our works, then he will add the rest. [h]

More than that, he has given yet another pledge, his own blood, and has promised still another. When nation is at war with nation, they give hostages; in just this way God too has given his Son as a pledge of peace and of solemn treaties, and, besides, the Holy Spirit who is from him. For those who truly share in the Spirit know that he is the down payment of our inheritance. Paul was such a man: already here he had a foretaste of the blessings there. That is why he was so eager, and longed to be set free from the things below, and groaned within himself. He had moved his whole mind there, and saw everything with different eyes. You have no share in the reality, and that is why you do not understand the description. If we all shared in the Spirit as we ought to share in him, then we would see heaven and the order of things there.

But a down payment of what? Verse 14: “The redemption of God’s own possession.” [i]

For our complete redemption comes then. Now we live our life in the world; we are exposed to many human mishaps and live among ungodly people. But our complete redemption will come then, when there will be no sins and no human sufferings, and when we will no longer be mixed in with every kind of person.

At present, however, there is only a down payment, because at present we are far from those blessings. Yet our citizenship is not on earth; even now we stand outside the things here below. Yes, even now we are strangers passing through.

Verse 14: “To the praise of his glory.”

He adds this right away. And why? Because it would give his hearers full assurance. If God had done this for our sake alone, he means, there might be some room for doubt.

But if it is for his own sake, and to display his goodness, then he gives, as a kind of witness, a reason why these things could never possibly turn out otherwise. We find the same language used everywhere in the case of the Israelites: “Do this for us for your name’s sake” (Psalm 109, verse 21); and again God himself said, “I do it for my own sake” (Isaiah 48, verse 11); and so Moses: “Do it, if for nothing else, then for the glory of your name.” This gives the hearers full assurance: it is a relief to them to be told that whatever he promises, he will most surely carry out for his own goodness’ sake.

But hearing this must not make us too much at our ease. For although he does it for his own sake, he still requires something on our part. If he says, “Those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be lightly regarded” (First Samuel 2, verse 30), let us reflect that there is something he requires of us too. It is true that saving his enemies is to the praise of his glory — but saving those who, once made his friends, remain his friends. If they were to go back to their former enmity, everything would be in vain and to no purpose. There is not another baptism, nor is there a second reconciliation, but “a certain fearful expectation of judgment, which will devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10, verse 27). [j]

If we mean to be always at enmity with him and at the same time to claim forgiveness from him, we will never stop being at enmity, and behaving insolently, and growing in wickedness, and being blind to the Sun of Righteousness that has risen. Do you not see the ray that will open your eyes? Then make them good and sound and sharp-sighted. He has shown you the true light; if you shun it and run back into the darkness, what excuse will you have? What allowance will be made for you? None, from that moment on. For this is a sign of enmity beyond words.

When you did not know God, then, if you were at enmity with him, you had some excuse, whatever it was worth. But when you have tasted the goodness and the honey, if you abandon them again and go back to your own vomit, what else are you doing but bringing forward evidence of extreme hatred and contempt? You will say: “No, my nature forces me to it. I do love Christ, but my nature forces me.” If you are under the power and force of compulsion, allowance will be made for you; but if you give in out of laziness, not for a moment.

Come, then, let us examine this very question: are sins the result of force and compulsion, or of laziness and great carelessness? The law says, “You shall not kill.” What force, what violence is there here? On the contrary, a man must do violence to himself to force himself to kill. For which of us would of his own choice plunge his sword into his neighbor’s throat and stain his hand with blood? Not one. You see, then, that it is rather sin that is a matter of violence and compulsion. [l]

For God has planted in our nature a kind of charm that binds us to love one another. “Every animal loves its like,” it says, “and every man loves his neighbor” (Sirach 13, verse 15). Do you see that we have from our nature seeds that tend toward virtue, while the seeds of vice are contrary to nature? And if the seeds of vice win out, that is only proof of our great laziness.

Again, what is adultery? What kind of necessity drives us to it? It will be said: “Surely it is the tyranny of craving.” But why, tell me, should this be so? Is it not in everyone’s power to have his own wife, and so to put a stop to this tyranny? “True, but a kind of passion for my neighbor’s wife takes hold of me.” Here it is no longer a question of necessity. Passion is not a matter of necessity; no one loves by necessity, but by deliberate choice and free will. The satisfying of nature may perhaps be a matter of necessity, but to love one woman rather than another is no necessity at all. With you the point is not natural desire, but empty glory, and loose living, and unbounded lack of restraint. For which is reasonable: for a man to have the wife he married, the mother of his children, or a woman he cannot acknowledge? Don’t you know that it is living together that breeds affection? So this is not the fault of nature.

Do not blame natural desire. Natural desire was given for the sake of marriage; it was given for the bearing of children, not for adultery and corruption. The laws, too, know how to make allowance for sins that are done under necessity — or rather, nothing is a sin when it comes from necessity; all sin comes from willful self-indulgence. God did not make human nature in such a way that it would be under any necessity to sin; if that were so, there would be no such thing as punishment. We ourselves demand no account for things done under necessity and compulsion; much less would God, who is so full of mercy and love for humankind.

Again, what is stealing? Is it a matter of necessity? Someone will say: “Yes, because poverty causes it.” Poverty, however, forces us to work, not to steal. So poverty in fact has the opposite effect. Theft is the fruit of idleness, while poverty usually produces not idleness but a love of work. So this sin comes from laziness, as you can learn from this. Which, I ask you, is harder and more unpleasant: to wander about at night without sleep, to break into houses, to walk around in the dark, to take your life in your hands, always ready to commit murder, shaking and half dead with fear — or to go about your daily work in full enjoyment of safety and ease?

The latter is the easier task; and it is because it is easier that most people practice it rather than the other. You see, then, that virtue is according to nature and vice against nature, just as health and disease are.

Again, what about lying and perjury? What necessity could they possibly involve? None whatever, and no compulsion either; it is something we go into of our own free will. It will be said: “But people don’t trust us.” True, they don’t trust us — because we choose it so. If we wanted to, we could be trusted more on our character than on our oath. Tell me, why is it that we do not trust some people even on their oath, while we consider others trustworthy without any oath at all? Do you see that there is no need of oaths in any case? We say, ‘When so-and-so speaks, I believe him even without an oath; but you I do not believe, not even with your oaths.’ So an oath is unnecessary; in fact it is evidence of distrust rather than of trust. For when a man is over-ready to swear, he does not leave us with any high opinion of his conscientiousness. So the man who swears most constantly never has any real need of an oath, and the man who never swears at all has in himself the full benefit of one. Someone says an oath is needed to create trust; but we see that those who keep away from oaths are the ones more readily trusted.

Again, if a man is violent, is that a matter of necessity? He will say: “Yes, because his passion carries him away, and burns within him, and does not let his soul rest.” My friend, violence is not the result of anger but of smallness of mind. If it were the result of anger, all people, whenever they were angry, would never stop committing violence.

We were given anger not to commit violence against our neighbors, but to correct those who are sinning, to rouse ourselves, and to keep from being sluggish. Anger is planted in us like a kind of sting, to make us gnash our teeth at the devil and be fierce against him, not to set us in battle array against one another. We have weapons not to make war among ourselves, but to turn our whole armor against the enemy. Are you quick to anger? Be angry at your own sins: punish your soul, whip your conscience, be a severe judge, merciless in your sentence against your own sins. This is how to put anger to good use. This is why God planted it in us.

Again, is plunder a matter of necessity? No, not at all. Tell me, what kind of necessity is there to be greedy? What kind of compulsion? Someone will say: “Poverty causes it, and the fear of going without the bare necessities.” But this is the very reason you ought not to be greedy. Wealth gained that way has no safety in it. You are doing exactly what a man would do who, when asked why he laid the foundation of his house on the sand, said he did it because of the frost and the rain. That would be the very reason not to lay it on the sand, for those are the foundations that rain and gusts and wind overturn most quickly. So if you want to be wealthy, never be grasping; if you want to pass wealth on to your children, get righteously gained wealth — if indeed there is any such. For that lasts and stays firm, while wealth that is not such quickly wastes away and perishes. [m]

Tell me, do you want to be rich, and so you take other people’s goods? That is surely not wealth. Wealth consists in owning what is your own. A man who holds other people’s goods can never be a wealthy man — or at that rate even your silk merchants, who take their goods from others on consignment, would be the wealthiest and richest people of all. For the time being the goods are indeed theirs, and yet we do not call them wealthy. And why not? Because they hold what belongs to others. For though the cloth itself happens to be theirs, the money it is worth is not; and even if the money is in their hands, still this is not wealth. Now if goods held on consignment do not make people any wealthier, because they so soon hand them back, how can goods that come from plunder make them wealthy?

However, if you really do want to be wealthy — for it is not a matter of necessity — what greater good is it that you hope to enjoy? A longer life? But surely people of this kind are soon cut off. Often they pay an early death as the penalty for their plunder and greed. Not only do they suffer, as a penalty, the loss of the enjoyment of their gains, but they leave this life having gained little — and hell besides. Often, too, they die of diseases that are the fruit of self-indulgence, of …, and of anxiety.

I would like to understand why wealth is so eagerly pursued by people. Surely it is for this very reason that God has set a limit and a boundary to our nature: so that we would have no need to go on seeking wealth beyond it. For example, he has commanded us to clothe the body with one garment, or perhaps two, and there is no need of any more to cover us.

What good are ten thousand changes of clothes, and moth-eaten ones at that? The stomach has its fixed limit, and anything given beyond it will necessarily ruin the whole person. What, then, is the use of your herds and flocks, and all the butchering of meat? We need only one roof to shelter us. What, then, is the use of your vast estates and costly buildings? Do you strip the poor so that vultures and jackdaws may have somewhere to live? What hell do these things not deserve? [o]

Many people often put up buildings gleaming with columns and costly marble in places they have never so much as seen. What scheme have they not tried? Yet neither they nor anyone else gets the benefit. The loneliness of those places keeps them from ever going there — and yet even so they do not stop. You see that these things are not done for profit; in all these cases the motive is folly, and absurdity, and empty glory. This is what I beg you to avoid, so that we may be able to avoid every other evil as well, and may gain the good things promised to those who love him, in our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory, strength and honor to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, forever. Amen.