Homily 4 — Ephesians 2, verses 1 to 10

“And you he made alive, when you were dead through your trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all once lived in the cravings of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest.” [a]

There is, as we know, a bodily dying, and there is also a spiritual one. To share in the first is no crime, and there is no danger in it, since no blame is attached to it; it is a matter of nature, not of deliberate choice. It had its origin in the transgression of the first man who was made, and from then on, in its outcome, it passed into our nature; and in any case it will soon be brought to an end. But this spiritual dying, since it is a matter of deliberate choice, carries guilt, and it has no end.

See, then, how Paul, having already shown how exceedingly great a thing this is — so great that to heal a soul that has died is a far greater thing than to raise the dead — now sets it out once again in all its real greatness.

“And you,” he says, “when you were dead through your trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.” Notice Paul’s gentleness, and how on every occasion he encourages the hearer and does not come down on him too hard. He had told them, in effect, that they had reached the very last degree of wickedness, for that is what it means to be dead. But so as not to distress them too much (for people are put to shame when their past misdeeds are brought up, even though those misdeeds have been canceled and no longer carry any danger), he gives them, as it were, an accomplice, so that no one would suppose the work was all their own — and a powerful accomplice at that. Who is he? The devil. [c]

He does much the same in the letter to the Corinthians. There, after saying, “Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters” (First Corinthians 6, verse 9), and after listing all the other vices and adding at the end, “will inherit the kingdom of God,” he then adds, “And such were some of you.” He does not say flatly, “You were,” but “Some of you were” — that is, you were something like this.

Here the heretics attack us. They tell us that these expressions — “the ruler of all the power of the air” and the words that follow — are used of God. Letting their unbridled tongues loose, they fit to God what belongs to the devil alone. How, then, are we to silence them? With the very words they use themselves. For if God is righteous, as they themselves admit, and yet had done these things, this would no longer be the act of a righteous being, but of one utterly unrighteous and corrupt. And God cannot possibly be corrupt.

Next, why does he call the devil “the ruler” of the world? Because nearly the whole human race has surrendered itself to him, and all are his slaves willingly and by deliberate choice. To Christ, though he promises countless blessings, no one so much as pays any attention; but to the devil, though he promises nothing of the kind and sends them on to hell, everyone yields. So his kingdom is in this world, and, with few exceptions, he has more subjects, and more obedient subjects, than God has — because of our laziness. [e]

“Following the power,” he says, “of the air, of the spirit.”

Here again he means that Satan occupies the space under heaven, and that the bodiless powers are spirits of the air working under him. His kingdom belongs to this age — that is, it will come to an end with the present age. To see this, listen to what he says at the end of the letter: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness” (Ephesians 6, verse 12). And so that when you hear of “world rulers” you would not conclude that the devil is uncreated, elsewhere he calls a wicked time “an evil world” (Galatians 1, verse 4), meaning the time, not the things God created. For it seems to me that, having had dominion beneath the sky, he did not fall from that dominion even after his transgression.

“That is now at work,” he says, “in the sons of disobedience.” [g]

You see that it is not by force or by compulsion that he wins us over, but by persuasion. “Disobedience,” or “unwillingness to be led,” is his word, as if one were to say that by trickery and persuasion he draws all his followers to himself. And Paul encourages them not only by telling them they had an accomplice, but also by counting himself among them. For he says, “Among them we too all once lived.”

“All,” because he cannot say that anyone is an exception.

“In the cravings of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest.”

That is, having no spiritual desires. Yet so as not to seem to slander the flesh, and so that no one would suppose the transgression was not a great one, see how he guards his words: “doing,” he says, “the desires of the flesh and of the mind.”

That is, the passions that bring pleasure. We provoked God to anger, he says; we provoked him to wrath; we were wrath, and nothing else. For just as the child of a human being is by nature human, so we too were children of wrath, like the others. That is, no one was free; we all did things that deserved wrath.

Verse 4: “But God, being rich in mercy.” [h]

Not merely merciful, but rich in mercy, as it says in another place too: “In the multitude of your mercies” (Psalm 69, verse 17). And again: “Have mercy on me, according to the multitude of your tender mercies” (Psalm 51, verse 1).

Verse 4: “Because of his great love with which he loved us.”

Why did he love us? For these things deserve not love, but the severest wrath and punishment. So it was a matter of great mercy.

Verse 5: “Even when we were dead through our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ.”

Again Christ is brought in, and this makes the matter well worth believing: if the Firstfruits lives, so do we. He has made both him and us alive. Do you see that all this is said of Christ in the flesh he took on? Do you see “the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe” (Ephesians 1, verse 19)? Those who were dead, those who were children of wrath — them he has made alive. Do you see “the hope of his calling”?

Verse 6: “He raised us up with him, and made us sit with him.”

Do you see “the glory of his inheritance”? That “he raised us up together” is plain. But how does it hold that he “made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”? It holds just as truly as that he raised us up together. For as yet no one has actually been raised, except that, since the Head has risen, we too are raised — just as in the story of Joseph, when Jacob bowed down, his wife bowed down to Joseph as well (Genesis 37, verses 9 and 10). In the same way he has also “made us sit with him.” For since the Head is seated, the body is seated with it too, and that is why he adds, “in Christ Jesus.” [i]

Or again, if it does not mean this, it means that by the washing of baptism he has “raised us up with him.” How, then, in that case has he “made us sit with him”? Because, he says, “if we suffer, we will also reign with him” (Second Timothy 2, verse 12); if we have died with him, we will also live with him. Truly, one needs the Spirit and a revelation to understand the depth of these mysteries. And then, so that you may have no doubt about the matter, notice what he adds next.

Verse 7: “So that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” [k]

He had been speaking of the things that concerned Christ, and these might seem to be nothing to us — for someone might say, what is it to us that he rose? So he shows that they reach us as well, since he has been made one with us. Only, he states our share in the matter separately: “Us,” he says, “who were dead through our trespasses, he raised up with him, and made us sit with him.” So, as I was saying, do not be unbelieving. Take the proof he offers, both from what has already happened, and from his being the Head, and also from his desire to show his goodness. For how will he show it unless this comes to pass?

And he will show it in the ages to come. Show what? That the blessings are great, and more certain than anything else. For now the things that are said may seem foolishness to unbelievers, but then everyone will know them. Would you like to understand, too, how he has made us sit together with him? Listen to what Christ himself says to the disciples: “You too will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19, verse 28). And again: “But to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father” (Matthew 20, verse 23). So it has been prepared. And he rightly says, “in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus,” for to sit at his right hand is an honor above every honor; there is none beyond it. This, then, is what he is saying: that we too will sit there.

Truly these are surpassing riches; truly surpassing is the greatness of his power, to make us sit down with Christ. Why, if you had ten thousand souls, would you not give them all up for his sake? If you had to go into the flames, should you not bear it gladly? And he himself says again, “Where I am, there my servant will be also” (John 12, verse 26). Why, if you had to be cut to pieces every day, ought you not to accept it cheerfully for the sake of these promises? Think where he is seated: above all rule and authority.

And with whom are you seated? With him. And who are you? Someone who was dead, by nature a child of wrath. And what good have you done? None.

Truly now it is time to cry out, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!” (Romans 11, verse 33).

Verse 8: “For by grace,” he says, “you have been saved.”

So that the greatness of the benefits given you would not lift you up too high, see how he brings you down: “By grace you have been saved,” he says, “through faith.”

Then, on the other hand, so that our free choice would not be impaired, he adds our part in the work as well — and then takes it away again, adding, “And this not of ourselves.”

Not even faith, he means, is “of ourselves.” For if he had not come, if he had not called us, how could we have believed? “How,” he says, “will they believe unless they hear?” (Romans 10, verse 14). So even the work of faith is not our own.

“It is the gift of God,” he says; it is “not of works.”

But you will say: “Was faith, then, enough to save us?” No. But God, he says, required this, so that he would not save us barren and without any work at all. [l]

What he means is that faith saves, but it is because God wills it that faith saves. For how, tell me, does faith save without works? Even this is the gift of God.

Verse 9: “So that no one may boast.”

He says this to stir up in us the right feeling toward this gift of grace. Someone says: “What then? Has he himself kept us from being counted righteous by works?” Far from it! But no one, he says, is counted righteous by works, so that God’s grace and love for humankind might be shown. It was not that he rejected us because we had works; rather, finding us stripped of works, he saved us by grace, so that from now on no one would have anything to boast of.

And then, so that you would not become idle when you hear that the whole work has been accomplished not by works but by faith, see how he goes on. Verse 10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them.”

Notice the words he uses. Here he is hinting at the new birth, which is truly a second creation. We have been brought from nonexistence into being. As to what we were before — that is, the old self — we are dead; and what we have now become, we were not before. Truly, then, this work is a creation, and a nobler one than the first. For from the first we have our being; but from this one we have, over and above that, our well-being. [m]

“For good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them.”

Not merely that we should begin them, but that we should walk in them. For we need a virtue that lasts all the way through and reaches to our dying day. If we had to travel a road leading to a royal city, and then, when we had covered most of it, grew tired and sat down just short of the end, it would do us no good. This is “the hope of our calling”; for he says, “for good works.” Otherwise it would profit us nothing.

So here he takes delight not in our doing one work, but all of them. Just as we have five senses and ought to use all of them, each at its proper time, so too we ought to use the various virtues. If a man were self-controlled and yet unmerciful, or merciful and yet grasping, or if he kept his hands off other people’s goods and yet did not give away his own, it would all be in vain. A single virtue alone is not enough to give us confidence before the judgment seat of Christ. No, we need a virtue that is great, and varied, and all-embracing, and complete. Listen to what Christ says to the disciples: “Go and make disciples of all the nations — teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you” (Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20). [n]

And again: “Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments will be called least in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5, verse 19) — that is, at the resurrection. No, he will not enter the kingdom at all, for he is accustomed to call the time of the resurrection the kingdom as well. “If he breaks one,” he says, “he will be called least.” So we need all of them.

And notice that it is impossible to enter without works of mercy. If this one thing alone is lacking, we will depart into the fire. For he says, “Depart, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Why and for what reason? “For I was hungry, and you gave me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink” (Matthew 25, verse 42). [o]

Do you see how, with no other charge brought against them, they perished for this one thing alone? And for this reason alone the virgins too were shut out of the bridal chamber, though they certainly did have chastity. As the apostle says, “And holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12, verse 14). Consider, then: without chastity it is impossible to see the Lord; yet it does not follow that with chastity one can see him, because often something else stands in the way.

Again, if we do everything ever so rightly and yet do our neighbor no service, in that case too we will not enter the kingdom. How is this clear? From the parable of the servants who were entrusted with the talents. In that case the man’s virtue was unimpaired in every point, and nothing had been lacking; but because he was lazy in his business, he was rightly thrown out. Why, it is possible to fall into hell merely by abusive talk. “For whoever,” says Christ, “says to his brother, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to the hell of fire” (Matthew 5, verse 22). And if a man is ever so upright in everything and yet insults others, he will not enter.

And let no one accuse God of cruelty because he shuts out of the kingdom of heaven those who fall short in this. For even among men, if anyone does anything at all against the law, he is banished from the king’s presence. If he breaks even one of the established laws, if he brings a false accusation against another, he loses his office. If he commits adultery and is found out, he is disgraced; and even if he has done ten thousand right things, he is ruined. And if he commits murder and is convicted, this again is enough to destroy him. Now if the laws of men are guarded so carefully, how much more should the laws of God be! [p]

Someone says: “But he is good.” How long are we going to keep up this foolish talk? Foolish, I say, not because he is not good, but because we keep thinking that his goodness will serve us for these purposes — though I have again and again brought ten thousand arguments on this subject.

Listen to the Scripture, which says, “Do not say, ‘His mercy is great; he will be appeased for the multitude of my sins’” (Sirach 5, verse 6). He does not forbid us to say, “His mercy is great.” That is not what he commands. Rather, he would have us say it constantly, and Paul makes every kind of argument to this end; but his concern is with what follows. Do not, he means, marvel at God’s love for humankind for this purpose — for the purpose of sinning, and of saying, “His mercy will be appeased for the multitude of my sins.”

This is also why I speak so much about his goodness: not so that we may presume on it and do whatever we please — for in that way this goodness would work against our salvation — but so that we do not despair in our sins, but repent. For “the goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Romans 2, verse 4), not to greater wickedness. And if you grow corrupt because of his goodness, you are rather slandering him before men. I see many people treating God’s patience with contempt in this way; so if you do not use it rightly, you will pay the penalty.

Is God a God of love for humankind? Yes, but he is also a righteous Judge. Is he one who makes allowance for sins? True, and yet he repays each person according to his works. Does he pass over wrongdoing and blot out transgressions? True, and yet he also calls to account. How, then, are these things not contradictions? They are not contradictions if we distinguish them by their times. He does away with wrongdoing here, both by the washing of baptism and by repentance. There he calls to account for what we have done, by fire and torment.

Someone may say: “If, then, I am thrown out and lose the kingdom whether I have done ten thousand evil deeds or only one, why may I not do every kind of evil?” This is the argument of an ungrateful servant. Still, we will go on to answer even this.

Never do evil in order to do yourself good. For we will all alike fall short of the kingdom, but in hell we will not all suffer the same punishment; one will suffer a heavier punishment, another a lighter one. So if you and another have both “despised God’s goodness” (Romans 2, verse 4), one of you in many things and the other in few, you will both alike lose the kingdom. But if you have not despised him alike, but one more and the other less, you will feel the difference in hell. [q]

But someone may say: “Why, then, does he threaten those who have not done works of mercy that they will depart into the fire — and not simply into the fire, but into the fire ‘prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Matthew 25, verse 41)?” Why and for what reason? Because nothing provokes God to wrath so much. He places this ahead of all terrible things. For if it is our duty to love our enemies, what punishment will the man not deserve who turns away even from those who love him, and in this is worse than the pagans? So in this case the greatness of the sin will make such a man go away with the devil.

“Woe,” it says, “to the one who does not give alms.” And if this was so under the old covenant, much more is it so under the new. If, where acquiring wealth was allowed, and enjoying it, and taking care of it, such provision was made for helping the poor, how much more under the new covenant, where we are commanded to give up everything we have? For what did the people of old not do?

They gave tithes, and tithes again on top of tithes, for orphans, widows, and foreigners. Yet someone said to me, astonished at another man, “Why, so-and-so gives tithes!” What a load of disgrace that remark carries, when what was no wonder among the Jews has become a wonder among Christians! If there was danger then in leaving out tithes, think how great the danger must be now. [r]

Again, drunkenness will not inherit the kingdom. Yet what do most people say? “Well, if he and I are in the same situation, that is no small comfort.” What then? First of all, you and he will not reap the same punishment. But even if it were otherwise, that is no comfort either.

Sharing in suffering does bring comfort when the miseries are within some measure. But when they exceed all measure and carry us out of ourselves, they no longer allow us to receive any comfort at all. Tell the man who is being tortured and has gone into the flames that so-and-so is suffering the same thing, and still he will feel no comfort.

Did not all the Israelites perish together? What kind of comfort did that give them? Did not this very thing distress them instead? That is why they kept saying, “We are lost, we have perished, we are wasting away.” [s]

What kind of comfort is there here, then? It is in vain that we comfort ourselves with hopes like these. There is only one comfort: not to fall into that unquenchable fire. For one who has fallen into it, it is impossible to find comfort — where there is the gnashing of teeth, where there is the weeping, where there is the worm that does not die and the fire that is not quenched. Tell me, will you have any comfort at all when you are in such great distress and anguish? Will you even be yourself anymore?

Let us not — I pray and beg you — let us not deceive ourselves in vain and comfort ourselves with arguments like these. No, let us practice the virtues that will be able to save us. What lies before us is to sit with Christ — and are you trifling over such matters as these? Why, if there were no other sin at all, how great a punishment ought we to suffer for these very speeches, because we are so senseless, so wretched, and so lazy as to talk like this with so vast an honor set before us!

Oh, how much you will have to grieve when you think then of those who have done good! When you see slaves and people of low birth, who labored only a little here, sharing the royal throne there, will that not be worse to you than torment? For if even now, when you see anyone held in high regard, though you suffer no harm yourself, you think it worse than any punishment — and this alone eats you up, and you lament over yourself, and weep, and judge it as bad as ten thousand deaths — what will you suffer then? Why, even if there were no hell at all, would not the very thought of the kingdom be enough to destroy and consume you? And that it will be so, our own experience of things is enough to teach us.

Let us not, then, flatter our own souls in vain with speeches like these. No, let us take care; let us look to our own salvation; let us make virtue our concern; let us rouse ourselves to the practice of good works, so that we may be counted worthy to attain this surpassing glory, in Jesus Christ our Lord, with whom, to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.