From Instructor to Teacher

I would advise married men never to kiss their wives in front of the household slaves. Aristotle does not allow a man to share a laugh with his slaves, and a wife must certainly not be seen being greeted that way in front of them. It is better to begin at home, with marriage, and let decency show there. For the union of self-restraint is the greatest bond, breathing out a clean pleasure. The tragedy puts it very well: [a]

of righteousness are not to be turned down, even when spoken by people who deal in the world’s own wisdom. So, knowing what each person owes, “live out the time of your stay here in fear, since you know that you were not ransomed with things that perish, silver or gold, out of the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without flaw and without spot.” “The time gone by,” Peter says, “is enough for having done what the nations want, when we walked in sexual excess, cravings, drunkenness, wild parties, drinking bouts, and forbidden idol worship.” We have the Lord’s cross as our boundary line; by it we are fenced off and hedged in from the sins we used to commit. So, having been born again, let us be nailed to the truth, come back to a sober mind, and make ourselves holy — “for the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” “And who is going to harm us, if we become imitators of what is good?”

The best training is good order — decency all the way through, and a settled, well-ordered strength that keeps a person consistent in what he does, unsurpassed in virtue. If I have brought these things forward too sharply, it was to bring about the rescue that comes of being corrected; let them stand as said by me, says the Instructor, “since the one who reproves openly makes peace.” If you listen to me, you will be saved. If you pay no attention to what has been said, that is no concern of mine. And yet it is my concern, in this way: “he wants the sinner’s repentance rather than his death.” “If you listen to me, you will eat the good of the land,” the Instructor says again — and by “the good of the land” he means beauty, wealth, health, strength, food. The things that are really good are the things “no ear has heard and that have never entered the heart,” the things belonging to the one who is really King, and the truly good realities that are waiting for us. He is the giver of good things and their guard. It is by sharing in those that the things here bear the same names, the Word divinely training the weakness of human beings up from what the senses can reach toward understanding.

The Instructor has said enough about what must be watched at home and how our life is to be ordered. Now he suggests the things he is in the habit of saying to children along the way, while he is walking them to the Teacher: he brings forward the Scriptures themselves in shortened form, setting out the bare commands, fitting them to the season when a child is being led, and leaving their interpretation to the Teacher. The point of his law is to break up fear and set the will free for faith. “Listen, my child,” he says — meaning the child who has been taught rightly: “Listen to the chief points of salvation. I will lay my ways open and set good commands in front of you, and by them you will reach salvation. I am leading you along the road that saves. Turn away from the paths that deceive.”

“For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the ungodly will perish.” “Follow, then, my son, the good road I am going to describe, and lend me attentive ears. And I will give you the treasures of darkness, hidden and unseen” — unseen by the nations, but seen by us. And the treasures of wisdom never give out. Marveling at them, the apostle says, “O the depth of the riches and the wisdom!” Many treasures are handed out by one God: some disclosed by the law, others by the prophets; some by the divine mouth, and others by the sevenfold spirit singing in accord. And since the Lord is one, he is the same Instructor through all of them.

Here, then, is one command that takes everything in, a summons to live that leaves nothing out: “As you would want people to do to you, do the same to them.” We can gather the commands into two, as the Lord says: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength; and your neighbor as yourself.” Then from these he draws the conclusion: “on these hang the law and the prophets.” And to the man who asked, “What good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life?” he answered, “You know the commandments.” When the man said he did, he said, “Do this, and you will be saved.” All the same, the Instructor’s love for people must now be set out in more detail, through his many saving commands, so that from the ample arrangement of the Scriptures we may find salvation more readily. We have the Ten Commandments given through Moses. By an elementary principle, simple and all of one kind, they mark off what counts as sin in a way that leads to being saved: “Do not commit adultery. Do not worship idols. Do not molest children. Do not steal. Do not give false testimony. Honor your father and your mother” — and so on. These are to be kept, along with whatever else is commanded when the Bible is read.

And he lays this on us through Isaiah: “Wash yourselves and make yourselves clean. Put your wrongdoing away from your souls, out of my sight. Learn to do good. Look for justice. Rescue the person who has been wronged. Give judgment for the orphan, and give the widow her right. And come, let us reason together, says the Lord.” We will find many other examples too — about prayer, for instance. “Good works are a prayer the Lord accepts,” Scripture says. And the way to pray is described: “If you see someone naked, cover him, and do not overlook your own flesh and blood. Then your light will break out early, and your garments will spring up quickly; your righteousness will go ahead of you, and the glory of God will surround you.” What, then, is the fruit of praying like that? “Then you will call, and God will hear you; while you are still speaking, he will say, Here I am.”

About fasting it is said: “Why do you fast for me? says the Lord. Is this the fast I have chosen — a day for a man to humble his soul? You are not to bend your neck like a hoop and spread sackcloth and ashes under you. That is not what you are to call an acceptable fast.” What is a fast, then? “Look, this is the fast I have chosen, says the Lord. Loosen every band of wickedness. Untie the knots of contracts that grind people down. Let the oppressed go free, and tear up every unjust bond. Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house. If you see someone naked, cover him.”

About sacrifices too: “What is the point to me of the crowd of your sacrifices? says the Lord. I have had my fill of burnt offerings and of rams; the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats I do not want, nor do I want you coming to appear before me. Who asked this of you? You shall not tread my courtyard again. If you bring fine flour, it is futile; incense is disgusting to me. Your new moons and your sabbaths I cannot stand.” How, then, am I to sacrifice to the Lord? “The sacrifice to the Lord,” he says, “is a broken spirit.” How, then, am I to crown myself, or rub myself with perfumed oil, or burn incense to the Lord? “The scent of a sweet fragrance,” it is said, “is a heart that gives glory to the one who made it.” These are God’s crowns and sacrifices, his aromatic scents and his flowers.

Further, about putting up with one another. “If your brother sins against you, correct him; and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day and turns to you the seventh time and says, I repent, forgive him.” To the soldiers, through John, he commands “be content with your pay and nothing more”; and to the tax collectors, “collect no more than what has been set.” To the judges he says: “You shall not show partiality in judgment. Gifts blind the eyes of those who see and twist just words. Rescue the person who has been wronged.” And to heads of households: “Property got by injustice grows less.” About love, too: “Love,” he says, “covers a multitude of sins.” About civil government: “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.”

About swearing and holding a grudge: “Did I command your fathers, when they came out of Egypt, to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices? What I commanded them was this: let none of you carry malice in his heart against his neighbor, or love a false oath.” He threatens liars and the proud as well — liars like this: “Woe to those who call bitter sweet and sweet bitter”; and the proud like this: “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight.” “For whoever humbles himself will be lifted up, and whoever lifts himself up will be humbled.” And he blesses “the merciful, because they will be shown mercy.”

Wisdom calls anger a wretched thing, because “it will destroy even the wise.” And now he tells us to “love our enemies, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who mistreat us.” And he says, “If anyone strikes you on the one cheek, turn the other to him as well; and if anyone takes your tunic, do not stop him from taking your cloak too.” About faith he says, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you will receive.” “To a man with no trust in him, nothing is trustworthy,” as Pindar puts it. Household slaves, too, are to be treated the way we treat ourselves, since they are human beings just as we are. God is the same to the free man and to the slave, if you will only think about it. When our slaves do wrong, we are not to punish them but to correct them. “For the man who spares the rod hates his son.”

Further, he drives love of glory out altogether: “Woe to you Pharisees! You love the front seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.” But he welcomes the sinner’s repentance — he loves repentance — which comes after sins. For this Word we are speaking of is the only one without sin. Sinning is natural and common to everybody; but coming back after sinning is not the mark of just any man, only of a man of worth.

About open-handedness he said: “Come, you who are blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; sick, and you looked after me; in prison, and you came to me.” And when did we ever do any of these things for the Lord? The Instructor himself will answer again, since he likes to take the kindness of the brothers and refer it to himself: “As you did it to these least ones, you did it to me. And these will go away into everlasting life.”

Such are the laws of the Word: comforting words, not on stone tablets written by the finger of the Lord, but cut into human hearts, the only place where they can stay imperishable. That is why the tablets of the people whose hearts were stone are broken — so that the faith of the children may be pressed into softened hearts.

Both laws served the Word for the training of humankind, the one given through Moses and the one given through the apostles. What the training by the apostles is like, then, seems to me to need treating. Under this heading I — or rather the Instructor through me — will run through it, and I will set the commands themselves before you again, as it were in the seed.

“Put lying away, and let each of you speak the truth to his neighbor, because we are parts of one another. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil room. Let the thief steal no longer; let him work instead, doing good with his own hands, so that he has something to give to the person in need. Let all bitterness and rage and anger and shouting and abusive talk be put away from you, along with every kind of malice; and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God forgave you in Christ. So be wise, imitators of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us. Let wives put themselves under their own husbands, as to the Lord. And let husbands love their wives as Christ also loved the church.” Let those who are yoked together love one another “as their own bodies.” “Children, obey your parents. Parents, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and correction of the Lord. Slaves, obey those who are your masters in the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as to Christ, doing your service with goodwill from the soul. And you masters, treat your slaves well, and stop threatening them, knowing that their Lord and yours is in heaven, and that there is no favoritism with him.”

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not be greedy for empty glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Carry one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Do not be deceived; God is not mocked. Let us not get tired of doing good, for at the right time we will reap, if we do not give up.” “Be at peace among yourselves. Now we urge you, brothers: warn the ones who are out of line, encourage the discouraged, hold up the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one pays anyone back evil for evil. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire. Do not think little of prophecies. Test everything; hold on to what is good. Keep away from every form of evil.” “Keep at prayer, staying alert in it with thanksgiving. Behave wisely toward those outside, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you know how you ought to answer each person.”

“Feed yourselves on the words of faith. Train yourself for reverence toward God. Training the body is of little benefit, but reverence toward God is beneficial for everything, since it holds the promise of the life that is now and of the life to come.” “Let those who have believing masters not look down on them because they are brothers, but serve them all the better, because they are believers.” “The one who gives, let him do it with a single heart; the one who leads, with diligence; the one who shows mercy, cheerfully. Let love be without pretense. Hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Be warmly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, going ahead of one another in showing honor. Do not let your eagerness slacken; be on fire in spirit, serving the Lord. Rejoicing in hope, holding up under pressure, sticking at prayer. Sharing with God’s people in their needs, chasing after hospitality.”

Those are a few commands out of many, given as samples, which the Instructor sets before his children as he runs over the divine Scriptures — commands by which, so to speak, vice is cut up by the roots and wrongdoing is fenced in. Countless commands like these are written in the holy Bible for particular people: some for elders, some for overseers, some for deacons, others for widows. There will be another occasion to speak about them. Many things said in riddles, many in parables, can be of use to those who come across them. But it is no longer my job, says the Instructor, to teach these. What we need is a Teacher to expound those sacred words, and it is toward him that we must direct our steps.

And now it really is time for me to stop instructing and for you to listen to the Teacher. He will take you, brought up in excellent discipline, and teach you the oracles. This church is the school, and the Bridegroom is the only Teacher, the good counsel of the good Father, the true Wisdom, the sanctuary of knowledge. “And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,” as John says: Jesus, who heals both our body and our soul — the eternal man. “And not for our sins only, but also for the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him: if we keep his commands. Whoever says, I know him, and does not keep his commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word — in him the love of God has truly been brought to completion. By this we know that we are in him. Whoever says he remains in him ought himself to walk the way he walked.” You nurslings of his blessed training! Let us fill out the fair face of the church, and let us run like children to our good mother. And if we become listeners to the Word, let us give glory to the blessed arrangement by which a man is trained and made holy as a child of God, and lives as a citizen of heaven, being trained up from the earth, and there receives the Father whom he learns to know on earth. The Word does everything, and teaches everything, and trains in everything.

A horse is guided by a bit, a bull is guided by a yoke, a wild animal is caught in a noose. But a human being is transformed by the Word — the Word by whom wild animals are tamed and fish are caught and birds are brought down. It is he, in truth, who shapes the bit for the horse, the yoke for the bull, the noose for the wild animal, the rod for the fish, the snare for the bird. He both runs the state and works the ground; he commands, he helps, he creates the universe.

What divine works! What divine commands! “Let this water roll within itself. Let this fire hold back its rage. Let this air wander off into the upper air. Let this earth be packed solid and be moved, when I will. I wish, further, to form a human being; for matter I have the elements. I live with what I have formed. If you know me, the fire will be your slave.” Such is the Word, such is the Instructor: the maker of the world and of humankind, and now, of himself, the world’s Instructor — by whose command we and the universe hold together and wait for judgment. “For the one who carries to people a word slipped in by voice,” as Bacchylides says, “is not the word of wisdom.” It is rather “the blameless, pure, faultless children of God,” as Paul says, “in the middle of a crooked and twisted generation, shining like lights in the world.” All that is left, then, in a celebration of the Word like this one, is to address our prayer to the Word.

Be kind to us, Instructor, to us your children — Father, Charioteer of Israel, Son and Father, both in one, Lord. Grant to us who obey your commands that we may complete the likeness of the image, and know with all our power the one who is the good God and not a harsh judge. And bring it about yourself that all of us who live as citizens in your peace, who have been moved across into your commonwealth, having sailed calmly over the swell of sin, may be carried along in a calm by your Holy Spirit, by the wisdom no one can put into words, by night and by day, all the way to the perfect day; and that, giving thanks, we may praise, and praising, give thanks — to the Father alone and the Son, Son and Father, the Son our Instructor and Teacher, with the Holy Spirit, all in one, in whom is everything, for whom everything is one, to whom belongs eternity, whose members we all are, whose glory the ages are: the All-good, All-lovely, All-wise, All-just One. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen. And since the Instructor, by moving us across into his church, has joined us to himself — the teaching, all-overseeing Word — it would be right, now that we have got this far, to offer the Lord the return of thanks that is owed: praise to match his fine instruction.