The Many Good Things in the Apostle

It remains, then, for us to measure the meaning and drift of the passage by the inmost feelings of the speaker, and to discuss what the blessed apostle called good and what, by comparison, he declared evil, not by the bare meaning of the words, but with the same insight he had, and to examine his meaning with due regard for the worth and goodness of the speaker. For we will be able to understand words spoken by God’s inspiration according to their speaker’s purpose and wish when we weigh the position and character of those who spoke them, and are ourselves clothed with the same feelings, not in words but by experience; for it is certainly in keeping with the character of these feelings that all thoughts are conceived and opinions spoken. [a]

So let us carefully consider what, above all, that good was which the apostle could not do when he wanted to. For we know there are many good things which we cannot deny that the blessed apostle and all men as good as he either have by nature or acquire by grace. Chastity is good, self-control is praiseworthy, prudence is admirable, kindness is generous, sobriety is careful, temperance is modest, compassion is kind, justice is holy. We cannot doubt that all of these existed fully and perfectly in the apostle Paul and his companions, so that they taught religion by the lesson of their virtues more than by their words. What of the fact that they were always consumed by constant care and watchful anxiety for all the churches? How great a good is this compassion, what perfection it is to burn for those who are made to stumble, to be weak with the weak!

If, then, the apostle abounded in such good things, we cannot recognize what that good was in whose perfection the apostle fell short, unless we have advanced to the state of mind in which he was speaking. And so all those virtues we say he possessed, though they are like the most splendid and precious gems, seem poor and trifling in value when compared with that most beautiful and unique pearl which the merchant in the gospel sought and wanted to acquire by selling all he had. If they are given up without hesitation, the possession of that one good thing alone will make rich the man who sells countless good things.