He needs no commendatory letters. The glory of the ministry of the New Testament.
Lest the Iudaical false Apostles should obiect againe that he praiseth him self, he saith that the Corinthians are his commendation: and they in their hartes being iustified by his ministerie, he thereof inferreth that the ministers of the nevv Testament are farre more glorious them they of the old, 12 and our people more lightened then theirs.
1Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need (as some do) epistles of commendation to you, or from you?Principiamo noi di bel nuovo a commendare noi medesimi? Oppure abbiam noi bisogno (come taluni) di lettere di raccomandazione scritte a voi, o da voi?BEGIN we againe to commend our selues? or do vve neede (as certaine) epistles of commendation to you, or from you?Incipimus iterum nosmetipsos commendare ? aut numquid egemus (sicut quidam) commendatiis epistolis ad vos, aut ex vobis ? 2You are our epistle, written in our hearts, which is known and read by all men:La nostra lettera siete voi, scritta sui nostri cuori, la quale è riconosciuta, e si legge da tutti gli uomini:Our epistle you are, vvritten in our hartes, vvhich is knovven and read of al men:Epistola nostra vos estis, scripta in cordibus nostris, quæ scitur, et legitur ab omnibus hominibus: 3Being manifested, that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, and written: not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God: not in tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of the heart.Manifestandosi, che voi siete lettera di Cristo fornita da noi, scritta non con l'inchiostro, ma per lo spirito di Dio vivo: non nelle tavole di pietra, ma nelle tavole di carne del cuore.being manifested that you are the epistle of Christ, ministred by vs, & vvritten not vvith inke, but vvith the Spirit of the liuing God: not in tables of stone, but in the tables carnall of the hart.manifestati quod epistola estis Christi, ministrata a nobis, et scripta non atramento, sed Spiritu Dei vivi: non in tabulis lapideis, sed in tabulis cordis carnalibus. 4And such confidence we have, through Christ, towards God.Tanta è la fidanza, che abbiamo per Cristo dinanzi a Dio:And such confidence vve haue by Christ God:Fiduciam autem talem habemus per Christum ad Deum: 5Not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God.Non perché noi siamo idonei a pensare alcuna cosa da noi come da noi: ma la nostra idoneità è da Dio,not that vve be sufficient to thinke any thing of our selues, as of our selues: but our sufficience is of God.non quod sufficientes simus cogitare aliquid a nobis, quasi ex nobis: sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est: 6Who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter but in the spirit. For the letter killeth: but the spirit quickeneth.Il quale ancora ci ha fatti idonei ministri del nuovo testamento non della lettera, ma dello spirito; imperocché la lettera uccide, ma lo spirito da vita.Vvho also hath made vs meete ministers of the nevv Testament: not in the letter, but in the Spirit. For the letter killeth: but the Spirit quickeneth.qui et idoneos nos fecit ministros novi testamenti: non littera, sed Spiritu: littera enim occidit, Spiritus autem vivificat.
7Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was glorious (so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance), which is made void:Che se un ministero di morte per via di lettere espresso nelle pietre fu glorioso: talmente che non potevano i figliuoli di Israele fissar lo sguardo nel volto di Mosè a motivo dello splendore non onorevole della faccia di lui,And if the ministration of death with letters figured in stones, vvas in glorie, so that the children of Israël could not behold the face of Moyses, for the glorie of his countenāce, that is made void:Quod si ministratio mortis litteris deformata in lapidibus fuit in gloria, ita ut non possent intendere filii Israël in faciem Moysi propter gloriam vultus ejus, quæ evacuatur: 8How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather in glory?Come non sarà più glorioso il ministero dello Spirito?how shal not the ministration of the Spirit be more in glorie?quomodo non magis ministratio Spiritus erit in gloria ? 9For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more the ministration of justice aboundeth in glory.Imperocché se il ministero di condannagione è glorioso: molto più è ridondante di gloria il ministero della giustizia.For if the ministratiō of damnation be in glorie: much more the ministerie of iustice aboundeth in glorie.Nam si ministratio damnationis gloria est: multo magis abundat ministerium justitiæ in gloria. 10For even that which was glorious in this part was not glorified by reason of the glory that excelleth.Imperocché neppur fu glorificato quello, che fu glorificato in comparazione, rispetto a questa gloria trascendente.For neither vvas it glorified, vvhich in this part vvas glorious, by reasō of the excelling glorie.Nam nec glorificatum est, quod claruit in hac parte, propter excellentem gloriam. 11For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is in glory.Imperocché se quello, che si abolisce, è glorioso: molto più quello, che dura, è glorioso.For if that which is made void, is by glorie: much more that vvhich abideth, is in glorie.Si enim quod evacuatur, per gloriam est: multo magis quod manet, in gloria est. 12Having therefore such hope, we use much confidence.Avendo noi perciò una tale speranza, parliamo con gran libertà,Hauing therfore such hope, vve vse much confidence:Habentes igitur talem spem, multa fiducia utimur: 13And not as Moses put a veil upon his face, that the children of Israel might not steadfastly look on the face of that which is made void.E non come Mosè, il quale metteva un velo sopra la sua faccia, affinchè non fissasser lo sguardo i figliuoli di Israele nel fine di quella cosa, che non doveva durare.and not as Moyses put a vele vpon his face, that the children of Israël might not behold his face, vvhich is made voide,et non sicut Moyses ponebat velamen super faciem suam, ut non intenderent filii Israël in faciem ejus, quod evacuatur,
14But their senses were made dull. For, until this present day, the selfsame veil, in the reading of the old testament, remaineth not taken away (because in Christ it is made void).Per la qual cosa si son indurate le menti loro. Imperocché anche al di d'oggi nella lettura del vecchio testamento lo stesso velo rimane non alzato (conciossiaché per Cristo si toglie).but their senses vvere dulled. For vntil this present day, the self same vele in the lecture of the old testament remaineth vnreuealed (because in Christ it is made voide)sed obtusi sunt sensus eorum. Usque in hodiernum enim diem, idipsum velamen in lectione veteris testamenti manet non revelatum (quoniam in Christo evacuatur), 15But even until this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.Ma anche al di d'oggi quando si legge Mosè, il velo è posto sopra del loro cuore.but vntil this present day, vvhen Moyses is read, a vele is put vpō their hart.sed usque in hodiernum diem, cum legitur Moyses, velamen positum est super cor eorum. 16But when they shall be converted to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.Ma allorché siasi (Israele) rivolto al Signore, sarà tolto il velame.But vvhen he shal be conuerted to our Lord, the vele shal be taken avvay.Cum autem conversus fuerit ad Dominum, auferetur velamen. 17Now the Lord is a Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.Or Signore è lo Spirito: e dove è lo Spirito del Signore, ivi libertà.And our Lord is a Spirit. And vvhere the Spirit of our Lord is, there is libertie.Dominus autem Spiritus est: ubi autem Spiritus Domini, ibi libertas. 18But we all, beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.Noi tutti però a faccia svelata mirando quasi in uno specchio la gloria del Signore, nella stessa immagine siam trasformati di gloria in gloria come dallo spirito del Signore.But vve al, beholding the glorie of our Lord vvith face reuealed, are transformed into the same image from glorie vnto glorie, as of our Lordes Spirit.Nos vero omnes, revelata facie gloriam Domini speculantes, in eamdem imaginem transformamur a claritate in claritatem, tamquam a Domini Spiritu.
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Theodoret
The apostle had been obliged, in different parts of his first epistle, to say some things to his own advantage, in order to maintain the dignity of his ministry against false teachers, who had endeavoured to lessen his authority. He is again obliged to shew the excellency of his ministry, and the superiority of the gospel over the law of Moses. (Theodoret)
Calmet
We have not need, he says, of commendatory letters, like those false teachers: we have only to say that we founded the Church of Corinth, and we shall be sufficiently known. Your religion, your piety, and your virtues are renowned in the whole world. (ver. 2.) This is our letter: we have no need to speak: the effects speak for themselves. But still this is not our doing; for we are not sufficient to think any thing of ourselves. (ver. 5.) This letter is not of our writing; we could only do the same as Moses in the old law, prepare the tables, (ministered by us) it was God himself that wrote the ten commandments, and it is God himself that has written this our letter, by implanting his faith in your hearts. (Calmet)
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Witham
You are our epistle, better, and of greater force, than any commendatory epistle, written and engraven in my heart, by the love and affection I bear you. You may also be looked upon as the epistle of Christ, because of your zeal for the Christian religion, written upon the soft and fleshy tables of your tender affections, with which you have received, and kept his precepts; and not like the precepts of the law, which were engraven on tables of stone, which the hard-hearted Jews did not keep. (Witham)
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Though the Scriptures be of the Holy Ghost, the proper book of Christ's doctrine is in the hearts of the faithful, the true mansions of the holy Spirit. Hence St. Irenaeus says: "If the apostles had left no writings, ought we not to follow the order of tradition they delivered to the persons to whom they committed the Churches? How many barbarous nations have received and practised the faith without any thing written in ink and paper? (lib. 3:chap. 4.)
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To think any thing of ourselves, that may deserve a reward in heaven.
Witham
But Christ hath made us fit ministers of his New Testament by the Spirit: for the letter of the Old Testament killeth, but the Spirit of the New Testament giveth life. (Witham)
Challoner
The letter. Not rightly understood, and taken without the spirit. (Challoner)
St. Chrysostom
This verse, (6th) refers to that in the last chapter, where he says: And for these things who is so fit? Who is so capable of such a ministry? It is God alone who gives us strength, light and grace. I am far from giving a part only to God, and a part to myself. It all exclusively belongs to him. (St. Chrysostom)
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Now if the ministration of death: he meaneth the former[Ver. 7. Ministratio mortis, diakonia thanatou. Thus, says St. Chrysostom, he calls the law, ton nomon legei. p. 584.] law, which by giving them a greater knowledge, and not giving graces of itself to fulfil those precepts, occasioned death, was notwithstanding glorious, accompanied with miracles on Mount Sinai, and so that the Israelites, when Moses came down from the mountain, could not bear the glory of his countenance, which he was forced to cover with a veil, when he spoke to them. Shall not the ministration of the Spirit in the new law, which worketh our sanctification and salvation, abound with much greater glory? especially since the old law was to be made void, and pass away.
Witham
Neither was that glorified, or to be esteemed glorious, in comparison of the new law, the blessings of the new so far surpassing those of the old law. (Witham)
Calmet
If the law of Moses, written on tables of stone, which was only able to cause death, inasmuch as it gave us light sufficient to know what was right, though it did not give us strength or graces to comply with the obligations imposed by it; if this law, nevertheless, was accompanied with so much glory, that Moses was obliged to put a veil over his face, what must we think of the ministry of the Spirit, and of the glorious duties of the apostleship? How ought our glory to be manifest, and who is fit for such an undertaking. If I thus extol the excellency of my ministry, do not imagine that I attribute any thing to myself. I am unworthy of this office, which so far surpasseth that of Moses, that his glory (ver. 10.) could not be truly called glory, when compared with this of ours, which so far excelleth his. (Calmet)
The letter of the New Testament also, not truly taken or expounded by the Spirit of God, which is in his Church, must in the same manner be said to kill. See St. Augustine, serm. 70. et 100. de tempore. et L. de spirt. et lit. 2 Corinthians 5. 6. et dein.
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Witham
Having therefore such hope, we use much confidence and assurance, and need not conceal God's promises, nor put a veil over our face, as Moses did, the children of Israel not being able to look on the face[Ver. 12. In faciem ejus quod evacuatur; but the common Greek copies, and also St. Chrysostom, eis to telos, in finem.] of that which is made void, meaning on that passing glory of Moses, to whom the law was given, and of that law, and all that belonged to it, which was only to last till the coming of Christ, and which is now made void. The reading of the ordinary Greek is now different, viz. that they looked not on the end of that which is now made void, meaning by the end, on Christ, who was the end of the law, which now by his coming is abolished and made void, as it was always designed to be. (Witham)
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Estius
The apostle here informs the Corinthians that the apostles speak with confidence, without any veil, discovering to men mysteries hidden from the foundation of the world; not like Moses, who put a veil on his face that the Israelites might not look steadfastly, or might not discover the weakness and short duration of the law, which was represented by the light that surrounded his face, and which quickly passed away. St. Paul here gives the allegorical explanation of the light and veil on the face of Moses. (Estius)
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Witham
But the senses and minds of the Jews have been dulled, hardened, and blinded, so that to this day we may say the veil remains over their eyes and minds, and hearts; that is, the greatest part of them understand not Moses' books, prophecies, and those things that were figures of Christ. But they shall understand them, and the veil shall be taken off, when they shall be converted before the end of the world. (Witham)
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Witham
Now the Lord is a Spirit. Many expound it, the Spirit is the Lord. And where this Lord and this Spirit is, there is liberty; that is by this Spirit, they who are sanctified are freed from the slavery of sin and the devil. (Witham)
Calmet
We must recollect what he had said before, that the letter killeth and that the Spirit giveth life; that by the Spirit was meant the gospel, and by the letter was meant the law of Moses. Here he says that God is the Spirit, in opposition to the law of Moses; that he is the Author of the liberty of the children of God, in the new law; that in the new law are found the true adorers in spirit and truth, in opposition to the spirit of servitude which animated the Jews. (Calmet)
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Witham
We all, beholding,[Ver. 18. St. Augustine, de gloria fidei in gloriam speciei, de gloria, qua Filii Dei sumus, in gloriam, qua similes ei erimus, quoniam videbimus eum sicuti est.] etc. that is we who have been called to the faith of Christ, have received a greater knowledge; and we hope and believe to be hereafter transformed into the same image, and to be in some measure like unto God, whom we shall see and enjoy, when we pass from the less glory of grace and sanctification in this life, which is the seed of glory, to the state of a more perfect glory and happiness in heaven, says St. Augustine. (Witham)
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The letter.... Not rightly understood, and taken without the spirit.
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1. The Epistle of Christ.] The Apostles vvrote the Gospel in mens hartes much more then in paper. S. Paul and other holy vvriters of Scriptures did set dovvne many thinges in vvriting, by penne, inke, and paper, al vvhich be of the Holy Ghost: but the special and proper booke of Christes truth and Gospel, is not the external vvriting in those dead creatures, but in the hartes of the faithful, being the proper subiecte of these truthes and graces preached in the nevv Testament, and the habitacle of the Holy Ghost. In the vvhich booke of faithful mens hartes S. Paul vvrote diuers thinges not vttered in any Epistle: as sundrie of the Apostles vvrote the Christian religion in the hartes of their hearers onely, Scripture written, and Tradition vnwritten. and in other material bookes not at all. Vvhereof S. Irenaeus li. 3. •. 4. saith, What and if the Apostles also had left no Scriptures, ought vve not to folovv the order of the tradition, vvhich they deliuered vnto them to vvhom they committed the Churches• to the vvhich ordinance many nations of those barbarous people that haue beleeued in Christ, do consent, vvithout letter or inke, hauing saluation vvritten in their hartes, and keeping diligently the tradition of the elders. And S. Hierom, (〈◊〉. 〈◊〉. Hierom. c. 9. ad Pa•.) In the Greede of our faith and hope, vvhich being deliuered by tradition from the Apostles, is not vvritten in paper and inke. but in the tables camal of the hart. And this is the Churches booke also, vvhereby and vvherein she keepeth faithfully al truth vvritten in the hartes of those to vvhom the Apostles did preach, vvith the like diligence as she keepeth and preserueth the other booke vvhich is of holy Scriptures, from al corruption of Heretikes and other iniuries.
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In the liturgy The Epistle vpon the 12 Sunday after Pentecost.
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5. Of our selues.] God grace & free will both must cōcurre. This maketh first against the Heretikes called Pelagians, that hold our meritorious actions or cogitations to be of free vvil onely, and not of Gods special grace. Secondly against the Protestantes, vvho on the contrarie side referre al to God, and take, avvay mans freedom and proper motion in his thoughtes and doings: the Apostle confessing our good cogitations to be our ovvne, but not as comming of our selues, but of God.
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6. The letter killeth.] The letter killeth both Ievv and Heretike. As the letter of the old Lavv not truely vnderstood, nor referred the Christ, commaunding and not giuing grace and spirit to fulfil that vvhich vvas commaunded, did by occasiō kill the carnal Iew: so the letter of the nevv Testamēt not truely taken nor expounded by the Spirit of Christ (vvhich is onely in his Church) killeth the Heretike: vvho also being carnal and void of spirit, gaineth nothing by the external precepts or good lessons of the Scriptures, but rather taketh hurt by the same. See S. Augustine to. 〈◊〉. Ser. 70 & 1000 de tempore. & li. de Sp. & lit. c. 5. 6. & seq.
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9. Much more.] The preeminence of the new Testamēt, Sacraments, &c. The preeminence of the new Testament and of the priesthod or Ministerie thereof before the old is, that the nevv, by al her Sacraments and Priests as ministers immediate of grace and remission of sinnes, doth so ex opere operato giue the spirit of life and charitie into the hartes of the faithful, as the old did giue the letter or external act of the Lavv.
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Concordance Exo. 34, 33.
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14. The self same vele.] The heretikes more blinde in not seing the Church, then the Iewes in not seing Christ. As the Ievves reading the old Testament, by reason of their blindnes (vvhich God for the punishment of their incredulitie suffereth to remaine as a couer vpon their eies and hartes) can not see Christ in the Scriptures vvhich they daily heare read in their Synagogs, but shal, vvhen they beleeue in him and haue the couer remoued, perceiue al to be most plainely done and spoken of him in their law & Scriptures: euen so Heretikes hauing (as S. Augustine noteth) a farre greater couer of blindnes and incredulitie ouer their hartes in respect of the Catholike Church vvhich they impugne, Aug. in Psal. 10. Con•. •. then the Iewes haue concerning Christ, can not see, though they read or heare the Scriptures read neuer so much, the maruelous euidence of the Catholike Church and truth in al pointes: but vvhen they shal returne againe to the obedience of the same Church, they shal finde the Scriptures most cleere for her and her doctrine, and shal vvonder at their former blindnes.
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Concordance 10. 4, 24.
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17. Libertie.] True Christiā libertie. The Spirit and grace of God in the nevv Testament dischargeth vs of the bondage of the Lavv and sinne, •. Pet. 2, 1•. but is not a vvarrant to vs of fleshly licence, as S. Peter vvriteth: nor dischargeth Christians of their obedience to order, lavv, and power of Magistrates spiritual or temporal, as some Heretikes of these daies do seditiously teach.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 21
… For he makes this his business also throughout the Epistle. Which also perceiving, he hence oftentimes corrects himself, saying in so many words ; “Do we begin again to commend ourselves?” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 28
Seest thou how he is continually in fear, lest he should incur the suspicion of flattery? Seest thou an Apostle’s prudence, how constantly he mentions this? For he said before, “We commend not ourselves again, but give you occasion to glory;” ( 2 Cor. v. 12 .) and in the commencement of the Epistle, “Do we need letters of commendation?” (
Ecumenical Councils The Canons of the Blessed and Holy Fathers Assembled at Antioch in Syria 8
“Commendatory letters” ( ἐπιστολαὶ συστατικαὶ ) are spoken of by St. Paul in
Ecumenical Councils The Canons of the 217 Blessed Fathers who assembled at Carthage 23
[The use of Letters Commendatory was very early in the Church; St. Paul mentions them
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 55
… accordingly, I embraced you when you came near me in writing, most desired Rufinianus. And I, though I might write to you as a son both in the opening and the middle and the close, refrained, lest my commendation and testimony should be made known by writing. For you are my letter, as it is written
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 56.1
… For this certain set at nought, while plotting against us in many ways, because we would not comply with the Arian heresy, and they have become authors of heresy and schisms in the Catholic Church. For the true and pious faith in the Lord has become manifest to all, being both ‘known and read
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On Infants' Early Deaths 1
… according to its capacity and its power it receives a measure of the delights of the Blessed state; indeed we learn as much from Paul, who had a different sort of food for him who was already grown in virtue and for the imperfect “babe.” For to the last he says, “I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 9
Lynxes, they say, when they look behind them, forget what they have just seen, and lose all thought of what their eyes have ceased to behold. And so it seems to be with you. For so entirely have you forgotten our joint attachment that you have not merely blurred but erased the writing of that epistle which, as the apostle tells us,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 31.2
… But to give you, too, a sprinkling of pepper and to remind you of my former letter, I send you to-day this three-fold warning. Cease not to adorn yourself with good works—the true bracelets of a Christian woman. Rend not the letter written on your heart
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Christian Doctrine 3.34
… And that saying of the apostle, when he is commending the grace of the New Testament and its excellence in comparison with the Old, “Ye are our epistle . . . written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 15.4
… Thou needest not regard the poor jest against the stone tablets, for the stony heart of which they were in old times a figure is not in thee. For thou art an epistle of the apostles, "written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tables of stone, but on the fleshy tables of the heart."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Grace and Free Will 29
… . . written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.”
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 5.13.4
… unto death for Jesus’ sake, it is that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.” And that the Spirit lays hold on the flesh, he says in the same Epistle, “That ye are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, inscribed not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 12.20
… many things from the elders in it, and the chief priests and scribes of the people, in order that He might be glorified by the heavenly elders who could receive his bounties, and by diviner high-priests who are ordained under the one High-Priest, and that He might be glorified by the scribes of the people who are occupied with letters “not written with ink”
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius martyrs-of-palestine.13.7
7. Since he was such a man, one would not be so much astonished at his habits and his philosophic life, nor would he seem so wonderful for them, as for the strength of his memory. For he had written whole books of the Divine Scriptures, “not in tables of stone”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 43.72
… Of both of them Basil was a rival, for he tortured, not with bodily but with spiritual and mental plagues, the Egyptian race of heretics, and led to the land of promise the people of possession, zealous of good works; he inscribed laws, which are no longer obscure, but entirely spiritual, on tables
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 3.3
… For God did not with a finger of flesh write the forms and portions of those letters which we read, but gave the law by His Spirit. And so the Apostle says: “For the Law is spiritual, which, indeed, is written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but on fleshy tables of the heart.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose sermon-against-auxentius-on-th.28
… for they have believed on Christ. That people then judges in whose heart is the divine, not the human law, the law not written in ink, but in the spirit of the living God;
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 1
… “I will make a new covenant with you, putting my laws into their mind, and in their heart I will write them,” and, “they shall be all taught of God.” And Paul too, pointing out the same superiority, said, that they had received a law “not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 6
Ver. 3 . “Being made manifest that ye are an epistle of Christ.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 7
… For when he is desirous of speaking so as you say, he does not join the article to the predicate. And besides, let us review all his discourse from the first, of whom hath he spoken? for instance, when he said, “The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life:” ( ver. 6 .) and again, “Written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God;” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 29.4
… While I said these things I took the manuscript from the attendant, and read that whole passage. Reminding them of the words of the apostle, who says, in order to distinguish Christians from the obdurate Jews, that they are his epistle written, not on tables of stone, but on the fleshly tables of the heart,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 24
… how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more shall the ministration of righteousness abound in glory.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 30
… “Forasmuch,” says he, “as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 35
… “Because,” says he, “this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.” See how similarly the apostle states it in the passage we have already quoted: “Not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 42
… but he simply called attention to this difference, that God would impress His laws on the mind of those who belonged to this covenant, and would write them in their hearts, whence the apostle drew his conclusion,—“not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 46
… “not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Grace and Free Will 29
… . . written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.” We must not, of course, suppose that such a phrase as this is used as if those might live in a fleshly
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 6
Ver. 4 . “And such confidence have we through Christ to Godward,”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
2 Cor. iii. 4–6 . Our sufficiency is of God.
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 3.6
9. The Apostle Paul, rapidly recounting the benefits of God, ended with the words, “And who is sufficient for these things?” Wherefore, also, in another place he
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 30
… And He commands, in order that, because we lack in ourselves, we may flee to Him for refuge. Accordingly, after most guardedly saying, “Such trust have we through Christ to God-ward,”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 6.70
… who hath also made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Two Homilies on Eutropius 2.14
… By the grace of the Spirit. Unskilled, ill-clothed, ill-shod he was upheld by Him “who also hath given the earnest of the Spirit.” Therefore he saith “and who is sufficient for these things? But our sufficiency is of God, who hath made us sufficient as ministers of the new Testament, not of the letter but of the Spirit.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 30
… lx. 8 .) And Daniel in like manner, “And to me also, not through the wisdom that is in me was it revealed.” ( Dan. ii. 30 .) And Paul everywhere says this, as when he says, “And for these things who is sufficient? Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think (aught) as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.” ( 2 Cor. ii. 16 ;
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 6
Ver. 5 . “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account any thing as from ourselves.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 15.1
… but allow us to serve only Christ, content with his immortal dower, and imitating the apostle who says, "Our sufficiency is of God, who has made us able ministers of the New Testament."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 30
… He says: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us fit to be ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin 1.26
… How can this arrogant asserter of free will say, “That we are able to think a good thought comes from God, but that we actually think a good thought proceeds from ourselves”? He has his answer from the humble preacher of grace, who says, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 2.18
… For we are now speaking of the desire of good, and if they will have this to begin of ourselves and to be perfected by God, let them see what they can answer to the apostle when he says, “Not that we are sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 2.19
… Be it far from the children of promise thus to understand it! As if, when they heard the Lord saying, “Without me ye can do nothing,” they would convict Him by saying, “Behold without Thee we can prepare the heart;” or when they heard from Paul the apostle, “Not that we are sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Grace and Free Will 16
… I have kept the faith.” Now, in the first place, these good works were nothing, unless they had been preceded by good thoughts. Observe, therefore, what he says concerning these very thoughts. His words, when writing to the Corinthians, are: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints 1.5
And, therefore, commending that grace which is not given according to any merits, but is the cause of all good merits, he says, “Not that we are sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints 2.19
… Nevertheless, it is good not to be high-minded, but to fear. Moreover, it is in his own thought that every one either falls or stands. Now, as the apostle says, and as I have mentioned in my former treatise, “We are not sufficient to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints 2.20
… Because they receive it from Him who gives pious thoughts to the human heart, by which it has faith, which worketh by love; for the receiving and keeping of which benefit, and for carrying it on perseveringly unto the end, we are not sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints 2.33
… We therefore work, but God worketh in us to work also for His good pleasure. This is profitable for us both to believe and to say,—this is pious, this is true, that our confession be lowly and submissive, and that all should be given to God. Thinking, we believe; thinking, we speak; thinking, we do whatever we do;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 21.1
1. There has been a great question raised touching the late lesson of the Gospel, to the solution of which I am unequal by any power of mine own; but “our sufficiency is of God,”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 3.15
… “Not” says he, “that we are capable of thinking anything of ourselves as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, which can be put in less good Latin but more forcibly, “our capability is of God,” and then there follows: “Who also made us capable ministers of the New Testament.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.11
… Our denial of his existence will be all the more peremptory, because of the fact that the attribute which is alleged in proof of it belongs to that God who has been already revealed. Therefore “the New Testament” will appertain to none other than Him who promised it—if not “its letter, yet its spirit;”
Tertullian † AD 220 On Modesty 17
… “For as ye have tendered your members to servile impurity and iniquity, so too now tender them servants to righteousness unto holiness.” For even if he has affirmed that “good dwelleth not in his flesh,” yet (he means) according to “the law of the letter,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 1.1.2
… Those, moreover, who, on account of the expression “God is a Spirit,” think that He is a body, are to be answered, I think, in the following manner. It is the custom of sacred Scripture, when it wishes to designate anything opposed to this gross and solid body, to call it spirit, as in the expression, “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 7.20
… Paul in like manner says, that “the letter killeth, and the spirit giveth life,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 4
… For we see our calling, not that no wise man according to the flesh, but that not many wise according to the flesh. But Paul, in his preaching of the Gospel, is a debtor to deliver the word not to Barbarians only, but also to Greeks, and not only to the unwise, who would easily agree with him, but also to the wise. For he was made sufficient
Archelaus † fl. AD 278 The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes 28
… But only this latest generation of men, which has run its course from Tiberius onward, as you make it out, is to be saved: for it is Christ Himself that “has re-deemed them from the curse of the law;” as Paul, too, has given these further testimonies, that “the letter killeth, and quickeneth no man,”
Archelaus † fl. AD 278 The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes 40
… For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which shall be done away is glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.”
St Methodius † AD 311 Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna On the Day that They Met in the Temple 1
… let me be set free from this servile and burdensome chain. I have seen Him who is by nature my Lord and Deliverer; may I obtain, then, His decree for my deliverance. Set me free from the yoke of condemnation, and place me under the yoke of justification. Deliver me from the yoke of the curse, and of the letter that killeth;
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 6.25.7
7. In the fifth book of his Expositions of John’s Gospel, he speaks thus concerning the epistles of the apostles: “But he who was ‘made sufficient to be a minister of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit,’
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 24
… “He that raised up Christ from the dead,” it is said, “shall also quicken your mortal bodies by the spirit that dwelleth in you;” and again “my sheep hear my voice,…and I give unto them eternal life;” but “the Spirit” also, it is said, “giveth life,”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.92
… But Moses actually went up and entered into the cloud, and was charged with the law, and received the tables, which belong, for the multitude, to the letter, but, for those who are above the multitude, to the spirit.
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 7.1
… stands in Scripture for “essence.” Let us consider, then, whether the Apostle anywhere, in his use of the term “Spirit,” employs that word to indicate “essence.” He says, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our Spirit ,” and “no one knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of man which is in him ,” and “the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Answer to Eunomius' Second Book 1
… named germ, and herb, and grass, and seed, and tree, and the like, when by the word of His power He brought them severally into being.” If, then, he abides by the bare letter, and so far Judaizes, and has yet to learn that the Christian is a disciple not of the letter but of the Spirit (for the letter killeth, says the Apostle, but the Spirit giveth life
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 3.5
… let us not, because misbelievers make out the written word to mean that it means not, set forth only what this letter bears on the face of it, instead of the underlying sense. This way went the Jews to destruction, despising the deep-hidden meaning, and following only after the bare form of the word, for “the letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 11
… For it promised them crowns after toils, but this (i.e. grace) crowned them first, and then led them to the contest. Now it seems to me that he is not signifying here the whole life of a believer, but instituting a comparison between the Baptism and the Law. And this he says in another passage also; “The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 12
… but “What shall we say then?” As though a deliberation and a judgment were before them, and a general meeting called together, and the objection came forward not of himself, but in the course of discussion, and from real circumstances of the case. For that the letter killeth, he means, no one will deny, or that the Spirit giveth life (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 7
… For when he is desirous of speaking so as you say, he does not join the article to the predicate. And besides, let us review all his discourse from the first, of whom hath he spoken? for instance, when he said, “The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life:” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 13
… iv. 10 .) and of what things he was made partaker, and with what he had been entrusted, for “we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ,” (c. iii. 20 .) saith he, “as though God were entreating by us;” and of what things he is a minister, namely, “not of the letter, but of the Spirit;” (c.
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 52.2
… Once David had been a man of war, but at seventy age had chilled him so that nothing would make him warm. A girl is accordingly sought from the coasts of Israel—Abishag the Shunamite—to sleep with the king and warm his aged frame. Does it not seem to you—if you keep to the letter that killeth
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 108.11
… But many are of opinion that Caleb is the fourth and a monument at one side is pointed out as his. After seeing these places she did not care to go on to Kirjath-sepher, that is “the village of letters;” because despising the letter that killeth she had found the spirit that giveth life.
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 109.1
… Unhappy wretch! to be wept over by all Christian men, who sees not that in speaking thus he makes himself one with the Samaritans and the Jews who hold dead bodies unclean and regard as defiled even vessels which have been in the same house with them, following the letter that killeth and not the spirit that giveth life.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 5.14
… and the Catholic faith, for which I had fancied nothing could be said against the attacks of the Manichæans, I now conceived might be maintained without presumption; especially after I had heard one or two parts of the Old Testament explained, and often allegorically—which when I accepted literally, I was “killed” spiritually.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 145.3
… For this reason the law is called a “schoolmaster,” under whose threatenings and severity “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered.” But how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?” Wherefore unto them that believe and call on Him the quickening Spirit is given, lest the letter without the Spirit should kill them.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Christian Doctrine 3.5
9. But the ambiguities of metaphorical words, about which I am next to speak, demand no ordinary care and diligence. In the first place, we must beware of taking a figurative expression literally. For the saying of the apostle applies in this case too: “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Profit of Believing 9
… and nothing more healthful than that it be unveiled in the Spirit. Hence it is: “The letter killeth, but the Spirit quickeneth.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 19.7
… Before we received in humility the grace of the Spirit, the letter was only death to us, for it required obedience which we could not render. Thus Paul also says: "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter extract-from-augustins-retract
… He asked how I could say that it was possible of which no example could be adduced. Owing to this inquiry on the part of this person, I wrote the treatise entitled De Spiritu et Littera , in which I considered at large the apostle’s statement, “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 6
For that teaching which brings to us the command to live in chastity and righteousness is “the letter that killeth,” unless accompanied with “the spirit that giveth life.” For that is not the sole meaning of the passage, “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 8
Attend, then, carefully, to the apostle while in his Epistle to the Romans he explains and clearly enough shows that what he wrote to the Corinthians, “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 20
… able, that we are assisted by divine aid towards the achievement of righteousness,—not merely because God has given us a law full of good and holy precepts, but because our very will without which we cannot do any good thing, is assisted and elevated by the importation of the Spirit of grace, without which help mere teaching is “the letter that killeth,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius 14
… Of this Testament also the apostles became the ministers, as the most blessed Paul declares: “He hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not in its letter, but in spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius 20
… This grace is not nature, but that which renders assistance to frail and corrupted nature. This grace is not the knowledge of the law, but is that of which the apostle says: “I will not make void the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” Therefore it is not “the letter that killeth, but the life-giving spirit.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin 1.9
… For it rather commands than assists; it discovers disease, but does not heal it; nay, the malady that is not healed is rather aggravated by it, so that the cure of grace is more earnestly and anxiously sought for, inasmuch as “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.2
… But who walks according to the Spirit, except whosoever is led by the Spirit of God? “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” Therefore “the letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.12
… Moreover, he says, “That we should serve in the newness of the Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter,” signifying that same testament under the name of the letter. In another place also, “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.20
… For they think that, by the strength of their own will, they will fulfil the commands of the law; and wrapped up in their pride, they are not converted to assisting grace. Thus the letter killeth
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.11
… For the knowledge of the law without love puffeth up, does not edify, according to the same apostle, who most openly says, “Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth.” Which saying is like to that in which it is said, “The letter killeth, the spirit maketh alive.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Grace and Free Will 23
… and that man, by the commandment, although it be holy, and just, and good, nevertheless dies, and that death works in him through that which is good, from which death there is no deliverance unless the Spirit quickens him, whom the letter had killed,—as he says in another passage, “The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace 2
… but He moreover helps us that we may shun evil and do good, which none can do without the Spirit of grace; and if this be wanting, the law comes in merely to make us guilty and to slay us. It is on this account that the apostle says, “The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 86.5
… thou hast fallen from pride, hast seen thy weakness. Run to the Physician, wash the face. Long for Christ, confess Christ, believe on Christ; the Spirit is added to the letter, and thou wilt be saved. For if thou take away the Spirit from the letter, “the letter killeth;” if it kill, where is hope? “But the Spirit giveth life.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 49.22
… the right-living are in harmony with the law. The law is not laid on a righteous man. What mean then the words, “Take ye away the stone”? Preach grace. For the Apostle Paul calleth himself a minister of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit; “for the letter,” he says, “killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 122.8
… But the law, when it is not aided by grace, maketh transgressors, and is only in the letter, on account of which the apostle specially declared, “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 71.18
18. With reason there followeth, “I will enter into the power of the Lord:” not mine own, but the Lord’s. For they gloried in their own power of the letter, therefore grace joined to the letter they knew not.…But because “the letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 119.15
… but also in this very point that it rendereth men transgressors, so that the letter even slayeth, it driveth us to fly unto the quickening Spirit, through whom the whole of our sins may be blotted out, and the love of righteous deeds be inspired.
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 3
… for He did not say destroy this ‘body,’ but ‘temple’ that He might shew the indwelling God. Destroy this temple which is far more excellent than that of the Jews. The Jewish temple contained the Law; this temple contains the Lawgiver; the former the letter that killeth; the latter the spirit that giveth life.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.11
… Now these attributes, however different they be, cannot possibly make two gods; for they have already (in the prevenient dispensation of the Old Testament) been found to meet in One. He alludes to Moses’ veil, covered with which “his face could not be stedfastly seen by the children of Israel.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 7.20
… how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 10.15
… Perhaps, then, the man who is a householder is Jesus Himself, who brings forth out of His treasury, according to the time of the teaching, things new, things spiritual, which also are always being renewed by Him in the “inner man” of the righteous, who are themselves always being renewed day by day, and old things, things “written and engraven on stones,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 11.14
… For since there are two things to be understood in regard to the law, the ministration of death which was engraven in letters
Archelaus † fl. AD 278 The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes 28
… But only this latest generation of men, which has run its course from Tiberius onward, as you make it out, is to be saved: for it is Christ Himself that “has re-deemed them from the curse of the law;” as Paul, too, has given these further testimonies, that “the letter killeth, and quickeneth no man,” and that “the law is the ministration of death,”
Archelaus † fl. AD 278 The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes 43
… The text in question, then, proceeds thus: “But if the ministration of death, engraven in letters on the stones, was made in glory, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away;”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 39.5
IX. Wherefore we must purify ourselves first, and then approach this converse with the Pure; unless we would have the same experience as Israel, who could not endure the glory of the face of Moses, and therefore asked for a veil;
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 7
… 15 .) the same “veil lieth upon their heart; “showing that the veil lieth both on the reading and on their heart; and above, “So that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly upon the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 31
Now, since, as he says in another passage, “the law was added because of transgression,” meaning the law which is written externally to man, he therefore designates it both as “the ministration of death,”
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St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 19
… He is called good, as the Father is good, and He who was begotten of the Good is good, and to the Spirit His goodness is essence. He is called upright, as “the Lord is upright,” in that He is Himself truth, and is Himself Righteousness,
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 24
… Yet the Apostle says “the ministration of the Spirit is glorious.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 7
Ver. 8 . “But if the ministration of death came with glory, how shall not rather the ministration of the Spirit be with glory?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 31
Now, since, as he says in another passage, “the law was added because of transgression,” meaning the law which is written externally to man, he therefore designates it both as “the ministration of death,” and “the ministration of condemnation;” but the other, that is, the law of the New Testament, he calls “the ministration of the Spirit”
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St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 24
… glory for Israelites “to whom,” it is said “pertaineth the adoption and the glory…and the service,” and the Psalmist speaks of a certain glory of his own, “that my glory may sing praise to Thee ;” and again “Awake up my glory” and according to the Apostle there is a certain glory of sun and moon and stars, and “the ministration of condemnation is glorious.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 7
Ver. 9 . “For if the ministration of condemnation is glory.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 31
Now, since, as he says in another passage, “the law was added because of transgression,” meaning the law which is written externally to man, he therefore designates it both as “the ministration of death,” and “the ministration of condemnation;”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 10.9
… of Moses, and of the prophets also, I think, and a beautiful sight, by which we are introduced so as to be able to see the glory of Christ, to which the Father bears witness, saying, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.” But “that which hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious in this respect by reason of the glory that surpasseth;”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 21.11
… I call them minor details only in comparing him and his character with his own standard, for that which hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious, even though it be exceeding splendid by reason of the glory that surpasseth,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood 3.4
… But if any one should examine the things which belong to the dispensation of grace, he will find that, small as they are, yet are they fearful and full of awe, and that what was spoken concerning the law is true in this case also, that “what has been made glorious hath no glory in this respect by reason of the glory which excelleth.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 34
… For those things too, that came before grace, had a certain great and marvellous appearance: nevertheless, hear what Paul saith of them after grace came: “That which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasseth.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 7
[2.] Ver. 10 . “For verily that which hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasseth.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 1.15
… Job, and Zacharias, and Elizabeth, were called righteous, in respect of that righteousness which might some day turn to unrighteousness, and not in respect of that which is incapable of change, concerning which it is said, “I am God, and change not.” And this is that which the Apostle elsewhere writes:
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 23.4
… “For even that which was glorious was not glorified by reason of the glory that excelleth.”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 7
Ver. 11 . “For if that which passeth away was with glory, much more that which remaineth is in glory.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 14
… iii. 6 .) There was a faith, there is a faith. (“From faith to faith.”) ( Rom. i. 17 .) There was an adoption, there is an adoption. (“To whom pertaineth the adoption.”) ( Rom. ix. 4 .) There was a glory, there is a glory. (“For if that which was done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.”) (
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 1.15
… “That which hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasseth”; because, that is, the righteousness of the law, in comparison of the grace of the Gospel, does not seem to be righteousness at all.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 7
Ver. 12 . “Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech.”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 7
Ver. 13 . “And not as Moses, who put a veil upon his face, so that the children of Israel should not look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 32
… In this respect also our [privileges] are more gentle and more admirable. For they are great in a twofold respect: because while they are glorious and greater, they are more accessible. This he says also in the Epistle to the Corinthians: “with unveiled countenance” ( 2 Cor. iii. 18 ), and, “not as Moses put a veil over his face.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 30
… He speaks of the “fleshy tables of the heart,” not of the carnal mind, but of a living agent possessing sensation, in comparison with a stone, which is senseless. The assertion which he subsequently makes,—that “the children of Israel could not look stedfastly on the end of the face of Moses,” and that he accordingly spoke to them through a veil,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 24.5
… How the vail then is taken away, the Apostle himself tells us. “But when thou shalt turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.” So then the Jew who does not turn to the Lord, does not carry on his mind’s eye to the end. Just as at that time the children of Israel in this figure did not carry on the gaze of their eyes “to the end,”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.11
… For only there is superiority possible where was previously the thing over which superiority can be affirmed. But then he says, “But their minds were blinded”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 10.18
… These are they who, contending with the souls, take from them what is most precious, robbing them of their better part to return to them what is worth nothing. But the disciples go and find the ass tied and loose it, for it cannot have Jesus on account of the covering that is laid upon it by the law.
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 1.5
… and even to this day, if at any time Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. But by and by, when they shall be turned unto the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.”
Archelaus † fl. AD 278 The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes 43
… “Their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil in the reading of the Old Testament; it is untaken away, because it is done away in Christ. For even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 21
… “even as from the Lord the Spirit.” But to leave no ground for objection, I will quote the actual words of the Apostle;—“For even unto this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ.…Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 15.32
32. Take again another similar text. For until this day…when Moses is read, a vail lieth upon their heart
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On the Holy Spirit 1
These destroyers of the Spirit’s glory, who relegate Him to a subject world, must tell us of what thing that unction is the symbol. It not a symbol of the Kingship? And what? Do they not believe in the Only-begotten as in His very nature a King? Men who have not once for all enveloped their hearts with the Jewish “vail
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 7
Ver. 14 . “But their minds were hardened, for until this day remaineth the same veil in the reading of the Old Covenant, [it] not being revealed to them that it is done away in Christ.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 58.9
… how deep, think you, must be the night of misapprehension with which we, mere babes and unweaned infants, are enveloped! Now this veil rests not only on the face of Moses,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Profit of Believing 9
… and nothing more healthful than that it be unveiled in the Spirit. Hence it is: “The letter killeth, but the Spirit quickeneth.” Hence it is, “That same veil remaineth in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is not taken away; since it is made void in Christ.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 3.12
… For the apostle is express when he says, “Until this day, as long as Moses is read, remaineth the same veil in the reading of the old testament; because it is not revealed, because it is made of no effect in Christ.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 9.3
… For in water wine is in some manner latent. The apostle tells us what we are to understand by this water: “Even unto this day,” saith he, “whilst Moses is read, that same veil is upon their heart; that it is not unveiled because it is done away in Christ. And when thou shalt have passed over,” saith he, “to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.11
… For only there is superiority possible where was previously the thing over which superiority can be affirmed. But then he says, “But their minds were blinded” —of the world; certainly not the Creator’s mind, but the minds of the people which are in the world. Of Israel he says, Even unto this day the same veil is upon their heart;”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 1.1.2
… nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 5.60
… for we do not regulate our lives like the Jews, because we are of opinion that the literal acceptation of the laws is not that which conveys the meaning of the legislation. And we maintain, that “when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart,”
St Gregory Thaumaturgus † AD 270 A Sectional Confession of Faith 20
… Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 7.1
… For this reason, then, the Apostle tells us that those who look upon the body of the Scripture have “a veil upon their heart
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 3.14
… And so let us consider the apostolic statement: “As often as Moses is read,” says he, “a veil is laid over their heart; but when they shall be turned to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 7
… Let them not therefore pride themselves on that, for what was that to Jews who enjoyed it not? Wherefore also he keeps on dwelling upon it, saying one while, “The same veil in the reading of the old covenant remaineth,” it “not being revealed that it is done away in Christ:” another while, that “unto this day when Moses is read,” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 17.7
… For the Old Testament, from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, profiteth nothing, unless because it bears witness to the New Testament. Otherwise, however long Moses is read, the veil is put over their heart; but when any one shall turn thence to Christ, the veil shall be taken away.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 12.4
… "When Moses is read, a veil is upon their heart." Neither will this veil which keeps them from understanding Moses be taken away from them till they turn to Christ; not a Christ of their own making, but the Christ of the Hebrew prophets. For, as the apostle says, "When thou shalt turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 24.5
5. But why were they such as they were? “Because,” says St. Paul, “the vail is upon their heart. And they do not see that the old things are passed away, and all things are become new.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 24.5
… in the breaking they are multiplied. Nothing is more true. For when those five books of Moses are expounded, how many books have they made by being broken up, as it were; that is, by being opened and laid out? But because in that barley the ignorance of the first people was veiled, of whom it is said, “Whilst Moses is read, the veil is upon their hearts;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 48.3
… They sought to hear the Lord saying, I am Christ; and probably enough they only thought of the Christ in a human way. The prophets preached Christ; but the Godhead of Christ asserted in the prophets and in the gospel itself is not perceived even by heretics; and how much less by Jews, so long as the vail is upon their heart?
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 90.17
… But when any one has passed over to Christ, the veil will be taken away:
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.11
… Then, again, the words which follow, But when it shall turn to the Lord, the evil shall be taken away,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 10.14
… since “When one turn to the Lord, the veil over the letter is taken away. But the Lord is the Spirit.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 11.14
… but those who were not such, but guarded with care the letter which killeth only, were not a plant of God but of him who hardened their heart, and put a veil over it, which veil had power over them so long as they did not turn to the Lord; “for if any one should turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away, and the Lord is the Spirit.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 1.4
… for he says not, ‘God Himself is the power,’ but ‘His is the power.’ Very plain is it to all that ‘His’ is not ‘He;’ yet not something alien but rather proper to Him. Study too the context and ‘turn to the Lord;’ now ‘the Lord is that Spirit
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 7.1
… And that which is discovered by this more exalted perception he says is the Lord, which is the Spirit. For he says, “when it shall turn to the Lord the veil shall be taken away: now the Lord is the Spirit
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 7
Ver. 16 . “Nevertheless when [one] shall turn to the Lord,” which is, to forsake the Law, “the veil is taken away .”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Profit of Believing 9
… since it is made void in Christ.” For there is made void in Christ, not the Old Testament, but its veil: that so through Christ that may be understood, and, as it were, laid bare, which without Christ is obscure and covered. Forasmuch as the same Apostle straightway adds, “But when thou shalt have passed over to Christ, the veil shall be taken away.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Of the Work of Monks 39
… because forsooth he who sees them shall call to mind those ancients whom we read of, Samuel and the rest who did not cut off their hair. And they do not consider what is the difference between that prophetic veil, and this unveiling which is in the Gospel, of which the Apostle saith, “When thou shall go over unto Christ, the veil shall be taken away.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 12.39
… His attempt only shows the inferiority of all ingenious speculations, when made without keeping Christ in view, to whom all the predictions really point. So true is that saying of the apostle: "When they shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 27
… “For when,” says the apostle, “it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 1.5
… for the higher in honour any one is, the more veils are suspended in his palace. The veils make that which is kept secret honoured, and to those who honour it, the veils are lifted up; but as for those who mock at the veils, they are driven away from even approaching them. Because then we “turn unto Christ, the veil is taken away.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 24.5
… Why are they old things? Because they have been a long while published. Why new? Because they relate to the kingdom of God. How the vail then is taken away, the Apostle himself tells us. “But when thou shalt turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 87.6
… For when the vail was taken away, after that the Lord had suffered, the secrets of the temple were discovered. Accordingly when He was hanging on the Cross, the vail of the temple was rent from the top even to the bottom; and the Apostle Paul says expressly, “But when thou shalt turn to Christ, the vail shall be taken away.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 7.1
… But since it is not the story itself which is to be the subject of consideration in this Psalm, from which the prophet hath taken a veil of mysteries, if we have passed over to Christ, let the veil be taken away.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 71.26
… For it was not to no purpose that when He was crucified the veil of the temple was rent in the midst, but to show that through His Passion the secret things of all mysteries were opened. May He then Himself be with men passing over unto Him, be the veil taken away:
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 78.6
… because in that dispensation there were “parables and propositions.” For those things which were being preached and were coining to pass were hidden in veiled meanings, and were not seen in unveiled manifestations. But “when thou shalt have passed over unto Christ,” saith the Apostle, “the veil shall be taken away.”
3:17
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 6.70
… And He will be understood to be a Spirit in proportion as the worship rendered to Him is rendered in spirit, and with understanding. It is not, however, with images that we are to worship the Father, but “in truth,” which “came by Jesus Christ,” after the giving of the law by Moses. For when we turn to the Lord (and the Lord is a Spirit
Novatian † AD 258 A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity 29
… because He has anointed me, He has sent me to preach the Gospel to the poor.” Similarly David: “Wherefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” Of Him the Apostle Paul says: “For he who hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of His.” “And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 De Trinitate or On the Trinity 2.32
32. The words of the Apostle are of like purport; For the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 1
9. Since then we have passed beyond that time of shadows, and no longer perform rites under it, but have turned, as it were, unto the Lord; ‘for the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 21
… Let those answer who place the Holy Ghost among the ministering spirits that are sent forth on service. They cannot. Wherefore let them hear yet another testimony which distinctly calls the Spirit Lord. “The Lord,” it is said, “is that Spirit;” and again “even as from the Lord the Spirit.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 24
… Where then are we to take Him and rank Him? With the creature? Yet all the creature is in bondage, but the Spirit maketh free. “And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 5.2
… and again in another passage calls Him Who was crucified ‘the Lord of Glory’: ‘for had they known it,’ he says, ‘they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory ’. Indeed, he speaks far more openly than this of the very essential nature by the name of ‘Lord,’ where he says, ‘Now the Lord is the Spirit
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 7.1
Since, however, Eunomius asserts that the word “Lord” is used in reference to the essence and not to the dignity of the Only-begotten, and cites as a witness to this view the Apostle, when he says to the Corinthians, “Now the Lord is the Spirit
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 3.14
101. But if you require the plain statement of the words in which Scripture has spoken of the Spirit as Lord, it cannot have escaped you that it is written: “Now the Lord is the Spirit.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 1.14
… “Creation,” saith the Apostle, “shall be set free from the slavery of corruption.” We see, then, that between creation and its Lord there is a vast difference, for creation is enslaved, but “the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 7
Ver. 17 . “Now the Spirit is the Lord.” This too is Lord, he says. And that you may know that he is speaking of the Paraclete, he added,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 2.10
… my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand;” since also the Holy Spirit is found to be called Lord, as where the apostle says, “Now the Lord is that Spirit;” and then, lest any one should think the Son to be signified, and to be called the Spirit on account of His incorporeal substance, has gone on to say, “And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 15.11
… gazing at it through a glass, “we may be transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 28
“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 31
… The one, therefore, vanishes away, the other abides; for the terrifying schoolmaster will be dispensed with, when love has succeeded to fear. Now “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 52
… They do not observe that in the very mention of free will they pronounce the name of liberty. But “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 21.34
… But this liberty, the Apostle Paul teaches us is nowhere but where the Lord is dwelling, for he says: “The Lord is the Spirit, but where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.”
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Sermons 77
… For it was necessary that those who are to be saved should also do something on their part, and by the turning of their hearts to the Redeemer should quit the dominion of the enemy, even as the Apostle says, “ God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father ,” “And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.13
… For it is written, Perfect charity casteth out fear ( 1 Joh. iv. 18 ). And again it is written, Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but the spirit of adoption of sons, wherein we cry, Abba, Father ( Rom. viii. 15 ). Whence the same teacher says again, Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (
St John of Damascus † AD 749 An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 4.15
Further, that God dwelt even in their bodies in spiritual wise , the Apostle tells us, saying, Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you? , and The Lord is that Spirit
3:18
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.11
… So he says that “we now with open face” (meaning the candour of the heart, which in the Jews had been covered with a veil), “beholding Christ, are changed into the same image, from that glory” (wherewith Moses was transfigured as by the glory of the Lord) “to another glory.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 12.11
… say to the Saviour, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God;” but not all who say this will say it to Him, as not at all having learned it by the revelation of flesh and blood but by the Father in heaven Himself taking away the veil that lay upon their heart, in order that after this “with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord”
St Methodius † AD 311 Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna On the Day that They Met in the Temple 1
… For to-day the council chamber of the divine oracles is opened wide, and the signs prefiguring this glorious day, with its effects and issues, are by the sacred preachers read over to the assembled Church. Today the accomplishment of that ancient and true counsel is, in fact and deed, gloriously manifested to the world. Today, without any covering,
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 7.32.19
… But I refrain from demanding this sort of demonstration for matters from which the veil of the Mosaic law has been removed, so that now at length with uncovered face we continually behold as in a glass Christ and the teachings and sufferings of Christ.
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 21
… For just as objects which lie near brilliant colours are themselves tinted by the brightness which is shed around, so is he who fixes his gaze firmly on the Spirit by the Spirit’s glory somehow transfigured into greater splendour, having his heart lighted up, as it were, by some light streaming from the truth of the Spirit.
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 8.7
… For even their knowledge, when compared with the knowledge which is face to face, is dense. Only the Father, He says, knows, since He is Himself the end and the ultimate blessedness, for when we no longer know God in mirrors and not immediately,
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 21.4
4. And ye were first anointed on the forehead, that ye might be delivered from the shame, which the first man who transgressed bore about with him everywhere; and that with unveiled face ye might reflect as a mirror the glory of the Lord
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 22.9
… and that of this David sung of old, saying, And bread strengtheneth man’s heart, to make his face to shine with oil , “strengthen thou thine heart,” by partaking thereof as spiritual, and “make the face of thy soul to shine.” And so having it unveiled with a pure conscience, mayest thou reflect as a mirror the glory of the Lord
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 7
… That, saith he, is letter, and stone, and a ministration of death, and is done away: and yet the Jews were not even vouchsafed this glory. (Or, the glory of this.) This table is of the flesh, and spirit, and righteousness, and remaineth; and unto all of us is it vouchsafed, not to one only, as to Moses of the lesser then. (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 8
… Seest thou the invariableness in the Trinity? For of the Spirit, he says, “But we all with unveiled face reflecting in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory even as from the Lord the Spirit.” (c.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 82
[3.] But why said He not, “That they may share My glory,” instead of, “That they may be hold My glory”? Here He implieth, that all that rest is, the looking on the Son of God. This certainly it is which causes them to be glorified; as Paul saith, “With open face mirroring the glory of the Lord.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 32
… In this respect also our [privileges] are more gentle and more admirable. For they are great in a twofold respect: because while they are glorious and greater, they are more accessible. This he says also in the Epistle to the Corinthians: “with unveiled countenance” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 38.4
4. In days gone by our dear widow was extremely fastidious in her dress, and spent whole days before her mirror to correct its deficiencies. Now she boldly says: “We all with unveiled face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 51.7
… “Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” For this refers to the glory which is then to be revealed to His saints; just as also in another place we read the words “from glory to glory,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 148.7
… And now we see as in a mirror darkly, in a riddle, but then face to face; when from being men we shall advance to the rank of angels, and shall be able to say with the apostle, ‘We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord;’
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 148.8
… “We, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 22.29
… And if the apostle had not referred to the face of the inner man, he would not have said, “But we, with unveiled face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the spirit of the Lord.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 14.17
… And of this the Apostle Paul speaks: “Now we see through a glass, in an enigma, but then face to face.” And again: “But we with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 15.8
… in order that we might see in some way or other by this image which we are, Him by whom we are made, as by a glass. And this is intimated also in the words of the same apostle: “But we with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount 2.12
… but being firm and stedfast, inasmuch as he is pure and guileless. “Wash you,” says He, “make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes.” From the squalor, therefore, by which the eye of God is offended, our face is to be washed. For we, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 2.5
… 6 ). This is clearly spoken in the Person of the very Lord our Saviour Christ. But if Sion signify, as some interpret, beholding, we must not understand it of anything rather than of the Church, where daily is the desire raised of beholding the bright glory of God, according to that of the Apostle, “but we with open face beholding the glory of the Lord.”
3:1
Or need we... epistles of commendation to you... or from you? ie., written by you to commend me to others. Ver. 2. Ye are our epistle. You, O Corinthians, converted by my efforts, are to me like an epistle of commendation read and understood by all, which I can show as my credentials to whom I like. As the work recommends the workman, and the seal faithfully is represented by its image, so do you commend me as though you were a commendatory letter, sealed by yourselves. For all know what you were before your conversion drunken, gluttonous, given up to impurity and other evil lusts. Corinth was then an emporium, as famous for its vices as its wares. But now all men see that you have been completely changed, through my preaching, into different men temperate, chaste, meek, humble, devout, liberal. This your conversion, therefore, is my commendatory letter, i.e., the public testimony of my preaching before all people.
3:2
Written in our hearts. You have been converted by me, and indelibly written and engraven on my heart. This "epistle" was twice written by S. Paul. (1.) He wrote it actually when he instilled into the mind of the Corinthians the faith and Spirit of Christ. (2.) He wrote it and imprinted it on his own heart by his care and love of them. (3.) Christ again was inscribed on their hearts by Paul's ministry, as if by a pen; and Christ, Himself, by Paul's preaching, imprinted on them his faith, hope, charity, and other graces, not with ink, but by the inspiration of the Spirit of the living God, who filled their hearts with charity and all virtues.
3:3
Ver. 3. In fleshy tables of the heart. Not in hard stone, as was the law of Moses, but in a heart tender, soft, and teachable. There is an allusion to Jer 32:33. The Apostle, we should notice, makes a distinction between σάρκινος, used here, and οαρκικός: the first denotes the natural condition of flesh its softness, &c.; the other that which has the vices and corruptions of flesh. Cf. Rom 7:14 and 1Co 3:3. Other writers, however, do not observe this distinction. Nazianzen, e.g., applies the latter of these terms to the incarnation and manhood of Christ. Ver. 4. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward. The Greek word used here, denotes that confident conviction which makes the mind strive to attain some difficult end that it longs for, as though it were certain of success. Such is the confidence which is inspired into the Saints by the Holy Spirit enabling them to work miracles or other heroic works of virtue. This confidence God is wont to demand as a fitting disposition, and to give beforehand, both in him who performs and in him who receives the benefit of the miracle or other Divine gift, in order that the soul may, by this gift, expand and exalt itself, and become capable of receiving Divine power. S. Paul says in effect. "This confident persuasion that you are our epistle, written by the Spirit of the living God, we have before God through the grace of Christ; we have hope and sure confidence in God that, as He has begun, so will He finish this epistle by His Spirit." In the second place this trust is the confidence S. Paul had before God, which enabled him to glory confidently in God of this epistle of his and of God, and of the dignity of his ministry, and of its fruit, when compared with the ministry of Moses and of other Old Testament ministers. Ver. 5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. To think anything that is good and is ordained to faith, grace, merit, and eternal salvation, so as to make a man an able minister of the New Testament. But if no one is able to think any such thing, he is still less able to do it. Cf. Council of Arausica (can. 7) and S. Augustine (de Prædest. Sanct. c. ii.). 1. From this passage S. Augustine lays down, in opposition to the semi-Pelagians, in which he is followed by the Schoolmen, that the will to believe and the beginning of faith and salvation, and every desire for it, come, not from free-will but from prevenient grace. Hence Beza wrongly charges the Schoolmen with teaching that the beginning of good is from ourselves, though weakly and insufficiently; for they all alike teach that the beginning of a good and holy life, of good thoughts and actions, and salvation in general is supernatural, and has its origin in the grace of God, not in nature or the goodness of our will. 2. Calvin is mistaken in inferring from this passage that there is no power in free-will which may be exerted in the works of grace, but that the whole strength and every attempt and act spring from grace. The Apostle says only that free-will is in itself insufficient, not that it has no power whatever. Just as an infirm man has a certain amount of strength, but not enough for walking, and has enough for walking if any one else help him, and give him a start and support, so too free-will is of itself insufficient for good works, but is sufficient if it be urged on, strengthened, and helped by prevenient grace. It may be said that the sufficiency Paul speaks of here may be, as Theophylact and the Syriac render it, power, strength, or might. I answer that this is true; for the power and strength of free-will for a supernatural work, and of grace, which makes it supernatural, pleasing, to God, and worthy and meritorious of eternal life, are not from free-will, but from exciting and co-operating grace. When free-will has this, it is sufficiently able to believe freely, to love, and to work any supernatural work whatever. For free-will has for every work natural strength able to produce a free work; therefore these two causes concur here in the same work, one natural, viz., free-will, the other supernatural, viz., grace. Each, too, has its corresponding effect: the effect of grace is that it is a supernatural work, of free-will that it is free and the work of man. In the same way an infirm man is not only not strong enough, but wholly unable to walk, because it is a task beyond his strength; but he becomes able if he is given strength by a friend, or from some other source, and then he unites his own strength, however little it be, with that lent to him, and is able to walk. Still the strength that comes from without has to start him and begin his walking, and the whole force and energy with which he walks is to be found in the strength that is given him. That he tries to walk beyond his strength is not from himself but from without; but when it is once given, he puts forth his own strength and co-operates with it, and produces an effect commensurate to his efforts. In the same way free-will co-operates with exciting grace, and acts as a companion to it in every super- natural work in such way as its strength enables it. We learn from this passage to recognise in every good work our own weakness, and to ascribe to Christ's grace all the goodness and worth of what we do. S. Gregory (Morals, lib. xxii. c. 19), says: " Let no one think himself to have any virtue, even when he can do anything successfully; for if he be abandoned by the strength that cometh from above he will be suddenly overthrown helplessly on the very ground where he was boasting of his firm standing." S. Augustine (contra Julian, lib. ii. c. 8) commends the refutation of the Pelagians by S. Cyprian in the words: " They trust in their strength and exclaim that the perfection of their virtue is from themselves; but you, O Cyprian, reply that no one in his own strength is strong, but is safe only under the merciful indulgence of God." The Psalmist, too, says the same thing (Psa 59:9): "My strength will I guard unto Thee," meaning that he would lay it up in safety under his ward, hoping to over-come his enemies in God's strength and not in his own, because God is the Fount of all virtue and strength. Cf. Eze 29:3:5, where Pharaoh is forewarned of his fate for ascribing his power and success to himself. Again, this passage teaches us to pray to God constantly that He would direct our thoughts, and inspire us with heavenly thoughts and desires, for such are the fount and beginning of all good works. This is beautifully expressed in the Collect for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity. S.Bernard (Serm. 32 in Cantic.) says learnedly and piously: " Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything good as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God. When, therefore, we find evil thoughts in our heart, they are our own; if we find a good thought, it is the word of God: Our heart utters the former and hears the latter. ' I will hear,' it says, ' what the Lord God will say in me, for He shall speak peace to His people.' So, then, he speaks in us peace, righteousness, godliness; we do not think such things of ourselves, but we hear them within ourselves; but murders, adulteties, thefts, blasphemies, and such things proceed from the heart: we do not hear them, we say them," or at all events they are suggested to us by the devil. Ver. 6. Not of the letter but of the spirit. Not of the law, but of grace. I am a minister of the New Testament, but not in such a way that I bring tables of the law and of the covenant and its words, as did Moses in the Old Testament, but so that God may by my words inspire into you heavenly thoughts and desires. Cf. Augustine. (de Spirit. et Lit. c. iii.).
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For the letter killeth. (1.) Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine (de Doctr. Christ. lib. iii. c. 4) explain this to be that the letter of the law convicts and condemns them to death who do not obey this letter, i.e., the precepts of the law relating to righteousness and charity. For this letter of the law enacts that whosoever breaketh the law is to die the death. (2.) S. Augustine gives another explanation. If you abuse the literal meaning, and neglect the sense of Scripture, and fall into error, as Jews and heretics do, then the letter killeth. (3.) When metaphorical sayings are taken literally (S. Augustine, ibid. c. v., vi.). (4.) When types of the new law contained in the old are understood to be still binding in their literal meaning (ibid. Cf. also Origen, contra Celsum, lib. iii.; Didymus, de Spirit. Sanct. lib. iii.). The Fathers in general frequently say that the letter, i.e., the literal meaning of the law killeth, but the spirit, i.e., the spiritual and allegorical meaning, giveth life. This is because it is not now lawful to Christians to observe the ceremonies and ritual precepts of the old law literally under penalty of death; but they are bound to do what those ceremonies allegorically signified if they wish to attain the life of grace and glory. (5.) S. Augustine again in the same place says that the letter, both of the old and new law, killeth if separated from the spirit; but that this passage refers to the old law alone, because Moses, when he gave the law, gave only the letter, but Christ gave the spirit and the letter, and from this he lays down that the law cannot be fulfilled by the strength of nature alone, but requires the grace of Christ. (6.) S. Augustine once more and Anselm say that the letter killeth by giving occasion to sin; for the law is the occasion by which concupiscence is kindled and sin produced which kills the soul. This sense and the first are the most literal. But the Spirit giveth life. (1.) The Spirit gives to the soul the supernatural life of grace and charity. (2.) He gives motives and strength for good works and for fulfilling the law. (3.) He guides us towards that eternal life promised by the law to them that keep it. Of this life and Spirit the Apostles were sent by Christ as ministers. Ver. 7. If the ministration of death... was glorious. If the ministration and promulgation of the old law, which threatened and brought death and condemnation, were glorious, i.e., accompanied by thundering and the sound of the heavenly trumpet, by an earth-quake and the splendour of Moses' countenance: if the old law, engraven on tables of stone, was so gloriously promulgated, how much more glorious is the Gospel? Paul here calls the old law the attendant and lictor of death, because it could indeed slay them that broke it but not give life to them that kept it. From this we may gather that S. Paul is writing against the false apostles, and that they were Jews who were endeavouring to blend the old and the new law. He therefore silences the Jews by depreciating the old law as the law of condemnation, and by extolling himself and his fellow-apostles as the ministers of the evangelical law of righteousness and the life of the Spirit. Cf. in this connection chaps. x. and xi. Ver. 8. How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? This glory of the evangelical law of righteousness was seen in the mighty wind and the different tongues of fire which, when the new law was promulgated, glorified the Apostles before all nations. It was seen too in the gifts of tongues, of prophecy, &c., which used to descend visibly on Christians, as appears from 1Co 14:26; even as now the graces, gifts and virtues of the Holy Spirit are received invisibly.
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So that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance. God as a sun so brilliantly shone on the face of Moses on the mount that his face shone as a second sun. The Vulgate rendering of Exo 34:29 is that "he wist not that his face was horned while He talked with him," where the "horns" of course refer to the appearance of rays of light.
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Which glory was to be done away. This bright glory left Moses when he was dying, to signify that the old law would fade away with its glory when the new came. Ver. 10. For even that which was made glorious, &c. For, by a common Hebraism, is here assertive, not causal. The glory of Moses cannot be called glory when compared with that of the Apostolic office, which far excels it. " As," says Theodoret, " the light of a lantern shines at night, but is at noonday overpowered by the sun, so was the glory of Moses overshadowed by Christ." This is the bearing of the phrase "by reason of the glory that excelleth." Ver. 12. Seeing then that we have such hope. Since the Lord diffuses the spirit of grace by us His Apostles, we have hope that He will hereafter give us glory far beyond that of Moses. We use great plainness of speech. We preach the Gospel boldly, freely, frankly, openly.
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Ver. 13. And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face. Moses veiled his face, but we do not veil the face of Christ, but with great freedom bid all gaze upon it. From Exo 24:33 we gather that Moses in his first interview with the people spoke to them with unveiled face because of the reverence due to the majesty of the law, but that he afterwards veiled his face that he might with the greater freedom speak to them. But when he entered the tabernacle (Exo 33:8), to converse with God, he took away the veil. In this and the next three verses, S. Paul gives the allegorical meaning of this veiling; for to the Jews the Old Testament is covered with a veil, so that they do not see the light of the New Testament, and Christ contained in it. From us, however, Christ has taken away the veil, and will take it away from the Jews when they are converted at the end of the world. S. Gregory (Pastor. pt. iii. c. 5) says tropologically: " The preacher should, like Moses, suit himself to his hearers: what is deep ought to be concealed from many that hear, and be opened out to very few. "
That the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end. This is the reading of the Greek MSS., the Syriac, and the older Latin authors, as Ambrose, but the Latin reads to the face. The end is Christ, mystically signified by the unveiled brightness of the face of Moses, as Ambrose and Theodoret say. Others take it more literally: they could not look on the perfect splendour of the face of Moses, or again, they could not look on the extremity of the surface of his face. Theophylact again explains it: "The ignorant Israelites could not see that the law was to have an end and be abolished." But this is a mystical meaning; the second is the literal meaning. Which is abolished. The splendour of Moses was to be abolished, or the brightness of his face. These words may refer either to the face or to the veil, but it is better to understand them of the veil, especially as the following verses refer to the removal of the veil of Moses by the light of the law of the New Testament. Theodoret observes that the sun-like splendour of the face of Moses typified the glorious brightness of the law of Christ, while the veil typified the shadow under which the dumb ceremonies of Moses lay. The Jews have not even yet been able to see the face of Moses without the veil, because they unbelievingly insist on the reality of their shadowy ceremonies, and have no eyes for the light of the Gospel. Ver. 14. But their minds were blinded. They were blinded by the brightness of the face of Moses, and, allegorically, blinded by the Gospel light. As this clause is the antithesis to the preceding both meanings are included.
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Until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament. The Apostle is still continuing the allegorical sense. Moses and the Old Testament till to-day are veiled to the Jews, so that they cannot see that Christ is signified by so many figures, prophecies, ceremonies, and sacrifices. Again, the Old Testament is veiled to them, because they read it but do not understand its meaning nor see its end and intent, its light and splendour, which is Christ: the eyes of their mind are dull and heavy, as formerly were the eyes of their body when they could not gaze on the shining face of Moses.
Which vail is done away in Christ. This veil, by the grace and faith of Christ is removed, so that we can clearly see Christ foreshadowed in the Old Testament.
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Ver. 15. The vail is upon their heart. This veil is the foolish pertinacity with which the Jews still stubbornly cling to the carnal sacrifices and rites of the Old Law, and so are blinded that they cannot see Christ typified by them Ver. 17. Now the Lord is that Spirit. (1.) The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not body but spirit. Spirit in this explanation is taken essentially for what is common to the Three Persons. So S. Ambrose. (2.) Spirit here way stand for the Holy Spirit: the Greek MSS. have the definite article, and Roman Bibles and others spell it with a capital; for the Jews acknowledge one Lord and God, but deny that there is a plurality of Persons, and that the Holy Spirit is God. When the Jews shall have the veil taken away and shall be converted to the Lord and to belief in the Blessed Trinity then will they serve the Lord their God, not in the letter, with dumb corporeal ceremonies, but in the spirit. The God to whom they shall be converted is Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will give them the law of the Spirit of liberty, that with the eyes of their spirit they may see Christ veiled, under the law, and may worship Him in spirit and in truth. Cf. S. John iv. 23. S. Augustine (ad Serapion) thus explains this last passage: " We must worship the Father in truth, i.e., in the Son and Holy Spirit. We must worship the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." But this is the mystical meaning. Literally, Christ said this against the Samaritans and Jews, for the Samaritans worshipped God with worship that was false and devised by themselves, and so worshipped God together with idols; consequently the God of their worship was not the true God, but a created god of their imaginations, and the companion of idols. The Jews worshipped the true God indeed, but under fixed corporeal signs, which were shadows of things to come. To both of these Christ opposes Christians, who worship God in spirit and not in corporeal signs, and in truth instead of in shadows, falsehood, and ignorance. God is an incorporeal and pure Spirit. Spirit, therefore, in this passage denotes the spiritual worship of faith, hope, charity, and other virtues, by which God is worshipped in truth, i.e., most truly, rightly, and properly, and not by shadows. Wherefore the sacraments and ceremonies of the New Law, since they are not shadows of the Old Law, but ornaments and helps of the Spirit, belong to the Spirit. Theophylact, Theodoret, Chrysostom thus explain the passage, and prove from it against Macedonius that the Holy Spirit is God. It may be said that the same Spirit is afterwards called "the Spirit of the Lord." How, then, is He the Lord? The answer is: He is "the Lord" because He is God; He is "of the Lord" because He proceeds from the Father and the Son.
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And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Liberty denotes a spontaneous, frank, free, and clearly illuminated will. Now that the veil of Moses has been taken away, we can, with clear and spontaneous will, walk according to the law of God. So Theophylact. Notice that liberty is not here opposed to the obligation of law, Divine or human, as heretics think, but both to the veil of Moses, or the obscurity of the Old Law, and to the letter, or to the servile compulsion, fear, and deadness of the law. This liberty, therefore, is twofold. See notes to ver. 6. 1. Liberty is, says Chrysostom, an understanding, and clear knowledge of the mystery of the Trinity, of the incarnation, and other things that are obscure to the Jews. It is also a knowledge of true religion and of Divine worship, which the Jews supposed to consist in the sacrifice of bulls and goats, though God wills to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Just as heaviness, dulness, perplexity, and ignorance of the understanding, which hold the mind as it were fast bound in chains, are rightly called slavery, so on the other hand illumination of the intellect and clear knowledge are rightly called liberty, because the mind, set free from ignorance, error, and crass conceptions, is able to freely devote itself to truth, to God, to things spiritual and Divine. Hence Aristotle, Plutarch, Seneca, and others used to say that the wise man alone was free. 2. Liberty, as S. Augustine says, is to be found in the affections and in the love of righteousness, in freedom from fear of punishment, in the spontaneous fulfilling of the law from love of virtue, and not from fear of punishment. This free spirit of Christian love is contrasted with the slavery of Jewish fear. This is evident from the context. The Begardi, three hundred years ago, and the Suencfeldiani and Libertines of the present day, are therefore as impious, as ignorant, and foolish (a) in rejecting, on the supposed authority of ver. 6, the written word of God, as though it were a sun that had set, and in holding that the light within is sufficient for our guidance; (b) in teaching that a holy and perfect man is set free from the law and does not sin, even if he commit fornication. (c) They are followed by many others, who deduce the invalidity of all human laws. Cf. Bellarmine (de Justific. lib. iv. c. 3 and 4), and Belliolanus, in the fifteen books he wrote on Christian Liberty. S. Augustine (de Continentia, c. iii.) says excellently: " We are not under a law which orders good and does not give it, but we are under grace, which makes us love what the law orders, and which can, therefore, give orders to free men." Cf. the same Father (de Spirit. et Lit. c. x., and de Natura et Grat. c. 57). Ver. 18. But we all with open face. The open face is that of Christ incarnate or of the mysteries of the faith. We, looking on them, see the glorious Godhead of the Lord and His grace, and the work of our redemption foreshadowed in Moses and the Old Testament. Beholding as in a glass. "Seeing as in a mirror, not beholding as from a watch-tower," says S. Augustine (de Trin. lib. xv. c. 8); but Erasmus renders the passage, "representing in a mirror," because he says this is the image of the glory of God. But the Greek verb is clearly to see, not represent in a mirror, and besides the representation is spoken of in the next phrase, "are changed into the same image." Since we see the glory of God in Christ and His Gospel, as though in a mirror, we are by this transformed into the same image of God, and we represent in ourselves this glory. This mirror, therefore, is the cause of the image, not the image itself. The Apostle here means by mirror the Word clothed in flesh, and made visible, and whatever is put before our eyes in the Gospel and in the Church, and he contrasts all this with Moses veiled. Hence, in the next chapter, he speaks of the image of God; for Christ as God is the Word and image of the Father, as Man He is the mirror of the Deity and His grace and glory; consequently the Gospel of Christ is nothing but a most clearly polished mirror of the glory of God. Hence S. Augustine calls his "Sentences" a mirror. "Mirror" may also be taken here to mean the faith through which, as through a mirror darkly, we behold God and the things of God. Cf. notes to 1Co 13:12.
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Are changed into the same image. Not essentially, as though our essence were changed into the Divine Essence, or into its archetypal being, which it had in God from eternity before it was created, of which S. John speaks when he says, "That which was made was in Him life." This is the error of Almaric and other fanatics, which is refuted by Gerson in his two epistles written against Ruisbroch, and of Ruisbroch himself (de Vera Contembl.). But we are changed per accidens, i.e., by the rays of the light of Christ being reflected on us as from a mirror, we become bright with the light of the faith and grace of Christ, and so we become like mirrors flashing out the light of heaven, and like suns illuminating others, as Chrysostom and Theophylact say. Nay, we become as gods, sharing in the Divine Nature, as S. Peter says. "God foreknew and predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son," says S. Paul. He alludes to Moses, who, beholding God and conversing with Him, received the rays of light reflected from God, as was said in the note to ver. 7. Moses did not see God Himself, but in a glorious, assumed body which acted as a mirror. Tertullian (contra Marcion, lib. v.) reads here, we are transfigured, as though Paul was alluding to the transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor, when Christ, brilliant with the light of His glory, shed it over Moses and Elias and the Apostles, and as it were transfigured them. In the same way, by the Gospel and the grace and faith of Christ, we are transformed and transfigured, inasmuch as we are made partaker of the truth, brightness, and glory of God, so that we are able to communicate them to others, and at last we reflect them on God Himself, from whom they first came. "The whole life of Christ," says S. Augustine, "which was spent as man on earth, was a mirror giving us a pattern of good living." How wise are they who gaze constantly into this mirror, and do all they can to conform their lives to it, and so are transformed into different men, into heavenly, angelic, and Divine beings!
From glory to glory. (1.) From the glory of Christ into our own glory, so that we become clear and bright with grace and wisdom, even as Christ. (2.) From the brightness of faith into the brightness of sight. (3.) From the brightness of creation into the brightness of justification, according to Anselm. (4.) Daily growing more and more glorious, till we come to the glory of the Beatific Vision. Cf. notes to Rom 1:17. Maldonatus (Nota mss.) gives a further explanation. "Progressing from the glory of the OldTestament to the glory of the New." So it is said in Rom 1:17, "from faith to faith."
Even as by the Spirit of the Lord. This change is through the Spirit of the Lord. Even as denotes the cause that is suitable to, and worthy of, so great a change, such, i.e., as it becomes the Holy Spirit to work. S. Basil and Chrysostom argue from these words against Macedonius that the Holy Spirit is God, and that it is He that taketh away the veil and gives understanding of the Scriptures. Tertullian finally (contra Marcion, lib. v. c. 11) reads here: "Even as by the Lord of Spirits."
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Postquam apostolus suam excusationem posuit, in qua benevolentiam captavit auditorum, hic consequenter prosequitur suam intentionem, scilicet tractans de ministris novi testamenti. Et circa hoc duo facit. Primo enim commendat dignitatem bonorum ministrorum; secundo vero exaggerat malitiam malorum ministrorum, et hoc a X cap. et deinceps. Circa primum duo facit. Primo enim commendat ministerium novi testamenti; secundo commendat usum huius ministerii in aliis, exhortando eos ad hoc, ibi VI cap. adiuvantes autem, et cetera. Circa primum commendat huiusmodi ministerium novi testamenti ex tribus. Primo ex dignitate in isto capite; secundo ex usu, cap. IV, ibi ideo habentes, etc.; tertio ex praemio, cap. V, ibi scimus autem quoniam si, et cetera. Circa primum duo facit. Primo removet quamdam obiectionem; secundo commendat ministros novi testamenti, ibi qui et idoneos nos fecit, et cetera. Circa primum sciendum est quod apostolus intendit commendare ministros novi testamenti, quorum ipse erat unus. Et ideo ne Corinthii obiicerent sibi quod in hoc vellet commendare seipsum, statim excludit, dicens incipimus iterum nosmetipsos, et cetera. Ubi duo facit. Primo movet quaestionem; secundo respondet, ibi scilicet aut numquid egemus, et cetera. Quaestio sua talis est: dico quod non sumus adulterantes verbum Dei, sicut pseudo, sed ex sinceritate, sicut ex Deo. Sed numquid hoc dicendo, incipimus iterum nos commendare, id est, dicimus ista ut velimus nostram gloriam quaerere et non Dei? Et dicit iterum, quia in epistola prima commendaverat se satis, cum dixit: ut sapiens architectus, et cetera. Non ergo hoc dicimus, ut quaeramus gloriam nostram, sed Dei. Prov. XXVII, 2: laudet te alienus, et cetera. Huic autem quaestioni respondet, cum dicit aut numquid egemus, et cetera. Et ostendit, quod non libenter commendat se. Et circa hoc duo facit. Primo ostendit quod non indiget commendatione hominum; secundo quod neque etiam hoc requirit ipse ab eis, ibi fiduciam autem talem, et cetera. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ostendit, quod non indiget commendatione eorum ad gloriam propriam; secundo huius causam assignat, ibi epistola nostra vos estis, et cetera. Dicit ergo: dico quod non incipimus commendare nosmetipsos, quia non indigemus commendatione. Et hoc est, quod dicit aut numquid egemus nos, veri ministri, sicut quidam, scilicet pseudo, commendatitiis epistolis, id est laudibus missis, ad vos, ab aliis, aut ex vobis, aliis missis? Sed contra Col. IV, 10 dicitur: Marcus consobrinus Barnabae, de quo accepistis mandatum, et cetera. Etiam legati Papae semper portant litteras commendatitias. Non est ergo malum. Respondeo. Dicendum, quod accipere litteras huiusmodi a personis famosis, ut solum per illas commendentur et honorentur, quousque ipsi ex bonis operibus suis veniant in notitiam, hoc non est malum, hoc faciunt legati Papae. Apostolus vero ita iam erat notus et commendatus apud istos per opera sua, quod non indigebat litteris commendatitiis. Et ideo statim causam huius assignans, subdit epistola nostra vos estis. Quasi dicat: ego habeo bonas litteras, non indigeo aliis. Et ideo circa hoc duo facit. Primo enim ostendit quae sit ista littera quam habet; secundo exponit hoc idem, ibi manifestati, et cetera. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ostendit quae sit illa littera; secundo ostendit eam esse sufficientem ad commendationem propriam, ibi scripta, et cetera. Dicit ergo sic epistola nostra vos estis, id est epistola per quam manifestatur dignitas nostra, qua nos commendamur, ita ut epistolis aliis non indigeamus. Supra II: gloria nostra vos estis. Gal. c. IV, 19: filioli mei quos iterum parturio, et cetera. Sed haec epistola estne sufficiens? Ita, quia scripta, et cetera. Ubi duo tangit, sufficientiam litterarum huiusmodi causantia. Unum est, quod intelligatur et sciatur ab eo pro quo mittitur, alias adhuc quaereret, nisi sciret se eam habere. Et quantum ad hoc dicit scripta in cordibus nostris, quia semper vos habemus in memoria, habentes de vobis specialem curam. Phil. I, 7: eo quod habeam vos, et cetera. Secundum est, quod ille cui mittitur, legat et sciat eam, alias non curaret de commendatione eius.
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Et quantum ad hoc dicit quae scitur et legitur ab omnibus hominibus. Scitur, inquam, quia per nos instituti estis et conversi. Legitur autem, quia exemplo nostri etiam alii imitantur vos. Hab. II, 2: scribe visum, et explana eum super tabulas, ut percurrat qui legerit eum. Quomodo autem scitur haec epistola, exponit dicens manifestati, et cetera. Et circa hoc tria facit. Primo exponit cuius sit haec littera; secundo quomodo sit scripta, et tertio in quo. Cuius autem sit, sic ostendit, quia Christi. Et ideo dicit manifestati quoniam estis Christi, id est a Christo informati et inducti, scilicet principaliter et auctoritative. Matth. XXIII, 8: unus est magister vester. Sed a nobis secundario et instrumentaliter.
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Et ideo dicit ministrata a nobis. I Cor. c. IV, 1: sic nos existimet homo, et cetera. I Cor. c. III, 4: quid igitur Cephas, et cetera. Quomodo autem sit scripta, ostendit, quia non atramento, id est non admixta erroribus, sicut pseudo-apostoli; non mutabilis et imperfecta, sicut vetus lex, quae neminem ad perfectum adduxit, Hebr. VII, 19. Nam atramentum nigrum est per quod intelligitur error, et delebile per quod intelligitur mutabilitas. Non, inquam, atramento est scripta, sed spiritu Dei vivi, id est spiritu sancto, quo vivitis, et quo docente instructi estis. Eph. I, 13: in quo signati estis. Ubi autem sit scripta insinuat, subdens non in tabulis lapideis, sicut lex vetus, ut excludat duritiem, quasi dicat: non in lapideis cordibus habentibus duritiem, sicut Iudaei. Act. VII, 51: dura cervice, et cetera. Sed in tabulis cordis carnalibus, id est, in cordibus latis ex charitate, et carnalibus, id est, mollibus ex affectu implendi et intelligendi. Ez. XXXVI, 26: auferam a vobis cor lapideum, et cetera.
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Fiduciam autem talem, et cetera. Apostolus supra excusavit se, quod non quaerebat gloriam suam quia non indigebat ea, hic vero probat quia ipse non quaerit gloriam propriam, imo omnia bona quae facit, non attribuit sibi, sed Deo. Et circa hoc duo facit. Primo enim attribuit omnia bona, quae habet et facit, Deo; secundo causam huius assignat, ibi non quod sufficientes, et cetera. Dicit ergo primo: dico quod non egemus epistolis commendatitiis, et quod vos estis epistola nostra ministrata a nobis. Nec etiam quaerimus gloriam nostram, sed Christi. Et fiduciam talem, id est dicendi talia, habemus ad Deum, id est referimus in Deum. Vel fiduciam tendentem in Deum, ex cuius viribus hoc dico, quia ipse in me operatur. Quam quidem fiduciam habemus per Christum, per quem accessum habemus ad patrem, ut dicitur Rom. V, 2, qui univit nos Deo. Ier. XVII, 7: benedictus vir, et cetera. Et quia unitus Deo per Christum habeo hanc fiduciam. Ps. XI, 6: fiducialiter agam, et cetera. Causa autem huius fiduciae est, quia quidquid ego facio, etiam ipsum principium operis, Deo attribuo. Et ideo dicit non quod simus sufficientes cogitare, saltem non dicere, vel implere. Nam in quolibet processu operis primo est assensus, qui fit cogitando, deinde collatio per verbum, et postmodum impletio per opus; unde fit, ut sic nec cogitare quis a se habeat, sed a Deo; non est enim dubium, quod non solum perfectio operis boni est a Deo, sed etiam inchoatio. Phil. I, 6: qui coepit in vobis opus bonum, et cetera. Et hoc est contra Pelagianos dicentes, quod inchoatio boni operis est ex nobis, sed perfectio est a Deo. Is. XXVI, 12: omnia opera nostra, et cetera.
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Sed ex hoc, ne videatur tollere libertatem arbitrii, dicit a nobis, quasi ex nobis, quasi dicat: possum quidem aliquid facere, quod est liberi arbitrii, sed hoc, quod facio, non est ex me, sed a Deo, qui hoc ipsum posse confert; ut sic, et libertatem hominis defendat cum dicit a nobis, id est a nostra parte, et divinam gratiam commendet, cum dicit quasi ex nobis scilicet procedat, sed a Deo. Hoc etiam philosophus vult, quod numquam homo per liberum arbitrium potest quoddam bonum facere, sine adiutorio Dei. Et ratio sua est, quia in his, quae facimus, quaerendum est illud propter quod facimus. Non est autem procedere in infinitum, sed est devenire ad aliquid primum, puta ad consilium. Sic ergo bonum facio, quia consilium mihi inest ad hoc, et hoc est a Deo. Unde dicit, quod consilium boni est ab aliquo, quod est supra hominem, movens eum ad bene operandum. Et hoc est Deus, qui et homines movet et omnia, quae agunt ad actiones suas, sed aliter et aliter. Cum enim huiusmodi motus sit quoddam receptum in moto, oportet quod hoc fiat secundum modum suae naturae, id est, rei motae. Et ideo omnia movet secundum suas naturas. Ea ergo, quorum natura est ut sint liberae voluntatis, dominium suarum actionum habentia, movet libere ad operationes suas, sicut creaturas rationales et intellectuales. Alia autem non libere, sed secundum modum suae naturae. Licet autem non simus sufficientes cogitare aliquid a nobis, tamquam ex nobis, tamen habemus aliquam sufficientiam, qua scilicet bonum possumus velle et credere incipiamus, et hoc a Deo est. I Cor. IV, 7: quid habes, quod non accepisti?
Commendato ministerio novi testamenti, hic consequenter commendat ministros eius. Et primo ponit duo quae respondent verbis praemissis. Praemiserat enim donum a Deo acceptum, cum dixit: sufficientia nostra, etc.; et fiduciam ex dono conceptam, cum dixit: fiduciam talem, et cetera. Primo ergo determinat ea quae pertinent ad donum perceptum; secundo ea quae ad fiduciam conceptam, ibi habentes igitur talem, et cetera. Circa primum tria facit. Primo ostendit donum a Deo susceptum, scilicet ministerium novi testamenti; secundo describit novum testamentum, ibi non littera, sed spiritu; tertio ex dignitate novi testamenti ostendit dignitatem ministrorum eius, ibi si ministratio, et cetera. Dicit ergo: dico quod sufficientia nostra ex Deo est, qui et fecit nos idoneos ministros novi testamenti, Is. LXI, 6: ministri Dei nostri, dicetur vobis. Et in hoc tenemus locum Angelorum. Ps. CIII, 4: qui facit Angelos, et cetera. Sed non solum fecit nos ministros, sed idoneos. Deus enim cuilibet rei dat ea per quae possit consequi perfectionem suae naturae.
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Unde, quia Deus constituit ministros novi testamenti, dedit et eis idoneitatem ad hoc officium exercendum, nisi sit impedimentum ex parte recipientium. Supra II, 16: et ad haec quis tam idoneus, scilicet sicut apostoli a Deo instituti? Hoc autem novum testamentum quid sit, describit, subdens non littera, et cetera. Et describit ipsum quantum ad duo, scilicet quantum ad illud in quo consistit, et quantum ad causam propter quam datum est, ibi littera enim occidit, et cetera. Circa primum sciendum est quod apostolus loquitur profunde. Dicitur enim Ier. c. XXXI, 31 ss.: feriam domui Israel et domui Iuda foedus novum, non secundum pactum quod pepigi cum patribus vestris. Et post: dabo legem meam in visceribus eorum, et in corde eorum superscribam eam, et cetera. Vetus ergo testamentum scribitur in libro, postmodum sanguine aspergendo, ut dicitur Hebr. IX, 19: accepit sanguinem et aspersit librum, etc., dicens: hic est sanguis, et cetera. Et sic patet, quod vetus lex est testamentum litterae. Sed novum testamentum est testamentum spiritus sancti, quo charitas Dei diffunditur in cordibus nostris, ut dicitur Rom. V, 5. Et sic dum spiritus sanctus facit in nobis charitatem, quae est plenitudo legis, est testamentum novum, non littera, id est per litteram scribendum, sed spiritu, id est per spiritum qui vivificat. Rom. VIII, 2: lex spiritus vitae, id est vivificantis. Causa autem quare datum sit novum testamentum per spiritum, subditur quia littera occidit occasionaliter. Nam littera legis dat solam cognitionem peccati. Rom. III, 20: per legem autem cognitio peccati. Ex hoc autem, quod cognosco peccatum, solum duo sequuntur. Nam lex dum per eam cognoscitur, non reprimit concupiscentiam: sed magis occasionaliter auget, inquantum concupiscentia ferventius fertur in rem prohibitam. Unde huiusmodi cognitio, nondum destructa causa concupiscentiae, occidit; hinc vero addit praevaricationem. Nam gravius est peccare contra legem scriptam et naturalem simul, quam contra legem naturalem solum. Rom. VII, 8: occasione accepta non data, peccatum, et cetera. Licet autem occasionaliter occidat, inquantum scilicet auget concupiscentiam, et addit praevaricationem, non tamen est mala lex vetus, quia ad minus prohibet mala. Est tamen imperfecta, inquantum non removet causam. Est ergo lex sine spiritu interius imprimens legem in corde, occasio mortis. Et ideo necessarium fuit dare legem spiritus, qui charitatem in corde faciens, vivificet. Io. VI, 64: spiritus est, qui vivificat. Consequenter ex his ostendit dignitatem sui ministerii. Et circa hoc duo facit. Primo ostendit, quod ministerium novi testamenti praefertur ministerio veteris testamenti; secundo quod non solum praefertur, sed quod ministerium veteris testamenti quasi nihil habet de gloria in comparatione ad novum, ibi nam nec glorificatum, et cetera. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ostendit quod ministerium novi testamenti praefertur veteri; secundo rationem huius assignat, ibi nam si ministratio, et cetera. Circa primum sciendum est, quod apostolus argumentatur ex hoc quod habetur Exodi XXIV, ubi littera nostra habet, quod Moyses habebat faciem cornutam, ita quod non possent, et cetera. Alia littera habet faciem splendidam, quod melius dicitur. Non enim intelligendum est eum habuisse cornua ad litteram, sicut quidam eum pingunt; sed dicitur cornuta propter radios, qui videbantur esse quasi quaedam cornua. Arguitur autem ex hoc sic. Et primo per unum simile, et est locus a minori. Constat enim quod si aliquid quod minus est, habet aliquid de gloria, quod multo magis illud quod est maius. Sed vetus testamentum est minus quam novum; cum ergo illud fuerit in gloria, ita ut non possent, etc., videtur quod multo magis novum est in gloria. Quod autem vetus testamentum minus sit novo, probat tripliciter. Primo quantum ad effectum, quia illud est testamentum mortis, istud vitae, ut dictum est.
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Et quantum ad hoc dicit, quod si ministratio mortis, id est vetus, quae est occasio mortis. Et hoc respondet ei quo dicitur littera occidit, et cetera. Secundo quantum ad modum tradendi, quia vetus fuit tradita litteris in tabulis lapideis, nova vero fuit impressa spiritu in cordibus carnalibus. Et hoc innuit, cum dicit litteris deformata, id est perfecte formata, in lapidibus, id est in tabulis lapideis. Et hoc ei respondet, quo dicitur: non littera, sed spiritu, et cetera. Tertio quantum ad perfectionem, quia gloria veteris testamenti sine fiducia est, quia neminem ad perfectum adduxit lex. In novo vero est gloria cum spe melioris gloriae, scilicet sempiternae. Is. LI, 6: salus mea in sempiternum erit. Et hoc innuit, cum dicit quae evacuatur, Gal. V, 2: quod si circumcidamini, Christus nihil, et cetera.
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Conclusio ponitur, cum dicit quomodo non magis, quod planum est.
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Horum autem rationem assignat consequenter, cum dicit nam si ministratio, et cetera. Et est ratio sua talis: gloria magis debetur iustitiae, quam damnationi, sed ministerium novi testamenti est ministerium iustitiae, quia iustificat interius vivificando. Ministerium autem veteris testamenti est ministerium damnationis occasionaliter. Supra eodem: littera occidit, spiritus autem vivificat. Cum ergo ministratio damnationis, id est, ministratio veteris testamenti, quae occasionaliter est causa damnationis, ut dictum est, est in gloria, quae apparuit in facie Moysi, constat quod multo magis abundat in gloria, id est, dat abundantem gloriam ministris eius, ministerium iustitiae, id est, novi testamenti, per quod datur spiritus, per quem est iustitia et consummatio virtutum. Prov. III, 35: sapientes gloriam possidebunt. Consueverunt hoc in loco fieri quaestiones de comparatione Moysi et Pauli, sed, si recte considerentur verba apostoli, non sunt necessariae, quia hic non fit comparatio personae ad personam, sed ministerii ad ministerium. Sed quia possent pseudo-apostoli dicere quod licet maius ministerium sit novi testamenti quam ministerium veteris testamenti non tamen est multo maius, et ideo bonum est quod illi ministerio, et isti intendamus, quod et faciebant, quia simul servabant legalia cum Evangelio.
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Ideo hic consequenter apostolus hoc improbat, cum dicit nam nec glorificatum, et cetera. Et circa hoc duo facit. Primo enim ostendit, quod ministerium novi testamenti absque aliqua comparatione excedit ministerium veteris; secundo causam huius assignat, ibi si enim quod evacuatur, et cetera. Dicit ergo: dixi quod ministerium iustitiae abundat in gloria, et intantum quod gloria veteris ministerii non est dicenda gloria, quia nec glorificatum, etc.: quod dupliciter exponitur. Primo modo sic quia nec, etc., id est illa gloria nihil est in comparatione ad istam novi testamenti, quia illa gloria non est omnibus ministris collata, sed solum Moysi, et non claruit in toto Moyse, sed in parte, id est in facie solum particulariter. Et ideo nec glorificatum est, id est nec glorificari debet, propter excellentem gloriam, id est comparatione excellentis gloriae novi testamenti, quae abundat gratia, ut per eam purificati homines possent videre non gloriam hominis, sed Dei. Secundo modo ut punctetur sic: nec glorificatum est quod claruit; quasi dicat: nam in hac parte, id est in respectu huius naturae particularis, qui sumus servi, non est glorificatum, id est non gloriosum illud quod claruit in veteri testamento; et hoc propter excellentem gloriam, quae est in novo, quia illa est gloria Dei patris. Huius autem causam assignat consequenter, cum dicit si enim quod evacuatur, et cetera. Et est ratio sua talis: illud quod datur ut transeat, nihil est in respectu ad illud quod datur ut semper maneat. Si ergo testamentum vetus, quod evacuatur, tollitur, I Cor. c. XIII, 10: cum venerit quod perfectum est, evacuabitur quod ex parte est, et cetera. Per gloriam enim Moysi ministratum saltem per particularem gloriam. Constat quod testamentum novum manet, quia hic inchoatur, et perficitur in patria. Lc. XXI, 33: caelum et terra transibunt, verba autem mea non transibunt.
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Erit multo magis in gloria aeterna, in qua perficietur. Erit, inquam, nobis, qui sumus eius ministri.
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Positis his quae pertinent ad commendationem doni percepti a Deo, hic consequenter ponit ea quae pertinent ad commendationem fiduciae de ipso dono conceptae. Circa hoc autem duo facit. Primo ponit fiduciam ex dono conceptam; secundo vero comparat fiduciam veteris et novi testamenti, ibi et non sicut Moyses. Dicit ergo primo: habentes igitur talem spem, ex hoc scilicet quod nobis dictum est, scilicet videndi gloriam Dei, Rom. c. VIII, 24: spe enim salvi facti sumus, multa fiducia utimur, id est, confidenter operamur ea quae pertinent ad usum huius ministerii, ex quo crescit nobis spes. Prov. XXVIII, v. 1. Iustus quasi leo confidens absque terrore erit. Ier. XVII, 7: benedictus vir qui confidit in domino. Consequenter, sicut praetulit donum dono, ita praefert fiduciam novi testamenti fiduciae veteris testamenti, cum dicit et non sicut Moyses, et cetera. Et circa hoc duo facit: primo proponit factum in veteri testamento; secundo exponit, ibi quod evacuatur, et cetera. Factum autem quod proponit legitur Exodi XXXIV, 34, ubi dicitur quod Moyses quando loquebatur ad populum, velabat faciem suam, quia propter claritatem vultus eius non poterant respicere in eum filii Israel. Et ideo dicit et non sicut Moyses, etc., quasi dicat: dico quod utimur multa fiducia, et tanta, quod non accidit nobis, sicut Moyses faciebat eis, scilicet non revelando faciem suam populo, quia nondum venerat tempus revelandi claritatem veritatis. Habemus ergo nos fiduciam absque velamine. Consequenter exponit hoc quod dixerat, de velamine, dicens quod evacuatur, et cetera. Velamen enim illud erat obscuritas figurarum, quae per Christum evacuata est. Et circa hoc tria facit. Primo enim ponit evacuationem huius velaminis; secundo quomodo haec evacuatio habet locum in Iudaeis, ibi sed obtusi, etc.; tertio quomodo non habeat locum in ministris novi testamenti, ibi nos vero revelata, et cetera.
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Dicit ergo quod Moyses ponebat velamen, scilicet figurae, super faciem suam, quod, scilicet velamen, evacuatur, id est tollitur per Christum, scilicet implendo in veritate quod Moyses tradidit in figura, quia omnia in figura contingebant illis. Sic enim Christus per mortem suam removit velamen de occisione agni paschalis, et ideo statim cum emisit spiritum, velum templi scissum est. Item, in mittendo spiritum sanctum in corda credentium, ut intelligerent spiritualiter quod Iudaei carnaliter intelligunt. Et hoc velamen removit, cum aperuit eis sensum, ut intelligerent Scripturas, Lc. ult. Qualem autem effectum habeat in Iudaeis haec evacuatio, ostendit, dicens sed obtusi, et cetera. Et circa hoc duo facit. Primo ostendit, quod remotum ab illis non fuit in statu infidelitatis; secundo ostendit, quod removebitur in eorum conversione, ibi cum autem conversus fuerit, et cetera. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ostendit rationem quare haec evacuatio non habet locum in Iudaeis; secundo, ex hoc ostendit eos adhuc habere velamen, ibi sed usque in hodiernum diem, et cetera. Dicit ergo quod evacuatur in his qui credunt, sed non quantum ad Iudaeos infideles. Et ratio huius est, quia obtusi sunt sensus eorum, id est ratio eorum hebes est, et sensus eorum imbecilles et obtusi sunt, nec possunt videre claritatem divini luminis, id est divinae veritatis, absque velamine figurarum. Et huius ratio est quia claudunt oculos, ut non videant, quia velum templi scissum est. Et ideo est ex eorum culpa infidelitatis, non ex defectu veritatis, quia, remoto velamine, omnibus aperientibus oculos mentis per fidem clarissime veritas manifestatur. Rom. XI, 25: caecitas ex parte contigit in Israel. Io. IX, 39: in iudicium veni in hunc mundum, et cetera. Sic enim prophetaverat Isaias VI cap.: excaeca cor populi huius, et cetera. Et vere intantum obtusi sunt sensus eorum, ut veritatem nobis manifestatam usque in hodiernum diem non intelligant. Sed idipsum velamen, quod erat in veteri testamento, antequam velum templi scissum esset in lectione veteris testamenti, quia non aliter intelligunt illud, quam ante, quia adhuc innituntur figuris, ut veritatem non revelent, id est non intelligant: sic velamen Dei, non figuram, sed veritatem credunt, quod scilicet evacuatur quantum ad fideles, et quantum in se est omnibus per Christum, id est in fide Christi, sed in eis non manet, quia non credunt venisse Christum.
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Consequenter cum dicit sed usque in hodiernum diem, etc., ostendit quomodo adhuc apud Iudaeos est velamen quantum ad infideles, licet remotum sit per Christum. Circa quod sciendum est, quod velamen dicitur apponi alicui dupliciter: aut quia apponitur rei visae ne possit videri, aut quia apponitur videnti ne videat. Sed Iudaeis in veteri lege utroque modo appositum erat velamen. Nam et corda eorum excaecata erant, ne cognoscerent veritatem propter eorum duritiem, et vetus testamentum nondum completum erat, quia nondum veritas venerat. Unde in signum huius velamen erat in facie Moysi et non in faciebus eorum, sed, veniente Christo, velamen remotum est a facie Moysi, id est a veteri testamento, quia iam impletum est, sed tamen non est remotum a cordibus eorum.
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Et hoc est quod dicit sed usque in hodiernum diem, quasi dicat: amotum est a fidelibus veteris testamenti velamen, sed adhuc cum legitur Moyses, id est, cum exponitur eis vetus testamentum, Act. c. XV, 21: Moyses a temporibus antiquis habet in singulis civitatibus, qui eum praedicent in synagogis, etc., velamen, id est caecitas, est positum super cor eorum. Rom. XI, 25: caecitas ex parte contigit, et cetera. Quando autem et quomodo removetur ab eis illud velamen, ostendit consequenter, cum dicit cum autem conversus, et cetera. Et primo describit modum removendi hoc velamen; secundo rationem huius reddit, ibi dominus autem spiritus, et cetera. Dicit ergo, quod illud velamen adhuc est in eis, sed non quod vetus testamentum sit velatum, sed quia corda eorum velata sunt.
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Et ideo, ad hoc ut removeatur, nihil restat, nisi quod convertantur, et hoc est quod dicit cum autem conversus fuerit, scilicet aliquis eorum ad Deum per fidem in Christum, ex ipsa conversione auferetur velamen. Is. X, 21: reliquiae convertentur, et cetera. Et hoc idem habetur Rom. IX, 27. Et nota, quod cum ageret de caecitate, loquitur in plurali, unde dicit super corda eorum, cum vero loquitur de conversione, loquitur in singulari dicens cum autem conversus, ut ostendat eorum facilitatem ad malum, et difficultatem ad bonum, quasi pauci convertantur. Ratio autem quare convertantur, et velamen removeatur, hoc modo est, quia Deus vult. Posset enim dicere, quod velamen illud appositum est ex praecepto domini, et ideo non potest removeri. Sed apostolus ostendit, quod non solum potest removeri, imo quia removetur per eum, qui est dominus. Et hoc est, quod dicit dominus enim, et cetera. Quod potest dupliciter legi. Uno modo, ut spiritus teneatur ex parte subiecti, ut dicatur: spiritus, id est spiritus sanctus, scilicet qui est auctor legis, est dominus, id est operatur ex proprio libertatis arbitrio. Io. III, 8: spiritus ubi vult spirat. I Cor. XII, 11: dividens singulis prout vult.
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Ubi autem spiritus domini, ibi libertas; quasi dicat: quia spiritus est dominus, potest dare libertatem, ut possimus libere uti Scriptura veteris testamenti absque velamine. Et ideo, qui non habent spiritum sanctum, non possunt libere uti. Gal. V, 13: vos in libertatem vocati estis. I Petr. II, 16: quasi liberi, et non quasi velamen habentes malitiae libertatem. Alio modo, ut per dominum intelligatur Christus, et tunc legitur sic dominus, id est Christus, est spiritualis, id est spiritus potestatis, et ideo ubi est spiritus domini, id est lex Christi spiritualiter intellecta, non scripta litteris, sed per fidem cordibus impressa, ibi est libertas, ab omni impedimento velaminis. Sciendum autem, quod occasione istorum verborum, scilicet ubi spiritus domini, ibi libertas, et illorum, scilicet iusto lex non est posita, aliqui erronee dixerunt quod viri spirituales non obligantur praeceptis legis divinae. Sed hoc est falsum; nam praecepta Dei sunt regula voluntatis humanae. Nullus autem homo est, nec etiam Angelus, cuius voluntatem non oporteat regulari et dirigi lege divina. Unde impossibile est aliquem hominem praeceptis Dei non subdi. Hoc autem quod dicitur iusto lex non est posita, exponitur, id est, propter iustos, qui interiori habitu moventur ad ea quae lex Dei praecipit, lex non est posita: sed propter iniustos, non quin etiam iusti ad eam teneantur. Et similiter ubi spiritus domini, ibi libertas, intelligitur, quia liber est, qui est causa sui: servus autem est causa domini; quicumque ergo agit ex seipso, libere agit; qui vero ex alio motus, non agit libere. Ille ergo, qui vitat mala, non quia mala, sed propter mandatum domini, non est liber; sed qui vitat mala, quia mala, est liber. Hoc autem facit spiritus sanctus, qui mentem interius perficit per bonum habitum, ut sic ex amore caveat, ac si praeciperet lex divina; et ideo dicitur liber, non quin subdatur legi divinae, sed quia ex bono habitu inclinatur ad hoc faciendum, quod lex divina ordinat. Deinde, cum dicit nos vero omnes, etc., ostendit quomodo Christi fideles sunt omnino liberi ab hoc velamine. Dicit ergo: dico quod ab illis aufertur velamen hoc, cum aliquis conversus fuerit sicut nos, non aliquis, sed omnes, qui sumus Christi fideles. Lc. VIII, 10: vobis datum est, et cetera. Revelata facie, non habentes velamen supra cor, sicut illi. Et intelligitur per faciem, cor, seu mens, quia sicut per faciem videt quis corporaliter, ita per mentem spiritualiter. Ps. CXVIII, 18: revela oculos meos, et cetera. Gloriam domini, non Moysi: gloria enim significat claritatem, ut dicit Augustinus. Iudaei autem videbant quamdam gloriam in facie Moysi ex hoc, quod locutus est cum Deo. Sed haec gloria est imperfecta, quia non est claritas ex qua ipse Deus est gloriosus; et hoc est cognoscere ipsum Deum. Vel gloriam domini, id est, filium Dei. Prov. X: gloria patris, filius sapiens, et cetera. Speculantes non sumitur hic a specula, sed a speculo, id est ipsum Deum gloriosum cognoscentes per speculum rationis, in qua est quaedam imago ipsius. Et hunc speculamur quando homo ex consideratione sui ipsius assurgit in cognitionem aliquam de Deo, et transformatur. Cum enim omnis cognitio sit per assimilationem cognoscentis ad cognitum, oportet quod qui vident, aliquo modo transformentur in Deum. Et siquidem perfecte vident, perfecte transformantur, sicut beati in patria per fruitionis unionem, I Io. III, 2: cum autem apparuerit, et cetera. Si vero imperfecte, imperfecte, sicut hic per fidem, I Cor. XIII, 12: videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate.
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Et ideo dicit in eamdem imaginem, id est sicut videmus, transformamur, inquam, a claritate in claritatem, in quo distinguit triplicem gradum cognitionis in discipulis Christi: primus est a claritate cognitionis naturalis in claritatem cognitionis fidei. Secundus est a claritate cognitionis veteris testamenti, in claritatem cognitionis gratiae novi testamenti. Tertius est a claritate cognitionis naturalis et veteris et novi testamenti, in claritatem visionis aeternae. Infra IV, 16: licet is qui foris est, et cetera. Sed unde est hoc? Non ex littera legis, sed tamquam a spiritu domini. Rom. VIII, v. 14: quicumque spiritu Dei aguntur. Ps. CXLII, 10: spiritus tuus bonus deducet, et cetera.
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1. Incipimus iterum nosmet ipsos commendare? Quoniam delapsus fuerat ad commemorationem integritatis ac sinceritatis suae in Apostolico munere exsequendo, ne vel in ea re videatur, quod suum est, quaerere, suaeque gloriae studere, et per hoc imprudenter incurrere in vitium, quod in aliis reprehendebat, suspicionem hujusmodi repellit Non haec, inquit, dicimus, quo nos ipsos commendemus, ac vestram Vnevolentiam captemus, commodum aliquod nostram inde sperantes. Dicit autem: iterum, quia in priore epistola passim, ac praecipue cap. 9., multa dixerat, quae ad ipsius commendationem spectare viderentur. Verum illa omnia, sicut et ista, proprie non sui coromendandi causa dixit, sed ad utilitatem eorum, quibus scribebat; simul ut in se ipso ostendat, quales esse debeant omnes ministri verbi Dei. Alii sic exponunt: Numquid haec dicimus, tamquam volentes nos vobis et aliis commendare? quasi dicat: Id quidem mihi supervacaneum fuerit; scilicet post tot nostra de volis merita, per quae et vobis, et aliis satis superque cogniti sumus et commendati. Congruit huic sensui, quod sequitur:
Aut numquid egemus, sicut quidam, commendatitiis epistolis ad nos, aut ex vobis? Noster interpres in Graeco legisse videtur: t) jxtj, aut nun, ut habet unum duntaxat exemplar Roberti Stephani, respondetque Syra versio. Caetera legunt: si u.7], id est, nisi, quomodo vertit interpres Theophylacti; tametsi usurpatur interdum pro num, numquid, quod huic loco melius quadrat. Ita textus Ambrosii: Numquid indigemus, etc. Erasmus et alii: Num egemus. Vocabulum commendatitiis Graeca repetunt in fine: aut ex vobis commendatitiis? Kepetitio non necessaria; quamvis et eam cernere est in Syriaco. Sensus: Num opus habemus litteris commendatitiis, vel ab aliis ad vos, vel a vobis ad alios?
Sicut quidam. Supple: egent, seu potius: faciunt, id est, commendatitias undique studiose conquirunt. Pseudapostolos notat, in quos dicit illud cap. 10.: Non qui se ipsum commendat, ille probatus est; sed quem Deus commendat • et quorum jactantiam memorat cap. 11. Sese vero ejusmodi commendationibus haudquaquam indigere docet ea ratione, quam subjungit:
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2. Epistola nostra vos estis. Vos ipsi, inquit, estis epistoJa nostra, id est, nostri commendatitia: nec praeter vos aliam requiro. Si quidem abunde nos et vobis et aliis commendat fides et vita vestra, quos sic iustituimus. Vos enim (ut in priore epistola dixit, cap. 9.) opus meum estis in Domino, et iterum: Signaculum Apostolatus mei vos estis in Domino. Quare quemadmodum opus commendat opificem, et sigillum facit certam fidem rei signatae, ita vos mihi estis loco epistolae commendatitiae, per vosmet ipsos obsignatae.
Scripta in cordibus nostris. Graece lyy£Ypatuu£V7j, inscripta; habet enim emphasim repetita praepositio. Sensus: Eam epistolam, quae vos estis, cordi meo inscriptam et impressam ubique circumfero, et pro mei commendatione exhibeo, quibus volo. Inscriptionem intellige per memoriam et amorem. Locutio similis apud Jesaiam cap. 49.: In manibus meis descripsi te.
Quae scitur et legitur ab omnibus hominibus. In Graeco est agnatio vocabulorum: ytvcooxousvT] xat avaftvtooxonivYj, quasi dicas: quae cognoscitur et recognoscitur, id est, legitur; Graecis enim avaytvoooxstv est legere. Similis erat paronomasia cap. 1, 13. Eam ut hoc loco redderet Erasmus, vertit: quae intelligitur et legitur, parum commode. Sic enim praeposterus esset Apostoli sermo, cum prius sit legere litteras, quam intelligere. Nec vero ytviooxsiv intelligere significat, sed cognoscere; quemadmodum et habet textus Ambrosii. Cognoscitur autem etiam, quod nondum intelligitur. Itaque sensus est: Quam epistolam omnibus in promptu est inspicere et legere, perinde ut litteras patentes, omniumque oculis expositas. Hoc dicitpropter famam fidei Corinthiorum late dispersam.
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3. Manifestati, quod epistola estis Christi. Manifestati referendum est ad pronomen vos, estque praesentis temporis participium in Graeco, mediae significationis: cpavspouu-sv&i, quod Erasmus active vertit: dum declaratis. Verum rectius interpres noster passive reddit: manifestati, id est, de quibus manifestum est et palam constat, quod epistola estis Christi, vel quia scripta a Christo, vel quia Christus in ea scriptus; qui posterior sensus Graecorum est, dum epistolam Christi interpretantur, in qua lex et praecepta Christi, velut inscriptae litterae, maneant ac serventur. At priori sensui, quem Latini tradunt, et quo significatur, Corinthios, quatenus fideles, esse scripturam et opus Christi, melius respondet, quod sequitur:
Ministrata a nobis. Hoc est, nostro ministerio conscripta. Christus, inquit, hujus epistolae principalis est autor, idemque nobis ministris ad eam scribendam usus est. Hinc ait 1 Cor. 4.: Sic nos existimet homo ut ministros Christi, etdispensatores mysteriorum Dei. Erasmus dum vertere maluit: subministrata a nobis, nec vim Graeci vocabuli diaxovrtfrsToa^ nec mentem Apostoli satis explicuit. Nam in verbo subministrandi non necessario ministerium intelligitur. Subministrat enim, qui suppeditat ac praebet aliquid, etiamsi minister non sit ejus, cui praebet; quale est subministrare sumptus alicui. Quare nec in paraphrasi suam hanc versionem idem Erasmus sequendam putavit. Paraphraseos verba sunt: Sinceritate fidei, vitaque evangelica declaratis, quod sitis epistola Christi, ab illo quidem scripta, sed nostro ministerio.
Et scripta non atramento, sed Spiritu Dei vivi. Et scripta, Graece inscripta, sine conjunctione; quemadmodum et irenaeus legit lib. 5. cap. 13. Abest item conjunctio in Ambrosiano textu atque Syriaco, et apud Augustinum de spir. et lit. cap. 14. et 17. Jam quod interpres vivi reddit loco viventis, C&vxoc, fere perpetuum illi est. Scripta vero, inquit, non atramento, quales sunt epistolae manibus hominum exaratae; sed virtute Spiritus sancti, per cujus efficaciam, uti scribit in hunc locum Cajetanus, operatur Christus in animo hominis assensum, spem atque dilectionem. Refert autem Apostolus hanc scriptionem ad Spiritum sanctum ea ratione, qua omnis nostra sanctificatio (quod ad eam naturae vires non attingant) in Spiritum sauctum referri solet. Quem et vocat Spiritum Dei viventis, quia de epistola animata ac vivente loquebatur. Estque allusio ad locum Jeremiae 31., ubi Dominus novum pactum, vetere reprobato, promittens, ita loquitur: Dabo legem meam in visceribus eorum, et in corde eorum scribam eam. Eodem pertinent sequentia:
Non in tabulis lapideis. Quomodo nimirum scripta fuit lex vetus, populo et 32. Nam ad eam historiam respicit Apostolus, uti constat ex iis, quae infra dicuntur.
Sed in tabulis cordis carnalibus. Carnalibus, Graece oapxivaig, carneis, ut alii vertunt. Et sensus est: Sed in ipsis cordibus, tamquam tabulis quibusdam, iisque non duris instar lapidis, sed mollibus instar carnis seu cordis humani, id est, facilibus et promptis ad obediendum. Alludit enim ad illam novi testamenti promissionem, quae exstat apud Ezechielem cap. 11., et iterum cap. 36. his verbis: Auferam cor lapideum de carne vestra, et dabo vobis cor carneum. Quam suam promissionem exponens Dominus, ibidem subjungit: Et faciam, ut in praeceptis meis ambuletis, et judicia mea custodiatis et operemini. Patet igitur, carnale hic non opponi spirituali, quemadmodum alibi passim in epistolis Apostolicis; sed ei, quod durum est. Nam et in Graeco diversa sunt vocabula, oapxixov carnale, quod alibi, et oapxivov carneum, quod hic legitur (uno licet dissentiente codice Complutensi) et in utroque loco Ezechielis, juxta versionem interpretum LXX. Dicitur autem epistola, de qua sermo est, id est ipsi Corinthii fideles, scripta in tabulis cordis carneis, in quantum fides et charitas etc, quae lex nova praecipit, in eorum cordibus impressa erant per Spiritum sanctum. Ex hac Scriptura Pelagianos, qui naturae viribus attribuebant divinae legis observationem, refellit Augustinus variis locis, nominatim lib. de spir. et lit. cap. 17., et de grat. et lib. arb. cap. 14.
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4. Fiduciam autem talem habemus per Christum ad Deum. Quod dixit: ministrata a nobis (quo verbo rei maximae sibi ministerium adscripsit), ne dixisse videatur arrogantius, id nunc totum ad meritum Christi Domini sui, deinde et ad Deum autorem refert. — Fiduciam, Graece TZSTZoi^yjoiv, metonymice posuit pro gloriatione, quae ex fiducia nascitur, uti bene exponit Theophylactus. Sic enim et alibi TtSTtotftsvai, confidere, dixit pro gloriari, ut Rem. 2.: Confidis, te ipsum esse ducem caecorum, et hujus epistolae cap. 10.: Si quis confidit sibi, Christi se esse. — Ad Deum, Graece 7tp6<; tov ftsov, Erasmus: erga Deum; sed melius: apud Deum. Quomodo vertit alibi noster interpres, ut Joann. 1, 1., et 2 Rom. 4, 2. et Philipp. 4, 6. Sensus enim est: Quod vos sitis epistola per nos ministrata et a nobis quodammodo scripta, quae proinde nos commendet, de ea re non in nobis, sed in Christo et per Christum gloriamur apud Deum; a quo scilicet ministerii nostri praemium exspectamus. Dicendo namque ad Deum sive apud Deum, significare voluit veram et solidam gloriandi materiam, ut quae probetur ac remuneretur in judicio Dei. Sic e contrario dicit Rom. 4.: Si Abraham ex operibus justificatus est, habet gloriam, sed non apud Deum.
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5. Non, quod sufficientes simus cogitare aliquid a nobis } quasi ex nobis. Graece: Non quia idonei sumus a nobis ipsis cogitare aliquid, tamquam ex nobis ipsis. Est enim in Graeco vox eadem ixavot, quam interpres nunc idoneos, nunc sufficientes vertit. Arausicana synodus et passim Augustinus idonei legunt. Et quamvis txavoc interdum etiam dignum significet, ut 1 Cor. 15.: Non sum dignus vocari Apostolus, et aliis locis, quae nos ibidem annotavimus; huic tamen loco, satis apparet, eam significationem non convenire. Simile est illud 2 Tim. 2.: Qui idonei (txavol) erunt et alios docere, ubi nemo dixerit vertendum digni. Certe et interpretes omnes, quos vidi, locum hunc verterunt aut sufficientes, aut idonei, et Latini Patres altero tantum horum modorum citasse reperiuntur. Porro quod habemus: a nobis et ex nobis, Ambrosiaster utrumque legit: a nobis; contra Hieronymus: ex nobis et ex nostro, lib. 2. dial. adversus Pelag. cap. 3. Sed et Erasmus atque Hentenius utrumque reddiderunt: ex nobis ipsis. Verum noster interpres, Graeca secutus, ubi legitur: acp' eauTOJv et i£ £au?u>Vj praepositionem et ipse variavit. Quamquam quod ad significationem attinet. aut nullam iuter illa duo differentiam esse, aut exiguam, videri potest. Id enim indicare voluerunt Patres concilii Tridentini sess. 14. cap. 8., quum, ad hunc locum respicientes, eadem usi sunt praepositione: Qui ex nobis, inquiunt, tamquam ex nobis nihil possumus; eo cooperante, qui nos confortat, omnia possumus. Est autem accipienda Apostoli sententia de cogitatione ejus, quod attinet ad pietatis viam (alias vitamj et verum Dei cultum, ut exponit Augustinus lib. de dono persever. cap. 13.; sive aliis verbis: quod ad salutem pertinet vitae aeternae, ut exponit Arausicanum concilium Gnil. Eatii Comm. Tom. II. can. 7.; deque ea cogitatione non qualicumque, sed afficiente voluntatem. Nam bonum aliquid et pium cogitare sola mentis apprehensione, sic ut voluntas rei cogitatae vel apprehensae nullatenus afiiciatur, potest homo ex se ipso ac solis naturae viribus; neque ad hujusmodi cogitationem opus habet gratia Dei per Christum. Quamquam illud propiie nec Latinis est cogitare, nec Graecis AoytCsa- #at. Quod quidem verbumnon simpliciter significat animo quippiam apprehenuere, sed cum deliberato rationis judicio et voluntatis affectu circa rem apprehensam. Sic enim et alias hanc vocem Paulus usurpat, ut Philipp. 4.: Quaecumque sunt vera, quaecumque pudica, quaecumque justa, etc, haec cogitate. Quare qui pro cogitare verterunt hoc loco reputare, quomodo legit Hieronymus ex aliena, ut existimo, translatione, non satis vim Graecae vocis, ut hic a Paulo sumitur, assecuti sunt; licet ea versio bene conveniat aliis quibusdam locis apud eundem Apostolum, ut infra cap. 5.: Non reputans illis delicta ipsorum, et cap. 10. semel et iterum: Hoc cogitet apud se, et 1 Cor. 13.: Charitas non cogitat walum, juxta sensum iliic a nobis probatum. Eadem fere ratio de voce aestimare, quae legitur in textu Ambrosinno. Capitur etiam interdum XoyiC^afrat pro Guocomposito aoAAoy.Csafrai, ratiocinari, ut eodem cap. 13. prioris ad Cor.: Cogitabam ut parvulus, et Marci 11.: Cogitabant secum, dicentes: Si dixerimus: De coelo etc. Quod Lucas> cap. 20. per corupositum exponit auvsA&YiaavTO. Sed ea signfficatio non quadrat huic loco, qui voluntatis affectum praecipue requirit, ut haec Apostoli sententia respondeat cum illa, qua dicit 1 Cor. 12.: Nemo potest dicere Dominum Jesum, scilicet ex pio cordis affectu, ut illic expositum est, nisi in Spiritu sancto. Sensus igitur hujus loci est: Gloriamur apud Deum de nostro erga vos ministerio ejusque successu, nihil interim nobis vendicantes, ut qui non valeamus boni quippiam, quod ad rem evangelicam aut omnino ad pietatem pertineat, ex propriis naturae nostrae viribus vel cogitare, quanto minus agere et exsequi Apostolus: quasi ex nobis, quia cogitamus quidem a nobis vel ex nobis ea, quae bona sunt; id est, mente et ingenio, atque etiam voluntata nostra cogitationem ejusmodi exercemus; sed non quasi ex nobis, quia non ad hoc sufficiunt vires naturae; u t differant quidem: a nobis, et: quasi ex nobis; non tamen differant: a nobis et ex nobis; quomodo non differunt: ex fide et per fidem, Rom. 3, 30., et infra hoc cap. vers. 11.: per gloriam et in gloria. Si quis tamen hic urgendam putet praepositionis mutationem, reddere poterit hunc sensum: nos ncn posse cogitare aliquid a nobis, ita ut ex nobis, non ex alio. Quod velle videtur sequens antithetum: ex Deo.
Sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est. Sufficientia, Graece ixavoxr^ idoneitas. Sed, inquit, quod idonei sumus ad aliquid boni vel cogitandum, vel agendum, et semel, quidquid boni possumas, id totum ex Deo est per Christum. Nam illud: per Christum, jam ant3 praemiseiat. Utitur hoc Apostoli testimonio: JSon quod idonei simus cogitare aliquid etc, B. Augus-tinus adversus Pelagianos, quo doceat, nec boni cupiditatem, nec fidem, nec ipsius initium fidei, nec ullius operis boni progressum et perseverantiam, nos ex nobis habere, sed ex Deo. Loca sunt lib. 2. contra duas epist. Pelag. cap. 8., lib. de praedest. sanct. cap. 2., et lib. de dono persev. cap. 8. et 13. Utuntur eodem testimonio Patres Arausicani concilii can. 7., quo definiant, eum haeretico falli spiritu, qui dixerit, hominem per naturae vigorem bonum aliquod ad salulem pertinens vitae aeternae, cogitare, ut expedit, aut eligere, sive salutari, id est, evangelicae praedicationi consentire posse, absque illuminatione et inspiratione Spiritus sancti. Porro Graeci commentatores, Chrysostomus, Theophylactus et Oecumenius, Apostoli mentem explicantes, loquuntur his modis: non aliud esse nostrum, aliud Dei; adeoque nihil plane nostrum esse, ne minimum quidem; sed totum Deo Addit adscribendum. Legat praeterea, quivolet, ea, quae scribit in hunc locum Sanct. Thomas, docte prorsus ac solide; ubi praeter alia affirmat, etiam philosophi sententiam fuisse, quod numquam homo per liberum arbitrium potest ullum bonum facere sine adjutorio Dei: Qui, inquit, et homines movet, et omnia, quae agunt, ad actiones suas.
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6. Qui et idoneos nos fecit ministros novi testamenti. Transit Apostolus ad commonstrandam dignitatem et excellentiam ministerii sibi crediti, quod erat ministerium novae legis; idque ex comparatione ejus cum lege veteri. Idoneos fecit, Graece ixavojasv, pro quo Hieronymus legit: dignos fecit. Nam et noster interpres eandem vocem alibi sic transtulit, ut Col. 1.: Qui dignos nos fecit in partem sortis Sanctorum. Verum quia derivativum est hoc verbum a nomine ixavoi, quod praecessit, et non aliter verti debuit, quam: idonei, sufficientes, quemadmodum et ixavoxr^ idoneitas, sufficientia; propterea conformiter est vertendum: Qui et idoneos, sive sufficientes nos fecit etc., ut sensus sit: Qui Deus, inter alia bona, quae ex ipso habemus, etiam hoc nobis Apostolis contulit, quod aptaverit et idoneos reddiderit novi testamenti ministros; idoneos autem, id est, non, qr.ae nostra sunt, quaerentes, sed ea, quae Jesu Christi; neque verbum Dei aduherantes, sed ex sinceritate tamquam coram Deo illud annuntiantes. Talem enim supra descripsil idoneum Evangelii ministrum, id est, eum, de quo interrogaverat: Et ad haec quis idoneus? ut ista sit velut responsio: Nos idonei sumus, non ex nobis, sed ex Deo, qui nos idoneos fecit rovi testamenti ministros. Est autem novum testamentum pactum seu promissio vitae aeternae gratuito donandae nobis a Deo per Christum. Quo referenda sunt omnia dona virtutum ac bonorum operum, per quae vitam aeternam quacumque ratione meremur atque consequimur. Hoc ergo Dei beneficium qui annuntiant hominibus, novi testamenti ministri sunt.
Non littera, sed Spiritu. Graece: ou YpafifjtaTOC, aXXa rcvsou-aTOc, non litterae, sed Spiritus; quomodo verisimile est iiterpretem vertisse. Sic enim et mss. quaedam legunt, et in bis, Erasmo teste, duo Constantiensia; necnon veteres coucordantiae: exstatque eadem lectio apud Augustinum lib. de spir. et lit. cap. 17. et 20. Quid vero legerit Ambrosiaster, ex ejus commentario percipi non potest. Pelagius quoque et Sedulius quid legerint, non liquet, nisi quod ex eorum scholio (quod alter ab altero sumpsit) apparet, tertium casum eis lectum fuisse: non litterae, sed Spiritui. Porro sextus casus obrepsisse videtur ex simili loco, qui est Rom. 2.: in Spiritu, non litttra. Est autem haec pars expositio ejus, quod dixerat: novi testamenti. Sensus enim est: Fecit nos idoneos ministros novi testamenti; non, inquam, ministros litterae, id est, legis scriptae et datae per Mosen, quae est lex vetus; sed ministros Spiritus, hoc est, ministros legis novae, qua Spiritus sanctus datur ad legem implendam. Sensum hunc, simul et Graecam lectionem ccnfirmat, quae paulo post nominatur: ministratio Spiritus. Spiritum autem sanctum intelligi, patet ex eo, quod postea subjicit, tamquam se ipsum exponens: Dominus autem Spiritus e*t. Jam quanto praestabilius sit ministerium Spiritus ministerio litterae, docet ex insigni discrimine litterae et Spiritus, dicens:
Littera enim occidit, Spiritus autem vivificat. Per litteram, uti di^tum est, lex in tabulis scripta, ac veteri populo data significatur. Per Spiritum vero Spirit.us sanctus intelligitur, quatenus autor est nostrae sanctificationis ac renovationis, idque praecipue per charitatem, quam cordibus nostris infundit. Itaque sensus est: Lex scripta, quam Deus per Moysen dedit, si sola sit, ac Spiritu destituta (quod est lex vetus), occidit, hoc est, eos, quibus data est, aeternae morti reddit obnoxios; non quidem per se suoque vitio (Lex enim sancta, ef mandatum sanctum, et justum et bonum, Rom. 7.), sed ex occasione latentis in eis concupiscentiae; de qua sub nemine peccati ita scribit Apostolus eodem loco: Occasione accepta, peccatum per mandatum operatum est in me omnem concupiscentiam. Sine lege enimpeccatum mortuum erat; sed cum ve?iisset mandatum, peccatum revixit; et inventum est mihi, mandatum, quod erat ad vitam, hoc esse ad mortem. Poito Spiritus per gratiam, qua nos eflicit legis observatores, vivificat nos, id est, aeternae vitae constituit haeredes. Sensum, quem dedi de littera occidente, illud praeterea comprobat, quod proxime post verba jam citata ex epist. ad Rom. subjungit Apostolus: Nam peccatum, occasione accepta per mandatum, seduxit me, et per illud occidit; utique reddendo obnoxium morti aeternae. Ne que enim aliud est, peccatum occidere hominem per mandatum, quam legem seu litteram occidere hominem occasione peccati. Conferendae sunt et aliae Scripturae, ut Rom. 4.: Ubi non est lex, nec praevaricatio, et cap. 5.: Lex subintravit, ut abundaret delictum, 1 Cor. 15.: Virtus peccati lex, et Gal. 3.: Lex propter transgressiones posita est. Ex quibus omnibus, ac potissimum ex cap. 7. epist. ad Rom., satis liquet, eos haud assecutos mentem Apostoli, qui litteram interpretantur occidere, quod lex Mosis temporale supplicium mortis, ut erant lapidatio, crucifixio, transgressoribus comminetur et irroget; quae Graecorum, et inter Latinos Ambrosiastri est expositio. Constat enim, Apostolum eo loco noii agere de ejusmodi supplicio, sed de morte aeterna, de qua dixerat cap. 6.: Stipendia peccati mors. Alioqui certe permulti tempore veteris legis, velocculte peccantes inlegem, velpotentiores, qualis David adulter et homicida (quod utrumque crimen secundum legem erat capitale), supplicium mortis evadebant, ut in iis juxta sensum Graecorum locum non haberet: Httera occidit. Denique si litteram occidentem de morte temporali interpreteris, oportebit et Spiritum vivificantem de vita temporali intelligere, ut consistat antithesis. Id vero quam sit a mente Pauli remotum, scopus doctrinae ejus palam ostendit. Atqui multo minus hac sententia significare voluit Apostolus, litteralem sive historicum Scripturae sensum occidere, id est, noxam adferre lectori; mysticum vero sensum, quem spiritualem vocant, vivificare, id est, ad pietatem conducere. Qui sensus priori parte falsus est, et ad Origenis damnata dogmata rejiciendus. Quamquam interdum accommodatur haec Apostoli sententia non male (quemadmodum fecit Augustinus lib. 3. de doct. Christ. cap. 5.) ad significandum, quod interpretari Scripturam ubique sic ad litteram, ut verba sonant, ducit in errorem; ut si Deo caput, manus, pedes, animam proprie tribuas, quoniam haec in Scriptura Deo leguntur attributa. Quo sensu littura occidit Anthropomorphitas, necnon eos, qui simili ratione misericordiam, iram, poenitentiam, et alias hujusmodi affectiones proprie putaverunt esse in Deo, velut Judaei, et inter Christianos Lactantius, aliique nonnulli, quos Anthropopathitas appellare possumus. Antitheses huic loco non dissimiles sunt illae: Spiritus est, qui vivificat; caro non prodest quidquam, Joann. 6. Scientia inflat, charitas aedificat, 1 Cor. 8. In altero namque caro spiritu destituta prodesse negatur; in altero scientia charitate vacua dicitur inflare. Pleniorem intelligentiam discriminis hic assignati inter legem veterem et novam si quis desideret, legat Augustini librum de spir. et lit. a cap. 4. usque ad 25., item quae scribit lib. 15. contra Faustum, cap. 8., lib. 2. cont. advers. legis et proph. cap. 7., serm. 3. de verbis Apostol. cap. 10. et 11., et lib. 3. contra duas epist. Pelag. cap. 7. et lib. 4. cap. 5.
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7. Quodsi ministratio mortis litteris deformata in lapidibus, fuit in gloria. Ex dato discrimine litterae et Spiritus jam colligit, quanto plus gloriae debeatur ministerio novae legis, quam veteris. Quod Graece est diaxovia, noster interpres hoc et sequenti capitevertit: ministrationem, ac semel duntaxat: ministerium. Alii quidam administrationem malunt, tametsi revera magis quadrat ministerii nomen. Nec Graece est: litteris, sed: in litteris, Iv ypajxjjiaoi; quemadmodum et Augustinus legit loco memorato contra legis adversarium. Juxtaquamlectionem, quae nobis germana videtur, adhaeret haec particula praecedentibus: Quodsi ministratio mortis in litteris, id est, ministratio litterae occidentis, ut interposito commate sequatur: Deformata in lapidibus. Deformata non aliud est, quam insculpta. Simplici verbo formata legit Ambrosiaster. Figurata legit Augustinus de spir. et lit. cap. 14., et Beda in textu. Utrumque reperies apud Augustinum scribentem contra advers. legis. Graecum £vTSTU7tCouivY] sonat: informata, quod tamen interpres melius atque elegantius extulit: deformata; quomodo Quintilianus dixit: marmora prima deformata manu, et Vitruvius: Tragicae scenae deformantur columnis, signis et regalibus rebus. Quod sequitur: fuit in gloria, IysvtjOyj iv 6*6^ potuit etiam verti: fuit, seu facta est in claritate. Sensus autem hujus partis est: Quodsi ministerium legis occidentis atque mortiferae, tabulis lapideis insculptae, gloriosum fuit, utpote glorificatum per insignem claritatem et splendorem vultus Moysis, quando secundo descendit de monte legem adferens, ut habetur Exodi 34. Alii ministrationem mortis in litteris exponunt legem mortis ministratam, ut aptius ei jungatur, quod sequitur: deformata in lapidibus. Quae expositio commoda quidem est; sed quia scopus est Apostoli, ministerium cum ministerio comparare, idcirco prior sensus accommodatior esse videtur ad ejus mentem explicandam.
Ita ut non possent intendere filii Israel in faciem Moysis propter gloriam vultus ejus, quae ecacuatur. Intendere, Graece, aT£v'oat, ad oculos refertur. Ambrosius legit: intueri. Nec in Graeco diversum est vocabulum, sed idem, TrpOQcutzov, quod interpres in eadem hac periodo prius faciem verlit, postea vultum; consulto, ut arbitror, ne, si faciem secundo loco dixisset, videreturrelativum sequens: yuae evacuatur, ad faciem Dertinere. Sensus: Adeo clarificatum fuit illud legis occidentis ministevium, ut non possent filii Israel intentis oculis adspicere faciem Moysis ministrantis legem; idque propter gloriam seu claritatem vultus ejus insigniter radiantis ex consortio sermonis Domini, ut habetur Excdi loco supra dicto. Partem sequentem: quae evacuatur, quidam exLatinis ad ministrationem, alii ad legem retulerunt; sed ex Graeco manifestum est, non alio, quam ad gloriam referri posse, quae dicitur evacuari, seu potius aboleri, quia claritas illa vultus Moysi transitoria erat ac modici temporis. Hoc addens Apostolus, materiam dat novo argumento, quod ipse statim explicat versu 11. Caeterum idcirco ministerium veteris legis aliqua gloria, tametsi non magna, nec diuturna dignum habitum fuit, quia, licet veteri populo fuerit ministratio mortis, ipsa tamen lex sancta erat et divina, atque eo saltem officio fungebatur erga electos, ut esset illis paedagogus aa Christum; quemadmodum docet Apostolus Gal. 3. Pendet adhuc periodus, et absolvitur erotemate sequenti:
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8. Quomodo non magis ministratio Spiritus erit in gloria? Id est: Our non magis ac potius ministerium novae legis, quae vivificantem Spiritum subministrat, glorificabitur? scilicet ea gloria, quae in futurum saeculum promissa est. De qua gloria loquitur expressius Rom. 8., vocans eam gloriam adoptionis filiorum. Nam licet illa sit futura communis omnibus electis, longe major tamen iis continget, qui sepraebuerintidoneos novi testamenti ministros; ut per quos caeteri fuerint ad gloriam adducti. Argumentatio Pauli perspicua est, et sequela manifesta a minori ad majus. Postulat enim ratio, ut ministerium vitae multo magis glorificetur, quam ministerium mortis.
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9. Nam si ministratio damnationis gloria est. Rem eaadem aliis verbis inculcat. In multis codicibus legebatur: in gloria est; sed veram lectionem restituit nobis editio Romana, consentanea Graeco et Syriaco textui; quae et habetur in multis mss. et in antiquis concordantiis, et apud Augustinum loco saepe dicto contra advers. legis. Suffragatur item textus Ambrosii, qui sic hubet: Si enim in administratione damnationis est gloria; necnon Primasii atque Sedulii, apud quos ita legitur: Nam si ex ministerio damnationis gloria est; denique textus et commentarius Ilaymonis. Nec additur in Graeco verbum est, magisque congruere videtur verbum fuit, ut sensus sit: Quod si ministerium legis, quae reddit homines aeternae damnationi et morti obnoxios, gloria fuit, id est, res gloriosa; sequitur:
Multo magis abundat ministerium justitiae in gloria. Abundat, Hebraea phrasi idem, quod excellit, quomodo verterunt Erasmus et Hentenius. Igitur, inquit Apostolus, multo major et excellentior debetur gloria ministerio novaelegis, quae justitiam confert, qua damnatio mortis evaditur et vita acquiritur. Liquet ex dictis, idem esse Paulo ministerium mortis et damnationis, idemque e diverso ministerium Spiritus et justitiae. Est autem observandum hoc loco, Paulum non comparare Moysen cum Christo, sed cum Apostolis Christi. Non enim Moyses suam tulit legem, sed eam, quam Deus illi dictaverat tamquam verus legislator. At vero Christus non solum ut minister, sed ut Dominus, etiam quatenus homo, suam ipsius legem attulit mundo. Quare non cum Christo, sed cum Christi ministris, id est Apostolis, qui novam legem a Christo latam mundo publicarunt, Moyses, tamquam veteris legis administer, non autem ipsius proprie legislator, comparandus fuit. Nam si Moysen cum Christo conferas, quod alibi facit Apostolus, ut Hebr. 3., ea ratione jam multo latius et incomparabiliter majus erit utriusque legis discrimen.
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10. Nam nec glorificatum est, quod claruit in hac parte, propter excellentem gloriam. Mutat interpres verbum, quod in Graeco unum idemque est; ac si Graeca Latine sic reddas: Namque ne quidem glorificatum est, quod glorificatum est etc.; vel: Ne quidem claruit, quod claruit. Utitur autem Apostolus eo ipso verbo et- participio, quod legerat apud interpretes LXX. Exod. 34.; <5s- Solaaxai, SscSG^aauivov _, id est, claruit, clarificatum. Nec dissonat, quod ex Hebraeo vertitHieronymus, cornutam Moysi faciem fuisse; nam vox Hebraica pip (Karan) significat quidem cornificare, seu cornua proferre; sed usurpatur pro eo, quod est, promicare emissis radiis, velut directis cornibus. Quod enim suspicantur nonnulli, scriptum illic ab interprete fuisse: corusca, quod librariorum oscitantia mutatum fuerit in cornuta, vana est conjectura. Sensus Apostoli est: Etenim in hac parte, id est, in hac comparationis materia, ne dicendum quidem est, glorificatum fuisse, quod olim glorificatum est; nempe veteris legis ministerium; idque propter eminentem longeque superiorem gloriam ministerii novae legis. Quasi dicat: Tam excellens erit gloria ministerii evangelici, ut ministerium Mosaicum, etsi per se splendidum et gloriosum fuerit, tamen, cum evangelico collatum, prorsus inglorium fuisse videatur. Theodoretus et ex eo Oecumenius pulchre rem declarant comparatione lucernae, cujus lumen, noctu splendidissimum, meridie absconditur, ac ne lumen quidem esse putatur; videlicet a lumine solis obscuratum. Cajetanus sensum huc adfert multo alium, tamquam velit Apostolus, gloriam Moysi, unde major fuit, inde redditam esse minorem; ut cujus excellentia praestiterit impedimentum gloriae. Sic enim exponit: Id quod glorificatum est in hac parte, id est, in facie Moysi, non est glorificatum simpliciter et absolute, quia impeditum est ab intuitu propter excellentiam gloriae nimio splendore opprimentis insunt. Ita Cajetanus, parum attendens ad phrasim Apostoli: in hac parte, qua utitur et infra cap. 9, 3., et exponit versu 4. dicens: in hac substantia, id est, materia. Quamquam et absurdum est, claritatem Mosaicam hoc argumento extenuare, quod prae sui magnitudine intuentium oculos perstrinxerit; velut si quis claritatem solis absolute claiitatem esse neget eo, quod adspectum ejus oculi mortalium non ferant.
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11. Si enim, quod evacuatur, per gloriam est, multo magis, quod manet, in gloria est. Verbum substantivum in neutro membro Paulus Graecus expressit, sed intelligendum reliquit; in priori quidem praeteritum fuit, in altero autem futurum erit. Eadem vero sunt: per gloriam, et in gloria; nisi quod: per gloriam innuere videtur aliquid momentaneum ac transitorium, in gloria aliquid manens ac stabile. Argumentatur autem Apostolus ex eo, quod paulo ante dixit, gloriam vultus Moysi evacuari, seu aboleri; per quod significatum fuit, ipsum ejus esse ministerium, ipsamque legem, quam ferebat, abolendam esse. Tale igitur est argumentum rursus a minori: Si ministerium, quod cum lege abolendum erat, jamque abolitum est, gloriosum fuit; multo magis ministerium legis, usque in finem saeculi permansurae, gloriosum erit. Si quidem major debetur gloria rebus mansuris, quam abolendis. Alii legem Christi, id est, novum testamentum permansurum interpretantur, non modo ad finem usque saeculi, sed in sempiternum, propter effectus ejus, qui sunt aeterni; quo sensu Christo tribuitur sempiternum sacerdotium, Heb. 7. Nec aliter sane ministerium novae legis aeternum dici potest, quum constet, ipsum secundum se post hanc vitam cessaturum. Quocirca nonnulli rationem adferunt haud incongruam abolitionis et permanentiae, de qua loquitur Apostolus, ex timore et charitate, velut effectibus. Lex enim vetus lex erat timoris, ut lex nova lex est charitatis. Quod autem timor abolendus sit, ostendit illa Joannis sententia 1 epist. 4.: Perfecta charitas foras mittit timorem. Charitatem vero mansuram Paulus testatur 1 Cor. 13., dicens: Charita% numquam excidit Innititur haec ratio officio veteris legis circa electos, quod erat, ut supra diximus, esse paedagogum eorum ad Christum. Id enim officii praestabat per timorem, sub quo electos ad tempus continebat, donec ad Christum eos adduceret. Hanc rationem tradit Augustinus lib. de Spir. et lit. cap. 18., ubi loquens de vetere et novo testamento, sic ait: Ideo illud euacuatur, hoc manet; quoniam terrens paedagogus auferetur, cum timori successerit charitas.
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12. Habentes igitur talem spem, multa fiducia utimur. Postquam evangelici sui ministerii demonstravit excellentiam prae ministerio veteris legis, agit nunc deinceps de recto usu ejusdem sui ministerii. In quo argumento versatur ab hoc loco usque ad cap. 7. Ac primum docet, ad ministrum novae legis pertinere, ut palam, aperte ac libere doctrinam Evangelii proponat. Nam pro fiducia Graece est Tza.ppr]Gta, quo nomine significatur libertas et audacia loquendi id, quod verum est; quae non solum opponitur silentio, verum etiam assentationi. Quo vitio plurimum laborabant pseudapostoli. Graecum verbum xpiousfra, pro quo legimus: utimur, commune est modo exhortantis: utamur; sicque legit et exponit nuncupatus Ambrosius. Quae lectio conspicitur etiam in quibusdam libris mss. Verum certe praesens locus postulat indicativum utimur, quod in multo pluribus legitur et melioribus. Nam hic et in sequentibus enuntiave loquitur Apostolus sub exemplo fidorum Evangelii ministrorum, in quibus se numerat, rectum ac legitimum itlius ministerii usum commonstrans. Cum igitur, inquit, nos evangelicae legis ministri spem habeamus tam excellentis gloriae, quam ex ministerio nostro exspectamus, multa libertate utimur in Evangelio praedicando. Id enim convenit luci ac gloriae legis evangelicae. Quod declarat verbis subjunctis:
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13. Et non, sicut Moyses ponebat velamen super faciem suam. Explenda sententia est: Et non facimus, sicut Moyses, qui (quemadmodum in Exodo legi- Id est, non occultamus Evangelii lucem, sicuti Moyses in typo fecit, occultans eam Israelitis. Hoc enim est, quod sequitur:
Ut non intenderent filii Israel in faciem ejus, quod evacuatur. Graece et Syriaca: In finem ejus, quod aboletur. Sed et Augustinus in finem legit atque exponit, contra leg. advers. scribens, et lib. de Spir. et lit. cap. 17., et aliis locis a Beda collectis; nisi quod alteram addat praepositionem: usque in finem, quod Graecae veritati non consonat. Rursus in finem legitur in textu Ambrosiano prioris editionis; sicque legendum esse, commentarius arguit. Pelagium quoque, Primasium et Sedulium legisse: in finem, vel ad finem, satis certo colligitur ex eorum scholiis; licet apud duos priores textus mutatus sit a scribis in id, quod vulgati codices habent; quamvis et interpretem nostrum in finem, non in faciem scripsisse, plus quam verisimile est. Qui si scripsisset: in faciem, id, quod in Graeco sequitur: tou xaTapyoouivoo, non vertisset: ejus, quod, sed ejus, qui evacuatur, scilicet Moysi, cujus in faciem intendere filii Israel non possent; quando nec ea similitudo vocum est in Graeco, quae in Latino, ut facile altera pro altera scribi potuerit. Nam quod a nonnullis allegantur exemplaria quaedam Graeca, quae habeant: ex/Q to TipogojTiov, certe ejusmodi nulla a Roberto Stephano sunt annotata; ac merito suspicatur Erasmus, illa talia ad Latinorum lectionem fuisse correcta. Denique Graecos expositores tsXoCj non 7ip6(;u)7;ov legisse, perspicue declarant eorum commentarii. Quod ad sensum attinet, Chrysostomus, Theophylactus et Oecumenius significari putant, Israelitas non potuisse videre, quod finem haberet lex, id est, quod aliquando foret abroganda. Sunt alii, qui finem hunc interpretantur intima, profunda et arcana legis, id est, mysteria sub littera legis oocultata. Quem sensum etiam apud Basilium videre estlibro.de Spiritu sancto, cap. 21. Alii vero, sensu tamen non multum diverso, finem ejus, quod aboletur, Christum intelligunt. Nam ut finis legis Christus, Rom. 10., ita et finis est totius ministerii legis. Tta sensus Apostoli est, Moysen velo texisse faciem ad significandum, filios Israel non potuisse mentis oculos intendere ia Christum, qui finis est e.jus ministerii, quod abolendum erat. Dicitur autem Christus finis ministerii Mosaici, quia consummatio est et complementum eorum omnium, quae per Mosem fuerunt ministrata; nam et decalogus per ejus graciam perficitur, et omnis umbrarum legalium significatio pei ejus adventum impletur: quia lex per Moysem data est; gratia et veritas per Jesum Christum facta est, Joann. 1. Finem interpretantur hoc modo primum Augustinus utroque loco sup. cit., tum commentatores Primasius. Sedulius, Cajetanus, et inter Graecos Theodoretus. Videtur et Apostolus in hunc sensum paulo post exponere semet ipsum, dicens: Quoniam in Christo evacuatur. Interim observa, Paulum eleganter et apposite rem gestam, quae in Exodo scribitur, ad allegoriam convertere, et latens sub historia mysterium aperire, Moyses enim veteris legis, cujus erat minister, figuram gerebat, faciesque ejus splendida praefigurabat gloriam Christi, cujus mysteriis gravida lex erat. Quod autem filii Israel non poterant in faciem Moysi splendentem, bculos defigere, significabat id, quod jam dictum est ab Apostolo, Judaicum populum non potuisse cognoscere Christum, ad quem, ut finem et complementum, lex tota referebatur. Porro velum positum ante faciem Moysi et oppositum oculis populi statim ipse Paulus interpretatur velum obtusionis, sive hebetudinis ac duritiae, positum super cor Judaeorum, quo nimirum irapediebantur, ne in Christum ejusrjne mysteria per fidem adspicerent, quae res etiam significata fuit per velum templi, quod, Christo mcriente, scissum fuisse in duas partes, Matthaeus Evangelista commemorat cap. 27. Postremo quid Moysi conversio ad Dominum, ac veli depositio significet, infra suo loco ex mente Pauli conabimur explicare.
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14. Sed obtusi sunt sensus eorum. Graece: aXX' i7iu)pu>{b] ia vo^uaxaauTajv, sed occalluerunt sensus } seu cogitationes, seu mentes eorum. Nam cogitationes vertit supra cap. 2, 11., mentes infra obduruerunt. Alii vertunt: excaecati sunt, quomodo sequenti capite iegitur Deus hujus saeculi excaecasse mentes infidelium. Verum illic diversum et proprium est verbum ETOcpXtoos. Tertullianus et Cyprianus cum interprete nostro legunt: obtusi sunt; ille libro 5. cont. Marc, cap. 11., iste contra Judaeos lib. 1. testim. 4. Sed pro quia positum viletur, ut alias interdum; quemadmodum et S. Thomas exponit; ut significetur, filios Israel ideo non intendisse animum in finem legis, quod haberent sensus animi obtusos, obduratos et excaecatos; id, quod alibi saepe de iis Scriptura testatur.
Usque in hodiernum enim diem id ipsum velamen in lectione veteris testamenti manet non revelatum. Partem illam: usque in hodiernum diem, submota conjunctione enim, Ambrosiaster, Pelagius et Primasius annectunt ei, quod praecedit; quemadmodum et Cyprianus. Verum nostra lectio Graecis et Syris, ipsique Tertulliano consentanea est, et sensum recipit commodiorem. Exponit autem Apostolus, quod dixerat de velamine posito super faciem Moysi, et sensus est: Idem illud velamen, quod olim, super faciem Moysi positum, prohibebat ejus intuitum, remanet in praesens usque tempus non retectum sive non ablatum a cordibus Judaeorum, quoties libros veteris testamenti legunt. Vocat idem velamen eo tropo sermonis, quo signum dicitur idem cum re significata. Nam, ut ante dictum est, velamen illud, Moysi faciem tegens, signum erat ac figura velaminis obtegentis corda Judaeorum.
Quoniam in Chrirto evaruatur. Variant exemplaria, tam impressa, quam mss., aliis quoniam, aliis^worflegentibus. Nam et Graecum oti ambiguum est ad quoniam et quod relativum. Similiter autem et ex Syriaco aiius quoniam, alius quod transtulit. Prioribus suffragantur veteres concordantiae, et textus Ambrosii, Bedae, Haimonis, Lombardi, Hervaei, Carthusiani; necnon Augustinus lib. 3. cont. duas epist. Pelag. cap. 4. Posterioribus annuit textus Pelagii et Primasii, item glossatoris, Aquinatis, Lirani. Sensus tamen eodem redit. Nam relatio fit ad velamen, quod aufertur et aboletur in Christo, id est, non nisi per Christum, qui finis legis est, fide receptum. Quem cum Judaei non receperint, sequitur, nondum esse remotum ab eorum oculis, id est mentibus, velamen.
3:15
15. Sed usque in hodiernum diem, cum legitur Moyses, velamen positum est super cor eorum. Repeat idem, ut addat aliquid, quo velamims significationem clarius explicet. Sed, inquit, usque in hoc tempus, cum in eorum synagogis legitur lex vetus a Moyse scripta (legebatur autem per omne sabbatum. Actor. 15.), manet velamen superpositum cordibus eorum. Ubi significatur, velamen istud esse aliquid inhaerens animis Judaeorum. Quocirca non obscuritas librorum legis et Prophetarum, ut quidam volunt, mystice per velamen significata videtur, sedmentis, uti diximus, hebetudo, quam parit affectio carnalis ac terrena, qua nimirum mens impeditur, ne Scripturas intelligat, et veritati, quam loquuntur, acquiescat; quod est nolle credere. Ita plerique commentatores, et ante eos Origenes homil. 12. super Exod. Neque necesse est, duo secundum Apostolum facere velamina mystica, quorum alterum s:t velamen lectionis, id est, obscuritas legis, alterum velamen cordis, id est, infidelitas legentium; uti distinguit Hervaeus. Nam quod obscuritas legis et Prophetarum non sit velamen ab Apostolo significatum, satis etiam ex eo liquet, quod, illa obscuritate manente et non ablata, multi crediderunt. Nec vero mirandum, si velamen idem positum dicatur super faciem Moysi, et super corda Judaeorum. Siquidem et ipse Moyses legem ferens carnalem, quemadmodum et Isaac caecutiens et Jacob claudicans, Gen. 27. et 32., figuram gesserunt carnalis, et caecutientis et claudicantis populi Judaici. Legem dico carnalem, propter promissa temporalia et caerimonias carnali populo accommodatas. Nam etHebr. 7. legem mandati carnalis legimus.
3:16
16. Cum autem conversus fuerit ad Dominum, auferetur velamen. Quod in quibusdam libris plurali numero legitur: Conversi fuerint, contra fidem est tam Graeci textus, in quo singulare est £7tiaTp£<J^, quam Latinorum codicum mss., quibus passim omnibus legitur: conversus fuerit. Syriaca paraphrasis sic habet eodem numero: Et cum aliquis ex eis conversus fuerit, etc. Faciunt nobiscum veteres Latini commentatores ad unum omnes, ac fere etiam posteriores; item Cyprianus in testimoniis juxta priores editiones, et autor quaest. vet. ac novi testam., quaest. 8. Nam quod Tertullianus active legit: Cum vero converterit (supple se) ad Deum, accidit ex ambiguitate verbi Graeci, quod et transitive, et absolute sumitur, etiam in Scriptura sacra, quemadmodum facile est exemplis ostendere. Fefellit autem Cajetanum Erasmi versio, dum pro singulari reponit plurale conversi fuerint. Est et alia lectio apud Augustinum lib. 12. cont. Faustum. cap. 4. et 39., et lib. de utilitate credenti, cap. 3., et alibi. Legit enim verbo secundae personae: Cum autem transieris ad Dominum. Sed qui ita vertit, accepit iiuaxps^rj _, in secunda persona verbi medii; quemadmodum et Theophylactus accepisse videtur. Sic enim habet ejus interpretatio: Quando converteris ad Dominum, hocest, quando a lege defeceris, accesserisque spirituali Evangelio, tunc auferetur velamen. Sed ad nostram lectionem, quae germanior est, redeamus, cujus sensum alii alium adferunt. Plerique sic exponunt: Cum autem conversus fuerit Lsrael ad Dominum, sive totus, ut in fine saeculi; sive aliquis ex eis; tunc auferetur velamen de cordibus eorum. Obstat huic expositioni verbum singularis numeri, supposito non respondente. Nam praecesserat plurale: eorum. Ad quod si respiceret Apostolus, non dicerat: conversus fuerit, sed conversi fuerint. Nam Israel longius praecessit, quam ut eo referri commode pcssit. Nec populum significabat, sed Patriarcham. Addo, quod, si de Judaeorum ad Deum conversione loqueretur, potius e converso diceret: Cum autem ablatum fuerit velamen, tunc convertentur ad Dominum. Etenim ordine naturae prius est, ut impedimentum credendi tollatur, quam ut credant; quomodo prius est aperiri fenestram domus, quam solis radios in eam recipi. Proinde sentiunt probabilius, qui illud: conversus fuerit, ad Moysen referunt, de quo dixerat: Cum legitur Moyses; ut hic jam novum mysterium in Moysi persona praefiguratura nobis insinuetur. Ut enim Moyses, faciem habens obvelatam, gessit figuram populi Judaici velamen habentis super cor suum; ita videri potest idem Moyses, quando, dimisso populo, reversurus ad Dei colloquium, velamen a facie removebat, uti scribitur Exod. 34., significasse eos, qui ex eodem populo tempore novi testamenti, remoto cordis velamine, convertendi essent ad Dominum. Veruntamen si contextus Apostolici sermonis attente consideretur, non tam videbitur agere Paulus hoc loco de conversione Judaeorum ad Dominum, aut de Moyse eam conversionem significante, quam de Moyse praefigurante populum Christianum. Hoc enim declarant illa sequentia: Nos vero omnes, revelata facie gloriam Domini speculantes, etc. Igitur doctrinae praesentis haec summa est: Moyses aversus a Domino, et facie velatus, significavitpopulum veterem Deo contrarium, et cor habentem obscuratum. Idem vero Moyses conversus ad Dominum, atque retectam habens faciem, typum gessit populi Christiani ad Deum conversi, et revelata cordis facie salutis mysteria contemplantis. Sane notandum est, Graecum verbum TisptaipsTTat, quod interpretes fere transferunt passive: au~ feretur, magis habere significationem activam: auferet, vel potius aufert in praesenti; quo magis intelligas, Apostolum non de Israele, sed de Moyse loqui, de quo legitur in Exodo, quod ipse auferebat velum de facie sua, cum Domino locuturus. Ubi LXX. quoque eodem usi sunt verbo: TCspt^pslTO, auferebat, quod et ab Oecumenio allegatur. Ex quibus apparet, interpretes Latinos in una voce vertenda bis hallucinatos esse; et quod pro activo reddiderint passivum; et quod pro praesenti futurum. Apud unum Cyprianum, loco superius citato, legitur praesentis temporis verbum: aufertur velamen.
3:17
17. Dominus autem Spiritus est. Nimirum ille Spiritus, quem hoc capite jam aliquoties nominavit; id est, Spiritus Dei vivi, per quem novum testamentum distinxit a veteri, et cujus suppeditandi ministrum se docuit, quem etiam statim Spiritum Domini nuncupat. Connexio talis est: Moyses, ab Israele conversus ad Dominum, typus fuit nostri, qui transivimus a littera ad Spiritum. Nam Spiritus ille Dominus est. Hoc addit, ut volunt Chrysostomus, Theodoretus et Oecumenius, neminus aliquid nobis praestitum videatur, qui convertimur ad Spiritum, quam Moysi, qui convertebatur ad Dominum; quum Spiritus ipse sit Dominus. Est autem manifestus hic locus pro divinitate Spiritus sancti, quemadmodum id Graeci tractatores bene declarant; neque enim alius Dominus, quam verus Deus intelligi potest; ille videlicet, ad quem Moyses se convertobat. Et ne quis contendat, nomen Spiritus hoc loco non esse personale, sed essentiale, velut ibi: Spiritus est Deus, Joann. 4., ut, quemadmodum eo loco significatur, Deum esse Spiritum, ita hic dicere velit Apostolus, Dominum, id est, Christum esse Spiritum (sic enim Ambrosiaster, et alii quidam eum secuti, partem hanc interpretantur): refellit hoc argumentum Chrysostomus, atque retorquet. Nam si illa propositio: Spiritus est Deus, TCvsDfxa 6 frsoc, sic ordinanda est: Deus est Spiritus; quidni et ista: Dominus Spiritus est, 6 xupiog to rcvsojxa laxiv, ordinetur hoc modo: Spiritus est Dominus? suadente videlicet utrobique eam constructionem arriculo, qui posteriori vocabulo addit.is est. Qua ratione et illud Joann. 1.: Deus erat verbum, @soc; ^jv 6 Xoyo^, ita construitur: Verbum erat Deus. Verum utcumque se habeat responsio Chrysostomi ex articulo sumpta (non enim scrupulo caret, propterea quod tam priori, quam posteriori vocabulo sit additus hoc loco articulus; quemadmodum et in eo, quod habetur 1 Cor. 10.: Petra erat Christus, ut illic a nobis annotatum est), certe Christum appellari Spiritum, Apostolica consuetudo non habet, et hujus loci circumstantia magis diversum exigit.
Ubi autem Spiritus Domini, ibi libertas. Spiritum, quem Dominum vocavit, nunc Spiritum Domini vocat, sicut et supra: Spiritum Dei, ut intelligamus, Spiritum non sic vocari Dominum seu Deum, quin simul oporteat confiteri, eum a Deo procedere. Porro libertatem dicit oppositam servituti. Hanc enim libertatem Graeca vox sAsoftspta significat. Intendit autem Apostolus hac parte explicare mysticam significationem ablati velaminis. Ut enim velum impositum subjectionis ac servitutis cujusdam indicium est in eo, cui imponitur, quemadmodum docet Apostolus 1 Cor. 11, 10., ita velaminis ablatio significationem habet donatae libertatis, quae donatio fit non per litteram, sed per Spiritum, ut sensus sit: Spiritus Domini, cum ipse sit Dominus, ideoque liberrimus, de quo scriptum est, quod, ubi vult, spirat, Joann. 3., et quod omnia operatur, prout vult, 1 Cor. 12., tamquam velamine servitutis ablata (removet enim illud, quia vult, ait S. Thomas), libertatem communicat iis, quos inhabitat, id est, Christianis; libertatem utique spiritualem, quia Spiritus est, a servitute legis et peccati eos liberans. Abusi sunt hac Apostoli sententia jam olim haeretici quidam, uti refert B. Thomas, ad statuendum suum illud perversum dogma, quo docebant, viros spirituales lege divina non teneri, utpote per Spiritum assertos in libertatem. Cujus absurditatem doctrinae bene declarat idem doctor, ostendens, impossibile esse, ut quis, sive homo, sive angelus, praeceptis Dei non subdatur. Libertas autem, de qua Paulus, immunitas est non tam a lege, quam a servitute legis, ut dictum est. Nam et antiqui justi, nati sub lege, libertatis hujus fuere particines. Quamvis autem sententia Pauli generalis sit ad libertatem totam, quam dixi scilicet oppositam servicuti legis atque peccati; spe-» cialiter tamen attendere videtur illam mentis libercatem, qua, libere et absque velaminis impedimento, rem objectam mens adspicit et contemplatur. Nam et hanc libertatem adfert Spiritus sancti praesentia, velut portionem quandam ejus libertatis, quae servituti legis opponitur; ad quam servitutem inter alia pertinebat, signa pro rebus amplecti, quemadmodum docet Augustinus lib. 3. de doct. Christ. cap. 5. 6. et 8. Ad eam libertatem Paulum respicere, probat, quod sequitur:
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18. Nos vero omnes, revelata facie gloriam Domini speculantes. Haec pars etsi declarativa sit ejus, quod proxime praecessit, accipi tamen potest ut respondens ad illud superius: Et non sicut Moyses ponebat velamen super faciem suam, etc. Ac si dicat: Non facimus, ut Moyses, velo faciem suam occultans; sed revelata facie gloriam Domini, in ea receptam, exhibemus. Nr.m speculantes idem est hoc loco, quod instar speculi suscipientes atque reddentes. Id enim secundum Graecos interpretes significat Graecum participium xaT07iTptC6usvoi, ut speculantes hic accipias, non a specula deductum, quasi sensus sit, lamquam e speculaprospicientes; sed a speculo, quod Graeci xa'T07iTpov vocant. Quod et Augustinus admonet lib. 15. de Trin. cap. 8., licet ejus expositio speculantes, id est, per speculum videntes, minus congruat, ut et illa translatio cujusdam; in speculo videntes.
In eandem imaginem transformamur. Graece sine praepositione: t^v auiTyV sixova u.STau,opcpo6/xs$a, ut subaudias xaTa, quod in hujusmodi solet inteltigi, id est: juxta, vel ad eandem imaginem transformamur, quod et Syrus supplevit. Tertullianus sexto casu legit: eadem imagine transfiguramur. Videtur autem hic esse sensus: Ejusdem gloriae imagine in nobis ut in speculo recepta, velut in eam transformamur. Nam imago in speculo quodammodo forma speculi est. Qui per gloriam et imaginem putant idem significari, nempe Christum, qui est gloria et imago Dei increata, quomodo vir est imago et gloria Dei creata, 1 Cor. 11., non videntur Apostoli mentem assecuti, paulo post ar nobis explicandam.
A claritate in claritatem. Vel: a gloria in gloriam, uti legunt Tertullianus, Augustinus, Ambrosiaster et Sedulius. Est enim idem in Graeco vocabulum, quod supra toties gloriam vertit: licet aeque claritatem significet. De sensu mox videbimus.
Tamquam a Domini Spiritu. Tamquam hoc loco non similitudinem denotat, sed verum et congruentem rei modum declarat, sicut in Evangelio Joann. 1.: tamquam unigeniti a Patre. Quod autem inGraeco est: aizb xuptou 7ivs6/iaTOQ, tribus modis, ut ab Erasmo et aliis annotatum est, Latine reddi potest: a Domino Spiritu, a Domino Spiritus, et a Domini Spiritu. Primum modum amplectuntur et adversus Pneumatomachos urgent in suis commentariis Chrysostomus, Theodoretus et Theophylactus: necnon Basilius lib. de Spiritu sancto, cap. 21. Similiter ex Syriaco translatum habemus: tamquam a dominatore Spiritu. Secundum modum tradunt neoterici quidam, volentes, Christum appellari Dominum Spiritus, quia Spiritus sancti charismata largitur, quibus voluerit. Quod significatum videri potest illa lectione, quae est apud Tertullianum: tamquam a Domino Spirituum. Tertia versio communis est interpretum Latinorum, qua et Augustinus usus est loco sup. alleg. Nam quod apud eum legitur in impressis codicibus lib. 22. de civit. Dei, cap. 29.: tamquam ad Domini Spiritum, mendose legi, non est dubium, veram lectiono.m: tamquam a Domini Spiritu, exhibentibus omaibus mss. in castigatione Lovaniensi adhibitis. Harum interpretationum prima probabilis est ex eo, quod praecessit: Dominus autem Spiritus est. Tertia quoque probabilis, quia praecessit: Ubi autem Spiritus Domini, ibi libertas. Verum quia nusquam in Scriptura legitur hoc ordine: Domini Spiritus, sedubique: Spiritus Domini, sicut et in versu praecedenti; facile mihi persuasero, Paulum id voluisse, quod Labet Graecorum interpretatio, ut, quod dixerat, Dominum esse Spiritum, hac repetitione confirmare voluerit. Mediam interpretationem probare non possum. Nusquam enim legitur Christus Dominus esse Spiritus sancti, et sermo non parum offendit; imo simpliciter falsus est et haereticus, et pugnans cum eo, quod dixit, Dominum esse Spiritum. Torro tota Paulina sententia potest ad hunc modum explicari: Nos autem omnes novi testamenti filii, quos Moyses, revelata facie cum Domino loquens, eamque ex consortio sermonis Domini splendidam ac radiantem habens, significavit; itidem facie mentis revelata, gloriam Domini per fidem intuemur, ejusque splendorem in animis nostris velut speculis quibusdam recipientes, quodammodo transformamur ad eandem imaginem, hoc est, ad similitudinem gloriae Dei; idque a claritate Dei in claritatem nostram, id est, claritate seu gloria Dei in nobis expressa ac repraesentata perinde, ut olim in facie Moysi, transformamur, inquam, velut a Domini Spiritu, vel a Domino Spiritu. Quod addidit, quemadmodum habet commentarius Ambrosianus, ut ostenderet, talem gloriam dari, quae congruat sublimitati dantis, hoc e&t, Spiritus sancti, qui Spiritus Domini est et ipse Dominus; et, ut ait Theophylactus, qualem par est hdbere eum, qui a Spiritu Domino, qui nulli est subjectus, illustratus est. Nam si ministratio mortis in litteris, ut supra dictum est, id est. ministratio litterae mortiferae fuit in gloria; quomodo non magis ministratio Spiritus vivificantis erit in gloria? Quidam recentiores illud: a gloria in gloriam, sic exponunt: in ampliorem et in dies majorem; ut phrasis similis sit cum illa Rom. 1.: ex fide in fidem. Augustinus alias adfert expositiones, de gloria creationis in gloriam justificationis; de gloria fidei in gloriam speciei; de gloria, quia filii Dei sumus, in gloriam, qua similes ei erimus, quoniam videbimus eum, sicuti est. Nobis id, quod prius diximus, a claritate Dei in claritatem nostram, maxime videtur textui consonum. Quae et Graecorum omnium est expositio. Dicit autem Apostolus: nos omnes, ut significet, id, quod uni Moysi quondam in figura ac ruysterio contigit, nunc in veritate toti Ecclesiae fidelium competere. Sic enim partem hanc plerique, tam Graeci, quam Latini, intelligunt. Potest autem eadem seutcntia, ni fallor, commodius exponi (quemadmodum exponunt eam Cajetanus, Gaignaeus et alii nonnulli) de solis Evangnlii ministris, in quorum persona, tam superius, quam in consequentibus multa loquitur Paulus; ut ab eo loco: Cutn autem conversus etc, sensus sit hujusmodi: Moyses, ablato velamine Dominum adspiciens, significat, nos, Evangeliiministros, quotquot sumus, qui revelata facie gloriam Domini, id est, notitiam mysteriorum salutis nostrae, quibus glorificatur Deus, non solum in nobis velut speculis quibusdam recipimus (nobis enim revelavit Deus per Spiritum suum, 1 Cor. 2.), verum etiam more speculorum refundimus ad alios, id est, aliorum mentibus eandem notitiam aperta ac libera Evangelii praedicatione repraesentamus,- nimirum a Spiritu, libertatis autore, cujus ministerium obimus, ad hoc impulsi. In hujus rei signum ipsi Paulo a Judaismo ad Christianismum, velut a littera ad Spiritum converso, et in Evangelii praedicatione plus aliis laboraturo, cum coelestis luminis fulgore caecatus fuisset, ab oculis ceciderunt tamquam squamae, visumque recepit; unde et continun coepit praedicare Jesum, quoniam hic est Filius Dei, Act. 9. Convenit hic sensus cum eo, quod in persona ministrorum Evangelii supra dixit: Fiduciam autem talem habemus etc., et iterum: Habentes igitur talem spem, multa fiducia utimvr; ntc minus apte cum iis, quae deinceps sequuntur.
3:1
1. incipimus iterum nosmet tpsos commendare? Adverbio «dXw (iterum) enim, quod cum verbo commendare coniungendum esse patet, ad calumniam, cuius ansam prior epistola dederat, alludit eamque quasi novo argumento ex iis, quae de apostolica sua simplicitate et sinceritate dixerat (2,15-17), ab adversariis confirmari posse innuit. Porro verbum cuwvictáv (vel cvwzévttv), quo frequentissime in hac epistola utitur (cfr 4,2; 5,19; 6,&; 7,11; 10,12.18; 12,11) a Vig. recte redditur commendare atque significat : laudibus alicuius aut re aut verbo exhibitis alterius benevolentiam ei conciliare; hic vero de commendatione verbis facta agitur. Atqui Sapiens iam monet : « laudet te alienus, et non os tuum, extraneus, et non labia tua » (Prov. 91,9); nam « qui se ipsum (verbis) commendat, non est probatus, sed quem Deus commendat » (10,18); minime ergo suae gloriae studens suumve commodum quaerens Apostolus de sua sinceritate locutus est. Quodsi quis verba ista in hanc partem detorquere voluerit, supponere debet, eum aliqua commendatione apud Corinthios indiguisse aut a Corinthiis alteri ecclesiae commendari voluisse; id quod absurde statui docet altera interrogatio ! : au/ nunquid egemus, sicut quidam, commendationis epistolis ad vos aut er vobis? Numquid pater filiis suis commendari debet, aut aliis commendari a filiis suis vult? Illi soli commendatione egent, qui in ecclesia aliqua , cui sunt ignoti, conversari atque docere volunt (cfr Act. 15,95-27; 18,97 etc.); ideoque illi quzdam (7véc) ; qua vaga expressione (cfr supra 2,17 oi &0))oi) pseudodoctores corinthii indicantur, commendatitiis epistolis ad Corinthios indiguerant atque nunc eorum benevolentiam sibi conciliare student, ut novis commendationibus acceplis sese in alias ecclesias insinuare possint. Cur ipse vero nec ad illos nec ab illis commendatione indigeat, ratio est manifesta :
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2. epzstola nostra vos estis, scripta in. cordibus nostris, quae scitur et legitur ab omnibus hominibus. Simili modo, quo in priore epistola Corinthios apostolatus sui s;gnaculum appellaverat (efr ad 1 Cor. 9,29 sq.), eos hic suam epistolam commendatitiam appellat, quae et ipsis Corinthiis et aliis omnibus ecclesiis sufficiens sit muneris sui apostolici testimonium. Sicut enim contra adversarios apostolicam suam dignitatem agnoscere nolentes ad fidem et vitam christianam Corinthiorum, quae sunt opus suum in Domino, appellare potest, ita fide et moribus Corinthiorum et ipsis Corinthiis et aliis omnibus tamquam genuinus Christi Apostolus commendatur. Porro epistola haec non est scripta in charta, ut cam iter faciens studiose conservare et adveniens neophytis exhibere debeat; sed eam in. corde suo scriptam (vel potius Ziscriptem: &svexyutvav) habet, quum ipsos Corinthios per continuam eorum memoriam et caritatem semper in animo suo gerat (cfr 7,3; PA/. 1,7;; quare cam amittere nequit. Neque eam ipsis Corinthiis aut aliis ecclesiis exhibere tenetur; quamvis enim interna sit, simul tamen omnibus est perspicua et ab omnibus cognoscitur et. legitur, siquidem ecclesia, quae in famosissima Achaiae metropoli est exorta, inter omnes Christianos est cognita, nec quisquam ex illorum numero, sive Coriuthi sive in alio terrae tractu degit, eam a Paulo sociisque cius fundatam ad eumque, quem occupat, perfectionis gradum. adductam esse ignorat; omnibus igitur manifestissimum et evidentissimum «documentum est apostolicae dignitatis Pauli. Ceterum apte addit Chrys., quem plerique sequuntur, Apostolum pro amore, quo neophytos corinthios amplectebatur, eorum virtutes ubique celebrasse atque hac ratione epistolam , quam in corde gerebat, aliis ecclesiis quodammodo cognoscendam et legeudam exhibuisse. Minus recte vero moderni acath. plurimi, uti suo iam tempore Sa/m., epistolam cordi Pauli inscriptam dici arbitrantur, quatenus conscius sibi fuerit, se Corinthiorum conversione sufficienter commendari ; haec enim eius conscientia aliis nec manifesta fuit nec innotescere potuit. Neque rectius Ca?. epistolam. cordi inscriptam dicit, quia Paulo tam cara fuerit, quam illud quod cordi impressum est ; nec verbisenim nec contextui haec explicatio consonat. Quo cum iure Corinthios epistolam suam commendatitiam appellaverit, nunc ita explanat, ut eam prorsus singularem ac praeclaram commendationem esse atque a reliquis commendationibus scriptis toto coelo differre appareat :
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3. manzfestati , quod epistola estis Christi, ministrata a nobis, et scripta non atramento sed Spiritu Dei vivi, non in tabulis lapideis sed in tabulis cordis carnalibus. Participio manifestati , quod latinus interpres ob participii praes. pass. defectum non satis accurate adhibuit (graece enim habetur part. praes. qavepoóp£vot atque de re praesente agitur), quum ad praecedens pronomen vos referatur (epistola nostra vos estis), rationem dat appellationis adhibitae : « epistolam commendatitiam nostram vos appello, nam manifestum est (ozvepóv yp écrw rt), quod revera scriptum aliquod sitis, quo commendemur ». Atque profecto eximium esse hoc scriptum apparet, si ad eius auctorem et scribam'praeprimis attenditur : auctorem enim habet ipsum Christum, quo dictante eam literis exararunt Paulus eiusque socii : epistola Christi, ministrata a nobis : « ipsius servatoris estis epistola; ipsius enim sunt verba praedicationis, nos autem ministri literarum » (Theod.), siquidem Apostoli « dum docent, scribunt » (4'*"); recte igitur Zerv. : « principaliter estis epistola Christi , secundario nostra, quia ipse principaliter vos scripsit, nos secundario, i. e. per ministerium nostrum scripsit in vobis fidem spem caritatem ac reliqua bona » (cfr Lomb. Thom. etc., Salm. Iust. Est. etc., Mat. Bisp. eic. — Mey. Goeb. Schn. etc.). Cum CArys. quidem alii genetivo CAristi non auctorem sed argumentum epistolae designari arbitrantur, quum Corinthii « legem Christi inscriptam habeant; nam quae Deus cum omnibus Christianis atque cum Corinthiis quoque communicavit, haec in cordibus eorum inscripta sunt » (CÀrys. cfr Oec. Theoph. Gagn. Nat. M Ev!. etc. — Heinr. etc.) ; attamen haec explicatio, etsi verbis utcumque consonat (Christus enim metonymice legem Christi significare potest) , contextui non congruit, nisi verbo 9uxaovety (ministrare) primarii auctoris operam indicari parum recte statuatur. Uti auctore, ita materia quoque, quae ad eam scribendam adhibita est , aliis epistolis commendatitiis longe praestat haec Pauli commendatio. Neque enim scripta est atramento sed Spiritu Dei vivi; namque Pauli praedicatio corinthia non fuerat « in persuasibilibus humanae sapientiae verbis, sed in ostensione Spiritus et virtutis » (cfr ad 1 Cor. 9,4). Egregie Cai. : « Christus operando in animo hominis assensum spem atque dilectionem utitur spirituali efficacia Spiritus Sancti : et subministrantes praedicatores manifestationem ac suasionem singulorum , quae credenda, speranda ac diligenda sunt, non solum a Spiritu S. ad hoc moventur, sed Spiritui S. in intimis auditorum operanti materiam subministrant : ac per hoc et ipsi subministerialiter imprimunt in animos hominum non per atramentum, sed per Spiritum Dei viventis ». Merito autem Paulus Spiritum vocat Spiritum Dei vivi propter vivificam eius, quam indicare vult, vim ad regenerationem animarum; viva enim epistola neophyti corinthii sunt. Attamen in hoc membro epistolam, de qua agit, non amplius solis epistolis commendatitiis atramento conscriptis opponit , sed prae oculis iam simul habere differentiam videtur, quae Vetus inter et Novum Foedus intercedit quamque statim uberius explanabit. Certum saltem est, eum in ultimo membro ad hanc differentiam respicere, quum ad prophetica quaedam dicta alludens epistolam suam non ?n tabulis lapideis sed in tabulis cordis carnalibus inscriptam dicit. Lapides enim literis commendatitiis scribendis non inserviebant; at tabulis lapideis Deus Legem mosaicam inscripserat (Exod. 31,18; 32,15 sq.) quasi praefigurans corda lapidea Iudaeorum, quae nec beneficiis nec minis poenisque ad obedientiam adduci poterant. Quapropter sese in Novo Foedere corda eorum lapidea ablaturum novaque corda carnea daturum esse promisit (Ezech. 36,26; 11,9), quibus legem suam inscribere posset (efr fer. 31,38). lam eiusmodi corda carnea , « i. e. mollia ex affectu implendi atque intelligendi » (TAom.), Deus dederat neophytis, quos hae ralione praeparaverat, ut non tantum legem evangelicam amplecterentur, sed eius vim quoque vita et moribus testaventur atque ita fierent epistola, qua Apostolus, cuius ministerio scripta erat, tamquam genuinus Evangelii praeco apud omnes commendaretur. Magnam sui fiduciam Apostolus exhibuerat, quum sese idoneum declararet , qui Christi bonus odor esset aliis in mortem aliis in vitam, neque minorem ostenderat, quum ad ecclesiam corinthiam suo ministerio fundatam, ut prius assertum ab arrogantiae criminatione vindicaret, tamquam ad epistolam commendatitiam a Christo sibi conscriptam appellaret. At ut clarius appareat, quam longe haec sua asserta ab omni superbiae suspicione absint, ultimum fiduciae suae fontem patefacit; neque enim sibi quidquam , sed omnia Deo auctori adscribit :
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&. fiduciam autem talem habemus per Christum ad Deum. Christum, utpote mediatorem, per quem omnia divina munera in nos promanant, etiam huius fiduciae causam designari clarum est; minus certum autem est, quo sensu fiducia xpós 1àv O«óv (ad Deum) esse dicatur. Nonnulli ad Ho. 4,2 provocantes, quo in loco (uti alibi quoque) Vulg. verba illa reddidit apud Deum, veram fiduciam, « quae probetur et remuneretur in divino iudicio » significari volunt (Dion. Est. Nat. M Ev. Dr. etc. — de W. Hoffm.) ; rectius tamen alii fiduciam ad Deum tamquam ad ultimum fontem referri dicunt; « fiducia haec tendit in Deum, ex cuius viribus hoc dico, quia in me operatur » (Thom. Herv. Cai. Iust. Mai. Disp. LR. ete. — Mey. Heinr. etc.). Hanc enim explicationem suggerit ipse Apostolus addens :
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5. non quod sufficientes (ixvot idonei!) szmus cogitare aliquid a. nobis, quasi ex nobis : sed. sufficientia. (3i«avóvrs idoneitas) nostra er Deo est; quibus verbis Deus velut auctor seu causa efficiens etiam fiduciae indicatur, quia omnia bona ei deberi docent. Ex oppositione inter duo sententiae membra elucet, verba a nobis tamquam ez nobis cum infinitivo cogitare aliquid immediate non esse connectenda, sed ad praedicatum done? simus proxime pertinere (a nobis non sumus idonei, sed ex Deo); clarius id apparet ex meliorum codd. graec. lectione (cfr VV. L L.) : « non quod a nobis idonei simus cogitare aliquid, quasi ex nobis ». Attamen quoniam in secundo membro nudum substantivum sufficientia. ponitur, clarum quoque est, infinitivum cogitare. liquid cum praedicato ?donez sumus in unam quasi ideam coalescere. De fonte igitur idoneitatis ad aliquid cogitandum agitur; atque Apostolus fiduciam se habere asserens non €o sensu intelligi vult, quod (de formula 957 4v« non quod cfr ad 1,24) « se zpso tamquam ez se ipso valeat aliquid cogitare. Ambae quidem praepositiones (25 et i£, ab, ex) originem rei indicant; in eo tamen inter se differunt, quod priore (2x5, proximus, altera (£j remotus fons significetur. Gratia adiutus Paulus a se aliquid cogitari posse non negat, at idoneitatem hanc uon ez se tamquam ex ultimo fonte, sed ex Deo haurit. Similiter iam explicat Thom. : « Ne videatur tollere libertatem arbitrii, dicit : a nobis quasi ex nobis , quasi dicat : Possum quidem aliquid facere, quod est liberi arbitrii, sed hoc quod facio (rectius : quod facere possum) non est ex me, sed a Deo, qui hoc ipsum posse confert; ut sic et libertatem hominis defendat, quum dicit a noócs, et divinam gratiam commendet, quum dicit : quasi ez nobis sc. procedat »; atque Dion. : « a nobis i. e. propria potestate, quasi ez nobis i. e. tamquam ex prima et principali virtute; licet enim nos quoque simus causa operis boni per liberum arbitrium (quia nec aliter mereremur), natura nostra tamen indiget gratia » etc. titur, ex apostolicis verbis legitime desumatur, non est dubium. Clarius quidem est argumentum, si Aug. sententia praefertur; quae enim Paulus proxime de se suisque sociis apostolicis asserit, ca de omnibus omnino hominibus aut a pari aut a fortiore valere, manifestum est. Àt in priore quoque explicatione rite concludi potest : sicuti praedicatores nihil, quod ad praedicationis effectum conducit, ex se habent, ita nec fideles ulla ratione suis solis viribus naturalibus praedicationi auditae assensum praestare possunt. Hac igitur ex parte nihil obstat, quominus prior explicatio admittatur; nihilominus secundam praeferendàm arbitramur ob ea, quae sequuntur : qut e£ idoneos nos fecit (bc xai ix4voctv fuic) ministros novi testamenti. Particula xei enim ($c xai qui etiam, vel qui idem) Apostolus ab universali sententia, quam posuerat, ad specialem transit : relate ad omnia, quae ad salutem sive propriam sive alienam procurandam pertinent, idoneitas nostra ex Deo est, cui etiam hoc debemus, quod sumus idonei ministri N. T. Quodsi vero superior sententia (non quod sufficientes simus etc.) de solo ministerio apostolico explicatur, baberi videtur mera tautologia : « relate ad ministerium nostrum idoneitas nostra ex Deo est, qui idem (vel qui etiam) idoneos ministros nos fecit ». Aliud esset, si Paulus scripsisset : 6; xal fiac lxxvoarv, qui (praeter alios) etiam nos fecit idoneos; at ordo verborum, quem omnes codices tuentur, postulat, ut explicemus : qui (praeter alia bona, quae ex ipso habemus) etiam hoc nobis contulit, ut simus idonei ministri. lnmerito moderni illud qui et (& xat) explicant, ac si scripptum sit : quippe qui (der eben, 6cz«). Postquam Deo omnia, quae habet , auctori adscribens novam arrogantiae criminationem praecavit, Apostolus calumniatoribus suis tamquam radicem fiduciae libertatisque, qua de se suisque loqui soleat, excelsitatem ministerii sibi a Deo commissi opponit : sufficientia nostra ex Deo est,
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6. qui et idoneos nos fecit ministros (graecum : ó; xai Gukvocty 73; Óvzovovz accuratius verte : qui et idoneos nos fecit, ut essemus ministri) 20vi testamenti, non. litera sed spiritu (lege : non literae sed Spiritus cfe VV. L L. o5 «iuuxzog dA. mwtópxvoz) ; litera enim occidit, Spiritus autem vivificat. Ut ministerii sui praestantiam , ex qua fiducia loquendi exoritur (cfr v. 12), demonstret, illud ministerio veteris testamenti comparat paucisque verbis ad v. 3. respiciens duorum foederum diversum characterem indicat, ut statim (v. 7.sqq.) virtutes, quibus novum veteri praestat, uberius enumeret. Idoneos igitur se suosque socios factosesse dicit, ut essent mznistri novi testamentt!, i. e. foederi illi omnes suas vires consecrarent, quod per leremiam (31,31 sqq.) praedictum et mediatore Iesu cum toto genere humano sancitum (Heór. 9,15 etc.) veteri olim in monte Sina cum filiis Israel per Moysen stabilito successit. Quorum duorum foederum diversam indolem duo vocabula docent, quae appositionis constructione genetivo novi festamenti adduntur : non J/iterae sed Spiritus, ita. ut litera sit quasi definitio veteris foederis, Spiritus vero novi indolem describat?. Simili ratione alibi quoque Paulus vetustatem literae novitati Spiritus opponit (Hom. 7,6) cum Evangelista insinuans, Legem datam esse per Moysen, gratiam et veritatem factam esse per Iesum Christum (loan. 1,17); quam enim loannes vocat Legem, hanc Paulus vocat literam qua Lex erat tradita, et quam ille dicit gratiam et veritatem , hic dicit Spiritum, qui est earum auctor?. Ac profecto id proprium Vetus Lex habebat, ut esset scripta libroque consignata, ideo externa, et quasi mortua, quae praecepta sua proposuit quidem hominibus sed eis per se virtutem ad illa implenda non contulit; novae oeconomiae autem proprius est Spiritus S., qui nobis confertur et quo caritas Dei diffunditur in cordibus nostris; « et sic Spiritus S., dum facit in nobis caritatem , quae est plenitudo Legis, est testamentum novum » (ZÀom.). Optime CArys. : « vetus Lex spiritualis quidem erat (cfr tom. 1,15), sed Spiritum non dabat; neque enim Spiritum Moyses, sed literas attulit; nostrae autem curae concreditum est, ut Spiritum demus ». . Cur vero Deus apostolicos operarios fecerit ministros novi testamenti, ut non iam veteris Legis literas sed novum donum Spiritus afferant (cfr TAeod.), explicat.sententia addita : Jitera enim occidit, spiritus autem vivificat. Vetus quoque Lex a Deo erat data, ut homo observatione eius vitam haberet (cfr Lev. 18,5), atque hanc ob causam ei multis suis praeceptis et prohibitionibus viam monstravit, qua ad vitam pervenire posset; sancta igitur erat Lex et mandatum sanctum et iustum (Rom. 1,19). Attamen homo peccato corruptus nec in se habuit vires, quibus Legem impleret, neque has vires a Lege accepit; contra vero Lex ipsis suis prohibitionibus auxit desiderium malum, quum illud ipsum, quod coneupiscitur, iucundius fiat, si vetatur, atque hac ratione Lex facta est occasio maiorum peccatorum et mortis aeternae. « Legis litera, inquit Aug. , si Spiritus vivificans desit, occidit; sciri enim peccatum facit potius quam caveri, et ideo magis augeri quam minui, quia malae concupiscentiae etiam praevaricatio Legis accedit »; « cognitio igitur Legis facit superbum praevaricatorem » et ducit ad mortem; « verum quidem Lex : qui fecerit illa, vivet in illis; sed ut faciat illa et vivat in illis, non Lex quae hoc imperat, sed fides est necessaria, quae hoc impetrat »; etenim « regnum mortis in quolibet homine sola gratia destruit Salvatoris, quae operata etiam est in antiquis sanctis, quicumque, antequam Christus in carne veniret, ad eius tamen adiuvantem gratiam, non ad Legis literam, quae iubere tantum, non adiuvare poterat, pertinebant » (de spir. et lit. & sqq.; c. duas epp. Pel. III. 7; IV. 5; de pecc. mer. ct remis. 1. 11; cfr c. adv. Leg. II. 7; c. Faust. XV. 8 etc.). Per se igitur Lex ducit ad mortem aeternam ; iam vero gratia et veritas, quae per Christum facta est, novo testamento est propria et essentialis; per gratiam autem et veritatem Spiritus, qui novi testamenti filiis datur, eos facit legis evangelicae observatores eisque ius tribuit ad vitam aeternam , siquidem regnum mortis in eis plane destruxit. hic de typis Veteris Test. et de Novi Test. antitypis (S. Cyr. Aler. i. h. I. S. Basil. de Spir. S. 21); aut de sensu literali et de sensu spirituali Scripturarum intelligunt (Orig. c. Cels. VII. 20; Didym. A. de Spir. S. 57 etc.), nisi forte cos verba Apostoli suo argumento dumtaxat accommodasse dicas; id quod S. Aug. (Doctr. christ. III. 5) revera voluisse dicendus est, quum tot aliis in locis sine ulla haesitatione eam so- Jam explicationem verborum tradat, quam supra exposuimus. 9. Ex ministerio sibi commisso Paulus suam loquendi fiduciam hausit (3,1-4,6). Calumniatoribus suis Apostolus ministerium novi testamenti opposuit paucis verbis illud adumbrans; quod argumentum uberius explicaturus ministris novis ob maiorem novi testamenti praestantiam gloriam maiorem competere (3,7-11) atque eorum fiduciam loquendi ex ipsa hac maiore gloria et indole novi testamenti exoriri ostendit (3,129-18); itaque excelsi sui ministerii memor fuit, quando aperta sua et manifesta praedicatione sese commendavit (5,1-6). 1.) Quia novum testamentum veleri mullum praestat , eius ministris maior competit gloria (97-11).
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3,1. Quod si ministratio mortis, literis 3,7. Ei ei f, Qvixovla o9 Üavázou lv ypáp- Triplici ratione Apostolus, ut novo ministerio velut praestantiori maiorem gloriam competere ostendat, duo testamenta inter se comparat; novo enim testamento vetus longe imperfectius esse apparet, sive ad eorum manifestationem et probationem (1.8), sive ad eorum effectus (9.10), sive ad eorum durationem (v. 11) attenditur. Quae tria membra 7ZAeod. iam recte distinxit : « comparat Moysen et praedicatores gratiae atque ostendit, illum scriptas quidem tabulas attulisse, hos autem gratiam Spiritus S. praebere, atque Legem quidem punire, Spiritum autem vivificare, et gloriam quam ille habuit brevi durasse tempore, horum autem gloriam manere in aeternum ». Moyses quadraginta diebus et noctibus cum Domino in monte commoratus, quum descendens filiis Israel tabulas Legis secunda vice afferret, tam splendidam habebat faciem , ut Aaron et populus totus, quia splendorem vultus eius ferre non poterant, ad eum accedere non &uderent; quare faciem suam, quoties cum populo agebat et colloquebatur, velo contegere coactus est, quod ad Dominum accedens eum eoque colloquens iterum auferebat!. Hanc Scripturae narrationem Paulus in hac expositione prae oculis habet; externus enim splendor, quo Moysis facies fulgebat, argumentum ei est internae gloriae, quae Moysi tamquam ministro et mediatori Legis competebat ; ab hac vero maiorem gloriam Apostolis, novi testamenti ministris et annuntiatoribus, debitam conclusione a minore rite colligit. A modo igitur, quo duorum testamentorum ministeria manifestata et probata sunt, exorditur : 7. quodsi ministratio mortis, literis deformata in lapidibus , fuit (rectius : facta est, utilegit S. Aug. c. adv. leg. I. 7. éyeviüv) fn gloria, tta ut non. possent intendere (azeviou« fixis oculis intueri) /i/z Israel in faciem Moysi propter gloriam vultus eius quae evacuatur (vel : evacuabatur) :
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8. quomodo non meqgis mtnistratio spiritus erit in gloria? It. (S. Aug. 1. c.) Copt. Arm. Aeth. Goth.; sed text. receptus : 022i 2:562x3z2:i (nec glorificatum est) cum paucis minusc., 1t. (Ater Pel.) Vulg. ctc. Prior lectio pracferenda cst, sed sensu ab altera parum discrepat. 1. Cfr Exod. 34,29 sqq. In versione sua (facies cornuta) Aquilam , qui etiam metaphoAd latinam versionem quod attinet, graeca vox 5j 9uxxovíz Lucae et, Paulo usitatissma a. Vulg. fere semper (vicies septies) recte redditur ministerium , minus apte hoc solo in loco ministratio et &; 1 admznistratio vertitur, quum de munere ministri sit sermo. Porro pro participio deformata (ivvsvvrepéva insculpta) antiqui aut formata (S. Aug. c. adv. leg. II. 7 ; A'*") aut figurata (S. Aug. de spir. et lit. 14) legerunt; consueta tamen lectio retineri potest, dummodo attendatur, verbum deformare non semper significare male formare, sed saepe idem esse quod formare (cfr Num. 17,93 flores in virga Aaron dicuntur « deformati in amygdalas »); minus recte vero TAom. explicat : perfecte formata, « quum Apostolus quidvis potius agat, quam ut doceat, Legem valde bene fuisse formatam » (lust.). Ad sententiae brum (ministerium spiritus) non plene esse expressum patet, sed ex superioribus in hunc fere modum facile completur : ministerium vitae spiritu Dei vivi inscriptum cordibus. Namque nomine ministerá mortis designari ministerium veteris Legis (literae), quae quia occidit tropice mors vocatur, in aperto est; eadem ergo ratione novum testamentum, quia vivificat, vz/a vocetur oportet. Vetus deinde ministerium Paulus zn /:teris znsculptum lapidibus dicit ad v. 9. alludens, quo illud solis rebus materialibus commendari insinuaverat ; expressio ergo in literis insculptum respondet superiori scripta atramento! , sicuti nomen lapidibus priori zn tabulis lapideis. Atqui iuxta eundem t. 9. ministerium novum rebus immaterialibus manifestatur et commendatur, siquidem nova lex praedicantibus Apostolis Spiritu Dei vivi tnscribitur tabulis cordis carnalibus. Moyses filiis Israel ministerium sibi divinitus collatum manifestavit et probavit tabulis lapideis a Deo acceptis, quibus vetus Lex insculpta erat literis : Apostoli toti mundo ministerium novum sibi divinitus collatum manifestant et probant cordibus fidelium, quibus Spiritus caritate diffusa novam legem inscripsit; ipsi enim fideles vita supranaturali donati authentica sunt ministerii Apostolorum documenta, sicut lapideae tabulae ministerio Moysis fidem faciebant. Quodsi igitur iudaizantes de manifesta hac Legis mosaicae commendatione gloriantur atque ad splendorem , quo facies Moysis ex consortio sermonis Domini relucebat, velut ad argumentum divinitatis Legis per Moysen allatae provocant, maiore cum iure (u323ov potius) neophyti de Apostolorum suorum perfectioribus documentis gloriari et ex maiore eorum gloria 1. Levis quaedam imaginis inconcinnitas exorta est, quum Apostolus ab epistola commenefücacius argumentum desumere possunt ac debent; quanto enim spirituale materiali praestat, tanto novi ministerii gloria etiam internam Moysis gloriam splendore faciei indicatam superet necesse est. Iíanc ob causam Apostolus, sicut minorem veteris ministerii dignitatem nomine minzsterit mortis insinuavit, gloriae quoque gradum esse minorem insinuat eam àv xrapyougívav (evanescentem) dicens. Ac profecto splendor faciei Moysis non tantum morte eius evanuit, sed eliam, id quod ex narratione Exodi (35,35) rite colligitru, continua renovatione indiguit. Ob eandem quoque causam vetus ministeriuu factum esse (&yevión), novum futurum esse (£ovax) in gloria dicitur; neque enim recte aliqui futuro £crat solam consequentiam denotari pütant (ita res esse invenietur, si bene perpenditur); Paulus enim ad externám quoque gloriam manentem prospicit , quae novi testamenti ministris reservata est et suo tempore manifestabitur (cfr
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v. 12. habentes talem spem). Haud sine arte in primo huius expositionis membro duas alias rationes, quibus argumentationem suam complere voluit (effectus nimirum et durationem duorum ministeriorum) iam indicaverat. Ad quas nunc transiens sese recte a minore ad maius conclusisse confirmat effectum veteris ministerii, quod mznistrationem mortis appellaverat, novo opponens : 9. nam si ministratio (ministerium) damnationis gloria est (rectius : fuit !), multo magis abundat ministerium iustitiae in gloria. Quo cum iure Moysis ministerio velut effectus damnatio , novo autem tustitia adscribatur, ex antea dictis (cfr ad. v. 6) clarum est; quamvis autem damnationem effecerit, Lex tamen in se erat sancta, ideoque eius ministerium quoque in gloria, vel uti fortius dicitur, g/oria fuit; verum evidens cst , gloriam alterius ei tanto debere praestare, quanto alterius effectus praestat : una ex parte damnatio et mors, altera ex parte iustitia et vita, ergo prioris partis gloria disparere debet, si cum altera confertur. liaec diserte Apostolus docet pergens : 10. nam nec (vel cum S. At. rectius : etenzm non ai X2 05 cfr VV. L L.) glorificatum est, quod claruit (lege : glorificatum est, quod glorificatum est 8só2acva« và 0c3o2acévov) in hac parte propter excellentem gloriam. Quae egregie exponit Theod. : « tanta est enim gloria, quae istis (sc. novi testamenti ministris) est reservata, ut ne gloriam quidem fuisse merito dixeris eam, quae Moysi contigit , si ad istos respexeris. Noctu enim lumen lucernae videtur splendidissimum ; meridie autem absconditur et ne lumen quidem esse putatur » ; atque Pe/. : «in comparatione gloriae evangelicae, obumbratur gloria Legis , sicut oborto sole lumen obtunditur lunae, quae tamen suo tempore magnum habet fulgorem ». Haec est communior et verior huius oximori explicatio, quum verba 2n Aac parte (iv «oz 7à pps) ad praedicatum (o5 3:8022cz« non glorificatum est), minime vero ad subiectum («5 9:9o-acufvov quod. claruil) pertineant atque comparationis rationem vt. 9. expressam respiciant : * gloria ministerii Moysis, quae splendore faciei eius manifestata est (zo :3o£acuévov), non est gloria hoc respectu, sc. si cum novi ministerii gloria comparatur, propter alterius huius gloriae supereminentiam » (cfr CArys. Theod. etc. , Pel. Herv. Lomo. lust. Est. Nat. Pic. et moderni plerique), vel uti aliqui moderni explicare malunt : « non est. glorificatum hoc respectu, scilicet quod attinet ad (£veza) excellentiorem gloriam » ( Mey. Heinr. eíc.). Prior tamen antiquorum explicatio praeplacet, quia praepositioni £vex in Novo Test. satis frequenti a profanis quidem scriptoribus illa significatio interdum attribuitur, sed nusquam a sacris auctoribus. et gloria Apostolorum, ut viatores eam capere nequeant ». Alias eiusmodi interpretationes praetermittimus. Comparatione maioris gloriae novi ministerii evanescere et quasi disparere antiqui testamenti gloriam , Apostolus tertio membro (v. "i. 7àv xatTapyouufviüv) explanato confirmat : 11. si enim: quod evacuatur (7 xxTapyoóp.svov evanescens) per glóriam est (lege : fuit cfr ad v. 9), multo magis quod manet (39 u£vov manens) in gloria est (rectius : erit). « Illud, quod datur ut transeat, nihil est in respectu ad illud , quod datur ut semper maneat » (Thom.), transitorium enim coram aeterno disparet (cfr 4,17 sq. ) : &tqui ministerium Moysis adveniente Christo cessare debuit ac revera illo tempore, quo Evangelium in toto orbe praedicabatur, evanuit. Lex enim paedagogus noster erat ad Christum, at ubi venit fides, iam non sumus sub paedagogo (Gal. 3,24 8q.); cum Lege autem cessat ministerium eius qui illam attulit. Iam Legi, quae finem habere debuit, Evangelium tamquam «9 pévov (manens) legitime opponitur. Neque enim, sicut vetus testamentum novo, & quo perficiebatur et complebatur, locum cedere debuit, nunc tertia quaedam exspectari potest revelatio, qua evangelica doctrina perficiatur et compleatur, quum perfecta et completa sit; promissiones quoque veteris foederis omnes, quum terrae Palaestinae possessionem et haereditatem directe respicerent, temporales ac transitoriae erant; promissiones vero novae oeconomiae omnes, quia haereditatem coelestem, cuius Palaestina dumtaxat typus fuerat, directe respiciunt, aeternae sunt semperque manebunt. Unde conclusio patet : quanto aeternum transitorio praestat, tanto gloria ministrorum Evangelii manentis superet necesse est gloriam ministri Legis transeuntis. Quomodo gloria haec nova nunc iam sese manifestet, Paulus statim dicet (v. 12 sqq.); Apostoli enim , licet externo faciei splendore, quo glorificatus est Moyses, carerent atque hac ratione Moyse inferiores esse viderentur, internam tamen gloriam, cuius splendor in facie Moysis non erat nisi symbolum, tota sua docendi ratione manifestabant. Attamen de sola gloria externa et interna, qua Apostoli iam his in terris insigniuntur, non agitur, sed futura quoque gloria, qua in secundo Christi adventu insignientur, simul intelligatur oportet (cfr ad v. 8); quare verbum in graeca phrasi omissum (1034 p.3XXov «à uévov àv 92x) futuro (£cra: erit) melius quam praesente (icrív est) supplemus. Recte 7/eod. : « si ergo illud (quod transiit) gloriam consecutum est (vexóyzat 902z«) , evidens est, hoc (manens) multo maiorem esse assecuturum (2ZXov ózt... «t osevot) ». Haud pauci recentiores ct moderni (Est. Pic. Bisp. Mai. etc. — Heinr. Goeb. ctc.) locutiones per gloriam (at Só£nc) et in gloria (iv 965r), quamvis inter se vicinissimae eandem fere ideam exprimant, ita tamen differre arbitrantur, ut priore aliquid momoentanei et transitorii, aitera aliquid stabile ac permanens connotetur. Quin etiam Theod. Mopsu. priorem adhiberi dixit, ut Moysen solum et ad breve tempus gloria fruitum csse significaretur, altera vero significari, cum Christo Christianos quoque semper in eadem gloria fore. Erronea quidem est Mopsuesteni sententía, quia de Christi Christianorumque gloria non est sermo, nec apparet, quomodo praepositione $4 aliae personae excludantur et praepositione iv aliae includantur. At verum est, praepositionem 9: c. genet. de statu, in quo constitutus aliquis agit, ita usurpari ut per illum statum quasi transiens cogitetur (cfr 2,4 &ypaja 6ix. xoXAGv Saxpüov scripsi per multas lacrymas); quare haud improbabile est, Paulum, qui in praepositionum usu cautus et diligens est, ad hanc significationem praepositionis 9i£ attendisse atque illius usu brevem durationem gloriae ministerii veteris indicare voluissc. Nihilominus, quia interdum etiam sine ulla apparente ratione praepositiones synonymas variat atque supra (v. 7) ministerium Moysis in gloria factum essc dicit, quamvis eam transitoriam fuisse diserte addat (z7v xarapyoopgévny), alii merito dubitant, num hoc in loco illam praepositionis 9:& significationem urgere liceat. 2.) Ob maiorem novi minislersi gloriam novique testamenti indolem Aposiolos Jiducia loquendi uli decel. (3,12-18). Maioris gloriae, quae novi testamenti ministris competat, spes causa est fiduciae libertatisque, qua Apostoli loqui revelataque facie, i. e. aperte et clare, Evangelium annuntiant (12. 13); quam assertionem explicans simul et confirmans Paulus ludaeis, qui vetus suum testamentum, quia Christum non agnoscunt, nondum intelligunt (15. 15), Christianos opponit, qui omnes aperta facie Christum intuentes in eius imaginem gloriosam transformantur (16-18). Procul dubio hanc expositionem, quae, quamvis cum argumentatione arcte cohaereat, digressionis cuiusdam speciem habet, conclusioni addidit, ut neophytos contra iudaizantium magistrorum, qui tum temporis Corinthi commorabantur, machinationes praemuniret. Pro diversa duorum ministeriorum dignitate et gloria diversa quoque est agendi ratio ministro rum, siquidem maiorem suam gloriam apostolici operarii ingenuitate sinceritateque sua manifestant : 12. Aabentes igitur (uti demonstratum est, tamquam evangelicae oeconomiae ministri) talem spem (multo maioris semperque duraturae gloriae) multa fiducia utimur. Quid «a£fzcíac (Vulg. fiduciae) vocabulo Paulus hoc loco significet !, bene describit Chrys. : « cum libertate ubique verba facimus, nihil celantes, nihil occultantes, nihil dissimulantes, sed perspicue loquentes; neque veremur, ne vestros oculos vulneremus, sicut Moyses Iudaeorum oculos perstrinxit ». Proxime quidem hanc loquendi fiduciam et libertatem de sua ipsius commendatione intelligi vult, quam contra adversarios suos, qui eam ex arrogantia superbiaque exoriri criminabantur, ipsius ministerii dignitati inniti asserit, quippe quae postulet, ut Apostoli ea manifestent, quibus tamquam genuini ministri novi testamenti a Deo sint commendati. Attamen quemadmodum in priore inconstantiae calumnia refutanda fundamentum accusationis (mutatum itineris consilium) leviter tantum tractavit, ut suam in docendo constantiam simplicitatemque maxime vindicaret, ita huius quoque criminationis fundamentum (sui commendationem) quasi seponit, ut fontem sinceritatis ingenuitatisque, qua totam evangelicam doctrinam sine verecundia et timore clare et aperte annuntiat, patefaciens calumniatores suosiudaizantes confundat. Quamobrem Apostolorum ac Moysis rationes agendi inter se comparat :
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13. et non, sicut Moyses ponebat velamen super faciem suam, ut non intenderent. filii. Israel in. faciem ( lege : in finem &i; 19 4£)oq efr VV. LL.) ezus quod evacuatur, nos quoque faciem nostram velo contegimus occultamusque (hac ratione ellipticam sententiam complendam esse patet). Moyses quotiescumque filiis Israel praecepta divinitus accepta annuntiabat, iuxta Scripturae testimonium gloriam , quae ex consortio sermonis Domini in facie eius relucebat, velo abscondit; Apostoli Evangelium toti mundo annuntiantes sua zaj$zcía gloriam novi ministerii manifestant. Neque tamen hanc sententiam Paulus adiecit, ut ea, quae iam propriis verbis (v. 12) dixerat, per figuram quandam illustraret, sed ut profundiorem sensum, quem velum Moysis habuit, explicans Apostolos fiducia loquendi in Evangelii praedicatione uti posse ac debere clarius demonstraret. Etenim Moysis facies splendida velo erat obtecta, «4 non ?ntenderent filii Israel in finem eius quod ecacuatitr, Ex Scripturae quidem narratione omnino elucere videtur, Moysen velo faciem contexisse, ut cum populo, qui splendorem vultus eius non ferret , liberius ageret (cfr v. 7 ct Exod. 35,30. 35); attamen Deus, quum splendorem illum non auferret, sed Moysen ad eum velo occultandum impelleret, alium scopum habuit, quem Paulus typico-symbolica sua interpretatione nobis revelat!, Ex Deienim voluntate veluni splendidae faciei Moysis impositum symbolice indicabat, filios Israel finem eius quod evacuatur nondum debere defixis oculis intueri (zrevícat) nec proin plene cognoscere; iuxta Dei igitur voluntatem Moyses, quando velata facie filiis Israel praecepta divinitus accepta promulgabat, eis aliquid occultabat ; Apostoli contra nihil habent, quod occultent, sed omnia manifestant. Porro id quod evacuatur iuxta aliquos modernos proxime significat splendorem Moysis evanescentem (cfr v. 1 «àv 8dtxv «3v xcvapyoogévnv) ; monent autem splendorem hunc velut symbolum cessantis ministerii et Legis veteris considerari (Bisp. Mai. etc. — de W. Schn. etc.). At proxime et directe 70 xavapyoói.evov esse ipsum ministerium vetus, ex v. 11. evidenter elucere arbitror; neque enim duabus in sententiis immediate sese excipientibus eadem locutio diversas significationes habere potest. Sed quoniam ministerii evacuatio est necessaria sequela abrogationis Legis ipsius (cfr ad v. 11), nihil prorsus obstat, quominus id quod evacuatur etiam totam veterem oeconomiam esse cum plerisque PP. et antiquis interpretibus dicamus (cfr Chrys. Theod. etc., Aug. ll. cc. A'** etc., Caz. Iust. Est. etc.). Quid vero nomine /inis («9 1£Xo;) significatur? Iuxta alios (CArys. etc.) terminus, quo res aliqua esse desinit s. eius terminatio; iuxta alios (Theod. Aug. etc.) scopus quo res tendit; iuxta alios demum (Est. Lap. ete.) consummatio et perfectio rei. Tertiam quidem significationem, quamvis eam per se aptam esse non nego, graecum vocabulum (*&Xec) non admittit (consummatio est 76Mío0); duae aliae autem coniungantur oportet, ut plenum huius sententiae sensum assequamur. Etenim Lex tetendit ad Christum, non tantum quia tamquam paedagogus ad eum nos adducere debuit (Gal. 3,24), sed etiam quia omnia, quae in vetere oeconomia continebantur, praecepta, insütuta, sacrificia, eum eiusque opus praefigurarunt in eoque suam veritatem habuerunt (Co/. 2,17); atqui adveniente Christo paedagogus munere suo defunctus est et figurarum umbra locum cessit veritati rerum ; utroque igitur respectu Christus est finis Legis (Rom. 10,4), scopus ad quem tetendit, terminus quo esse desiit, atque si id addere vis, est etiam eius consummatio et perfectio. Iam splendor, qui in facie Moysis ex consortio sermonis Domini relucebat, typus symbolicus erat Christi, qui ipse in divina sua natura est splendor gloriae et figura substantiae Patris (Heór. 1,3) ; Moyses proin ex divino instinctu splendorem faciei suae velo filiis Israel occultans significabat eos nondum posse intueri Christum , qui, scopus et terminus Legis, vetus ministerium testamentumque aliquando erat abrogaturus; Apostoli autem Christum annuntiantes velo non amplius indigent, sed aperta facie multa cum fiducia Evangelium promulgant per totum orbem. Vix memoria digna est explicatio a Luth. in sua versione expressa, iuxta quam genetivus toU xatapyoopí£vou est mascul., ita ut de Moysis morte sit sermo (ut non intenderent filii Israel in finem Moysis morituri). — In latina quidem lectione explicanda (ut non intenderent filii Israel in faciem eius, quod evacuatur) multi cum Thom. genetivum eius de Moyse interpretantur, scd relativum quod ad praecedens nomen celamen trahunt (Moyses ponebat velamen super faciem suam, ut non..., quod evacuatur); at haec constructio in latino textu admodum dura cum graeco nulla ratione conciliatur. Minus porro apta est aliorum sententia, « qui hanc partem (quod evacuatur) ad gloriam faciei Moysis referunt voluntque significari : quae tamen faciei mosaicae gloria cito fuit exstincta » (Pic. M Ev. ctc.), quum nec latinae nec graecae grammaticae respondcat. Alii igitur, ut aptum sensum extundant, nomini faciei novam significationem affingunt : praeeuntibus antiquioribus nonnullis, qui faciem explicarunt « claram dictorum spiritualium intelligentiam », quae velamine carnalium figurarum csset abscondita (cfr Maym. Herc. Lomb. etc.), Iust. « faciem eius quod evacuatur » explicare voluit « vim potestatemque Legis periturae ». Quibus contortis explicationibus immorari non vacat; quia omnes latini Patres lectio" nem finem habebant, concedatur oportet, hodiernam Vulgatam librarii cuiusdam aut negligentia aut audacia essc vitiatam. In deserto filii Israel, si Christum, finem Legis, non cognoverunt, excusare sese potuerunt, quod velamine Moysis faciei imposito impediti essent, at Iudaeis Apostolorum aetate degentibus eandem excusationem praetendere non amplius licuit; aperta enim facie Apostoli eis multa cum loquendi fiducia Christum, finem Legis, annuntiant,
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14. sed obtusi sunt sensus eorum. Ad cllipsin praecedentis sententiae nonnulli non satis attendentes in explicanda particula 22? (sed) difficultatem aliquam invenerunt eamque pro qua (Est. etc.) aut pro itaque (Cramp. — lios. etc.) positam esse non minus arbitrarie, quam perperam censuerunt; adversativus enim nexus clarus est, si ad membrum omissum (nos velamen non gerimus) attenditur. Parum recte quoque moderni haud pauci (Ma. Bisp. etc. — Beng. Mey. Schn. etc.) particulam hanc (4344) praecedenti infinitivo (10; «à uj &vevíont) opponunt; nec constructio enim permittit, ut soli infinitivo, nec sensus, ut toti sententiae comparativae nostra phrasis opponatur; quae enim est oppositio : « Moyses velamine filios Israel a videndo fine perituri ministerii retinuit; sed filii Israel propria sua caecitate finem illum non viderunt »? Grammaticae vero nostra constructio plane consentit et sensus est aptissimus. Re enim vera iuxta Dei voluntatem Iudaei in deserto Christum clare cognoscere nec potuerunt nec debuerunt, idque significabat velamen, quo splendorem faciei Moysis, i. e. symbolicum typum Christi, intueri prohibebantur ; iuniores vero Iudaei , quibus Christus aperte praedicatur, eum cognoscere possunt et debent, sed ipsi quoque velamine quodam impediuntur. Quod Apostoli quidem super faciem suam non gerunt, sed Iudaei ipsi cordi suo imposuerunt (cfr v. 15) ; praedicatores clare loquuntur, sed auditorum animi sunt obtusi : £moepóUn cx vornp.xta «orOv. Verbum epo)v (callum obducere, callo inducto indurare) in Novo Test. semper de culpabili mentis hebetatione, qua aliquis veritatem agnoscere prohibetur, tropice usurpatur ideoque a Vulg. plerumque redditur excaecare (Rom. 11,7; Marc. 6,52; 8,17 ; semel zndurare Ioan. 19,40; hic eodem sensu obtundere; saepius non invenitur ; de sensu vobabuli voca cfr ad 2,11). Quando ei a quo hebetatae sint mentes ludaeorum, Apostolus non dicit; sed id iam pridem esse factum aoristo (r«560») indicat. Ac profecto Deus procedente revelatione velamen, quod super faciem Moysis positum erat, magis magisque removerat, ita ut clarioribus prophetarum valiciniis ludaei Messiam, finem Legis, cognoscere possent; sed quo magis velamen illud removebatur, eo magis Iudaei, instigante utique daemone (cfr &,&), sese ipsi occaecabant velamenque super cor suum ponebant. De qua voluntaria eorum hebetatione prophetae iam conquesti erant (cfr Is. 6,8 sqq. et Act. 28,25 sqq. etc.), atque eandem etiam suo tempore perdurare docet Paulus sententiam praecedentem explicans : usque in hodiernum enim diem idipsum velamen in lectione veteris testamenti manet non. revelatum (quontam in Christo evacuatur). Clarum est idipsum velamen tropice hic sumi, quatenus signum et signatum idem esse dicuntur; non idem igitur numero velum, quod Moyses super faciem posuerat, intelligitur, sed idem relate ad effectum, qui producitur : « sonabat enim vox Moysi per velum, et facies Moysi non apparebat; sic et modo ludaeis sonat vox Christi per vocem Sceripturarum veterum : vocem earum audiunt, faciem sonantis non vident » (S. Aug. Serm. 74,5) : uti mosaicum velamen patres impedivit, ne splendorem divinum in facie legislatoris sui intuerentur, ita voluntaria caecitas impedit filios, ne Christum in lectione veteris testamenti cognoscant. Hoc enim velamen manet non revelatum , i. e. non retegitur aut amovetur, idque ideo, quoniam in solo Christo fide apprebenso et agnito evacuatur; quia Christus ab eis respuitur, revelatio, quae de Messia in veteris testamenti libris babetur, ab eis non intelligitur. Quae ut magis inculcet, iisdem fere verbis repetit accuratius tamen indicans, ubinam nunc iam illud velamen sit quaerendum : velamen non retegitur,
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15. sed usque in hodiernum diem, quum legitur Moyses, velamen positum est super cor eorum. Qua in sententia verba guum legitur Moysis (av(xa &v &vaywviócxn tat Movcfi;) praecedenti dictioni in /ectione veteris testamenti (Pv ^5, ávvatt vis maed Duxfíx1;) omnino respondent eiusque significationem temporalem extra dubitationem ponunt (cfr Thom. Cai. etc.). Parum recte igitur cum CArys., qui tum in lectione tum in corde velamen poni dicit, multi antiquiores de duobus diversis velaminibus Apostolum vv. 154. et 15. loqui arbitrantur, de velamine « in lectione veteris testamenti » posito, quatenus Lex obscura sit utpote figuris involuta, et de velamine « super cor » positum , quatenus cor sit occaecatum (cfr Ierv. Lom. ete. — Fri- Izsche etc.); ut enim praetermittamus, velamen lectioni non imponi (mirus profecto esset eiusmodi tropus), Paulus, si duo velamina distinguere voluisset, dixisset, opinor : « sed etam velamen positum est super cor eorum ». Ceterum nomine veteris testamenti designari libros. quibus fundatio et historia veteris oeconomiae continebantur, tam clarum est , ut mireris aliquos modernos acath. (Mey. etc.) id negasse: sed nomine Moysis quoque (v. 15) metonymice omnia veteris testamenti volumina intelliguntur; de publica enim lectione agitur in synagogis fieri solita, in quibus praeter pericopas ex libris Legis desumtas aliae ex prophetis sabbatis singulis legebantur !. tur. Quamvis sua facilitate sese haec constructio commendet, Ater tamen versione sua (« hoc ipsum velamen ín lectione veteris testamenti manet, dum non revelatur, quia in Christo evacuatur » sc. vetus testamentum) alteram constructionem exprimit, quae haud paucis modernis praeplacet (Bísp. Mai. LR. Dr. — Mey. Flatt. Goeb. etc.). Participium (u3 dvaxaAorzóptvov) enim pro accusativo absoluto habent, qui coniunctione temporali (dum non revelatur) aut causali (quia non revelatur) exponendus sit; hinc etiam sententiae additae coniunctionem ($t) non esse causalem statuunt, sed obicctum verbi introducere, atque subiectum sententiolae non esse velamen, scd vetus testamentum. Itaque sensus esset : « idem velamen etiamnum manet in lectionc veteris testamenti, quia (Iudaeis) non revelatur (ac proin ignotum est), illud (sc. vetus testamentum) in Christo evacuari ». Licet accusativus absolutus participii, qui etiam apud profanos scriptores ad certa verba, quae impersonaliter adhibentur (lóv, sipnpífvov etc.), restringitur, aliis Novi Testam. exemplis non demonstretur in usu sacrorum scriptorum fuisse, neque etiam verbum dvaxaÀórrtw usquam metaphorice sensu manifestandi adhibitum legatur, constructionem hanc tamen per se admitti posse non plane nego; sed cur admittatur et communi interpretationi, quae facillima est, praeferatur, nulla prorsus adest ratio. Levc enim est, quod monetur, verbum xatagyetv vv. 11. 13. de vetere ministerio et testamento abrogando adhiberi neque proin de auferendo velo apte hic usurpari; cur enim velamen istud (voluntariam caecitatem) in Christo, 1. e. per fidem, non tantum auferri sed plane destrui et evacuari dici non potuit? A tristi Iudaeorum conditione, qui voluntariae occaecationis velo impediti Messiam suum non vident neque revelationes sibi factas intelligunt, Paulus ad felicem Christianorum conditionem transit, qui aperta facie gloriam Domini speculantes in eandem imaginem transformantur, atque praeprimis viam ostendit, qua ab uno statu ad alterum pervenitur :
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16. quum autem conversus fuerit ad Dominum, auferetur (lege : aufertur cfr VV. LL.) velamen. Cuius sentenliae textus graecus (4v(x« 9 v ixtvgélr vpüc Küptov , mepuxipetras 76 xdXupqa), si cum alexandrino textu Exod. 34,35 confertur (4v(«a 9 dv etoenopróezo Movit; ivav:i Kugíou Aa4Xetw ajTQ, wpuppttro 7) xXXupgia), dubitare quidem nos non sinit, quin Apostolus, uti in tota hac pericope, etiam hic ad mosaicam narrationem respexerit; sed certum quoque est, a vero aberrare, qui verba Exodi a Paulo diserte allegari censent (Est. Ramób. etc. — Calv. etc.). luxta eorum enim sententiam subiectum verbi conversus fuerit (£wozzílz) est Moyses, qui v. 15. nominetur, atque Moyses « conversus ad Dominum et retectam habens faciem veluttypus describitur populi christiani ad Deum conversi et revelata cordis facie salutis mysteria contemplantis » (cfr Est.). Verumtamen si Moysen velut typum describere voluit, Paulus dicere debuit : conversus ad Dominum abstulit sibi (rtpiszo) velamen; praesens (mepuigetvox) vero adhibitum satis docet, non eadem ratione, qua supra v. 13, factum historicum referri et ex eo argumentum desumi. Solam igitur tiae, si graecum sequimur textum, cuius verbum (émovoclz) genus | non exprimit, ex praecedente sententia aptissime supplemus xxgóíx : cor caecitate obvelatum, quum ad Dominum conversum fuerit (vel : sese converterit), sibi aufert (meguupstvat sensu med.) velamen. In latino textu antiquiores plerique (Prim. Herv. Lomb. Thom. eic.) indefinitum pronomen (aliquis) recte suppleverunt, eundemque sensum exprimit S. Aug., qui in suo codice secundam personam legit (quum transieris ad Dominum Serm. 300,3; c. Faust. XII. 4 etc.); neque multum ab eo recedunt alii, qui pluralem legerunt (quum conversi fuerint Dion. Erasm. Cai. etc. quin in eundem quoque trahi possunt, qui cum Graecis (Chrys. Theoph. etc.) supplere malunt Israel (cfr Pel. Haym. etc.); proxime enim de incredulorum Iudaeorum conversione agi, docet contextus. Conversione igitur ad Dominum aufertur cordis velamen; quod assertum Paulus duabus brevissimis sententiis explicat, quarum prior exponit, quis Dominus sit, ad quem cor sese convertere debeat, altera quid relate ad veli ablationem agat : 1T. Dominus autem Spiritus est (6 9€ Kópto; «à mveou dovw); ubi autem. Spiritus Domini, ibi. libertas. Dubitatum est, utrum prioris sententiolae subiectum sit Dominus an Spiritus. Graeci, quum ex his verbis divinitatem Spiritus S. demonstrare soleant (cfr S. Athan. ad Serap. I. 6; de Trin. et Spir. 7 ctc.; S. Basil. de Spir. S. 91.; S. Greg. Naz. or. 31. theol. 5,29 etc.), Spiritum subiectum esse eumque Dominum i. e. Deum appellari censent (Chrys. Mopsu. Theod. Theoph. etc.); quam explicationem ut vindicent, CArys. et Mopsu. nomini vveopazo; articulum praefixum esse (*9 *veGp.x) monent ad locos parallelos (oan. 1,1 Oz; 7» 6 3oyo;, ^, 24 zvcx. 6 Ocó;) provocantes, in quibus articulo subiectum celare definiatur. Nonnullis iunioribus quoque (Est. Lap. Nat. Calm. Pic.) haec sententia eo magis placuit, quia eam ab aliquibus antiquioribus Latinis solam tradi (Haym. Herv. Lomb. Dion.), ab aliis (Thom. ctc.) saltem velut probabilem admitti viderunt. Attamen Graecorum argumentum ex articulo desumtum hoc in loco infirmum est, quia ambo sententiolae nomina articulo sunt munita ac proin sententiae ex loan. 1,1 et 4,2* allatae ad rem demonstrandam non iuvant. Contra eos autem nexus huius sententiae cum praccedente militat, qui plauec destruitur, si Spzritus pro subiecto sumitur (cfr Just.); id iam TAeod., quamvis in exponenda sua sententia sibi non constet, clare insinuat, quum ad nexum vv. 16. et 17. manifestandum interroget : « quis autem est, ad quem respici debet », ut scilicet velum auferatur? Ac profecto quis sit Dominus, ad quem conversio fiat, explicare vult Paulus, minime vero quis sit Spiritus, qui inde a v. 10. non amplius nominatur. Cum latinis igitur patristicae aetatis interpretibus (A't", : Pel. Prim. Sed.) multisque iunioribus (TAom?. Ca. Iust. etc.) modernisque (MEv. Bísp. Mai. LR. Ramó. — Acath. multi) Dominum esse subiectum, Spiritum nomen praedicati tenemus. Neque tamen recte Latini antiquiores, quum ad graecum textum non attenderent, nomen Spiritus esse essentiale atque Christum dici spiritualem opinati sunt ( A'e" etc., Thom. etc., Cai. etc.); id enim articulo (3 *veiua) omnino prohiberi , iure observarunt Graeci : « neque enim quisquam, inquit Aopsw. (cfr CArys. etc.), per totum Novum Test.locum invenerit, in quo Pateraut Filius nomine c00 tveópjaros designentur ». Recte ergo a modernis Spiritus (19 xvt)ya) etiam hic pro nomine personali sumitur; at aliqui ex illis in eo errant, quod nihilominus nomine Domin: Christum intelligant, ita ut Christus dicatur esse Spiritus S. (Bisp. Mai. — Mey. Kl Br. etc.). Utique monent, non completam identitatem asseri , sed eatenus Christum vocari Spiritum S., quatenus Spiritus S. sit Spiritus Christi (xvsUj.x Kuotou aut xveüpx "XpwroS cfr Rom. 8,9-11) aut. quatenus eadem sit Verbi et. Spiritus S. divina natura et essentia ; sed eos fugit, in SS. Trinitate nomina relativa, quum inter se realiter opponantur, de se invicem non posse praedicari; si dicere liceret : Christus est Spiritus S., cur cum Antitrinitariis : Pater est Filius, non diceremus? Nomine Domni ergo Paulus Christum hic intelligere nequit; quo sensu autem illud sumat, contextus nos docet. Etenim ad Exod. 35,3* evidenter alludens dixerat : si cor occaecatum ad Dominum (Kspov sine articulo) sese converterit , aufertur velamen, et nunc pergit : Dominus autem, ad quem baec conversio fieri debet, (23: K5et;) est ille Spiritus S., de quo antea locutus sum, a quo novum testamentum cordibus inscribitur, cuius ministerium in maiore gloria est, quam vetus ministerium fuit , qui vivificat (cv. 6 sqq.); a litera ergo occidente cor occaecatum sese convertat necesse est ad Spiritum vivificantem , qui in novo testamento datur; et tunc aufertur velamen, quia tunc cessat servitus, quam vetus testamentum induxit : «^i autem. Spiritus Domini, ibi libertas. Sine ullo igitur scrupulo verba haec Pauli cum Graecis ad Spiritus S. divinitatem demonstrandam adhibere possumus, siquidem in verbis, quas Apostolus prae oculis habet. Dominus est wv , atque hoc solius veri Dei nomen non minus Spiritui S., quam Patri aut Filio, competere insinuat. Porro libertas, quam Spiritus, qui et ipse Dominus est et tamen Spiritus Domini aut Dei vocatur, quia a Patre et Filio procedit et per eos nobis datur, secum affert, non est dumtaxat « ab impedimento velaminis » (TÀom.)., sed à tota Legis servitute, cuius symbolum quoddam est velamen (cfr ad 1 Cor. 11,3 sqq.). Spiritus S. enim est Spiritus adoptionis filiorum , qui spiritui servitutis plane est oppositus (Rom. 8,14 sq.); quare ii, qui ad Spiritum S. sese converterunt eumque receperunt, non iam ad vetus testamentum pertinent, quod in servitutem generat, sed ad novum, cuius filii secundum promissionem in libertatem sunt nati (cfr Gal. 4,24 sqq.). Antinomistas vero antiquos et modernos, qui libertatem a servitute Legis et libertatem a Lege foede confundentes turpem suum errorem verbis Pauli non tam defendere quam tegere conantur, idem Paulus monet, ne libertatem in occasionem dent carnis (Gal. 5,13). Atqui in felici illa conditione, ad quam Iudaei conversione sua ad Spiritum novi testamenti transire debent, omnes Christiani iam versantur; quasi iubilans enim Apostolus exclamat :
3:18
18. nos vero omnes, revelata facie gloriam Domini speculantes, in eandem imaginem transformamur a claritate in. claritatem tamquam a Domini Spiritu. luniores interpretes haud pauci (Cai. lust. Est. MEv. Bisp. — Beng. Rosenm. etc.), Apostolum post parenthesin quandam (14-17) hic sententiam v. 13. inchoatam continuare et complere censent, ita ut pronomine aos soli operarii evangelici significentur (non ponimus sicut Moyses velamen super faciem, sed revelata facie etc.); at cur cum emphasi Paulus posuerit nos omnes, non explicant. Cum antiquis igitur omnibus (CArys. etc., A'*" etc., Herv. Thom. etc.) modernisque plerisque (Maz. Lit. etc. — Mey. Heinr. etc.) de omnibus Christianis agi tenemus, qui non Moysi velato, sed Israelitis velum super cor suum gerentibus opponuntur; omnes enim Christiani iam revelata facie gloriam Domini speculantur. Apposite S. Aug. (de Trin. XV. 8) observat, latinum verbum speculari, quum ambiguum sit, iuxta graecum verbum, ex quo sit translatum, explicari debere: « specu/antes dixit per speculum videntes, non in specula prospicientes; quod in graeca lingua non est ambiguum, unde in latinum translatae sunt apostolicae literae ». luxta graecos quidem interpretes xazoz360,:602t idem est quod « ad speculi instar lumen accipere et reddere » vel lumen acceptum repercutere : « Sicut purum argentum ad solis radios situm ipsum quoque radios emittit, eodem modo cor mundum a Spiritus gloria radium suscipit ac vicissim remittit » (CArys.), etenim « cor purum fit divinae gloriae imago quaedam expressa et effigies » (TAeod.); explicanda igitur esset sententia : Moyses gloriam, quae ex divini sermonis consortio in eius facie relucebat, velo occultabat, nos vero Christiani gloriam Domini aperta facie velut speculo quodam accipimus et reddimus. At oppositionem Moysen inter et Apostolos aut Christianos non adesse, iam diximus; quapropter cum plerisque verbi xav0570 «60a significationem ab Aug. indicatam (per speculum vel in speculo videre) praeferimus!. Neque tamen cum eodem $. Doctore, licet eum multi antiquiores sequantur, « speculum rationis, in qua sit quaedam imago Dei » (Thom. cfr Sed. Herv. Lomb. etc.), intelligimus, sed speculum fidei (A'*r) vel potius Evangelii, in quo gloria Domini relucet (5,4). Quam significationem iure praeferri etiam sequentia docent; nam priore hoc inciso ratio redditur, cur in eandem imaginem transformemur (ysvagopgoópsóx); novam vero formam (poppív) accipimus, non quia imaginem Domini acceptam velut speculum repercutimus, sed quia imaginem hanc accipimus et retinemus. Namque « quum omnis cognitio sit per assimilationem cognoscentis ad cognitum, oportet quod qui vident Deum aliquo modo transformentur in Deum; et si quidem perfecte vident, perfecte transformantur, sicut beati in patria per fruitionis unionem; si vero imperfecte, imperfecte transformantur, sicut hic per fidem; videmus enim nunc per speculum in aenigmate » (TAom.). Nullo igitur impediti velamine super 'cor posito, sicut Israelitae, sed revelata et aperta facie in speculo Evangelii gloriam Domini intuentes iam hac in vita in eandem imaginem, quam videmus, transformamur, i. e. novam accipimus formam, qua Christo, imagini Dei (4,4), similes reddimur; atque id quidem a claritate. in claritatem (vel potius : a gloria in gloriam; graece idem vocabulum 962; retinetur), ita ut progressus quidam adsit atque amplior maiorque in dies fiat nostra similitudo cum Christo. Proxime utique hac in vita transformalio est moralis, quum iuxta Pauli monitum (Rom. 12,9) transformari (yszapo;o0250x:, minus recte Vu/g. ibi : reformari) debeamus novitate sensus nostri, ea nimirum, quae sunt Domini, cogitantes, diligentes, quaerentes; at. plyysica quoque transformatio quaedam adest crescente in dies gratia et caritate, cui respondebit futura nostra transformatio in gloria. Quanta demum futura sit transformatio nostra, docet ultimum membrum : (amquam (na806z:p) a. Domini Spiritu , quo effectum causae respondere atque ex magnitudine causae ad magnitudinem effectus recte concludi insinuatur. « Ideo dixit : a Domini Spiritu, ut ostenderet talem gloriam dari, quae sublimitati congruat dantis. Moysis enim gloria nec tanta fuit nec perennis; pro modo enim Legis et gloriam accepit : ita et pro modo legis fidei, in qua Spiritus Dei est, dabitur gloria credentibus. Tantum enim concessit Deus fidelibus, ut Spiritum suum det eis, pignus illius gloriae quam promisit » (A'*). Verba : a claritate in claritatem (vel a gloría in gloriam) diversimode explicantur; eam interpretationem dedimus, quae magis nobis videtur esse obvia ac simplex (clr Salm, Iust. etc.). Iuxta Graecos : « a gloría, quae propria est Spiritus, transformamur in gloriam nostram, quam accipimus » (Chrys. Theod. etc., Est. etc.) ; Aer : « à gloria Moysis, quam reatus causa cernere nequibamus, transformamur ad gloriam, quam credimus dari nobis à Domini Spiritu »; S. Aug. (l. c.) : de gloria creationis in gloriam iustificationis, vel etiam : de gloria fidei in gloriam speciei, de gloria, qua filii Dei sumus, in gloriam, qua simíles ei erimus, quoniam videbimus eum sicuti est; Thom. triplicem gradum cognitionis in discipulis Christi distinguit vocem claritatis non recte urgens : a claritate cognitionis naturalis in claritatem cognitionis fidei, & claritate cognitionis in vetere testamento ad claritatem cognitionis gratiae novi test., a claritate cognitionis naturalis et veteris et novi testamenti in claritatem visionis aeternae. Sed haec omnia a contextu longius abesse videntur. ; Triplex est ultimi membri gracci (4xb Kuglou zvróparot versio : a Domino Spiritu, a Domino Spiritus, a Domini Spiritu; quae omnes grammaticae congruunt. Primam praeferunt Graeci, qui hic (eadem ratione, qua e. 17) Spiritum vocari Dominum tenentes ex his verbis divinitatem Spiritus S. demonstrant (cfr Chrys. Theod. ctc.). Tertiam non tantum latinus sed ctiam syriacus interpres expressit tenentque Latini antiquí omnes et moderni plerique. Secunda, quae Christum vocat Dominum Spiritus, a multis quidem modernis acath. (inter cath. à solo Mai.) praefertur, scd aliquid haeretici habct, atque incple monent aliqui (Mey. Ki Br. etc.), Spiritum iuxta Scripturas a Christo mitti ac proin Christum eius Dominum vocari posse; quid enim in divinis sit missio, non intelligunt, atque perperam cum Arianis nolionem divinae missionis involvere putant maiorem mittentis quam missi perfectionem. Quodsi vero obficiunt, iuxta grammaticam graecam ox duobus gencetivis, qui pracpositionem sequuntur, priorem semper a praepositione regi (Kl Br. Heinr. etc.), respondemus, hanc regulam ad errorem defendendum esse confictam ; nihil enim obstat, quominus ille quoque genctivus, qui à praepositione non regitur, cam immediate sequatur, si cum emphasi quadam efferri debuit; hoc autem nostro in loco obtinet, in quo Apostolus ex sublimitate dantis (Spiritus, qui à Domino procedit atque ipse proin Dominus cst) ad doni magnitudinem concludi vult. Utrum vero Graecorum (a Domino Spiritu) an Latinorum (a Domini Spiritu) interpretatio pracferatur, per se parum intcrest, licet secunda ob rationem indicatam nobis mapis probetur; prior priori membro e. 17. (Dominus est Spiritusj, altera secundo (Spiritus Domini) consonat. 3. Excelsi igilur ministerii sui memor Paulus manifesia sua praedicatione sese commendavit (4,1-6). i,i. Ideo habentes administrationem, | — 4,1. X zo2zo, Ej ovseo z7,v Gtaxov(av xad- tíae claritatis Dei, in facie Christi Iesu. | r2ooórto Xpiszob!. Quae de novi ministerii sublimitate ac de loquendi fiducia, quae novos deceat ministros, Paulus disseruit, ea ad arrogantiae calumniam destruendam plane sufficiunt; quare hanc apologiae partem terminat denuo asserens, se ministerii sui memorem aperte et manifeste sine ulla timiditate Evangelium praedicare (5,1.9); quodsi nihilominus praedicatio nonnullis sit obscura , id ex eo provenire , quod à satana occaecentur, ne lucem evangelicam videant (3. $), quam ipse tamquam servus, qui lumen divinitus sibi datum cum aliis communicare debeat , propagare studeat (5. 6). À brevi igitur digressione, qua infelici ludaeorum incredulorum conditioni felicitatem Christianorum opponens novum ministerium indirecte celebravit (3,15-18), Apostolus ad argumentum suum reversus illa accuratius exponit, quae 3,12 sq. iam indicavit : ob spem aeternae gloriae operarii evangelici multa fiducia utuntur neque Moysen imitantur, qui filiis Israel aliquid occultare debuit. &,1. Ideo habentes administrationem (lege : hanc ministrationem cfr VV. LL., vel : hoc ministerium cfr ad 3,7), iuxta quod misericordiam conscculi sumus , non deficimus. Particula ideo (9x *o5ro) ad immediate praecedentem descriptionem felicis status Christianorum respicere videtur, quippe qua excellentia novi ministerii confirmetur : quia tanta est Christianorum felicitas, quae nostro ministerio producitur, ideo in huius tanti ministerii exercitio non deficimus. Tam excelsum vero illud esse, ut ipsius Moysis muneri praestet, iam demonstravit (3,6 sqq.); hinc etiam cum humilitate iterum (efr 3,5 sq.) profitetur, se illud Dei misericordiae debere; incisum enim (xoig 4Xejüngev prout misericordiam sumus consecuti, vel : pro misericordia, quam consecuti sumus) cum participio (£zovre; habentes) aptius, quam cum verbo (oux éy«axo3utv non. deficimus) coniungimus, licet CArys. aliique illud ad utrumque membrum trahere velint ; namque fortitudo, qua ministerium exercetur, quamvis ipsa quoque, uti patet, a divina misericordia dependet, proxime tamen ex ipsius ministerii celsitudine exoritur : non deficimus, i. e. animos non despondemus nec timidi agimus, quia tanto ministerio fungimur !. lamvero ignavi et timidi aperte agere et loqui non audent, sed res Suas tecte gerunt atque per ambages astutis artibus, dolis, mendaciis finem suum assequi student ; hanc autem non esse operariorum evangelicorum rationem agendi , Apostolus addit, ut verbum oix éyxoxo5pev explicet :
3:5
… The Church condemned this theory at the Second Council of Orange (529), affirming the necessity and gratuitousness of Grace, even for the "initium fidei," since without Christ one can do nothing (John 15:5) and all our ability comes from God (II Cor. 3:5) who works in us both the will and the action by virtue of his good pleasure (Philem. 2:13). According to the Church faithful to the Gospel, salvation cannot come from works alone, …
3:6
… Thus, as Old Testament (cf. Hebr. 8, 13) was designated the ancient period of Revelation in which God had made a "pact" or "covenant" with the nation of Israel alone; as New Testament (cf. Mt. 26, 28; II Cor. 3, 6), on the other hand, was designated the second and last period, in which the old "pact" was replaced by the new and all nations were called without distinction to participate in the …
… multiplies transgressions (Gal. 3:19; Rom. 5:20), awakening the moral conscience (Rom. 3:20) without offering the strength to combat sin; whence whoever lives under it is subject to the divine curse (Gal. 3:10). The L. is the letter that kills (II Cor. 3:6), a cause of death and condemnation (ibid. 3:7 ff.; cf. Rom. 7:6), since it is within the realm of the flesh (Rom. 7:5; cf. Gal. 3:3).
… 66:20-23; Mal. 1:10-11), the Apostles felt with pride the honor of the divine investiture: "Everyone should regard us as ministers of Christ and stewards (οἰκόνουσα) of the mysteries of God" (1 Cor. 4:1); God "has made us fit ministers of the New Covenant" (2 Cor. 3:6) "entrusting to us the ministry of reconciliation" (ibid. 5:18) "so that we are ambassadors for Christ" (ibid. 5:20).
… The "ministers (διάκονοι) of the New Testament," freed from the letter that kills, serve the spirit that gives life (2 Cor. 3:6). Heb. and Apoc. describe how Jesus, crucified and risen, is the supreme priest, unique because divine and eternal; his cross is the altar, his death is the sacrifice, heaven, the …
… (Rom. 8:5-6). The irreducible antagonism between flesh and spirit is also described by Gal. 5:16-17 ("the flesh has desires opposed to those of the spirit," and vice versa); 6:8. With the flesh are connected the Mosaic law with the "letter that kills" (II Cor. 3:6), Judaism and its external circumcision (Rom. 2:29; Gal. 4:20), sin, death; with the spirit, faith in Christ, holiness, life. …
3:7
… awakening the moral conscience (Rom. 3:20) without offering the strength to combat sin; whence whoever lives under it is subject to the divine curse (Gal. 3:10). The L. is the letter that kills (II Cor. 3:6), a cause of death and condemnation (ibid. 3:7 ff.; cf. Rom. 7:6), since it is within the realm of the flesh (Rom. 7:5; cf. Gal. 3:3).
3:14
… certain foreboding signs: the preaching and acceptance of the Gospel throughout the whole world (Mt. 24, 3 and 14; Mk. 16, 15-16; Lk. 21, 24; Rom. 9, 25), the appearance of the Antichrist (v.), the conversion of Israel (Hos. 3, 4-5; Rom. 11, 25-27; II Cor. 3, 14-17), the great apostasy (II Thess. 2, 3; Mt. 24, 11-12; Lk. 17, 26-30; 18, 8; I Tim. 4, 1; II Tim. 3, 1), cosmic disturbances (in the sky: Joel 2, 30; Mt. 24, 29, 30; Lk. 21, 25-26, …
… It is already found in the Bible: St. Paul (II Cor. 3:14) speaks of the "reading of the Old T."; I Macc. 1:60 describes the persecution promoted by Antiochus IV Epiphanes against "the books of the T. of the Lord."
3:17
… in incerto Dominus reliquit." With him many Greek and Latin Fathers find it expressed in the words: "Misit Deus Spiritum Filii sui in corda vestra" (Gal. 4:6); "Si quis autem Spiritum Christi non habet hic non est eius" (Rom. 8:9; cf. Acts 5:9; 16:15; II Cor. 3:17; Phil. 1:19). In the light of these texts St. Basil wondered how Eunomius could refuse to admit the procession "ab utroque": "Quomodo igitur Spiritus causam Unigenito soli attribuat... …
The contrast between Judaism and Christianity is summarized in II Cor. 3:17: the Mosaic law ("letter") is servitude that leads to death, while Christianity is "spirit," that is, freedom (from the Mosaic veil), which leads to life. …
3:18
… the contemplative life and Martha of the active (In Ioan., 11, 18 Irgm. 80; Klostermann, IV, p. 547): "Εἴπερ δὲ σύμβολόν ἐστι Μαρία μὲν τοῦ θεωρητικοῦ βίου, Μάρθα δὲ τοῦ πρακτικοῦ." St. Thomas uses various scriptural texts: Mt. 5, 8; 6, 21; Rom. 1, 20; II Cor. 3, 18, etc. (G. Turbessi, pp. 102-17).
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.