Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
From charity and humility the Apostle here passes to obedience, and teaches by eight reasons (which I shall gather at verse 1) that Christians ought to obey secular magistrates, not only on account of wrath, but also on account of conscience.
Secondly, at verse 8, he again urges love of neighbour, and teaches that the fullness of the law is love.
Thirdly, at verse 11, he urges the faithful, that with the light of the Gospel shining, they should rise from the sleep of sins, and fleeing gluttony, lust, and ambition, they should put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore the Apostle in the first part of the chapter seems to be rightly composing a man through obedience toward Superiors; in the second part, through charity toward equals and inferiors; in the third, through temperance, continence, and modesty toward himself.
Vulgate Text: Romans 13:1-14
1. Let every soul be subject to higher powers: for there is no power but from God: and those that are, are ordained of God. 2. Therefore he that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist purchase to themselves damnation: 3. for princes are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Wilt thou not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good: and thou shalt have praise from the same: 4. for he is God's minister to thee, for good. But if thou do that which is evil, fear: for he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is God's minister: an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil. 5. Wherefore be subject of necessity, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake. 6. For therefore also you pay tribute: for they are the ministers of God, serving unto this purpose. 7. Render therefore to all men their dues: tribute, to whom tribute is due; custom, to whom custom; fear, to whom fear; honour, to whom honour. 8. Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbour, hath fulfilled the law. 9. For: Thou shalt not commit adultery: Thou shalt not kill: Thou shalt not steal: Thou shalt not bear false witness: Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is comprised in this word: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10. The love of our neighbour worketh no evil. Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law. 11. And that, knowing the season; that it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed. 12. The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light. 13. Let us walk honestly, as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy: 14. but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences.
Verse 1: Let every soul be subject to higher powers
1. LET EVERY SOUL (that is, every man) BE SUBJECT TO HIGHER POWERS (that is, to princes and magistrates who are endowed with the power of ruling and commanding; for here the abstract is put for the concrete, "to powers," meaning, to those endowed with power) — namely in those matters in which that higher and superior power has right and jurisdiction, that is, in temporal affairs let him be subject to the king and to civil power, which is what the Apostle here properly intends: for by "power" he means civil power; but in spiritual matters let him be subject to Prelates, Bishops, and the Pontiff.
Note: For "to higher powers," the Greek is ἐξουσίαις ὑπερεχούσαις, "supereminent" or "surpassing" powers, as Our Translator renders in 1 Peter 2: "Whether to the king as supreme." The Syriac translates: "to powers endowed with dignity," that is, secular magistrates who are invested with the power of ruling, whether dukes, governors, Consuls, Praetors, etc.
That the Apostle here means secular magistrates is plain, because to these are paid the tributes and customs which he himself orders to be paid to these powers, at verse 7. So St. Basil, On the Constitution of Monks, chapter 23.
Note from Clement of Alexandria, book IV of the Stromata, and St. Augustine on Psalm 118, conference 31: At the beginning of the Church, namely in the time of Christ and Paul, there was the rumour of those objecting that by the Gospel human governments, kingdoms, and secular commonwealths were being overthrown, as is now done by heretics pretending to the liberty of the Gospel. Hence Christ teaches the contrary, and zealously inculcates it, when He paid the didrachma, and when He commanded that to Caesar should be rendered the things that are Caesar's, and likewise the Apostles, and this lest the Christian religion be drawn into hatred, and lest Christians should abuse the liberty of faith to every wickedness.
This rumour arose from the sect of Judas and the Galileans, of which Acts 5 (at the end) speaks, who, in defending their liberty, refused all dominion of Caesar and tribute, even when death was set before them, concerning which Josephus, Antiquities book XVIII, ch. 1. This sect long flourished among the Jews, so much so that Christ and the Apostles were called into suspicion of it, because they were Galileans by origin and heralds of new things. All the Jews followed these Galileans, and in fact rebelled against the Romans, because they said that the people of God being free ought not to be subjected to and serve unbelieving Romans; and therefore they were destroyed by Titus. Hence too the same calumny was derived against Christians, who by origin were and were considered Jews: whence the Apostles, in order to remove it, often teach that honour and tribute must be given to princes.
Wherefore the Apostle here proves by eight arguments that obedience is owed to princes and magistrates.
The first is in this verse: Because this is the ordinance of God and a divine precept.
The second, verse 4: Because they are the ministers of God, they exercise the office of God: therefore reverence and obedience must be rendered to them as to vicars of God.
The third, in the same verse: Because they bear the sword, that they may punish the disobedient.
The fourth, verse 5: Because they must be obeyed for conscience' sake: for it will be guilty of sin if you are disobedient to them.
The fifth, verse 2: Because God threatens damnation to those who resist them. St. Augustine on the words of Psalm 118, "My heart hath been afraid of Thy words," says: "Princes had their words: I kill, I proscribe, I send into exile. But these cannot be compared with this: He can send body and soul into Gehenna; on this account my heart was afraid of Thy words." Now it is the word and precept of God that under penalty of damnation we should obey magistrates, even secular ones.
The sixth, verse 6: Because this subjection and obedience are indicated by the tributes which subjects pay to magistrates: for by these tributes they testify and profess that they are subject to them.
The seventh, verse 8: Because Christian charity requires this, namely that we love everyone according to his rank and station: equals by loving them as equals, superiors by reverencing them as superiors and obeying them.
The eighth, verses 13 and 14: Because the Christian law is strict, it forbids feasts and lusts, prescribes all discipline and holiness, that we may put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Much more therefore does it prescribe to obey the magistrate and the civil law, which looks only to civil decency and to the common peace and concord of the commonwealth. For that this must be maintained, and therefore that magistrates must be obeyed, the law of nature and the law of Nations dictates.
By these reasons the Apostle proves that the Gospel and Christianity do not overthrow kingdoms and magistrates, but strengthen and establish them: because nothing so confirms kingdoms and princes as the good, Christian, and holy life of subjects. So much so, that even now Japanese and Indian Gentile princes love Christians and grant their people the opportunity of receiving baptism and Christianity; because they find Christian subjects, more than pagan ones, to be tractable and obedient, and that their kingdoms are by them more firmly established, more peaceful, and more flourishing.
FOR THERE IS NO POWER BUT FROM GOD, that is to say: Princedom and magistracy are not founded and instituted by the devil, nor by man alone, but by God and by His divine ordering and disposition: therefore they must be obeyed.
Note first: Secular power is from God mediately, because nature and right reason, which are from God, dictates and persuades men to set magistrates over the commonwealth, by whom they may be governed. But Ecclesiastical power is immediately instituted by God, because Christ Himself set Peter and the Apostles over the Church.
Note second: Nero, Diocletian, Domitian, and others like them, who were lawfully created Emperors, although they ruled tyrannically, were nevertheless not tyrants, but true Emperors; and therefore they received their power from God, whom accordingly all, even Christians, were bound in conscience to obey: although they themselves abused this power against Christians, by persecuting and killing them.
Beautifully St. Augustine, in book V of The City of God, chapter 21: "Let us not, he says, attribute the power of giving kingdom and empire to any but the true God, who gives happiness in the kingdom of heaven only to the godly, but earthly kingdom both to the godly and to the impious, as it pleases Him, to whom nothing pleases unjustly." And below: "He who gave it to Marius, He also gave it to Caesar; He who gave it to Augustus, He also to Nero; He who gave it to Vespasian, either father or son, the most gentle Emperors, He also to Domitian the most cruel: and that there be no need to go through each one, He who gave it to Constantine the Christian, He also to Julian the Apostate."
AND THOSE THAT ARE, ARE ORDAINED OF GOD. — So read the Roman, Greek, and Syriac Bibles. In Greek αἱ δὲ οὖσαι is put for αἱ οὖσαι. The Apostle here therefore says: first, that the powers even of the Gentiles, which exist, are instituted and ordained by God, namely for this end: that they may withdraw men from many sins, and that all may cultivate justice and peace, and not devour one another after the manner of fish. Secondly, he asserts that these powers lack disorder, and are distributed and subordinated among themselves in fitting order by God, or under God: for the Greek ὑπὸ Θεοῦ signifies both. Thirdly, he affirms that this order of theirs is not merely instituted, but commanded and sanctioned by God, so that it is not permitted to resist or oppose it. For the Greek τεταγμέναι, that is ordained, established, decreed, signifies not only an order, but also a constitution, decree, and precept, and that stable and firm.
These powers therefore are not ordained in the same way that nature and the orders of natural things are founded and ordained by God — for example, the appetites and societies of lions, wolves, and bears, with which men often have to wage war; but rather in the way that laws and sanctions are ordained, which it is not permitted to resist: for the magistrate is a kind of living and sacred law; just as conversely the law is, as it were, a silent and mute magistrate. Or in that way in which a general orders his soldiers: for he does not simply set them in order, but assigns to each his place and office, in which he ought firmly to stand even to death, from which no one, unless an enemy, would dare to drive him. In a like manner God, ordaining and subordinating these powers, assigns to each its office, which no one, unless he wishes to be reckoned an enemy of God, would dare to resist; so that the [order and arrangement] of them is διάταξις, that is, an ordinance, a fixed and inviolable constitution and sanction, to which all are bound to listen and obey. Whence the Apostle, explaining this same point, adds:
Verse 2: They that resist purchase to themselves damnation
2. AND THEY THAT RESIST, PURCHASE TO THEMSELVES DAMNATION. — Damnation: both temporal damnation from the power itself, and eternal damnation from God in hell. So St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius. Hence it is clear that to resist civil power is a mortal sin. So St. Augustine, epistle 5, Ambrose, Bernard, in the book On Precept and Dispensation.
Verse 3: For princes are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil
3. FOR PRINCES ARE NOT A TERROR (in Greek εἰς φόβον, they are not for fear and terror) TO THE GOOD WORK, BUT TO THE EVIL. — Paul speaks of fear of punishment, not of reverence, which the common people call reverential fear. For this latter the good have, not the wicked.
WILT THOU NOT BE AFRAID OF THE POWER? DO THAT WHICH IS GOOD, AND THOU SHALT HAVE PRAISE FROM THE SAME. — Both because the punishment of the wicked which the magistrate inflicts is itself praise of the good; and because the same magistrate praises and rewards the good. Beautifully St. Gregory Nazianzen, oration 17: "With Christ thou holdest empire, with Christ thou administerest this office: from Him thou hast received the sword, not so much that thou shouldst use it as that thou shouldst threaten and terrify with it: wherefore thou must take care to keep it as a kind of votive gift, pure and whole, for Him who gave it."
Verse 4: For he is God's minister to thee, for good
4. FOR HE IS GOD'S MINISTER TO THEE, FOR GOOD, — so that by law, by praises, and by rewards he may stir thee up to good things, and may protect thee against the impious and the violent.
BUT IF THOU DO THAT WHICH IS EVIL, FEAR: FOR HE BEARETH NOT THE SWORD IN VAIN. — For the sword signifies that the magistrate has the power of life and death. For this reason a naked sword is borne before those who have full sovereign authority, and the Roman Consuls used to lead before themselves lictors with bundles of rods and axes.
FOR HE IS GOD'S MINISTER, AN AVENGER TO EXECUTE WRATH, — namely unto wrath, that is, for taking punishment from evildoers. For to this end the magistrate is instituted, that he may preserve public peace and protect the integrity and society of common life; and therefore he chastises those who disturb it. Here "wrath" signifies, by metonymy, punishment, because punishment is the effect of wrath and of vengeance.
Verse 5: Wherefore be subject of necessity, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake
5. WHEREFORE BE SUBJECT OF NECESSITY (some read: "to necessity"); — that is to say, therefore it is necessary, therefore you must be subject to the power. So the Syriac and the Greeks, namely both on account of the wrath, vengeance, and sword which it bears and threatens; and on account of the divine obligation and ordination, which also binds the conscience to this subjection: whence it follows:
NOT ONLY FOR WRATH, BUT ALSO FOR CONSCIENCE' SAKE. — Conscience: not the conscience of others, whom you offend by scandal, as some more recent commentators explain; nor even on account of conscience of the benefits which you receive from magistrates protecting the common peace, on account of which you pay tributes, as the Greeks expound: but properly on account of your own conscience, lest it become guilty of disobedience before God. For the magistrate is the minister of God, as has been said. Whence conscience dictates that he is to be obeyed as a minister of God, and consequently that he sins against God who does not obey him.
Note from this passage, against Gerson with regard to ecclesiastical laws, and against Almain with regard to civil laws, that even those of Gentile, impious, and unbelieving princes — even apart from scandal — bind in conscience under mortal sin, if a grave matter is commanded by them with grave obligation or threat. For the Apostle is speaking of the laws of the Roman Emperors, who at that time were unbelievers.
Verse 6: For therefore also you pay tribute
6. FOR THEREFORE ALSO YOU PAY TRIBUTE. — This is a new argument from a sign, by which Paul proves that magistrates must be obeyed, as if to say: The tribute which you, O faithful, give and pay to kings and princes is a sign both of your subjection, and of their power, ministry, burden, and watchful labour.
THEY ARE THE MINISTERS OF GOD, SERVING UNTO THIS PURPOSE, — that is, wholly intent upon this very thing. For the Greek προσκαρτεροῦντες, which St. Augustine in book IV of On Christian Doctrine, chapter 29, renders persevering, signifies continual, diligent, and intense care, that they may be in God's place as protection for the good and as vengeance for the wicked, and that they may withdraw their subjects from evils and advance them to virtues.
Let princes here take note that they are, as it were, supported and hired by the commonwealth as if for wages by means of tributes, in order that they may serve it and defend it.
Verse 7: Render therefore to all men their dues
7. RENDER TO ALL MEN THEIR DUES: TRIBUTE TO WHOM (you owe) TRIBUTE (render); CUSTOM TO WHOM (you owe) CUSTOM (render). — Tribute, in Greek φόρος, is a tribute or assessment on goods and persons. Hence in Latin tributum is so called from tribuere (to assign) or contribuere (to contribute). Custom (vectigal), in Greek τέλος, is what is paid for goods imported or exported. So Budaeus from Strabo. Hence in Latin vectigal is said from vehere (to carry), because it is paid out of those things which are conveyed in or out, for the security and the repair of roads, bridges, embankments, etc.
TO WHOM FEAR (you owe, render to him) FEAR, — that is, reverence, and the obedience which follows from it. So St. Chrysostom and Theophylact. It is a metalepsis. Thus elsewhere it is often said: "Fear the Lord," that is, reverence the Lord.
Verse 8: Owe no man any thing, but to love one another
8. OWE NO MAN ANYTHING, BUT TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER — as if to say: Promptly discharge your debts; at once free yourselves from all debts, except the debt of charity, by which you can never be discharged, whether toward equals, or toward Superiors and parents, whom you must always love by honouring and obeying them. For this debt always remains, so that you can never so pay it as that there is not always still a further debt remaining. So St. Chrysostom, Augustine, and Fulgentius in his sermon On Charity. Hear St. Augustine, epistle 62 to Coelestinus: "Always, he says, I owe charity, which alone, even when paid, holds the debtor." And again: "Mutual charity I willingly pay back, and rejoicing I receive; what I receive, I still ask back; what I pay back, I still owe."
Therefore the Anabaptists and Trinitarians have nothing here from this passage to abolish among Christians magistrates and judges and judicial proceedings, by which civil debts of justice are recovered. For charity and the debt of charity dictates that, above all, the debt of justice must be paid, if there is any, as I have already explained; for otherwise this verse would overturn all the preceding verses, by which the Apostle sanctioned and confirmed civil power, judges, and tribunals.
FOR HE THAT LOVETH HIS NEIGHBOUR, HATH FULFILLED THE LAW. — "The law," namely that which concerns one's neighbour, which the Apostle subjoins, saying: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
Note: For "neighbour," here the Greek is τὸν ἕτερον, that is, the other. By the law of charity therefore every other man is to be loved, whether he be friend or enemy; whether of one's household or a stranger; whether faithful or unbelieving. That this is so is plain from the fact that to steal, kill, or covet the property of any barbarian or pagan whatsoever is against the law of charity of the second table, which concerns the neighbour and the social life of men. That this is the genuine sense of this passage is plain from the reason which the Apostle subjoins, when he says:
Verse 9: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself
9. For: THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, THOU SHALT NOT KILL, THOU SHALT NOT STEAL, THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, THOU SHALT NOT COVET; AND IF THERE BE ANY OTHER COMMANDMENT, IT IS COMPRISED IN THIS WORD: THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF. — You see how here he reckons only the precepts of the second table which concern the neighbour, and asserts that all are summed up in the one precept of love of neighbour. Since therefore he leaves it to be inferred from this that "he who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law," there is no doubt that he understands the same law, namely only that of the second table, which concerns the neighbour: for he is speaking in the consequent of the same law of which he was speaking in the antecedent.
Yet secondly, St. Augustine, in book VIII of On the Trinity, chapter 8, explains thus: "He who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law;" the law, namely the whole law, both of the first and of the second table. And the reason is that love of neighbour includes and presupposes love of God, as its cause and source. For the neighbour is to be loved on account of God; therefore the neighbour cannot be loved with true charity unless God is also, indeed first, loved. Whence St. John in his old age, at every gathering, preached only this: "Little children, love one another;" being asked the reason, he answered: "Because it is the Lord's command; and if only this be done, it is enough." St. Jerome bears witness in his commentary on chapter 6 of the Epistle to the Galatians.
Blessed Dorotheus declares this same point by a beautiful simile of a circle and its centre, in volume III of the Library of the Holy Fathers, doctrine 6, at the end. He says: A circle is the world, the centre is God, the lines drawn from the circumference to the centre signify a man's various inclinations, actions, and loves; therefore just as lines, the more they are distant from the circumference and the more they approach the centre, the more they approach one another and at last meet in the centre: so our love, the more it is torn away from flesh and world and the more it draws near to God, the more it also draws near to the neighbour, and at last meets and is united in God Himself. "For the more, he says, we recede from love of God, the more also we are distant from love of neighbour: but as much as we cleave to the charity of God, so much also to that of our neighbour; and as much to the neighbour, so much also are we joined to God."
Splendidly also St. Augustine, in tract 7 on the First Epistle of St. John: "Once for all, he says, a short precept is given to thee: Love, and do what thou wilt; whether thou be silent, be silent in love; whether thou cry out, cry out in love; whether thou correct, correct in love; whether thou spare, spare in love: let the root of love be within, from this root nothing can come but good." The same, in book I of On Christian Doctrine, ch. 22: "But when he says, With thy whole heart, thy whole soul, thy whole mind, he has left no part of our life that ought to be free, and, as it were, to give place, as if it wished to enjoy some other thing; but whatever else may come into the mind to be loved, let it be carried thither, where the whole impulse of love runs: whoever therefore rightly loves his neighbour, must so deal with him that he too may with his whole heart, with his whole soul, and with his whole mind love God. For thus loving him as himself, he refers all his love of himself and of him to that love of God, which suffers no rivulet to be drawn from itself outside itself, by whose diversion it might be diminished."
AND IF THERE BE ANY OTHER COMMANDMENT. — "Other," namely of the second table touching the neighbour; here Paul omits the first commandment of the second table, namely, Honour thy father and mother; and he does this because he has so far been treating of the honour due to parents, that is, to Superiors, whom we ought to reverence as parents.
IT IS COMPRISED IN THIS WORD (instauratur). — St. Augustine, in epistle 29, reads, "is recapitulated," that is, summarily comprehended, for this is the Greek ἀνακεφαλαιοῦται, brought back to a head, to a summary, to a compendium. And this perhaps Ambrose meant by translating, "is consummated": our Translator means the same when he renders, "is restored." For thus also in Ephesians 1:10 he renders the same Greek word, and says that all things are restored in Christ, both those which are in the heavens and those which are on earth; for indeed all these things are recalled to Christ as to their head. Though Salmeron thinks that our Translator here read in the Greek ἀνακαινοῦται, that is "is renewed, made new," from [the verb κενόω]. Tertullian rightly says, in book V Against Marcion, chapter 14: "He concluded the whole discipline of the Creator with His chief precept: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
DILIGES PROXIMUM TUUM SICUT TEIPSUM. — The Apostle cites Leviticus 19:18, where it is written: "Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself." From this passage the Jews, by an opposite inference, gathered and concluded: therefore enemies are to be hated, as Christ reports in Matthew 5:43. But that inference is altogether invalid: for the consequence does not hold, nor is the antecedent true as they understood it. For "friend" here does not mean someone benevolent toward us, but every neighbour. This is plain from the Septuagint, which renders τὸν πλησίον, that is, neighbour; and from the Chaldee, which renders חברך chabrach, that is, thy companion. So too the Hebrew רע rea signifies not only a friend properly so called, but also, by a metaphor familiar to the Hebrews, it is transferred to him who is joined to us in any way, or with whom we have any business. Now such is every man; for at the very least every man is joined and is a friend to every other by common creation and by likeness to God, and likewise by common origin from the first parent, by common redemption, by common Church and Sacraments, by common grace, charity, ordination, and course toward eternal life. So Augustine, Jerome, and Theophylact on Matthew 5:43. For that love of enemies was commanded to the Jews is plain from Exodus 23:4.
Whence here St. Paul, at verse 8, as I said, renders this precept of Leviticus in Greek, ἀγαπήσεις τὸν ἕτερον, "thou shalt love the other." Although Salmeron quite probably thinks that for ἕτερον we ought to read φίλον. For so have the Hebrew, the Septuagint, and the Chaldee, as I have already shown.
Note: This precept, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," is explained by two things, first, by an affirmative, Matthew 7: "Whatsoever you wish that men should do to you, do you also to them." Secondly, by a negative, Tobit 4:16: "What thou hatest to be done to thee by another, see thou never do to another."
Whence it is plain that the "as" does not signify equality of love (for by well-ordered charity a man ought to love himself more than his neighbour), but a likeness and a form, that is to say: Show the offices of charity to your neighbour, and in the manner that you show and desire to be shown to yourself, especially that you love him out of charity with a sincere love of friendship, not of concupiscence, that is, that you wish for your neighbour good that is honourable, useful, and delightful, not because it is so for you, but because it is good and advantageous for him; just as you desire these same goods for yourself, not for another's sake, but for your own good and advantage. So Cajetan. So is the "as" taken in Deut. 18:13; John 17:21; Malachi 3:4.
Verse 10: The love of our neighbour worketh no evil
10. THE LOVE OF OUR NEIGHBOUR WORKETH NO EVIL, — nay rather, it works many goods, especially those which have already been spoken of at verse 8 and following: for [charity] fulfils the whole law, and preserves the polity and human society, and procures for the neighbour whatever goods it can. It is a meiosis (understatement).
LOVE THEREFORE IS THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW. — "Fulfilment" — this is consummation; the Syriac has, fulfilment, that is to say: From what has been said at verse 8 and following it is plain that the total fulfilling and complete observance of the law is love, and that he who loves his neighbour fulfils all laws which touch the neighbour and which rightly order us toward him. So too he who loves God fulfils the precepts of the first table, which concern God. Therefore just as hatred and lack of charity is the dissolution of the whole law; so on the contrary charity is the principle, the efficient and commanding cause, that all the other laws may be fulfilled. It is an argument from proportion: If love of neighbour fulfils the law that concerns the neighbour, therefore love simply fulfils the law; so that without it the law cannot at all be fulfilled, while with it and through it it is wholly fulfilled, as St. Augustine often teaches and asserts from this and other passages.
Secondly, Toletus says: "fullness," that is, the end and aim, "of the law is love:" the whole law aims to lead us to charity.
Thirdly, "the fullness of the law is love," because charity impels man perfectly to fulfil the law; for he who lacks charity fulfils the law imperfectly, and often falls short of it and goes astray. Whence St. Augustine, in his Sentences, no. 223: "The fullness, he says, of the law is charity, because the law is fulfilled by charity, not by fear. For the commandments of justice are kept in so far as the spirit of grace assists."
Fourthly, "the fullness of the law is love," because he who fulfils the law out of charity has merit; he who lacks it lacks both merit and reward. These expositions are true and moral; but the first which I have given is the literal one, genuine and from the mind of the Apostle.
From this passage note that the law is not fulfilled by faith alone, by believing, but that besides faith works of charity are required, as the Apostle here explains himself; for he says: "The fullness of the law is," not faith, but "love." With this Pauline sentence Aristotle agrees, in book VIII of the Ethics, and after him Cicero, in his book On Friendship: "Friendship, he says, holds cities together, and if men be friends, there is no need of justice: but if they are just, they need friendship; and what is most just pertains to friendship." And this is what St. Augustine says, in his book On Nature and Grace, ch. 7: "Charity begun is justice begun; charity advanced is justice advanced; but charity from a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned." The same author, in book XV of The City of God, ch. 22, says: "A brief and true definition of virtue is rightly-ordered love. Whence the spouse says: He ordered charity in me." The same author, in his book On the Morals of the Church, ch. 15, holds that every virtue must be defined by charity, just as Socrates once defined all virtues by prudence. So too St. Chrysostom: "Charity, he says, is the beginning and end of virtues; it is itself the root, the foundation, and the summit."
Hence first, Marcion erred when he argued from this passage against the Old Testament thus: The old moral law has now wholly ceased, because charity is the fullness of the law: therefore that law is no longer necessary. He erred, I say, for charity is called "the fullness of the law," that is its consummation, summary, and, as Origen says, its epilogue: therefore just as an epilogue does not abolish the preceding parts of a speech, but rather sums them up briefly; so too charity does not abolish the law, but includes it. For the law is the object of charity, because charity inclines a man always to look upon the law as the rule of his life and to fulfil it; therefore the precepts of the law are precepts of charity. For love of God dictates that the precepts of the first table are to be kept, love of neighbour those of the second.
Secondly, from this passage it is plain that our Innovators err, who say that in this life the law cannot be fulfilled. For the Apostle here does not exhort us to fulfil the law as toward some Platonic idea, or as something future in heaven, but as toward something we are able to perform in this life according to our weakness; for the absolute and fullest fulfilment of the law, such that you would never sin against the law even venially, is not here commanded, but in the future life. So the Council of Trent, session VI, canon 18.
Verse 11: Knowing the season; that it is now the hour for us to rise from sleep
11. AND THIS (namely, that we should perform what I have just said), KNOWING THE SEASON: BECAUSE IT IS NOW THE HOUR FOR US TO RISE FROM SLEEP. — "And this," is an emphasis, that is to say: Render dues, love your neighbours, as I have just said (for Paul here looks back to verse 8 and following), "and this knowing," that is, and that because we know, "the season," in Greek καιρόν, that is, the opportunity which the Gospel brings us, namely for loving our neighbours, for rendering to all their dues, for fulfilling the whole law, that this is now at hand, and because it is now time and hour to rise from the sleep of sins.
Let us therefore use this time and this opportunity, while we have it: for in a short while we shall not have it. For, as the Poet sings:
Opportunity is hairy in front, but bald behind;
so that after she has passed by, she can neither be grasped nor called back.
BECAUSE IT IS NOW THE HOUR FOR US TO RISE FROM SLEEP. — "Hour," namely, of the day; that is to say: the night, the blindness, the ignorance, the dissembling, the excusing of unbelief and of sins before Christ has passed away. Behold, the time and the opportunity, namely the hour of the day of grace, of faith, and of the law of Christ is now at hand, in which Christ Himself the Sun has begun to scatter the rays and light of faith throughout the world, the shadows of errors having been dispelled. Therefore it is time that we should rise, Greek ἐγερθῆναι, that we should be aroused and awake from the sleep of sins.
Morally St. Chrysostom infers from this, in Homily 62 to the People: "We must therefore, he says, be ready and unencumbered to set sail from here, and we ought to say: My heart is ready, O God; for we are at war in the world: the wicked walk in a circle, sinners (as Christ shows in Matthew 5), and finally vices and sins, from which they could not be freed except at the rising of the sun, namely Christ the Lord, who dispelled this night and illuminated all those sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death."
St. Chrysostom explains this passage differently, as if Paul were saying: The more we grow in age, as well as in faith and merit, the closer we draw now to the end and to eternal blessedness than when we first began to believe. For what else is our life but a swift course and rapid race toward death, and through death to immortality? Let us therefore run, our brethren, with a swift course to this goal: for a great way still remains to us, and the time for running is short.
Verse 12: The night is passed, and the day is at hand
12. THE NIGHT IS FAR SPENT. — St. Cyprian, in his book On Jealousy and Envy, and the Syriac translate it as "has passed away," and St. Jerome on Matthew 26 reads "has gone by." The Greek προέκοψεν properly means "has advanced," as St. Augustine reads in epistle 80, and so explain St. Chrysostom and Theophylact. The translator of Origen, in homily 35, renders it "has moved forward," that is, has progressed, tends toward the end, and is nearly already past. But all these come back to the same meaning, and mutually illustrate each other. The sense can therefore be:
First, the night of this life προέκοψεν, that is, has advanced and is tending toward its end, because the day approaches, namely of judgment and resurrection: therefore in fear and hope of it let us live honourably. So Athanasius in Questions to Antiochus, Question 90; St. Chrysostom here; St. Augustine, epistle 80 to Hesychius, and St. Basil on Isaiah chapter 13.
Second, St. Gregory, Book 29 of Morals, chapter 2: "Night," he says, "is the time before Christ; day is the day of resurrection; the middle dawn is the time of the Gospel: this is closer to day than to night: therefore salvation and day are closer to us than to those who lived before Christ."
Third, Anselm and Origen: They say, "Night is this life; day is the life after death, which is closer to each one the more death daily approaches."
Fourth and best, night is the time before Christ, full of the darkness of unbelief and sins; day is the present time of the Gospel, in which Christ the Sun has spread the rays of His light — that is, of His grace and faith — throughout the whole world. As if to say: With Christ now present, and the light of the Gospel, the night of sins has gone; the day of grace, justice and salvation is here: therefore on this day we ought to cast off the works of darkness and walk honourably and live as Christians. So St. Cyprian, in On Jealousy and Envy; Ambrose, on Psalm 45; St. Augustine and Theodoret here.
Note here: The Apostle is speaking generally and indistinctly about those things that preceded Christ. Hence he weaves in some things that fit the Jews better, others that fit the Gentiles more. The "we believed" fits the Jews; for almost only the Jews believed and hoped that the Messiah would come. The "the night is far spent" fits the Gentiles more — namely the night of paganism, idolatry, and all vices: although the Jews also had their own night of ignorance, ceremonies, Judaism (which was as a veil of the new law), errors and Pharisaic traditions (as Christ shows in Matthew 5).
FOR NOW (in the day and light of the Gospel) OUR SALVATION (justice and glory) IS NEARER (and present) THAN WHEN WE BELIEVED, — that is, than it was before the coming of Christ, when by faith alone we used to believe in and hope for the absent Christ and for grace and future salvation. That this is the sense is clear from what follows and precedes.
LET US CAST OFF THE WORKS OF DARKNESS, — namely sins, which seek darkness and flee the light of God and of men; for, as the Poet says:
Night and love and wine counsel nothing moderate;
She is without shame; Bacchus and love, without fear.
And Job 24:15: "The eye of the adulterer watches for darkness, saying: No eye will see me, and he covers his face: he digs through houses in the dark, as they had agreed among themselves by day, and they knew not the light. If the dawn suddenly appears, they think it the shadow of death; and thus in darkness they walk as in light."
Let us remember, brethren, that time is short and judgment is at the door. And further on he urges this vigilance with the example of the soldier, fisherman, farmer, and shepherd, saying: "Vigilance is necessary, beloved; for even the soldier sleeps, not on a bed, but on the ground; the fisherman fishes without sleeping, sometimes spending the night standing; the farmer keeps watch lest his master's possessions be harmed; and the shepherd standing under the open sky finishes the night, guarding the flock, as Jacob said: I was burned by heat and frost, and sleep fled from my eyes. And what was the purpose of this vigil? lest any sheep be devoured by a wild beast. But if such great care is shown for an irrational beast, what kind of solicitude ought one to have for the rational soul? For this reason Jacob the labourer placed a stone at his head while sleeping, that he might more easily wake; whence he saw the ladder reaching to the heavens. The Lord wishes us to be ready, and therefore He has appointed our exit uncertain, that we may continually watch and fight."
Beautifully also St. Augustine — from whom we ought to seek this vigilance by which we should awaken from this sleep — explains the passage of Psalm 62, "O God, my God, to Thee do I watch at break of day": "What is it," he says, "to watch? Surely not to sleep. What is it to sleep? There is a sleep of the soul and a sleep of the body; we must all have the sleep of the body, otherwise a man fails." And further: "But this we must beware of, that our soul itself does not sleep: for the sleep of the soul is evil. The sleep of the soul is to forget its God. Whatever soul has forgotten its God, has slept. For your life and your morals ought to keep watch in Christ, that other sleeping pagans may perceive it, and at the sound of your vigils they themselves may be roused, may shake off sleep, and may begin to say in Christ together with you: O God, my God, to Thee do I watch at break of day." Concerning this hour see what is said at 1 Corinthians 7:29, and Ephesians 5:15.
LET US PUT ON THE ARMOUR OF LIGHT. — The "armour of light" are the works of faith, grace, and the virtues, by which as if by arms we battle against the three enemies — the world, the flesh, and the devil — in a war both offensive and defensive. So Paul here tacitly admonishes that the Christian life is a warfare, and against the aforesaid enemies he supplies these arms of light. Second, the Greeks sometimes take ὅπλα, that is "arms," more broadly. Hence Homer takes ὁπλίζεσθαι, that is "to be armed," for εὐτρεπίζεσθαι, that is "to be equipped, prepared." Here therefore ὅπλα, that is "arms," means the habit, clothing, and equipment with which men in the day and light cover and adorn themselves, as if Paul were saying: The day of the Gospel has shone upon us; therefore it is fitting that we be clothed with the arms of light, that is, with a habit and dress that befits the light and the day. Hence follows:
Verse 13: Let us walk honestly, as in the day
13. AS IN THE DAY, — in which honourable men are concerned with covering nakedness, and with honourable and decent care and dress of the body — not by night, when they are seen by no one.
HONOURABLY, — εὐσχημόνως, in an ordered, becoming manner.
LET US WALK, — let us conduct ourselves, so that our every step, movement, gesture, speech, and action may be such as befits the day and light of the Gospel, in which we have been made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men.
NOT IN REVELLING AND DRUNKENNESS. — Revellings (comessationes) are banquets held not for the sake of honour, but for the sake of gluttony.
Note: Chamos was an idol of Moab, to whom Solomon built a shrine, 3 Kings 11:7. From there they derive the Greek κῶμος, who was a god of drunkenness, namely a Bacchus, in Philostratus. Hence κωμάζειν means to be wanton. Hence the Latin comessari and comoedia. For from drunkenness, says Athenaeus in Book 2 of The Banquet of the Wise, comedy and tragedy were invented in Icaria, a city of Attica, and that at the very time of the vintage. Hence it was originally called Trygoedia. Perhaps Chamos, as Stuckius notes in Book 1 of Convivalia, chapter 10, is derived from the Syro-Chaldean כמס camas, that is, to hide, to lie hidden, so that by Chamos is understood Bacchus νυκτέλιος, or one to whom they made nocturnal sacrifices through revellings and the resulting unbridled lusts, as Plutarch and Pausanias attest.
And to this the Apostle alludes when he says: "Not in revellings and drunkenness (which are carried on at night), but as in the day let us walk honourably." Hence those also were called κωμάζειν who, crowned and well-drunk, burst into another's banquet, not without a fluteplayer. Hence κῶμοι are also called dances and, as the Syriac translates, lewd songs. All these things therefore κῶμος, or commessation, either signifies or implies.
NOT IN CHAMBERINGS. — That is, not in fornications, which take place in bedchambers and in brothels: it is a metonymy.
AND WANTONNESS. — That is, in other more shameful kinds of lust. For the Greek ἀσέλγεια is lasciviousness, that is, a more wanton lust.
These words settled the strife and struggle of chastity and lust in Augustine. "I," he himself says in Book 8 of Confessions, last chapter, "cast myself down, I know not how, under a certain fig tree, and let loose the reins to my tears, and the rivers of my eyes burst forth, an acceptable sacrifice unto Thee. And not indeed in these words, but in this sense I said many things to Thee: And Thou, Lord, how long? How long wilt Thou be angry to the end? Be not mindful of our ancient iniquities. For I felt myself held by them, and I cast forth pitiful cries: How long, how long, tomorrow and tomorrow? Why not now? why not at this very hour the end of my baseness?" Let young men hear these things who struggle with their concupiscences; let them hear and imitate. "I was saying these things and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart. And behold I hear a voice from a neighbouring house, saying with a chant and repeating frequently — whether of a boy or a girl I know not: Take and read; take and read, etc. I had heard about Anthony that from a reading of the Gospel which he chanced upon, he had been admonished as if it were said to him what was being read: Go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me; and by such an oracle he was at once converted to Thee. So I returned to the place where Alypius was sitting; for there I had laid the volume of the Apostle when I had risen from there. I snatched it up, opened it, and read in silence the chapter on which my eyes first lighted: Not in revellings and drunkenness, not in chamberings and wantonness, not in contention and emulation, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences. Nor did I want to read further, nor was it needful." Behold the sudden change in Augustine. "For immediately, with the end of this sentence, as if a light of security were infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt was dispelled, etc. Thou hast broken my bonds, O Lord; to Thee will I offer the sacrifice of praise. How suddenly it became sweet to me to lack the sweetnesses of trifles! And those which I had feared to lose, it was now joy to put away; for Thou wast casting them out from me, Thou true and supreme sweetness, Thou wast casting them out and entering in their place, sweeter than every pleasure."
See how easy and joyful Augustine found chastity and celibacy through the grace of Christ — which earlier he had dreaded as most difficult, indeed reputed impossible. The same was felt and experienced by St. Cyprian, Book 2, epistle 2, and by Lactantius, Book 3 of the Institutes, chapter 16. Bah! therefore, Luther, who teach that intercourse is as necessary to man as food. The same thing today, not one but many thousands of celibates experience, who invoking the grace of God and cooperating with it, lead a life as sweet as it is happy and holy in virginity and celibacy.
NOT IN CONTENTION AND EMULATION. — Contention is a struggle for glory and honour, to which is always joined emulation, that is, envy of another's good. Behold, these are the three capital vices to be guarded against by a Christian, namely gluttony, lust, strife and envy, concerning which see St. Augustine, epistle 64.
Verse 14: But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ
14. BUT PUT YE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, — namely that Jesus — that is, the spirit, grace, power, and life of Jesus — may shine forth in you. See Canon 37. Therefore put on and adorn yourselves with the virtues of Christ, especially so that from your outward life and profession, as from clothing, all may recognize you to be servants of Christ. So St. Chrysostom. It is a Hebraism: for the Hebrews say לבש labas, that is, that someone is "clothed" with shame, beauty, salvation, justice, or curse — that is, that he is filled, abundantly adorned, or disgraced with these. Therefore "clothing" signifies abundance poured out on every side. Cyril, in Book 9 on Genesis, holds that Paul here alludes to that text of Isaiah 61: "Rejoicing I shall rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall exult in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, and with the robe of justice He has surrounded me." Or, as the Seventy translate: "He has clothed me with a garment of salvation, and with a tunic of joy." Or, as others translate: "He has put on me the garment Jesus," that is, He has put on me Jesus as a garment, and as a tunic of joy.
Beautifully St. Basil on Psalm 44, expounding that text, "All the glory of the king's daughter is from within, in golden fringes, surrounded with variety," says: "Put on the Lord Jesus, not according to the outward man, but let our mind be clothed about with the memory of God. For I think a spiritual garment is then woven, when action is woven in as a companion to the word of doctrine. For as a cloak for covering the body is then woven when the woof is intertwined with the warp: so when the word holds first place in beginning, if soon actions consonant with the word are woven in, then a most becoming covering for adorning the soul — and one having very much of honour — can be made: of the soul, I say, that perfects its life according to virtue both in word and in deed." As if to say: As the weaver weaves the woof into the warp, so let the Christian teacher weave a life agreeing with his doctrine: thus he will weave for himself the garment of Christ, with which he will be everywhere covered and adorned.
Note: The word "be ye clothed" suggests many things: for first, to put on Christ is to express in oneself the virtues of Christ, and that copiously and perfectly.
Secondly: He puts on Christ, says St. Thomas, who imitates Christ — because just as a man is contained in his garment and is seen under its colour, so in him who imitates Christ, only Christ and the colour of His garment, that is, His holiness, appears. Hence St. Chrysostom: "To put on Christ," he says, "is for Christ to be everywhere conspicuous in us through sanctity and meekness. For a man clothed seems to be that with which he is clothed: let Christ therefore appear in us." A Christian therefore must be as it were a living image, a living form, a living habit of Christ — indeed, must be as it were another Christ, so that in his life, gesture, dress and morals all may think they see Christ. Truly, as many as are Christians, so many ought to be Christs. Think what great modesty, temperance, circumspection, charity, patience, grace there was in each of Christ's sayings and deeds; how great the sweetness, gravity, and beauty of His manners: put on these, express them in your morals, and you will put on Christ, you will express Christ, you will be Christ.
Thirdly, as garments cover the whole body, so the virtues of Christ must reach to all our actions and adorn and shape them, that we may reflect and express Christ in every work and word.
Fourth, when we are commanded to put on Christ, we are admonished by this very thing to put off the old man, Colossians 3:9.
Fifth, as a precious garment not only covers the body but also adorns it: so the virtues of Christ adorn the soul.
Sixth, he who has put on garments does not feel their weight, as does one who carries them wrapped in a bundle: so he who has Christ — not wrapped in speculation but unfolded in action and imitation — does not feel the difficulty of Christ's virtues.
Morally, see St. Chrysostom, how Christ in all things, both internal and external, is our fullness, adorning and crowning us with garments on every side. For Christ is our husband, our way, spouse, drink, food, life, priest, teacher, father, brother, heir, home, host, our friend; so that we may rightly say to Him: "My love, my Jesus, and my all."
AND MAKE NOT PROVISION FOR THE FLESH IN ITS DESIRES, — to fulfil desires — and, as it is in the Greek, ἐπιθυμίας, that is, desires, namely intemperate and excessive desires of the flesh; because, as that Philosopher used to say: "Excessive care of the flesh and the body is a great neglect of the soul and of virtue." Hence another said: "I was born for greater things than to make myself the slave of my body." See St. Gregory, Book 6 of Morals, chapter 40. For otherwise the Apostle praises a moderate care of the flesh, that is, of the body, in Ephesians 5:29, saying: "No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it." Forcefully St. Bernard, in On Conversion to Clerics, chapter 13: "Whence," he says, "this so great pusillanimity and so wretched abjection, that an excellent creature, capable of eternal blessedness and the glory of the great God — by whose inspiration she was founded, marked with His likeness, redeemed by His blood, endowed with faith, adopted by the Spirit — does not blush in pity to carry on a servitude under this rottenness of the bodily senses? Rightly indeed she cannot grasp those things, who, deserting such a Spouse, follows such lovers; rightly he hungered for husks and did not get them, who preferred to feed swine rather than to be satisfied with the father's banquets. For it is insane labour to feed a barren woman who does not bring forth, and to refuse kindness to the widow; to neglect the care of the heart, and to undertake care of the flesh in desire; to fatten and cherish a putrid carcass, which without doubt will shortly be food for worms."