Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, he commands that children obey their parents, and servants their masters, sincerely and from the heart, and that in turn parents toward children, and masters toward servants, be not threatening but benevolent, and render due care.
Second, at verse 11, he shows how great a struggle we have with demons, and assigns the arms and full panoply of the Christian soldier against them: Let the belt, he says, be truth, the breastplate be justice, the shoes be the preparation of the Gospel of peace, the shield be faith, the helmet be salvation or the hope of salvation, the sword be the word of God.
Third, at verse 18, he exhorts to constant prayer, and that they obtain for him by prayer freedom and courage to evangelize. Finally, at verse 21, he sends Tychicus, who is to announce to the Ephesians the state of his chains, and he wishes them peace and grace.
Vulgate Text: Ephesians 6:1-24
1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is just. 2. Honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with a promise: 3. that it may be well with you, and that you may be long-lived upon the earth. 4. And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger: but bring them up in the discipline and correction of the Lord. 5. Servants, obey your fleshly masters with fear and trembling, in the simplicity of your heart, as Christ: 6. not serving to the eye, as pleasing men, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7. with good will serving, as to the Lord, and not to men: 8. knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive from the Lord, whether servant or free. 9. And you, masters, do the same things to them, forbearing threats: knowing that both their and your Lord is in heaven, and there is no acceptance of persons with Him. 10. For the rest, brethren, be strengthened in the Lord, and in the power of His might. 11. Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the snares of the devil. 12. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood: but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. 13. Therefore take up the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand perfect in all things. 14. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and clothed with the breastplate of justice, 15. and shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace: 16. in all things taking up the shield of faith, with which you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one: 17. and take up the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit (which is the word of God), 18. through every prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit: and in it being vigilant in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, 19. and for me, that speech may be given to me with confidence in the opening of my mouth, to make known the mystery of the Gospel: 20. for which I serve as an ambassador in chains, that in it I may dare, as I ought, to speak. 21. But that you also may know the things concerning me, what I am doing: all things Tychicus, the most beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make known to you: 22. whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know the things concerning us, and that he may console your hearts. 23. Peace to the brethren, and charity with faith from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24. Grace with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption. Amen.
Verse 1: Children, Obey Your Parents in the Lord
1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. — St. Jerome says that "in the Lord" can be referred first to "parents," as if to say: Obey those parents who begot you in the Lord, that is in Christ — namely, the Apostles and similar persons. Second, it can be referred to "obey," as if to say: Obey your fleshly parents, but "in the Lord," that is, according to the Lord's law and command, provided they enjoin nothing impious or deformed, but things conformable to the law, piety, and worship of the Lord: for then they command in the Lord; otherwise they command not in the Lord but against the Lord, in the devil, and consequently they are then not to be obeyed. Again, "obey in the Lord" means: with love and reverence for the Lord (see Canon 25), who said and commanded: "Honor your father and mother," and willed that in father and mother we should consider, honor, and revere the heavenly and eternal Father, whose image and person father and mother represent to us. This second sense is the genuine one: for the Apostle is speaking not of spiritual parents but of natural ones, who beget us according to the flesh. Where note: In the preceding chapter he laid down a general law and statement: "Be subject," he says, "one to another in the fear of Christ;" he then explains it through three kinds of subjection. The first kind is that subjection by which a wife should be subject to her husband: of this he treats in the preceding chapter, verse 22. The second kind is the subjection by which children should obey parents: of this he treats here. The third is the subjection by which servants are bound to their masters, of which he treats below at verse 5.
Verse 2: Honor Your Father and Your Mother, Which Is the First Commandment With a Promise
Verse 2. Honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with a promise. — Note: Under "honor" Scripture takes in first reverence; second, love; third, obedience; fourth, sustenance and support, and all gifts and offices. For Christ understands this commandment of these things, Matt. 15:6, as Jerome noted there. Thus Paul, 1 Tim. 5:3: "Honor widows," that is, render them honor, and support them; and verse 17: "Let the presbyters who rule well be held worthy of double honor," that is, of much honor abounding above widows and others, that is, of the subsidy of support. Whence, explaining this honor in that same place, he adds: "For the Scripture says: You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain; and: The laborer is worthy of his wages."
Note: This fourth commandment of the Decalogue, "Honor your father and mother," is called "first with a promise," that is, with a promise attached: because it is the first among the precepts of the Decalogue that has a promise of long life attached. For so it is said in Exodus 20:12: "Honor your father and your mother, that you may be long-lived upon the land which the Lord your God will give you" (understand the land of Canaan, into which, O Israel, I am now bringing you). The Apostle here cites both, namely both the precept of honoring and the promise of longevity.
Note: This promise is equitable and fitting. For it is just and fitting that children, who are grateful to their parents for the life they have received, by honoring them, should obtain the long preservation of the life received from them. For their honor and gratitude merits this, as St. Thomas finely teaches in his Opuscules, opusc. 4: Children, he says, obtain life from their parents as soldiers obtain a fief from a king. Just as these therefore merit its preservation as long as they render homage to the king, so children also merit the preservation of life as long as they honor their parents: on the contrary, just as rebel soldiers are stripped of their fief, so rebel children are stripped of life. Add: this promise is fittingly proposed to youthful sons: for these above others desire to live long and pleasantly.
You will say: It often happens that obedient sons are of short life. Abulensis answers on the said chapter 20 of Exodus: A son, he says, who honors his parents, though he dies quickly, has nevertheless lived long. For time is the measure not of leisure but of work, and of actions not evil but good. Whence Wisdom 4:13, it is said of such a one: "Being consummated in a short while, he fulfilled long times." But this is the mystical sense. I say therefore, that this canon of Scripture should be noted, which St. Jerome gives elsewhere. God in the Scriptures, promising present, fleshly, and temporal goods, if He does not bestow them, gives in their place far greater things, namely spiritual, heavenly, and eternal. Thus in Psalm 36:25, it is said: "I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread," and yet it is well known that Lazarus the beggar was just, and that many Martyrs and other Saints perished from hunger in prisons, and from like want and miseries; but then in place of bodily bread God gave them spiritual and heavenly bread, namely the far greater good of patience, and the laurel of martyrdom. Just as if I promise you one gold piece, and in its place give you not a gold piece but a horse, I have abundantly satisfied my promises, indeed I have given more than I promised. Add: this promise of longevity is not absolute, but God only gives obedient sons hope of it; for the little word "that" signifies this, as if to say: If you honor your father, there is reason that you may hope for longevity, for by such honor God is not indeed obligated, but yet God is moved to give a long, abundant and happy life to those sons who pursue their parents with this honor.
St. Jerome objects, secondly, that a promise is also attached to the first precept; for he says: "I am the Lord your God, strong, jealous, visiting the iniquity of fathers upon sons, unto the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me: and showing mercy unto thousands to those who love Me and keep My precepts." Therefore this fourth precept, "Honor your father," etc., is not first but second in promise. Some reply that it is first not absolutely, but in the second table. Secondly, St. Jerome replies that the first commandment is here called the whole Decalogue: that this was first given to the Hebrews after their departure from Egypt, while the other judicial and ceremonial laws were given afterwards. But I answer, thirdly, more simply and plainly, that to the fourth precept, "Honor your father," a proper and special promise of longevity is first added; while to the first precept no special promise is added, but only the common one — both the threat and the promise — by which God, just as He promises in general to be merciful to all who keep not just this first one but all His precepts, so He likewise threatens in general to take vengeance on those who have violated them.
Fourth, Chrysostom and Theophylact add that no promise is added to the other precepts because they are negative, namely: "You shall not adore strange gods: You shall not kill: You shall not commit adultery, etc.;" but to the fourth the same is added because it is affirmative. For he who abstains from things forbidden indeed escapes punishment, but earns no reward; whereas he who honors his parents does and works good: a reward therefore is due to him and promised. But this does not seem solidly said. First, for the third precept also, namely, "Remember to sanctify the day of the Sabbath," is affirmative (and he who fulfills this does something good), and yet has no promise of reward attached. Secondly, under negatives are understood affirmatives. For the precept that forbids worship of strange gods commands the worship of the true God; the precept that forbids theft commands rendering to each what is his own, and so of the rest.
Verse 3: That It May Be Well With You
Verse 3. That it may be well with you. — Among other things, experience makes this clear, that by God's just judgment it commonly comes about that those who do not obey their parents likewise have disobedient and unruly children. Whence Pittacus of Mitylene used to say: "Whatever you have rendered upon your parents, expect exactly the same from your children, whether for good or ill."
Verse 4: Fathers, Do Not Provoke Your Children to Anger; but Bring Them Up in the Discipline and Correction of the Lord
Verse 4. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, — that is, that by your harshness, severity, excessive beatings or labors, you do not burden and exasperate your children. But bring them up in discipline. — The Greek παιδείᾳ signifies instruction and doctrine, as Jerome and Chrysostom explain, as well as chastisement. The father ought to render both to his son, and the word "discipline" signifies both. And in the correction of the Lord. — In Greek νουθεσίᾳ, which Jerome translates "in admonition"; Vatablus and others "in correction," by which, namely, admonishing, teaching, correcting, one places and impresses upon the mind of him whom one warns what ought to be done, or to have been done. For this is νουθεσία, that is, literally a placing in the mind, namely an instruction which is placed and imprinted in the mind of another. As if to say: You, O fathers, bring up your children in the doctrine of Christ, give them Christian admonitions, by which they may learn the manner of living well and as Christians.
Where note: The greatest treasure which parents leave to their children is a good upbringing. For this will give them all the rest — wealth, wisdom, virtue, an honorable life both present and eternal. For upon upbringing depends the whole life of a person, indeed eternal salvation and beatitude. Now many, little concerned about upbringing, busy themselves only with enriching their offspring and advancing them to honors: and what do they do but prepare for them the very weapons by which they may be used to their own destruction?
Verse 5: Servants, Obey Your Fleshly Masters With Fear and Trembling, in the Simplicity of Your Heart, as Christ
5. Servants, obey your fleshly masters, — that is, your temporal and worldly masters: for he opposes these to spiritual lords, namely Apostles, Bishops, Pastors. Thus the Apostle often calls fleshly wisdom or prudence the wisdom and prudence of the world and worldly, as I said on 2 Cor. 10, verses 3 and 4. St. Jerome notes that in the beginnings of the Christian faith, many, when they heard themselves called to Christian liberty, thought that by it they were freed from the bond of slavery — as in our own age those peasants in Germany thought, whom Luther kindled to rebellion and armed both for their own and their masters' destruction, so that a hundred thousand of them were slain. Hence against this error the Council of Gangra, canon 3, decrees thus: "If anyone, under pretext of divine worship or of any religious motive, should teach a servant to despise his master, and to withdraw from servitude, and not rather to serve his masters with good will and all honor, let him be anathema." Indeed some thought that through Christianity they were released from the bond of marriage entered into with Gentiles: hence just as he refutes and instructs these in 1 Cor. 7, so here he teaches the former not to despise their masters, even though Gentile, but to obey them, unless they command things contrary to God and Christ. Whence he adds:
Obey with fear and trembling, — as if to say: Not only obey, but also fear and revere your masters; nay rather, tremble at their command and voice. For this the servile condition requires: and this fear and trembling toward masters becomes servants. Secondly, it can be understood of the fear and trembling of Christ, as if to say: Obey your masters fearing and trembling at Christ the Judge, who in judgment will require an account from you of this obedience. Whence Col. 3:22, he seems to explain this fear and trembling by saying: "Fearing God." The first sense is simpler and more natural; the latter is fuller and more perfect, and more becomes Christians, namely that they should obey their masters not so much with the natural and servile fear of masters as with the spiritual and holy fear of Christ. Whence follows:
In the simplicity of your heart. — That is, simply, ingenuously, candidly, not feignedly, not fraudulently, not to the eye, as follows. For to these things he opposes simplicity. As unto Christ. — Refer to "obey," as if to say: Obey your masters as Christ, whose person and authority and lordship they represent to you.
Verse 6: Not Serving to the Eye, as Pleasing Men, but as Servants of Christ, Doing the Will of God From the Heart
Verse 6. 6. Not serving to the eye (in Greek this is more beautifully and significantly said in a single word: μὴ κατ' ὀφθαλμοδουλείαν, that is, Not for eye-service) as pleasing men. — In Greek again it is one more significant word ὡς ἀνθρωπάρεσκοι; ἀνθρωπαρέσκεια signifies the eagerness of pleasing men, and conciliating their favor for oneself. But as servants of Christ. — Repeat "serving," as if to say: Serve your masters not as men's servants for the eye, not for the catching of the master's favor, but sincerely, faithfully and from the heart, as servants of Christ, that you may please Christ. For Christ wills you to serve your masters: hence when you serve your masters, you serve Christ. Hence, explaining, he adds: Doing the will of God from the heart, — as if to say: Serve not under compulsion, not feignedly, but from the heart, because this is the will of Christ and of God. Secondly, "as servants of Christ," that is, as Christian servants, as if to say: Serve not as Gentiles serve for the eye and external show; but serve as Christians, that your Gentile masters may see Christian servants serving Gentiles more sincerely and faithfully, and so may be drawn to Christ and to Christianity. For faith corrects nature and the servile condition, which Plato describes thus in dialogue 8 On the Laws: "Nothing," he says, "in a servile soul is whole, nor is anything to be entrusted to the race of servants — to which the wisest Poet also testifies when he says: Jupiter takes away half the mind from those who are subjected to servitude"; such as we now experience many barbarians in India to be. But through faith there comes about that which Plato adds in the same place: "Many," he says, "slaves are now better in every virtue than brothers and sons, who guard the houses and all the goods of their masters, and the masters themselves."
Verse 7: With Good Will Serving, as to the Lord, and Not to Men
7. With good will (μετ' εὐνοίας, that is, with benevolence, benevolently, in friendly fashion, not grudgingly, not morosely, not under compulsion) serving as unto the Lord, and not as unto men, — in that sense which I just explained. Namely, the Apostle wills that the servant should serve his master from love, reverence, and obedience to the Lord Christ, from whom they will receive their reward — even a peevish, cruel, or tyrannical master — and bear his tyranny, lest he place any stumbling-block to the Gospel. Note: The Apostle is not speaking so much of those servants and maidservants such as are now among Christians, as of the servants of the Gentiles, that is, slaves, of whom there were then many, who were converted to Christ along with their masters, or alone without them: for these are properly called "servants" in law, and to these the Apostle in the next verse opposes "free men": ours are called not servants but hired workers. Whence that gentile slavery of slaves has now almost vanished among Christians. For the Church, who calls all to Christian liberty, and wills all her children to be brethren one to another, has gradually abolished this servitude, so that one brother, that is one Christian, should not serve another as a slave: for this is unbecoming.
What sort of person a servant ought to be is signified by an old emblem, in which a servant is painted with a red cap on his head, dressed in an elegant tunic, having ass's ears, deer's feet, holding his right hand erect and opened into the palm. The cap signifies that he ought to be of a free and liberal disposition. The tunic indicates that he is constantly intent upon work and labor. The ass's ears suggest that he hears even many harsh things patiently. The deer's feet note swiftness in carrying out commands. The right hand erect is an index of fidelity in handling the master's affairs and business: for this is the chief endowment of male and female servants. Whence the Spartan woman, as Plutarch relates, when asked what she knew, replied, To be faithful. Of these virtues an outstanding example was given to servants by the patriarch Joseph, sold into slavery, Gen. 37 and 39; and St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, who, in order to redeem the son of a widow, handed himself over into slavery to the Vandals, and by his fidelity, diligence, gentleness, prudence and sanctity obtained liberty both for himself and for all his fellow citizens.
Verse 9: And You, Masters, Do the Same Things to Them, Forbearing Threats, Knowing That Both Their and Your Lord Is in Heaven, and There Is No Acceptance of Persons With Him
Verse 9. 9. And you, masters, do the same things to them (as if to say: You masters, show servants similar humanity, kindness, love, sincerity, fidelity, such as servants by my command show toward you), forbearing threats (do not be imperious and threatening toward your servants), knowing that both their and your Lord is in heaven: and there is no acceptance of persons with Him. — The Apostle presses down the pride of masters, as if to say: Do not be proud and act imperiously toward your servants, O masters: because you are brothers of your servants, and you serve a common God and Lord. Remember that you are likewise servants of the heavenly Lord, who will exact from you a strict account of your lordship and tyranny over servants, and will show Himself to you such as you have shown yourselves to your servants. For He has no respect for the person of a man, whether he be a servant or a master; but each, whether servant or master, will be rewarded for good works, punished for evil, and consigned to Gehenna and the infernal prison-house. Thus Macrobius, Saturnalia book I, chapter 11, teaches that servants should be kindly treated by their masters — and that from the very law of nature, since both consist of the same elements, and slavery is the condition not of nature but of fortune. "Hence our forefathers," he says, "removing all envy from masters and all insult from servants, called the master pater-familias, and the servants familiares. Therefore let your servants honor you rather than fear you." In like manner, from the very name pater-familias, St. Augustine teaches that servants, called as it were sons and brothers to the same heavenly inheritance, are to be treated accordingly, in book 19 of City of God, chapter 16. See on Lev. 25:42. Wherefore the same Augustine teaches in the Sentences, no. 163, that lordship among Christians is rather a service than a command. "In the Lord," he says, "those living justly by faith, and still pilgrims from that City, even those who command serve those whom they seem to command: because they do not command from a desire of dominating, but from the duty of taking counsel; nor from the pride of ruling, but from the kindness of providing."
Verse 10: For the Rest, Brethren, Be Strengthened in the Lord, and in the Power of His Might
10. For the rest, brethren, be strengthened in the Lord, and in the power of His might, — as if to say: Finally, that I may end this epistle, O Christian Ephesians, take strength and courage against all the temptations of the devil, the flesh, and the world; strengthen and fortify yourselves "in the Lord," that is, in the faith, hope, grace, support and aid of our Lord Jesus Christ. For if Christ is for us, who is against us? Note: For "in the power of His might," the Greek is ἐν τῷ κράτει τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ, that is, in the power of His strength or fortitude — that is, in the strong and robust power of Christ the Lord, as if to say: Christ the Lord is present to us with His strong and robust support and grace; therefore let us take courage, strength, and power. For with such a leader and champion we shall conquer all hard things, all the temptations of the enemies.
Verse 11: Put On the Armor of God, That You May Be Able to Stand Against the Snares of the Devil
Verse 11. 11. Put on the armor of God. — In Greek πανοπλίαν, that is, the full and complete armor, with which soldiers arm and protect themselves from head to heel. Truly St. Bernard, sermon 3 on the Dedication of a Church: "Put on," he says, "the armor of God, not only to resist, but also to attack and to overpower the enemy manfully. For what do we think, brethren? Grievous indeed to us is the temptation of the enemy, but far more grievous to him is our prayer. His iniquity and craftiness wound us, but our simplicity and mercy torment him much more. He does not endure our humility; he burns at our charity; he is tormented by our gentleness and obedience." That you may be able to stand against the snares of the devil. — For "snares" the Greek is μεθοδείας, which Jerome translates "craftiness"; Vatablus, "insidious encounters and assaults"; our translator, at chapter 4, verse 14, translates it "circumvention," by which, namely, the enemy from the flank and from ambush suddenly bursts forth, and attacks and surrounds us.
Note: Since men prudent and at the same time brave are rare — because, as Aristotle teaches, section 14, problem 8, prudence consists in coldness, but spirit and fortitude in heat (hence no one is at the same time prudent and bold) — in a leader of war, prudence and craftiness are more excellent and more to be desired than fortitude. "Let the leader of war," says Vegetius, "be more crafty than bold, so that he may destroy the enemy by ambushes without danger to himself." Such does the Apostle here depict the devil. We have therefore a most crafty enemy, the devil, against whom we ought to direct all the senses of our mind, our eyes and our nerves, lest he attack us off-guard, strike and trip us.
This craftiness of the devil first appears in this, that, as Jerome says, he observes the least little places, that through them he may creep up to the citadel of the heart and soul: for example, into those who do not guard their eyes and ears, he inserts the appearances of women, lascivious words, by which he may entice the imagination and the will to lust. Secondly, as Chrysostom says, he never sets open sins before a man, but uses circumlocutions; and he does not burst in suddenly, but creeps in gradually, and insinuates himself into the familiarity of the soul, and at last plunges himself entirely in. In addition to this, he colors vices with the appearance and name of virtues. Thus he proposes drunkenness and calls it cheerfulness, calls obscene people charming, calls the proud spirited. Again, on the hook of sin he holds out the bait of pleasure, so that while you taste and drink in the pleasure, you take in the sting of sin. Besides this, he gradually entices from lesser to greater things; moreover he scrutinizes by what weakness, by what vice, by what proclivity each one labors, and through that he attacks him. Hence he will not tempt the proud man with lust, but with honors; the glutton not with honors, but with delicacies; the greedy man not with delicacies, but with money and usury. St. Leo teaches this, sermon 7 On the Nativity of the Lord: "He (the devil)," he says, "knows to whom to apply the heats of cupidity, to whom to bring the enticements of gluttony, to whom to set out the incitements of luxury, into whom to pour the poison of envy; he knows whom to disturb with grief, whom to deceive with joy, whom to oppress with fear, whom to seduce with admiration. He examines the habits of all, sifts their cares, scrutinizes their affections, and there seeks causes of injuring, wherever he sees them more eagerly occupied."
Hear St. Anthony, an eyewitness and unconquered athlete, who, having experienced all the arts and snares of the devil, sagaciously and wisely uncovers them to his brethren, and demonstrates the manner of conquering them, speaking thus in St. Athanasius in the Life of St. Anthony: "Hostile is their (the demons') hatred against all Christians, but especially against monks and virgins of Christ. They stretch snares for their paths, they strive to overthrow their minds with impious and obscene thoughts; but in this they strike no terror into us: for by the prayers and fastings of the faithful they will at once collapse before the Lord. Yet even if they pause a little, do not therefore think the victory complete. The wounded are wont to rise more dangerously, and with much art of fighting, when by thought they have effected nothing, they terrify with sudden alarms." Then he teaches that demons rouse the sleeping to prayer, in order to snatch away the sleep necessary for head and body. Again, that they bring up to the newly-converted their former sins, and excite them to excessive fasts, vigils and penances, by which they may enervate body and mind, so that, conquered by the harshness, difficulty and weariness of the holy life, they may recoil and return to their former license of life. He adds that their suggestions are plainly to be despised, and to be beaten back with prayer and some verse of a psalm contrary to the thing suggested. "Christ," he says, "as Lord, commanded the demons silence; so that we should give no credence to the devil, and conquer. If they compel us to pray, if they advise fasts, let us do this not by their admonitions, but by our own custom. Finally, even if they appear to threaten us with death, charging upon us, they are rather to be looked at than feared: because, since they are weak, they threaten all things and do nothing." And further on, suggesting weapons against their snares: "Great, dearest brethren," he says, "are the weapons against demons: a sincere life, and an unstained faith toward God. Believe me from experience: Satan dreads the vigils, prayers, fasts of those who live rightly, gentleness, voluntary poverty, contempt of vainglory, humility, mercy, dominion over wrath, and especially a pure heart in love toward Christ. The most foul serpent knows that by the Lord's command he lies under the feet of the just, who said: Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy." Then St. Anthony fully recounts his particular conflicts and victories with the demons. And finally, exhorting each one to contend eagerly with the demons, he so concludes: "Let it be the care of Christians and monks that they do not, by their own inertia, give strength to the demons. For of what sort they find us and our thoughts, such are they accustomed to show themselves to us. And what seed they find in our hearts of an evil mind and of fear, like robbers who hold deserted places, they pile up the fears already begun, and cruelly pressing upon us, punish the unhappy soul. But if we are eager in the Lord, and the desire of future goods has kindled us, if we always commit all things into the hands of God, no demon will be able to draw near to attack: for rather, when they have seen hearts fortified in Christ, they will return in confusion. So the devil fled from Job strengthened in the Lord, and bound the most unhappy Judas, stripped of faith, in the chains of captivity. There is therefore one way of conquering the enemy: spiritual joy, and the constant remembrance of the soul ever thinking on the Lord, which, driving away the games of the demons as smoke, will pursue our adversaries rather than fear them." Thus far St. Anthony, whose words wonderfully illustrate this place of Paul, and teach us great spiritual prudence, that we may know the arts and snares of the devil, and the way of overcoming them.
Verse 12: For Our Wrestling Is Not Against Flesh and Blood, but Against Principalities and Powers, Against the Rulers of This World of Darkness, Against the Spirits of Wickedness in the High Places
12. For our wrestling is not (in Greek πάλη, that is, struggle) against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spiritual things of wickedness in the high places, — as if to say: Not against men, who consist of flesh and blood; but against demons, who are most subtle, most wicked, and most robust spirits — and not against one of them or against common ones, but against many, and indeed against princes, powers, and rulers of the world, is our duel and battle. Note first: By "flesh and blood," St. Jerome and others understand lust, vices, and temptations, which the flesh suggests — as if to say: These vices of the flesh, not so much the flesh as the demon through the flesh suggests and excites. "For there are," says Jerome on Hosea 4, "certain demons serving loves and amatory songs, as the Prophet too recalls saying: They have been seduced by the spirit of fornication. For there are even said to be certain barbarian names of theirs, as those whom the common people truly call evil-doers have often confessed; and incantations, and prayers, and various colors, and different kinds either of metals or of foods, at which the demons being invoked are recorded to attend, and to seize unhappy souls. Others to instigate angers and rages, and to commit wars; others to preside over enmities, and to stir up hatreds among men. Because therefore the Apostle wants to teach us, they say, that these kinds of vices are not produced from the nature of the body, and from the matter of flesh and blood, but at the instigation of demons, therefore he says: Our wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities and powers, and the rest." Thus Jerome, not so much from his own as from Origen's opinion (who thinks and teaches thus on Joshua, chapter 15). For this was the opinion of Origen, of Cassian, Conference 7, and of other ancients, that demons preside over individual vices. For some, they say, incite us to gluttony, others to pride, others to wrath, etc., and so are called the spirit of pride, the spirit of envy, the spirit of lust: hence too one is called by Christ "mammon," who presides over avarice or the desire for money, in Matt. 6, when He says: "You cannot serve God and mammon." But, as I said, this opinion is in appearance probable to some, not however a certain demonstration.
Secondly, and better, the same Jerome, Theophylact, Vatablus and others understand by "flesh and blood" men consisting of flesh and blood: for these he opposes to the demons, who are spirits, as if to say: Paul, the panoply must be put on against the snares of the devil: because this our enemy is not corporeal, fleshly, visible; but is incorporeal, invisible, and a most subtle spirit. Wherefore, although some understand the word as exceptive, "only," and so explain: there is for us not, supply "only," a wrestling against flesh, but also against the rulers of the world; or, that the wrestling we have with the flesh is small and as it were nothing, if it is compared with that by which we contend against the demonic rulers of the world: nevertheless it is not necessary here to supply any word other than the exceptive or comparative, because, as I said, he is treating of a war and struggle not just any one, but that which is ours against the devil, as preceded. For this is for us the first, most grievous, most difficult and most perilous struggle, in which we fight not against fleshly enemies, but against spirits, that is, demons. St. Jerome adds that Paul alludes to the old battles of the Judges with other nations, as if to say: O Ephesians, the things which you have heard about the battles of Israel against the Egyptians — therefore by "rulers" he means the demons who hold dominion in this dark air. Hence St. Jerome: "It is the common opinion of all the Doctors, that this air is filled with hostile powers," that is, demons, who in this air often stir up and produce storms, whirlwinds, lightning, thunder, and other meteors, in order to harm crops, beasts, and men; who also stir up on this earth heat-waves, droughts, diseases, plagues, floods, wars, and other calamities; who finally entice and drive men relentlessly to gluttony, lust, anger, pride, and every vice.
Hence in the mystical sense St. Augustine in Psalm LIV, on verse 1, expounds these words of the Apostle thus: "Lest perchance, when he had said 'of the world,' you should think the demons to be rulers of heaven and earth: he said the world 'of these darknesses'; he said the world 'of the lovers of the world'; he said the world 'of the impious and unjust'; he said the world of which it is said in the Gospel: And the world knew Him not." For worldly and sinful men live in the darkness of sin, and in matters practical and divine they are blind and benighted. Hence the Greek adds the word aionos, that is "of the age," and so reads: Against the cosmocrators, that is, the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, that is of this life, as if to say: Against the world-rulers and lords who in this dark life and age hold dominion over worldly men and benighted sinners.
Note fifthly, these demons are called "the spirituals of wickedness," that is, spiritual wickednesses, that is, most wicked rascals, "in the heavenly places," that is, as Jerome says, dwelling in these regions of the air. Thus by a Hebrew paraphrase he calls "spirituals of wickedness" those whom the Greeks call by a single word cacodaemones. Hence St. Ambrose, in book On Paradise, chapter XII, inverts these words of the Apostle in order to explain the sense: "Against the wickedness of the spirituals," he says, "who are in the heavenly places."
Secondly, otherwise Chrysostom: "in the heavenly places," that is, our struggle with the demons is on account of heavenly things and goods.
Thirdly, St. Augustine, On the Christian Combat, chapter III: "This passage," he says, "can also be understood otherwise, namely that we, established in the heavenly places, that is, walking in the spiritual precepts of God, fight against the spirituals of wickedness, which strive to draw us away therefrom." But the first sense is plainer and simpler.
Note: For "wickednesses" the Greek has ponerias, which Erasmus renders "craftinesses"; Vatablus, "cunning": but properly it signifies "malices." For demons, just as they are most crafty and most cunning, are also most evil and most wicked.
Finally, note sixthly: Each individual word of this Apostolic sentence signifies the peculiar condition, power, force, and strength of our enemy the devil, so that each of us may be roused to vigil (for the life of mortals is a vigil) and to arms, that we may resist so great an enemy. For if the nature of the enemy is asked, he is spiritual, beautifully placed; if his appearance, he is invisible; if his nature, he is most wicked and most malicious; if his power, he is the lord of the world; if his art and deceit, he is the prince of darkness, attacking us through darkness and ambushes; if his location, he is above us, rushing upon us from the air and sky; with this enemy we have aspondos polemos, irreconcilable war. Hence Chrysostom rightly here in moral homily 22: "If such," he says, "are the battle-lines arrayed against us, if incorporeal principalities, if the lords of the world, if the spirituals of wickedness are against us, how, tell me, I pray, can you indulge yourself? How shall we, unarmed, be able to conquer? Let each man say this to himself daily, when he is occupied with pride, with concupiscence, when he seeks unwisely and in vain a soft life. Let him hear Paul saying: Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers," etc. And below: "We have trampled the power of the devil, if we have trampled our sins: I mean all temporal things, pride, concupiscence, vanity, all passions of the soul. For wealth, money, and the pursuit of vainglory give the devil his handle." And a little later: "If anyone has an enemy, if anyone has been wronged by him, if anyone is roused by anger, let him pour out and discharge all that fury, all that ferocity, gathered upon the head of the devil. Be always an enemy to him, always bitter, always unrelenting. If we rage against him, he will not rage against us; if we are gentle toward him, then he will rage."
Excellently too St. Basil, on those words of Deut. XV according to the Septuagint, Take heed to thyself: "Are you a soldier?" he says. "Labor along with the Gospel; wage the good warfare against the spirits of wickedness; against the vicious affections of the flesh put on the whole armor of God; that you may approve yourself to Him and be pleasing to your commander, who has enlisted you in this warfare. See to it that you are not entangled in the affairs of this life and tangled cares. Are you an athlete? Take heed to yourself, lest you be found a transgressor of any of the laws prescribed for the athletic contest; for no one is crowned unless he has contended lawfully. Imitate Paul: contending in the race, wrestling in the palaestra, and striving in the boxing-match; as a vigorous boxer, keep the eye of your soul never wandering, but attentive and most watchful. Cover and protect with outstretched hands those parts where a wound would be deadly. Fix your unwavering eye more steadily on your adversary. In the stadium-race, stretching yourself toward those who run before you, see that you overtake them: so run that you may pass them. In the wrestling, fight back against invisible adversaries. That you may persevere through this course of life such as you ought, this maxim is established, namely that you have a mind not supine or fainting, but upright; not drowsy, but most wakeful and sober, present with great watchfulness, and knowing how to govern yourself."
Verse 13: Therefore Take Up the Armor of God, That You May Be Able to Resist in the Evil Day, and to Stand Perfect in All Things
13. Therefore take unto you the armor of God (in Greek again it is panoplian, of which I spoke at verse 11, and which he describes in the following verses), that you may be able to resist in the evil day. — "Evil," that is difficult, sad, dangerous, namely when the aforesaid enemy attacks us from all sides and tries to overwhelm and subjugate the soul through enticements, terrors, and other temptations. So Jacob to Pharaoh asking, Gen. XLVII, 8: "How many are the days of the years of thy life? he answered: The days of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years, few," that is, not many, "and evil," that is, wretched and full of hardship. On the contrary David's messengers to Nabal, 1 Sam. XXV, 8: "We come," they say, "in a good day." As if to say: We come on a good day, that is glad and joyful, on which you shear your sheep, and therefore by custom you celebrate a banquet; that you may make us partakers of your joy, of the sheep, and of the banquet. Thus Anselm.
Secondly, St. Jerome: "that in the evil day," that is terrible, namely the day of judgment, you may be able to stand undaunted before the tribunal of Christ the judge, and to resist the devil who accuses you. The first sense is the genuine one; but this latter follows from the former. For those who in this life resist the devil in the day of temptation and warfare will most easily resist him in the day of judgment.
Learn here with what fortitude and armor we must resist the demons strenuously and constantly assailing us. Abbot Anthony, leader of the monastery of the Aeliotae, which he also built, related concerning Abbot Theodosius that the old man himself related these things about himself: Before I had passed over to the solitary life, I, being made in ecstasy, beheld a certain man whose appearance surpassed the brightness of the sun. He, holding my hand, said: "Come, for it behooves you to fight and wrestle;" and he led me into a theater full of men, on the one side clothed in white robes, but on the other in black. When then he had cast me into the theater, I behold a man of marvelous size, an Ethiopian, whose ugly head pierced the clouds. Then said to me that young man who had appeared to me: "With this one you must wrestle." I, who was terrified by the sight of that lofty man, began to tremble and quake, and I begged that splendid young man, who had led me into the theater, saying: "What man, encompassed by mortal condition and weakness, could wrestle with this one? Not the whole race of mankind, were it to come together as one, can prevail to resist him." But that glorious young man said to me: "It is altogether necessary that you wrestle with him. Therefore enter in with all eagerness and confidence. For as soon as you have attacked him, I will be your helper, and I will set upon you the crown of victory." When therefore I entered the contest, and we began to wrestle with each other, immediately that glorious judge of our combat was present, and gave me the crown. And that obscure throng, that vast multitude of Ethiopians, vanished wailing: but the rest of the white-clad applauded and gave thanks to him who had aided me and granted me a glorious victory. Thus Sophronius, Spiritual Meadow, chapter LXVI.
While Abraham the Hermit was once praying at night, Satan, holding an axe, began to overturn his cell, and when he now seemed to have pierced through it, he cried out with a great voice, saying: Hasten quickly, O my friends, hasten, and entering in suffocate him at once. But the blessed man of God answered him: "All nations," he said, "compassed me about, and in the name of the Lord I took vengeance upon them." But he, having heard this voice, immediately vanished, the cell of the holy man meanwhile remaining whole and unhurt. And again, after a few days had passed, when at midnight he was engaged in psalmody, beholding the mat upon which he stood psalming consumed by a violent flame, treading down the fire undaunted he said: "Upon the asp and the basilisk shall I walk, and I will tread down the lion and the dragon, and every power of the enemy I will overcome in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ aiding me." Satan, fleeing away, cried out and said: I will conquer you, wicked one, and I will find arts by which to crush you, you who already hold me in contempt. Thus Sophronius above.
We read in the Life of St. Vincent Ferrer that when as a youth he asked from God the gift of perseverance, a demon appeared to him in the guise of a venerable old hermit, and persuaded him to spare his youth, and following his example to defer penance and austerity until old age. Vincent perceived the deceit, and signing himself with the cross said: "Begone, pestilent serpent. You are not one of the Fathers of Egypt, but one of the demons of hell." Likewise, commending his virginity to the Blessed Virgin, he heard a voice: Not all of us can be virgins: I will no longer suffer you to rejoice in so honored a name as virgin. Vincent was troubled, but soon the Blessed Virgin appeared to him with much light, saying that this had not been her voice, but the devil's: "He will prepare frequent snares for you," she said, "that your virginity may be endangered; but hope always in the Lord, because He Himself will be your shield, with which you will overcome all the darts of the enemy." From this vision so much fervor came to the soldier of Christ, that he seemed to be not an earthly man, but a heavenly angel.
How many illusions of the demon our Holy Father Ignatius suffered, both at other times and in his studies, in order to draw him away from divine things which were placed before him; and how by disclosing them to his preceptor, and by invocation of the Blessed Virgin, He overcame them, our Ribadeneira relates in book I of his Life, chapter XIII.
Concerning Evagrius, the renowned deacon of Christ, who lived after the manner of the Apostles, it is not fair to be silent. For to him there once appeared three demons in the habit of clerics, inquiring with him concerning the faith. And one indeed said he was an Arian, another a Eunomian, and the third an Apollinarian. And he overcame them with a few words by the spirit of wisdom. Thus Palladius, in Lausiac History, chapter LXXXVI.
John Climacus confirms this same point with this example: A certain studious monk, when he was tormented by a demon with the thought of blasphemy for twenty years, did not cease to mortify his flesh with fasts and vigils. But when he perceived that he had derived no profit from this, having set forth in writing this disturbance and his temptation, he offered it to a certain holy and most approved old man, prostrate on his face, not even daring to look at him. But when the elder read it, he smiled, and lifting up the brother said: "Place, my son, your hand upon my eye." When he had done so, the elder said: "Upon my neck be this sin, brother, however many years it has assailed you, or shall assail you. But do you observe this, that you now make light of it and esteem it as nothing." By which words the brother was so strengthened that he did not depart from the elder's cell until that disease vanished. He who experienced this related it to me afterwards, giving thanks to God.
And to stand perfect in all things. — In Greek kai hapanta katergasamenoi stenai, that after you have accomplished all things, you may be able to stand, prepared, namely, for battle with the enemy, the devil. Hence St. Cyprian, in book V, epistle 6, reads thus: that, when you have accomplished all things, you may stand with your loins girt. So too Jerome, Chrysostom, and Ambrose render it. Hence Erasmus thinks our Latin translation should be read thus: "and, all things being completed, to stand," as if the Apostle were to say: Just as a soldier does everything possible by which he may resist and protect his life, so all things are to be done by us who must constantly wrestle with the demons. For a soldier prepares and puts on his arms, raises a rampart, surrounds the camp with a palisade, and disposes everything suitable for battle; all of which being diligently completed, it remains for him to stand always girded for battle; for victory brings security and ease to many; security in turn from victors makes the vanquished. Likewise every Christian as a soldier of Christ ought to arm, gird, and fortify himself, and provide and prepare all things necessary for the conflict with the devil, and once all is provided and prepared, to take his stand vigilant in the battle-line, ready for combat. Yet commonly the Roman and other Latin Bibles read, "and to stand perfect in all things." But the sense comes to the same thing. For the Apostle requires the panoply, that we may be armed on every side, "and perfect in all things," that is, perfectly armed, and fortified on every side with virtues as with arms, that we may stand and keep watch to resist the devil. Hence the Syriac renders: "and, when you have been instructed in all things, you may stand."
Verse 14: Stand Therefore, Having Your Loins Girt About With Truth, and Having On the Breastplate of Justice
14. Stand therefore, having your loins girt (perizosamenoi, that is, girded around) with truth. — "In truth," that is, with truth. It is a Hebraism. For the Hebrews assign beth, that is "in," to an instrument; thus they say: He smote the enemies in (i.e. with) the edge of the sword, that is, with the edge, namely the blade of the sword. This is the first part of the panoply or armor of the Christian soldier, namely the belt, or military girdle, which is truth. The Apostle seems to allude, says Chrysostom, to the Hebrews, to whom, when going forth from Egypt into Canaan, that they might be ready for the journey and for battle with their enemies, the Lord commanded thus in Exodus XII, 11: "Ye shall gird up your loins, and ye shall have shoes on your feet," etc. Which Chrysostom here in homily 3 beautifully accommodates allegorically to Christians stretching with armed hand toward heaven, as if the Apostle were saying: Soldiers protect their loins with a leathern, golden, or silver belt; you, O Christians, protect your loins with truth as with a belt.
It is asked here first, what does the cincture or belt signify?
I answer, first, it is a symbol of fidelity; hence spouses are girded with a cincture, to signify the love and faith by which they are bound and joined to the other spouse. Hence in Jeremiah God calls the people of Israel His "loin-cloth" (that is, the cincture girding the loins), because this people, like a girdle on the loins and reins of God, that is, was intimately bound and joined to God. "For just as," says the Lord in Jeremiah XIII, 11, "the loin-cloth cleaves to the loins of a man, so have I joined," that is, joined as in marriage, "to Myself the whole house of Israel, that they might be to Me a people, and a praise, and a glory." As a symbol of this thing the priest bound his tunic with a cincture, Exodus XXVIII, 39, to signify the priest, and through the priest the people, being bound to God.
St. Thomas adds that the loins are a symbol of love, because in the loins is the source of seed and concupiscence. Therefore the loin-cloth signifies the people taken to the loins of God, that is, His love and marriage, as Hosea says, XI, 4: "I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bonds of charity." Thus bridegrooms are accustomed to give their brides a cincture or a linen pectoral band, that through it the brides may always be reminded of conjugal faith and purity of heart, namely that they may restrain by continence the breasts, which are the offshoots of the heart, that is, their affections, and keep themselves clean for their husband's bed, that they may love none but their husband, and surrender to him a pure heart and affection. Thus God reproaches the people of Israel, whom He had as it were taken to Himself as a bride, when she had now turned away from Him to idols, among other things, Ezekiel XVI, 10: "I girded thee with fine linen" (namely, most white: for this is what the Hebrew sos signifies, whence derives and is called sosan, that is, lily, because it is white), as if to say: With My law and religion, as with a cincture, I, O Israel, once bound thee to Myself in Sinai, that through these things thou mightest be reminded of conjugal chastity, purity, and inviolate fidelity toward Me thy husband, and that thou mightest say: "My beloved is mine, and I am his;" and: "A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me; he shall lie between my breasts;" but thou hast despised this, and despising Me hast cleaved to idols as an adulteress.
In like manner soldiers receive the military belt, that by it they may be reminded of the military oath and the fidelity which they have sworn to their commander. Hence the belt was a symbol of this military service and fidelity, and when soldiers were discharged they laid down the belt; or even were deprived of it, if they had borne themselves unfaithfully or cowardly in war.
Secondly, the cincture or belt strengthens the softness of the reins and loins. Hence it is a symbol of fortitude and constancy: for which reason the belt is the garment of a soldier and a swordsman, and the sword is wont to hang from the belt. For the loins, says Chrysostom, are the foundation and joint of the upper and lower parts of the body. Hence it is that those who labor and are weary often plant their hands there as upon some foundation, in order thereby to strengthen themselves. Soldiers therefore, with a belt joined of metal plates, guard, contain, fortify, and strengthen the loins as the middle, softest, and most fundamental part of the body.
Thirdly, the cincture, as Pierius rightly notes in hieroglyphic 40, was a symbol of integrity and virginity both among the Hebrews and among the Greeks and Latins. Concerning the Hebrews this is plain from Isaiah III, 24, where, describing the Hebrew virgins to be punished by captivity, he says: "And there shall be, instead of a girdle, a cord; and instead of a stomacher, haircloth." Behold, in place of the delights of the virgins Isaiah set a girdle and a stomacher, and rightly, because just as breasts pressed down are signs of a harlot, Ezekiel XXIII, 3: "In Egypt," he says, "in their youth they committed fornication, there were the breasts of their puberty pressed:" so the nipples carefully bound up are a sign of an unviolated virginal bloom, in which the honor of maidens consists.
Concerning the Greeks Pausanias is witness, that the virgins of Troezen dedicated their girdle to Pallas before marriage. Thus at Athens we read in Apollonius in the Argonautica that a temple of Diana the Loosener-of-the-Girdle was built, in which the newly-wed brides hung up the girdles which they had loosed by marriage.
Concerning the Chaldeans Herodotus is witness, in book I, and Baruch had this in mind, chapter VI, 42, when he says: "Women girt with cords sit in the streets," that is, women at the temples of Venus, girded with cords as with girdles by which they profess virginity, prostitute their modesty to strangers coming to the shrine of Venus, and so, having appeased the goddess Venus, return home. For by this execrable and satanic invention the Babylonian virgins worshipped Venus, and dedicated their virginity to Venus: for indeed, as Herodotus relates, before they entered marriage, when they sought a husband, they sat before the temple of Venus until some stranger wished to abuse them; he gave the price of the abuse with this imprecation: For so much I implore for thee the goddess Mylitta, that is, Venus; and that price of the abuse they offered to the temple of Venus, persuading themselves that by this means they would conciliate the goddess to themselves, and obtain from her an excellent bridegroom and a happy marriage. To attract foreign lovers, they used this philtre. They burned bones, that is, the hard and as it were bony stones, of olives, with this imprecation, that in like manner their guests might burn with their love, and these bones, so burned and reduced to ashes, they scattered to the wind, throwing them over their head, as I said in the cited place of Baruch, and the same things are taught learnedly from Theocritus, Virgil, and others by Antonius Guevara, preface to Habakkuk, and my predecessor Martinus Delrio, book III of Magical Disquisitions, part I, Question III, section 2.
Fourthly, the girdle was an ornament and symbol of glory, especially if it were adorned with golden bosses and gems, which is properly called the baltheus, as if "bullateus," says Pierius. Hence glorious soldiers prided themselves on their belts. Whence Jeremiah XIII, 9, the Lord says to Jeremiah: "Thus will I make the pride of Judah to rot," namely as the loin-cloth, that is, this thy belt, has rotted, as he had already said in verse 7.
Fifthly, the girdle is a garment and symbol of a man ready and prepared for journey, for war, and for any work or service. For those who are girded are usually more agile, firmer, and more constant in work. These five symbols suit this our belt of the Christian soldier, as I shall now show.
It is asked secondly, what is this truth, which girds the Christian soldier like a cincture?
First, some understand the truth of doctrine and of faith, which we set against heresies; for this is properly called truth. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Anselm. But it stands against this that the Apostle compares faith not to a belt but to a shield, in verse 16.
Hence, better, secondly, others take "truth" for that which is in morals, by which we measure all things to be loved and embraced by truth, that is, by virtue and by the true and right dictate of virtue. For what else is humility? what charity? what patience? what else are the other virtues, than lights of truth? as one of the Saints truly and wisely said; of truth, I say, by which small things are esteemed and loved as small, earthly as earthly, base as base, great as great, honorable as honorable, heavenly as heavenly. "He who is girt with this truth," says Chrysostom, "will never be wearied, or if he is wearied, he will recline upon this truth and rest. For what, tell me, I ask, will weary him? Poverty? By no means: for he will rest in true riches, and through this poverty he will recognize what true poverty is. But will servitude weary him? By no means: for he knows what true servitude is; and the same judgment regarding sickness, hunger, and the other things which are wont to afflict others." This sense is probable and apt.
Thirdly, Adam interprets truth as sincerity, as if the Apostle were opposing it to the hypocrisy of Simon Magus and his followers.
Fourthly, I truly answer and say that truth here signifies fidelity and integrity. For the Apostle alludes to Isaiah XI, 5, where it is said of Christ: "And faith" (in Hebrew emuna, that is fidelity) "shall be the girdle of his reins," as if to say: Truthfulness or fidelity shall ever cleave to Christ, after the manner of a cincture girding, adorning, and strengthening Christ. Thus Paul wishes Christians, after the example of Christ, to be girt with truth, that is, with fidelity as with a cincture. For in Hebrew these words are sisters: emet, that is truth, and emuna, that is faith or fidelity, both born from the same root and mother, aman, that is, He was firm, stable, constant; for constancy is the mother of truth and fidelity. Hence truth is here and elsewhere taken for faith or fidelity. Just as therefore the military belt, as I said, is a symbol of the military oath and fidelity by which a soldier is bound to his commander: so the belt of Christians is the fidelity which they promised in the sacrament of baptism, by which they bound themselves to God, and which they professed and profess in Christianity; for in baptism they professed to renounce Satan and his pomps, and to follow the faith and law of Christ, and being enlisted in the common warfare of Christ they have declared perpetual war on Satan.
Again, just as the cincture, as I said, is a symbol of fidelity and conjugal love, by which the spouse is bound and tied to the spouse as by a cincture: so this cincture of Christians is fidelity and love, not only military, by which they are bound to Christ as to their captain; but also conjugal, by which they are bound to Christ as to their bridegroom. Thus this cincture of Christians is fidelity in the faith, religion, worship, and obedience of Christ, that we may be faithful to Him as to our captain, nay rather, to our bridegroom, even unto death, and that we may fight even unto blood for Him against the devil and against any enemies, as the Martyrs did, who chose rather to lose life than the faith and obedience of Christ. Such ought all Christians to be, namely so faithfully to serve and obey Christ, that they would rather undergo death and any penalties than offend Christ and transgress His law, as if Paul were saying: See, O Ephesians, that you violate not the faith given to God in baptism; the faith, I say, which you, as soldiers enlisted under the warfare and standard of Christ, owe to your commander, and which, as spouses, you owe to the same Christ as to a bridegroom. Remember that you have war with the demon not only for your captain, but also for your bridegroom; just as soldiers therefore fight most bravely for their dearest spouses, and rush upon swords and death: so do you also fight most bravely even unto death for Christ your bridegroom: for He who is your captain, the same is also your bridegroom and your husband.
Moreover St. Gregory Nazianzen, oration 42: "I ask," he says, "what the loins have in common with truth, and what was Paul's meaning when he said: Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth? Is it perhaps that contemplation restrains concupiscence, and does not allow it to be carried elsewhere? For it cannot happen that he who burns with the love of any one thing should have equal power for other pleasures." This is, as Nicetas explains, "the contemplation of Christ binds our loins and concupiscence, and does not allow it, wholly transfused and channeled into the love of divine things, to spread and disperse." For Christ is the truth, John XIV, 6. Therefore prayer and contemplation of Christ and of heavenly things diminish and break concupiscence, which has its seat in the loins; whence also it spurs man on to its mortification.
Hence secondly, as the military cincture is a symbol of fortitude and constancy: so this cincture of Christians, namely truth, signifies constancy and fortitude (whence also the Hebrew root aman, from which descends and is born emet, that is truth, signifies to be firm and constant, as I said), and warns us to be strong and constant in the aforesaid fidelity, warfare, and service of Christ.
Again thirdly, just as the cincture is a symbol of integrity and virginity: so by truth the Apostle understands this integrity and purity. For thus true gold is called that which is whole and pure, falsified and corrupted by no impurity of copper or of any other metal: especially because fidelity cannot exist without integrity, and includes it. For we cannot be faithful in the service of God unless we are also whole in it. But this integrity and purity is chiefly seen in temperance and chastity. For just as the two greatest enemies are the love of the flesh and the love of God: so those who are faithful in the love of God must necessarily restrain, coerce, and suppress the love of the flesh and of lust, as if the Apostle were saying: Let the belt, O Ephesians, adorning, restraining, and strengthening you, be truth, that is, integrity of morals in restraining concupiscence, especially of lust, which has its first seat and origin in the loins. So Chrysostom, Jerome, Theophylact, Anselm, so that the Apostle may allude to Luke XII, 33: "Let your loins be girt about." "We gird our loins," says St. Gregory, "when by continence we restrain the lust of the flesh which is in the loins." Hence the priest, putting on the cincture, says: "Gird me, O Lord, with the cincture of chastity, that there may remain in me the virtue of continence and chastity." "Because, then," says Jerome, "the loins are always taken in generation and seed, according to that: Of the fruit of thy loins I will set upon thy throne; and elsewhere: Levi was still in the loins of his father Abraham when Melchizedek met him: he seems to us to have girt his loins who in no way renders the marriage debt to his wife, nor serves lust, but imitates the unbegotten God by not ministering to the business of generation. The same thing, I think, also signifies that John had a leathern girdle about his loins, and he was not of the unclean, who because of the flux of seed are cast outside the camp and cannot dwell with the ark of the Lord. Nor from those of whom it is written in Numbers: Let his garments be torn. But he who is girded with truth in Christ, gathers these garments on high, and draws them upward, and veils the foulness of his bare sides with a spiritual belt, restrains and encloses it, and is prepared for battle: and he has shining works, which are called burning lamps."
Besides these things, fourthly, this cincture of fidelity, constancy, integrity, and chastity, of which thus far, wondrously adorns Christians, that with marvelous beauty it may gird and adorn the Christian, joined and variegated by these his virtues as by little links: namely when in it shines forth constant fidelity, and faithful integrity, and integral chastity, and chaste constancy, and thus one virtue receives another as link to link, and girds and crowns the man.
Finally fifthly, this fidelity makes the Christian ready to enter battle with the demon, to undertake any Christian work, to enter upon the journey to heaven. Hence according to St. Hilary the girdle is an effective preparation for every good, that we may be girded with the cincture of a prompt will for every ministry of Christ. But this promptness is again and better signified by the shoes, of which there follows.
And having on the breastplate of justice. — That is, let justice be your breastplate. For "breastplate" in Greek it is thorax. Note: The thorax has two parts, one upper, which extends from the breast to the navel; the other lower, which extends from the navel to the knees and is called by the Greeks zoma. The juncture and joining of both these parts is made by the loins, which the belt or cincture covers and defends, as I said. The breastplate here therefore is understood as the German type, namely that which extends from the neck to the knees, and covers both the thighs and the chest, indeed the whole body of a man, in so far as it is thick and solid. Hence he calls this breastplate not special justice, which renders to each his own; but general, which is the combination of all virtues. For this arms the whole man, and fortifies him on every side. Hence Chrysostom: "The breastplate of justice," he says, "is a catholic life endowed with virtue," as if to say: Let your breastplate, O Christians, be just and holy works, by which you may continually arm your heart and breast on every side, that you may not only resist the devil with a defensive war; but also with an offensive one inflict sharp blows and pains upon him. For good works flagellate and torment the demon: for his pride is burned by our humility, his anger and impatience are restrained by our patience and our forgiveness of injuries, his envy is pricked and pierced through by our love and services.
Verse 15: And Your Feet Shod With the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace
15. And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. — "In preparation," this is by preparation; just as "in truth," means the same as "with truth." For the Hebrews, as I said, express beth, that is "in," with the ablative of instrument, which among the Latins would be a solecism, as if to say: Let our shoes be the preparation of the gospel of peace.
It is asked here first, of what thing are shoes a symbol, and what do they signify in Scripture?
I reply, first, that the shoe was a symbol of liberty. For slaves and captives walked with bare feet. Hence bare feet are a sign of captivity and servitude. Thus Isaiah walked naked and barefoot for three days — or, as others say, for three years — in order to portend the captivity of the Egyptians and Ethiopians threatened by Sennacherib the Assyrian, in which they were to be led away as captives into Assyria with bare feet, Isaiah xx, 3. On the contrary, to the Hebrews about to depart from Egyptian servitude it is said: "You shall have shoes upon your feet," that is, no longer walk barefoot, as up till now you have done after the manner of slaves, but shod like freeborn and free men.
Secondly, the shoe was a symbol of usucapion, of possession, and of dominion; whereas to remove one's shoe was a sign of ceding a right owed to oneself. Thus in Ruth iv, 7, it is said: "Now this was the manner in old time in Israel among kinsmen, that if one ceded his right to another, in order that the concession might be firm, the man drew off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor: this was the testimony of cession in Israel." The same appears from Deuteronomy xxv, 7. On the contrary, of David it is said in Psalm LIX, 10: "Into Idumaea will I extend my shoe," that is, my possession, as if to say: by treading Idumaea with my shoes, I will take possession of Idumaea, and subject it to my dominion.
Thirdly, the shoe was a symbol of joy; conversely, to take off one's shoes, as also to shave the hair of the head, were signs of mourning. Thus when Ezekiel was commanded by the Lord not to mourn his deceased wife, in chapter xxiv, verse 17, he hears: "Let thy crown be bound upon thee, and thy shoes shall be on thy feet," that is, do not follow her death with mourning ceremonies. And these are roughly the symbolic meanings of shoes at home and in the gown of peace. For the shoe signifies something else outdoors and in warfare.
Hence fourthly, in warfare the shoe is a symbol of constancy, of confidence, and of an intrepid spirit. For he who is barefoot walks timidly and step by step, lest he hurt his foot somewhere; the shod man, on the contrary, walks boldly. Thus Homer calls the Greek soldiers besieging and storming Troy ἐϋκνήμιδας Ἀχαιούς, that is, the well-greaved Achaeans. For by military shoes not only the sole of the foot, but also the foot itself and the shin are covered, and such shoes are greaves; whence by "shoes" here greaves may be understood: for these are the shoes of horsemen. Whence St. Cyprian gives this reason why the Apostle wishes the feet of the faithful to be shod: "In order that the serpent," he says, "trodden underfoot by us, may be crushed, and may not be able to bite our armed feet."
It is asked, secondly, what are the shoes of the Christian soldier, with which the Apostle here wishes him to be shod. Gregory of Nyssa, in his book On the Life of Moses, replies first that they are a hard and rough life of mortification; or, as others have it, the remembrance of death. For shoes are made from the skins and leather of dead animals: whence they are signs of mortality. Hence St. Dionysius, in Celestial Hierarchy chapter xv, teaches that the angels are depicted unshod, because they are immortal. Therefore the remembrance of death, as a shoe, makes a man unencumbered, so that he may resist concupiscences and the devil, may despise the allurements of the present life as brief and fleeting, and may strive vigorously to obtain the immortal life. But this sense is not literal but tropological.
Secondly, from St. Gregory, Anselm writes: "The shoes which are made from the skins of dead animals signify the examples of the fathers now departed, by which the feet of our mind — that is, our affections, by which as by feet we are urged on to do something — are defended from every earthly injury. For the foot of the preacher is wounded by the earth if his affection seeks earthly advantage from his preaching, that is, if he preaches the Gospel for the sake of earthly advantage, not for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. And so let our feet be shod with the aforesaid shoes, that is, fortified with the examples of the fathers: so that, just as the fathers preached the Gospel out of zeal for heavenly intention, not out of appetite for earthly comfort, so let us also do." But this too is tropological.
Thirdly, Hieronymus Prado on Ezekiel chapter xvi, page 185, holds that the shoes are an intrepid and bold spirit (for of this, as I said, military shoes are the symbol) "unto preparation" (for so he himself reads with Theophylact and some Bibles), that is, for the confirmation and defense of the Gospel: for to prepare, in Scripture, often means to strengthen, to establish, to confirm. For all these things are signified by the Hebrew cun. Thus Psalm xxiii, 2, says: "He, namely God, hath prepared (that is, founded and made firm) it," namely the orb of the earth. So Isaiah ii, 2: "It shall be, he says, prepared (that is, founded and firmly established) the mountain of the house of the Lord on the top of the mountains."
But all these supply and invent new shoes, since these shoes are to be sought from the words of the Apostle himself, who, just as he assigns and explains a shield, sword, helmet, belt, and breastplate, so also assigns and explains the proper shoes of the Christian soldier. Whence, just as he said that his loins must be girt about with truth, as with a belt: so here he says that one must be shod "in preparation" (for thus it is to be read, with the Greeks and the Latin Romans and Jerome: not however "unto preparation," as Theophylact and Prado read), that is, with the preparation of the Gospel, as with a shoe.
I say therefore that the "preparation of the Gospel" is the shoe of the Christian soldier. And this preparation, as Chrysostom and Theophylact rightly note, is an eager promptitude and a prompt eagerness of soul, partly for walking the way of the Gospel of peace, and partly for announcing it, by which we may strongly press through the wedges of the most hostile followers of Simon, the Gnostics, indeed of demons and of all enemies, and may penetrate into heaven. For the Christian people ought to be shod with this promptitude, so that they may walk the way of the Gospel with foot unhurt, and by their holy life and conversation may attract others to enter upon the same way, and so propagate and promote the faith and the Gospel. Whence concerning this preparation and promptitude St. John the Baptist said: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight His paths," says Chrysostom. But the Apostles, Doctors and Pastors ought to be shod with this eagerness, not only that they themselves may walk in this way of the Gospel, but also that by their preaching and sanctity they may make others walk, and so go even to barbarous nations and announce to them the Gospel, that they too may live and walk according to the Gospel.
Therefore in Mark vi, 9, sandals are given to the Apostles and preachers of the Gospel, so that they may boldly and eagerly take up the office laid upon them, and exercise it with all human fear laid aside. These sandals therefore and shoes are a sign at once of liberty, of dominion, of joy — concerning which I spoke in the first question — and most of all of a constant, lofty, eager, and intrepid spirit: for they are the shoes of a soldier.
Ezekiel adds in chapter xvi, verse 10, that the bride of God, that is, the Church (i.e. her faithful, sons, and soldiers), is shod with ianthus, that is, with hyacinth, that is, with violet leather and shoe. "I shod thee with ianthus," He says, as if to say: O people of Israel, who hast been chosen for the bride of God, in Egypt thou didst serve barefoot like a slave; now when I lead thee out from there, and bestow liberty upon thee, in token of liberty I give thee a shoe, and that of hyacinth, that is, of violet and heavenly color: first, to signify that thy life, conversation, and hope ought to be heavenly, so that, leaving earthly things behind, thou mayest hasten to heavenly things, says St. Gregory, book XXX of the Morals, chapter x.
Secondly, to signify that thy love and bridegroom is in heaven: namely God Himself, who from the heavens protects thee, so that thou mayest walk, or even preach, the way to heaven more eagerly and perfectly.
Thirdly, hyacinth was a royal garment, Ecclesiasticus xl, 4: "From him who wears hyacinth and bears a crown (that is, from a king), even to him who is clothed in raw linen (that is, the commoner and poor man)." The hyacinth shoe therefore signifies a lofty and truly royal spirit, which, fixed in heaven, treads down every earthly dominion. "For the feet by which we go forward," says Hieronymus Prado on Ezekiel chapter xvi, page 185, "signify the affections by which the spirit is borne, wherever it is borne, as Augustine testifies; the shoe is a sign of liberty and of dominion, and hyacinth is the image of the heavenly kingdom. Therefore feet shod with hyacinth indicate a noble, free, and royal spirit, which by hope of heavenly goods despises and treads down all these earthly things. See in the Apocalypse the woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and crowned with twelve stars, namely the figure of the queen, whom the Seer describes as clothed in a shining robe, and shod with hyacinth, and whom the bridegroom commends for the comely and gracious gait owing to her hyacinth shoes, breathing the desire of heavenly things. And in the Song of Songs: 'How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O prince's daughter!' Where it is to be observed that the bride was then called a prince's daughter by the bridegroom when she had adorned her feet with shoes (doubtless of hyacinth), because feet shod with shoes display the symbol of royal dignity, as we have said." Thus Prado.
Therefore the shoe of the Church, the queen and bride of God, and of every Christian soldier, who is the son of this queen, ought to be of hyacinth, namely so that he may tread underfoot the earth and all earthly things, may dwell in spirit in heaven, and strive thither with great eagerness and promptitude, remembering that, as the son of Christ the King and of the Church the queen, he is himself a king, and is called to the heavenly kingdom which he will shortly enter, so that with triumph together with the other Blessed, as kings, he may forever sing: "Thou hast made us for our God a kingdom and priests, and we shall reign upon the earth," indeed above the heavens, "unto the ages of ages."
This therefore is the "preparation," that is, the eagerness and promptitude with which the Apostle shoes the Ephesians and any soldier of Christ: namely so that he may be prompt not only to retain and defend the Gospel, but also to propagate it among the Gentiles even though they are unwilling and resistant; and so that, as Chrysostom and Theophylact say, he may be prepared for the departure from this life, exposed as it is to so many temptations, conflicts, dangers, and afflictions, to another life, quiet, blessed, and eternal.
Hence beautifully St. Basil, in the Admonition to a Spiritual Son, comparing the soldier of Christ with the worldly soldier, thus stirs us to this promptitude of soul, saying: "The earthly soldier, wherever he is sent, is ready and prompt, and will not dare excuse himself on account of wife or children: much more must the soldier of Christ, without any hindrance, obey the command of his king. The earthly soldier in battle bears an iron helmet: but let thy helmet be Christ, who is thy head; he is clad in a breastplate lest he be wounded: but for thy breastplate be thou girt about with the faith of Christ. He hurls lances and arrows against his adversary: do thou hurl divine eloquence against thy adversary. As long as the battle rages, he does not throw away his arms, lest he be wounded by the adversary: so neither must thou ever be secure, because thy enemy is craftier than his enemy. He, if he wins, returns home: but thou, with the enemy laid low, shalt enter that heavenly kingdom with all the Saints."
Of the Gospel of peace. — That is, of the Gospel, or glad tidings, by which peace, that is all goods together with God's benevolence and friendship, are promised to men. Thus Chrysostom and Theophylact. For peace among the Hebrews signifies all prosperity, all favorable and happy things, and an abundance of all goods. Whence this was the salutation of the Hebrews, and from them of Christ's Apostles, "Peace be with thee," by which they wished all happiness and all good things to others. Secondly, it can be called "the Gospel of peace," that is, peace-bringing, teaching, conciliating, and bringing peace. For the Gospel teaches us to remit offenses, to love enemies, to turn aside from dissensions and quarrels, to seek and guard concord and peace.
Verse 16: In All Things Taking Up the Shield of Faith, Wherewith You May Be Able to Extinguish All the Fiery Darts of the Most Wicked One
Verse 16. 16. In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. — Note: For "in all things," the Greek is ἐπὶ πᾶσιν, which Vatablus renders "above all things"; but our translator more aptly renders "in all things." For he wishes, as Jerome rightly notes, that in every temptation and work we bear the shield of faith, and with it intercept and repel the arrows and suggestions of the devil that come at us.
Secondly, for "most wicked," the Greek is τοῦ πονηροῦ, that is, as Vatablus and Erasmus render it, "of that evil or wicked one," that is, of the most wicked and most evil one, namely the devil.
Thirdly, his "fiery darts," that is, like fire — penetrating, burning, and inflaming — are the suggestions of the devil, by which he suggests perverse desires to the imagination, and kindles and inflames concupiscence and appetite to seek after them. With these darts he wounds the soul. "The soul," says Origen, homily 8 on Numbers, "is wounded as often as it sins. Oh, if we could see in each single sin how our inner man is constantly wounded! The soul is wounded through the tongue, it is wounded through evil thoughts and concupiscences; it is broken and crushed by the works of sin. If we could see all these things, and feel the scars of our wounded soul, it is certain that we would resist sin even unto death; but we, made senseless by the desires of the world, or intoxicated with vices, cannot perceive how many wounds, how many bruises of soul we acquire by sinning."
Verse 17: And Take Unto You the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, Which Is the Word of God
17. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, — that is, as Theophylact and Vatablus put it, a saving helmet which preserves and saves the head. But what is this helmet? In what words does the Apostle declare and explain it? I say therefore, "the helmet of salvation," that is, a helmet which is salvation itself, just as he said "the shield of faith," that is, a shield which is faith itself.
Therefore the helmet of the Christian soldier is the salvation brought by Christ and hoped for by Christians, that is, the hope of salvation: for thus the Apostle himself explains it in 1 Thessalonians v, 8: "Putting on," he says, "the breastplate of faith and charity, and the helmet, the hope of salvation." Behold, he calls the hope of salvation a helmet. For as the helmet protects and fortifies the chief part of the body, namely the head itself, on which the other members and the whole man depend: so the hope of salvation, and of heavenly and immortal glory, preserves and fortifies the head, that is, the thoughts, ends, and intentions of man. For these in actions are what the head is in man — the principle and governor of actions and of things to be done. For as the head rules, directs, moves, and governs the other members and the whole man: so the end and intention directs, moves, and governs all of a man's desires, words, and works.
Hope therefore, as a helmet, arms and fortifies our symbolic head — namely our end and intention. First, because it brings it about that our ultimate end and intention is God, the enjoyment of God, eternal salvation and beatitude, and refers to it all our other ends and intentions, and consequently all the rest of our thoughts, words, and deeds. Secondly, because it brings it about that a man, thinking of those immense goods which he hopes to obtain, repels all other thoughts suggested by the devil, and by this thought and hope undertakes whatever is arduous, and bravely engages with the enemy, setting before himself that hoped-for glory which awaits the victor. See in Hebrews xi how the holy men of old were armed and strengthened by this helmet of hope to undertake or endure all hardships.
Note first: Paul alludes to Isaiah lix, 17, where it says: "He (the Lord God) is clothed with justice as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head: He is clothed with garments of vengeance, and covered as with a cloak of zeal." In which words Isaiah by personification describes the arms and panoply of God as of a soldier: namely justice as a breastplate, salvation (the zeal for saving men) as the helmet just mentioned, and zeal as a cloak: armed with which God drove away from us sin, death, and the devil, His enemies, and subdued ungodly men and unbelieving nations, His enemies, by making the impious pious, the unfaithful faithful, the Gentiles Christians, and enemies friends, as Theodoret rightly noted there. For this His panoply God and Christ communicate to His soldiers, namely Christians, as the Apostle here teaches.
Note secondly: The Greek is περικεφαλαίαν σωτηρίου, that is, the helmet of the saving one, that is, as Jerome and others expound, of the Savior — namely Jesus the Savior — take for a helmet: so that Jesus Christ may preserve and protect all the senses which are in the head, whole as with a helmet (says Jerome), and that all our speech, mind, thought, and counsel may be in Christ. For the Seventy Interpreters, whom Paul follows, are accustomed to render the Hebrew iesca, that is salvation, by σωτήριον, that is, the saving thing, or the savior, so that Christ the Savior and salvation brought from Him may signify under a concrete name as if proper to Christ.
Writing to the same Ephesians, forty years after this epistle of Paul, St. Ignatius hints at this, saying: "Nothing is better than peace in Christ, through which all war of the aerial and terrestrial spirits is abolished. For our wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities and powers," etc. And a little above: "Only that we may be found in Christ Jesus, that we may truly live: without Him do not even wish ever to breathe. For He is my hope, He is my glorying, He at last is my unfailing wealth: in whom I carry the chains from Syria all the way to Rome, spiritual pearls, in which would that I might be granted to be perfected, and to become a partaker of Christ's sufferings and a companion of His death, and of the resurrection from the dead and of eternal life."
This sense returns to the same point and coincides with the former. For the hope of salvation is that which the Savior brought, not another; and so it is Christ Himself the Savior, for He Himself is our hope; consequently He is also our helmet. In a similar way it is said in Proverbs xviii, 18: "The strongest tower is the name of the Lord." In Hebrew it is the tetragrammatous and proper name of God, namely Jehovah, which is included in the name of Jesus not by sound, but by sense and signification, as I said on Exodus chapters iii and vi.
Take unto you, — δέξασθε, take, seize; the Syriac: lay hold of.
And the sword of the spirit (that is, the spiritual sword) which is the word of God. — With this sword Christ overcame and slew the demon who was tempting and assailing Him, Matthew iv. All the saints have used this sword, as Jerome records of St. Paula in her Epitaph: "If ever," he says, "the enemy had been more bold and had broken out into wordy quarrels, she would chant this from the Psalter: 'When the sinner stood against me, I was dumb, and was silent from good things'; and again: 'But I, as one deaf, heard not, and as one dumb opening not his mouth.' In temptations, she would turn over the words of Deuteronomy: 'The Lord your God tempts you, that He may know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.' In tribulations and straits, she would repeat the eloquence of Isaiah (according to the Septuagint): 'You who have been weaned from the milk, who have been drawn from the breast, look for tribulation upon tribulation, hope upon hope, yet a little while because of the malice of the lips, because of the wicked tongue.' And she would expound to her own consolation the testimony of Scripture, that it belongs to the weaned, that is, those who had reached manly age, to bear tribulation upon tribulation, in order that they might deserve to receive hope upon hope; knowing that tribulation works patience, and patience trial, and trial hope, and hope does not confound." And further, going through them one by one, he says: "In her languors and frequent weakness she would say: 'When I am weak, then am I strong'; and: 'We have this treasure in earthen vessels, until this mortal puts on immortality, and this corruptible is clothed with incorruption.' And again: 'As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also through Christ does consolation abound.' And then: 'As you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you also be of the consolation.' In sorrow she would sing: 'Why art thou sad, my soul, and why dost thou disquiet me? Hope in God, for I will still give praise to Him, the salvation of my countenance, and my God.' In dangers she would say: 'He that will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.' And again: 'He that will save his soul shall lose it.' And: 'He that shall lose his soul for my sake, shall save it.' When losses of household goods were announced, and the overthrow of her whole patrimony, she would say: 'For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?' And: 'Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, naked also shall I return. As it has pleased the Lord, so is it done. Blessed be the name of the Lord.'"
This therefore is the image and πανοπλία (full armor) of the Christian soldier armed from head to heel. The helmet is the hope of salvation, or hope in Christ; the breastplate is justice, that is, a just and holy life; the belt is truth, that is, fidelity, integrity, and chastity; the shoes and greaves are preparation and eagerness to enter upon and propagate the way of the Gospel; the right hand holds the sword, that is, the word of God; the left hand the shield, namely faith.
Similarly, but a little differently, St. Ephrem, in the treatise On the Panoply or Spiritual Armor, adapts these arms to the Christian soldier: "The helmet," he says, "is hope, the belt is charity, the shoes are humility, the shield is the cross, the bow is prayer."
Tertullian, alluding to this same theme but somewhat confusedly, in his book On the Soldier's Crown chapter 1, thus describes the soldier who professes himself a Christian and was therefore severely tortured: "And now reddened (that is, made crimson) with his own blood, shod with hope, girded with the panoply of the Gospel, wholly armed from the Apostle with the sharper word of God, and the more excellently crowned with the white laurel of martyrdom, awaits the largesse of Christ in prison."
Verse 18: By All Prayer and Supplication Praying at All Times in the Spirit, and in the Same Watching With All Instance and Supplication for All the Saints
Verse 18. By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit, and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints. — Note: After the arms and panoply of the Christian soldier, he gives him auxiliary forces, namely those of God and of the angels. Hence by prayer and supplication he commands these to be summoned. For prayer obtains both the arms just spoken of, and their use and increase, that is, both internal and external strength; namely so that externally God may, through the angels, blunt and restrain the ferocity and the temptations of the devil. Whence prayer is more necessary to the Christian soldier than the rest of the arms: for it is God who in every temptation and conflict gives the victory. Therefore His grace and help must above all be implored through prayer.
The type of this matter was Joshua and Moses; Joshua represents the figure of the soldier fighting, Moses of the priest praying. Whence, just as Moses by his prayer obtained the victory for Joshua against Amalek — "And when Moses lifted up his hands," says Scripture, Exodus xvii, 11, "Israel overcame; but if he let them down a little, Amalek prevailed" — so the Christian soldier will conquer the devil and all enemies, if he has prayer as his constant companion and defender.
Whence note secondly: The Apostle here explains the conditions required in prayer. For first he requires in prayer assiduity, diligence, and frequency, when it is said: "Through all prayer," as if to say: through continual, assiduous, and every kind of prayer and supplication. Whence, explaining it, he adds: "In all instance and supplication," so that, as Theophylact says, one may pray and beseech instantly with weeping, genuflection, beating of the breast, etc.
Secondly, as Anselm says, that he may beseech by appealing to the mercy of God through all things sacred and holy, e.g., through the death, cross, and blood of Christ. For "supplication" means both: first, prayer flowing from the innermost feeling of the soul, declared by tears and other external signs, as Theophylact explains; secondly, as Anselm says, it means an appeal and as it were an adjuration through sacred things. The other conditions of prayer will appear from what follows.
Whence note thirdly: The Apostle wishes that individual Christians pray and beseech not only for themselves, but also for all the saints, that is, for any Christians whatsoever, and especially for the Apostles and preachers of the Gospel, such as Paul was. Hence it appears that it is highly to be recommended to the Christian people that they pray for the propagation and the propagators of the Gospel, and for the extirpation of heresies and infidelity: and if this is required of the people, what must the clergy do?
Note fourthly: He wishes that they pray at all times. Hence the Euchite heretics in Augustine, Heresy 57, taught that the Christian ought not to labor nor do anything else than to pray always. Whence they were called Euchites, that is, "praying ones." But this dogma is foolish and impossible.
Secondly, St. Basil, in the homily on Julitta the Martyr: "He who always acts well," he says, "this man always prays." For through every virtue we are joined to God, which is the office of prayer. For prayer is nothing else than the elevation of the mind to God, or the joining of the mind with God. Now among other virtues, what most joins us to God is religious and pious intention: if, namely, all our works (Basil there beautifully teaches) — even manual and craftsman's works — we refer to the glory of God, doing them with this end, that God may be honored through them, that we may render this homage to God, that we may please God.
Hence many pious and wise men at the beginning of their studies and works pray, and through prayer offer their studies and works to God. This is greatly to be advised to simple craftsmen and farmers. For these often perform many laborious works without merit, because they aim only at gain; whereas if they are further taught to refer them to God, and to God's homage and glory, they will procure for themselves far greater gains with God in heaven than with men on earth, and so, besides the temporal gain which they expect from men, they will acquire a vast spiritual gain with God.
Thirdly and most simply, the Apostle wishes that Christians pray at every time, that is, assiduously, so far as other affairs allow. Thus Anselm. And, as Augustine says, "at every time" — namely, time set aside for prayer, whether by the Church or by one's own devotion and custom. For the Apostle here repeatedly inculcates frequency of prayer with various other words, especially so that certain and fixed times of prayer may not be omitted at any time. For a Christian can do nothing more fruitful than to give every time free from other occupations to prayer, and to be at leisure for God, from whom every gift descends; thus it will come about that his studies and works will succeed more happily, and be done better, and that God will bless them, and bestow on them both present and future reward. Hence St. Basil wisely admonishes that reading (and any work) should follow prayer, and prayer should follow reading (and any work).
Note fifthly: This prayer must be made "in the spirit," that is, with a clean conscience and entire faith, says Ambrose. For he who prays with a polluted mind prays in the flesh. Secondly and properly, "in the spirit," that is, in mind, affection, and desire, not in voice and lips. For he opposes spirit to verbosity, or to the battology (vain repetition) of the Gentiles, says Chrysostom, who thought that they could bend God by their eloquence and many words, Matthew vi, 7, just as orators bend the judges by their rhetoric. Whence Vatablus says: "'In the spirit,' that is, with the fervor of the spirit, that is, with an inward and fervent spirit." For spirit and affection are the soul of prayer. Many simple and untaught people have little of this spirit, and pray almost only with their lips. These must be taught to adore God in spirit and in truth.
Note sixthly: In prayer the Apostle requires vigilance and perseverance. Whence he says: "And watching in the same," Greek εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο, that is, in this, or for this very purpose (namely, that we may pray in the spirit at all times) let us be watchful "in all instance," ἐν πάσῃ προσκαρτερήσει, that is, as Ambrose, the Syriac, and the Greeks have it, in all perseverance; Vatablus, with all assiduity. With such perseverance that Canaanite woman prayed and obtained the deliverance of her daughter from the demon, of whom Matthew xv, 27. In the same way Hannah also prayed and obtained her son Samuel, 1 Kings (1 Samuel) chapters 1 and 15. See also Luke chapter xi, 5. So Chrysostom.
Verse 19: And for Me, That Speech May Be Given Me, in the Opening of My Mouth With Confidence, to Make Known the Mystery of the Gospel
19. And for me, that speech may be given me, in the opening of my mouth with confidence, to make known the mystery of the Gospel, — as if to say: Pray for me assiduously, that God may open my mouth and inspire the words which I shall speak, that with confidence, Greek παρρησίᾳ, that is, liberty and boldness, I may evangelize, and that I may freely and boldly make known the mystery (the Syriac, "the secret") of the Gospel — that is, by hypallage, the mysterious and secret Gospel, or the Gospel filled with great mystery and secret. Hence Vatablus briefly explains thus: "That it may be given me with open mouth to speak freely; or, that as often as I open my mouth for the sake of teaching, speech may be given me without fear of speaking, that I may make known the secret of the Gospel."
Maldonatus explains it differently in his Manuscript Notes: "'In the opening of my mouth,'" he says, "that is, whenever I wish to speak, or as I shall request, according to that of the Psalmist, 'Open thy mouth, and I will fill it.'" Paul alludes to that of Ezekiel xxix, 21: "I will give thee an opened mouth in the midst of them." Thus St. Augustine in Psalm xxxi, at the beginning: "First," he says, "I commend my weakness to your prayers, as the Apostle says, that speech may be given me in the opening of my mouth so to speak to you, in such a way that it may not be dangerous for me to say, and may be salutary for you to hear."
Verse 20: For Which I Perform the Office of Ambassador in a Chain, So That in It I May Have Boldness to Speak as I Ought
20. For which I perform the office of ambassador (apostolate) in a chain. — Hence it is clear that this epistle was written from chains at Rome, says Jerome and Chrysostom.
So that in it (namely in preaching the Gospel) I may have boldness (παρρησιάσωμαι, that is, that I may use liberty and boldness, may be free and bold. Secondly, Theophylact: that in it, namely in defending the Gospel and the preaching of the Gospel, I may be courageous and bold; as if to say: That I may boldly and freely state my case from chains, and defend myself, and render an account of the Gospel preached by me) as I ought (as the ambassador of the most high God, freely and intrepidly) to speak.
To speak. — Hear Chrysostom and Theophylact: "'To whom, O Paul, do you perform an embassy?' 'To men, in order that I may reconcile them to God. But meanwhile they have cast me into chains, not respecting the common law by which it is everywhere a custom and a right that ambassadors should suffer no harm. A chain therefore has been laid upon me to stop up my mouth and my freedom of speaking: but your prayer will open my mouth for me, that I may speak most freely, and speak forth those things which he who appointed me an ambassador has committed to me.' Do you see the sword (namely the freedom and eagerness for declaring the word of God) which Paul was about to receive in the opening of his mouth?"
Verse 21: That You Also May Know the Things That Concern Me — Tychicus Will Make All Things Known to You
21. And that you also may know the things that concern me (τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν, that is, as Vatablus has it, the things which are concerning us, our affairs, and our condition), Tychicus will make all things known to you. — From this we gather that the Apostle sent these letters to the Ephesians by Tychicus.
Verse 23: Peace to the Brethren, and Charity With Faith, From God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ
23. Peace to the brethren. — May peace be to the Christians who are among you. It is the salutation of the Hebrews which Christ used, "Peace be unto you," and by it they wish all good things, all happiness and prosperity, as I said.
And charity with faith (supply: may it be preserved and increased in the brethren, that is, in the Ephesian Christians), from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 24: Grace Be With All Them That Love Our Lord Jesus Christ in Incorruption
24. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption, — that is, incorruptly, sincerely and purely, not having the corruption of earthly love and of vices, as if to say: Those who love Jesus with sincerity, integrity, and purity of faith, hope, and morals, especially of chastity (for this is properly said to be corrupted, or to be incorrupt, says Jerome). And, as Anselm has it, those who with chaste love love Christ as bridegroom, like a bride who does not admit corruption.
For sin is the disease and corruption of the soul; whereas virtue is the health and incorruptibility of the soul, say Chrysostom and Theophylact. For as Chrysostom says, a virgin is corrupted when she fornicates, an apple is corrupted when it rots, health is corrupted when a man becomes sick, a house is corrupted when it is dissolved: so the soul is corrupted when it sins. For sins and unlawful pleasures dissolve, deform, putrefy, and corrupt the harmony, vigor, health, and integrity of the soul; but virtue repairs the same, and restores the soul to its integrity and incorruption.
Note: the preposition "in" can be taken properly; or, as Vatablus has it, it can be taken for "with," as I said; or, as Chrysostom and Theophylact, it can be taken for "through," as if to say: Those who love Jesus "unto incorruption," that is, through incorruption, the purity and honesty of morals and virtues.
Again secondly, Oecumenius says: ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ, that is ἀφθάρτως, as if to say: "In incorruption," that is, incorruptibly, immortally, perennially, namely as much in adversity as in prosperity; as much in poverty as in opulence; as much in contempt as in honors; as much in desolation as in consolation; as much in death as in life, they love Jesus Christ. Finally, in the third place, Chrysostom and Theophylact think that ἐν is put for εἰς, "in incorruption" for "unto incorruption," that is, unto incorruption and immortality, which is the goal of the love and grace which Paul here prays for upon the Ephesians. Titelmannus comprehends all these meanings thus in his paraphrase: "Grace be with all who love Jesus in the incorruption of faith and morals, holding incorrupt faith in mind and incorrupt life in conduct, and having an incorruptible hope; expecting from Him goods not corruptible but incorruptible. Amen."
O sons of men, love Jesus Christ in incorruption: for incorruption makes one near to God. With mind and soul transcend all corruptible things. For this mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible must put on incorruption. Be zealous for incorruption. Be zealous for immortality. Be zealous for eternity.