Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First he prays for the constancy of the Philippians in the faith and in the Christian life, and to it he animates and incites them both by words and by his own example, namely by relating, in verse 12, the fruit of his bonds and the propagation of the Gospel through them.
Then, in verse 15, he rejoices that Christ is announced, whether through envy or through charity, whether through his life or through his death: "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
Finally, although he desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ, verse 23, he nevertheless signifies that he will remain in the flesh for their consolation: and from there, verse 27, he strengthens them for persecutions, inasmuch as they are the cause of salvation and martyrdom, and therefore great gifts of God.
Vulgate Text: Philippians 1:1-30
1. Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the Bishops and deacons. 2. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3. I give thanks to my God in every remembrance of you, 4. always in all my prayers for you all, with joy making supplication, 5. for your fellowship in the Gospel of Christ from the first day until now. 6. Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. 7. As it is right for me to think this concerning you all, because I have you in my heart, and that in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, you all are partakers of my joy. 8. For God is my witness, how I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. 9. And this I pray, that your charity may abound yet more and more in knowledge, and in all understanding: 10. that you may approve the better things, that you may be sincere and without offense unto the day of Christ, 11. filled with the fruit of justice through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. 12. Now I would have you know, brethren, that the things that have happened to me have fallen out rather to the furtherance of the Gospel: 13. so that my bonds have become manifest in Christ in all the praetorium, and in all the rest; 14. and many of the brethren in the Lord, growing confident by my bonds, are more bold to speak the word of God without fear. 15. Some indeed even out of envy and contention: but some also for goodwill preach Christ: 16. some out of charity: knowing that I am set for the defense of the Gospel. 17. And some out of contention preach Christ not sincerely, supposing that they raise affliction to my bonds. 18. But what? So that by all means, whether by occasion, or by truth, Christ be preached: in this also I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. 19. For I know that this shall fall out to me unto salvation, through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20. according to my expectation and hope, that in nothing I shall be confounded: but with all confidence as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life, or by death. 21. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22. And if to live in the flesh, this is to me the fruit of labor, and what I shall choose I know not. 23. But I am straitened between two: having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, a thing by far the better: 24. but to abide still in the flesh is needful for you. 25. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all, for your furtherance and joy of faith: 26. that your rejoicing may abound in Christ Jesus in me, by my coming to you again. 27. Only let your conversation be worthy of the Gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or being absent, I may hear of you, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind laboring together for the faith of the Gospel; 28. and in nothing be terrified by your adversaries: which to them is a cause of perdition, but to you of salvation, and this from God. 29. For unto you it is given for Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him: 30. having the same conflict which you have both seen in me, and now have heard of me.
Verse 1: Paul and Timothy, Servants of Jesus Christ, to All the Saints in Christ Jesus Who Are at Philippi, With the Bishops and Deacons
Verse 1. Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints (to all the faithful sanctified in baptism) in Christ Jesus, who are at Philippi. — Note: The name "servant" here is a title of honor: for just as in the other epistles Paul calls himself an Apostle, so here he calls himself a servant; therefore "servant of Christ" is the same as Apostle of Christ.
Here observe: Of old there were three grades of servants. The first and lowest were slaves held in chains and fetters. The second were the "mediastini" (household servants), as are the domestics of citizens and nobles. The third were honorary servants and stewards, dispensers, managers, vicars, who in Hebrew are called mescaretim, that is, "ministers," while the first are commonly called yabadim, that is, "servants." St. Paul and the Apostles were servants of the third order. Hence in 1 Corinthians 4:1 he calls them stewards, and the Psalmist calls them princes: "Thou shalt make them," he says, "princes over all the earth;" for just as princes serve a king, in order that they may rule and extend his kingdom, so the Apostles serve Christ; for indeed thus to serve Christ is to reign. So Christ for the sake of honor is called the "servant" of God, when the Father so addresses Him, in Isaiah 49:3: "My servant," He says, "art Thou Israel, for in thee will I be glorified." For that these words are directed to Christ is clear from what precedes and follows. "Israel" therefore here is Christ, who is called "Israel," because, says Jerome, He was born of the seed of Israel and the Jews; secondly, because He has dominion over God (for this is what "Israel" means in Hebrew), and abrogated the divine vengeance brought against men. Hence the type of Him was Jacob, wrestling with the vicar angel of God and prevailing, who from this was called "Israel," Genesis 32:28.
Note secondly: "Saints in Christ" are Christians, called to true sanctity of mind and body. These are called saints "in Christ," that is, through Christ and the merits of Christ. So Vatablus. Or rather, properly "in Christ," because they have been engrafted into Christ and the body of Christ, which is the Church, through baptism, faith, grace, and sanctity, just as branches are engrafted into a tree.
Chrysostom notes that this is said against the Jews, who boasted that they were saints in the Law and in Moses: for it had been said to them by the Lord, Exodus 19:6: "You shall be to me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation." Against these the Apostle says that we are saints not in Moses, but in Christ, who is the Holy of Holies, and sanctity itself, and the root and fount of all sanctity, so that, unless one is engrafted into Christ as a branch into a tree, and from Him sucks and draws sanctity, he cannot be holy. Conversely, those who are fully engrafted into Christ, these are saints; and the more they are engrafted into Christ and united to Him, the more they are sanctified.
With the Bishops and deacons. — You will say: In the one city of Philippi there was only one bishop, how then does Paul write to Bishops in the plural? I answer, by "Bishops" here the Apostle understands presbyters. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius, and others. Hence the Syriac translates, "with the presbyters and their ministers." For the Apostle wishes by these two names to salute the entire clergy of the Philippians. Hence he names the Presbyters Bishops, and includes the deacons, subdeacons, and the other lower orders under the more dignified name of deacons. He does not, however, salute the bishop, because this was Epaphroditus, the bearer of these letters, says Theodoret.
Here note: These names "Bishop" and "Presbyter" were of old common to all priests, both the greater, whom we now properly call Bishops, and the lesser, whom we call Presbyters. Thus in Acts 20:28, Paul to the elders of the Ephesian Church: "Take heed," he says, "to yourselves and to the whole flock, over which the Holy Spirit has placed you Bishops (that is, presbyters and pastors) to rule the Church of God:" for at Ephesus there were not more than one Bishop properly so called. Hence both here and in 1 Timothy 3 he passes from Bishops to deacons, and does not name presbyters, because, namely, he understands them under the name of Bishops. Hence Aerius and Wycliffe took occasion of erring, saying that by divine right a presbyter is equal in order and power to a bishop: but I answer that he is equal in priesthood (in the power of consecrating, sacrificing, absolving from sins), which is the seventh and highest Order; but not in the power of ordaining and consecrating, nor in the power of jurisdiction; for in these the Bishop excels the Presbyter. See Bellarmine, Book I On Clerics, chapter 5.
You will say: Why then were Presbyters of old called Bishops? I answer, for two reasons. The first is the one I have stated, because in the highest Order, which is that of the priesthood, the Presbyter is equal to the Bishop. The second, because of old before the schism (as Jerome says, in the commentary on 1 to Titus) the Churches were governed not so much by distinct and divided authority and jurisdiction, as by the common counsel, labor, and spirit of the Presbyters. Hence the Presbyters were called, and were, Bishops, that is, inspectors and correctors of the morals of the people, together with the Bishop properly so called, indeed they sat in the Councils with the Bishops, and being asked gave their opinion, as is clear from Acts 15:6: "There assembled," it says, "the Apostles and the elders (presbyters) to consider of this matter." These therefore are the reasons why both were called Presbyters and Bishops; but afterwards, when the Church and the number of the faithful grew, and to govern it rightly there was need of due order and subordination of ministers under one ruling Bishop, and when (if we believe Jerome in the commentary on 1 to Titus, about which more must be said there) the Presbyters abused that aforesaid first communication of the Bishops, and wished insolently to be equal to them and to preside, and made schisms: then the Bishops began to defend their authority and pre-eminence, and were placed over all. This indeed was done in the time of the Apostles under the very beginnings of the Church, when this one said: "I am of Cephas;" another, "I am of Paul;" that one, "I am of Apollo." 1 Cor. 1:12. This is clear from 1 Timothy 5:19: "Against a presbyter," he says, "receive not an accusation, except under two or three witnesses." Therefore in the time of Paul, Timothy as Bishop was judge of presbyters and superior in jurisdiction. So the Apostle commands Titus to appoint presbyters throughout the cities. So Ignatius to the Trallians and to the Smyrnaeans: "Presbyters," he says, "be subject to the Bishop."
You will ask, secondly, why does Paul here first salute the laity and the people, before the Bishops and deacons? Chrysostom answers that this epistle was written only to the Bishops and deacons, that is, to the clergy of Philippi: for he himself reads συνεπισκόποι, "co-bishops," as one word, not two, namely "with the Bishops," as if Paul were not writing to "all the saints," that is, to Christians absolutely, but only to "holy co-bishops" (that is, those who were Bishops with him and teachers of the people) and to "deacons," that is, to clerics. But it is to be read divided in this way, σὺν ἐπισκόποις, that is, "with the Bishops": for so the Latin and Syriac read, and the more correct Greek manuscripts. Hence, secondly, D. Thomas better answers, that the Apostle observed the order of nature, by which the flock is wont to precede its shepherd, so that the shepherd, following, may see it and be able to rule and direct it: by this in processions the people precede, the clergy and Prelates follow; the last place therefore there is the more honorable, just as among seculars at table and in councils the first place is the more honorable. So here Paul sends the sheep ahead of the shepherd, that is, salutes the people before the clergy.
Verse 3: I Give Thanks to My God in Every Remembrance of You
3. I give thanks to my God in every remembrance of you, — that is, as often as I remember you, says Vatablus, as often as you come to my memory, I give thanks to God. Otherwise Maldonatus in his manuscript Notes: for he takes the "of you" actively, not passively. Hence he explains thus: I give thanks to God, that you are mindful of me, the prisoner.
Note: According to His custom, the Apostle begins his prayers, epistles, and actions with the giving of thanks, and teaches us to do the same.
Verses 4 and 5: Always in All My Prayers for You All, With Joy Making Supplication, for Your Fellowship in the Gospel of Christ From the First Day Until Now
4 and 5. Always in all my prayers for you all, with joy making supplication, for your fellowship in the Gospel of Christ from the first day until now. — Note: The "for your fellowship" can be referred to that which immediately precedes, "with joy making supplication," as if to say: Your fellowship in the Gospel is the cause of my joy, and that I beseech God with joy. Secondly and better, it can be referred to "I give thanks"; for from this depend verses 4 and 5; indeed the Royal and Louvain Bibles enclose verse 4 in parentheses, as if verse 5, "for your fellowship," etc., is to be referred to verse 3, "I give thanks," etc., as if to say: I give thanks to God with joy, beseeching Him, because He has given you fellowship in the Gospel of Christ.
Note secondly: This "fellowship" is first the participation of the Gospel, that is, of the faith and Evangelical doctrine, as if to say: I give thanks to God, because by Him you have been made partakers of the Gospel, when you believed in it, and persevere in it. Secondly and better, this "fellowship" in the Gospel, that is, in the preaching and propagation of the Gospel, is the cooperation and participation in the labors and sufferings, which Paul and the Apostles either sustained or undertook for this propagation of the Gospel, in which the Philippians communicated and participated, as if to say: I give thanks to God exulting in spirit, that you share in my labors, afflictions, and bonds undertaken for the Gospel, that you collaborate with me, suffer with me, help me with every resource and work, when you send your Bishop Epaphroditus to me, when through him you bring me sustenance and gifts, you console and animate me bound in prison, and thus you promote me and my Gospel with all zeal, and that not on one day or another, but assiduously and continuously, "from the first day" on which you believed, "until now." So Chrysostom and Theophylact. And this is what the Greek κοινωνία signifies. Hence in verse 7, he calls them συγκοινωνούς, that is, associates, colleagues, and as it were equally partakers of his joy, which he received from his bonds and from the defense and confirmation of the Gospel.
Note here, thirdly, the fervor of the first Philippian Christians, for whom it was not enough to believe, but solicitous about the salvation of others and the propagation of the Gospel, they assisted Paul and the Apostles in preaching with all their resources and means. For this reason, the first Christians sold their goods and brought the prices to the feet of the Apostles, Acts 4:35. The fervent Catholics in England, Holland, and India still do this. Hence secondly, through this they became and become participants in every labor (and consequently in every merit) which the Apostle and preacher undertakes, and consequently this is a most noble act of virtue: for the cooperators look upon the same object, and do the same thing as the Apostle himself does, so that they themselves, through the Apostle, travel, evangelize, and convert thousands of souls. Hence thirdly, they will receive a reward similar to that of the Apostles, as if they themselves had been Apostles and had performed the apostolate. Christ teaches this, Matthew 10:40: "He who receives you," He says, "receives Me; and he who receives Me, receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet (a teacher and preacher of the Gospel) in the name of a Prophet (because he is a prophet and preacher), shall receive the reward of a prophet," that is, of a preacher; because, namely, just as he cooperates with the prophet, and helps him insofar as he is Prophet and preacher, so he is a partaker of his labor and merit, and consequently it is fitting and just that he should also be a partaker of the reward, which the prophet and preacher attain: a partaker, I say, not in equal degree with the prophet himself, but according to the participation and measure of his cooperation and charity, by which he assisted him: for thus by common law the partakers and receivers of thieves are punished with a similar penalty as the thieves.
St. Gregory elegantly explains this, Homily 20 on the Gospels: "He who receives," he says, "a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive the reward of a prophet. In which words it is to be noted, that he does not say: the reward from the prophet, but, the reward of the prophet," that is, he shall receive the rewards of a prophet. And lower down: "For since there are few who perceive spiritual gifts, and many who abound in temporal things, by this the rich engraft themselves into the virtues of the poor, in that they comfort those same holy poor out of their riches." And he adds that such are promised and signified by Isaiah through the elm, when he says: "I will set in the desert," in the desert thus far of the Gentiles' Church, "the fir tree, the elm and the box tree together. And what by the elm," he says, "is expressed if not the minds of seculars? which while they still serve earthly cares, bear no fruit of spiritual virtues; but even though the elm does not have its own fruit, yet it is wont to carry fruit with the vine: because secular men also within the holy Church, although they may not have the gifts of spiritual virtues, when nevertheless they sustain by their generosity holy men full of spiritual gifts, what else do they do than carry the vine with its grapes? Even though therefore the elm does not have fruit, yet carrying the vine with fruits, by these very things it makes its own that which sustains another's well."
Verse 6: Being Confident of This Very Thing, That He Who Has Begun a Good Work in You Will Complete It Until the Day of Christ Jesus
6. Being confident of this very thing, that (because) He who has begun a good work in you (namely God), will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. — Note: For "being confident," in Greek it is πεποιθώς, which the Innovators translate as "believing," namely as most certain that you will persevere in the good work, as if Paul wished to make all the faithful secure and certain of their perseverance. But this is wrongly said; for it is established that not all the faithful have the gift of actual perseverance: for many fall away from a pious life, indeed even from the faith, and become impious, heretics, indeed atheists. Better therefore Vatablus and Beza translate πεποιθώς, that is, "having been persuaded": but best of all Chrysostom, Theophylact, Ambrose, the Syriac, and others translate, "being confident." See what is said on Romans 8:38, as if to say: I am confident that, just as you have begun the good work of helping and promoting the preaching of the Gospel, so in the same, through the grace of God, you will persevere unto the end, until death and the day of judgment; and accordingly I am confident that God, who has begun this good work in you, will also Himself complete it.
Hence note secondly, with Chrysostom and Theophylact: The Apostle could plainly have said: I am confident that you will complete the good work begun; for thus he said in verse 5: "For your fellowship in the Gospel of Christ"; and in verse 7, he calls them his associates in his bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel; and in verse 9: "This I pray, that your charity may abound more and more, that you may approve the better things, that you may be sincere and without offense," etc. So therefore stimulating their will and virtue, he could here have said: I am confident that the good which you have begun, you will pursue and complete; but in order to teach them modesty and humility, he preferred to say: "I am confident" that God will complete it: because since both are required for perseverance, namely both the grace of God and the cooperation and constancy of free will, the grace of God holds the first place therein. Hence as elsewhere, so here too Paul attributes it to the grace of God. Hence just as in the preceding verse he gave thanks to God, that this good work had been begun by His grace in the Philippians, so in this verse he is confident that his God will complete this work in them; understand, unless the Philippians themselves are wanting to the grace of God, and unwilling to follow it and themselves cooperate. There is therefore a metalepsis: "I am confident that God will complete it," that is, I am confident that you, through the grace of God, will complete the good work which you have begun: for from God and the grace of God, he leaves the operation and effect of grace to be understood.
Note thirdly: Since the gift of perseverance is twofold — one as it were potential, by which one can persevere in received grace and justice; the other actual, by which one actually perseveres: the former is given to all the just, as the Council of Trent teaches, Session VI. For God gives to all the just those helps of grace, those excitations of the mind and will, those impulses and corroborations, which are necessary for avoiding all mortal sins, and for persevering in grace and a good life, so that, if the just rightly use them, as they ought, they will persevere and be saved. The latter gift of perseverance, which is great, indeed greatest, is not given to all the just, but only to those who actually persevere, and embraces all that series of graces by which it comes about that a man actually perseveres in grace, and so dies and is saved. Of which the Apostle here teaches three things, and from him the Council of Trent, Session VI, chapter 13: first, that it is the gift of God, and not from ourselves; secondly, that no one is certain that he has it or will have it; thirdly, that everyone ought to hope it from God, yet so as to fear lest from his own side he be wanting to God and to the grace of God, and thus lose this gift. "Similarly," says the Council, "concerning the gift of perseverance, of which it is written: He who shall have persevered to the end, he shall be saved: which indeed cannot be obtained from any other source, except from Him who is able both to establish him who stands, that he may stand perseveringly, and to restore him who falls: no one should promise himself anything certain with absolute certainty, although all ought to place and repose their firmest hope in God's help: for God, unless they themselves have failed His grace, will, just as He began the good work, so perfect it, working in them both to will and to accomplish. Nevertheless, let those who think they stand take heed lest they fall, and let them work out their salvation with fear and trembling, in labors and vigils, in alms and prayers."
Hence fourthly, St. Augustine, in his book On the Gift of Perseverance, teaches that this gift and grace of perseverance is distinct from justifying grace, and that by justifying grace alone a man cannot persevere in the righteousness received, so as to conquer and overcome all temptations and difficulties: but he needs frequent impulses and excitations of grace, by which he is continually roused, strengthened, and protected by God in his weakness and torpor, that he may proceed constantly and bravely on the path of virtue once begun: which various and manifold graces are and are called the gift of perseverance; for this gift is not one act or habit, but many. Secondly, that these graces are given more and greater to the humble, to those who pray, to those who are solicitous to live well and persevere, the Council of Trent teaches above. And this is what Chrysostom seems to mean here, when he says that we by our desire and effort draw and entice God's grace to ourselves; for he is not speaking of first grace: for this is not given nor enticed by any desire or effort of ours, since it precedes every effort of nature, and is the first and pure grace; but he speaks of the same grace as the Apostle, namely the grace of perseverance: for this the just man, by his effort and cooperation, attracts and draws, namely greater day by day and greater. Thus the Apostles and other illustrious Saints, who are said by some to be confirmed in grace, did not receive some habit of grace which would confirm them in grace; but daily laboring strenuously and praying, they received such vehement illuminations and excitations, that it was difficult for them not to persevere and to sin, at least mortally.
Finally, a wise and pious counsel for obtaining this gift is that we pray for it assiduously, namely that God may not only give copious grace by which we may be able to persevere, but the grace by which He foresees we shall actually persevere, and that as a good shepherd He may rule, direct, and lead us as His sheep by those ways, means, and aids by which He foreknows we shall rightly advance in grace, so that we may incur no graver lapse of sin, but proceed by right paths to heavenly glory and blessedness.
A good work — not so much some special work, as in general "a good work," that is the Evangelical or Christian life, that we may pursue and propagate it with assiduous work and zeal: for this work is communication in the Gospel of Christ — supply, both in promoting and propagating it in ourselves and in others, as I said in the preceding verse.
Until the day of Christ, — that is, unto the day of judgment, both particular and rather universal: for then properly will be the public, solemn and glorious day of Christ the judge. Note here: Paul is wont here, 1 Thess. 4:15, and elsewhere, to speak thus of the day of final judgment, as if it were impending and near, not to the Philippians' descendants who would afterwards be born, as Chrysostom holds, but to those very ones to whom Paul here writes, namely so that all individually, both they and we, may have it constantly before our eyes, and direct this our brief and momentary life toward it: for that day will be the beginning of eternity, with which all this our life compared seems to be only a point or instant of time. "A thousand years," says the Psalmist, "before Your eyes are as yesterday which has passed." We therefore act and live here a moment (would that well and wisely!) on which our eternity depends: after this moment we shall enter eternity; why then should not that be near and impending, which after this moment is at hand and impending?
Verse 7: As It Is Right for Me to Think This for You All, Because I Have You in My Heart and in My Chains
7. As it is right for me to think (that is, to be confident, as preceded) for (that is, concerning) all of you, because I have you in my heart and in my chains, and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel. — Note: To have someone in one's heart is to have him in mind, in love and affection, and consequently in memory, that is, to love him and to often remember him: for those whom we love, they always recur to our mind and present themselves to our memory. Hence by metalepsis, as Chrysostom with his followers notes, in this place "to have in heart" means to have in memory and to be mindful, as if to say: I Paul have constant memory of you, O Philippians, and often remember that you are sharers of my joy both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel; for those words: "And in my chains, and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel," pertain not so much to what preceded, "because I have you in my heart," as to what follows, "that you all are sharers of my joy," as will be more clear from what follows.
Note secondly: For defense, in Greek it is ἀπολογία, apology, by which namely the accused defends himself in judgment against his accusers, and clears himself from the charge brought: Paul therefore signifies his apologies, by which as accused both publicly before Nero and privately in prison before Romans and Jews, either visiting him spontaneously, or called to himself, Acts 28:17, he pleaded his cause, and defended, established and confirmed himself and the Gospel of Christ.
Note thirdly: By "confirmation of the Gospel" he understands that by which in prison either by living voice, or by letters, he confirmed Christians in the faith of the Gospel: for the Apostle's zeal did not allow him to be idle in prison, but either to teach, or to write, or to pray, or to devise modes and practices of propagating the Gospel: and just as fire when confined burns more fiercely, so Paul here bound and constricted burned more for evangelizing. Secondly and better, by "confirmation of the Gospel" he understands that by which through his already mentioned apologies Paul was defending and confirming the Gospel: for this confirmation was done through the defense, and ought to be joined to it, as the Syriac, Ambrose and the Greek join them, which do not have two articles, but assign one and the same article to both, saying: καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀπολογίᾳ καὶ βεβαιώσει. Add, that "of the Gospel" pertains both to the defense (for this has no other genitive or pronoun) and to the confirmation: he therefore understands the same defense and confirmation of the Gospel.
That you all are sharers of my joy. — Our Translator reads χαρᾶς, that is of joy, and so does Ambrose; now the Greek has χάριτος, that is of grace, and so the Syriac and Chrysostom with his followers read: but the meaning comes to the same; because here he calls grace that benefit by which it was given to him to suffer and to be bound for Christ, or he calls those very chains his joy. See remarks on Ephes. 3:1. Otherwise Vatablus, as if to say: You are sharers of my grace, because you have been chosen by God with me unto eternal life, and in it you shall be my sharers in the future: for this is the greatest grace, and a cause of joy; but the prior sense is more fitting to this place, as is clear from what precedes and follows.
Note secondly: For "sharers," in Greek it is συγκοινωνούς, that is consorts, and equal partakers, of which I spoke at verse 5.
Note thirdly: For "to be," in Greek it is the participle ὄντας, that is "being," which some think to be redundant by Hebraism; whence with this removed the meaning is plain: I am confident that God will complete in you the work begun, "because I have, etc., you all as sharers of my joy." Secondly, Ambrose takes the τὸ ἐπεὶ as causal, as if it gives the reason for his confidence, namely because (as Ambrose reads) you are all sharers of my joy. Thirdly most plainly, as Beza admits, our Translator renders ὄντας as "to be," so that by Greekism the participle is put for the infinitive, as if to say: I am confident that God will complete in you the work begun, because I have in my heart, that is in memory, that you have been and are sharers and partakers of my grace and joy, which I feel in my chains, and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel: because namely I am mindful that in these you have suffered with me as sharers, you have aided me with every help and expense, and so in my chains and tribulations undertaken for the faith you have rejoiced with me, indeed you have consoled and refreshed me: for I am confident that God will reward this fervor of yours and such heroic acts of your faith and charity with greater grace, namely so that you may persevere in them, indeed grow, and be perfected.
Verse 8: For God Is My Witness, How I Long for You All in the Bowels of Jesus Christ
8. For God is my witness. — The Apostle invokes God as witness, and swears; therefore an oath is not permitted to Jews as if imperfect ones, but unlawful for Christians, as the Anabaptists hold.
How I long for you all (supply, "to be," says Anselm) in the bowels (that is, in the inmost heart and love) of Jesus Christ, — that I may join you intimately to Christ, and as it were transfix you into His bowels, and that Christ may love you as His own bowels. Secondly, Vatablus, as if to say: God is my witness, how much I desire that Christ may pour out His mercy (for the bowels are the symbols of this) upon you. Thirdly and better, the Syriac and Chrysostom, "How I desire," that is love "you in the bowels," that is on account of the visceral and intimate love of Christ, whom I love with all my bowels: or "in the bowels," that is from the intimate and visceral love which Christ, as it were from His own bowels, has breathed upon me. So Theophylact. Fourthly and best, "How," that is how earnestly, how strongly and ardently, "I desire," in Greek ἐπιποθῶ (which corresponds to the Hebrew cama), that is, that I love you, with how much love I embrace you: so the Syriac; "in the bowels of Christ," that is with that love and affection with which Christ in His bowels, that is intimately and most tenderly, loves you and all Christians; "in" therefore means "in the manner of" (beth for caph, of similitude) of bowels, that is, of the visceral love of Christ: or "in," that is from the bowels of Christ, as if I, established as it were in the bowels of Christ's mercy and love, and as it were transformed in them, were loving you from the same, namely with such tender, cordial, ardent and visceral love as Christ loves all His own. For the Hebrews are wont to call rachamim, that is bowels, the inmost, most tender, and as it were maternal affections of love. And thus we put on, and as it were are transformed into the bowels of Christ, when we put on His mercy, compassion and love, and are transformed into Him.
Verse 9: And This I Pray, That Your Charity May Abound Yet More and More in Knowledge and in All Understanding
9. And this I pray, that your charity may abound yet more and more, — as if to say: I praise your charity, which up to now you have shown, both in promoting the Gospel and in my chains, and I pray God that He may foster, indeed increase it.
May abound in (that is, with, every) knowledge — namely of the things of faith and salvation, and especially of justification, that you may know that true righteousness is to be sought not from Philosophers, not from Simon Magus, but from Christ, and from Christ's faith and doctrine, as if to say: I pray that you may abound both in charity and in knowledge, that is in Christian faith and doctrine.
Verse 10: That You May Approve the Better Things, That You May Be Sincere and Without Offense Unto the Day of Christ
10. That you may approve the better things, — namely that you may discern whether the faith of Simon Magus and of the other judaizers and heretics is more excellent, better and truer, or mine; whether it is preferable to help and promote him and his sect, or me and my Gospel: namely, that by this discretion you may distinguish my true Gospel from the falsity and impostures of the judaizers and heretics, and embrace, foster and promote it with your charity.
That you may be sincere (lest you mingle and adulterate the true faith with heresy and judaism, as if to say: See that your charity be not indiscreet, lest you foster Simonians and other false teachers insinuating themselves under the appearance of piety; because this would not be true, but adulterated charity: but that you may be sincere both in faith and in charity, and in the offices of charity) and without offense (both active, namely so that you may offend and scandalize no one; and passive, namely so that you may nowhere strike the foot of conscience, offend, and fall into some sin: but unoffended, as Ambrose reads, that is with unoffending foot, you may proceed in the Christian way and life) unto the day of Christ, — that is, unto the day of judgment. So Chrysostom. The Greek ἀπρόσκοποι signifies both, namely both unoffended and not-offending.
Verse 11: Filled With the Fruit of Justice Through Jesus Christ Unto the Glory and Praise of God
11. Filled with the fruit (in Greek καρπῶν, that is fruits) of righteousness through Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. — He calls "fruits of righteousness" the works of righteousness, either general, which embraces every virtue, as if to say: I pray that you may be filled with good works of every virtue, or particular righteousness, that is of almsgiving and mercy: for this is often called righteousness in Scripture, as I said at 2 Cor. 9:9; it indeed alludes to the alms sent to him by the Philippians, as if to say: I pray that you may be heaped with similar acts of mercy. So Chrysostom and Theophylact. Secondly, Anselm by "fruit of righteousness" understands the reward they were going to receive in heaven for righteous works. But the prior sense is plainer, that by "fruit" we should take not the reward, but the works of righteousness.
Note the "through Jesus Christ," for which in Greek it is τῶν (namely καρπῶν, fruits) διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, as if to say: Which fruits we make and have through Christ, and through His merits and grace, and that "unto the praise and glory of God," namely so that thereby not we Apostles, who only with external voice persuade and propose these fruits, but God, the internal and vital giver and author of the fruits, may be praised and glorified. Morally, Theophylact notes that the faithful who make the true fruits of virtue for God's glory, do so through Christ; but others who seek themselves and their own things, make only shadowy fruits of virtues, not through Christ, but through vainglory.
Verse 12: I Would Have You Know, Brethren, That the Things About Me Have Fallen Out Rather to the Furtherance of the Gospel
12. I want you to know, brethren, that the things which are about me have come rather unto the progress of the Gospel. — Paul feared, says Chrysostom, lest the Philippians and other Christians, hearing that Paul was bound at Rome, should be disturbed, and think that a great mark of infamy was to be branded on him and on the Gospel, and that the Christian cause and the course of the Gospel was about to suffer hindrance and be impeded by this. Hence the Apostle narrates here that the contrary has happened, namely that through his chains the Gospel has not been hindered, but rather promoted.
Verse 13: So That My Chains Have Become Manifest in Christ in All the Praetorium
13. So (he says) that my chains became manifest in Christ, — that is, through Christ and Christ's providence, says Theophylact. Secondly and rather the same with Anselm, as if to say: That it might be manifest that I am bound for Christ's sake, not for debts or crimes, and thus through my chains the name of Christ shines forth everywhere.
In the whole praetorium. — In Greek ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ πραιτωρίῳ, that is in the whole praetorium, namely in the whole court of Nero, as if to say: The whole court through my chains has heard something about the faith and Gospel of Christ. Note: A universal noun is sometimes taken for a collective, or whole as a whole, namely "every" for "whole": for the Hebrew col signifies both. So Chrysostom.
And in all the other places, — not "praetoria" (for he names here only one praetorium, as is clear from the Greek), but places, streets and quarters of the city of Rome. Chrysostom, Theophylact and others refer the "others" to persons. Whence in the Greek there is no preposition "in," as if to say: Not only to the praetorians, but also to the other Roman citizens have my chains been made manifest, namely that I am bound by them on account of the faith of Christ.
Verse 14: And Many of the Brethren in the Lord, Growing Confident by My Bonds, Are More Bold to Speak the Word of God Without Fear
14. And many of the brethren in the Lord, being confident by my chains, dared more abundantly to speak the word of God without fear, — as if to say: Many brethren, that is Christians, at Rome, seeing my constancy, freedom, fruit and glory of my chains, were inflamed to emulation, that in like manner they might intrepidly evangelize the word of God.
Note firstly, the "in the Lord" is referred by Chrysostom and Theophylact to the following "confident," as if to say: Taking spirit and audacity from hope and confidence in the Lord; for since he seems to say something great about himself, "I have encouraged them and rendered them confident": therefore he prevents this by saying: "In the Lord," as if to say: Not I, but the Lord both has encouraged me in my chains and them through my chains, and has made them undaunted heralds of the word. But more plainly you may refer the "in the Lord" to "brethren": for to brethren according to carnal kinship he opposes "brethren in the Lord," namely in Christ, that is brethren in the faith and religion of Christ, in Christianity. See Canon 37.
Note secondly: "Confident," in Greek πεποιθότες, that is taking trust, audacity, courage. Vatablus translates, "relying on my chains."
Note thirdly: For "without fear," in Greek it is ἀφόβως, that is fearlessly, intrepidly to speak the word of God, etc.
Verse 15: Some Indeed Even Out of Envy and Contention, but Some Also for Goodwill Preach Christ
15. Some indeed even through envy and contention: but some also through good will preach Christ. — Note: Envy is the companion of virtue; and just as cantharides (little worms) are born to roses, so envy is born to virtue, and so it is a sign of heroic virtue and heroic deeds, when one feels rivals against himself to be stirred up. So Paul, since he had imbued all Greece and Asia with his Gospel, and was therefore bound, had won for himself a famous name, fame and glory: whence he stirred up many rivals against himself, who envying his glory, and grieving that they themselves and their preaching were obscured by Paul, were striving to depress him, exalt themselves, and make themselves celebrated, famous and glorious heralds of the Gospel. These therefore, seeking not God's glory but their own, were evangelizing through envy and contention, that is impelled by the zeal of contention, by which they were trying to contend with Paul about fame and glory, and to overcome and supplant him. But others, sincere heralds, preached Christ "through good will," in Greek δι' εὐδοκίαν, that is through benevolence, right and sincere will, namely so as to propagate not their own, but Christ's glory, and gain and save many souls for Him. Whence explaining this general good will in particular through a species, namely charity, he adds:
Verse 16: Some Out of Charity, Knowing That I Am Set for the Defense of the Gospel
16. Some out of charity, knowing that I am set for the defense of the Gospel. — These are they who preach Christ with good and right will, namely who preach out of charity, both toward God and Christ, and toward me, because namely they love me who am Christ's herald, these not envy, not hypocrisy, but charity impels to evangelize; charity, I say, not only of Christ, but also of me; for of this he adds: "Knowing that I am set for the defense of the Gospel." St. Chrysostom with his followers takes the defense to be one to be made by Paul on the day of judgment, by which he will have to render an account to Christ as judge of the evangelical preaching and conversion of the Gentiles entrusted and committed to him, as if to say: These sincere heralds know that I must render an account to Christ the judge of this preaching committed to me; so that I may then easily defend myself and show that I have fulfilled the preaching of the Gospel either through myself or through others, and for this reason they themselves help me in preaching and propagating the Gospel. But more simply with Anselm and others we shall take the defense, or as in Greek it is ἀπολογίαν, which Paul was just about to make before Nero, the Romans and the Jews, in order to defend himself and his cause. Whence he says: "I am set for the defense of the Gospel"; for on the day of judgment he will not make a defense of the Gospel, but of himself, as if to say: Others preach out of charity, by which they love me as one designated and constituted by God as defender and champion of the Gospel; they therefore help me in preaching, that they may help and promote the cause of the Gospel. Whence, because I am not allowed to preach openly in chains, hence they themselves publicly evangelize for me more ardently, and so they aid my cause for which I am bound, and the defense which I am about to make before Nero, and they try to persuade all that my cause, namely the Gospel, is just and holy.
Verse 17: But Some Announce Christ Out of Contention, Not Sincerely, Supposing to Raise Affliction to My Bonds
17. But some announce Christ out of contention, not sincerely, thinking to stir up affliction for my chains. — The Greek transposes these things, but with the same meaning. For "not sincerely," in Greek it is οὐχ ἁγνῶς, that is not purely, and, as St. Augustine, Book II Against Petilian, not chastely; Ambrose translates, "not simply": whence he seems to have read οὐχ ἁπλῶς, as if to say: They preach Christ not with pure and sincere intention, but feignedly, fraudulently, contentiously and perniciously; namely, that by their preaching and propagation of the Gospel and of Christianity they may more stir up Nero against me, as the author of all this preaching, that Nero may oppress me more in chains, afflict me, indeed kill me; namely so that, with me killed, they alone may evangelize, draw all disciples after themselves, and so they themselves as supreme teachers and Apostles may boast and triumph. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Anselm and others. By "pressure" therefore he understands that to be inflicted by Nero; and secondly, the sorrow of soul which they wanted to inflict on Paul's mind by their envious and contentious preaching. Whence he removes this sorrow from himself in the following verse. Chrysostom exclaims here: "O cruelty! O diabolical energy! They saw him bound, and still envied, wanted his calamities increased, and to make him liable to the king's greater anger." Truly Paul might have said what Socrates said: Not Nero, not the Romans, but envy alone, which has killed so many most excellent men, has killed me too.
Verse 18: What Then? So That by All Means, Whether by Occasion or by Truth, Christ Be Preached: in This Also I Rejoice, Yea, and Will Rejoice
18. For what (τί γάρ, that is, indeed what? what therefore? as if to say: They think to oppress, afflict and sting me, do they then truly oppress, afflict and sting me? I answer: By no means; for) while by every (any) way, either by occasion or by truth, Christ is announced, and in this I rejoice, yea, and I will rejoice. — The Greek προφάσει signifies not only occasion, but also pretext; for it is opposed to truth, that is to sincerity. Whence Tertullian, Book V Against Marcion, translates "pretextual cause," as if to say: These contentious and envious ones preach Christ, but only in appearance; because they do not seek Christ's glory, but their own; not the gains of souls, but of monies: yet to this their ambition, envy and avarice they pretextually attach the preaching of Christ, alleging that they labor for Christ's sake, but this in reality is to preach Christ by occasion, as Our Translator renders it.
Note: The Apostle does not praise their deed and preaching, since it is fraudulent and hypocritical, nor does he rejoice in it in itself (for thus he would rejoice in sin and hypocrisy), but in its effect, namely that through it, such as it is, Christ is announced and glorified: thus the fornicator when he repents grieves over his fornication, but rejoices in its effect, namely a notable offspring born from it. Secondly, the Apostle despises their hatred and envy toward himself, because he seeks the glory of Christ alone, in which he rejoices, in whatever way it finally comes about: which is an effective remedy for overcoming the hatreds and envy of others. "A great and philosophical mind," says Chrysostom, "can be troubled by none of those things which happen sadly in this life, neither by enemies' accusations, nor by detractions, nor by dangers, nor by snares; for, as it were withdrawn into some lofty mountain peak, it cannot be seized by any of those things by which it is attacked from below from the lower-lying earth. Such was Paul's mind. He held a place of spiritual philosophy more sublime than any mountain peak, that namely which is true philosophy at last. The things which happen from outside are mere words and the play of children. That blessed man had then both a king inimically opposed to him, and therefore other enemies as well, by whom he was especially afflicted with bitter calumnies. And what does he say? Not only, he says, am I afflicted by no grief from this, nor do I depart from my office, but I rejoice and shall rejoice. Not for a time, he says, but always for the sake of these things shall I rejoice: for I know that this shall conduce to my salvation, future namely: add that this enmity and the rivalry which is against me also helps and promotes the preaching of the Gospel."
You will ask, what kind of preachers were these hypocrites, Catholics or heretics? That they were heretics is the opinion of Chrysostom and Theophylact above, namely Simonians, whom St. Ignatius describes in almost the same characteristics and words, in his epistle to the Trallians: "Flee," he says, "those holding the heresy of Simon, Menander, Basilides and their followers the Nicolaitans, Theodotus, Cleobolus: for they are vain talkers, seducers, not Christians, but Christ-traffickers, Christ-profiteers, who make gain from Christ's name, by fraud circumventing His name and adulterating the word of the Gospel." And the epistle to these same Philippians acts almost entirely against the same, because they were teaching that Christ was not truly and in reality, but only in opinion and outward appearance born and crucified: whom Paul also refutes below, ch. III. But of such an outward appearance and simulation of Christ the Apostle is not speaking here, but of the simulation and pretext of the preachers themselves: for this he calls πρόφασιν, as I said. Secondly, that the Apostle does not understand Simonians and other heretics, is proved from this, that he says he rejoices that through them Christ is announced: but he did not rejoice over Simon's preaching. For Simon taught heresies and preached about Christ, and so was removing from the midst Christ the true mediator and Son of God. Whence Paul greatly grieved over his preaching. Thus it is never lawful to rejoice over the preaching and propagation of heresy even among Pagans: for although they announce Christ, at the same time they announce many heresies about Him, or about His Church and Sacraments, which are more pernicious than paganism itself: so that it is far better to receive nothing of truth and doctrine from them than to drink it down polluted with such great errors and heresies. I say therefore with Anselm, it is more probable that these contentious preachers were Christians, sprung from Jews, as it seems, but ambitious, mercenary and wicked, inasmuch as being rivals of Paul from the Gospel, they sought nothing else than their own glory and gain. Such also were those against whom Paul acts in 2 Cor. 11. Behold what blind ambition and envy can do even among Christians: it bursts forth to bring pressure even on Paul in chains, and contrives snares and death for him through his own Gospel, and by the deed itself says: Let Paul perish, let preaching perish, let faith perish, let the commonwealth perish, let the Church perish, and let us perish with it ourselves, provided that for a short time, for a moment, we may be in honor and glory. Truly St. Chrysostom, hom. 41 on Matthew, says: "Envy makes a pestilential man out of a man, and converts a man into a most monstrous demon: through envy the first murder of a man (Abel) appeared; through envy fraternal charity was despised; through envy the earth was first stained with the blood of a man; through envy finally it came about that, by its gaping, the earth swallowed up alive Dathan, Core and Abiron and their whole company."
Note here the condition of envy. For envy is similar to ophthalmia, which is offended and harmed by very splendid and shining things: for so envy is embittered and wastes away at others' goods, virtue and glory. Whence Aristotle, when asked what envy was, answered: It is the antagonist of the fortunate. On the other hand, Actius, a noble and wise man, when before King Frederick the Physicists were debating what especially conferred sharpness on the eyes — and some put forward eating fennel, others the use of glasses, others other things — said: "But I say envy: for this is what makes one see sharply in others' affairs." So Pontanus reports. I have said more about envy at Genesis 37:4.
Verse 19: For I Know That This Shall Fall Out to Me Unto Salvation, Through Your Prayer and the Supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ
19. For I know that this (their hatred and envy, by which they strive to procure for me sorrow and Nero's anger) shall turn out for me unto salvation, — either present, says Chrysostom, that I may be freed from death and Nero's anger; or rather spiritual and eternal: for that the Apostle is looking at this, and not the present and corporeal, is clear from what follows when he says: "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." This life therefore, as also death, the Apostle despised, and only looked at the spiritual and future, that in it Christ might be magnified, as if to say: They are busy to afflict me and to consume me with sorrow: but I rejoice; for I know, and confiding in God's goodness and providence I am surely persuaded that all their machinations will turn out to my good, namely to greater merit of patience, glory, and an example for others, and consequently for the salvation both of myself and of many others: for to this God will turn all these things, because to those who love and hope in Him all things work together for good, and so it shall be done.
Through your prayer and the supply (the Syriac, "donation") of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (if namely you pray, which I tacitly request, for me, and by your prayer obtain for me the Spirit of Christ, namely that He may be copiously given and supplied to me by God), according to my expectation and hope, — as if to say: Which Spirit to be supplied to me with great hope and desire, as it were with head and mouth stretched out to heaven, panting I await from God: for this is the Greek ἀποκαραδοκία, as I said at Rom. 8:19.
Verse 20: But With All Confidence, as Always, So Now Also Christ Shall Be Magnified in My Body, Whether by Life or by Death
Because in nothing shall I be confounded. — Some refer this to the immediately preceding, as if to say: I hope that I shall be confounded in nothing; but better refer it to the things above, "I know that this shall turn out for me unto salvation," as if to say: I know these hatreds will turn out for me unto salvation and glory, because whatever may befall me from them, I shall not be confounded, I shall not be put to shame: because I am conscious to myself of no true fault or sin.
But in all confidence, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. — For "confidence," in Greek it is παρρησία, that is freedom, constancy, as if to say: Whatever may happen to me, whether I be killed or live, I shall use my accustomed freedom and constancy, that through it Christ may be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death: for if I be killed and die constantly for Christ, I shall magnify Christ by my martyrdom; if I live, I shall constantly preach Christ, and so shall magnify the same. Note: For "I shall magnify" the Apostle says passively "shall be magnified," out of modesty, lest He seem to ascribe this magnification to Himself and to His own powers.
Verse 21: For to Me, to Live Is Christ, and to Die Is Gain
21. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. — "To live," that is my life is Christ, my life, I say, that is the cause of my life is Christ, and that threefold. First, He is the efficient cause of my spiritual life, and the one preserving it. Secondly, He is the objective and exemplary cause of the same life. So Anselm. Thirdly, and more aptly to the Apostle's mind here, Christ is the final cause of my life; because Christ's love and honor moves me to undertake bravely all works, labors and sufferings; for that is radically life in a man, which is the principle of vital motion and actions in him. "Christ," says Theophylact, "is to me spirit and light and life, both natural, supernatural, and beatific." But excellently Chrysostom: "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain, as if to say: Even by dying I shall not die, because I have life in myself. Only then shall they have killed me, when by fear and terror they shall have been able to shake out faith from my mind; but as long as Christ shall be in me, even if death come on, I shall live. And in this life too, this living is not mine, but Christ's. But if not in this life, what in the future? What I now live in the flesh, he says, I live in faith. He says this also elsewhere: I live, yet not now I, but Christ lives in me. Such ought a Christian to be." And below: "They shall bring no trouble who kill me, because they shall send me forth and promote me to my life, and shall free me from this not very comfortable one. What then, Paul? being here are you not Christ's? And here plainly I am His: but if it should befall to live in the flesh, this for me is fruit of work, and which I should choose I know not; lest anyone say: But if death is life to you, by what reason has Christ left you here? It is fruit of work, he says."
And to die is gain. — First simply, as if to say: Death is the gain of blessedness; therefore I do not fear death, because if I be killed and die, I shall gain eternal life, and shall fly up to heaven, and shall be present and shall enjoy Christ. So Chrysostom, Anselm, Ambrose, St. Thomas, Theophylact, Œcumenius; so almost also Vatablus: "The reason," he says, "for desiring longer life is that I may announce Christ to more; but eternal life, which I esteem as gain, incites me to desire death." And Erasmus: "If I live, I live for Christ's sake; if I die, I die for my own profit and gain": as if for himself, if he look at his own advantage, it would be more useful to die; if he look at Christ's advantage, it would be more useful to live. Whence also St. Ambrose, Book On the Good of Death, ch. III: "The Apostle," he says, "refers the former to the necessity of life, the latter to the utility of death: for the servant of God to live is Christ, to die is gain; for as a servant he does not refuse the service of life, and as a wise man he embraces the gain of death, as if the Apostle were saying: I, as a servant of Christ, do not refuse laborious services of life; and, as a wise man, I embrace the gain of death." But in this sense the word "for" gives the reason not for the immediately preceding things, but for what he said in verse 19: "I know that this shall turn out for me unto salvation"; because namely, if these hatreds of the envious procure death for me through Nero, I shall reckon this death as the gain of eternal salvation and blessedness.
But now rather the word "for" seems to give the reason for the immediately preceding things, namely why Christ is to be magnified in him, whether by life or by death: "For to me," he says, "to live is Christ, and to die is gain": where "to live" refers to "life" which he had said, and "to die" to "death." Whence we shall better expound thus: "to die," that is the gain of my death is, namely Christ, the same who is also my life; Christ, I say, that is the conjunction and enjoyment of Christ. Whence these words, ἐμοὶ γὰρ τὸ ζῆν Χριστὸς, καὶ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν κέρδος, that is, to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain, seem to be transposed by the Apostle for the sake of elegance, and supplying the preposition κατά they ought to be ordered thus: Χριστός ἐμοὶ κατὰ τὸ ζῆν, καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν ἐστι κέρδος, that is, Christ to me in life and in death is gain, so that Christ is the subject, gain is the predicate, life and death are the circumstances and condition of time which affects and denominates the predicate, or rather the conjunction of the predicate with the subject, as if to say: "In all confidence (that is constancy, freedom) shall be magnified (that is, I shall magnify) Christ in my body, whether by life or by death," namely so that I may constantly live and preach for Christ, or undergo martyrdom and die; the cause of which constancy he subjoins, saying: For to me Christ is gain both in life and in death, and so I do not refuse to live, nor do I fear to die, since whether in death or in life I serve Christ, am united to Christ, and gain Christ; thus Christ may be magnified and glorified both in my death and in my life. For Christ is my love and my all: beyond Him I love nothing, fear nothing. Hence whether I find and gain Christ, it is the same to me whether I live or die. So in Rom. 14:8 he said: "Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether therefore we live or die, we are the Lord's."
To this gain of death and of Christ St. Ignatius panted: "I beg you," he says in his epistle to the Romans, "do not be unseasonably benevolent toward me: allow me to be the food of beasts, by which it is possible to attain to God; I am God's wheat, and let me be ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may be found pure bread of God: rather entice the beasts, that they may become my tomb, and leave nothing of my body, lest, when I have fallen asleep, I be found burdensome to anyone. Then I shall truly be a disciple of Christ Jesus, when the world shall not even see my body." And a little below: "Now bound in Him I am learning to desire nothing worldly or vain. From Syria to Rome I fight with beasts by land and sea, bound night and day to ten leopards, that is, to ten soldiers who guard me, who, even when affected by kindnesses, become worse. Would that I might enjoy those beasts which are prepared for me! whom I would wish to find swift for me, whom I would also entice that they may devour me speedily, not as some, terrified, have not touched, and these, unless they will, I myself will compel by force. Let fire, the cross, the gatherings of beasts, dissections, distractions, dispersions of bones, mutilations of limbs, the constriction of the whole body and the torment of the devil come upon me, only that I may attain Jesus."
Morally, St. Chrysostom in moral homily 3 teaches that Christians ought not to mourn the faithful dead because they have died, since death is for them gain of a better life; but they are to be mourned and assisted, if they have died in some sins. "Let us bewail them," he says, "let us help them with all our strength, let us procure for them some aid. How, in what manner? By praying let us exhort others also to pray for them, and let us give alms unceasingly to the poor on their behalf." And below: "Not in vain has it been ordained by the Apostles, that in the celebration of the venerable mysteries memory be made of those who have departed hence. They knew that much profit comes to them from this, much benefit; for when the whole people stands with hands extended to heaven, and likewise the priestly assembly, and the venerable sacrifice has been set forth, how should we not appease God by praying for them?" Let the Novatians note these things, and learn that in Chrysostom's time, when the Church was pure and undefiled, even by their own confession, prayers, suffrages and sacrifices were customarily made for the dead, certainly for those existing in Purgatory: for it is not lawful to pray for the damned in hell, where there is no redemption; therefore the Church then believed Purgatory to exist, and that souls detained in it could be helped by the living. Again, sacrifice was then employed: which, I ask, other than the Eucharistic of the Mass? Finally in it she prayed for the dead, and that from the tradition and ordinance of the Apostles, as Chrysostom says. Therefore the sacrifice of the Mass is propitiatory, not only for the living, but also for the dead.
Verse 22: And If to Live in the Flesh, This Is to Me the Fruit of Labor, and What I Shall Choose I Know Not
22. But if to live in the flesh, this (in Greek τοῦτο, that is "this": but the syntax both Latin and Greek admits either, and the sense is the same) is the fruit of work for me. — The Syriac renders it, if in this life I have fruit in my works; Vatablus, if by living I can produce some fruit, as if to say: If it is worthwhile that I should still live, fruitful and useful to many. So Anselm.
And what I shall choose I know not. — The conjunction "and" here gives rise to difficulty and obscurity, for it is not apparent what it joins or what it does. First, Beza, rendering the Greek εἰ δὲ for "but if" as "if indeed" or "whether indeed," connects thus: Whether indeed to live in the flesh be worthwhile for me, and what I shall choose I know not — as if to say: I know not whether it be worthwhile that I should still live, and consequently I know not what I should choose, death or life. But the Apostle could not have been ignorant whether it were worthwhile that he should still live, since he saw so many nations being converted by him, and all the Churches of Asia depending on him alone, and looking to him alone: indeed he himself shortly after asserts the same, saying: "But to remain in the flesh is necessary on account of you." Add: the Greeks take τι δὲ not as a dubitative, but as an affirmative. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius; indeed Oecumenius takes it as causal, as if to say: Since it is worthwhile that I live, hence I know not what I should choose, life or death. Second, Erasmus supplies the verb "happen," and makes two propositions which he connects with the conjunction "and," thus: But if it should befall me to live in the flesh, this will be worthwhile, and therefore what I shall choose, whether to live or to die, I know not: but here he supplies the verb "happen" from himself and without foundation. Third, more obscurely the same Erasmus and others from him teach that the conjunction "and" here has a hidden force of excluding that which is different, but he does not explain it sufficiently.
I say therefore that by ellipsis there must be supplied from the preceding verse "death is gain," as if to say: If to live in the flesh is worthwhile, and on the other hand to die is gain to me, which of these two I should choose I know not; for this is what the word "choose" implies: for choice is between two: since therefore the Apostle here puts only one, namely to live, he leaves the other to be supplied from the preceding verse; for thus men who are doubtful, perplexed and entangled are wont to speak, expressing one with the voice and leaving the other which they retain in mind to be understood: for they speak as if they were speaking to their own mind and imaginations, with which they are full. Thus Reuben in Gen. 37:30 speaks: "The boy (Joseph) is not there, and where shall I go?" — as if to say: The boy is not there, and the father will require him from me as the elder of the brothers, where therefore shall I go? For if I go to the father, I have nothing to answer; and if he understands, as is to be feared, the crime committed against Joseph, he will impute it to me: but if I go elsewhere, I shall make myself more suspect to my father of this crime. For vehement emotion cuts off words, leaves many things unsaid, indeed closes the mouth, and often connects words not with words, but with the conception, sorrow and feelings which it bears in the mind.
What I shall choose. — "A great mystery," says Chrysostom, "he has here opened, namely that he has the power of departing (through death): for when an option and choice is given, we have the power of choosing. What I shall choose, he says, I know not: it is therefore in your power: indeed if I shall wish to pray God...going hence into heaven, about to migrate and to be with Christ, do you not know what you should choose? Here you lead a bitter life in hunger, thirst, cold, nakedness, cares, persecutions, distresses, and do you still desire this bitter life? What merchant having a ship full of many goods, when he could now make port and rest in safety, would still rather sail on the sea? What athlete will desire more contest, when he may now be crowned? What soldier when he may now be freed from war with celebrity and trophies, and rest and be refreshed with the king in his own palace, would still endure to sweat in war and be set in the battle line? How then do you desire to abide yet in this life, which you live so bitterly?" And below: "You fear future things, you are subject to innumerable evils, and yet you do not wish to be with Christ? No, he says, and that on account of Christ Himself, that those whom I have gained for Him as servants I may make more ready and more solid, and that I may render fruitful that cultivation which I have planted. Have you not heard me seeking not what is useful to me, but the things that are of my neighbors? Have you not heard how I desired to be made anathema from Christ, that many might come over to Him?" And finally he concludes with this epiphonema: "Who shall declare Your powers, Lord, that You have shown Paul to the world? All the angels praised You together when You created the stars and the sun: yet not so much as when You made Paul conspicuous to us in the whole world. Therefore the earth has been made more splendid than heaven: for he, more brilliant, has emitted a splendor more illustrious than the solar light, has extended brighter rays." Behold how greatly Paul valued the gain of souls and the salvation of his neighbors, that he preferred it to his own beatitude and on its account chose that his being with Christ should be deferred: for although the Apostle does not expressly state this his vow and election, yet he sufficiently insinuates it when he says in verse 25: "And confident of this I know that I shall remain," etc.
Verses 23 and 24: But I Am Straitened Between Two, Having a Desire to Be Dissolved and to Be With Christ, a Thing by Far the Better; but to Abide Still in the Flesh Is Needful for You
23 and 24. But I am pressed from two sides: having a desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, by far the better: but to remain in the flesh, is necessary on account of you. — St. Augustine, in book III On Christian Doctrine, chap. II, teaches that this passage can be distinguished and read in two ways. The former thus: "I am pressed from two sides, having a desire"; as if to say: I am pressed by the desire of two things, namely of life and of death. Hence in Greek for "I am pressed" there is συνέχομαι, that is, I am held in, or held on every side, namely on one side by the desire of life, on the other of death. In the second way, and genuinely, as the Roman and Louvain editions read, the punctuation is to be placed after "I am pressed from two sides," that is, two dots; then follows: "having a desire to be dissolved," etc. The sense is: "I am pressed from two sides," that is, I am pressed and constrained by two things; two things on either side press and constrain me as if in the middle. So the Syriac. Or, that τὸ ἐκ τῶν δύο, that is, "from two," be taken for ἀμφοτέρωθεν, that is, on either side, as if to say: On either side I am pressed and constrained, on the one hand by the desire of dissolution, that I may be with Christ, on the other by the necessity of remaining in the flesh on account of you: for this is plainly what the words signify.
To be dissolved, — that is, to die, for death is the dissolution of soul and body.
Note: He does not say: I desire to be resolved, namely into the elements of which I am composed; for to be resolved means only to perish and perdition: this however is not desirable, nor does the Apostle wish to perish, but to die; yet so as to abide and pass to a better life and state; whence he does not say: I desire to be resolved, but, "I desire to be dissolved," namely from the bond by which the soul is bound to the body in this life, as to its house or garment of clay. Hence St. Gregory Nazianzen used to pray: "Lord, loosen this tunic which is heavy and burdensome to me (this mortal and wretched body), and give me a lighter one." Indeed the soul is bound to the body as to a prison and fetters, or rather as to a corpse, as Hortensius said (as I said at Rom. 5:12). Just as those who were tied alive by Mezentius to corpses, so that mouth was pressed to mouth, eye to eye, hand to hand of the corpse, that they might be tortured and made lifeless by its stench, used to wish to be loosed from this bond and freed from the corpse: so Paul wished to be freed and dissolved from his body, that he might be joined to Christ: for the body which is corrupted weighs down the soul, so that it cannot think of heavenly things, but is depressed to the needs and concupiscences of the body, equally to diseases and miseries: for the soul must feel and suffer all the stenches, phlegms, excrements, filth of the body, equally as the bestial desires, just as if it were tied to a corpse; for take away the soul, what else is the body but a corpse? indeed even with the soul present the body stinks, is filthy, wastes away, putrefies, as if it were a corpse. Who would not wish to be loosed and freed from this corpse, from these bonds? Truly St. Gregory, book IV Moralia, chap. XLI: "Paul," he says, "would not seek to be dissolved, did he not see himself bound. These bonds, because he saw they were most certainly to be broken in the resurrection, the Prophet rejoiced as though they were already broken, when he said: You have broken my bonds, to You I will offer the sacrifice of praise." And St. Augustine: "He who desires," he says, "to be dissolved and to be with Christ, does not die patiently, but lives patiently and dies with delight."
Note: For "to be dissolved," the Greek is ἀναλῦσαι, which is of the middle voice; whence it can be taken both actively and passively, so that it signifies not only to be dissolved, as our version, Vatablus and others render it; but also to dissolve, or to loose, and it is the word of sailors loosing from port and setting out; for as καταλύειν belongs to charioteers, when they loose the ropes of horses and chariots, that they may settle into the inn to which they turn aside: so they are said ἀναλύων who move their packs and change inn, namely sailors when they loose the cables, and pilgrims and soldiers when they loose the ropes of the tents, that they may move camp. Whence Chrysostom renders ἀναλύειν as μεθίστασθαι, that is, to migrate; St. Jerome Contra Ruffinum renders it, to return; Tertullian, book On Patience, chap. ix, renders it "to be received" (but Tertullian seems to have read ἀναληφθῆναι instead of ἀναλῦσαι), as if to say with Paul: I am here an exile, and from this exile I desire to migrate, to sail, to set out, to return to the port of the heavenly fatherland. But it is better with our version to render "to be dissolved" rather than "to dissolve"; for there follows, "And to be with Christ"; as if to say: I am now bound to the body; if I be loosed from this bond, I shall be with Christ and shall be united to Him. For if the Apostle had wished to say actively: I desire to loose, he would rather have added: And to set out to Christ, than, "To be with Christ."
To be with Christ much more better, — that is, to be with Christ is the very best. For the Hebrews signify the superlative and the vehemence and excess of a thing by gemination or doubling. So Jeremiah, chap. 24, v. 3, saw figs good, good, very; and bad, bad, very, that is, very good and very bad figs.
Note from this passage, against the Greeks and Calvin, that souls altogether pure, as soon as they have departed from the body, do not sleep, but are with Christ in heaven and eternal life; for therefore the Apostle desires to be dissolved and to die, that he may be with Christ. For if after death he had had to wait for the day of judgment, that only then he might enjoy Christ, he would have desired to be dissolved rather than to live in vain, because he would have been as much absent from Christ after dissolution and death as if he had remained in life. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius.
Morally, very many Saints desired this dissolution and commended that desire to us. St. Augustine used to praise, as Possidonius testifies in chap. xxvii of the Life of St. Augustine, that saying of the dying St. Ambrose, who, when his people were weeping and asking that he beg from God a longer life, replied: "I have not so lived as to be ashamed to live among you: but I do not fear to die either, because we have a good Lord." Possidonius says that Augustine very frequently used to relate the saying, in his last moments, of one of his country-bishops and most intimate friends: to whom, when he had often gone to visit him as he was already approaching death, and he by a gesture of the hand signified that he was about to depart from the world, and was answered by him that he could still live as necessary for the Church, he, lest he should be thought held by desire of this life, answered: If never, well: if sometime, why not now? He also brought forward the saying of a certain sick Bishop, of whom the holy martyr Cyprian, in his epistle which he wrote On Mortality, thus reported, saying: When a certain one of our colleagues and fellow priests, exhausted by infirmity and anxious about approaching death, was begging release for himself, there stood by the one praying and now nearly dying a youth venerable in honor and majesty, lofty in stature and bright in countenance: whom hardly could a human gaze with carnal eyes look upon as he stood by, except that he was already able to see such a one, being about to depart from the world. And he, not without a certain indignation of soul and voice, broke out and said: "You fear to suffer, you do not wish to depart, what shall I do with you?"
Climacus, step 6: "He is approved," he says, "who awaits death every day; but he is holy who desires it every hour."
Thus St. Paul, says St. Jerome in his Life, the first Hermit, said to St. Anthony who came to visit him: "Behold," he says, "him whom with such labor you have sought, an uncultivated white-haired covers his limbs putrid with old age. Behold you see a man soon to become dust. But since the time of my falling asleep is at hand, and what I always desired — to be dissolved and to be with Christ — the course completed, there remains for me the crown of justice; you have been sent by the Lord that you may cover my little body with earth, or rather render earth to earth."
Furthermore, there are three causes which incited the holy Paul and other Saints to this desire, that they wished to be dissolved, which St. Ambrose pursues in his book On the Good of Death, and Cyprian in his book On Mortality. For there are three bonds which bind us here and oppress us. The first is of the miseries of the body; the second, of concupiscence and sins; the third, of the earth and earthly things. All these death loosens, and makes us impassible, impeccable, heavenly and divine. "Threefold," says St. Bernard at the passing of St. Malachy, "is the rejoicing in death: men are freed from all labor, sin and danger." The first cause therefore which makes us desire this dissolution are the diseases and miseries of this body and life: for these are so great that St. Augustine rightly disputes, book XIII Civit., chap. x, whether this life is rather to be called death than life. The same on that Psalm "Let the groaning of the prisoners come into Your sight," says: "The fetters are the infirmities and corruptibility of the body, which weigh down the soul. From these fetters the Apostle desired to be dissolved, and to be with Christ; until therefore this corruptible put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality, the weak flesh as with fetters hinders the willing spirit." And St. Gregory, hom. 37 on the Gospels: "Temporal life," he says, "compared to eternal life, is rather to be called death than life; for the very daily failing of corruption, what else is it but a certain prolongation of death." Truly this life seems to be nothing else than a kind of vital, long and slow death. On the contrary, what else is the death of the just but the end of labors, the beginning of rest; the flight of sadness, and the coming of joy; the calming of the tempest, and the beginning of tranquility; the consummation of exile, and the return into the fatherland, into which, having overcome so many miseries, having drained so many labors, having traversed so many afflictions, we pant to return?
The second cause of this desire is, on the one hand concupiscence, with which all the Saints wage a perennial and manifold and difficult struggle, and on the other the dangers of sinning mortally, and the necessity of sinning venially. From this cause the Apostle groans that he has been sold under sin, Rom. 7, and so: "Wretched man that I am," he says, "who shall free me from the body of this death?" He who penetrates and weighs the gravity of sin, what a great evil and the cause of how many evils it is to offend God, this man sighs after death, as toward the term of sin and of all evils, that he may become impeccable.
You will say: Charity inclines always to greater and greater increase of itself, and to accumulating ever greater merits and rewards: but these are acquired not through a short, but through a long life. I reply: It is so; but yet if in one scale you put the hope of this increase of merits and charity, and in the other you put the danger of sinning, this will far outweigh that. For the danger of sinning, especially mortally, to which the saints are always subject in this life, and consequently the danger of eternal damnation, is so great an evil, that it cannot be compensated equally by any hope of increase of charity or eternal glory. The Saints think the same in their way and proportion concerning venial sins.
Hear, to be silent of others, the burning and fiery vow on this matter of one of our recently sainted English Martyrs. "If you truly love God," he says, "certainly nothing can be so grievous to you as to offend His supreme majesty even in the smallest things, nor will you so eagerly desire anything, as some remedy by which you can be sure that you will never again offend God; and since this cannot be had in this life, you will continually cry with the Psalmist: Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged! and: I desire to be dissolved; and: Who will give me wings? It is great indeed to labor for the love of God, to endure pains and torments; great, to gain souls; great, to live in Religion with continual victory over self: yet if these cannot be done without my offending my God, I would rather, omitting all these, die quickly, than to perform all these with daily offense to God in things however small. For I would rather, as St. Augustine testifies, that the whole world fall into ruin, than admit even one venial sin against God. If however God, conscious of this misery, wishes to prolong life and exercise me in this valley of calamity: let labor, prisons, torments, the cross, the gridiron, lions come, let at last whatever can come, come: nay rather, from my heart I beseech You, good Jesus, that they may come, and through Your wounds and those of Your Saints I humbly ask, that from this hour, in which I write this, they may begin, and endure to the end of my life. Permit me to be tortured for You, to be cut up, scourged, beaten and torn to pieces; I refuse nothing, I embrace all, I will sustain all: not that I dust am able to do it, but because I can do all things in You and without You nothing. Foster this desire in me, and graciously grant the effect of the desire." Thus he, with the swan-song voice, now a candidate of martyrdom.
The third cause of this desire, and the principal one, is that we may pass to that blessed and eternal life and be with Christ, and the angels, and the Saints. Hence the Apostle here expresses this alone as the cause of his desire. Beautifully St. Gregory, hom. 45 on Ezekiel, expounding those words, "And he measured the bridal chamber one reed in length," etc., thus says: "The bridal chambers in the holy Church are the hearts of those, in whom souls through love are joined to the invisible Bridegroom, so that the mind burns with His desire, no longer covets any of the things which are in the world, accounts the length of the present life a punishment, hastens to depart, and to rest in the embrace of love in the vision of the heavenly Bridegroom. The mind therefore which is now such, receives no consolation of the present age, but to that One whom it loves it sighs from the marrow, burns, pants, is in anguish. The very health of its body becomes worthless to it, because it is pierced through with the wound of love." Then he subjoins the same medicine of this desire and wound which the Apostle here gives, saying thus: "But to the mind ardently loving its Bridegroom there is wont to be one consolation, if through this, that it itself is deferred from the vision of God, the souls of others may grow inflamed with the torches of love toward the heavenly Bridegroom. Of which it is said in the Canticles: Stay me up with flowers, surround me with apples, for I languish with love. Flowers are souls now beginning what is good and savoring of heavenly desire. Apples however from flowers are minds now perfect, which arrive at the fruit of good work. She therefore who languishes with love seeks to be sustained by flowers, surrounded by apples, that she may rest in the good work of her neighbor, who is not yet able to see the face of God."
Thus St. John in old age, desiring to enjoy Christ, at the end of the Apocalypse says: "Come, Lord Jesus."
On this theme St. Cyprian wrote (whom St. Ambrose followed in his book On the Good of Death) the treatise On Mortality, for the consolation of Christians in the common plague and pestilence, which in his time was raging through all Africa for fifteen years: in which by many reasons he teaches that for Christians death is not to be feared, but to be desired. And at the end he urges this third cause, of which we are now treating, in this way: "It must be considered, dearest brothers, and again and again to be thought, that we have renounced the world, and live here meanwhile as guests and pilgrims. Let us embrace the day which assigns each one to his own dwelling, which, having snatched us from here and loosed from worldly snares, restores us to paradise and the heavenly kingdom. There a great number of dear ones awaits us, a frequent and copious throng of parents, brothers, children longs for us, now secure of its own immortality and still solicitous for our salvation. To come to the sight and embrace of these, how great a joy in common is it both for them and for us!"
Then he pursues the joys of that blessed life and of the heavenly citizens in this way: "What there is the pleasure of the heavenly kingdoms without fear of dying and with living for eternity! how supreme and perpetual a happiness! There is the glorious chorus of Apostles; there the number of exulting Prophets; there the innumerable people of Martyrs crowned for the victory of struggle and passion; there triumphing virgins, who subdued the concupiscence of flesh and body by the strength of continence; the merciful are rewarded, who by feeding and gifts to the poor performed works of justice, and transferred their earthly patrimonies to the heavenly bridal chambers. To these, dearest brothers, let us hasten with eager desire, that we may wish to be with them quickly, that we may quickly come to Christ. May God see this our thought, may the Lord Christ look upon this resolve of mind and faith, who will give greater rewards of His glory to those whose desires toward Him have been greater." Thus far Cyprian. I have brought these out a little more fully, because this is the end to which our whole life tends, and therefore we continually desire to be dissolved with Paul and to be with Christ.
Ruffinus in the Lives of the Fathers, book III, chap. ix, relates that Abbot Mutius of marvelous holiness made the sun stand still, that he might be able to reach his disciple who was about to die and was far absent. "And when he had found him already dead, prayer being made he kissed him and said: What do you more desire, brother, to depart and to be with Christ, or to remain in the flesh? Then he, his spirit recovered, sat up a little and said to him: Why do you call me back, Father? It is better for me to return and to be with Christ; but to remain in the flesh is not necessary for me. To whom he said: Sleep then in peace, my son, and pray for me. And he, immediately reclining on his little bed, fell asleep." Similarly St. Gregory, book I Dialog., chap. II, relates that Marcellus, raised from death by St. Fortunatus, Bishop of Todi, groaned and said: "O what have you done? O what have you done?" Thus also Gregory of Tours narrates fully, book VII Hist. Francor., that St. Salvius the Bishop, having been resuscitated, groaned.
We read in the Life of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, that he, for six whole months before his death, a little before the nocturnal prayers, every night heard a most sweet harmony of angels, which afforded him as it were a foretaste of the future life. On account of which he frequently repeated this saying of the Apostle: "I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ"; and when the time of resolution was at hand, he began with his last breath to pour forth voices of joy and an exultant soul; the cause of which unusual joy the Brothers who were present, inquiring, they heard from him: "My Lord Jesus Christ, leaning on His most holy Mother and on our Father Augustine, says to me: Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord"; in which words he expired. Who would not desire such a death, nay rather such a passage into paradise, and choose it with all vows? If you wish such a death, imitate and seek a similar life.
24. But to remain in the flesh is necessary (in Greek ἀναγκαιότερον, that is more necessary) on account of you.
Verse 25: And Having This Confidence, I Know That I Shall Abide and Continue With You All
25. And confident of this (namely that it is necessary for you that I remain in the flesh), confident (in Greek πεποιθώς, that is persuaded), I know that (that is, that) I shall remain, — as if to say: Persuading myself that my life is necessary to you, I know that God will grant me still to you and will make me remain in life. Hence it is clear that this epistle was written from the first imprisonment, not from the second: for from the first he was freed, in the second Paul was killed by Nero.
I shall remain and continue with you all. — In Greek μενῶ καὶ συμπαραμενῶ, I shall remain and co-remain with you all, as if to say: Do not fear and bewail your bereavement, as if you were to be bereft of me, your father; I shall remain and continue with you; as a father to you, my children, I shall be present surviving, when present I shall visit you, when absent I shall console and confirm you by letters and messengers, that you may advance in faith and grace, and that you may rejoice over the increase of faith both your own and that of others.
By these words the Apostle resolves his doubt, whether it is more desirable to live or to die, and sufficiently indicates that it is better to live, for the instruction and salvation of his neighbors, than to die and be with Christ. Hence St. Augustine on that Psalm 54: "Who will give me wings like a dove?" citing this passage of Paul, and comparing Paul to a dove groaning and sighing toward heaven: "The dove," he says, "dainty, bound by affection, not by desire, could not fly because of the duty to be performed." Indeed, that the salvation of one's neighbor is to be preferred to martyrdom, St. Chrysostom teaches, hom. 79 on Matthew. Hence too St. Augustine, epist. 81 to Abbot Eudoxius, writes that he should not refuse his labor for the salvation of the Church and of his neighbors, if it be necessary, nor excuse himself from it by monastic profession, and gives this reason: "Because," he says, "if those who can will not minister to the laboring Church, how shall sons be born?" Much more must a Bishop, when persecution rages among his subjects, remain, and suffer all adversities, and even death itself, if need be, for this cause he ought to do, as the same Augustine teaches, epist. 180 to Honoratus.
Verse 26: That Your Rejoicing May Abound in Christ Jesus in Me, by My Coming to You Again
26. That your rejoicing (in Greek καύχημα, that is glorying) (by which you glory and congratulate yourselves, that through me you have been converted to Christ) may abound in Christ Jesus (that is in Christ's doctrine, law, grace, Church, as if to say: in Christianity) in me (concerning me freed from bonds, and restored to you) by my coming to you again.
Verse 27: Only Let Your Conversation Be Worthy of the Gospel of Christ, That You Stand Fast in One Spirit, Laboring Together for the Faith of the Gospel
27. Only let your conduct be worthy of the Gospel of Christ. — "Conduct yourselves" is an imperative, as if to say: I demand only this from you, that you so conduct yourselves, as it is fitting and worthy that Christians, who follow the Gospel and the law of Christ, should live.
That I may hear of you, that (that) you stand in one spirit (that is, you persevere in equal zeal and fervor of religion and of mutual charity) with one mind (in Greek μιᾷ ψυχῇ, in one soul, as if there were for you all only one soul of charity) laboring together — in Greek συναθλοῦντες, that is contending together, that is, as Ambrose says, equally and concordantly fighting it out.
Of the faith of the Gospel, — as if to say: The faith of the Gospel is in a struggle, you, as athletes, help the struggling and laboring faith with the common spirit and zeal of religion and charity, that with it and in it you may fight nobly against the Pagans and whoever are enemies of the faith.
Verse 28: And in Nothing Be Terrified by Your Adversaries — Which to Them Is a Cause of Perdition, but to You of Salvation, and This From God
28. And in nothing be terrified (in Greek μὴ πτυρόμενοι, that is, as Erasmus, not disturbed, not in tumult; Ambrose, not afraid) by the adversaries (the Gentiles who persecute Christians): which is to them a cause of perdition, but to you of salvation, and this from God, — as if to say: This persecution of the Gentiles will destroy themselves and lead them into hell, but it will lead you to salvation and glory, with God directing and leading you on this way to it.
Note: For "cause," in Greek there is ἔνδειξις, that is, an indication, argument, showing, and, as Ambrose reads, an ostentation. Whence Beza, here carping at our version: "The old interpreter," he says, "preferred to interpret ἔνδειξιν as 'cause,' rashly seeking a foreign signification, since nowhere is affliction of the faithful said to be the cause of their salvation, but its testimony." But let Erasmus and Vatablus themselves answer that ἐνδείξειν, that is to show, is often taken for "to do." Thus Paul says, 2 Tim. 4:14: "Alexander the coppersmith showed me many evils," that is, did, displayed. Thus the Psalmist prays: "Show," that is, supply, display to us, Lord, Your mercy. Thus Eccl. 2:24: "Is it not better to eat and to drink, and to show (give and bestow on) his soul good things from his labors?" In like manner here it is clear that ἔνδειξιν signifies not so much an indication as a cause: because the persecution of the Gentiles was for those very ones a cause of perdition, not an indication, nor did they believe by this indication that they were to be lost and damned, indeed they thought they were doing well and would receive favor and reward from Jupiter and the other gods. But that affliction not only is the testimony, but also is and is called the cause of the salvation of the faithful in the Scriptures, is clear from 2 Cor. 4:17: "That which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, exceedingly works in us above measure an eternal weight of glory in sublimity." If it works a weight of glory, it is therefore the cause of it. Rom. 5:3: "Tribulation works patience, patience indeed proof, but proof hope, hope however does not confound": because, namely, it leads those who hope with certainty to salvation and glory. Whence below he says: "In hope we have been saved." Mediately therefore (namely by means of hope) tribulation and patience are the cause of salvation. Apoc. 2:10: "You shall have tribulation ten days: be faithful (constant in tribulation) unto death, and I will give you the crown of life." Constancy therefore in tribulation produces and merits the crown of eternal life, just as victory in the stadium and contest produces and merits the prize; therefore this constancy and victory are the meritorious cause of the crown and prize.
Verse 29: For Unto You It Is Given for Christ, Not Only to Believe in Him, but Also to Suffer for Him
29. Because to you it has been granted for Christ, not only that you should believe in Him, but also that you should suffer for Him. — The phrase "for Christ" raises a difficulty; for it does not cohere with what follows, "that you should believe in Him"; for we do not believe in Christ for Christ. St. Anselm explains thus: "for Christ," that is, on account of Christ and Christ's merits it has been given to you that you should believe in Him. Second, Photius in Oecumenius: ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, he says, is taken for ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ, that is, by Christ it has been given to you that you should believe in Him: but ὑπὲρ is nowhere put for ἀπὸ. Third, Beza renders worse, "in Christ," that is, in Christ's affair, religion; for union is not signified by "in."
I say therefore that there is a hyperbaton; for when the Apostle wished to say only: It has been given to you to suffer for Christ, it occurred to his mind that it had also been given to them to believe in Christ, and he inserted that, and soon returns to what he first intended, adding: "But also that you should suffer for Him": for we have seen such transports and hyperbata in Ephes. 3:1, and often elsewhere. Whence the Syriac, omitting the "for Christ," clearly renders it thus: and this has been given by God Himself, that you should not only in believing believe in Meschicho (Christ), but also that you should suffer for Him.
Hence first, St. Augustine and the Council of Orange, can. 5 against Faustus and the Massilians, prove and define that faith and the beginning of faith, or the very willing to believe, is a gift of God, and from there comes the beginning of salvation in the adult. Add that this very willing to believe is not only a gift of God, but also accrues to us from the merits of Christ. Which a certain Interpreter not well denies here, teaching that faith and the other dispositions through which the merit of Christ is applied to us, are not given from the merits of Christ, but from the mercy and grace of God, which prevenes the merit of Christ. But this is repugnant to the Apostle, who attributes all gifts and graces of any kind by which we are directed to salvation, to the merits of Christ; for He Himself, as Mediator of God, Redeemer and Savior of men, has merited, procured, and obtained for us all the means and aids of our reconciliation, redemption, and salvation, as I have shown on Ephesians 1:3.
Here Chrysostom and Theophylact note, secondly, that to suffer for Christ is called by the Apostle a gift of God for two reasons: first, that they may not be ashamed of their suffering, but be steadfast in it, and accept it as a great gift of God; secondly, that they may not be exalted in it, since they do not have it from themselves but from God. Just as, therefore, honorific crosses are given by kings to most faithful servants who have been proven in war as a reward for their labors, so also are they given by God to great Saints.
The same authors note, thirdly, that this gift of suffering for Christ is greater than to raise the dead or to perform wondrous signs. "For here," they say, "I am a debtor (to God, who gave the grace of raising the dead), but there I have Christ as my debtor. O wondrous thing! He both gives to me, and over and above this He Himself owes me"; as if to say: In this your suffering, therefore, you ought to rejoice and exult, O Philippians. See what has been said from the same Chrysostom on Ephesians chapter 3:1.
Note, fourthly, that to suffer for Christ is a singular gift of God, not only insofar as God presents man with the occasion, just as of faith, so also of martyrdom and similar afflictions to be endured for the faith and for Christ (as the commentary ascribed here to Jerome explains — which rather is by Pelagius, or by some Pelagian, as is clear from this passage and similar ones), but also the very act of suffering for Christ is a gift of God, because God breathes into the sufferer the affection, desire, and fortitude of suffering for Christ, as Augustine teaches everywhere against Pelagius.
Verse 30: Having the Same Conflict Which You Have Both Seen in Me, and Now Have Heard of Me
30. Having the same conflict (in Greek ἀγῶνα, the same contest) as you saw in me, and now hear of me. — In Greek ἀκούετε, that is, you hear. As if to say: In this contest of faith you contend with me as athletes, O Philippians; you have the same contest as I, the same palaestra, the same struggle for the Gospel: because for its sake you suffer persecutions, exiles, prisons, plunderings of goods, and many other things — such as you now hear that I am suffering at Rome, and as once you saw me suffering at Philippi, when among you I was beaten with rods and imprisoned, Acts 16:22.