HOMILY XXVI.

1

παρα δόσεις, traditions.

1 COR. xi. 2.

Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances1, as I delivered them to you.

HAVING Completed the discourse concerning the idol(1.) sacrifices as became him, and having rendered it most perfect in all respects, he proceeds to another thing, which also itself was a crime, but not so great a one. For that which I said before, this do I also now say, that he doth not set down all the heavy accusations continuously, but after disposing them in due order, he inserts among them the lighter matters, mitigating what the readers would else feel offensive in his discourse, on account of his continually reproving.

Wherefore also he sets the most vehement of all last, that relating to the resurrection. But for the present he goes to another, a lighter thing, saying, Now I praise you, that ye remember me in all things. Thus, when the offence is admitted, he both accuses vehemently, and threatens but when it is questioned, he first proves it, and then rebukes. And what was admitted, he aggravates: but what was likely to be disputed, he shews to be admitted. Their fornication, for instance, was a thing admitted. Wherefore there was no

need to shew that there was an offence; but in that case he proved the magnitude of the transgression, and conducted his discourse by way of comparison. Again, their going to law before aliens was an offence, but not so great a one. Wherefore he threw it in likewise by the way, and proved it. The matter of the idol-sacrifices again was questioned. It was, however, a most serious evil. Wherefore he both shews it to be an offence, and aggravates it by his discourse. But when

Account of the Arrangement of the former Topics.

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1

11. 2.

he doeth this, he not only withdraws them from the several 1 Cor. crimes, but invites them also to their contraries. Thus he said not only, that one must not commit fornication, but likewise that one ought to exhibit great holiness. Wherefore he added, Therefore1 glorify God in your body, and in your dǹ äça. spirit'. And having said again, that one ought not to be sup., ἄρατι. wise with the wisdom that is without, he is not content with c.6.20. this, but bids me also to become a fool3. And where he advises 3 c.3.18. them not to go to law before them that are without, and to avoid doing wrong; he goeth further, and takes away even the very going to law, and counsels them not only to do no wrong, but even to suffer wrong1.

And discoursing concerning the idol-sacrifices, he said not, that one ought to abstain from things forbidden only, but also from things permitted, when offence is given: and not only not to hurt the brethren, but not even Greeks, nor Jews. Thus, give none offence, saith he, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of Gods.

[2.] Having finished therefore all the discourse concerning all these things, after this he next proceeds also to another accusation. And what was this? Their women used both to pray and prophesy unveiled, and with their head bare, (for then women also used to prophesy ;) but the men went so far as to wear long hair, as having spent their time in philosophy, and covered their heads when praying and prophesying, each of which was a Grecian custom. Since then he had already admonished them concerning these things when present, and some perhaps listened to him, and others disobeyed; therefore in his letter also again, he foments the place, like a wise physician, by his mode of addressing them, and so corrects the offence. For that he had heretofore admonished them in person, is evident from what he begins with. Why else, having said nothing of this matter any where in the Epistle before, but passing on from other accusations, doth he straightway say, Now I praise you, in that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you?

a To let the hair and beard grow was a token of devotion to any study; as Poetry, Hor. A. P. 297; Philoso

phy, as it is told of Julian the Apostate,
that it was part of his affectation to let
his hair and beard grow.

4 c. 6. 7, 8.

5 c. 10.

32.

XXVI.

350 St. Paul's covert Manner of hinting Praise or Blame :

HOMIL. Thou seest that some obeyed, whom he praises; and others disobeyed, whom he corrects by what comes afterwards, saying, Now if any man seem to be contentious, we have no I v. 16. such custom1. For if after some had done well, but others disobeyed, he had included all in his accusation, he would both have made the one sort bolder, and have caused the others to become more remiss; whereas now by praising and commending the one, and rebuking the other, he both freshens up the one more effectually, and causes the other to shrink before him: the accusation, even by itself, being such a thing as might well wound them; but now that it takes place by contrast with others, who have done well, and are praised, it comes with a sharper sting. However, for the present he begins not with accusation, but with encomiums, and great encomiums, saying, Now I praise you that ye remember me in all things. For such is the character of Paul; though it be but for small matters, he weaves a web of high praise; nor is it for flattery that he doth so far from it; how could he so act, to whom neither money was desirable, nor glory, nor any other such thing? but for their salvation he orders all his proceedings. And this is why he amplifies his praise of them, saying, Now I praise you that ye remember me in all things.

All what things? For hitherto his discourse was only concerning their not wearing long hair, and not covering their heads; but, as I said, he is very bountiful in his praises of them, rendering them more forward. Wherefore he saith,

That ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. It appears then, that he used at that time to deliver many things also not in writing, which he shews too in many other places. But at that time he only delivered them, whereas now he adds an explanation of their reason: thus both rendering the one sort, the obedient, more stedfast, and pulling down the others' pride, who oppose themselves. Further, he doth not say, "ye have obeyed, whilst others disobeyed," but in a way of which they would not be jealous, intimates it by his mode of teaching in what follows, where he saith,

Ver. 3. But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

351

not even require
which are com-

11. 3.

his appeals to high Doctrine on ordinary Points. This is his account of the reason of the thing, and he states 1 Cor. it to make the weaker more attentive. He indeed that is faithful, as he ought, and stedfast, doth any reason or cause of those things manded him, but is content with the ordinance1 alone.' rỹ «aBut he that is weaker, when he also learns the cause, then both retains what is said with more care, and obeys with much readiness.

βαδίσει.

27.

Wherefore neither did he state the cause, until he saw the commandment transgressed. What then is the cause? The head of every man is Christ. Is He then Head of the Gentile also? In no wise. For if we are the Body of Christ, and members in particular2, and in2 c. 12. this way He is our head, He cannot be the head of them who are not in the Body, who rank not among the members. So that when he says, of every man, one must understand it of the believer. Perceivest thou how every where he appeals to the hearer's shame by arguing from on high? Thus both when he was discoursing on love, and when on humility, and when on alms-giving, it was from thence that he drew his examples.

[3.] But the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Here the heretics dart in upon us, with a certain declaration of inferiority, which out of these words they contrive against the Son. But they stumble against themselves. For if the man be the head of the woman, and the head be of the same substance with the body, and the head of Christ is God, the Son is of the same substance with the Father. "Nay," say they, "it is not His being of another substance, which we intend to shew from hence, but that He is under subjection." What then are we to say to this? In the first place, when any thing lowly is said, conjoined as He is with the Flesh, there is no disparagement of the Godhead in what is said, the Economy admitting the expression. However, tell me how thou intendest to prove this from the passage? "Why, as the man governs the wife," saith he, 66 so also the Father, Christ." Therefore also as Christ governs the man, so likewise the Father, the Son. For the head of every man, we read, is Christ. And who could ever admit this? For if the superiority of the Son compared

352" The Head of Christ, is God," no Disparagement to the Son. HOMIL. With us, be the measure of the Father's, compared with the XXVI. Son, consider to what meanness thou wilt bring Him.

Η έξιταστίον.

So that we must not try all things by like measure in respect of ourselves and of God, though the language used concerning them be similar; but we must assign to God a certain appropriate excellency, and so great as belongs to God. For should they not grant this, many absurdities will follow. As thus; the head of Christ is God and Christ is the head of the man, and he of the woman. Therefore if we choose to take the term, head, in the like sense in all the clauses, the Son will be as far removed from the Father, as we are from Him. Nay, and the woman will be as far removed from us, as we are from the Word of God. And what the Son is to the Father, this both we are to the Son, and the woman again to the man.

And who will endure this?

But dost thou understand the term head differently, in the case of the man and the woman, from what thou dost in the case of Christ? Therefore in the case of the Father and the Son, must we understand it differently also. "How understand it differently?" saith the objector. According to 2d at the occasion2. For had Paul meant to speak of rule and subjection, as thou sayest, he would not have brought forward the instance of a wife, but rather of a slave and a master. For what if the wife be under subjection to us? it is as a wife, as free, as equal in honour. And the Son also, though He did become obedient to the Father, it was as the Son of God, it was as God. For as the obedience of the Son to the Father is greater than we find in men towards the authors of their being, so also His liberty is greater. Since it will not of course be said, that the circumstances of the Son's relation to the Father are greater and more genuine than among men, and of the Father's to the Son, less. For if we admire the Son, that He was obedient, so as to come even unto death, and the death of the cross, and reckon this the great wonder concerning Him; we ought to admire the Father also, that He begat such a Son, not as a slave under command, but as free, yielding obedience, and giving counsel. For the counsellor is no slave.

But again, when thou hearest of a counsellor, do not understand it as though the Father were in need, but that the Son hath the same honour with Him that begat Him.