[6016] Matt. xviii. 15.
[6017] 1 Cor. v. 11.
[6018] 1 John v. 16.
[6019] Num. xviii. 22.
[6020] Matt. xviii. 15.
[6021] Matt. xviii. 15, 16.
[6022] Matt. xviii. 17.
[6023] Matt. xviii. 17.
[6024] Matt. vii. 1.
[6025] 1 Cor. iv. 5.
[6026] Matt. xviii. 14.
[6027] 2 Cor. v. 10.
[6028] Matt. vii. 2.
[6029] Isa. iii. 11.
[6030] Isa. xl. 2.
[6031] Ps. lxxix. 12.
[6032] Ezek. xxxiii.
31. The Power to Bind on Earth and in Heaven.
But to me it seems that, to the case of him who after being thrice admonished was adjudged to be as the Gentile and the publican, it is fitly subjoined, "Verily, I say unto you,"--namely, to those who have judged any one to be as the Gentile and the publican,--"and what things soever ye shall bind on the earth," [6033] etc.; for with justice has he, who has thrice admonished and not been heard, bound him who is judged to be as a Gentile and a publican; wherefore, when such an one is bound and condemned by one of this character, he remains bound, as no one of those in heaven overturns the judgment of the man who bound him. And, in like manner, he who was admonished once for all, and did things worthy of being gained, having been set free by the admonition of the man who gained him, and no longer bound by the cords of his own sins, [6034] for which he was admonished, shall be adjudged to have been set free by those in heaven. Only, it seems to be indicated that the things, which above were granted to Peter alone, are here given to all who give the three admonitions to all that have sinned; so that, if they be not heard, they will bind on earth him who is judged to be as a Gentile and a publican, as such an one has been bound in heaven. But since it was necessary, even if something in common had been said in the case of Peter and those who had thrice admonished the brethren, that Peter should have some element superior to those who thrice admonished, in the case of Peter, this saying "I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens," [6035] has been specially set before the words, "And what things soever ye shall bind on earth," etc. And, indeed, if we were to attend carefully to the evangelical writings, we would also find here, and in relation to those things which seem to be common to Peter and those who have thrice admonished the brethren, a great difference and a pre-eminence in the things said to Peter, compared with the second class. For it is no small difference that Peter received the keys not of one heaven but of more, and in order that whatsoever things he binds on the earth may be bound not in one heaven but in them all, as compared with the many who bind on earth and loose on earth, so that these things are bound and loosed not in the heavens, as in the case of Peter, but in one only; for they do not reach so high a stage, with power as Peter to bind and loose in all the heavens. [6036] The better, therefore, is the binder, so much more blessed is he who has been loosed, so that in every part of the heavens his loosing has been accomplished.
------------------------
[6033] Matt. xviii. 18.
[6034] Prov. v. 22.
[6035] Matt. xvi. 19.
[6036] Matt. xvi. 19.
Book XIV.
1. The Power of Harmony in Relation to Prayer.
"Again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree [6037] on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them." [6038] The word symphony is strictly applied to the harmonies of sounds in music. And there are indeed among musical sounds some accordant and others discordant. But the Evangelic Scripture is familiar with the name as applied to musical matters in the passage, "He heard a symphony and dancing." [6039] For it was fitting that when the son who had been lost and found came by penitence into concord with his father a symphony should be heard on the occasion of the joyous mirth of the house. But the wicked Laban was not acquainted with the word symphony in his saying to Jacob, "And if thou hadst told me I would have sent thee away with mirth and with music and with drums and a harp." [6040] But akin to the symphony of this nature is that which is written in the second Book of Kings when "the brethren of Aminadab went before the ark, and David and his son played before the Lord on instruments artistically fitted with might and with songs;" [6041] for the instruments thus fitted with might and with songs, had in themselves the musical symphony which is so powerful that when two only, bring along with the symphony which has relation to the music that is divine and spiritual, a request to the Father in heaven about anything whatsoever, the Father grants the request to those who ask along with the symphony on earth,--which is most miraculous,--those things which those who have made the symphony spoken of may have asked. So also I understand the apostolic saying "Defraud ye not one the other except it be by agreement for a season that ye may give yourselves unto prayer." [6042] For since the word harmony is applied to those who marry according to God in the passage from Proverbs which is as follows: "Fathers will divide their house and substance to their sons, but from God the woman is married to the man," [6043] it is a logical consequence of the harmony being from God, that the name and the deed should enjoy the agreement with a view to prayer, as is indicated in the word, "unless it be by agreement." [6044] Then the Word repeating that the agreeing of two on the earth is the same thing as the agreeing with Christ, adds, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name." [6045] Therefore the two or three who are gathered together in the name of Christ are those who are in agreement on earth, not two only but sometimes also three. But he who has the power will consider whether this agreement and a congregation of this sort in the midst of which Christ is, can be found in more, since "narrow and straightened is the way that leadeth unto life, and few be they that find it." [6046] But perhaps also not even few but two or three make a symphony as Peter and James and John, to whom as making a symphony the Word of God showed His own glory. But two made a symphony, Paul and Sosthenes, when writing the first Epistle to the Corinthians; [6047] and after this Paul and Timothy when sending the second Epistle to the same. [6048] And even three made a symphony when Paul and Silvanus and Timothy gave instruction by letter to the Thessalonians. [6049] But if it be necessary also from the ancient Scriptures to bring forward the three who made a symphony on earth, so that the Word was in the midst of them making them one, attend to the superscription of the Psalms, as for example to that of the forty-first, which is as follows: "Unto the end, unto understanding, for the sons of Korah." [6050] For though there were three sons of Korah whose names we find in the Book of Exodus, [6051] Aser, which is, by interpretation, "instruction," and the second Elkana, which is translated, "possession of God," and the third Abiasaph, which in the Greek tongue might be rendered, "congregation of the father," yet the prophecies were not divided but were both spoken and written by one spirit, and one voice, and one soul, which wrought with true harmony, and the three speak as one, "As the heart panteth after the springs of the water, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." [6052] But also they say in the plural in the forty-fourth Psalm, "O God, we have heard with our ears." [6053] But if you wish still further to see those who are making symphony on earth look to those who heard the exhortation, "that ye may be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment," [6054] and who strove after the goal, "the soul and the heart of all the believers were one," [6055] who have become such, if it be possible for such a condition to be found in more than two or three, that there is no discord between them, just as there is no discord between the strings of the ten-stringed psaltery with each other. But they were not in symphony in earth who said, "I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ," [6056] but there were schisms among them, upon the dissolution of which they were gathered together in company with the spirit in Paul, with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, [6057] that they might no longer "bite and devour one another so that they were consumed by one another;" [6058] for discord consumes, as concord brings together, and admits [6059] the Son of God who comes in the midst of those who have become at concord. And strictly, indeed, concord takes place in two things generic, through the perfecting together, as the Apostle has called it, of the same mind by an intellectual grasp of the same opinions, and through the perfecting together of the same judgment, by a like way of living. But if whenever two of us agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of the Father of Jesus who is in heaven, [6060] plainly when this is not done for them of the Father in heaven as touching anything that they shall ask, there the two have not been in agreement on earth; and this is the cause why we are not heard when we pray, that we do not agree with one another on earth, neither in opinions nor in life. But further also if we are the body of Christ and God hath set the members each one of them in the body that the members may have the same care one for another, and may agree with one another, and when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, and if one be glorified, they rejoice with it, [6061] we ought to practise the symphony which springs from the divine music, that when we are gathered together in the name of Christ, He may be in the midst of us, the Word of God, and the Wisdom of God, and His Power. [6062]
[6037] sumphonesosin.
[6038] Matt. xviii. 19.
[6039] Luke xv. 25.
[6040] Gen. xxxi. 27.
[6041] 2 Sam. vi. 4, 5.
[6042] 1 Cor. vii. 5.
[6043] Prov. xix. 14, harmozetai;.
[6044] 1 Cor. vii. 5.
[6045] Matt. xviii. 20.
[6046] Matt. vii. 14.
[6047] 1 Cor. i. 1.
[6048] 2 Cor. i. 1.
[6049] 1 Thess. i. 1.
[6050] Ps. xlii.
[6051] Exod. vi. 24.
[6052] Ps. xlii. 1.
[6053] Ps. xliv. 1.
[6054] 1 Cor. i. 10.
[6055] Acts iv. 32.
[6056] 1 Cor. i. 12.
[6057] 1 Cor. v. 4.
[6058] Gal. v. 15.
[6059] Or reading chorizei, following the Vetus Inter, keeps apart.
[6060] Matt. xviii. 19.
[6061] 1 Cor. xii. 25, 18, 25, 26.
[6062] 1 Cor. i. 24.
2. The Harmony of Husband and Wife.
So much then for the more common understanding of the two or three whom the Word exhorts to be in agreement. But now let us also touch upon another interpretation which was uttered by some one of our predecessors, exhorting those who were married to sanctity and purity; for by the two, he says, whom the Word desires to agree on earth, we must understand the husband and wife, who by agreement defraud each other of bodily intercourse that they may give themselves unto prayer; [6063] when if they pray for anything whatever that they shall ask, they shall receive it, the request being granted to them by the Father in heaven of Jesus Christ on the ground of such agreement. And this interpretation does not appear to me to cause dissolution of marriage, but to be an incitement to agreement, so that if the one wished to be pure, but the other did not desire it, and on this account he who willed and was able to fulfil the better part, condescended to the one who had not the power or the will, they would not both have the accomplishment from the Father in heaven of Jesus Christ, of anything whatever that they might ask.
[6063] 1 Cor. vii. 5.
3. The Harmony of Body, Soul, and Spirit.
And next to this about the married, I am familiar also with another interpretation of the agreement between the two which is as follows. In the wicked, sin reigns over the soul, being settled as on its own throne in this mortal body, so that the soul obeys the lusts thereof; [6064] but in the case of those, who have stirred up the sin which formerly reigned over the body as from a throne and who are in conflict with it, "the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh;" [6065] but in the case of those who have now become perfected, the spirit has gained the mastery and put to death the deeds of the body, and imparts to the body of its own life, so that already this is fulfilled, "He shall quicken also your mortal bodies because of His Spirit that dwelleth in you;" [6066] and there arises a concord of the two, body and spirit, on the earth, on the successful accomplishment of which there is sent up a harmonious prayer also of him who "with the heart believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth maketh confession unto salvation," [6067] so that the heart is no longer far from God, and along with this the righteous man draws nigh to God with his own lips and mouth. But still more blessed is it if the three be gathered together in the name of Jesus that this may be fulfilled, "May God sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." [6068] But some one may inquire with regard to the concord of spirit and body spoken of, if it is possible for these to be at concord without the third being so,--I mean the soul--and whether it does not follow from the concord of these on the earth after the two have been gathered together in the name of Christ, that the three also are already gathered together in His name, in the midst of whom comes the Son of God as all are dedicated to Him,--I mean the three,--and no one is opposed to Him, there being no antagonism not only on the part of the spirit, but not even of the soul, nor further of the body.