[319] ["The word implies an active giving up, not mere permission."--Meyer, Ellicott, Thayer.--G.A.]
[320] [The word "swine" (choiron), though omitted from Field's text, is clearly attested, and cannot be omitted without leaving the sense difficult and obscure.--G.A.]
[321] [Namely, "to work all uncleanness," &c.--G.A.]
[322] [From the word used by Chrysostom as the antithesis of pleonektein, namely, meta summetrias (and compare ametros below) it is evident he understood the phrase en pleonexi& 139;, as the Revisers of Eng. Ver. do, "with greediness." But Meyer denies that the word pleonexia ever means anything but "covetousness" in the New Test. So also Ellicott.--G.A.]
[323] [From the word used by Chrysostom as the antithesis of pleonektein, namely, meta summetrias (and compare ametros below) it is evident he understood the phrase en pleonexi& 139;, as the Revisers of Eng. Ver. do, "with greediness." But Meyer denies that the word pleonexia ever means anything but "covetousness" in the New Test. So also Ellicott.--G.A.]
[324] [From the word used by Chrysostom as the antithesis of pleonektein, namely, meta summetrias (and compare ametros below) it is evident he understood the phrase en pleonexi& 139;, as the Revisers of Eng. Ver. do, "with greediness." But Meyer denies that the word pleonexia ever means anything but "covetousness" in the New Test. So also Ellicott.--G.A.]
[325] [And David said to Barzillai, "Come and I will sustain thee in Jerusalem." And Barzillai said unto the king, "I am this day fourscore years old: can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?"--2 Sam. xix. 31-35.--G.A.]
[326] tessaras anthropous hupographei.
[327] mallon de treis eisi, kainos kai palaios, kai houtos ho ousiodes kai phusikos.
[328] [Meyer takes a different view, and says: The Holy Spirit is never, in the New Test., designated in such a way that man appears as the subject of the Spirit (thus never: to pneuma humon, and the like, or as here: to pneuma tou noos humon). In the second place, the Apostle is here putting forward the moral self-activity of the Christian life, and hence had no occasion to introduce the point: "Through the Holy Spirit." Hence pneuma here is the "human" spirit, the spirit by which your nous is governed. Otherwise Ellicott: Divine spirit united with the human; and so he understands Meyer, but incorrectly. See Ellicott and Meyer in loc.--G.A.]
[329] [This passage in the Hebrew (Ps. li. 4.) reads, "And (that thou mayest) be clear when thou judgest." In the Sept. it is: kai nikeses en to krinesthai se, which is followed by Paul in Rom. iii. 4 (except nikeseis, fut. ind., instead of aor. subj.). We have given here the rendering of the Rev. Ver. of Rom. iii. 4.--G.A.]
[330] aphosiosamen.
[331] lotagas. The word occurs also in the Constit. Apost. viii. 32 [along with such words as blax, "dolt"; magos, "sorcerer"; mantis, "soothsayer"; therepodos, "beast-charmer"; ochlagogos, "mob-leader"; periammata poion, "amulet-maker."--G.A.]. Its derivation is somewhat uncertain. [Zonaras (Constantinople, 12 cent.), in his Lexicon, gives among other definitions, auletes, "flute-player"; so also Eustathius (Constantinople, d. 1198), in his famous commentary on Homer, Il. 2, 776, defines it, from the fact that lotos sometimes means a "flute." But this derivation is questioned.--G.A.] The persons denoted by it were wandering musicians or buffoons.
[332] [This reference to the Monks in the mountains (in the neighborhood of Antioch) is one of the indications that these Homilies on Ephesians were delivered while Chrysostom was still at Antioch, and before his elevation to the archbishopric of Constantinople. Compare also Hom. vi. on Ephesians.--G.A.]
[333] [This passage is so like a passage in one of Pindar's Nemean odes that some have thought Chrysostom must have had that in mind. Pind. Nem. 3. 138: esti d' aietos okus en petanois, hos elaben aipsa, telothe metamaiomenos, daphoinon agran posin; kragetai de koloioi tapeina nemontai.--G.A.]
[334] [Compare Carlyle's lecture on Cromwell and Napoleon in Heroes and Hero-Worship.--G.A.]
Homily XIV.
Ephesians iv. 25-27
"Wherefore, putting away falsehood, speak ye truth each one with his neighbor; for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil."
Having spoken of the "old man" generally, he next draws him also in detail; [335] for this kind of teaching is more easily learned when we learn by particulars. And what saith he? "Wherefore, putting away falsehood." What sort of falsehood? Idols does he mean? Surely not; not indeed but that they are falsehood also. However, he is not now speaking of them, because these persons had nothing to do with them; but he is speaking of that which passes between one man and another, meaning that which is deceitful and false. "Speak ye truth, each one," saith he, "with his neighbor"; then what is more touching to the conscience [336] still, "because we are members one of another." Let no man deceive his neighbor. As the Psalmist says here and there; "With flattering lip and with a double heart do they speak." (Ps. xii. 2.) For there is nothing, no, nothing so productive of enmity as deceit and guile.
Observe how everywhere he shames them by this similitude of the body. Let not the eye, saith he, lie to the foot, nor the foot to the eye. For example, if there shall be a deep pit, and then by having reeds laid across upon the mouth of it upon the earth, and yet concealed under earth, it shall by its appearance furnish to the eye an expectation of solid ground, will not the eye use the foot, and discover whether it yields [337] and is hollow underneath, or whether it is firm and resists? [338] Will the foot tell a lie, and not report the truth as it is? And what again? If the eye were to spy a serpent or a wild beast, will it lie to the foot? Will it not at once inform it, and the foot thus informed by it refrain from going on? And what again, when neither the foot nor the eye shall know how to distinguish, but all shall depend upon the smelling, as, for example, whether a drug be deadly or not; will the smelling lie to the mouth? And why not? Because it will be destroying itself also. But it tells the truth as it appears to itself. And what again? Will the tongue lie to the stomach? Does it not, when a thing is bitter, reject it, and, if it is sweet, pass it on? Observe ministration, and interchange of service; observe a provident care arising from truth, and, as one might say, spontaneously from the heart. So surely should it be with us also; let us not lie, since we are "members one of another." This is a sure token of friendship; whereas the contrary is of enmity. What then, thou wilt ask, if a man shall use treachery against thee? Hearken to the truth. If he use treachery, he is not a member; whereas he saith, "lie not towards the members."
"Be ye angry, and sin not."
Observe his wisdom. He both speaks to prevent our sinning, and, if we do not listen, still does not forsake us; for his fatherly compassion does not desert him. For just as the physician prescribes to the sick what he must do, and if he does not submit to it, still does not treat him with contempt, but proceeding to add what advice he can by persuasion, again goes on with the cure; so also does Paul. For he indeed who does otherwise, aims only at reputation, and is annoyed at being disregarded; whereas he who on all occasions aims at the recovery of the patient, has this single object in view, how he may restore the patient, and raise him up again. This then is what Paul is doing. He has said, "Lie not." Yet if ever lying should produce anger, [339] he goes on again to cure this also. For what saith he? "Be ye angry, and sin not." It were good indeed never to be angry. Yet if ever any one should fall into passion, still let him not fall into so great a degree. "For let not the sun," saith he, "go down upon your wrath." Wouldest thou have thy fill of anger? One hour, or two, or three, is enough for thee; let not the sun depart, and leave you both at enmity. It was of God's goodness that he rose: let him not depart, having shone on unworthy men. For if the Lord of His great goodness sent him, and hath Himself forgiven thee thy sins, and yet thou forgivest not thy neighbor, look, how great an evil is this! And there is yet another besides this. The blessed Paul dreads the night, [340] lest overtaking in solitude him that was wronged, still burning with anger, it should again kindle up the fire. For as long as there are many things in the daytime to banish it, thou art free to indulge it; but as soon as ever the evening comes on, be reconciled, extinguish the evil whilst it is yet fresh; for should night overtake it, the morrow will not avail to extinguish the further evil which will have been collected in the night. Nay, even though thou shouldest cut off the greater portion, and yet not be able to cut off the whole, it will again supply from what is left for the following night, to make the blaze more violent. And just as, should the sun be unable by the heat of the day to soften and disperse that part of the air which has been during the night condensed into cloud, it affords material for a tempest, night overtaking the remainder, and feeding it again with fresh vapors: so also is it in the case of anger.
"Neither give place to the devil."
So then to be at war with one another, is "to give place to the devil"; for, whereas we had need to be all in close array, and to make our stand against him, we have relaxed our enmity against him, and are giving the signal for turning against each other; for never has the devil such place as in our enmities. [341] Numberless are the evils thence produced. And as stones in a building, so long as they are closely fitted together and leave no interstice, will stand firm, while if there is but a single needle's passage through, or a crevice no broader than a hair, this destroys and ruins all; so is it with the devil. So long indeed as we are closely set and compacted together, he cannot introduce one of his wiles; but when he causes us to relax a little, he rushes in like a torrent. In every case he needs only a beginning, and this is the thing which it is difficult to accomplish; but this done, he makes room on all sides for himself. For henceforth he opens the ear to slanders, and they who speak lies are the more trusted: they have enmity which plays the advocate, not truth which judges justly. And as, where friendship [342] is, even those evils which are true appear false, so where there is enmity, even the false appear true. There is a different mind, a different tribunal, which does not hear fairly, but with great bias and partiality. As, in a balance, if lead is cast into the scale, it will drag down the whole; so is it also here, only that the weight of enmity is far heavier than any lead. Wherefore, let us, I beseech you, do all we can to extinguish our enmities before the going down of the sun. For if you fail to master it on the very first day, both on the following, and oftentimes even for a year, you will be protracting it, and the enmity will thenceforward augment itself, and require nothing to aid it. For by causing us to suspect that words spoken in one sense were meant in another, and gestures also, and everything, it infuriates and exasperates us, and makes us more distempered than madmen, not enduring either to utter a name, or to hear it, but saying everything in invective and abuse. How then are we to allay this passion? How shall we extinguish the flame? By reflecting on our own sins, and how much we have to answer for to God; by reflecting that we are wreaking vengeance, not on an enemy, but on ourselves; by reflecting that we are delighting the devil, that we are strengthening our enemy, our real enemy, and that for him we are doing wrong to our own members. Wouldest thou be revengeful and be at enmity? Be at enmity, but be so with the devil, and not with a member of thine own. For this purpose it is that God hath armed us with anger, not that we should thrust the sword against our own bodies, but that we should baptize [343] the whole blade in the devil's breast. There bury the sword up to the hilt; yea, if thou wilt, hilt and all, and never draw it out again, but add yet another and another. And this actually comes to pass when we are merciful to those of our own spiritual family and peaceably disposed one towards another. Perish money, perish glory and reputation; mine own member is dearer to me than they all. Thus let us say to ourselves; let us not do violence to our own nature to gain wealth, to obtain glory.