2 Corinthians 11:31–12:9

Paul calls God as his witness in order that what he says may be readily believed.

"The God and Father of the Lord Jesus knoweth that I lie not. The Governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes, desiring to apprehend me." What can be the reason that he here strongly confirms and gives assurance of [his truth], seeing he did not so in respect to any of the former things? Because, perhaps, this was of older date and not so well known; whilst of those other facts, his care for the churches, and all the rest, they were themselves cognisant. See then how great the war [against him] was, since on his account the city was "guarded." And when I say this of the war, I say it of the zeal of Paul; for except this had breathed intensely, it had not kindled the governor to so great madness. These things are the part of an apostolic soul, to suffer so great things and yet in nothing to veer about, but to bear nobly whatever befalls; yet not to go out to meet dangers, nor to rush upon them.

None of what he said before did he confirm, but here he confirms and verifies, perhaps because what he said here had taken place long ago and was not so clear, whereas what he had recounted earlier, such as the afflictions and the like, was known to the Corinthians.

Secondly, he states that he is not lying and is calling on God to witness after the manner of an oath, so that they will believe him, saying, The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed for ever, knows that I do not lie. Here he lays down three things. One by which to induce fear; hence he says, God: "Who would not fear thee, O King of the nations?" (Jer. 10:7); one by which he excites love, when he says, Father: "Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (Jas. 1:17); "If then I am a father, where is my love?", or according to another version, "my honor?" (Mal. 1:5); thirdly, to inspire reverence and praise, who is blessed forever: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 1:3). He, therefore, so revered, so worthy of love, so worthy of fear, knows that I do not lie, namely, in what I have said and will say: "Our word to you has not been Yes and No" (2 Cor. 1:17).

The governor of Damascus, seeing that the Jews had set a trap for the apostle, wanted to bring this wicked scheme to pass by a wrongful use of his power. He intended to capture Paul both in order to keep the Jews happy and to demonstrate that he was doing his job properly. This occurred at the very beginning of Paul's ministry..

Likewise also, the renowned Paul having been oftentimes delivered up and brought in peril of death, having endured many evils, and making his boast in his numerous persecutions and afflictions, in the same city was also himself beheaded; who, in the things in which he gloried, in these also ended his life; and at Damascus he was let down by night in a basket by the wall, and escaped the hands of him who sought to take him.

Look how strong the struggle was, if on account of him the governor was guarding the city. The ruler of the people, of course, would not have acted thus if the zeal of Paul had not inflamed everyone. Aretas was the father-in-law of Herod.

Then when he says, At Damascus, he shows the evils he avoided, and this in a certain particular danger. Here it should be noted that the Apostle first began to preach Christ in Damascus, where he was thrown to the ground and converted to the faith, as he was on his way to arrest Christians. Therefore, the Jews appealed to the governor of that city, who was representing Aretas the king, to arrest Paul and put him to death. So the governor ordered the city-gates to be watched day and night, as it says in Ac. (chap. 9). But the Christians who were there, desiring to save Paul, lowered him by the wall in a basket. This form of escape the Apostle touches on, when he says: truly I am not lying about what I am telling you now: for at Damascus, the governor under King Aretas, i.e., the governor who ruled at Damascus under king Aretas, was induced by the Jews to guard the city of the Damascenes to seize me, so that after I was apprehended, I would be delivered to the Jews and prevented from preaching. But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped his hands, namely, the governor's. This was done in keeping with the Lord's command: "When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next" (Matt. 10:23). In this way too did Michal let David down through a window to escape from Saul (1 Sam. 19:12), and Rahab let the spies down with a cord out of a window (Jos. 2:15).

But some object against the Apostle's conduct: first, because he seems to have lacked confidence in the Lord and fled. I answer that as long as human help is available, a man should not run for divine help, because this would be tempting God; but he should use human help as much as he can. But the Apostle was not yet lacking human help. The second objection is based on Jn. (10:12): "He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees." Hence, it seems that Paul was not a good shepherd. I answer that sometimes the person of the prelate alone is sought, and sometimes the prelate along with all the people. When the prelate alone is sought, then he should entrust his duties to another and absent himself. This is what Paul did. Hence, a Gloss says that although he fled, he still took care of his people by commending them to the Good Shepherd seated in heaven and saving himself for their benefit by flight. But when the entire flock is sought, then he should prefer the benefit and safety of the flock to his own bodily safety. But note that there is a flight inspired by humility, when a person flees honors, as Christ fled when they sought to make him king (Jn. 6:15). In the same way Saul, when chosen, concealed himself at home (1 Sam. 10:22). Another is inspired by caution, namely, when a person flees dangers in order to be saved for greater ones. This is the way Elijah fled from Jezebel (1 Kg. 19:3), and the way the Apostle fled from the hands of the governor.

Some people say that this action was not worthy of Paul, because he was not set free by the help of God. But what need was there for that when he could be delivered by the help of men? The time when God's help is necessary is when human help fails.

And the apostle Paul, when he was let down from the window in a basket so that his enemy might not capture him and so escaped from his hands, did he deprive the church, which was there, of a necessary ministry, and was that duty not discharged by other brothers appointed for that purpose? The apostle so acted in deference to their wishes that he might save himself for the church, since he was the only one whom the persecutor was seeking. Therefore, let the servants of Christ, the ministers of his word and of his sacrament, do what he has commanded or permitted. Let them by all means flee from city to city when any one of them is personally sought out by persecutors, so long as the church is not abandoned by others who are not thus pursued and who may furnish nourishment to their fellow servants, knowing that otherwise these could not live. But when the danger is common to all, that is, to bishops, clerics and laity, those who depend upon others are not to be forsaken by those on whom they depend. Therefore, either all should move to places of refuge, or those who have to stay should not be abandoned by those who minister to their spiritual needs; thus all may equally live and suffer whatever the Master of the household wishes them to endure.

See for instance here, how he was content to evade the siege, by being "let down through a window in a basket." For though he were even desirous "to depart hence;" still nevertheless he also passionately affected the salvation of men. And therefore he ofttimes had recourse even to such devices as these, preserving himself for the Preaching; and he refused not to use even human contrivances when the occasion called for them; so sober and watchful was he. For in cases where evils were inevitable, he needed only grace; but where the trial was of a measured character, he devises many things of himself even, here again ascribing the whole to God. And just as a spark of unquenchable fire, if it fell into the sea, would be merged as many waves swept over it, yet would again rise shining to the surface; even so surely the blessed Paul also would now be overwhelmed by perils, and now again, having dived through them, would come up more radiant, overcoming by suffering evil.

He fled, fulfilling the law of the Lord: for the Lord Himself also passed from place to place. One must not subject oneself to temptations. Where calamities are unavoidable, one must rely only on God and ask and expect deliverance from Him; but when the temptation is beyond one's strength, one must also seek one's own means, yet even in this case one must attribute everything to God, including the fact that the apostle was saved in a basket. Although he greatly desired to be with Christ, he also loved the salvation of people and preserved himself for preaching.

Paul is now going to describe how he has been raised up in order that the Corinthians might understand how great and how wonderful the things said to him were and that they might realize that he is not inferior in any way to the other apostles.

What is this? Doth he who has spoken such great things say, [It is not expedient] "doubtless to glory?" as if he had said nothing? No; not as if he had said nothing: but because he is going to pass to another species of boasting, which is not intended indeed by so great a reward, but which to the many (though not to careful examiners) seems to set him off in brighter colors, he says, "It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory." For truly the great grounds of boasting were those which he had recounted, those of his trials; he has however other things also to tell of, such as concern the revelations, the unspeakable mysteries. And wherefore, says he, "It is not expedient for me?" he means, 'lest it lift me up to pride.' What sayest thou? For if thou speak not of them, yet dost thou not know of them? But our knowing of them ourselves doth not lift us up so much as our publishing them to others. For it is not the nature of good deeds that useth to lift a man up, but their being witnessed to, and known of, by the many. For this cause therefore he saith, "It is not expedient for me;" and, 'that I may not implant too great an idea of me in those who hear.' For those men indeed, the false apostles, said even what was not true about themselves; but this man hides even what is true, and that too although so great necessity lies upon him, and says, "It is not expedient for me;" teaching one and all even to superfluity to avoid any thing of the sort. For this thing is attended with no advantage, but even with harm, except there be some necessary and useful reason which induceth us thereto.

Hear, then, the parables of the tower; for I will reveal all to you, and give me no more trouble in regard to revelation: for these revelations have an end, for they have been completed. But you will not cease praying for revelations, for you are shameless.

Passing on to another kind of praise, which made him himself glorious, namely to revelations, he says: "it is not expedient for me," because it can lead me to pride. What then? If you had not spoken of it, would you not have already known it anyway? But we take pride differently when we know something ourselves about ourselves and when we communicate it to others. However, he says this not because he himself was in danger of falling into such a state, but in order to teach us to keep silent about matters of this kind. And in another sense "it is not expedient," because it can cause someone to think of me more highly than what he sees, as he also expresses this thought below. The false apostles, although they had nothing, nevertheless boasted; but he, having many visions and revelations of the Lord, mentions only one, and even that against his will. Learn, then, that a revelation contains something more than a vision: the latter only allows one to see, but a revelation discloses something higher than what is seen.

Having commended himself for the evils he suffered, the Apostle continues to commend himself and shows the pre-eminence of his dignity in regard to good things received from God. For he first gloried in his weaknesses, but now in his good things. In regard to this he does two things. First, he commends himself on the good things received from God; secondly, he begs pardon for this commendation, alleging that he is compelled to do this (v. 11). In regard to the first he does two things. First, he extols the greatness of the things conferred on him by God; secondly, he discloses the remedy given to him against the danger of pride (v. 7). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he mentions a good divinely conferred; secondly, he shows how he behaved in regard to glorying in it (v. 5). In regard to the first he does two things. First, he shows in general that this was divinely bestowed; secondly, in particular (v. 2).

The good divinely bestowed on the Apostle are revelations made to him by God; it is of these that he wishes to glory. Hence he says: If I must boast [glory], i.e., because I must glory for your sake, although in itself there is nothing to be gained by it, because a person who glories in a good he has received runs the risk of losing what he has: "Through this," i.e., by vain glory, "are the treasures of the virtues opened, and the clouds fly out like birds." (Sir. 43:15, Aquinas Latin). And this is signified in Hezekiah, when he showed the treasures of the Lord's house to the messengers of the king in Babylon (Is. 39:2). And although, absolutely speaking, it is not expedient to glory, nevertheless, for some special reason a man may glory, as is clear from what has been stated above. Therefore he says: because I must boast [glory], I will leave off commending myself on my infirmities and come by commending myself to visions and revelations of the Lord.

Here it should be noted the difference between a vision and a revelation. For a revelation includes a vision, but not vice versa. For sometimes things are seen, the understanding and significance of which are hidden from the beholder; in that case it is only a vision, as in the visions of Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, the vision of the ears of corn and of the statue was only a vision. But in regard to Joseph and Daniel, who understood the meaning of what was seen, it was a revelation and a prophecy. Both, however, namely vision and revelation, are sometimes produced by God: "There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries" (Dan. 2:28); "It was I who multiplied visions" (Hos. 12:10); "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law" (Ps. 119:18); but sometimes by an evil spirit: "They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray" (Jer. 23:13). To the Apostle were made both vision and revelation, because he fully understood the secret things he saw. They were produced by the Lord and not by an evil spirit. Hence he says: I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. Now a revelation is a removing of a veil. But a veil can be of two kinds: one on the part of the beholder, and this is unbelief or sin or hardness of heart. Of this veil he said above (3:15): "Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their minds"; the other is on the part of the object seen, namely, when spiritual things are proposed to someone under the figures of sense-perceptible objects. Concerning this it says in Num. (chap. 4) that the priests delivered the vessels of the sanctuary veiled to the Levites, because weaker persons cannot grasp spiritual things as they are in themselves. This is why the Lord spoke to the multitudes in parables (Matt. 13:13).

Paul mentions both things because either is possible. It may seem to someone that it is nothing much to be caught up into the third heaven, since that is where the moon is, but that is not right. What this means is that he was caught up beyond all the stars of the universe into the heaven which is third in the hierarchy of spiritual heavens.

The sixth vision is that of understanding absorbed by rapture in God. Hence, the Epistle to the Corinthians: "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up" in this way. This lifting up makes the soul as similar to God as is possible in the state of pilgrimage. Ecstasy and rapture are not the same, wherefore it is said that they do not have merely a disposition toward glory, but the very act. And as the one vision consists in the common boundary between the way and the fatherland, so the other consists in the common boundary between union and separation from the body. Hence the Apostle writes: "Whether in the body or out of the body I do not know." Why, then, would a man presume to determine what Paul himself did not know?

I know a man who was caught up to the third heaven and heard secret words, that is, assured knowledge by means of ascent to the third heaven, and again, by means of descent to the first through representations of all the heavens. The threefold heavens refer to a threefold vision: purely intellectual, intellectual combined with imaginary, and intellectual combined with manifest bodily vision. The first is found in the minds of angels, the second in the minds of prophets, and the third in the minds of the apostles. The certainty of Scriptures consists in the concurrence of these visions.

The soil is Scripture which brings forth all kinds of trees pleasant to the sight, as regards the intellect, and good for food as regards the affective dispositions, that is, the manifold theories both delighting and sustaining. In the heavenly paradise, there is no planting, except of eternal reasons, and although there is sustainment in the fact of the predestination of all the saints, I will rejoice rather over my own. And this is what the Lord suggests: "Rejoice rather in this, that your names are written in heaven." Paul could speak of the heavenly paradise, because he was caught up to the third heaven. We do not know, but we speak of the earthly paradise.

Now, the fourth seal consists in this, that the soul perceives an incomprehensible consolation that grows so much within it that it is unable both to comprehend it and to explain it to others. The Canticle says of this: "Eat, friends; drink! Drink freely of love!" And this inebriated soul says: The king "brought me into the cellar of wine." And earlier: "The king hath brought me into his storerooms." This occurs when the soul is beside itself, like a drunken man who does not know what he is doing. Hence, Paul did not know whether he was in the body or out of the body.

But the way is none other than through the most burning love of the Crucified, who so transformed Paul, caught up to the third heaven, into Christ, that he said: I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, now not I; but Christ lives in me; who also so absorbed the mind of Francis that his mind was made manifest in his flesh, when he bore the most sacred stigmata of the Passion in his body for two years before his death.

the rapture of the Apostle Paul even into the third heaven, that is, to a third of the distance of the height of heaven from the earth—namely, as far as the firmament; then his rapture into Paradise where he was privileged to be the hearer of the unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

He therefore sets forth from these things for us two causes [of the visions], one pointing to labour, and the other to reward. For what does he say? I know a man in Christ fourteen years ago (whether in the body I know not, or whether out of the body I know not, God knoweth), how that he was caught up into the third heaven; and again he says: And I know such a man that he was caught up into the third heaven and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter; here manifestly setting forth things concerning himself in the person of another. I know, he says, O Corinthians, if I needs must myself come to visions and revelations of the Lord, that I was, in a wondrous manner beyond all conception, caught up to a vast height, that of the distance from the earth to the firmament, two-third parts, so that only one third of the whole height of heaven remained to me to be ascended. And what was the cause of his being thus caught up I will with God's help explain. Since the invisible powers in this height up to which Paul was caught, in obedience to the divine ordinance, for the sake of man move the heavenly bodies unceasingly and unhesitatingly by night and by day, He therefore caught up Paul, and conducted him thither, to show him the incessant service which they perform for the sake of men—to show him in what a rational, orderly, rhythmical and intelligent a manner, and with what toil and assiduity and solicitude, they render their service, and fulfil their work, that he might thus in a measure comfort Paul, so that in labouring for the Church, he might not give way to despondency, but persevere in his ministry, as he saw the angels were doing in theirs. Paul therefore had the boldness to reveal how they ranked in dignity, naming Principalities, and Powers, and Virtues, and Thrones, and Dominations. For some of them perform the work while others superintend the workers, and others exercise power as commanders of squadrons; and to say all in a word, all of them alike, groaning and travailing in pain together, perform their labour with great anxiety and solicitude, and in rational order, all of them being together desirous to gain their freedom from that bondage under which they serve for the sake of men.

I shall here speak again, God helping me, concerning the being caught up into Paradise. Since, after their departure from the body, the souls of the righteous, who are thought worthy to enter into the kingdom of heaven, are consigned to Paradise (as we learn from the case of the thief who was crucified along with the Lord), until the resurrection, being there kept as in a choice and honoured place by the invisible Powers, who entertain them with hymns and every mark of honour; God caught up Paul thither, and by way of comforting him, showed him, but in part only, the crowns which were the prizes of his toils and struggles; whence he was unable to give a perfect description of the things there; yea, he rather declared them to be unspeakable and incomprehensible, but he had the boldness to write, that for him, as one who had finished his course of service, and had kept the faith, there was laid up a crown of righteousness by the Lord, and not for him only, but also for all who are like him.

Lest therefore you should be led into error when you hear that the blessed Paul had been caught up into the third heaven, I must point out that there are not three or more heavens, and that he neither means to say this, nor contradicts Moses—but he means to say that he was caught up from the earth all the distance to the height of heaven except a third of it—as if he said: I was caught up from the earth so very far that there was left to me but a third of the distance to the height of heaven.

Had Paul been able to express the experiences gained from the third heaven and his progress, ascent or assumption to it, we should perhaps have known more about God—if this really was the secret meaning of his rapture. But since they were ineffable, let them have the tribute of our silence. Let us give this much attention to Paul when he says: "We know in part and we prophesy in part." This and the like is the confession of one who is no mere layman in knowledge, of one who threatens to give proof of Christ speaking in him, of a great champion and teacher of truth.

For this, he says, is the Resurrection that takes place through the gate of heaven, through which, he says, all those that do not enter remain dead. These same Phrygians, however, he says, affirm again that this very (man), as a consequence of the change, (becomes) a god. For, he says, he becomes a god when, having risen from the dead, he will enter into heaven through a gate of this kind. Paul the apostle, he says, knew of this gate, partially opening it in a mystery, and stating "that he was caught up by an angel, and ascended as far as the second and third heaven into paradise itself; and that he beheld sights and heard unspeakable words which it would not be possible for man to declare."

For that there are spiritual creatures in the heavens, all the Scriptures loudly proclaim; and Paul expressly testifies that there are spiritual things when he declares that he was caught up into the third heaven, and again, that he was carried away to paradise, and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. But what did that profit him, either his entrance into paradise or his assumption into the third heaven, since all these things are still but under the power of the Demiurge, if, as some venture to maintain, he had already begun to be a spectator and a hearer of those mysteries which are affirmed to be above the Demiurge? For if it is true that he was becoming acquainted with that order of things which is above the Demiurge, he would by no means have remained in the regions of the Demiurge, and that so as not even thoroughly to explore even these (for, according to their manner of speaking, there still lay before him four heavens, if he were to approach the Demiurge, and thus behold the whole seven lying beneath him); but he might have been admitted, perhaps, into the intermediate place, that is, into the presence of the Mother, that he might receive instruction from her as to the things within the Pleroma. For that inner man which was in him, and spoke in him, as they say, though invisible, could have attained not only to the third heaven, but even as far as the presence of their Mother. For if they maintain that they themselves, that is, their [inner] man, at once ascends above the Demiurge, and departs to the Mother, much more must this have occurred to the [inner] man of the apostle; for the Demiurge would not have hindered him, being, as they assert, himself already subject to the Saviour. But if he had tried to hinder him, the effort would have gone for nothing. For it is not possible that he should prove stronger than the providence of the Father, and that when the inner man is said to be invisible even to the Demiurge. But since he (Paul) has described that assumption of himself up to the third heaven as something great and pre-eminent, it cannot be that these men ascend above the seventh heaven, for they are certainly not superior to the apostle. If they do maintain that they are more excellent than he, let them prove themselves so by their works, for they have never pretended to anything like [what he describes as occurring to himself]. And for this reason he added, "Whether in the body, or whether out of the body, God knoweth," that the body might neither be thought to be a partaker in that vision, as if it could have participated in those things which it had seen and heard; nor, again, that any one should say that he was not carried higher on account of the weight of the body; but it is therefore thus far permitted even without the body to behold spiritual mysteries which are the operations of God, who made the heavens and the earth, and formed man, and placed him in paradise, so that those should be spectators of them who, like the apostle, have reached a high degree of perfection in the love of God.

Great indeed was this revelation. But this was not the only one: there were many others besides, but he mentions one out of many. For that there were many, hear what he says: "Lest I should be exalted overmuch through the exceeding greatness of the revelations." 'And yet,' a man may say, 'if he wished to conceal them, he ought not to have given any intimation whatever or said any thing of the sort; but if he wished to speak of them, to speak plainly.' Wherefore then is it that he neither spoke plainly nor kept silence? To show by this also that he resorts to the thing unwillingly. And therefore also he has stated the time, "fourteen years." For he does not mention it without an object, but to show that he who had refrained for so long a time would not now have spoken out, except the necessity for doing so had been great. But he would have still kept silence, had he not seen the brethren perishing. Now if Paul from the very beginning was such an one as to be counted worthy of such a revelation, when as yet he had not wrought such good works; consider what he must have grown to in fourteen years. And observe how even in this very matter he shows modesty, by his saying some things, but confessing that of others he is ignorant. For that he was caught up indeed, he declared, but whether "in the body" or "out of the body" he says he does not know. And yet it would have been quite enough, if he had told of his being caught up and had been silent [about the other]; but as it is, in his modesty he adds this also. What then? Was it the mind that was caught up and the soul, whilst the body remained dead? or was the body caught up? It is impossible to tell. For if Paul who was caught up and whom things unspeakable, so many and so great, had befallen was in ignorance, much more we. For, indeed, that he was in Paradise he knew, and that he was in the third heaven he was not ignorant, but the manner he knew not clearly.

For the apostle, he says, does not suppose paradise to be in the third heaven, in the opinion of those who knew how to observe the niceties of language, when he says, "I know such a man caught up to the third heaven; and I know such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, God knoweth, that was caught up into paradise."

You see how pressed Paul was to make his point, if he had to recall something which had happened as long as fourteen years before.

It, too, has eyes and ears of its own, by means of which Paul must have heard and seen the Lord; it has, moreover all the other members of the body by the help of which it effects all processes of thinking and all activity in dreams.

He did not mention all the revelations (that would have been difficult, because there were many of them), nor did he pass over all of them in silence. But even about this one single revelation he speaks reluctantly, to show that he mentions even it against his will. He adds "in Christ," so that the false apostles would not say that he was caught up by demons, like Simon. Not without reason did he indicate the time; he did this so that you might learn that he did not relate this now without necessity, after fourteen years of silence. And if fourteen years before this he was deemed worthy of such a revelation, how great must he have been now, after so many dangers endured for Christ's sake?

Note his moderation: he admits that he does not know whether he was in the body or out of the body when he was caught up. "The third heaven" should be understood in the following way. Scripture calls the air heaven, as for example in the expressions: the birds of heaven, the dew of heaven. This is the first heaven. It further calls the firmament heaven as well. "God called," it says, "the firmament heaven" (Gen. 1:8). This is the second heaven. It also calls heaven that which was created together with the earth. This is the third heaven.

Then the Apostle describes these visions and revelations in details, speaking of himself as though of another person; hence he says, I know a man in Christ. He mentions two visions: the first begins here; the second at v. 3.

When speaking of the first vision, the Apostle makes use of a distinction, for he says in regard to this revelation that he knew certain things and other things not. But he knew three things, namely, the condition of the beholder; hence he says: I know a man in Christ; the time of the vision, that is, who fourteen years ago; and the high point of the vision, because he was caught up to the third heaven. And he says that he did not know the disposition of the beholder, whether in the body or out of the body I do not know.

Therefore let us see what he knew, so that through what is known we may more easily attain to what was not known. First of all, the condition of the beholder, which is praiseworthy, because he was in Christ, i.e., conformed to Christ. But on the contrary, no one is in Christ, unless he has charity, because "He who abides in love abides in God" (1 Jn. 4:16). Therefore, he knew that he had charity, which is contrary to what is stated in Ec. (9:1): "The righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate man does not know." I answer that being in Christ can be taken in two ways: in one way by faith and the sacrament of faith according to Gal. (3:27): "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ," namely, by faith and the sacrament of faith. This is the sense in which the Apostle knew that he was in Christ. In another way a person is said to be in Christ through charity, and in this way no one knows for certain that he is in Christ, except by certain tests and signs, inasmuch as he feels himself disposed and joined to Christ in such a way that he would not permit himself to be separated from him for any reason including death. This the Apostle experienced in regard to himself, when he said: "For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:38). Hence, he could have had such signs that he was in the charity of Christ.

Secondly, the time of the vision, which was fitting, because it was fourteen years ago; for fourteen years had elapsed from the time he saw the vision, until he wrote this epistle, because when he wrote this epistle he had not yet been cast into prison. Hence it seems to have been written at the beginning of Nero's reign, by whom he was killed much later. Hence if we go back fourteen years from the beginning of Nero's reign, it is clear that the Apostle had these visions at the beginning of his conversion. For he had been converted to Christ in the same year that the Lord suffered. But Christ suffered near the end of Tiberius Caesar's reign, who was succeeded at death by the emperor Caius, who lived four years, after which Nero became emperor. Therefore, between Tiberius and Nero there were four years. Adding two years from Tiberius' reign, because he was not yet dead, when Paul was converted, and from Nero's reign the eight years which had passed until he wrote this epistle, there were fourteen years between the time of his conversion to the time he wrote this epistle. Therefore, some say quite probably that the Apostle had these visions during those three days after he was struck down by the Lord, when he remained neither seeing nor eating nor drinking (Ac. 9:9). But he recalls the time of his conversion to show that if he was so pleasing to Christ from the time of his conversion that he revealed such things to him, then how much more pleasing was he after fourteen years, when he had grown in charity before God and in the virtues and graces?

Thirdly, let us see the high point of the vision, because he was caught up (raptus) to the third heaven. But it should be noted that it is one thing to be the victim of thievery and another to be rapt. Properly speaking, the former takes place when something is taken away from another in a secret way, hence, in Gen. (40:13) Joseph said: "For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews." A person is properly speaking rapt when something is taken suddenly and by force: "As the torrent that passes swiftly (raptim)", i.e., suddenly and rapidly, "in the valleys" (Job 6:15). Hence it is that plunderers who despoil violently are called ravagers (raptores). But note that a man is said to be rapt from men, as Enoch: "He was caught up (raptim) lest evil change his understanding or guile deceive his soul" (Wis. 4:11); sometimes the soul is rapt from the body: "Fool! This night your soul is required of you" (Lk. 12:20). Sometimes a person is said to be rapt by himself, when for some reason he is made to be outside himself; and this is the same as ecstasy. But a man is made to be outside himself both by his appetitive power and by his cognitive power. For by the former a person is in himself, when he cares only for things that are his own; but he is made to be outside himself when he does not care about things that are his own, but about things that pertain to others; and this is the work of charity: "Love does not insist on its own way" (1 Cor. 13:5). Concerning this ecstasy Dionysius says in the Divine Names (chap. 4): "Ecstasy is produced by divine love not permitting one to be a lover of self but of the beloved," i.e., of the things loved. But a person is made to be outside himself according to the cognitive power when he is raised up above the human mode to see something. This is the rapture about which the Apostle is speaking here.

But it should be noted that a mode natural to human knowing is that a man know simultaneously with his mental power, which is the intellect, and with a bodily one, which is a sense. This is why a man in knowing has a free judgment of the intellect, when the senses are well disposed in their vigor and not hindered by a fettering, as happens during sleep. Therefore a man is made to be outside himself when he is removed from this natural disposition for knowing, namely, when the intellect, being withdrawn from the use of the senses and sense-perceptible things, is moved to see certain things. This occurs in two ways: first, by a lack of power, no matter how it is produced. This happens in phrenitis and other mental cases, so that this withdrawal from the senses is not a state of being elevated, but of being cast down, because their power has been weakened. But the other way is by divine power, and then it is, properly speaking, an elevation, because since the agent makes the thing it works on to be like itself, a withdrawal produced by divine power and above men is something higher than man's nature.

Therefore, a rapture of this sort is defined as "an elevation from that which is according to nature into that which is above nature, produced in virtue of a higher nature." In this definition are mentioned its genus, when it is called an elevation; the efficient cause, because it is by the power of a higher nature; and the two termini of the change, namely, the terminus from which and into which, when it is described as being from that which is according to nature into what is above nature. Thus it is clear what rapture is.

Then he mentions the terminus reached by the rapture, when he says, to the third heaven. But it should be noted that the third heaven is taken in three ways: in one way according to the things below the soul; in another way according to the things in the soul; and in a third way according to things above the soul. Below the soul are all bodies, as Augustine says in the book On The True Religion. And so we can think of a threefold heaven: the ethereal, sidereal, and empyrean. In this way the Apostle is said to have been rapt to the third heaven, i.e., to see things in the empyrean heaven; not to exist there, because then he would have known whether he was in the body or out of the body. Or according to Damascene, who does not admit an empyrean heaven, we can say that the third heaven, to which the Apostle was rapt, is above the eighth sphere, so that he could clearly see the things which exist above all corporeal nature.

But if we take heaven according to the things in the soul itself, then we should call heaven some altitude of mind which transcends natural human knowledge. Now there are three kinds of sight, namely, bodily, by which we can see and know bodies; spiritual or imaginary, by which we see likenesses of bodies; and intellectual, by which we know the nature of things in themselves. For the proper object of the intellect is the "what it is" (quod quid est) of things. But such a sight of things, if it takes place according to the natural mode (e.g. if I see something visible, if I imagine something previously seen, or if I understand through phantasms) cannot be called heaven. But each of these is called heaven when they are above the natural faculty of human knowledge. For example, if you see something with your bodily eyes above the faculty of nature, then you are rapt into the first heaven. This is the way Belshazzar was rapt, when he saw the handwriting on the wall, as it is stated in Dan. (5:5). But if you are raised up by the imagination or spirit to know something supernaturally, then you are rapt to the second heaven. This is the way Peter was rapt, when he saw the linen sheet descending from heaven (Ac. 10:11). But if a person were to see intelligible things themselves and their nature, not through sense-perceptible things not through phantasms, he would be rapt to the third heaven.

But it should be noted that to be rapt to the first heaven is to be alienated from the bodily senses. Hence, since no one can be totally withdrawn from the bodily senses, it is obvious that no one can be rapt in the strict sense to the first heaven, but only in a qualified sense, inasmuch as it sometimes happens that a person is so engrossed in one sense that he is withdrawn from the act of the others. One is rapt to the second heaven when he is alienated from sense to see imaginable things; hence, such a person is always said to be in ecstasy. And so when Peter saw the linen sheet (Ac. 10:11), it is said that he was in ecstasy. But Paul is said to have been rapt to the third heaven, because he was so alienated from the senses and lifted above all bodily things that he saw intelligible things naked and pure in the way angels and separated souls see them. What is more, he saw God in his essence, as Augustine expressly says in Gen. ad Litt.12 and in a Gloss, and ad Paulinus in the book, De Videndo Deum. Furthermore, it is not probable that Moses, the minister of the Old Testament to the Jews saw God, and the minister of the New Testament to the Gentiles, the teacher of the Gentiles, was deprived of this gift. Hence he says above (3:9): "For if there was splendor in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation of righteousness must far exceed it in splendor." That Moses saw God in his essence is clear, for he begged God: "Show me your face" (Ex. 33:13, Vulgate). And although it was denied him at that time, it is not stated that the Lord finally denied him. Hence, Augustine says that this was granted him by reason of what is stated in Num. (12:6): "If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses; he is entrusted with all my house." For he saw God openly and not in a dark manner.

But would it have been possible for Paul to see God without being rapt? I answer: No, for it is impossible that God be seen in this life by a man not alienated from his senses, because no image or phantasm is a sufficient medium for showing God's essence; therefore, he must be abstracted and alienated from the senses.

In a third way, by taking heaven according to things above the soul; in this way the three heavens are the three hierarchies of angels. According to this the Apostle was rapt to the third heaven, i.e., to see God's essence as clearly as the angels of the higher and first hierarchy see him, because they see God in such a way as to receive illumination in God himself and to know the divine mysteries. This is the way Paul saw.

But if he saw God as the angels of the higher and first hierarchy do, then it seems that the Apostle was beatified and, consequently, was immortal. I answer that although he saw God in his essence, he was not absolutely beatified, but only in a qualified sense. Yet it should be noted that the vision of God by essence takes place by means of a certain light, namely, the light of glory, of which it says in Ps. 36 (9): "In your light we see light." But light is communicated to some things after the manner of a passing quality and to others after the manner of an inhering form, i.e., connaturally produced; but it is found in the air as a passing form and not as a permanent form, because it vanishes when the sun is absent. Similarly, the light of glory is infused in the mind in two ways: in one way, after the manner of a form connaturally made and permanent, and then it makes a mind beatified in the strict sense. This is the way it is infused in the beatified in heaven. Hence they are called comprehenders and, so to say, seers. In another way the light of glory affects a human mind as a passing quality; this is the way Paul's mind in rapture was enlightened by the light of glory. Hence, the very name, "rapture," suggests that this was done in a passing manner. Consequently, he was not glorified in the strict sense or had the mark of glory, because that brightness was not produced as a property. As a result it was not derived from the soul in the body, nor did he remain in this state permanently. Hence, when he was in rapture, he had only the act of the beatified, but he was not beatified. Thus it is clear what the Apostle saw in his rapture, namely, the condition of the beholder, the time of the vision, and the high point of the vision.

Then he tells what he did not know, namely, whether he was in the body or out of the body, although he says that God knew. Hence he says, whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. Some interpret this as meaning that the rapture referred to his body, saying that the Apostle did not say he did not know whether the soul was joined to the body in that rapture, but whether he was rapt according to the soul and body simultaneously, so as to have been transported bodily into heaven as Habakkuk was transported (Dan. 14:35-39), or whether it was according to the soul only that he enjoyed the vision of God, as it says in Ez. (8:3): "He brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem." This was the way a certain Jew understood, as Jerome mentions in the Prol. to Dan. 3ff., where he says: "Finally, he says that even our Apostle does not dare to say that he was rapt in the body, but he said: whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows." But Augustine disproves this interpretation in Gen. ad Litt.12, because it does not agree with the other words of the Apostle. For the Apostle says that he was rapt to the third heaven; hence he knew for certain that it was the third heaven. Consequently, he knew whether that heaven was corporeal or incorporeal, i.e., an incorporeal thing. But if it was incorporeal, he knew that he could not have been rapt there bodily, because a body cannot exist in an incorporeal thing. But if it had been corporeal, he knew that the soul was not there without the body, because the soul joined to the body cannot be in a place where there is no body, unless the incorporeal heaven is called a likeness of the bodily heaven. But if that were the case, the Apostle would not have said that he knew he was rapt to the third heaven, i.e., to a likeness of heaven, because by that same token it could be said that he was rapt in the body, i.e., in the likeness of a body.

Therefore it must be admitted according to Augustine that no one set in this life and living this mortal life can see the divine essence. Hence, the Lord says: "For man shall not see me and live" (Ex. 33:20), i.e., no man will see me, unless he is entirely separated from the body, namely, in such a way that his soul is not in the body as a form, or if it is as a form, nevertheless his mind is totally and altogether alienated from the sense in such a vision. Therefore, it must be said that the Apostle says he does not know whether the soul was entirely separated from the body in that vision. Hence he says, whether out of the body, or whether his soul existed in the body as a form, but his mind was alienated from the bodily senses; hence, he says, whether in the body. Even others concede this.

Paul says that he was caught up twice—first into the third heaven and then into paradise, which is where the Lord said that the thief on the cross would be with him..

But since he (Paul) has described that assumption of himself up to the third heaven as something great and pre-eminent, it cannot be that these men ascend above the seventh heaven, for they are certainly not superior to the apostle. If they do maintain that they are more excellent than he, let them prove themselves so by their works, for they have never pretended to anything like [what he describes as occurring to himself]. And for this reason he added, "Whether in the body, or whether out of the body, God knoweth," that the body might neither be thought to be a partaker in that vision, as if it could have participated in those things which it had seen and heard; nor, again, that any one should say that he was not carried higher on account of the weight of the body; but it is therefore thus far permitted even without the body to behold spiritual mysteries which are the operations of God, who made the heavens and the earth, and formed man, and placed him in paradise, so that those should be spectators of them who, like the apostle, have reached a high degree of perfection in the love of God.

Having spoken of the first rapture, the Apostle speaks of a second rapture. First, he mentions the rapture; secondly, its excellence (v. 4b).

It should be noted that a Gloss says that this rapture was distinct from the first, and if one considers the matter well, two things are written of the Apostle to which these two raptures can be referred. For in Acts (chap. 9) it is recorded that he remained for three days without seeing and without taking food or drink; and the first rapture can be referred to this event, namely, that he was rapt to the third heaven at that time. But in Acts (chap. 22) it says that he was in a trance in the temple; hence the second rapture can refer to this. But this does not seem to be a similar case, because when he was in the trance, the Apostle had been cast into prison; but the Apostle wrote this epistle long before that. Therefore it must be said that this rapture differs from the first in regard to that into which he was rapt. For in the first rapture he had been rapt to the third heaven, but in the second to the paradise of God.

But if you take the third heaven in a corporeal sense according to the first acceptation of the heavens, as mentioned above, or if it was an imaginary vision, it could be called a bodily paradise, so that he was rapt to an earthly paradise. But this is against the author's intention, according to whom we say that he was rapt to the third heaven, i.e., to a vision of intelligible things according to which they are seen in themselves and in their own natures, as has been said above. Hence, according to this we must not understand one thing by heaven and another by paradise, but one and the same thing by both, namely, the glory of the saints, but according to one thing in one case and according to another thing in the other case. For heaven suggests a certain loftiness accompanied by brightness, but paradise a certain joyful pleasantness. Now these two things are present in an excellent way in the saints and angels who see God, because there is present in them a most excellent brightness by which they see God, and a supreme agreeableness by which they enjoy God. Therefore, they are said to be in heaven as to the brightness and in paradise as to the pleasantness: "You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice" (Is. 66:14). Therefore, both of these were conferred on the Apostle, namely to be raised up to that most excellent clearness of knowledge, which he signifies when he says, to the third heaven, and to experience the agreeableness of the divine sweetness; hence he says, into paradise: "O how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord" (Ps. 31:20); "To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna" (Rev. 2:17). This sweetness is the delight experienced in enjoying God, and is mentioned in Matt. (25:13): "Enter into the joy of your master." Thus the terminus of the rapture is clear, namely, into paradise, i.e., into that sweetness with which those who are in the heavenly Jerusalem are unceasingly refreshed.

But, even if the angels, whose nature is simple and spiritual, are said to have tongues with which they sing praises to their Lord and Creator and give him unceasing thanks, much more must the spiritualized bodies of men do so after the resurrection. For all the members of their glorified flesh will have tongues in their mouths, and they will give voice to their speaking tongues, and thus they will utter divine praises, the outpouring in words of their love and of the joys that fill even their senses. Doubtless the Lord will add this to the grace and glory of his saints in the time of his kingdom, that the more perfectly they attain to this blessed condition of body by a happy transformation, the more fully will they sing with tongue and voice. Being established in their spiritual bodies, they may speak, perchance, not with the tongues of men but with those of angels, such as the apostle heard in paradise.

In this union the mind is joined to God, wherefore in a certain sense it sleeps, while in another it keeps vigil: "I was sleeping, but my heart kept vigil." Only the affective power keeps vigil and imposes silence upon all the other powers; then man becomes foreign to his senses: he is in ecstasy and hears "secret words that man may not repeat," because they are only in the heart. Hence, because nothing can be expressed unless it is conceived, or conceived unless it is understood, and here the intelligence does not speak: it follows that a man can hardly speak or explain anything.

Elijah was taken up to heaven only, but Paul into heaven and paradise (for it was but fitting that the disciples of Jesus should receive more manifold grace) and "heard secret words that man may not repeat." But Paul came down again from heaven, not because he was unworthy to abide in the third heaven but after enjoying gifts beyond man's lot.

Now this (mystery) was not made known to previous generations, as he says, it has been written, "By revelation was made known unto me the mystery; " and, "I have heard inexpressible words which it is not possible for man to declare." The light, (therefore,) which came down from the Ogdoad above to the Son of the Hebdomad, descended from the Hebdomad upon Jesus the son of Mary, and he had radiance imparted to him by being illuminated with the light that shone upon him. This, he says, is that which has been declared: "The Holy Spirit will come upon thee," (meaning) that which proceeded from the Sonship through the conterminous spirit upon the Ogdoad and Hebdomad, as far as Mary; "and the power of the Highest will overshadow thee," (meaning) the power of the anointing, (which streamed) from the (celestial) height above (through) the Demiurge, as far as the creation, which is (as far as) the Son. And as far as that (Son) he says the world consisted thus. And as far as this, the entire Sonship, which is left behind for benefiting the souls in Formlessness, and for being the recipient in turn of benefits,-(this Sonship, I say,) when it is transformed, followed Jesus, and hastened upwards, and came forth purified. And it becomes most refined, so that it could, as the first (Sonship), hasten upwards through its own instrumentality. For it possesses all the power that, according to nature, is firmly connected with the light which from above shone down (upon earth).

Wherefore also the elders who were disciples of the apostles tell us that those who were translated were transferred to that place (for paradise has been prepared for righteous men, such as have the Spirit; in which place also Paul the apostle, when he was caught up, heard words which are unspeakable as regards us in our present condition), and that there shall they who have been translated remain until the consummation [of all things], as a prelude to immortality.

All that is heard by the ears can be spoken. He did not hear audible sounds, nor did he see a vision composed of the corporeal images of sense perception, but it was by the intuitions of the understanding, being in rapture, while his will had no fellowship with the body.

But wherefore was he also caught up? As I think, that he might not seem to be inferior to the rest of the Apostles. For since they had companied with Christ, but Paul had not: He therefore caught up unto glory him also. "Into Paradise." For great was the name of this place, and it was everywhere celebrated. Wherefore also Christ said, "To-day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise."

So much for those who write false revelations!

This means that they cannot be expressed in a human language.

Never mind those who pass sentence on apostles! It is a happy fact that Peter is on the same level with Paul in the very glory of martyrdom. Now, although Paul was carried away even to the third heaven, and was caught up to paradise, and heard certain revelations there, yet these cannot possibly seem to have qualified him for (teaching) another doctrine, seeing that their very nature was such as to render them communicable to no human being.

Why should I add more touching these two planks (as it were) of human salvation, caring more for the business of the pen than the duty of my conscience? For, sinner as I am of every dye, and born for nothing save repentance, I cannot easily be silent about that concerning which also the very head and fount of the human race, and of human offence, Adam, restored by exomologesis to his own paradise, is not silent.

He saw the beautiful appearance of paradise, the dances of the saints in it and the harmonious sound of its hymnody.

Some argue that here Paul is referring to things which he actually saw, like the beauty of paradise and the choirs of the saints which are to be found there.

From the third heaven, he says, he was again caught up — into paradise: he was caught up so that in this respect too he would not be inferior to the rest of the apostles, who had lived together with Christ. He uses the expression "into paradise" because the name of this place was commonly known, and the Lord Himself had promised it to the thief. He heard "unspeakable words," which to those who think in a human manner and have nothing spiritual "cannot be uttered." From this it is clear that the so-called "Revelation of Paul" is a spurious composition. For how could it be otherwise, if the words mentioned were unspeakable? Thus, in the literal sense, the third heaven and paradise are different places; but in the figurative sense, these words may have one meaning, or perhaps not one. Although much could be said concerning the figurative sense, we shall express only a little — that which is more convenient for understanding. The first heaven is the boundary and limit of ethics (τῆς ἠθικῆς), when someone has rightly formed his character. Then, philosophy (ἡ φυσική, natural philosophy) constitutes the second heaven, when someone, insofar as possible, acquires knowledge about the nature of things. Finally, the third heaven is theological knowledge (θεολογική), when someone, insofar as it is accessible, acquires through contemplation the capacity for apprehending the Divine and that which surpasses human understanding. Thus, in any case, Paul was caught up to places near the Trinity, that is, above all that exists, and was at the same time not in the body, because his mind was still sluggish. For in relation to Divine things, every mind is sluggish at the time when a person is caught up and seized by God, so that through Him he is aroused and acts. And since even among these regions there are degrees, he penetrates further into paradise, having penetrated into the most hidden mysteries of the Godhead. And since these are inaccessible to knowledge and unspeakable, no one will ever comprehend them unless he rises above human weakness.

Then he mentions the excellence of that rapture, because he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. This can be explained in two ways: in one way so that the word, "man," is construed with "may" and "utter." Then the sense is this: he heard secret words, i.e., he perceived an intimate understanding of God's secret essence, as though by words, which words it is not lawful to be uttered by a man. In the other way, so that "man" is construed only with "may not". Then the sense is this: he heard words, which it is not lawful to utter to a man, i.e., to an imperfect man.

But it should be noted according to Augustine that Paul was rapt to a vision of the divine essence, which of course, cannot be seen by any created likeness. Hence, it is clear that what Paul saw of the divine essence cannot be described by any human tongue; otherwise, God would not be incomprehensible. Therefore, according to the first explanation it must be said: he heard, i.e., considered, secret words, i.e., the magnificence of the godhead, which no man can utter. He says "heard" for "saw" because that consideration was according to an interior act of the soul, in which the same is heard and seen, as it says in Num. (12:8): "For I speak to him mouth to mouth." That consideration is called a vision, inasmuch as God is seen in it; and an utterance inasmuch as man in instructed about divine things in it.

And because such spiritual things are not to be disclosed to the simple and imperfect, but to the perfect, as it says in 1 Cor. (2:6): "Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom," it is explained in the second way, so that the secrets he heard there it is not lawful to man to utter, i.e., to the imperfect, but to the spiritual, among whom we speak wisdom: "It is the glory of God to conceal things" (Prov. 25:2), i.e., the fact that it is necessary to conceal the marvelous things of God pertains to God's glory. The Psalm is according to the translation of Jerome: "Your praise, O God, is silent to you" (cf. Ps. 108:2, Vulgate), that is, cannot be comprehended by our words.

"On behalf of such an one will I glory?" wherefore? For if another were caught up, wherefore dost thou glory? Whence it is evident that he said these things of himself. And if he added, "but of myself I will not glory," he says nothing else than this, that, 'when there is no necessity, I will say nothing of that kind fruitlessly and at random;' or else he is again throwing obscurity over what he had said, as best he might. For that the whole discourse was about himself, what follows also clearly shows.

Now, when you make merry with those minuter animals, which their glorious Maker has purposely endued with a profusion of instincts and resources, -thereby teaching us that greatness has its proofs in lowliness, just as (according to the apostle)there is power even in infirmity -imitate, if you can, the cells of the bee, the hills of the ant, the webs of the spider, and the threads of the silkworm; endure, too, if you know how, those very creatures which infest your couch and house, the poisonous ejections of the blister-beetle, the spikes of the fly, and the gnat's Sheath and sting.

Notice his humility: he recounts this as if about someone else, for he says, "of such a one I will boast." But if it was another who was caught up, then why do you boast? So then, it is evident that he says this about himself.

He says this either in order to show that he would not have spoken of it without necessity, or, as one may suppose, in order to make his speech veiled.

That is, by afflictions, by persecutions.

Then when he says, On behalf of this man I will boast, he shows how he reacted to this glory. In regard to this he does three things. First, he shows that he did not glory in such revelations; secondly, he suggests that he has something else in which to glory (v. 6).

In regard to the first it should be noted that the statement, on behalf of this man I will boast [glory], but on my own behalf I will not boast, can be read in two ways. In one way so that the Apostle is showing that he is the one in whom he glories, i.e., that he is the one who saw these visions. In another way, to show that it was someone else who saw these visions. For it should be noted that there are two things to consider in man, namely, the gift of God and the human condition. If a person glories in a gift of God as received from God, that glorying is good, as has been stated above (10:17). But if he glories in that gift as though he had it of himself, then such glorying is evil: "What have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?" (1 Cor. 4:7). According to this, therefore, the Apostle says, on behalf of this man, namely, for the visions and gifts conferred on me by God, I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, i.e., will not glory in them as though I were their source, because I had them from God. But if I must glory, I will glory in nothing except my weaknesses, i.e., I have nothing in which I can glory save in my own condition.

But if it is explained as showing that it was someone else who saw, even if it was he, then the sense is as though he were speaking of someone, saying, on behalf of this man I will boast, i.e., for the man who saw this and who received these gifts I will glory; but on my own behalf, as wishing to show that I am such a one, I will not boast except of my weaknesses, i.e., in the tribulations I suffer.

Paul says this because if someone proclaims his own worth in God's sight he is not unwise, for what he says is true. So if anyone talks about the things which have been revealed to him, he is not foolish, though if he keeps quiet about them he is wise.

"But if I should even desire to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I shall speak the truth."

How then saidst thou before, "Would that ye could bear with me a little in my foolishness;" and, "That which I speak, I speak not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly;" but here, "Though I should even desire to glory, I shall not be foolish?" Not in regard of glorying, but of lying; for if glorying be foolishness, how much more lying?

It is then with regard to this that he says, "I shall not be foolish." Wherefore also he added,

"For I shall speak the truth; but I forbear, lest any man should account of me above that which he seeth, or that he heareth from me." Here you have the acknowledged reason; for they even deemed them to be gods, on account of the greatness of their miracles. As then in the case of the elements, God hath done both things, creating them at once weak and glorious; the one, to proclaim His own power; the other, to prevent the error of mankind: so truly here also were they both wonderful and weak, so that by the facts themselves were the unbelievers instructed. For if whilst continuing to be wonderful only and giving no proof of weakness, they had by words tried to draw away the many from conceiving of them more than the truth; not only would they have nothing succeeded, but they would even have brought about the contrary. For those dissuasions in words would have seemed rather to spring of lowliness of mind, and would have caused them to be the more admired. Therefore in act and by deeds was their weakness disclosed.

How is it that, having said above that boasting is madness, he now says, "if I should wish to boast, I would not be foolish"? He said here "I would not be foolish" not in relation to the boasting, but in relation to the fact that he does not lie, for he adds, "because I will speak the truth." So the meaning is this: I am not foolish, because I speak the truth.

So that people would not deify him — this is the true reason why he always keeps silent about himself, and when he is compelled to say something, he speaks in a veiled manner so that they would not consider him superior. For he did not express it as "lest anyone should speak of me," but "lest anyone should think of me above that which I deserve." If on account of his miracles they wanted to sacrifice oxen to him (Acts 14:13), what would they not have done if he had revealed his revelations?

But because they could say to him, "O Apostle, it is not strange that you do not glory, because you have nothing in which to glory," he shows that even besides these visions he has something in which to glory. Although I might glory in such a man and not in myself, yet I can rightfully glory in myself, for if I should wish to boast either in such tribulations or in other things bestowed on me by God, or even for my infirmity, I shall not be a fool, i.e., I will not act foolishly. Why? For I will be speaking the truth about the other things in which I can glory besides those visions. He says, I shall not be a fool, because he gloried in the things he had; for when a person glories in things he does not have, he is speaking foolishly: "For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked" (Rev. 3:17); and because he gloried with sufficient reason, as is clear from the foregoing.

Then when he says, But I refrain from it, he indicates the reason he does not glory in everything, if he can glory, the reason being that he wishes to spare them. Hence he says, I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. As if to say: I could glory in many other things, but I forbear, i.e., I glory sparingly, of I forbear commending myself, lest I become burdensome to you. For God has conferred on me such things that if you knew them, you would regard me as much greater; and these are the many charismatic gifts which the Apostle had and for which the men of this world are wont to commend others and regard them as great more than for doing something pleasing. Hence he says, I do not wish to be commended on these gifts; therefore I refrain, i.e., I do not glory. Why? So that no one may think more of me than what he sees in me or hears from me.

Or another way: man is known in two ways: by his manner of life and by his doctrine. Although he could have done so, the Apostle did not wish to say about himself certain things which went beyond his life and doctrine. Consequently, I refrain, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me, i.e., in my outward conduct, or hears from me, i.e., from the doctrine of my preaching and exhortation and instruction, because they might perhaps think him immortal or an angel: "A man of understanding remains silent" (Prov. 11:12): "A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man quietly holds it back" (Prov. 29:11).

Or he says: But I refrain, on account of his detractors, namely, the false apostles, who said that he glories from elation without cause or for things that were not in him. Therefore, he says, But I refrain, i.e., I glory sparingly, so that no one, i.e., the false apostles, think of me as having an excessive spirit of elation, more than that which he sees in me or has heard from me, i.e., above the power of my merits: "O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high" (Ps. 131:1); "The greater you are, the more humble yourself in all things" (Sir. 3:10, Vulgate).

Paul is testifying that God makes provision for those who have done well, while at the same time he allows them to be cast down by various trials. This is both so that they shall not be deprived of the fruits of their labors and that they may be enriched by their trials so that they may have even greater eternal rewards.

"And so," they ask, "is the devil good because he is useful?" On the contrary, he is evil insofar as he is the devil, but God who is good and almighty draws many just and good things out of the devil's malice. For the devil has to his credit only his will by which he tries to do evil, not the providence of God that draws good out of him. .

Therefore, in these trials which can be both our blessing and our bane, "we don't know how we should pray," yet, because they are hard, because they are painful, because they go against the feeling of our human weakness, by a universal human will we pray that our troubles may depart from us. But this need of devotion we owe to the Lord our God, that, if he does not remove them, we are not to think that he has deserted us but rather, by lovingly bearing evil, we are to hope for greater good. This is how power is made perfect in infirmity. To some, indeed, who lack patience, the Lord God, in his wrath, grants them what they ask, just as, on the other hand, he in his mercy refused the apostle's requests.

Not everyone who spares is a friend, nor is everyone who strikes an enemy.… Love mingled with severity is better than deceit with indulgence. It is more profitable for bread to be taken away from the hungry, if he neglects right living because he is sure of his food, than for bread to be broken to the hungry, to lead him astray into compliance with wrongdoing. The one who confines the madman, as well as the one who rouses the lethargic, is troublesome to both but loves both. Who could love us more than God does? Yet he continually teaches us sweetly as well as frightens us for our good. Often adding the most stinging medicine of trouble to the gentle remedies with which he comforts us, he tries the patriarchs, even good and devout ones, by famine; he chastises a stubborn people with heavier punishments; he does not take away from the apostle the sting of the flesh, though asked three times, so as to perfect strength in weakness.

And it must be so, for had he been proud, he could have lost grace and fallen into a reprobate sense. And so it is not without reason that the Apostle was given "a thorn for the flesh"; and he explains: "Lest the greatness of the revelation puff me up." And I say that a man who has attained such a state may order and command other men as did Paul, and also Dionysius, who ordered the Church according to the exemplar shown to him.

Paul begged that the flesh's thorn be removed from him, but he was not heard by the Lord. The devil prayed that he might strike Job with the harshest of disasters, and we know that this was subsequently granted him. But Paul was denied the fulfillment of his prayer for his glory, whereas the devil was granted his for the devil's pain. Thus it is often an advantage not to be heard even though postponement of our desires depresses us.

Thus, moreover, the Apostle Paul, after shipwrecks, after scourgings, after many and grievous tortures of the flesh and body, says that he is not grieved, but benefited by his adversity, in order that while he is sorely afflicted he might more truly be proved. "There was given to me," he says, "a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be lifted up: for which thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me; and He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for strength is made perfect in weakness." When, therefore, weakness and inefficiency and any destruction seize us, then our strength is made perfect; then our faith, if when tried it shall stand fast, is crowned; as it is written, "The furnace trieth the vessels of the potter, and the trial of tribulation just men." This, in short, is the difference between us and others who know not God, that in misfortune they complain and murmur, while adversity does not call us away from the truth of virtue and faith, but strengthens us by its suffering.

That all good and righteous men suffer more, but ought to endure because they are proved. In Solomon: "The furnace proveth the vessels of the potter, and the trial of tribulation righteous men." Also in the fiftieth Psalm: "The sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise." Also in the thirty-third Psalm: "God is nearest to them that are contrite in heart, and He will save the lowly in spirit." Also in the same place: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but out of them all the Lord will deliver them." Of this same matter in Job: "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, naked also shall I go under the earth: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it hath pleased the Lord, so it is done; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all these things which happened to him Job sinned in nothing with his lips in the sight of the Lord." Concerning this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." Also according to John: "These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. But in the world ye shall have affliction; but have confidence, for I have overcome the world." Concerning this same thing in the second Epistle to the Corinthians: "There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted. For which thing I thrice besought the Lord, that it should depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for strength is perfected in weakness." Concerning this same thing to the Romans: "We glory in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we also glory in afflictions: knowing that affliction worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope does not confound; because the love of God is infused in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us." On this same subject, according to Matthew: "How broad and spacious is the way which leadeth unto death, and many there are who go in thereby: how straight and narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it!" Of this same thing in Tobias: "Where are thy righteousnesses? behold what thou sufferest." Also in the Wisdom of Solomon: "In the places of the wicked the righteous groan; but at their ruin the righteous will abound."

[Syncletica] also said, 'When the devil does not use the goad of poverty to tempt us, he uses wealth for the same purpose. When he cannot win by scorn and mockery, he tries praise and flattery. If he cannot win by giving health, he tries illness. If he cannot win by comfort, he tries to ruin the soul by vexations that lead us to act against our monastic vows. He inflicts severe sicknesses on people whom he wants to tempt and so makes them weak, and thereby shakes the love they feel towards God. But although the body is shattered and running a high temperature and thirsting unbearably, yet you, who endure all this, are a sinner; you should therefore remember the punishments of the next world, the everlasting fire, the torments of judgement. Then you will not fail in the sufferings of this present time, indeed you should rejoice because God has visited you. Keep saying the famous text: "The Lord hath chastened and corrected me: but he hath not given me over unto death" (Ps. 118:18). Iron is cleaned of rust by fire. If you are righteous and suffer, you grow to a higher sanctity. Gold is tested by fire. When a messenger from Satan is given to you to be a thorn in your flesh, lift up your heart, for you have received a gift like that of St Paul. If you suffer from fever and cold, remember the text of Scripture, "We went through fire and water," and "thou broughtest us out into a place of rest" (Ps. 66:12). If you have overcome suffering, you may expect rest, provided you are following what is good. Cry aloud the prophet's words, "I am poor and destitute and in misery" (Ps. 66:29). Threefold suffering like this shall make you perfect. He said also, "Thou hast set me at liberty when I was in trouble" (Ps. 4:1). So let this kind of self-discipline test our souls, for our enemy is always in sight.'

The Apostle Paul has, moreover, in the most lucid manner, pointed out that man has been delivered over to his own infirmity, lest, being uplifted, he might fall away from the truth. Thus he says in the second [Epistle] to the Corinthians: "And lest I should be lifted up by the sublimity of the revelations, there was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. And upon this I besought the Lord three times, that it might depart from me. But he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for strength is made perfect in weakness. Gladly therefore shall I rather glory in infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me." What, therefore? (as some may exclaim:) did the Lord wish, in that case, that His apostles should thus undergo buffering, and that he should endure such infirmity? Even so it was; the word says it. For strength is made perfect in weakness, rendering him a better man who by means of his infirmity becomes acquainted with the power of God. For how could a man have learned that he is himself an infirm being, and mortal by nature, but that God is immortal and powerful, unless he had learned by experience what is in both? For there is nothing evil in learning one's infirmities by endurance; yea, rather, it has even the beneficial effect of preventing him from forming an undue opinion of his own nature (non aberrare in natura sua). But the being lifted up against God, and taking His glory to one's self, rendering man ungrateful, has brought much evil upon him. [And thus, I say, man must learn both things by experience], that he may not be destitute of truth and love either towards himself or his Creator. But the experience of both confers upon him the true knowledge as to God and man, and increases his love towards God. Now, where there exists an increase of love, there a greater glory is wrought out by the power of God for those who love Him.

"And that I should not be exalted overmuch, through the exceeding greatness of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me."

What sayest thou? He that counted not the kingdom to be any thing; no, nor yet hell in respect of his longing after Christ; did he deem honor from the many to be any thing, so as both to be lifted up and to need that curb continually? for he did not say, 'that he "might" buffet me,' but "that he" may "buffet me." Yet who is there would say this? What then is the meaning of what is said? When we have explained what is meant at all by the "thorn," and who is this "messenger of Satan," then will we declare this also. There are some then who have said that he means a kind of pain in the head which was inflicted of the devil; but God forbid! For the body of Paul never could have been given over to the hands of the devil, seeing that the devil himself submitted to the same Paul at his mere bidding; and he set him laws and bounds, when he delivered over the fornicator for the destruction of the flesh, and he dared not to transgress them. What then is the meaning of what is said? An adversary is called, in the Hebrew, Satan; and in the third Book of Kings the Scripture has so termed such as were adversaries; and speaking of Solomon, says, 'In his days there was no Satan,' that is, no adversary, enemy, or opponent. What he says then is this: God would not permit the Preaching to progress, in order to check our high thoughts; but permitted the adversaries to set upon us. For this indeed was enough to pluck down his high thoughts; not so that, pains in the head. And so by the "messenger of Satan," he means Alexander the coppersmith, the party of Hymenaeus and Philetus, all the adversaries of the word; those who contended with and fought against him, those that cast him into a prison, those that beat him, that led him away to death; for they did Satan's business. As then he calls those Jews children of the devil, who were imitating his deeds, so also he calls a "messenger of Satan" every one that opposeth. He says therefore, "There was given to me a thorn to buffet me;" not as if God putteth arms into such men's hands, God forbid! not that He doth chastise or punish, but for the time alloweth and permitteth them.

Many people think this was some kind of headache, but in reality Paul is referring to the persecutions which he suffered, because they came from diabolical powers.

The right to tempt a man is granted to the devil … whether God or the devil initiates the plan or for the purpose of the judgment of a sinner, who is handed over to the devil as to an executioner. This was the case with Saul. "The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled and stifled him." Again, it may happen in order to humble a man, as St. Paul tells us that there was given to him a thorn, a messenger of Satan, to buffet him, and even this sort of thing is not permitted for the humiliation of holy men through torment of the flesh, unless it be done so that their power to resist may be perfected in weakness. The apostle himself handed Phigellus and Hermogenes over to Satan so that by being chastised they might not blaspheme. And so you see that, far from possessing power in his own right, the devil can more easily be granted it by the servants of God.

But what will excite my surprise still more is the case (next supposed by Marcion), that a God so good and gracious, and so averse to blows and cruelty, should have suborned the angel Satan-not his own either, but the Creator's-"to buffet" the apostle, and then to have refused his request, when thrice entreated to liberate him! It would seem, therefore, that Marcion's god imitates the Creator's conduct, who is an enemy to the proud, even "putting down the mighty from their seats.

Plainly, the selfsame apostle delivered to Satan Hymenaeus and Alexander, "that they might be emended into not blaspheming," as he writes to his Timotheus. "But withal himself says that `a stake was given him, an angel of Satan, 'by which he was to be buffeted, lest he should exalt himself" If they touch upon this (instance) withal, in order to lead us to understand that such as were "delivered to Sam" by him (were so delivered) with a view to emendation, not to perdition; what similarity is there between blasphemy and incest, and a soul entirely free from these,-nay, rather elated from no other source than the highest sanctity and all innocence; which (elation of soul) was being restrained in the apostle by "buffets," if you will, by means (as they say) of pain in the ear or head? Incest, however, and blasphemy, deserved to have delivered the entire persons of men to Satan himself for a possession, not to "an angel" of his.

"And the Spirit of the Lord," says Scripture, "departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled and stifled him; " or the design is to humble, as the apostle tells us, that there was given him a stake, the messenger of Satan, to buffet him; and even this son of thing is not permitted in the case of holy men, unless it be that at the same time strength of endurance may be perfected in weakness.

By "messenger of Satan" Paul means the insults, attacks and riots which he had to face.

By the angel of Satan and the thorn (σκόλοψ – stake, arrow), some understand a headache caused by the devil. But this is incorrect, for Paul's body was not delivered to the devil; on the contrary, Paul himself rather commanded the devil and set boundaries for him, when he delivered the fornicator to him "for the destruction of the flesh" (1 Cor. 5:5), and he did not transgress the boundaries set for him. What does "Satan" mean? Adversary, according to the meaning of the Hebrew word. Thus, the angels of Satan are all adversaries — Alexander the coppersmith, Hymenaeus, Philetus, and all who oppressed Paul and caused him harm, as those doing the work of Satan. Therefore the meaning of his words is this: God did not allow my preaching to succeed without dangers and labors, so that I would not become proud of having been deemed worthy of many revelations. Why then does he say that an angel of Satan was given to him, and not angels? Probably because in every place there was one who opposed and stirred up the people, while the rest followed him as their leader. Or, what is even more likely, he called the very thing itself — the opposition to his preaching and the bearing of dangers — the angel of Satan. By whom was it given? God permitted it, he says, for that is the meaning of the word "given" — not so that he would cause me trouble once, but would do so constantly. As for the words "lest I be exalted," some understand them as: lest people glorify me. But although Paul did say something similar in another place, here he means something else, namely: lest I become proud; for he too was a man.

Here he speaks of the remedy against pride. In regard to this he does three things. First, he mentions the remedy applied; secondly, he discloses his prayer to have the remedy removed (v. 8); thirdly, he tells the Lord's answer giving the reason for the remedy applied (v. 9).

In regard to the first it should be noted that very often a wise physician procures and permits a lesser disease to come over a person in order to cure or avoid a greater one. Thus, to cure a spasm he procures a fever. This the Apostle shows was done to him by the physician of souls, our Lord Jesus Christ. For Christ, as the supreme physician of souls, in order to cure greater sins, permits them to fall into lesser, and even mortal sins. But among all the sins the gravest is pride, for just as charity is the root and beginning of the virtues, so pride is the root and beginning of all vices: "Pride is the beginning of all sin" (Sir. 10:15, Vulgate). This is made clear in the following way. Charity is called the root of all the virtues, because it unites one to God, who is the ultimate end. Hence, just as the end is the beginning of all actions to be performed, so charity is the beginning of all the virtues. But pride turns away from God, for pride is an inordinate desire for one's own excellence. For if a person seeks some excellence under God, if he seeks it moderately and for a good end, it can be endured. But if it is not done with due order, he can even fall into other vices, such as ambition, avarice, vainglory and the like. Yet it is not, properly speaking, pride, unless a person seeks excellence without ordaining it to God. Therefore pride, properly called, separates from God and is the root of all vices and the worst of them. This is why God resists the proud, as it says in Jas. (4:6). Therefore, because the matter of this vice, that is, pride, is mainly found in things that are good, because its matter is something good, God sometimes permits his elect to be prevented by something on their part, e.g. infirmity or some other defect, and sometimes even mortal sin, from obtaining such a good, in order that they be so humbled on this account that they will not take pride in it, and that being thus humiliated, they may recognize that they cannot stand by their own powers. Hence it says in Rom. (8:28): "We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him," not by reason of their sin, but by God's providence.

Therefore, because the Apostle had good reason for glorying in the spiritual choice by which he was chosen by God: "He is a chosen instrument of mine" (Ac. 9:15), and in his knowledge of God's secrets, because he says that he was caught up into the third heaven where he heard secret words, which it is not granted to man to utter, and in enduring evils because he had "far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death" (2 Cor. 11:23), and in his virginal integrity, because "I wish that all were as I myself am" (1 Cor. 7:7), and especially in the outstanding knowledge with which he shone and which especially puffs one up: for these reasons the Lord applied a remedy, lest he be lifted up with pride. And this is what he says: to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations: "Do not exalt yourself through your soul's counsel, lest your soul be torn in pieces like a bull" (Sir. 6:2); "Being exalted I have been humbled and troubled" (Ps. 88:15, Vulgate). Furthermore, to show that these revelations were made to him, he says: a thorn was given me, i.e., for my benefit and my humiliation: "You have lifted me up and set me as it were upon the wind" (Job 31:22); there was given, I say, to me a thorn tormenting my body with bodily weakness, that the soul might be healed. For it is said that he literally suffered a great deal from pain in the ileum [pelvis]. Or a thorn in the flesh, i.e., of concupiscence arising from my flesh, because he was troubled a great deal: "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do... So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand... So then, I of myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin" (Rom. 7:19, 21, 25). Hence, Augustine says that there existed in him movements of concupiscence which God's grace, nevertheless, restrained.

That thorn, I say, is a messenger of Satan, i.e., a wicked angel, for it was an angel sent by God or permitted, but it was Satan's because Satan's intention is to subvert, but God's is to humble and to render approved. Let the sinner beware, if the Apostle and vessel of election was not secure.

Although he asked three times, his request was not granted. It is not that he was disregarded but that he was making a plea which was against his own best interests.

If the Father gives us everything we ask in the name of the Son, what then does it mean that Paul asked the Lord three times and did not deserve to be heard, but it was said to him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness"? Did not that most excellent preacher ask in the name of the Son? Why then did he not receive what he asked? How then is it true that whatever we ask the Father in the name of the Son, the Father gives us, if the Apostle asked in the name of the Son that the angel of Satan be removed from him, and yet did not receive what he asked? But since the name of the Son is Jesus, and Jesus means savior, or is also called salvation, therefore he asks in the name of the Savior who asks for that which pertains to true salvation. For if something that is not expedient is asked for, the Father is not being asked in the name of Jesus. Hence it is that Paul also is not heard, because if he were freed from the temptation, it would not profit him unto salvation.

Accordingly, whether we have our requests granted or not, let us persist in asking and render thanks not only when we gain what we ask but also when we fail to. Failure to gain, you see, when that is what God wants, is not worse than succeeding; we do not know what is to our advantage in this regard in the way he does understand. The result is, then, that succeeding or failing we ought to give thanks. Why are you surprised that we don't know what is to our advantage? Paul, a man of such quality and stature, judged worthy of ineffable blessings, did not know what was advantageous in his requests: when he saw himself beset with trouble and diverse tribulations, he prayed to be rid of them, not once or twice but many times. "Three times I asked the Lord," he says.… "Three" means he asked frequently without success. So let us see how he was affected by it: surely he didn't take it badly? He didn't turn fainthearted, did he? He didn't become dispirited, did he? Not at all. On the contrary, what? God said, "My grace is sufficient for you; my power has its full effect in weakness." Not only did he not free him of the troubles afflicting him, but he even allowed him to persevere in them. True enough; but how does it emerge that he did not take it badly? Listen to Paul's own words when he learned what the Lord had decided: "I will gladly boast of my weaknesses." Not only, he says, do I no longer seek to be rid of them, but I even boast of them with greater satisfaction. Do you see his grateful spirit? Do you see his love for God?… So we ought to yield to the Creator of our nature, and with joy and great relish accept those things that he has decided on and have an eye not to the appearance of events but to the decisions of the Lord. After all, he who knows better than we what is for our benefit also knows what steps must be taken for our salvation.

"Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice."

That is, oftentimes. This also is a mark of great lowliness of mind, his not concealing that he could not bear those insidious plottings, that he fainted under them and was reduced to pray for deliverance.

"Thrice I besought" — that is, "many times I besought." It also serves as a sign of his humility that he confessed he could not endure the snares of the devil and the sufferings, and asked for help.

Now the Apostle was anxious to have this thorn removed and prayed that it might; hence he says: Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me. Here it should be noted a sick person, ignorant of the reason why a physician supplies a stinging plaster, asks him to remove it. But the physician, knowing its purpose, that is, for health, does not oblige him, caring more for his improvement. Similarly the Apostle, feeling that the sting was painful to him, sought the help of the unique physician to remove it. For he expressly and devoutly asked God three times to remove it, the thorn, from him: "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you" (2 Chr. 20:12). Perhaps he asked this many times, but he asked him expressly and earnestly three times, or three times, namely, many times. For three is a perfect number. And of course it was right to ask, because "For he wounds, but he binds up" (Job 5:18); "Pray that you may not enter into temptation" (Lk. 22:46).

Paul is clearly teaching that the time for boasting is when one is being humiliated by unjust injuries. Christ gives us the power to endure these so that what previously appeared to be painful and loathsome may be accepted with gladness.

The more one easily conquers, the less one needs combat. But who would fight within himself if there were no opposition from self? And why is there opposition from self if nothing remains in us to be healed and cured? Therefore, the sole cause of our fighting is weakness in ourselves. Again, weakness cautions against pride. Truly, that strength and virtue by which one is not proud in this life where he could be proud is made perfect in weakness.

But if you ask how these things come about, ask grace, not doctrine; desire, not understanding; the groaning of prayer, not the study of reading; the Bridegroom, not the master; God, not man; darkness, not clarity; not light, but the fire that wholly inflames and carries into God through ecstatic anointings and most ardent affections. Which fire is indeed God, and his furnace is in Jerusalem, and Christ kindles this in the fervor of his most ardent passion, which only he truly perceives who says: My soul has chosen hanging, and my bones death. Whoever loves this death can see God, because it is indubitably true: No man shall see me and live. Let us die, therefore, and enter into the darkness; let us impose silence upon our cares, concupiscences, and phantasms; let us pass over with Christ crucified from this world to the Father, so that, when the Father is shown to us, we may say with Philip: It suffices us; let us hear with Paul: My grace suffices for you; let us exult with David, saying: My flesh and my heart have failed, God of my heart and God my portion forever. Blessed be the Lord forever, and let all the people say: So be it, so be it. Amen.

When some infirmity and weakness and desolation attacks us, then our power is made perfect, and our faith is crowned if it has stood firm through temptation.

The modern world, when it praises its little Caesars, talks of being strong and brave: but it does not seem to see the eternal paradox involved in the conjunction of these ideas. The strong cannot be brave. Only the weak can be brave; and yet again, in practice, only those who can be brave can be trusted, in time of doubt, to be strong. The only way in which a giant could really keep himself in training against the inevitable Jack would be by continually fighting other giants ten times as big as himself. That is by ceasing to be a giant and becoming a Jack. Thus that sympathy with the small or the defeated as such, with which we Liberals and Nationalists have been often reproached, is not a useless sentimentalism at all, as Mr. Wells and his friends fancy. It is the first law of practical courage. To be in the weakest camp is to be in the strongest school.

The truth is that the tradition of Christianity (which is still the only coherent ethic of Europe) rests on two or three paradoxes or mysteries which can easily be impugned in argument and as easily justified in life. One of them, for instance, is the paradox of hope or faith—that the more hopeless is the situation the more hopeful must be the man. Stevenson understood this, and consequently Mr. Moore cannot understand Stevenson. Another is the paradox of charity or chivalry that the weaker a thing is the more it should be respected, that the more indefensible a thing is the more it should appeal to us for a certain kind of defence. Thackeray understood this, and therefore Mr. Moore does not understand Thackeray.

Energetic people use energy as a means, but only very tired people ever use energy as a reason. Athletes go in for games, because athletes desire glory. Invalids go in for calisthenics; for invalids (alone of all human beings) desire strength. So long as the German Army points to its heraldic eagle and says, "I come in the name of this fierce but fabulous animal," the German Army will be all right. If ever it says, "I come in the name of bayonets," the bayonets will break like glass, for only the weak exhibit strength without an aim.

It is a good sign in a nation when such things are done badly. It shows that all the people are doing them. And it is a bad sign in a nation when such things are done very well, for it shows that only a few experts and eccentrics are doing them, and that the nation is merely looking on. Suppose that whenever we heard of walking in England it always meant walking forty-five miles a day without fatigue. We should be perfectly certain that only a few men were walking at all, and that all the other British subjects were being wheeled about in Bath-chairs. But if when we hear of walking it means slow walking, painful walking, and frequent fatigue, then we know that the mass of the nation still is walking. We know that England is still literally on its feet.

It is only we who play badly who love the Game itself. You love glory; you love applause; you love the earthquake voice of victory; you do not love croquet. You do not love croquet until you love being beaten at croquet. It is we the bunglers who adore the occupation in the abstract. It is we to whom it is art for art's sake. ... Our play is called amateurish; and we wear proudly the name of amateur, for amateurs is but the French for Lovers. We accept all adventures from our Lady, the most disastrous or the most dreary. ... The good painter has skill. It is the bad painter who loves his art. The good musician loves being a musician, the bad musician loves music.

All pessimism has a secret optimism for its object. All surrender of life, all denial of pleasure, all darkness, all austerity, all desolation has for its real aim this separation of something so that it may be poignantly and perfectly enjoyed. I feel grateful for the slight sprain which has introduced this mysterious and fascinating division between one of my feet and the other. The way to love anything is to realise that it might be lost. In one of my feet I can feel how strong and splendid a foot is; in the other I can realise how very much otherwise it might have been. The moral of the thing is wholly exhilarating. This world and all our powers in it are far more awful and beautiful than even we know until some accident reminds us. If you wish to perceive that limitless felicity, limit yourself if only for a moment.

And this is really all that we can do when we fight something really stronger than ourselves; we can deal it its death-wound one moment; it deals us death in the end. It is something if we can shock and jar the unthinking impetus and enormous innocence of evil; just as a pebble on a railway can stagger the Scotch express.

It follows: "That whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he may give it you." Behold, here he says: "Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." Again, elsewhere through the same Evangelist he says: "If you shall ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name." If the Father gives us everything we ask in the name of the Son, what then does it mean that Paul asked the Lord three times and did not deserve to be heard, but it was said to him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness"? Did not that most excellent preacher ask in the name of the Son? Why then did he not receive what he asked? How then is it true that whatever we ask the Father in the name of the Son, the Father gives us, if the Apostle asked in the name of the Son that the angel of Satan be removed from him, and yet did not receive what he asked? But since the name of the Son is Jesus, and Jesus means savior, or is also called salvation, therefore he asks in the name of the Savior who asks for that which pertains to true salvation. For if something that is not expedient is asked for, the Father is not being asked in the name of Jesus. Hence the Lord says to those same apostles while they were still weak: "Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name." As if it were openly said: You have not asked in the name of the Savior because you do not know how to seek eternal salvation. Hence it is that Paul also is not heard, because if he were freed from the temptation, it would not profit him unto salvation.

Long-suffering therefore was God, when man became a defaulter, as foreseeing that victory which should be granted to him through the Word. For, when strength was made perfect in weakness, it showed the kindness and transcendent power of God. For as He patiently suffered Jonah to be swallowed by the whale, not that he should be swallowed up and perish altogether, but that, having been cast out again, he might be the more subject to God, and might glorify Him the more who had conferred upon him such an unhoped-for deliverance, and might bring the Ninevites to a lasting repentance, so that they should be convened to the Lord, who would deliver them from death, having been struck with awe by that portent which had been wrought in Jonah's case, as the Scripture says of them, "And they returned each from his evil way, and the unrighteousness which was in their hands, saying, Who knoweth if God will repent, and turn away His anger from us, and we shall not perish?" -so also, from the beginning, did God permit man to be swallowed up by the great whale, who was the author of transgression, not that he should perish altogether when so engulphed; but, arranging and preparing the plan of salvation, which was accomplished by the Word, through the sign of Jonah, for those who held the same opinion as Jonah regarding the Lord, and who confessed, and said, "I am a servant of the Lord, and I worship the Lord God of heaven, who hath made the sea and the dry land." [This was done] that man, receiving an unhoped-for salvation from God, might rise from the dead, and glorify God, and repeat that word which was uttered in prophecy by Jonah: "I cried by reason of mine affliction to the Lord my God, and He heard me out of the belly of hell;" and that he might always continue glorifying God, and giving thanks without ceasing, for that salvation which he has derived from Him, "that no flesh should glory in the Lord's presence;" and that man should never adopt an opposite opinion with regard to God, supposing that the incorruptibility which belongs to him is his own naturally, and by thus not holding the truth, should boast with empty superciliousness, as if he were naturally like to God. For he (Satan) thus rendered him (man) more ungrateful towards his Creator, obscured the love which God had towards man, and blinded his mind not to perceive what is worthy of God, comparing himself with, and judging himself equal to, God.

"And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my power is made perfect in weakness."

That is to say, 'It is sufficient for thee that thou raisest the dead, that thou curest the blind, that thou cleansest lepers, that thou workest those other miracles; seek not also exemption from danger and fear and to preach without annoyances. But art thou pained and dejected lest it should seem to be owing to My weakness, that there are many who plot against and beat thee and harass and scourge thee? Why this very thing doth show My power. "For My power," He saith, "is made perfect in weakness," when being persecuted ye overcome your persecutors; when being harassed ye get the better of them that harass you; when being put in bonds ye convert them that put you in bonds. Seek not then more than is needed.' Seest thou how he himself assigns one reason, and God another? For he himself says, "Lest I should be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn;" but he says that God said He permitted it in order to show His power. 'Thou seekest therefore a thing which is not only not needed, but which also obscureth the glory of My power.' For by the words, "is sufficient for thee," He would signify this, that nothing else need be added, but the whole was complete. So that from this also it is plain that he does not intend pains in the head; for in truth they did not preach when they were sick, for they could not preach when ill; but that harassed and persecuted, they overcame all. 'After having heard this then,' he says,

"Most gladly therefore will I glory in my weaknesses." For that they may not sink down, when those false Apostles are glorying over their contrary lot and these are suffering persecution, he shows that he shineth all the brighter for this, and that thus the power of God shines forth the rather, and what happens is just matter for glorying. Wherefore he says, "Most gladly therefore will I glory." 'Not as therefore sorrowing did I speak of the things which I enumerated, or of that which I have just now said, "there was given to me a thorn;" but as priding myself upon them and drawing to myself greater power.' Wherefore also he adds,

"That the strength of Christ may rest upon me." Here he hints at another thing also, namely, that in proportion as the trials waxed in intensity, in the same proportion the grace was increased and continued.

We learn from this that even a wrong prayer will receive an answer, even if it does not get what it wants.

God's power is made perfect in persecutions and sufferings.

Still, we must realize that as you cannot have a persecution without evil on the part of the devil or a trial of faith without a persecution, the evil that seems required for the trial of faith is not the cause of persecution but only its instrument. The real cause of the persecution is the act of God's will, choosing that there be a trial of faith; then there follows evil on the part of the devil as the chosen instrument of persecution which is the proximate cause of the trial of faith. For in other respects too, insofar as evil is the rival of justice, to that extent it provides material to give testimony of that of which it is a rival, and so justice may be said to be perfected in injustice, as strength is perfected in weakness. For the weak things of the world are chosen by God that the strong may be put to shame, and the foolish things of this world to put to shame its wisdom. Thus even evil may be used that justice may be glorified when evil is put to shame.

All proof of abstinence is lost when excess is impossible; for sundry things have thus their evidence in their contraries. Just as "strength is made perfect in weakness," so likewise is continence made manifest by the permission to marry.

Is he then the same God as He who gave Satan power over the person of Job that his "strength might be made perfect in weakness? " How is it that the censurer of the Galatians still retains the very formula of the law: "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established? " How again is it that he threatens sinners "that he will not spare" them -he, the preacher of a most gentle god? Yea, he even declares that "the Lord hath given to him the power of using sharpness in their presence!" Deny now, O heretic, (at your cost, ) that your god is an object to be feared, when his apostle was for making himself so formidable!

He will love the flesh which is, so very closely and in so many ways, His neighbour-(He will love it), although infirm, since His strength is made perfect in weakness; although disordered, since "they that are whole need not the physician, but they that are sick; " although not honourable, since "we bestow more abundant honour upon the less honourable members; " although ruined, since He says, "I am come to save that which was lost; " although sinful, since He says, "I desire rather the salvation of the sinner than his death; " although condemned, for says He, "I shall wound, and also heal.

In this way also "shall strength be made perfect in weakness," -saving what is lost, reviving what is dead, healing what is stricken, curing what is faint, redeeming what is lost, freeing what is enslaved, recalling what has strayed, raising what is fallen; and this from earth to heaven, where, as the apostle teaches the Philippians, "we have our citizenship, from whence also we look for our Saviour Jesus Christ, who shall change our body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body" -of course after the resurrection, because Christ Himself was not glorified before He suffered.

Lastly, when Paul is praying the Lord for its removal, what does he hear? "Hold my grace sufficient; for virtue is perfected in infirmity." This they who are surrendered to Satan cannot hear.

For in other respects, too, injustice in proportion to the enmity it displays against righteousness affords occasion for attestations of that to which it is opposed as an enemy, that so righteousness may be perfected in injustice, as strength is perfected in weakness. For the weak things of the world have been chosen by God to confound the strong, and the foolish things of the world to confound its wisdom.

Paul wanted to make it clear that his affliction was not a natural property of the body but something which was intended by God for a higher purpose.

And He said to me, he says, My grace is sufficient for you — that is, it is enough for you that I have given you the grace to raise the dead and perform all miracles. Do not ask, then, that your preaching advance without dangers, for that is excessive; but what is sufficient for you, you have received.

That is, you suffer, Paul, so that it would not seem that many are placing obstacles to the preaching due to My weakness; take courage, for My power is revealed more fully when you, the persecuted, overcome the persecutors. Note, he himself said that he was given over to temptations so that he would not be exalted; but God indicates another reason for this, namely that His power will only be fully revealed when the apostles are in weakness, that is, amid persecutions and dangers.

Since, he says, I have heard that the power of God is made perfect in weakness, I will henceforth boast in my weaknesses, for the more numerous they are, the more abundant power of God they will bring down upon me. Therefore, do not think that I speak of the thorn with sorrow, but rather I rejoice and boast, since through the multiplication of afflictions I draw upon myself the greater power of God.

Then he states the Lord's answer: but he, i.e., the Lord, said to me: My grace is sufficient for you. Here he does two things. First, he states the Lord's answer; secondly, the reason for the answer (v. 9b).

He says therefore, I asked, but the Lord said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. As if to say: it is not necessary that this bodily weakness leave you, because it is not dangerous, for you will not be led into impatience, since my grace strengthens you; or that this weakness of concupiscence depart, because it will not lead you to sin, for my grace will protect you: "Justified by his grace as a gift" (Rom. 3:24). And of course, God's grace is sufficient for avoiding evil, doing good, and attaining to eternal life: "By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10); "But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:25).

But on the other hand it says in Jn. (15:16): "Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you." Therefore, Paul either asked discreetly and deserved to be heard, or indiscreetly and hence sinned. I answer that a man can speak of one and the same thing in two ways: in one way according to itself and the nature of things; in another way according to its relation to something else. Hence, it happens that something evil according to itself and to be avoided is in relation to something else able to be sought. Thus, a medicine, inasmuch as it is bitter should be avoided, yet, when it is considered in relation to health, a person seeks it. Therefore a thorn in the flesh according to itself is to be avoided as troublesome, but inasmuch as it is a means to virtue and an exercise of virtue, it should be desired. But because that secret of divine providence, namely, that it would turn out to his advantage, had not been revealed to him yet, the Apostle considered that in itself it was bad for him. But God who had ordained this to the good of his humility did not oblige him, as far as his wish was concerned; indeed, once he understood its purpose, the Apostle gloried in it, saying, I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon [dwell in] me. And although he did not oblige him as to his wish, yet he heard him and does hear his saints to their advantage. Hence, Jerome says in the Letter to Paulinus: "The good Lord frequently does not grant what we wish, in order to bestow what we should prefer."

Then he gives the reason for the Lord's response when he says, for my power is made perfect in weakness [infirmity]. This is a remarkable expression: virtue is made perfect in infirmity; fire grows in water. But this can be understood in two ways, namely, materially and by way of occasion. If it is taken materially, the sense is this: infirmity is the material on which to exercise virtue; first, humility, as stated above; secondly, patience: "The testing of your faith produces steadfastness" (Jas. 1:3); thirdly, temperance, because hunger is weakened by infirmity and a person is made temperate. But if it is taken as an occasion, infirmity is the occasion for arriving at perfect virtue, because a man who knows that he is weak is more careful when resisting, and as a result of fighting and resisting more he is better exercised and, therefore, stronger. Hence it says in Jdg. (3:1) that the Lord was not willing to destroy all the inhabitants of the land, but preserved some in order that the children of Israel might be exercised by fighting against them. In the same way, Scipio also did not wish to destroy the city of Carthage, in order that the Romans, having external enemies, would not have internal enemies, against whom it is more painful to wage war than against outsiders, as he said.

Then the Apostle mentions the effect of this answer from the Lord, saying: I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. He mentions two effects. One is glorying; hence he says: because my virtue is made perfect in infirmity, I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, i.e., given to me for my profit; and this because it joins me closer to Christ: "But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14); "But he that is glorified in poverty, how much more in wealth?" (Sir. 10:34. Vulgate). The reason I will glory gladly is that the power of Christ may rest upon me [dwell in me], i.e., that through infirmity the grace of Christ may dwell and be made perfect in me: "He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength" (Is. 40:29).