Colossians 2:20–3:3

Indeed, we are often deceived by sight, and we see things for the most part other than they really are. We are deceived by hearing too. And so, if we do not wish to be deceived, let us contemplate not what is seen but what is unseen…. On this account the apostle also cries out: "Do not touch, nor taste, nor handle, things which must all perish"; for things which are for the body's indulgence are also for its corruption.

With the knowledge of what Paul had seen and heard in paradise, he cried out saying: "Why, as if still viewing the world do you lay down rules: 'Do not touch; nor handle; nor taste!'—things which must all perish in their very use!" He wished us to be in the world in figure, not in actual possession and use of it. We are to use the world as if we did not use it, as if we were but passing through, not residing in it, walking through as in a dream, not with desire, so that with the speed of thought we might pass through the shadow of this world.

[Some] say that Paul was a teacher of wantonness. Pray, who will be a teacher of sobriety if he taught wantonness, for he chastised his body and brought it to subjection and by many fasts said that he had rendered the worship which is due to Christ. He did so not to praise himself and his deeds but to teach us what example we must follow. Did he give us instruction in wantonness when he said: " 'Do not touch; nor handle; nor taste!' things that must all perish in their use"? And he also said that we must live "Not in indulgence of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying and love of the flesh, not in the lusts of error; but in the Spirit by whom we are renewed."

The problem is that the Colossians worship worldly things, put their hope in them, and not in Christ alone … so that these rules have been cut off from the head, who is Christ, and thus have become the basis of a pseudoreligion and a sacrilege. .

As to the words "Touch not, taste not, handle not," they are not to be considered as a commandment of the apostle forbidding us to touch, taste or handle something or other. It is just the opposite, if I am not deluded by the obscurity of the passage. Surely he used these words in mockery of those by whom he did not want his followers to be deceived and led astray. They were the ones who made a distinction of foods according to the worship of angels and issued decrees for this life, saying: "Touch not, taste not, handle not," although "all things are clean to the clean." "For every creature of God is good," as he assures us in another place. .

What is so praiseworthy as a show of wisdom, and what so detestable as the superstition of error? Humility, also, both pleasing to God and eminently praiseworthy in true religion, is given with a show of wisdom to those of whose teachings and actions we are told: "Touch not, taste not, handle not, which are unto destruction," because they are not of God, and "all that is not of faith, is sin." … I wish to know what this humility is and this show of wisdom which he says is in their superstition, which comes from the doctrines of men…. I think he is speaking of a pretended and useless abstinence such as heretics usually strive after … because they put on the appearance of a holy work, but, as they do not practice it in the fold of truth, they gain neither honor nor the reward of glory. .

Therefore there is nothing meritorious about abstinence from marriage unless it arises from love to God. At any rate the blessed Paul says of those who revile marriage: "In the last times some shall depart from the faith, turning to spirits of error and doctrines inspired by daemons, forbidding to marry and commanding abstinence from food." And again he says: "Let no one disqualify you by demanding self-imposed ascetic practices and severe treatment of the body."

That he who has attained to trust, having put off the former man, ought to regard only celestial and spiritual things, and to give no heed to the world which he has already renounced. In Isaiah: "Seek ye the Lord; and when ye have found Him, call upon Him. But when He hath come near unto you, let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him be turned unto the Lord, and he shall obtain mercy, because He will plentifully pardon your sins." Of this same thing in Solomon: "I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; and, lo, all are vanity." Of this same thing in Exodus: "But thus shall ye eat it; your loins girt, and your shoes on your feet, and your staves in your hands: and ye shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord's passover." Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewith shall we be clothed? for these things the nations seek after. But your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Likewise in the same place: "Think not for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for itself. Sufficient unto the day is its own evil." Likewise in the same place: "No one looking back, and putting his hands to the plough, is fit for the kingdom of God." Also in the same place: "Behold the fowls of the heaven: for they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of more value than they? " Concerning this same thing, according to Luke: "Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning; and ye like unto men that wait for their lord, when he cometh from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him. Blessed are those servants, whom their lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." Of this same thing in Matthew: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where He may lay His head." Also in the same place: "Whoso forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple." Of this same thing in the first to the Corinthians: "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body." Also in the same place: "The time is limited. It remaineth, therefore, that both they who have wives be as though they have them not, and they who lament as they that lament not, and they that rejoice as they that rejoice not, and they who buy as they that buy not, and they who possess as they who possess not, and they who use this world as they that use it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away." Also in the same place: "The first man is of the clay of the earth, the second man from heaven. As he is of the clay, such also are they who are of the clay; and as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly. Even as we have borne the image of him who is of the clay, let us bear His image also who is from heaven." Of this same matter to the Philippians: "All seek their own, and not those things which are Christ's; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and their glory is to their confusion, who mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven, whence also we expect the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall transform the body of our humiliation conformed to the body of His glory." Of this very matter to Galatians: "But be it far from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Concerning this same thing to Timothy: "No man that warreth for God bindeth himself with worldly annoyances, that he may please Him to whom he hath approved himself. But and if a man should contend, he will not be crowned unless he fight lawfully." Of this same thing to the Colossians: "If ye be dead with Christ from I the elements of the world, why still, as if living in the world, do ye follow vain things? " Also concerning this same thing: "If ye have risen together with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. Give heed to the things that are above, not to those things which are on the earth; for ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ your life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." Of this same thing to the Ephesians: Put off the old man of the former conversation, who is corrupted, according to the lusts of deceit. But be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, him who according to God is ordained in righteousness, and holiness, and truth." Of this same thing in the Epistle of Peter: "As strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; but having a good conversation among the Gentiles, that while they detract from you as if from evildoers, yet, beholding your good works, they may magnify God." Of this same thing in the Epistle of John: "He who saith he abideth in Christ, ought himself also to walk even as He walked." Also in the same place: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Because everything which is in the world is lust of the flesh, and lust of the eyes, and the ambition of this world, which is not of the Father, but of the lust of this world. And the world shall pass away with its lust. But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as God abideth for ever." Also in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new dough, as ye are unleavened. For also Christ our passover is sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not in the old leaven, nor in the leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

And to return to the praise of martyrdom, there is a word of the blessed Paul, who says; "Know ye not that they who run in a race strive many, but one receiveth the prize? But do ye so run, that all of you may obtain." Moreover also elsewhere, that be may exhort us to martyrdom, he has called us fellow-heirs with Christ; nay, that he might omit nothing, he says, "If ye are dead with Christ, why, as if living in the world, do ye make distinctions? " Because, dearest brethren, we who bear the rewards of resurrection, who seek for the day of judgment, who, in fine, are trusting that we shall reign with Christ, ought to be dead to the world. For you can neither desire martyrdom till you have first hated the world, nor attain to God's reward unless you have loved Christ. And he who loves Christ does not love the world. For Christ was given up by the world, even as the world also was given up by Christ; as it is written, "The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." The world has been an object of affection to none whom the Lord has not previously condemned; nor could he enjoy eternal salvation who has gloried in the life of the world. That is the very voice of Christ, who says: "He that loveth his life in this world, shall lose it in the world to come; but he that hateth his life in this world, shall find it in the world to come." Moreover, also, the Apostle Paul says: "Be ye imitators of me, as I also am of Christ." And the same elsewhere says: "I wish that all of you, if it were possible, should be imitators of me."

This is what the apostle said: "You make observations of the months and of the times and of the years." Or again: "Do not touch, do not taste, do not pick up." And there is no doubt that this is said about the superstitions of the law. To plunge into them is to be an adulterer from Christ.

"If ye died with Christ." He puts that in the middle, and on either side, expressions of greater vehemence. "If ye died with Christ from the elements of the world," he saith, "why as though living in the world do ye subject yourselves to ordinances?" This is not the consequence, for what ought to have been said is, "how as though living are ye subject to those elements?" But letting this pass, what saith he?

And again he said, "If ye died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as if ye were living in the world, do ye receive the commandments?" Now a man arriveth at this rule of life after he hath stripped himself of his possessions, and beginneth to work good deeds in the members of his person, for so long as he hath riches, he justifieth himself by riches, and he emptieth not himself from the cares of riches which he serveth in himself.

These prohibitions about eating and drinking that you hear from the Greeks are based on their mistaken conviction that you should not partake of anything living. But all this has been given for consumption and nourishment. So, don't pay attention to what has been given in accordance with their teaching. .

And therefore (the apostle) says that "sin dwelleth in the flesh," because the soul by which sin is provoked has its temporary lodging in the flesh, which is doomed indeed to death, not however on its own account, but on account of sin. For he says in another passage also "How is it that you conduct yourselves as if you were even now living in the world?" where he is not writing to dead persons, but to those who ought to have ceased to live after the ways of the world.

Through baptism, he says, having died with Christ, you died to your entire former life, so that you would no longer serve the elements to which you were previously subject. Therefore, why do you submit to them again, as if living your former life? You consider one day fortunate and another unfortunate, but these are Hellenic observances. See how imperceptibly he mocks them, saying: "you submit to ordinances" – δογματίζεσθε. You, he says, like children who have just begun to learn, sit receiving teachings and instructions about what must be done.

Then (v. 20), he rebukes those who have already been deceived. First, he bases the reason for his rebuke on the condition of those who have been deceived; and secondly, on the matters about which they were misled (v. 22).

Their condition was one of freedom, because just as they were dead to sin, so also they were dead to the law. Thus they were not obliged to keep it. Paul says, therefore, If with Christ you died, being dead to the law, to the elements, that is, to the observances of the law (for the Jewish people served the true God, but under the elements; while the Gentiles served the elements themselves), why, since you know the truth, do you live as if you still belonged to the world, like the Jews live? Why do you submit to regulations about what is to be handled and eaten; regulations such as do not handle, because it is a sin; do not taste pork or eels (Lev 11:7, 11)?

"Handle not, nor taste, nor touch; all which things are to perish with the using; after the precepts and doctrines of men." Ye are not in the world, he saith, how is it ye are subject to its elements? how to its observances? And mark how he makes sport of them, "touch not, handle not, taste not," as though they were cowards and keeping themselves clear of some great matters, "all which things are to perish with the using." He has taken down the swollenness of the many, and added, "after the precepts and doctrines of men." What sayest thou? Dost thou speak even of the Law? Henceforth it is but a doctrine of men, after the time is come. Or, because they adulterated it, or else, he alludes to the Gentile institutions. The doctrine, he says, is altogether of man.

For Moses had evidently received the law from God. When, therefore, he speaks of their "following the commandments and doctrines of men," he refers to the conduct of those persons who "held not the Head," even Him in whom all things are gathered together; for they are all recalled to Christ, and concentrated in Him as their initiating principle -even the meats and drinks which were indifferent in their nature.

He also brings up another observation of theirs regarding food, one that is predominantly Jewish, just as the one regarding days was brought up as Hellenic. Shaming the arrogance of the local dogmatists (false teachers), the apostle says that all of this is unimportant, but ends in decay in those who consume it; having decayed in the stomach, it is then expelled through the bowels, so that for the soul there is in this, as it is in itself, neither benefit nor harm.

These are not divine instructions, but human ordinances. So then, what? Is the law not the teaching of God? – It existed when there was a time for it, but now it no longer exists, because its time has been fulfilled. Or he says this because the Jewish elders distorted it, establishing traditions apart from the law, as Christ also speaks of this in the Gospel. Or he is alluding to the teachings of the Greeks.

Then (v. 22), he describes these legal observances, saying that they are harmful, vain, and burdensome; thus Paul says, which all perish as they are used, because after the passion of Christ they were deadly to all those who placed their hope in them; but after grace had been spread among the people, such things were deadly to all, absolutely. (I am saying this because it is the opinion of Jerome and Augustine which I mentioned in commenting on the second chapter of Galatians). And so they lead to destruction and death. Why, then, do we still read the Old Testament? I answer that we read it as a witness, but not as something to be observed. Thus Paul says, which all perish as they are used, that is, if they are not regarded merely as a witness, but are observed.

"Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh." "Show," he saith; not power, not truth. So that even though they have a show of wisdom, let us turn away from them. For he may seem to be a religious person, and modest, and to have a contempt for the body.

"Not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh." For God hath given it honor, but they use it not with honor. Thus, when it is a doctrine, he knows how to call it honor. They dishonor the flesh, he says, depriving it, and stripping it of its liberty, not giving leave to rule it with its will. God hath honored the flesh.

That which springs from a virtue of the mind is perfected in the flesh; and, finally, by the patience of the flesh, does battle under persecution. If flight press hard, the flesh wars with the inconvenience of flight; if imprisonment overtake us, the flesh (still was) in bonds, the flesh in the gyve, the flesh in solitude, and in that want of light, and in that patience of the world's misusage.

They have an appearance of wisdom, but not the power and truth. For the one who teaches this seems pious, modest, and contemptuous of the body for the sake of abstaining from food. However, God honored the body and gave foods so that, being nourished by them, the flesh could exist and voluntarily master the passions. But they do not hold the body in honor, but deprive it of what is due, taking away its authority and not allowing it to act without compulsion.

Further, things that are not founded on reason or authority are vain. But these things are not founded on divine authority, but on human authority. Thus Paul says, according to human precepts. But these precepts were from God, were they not? I say that they were, but were to be only for a time, until the truth should come: "For the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God" (Mt 15:6). Furthermore, they are not founded on reason, because they have indeed an appearance of wisdom in superstition, meaning, they are based on reasons that lead to superstition, that is, to a religion that is extreme and past its time. And their reasons lead to self-abasement, which is not genuine, because a person who has been freed from the slavery of the law by Christ, should not submit himself to this slavery again: "Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Gal 5:1). Sometimes precepts that do not rest on divine authority are observed because they are useful for some human purpose.

But this is not the case here, for these precepts considered in themselves are a burden. We desire three things: rest, honor and a fulness; and these are not produced by these legal observances. For the ban on foods is opposed to fulness, and becomes a burden because so many rules are involved. Further, these observances do not produce honor, but bring much confusion, as when ashes are sprinkled about, and the like: "A yoke upon the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear" (Ac 15:10). Such practices lead to a severity to the body, that is, the Church, and not to the honor of God; rather they serve only to indulge the flesh, i.e., to satisfy carnal desire.

Let us think upon the things that are above, on the heavenly things, and meditate on them, where Christ has been lifted up and exalted. But let us forsake the world which is not ours, that we may arrive at the place to which we have been invited. Let us raise up our eyes on high, that we may see the splendor which shall be revealed.

Because the inner man, too, if he is certainly renewed from day to day, is surely old before he is renewed. For that is done inwardly, which the same apostle says: "Put off the old man and put on the new man." And he offers an explanation of this in the words that follow: "Wherefore putting away lying, speak the truth." But where is lying put away, except inwardly, in order that he may dwell in the holy mountain of God who speaks the truth in his heart. … And the words of the apostle are in keeping with this mystery [i.e., of inner resurrection]: "But if you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God; mind the things that are above." .

The holy Apostle exhorts us to attain true wisdom and to flee vain wisdom. He touches on the first when he says: "If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above." He gives us to understand that just as there is a twofold gaze of the soul, so there is a twofold desire of it. One gaze of the soul is toward heavenly and invisible things, the other is toward earthly and corruptible things: so also there is a twofold desire of the soul: one is for eternal things, and the other is for temporal things. So also there is a wisdom which is from above, and another which is from below. He exhorts us to the first.

But where is Christ? Certainly, above in heaven; the Apostle says: "Seek the things that are above." Therefore Christ and life are in heaven. Christ is the fountain of wisdom; He Himself is the foundation and completion of this gift.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. But when Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.". Give heed to the things that are above, not to those things which are on the earth; for ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ your life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory."

What is the resurrection of the soul, of which the apostle speaks, saying, "If then you have been raised with Christ"? When the apostle said, "God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined into our hearts," he showed this resurrection to be the exodus from the old state which in the likeness of Sheol incarcerates a man so that the light of the gospel will not shine mystically upon him. This is a breath of life through hope in the resurrection, and by it the dawning of divine wisdom shines in his heart, so that a man should become new, having nothing of the old man. Then the image of Christ is formed in us through the Spirit of wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of him.

"If then ye were raised together with Christ." He brings them together, having above established that He died. Therefore he saith, "If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above." No observances are there. "Where Christ is seated on the right hand of God." Wonderful! Whither hath he led our minds aloft! How hath he filled them with mighty aspiration! It was not enough to say, "the things that are above," nor yet, "where Christ is," but what? "seated on the right hand of God." From that point he was preparing them henceforward to see the earth.

In so many words he says: "Since ye are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." Accordingly, it is in our mind that he shows that we rise (with Christ), since it is by this alone that we are as yet able to reach to heavenly objects.

Having said "having been buried with Him," namely through baptism, and having made clear what is left unsaid, that is, that they also rose with Him (for baptism depicts death through immersion in water, and resurrection through rising from the water), he now also persuades them that if you have risen with Christ, then after this you must be on high, there where He also is, where there are no observances, you must think about heavenly things. For these observances concerning food and days are earthly and bodily and have nothing lofty and spiritual about them, since they are commandments of earthly people. And he was not satisfied with having said "the things above" and "where Christ is," but added "sits at the right hand of God," in order to turn our mind even further away from earthly things.

Above, the Apostle warned the faithful about those who wished to deceive them; here he teaches them to avoid evil habits. First, he gives his teaching in a general way; secondly, he presents it in more detail (v. 18). In regard to the first he does two things. First, he teaches them to have a right intention in regard to their end, and in the second place, he instructs them about the rectitude of their human actions (v. 5). The first is divided into two parts. First, he gives the main idea of his teaching, seek the things that are above; and secondly, he gives the reason why they should do so, for you have died. In regard to the first he does two things. First, he mentions the benefit they have received; secondly, he draws his conclusion, set your minds on things that are above.

The benefit that we have received is that, with the resurrection of Christ, we also have risen. And we have risen in two ways. First, by a hope for our bodily resurrection: "Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?" (1 Cor. 15:12). In the second way, with the resurrection of Christ we are restored to the life of justice: "He was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification" (Rom 4:25). Paul is saying in effect: When Christ arose, you also arose: "He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus," as we read in 2 Corinthians (4:14).

Paul says, therefore, If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above: "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well" (Mt 6:33). For this is our end: "One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life" (Ps 27:4). Therefore, seek this, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God: "So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God" (Mk 16:19); "Sit at my right hand" (Ps 110:1). By "the right hand of God" he does not mean a member of a body, but he is speaking figuratively, for the right hand of a person is the stronger. Christ sits at the right hand of the Father because, as man, he shares in the stronger and better goods of the Father, while as God, Christ is equal to the Father. Consequently, you should have this intention: that just as Christ died and arose, and was taken up to sit at the right hand of God, so you should die to sin in order to live a life of justice and so be taken up into glory. Or, we could say, that we arose through Christ; but he is seated at the right hand of God, and so our desire should be to be with him: "Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together" (Mt 24:28); "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Mt 6:21).

"And I saw thrones, and them that sate upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were slain on account of the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast nor his image, nor have received his writing on their forehead or in their hand; and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years: the rest of them lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." There are two resurrections. But the first resurrection is now of the souls that are by the faith, which does not permit men to pass over to the second death. Of this resurrection the apostle says: "If ye have risen with Christ, seek those things which are above."

Do not set your mind on the things that are upon the earth, for Christ was crucified to make void this wisdom; and just as Christ died to make void and destroy vain wisdom, so he rose again and ascended to teach true wisdom and to establish it in our hearts. On the cross he taught us to spurn the wisdom of the world, and going into heaven he taught us to desire the wisdom of God and to love the fountain of life. All the wisdom of the world is to spurn these things. But the greatest foolishness is to make void the death of Christ, which those do who mind the things that are upon the earth; therefore it is necessary to make void this wisdom and to desire the wisdom that is from above.

So … if reason instead assumes sway over such emotions, each of them is transmuted to a form of virtue. For anger produces courage, terror caution, fear obedience, hatred aversion from vice, the power of love the desire for what is truly beautiful. High spirit in our character raises our thought above the passions and keeps it from bondage to what is base. Indeed, even the great apostle praises such a form of mental elevation when he bids us constantly to "think those things that are above." So we find that every such motion, when elevated by loftiness of mind, is conformed to the beauty of the divine image.

"Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life shall be manifested, then shall ye also with Him be manifested in glory."

This is not your life, he saith, it is some other one. He is now urgent to remove them, and insists upon showing that they are seated above, and are dead; from both considerations establishing the position, that they are not to seek the things which are here. For whether ye be dead, ye ought not to seek them; or whether ye be above, ye ought not to seek them. Doth Christ appear? Neither doth your life. It is in God, above. What then? When shall we live? When Christ shall be manifested, who is your life; then seek ye glory, then life, then enjoyment.

This is to prepare the way for drawing them off from pleasure and ease. Such is his wont: when establishing one position, he darts off to another; as, for instance, when discoursing of those who at supper were beforehand with one another, he all at once falls upon the observance of the Mysteries. For he hath a great rebuke when it is administered unsuspected. "It is hid," he saith, from you. "Then shall ye also with Him be manifested." So that, now, ye do not appear. See how he hath removed them into the very heaven. For, as I said, he is always bent upon showing that they have the very same things which Christ hath; and through all his Epistles, the tenor is this, to show that in all things they are partakers with Him. Therefore he uses the terms, Head, and Body, and does everything to convey this to them.

If therefore we shall then be manifested, let us not grieve, when we enjoy not honor: if this life be not life, but it be hidden, we ought to live this life as though dead. "Then shall ye also," he saith, "with Him be manifested in glory." "In glory," he said, not merely "manifested." For the pearl too is hidden so long as it is within the oyster. If then we be treated with insult, let us not grieve; or whatever it be we suffer; for this life is not our life, we are strangers and sojourners. "For ye died," he saith. Who is so witless, as for a corpse, dead and buried, either to buy servants, or build houses, or prepare costly raiment? None. Neither then do ye; but as we seek one thing only, namely, that we be not in a naked state, so here too let us seek one thing and no more. Our first man is buried: buried not in earth, but in water; not death-destroyed, but buried by death's destroyer, not by the law of nature, but by the governing command that is stronger than nature. For what has been done by nature, may perchance be undone; but what has been done by His command, never. Nothing is more blessed than this burial, whereat all are rejoicing, both Angels, and men, and the Lord of Angels. At this burial, no need is there of vestments, nor of coffin, nor of anything else of that kind. Wouldest thou see the symbol of this? I will show thee a pool wherein the one was buried, the other raised; in the Red Sea the Egyptians were sunk beneath it, but the Israelites went up from out of it; in the same act he buries the one, generates the other.

Marvel not that generation and destruction take place in Baptism; for, tell me, dissolving and cementing, are they not opposite? It is evident to all. Such is the effect of fire; for fire dissolves and destroys wax, but it cements together metallic earth, and works it into gold. So in truth here also, the force of the fire, having obliterated the statue of wax, has displayed a golden one in its stead; for in truth before the Bath we were of clay, but after it of gold. Whence is this evident? Hear him saying, "The first man is of the earth, earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven." I spoke of a difference as great as that between clay and gold; but greater still do I find the difference between heavenly and earthy; not so widely do clay and gold differ, as do things earthy and heavenly. Waxen we were, and clay-formed. For the flame of lust did much more melt us, than fire doth wax, and any chance temptation did far rather shatter us than a stone doth things of clay.

This is the reason why no one obeys their precepts; inasmuch as they either train men to vices, if they defend pleasure; or if they uphold virtue, they neither threaten sin with any punishment, except that of disgrace only, nor do they promise any reward to virtue, except that of honour and praise only, since they say that virtue is to be sought for its own sake, and not on account of any other object. The wise man therefore is happy under tortures; but when he suffers torture on account of his faith, on account of justice, or on account of God, that endurance of pain will render him most happy. For it is God alone who can honour virtue, the reward of which is immortality alone. And they who do not seek this, nor possess religion, with which eternal life is connected, assuredly do not know the power of virtue, the reward of which they are ignorant; nor look towards heaven, as they themselves imagine that they do, when they inquire into subjects which do not admit of investigation, since there is no other cause for looking towards heaven, unless it be either to undertake religion, or to believe that one's soul is immortal. For if any one understands that God is to be worshipped, or has the hope of immortality set before him, his mind is in heaven; and although he may not behold it with his eyes, yet he does behold it with the eye of his soul.

) rather things above, and not things on the earth;

But such as entertain wicked thoughts in their minds are bringing upon themselves death and captivity; and especially is this the case with those who set their affections on this world, and glory in their riches, and look not forward to the blessings of the life to come.

Then when he says, set your minds on things that are above, he draws his conclusion about the end: first, that a person should aim at some principal end; and secondly, that he should judge other things in the light of that end.

Furthermore, we should judge of other things in the light of Christ; and so Paul says, set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Here he is affirming one way of life, and rejecting another. A person sets his mind on things that are above, when he governs his life according to heavenly ideas, and judges all things by such ideas: "The wisdom from above" (Jas. 3:17). And a person sets his mind on things that are on earth when he orders and judges all things according to earthly goods, considering them the highest goods: "They glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things" (Phil 3:19).

We should be aware of the fact, therefore, that where God has planted the tree of life he has also planted a tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of paradise. It is understood that he planted it in the middle. Therefore, in the middle of paradise there was both a tree of life and a cause for death. Keep in mind that man did not create life. By carrying out and observing the precepts of God it was possible for man to find life. This was the life mentioned by the apostle: "Your life is hidden with Christ in God." Man, therefore, was, figuratively speaking, either in the shadow of life—because our life on earth is but a shadow—or man had life, as it were, in pledge, for he had been breathed on by God.

For this is the meaning of flight: to know your goal, to unburden oneself of the world, to unburden oneself of the body…. This is the meaning of flight from here—to die to the elements of this world, to hide one's life in God, to turn aside from corruptions, not to defile oneself with the objects of desire and to be ignorant of the things of this world.

For when God will be all in all, then nothing will be lacking to their desire. Such an end does not have an end. There no one dies, where no one comes unless he should die to this world, not by the death of all in which the body is abandoned by the soul but by the death of the elect in which, even when one still remains in mortal flesh, the heart is set on high. About this kind of death the apostle said, "For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." Perhaps about this it was said, "Strong as death is love." For by this love it comes to pass that, dwelling in this still corruptible body, we die to this world and our life is hidden with Christ in God, nay rather, love itself is our death to the world and our life with God.

As I passed homewards I passed a little tin building of some religious sort, which was shaken with shouting as a trumpet is torn with its own tongue. THEY were singing anyhow; and I had for an instant a fancy I had often had before: that with us the super-human is the only place where you can find the human. Human nature is hunted and has fled into sanctuary.

And the glutton is not pleased to hear the other things which have been written by Paul upon fortitude and asceticism, either when he recounteth his numerous fastings, or when he crieth out to his disciples, saying, "Ye are dead unto the world," or when he writeth, "It is good for a man not to eat flesh, and not to drink wine," or his exhortation, "Through many tribulations it is meet for a man to enter into the kingdom of God," or his saying, "God shall bring both the belly and the food to nought;" and the reading of these and such like passages the glutton considereth unnecessary, and he is not pleased even to hear them.

"Ye are dead," crieth Paul unto the perfect, "and your lives are hid with Christ in God." And again he said, "Ye are dead unto the world, but alive unto God, in our Lord Jesus Christ." And again he said, "If ye died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as if ye were living in the world, do ye receive the commandments?" Now a man arriveth at this rule of life after he hath stripped himself of his possessions, and beginneth to work good deeds in the members of his person, for so long as he hath riches, he justifieth himself by riches, and he emptieth not himself from the cares of riches which he serveth in himself.

Our life is hidden until the blessing of eternal life shall be revealed to all, when the glory of Christ shall appear in his second coming. .

" The heretic erased the preposition in, and made the clause run thus: ("what is the fellowship of the mystery) which hath for ages been hidden from the God who created all things." The falsification, however, is flagrantly absurd.

From both sides he urges them not to seek the things here below — both from death and from life. You have died, he says, to what is below; therefore you ought not to seek these things. Again, your life, he says, is above; and so mind the things above. The Apostle strives to show that they abide above and live another life, which is in God and invisible to bodily eyes. Christ does not appear; therefore your life has not yet begun in heaven either. So why seek the visible? By this he prepares them to pass immediately to moral teaching. Such is his custom — having taught one thing, he passes to another. So he does, for example, in the Epistle to the Corinthians: speaking of those who were eating ahead at the meal, he suddenly passed to the tradition of the mysteries.

When Paul continues, for you have died, he gives the reason for his advice. First, he mentions their death; secondly, their hidden life (v. 3b); and thirdly, he teaches when this life will be revealed (v. 4).

Just before, Paul had rejected one way of life and affirmed another. Now he returns to these two ways. As to the first he says: Do not set your minds on earthly things, because you have died to an earthly way of life. And a person who has died to this kind of life does not set his mind on the things of this world. This is the way you should act if you have died, with Christ, to the elements of this world: "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom 6:11); "They are dead, they will not live" (Is 26:14). When he said [above, in Romans], "consider yourselves dead," he followed this with, "and alive".

And so there is another life which is hidden. And thus Paul also says here, and your life is hid with Christ in God. We acquire this life through Christ. "For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God" (1 Pet. 3:18). But because this life is obtained through Christ, and Christ is hidden from us because he is in the glory of the Father, this life which is given to us through him is also hidden, namely, where Christ is, in the glory of the Father: "Long life is in his right hand; in his left hand are riches and honor" (Prov 3:16); "O how abundant is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you" (Ps 31:19); "To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna" (Rev 2:17).