Romans 8:14–21

How, then, are people to behave at home? If a man can't be comfortable and unguarded, can't take his ease and "be himself" in his own house, where can he? That is, I confess, the trouble. The answer is an alarming one. There is nowhere this side of heaven where one can safely lay the reins on the horse's neck. It will never be lawful simply to "be ourselves" until "ourselves" have become sons of God. It is all there in the hymn—"Christian, seek not yet repose." This does not mean, of course, that there is no difference between home life and general society. It does mean that home life has its own rule of courtesy—a code more intimate, more subtle, more sensitive, and, therefore, in some ways more difficult, than that of the outer world.

If we are the sons of God, if we have already begun to be his temples, if (after receiving the Holy Spirit) we live holily and spiritually, if we have lifted up our eyes from the earth toward heaven, if we have raised our hearts, full of God and Christ, to supernal and divine things, let us do nothing which is not worthy of God and Christ, as the apostle arouses and urges us.

For in the Law God held the rod, in that He said, 'If any man do this or that, let him die the death.' But in His Incarnation He removed the rod, in that He shewed the paths of life by mild means. Whence it is said to Him by the Psalmist, "Set forward, go forth prosperously and rejoice, because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness." For He had no mind to be feared as God, but put it into our hearts that as a Father He should be loved; as Paul clearly delivers; "For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Hence too it is fitly added here, "Then would I speak, and not fear Him." For the holy man, because he beholds the Redeemer of the world coming in meekness, does not assume fear towards a Master, but affection towards a Father. And he looks down on fear, in that through the grace of adoption he rises up to love. Hence John says; "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear." Hence Zachariah says, "That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear." Therefore fear had no power to raise us from the death of sin, but the infused grace of meekness erected us to the seat of life. Which is well denoted by Elisha when he raised the child of the Shunamite. He, when he sent his servant with a staff, never a whit restored life to the dead child; but upon coming in his own person, and spreading himself upon the dead body, and contracting himself to its limbs, and walking to and fro, and breathing several times into the mouth of the dead body, he forthwith quickened it to the light of new life through the ministering of compassion. For God, the Creator of mankind, as it were grieved for His dead son, when He beheld us with compassion killed by the sting of iniquity. And whereas He put forth the terror of the Law by Moses, He as it were sent the rod by the servant. But the servant could not raise the dead body with the staff; because, as Paul bears witness, "The Law made nothing perfect." But when He came in His own Person, and spread Himself in humility upon the dead body, He contracted Himself to match the limbs of the dead body to Himself. "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and found in fashion as a man." He 'walks to and fro' also, in that He calls Judaea nigh at hand, and the Gentiles afar off. He breathes upon the dead body several times, in that by the publishing of the Divine gift, He bestows the Spirit of sevenfold grace upon those that lie prostrate in the death of sin. And afterwards it is raised up alive, in that the child, whom the rod of terror could not raise up, has been brought back to life by the Spirit of love.

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Now this is again a much greater honor than the first. And this is why he does not say merely, As many as live by the Spirit of God, but, "as many as are led by the Spirit of God," to show that he would have Him use such power over our life as a pilot doth over a ship, or a charioteer over a pair of horses. And it is not the body only, but the soul itself too, that he is for setting under reins of this sort. For he would not have even that independent, but place its authority also under the power of the Spirit. For lest through a confidence in the Gift of the Font they should turn negligent of their conversation after it, he would say, that even supposing you receive baptism, yet if you are not minded to be "led by the Spirit" afterwards, you lose the dignity bestowed upon you, and the pre-eminence of your adoption. This is why he does not say, As many as have received the Spirit, but, "as many as are led by the Spirit," that is, as many as live up to this all their life long, "they are the sons of God."

Then since this dignity was given to the Jews also, for it says, "I said ye are Gods, and all of you children of the Most High"; and again, "I have nourished and brought up children"; and so, "Israel is My first-born"; and Paul too says, "Whose is the adoption" - he next asserts the great difference between the latter and the former honor. For though the names are the same, he means, still, the things are not the same.

The Spirit of God is the same as the Spirit of Christ and the same as the Holy Spirit. But he is also called the Spirit of adoption, as the apostle makes clear in this passage. David spoke of this Spirit also when he said: "Take not thy Holy Spirit from me." There are many sons of God, as Scripture says: "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you," … but only one is the Son by nature, the only begotten of the Father, through whom all the rest are called sons. Likewise there are many spirits but only one who truly proceeds from God himself and who bestows on all the others the grace of his name and his sanctification.

This applies to all who are worthy to be governed by the Holy Spirit, just as (on the contrary) those who sin are moved by the spirit of the devil, who was a sinner from the beginning.

Since the Lord prepares the will, he also touches the hearts of his children with fatherly inspirations so that they might do good.… Consequently, we do not think that our free will is lacking, nor do we doubt that, in each and every movement of man's free will, his help is the stronger force.

It is clear that these people will live the blessed life with their Father.

Above he gave such a promise: you shall live if you put to death wicked deeds. Now he offers a most important crown and a greater reward, namely adoption by God. He did not say: all who live by the Spirit, but all who are led by the Spirit, that is, who are governed as by a charioteer, making the Spirit master over soul and flesh. Although you received baptism and became through baptism a son of God, yet if you are not led by the Spirit, you will lose the gift. For although we all received the Spirit in the bath of regeneration, to be led by Him throughout all of life is required of us as our own task. Therefore he did not say: those who received the Spirit are sons of God, but he says: those who are led by the Spirit of God.

After stating that the life of glory, which will exclude all mortality from our bodies, will be given to us through the Holy Spirit, the Apostle now proves this. First, he shows that this glorious life is given by the Holy Spirit; second, why it is deferred, at "yet so, if we suffer with him." In regard to the first he presents this argument: all who are sons of God obtain the inheritance of a glorious life; but those who are ruled by the Holy Spirit are sons of God. Therefore, all who are ruled by the Holy Spirit obtain the inheritance of a glorious life. First, therefore, he posits the minor premise of this proof; second, the major, at "and if sons, heirs also." In regard to the first he does two things. First, he states his proposition; second, he proves it, at "for you have not received."

In regard to the first there are two things to consider. First, how some are led by the Spirit of God. This can be understood in the following way: "for whosoever are led by the Spirit of God," i.e., ruled as by a leader and director, which the Spirit does in us, inasmuch as he enlightens us inwardly about what we ought to do: "let your good spirit lead me" (Ps 143:10). But because one who is led does not act on his own, whereas the spiritual man is not only instructed by the Holy Spirit regarding what he ought to do, but his heart is also moved by the Holy Spirit, it is necessary to get a better understanding of what is meant by "whosoever are led by the Spirit of God." For those are led who are moved by a higher instinct. Hence we say that animals do not act but are led, because they are moved to perform their actions by nature and not from their own impulse. Similarly, the spiritual man is inclined to do something not as though by a movement of his own will chiefly, but by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, as it says in Isaiah: "he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the Lord drives" (Isa 59:19); and in Luke: "Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness" (Luke 4:1). However, this does not mean that spiritual men do not act through will and free choice, because the Holy Spirit causes the very movement of the will and of free choice in them, as it says in Philippians: "God is at work in you both to will and to work" (Phil 2:13).

Second, we must consider how those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. This is clarified by a likeness to natural children, who are produced by the natural seed coming from the father. But the spiritual seed proceeding from the Father is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, through this seed some men are born as sons of God: "no one born of God commits sin, because the seed of God abides in him" (1 John 3:9).

Paul says this because once we have received the Holy Spirit we are delivered from all fear of evil deeds, so that we might no longer act in such a way as to be afraid once more. Beforehand we were under fear, because once the law was given everyone was considered guilty. Paul called the law "the spirit of fear" because it made people afraid on account of their sins. But the law of faith, which is what is meant by "the Spirit of sonship," is a law of assurance, because it has delivered us from fear by pardoning our sins and thus giving us assurance.Set free by the grace of God from fear, we have received the Spirit of sonship so that, considering what we were and what we have become by the gift of God, we might govern our life with great care lest the name of God the Father be disgraced by us and we incur all the things we have escaped from.… We have received such grace that we can dare to say to God: "Abba! Father!" For this reason, Paul warns us not to let our trust degenerate into pride. For if our behavior does not correspond to our voice when we cry, "Abba! Father!" we insult God by calling him Father. Indeed, God in his goodness has indulged us with what is beyond our natural capacity.

Christ is the true Son, and so when we receive the Spirit, we are made sons. For it says; 'you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading you back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adopted sonship' (Romans 8:15). But when we are made sons in the Spirit, it is clear that we are called children of God in Christ... And when the Spirit is given to us-the Saviour said: 'Receive the Holy Spirit' [John 20:22]- God [The Father] is in us... But when God is in us, the Son is also in us. For the Lord Himself said: 'I and the Father will come and make our home with him' [John 14:23]. Next, the Son is life-for He said: 'I am the life' [John 14:6]- and so we are said to be given life in the Spirit... But when we are given life in the Spirit, Christ Himself is said to live in us. For it says: 'I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.' [Galatians 2:19-20]. - "Letters to Separion On the Spirit, Letter 1, Chapter 19"

The dispensations of the two Testaments are clearly different. The Old Testament is one of fear; the New Testament is one of love. But, you may ask, what is this spirit of slavery? If the spirit of our adoption as sons is the Holy Spirit, then the spirit of slavery to fear is the one which has the power of death. It is because of this fear that those who lived under the law and not under grace were condemned to slavery for their entire lives. Nor is it surprising that those who went after worldly goods received the spirit of slavery by divine providence … for this spirit of slavery has nobody in its power unless he has been handed over by the command of divine providence, since God's righteousness gives every man his due.

The fear of slaves, although it renders belief to the Master, contains no love of righteousness but only the fear of damnation. The cry of sons is "Abba, Father!"—two words, one of which belongs to the circumcision and the other to the uncircumcision.

Paul is speaking of the fear which was inspired in the Old Testament, lest the temporal be lost which God had promised to those who were not yet his sons under grace but still servants under the law.

Through the grace of baptism men can by receiving the Holy Spirit be changed from sons of the devil into sons of God.

Well, in a certain sense, no doubt we are sons of God already. I mean, God has brought us into existence and loves us and looks after us, and in that way is like a father. But when the Bible talks of our 'becoming' Sons of God, obviously it must mean something different. And that brings us up against the very centre of Theology.

We have received the Spirit to enable us to know the one to whom we pray, our real Father, the one and only Father of all, that is, the one who like a Father educates us for salvation and does away with fear.

We have been enriched with God's Spirit, for his Spirit has come to dwell in our hearts, and we have taken our place among the children of God and yet have not lost being what we are. For we are men according to nature, even though we cry: "Abba! Father!"

In reality, the spirit of slavery and the spirit of sonship were one and the same Spirit, who was given to people according to what they deserved, whether it was good or evil.

As, therefore, when that which is perfect is come, we shall not see another Father, but Him whom we now desire to see (for "blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God"); neither shall we look for another Christ and Son of God, but Him who [was born] of the Virgin Mary, who also suffered, in whom too we trust, and whom we love; as Esaias says: "And they shall say in that day, Behold our Lord God, in whom we have trusted, and we have rejoiced in our salvation;" and Peter says in his Epistle: "Whom, not seeing, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, ye have believed, ye shall rejoice with joy unspeakable;" neither do we receive another Holy Spirit, besides Him who is with us, and who cries, "Abba, Father;" and we shall make increase in the very same things [as now], and shall make progress, so that no longer through a glass, or by means of enigmas, but face to face, we shall enjoy the gifts of God;-so also now, receiving more than the temple, and more than Solomon, that is, the advent of the Son of God, we have not been taught another God besides the Framer and the Maker of all, who has been pointed out to us from the beginning; nor another Christ, the Son of God, besides Him who was foretold by the prophets.

But we do now receive a certain portion of His Spirit, tending towards perfection, and preparing us for incorruption, being little by little accustomed to receive and bear God; which also the apostle terms "an earnest," that is, a part of the honour which has been promised us by God, where he says in the Epistle to the Ephesians, "In which ye also, having heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, believing in which we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance." This earnest, therefore, thus dwelling in us, renders us spiritual even now, and the mortal is swallowed up by immortality. "For ye," he declares, "are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." This, however does not take place by a casting away of the flesh, but by the impartation of the Spirit. For those to whom he was writing were not without flesh, but they were those who had received the Spirit of God, "by which we cry, Abba, Father." If therefore, at the present time, having the earnest, we do cry, "Abba, Father," what shall it be when, on rising again, we behold Him face to face; when all the members shall burst out into a continuous hymn of triumph, glorifying Him who raised them from the dead, and gave the gift of eternal life? For if the earnest, gathering man into itself, does even now cause him to cry, "Abba, Father," what shall the complete grace of the Spirit effect, which shall be given to men by God? It will render us like unto Him, and accomplish the will of the Father; for it shall make man after the image and likeness of God.

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear." Then not staying to mention that which stands in contradistinction to bondage, that is, the spirit of freedom, he has named what is far greater, that of adoption, through which he at the same time brings in the other, saying, "But ye have received the Spirit of adoption."

But this is plain. But what the spirit of bondage may be, is not so plain, and there is need of making it clearer. Now what he says is so far from being clear, that it is in fact very perplexing. For the people of the Jews did not receive the Spirit. What then is his meaning here? It is the letter he giveth this name to, for spiritual it was, and so he called the Law spiritual also, and the water from the Rock, and the Manna. "For they did eat," he says, "of the same spiritual meat, and all drank of the same spiritual drink." And to the Rock he gives this name, when he says, "For they drank of that spiritual Rock which followed them." Now it is because all the rites then wrought were above nature that he calls them spiritual, and not because those who then partook of them received the Spirit.

And in what sense were those letters; letters of bondage? Set before yourself the whole dispensation, and then you will have a clear view of this also. For recompenses were with them close at hand, and the reward followed forthwith, being at once proportionate, and like a kind of daily ration given to domestic servants, and terrors in abundance came to their height before their eyes, and their purifications concerned their bodies, and their continency extended but to their actions. But with us it is not so, since the imagination even and the conscience getteth purged out. For He does not say, "Thou shalt do no murder," only, but even thou shalt not be angry: so too, it is not, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," but thou shalt not look unchastely. So that it is not to be from fear of present punishment, but out of desire towards Himself, that both our being habitually virtuous, and all our single good deeds are to come. Neither doth he promise a land flowing with milk and honey, but maketh us joint-heir with the Only-Begotten, so making us by every means stand aloof from things present, and promising to give such things especially as are worth the acceptance of men made sons of God, nothing, that is, of a sensible kind or corporeal, but spiritual all of them.

And with them He discoursed through the intervention of others, with us by Himself. And all that they did was through the impulse of fear, but the spiritual act through a coveting and a vehement desire. And they show by the fact of their overstepping the commandments. They, as hirelings and obstinate persons, so never left murmuring: but these do all for the pleasing of the Father. So too they blasphemed when they had benefits done them: but we are thankful at being jeoparded. And if there be need of punishing both of us upon our sinning, even in this case the difference is great. For it is not on being stoned and branded and maimed by the priests, as they were, that we are brought round. But it is enough for us to be cast out from our Father's table, and to be out of sight for certain days.

And with the Jews the honor of adoption was one of name only, but here the reality followed also, the cleansing of Baptism, the giving of the Spirit, the furnishing of the other blessings. And there are several other points besides, which go to show our high birth and their low condition. After intimating all these then by speaking of the Spirit, and fear, and the adoption, he gives a fresh proof again of having the Spirit of adoption. Now what is this? That "we cry, Abba, Father." And how great this is, the initiated know, being with good reason bidden to use this word first in the Prayer of the initiated.

What then, it may be said, did not they also call God Father? Dost thou not hear Moses, when he says, "Thou desertedst the God that begot thee?" Dost thou not hear Malachi reproaching them, and saying, that "one God formed you," and there is "one Father of you all?" Still, if these words and others besides are used, we do not find them anywhere calling God by the name, or praying in this language. But we all, priests and laymen, rulers and ruled, are ordered to pray herein. And this is the first language we give utterance to, after those marvellous throes, and that strange and unusual mode of labor. If in any other instances they so called Him, that was only of their own mind. But those in the state of grace do it through being moved by the in-working of the Spirit.

If he is the Spirit of adoption and makes men sons of God, how can he be considered a slave, since no slave can legitimately make another free?

It is certain that whoever will become a son of God by the Spirit of adoption will first become a servant of God by the spirit of slavery. For the beginning of service to God is to be filled with the spirit of fear when still a little child [= new convert], since "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." … As long as we remain children in the inner man we hold the Spirit in fear, until we reach the point at which we can rightfully receive the Spirit of adoption as sons and become like the Son and Lord of all. For Paul says: "Everything is yours," and God has given us everything together with Christ. This is why Paul says that, after we have died together with Christ and after his Spirit comes into us, we no longer receive the spirit of slavery in fear (that is, we do not return to the state of children, and we have completed the first stages of faith), but rather like perfect people we have received the Spirit of adoption, in whom we cry: "Abba! Father!"

The Jews received a spirit which constrained them into service by means of fear. For it is the nature of slaves to fear and of sons to love, as it is written: "The slave shall fear his master, and the son shall love his father." Those who were not willing to work out of the desire of love are compelled by the constraint of fear, but let us perform all things willingly so that we may show that we are sons. He who calls to his father declares himself a son. He ought therefore to resemble his father in character, lest he incur a greater penalty for having assumed the name of his father in vain.

"Fear God", and "Love the Lord thy God"; these two commands were ordained in the law which was given to the people, so that whosoever became exalted above the command of fear might find before him the command of love, which is perfected therefrom. For this reason Paul also, when he was shewing the difference between us and them, said concerning the discipleship of Christ, "For ye have not received the spirit of servitude again unto fear"----that is to say, ye have not been called to be slaves, that fear might be born to you out of servitude----"but ye have been invited to adoption", which is perfected in love in all good things.

The text should be read like this: "You have not received the Spirit; instead you are again in fear of slavery." … The slavery in question is slavery to the law.

The Apostle said that those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God; but since the Jews also claimed divine adoption for themselves: "I have nourished and brought up children" (Isa. 1:2); and again: "Israel is My son, My firstborn" (Exod. 4:22), he shows what difference exists between our sonship and the sonship of the Jews. The Jews, he says, received the spirit of bondage; so he calls the letter of the law: for although it was given by the Spirit, it is more fitting for slaves. Hence the bodily punishments following upon deeds, and stonings, and burnings, and threats: "the sword," he says, "shall devour you" (Isa. 1:20). Hence also, again, earthly rewards, and promises of earthly goods, and a multitude of trivial commandments fitting for slaves. Therefore, although the Jews were called sons, they were slaves. But we are called sons, as noble and free. For us there are heavenly rewards and the Kingdom of heaven; and our punishment does not consist in stoning and the rest to which the priests subjected the Jews: for us it is sufficient merely to exclude the guilty one from the mystical table, as one would a son. And our commandments are divine and fitting for the noble, for example: do not look at a woman with an impure eye, do not swear, leave your possessions; and they are fulfilled not out of fear of punishment, but from inner disposition, which he proves by the fact that among us many advance beyond what is prescribed in many commandments. Moreover, the Jews did not have the Spirit, but we have His abundant grace. He used a Hebrew word; for this is how the genuine sons of the Father properly address Him. How so, you ask? Did not the Jews also call God Father? It is said: "You forgot the Rock who begot you" (Deut. 32:18). In another place: "Has not one God created us?" (Mal. 2:10). Again: "Have we not all one Father?" (Mal. 2:10). But although this was said concerning the Jews, not a single Jew was found who called God Father in prayer, as all of us now call Him after baptism. Moreover, if the Jews ever called God Father, it was from their own mind; but believers call Him so being moved by the power of the Spirit. Just as we recognize the spirit of prophecy from the fact that the one who has received it foretells the future, so too the spirit of adoption is recognized from the fact that the one who has received it calls God Father, being moved to do so by the Spirit. For this too is one of the gifts of the Spirit, as Paul himself also suggests.

Then he proves that men who receive the Holy Spirit are sons of God, when he says "for you have not received"; and this in three ways. First, by distinguishing the gifts of the Holy Spirit; second, by our own testimony, at "whereby we cry"; third, by the testimony of the Spirit, at "for the Spirit himself."

In regard to the first it should be noted that the Holy Spirit produces two effects in us: one is fear: "his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord" (Isa 11:3); the other is love: "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Rom 5:5). But fear makes slaves; love does not.

To realize this it is necessary to consider that fear bears on two things, namely, the evil from which someone flees through fear, and whatever seems to be the source of that evil. For a person is said to fear being killed and the king who has the power to kill. But sometimes it happens that the evil from which someone recoils is contrary to a bodily or temporal good which a person sometimes loves inordinately and recoils from having it injured or destroyed by a mere man. This is human or worldly fear and is not from the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the Lord forbids such fear: "do not fear those who kill the body" (Matt 10:28).

There is a second type of fear which recoils from an evil contrary to created nature, namely, the evil of being punished, and shrinks from having this evil inflicted by a spiritual cause, namely, by God. Such fear is praiseworthy in at least one respect, namely, that it fears God: "oh that they had such a mind as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments" (Deut 5:29). In this respect it is from the Holy Spirit. But insofar as such fear does not recoil from an evil opposed to one's spiritual good, namely, sin, but only punishment, it is not praiseworthy. It has this shortcoming not from the Holy Spirit but from man's guilt; just as deformed faith, inasmuch as it is faith, is from the Holy Spirit, but not its deformity. Hence, even if a person does something good under the influence of such fear, he does not act well, because he does not act spontaneously but compelled by fear of punishment—and this is characteristic of slaves. Therefore, this fear is properly called servile, because it makes a man act as a slave does.

There is a third type of fear which recoils from evil opposed to a spiritual good, namely, from sin or separation from God, which a person fears to incur from the just vengeance of God. Thus it bears on spiritual goods, but with an eye on punishment. This is called initial fear, because it is usually found in men at the beginning of their conversion. For it fears punishment due to past sins and it fears separation from God through sin because of grace infused with charity. This is the fear mentioned in the Psalm: "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Ps 111:10).

The fourth type of fear has its eye entirely on spiritual things, because it fears nothing except separation from God. This is holy fear: "the fear of the Lord is holy, enduring forever and ever" (Ps 19:10). But just as initial fear is caused by imperfect love, so this fear is caused by perfect love: "perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18). Therefore, initial fear and chaste fear are not distinguished against charity's love, which is the cause of both, but the fear of punishment is; because just as this fear produces slavery, so charity's love produces the freedom of sons. For it makes a man act voluntarily for the honor of God—which is characteristic of sons.

Now the old law was given in fear, which was signified by the thunder and things of that sort which occurred when it was given, as it says in Exodus 19:16 et seq. And therefore it says in Hebrews: "so terrifying was the sight that Moses said: I tremble with fear" (Heb 12:21). So the old law, which induced men to obey God's commandments by inflicting punishments, was given in a spirit of slavery; hence it says in Galatians: "one is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery" (Gal 4:24).

Therefore, he says here: it was correct to say that whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of slavery again, in the new law as was in the old law, in fear, namely, of punishments, which fear the Holy Spirit was causing; but you have received the spirit, namely, of charity, which is of adoption of sons, by which we are adopted as children of God: "that we might receive adoption as sons" (Gal 4:5). This does not mean that there is one spirit and another spirit, but that it is the same Spirit, who in some produces servile fear, as imperfect, and in others, produces love, as a certain perfection.

Then he manifests the same thing by our confession, when he says "in whom we cry." For we confess that we have God as our Father, when we follow the Lord's instruction to pray: "our Father, who art in heaven" (Matt 6:9). And since it is suitable not only for the Jews but also for gentiles to say this, he uses two words to signify Father, namely, Abba, which is Hebrew, and Pater, which can be Latin or Greek. Even the Lord himself says: "Father, all things are possible to you" (Mark 14:36); "you will call me, my Father" (Jer 3:19). We say this not so much with the sound of our voice as with the intention of our heart, an intention so strong that it is called a cry, as with Moses to whom it was said: "why do you cry to me?" (Exod 14:15), namely, with the intention of your heart. But the great strength of this intention comes from the feeling of filial fear which he produces in us. Therefore, he says "in whom," namely, in the Holy Spirit, "we cry: Abba, Father." Hence it says in Isaiah that the seraphim, burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit, "cried one to another: holy, holy, holy" (Isa 6:3).

The witness of children is that by the Spirit they should be seen to bear the sign of the Father.

When therefore this twofold knowledge has gone before in us, knowledge that may perhaps have grown up afterward does not at all puff up, since it can bring nothing of earthly advantage or honor that is not indeed inferior to the hope conceived, and to the joy of hope already more deeply rooted in the soul. But hope does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Therefore that hope does not put to shame, because this love pours in certainty. For through this love the Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God. What then could come to us from our knowledge, however great, that would not be less than this glory, by which we are numbered among the children of God? I have said too little: not even the world itself and its fullness can be regarded in comparison with it, even if the whole of it should fall to any one of us as a possession.

Cyprian to the people abiding at Thibaris, greeting. I had indeed thought, beloved brethren, and prayerfully desired-if the state of things and the condition of the times permitted, in conformity with what you frequently desired-myself to come to you; and being present with you, then to strengthen the brotherhood with such moderate powers of exhortation as I possess. But since I am detained by such urgent affairs, that I have not the power to travel far from this place, and to be long absent from the people over whom by divine mercy I am placed, I have written in the meantime this letter, to be to you in my stead. For as, by the condescension of the Lord instructing me, I am very often instigated and warned, I ought to bring unto your conscience also the anxiety of my warning. For you ought to know and to believe, and hold it for certain, that the day of affliction has begun to hang over our heads, and the end of the world and the time of Antichrist to draw near, so that we must all stand prepared for the battle; nor consider anything but the glory of life eternal, and the crown of the confession of the Lord; and not regard those things which are coming as being such as were those which have passed away. A severer and a fiercer fight is now threatening, for which the soldiers of Christ ought to prepare themselves with uncorrupted faith and robust courage, considering that they drink the cup of Christ's blood daily, for the reason that they themselves also may be able to shed their blood for Christ. For this is to wish to be found with Christ, to imitate that which Christ both taught and did, according to the Apostle John, who said, "He that saith he abideth in Christ, ought himself also so to walk even as He walked." Moreover, the blessed Apostle Paul exhorts and teaches, saying, "We are God's children; but if children, then heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."

Nor let anything now be revolved in your hearts and minds besides the divine precepts and heavenly commands, with which the Holy Spirit has ever animated you to the endurance of suffering. Let no one think of death, but of immortality; nor of temporary punishment, but of eternal glory; since it is written, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints; " and again, "A broken spirit is a sacrifice to God: a contrite and humble heart God doth not despise." And again, where the sacred Scripture speaks of the tortures which consecrate God's martyrs, and sanctify them in the very trial of suffering: "And if they have suffered torments in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality; and having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace hath He tried them, and received them as a sacrifice of a burnt-offering, and in due time regard shall be had unto them. The righteous shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people; and their Lord shall reign for ever." When, therefore, you reflect that you shall judge and reign with Christ the Lord, you must needs exult and tread under foot present sufferings, in the joy of what is to come; knowing that from the beginning of the world it has been so appointed that righteousness should suffer there in the conflict of the world, since in the beginning, even at the first, the righteous Abel was slain, and thereafter all righteous men, and prophets, and apostles who were sent. To all of whom the Lord also in Himself has appointed an example, teaching that none shall attain to His kingdom but those who have followed Him in His own way, saying, "He that loveth his life in this world shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." And again: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Paul also exhorts us that we who desire to attain to the Lord's promises ought to imitate the Lord in all things. "We are," says he, "the sons of God: but if sons, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." Moreover, he added the comparison of the present time and of the future glory, saying, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory which shall be revealed in us." Of which brightness, when we consider the glory, it behoves us to bear all afflictions and persecutions; because, although many are the afflictions of the righteous, yet those are delivered from them all who trust in God.

That we must press on and persevere in faith and virtue, and in completion of heavenly and spiritual grace, that we may attain to the palm and the crown. In the book of Chronicles: "The Lord is with you so long as ye also are with Him; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you." In Ezekiel also: "The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in what day soever he may transgress." Moreover, in the Gospel the Lord speaks, and says: "He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved." And again: "If ye shall abide in my word, ye shall be my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Moreover, forewarning us that we ought always to be ready, and to stand firmly equipped and armed, He adds, and says: "Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord when he shall return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him. Blessed are those servants whom their lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." Also the blessed Apostle Paul, that our faith may advance and grow, and attain to the highest point, exhorts us, saying: "Know ye not, that they which run in a race run all indeed, yet one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And they, indeed, that they may receive a corruptible crown; but ye an incorruptible." And again: "No man that warreth for God binds himself to anxieties of this world, that he may be able to please Him to whom he hath approved himself. Moreover, also, if a man should contend, he will not be crowned unless he have fought lawfully." And again: "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the mercy of God, that ye constitute your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God; and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed in the renewing of your spirit, that ye may prove what is the will of God, good, and acceptable, and perfect." And again: "We are children of God: but if children, then heirs; heirs indeed of God, but joint-heirs with Christ, if we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together." And in the Apocalypse the same exhortation of divine preaching speaks, saying, "Hold fast that which thou hast, lest another take thy crown; " which example of perseverance and persistence is pointed out in Exodus, when Moses, for the overthrow of Ama-lek, who bore the type of the devil, raised up his open hands in the sign and sacrament of the cross, and could not conquer his adversary unless when he had stedfastly persevered in the sign with hands continually lifted up. "And it came to pass," says he, "when Moses raised up his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he let down his hands, Amalek grew mighty. And they took a stone and placed it under him, and he sate thereon. And Aaron and Hur held up his hands on the one side and on the other side, and Moses' hands were made steady even to the going down of the sun. Anti Jesus routed Amalek and all his people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this, and let it be a memorial in a book, and tell it in the ears of Jesus; because in destroying I will destroy the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven."

Of the benefits of martyrdom. In the Proverbs of Solomon: "The faithful martyr delivers his soul from evils." Also in the same place: "Then shall the righteous stand in great boldness against them who have afflicted them, and who took away their labours. When they see them, they shall be disturbed with a horrible fear; and they shall wonder at the suddenness of their unhoped-for salvation, saying among themselves, repenting and groaning with distress of spirit, These are they whom some time we had in derision, and in the likeness of a proverb; we fools counted their life madness, and their end without honour. How are they reckoned among the children of God, and their lot among the saints! Therefore we have wandered from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness has not shined upon us, and the sun has not risen upon us. We have been wearied in the way of iniquity and of perdition, and we have walked through difficult solitudes; but we have not known the way of the Lord. What hath pride profited us? or what hath the boasting of riches brought to us? All these things have passed away as a shadow." Of this same thing in the cxvth Psalm: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Also in the cxxvth Psalm: "They who sow in tears shall reap in joy. Walking they walked, and wept as they cast their seeds; but coming they shall come in joy, raising up their laps." Of this same thing in the Gospel according to John: "He who loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall find it to life eternal." Also in the same place: "But when they shall deliver you up, take no thought what ye shall speak; for it is not ye who speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." Also in the same place: "The hour shall come, that every one that killeth you shall think he doeth service to God l but they shall do this also because they have not known the Father nor me." Of this same matter, according to Matthew: "Blessed are they which shall suffer persecution for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Also in the same place: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to kill the soul and body in Gehenna." Also in the same place: "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him also will I confess before my Father which is in heaven; but he who shall deny me before men, him also will I deny before my Father which is in heaven. And he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved." Of this same thing, according to Luke: "Blessed shall ye be when men shall hate you, and shall separate you (from their company), and shall drive you out, and shall speak evil of your name, as wicked, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice in that day, and exult; for, lo, your reward is great in heaven." Also in the same place: "Verily I say unto you, There is no man that leaveth house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, and does not receive seven times as much in this present time, but in the world to come life everlasting." Of this same thing in the Apocalypse: "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar of God the souls of them that were slain on account of the word of God and His testimony. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And unto every one of them were given white robes; and it was said to them, that they should rest still for a short time, until the number of their fellow-servants, and of their brethren, should be fulfilled, and they who shall afterwards be slain, after their example." Also in the same place: "After these things I saw a great crowd, which no one among them could number, from every nation, and from every tribe, and from every people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb; and they were clothed with white robes, and palms were in their hands. And they said with a loud voice, Salvation to our God, that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb. And one of the elders answered and said to me, What are these which are clothed with white robes? who are they, and whence have they come? And I said unto him, My lord, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are they who have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sitteth upon the throne shall dwell among them. They shall neither hunger nor thirst ever; and neither shall the sun fall upon them, nor shall they suffer any heat: for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall protect them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life; and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes." Also in the same place: "He who shall overcome I will give him to eat of the tree of life, which as in the paradise of my God." Also in the same place: "Be thou faithful even unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Also in the same place: "Blessed shall they be who shall watch, and shall keep their garments, lest they walk naked, and they see their shame." Of this same thing, Paul in the second Epistle to Timothy: "I am now offered up, and the time of my assumption is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. There now remains for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me in that day; and not only to me, but to all also who love His appearing." Of this same thing to the Romans: "We are the sons of God: but if sons and heirs of God, we are also joint-heirs with Christ; if we suffer together, that we may also be magnified together." Of this same thing in the cxviiith Psalm: "Blessed are they who are undefiled in the way, and walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who search into His testimonies."

Paul showed by this that he called the soul "spirit" when it was spiritual, and the gift of the Spirit "Spirit."

"The Spirit Itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." For it is not from the language merely, he says, that I make my assertion, but from the cause out of which the language has its birth; since it is from the Spirit suggesting it that we so speak. And this in another passage he has put into plainer words, thus: "God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father." And what is that, "Spirit beareth witness with spirit?" The Comforter, he means, with that Gift, which is given unto us. For it is not of the Gift alone that it is the voice, but of the Comforter also who gave the Gift, He Himself having taught us through the Gift so to speak. But when the "Spirit beareth witness" what farther place for doubtfulness? For if it were a man, or angel, or archangel, or any other such power that promised this, then there might be reason in some doubting. But when it is the Highest Essence that bestoweth this Gift, and "beareth witness" by the very words He bade us use in prayer, who would doubt any more of our dignity? For not even when the Emperor elects any one, and proclaims in all men's hearing the honor done him, does anybody venture to gainsay.

The Spirit of adoption … bears witness and assures our spirits that we are children of God after we have passed from the spirit of slavery and come under the Spirit of adoption, when all fear has departed. We no longer act out of fear of punishment but do everything out of love for the Father. It is right too that the Spirit of God should be said to bear witness with our spirits and not with our souls, because the spirit is our better part.

The evidence of our adoption is that we have the Spirit, through whom we pray in the manner mentioned above; for only sons could receive such a pledge.

Paul uses the word spirit in two senses. The first is the Spirit of God, the second is our spirit, i.e., through the grace which we have been given.

The Comforter Himself bears witness to the gift imparted to us. For we utter the word "Abba" not without a witness and not of ourselves, but this is the gift of the Comforter; and He taught us to speak thus in prayers by the Spirit, that is, by the gift.

Then he manifests the same thing through the testimony of the Holy Spirit, to show that we are not deceived in our confession; hence he says: the reason I say that we cry, Abba, Father in the Holy Spirit is that the Spirit himself gives testimony to our spirit that we are the sons of God. He bears this testimony not with external words that reach men's ears, as the Father gave testimony to his own Son in Matthew (Matt 3:17), but through the effect of filial love he produces in us. Therefore, he says that he gives testimony not to our ears but to our spirit: "and we are witnesses of these things: and the Holy Spirit" (Acts 5:32).

Since there is no way that God the Father can be said to have died and Christ the Son is said to have died because of his having become flesh. How is it that he who died is always said to be the heir of the life, when heirs are normally heirs of the dead? But of course Christ died in his humanity, not in his divinity. For with God, which is where our inheritance lies, the Father's gift is poured into his obedient children, so that one who is alive may be the heir of the Living One by his own merit and not by reason of death.… What it means to be a fellow heir with Christ we are taught by the apostle John, for among other things he says: "We know that when he appears we shall be like him." …To suffer together with Christ is to endure persecutions in the hope of future rewards and to crucify the flesh with its evils and lusts, i.e., to reject the pleasures and pomp of this world. For when all these things are dead in a man, then he has crucified this world, believing in the life of the world to come in which he believes that he will be a fellow heir with Christ.

By spiritual regeneration we therefore become sons and are adopted into the kingdom of God, not as aliens but as his creatures and offspring.

If honor and riches: God shall set His good and faithful servants over many things, indeed sons of God and gods they shall be called and shall be, and where His Son shall be, there shall they be also, heirs indeed of God, and co-heirs with Christ. If true security: surely they shall be as certain that these things, or rather this good, shall never and in no way be lacking to them, as they shall be certain that they shall not lose it of their own accord, nor that God who loves them shall take it from His lovers against their will, nor that anything more powerful than God shall separate God and them against their will.

The sense in which a Christian leaves it to God is that he puts all his trust in Christ: trusts that Christ will somehow share with him the perfect human obedience which He carried out from His birth to His crucifixion: that Christ will make the man more like Himself and, in a sense, make good his deficiencies. In Christian language, He will share His 'sonship' with us, will make us, like Himself, 'Sons of God': in Book IV I shall attempt to analyse the meaning of those words a little further.

Good works can hardly be done without suffering, yet the suffering of the saints is nourished by a great hope. For nothing earthly is promised but rather eternal glory.

Here "suffer with him" does not mean that we should sympathize and come to the aid of the sufferer, as it usually does in everyday parlance. Christ did not suffer in order to get attention, nor did he undergo weakness in order to gain the sympathy of those who felt sorry for him. To suffer with Christ means to endure the same sufferings that he was forced to suffer by the Jews because he preached the gospel.… If we suffer with him we shall be worthy to be glorified with him as well. This glory is the reward of our sufferings and is not to be regarded as a free gift. The free gift is that we have received remission of our former sins.

But give me now your best attention, I pray you, for I wish to go back to the fountain of life, and to view the fountain that gushes with healing. The Father of immortality sent the immortal Son and Word into the world, who came to man in order to wash him with water and the Spirit; and He, begetting us again to incorruption of soul and body, breathed into us the breath (spirit) of life, and endued us with an incorruptible panoply. If, therefore, man has become immortal, he will also be God. And if he is made God by water and the Holy Spirit after the regeneration of the layer he is found to be also joint-heir with Christ after the resurrection from the dead. Wherefore I preach to this effect: Come, all ye kindreds of the nations, to the immortality of the baptism. I bring good tidings of life to you who tarry in the darkness of ignorance. Come into liberty from slavery, into a kingdom from tyranny, into incorruption from corruption. And how, saith one, shall we come? How? By water and the Holy Ghost. This is the water in conjunction with the Spirit, by which paradise is watered, by which the earth is enriched, by which plants grow, by which animals multiply, and (to sum up the whole in a single word) by which man is begotten again and endued with life, in which also Christ was baptized, and in which the Spirit descended in the form of a dove.

I give you these instructions, beloved, assured that ye also hold the same opinions [as I do]. But I guard you beforehand from those beasts in the shape of men, whom you must not only not receive, but, if it be possible, not even meet with; only you must pray to God for them, if by any means they may be brought to repentance, which, however, will be very difficult. Yet Jesus Christ, who is our true life, has the power of [effecting] this. But if these things were done by our Lord only in appearance, then am I also only in appearance bound. And why have I also surrendered myself to death, to fire, to the sword, to the wild beasts? But, [in fact, ] he who is near to the sword is near to God; he that is among the wild beasts is in company with God; provided only he be so m the name of Jesus Christ. I undergo all these things that I may suffer together with Him, He who became a perfect man inwardly strengthening me.

"And if children, then heirs." Observe how he enhances the Gift by little and little. For since it is a possible case to be children, and yet not become heirs (for it is not by any means all children that are heirs), he adds this besides-that we are heirs. But the Jews, besides their not having the same adoption as we, were also cast out from the inheritance. For "He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out the vineyard to other husbandmen": and before this, He said that "many shall come from the East and from the West, and shall sit down with Abraham, but the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out."

But even here he does not pause, but sets down something even greater than this. What may this be then? That we are heirs of God; and so he adds, "heirs of God." And what is more still, that we are not simply heirs, but also "joint heirs with Christ." Observe how ambitious he is of bringing us near to the Master. For since it is not all children that are heirs, he shows that we are both children and heirs; next, as it is not all heirs that are heirs to any great amount, he shows that we have this point with us too, as we are heirs of God. Again, since it were possible to be God's heir, but in no sense "joint heir with" the Only-Begotten, he shows that we have this also.

And consider his wisdom. For after throwing the distasteful part into a short compass, when he was saying what was to become of such as "live after the flesh," for instance, that they "shall die," when he comes to the more soothing part, he leadeth forth his discourse into a large room, and so expands it on the recompense of rewards, and in pointing out that the gifts too are manifold and great. For if even the being a child were a grace unspeakable, just think how great a thing it is to be heir! But if this be great, much more is it to be "joint heir."

Then to show that the Gift is not of grace only, and to give at the same time a credibility to what he says, he proceeds, "If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together." If, he would say, we be sharers with Him in what is painful, much more shall it be so in what is good. For He who bestowed such blessings upon those who had wrought no good, how, when He seeth them laboring and suffering so much, shall he do else than give them greater requital? Having then shown that the thing was a matter of return, to make men give credit to what was said, and prevent any from doubting, he shows further that it has the virtue of a gift. The one he showed, that what was said might gain credit even with those that doubted, and that the receivers of it might not feel ashamed as being evermore receiving salvation for nought; and the other, that you might see that God outdoeth the toils by His recompenses. And the one he has shown in the words, "If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together."

The Son of God says to his fellow heirs: "You will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Thus Christ leads his fellow heirs not only into a part of the inheritance but into a sharing of his power.

He who is worthy to be a son is worthy to be made an heir of the Father and a coheir with the true Son. This happens if we are ready when it becomes necessary to suffer for him as he suffered for us.

And concerning the Apostles it is written, "They shall sit upon thrones," and this indicateth to us the greatness of their honour, and their equality with Him in inheritance, even as Paul saith, "If we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified with Him." And again he saith, "Heirs of God, and children of the inheritance of Jesus Christ." And again he saith, "If we endure with Him, we shall reign with Him." And again he saith, "He shall change the body of our humility, and shall make it like unto His glorious body, according to His great power through which all things are subject unto Him." Now therefore unto this greatness will the disciple attain if he travelleth completely in his Master's footsteps, but in order that thou mayest not think that this portion of honour came only to the Apostles, Paul said, "If we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified with Him, and if we endure we shall also reign with Him." And our Lord Himself said unto the Apostles, "Not ye only, but every man who leaveth houses, or family, or brethren, or sisters, or children, for My sake, and for My Gospel's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold in this world, and in the world to come life everlasting."

Let us always remember the word of the Apostle, "By tribulation it is meet that we should enter the kingdom of God," and with the Apostle let us say each to each, "If we suffer with Christ, we shall be glorified with Christ, and if we endure with Him, we shall also reign with Him."

So also he says elsewhere: "If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together; for I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." Here again he shows us that our sufferings are less than their rewards.

For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." And therefore he afterward says: "Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (As it is written: For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we have been counted as sheep for the slaughter, ) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him who loved us.

As not every son is an heir of the one who procreated him, St. Paul rightly adds heredity to the adoption of sons. And given that a friend may often receive some inheritance from the Lord, Paul does not omit the word son but even adds that we are "fellow heirs with Christ," thereby revealing his ineffable love for mankind. For not all those who have been blessed with saving baptism enjoy these good things, but only those who accept the fellowship of the Lord's sufferings as well.

Since not all children are heirs, he proves that we are both children and heirs. And since not every heir inherits the better inheritance, he proves that we have inherited the better inheritance: for we are heirs of God. Again, since it is possible to be an heir but not at all a co-heir of the Only-Begotten, he says that this too belongs to us: for we are co-heirs with Christ. Having said that we shall be co-heirs with Christ, he proves that we shall attain this not without reason. For He who honored with such blessings those who had not yet shown any merit, will He not all the more reward them when He sees them laboring greatly? And He does this so that those receiving the gift may not be ashamed, as though they receive it without toil. Consider, however, what he suggests here: that one who has been deemed worthy of such gifts must subject himself to sufferings and afflictions.

Then he posits the major premise, at "and if sons." First, he shows that to children is owed the inheritance, saying: If some are children, namely, through the Spirit, it follows that they are heirs, because the inheritance is owed not only to the natural child but also to the adopted: "we have been born anew to an inheritance which is imperishable" (1 Pet 1:4); "yea, I have a goodly heritage" (Ps 16:6).

Second, he shows what that inheritance is. First, he describes it in relation to God the Father, saying, "heirs indeed of God." Now one's heir is a person who receives or gets his chief goods and not some small gifts, as we read in Genesis that Abraham gave all his possessions to Isaac, but to the sons of his concubines he bestowed gifts (Gen 25:5–6). Now the chief good by which God is rich is himself. For he is rich of himself and not in virtue of something else, because he does not need the goods others have: "you do not need my goods" (Ps 15:2). Hence the children of God obtain God himself as their inheritance: "the Lord is my chosen portion" (Ps 16:5); "the Lord is my portion, says my soul" (Lam 3:24).

But since the child does not obtain the inheritance unless the father dies, it seems that man cannot be an heir of God, who never dies. The answer is that this applies to temporal goods which cannot be possessed by many at the same time; hence one must die, if another is to inherit. But spiritual goods can be held by many at the same time; therefore, it is not necessary that the Father die in order that the children become heirs. Yet it can be said that God dies for us inasmuch as he is in us by faith: but he will be our inheritance, insofar as we will see him through form.

Second, he describes this inheritance on the part of Christ, saying, "joint heirs with Christ," because just as he is the chief Son with whom we share sonship, so he is the chief heir, to whom we are united in the inheritance: "this is the heir" (Matt 21:38); "yet will I bring an heir to you" (Micah 1:15).

Then he shows why this glorious life is delayed, when he says, "yet so, if we suffer with him." In regard to the first it must be recalled that Christ, the principal heir, attained to the inheritance of glory through suffering: "was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and so enter his glory?" (Luke 24:26). But we must not expect to obtain the inheritance by an easier way. Therefore, it is necessary that we attain to that inheritance through suffering: "through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:21). For we do not receive an immortal and unsuffering body at once, in order that we might suffer along with Christ. Hence he says, "yet so, if we suffer with him," i.e., along with Christ endure the tribulations of this world patiently, in order that we may be also glorified with Christ: "if we have died with him, we shall also reign with him" (2 Tim 2:11).

This exhortation relates to what we have just read, in which Paul shows that the things which we might suffer at the hands of the wicked here below are small in comparison with the reward which awaits us in the next life. Therefore we ought to be prepared for every eventuality, because the rewards which are promised to us are so great so that our mind may be consoled in tribulation and grow in hope.

The humble and holy servants of God who suffer doubly when temporal evils befall them, because they suffer with the wicked as well as at their hands, have their own consolations and the hope of the world to come.

When we see such extraordinary heirs of the heavenly kingdom suffering so greatly during the time of their mortal exile, what remains for us to do under these circumstances … except to humble ourselves all the more in the sight of our benevolent Maker and Redeemer, as we become more clearly aware that we cannot follow them by imitating either their lives or their deaths?

The affective dispositions once ordained must be straightened by these same virtues. These dispositions are four in number: fear, sorrow, joy, and trust. And they are not straightened unless fear is holy, sorrow just, joy true, and trust assured. For if fear is prideful, sorrow unfounded, joy inappropriate, and trust presumptuous, then the affections are distorted. Now these affections cannot be straightened by themselves. Indeed, trust, or hope, is concerned with things unseen, such as the life of beatitude; but this life is given only to those who deserve it; and no one deserves it unless he has sufficient merit. Such things cannot be obtained through the powers of free will: they require God's condescension, that is, grace. The sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory to come.

"I reckon", said St. Paul, "that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." If this is so, a book on suffering which says nothing of heaven, is leaving out almost the whole of one side of the account. Scripture and tradition habitually put the joys of heaven into the scale against the sufferings of earth, and no solution of the problem of pain which does not do so can be called a Christian one. We are very shy nowadays of even mentioning heaven. We are afraid of the jeer about "pie in the sky", and of being told that we are trying to "escape" from the duty of making a happy world here and now into dreams of a happy world elsewhere. But either there is "pie in the sky" or there is not. If there is not, then Christianity is false, for this doctrine is woven into its whole fabric. If there is, then this truth, like any other, must be faced, whether it is useful at political meetings or no.

Life at a vile boarding-school is in this way a good preparation for the Christian life, that it teaches one to live by hope. Even, in a sense, by faith; for at the beginning of each term, home and the holidays are so far off that it is as hard to realise them as to realise heaven. They have the same pitiful unreality when confronted with immediate horrors. To-morrow's geometry blots out the distant end of term as to-morrow's operation may blot out the hope of Paradise. And yet, term after term, the unbelievable happened. Fantastical and astronomical figures like "This time six weeks" shrank into practicable figures like "This time next week", and then "This time to-morrow", and the almost supernatural bliss of the Last Day punctually appeared. It was a delight that almost demanded to be stayed with flagons and comforted with apples; a delight that tingled down the spine and troubled the belly and at moments went near to stopping the breath.

Oh, what and how great will that day be at its coming, beloved brethren, when the Lord shall begin to count up His people, and to recognise the deservings of each one by the inspection of His divine knowledge, to send the guilty to Gehenna, and to set on fire our persecutors with the perpetual burning of a penal fire, but to pay to us the reward of our faith and devotion! What will be the glory and how great the joy to be admitted to see God, to be honoured to receive with Christ, thy Lord God, the joy of eternal salvation and light-to greet Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the patriarchs, and prophets, and apostles, and martyrs-to rejoice with the righteous and the friends of God in the kingdom of heaven, with the pleasure of immortality given to us-to receive there what neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man! For the apostle announces that we shall receive greater things than anything that we here either do or suffer, saying, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come hereafter which shall be revealed in us." When that revelation shall come, when that glory of God shall shine upon us, we shall be as happy and joyful, honoured with the condescension of God, as they will remain guilty and wretched, who, either as deserters from God or rebels against Him, have done the will of the devil, so that it is necessary for them to be tormented with the devil himself in unquenchable fire.

What now must be the vigour, beloved brethren, of your victorious consciousness, what the loftiness of your mind, what exultation in feeling, what triumph in your breast, that every one of you stands near to the promised reward of God, are secure from the judgment of God, walk in the mines with a body captive indeed, but with a heart reigning, that you know Christ is present with you, rejoicing in the endurance of His servants, who are ascending by His footsteps and in His paths to the eternal kingdoms! You daily expect with joy the saving day of your departure; and already about to withdraw from the world, you are hastening to the rewards of martyrdom, and to the divine homes, to behold after this darkness of the world the purest light, and to receive a glory greater than all sufferings and conflicts, as the apostle witnesses, and says, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." And because now your word is more effectual in prayers, and supplication is more quick to obtain what is sought for in afflictions, seek more eagerly, and ask that the divine condescension would consummate the confession of all of us; that from this darkness and these snares of the world God would set us also free with you, sound and glorious; that we who here are united in the bond of charity and peace, and have stood together against the wrongs of heretics and the oppressions of the heathens, may rejoice together in the heavenly kingdom. I bid you, most blessed and most beloved brethren, ever farewell in the Lord, and always and everywhere remember me.

Nor let anything now be revolved in your hearts and minds besides the divine precepts and heavenly commands, with which the Holy Spirit has ever animated you to the endurance of suffering. Let no one think of death, but of immortality; nor of temporary punishment, but of eternal glory; since it is written, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints; " and again, "A broken spirit is a sacrifice to God: a contrite and humble heart God doth not despise." And again, where the sacred Scripture speaks of the tortures which consecrate God's martyrs, and sanctify them in the very trial of suffering: "And if they have suffered torments in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality; and having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace hath He tried them, and received them as a sacrifice of a burnt-offering, and in due time regard shall be had unto them. The righteous shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people; and their Lord shall reign for ever." When, therefore, you reflect that you shall judge and reign with Christ the Lord, you must needs exult and tread under foot present sufferings, in the joy of what is to come; knowing that from the beginning of the world it has been so appointed that righteousness should suffer there in the conflict of the world, since in the beginning, even at the first, the righteous Abel was slain, and thereafter all righteous men, and prophets, and apostles who were sent. To all of whom the Lord also in Himself has appointed an example, teaching that none shall attain to His kingdom but those who have followed Him in His own way, saying, "He that loveth his life in this world shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." And again: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Paul also exhorts us that we who desire to attain to the Lord's promises ought to imitate the Lord in all things. "We are," says he, "the sons of God: but if sons, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." Moreover, he added the comparison of the present time and of the future glory, saying, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory which shall be revealed in us." Of which brightness, when we consider the glory, it behoves us to bear all afflictions and persecutions; because, although many are the afflictions of the righteous, yet those are delivered from them all who trust in God.

That we receive more as the reward of our suffering than what we endure here in the suffering itself, the blessed Apostle Paul proves; who by the divine condescension, being caught up into the third heaven and into paradise, testifies that he heard unspeakable words, who boasts that he saw Jesus Christ by the faith of sight, who professes that which he both learnt and saw with the greater truth of consciousness, and says: "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory which shall be revealed in us." Who, then, does not with all his powers labour to attain to such a glory that he may become the friend of God, that he may at once rejoice with Christ, that after earthly tortures and punishments he may receive divine rewards? If to soldiers of this world it is glorious to return in triumph to their country when the foe is vanquished, how much more excellent and greater is the glory, when the devil is overcome, to return in triumph to paradise, and to bring back victorious trophies to that place whence Adam was ejected as a sinner, after casting down him who formerly had cast him down; to offer to God the most acceptable gift-an uncorrupted faith, and an unyielding virtue of mind, an illustrious praise of devotion; to accompany Him when He shall come to receive vengeance from His enemies, to stand at His side when He shall sit to judge, to become co-heir of Christ, to be made equal to the angels; with the patriarchs, with the apostles. with the prophets, to rejoice in the possession of the heavenly kingdom! Such thoughts as these, what persecution can conquer, what tortures can overcome? The brave and stedfast mind, founded in religious meditations, endures; and the spirit abides unmoved against all the terrors of the devil and the threats of the world, when it is strengthened by the sure and solid faith of things to come. In persecutions, earth is shut up, but heaven is opened; Antichrist is threatening, but Christ is protecting; death is brought in, but immortality follows; the world is taken away from him that is slain, but paradise is set forth to him restored; the life of time is extinguished, but the life of eternity is realized. What a dignity it is, and what a security, to go gladly from hence, to depart gloriously in the midst of afflictions and tribulations; in a moment to close the eyes with which men and the world are looked upon, and at once to open them to look upon God and Christ! Of such a blessed departure how great is the swiftness! You shall be suddenly taken away from earth, to be placed in the heavenly kingdoms. It behoves us to embrace these things in our mind and consideration, to meditate on these things day and night. If persecution should fall upon such a soldier of God, his virtue, prompt for battle, will not be able tO be overcome. Or if his call should come to him before, his faith shall not be without reward, seeing it was prepared for martyrdom; without loss of time, the reward is rendered by the judgment of God. In persecution, the warfare,-in peace, the purity of conscience, is crowned.

That what we suffer in this world is of less account than is the reward which is promised. In the Epistle of Paul to the Romans: "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy of comparison with the glory that is to come after, which shall be revealed in us." Of this same thing in the Maccabees: "O Lord, who hast the holy knowledge, it is manifest that while I might be delivered from death, I am suffering most cruel pains of body, being beaten with whips; yet in spirit I suffer these things willingly, because of the fear of thine own self." Also in the same place: "Thou indeed, being powerless, destroyest us out of this present life; but the King of the world shall raise us up who have died for His laws into the eternal resurrection of life." Also in the same place: "It is better that, given up to death by men, we should expect hope from God to be raised again by Him. For there shall be no resurrection to life for thee." Also in the same place: "Having power among men, although thou art corruptible, thou doest what thou wilt. But think not that our race is forsaken of God. Sustain, and see how His great power will torment, thee and thy seed." Also in the same place: Do not err without cause; for we suffer these things on our own accounts, as sinners against our God. But think not thou that thou shalt be unpunished, having undertaken to fight against God."

For Abraham also thus pleased God, in that he, when tried by God, spared not even his own son, in behalf of whom perhaps he might have been pardoned had he hesitated to slay him. A religious devotion armed his hands; and his paternal love, at the command of the Lord who bade it, set aside all the feelings of affection. Neither did it shock him that he was to shed the blood of his son, nor did he tremble at the word; nevertheless for him Christ had not yet been slain. For what is dearer than He who, that you might not sustain anything unwillingly in the present day, first of all Himself suffered that which He taught others to suffer? What is sweeter than He who, although He is our God and Lord, nevertheless makes the man who suffers for His sake His fellow-heir in the kingdom of heaven? Oh grand-I know not what!-whether that reason scarcely bears to receive that consciousness, although it always marvels at the greatness of the rewards; or that the majesty of God is so abundant, that to all who trust in it, it even offers those things which, while we were considering what we have done, it had been sin to desire. Moreover, if only eternal salvation should be given, for that very perpetuity of living we should be thankful. But now, when heaven and the power of judging concerning others is bestowed in the eternal world, what is there wherein man's mediocrity may not find itself equal to all these trials? If you are assailed with injuries, He was first so assailed. If yon are oppressed with reproaches, you are imitating the experience of God. Whence also it is but a little matter whatever you undergo for Him, seeing that you can do nothing more, unless that in this consists the whole of salvation, that He has promised the whole to martyrdom. Finally, the apostle, to whom all things were always dear, while he deeply marvelled at the greatness of the promised benefits, said, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to follow, which shall be revealed in us." Because he was musing in his own mind how great would be the reward, that to him to whom it would be enough to be free from death, should be given not only the prerogative of salvation, but also to ascend to heaven: to heaven which is not constrained into darkness, even when light is expelled from it, and the day does not unfold into light by alternate changes; but the serene temperature of the liquid air unfolds a pure brightness through a clearness that reddens with a fiery glow.

But I, O thou blessed woman, not being now so much my own master as in the power of others, am driven along by the varying wills of many adversaries, being in one sense in exile, in another in prison, and in a third in bonds. But I pay no regard to these things. Yea, by the injuries inflicted on me through them, I acquire all the more the character of a disciple, that I may attain to Jesus Christ. May I enjoy the torments which are prepared for me, seeing that "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

Do you dread poverty? Christ calls the poor blessed. Does toil frighten you? No athlete is crowned but in the sweat of his brow. Are you anxious as regards food? Faith fears no famine. Do you dread the bare ground for limbs wasted with fasting? The Lord lies there beside you. Do you recoil from an unwashed head and uncombed hair? Christ is your head. Does the boundless solitude of the desert terrify you? In the Spirit you may walk always in paradise. Do but turn your thoughts there and you will be no more in the desert. Is your skin rough and scaly because you no longer bathe? He that is once washed in Christ has no need to wash again. To all your objections the apostle gives this one brief answer: "The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us."

Even if each day we suffer death, something which nature could not endure even if mind overcomes matter … what we endure is nothing compared to the good things we are destined to receive or the glory due to be revealed on our behalf.

In what went before, he requires of the spiritual man the correcting of his habits, where he says, "Ye are not debtors to live after the flesh," that such an one, for instance, should be above lust, anger, money, vainglory, grudging. But here having reminded them of the whole gift, both as given and as to come, and raised him up aloft with hopes, and placed him near to Christ, and showed him to be a joint-heir of the Only-Begotten; he now leads him forth with confidence even to dangers. For to get the better of the evil affections in us, is not the same thing with bearing up under those trials, scourges, famine, plunderings, bonds, chains, executions. For these last required much more of a noble and vigorous spirit. And observe how he at once allays and rouses the spirit of the combatants. For after he had shown that the rewards were greater than the labors, he both exhorts to greater efforts, and yet will not let them be elated, as being still outdone by the crowns given in requital. And in another passage he says, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory": it being the deeper sort of persons he was then speaking to. Here, however, he does not allow that the afflictions were light; but still he mingles comfort with them by the compensation which good things to come afford, in the words, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared," and he does not say, with the rest that is to come, but what is much greater, "with the glory which is to come." For it does not follow, that where rest is there is glory; but that where glory is there is rest, does follow: then as he had said that it is to come, he shows that it already is. For he does not say, that which is to be, but "which shall be revealed in us," as if already existing but unrevealed. As also in another place he said in clearer words, "Our life is hid with Christ in God." Be then of a good heart about it. For already hath it been prepared, and awaiteth thy labors.

There is nothing which is worthy of comparison with the future glory. For how can what is mortal be compared to what is immortal, what is visible to what is invisible, what is temporal to what is eternal or what is perishable to what is everlasting?

Paul wants to commend future glory so that we may bear present afflictions more easily. Indeed, no human being could ever suffer anything equal to heavenly glory, even if that glory were comparable to this present life. For whatever a man might suffer in dying is no more that what he already deserved to suffer for his sins. But now his sins are forgiven, and in the future he will be granted eternal life, fellowship with the angels, the splendor of the sun and the other things which we have read have been promised for the saints. At the moment, though, this future glory is "hidden with Christ in God," and "it does not yet appear what we shall be."

Even the apostle ought not to be known for any one statement in which he is wont to reproach the flesh. For although he says that "in his flesh dwelleth no good thing; " although he affirms that "they who are in the flesh cannot please God," because "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit; " yet in these and similar assertions which he makes, it is not the substance of the flesh, but its actions, which are censured.

Having spoken of sufferings, the apostle, lest his listener be shaken, as one led out to sufferings and drawn toward calamities, says: do not be afraid. The "present momentary" sufferings, that is, passing ones, are not worth anything in comparison with the future glory. He did not say: with future rest, but: glory, which is desired by many. Where there is rest, there is not always glory, but where there is glory, there is also rest. By the word "will be revealed" he showed that glory exists even now, but is hidden, and then it will be revealed. Since it is the greatest and inexpressibly surpasses the present age, it is also prepared for them, as extending into unending ages. Therefore, listener, bearing in mind that sufferings are "momentary," while the glory of the age to come is unending, accept sufferings and acquire glory.

After proving that we are freed through the grace of Christ, the Apostle now assigns the cause of the postponement of immortal life, which is the inheritance of the children of God, namely, that it is necessary for us to suffer with Christ in order to reach the fellowship of his glory. But because someone might say that such an inheritance is burdensome, since it cannot be obtained except by enduring suffering, he shows the superiority of future glory over the sufferings of the present life. First, he states his proposition; second, he proves it, at "for the expectation."

First, therefore, he says: it has been stated that it is necessary for us to suffer in order to be glorified, and that we should not reject sufferings, if we would have glory. For I, who have experienced both, consider: "a man of much experience will speak with understanding" (Sir 34:9). He endured many sufferings: "with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings" (2 Cor 11:23), and he was a beholder of future glory: "caught up into Paradise, he heard things that cannot be told" (2 Cor 12:3). This I consider, namely, that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that will be revealed in us.

Herein he mentions four things to show the excellence of that glory. First, he designates its eternity when he says, "the glory to come," namely, after the present time; but there is nothing after the present time except eternity. Hence that glory surpasses the sufferings of this time as the eternal surpasses the temporal: "for this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Cor 4:17). Second, he designates its dignity when he says, "glory," which suggests a splendor of dignity: "let the faithful exult in glory" (Ps 149:5). Third, he designates how it will be manifested when he says, "that will be revealed." For the saints have glory now, but it is hidden in their conscience: "our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience" (2 Cor 1:12). But later that glory will be revealed in the sight of all, both good and bad, about whom it is said: "they will be amazed at his unsuspected salvation" (Wis 5:2). Fourth, he designates its truth when he says, "in us." For the glory of this world is vain, because it is based on things outside a person, namely, in the trappings of wealth and in the opinion of men: "they boast of the abundance of their riches" (Ps 49:6). But that glory will be based on something within a man, as it says in Luke: "the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21).

Thus, the sufferings of this life, if they are considered in themselves, are slight in comparison to the quantity of this glory; "for a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you" (Isa 54:7). But if these sufferings are considered insofar as they are voluntarily endured for God out of love, which the Holy Spirit produces in us, then man properly merits eternal life through them. For the Holy Spirit is a fountain whose waters, i.e., effects, well up to eternal life, as it says in John (John 4:14).

When I stop doing that and still try to think of the Father begetting many sons 'before all worlds' I find I am not really thinking of anything. The idea fades away into mere words. (Was Nature—space and time and matter—created precisely in order to make many-ness possible? Is there perhaps no other way of getting many eternal spirits except by first making many natural creatures, in a universe, and then spiritualising them? But of course all this is guesswork.)

For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. By the creature he here designates the angels, and by the sons of God the human race. By the term apokaradokia (earnest expectation), he represents the creature as straining its neck to scan the distant horizon in hope of descrying some help coming to man. For if the angels had not been subjected to servile ministrations they would not have longed for liberty; for when man had sinned and received sentence of death, they were smitten with sore grief, concluding that all was hopelessly lost; for since man was the bond uniting the whole creation, as well as the image of God, they abandoned after his sentence all hope both of themselves and of the universe, and were unwilling to be his servants and subordinates without resulting advantage. By the words, however, in the passage cited, by reason of him who hath subjected it in hope, the Apostle would have us understand that God did not permit the wish of the angels to prevail, but gave them some hope that they might not despair, but be cheered with the prospect that in the course of time some good would accrue to man

For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God; and, as if some one was uncertain as to his meaning and asked him: For the sake of what or by doing what, does the creation await this? he proceeds and says: because the creation was subjected to vanity not willingly; as if he said: in this corruptible and mutable world. For this he calls vanity—when creatures by the command of God were ordered to serve even against their will. Whence we learn by the expression not willingly that he is speaking of rational beings, and this is the law laid down for them. Should some one, he then says, put the question, And how again shall they serve, they who now move all things? They do serve, he replies, but as far as concerns the sin of Adam through which he was condemned to death, they could not endure to serve longer and toil in vain on our behalf. But I say this, he adds, on account of him who hath subjected them in hope, this namely, that God has given them a hope that some good will result to men in the course of time, and for this reason they were subjected, and do render service in expectation of their freedom, when men also are freed from death and corruption and these vanities, and shall receive the hope of God, and the glory which is reserved for them. Accordingly he adds: Because the creation itself shall be delivered from bondage, into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.

The creation is waiting for the revelation of the sons of God at some point in the future which is still unknown. Who can know when this will be? But by the secret plan of God, which orders all things for the best, it will come to this end. For when the sons of God, who have lived a righteous life, have been transformed into glory from dishonor and from what is corruptible into what is incorruptible, then the creation too will be transformed into something better.

The Scriptures often suggest that the visible creation is animate and that the universe has a rational sensibility.

"It is going to heaven for justice," he replied. "You must have treated it badly. Remember always that there is one thing that cannot be endured by anybody or anything. That one unendurable thing is to be overworked and also neglected. For instance, you can overwork women—everybody does. But you can't neglect women—I defy you to. At the same time, you can neglect tramps and gypsies and all the apparent refuse of the State so long as you do not overwork it. But no beast of the field, no horse, no dog can endure long to be asked to do more than his work and yet have less than his honour. It is the same with streets. You have worked this street to death, and yet you have never remembered its existence. If you had a healthy democracy, even of pagans, they would have hung this street with garlands and given it the name of a god. Then it would have gone quietly. But at last the street has grown tired of your tireless insolence; and it is bucking and rearing its head to heaven. Have you never sat on a bucking horse?"

When, therefore, according to these (heretics), the entire world and super-mundane entities were finished, and (when) nothing exists labouring under deficiency, there still remains in the (conglomeration of) all germs the third Sonship, which had been left behind in the Seed to confer benefits and receive them. And it must needs be that the Sonship which had been left behind ought likewise to be revealed and reinstated above. And His place should be above the Conterminous Spirit, near the refined and imitative Sonship and the Non-Existent One. But this would be in accordance with what has been written, he says: "And the creation itself groaneth together, and travaileth in pain together, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God." Now, we who are spiritual are sons, he says, who have been left here to arrange, and mould, and rectify, and complete the souls which, according to nature, are so constituted as to continue in this quarter of the universe. "Sin, then, reigned from Adam unto Moses," as it has been written. For the Great Archon exercised dominion and possesses an empire with limits extending as far as the firmament. And He imagines Himself alone to be God, and that there exists nothing above Him, for (the reason that) all things have been guarded by unrevealed Siope. This, he says, is the mystery which has not been made known to former generations; but in those days the Great Archon, the Ogdoad, was King and Lord, as it seemed, of the universe. But (in reality) the Hebdomad was king and lord of this quarter of the universe, and the Ogdoad is Arrhetus, whereas the Hebdomad is Rhetus. This, he says, is the Archon of the Hebdomad, who has spoken to Moses, and says: "I am the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and I have not manifested unto them the name of God" (for so they wish that it had been written)-that is, the God, Arrhetus, Archon of the Ogdoad. All the prophets, therefore, who were before the Saviour uttered their predictions, he says, from this source (of inspiration). Since, therefore, it was requisite, he says, that we should be revealed as the children of God, in expectation of whose manifestation, he says, the creation habitually groans and travails in pain, the Gospel came into the world, and passed through every Principality, and Power, and Dominion, and every Name that is named. And (the Gospel) came in reality, though nothing descended from above; nor did the blessed Sonship retire from that Inconceivable, and Blessed, (and) Non-Existent God. Nay, (far from it;) for as Indian naphtha, when lighted merely from a considerably long distance, nevertheless attracts fire (towards it), so from below, from the formlessness of the conglomeration (of all germs), the powers pass upwards as far as the Sonship. For, according to the illustration of the Indian naphtha, the Son of the Great Archon of the Ogdoad, as if he were some (sort of) naphtha, apprehends and seizes conceptions from the Blessed Sonship, whose place of habitation is situated after that of the Conterminous (Spirit). For the power of the Sonship which is in the midst of the Holy Spirit, (that is,) in, the midst of the (Conterminous) Spirit, shares the flowing and rushing thoughts of the Sonship with the Son of the Great Archon.

When, therefore, he says, the entire Sonship shall have come, and shall be above the conterminous spirit, then the creature will become the object of mercy. For (the creature) groans until now, and is tormented, and waits for the manifestation of the sons of God, in order that all who are men of the Sonship may ascend from thence. When this takes place, God, he says, will bring upon the whole world enormous ignorance, that all things may continue according to nature, and that nothing may inordinately desire anything of the things that are contrary to nature. But (far from it); for all the souls of this quarter of creation, as many as possess the nature of remaining immortal in this (region) only, continue (in it), aware of nothing superior or better (than their present state). And there will not prevail any rumour or knowledge in regions below, concerning beings whose dwelling is placed above, lest subjacent souls should be wrung with torture from longing after impossibilities. (It would be) just as if a fish were to crave to feed on the mountains along with sheep. (For) a wish of this description would, he says, be their destruction. All things, therefore, that abide in (this) quarter are incorruptible, but corruptible if they are disposed to wander and cross over from the things that are according to nature. In this way the Archon of the Hebdomad will know nothing of superjacent entities. For enormous ignorance will lay hold on this one likewise, in order that sorrow, and grief, and groaning may depart from him; for he will not desire aught of impossible things, nor will he be visited with anguish. In like manner, however, the same ignorance will lay hold also on the Great Archon of the Ogdoad, and similarly on all the creatures that are subject unto him, in order that in no respect anything may desire aught of those things that are contrary to nature, and may not (thus) be overwhelmed with sorrow. And so there will be the restitution of all things which, in conformity with nature, have from the beginning a foundation in the seed of the universe, but will be restored at (their own) proper periods. And that each thing, says (Basilides), has its own particular times, the Saviour is a sufficient (witness ) when He observes, "Mine hour is not yet come." And the Magi (afford similar testimony) when they gaze wistfully upon the (Saviour's) star. For (Jesus) Himself was, he says, mentally preconceived at the time of the generation of the stars, and of the complete return to their starting-point of the seasons in the vast conglomeration (of all germs). This is, according to these (Basilidians), he who has been conceived as the inner spiritual man in what is natural (now this is the Sonship which left there the soul, not (that it might be) mortal, but that it might abide here according to nature, just as the first Sonship left above in its proper locality the Holy Spirit, (that is, the spirit) which is conterminous),-(this, I say, is he who has been conceived as the inner spiritual man, and) has then been arrayed in his own peculiar soul.

Inasmuch, therefore, as the opinions of certain [orthodox persons] are derived from heretical discourses, they are both ignorant of God's dispensations, and of the mystery of the resurrection of the just, and of the [earthly] kingdom which is the commencement of incorruption, by means of which kingdom those who shall be worthy are accustomed gradually to partake of the divine nature (capere Deum); and it is necessary to tell them respecting those things, that it behoves the righteous first to receive the promise of the inheritance which God promised to the fathers, and to reign in it, when they rise again to behold God in this creation which is renovated, and that the judgment should take place afterwards. For it is just that in that very creation in which they toiled or were afflicted, being proved in every way by suffering, they should receive the reward of their suffering; and that in the creation in which they were slain because of their love to God, in that they should be revived again; and that in the creation in which they endured servitude, in that they should reign. For God is rich in all things, and all things are His. It is fitting, therefore, that the creation itself, being restored to its primeval condition, should without restraint be under the dominion of the righteous; and the apostle has made this plain in the Epistle to the Romans, when he thus speaks: "For the expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature has been subjected to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope; since the creature itself shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God."

"For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth," he says, "for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope."

And the meaning is something of this kind. The creation itself is in the midst of its pangs, waiting for and expecting these good things whereof we have just now spoken. For "earnest expectation" implies expecting intensely. And so his discourse becomes more emphatic, and he personifies this whole world as the prophets also do, when they introduce the floods clapping their hands, and little hills leaping, and mountains skipping, not that we are to fancy them alive, or ascribe any reasoning power to them, but that we may learn the greatness of the blessings, so great as to reach even to things without sense also. The very same thing they do many times also in the case of afflicting things, since they bring in the vine lamenting, and the wine too, and the mountains, and the boardings of the Temple howling, and in this case too it is that we may understand the extremity of the evils. It is then in imitation of these that the Apostle makes a living person of the creature here, and says that it groaneth and travaileth: not that he heard any groan conveyed from the earth and heaven to him, but that he might show the exceeding greatness of the good things to come; and the desire of freedom from the ills which now pervaded them.

"For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same." What is the meaning of, "the creation was made subject to vanity?" Why that it became corruptible. For what cause, and on what account? On account of thee, O man. For since thou hast taken a body mortal and liable to suffering, the earth too hath received a curse, and brought forth thorns and thistles. But that the heaven, when it is waxen old along with the earth, is to change afterwards to a better portion hear from the Prophet in his words; "Thou, O Lord, from the beginning hast founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a cloak shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed." Isaiah too declares the same, when he says, "Look to the heaven above, and upon the earth beneath, for the heavens are as a firmament of smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall perish in like manner."

Now you see in what sense the creation is "in bondage to vanity," and how it is to be freed from the ruined state. For the one says, "Thou shalt fold them up as a garment, and they shall be changed;" and Isaiah says, "and they that dwell therein shall perish in like manner," not of course meaning an utter perishing. For neither do they that dwell therein, mankind, that is, undergo such an one, but a temporary one, and through it they are changed into an incorruptible state, and so therefore will the creature be.

And Paul clearly testifies this, saying, "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that subjected the same in hope: because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." For the creation was made subject to vanity, he says, and he expects that it will be set free from such servitude, as he intends to call this world by the name of creation. For it is not what is unseen but what is seen that is subject to corruption. The creation, then, after being restored to a better and more seemly state, remains, rejoicing and exulting over the children of God at the resurrection; for whose sake it now groans and travails, waiting itself also for our redemption from the corruption of the body, that, when we have risen and shaken off the mortality of the flesh, according to that which is written, "Shake off the dust, and arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem," and have been set free from sin, it also shall be freed from corruption and be subject no longer to vanity, but to righteousness.

Paul says this in order to indicate how great and wonderful is the glory which will be revealed both in him and in those who have shared his sufferings.

Different interpreters expound this passage in different ways. Some say that the whole creation awaits the time of the resurrection, because then it will be changed into something better. Others say that this refers only to the angelic, rational creation. Still others say that "creation" refers specifically to Adam and Eve, because they did not sin by themselves but at the temptation of the serpent, who long ago made them subject to corruption when they were exposed to deception in the hope of divine existence. These interpreters say that Adam and Eve will be set free so that they are no longer subject to corruption. But the "whole creation," say these same interpreters, means all those who were righteous up to the coming of Christ, because they too have not yet received and are waiting until God provides something better for us. Not only they, however, but we also, in whom these things have been fulfilled, do not yet hold it in our grasp but endure in hope, although we have seen things which many righteous people have longed to see.

But if, on the other hand, there is to be an end of evil, when the chief thereof, the devil, shall "go away into the fire which God hath prepared for him and his angels" -having been first "cast into the bottomless pit; " when likewise "the manifestation of the children of God" shall have "delivered the creature" from evil, which had been "made subject to vanity; " when the cattle restored in the innocence and integrity of their nature shall be at peace with the beasts of the field, when also little children shall play with serpents; when the Father shall have put beneath the feet of His Son His enemies, as being the workers of evil,-if in this way an end is compatible with evil, it must follow of necessary that a beginning is also compatible with it; and Matter will turn out to have a beginning, by virtue of its having also an end.

Paul is referring here to the resurrection on the last day.

Desiring to show what glory we shall receive, he says that creation itself will change for the better, and all the more so shall we come into a better state. What is said has this meaning. The prophets speak thus: with them rivers clap their hands, hills leap, animals and sensible objects have faces. So also does the apostle, when he says that creation has "hope," that is, a great expectation that it too will change for the better and awaits the revelation of the glory of us, the sons of God. Then it too shall be glorified with incorruption, when we also obtain immortality. Therefore, when you hear speech about creation as though it were animate, consider that it is spoken according to the custom of personification.

Then he proves his proposition by the excellence of that glory, when he says, "for the expectation of the creature." First, by the eager longing of the creature; second, by the eager longing of the apostles, at "and not only it" (Rom 8:23). In regard to the first he does two things. First, he mentions the eager longing of the creature; second, he manifests it, at "for the creature."

First, therefore, he says: it has been stated that future glory exceeds present sufferings. Yet this is obvious, for the expectation of the creature waits for the revelation of the sons of God: "we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be" (1 John 3:2). For the dignity of divine sonship is hidden in the saints on account of the things they suffer outwardly; but that dignity will be revealed later, when they receive immortal and glorious life, and when the wicked will say: "behold how they have been numbered among the sons of God" (Wis 5:5). And he says that "the expectation waits" to designate by such repetition the intensity of the eager longing: "eagerly longing I have eagerly longed for the Lord" (Ps 39:1).

It should be noted that creature, or creation, can be interpreted in three ways here. In one way for just men, who are called God's creature in a special way, either because they continue in the good in which they were created, or on account of their excellence, because every creature somehow serves them: "of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures" (Jas 1:18). But this creature, i.e., the just man, waits for the revelation of the sons of God as a reward promised him: "awaiting the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God" (Titus 2:23).

Second, the creature can be human nature itself, which is the substratum of the goods of grace. In the unrighteous this nature is not yet sanctified but is as though without form. In the men who have already been justified it is partially formed now with grace, but it is still, as it were, without form and awaits the final form which comes through glory. Thus, therefore, this creature, i.e., we ourselves, in virtue of our human nature, waits for the revelation of the sons of God. We also wait for this in virtue of the grace received into our nature, as we might say that matter waits for its form or colors wait for the completed picture, as the Gloss says: "all the days of my service I would wait till my release should come" (Job 14:14).

In a third way it can be understood of sensible creation itself, as are the elements of this world: "from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator" (Wis 13:5). This sort of creation waits for something in two ways: for the eager longing of sensible creation, according as it has its origin in God, is ordered to some end. And this happens in two ways. In one way, inasmuch as God endows this creation with a natural form and powers that incline it to some natural end. Thus we might say that a tree waits for its fruit to be produced or that fire waits for its higher natural place. In another way sensible creation is ordained by God to an end which transcends its natural form. For just as the human body will be clothed with the form of supernatural glory, so all sensible creation in that glory of the children of God will itself obtain a new glory: "I saw a new heaven and a new earth" (Rev 21:1). In this way sensible creation waits for the revelation of the glory of the sons of God.

But the creature itself also shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the children of God, when the grace of divine recompense shall shine forth.

The subjection of the creation is not for its benefit but for ours. What does it mean to be subject to futility but that what it produces is worthless? For the creation works in order to bring forth corruptible fruit. Corruption therefore is itself futility.

We can, perhaps, conceive of a world in which God corrected the results of this abuse of free-will by His creatures at every moment: so that a wooden beam became soft as grass when it was used as a weapon, and the air refused to obey me if I attempted to set up in it the sound waves that carry lies or insults. But such a world would be one in which wrong actions were impossible, and in which, therefore, freedom of the will would be void; nay, if the principle were carried out to its logical conclusion, evil thoughts would be impossible, for the cerebral matter which we use in thinking would refuse its task when we attempted to frame them. All matter in the neighbourhood of a wicked man would be liable to undergo unpredictable alterations. That God can and does, on occasions, modify the behaviour of matter and produce what we call miracles, is part of the Christian faith; but the very conception of a common, and therefore, stable, world, demands that these occasions should be extremely rare. In a game of chess you can make certain arbitrary concessions to your opponent, which stand to the ordinary rules of the game as miracles stand to the laws of nature. You can deprive yourself of a castle, or allow the other man sometimes to take back a move made inadvertently. But if you conceded everything that at any moment happened to suit him--if all his moves were revocable and if all your pieces disappeared whenever their position on the board was not to his liking--then you could not have a game at all. So it is with the life of souls in a world: fixed laws, consequences unfolding by causal necessity, the whole natural order, are at once the limits within which their common life is confined and also the sole condition under which any such life is possible. Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free-wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself.

[On why a good God permits a world gone wrong — and His insistence that we participate in setting it right]

And, of course, that raises a very big question. If a good God made the world why has it gone wrong? And for many years I simply refused to listen to the Christian answers to this question, because I kept on feeling 'whatever you say, and however clever your arguments are, isn't it much simpler and easier to say that the world was not made by any intelligent power? Aren't all your arguments simply a complicated attempt to avoid the obvious?' But then that threw me back into another difficulty.

Wherefore the angels did not desist from the ministrations which they rendered to men liable to death and corruption, for the Apostle speaks thus: For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, that is, they were unwilling to labour and serve to no purpose; but, he goes on to say, by reason of him who subjected it in hope. In what hope? Because, as is quite evident, after the transgression the angels, when they saw that God was not carrying into effect the sentence upon man, but treating him with loving care and providing him with clothing, came to entertain better hopes of man, so that they did not despair of him but ministered in his behalf

And that the heavenly bodies are moved by the invisible Powers, divine scripture intimates this also, when it says: For the creation was made subject to vanity not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God; meaning by this, that at the final consummation, the angels shall be delivered from this bondage, and from the ministrations which they render on account of men, for men, having then become immortal and immutable, will no longer be in need of such ministrations

For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God; and, as if some one was uncertain as to his meaning and asked him: For the sake of what or by doing what, does the creation await this? he proceeds and says: because the creation was subjected to vanity not willingly; as if he said: in this corruptible and mutable world. For this he calls vanity—when creatures by the command of God were ordered to serve even against their will. Whence we learn by the expression not willingly that he is speaking of rational beings, and this is the law laid down for them. Should some one, he then says, put the question, And how again shall they serve, they who now move all things? They do serve, he replies, but as far as concerns the sin of Adam through which he was condemned to death, they could not endure to serve longer and toil in vain on our behalf. But I say this, he adds, on account of him who hath subjected them in hope, this namely, that God has given them a hope that some good will result to men in the course of time, and for this reason they were subjected, and do render service in expectation of their freedom, when men also are freed from death and corruption and these vanities, and shall receive the hope of God, and the glory which is reserved for them. Accordingly he adds: Because the creation itself shall be delivered from bondage, into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.

The visible and tangible creation knows nothing of the promises which have been made to us because it has no understanding of them. For if it should ever happen that the creation acquired some understanding of these things, it would hardly endure such base servitude, nor would it want to be subject to or be on friendly terms with those whose lives bear no good fruit. Nevertheless, Paul says that the creation is subject in hope, for one day the saints and the elect will be saved, and then the yoke which has been imposed on it by God will be removed.… In the meantime, the creation groans and in some sense labors and grieves, and if it had any awareness of our works, probably it would burst out crying.

What is this futility to which the creation is said to be subject? It seems to me that this is said about the material and corruptible substance of the body. Likewise with the decay mentioned [in the next verse].

The moon and the stars have been compelled against their will to be subject to futility, as a result of causes long past; yet in the hope of a future reward they do not do their own will but the will of the Creator, by whom they have been appointed to these duties.

What is the futility to which the creation was subjected? My own opinion is that this is nothing else than the possession of bodies. Even though the bodies of the stars are composed of ether they are nevertheless material. This, it seems to me, is the reason why Solomon arraigns the whole universe as being in a way burdensome: "Vanity of vanities, says the preacher.… All is vanity."

"Futility" means everything which will someday come to an end.

But if, on the other hand, there is to be an end of evil, when the chief thereof, the devil, shall "go away into the fire which God hath prepared for him and his angels" -having been first "cast into the bottomless pit; " when likewise "the manifestation of the children of God" shall have "delivered the creature" from evil, which had been "made subject to vanity; " when the cattle restored in the innocence and integrity of their nature shall be at peace with the beasts of the field, when also little children shall play with serpents; when the Father shall have put beneath the feet of His Son His enemies, as being the workers of evil,-if in this way an end is compatible with evil, it must follow of necessary that a beginning is also compatible with it; and Matter will turn out to have a beginning, by virtue of its having also an end.

"Futility" means corruption. Paul teaches this a little further on when he says that the creation itself will be set free from corruption. He also teaches that all the visible creation has been condemned to mortality because the Creator of all things foresaw the sin of Adam and that he would sentence him to death.

To vanity, that is to corruption, the creation "was subjected," that is, it became corruptible through you, O man. Since you received a body that is mortal and subject to suffering, the earth also brought forth thorns and thistles, and the heaven, having grown old, has need of change. But in what way did creation become corruptible through another? Because it was created entirely for man. The expression "not willingly" means that everything was by the providence of God, and could not depend on the will of creation, which disregarded it and directed its spirit toward the heavenly. The words "in hope" and others like them, consider them spoken according to the custom of personification.

Then he explains this waiting, at "for the creature." First, the need to wait; second, its end, at "because the creature"; third, the sign of waiting, at "for we know that every creature."

Now the need to wait is due to a defect to which the creature is subject. For a thing subject to no defect has no need to wait for something. He shows the creature's defect when he says: "for the creature was subjected to vanity."

If by creature is understood the just man, he is understood to be subject to vanity, i.e., to those bodily things which are changeable and inclined to fail. Hence they are called vain: "vanity of vanities, and all is vanity" (Eccl 1:2). But he is subjected to them because the needs of the present life require that he occupy himself with them, not willingly, because he does not love such temporal things as those do against whom it is said: "how long will you love vanity and seek after lies?" (Ps 4:3). But this creature is subjected to such vanity by reason of him, i.e., by God's ordinance, who subjected it, i.e., the just man, to these sensible creatures; but in hope, namely, that at some time he will be freed from such occupation in the resurrection "when they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven" (Matt 22:30).

If by creature is understood human nature itself, then such a creature is subjected to vanity, i.e., to changeableness; "every man stands as a mere breath" (Ps 39:5). Not willingly, because such vanity is inflicted on human nature as a punishment. But punishment is involuntary just as guilt is voluntary. But human nature is subjected to such sufferings by reason of him, i.e., by the sentence of God, who subjected it, namely, human nature, to defects, but nevertheless in hope of the time when such sufferings will be avoided: "the thresher shall not thresh it forever" (Isa 28:28).

But if by creature is understood sensible creation, then such creation was subjected to vanity, i.e., to changeability, but not willingly. For the defects which follow on changeableness, such as aging and ceasing to be and the like, are contrary to the particular nature of this or that thing which seeks self-preservation, although they are in keeping with the general nature of things. Nevertheless, the visible creature is subjected to such vanity by reason of him, i.e., by the ordinance of God who subjected it in hope, i.e., in expectation of a glorious renewal as was stated above.

Paul shows that the grace of the soul is no small thing, for by its strength and power the human race rises to the adoption of sons of God, having in itself that which was given to it in the image and likeness of God.

Because the creation cannot contradict its Creator it is subjected because of him, but not without hope. For in its travail it has this comfort, that it will have rest when all those who will believe and for whose sake it was subjected in the first place will have come to faith.

Meditate on these things, brethren; and the Lord be With you upon earth, and in the kingdom of His Father, who both sent Him, and has "delivered us by Him from the bondage of corruption into His glorious liberty;" and has promised life to those who through Him have believed in the God of the whole world.

The second class of miracles, on this view, foretell what God has not yet done, but will do, universally. He raised one man (the man who was Himself) from the dead because He will one day raise all men from the dead. Perhaps not only men, for there are hints in the New Testament that all creation will eventually be rescued from decay, restored to shape and subserve the splendor of remade humanity. The Transfiguration and the walking on the water are glimpses of the beauty and the effortless power over all matter which will belong to men when they are really waked by God.

I am now going to suggest--though with great readiness to be set right by real theologians--that there may be a sense, corresponding, though not identical, with these, in which those beasts that attain a real self are in their masters. That is to say, you must not think of a beast by itself, and call that a personality and then inquire whether God will raise and bless that. You must take the whole context in which the beast acquires its selfhood--namely "The-goodman-and-the-goodwife-ruling-their-children-and-their-beasts-in-the-good-homestead". That whole context may be regarded as a "body" in the Pauline (or a closely sub-Pauline) sense; and how much of that "body" may be raised along with the goodman and the goodwife, who can predict? So much, presumably, as is necessary not only for the glory of God and the beatitude of the human pair, but for that particular glory and that particular beatitude which is eternally coloured by that particular terrestrial experience. And in this way it seems to me possible that certain animals may have an immortality, not in themselves, but in the immortality of their masters.

And the creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glory of the liberty of the sons of God; that is, the angels themselves shall be delivered and with them the whole creation, when men shall be delivered from corruption and be glorified, and be made immortal, and the sons of God at the world's final consummation, when the form of this world shall pass away, and the resurrection of the dead shall take place

And that the heavenly bodies are moved by the invisible Powers, divine scripture intimates this also, when it says: For the creation was made subject to vanity not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God; meaning by this, that at the final consummation, the angels shall be delivered from this bondage, and from the ministrations which they render on account of men, for men, having then become immortal and immutable, will no longer be in need of such ministrations

For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God; and, as if some one was uncertain as to his meaning and asked him: For the sake of what or by doing what, does the creation await this? he proceeds and says: because the creation was subjected to vanity not willingly; as if he said: in this corruptible and mutable world. For this he calls vanity—when creatures by the command of God were ordered to serve even against their will. Whence we learn by the expression not willingly that he is speaking of rational beings, and this is the law laid down for them. Should some one, he then says, put the question, And how again shall they serve, they who now move all things? They do serve, he replies, but as far as concerns the sin of Adam through which he was condemned to death, they could not endure to serve longer and toil in vain on our behalf. But I say this, he adds, on account of him who hath subjected them in hope, this namely, that God has given them a hope that some good will result to men in the course of time, and for this reason they were subjected, and do render service in expectation of their freedom, when men also are freed from death and corruption and these vanities, and shall receive the hope of God, and the glory which is reserved for them. Accordingly he adds: Because the creation itself shall be delivered from bondage, into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.

John, therefore, did distinctly foresee the first "resurrection of the just," and the inheritance in the kingdom of the earth; and what the prophets have prophesied concerning it harmonize [with his vision]. For the Lord also taught these things, when He promised that He would have the mixed cup new with His disciples in the kingdom. The apostle, too, has confessed that the creation shall be free from the bondage of corruption, [so as to pass] into the liberty of the sons of God. And in all these things, and by them all, the same God the Father is manifested, who fashioned man, and gave promise of the inheritance of the earth to the fathers, who brought it (the creature) forth [from bondage] at the resurrection of the just, and fulfils the promises for the kingdom of His Son; subsequently bestowing in a paternal manner those things which neither the eye has seen, nor the ear has heard, nor has [thought concerning them] arisen within the heart of man. For there is the one Son, who accomplished His Father's will; and one human race also in which the mysteries of God are wrought, "which the angels desire to look into;" and they are not able to search out the wisdom of God, by means of which His handiwork, confirmed and incorporated with His Son, is brought to perfection; that His offspring, the First-begotten Word, should descend to the creature (facturam), that is, to what had been moulded (plasma), and that it should be contained by Him; and, on the other hand, the creature should contain the Word, and ascend to Him, passing beyond the angels, and be made after the image and likeness of God.

When the children of God attain glory, creation itself will be delivered from its slavery.

"That the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption." Now what is this creation? Not thyself alone, but that also which is thy inferior, and partaketh not of reason or sense, this too shall be a sharer in thy blessings. For "it shall be freed," he says, "from the bondage of corruption," that is, it shall no longer be corruptible, but shall go along with the beauty given to thy body; just as when this became corruptible, that became corruptible also; so now it is made incorruptible, that also shall follow it too. And to show this he proceeds. "Into the glorious liberty of the children of God." That is, because of their liberty. For as a nurse who is bringing up a king's child, when he has come to his father's power, does herself enjoy the good things along with him, thus also is the creation, he means.

You see how in all respects man takes the lead, and that it is for his sake that all things are made. See how he solaces the struggler, and shows the unspeakable love of God toward man. For why, he would say, dost thou fret at thy temptations? thou art suffering for thyself, the creation for thee. Nor does he solace only, but also shows what he says to be trustworthy. For if the creation which was made entirely for thee is "in hope," much more oughtest thou to be, through whom the creation is to come to the enjoyment of those good things. Thus men also when a son is to appear at his coming to a dignity, clothe even the servants with a brighter garment, to the glory of the son; so will God also clothe the creature with incorruption for the glorious liberty of the children.

Creation will no longer serve those who have corrupted the image of God.

But if, on the other hand, there is to be an end of evil, when the chief thereof, the devil, shall "go away into the fire which God hath prepared for him and his angels" -having been first "cast into the bottomless pit; " when likewise "the manifestation of the children of God" shall have "delivered the creature" from evil, which had been "made subject to vanity; " when the cattle restored in the innocence and integrity of their nature shall be at peace with the beasts of the field, when also little children shall play with serpents; when the Father shall have put beneath the feet of His Son His enemies, as being the workers of evil,-if in this way an end is compatible with evil, it must follow of necessary that a beginning is also compatible with it; and Matter will turn out to have a beginning, by virtue of its having also an end.

So then, creation itself also "shall be delivered"; not you alone, but also that which is far inferior to you, having neither soul nor sense — even this, I say, shall share with you in the good things and shall no longer be corruptible, but shall become corresponding to you. When your body became corruptible, creation also became corruptible. Likewise, when your body shall become incorruptible, creation too shall become incorruptible. Therefore, if creation underwent suffering for your sake, then you also must endure suffering for God's sake; and if it hopes to be glorified, then all the more should you hope to be glorified. Even a father clothes his servants in fine garments for the honor of his sons. So too God has preserved creation for our honor.

Then he indicates the end of this waiting, when he says, "because the creature also." For its waiting or hope is not in vain, because the creature also itself will be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.

If by creature is meant the just man, "from the servitude of corruption" means his care in seeking food and clothing and the other things which serve our mortal life. This is a form of slavery from which the saints are freed, as they struggle toward the liberty of the children of God. Although they have the liberty of justice by which they are released from the slavery of sin, they do not yet have the liberty of glory, which is release from the slavery of misery: "who has let the wild ass go free?" (Job 39:5).

If by creature is meant human nature, it will be delivered from the servitude of corruption, i.e., from suffering and decay, and striving toward the liberty of the glory of the sons of God, which is freedom not only from guilt but from death: "death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Cor 15:54).

But if it is taken for sensible creation, then that creation will be delivered from the servitude of corruption, i.e., changeableness: because in every change there is an element of decay, as Augustine says and the Philosopher too in Physics VIII. This will contribute to the liberty of the glory of the sons of God, because just as they will be renewed, so will their dwelling place be renewed: "I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered," i.e., the former changeableness of the creature (Isa 65:17).

But he says, "the creature also itself will be delivered from the servitude of corruption." According to one sense it means not only we apostles, but also the other just ones. In the second sense it means not only the just but human nature, too. In a third sense, it means not only men but other creatures.