Notes on the Catholic Epistles

The Nature of Asking and True Friendship§1

1A brief exposition by Didymus on the Catholic Epistles. For just as the men of this world, in the writings of life's transactions, wish to deal with the duties concerning them, so also the apostles, in the beginnings of their writings, are deemed to deal as servants of God and Christ.

He subsequently calls them brothers, rather than children or sons, exhorting toward perfection through courage and endurance (Matt 18:3). Having sufficiently exhorted to stand under trials with joy, so that tested work and perfect patience might be produced; and since these things are completed by themselves and not done through something else, he attempts to persuade through another exhortation, rightly setting forth the things laid ahead by saying that he who endures trial is blessed. For he who thus athletically runs the race, trained through all things, will become a tested man; and thus, having been revealed from the shadows, a crown of life will be given to those loved by God who have been made compliant (James 1:12).

In this way, he who despises enduring trial, overlooking it, will receive the crown of eternal life instead of the fleeting life he despised. If the crown of life which God prepared for those loving him is a thing to be sought, what God prepared for those loving him is something that, because of the greatness of divinity, will be seen and heard, having ascended beyond even simple human thought (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Truly the position of the Savior is as it is said: 'Ask and it shall be given to you,' which is confirmed by the saying: 'Everyone who asks receives.' If anyone were to ask how some who pray are not heard... Regarding what is to be said: he who comes to ask, following the way and leaving nothing undone of those things contributing to the attainment of what the diligent seek, will receive all that he urged to be given to him; but if anyone, departing from the aim of the stated request, seems to...

To seek, not asking in the way that is necessary, nor asking at all; therefore, because he does not receive it, he does not falsify the thing: 'everyone who asks receives' (Matthew 7:8). For even when a teacher says: 'everyone who approaches me for the sake of lessons will have their knowledge,' we understand grammatically 'to approach the teacher,' that is, to attend closely to what is from the teacher along with practicing and studying them; but he who does not do so, it must be said to him: you did not approach him as I instructed (Cr 25, 21-26, 1).

The writer, making the letter clearer, having pre-empted those who, seeming to ask, do not receive—the opponents and those asking badly for the sake of vain pleasures (Cr 26, 1-9). But someone will say: 'and indeed, some asking for the sake of divine knowledge and the taking up of virtues do not receive'; it must be said also to them, that they were not worthy to receive according to those very good things, but asked for the sake of being praised through them; and it is the nature of pleasure-seekers to rejoice in praises; whence also this is not given to them, because they wish to spend on pleasures those things for which they are worthy (Cr 26, 1-9).

8 Origen. Since wickedness brings forth friendship toward the world, but virtue brings forth friendship toward God, virtue and wickedness cannot coexist (Cr 26, 16-18).

Proverbs. He who loves the world through sinning is shown to be an enemy of God; likewise also he who, confirming friendship toward God through piety, is immediately found to be an enemy of the world; whence it is impossible, just as one cannot serve God and Mammon (Matt 6:24), so one cannot be a friend to God and the world. For the Lord, having come, made those who are friends of God and obey Him a sword and a division upon the earth (Matt 10:34); for the word of His teaching divides and separates, preparing through this to have enmity toward the world and union toward God, which is friendship toward Him; therefore also He gives peace, not as the world desires; for that world through which they give peace makes one passible toward material things; but the Lord, providing peace...

Divine Desire and the Judgment of the Son§2

2He prepares friends of God; therefore, one must hear a world in these things regarding the sympathy toward these matters.

9 From Origen's interpretation of 'according to the foreknowledge of God.' For God, having foreseen the faith and the works of men having been perfected in them through the evangelical teaching, foreknowingly chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world, having then predestined them to be sons through the participation of the spirit of sonship; for foreknowledge is to be regarded as nothing other than a vision of things to come, which is no longer foreknowledge, but is knowledge toward the existence of those having been foreseen; even so, according to foreknowledge, they were chosen, as Peter writes (1 Pet 1:2), but not now is the favor being made to them; thus he casts aside the myth concerning natures and the thought contained within.

If the inheritance has been kept in the heavens for the believers, some are growing cold, thinking that they will receive it in the lower Jerusalem in all the thousand years, thinking they will receive enjoyment of the contests of the kingdom; those of whom it must be asked, that they have something to say concerning bodily enjoyment as incorruptible and unfading, especially since they also describe it as ceasing at the end of the millennial year; to these, the sayings declaring that the inheritance is to be in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 25:34) must be joined, and how it does not fall away because it is spiritual, being beyond the perception of mortals.

12 Since some set the promise and salvation of the saints before the appearance of the Savior as lesser, thinking that those after this have had more, having seen the Lord visually and the signs performed by him, it must be shown how their assumption is erroneous.

13.10 For how can someone after the appearance be lesser than Abraham, having seen the day of the Lord, all those being perfected according to the Lord into his own bosom? And how can Moses and Elijah be lesser, having been transformed in glory together with the Lord appearing, since they did not see the Lord visually? For one must not make those who have had the spiritual appearance a judge over the one who has seen him according to the flesh (Cr 45, 20-26).

14 Indeed, many of the heterodox agree with this erroneous doctrine, having a desire in every way to revile the old covenant; and this he will say, that,

Even if they did not see or hear the things the Lord said through the senses, they had a divine desire for them; for many prophets and righteous men desired to see (Matthew 13:17).

If anyone were to receive the salvation sought by the prophets as being at the end, which above all is the most desired thing at the end—for all other things come by its grace, but it is not for the sake of anything else—he would not speak against the holy angels or all the simple blessed rational beings who, having all desire to receive what is set before them, stoop toward the things at the end.

If the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, what must be understood about what is set forth? For if the Father is the one meant, how is he a judge judging according to each person's work? But if the Son judges, having received all judgment, how is he a Father? What is to be said: if there is one divinity of Father and Son, with the Son judging, the Father is the one judging; but also the Son is able to be a Father to those born, having begotten them through the communion of holiness; for often indeed he called his own disciples children and said to others, to one: 'Child, your sins are forgiven' (Matthew 9:2), and to another: 'Daughter, your faith has saved you' (Luke 8:48). And these things refute those who scrutinize the divinity.

He says the Gospel Word is the living Word of God and remaining in the age forever. The Gospel says: 'Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away' (Matt 24:35), says the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just as the Lord, being light, came into the world for judgment, to open the eyes of the blind before his presence, and to blind those who see badly, so also, being a chosen and worthy stone, he provides honor to those being built with him through faith, having been shown as a firm foundation for them; but for those disobeying through unbelief, he is not worthy, but is considered a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to those who have despised him as builders; and these are scribes and Pharisees.

And regarding 'into which also I have placed you,' he says, not as if they were gathered into this by God, but as if they suffered this from their own weary mind and faulty choice.

Sarah as Mother of the Faithful§3

3According to the old law's arrangement, the royal and the priestly classes were different; after that arrangement, the gospel received one and the same priest and king teaching. For Christ is both; since these have been so built up, it is necessary for those sown by him, while both king and priest exist in him, to be an elect race becoming both a kingdom and a priesthood. For he who begot both possessing the principles of both, it is necessary that they also be as from a king, royal, and as from a priest, a priesthood; therefore they are also called a holy nation, being called from the one who is holy and calling to 'you shall be holy' (Ex 19:6). The same are a holy nation and also a people for the preservation of all having become outside of all destruction; for preservation is of those being taken in, not of those being cast out. Since those called from different nations and laws have cast off all variety in taking up one mind, one faith and teaching, through which soul and heart become one, they are one holy nation.

Those who through godliness are found worthy of being obeyed are appropriately loved by those who desire them humanly, but they are not being loved as truly loved. Since therefore I am in this disposition toward you, to whom I write the letter, I exhort and urge you to abstain from the pleasures growing from the flesh; for these wage war against the soul, having much hatred toward it, especially since the essence of the soul and the flesh are different.

Regarding human creation, it speaks of the principles being ordained by kings; therefore it is necessary to be subject to these through the Lord; but if through the Lord we are being made subject to the one saying: 'Render to Caesar the things of Caesar' (Mt 22:21), when they command something outside the will of the Lord, let us not obey.

It does not recommend having a passive fear toward masters by the servants—for this is irrational and exists even in irrational animals—but rather that which comes with knowledge and right reason; whose master's name is reverence. For the one fearing a master through Christ and his teaching submits to him with reverence, unlike the one fearing a master through wickedness and other tortures, having a passive fear.

He uses this to signify fear, and also says something else toward the women: 'watching'—that is, the men—'your conduct which is pure in fear'; for this is customary in much of the divine scripture.

Women are exhorted to imitate the holy ones, and especially Sarah, persuading them to subject themselves to their husbands just as she did to Abraham, of whom he says they become her children because of doing good works; for just as someone doing the works of Abraham and having his faith becomes his child, so women practicing good things have Sarah as a mother. But observe toward allegory how one becomes a child of Abraham and Sarah; according to the apostle, Abraham had two sons, one from the slave girl and one from the free woman; then, having led them into the two covenants, he says with something else that the latter became free according to the spirit, having spoken of the upper Jerusalem (Galatians 4:22-26). This agrees with: 'look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who was in labor for you' (Isaiah 51:2); for it is not possible to refer these things to them; for how could she, who owed death by nature many generations ago, still be in labor at the time of the prophet? Therefore, these things should be applied to the mother of those born according to the spirit, the upper Jerusalem, whom he prepared the women to have as Sarah for a mother through good works.

'And sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.' Just as magnifying God does not imply adding greatness to Him, nor does glorifying Him imply bringing fame to Him from without, so neither does sanctifying the Lord mean adding holiness to Him; which is what we are commanded to do in our own heart. For if we were to hold a precise discussion of His holiness, we would not at all be adding to Him, but rather, by doing this in our heart, we add to our own understanding the holiness concerning God; likewise, he who magnifies Him receives a participation in His own greatness; whence it is said: 'my soul magnifies the Lord' (Luke 1:46) and: 'magnify the Lord with me' (Psalm 34:3); likewise, he who knows glory glorifies Him into himself; and these things do not seem paradoxical to one who knows accurately how God does not receive additions, but...

The Coming Judgment and the Life of the Word§4

Divine Wisdom and the Nature of Love§5

5The disciples show that, since God exists as light, there is no darkness in him. We offer this same message to you, so that you may have the same glory concerning God as existing light; for God is an intelligible, eternal light; for nothing sensible exists perpetually. Regarding this light, one must understand darkness as ignorance and a deficiency of control, since neither of the forms of darkness—neither ignorance nor evil—is in God; thus it is rightly said that there is no darkness in him.

If it is said anywhere, 'the darkness of his hiding,' darkness here refers to the obscurity found in incomprehensibility; and our ignorance may be that obscurity, but not the light of God being such.

To know in the Scripture does not always signify merely to have certain knowledge, but also to have experienced something and to be united to it, as in: 'not knowing sin' (2 Corinthians 5:21), and: 'I never knew you, workers of lawlessness' (Matthew 7:23); for he did not know sin as in not having certain knowledge of what sin is, but as in not having practiced it. Therefore, he who says he has known God must necessarily follow by being transformed by him and participating in him by keeping his commandments; thus he contradicts himself. The two meanings of knowing are made clear from the context; for he says, 'by this we know' (1 John 2:3), that is, we have certain knowledge, 'that we have known him' (1 John 2:3) by being united to him and keeping his commandments; for he who does not keep them is clearly found outside the knowledge of God.

Just as our Lord Jesus, being the fullness of wisdom and truth existing as God, is not deprived of not knowing sin or the workers of lawlessness, so also he is not deprived of not knowing the day of judgment. It is not diminished, not even, when it is said of God that he has forgetfulness, regret, or anger, for by that word those things are made clear, and by that word also concerning the unknown...

That the day might be released; for just as in the only wise God, who possesses the knowledge of all things, there exists no forgetfulness or regret or anything of that kind—as is said economically concerning Him—so also, since the ignorance of the wisdom and truth of God is not accepted, it is usefully stated that he is ignorant of the hour and the day of judgment. Truly, he speaks of a perfect love, from which the one contained by it cannot be separated from any of the evils or deceits.

Perhaps someone will say: how is it possible to understand the written commandment concerning love to be from the beginning and to have been heard by those to whom the epistle is written? For they were not Jews, as the end of the epistle demonstrates; for he says, 'Little children, keep yourselves from idols' (1 John 5:21). Therefore, is the commandment, existing from the beginning and heard by all men, a friendly disposition according to natural concepts? For all, being by nature diurnal and social animals, love their neighbors; whence the Savior, stirring up this natural disposition, says: 'Therefore, all that you wish that men would do to you, do likewise to them' (Matt 7:12).

So that no one might think the system of those in heaven and earth and those in them to be present here from the voice of the world, he interpreted what 'those in it' turns out to be, so that we too might accordingly receive it; for 'and those in it' signifies a passion and a material disposition indicated through the desire of the flesh, which wages war against the soul, and the lust of the eyes (1 John 2:16).

It is also possible from what has been set forth to derive a view concerning the visible world, which is no longer loved by those who have ascended to seeing not the temporal things, but the eternal things; and since those who prefer to love life in it handle the sensible things passively, it is appropriately stated that in it there is the arrogance of life, of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes.

The Seed of God and the Nature of Sin§6

True generation from God through faith and works§7

7Having received the Holy Spirit from the Lord, many false apostles were driven by the devil, pretending to teach the gospel. It is necessary to have that gift of the Holy Spirit, which is named the discernment of spirits, so that we may have knowledge to test the spirits, so as for one to believe and for the other to resist.

For there came some who were saying in a human fantasy that the Lord had descended from heaven, whose glories the Manichaeans confirmed. Having understood this: 'It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me' (Gal 2:20), through accepting Christ Jesus living in me, through carrying around the death of Jesus in the body (2 Corinthians 4:10); confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, not by his own alone, but also in mine.

He calls characteristic of the antichrist, of whom we have heard that he is coming, but is already in the world, the denying the incarnation of Jesus through false prophets and spirits in not confessing that he has come in the flesh; to say this is now truly to be heard; for many say it by tongue alone.

Just as a crime and arrogance brings to the one not taking up the excellent and not loving the lovable, so the writer makes praise for those loving the worthy of being loved to be beloved; but when can this happen, except when the Savior takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), so that the man may be shown as what he has become by God according to likeness and having been shown an image of the Maker? For when the man is revealed, being immediately beloved and worthy of being loved, he becomes so; since therefore the Savior sent to the world, through love toward the works of the Father which are his own, came for the showing of the beauty of those who have become according to the image of God, those possessing this gift are beloved, whence they love one another; for each has both being the beloved and being the loving, having the commandment to love the neighbor.

If love is from God and God is love, who would be the one proceeding from him or the Word himself? If anyone therefore has love, he has Christ in himself; namely, he who said: 'God is love' (1 John 4:8), he again knew.

A love from God, which must be considered as nothing other than the Only-begotten, just as God is from God, so also is a love existing from love.

Those being born from God through uprightness according to virtue are these, and they are children of God and friends, just as Abraham was (Gen 15:6).

He who is born from God, having believed that Jesus is the Christ, is not born from God having a mere mental assent regarding the preaching of the Christ, but rather that faith which is joined to works according to virtue; which Abraham, having, was reckoned to have righteousness (Gen 15:6). According to this, the thing signified is to be accepted: 'to find a faithful man'; for such a one is rarely found, among many being eager but having a dead faith without works, which is not even at all faith. He who has believed thus, as to be born from God, has eternal life, as the Savior says: 'he who believes in me has eternal life' (John 3:36); if indeed someone is born from God by acting uprightly in the things said, being worthy of acceptance, he must love also him who begot him before that.

And the substance, and—so that I may phrase it this way—the matter which must have love toward God, he says is the keeping of the divine commandments; which things carry up to God the virtues acting through them; whence they are neither useless nor heavy.

If indeed anyone, coming to them, says they are heavy in a way other than what is required, he blamed his own weakness; for it is considered a friend to those who excessively cast off strength to think commandments heavy and everything light and trivial; whence he did not write: 'his commandments are light', but: 'they are not heavy' alone, and of one perceiving everything, having known through experience the just pursuing the just despite their uselessness, that the yoke of Christ is light, having much kindness (Matt 11:30). He who is thus disposed is born from God, and having obtained this, he despises the life of the entering world and the pleasant things of the world; and by this he conquers the world, having passed from it into a super-cosmic citizenship. This thus progressing in faith will work even toward righteousness reckoned as such; which he also shows as having been established and remaining, saying: 'this is the victory that has conquered the world' (1 John 5:4); which faith we have, having adhered to Jesus being the Son of God.

The World's Hatred and the Mind of Christ§8

8Those who have learned by practice how each of the diligent in good things succeeds become hopeful of enduring these things again and at other times; for even the holy apostles and the blessed John, by whose works they knew that they had often asked God as a friend and desired one, are courageous that, asking in this way every time, they will obtain what they desire from the leaning God.

From these things it will be shown how the things sought by some are true; 'the one asking receives' (Luke 11:10) does not mean that all people, asking haphazardly, receive the same things that do not benefit them, but rather those containing the request according to the will of God. Such boldness approaches one living a life beyond understanding; but such a person is rare; 'for who shall boast of having a pure heart?' (Proverbs 20:9); for few are those existing thus in virtue, as it is said: 'if I had seen injustice in my heart, Lord, do not listen to me; because of this, he listened to me' (Psalm 66:18-19), since he did not see injustice; but he desisted from fear that he might be judged according to the one saying: 'I do not know myself; but not in this am I justified' (1 Corinthians 4:4); he takes up what is set forth and also: 'if our heart does not condemn us, we have boldness toward God' (1 John 3:21).

For if being from God comes from doing righteousness, as we have often said, but it is impossible to sin and practice righteousness at the same time, it is therefore evident that one thus disposed and acting is just and does not sin; then, securing the position that man is a choosing being and not a son of God by nature, he appropriately added: 'but he guards himself, and the evil one does not touch him' (1 John 5:18); for if because of this the evil one does not touch him, that he guards himself, he has the not-sinning not from construction, but from attentiveness; and if someone is guarding himself, what does he pray to God for? That he might remain entirely unswayed by the evil one.

Having learned through many those bad men who are made manifest by the voice of the world, we do not stand in awe like the heretics, lest the creation of God, being a world, be established in the evil one; the voice of the world lies upon men, as has been said, and here also in the gospels; it writes...

For John says, “Do not marvel if the world hates you”; it is clear to everyone possessing understanding that the world hates the holy, meaning the wicked men. And he adds, “They are of the world and the world hears them”; for the world that hears those speaking deceitfully signifies not the creation, but the people moved by passions.

He gave a mind, by which the true one, having come as the Son of God, is known; this is the same as to say, “But we have the mind of Christ.” He who possesses this very mind and this very intellect knows the one who is true according to essence and is united to him, truly having his understanding.

How then, having testified to this perfection through the whole epistle, does he now exhort them to keep themselves from idols? We say therefore: since it was written to the whole church, and it was likely in such a gathering to be now standing apart from idolatry, for their sake he engraved the word.

What is set forth agrees with what was said in the first epistle, having it thus: “And we know that he who loves God keeps the commandments”; and the Lord: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my commandments.” Walking according to the commandments is the same as keeping them; for the virtues practiced according to the commandments are a walking, for he who does not remain outside of them walks according to them; and in this, keeping them is the same. Therefore, he who has ceased to act according to virtue no longer keeps the commandments nor walks according to them. For he who progresses according to virtue walks according to the commandments, showing progress, and he who has been perfected after having walked according to the commandments keeps them. With this, what was said enigmatically agrees, how Adam was placed in Paradise to work and to keep, him showing progress through his working, and the keeping signifying permanence in perfection.

He remains in the evangelical teaching, he who thinks and acts according to it, but he who acts and glorifies contrary to it departs from it. Then, since through the practical and the theoretical, God the Creator of all things becomes known as it was with Abraham...

The Possession of Father and Son§9

The good-doer, in practice and in contemplation, having God — Christ — existing as the true light, is far…§10

10The good-doer, in practice and in contemplation, having God — Christ — existing as the true light, is far from darkness and from Beliar. But since doing evil is the opposite of doing good, the evil-doer, by this very activity, being of Beliar and of darkness, has not seen God nor has any knowledge of him: “for everyone who sins has not seen God nor known him” (1 John 3:6). Since seeing a body or not seeing it is recognized by using sight or not using it — the sensible object being seen by the evil-doer too, if he has sight, but not seen by the one deprived of sight, even if he be a good-doer — it is shown indisputably by the same things together: that to the good-doer, because he has a pure heart, he is seen, even if he lacks sight; but he is not seen by the evil-doer, even if he be most sharp-sighted. He presents that doing good and doing evil are opposites and therefore incompatible, both from “turn away from evil and do good” (Psalm 37:27; LXX 36:27) and from the passages written similarly.

Some impious men, having plied the divine teaching with flattery and sorcery, slipped in by feigning it — “written beforehand,” that is, foreknown, for this judgment, which they judged among themselves, having been delivered over to a reprobate mind. These, being licentious through exceeding impiety, turned the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ into lasciviousness, and by the very act of wantonness denying the only Master Jesus Christ, the Lord of those called through the gospel. Then, in order to turn the faithful away from such evil and impious men, he shows how great […].

The Rejection of the Master§11

11The greatness of the one whom they denied is shown by the fact that he is the one who brought the people out of Egypt, intending salvation for them; but since some of them were turncoats and repetitive, still carrying the harm they had in Egypt, he destroyed those who were unfaithful in the wilderness, even though they had been saved from Egypt through faith. Therefore, let these not be the hypocrites of divine teaching who lead the Nicolaitan heresy, inciting no kind of immorality.

For it is shameful, and very shameful, to perform such things under the pretext of mystery, both those from Simon the Magician and those from Marcion, Valentinus, and the Sethians. And since they perform shameful things under the pretext of religion, he said the grace of the Lord was given to them to turn them toward debauchery, through which debauchery and its works they deny the only Master and Lord of us, Jesus Christ.

It has been said regarding him before this, that this only Master and Lord Jesus Christ is true God, the one who brought the people out of Egypt through Moses; it follows that there is no other god than Moses; for indeed there is no other besides the Trinity; whence Moses appears to be ministering to him according to: 'He wrote about me' (John 5:46) and: 'Whom Moses wrote, we have found, Jesus' (John 1:45). Therefore, having spiritually foreseen that the cross possesses the greatest wealth, he considered the reproach of Christ as nothing other than the one saying: 'Let me boast in the...'

The Deception of False Teachers§12