On the Words, When He Subjects All Things

1Regarding the passage: 'When he shall have subjected all things' (formerly under the author John Chrysostom). When he subjects all things to himself, then the Son also shall be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him. And regarding 'I do nothing of myself.' And regarding the Trinity, and how three patriarchs, three priests, three kings, and three virtues are remembered for the honor of the Trinity.

Yesterday, brothers, the discourse concerning the unending kingdom of Christ occurred. Although our discourse reached its summit in hearing and provided the listeners with proof—and I say provided proof not according to the worth of what is being proclaimed, but according to the power of the one proclaiming—for there is nothing such, neither on earth nor in heaven, which is able to worthily hymn the value of the Only-begotten. For much was prophesied to the prophets concerning the manifestation of the Lord, much was established by the Law, much was proclaimed to the apostles, and much was narrated to the evangelists, yet no one is able to reach the worth.

If even these many rivers of the Holy Spirit, having eternal and pure channels, emptied the human power but did not touch the divine power, where will the very brief fragments of a word of such worth be revealed? A mortal tongue cannot worthily hymn an immortal nature, nor can the word of men contain the Creator to worthily hymn the Word of God. What then? We proclaim as much as we are able, since we do not suffice for as much as we owe.

In other contests, those winning are brought the crowns, but in the labors concerning theology, those confessing defeat are brought the crowns of gratitude; let us therefore be defeated by saying so, and let us not be condemned by remaining silent. But since, for the unending kingdom is shown, he says, that he delivers the kingdom to God and...

Regarding the world—that is, the inhabited earth—which was once ruled by sin and is now ruled by grace: when the Son himself shall be made subject to the one who made all things subject to him, it is necessary to speak the most powerful things, lest our silence should prepare a stumbling block for the unthankful. You must all know, brothers, that we did not pass by willfully; rather, having handed over the word as it was commanded and having examined it, we judged it to be clear from the testimony of those who preceded us, including what remains.

For there is one aim and one word, both explaining what came before and clarifying what lies ahead, according to the divine economy, that these things were spoken to the apostle. Just as it was not appropriate there to hand over the kingdom to God and Father for the sake of the power of the proclamation, but the expression is introduced leniently because of the weakness of those who had repeated the error of many gods—for I fed you with milk, not solid food—so also now, with the same word, this is said. Everywhere the apostle's aim is to show a divine nature that is nowhere dividing itself from itself, and a Son who does not oppose the Father according to the impious notion of the Jews, for they said, 'This one is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath.'

Therefore, he introduces one nature without division, one harmony, one word, one will, one authority, and one God in all, in order to cut off the shoots of the many-god error. For we have demonstrated, as the lovers of the listeners remember, that the same word which attested the value of the Father with the very same words and syllables, proclaims the value of Christ; just as it said, 'That God might be all in all,' so also it says concerning the Only-Begotten: but Christ is all in all.

What, then, does 'He shall be subject' intend? It prepares a medicine for the Greek disease; it does not introduce an ecclesiastical dogma, but rather casts out a Greek subtext. And if it is necessary to use free language, the subjection...

2He says that what happens through the church happens to Christ. For when the church submits, possessing no lawlessness nor anything suspicious, but offering a sincere and unblemished disposition to God, then she will submit to him genuinely. The word is established, he says, and is not sufficient to persuade the lawless.

So that you may learn that whatever such things are assigned to Christ are observed in the church by Christ, I will set him before you as a witness, the master of the church; but a little from above, so that the things said may be clear. While Christ was in this world according to the flesh, fulfilling the human administration for the salvation of the world, the Savior of the inhabited world was persecuted by the Jews and wandered among the enemies of the truth, and the source of blessing was treated with lawlessness by those enjoying the blessing.

But when he fulfilled the whole administration through suffering, he transferred to the heavenly choirs, participating in the body while fulfilling all things in the truth. Having taken up the height into which he clothed himself, he sat at the right hand of majesty in the high places, not as one receiving a foreign and strange glory, but assigning such worth to the mortal body. After the assumption and the deliverance from the sufferings, after that much-remembered resurrection and the transfer into the heavens, worshiped by every host, with all the angelic retinue standing before him in the super-heavenly, he says—not being either among the afflicted, the persecuted, or the wandering, since he saw Paul having been enraged against the church, breathing much fury against the saints—he says that he, who is persecuted nowhere after the passion, but lives in such honor and divine glory: 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? And indeed, I do not persecute you; for you hold a seat in the heavens. Why do you persecute me?'

The sufferings belong to the church. Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Do you see that the persecution of the church is inscribed upon Christ, the head of the church? Just as, when the church is being persecuted, he says he is being persecuted, so also now Paul says that Christ is being subjected as the church is subjecting herself. Take another proof of the word; for every word shall be established upon two or three witnesses.

The voice of the Lord does not require another witness, for Christ speaks to the faithful as faithful, but to the unbelieving as unconvincing in His witness; we do not defend the Lord's voice, but we rebuke the heresy of the ungrateful.

Paul, having learned from Christ Himself that the persecution of the church is referred to Christ, knowing therefore that whatever the church suffers has its reference to Christ, follows the footsteps of the royal words and says in one of the letters: 'I will fill up the remainder of the afflictions of Christ.' Does Christ suffer again after ascending into heaven? But see what is coming: 'I will fill up the remainder of the afflictions of Christ in the flesh for the sake of His body, which is the church.'

Do you see how the sufferings and the honor of the church are made its own by Christ? You honored a church; you honored Christ. You persecuted a church; even if not in appearance, but by intention, you persecuted Christ. Consider how great the danger is for those grieving the church, and how great the crown is for those honoring the church; 'he who rejects you rejects me,' says the Savior.

I recognize the voice, O Lord, having the character of a paternal succession; for the Father also spoke such things concerning His ancient prophets, making the insult to them His own. For when Abimelech the Philistine king took Sarah, who was Abraham's wife, God says to him: 'Give the man his wife, for he is a prophet and will pray for you.' And the one defending himself says: 'Lord, I did not know she was his wife; in a pure heart I did this.' What then toward him is God? 'And I knew that in a pure heart you did this; therefore I spared you from sinning against me.'

It is thus demonstrated, brothers, that all things directed against the church have their reference to Christ. The apostle therefore says: 'The Son shall be made subject,' that is, the church to Him who subjected all things to Him. But there is another way for the ungrateful one. For what does he say? 'The church, then, is not subject, but will be subject after the resurrection?' The same is being told to you as a refutation against the heretic. For Christ, tell me, is not subject now according to your word?

3For the saying, 'When he shall subject all things to him, then he shall subject himself,' would imply a time when he was not subject, if it refers to the present; but according to your heretical logic, he is always in subjection and never resists the Father, making the saying redundant. Through ten thousand words you present subjection to him, and do you again store up his subjection for another time?

If you hear Christ saying, 'I came not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me,' you immediately raise the horn of impiety and say, 'See how he is subjected to the Father!' If you hear him saying, 'I speak of myself nothing; the Father gave me a commandment, what shall I say and what shall I speak,' you immediately seize the word, arguing as if Christ has no authority but is subjected. If you hear him saying, 'I judge no one, there is one who seeks and judges,' you instantly snatch subjection through the word.

Thus, through all things you demonstrate him subjected; for what reason, acting ungratefully, do you introduce a hypothesis and say, 'I follow the word and not the meaning,' as if he who is always subjected will then subject himself? What then does the meaning intend? The apostle's goal everywhere is to vanish the manifold error, to cast out the stance of the unstable nature, and to exile the underlying thought of those who think badly. He demonstrates, therefore, a subjection not established by force, not compelled, not slavish, but one harmonizing the concord of worth.

But let none of you, brother, be seized by the aforementioned arguments—that 'I speak of myself nothing, the Father gave me a commandment, what shall I say and what shall I speak'—lest you take up what is combatively said according to the heretics into church dogma, miswriting the meaning of the proclamation. Just as the word previously argued for us regarding the apostolic meaning, that the apostles do not proclaim all things dogmatically, but set forth some dogmatically and others economically, so I find even this source of truth: the Lord of the apostles and prophets does not speak dogmatically regarding his own worth, but economically, sympathizing with the weakness of the people. For tell me, brother, when the Lord of the truth says...

If I were to testify about myself, my testimony would not be true; should I then follow the word? Should I insult the dignity through the divine economy? Yet, even though I do not wish to be ungrateful, the Master forgives me; for he will cast away the bad opinion from me if I follow the word poorly. He seizes my voice as if the holy things were theologizing in a different way, as if they were simply mixing things together and insulting the dignity. For he says, 'Since I descended to the Jews and said, If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true,' have you snatched the word into blasphemy? Did you not hear me saying elsewhere, 'Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true'?

What then, brothers? Does truth oppose itself? Far from it. Rather, it speaks one way toward the companions of the truth, and another way toward those distanced from the truth, not changing itself, but conforming to the intentions of the hearers. Why then does he say to the Jews, 'I do not speak from myself; the Father gave me a command, what shall I say and what shall I speak?' It is because they judged him to be an enemy to the Mosaic law and opposed to the Father who honors the Sabbath through the law, and it seemed in appearance that the new covenant opposes the old arrangement. Therefore, desiring to show that he does not oppose God nor preach against the law, he says, 'I do not speak from myself, as you imply, but he who worships among you gave me a command, teaching them only once, that if you write these things down, you do not write my teaching, but you strike against the God confessed by you.'

Therefore, brothers, so pitifully, so humbly, and so lowliness do I grasp the word of Christ, as if receiving the voice in a slave's rank: 'I do nothing of myself; the Father gave commands to me, what shall I say and what shall I speak.' But do you see to what depth of impiety I arrive by assuming this? For I make him not only lower than the Father, but also less than the apostles. And how? Listen. Paul says, 'Concerning virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give an opinion.' Paul speaks without a command; can Christ not speak anything of himself? Concerning virgins...

4I possess no command from the Lord, but I offer an opinion. You permit Paul to offer an opinion even without a command, yet you exclude Christ under a yoke of slavery, following the word that says, 'I speak nothing of myself.' Furthermore, as he said, he discourses one way to the companions of the truth, and another way to those who have distanced themselves; for did the Jews not suspect him to be the Son of God? Did the Jews not take God the Word into their understanding? Did you not hear what they say about him: 'This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath'? They did not take him as a man of God, and did they not conceive him as the Only-begotten? Thus the same people said again concerning the Savior: 'We know that this man is a sinner, because he does not keep the Sabbath.' Having glory concerning a sinner and concerning a man distanced from the truth, did they not move toward any random fantasy, even of divinity?

To those disposed in this way, he descends in tone and teaches them not to contradict the apparent form which is thought by them to be separate from the will of God, saying: 'I speak not of myself, he gave me a command, what shall I say and what shall I speak?' But toward the children of faith, see how he sets aside the suspicious tone and clothes himself in the authority of divine dignity and says: 'You have heard that it was said to the ancients: You shall not commit adultery; but I say...' See how where there is faith, the authority is naked, and where there is a suspicious listener, the teaching is shaped toward an economy?

And when a little child was being distressed in the crowd, he said: Disturbance always falls upon the hearing of the divine word. For the enemy of souls, the devil, seeing the word being struck by arrows sent against his own deception, continually attacks the listeners so that they might flee the reproof of the truth. Some fortunate youth distracted Paul's teaching, and there a certain youth distracted the hearing of the people, so that the intention of the listeners might be more exercised. But we, brothers, fleeing the dizziness of the waves, let us steer the vessel toward the fair harbor of the truth. For I do not wish to hinder the deviation of the dolphin from the things set before us. Where there is a suspicious listener, the teaching is shaped toward an economy.

Where truth is a companion of piety, authority stands naked. To the Jews he says, 'I speak nothing of myself'; to those of the household of faith, 'Hear, for it was said to the ancients: You shall not commit adultery. But I say.' The 'I' demonstrates the authority of the one speaking; for everywhere the 'I' bears witness to authority for the speaker, as when he says, 'I am, I am,' and 'until you reproach me, I am.' Again, to the Jews he says, 'I came not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.'

The reading of the gospels today dissolves the perplexity of heretical suggestion. For when the leper approached him—he who was leper in body but bright in soul—he said to him, 'Lord, if you will, you are able to cleanse me.' Here, seek the rule of the heretics; for it was necessary then to speak words following his own voice: 'I do not will, the Father wills, be cleansed; for I came not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me; did you not hear me saying, I came not to do my own will?' If, therefore, a will is subject to an authority—according to the logic of the ungodly—why do you demand authority from the subject through the authority of the Father?

But the Savior said none of these things to him who approached him with sincere faith, but, accepting his sincere faith, he gives him sincere and genuine salvation: 'You came to me faithfully, receive faithfully the medicine; by my will you inscribe the benefit, from my will you receive salvation.' 'Lord, if you will, you are able to cleanse me'; 'I will, be cleansed.' Does not this stand against the heretics of ungodliness? See that it is subject by word, and by a personal will it is authoritative. And when I say these things, I am not separating the will of the Son from the will of the Father. For whatever you call the will of the Son, you call the will of the Father; and whatever you call the will of the Father, you proclaim the authority of the Son; and if you say the authority of the Son, you manifest the power of the Holy Spirit; for the authority is one, and the kingdom is indivisible.

But he says, 'You have set aside the word concerning the Spirit'; for from the apostolic voice I find the Spirit subjected to Christ; for Paul said, 'When he says that all...'

5It is clear that he is subjected outside of the one who subjected all things to him; for if he is outside of the one who subjected, does not the Spirit become subjected? For he said only that the Father is not to be subjected to Christ. 'All things' signifies the creation, and does not insult the uncreated nature. He is speaking about the subjection of enemies; the last enemy, death, is destroyed. Why then do you place the Holy Spirit in the realm of the subjected enemies? For the Father did not introduce the subjection of friends, nor did he mention the subjection of angels, nor did he touch upon the subjection of archangels. It is the subjection of enemies. The last enemy, death, is destroyed. In the subjected enemies, the Holy Spirit is not.

If we, the faithful believing in Christ, shall reign with him, will the Holy Spirit not attain the same dignity as the subjects? At the appearance of the Savior, the sons of Zebedee, James and John, shall sit, and the choir of the apostles upon twelve thrones, but the Spirit shall be about the footstool with the subjects. Depart from impiety. The word is about the creation, man, not about the uncreated nature, nor about the dignity of worship. And so that you may receive an accurate and examined account of piety, understand how the blessed David says he is leading in the hymn of the choir of creation: 'Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the highest,' and the following: angels, powers, heavens of heavens, and the water above the heavens. Did he not mention the Spirit? Did he not group the uncreated nature with the creation? The three youths who entered with Ananias into the furnace also joined the choir.

If, regarding creation, they sing, 'angels of the Lord, heavens of the Lord, powers of the Lord, sun and moon and the rest,' did they not remember the Holy Spirit? Did they not include the created things together? Paul, again dividing the invisible from the visible, teaches this: that all things were created in Christ, both those in heaven and those upon the earth, both the visible and the invisible; and immediately he counts the invisible, saying: whether thrones, whether principalities, whether authorities, whether dominions.

Since all visible things are acknowledged to be in servitude, but in the invisible are angels and powers, and the Holy Spirit and the Son and the Father, so that you might not drag the sovereign dignity of the Divine Spirit under the yoke of slavery through ignorance of the heavenly arrangement, he does not divide the visible, nor does he say: 'whether sun, whether moon, whether stars, all are slaves.' For all things are acknowledged to be in such a state, that the whole universe are slaves. Since in the invisible there were principalities and angels, and the Spirit to be worshiped was also invisible, so that no one might include Him among the invisibles, he counts all things above, to cast the Lord out of the domestic order; he counts those who worship, in order to distinguish the one being worshiped, whether thrones, whether principalities, whether authorities; he did not say: 'whether Spirit.'

But let us come to what lies before us. If you wish, Lord, you are able to cleanse me. The leper saw the bubbling benefit, he saw the gushing salvation, he saw many suffering badly and being demon-possessed, surrounded by the spring of salvation, and he turns away from the division of...

6The leper is unclean in body, but clean in soul; for the soul is not divided by varying colors. Just as the leper is unsightly in the body, dividing the skin, so is the double heart, divided toward faith and unbelief, unsightly in the soul. As much unpleasantness the leper brings to the sight of the eyes of men, so much unpleasantness a divided soul brings to the eyes of God; for this reason the Scripture says: Woe to the double heart, and to the soul remaining on the side, and to the sinner walking on two paths.

But let us return again to the present matter. 'I will, be cleansed.' O what a wonder! 'I will, be cleansed.' There are, brothers, many words spoken from authority, and many spoken from arrogance. The saying may be of a chance occurrence, but the work follows the authority of the one who is able. If, therefore, he said, 'I will,' and the work did not follow, it was arrogance; but now the work followed the voice. Do not disrespect the word; let the work be ashamed.

See what difference there is between the old law and the new grace in every state. Moses, having descended from the mountain with the first legislation and the first law, commands the lepers to be set apart from the community; Christ, having descended from the mountain, immediately cleanses the leper. For the one banishes the afflictions, but the other heals the afflictions. Christ ascended to the mountain, and Moses ascended; the one so that he might receive, the other so that he might give the law.

Moses ascended and found the mountain filled with trumpets, cloud, thunder, lightning, storm, and the sound of a horn, not because these things were necessary for the glory of the one appearing, but because these things instruct the people into reverence. But the grace of Christ, brothers, sets aside fear and casts out slavery; for we did not receive a spirit of slavery again into fear, but we received a spirit of adoption. And Moses gave ten commandments, but Jesus the Lord gave nine beatitudes. Those experienced in the Scriptures know the truth of the things spoken.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you, when they revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely. Why then does the law have ten commandments, and grace nine beatitudes? The number of the ten commandments is equal to...

7The ten plagues against the Egyptians were intended to discipline their arrogance, just as the ten commandments were given to discipline the people's insensitivity. And the very letter, brothers, by which the number ten is written—I speak of the iota—has the shape and type of a rod; for a rod was used to discipline both the Egyptians and the people.

Our Lord Jesus, having worked a threefold multiplication of the nine beatitudes from the triple Trinity, has won the crown of the beatitudes. For the worshipful Trinity, the royal dignity, the immaculate nature, and the unparented sovereignty hold glory within the Trinity; and God honors the number of virtues on earth when it is equal to the Holy Trinity.

I say something like this: there are many patriarchs, yet the God of the patriarchs calls himself God: 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' This is not because Moses was not a god or Joseph was not a god, but rather He is the God of all who call upon Him in truth; He honors the earthly as the heavenly does, as in an image. Three patriarchs for the honor of the Trinity; three virtues for the honor of the Trinity; and now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.

Creation is divided into three, into the order of the heavenly, the earthly, and the subterranean. Times are cut into three: the past, the present, and the future. And just as there were many patriarchs, yet the Trinity sufficed for the doxology of the Spirit, so from many priests a triad of priests is selected: Moses, Aaron among his priests, and Samuel. Many kings and many priests exist, but three are remembered: 'But David and Hezekiah and Josiah,' says the Scripture, 'all sinned.' Three children in the furnace; with Christ on the mountain, Peter, James, and John. Many angels in heaven, but three appear to Abraham. All days belong to God, yet three serve the mystery of Christ.

Which three? 'Take Isaac, whom you loved, your only son, and go to one of the mountains.' And Abraham journeyed three days and three nights, so that he might also show the mystery. For just as you received Isaac living from death, so listen: from the moment he was led to sacrifice, he died to his father; for it is not the outcome of the work, but the intention that validates the promise. Isaac had died to his father regarding the intention; on the third day, he was given back living as a type of the resurrection. Jonah could have spent many days in the sea, but he does not do so except for the three, to show the mystery of the resurrection.

Furthermore, he says, even if you find such testimonies divided, do you not take them up again as an icon of the Trinity and the economy? These signs are not sufficient.

8If the preaching is divine, listen to me. But listen also with me, for the three days interpret the passion of the Lord. For concerning Abraham, the Savior himself says: Abraham your father rejoiced in order to see my day; and he saw and rejoiced. What kind of day? The day of death. For the lamb delivered from the tree to Abraham had an icon of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. For to say 'he saw the day' does nothing other than to say 'he saw death.' Whence does this come? We too often say concerning men: his day has arrived, meaning his end. But the law of custom is not sufficient to establish what is said. What then? Let us come to the Scripture. The blessed David says: The sinner will observe the righteous and will gnash his teeth against him; but the Lord will laugh at him, because he sees that his day is coming. But these things were for Abraham; as for Jonah, I will return to him. For again the three days of Jonah interpret the salvation of the passion. The Savior himself cries out this again: Just as, he says, Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so it is necessary for the Son of Man to do in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

But let us say something stronger regarding the aforementioned of the others. For the former people there were three orders: priesthood, kingship, and prophecy; besides these three principles, no other order was to be seen among the Jews: kingship, priesthood, and prophecy. There was a horn of oil, of sanctification. There was one anointing, but three were the gifts: one the horn, three the graces; for priests, kings, and prophets were anointed. But since some are ignorant of the underlying meaning, lest the word, running itself to exhaustion in vain, should benefit the listener in nothing, listen briefly. A horn was held by the prophets, and kings, prophets, and priests were in need of the horn, not by a changing of the anointing, but by the grace being provided through the same horn; one was the anointing, three the gifts. Why then was the anointing in a horn? Because it had an icon of Christ. Could the vessel not be in silver? Could it not be in gold? Could it not be in some other of the more precious materials as such a gift? But it did not become so, but in a horn; because, as I have said, it had an icon of Christ. And I will reiterate the horn to David. May the Lord of priesthood, of kingship, and of prophecy be with all of you. For having taken the head of those suffering in the horn, he stilled them.