ARGUMENTUM.
CAPUT UNICUM.
VERS. 1.-- Consolatis et vocatis. Vocat, conservat, diligit filios, et membra Dei facit Jesus Dominus noster.
VERS. 2.-- Misericordia vobis. Si Deus coepit misereri vobis condonando delicta, impleat misericordiam, per ampla bona ducendo ad aeterna. Si est reconciliatus inimicis, aeternam pacem det factis amicis, in qua in nullo ab eo dissentiatis.
VERS. 3.-- Charissimi. Ego qui vestrae saluti volo providere, habui necesse, propter pseudo qui vobis se ingerunt, scribendi vobis admonitiones de vestra salute communi, id est de fide quae est tam mea salus quam vestra et omnium fidelium, scilicet fides quae per dilectionem operatur. Ego dico faciens omnem 707Bsollicitudinem scribendi vobis, id est omnia quae pertinent ad sollicitum. Oro pro vobis, disputo contra seductores vestros, et ut vobis me sciatis providere, scribo vobis de illis: Detego nequitias eorum: ostendo vobis qualiter fidem et dilectionem debeatis tenere: et cum sim ita sollicitus pro vobis, admonitionem meam recipere debetis.
VERS. 4.-- Gratiam transferentes. Duritiam et districtionem legis: quae dicit oculum pro oculo, dentem pro dente, temperat gratia Evangelii, in quo purgantur scelera commissa per poenitentiam, et eleemosynae fructus. Sed hanc gratiam transferunt impii in luxuriam qui nunc tanto licentius peccant, quanto minus vident se asperitate legis de facinoribus examinari.
707CVERS. 5.-- Omnia. Arcana fidei, et non habetis opus, recentia quasi sanctiora a novis audire magistris, id est: Perfecte scitis omnia quae scienda sunt de fide, et ideo non est opus ut audiatis illos. Quoniam Jesus. Confutatis haereticis, deinde ut revocat eos qui crediderant malignis et impiis, ostendit quanta sit magnitudo Domini quem negant, ostendens quod ipse est qui eduxit populum Israel ex Aegypto.
VERS. 6.-- Angelos vero. Et vere non sunt imitandi qui Jesum non verum Deum, sed hominem de utroque sexu genitum mentiuntur. Si enim angelis peccantibus non pepercit, nec hominibus superbientibus parcet. Non servaverunt suum principatum. Sic 707Dhomines, qui non servant principatum quo per gratiam adoptionis filii Dei sunt effecti. Sed relinquunt domicilium, id est unitatem Ecclesiae, in qua renati sunt, vel sedes regni coelestis quas accepturi erant, si fidem servarent, et ante judicium graviter et gravius in universali judicio damnabit. Vinculis aeternis. Id est superbia et corde impoenitenti. Vel sententia divina quae eos in perpetuum coarctabit Vel vinculum est cupiditas infimarum rerum, qua vincti ad superiora reverti non possunt.
VERS. 7.-- Sicut Sodoma. Dederat exemplum damnationis eorum qui solum dominatorem negant: commemorato interitu infidelis populi vel angelorum erigentium se contra Deum, dat etiam exemplum 708Apoenae illorum qui Domini gratiam transferunt in luxuriam, commemorans incendium Sodomorum.
VERS. 8.-- Dominationem autem spernunt. In minoribus peccatis, majestatem blasphemantes: in criminalibus, nolendo humiliter confiteri et poenitere: nullum habentes timorem, nec fidem venturi judicis.
VERS. 9.-- Cum Michael, etc. Id est cum Moyses, qui ut Deus erat constitutus Pharaoni, et qui erat princeps et nuntius, quantum ad alios, disputans cum Pharaone, altercaretur, id est signa faceret alterna contra signa magorum, de corpore Moysi, id est populo Israel, ut permitteret illos sacrificare Deo suo, non est ausus inferre poenam blasphemiae hujus saeculi, sed dixit: Imperet tibi Dominus. Vel aliter: Cum Dominus Jesus altercaretur cum Pilato, 708Bde corpore Moysi, id est de Ecclesia, noluit aliquam blasphemiam inferre, sed tanquam ovis ad occisionem ductus.
VERS. 11.-- Vae illis, etc. Quia per omnia haeretici monstrati sunt a verbo veritatis cecidisse, ostendit eos diversis malis subjectos.
(BEDA.) In viam Cain abeunt, qui propter invidiam, etc., usque ad veritatem quam noverunt impugnant.
VERS. 12.-- Maculae. Non solum in comessationibus et ebrietatibus carnalibus pereunt et maculantur, sed etiam sunt maculae illorum, et alios secum perdunt, Domini gratiam in luxuriam transferentes. Nubes. Comparat se praedicatoribus pluentibus justitiam, coruscantibus per miracula, sed haeretici sunt nubes obscurantes solem, ponentes in coelum os 708Csuum, perversa superbe docendo, sine aqua sapientiae. Arbores autem. Impii et pseudoapostoli comparant se arboribus bonum fructum ferentibus, sed sunt arbores autumnales: tarde enim ferunt bonum fructum sicut arbor in autumno plantata, vel quia tunc folia cadunt et fructus, vel si supercrescit fructus, adulterinus est et inutilis. Si quid enim faciunt impii quod bonum videatur, non bona intentione id agunt, sed ut bona quae sunt in aliis exstirpent. Bis mortuae. (BEDA.) Semel moritur quae non facit fructum, etc., usque ad in qua sancti dicuntur radicati.
VERS. 13.-- Sidera. In hoc apostatas significat, quia in similitudinem diaboli, de sedibus angelorum ceciderunt, quibus propter apostasiam tenebrae reservantur. Sidera. Lucem veritatis promittunt in 708Dhoc mari vitiorum, sed nunquam in eodem statu docendi vel vitae perdurant, et aliis causa naufragii sunt, et ipsis pro tenebris quas in Ecclesia Dei inducebant, tenebrae inferni parantur, et qui pacem fidei mundana tempestate turbabant, procella tormentorum percellentur.
VERS. 14.-- Prophetavit. Non solum, inquit, mea auctoritate probo quod puniendi sunt, sed etiam auctoritate Enoch, quod jam olim praescripti sunt in tale judicium impii homines, qui nostris temporibus subintroierunt ad subvertendam fidem piorum. Enoch. In stirpe Cain, Enoch, qui dedicatio interpretatur, primus nascitur; in electorum vero progenie, Enoch, septimus memoratur, qui reprobi in hac 709Avita, quae ante est, seipsos aedificando dedicant: electi vero aedificationis suae dedicationem in fine temporis, id est in septimo exspectant.
Ecce venit Dominus. (BEDA.) Vera sententia quod Dominus arguet impios, et de operibus, etc., usque ad licet enim etiam de apocryphis testimonium veritatis sumere.
VERS. 16.-- Hi sunt. Si fratribus aliquid boni contigit, murmurant et conqueruntur, quasi sua felicitas in illorum prosperitate minuatur. Avari enim (quibus nihil sufficit) etiam ab aliis invident.
VERS. 19.-- Spiritum non habentes. Quia Spiritum sanctum (quo congregatur Ecclesia spiritualis efficitur) non habent, ideo animales, inscii, non providentes, ideo defluunt, quia coagulum charitatis 709Bnon habent.
VERS. 20.-- Superaedificantes vosmetipsos, etc. Aedificantes vos ipsos in bonis operibus super fundamentum fidei, ut lapides vivi ponamini in domo Dei. In Spiritu sancto orantes. Ut de vestris viribus non praesumatis, sed divinae tuitionis adjutorio speretis, non per vos salvari putantes, sed adventum Spiritus sancti in vos petite, quo inspirati ardentius oretis ne cum his qui Spiritum non habent, ab Ecclesia segregemini.
710AVERS. 23.-- Illos vero salvate. Eos qui non sunt damnati apud Deum, sed etiam prope cadunt in ignem, docete ut seipsos liberent.
In timore. (BEDA.) Hoc ad priora illa omnia adjungendum est. Nam, etc., usque ad ne forte plus justo vel severus existat, vel pius.
Odientes eam. Non corpus nostrum odisse debemus, sed maculatum esse, ut immaculatum reddamus, ut de carnali spirituale efficiatur. Quod non nostri arbitrii potestate, sed Dei gratia perficiendum est.
VERS. 21.-- In exsultatione. Quos superius monebat in timore Deo servire, dicit constituendos in exsultatione, quia quanto magis trepidi de actibus in praesenti fuerimus, tanto amplius in futuro de 710Bpercepta mercede laetabimur.
VERS. 25.-- Gloria et magnificentia. Si habetis gloriam purae fidei et conscientiae et magnificentiam in operatione, et imperium super infirmitatem, vel super daemones, et potestatem resistendi vitiis vel tortoribus, Deo, non autem vobis imputare, qui ante tempora, in praesenti, et post omnia tempora, est gloriosus in essentia, magnificus in operibus, imperans tam volentibus quam nolentibus, et potens cui nihil resistit.
THE ONLY CHAPTER.
VERS. 1.-- To them that are consoled and called. [Vulg. conservatis et vocatis, "to them that are preserved and called"] Jesus our Lord calls, preserves, loves the sons, and makes them members of God.
VERS. 2.-- Mercy unto you. If God has begun to have mercy on you by forgiving your offences, may he fulfil that mercy, leading you through ample goods to eternal ones. If he has been reconciled to enemies, may he give eternal peace to those made friends, in which you may in nothing dissent from him.
VERS. 3.-- Dearly beloved. I, who wish to provide for your salvation, had need, because of the false ones who thrust themselves upon you, of writing to you admonitions concerning your common salvation, that is, concerning the faith which is as much my salvation as yours and that of all the faithful, namely the faith which works through love. I say, making all 707Bcare in writing to you, that is, all the things which belong to one who is solicitous. I pray for you, I dispute against your seducers, and, that you may know that I provide for you, I write to you concerning them: I uncover their wickednesses: I show you in what manner you ought to hold faith and love: and since I am so solicitous for you, you ought to receive my admonition.
VERS. 4.-- Transferring the grace. The hardness and strictness of the law: which says an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, the grace of the Gospel tempers, in which the crimes committed are purged through penance, and the fruit of almsgiving. But the ungodly transfer this grace into luxury, who now sin so much the more licentiously as they the less see themselves examined for their misdeeds by the harshness of the law.
707CVERS. 5.-- All things. The secret things of the faith, and you have no need to hear recent things, as though holier, from new masters, that is: You know perfectly all the things which are to be known concerning the faith, and therefore there is no need that you should hear them. That Jesus. The heretics being confuted, then, as he calls back those who had given credence to the malignant and the ungodly, he shows how great is the greatness of the Lord whom they deny, showing that he himself is the one who led the people of Israel out of Egypt.
VERS. 6.-- But the angels. And truly they are not to be imitated who lyingly say that Jesus is not true God, but a man begotten of both sexes. For if he spared not the angels that sinned, neither will he spare men that behave proudly. They kept not their own principality. So 707Dmen, who keep not the principality by which through the grace of adoption they were made sons of God. But they leave their dwelling, that is, the unity of the Church, in which they were reborn, or the seats of the heavenly kingdom which they were to receive if they should keep the faith, and he will condemn them grievously before the judgment, and more grievously in the universal judgment. With everlasting chains. That is, with pride and an impenitent heart. Or the divine sentence which will confine them for ever Or the chain is the desire of the lowest things, bound by which they cannot return to the higher things.
VERS. 7.-- As Sodom. He had given an example of the damnation of those who deny the only ruler: the destruction of the unbelieving people, or of the angels raising themselves against God, having been recalled, he gives also an example 708Aof the punishment of those who transfer the grace of the Lord into luxury, recalling the burning of the Sodomites.
VERS. 8.-- But they despise dominion. In lesser sins, blaspheming majesty: in criminal ones, by being unwilling humbly to confess and to repent: having no fear, nor faith in the judge who is to come.
VERS. 9.-- When Michael, etc. That is, when Moses, who had been appointed as a god to Pharao, and who was a prince and a messenger as regards the rest, disputing with Pharao, contended, that is, wrought signs in turn against the signs of the magicians, concerning the body of Moses, that is, the people of Israel, that he might permit them to sacrifice to their God, durst not bring in the penalty of blasphemy [Vulg. judicium inferre blasphemiae, "bring in a judgment of blasphemy"] of this world, but said: The Lord command thee. Or otherwise: When the Lord Jesus contended with Pilate, 708Bconcerning the body of Moses, that is, concerning the Church, he would not bring in any blasphemy, but was led as a sheep to the slaughter.
VERS. 11.-- Woe unto them, etc. Because in all things the heretics have been shown to have fallen from the word of truth, he shows them to be subject to divers evils.
(BEDA.) They go into the way of Cain, who because of envy, etc., as far as they assail the truth which they have known.
VERS. 12.-- Spots. Not only in carnal revellings and drunkennesses do they perish and are spotted, but they are also the spots of those, and destroy others with themselves, transferring the grace of the Lord into luxury. Clouds. The heretic compares himself to preachers raining justice, flashing with lightning through miracles, but the heretics are clouds darkening the sun, setting their mouth against heaven, 708Cby teaching perverse things proudly, without the water of wisdom. But trees. [Vulg. arbores autumnales, "autumn trees"] The ungodly and the false apostles compare themselves to trees bearing good fruit, but they are autumn trees: for they bear good fruit late, like a tree planted in autumn, or because then the leaves fall, and the fruit, or, if fruit grows up besides, it is adulterate and useless. For if the ungodly do anything which may seem good, they do it not with a good intention, but that they may root out the good things which are in others. Twice dead. (BEDA.) The tree dies once which bears no fruit, etc., as far as in which the saints are said to be rooted.
VERS. 13.-- Stars. In this he signifies the apostates, because after the likeness of the devil they fell from the seats of the angels, for whom, because of their apostasy, darkness is reserved. Stars. They promise the light of truth in 708Dthis sea of vices, but they never continue in the same state of teaching or of life, and to others they are a cause of shipwreck, and for them, in return for the darkness which they were bringing into the Church of God, the darkness of hell is prepared, and they who were troubling the peace of the faith with a worldly tempest shall be beaten with a storm of torments.
VERS. 14.-- He prophesied. Not only, he says, do I prove by my own authority that they are to be punished, but also by the authority of Enoch, that ungodly men were long ago written down beforehand for such a judgment, who in our times have crept in to subvert the faith of the godly. Enoch. In the stock of Cain, Enoch, who is interpreted dedication, is born first; but in the progeny of the elect, Enoch is recorded as seventh, who, the reprobate, in this 709Alife, which is before, dedicate themselves by building themselves up: but the elect await the dedication of their own building at the end of time, that is, in the seventh.
Behold, the Lord cometh. (BEDA.) A true sentence, that the Lord shall reprove the ungodly, and concerning works, etc., as far as for it is lawful to take the testimony of truth even from apocryphal writings.
VERS. 16.-- These are they. If any good thing befalls the brethren, they murmur and complain, as though their own happiness were lessened by the prosperity of those. For the covetous (to whom nothing suffices) are envious even of others.
VERS. 19.-- Not having the Spirit. Because they have not the Holy Spirit (by whom the Church is gathered together is made spiritual), therefore they are animal, ignorant, unforeseeing, therefore they flow away, because they have not the rennet 709Bof charity.
VERS. 20.-- Building yourselves up, etc. Building yourselves in good works upon the foundation of faith, that as living stones you may be set in the house of God. Praying in the Holy Spirit. That you presume not upon your own strength, but hope in the help of the divine protection, not thinking to be saved through yourselves, but ask ye for the coming of the Holy Spirit into you, whereby, being inspired, you may pray the more ardently, lest with those who have not the Spirit you be separated from the Church.
710AVERS. 23.-- But save those. Those who are not condemned before God, but yet almost fall into the fire, teach ye, that they may free themselves.
In fear. (BEDA.) This is to be joined to all those former things. For, etc., as far as lest perchance he prove more than is just either severe or merciful.
Hating it. We ought not to hate our body, but its being stained, that we may render it unstained, so that from carnal it may be made spiritual. Which is to be accomplished not by the power of our own choice, but by the grace of God.
VERS. 21.-- In exultation. Those whom above he was admonishing to serve God in fear, he says are to be established in exultation, because the more fearful we shall have been concerning our deeds in the present, so much the more abundantly shall we rejoice in the future over 710Bthe reward received.
VERS. 25.-- Glory and magnificence. If you have the glory of a pure faith and conscience, and magnificence in working, and dominion over infirmity, or over demons, and power to resist vices or tormentors, impute it to God, and not to yourselves, who before the times, in the present, and after all times, is glorious in essence, magnificent in works, ruling over the willing as much as over the unwilling, and mighty, whom nothing resists.