ARGUMENTUM.
Thessalonicenses sunt Macedones. Hi in Christo Jesu accepto verbo veritatis perstiterunt in fide, 615Cetiam in persecutione civium suorum. Praeterea, nec receperunt falsos apostolos, nec ea quae a falsis apostolis dicebantur. Hos collaudat Apostolus, scribens eis ab Athenis, per Tichicum diaconem, et Onesimum acolythum.
THE ARGUMENT.
The Thessalonians are Macedonians. These, having received the word of truth in Christ Jesus, persevered in the faith, 615Ceven in the persecution of their own fellow citizens. Moreover, they neither received false apostles, nor the things which were said by the false apostles. These the Apostle commends, writing to them from Athens, by Tichicus the deacon and Onesimus the acolyte.
CAPUT PRIMUM.
VERS. 1.-- Silvanus et Timotheus. Nominibus illorum praescribitur salutatio, sed sensus et verba hujus epistolae solius apostoli sunt.
VERS. 2.-- Gratia vobis et pax. De more suo salutationem praemittit, qua praemissa de bonis eorum gratias agit, commemorans non solum fidem et opera, sed etiam conversionis modum et malorum sustinentiam.
615DVERS. 3.-- Ante Deum. Inde ita certi ac si jam videatis, et ita eos animat.
VERS. 5.-- In Spiritu sancto. Quia per me recepistis dona Spiritus, non parce, sed in plenitudine. Quales fuerimus, etc. Per hoc etiam quod nos passi sumus in exemplum vobis, patet quod Deus vos dilexit et elegit.
CHAPTER ONE.
VERS. 1.-- Silvanus and Timothy. The salutation is prefixed with their names, but the sense and the words of this epistle are the Apostle's alone.
VERS. 2.-- Grace be to you and peace. After his custom he sets the salutation first, and this being set first, he gives thanks for their good things, calling to mind not only their faith and works, but also the manner of their conversion and their endurance of evils.
615DVERS. 3.-- Before God. Thence [you are] so certain as though you already saw; and thus he encourages them.
VERS. 5.-- In the Holy Spirit. Because through me you received the gifts of the Spirit, not sparingly, but in fullness. What manner of men we were, etc. By this also, that we have suffered for an example to you, it is plain that God has loved and chosen you.
CAPUT II.
VERS. 1.-- Quia non. Hoc de illo scitis, quia non fuit in prosperitate saeculari, quae inanis, sed in multa sollicitudine pro adversis: et propterea habuimus fiduciam non in nobis qui fragiles, sed in Domino.
616BVERS. 2.-- In Philippis. Pressuram quam hic commemorat, passus est propter spiritum pythonem, quem a puella ejecerat.
616CVERS. 3.-- Exhortatio. Hic contra pseudoapostolos videtur incipere commemorans de Evangelii veritate, deinde sua inter nos prudenti conversatione. In dolo. Etiam veritas est in dolo quando non pro amore veritatis et utilitate auditorum praedicatur, sed ut gloria vel aliud lucrum acquiratur.
VERS. 4.-- Non quasi hominibus placentes. Hoc nisi ipse operetur in nobis, vitare nequimus. Quas enim vires nocendi habeat humanae gloriae amor non sentit, nisi qui ei bellum indixerit: quia si cuiquam facile est laudem non cupere, dum negatur, difficile est tamen ea non delectari cum offertur.
VERS. 5.-- Neque. In hoc tangit pseudoapostolos, qui se potius quam Dei doctrinam commendari volebant. Apostolus autem, qui gloriam non ad praesens, 615Dsed in futuro quaerebat, se humilem faciebat, ut Dei praedicatio exaltaretur. In occasione. Non dico in avaritiam, sed nec feci vel dixi, in quo esset occasio avaritiae. Inde est. Deus testis, qui novit cor: hoc enim non ita patet hominibus.
VERS. 7.-- Possemus vobis, etc. Intantum gravat pseudoapostolorum causam ut se abnuere dicat, cum liceret illi subsidia requirere ad comprimendum illos quibus nec facultas erat, nec pudor poscendi. Apostolicae autem potestatis debitum vocat onus, propter pseudoapostolos, qui illud indebite usurpantes importune a plebibus exigebant. Filios suos. Alienos filios quandoque nutrit mulier pro mercede, non ex amore: proprios vero, ex dilectione.
617AVERS. 12.-- Vocavit, vocatione quae est secundum propositum.
VERS. 13.-- Ideo. Quia vos vocavit, gratias agimus. Vocavit dico, quod inde apparet, quia vos cito et firmiter recepistis verbum etc. Auditus Dei. Id est, quod audivimus a Deo, vel in quo auditur Deus. Sicut est verbum Dei. Tanta enim devotione receperunt verbum, ut probarent se intellexisse Dei esse doctrinam.
VERS. 14.-- Vos enim imitatores, etc. Multa dixit contra pseudo: jam ne pro sua vel apostolorum tribulatione moveantur, hortatur.
VERS. 16.-- Pervenit. Ideo semper implent peccata, quia ira Dei pervenit ut excaecentur. Usque in finem. Quia in fine saeculi convertentur Judaei nonnulli.
617BOre, aspectu, etc. Os et aspectus cessabant, quia coram alloqui non poterat Apostolus; sed cor et sollicitudo non quiescit.
VERS. 18.-- Sed impedivit. Quod Deus impediri permiserit, ad majorem coronam istorum est, quia steterunt eo absente.
VERS. 19.-- Quae est, etc. (CHRYS.) Quanti est hoc ardoris? Nunquam pater et mater si simul essent congressi, et suum miscuissent desiderium, potuissent ostendere suum desiderium ex aequo respondens Paulo. Magis, inquit, exsulto propter vos quam propter coronam. Cogita ergo quantum sit integram adesse Ecclesiam quae a Paulo fuit plantata, et egit radices.
617CAut corona gloriae. Si modo gloria, quid apud verum judicem?
CHAPTER II.
VERS. 1.-- That it was not. This you know concerning it, that it was not in worldly prosperity, which is vain, but in much solicitude on account of adversities: and therefore we had confidence not in ourselves, who are frail, but in the Lord.
616BVERS. 2.-- At Philippi. The affliction which he here calls to mind he suffered because of the pythonic spirit which he had cast out of the girl.
616CVERS. 3.-- Our exhortation. Here he seems to begin against the false apostles, calling to mind the truth of the Gospel, then his prudent conversation among us. In guile. Even truth is in guile when it is preached not for the love of truth and the profit of the hearers, but that glory or some other gain may be acquired.
VERS. 4.-- Not as pleasing men. Unless he himself work this in us, we cannot avoid it. For what strength to hurt the love of human glory has, he perceives not, save he who has declared war upon it: because, if it is easy for anyone not to covet praise while it is denied, it is nevertheless difficult not to be delighted with it when it is offered.
VERS. 5.-- Neither. In this he touches the false apostles, who wished themselves rather than the doctrine of God to be commended. But the Apostle, who sought glory not for the present, 615Dbut in the future, made himself lowly, that the preaching of God might be exalted. In an occasion. I say not, in covetousness, but neither did I do or say anything in which there might be an occasion of covetousness. Thence it is. God is witness, who knows the heart: for this is not so evident to men.
VERS. 7.-- We might have been to you, etc. So far does he weigh down the cause of the false apostles that he says he refuses it, though it was lawful for him to seek supports for the restraining of those who had neither the means nor the shame of demanding. But the debt of apostolic power he calls a burden, because of the false apostles, who, usurping it unduly, exacted it importunately of the common people. Her own children. A woman sometimes nurses others' children for hire, not out of love: but her own, out of affection.
617AVERS. 12.-- He called, with the calling which is according to purpose.
VERS. 13.-- Therefore. Because he called you, we give thanks. He called, I say, which appears from this, that you quickly and firmly received the word etc. The hearing of God. That is, that which we have heard from God, or in which God is heard. As it is the word of God. [Vulg. sicut est vere, verbum Dei, "as it is in truth, the word of God"] For with so great devotion did they receive the word, that they proved themselves to have understood that it was the doctrine of God.
VERS. 14.-- For you became imitators, etc. Many things he has said against the false ones: now, lest they be moved on account of his own or the apostles' tribulation, he exhorts them.
VERS. 16.-- It came. Therefore they always fill up their sins, because the wrath of God has come, that they may be blinded. Even unto the end. Because at the end of the world not a few of the Jews will be converted.
617BIn mouth, in sight, etc. [Vulg. aspectu, non corde, "in sight, not in heart"; the Vulgate has no ore] The mouth and the sight were ceasing, because the Apostle could not address them face to face; but the heart and the solicitude rests not.
VERS. 18.-- But he hindered. That God permitted him to be hindered is for the greater crown of these men, because they stood firm in his absence.
VERS. 19.-- What is, etc. (CHRYS.) Of how great ardour is this? Never could a father and a mother, if they had come together at once and had mingled their longing, have been able to show their longing answering on equal terms to Paul's. I exult more, he says, on your account than on account of the crown. Consider therefore how great a thing it is that a Church should be present entire which was planted by Paul, and has driven roots.
617COr a crown of glory. If glory now, what before the true judge?
CAPUT III.
VERS. 2.-- Ad confirmandos vos. Propter hoc ipse venire desideraverat.
VERS. 6, 7.-- Sicut nos quoque vos: ideo. Quia haec annuntiavit, non pro ejus praesentia, consolati sumus.
VERS. 9.-- Quam enim gratiarum, etc. Nihil est enim tam dignum, quod sufficere possit ad compensationem acquisitae salutis gentium.
VERS. 13.-- Sine querela. Ne vos de malis conqueramini, vel ita sitis innocentes, ne quis de vobis possit conqueri, et ut sitis etiam. In sanctitate. Id 617Dest, virtutum consummatione per hoc exsistentes ante Deum, non ad aspectus hominum.
CHAPTER III.
VERS. 2.-- To confirm you. For this he himself had desired to come.
VERS. 6, 7.-- As we also you: therefore. Because he announced these things, not because of his presence, we were consoled.
VERS. 9.-- For what thanksgiving, etc. For there is nothing so worthy as could suffice for the recompense of the salvation obtained for the Gentiles.
VERS. 13.-- Without complaint. That you complain not of evils, or that you be so innocent that no one can complain of you; and that you may also be. In holiness. That 617Dis, existing thereby before God in the consummation of the virtues, not for the sight of men.
CAPUT IV.
VERS. 1.-- De caetero. Hactenus patientiam perfectis in sua vel in illorum tribulatione suasit, nunc minoribus de munditia suadet, exhortans eos ad continentiam. Quemadmodum. Audiendo et intelligendo a nobis, id est a me et Silvano. Quomodo vos oporteat ambulare, etc., sic et ambuletis, recte conversando. Et placere Deo. Ille placet Deo, qui fidem rectam quam habet, exsecutione virtutum et perfectae operationis decorat. Sic et ambuletis. Est ordo: rogamus ut ambuletis quemadmodum accepistis. 618AUt abundetis magis. Hoc non mutatur in ordinatione litterae.
VERS. 2.-- Scitis enim quae praecepta. (HIER.) Sanctificatio ab omni incontinentia revocat Christianum, cui incontinenti non expedit sanctum Christi corpus attingere, maxime cum Moyses Judaeos sanctificare volens, populum totum ab omni femina se continere praecepit, ut Dei potiri praesentia mererentur.
VERS. 4.-- Vas suum. Id est uxorem, possideat dominando ei, et hoc, In sanctificatione, abstinendo in festis a coitu, Honore. Non turpiter abutendo ea.
VERS. 8.-- Qui etiam dedit, etc. Ad haec peragenda dedit vobis spiritum, ne ergo tantum adjutorem 618Bspernatis, qui in corpore subdito peccatis non habitat. Vel nobis apostolis, ut major esset auctoritas praedicandi et arguendi.
Rogamus autem vos fratres, etc. Non est praedictis legibus contraria exhortatio. Etenim accidebat, ut alii quidem liberaliter suppeditarent egentibus, alii vero propter eorum munificentiam, operari negligerent. Jure ergo et illos laudavit, et his dedit utile consilium.
VERS. 11.-- Operam detis. Quasi dicat: Difficile est dimittere consuetudinem, sed cogite vos. Et operemini manibus. Opus agendum est, non otiandum: quia et honestum est, et quasi lux ad infideles, et non de iderabitis rem alterius, nedum rogetis vel tollatis.
618CVERS. 12.-- Nolumus autem. Post exhortationem de continentia, et post correctionem a curiositate, mortuos resurrecturos confirmat, et per Christi resurrectionem, et sua auctoritate.
VERS. 13.-- Per Jesum adducet cum eo. Semper euntes, eum sequendo venerunt ad somnum mortis, unde et in alia scribitur Epistola: Nos qui vivimus.
VERS. 14.-- Eos. Non solum eos qui vivi invenientur, sed et mortuos, de quibus dubitatis. Qui dormierunt. Christum dicit mortuum, fideles dormientes, ut magis credant resurrectionem: Christum mortuum appellat, ut dum audivimus illum mortuum fuisse et resurrexisse, nos quoque speremus resurrecturos 618Dper virtutem divinitatis ejus.
VERS. 15.-- Quoniam ipse Dominus. In propria persona.
In tuba Dei. (ANSELM.) Haec tuba omnes excitabit et inimicos terrebit, suos ad bellum invitabit, ut expugnent adversarios, et effugiant a facie Domini atque mittantur in gehennam. Et iterum sicut tuba quondam in festis convocabat populum Hebraeorum: sic haec tuba convocabit ad solemnitatem aeternae laetitiae populum sanctorum Deo, inquit, jubente et voce archangeli atque tuba Dei sonante. Descendet. Non humilis ut prius, sed jubens voce, vel sui ipsius vel archangeli, vel angelorum qua faciet resurgere mortuos quae dicitur tuba, quia 619Amanifesta, vel quasi ad bellum, quae erit Dei et Christi, cui Deus dabit efficaciam.
VERS. 16.-- In nubibus. Quia nubes suscipiet eos, ut Christum in ascensione suscepit, unde alius interpres dicit: Bajulis nubibus.
CHAPTER IV.
VERS. 1.-- For the rest. Thus far he has urged patience upon the perfect in his own or in their tribulation; now he urges cleanness upon the lesser, exhorting them to continence. As. By hearing and by understanding from us, that is, from me and Silvanus. How you ought to walk, etc., so also you may walk, by conducting yourselves rightly. And to please God. He pleases God who adorns the right faith which he has by the execution of the virtues and of perfect working. So also you may walk. The order is: we beseech that you walk as you have received. 618AThat you may abound the more. This is not changed in the ordering of the letter.
VERS. 2.-- For you know what precepts. (HIER.) Sanctification calls the Christian back from all incontinence, for whom, being incontinent, it is not expedient to touch the holy body of Christ, especially since Moses, wishing to sanctify the Jews, commanded the whole people to contain themselves from every woman, that they might deserve to obtain the presence of God.
VERS. 4.-- His own vessel. That is, his wife, let him possess her by ruling her, and this, In sanctification, by abstaining from intercourse on the feasts, In honour. By not basely abusing her.
VERS. 8.-- Who also gave, etc. For the performing of these things he gave you the Spirit; that you despise not, therefore, so great a helper, 618Bwho dwells not in a body subject to sins. Or [he gave him] to us apostles, that the authority of preaching and of reproving might be the greater.
But we beseech you brethren, etc. The exhortation is not contrary to the aforesaid laws. For indeed it was happening that some indeed liberally supplied the needy, but others, because of their munificence, neglected to work. Rightly therefore he both praised those and gave to these useful counsel.
VERS. 11.-- That you give diligence. As if he should say: It is difficult to put away custom, but constrain yourselves. And that you work with your hands. Work is to be done, not idling: because it is both honourable, and as it were a light to the unbelievers, and you will not desire de iderabitis another's property, much less ask for it or take it away.
618CVERS. 12.-- But we would not. After the exhortation concerning continence, and after the correction from curiosity, he confirms that the dead are to rise again, both through Christ's resurrection and by his own authority.
VERS. 13.-- Through Jesus will he bring with him. Ever going on, by following him they came to the sleep of death, whence also it is written in another Epistle: We who live.
VERS. 14.-- Them. Not only those who shall be found alive, but also the dead, concerning whom you doubt. Who have slept. He calls Christ dead, the faithful sleeping, that they may the more believe the resurrection: he calls Christ dead, that when we have heard that he died and rose again, we also may hope that we shall rise again 618Dthrough the power of his divinity.
VERS. 15.-- For the Lord himself. In his own person.
With the trumpet of God. (ANSELM.) This trumpet will rouse all and will terrify the enemies, will summon his own to battle, that they may vanquish the adversaries, and that [the adversaries] may flee from the face of the Lord and be sent into hell. And again, as the trumpet once called together the people of the Hebrews on the feasts: so this trumpet will call together the people of the saints to the solemnity of eternal gladness, God, he says, commanding, and with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God sounding. He shall descend. Not lowly as before, but commanding with a voice, either his own or the archangel's, or the angels', by which he will make the dead rise again, which is called a trumpet, because 619Ait is manifest, or as though for battle, which shall be God's and Christ's, to which God will give efficacy.
VERS. 16.-- In the clouds. Because a cloud will take them up, as it took up Christ at the ascension, whence another interpreter says: With bearing clouds.
CAPUT V.
VERS. 1.-- De temporibus. Id est an aestate, an hieme, an die vel nocte. Et momentis. Scilicet qua hora dici vel noctis venturus sit Christus.
VERS. 2.-- Dies Domini. Hic dies est hominum pro libitu suo, sed tunc erit dies Domini. Sicut fur. Ita improvisus veniet malis tunc, quod et in obitu cujusque fit. Sicut fur, non dico die sed nocte, cum latentius venit, et homines dormiunt, tunc omnia subripit: ut qui divitem se putabat, evigilans nihil 619Binveniat. Ita multi hic bene securi, nihil boni se habere tunc invenient. Propter hoc incoepit de temporibus ut moneret eos cavere sibi, ne ita deprehendantur.
VERS. 3.-- Cum enim dixerint. Nam sicut in verbis Danielis invenitur: Regnabit Antichristus et ministri ejus tribus annis et dimidio, et interficientur ab illo Elias et Enoch, sicut et in Apocalypsi habetur: Et tunc erit talis tribulatio, qualis ante non fuit, nec post erit. Postea interficietur a Michaele cum maxima parte suorum.
VERS. 5.-- Filii lucis. Fides est lux quae facit diem, id est habitum virtutum; econtra tenebrae sunt infidelitas, nox habitus vitiorum. Non sumus noctis neque tenebrarum, etc. Id est, in praesentibus 619Cnon torpeamus, sed vigilet mens attendens haec caduca, et sobrie his utamur, non quasi bonis nostris sed ad sustentationem datis. Vere nos qui non sumus noctis non debemus dormire. Nam qui dormit, propter noctem dormit, id est vitia et peccata sua traxerunt eos ad hoc, ut obliti vitae aeternae in istis requiescant, et qui ebrii sunt, his immoderate utendo; ex nocte vitiorum hoc habent.
Induti loricam, etc. Sicut lorica munit vitalia, ita fides et charitas nos contra appetitum terrenorum.
VERS. 13.-- Ut habeatis illos. Necessaria eis ministrando, et reverentiam dignitati exhibendo. Quid enim prodest honorem sine fructu habere? Sicut divitiae negligentiam pariunt salutis, ita egestas dum 619Dsatutari quaerit, a justitia declinat. Ideo in alia epistola praecipit presbyteros duplici honore esse honorandos.
620AVERS. 15.-- Malum pro malo. Tunc malum pro malo redditur, si corripiendus non corripitur, sed prava dissimulatione negligitur. In omnes, etc. Generaliter ad omnes. Sine intermissione. Id est, semper juste vivite et aeterna desiderate. Justus nunquam desinit orare, nisi desinat justus esse. Semper orat qui semper bene agit. Ipsum enim desiderium bonum, oratio est; et si continuum est desiderium, continua est oratio.
VERS. 18.-- In Christo. Est ostensa voluntas Dei, quia haec fuerunt in Christo, in quo nihil Deo displicuit. Spiritum nolite. Quia voluntas Dei est facere haec omnia, vos majores qui habetis per Spiritum sanctum, donum intelligentiae, nolite illud abscondere, quo merito et vos perderetis. Vos subditi prophetias 620Billorum nolite spernere, tamen non omnia indiscrete accipiatis, sed probate, id est ratione discutite, et quod bonum invenitur tenete. Spiritum nolite exstinguere, id est: Si cui Spiritus sanctus ad aurem quid revelat, noli prohibere loqui quod sentit. Spiritum sanctum qui datus est nobis, non quantum in se, sed in nobis, exstinguimus, dum peccando fugamus.
VERS. 23.-- Ipse autem Deus pacis sanctificet vos per omnia, etc. Id est, ego ita praelatos et subditos moneo, ipse autem Deus est qui potest. Spiritus vester. Ratio servetur integra, non consentiendo carni. Et Anima. Id est, sensualitas servetur integra, serviendo rationi. Et corpus. Ut nihil agatis ejus ministerio. Unde aliquis conqueratur. Aliquando inquinatur 620Canima per cogitationem malam et est mundum tamen corpus. Ideoque spiritum integrum in homine dicit esse debere. Si autem mala vita, vel cogitatio intercedat, non erit spiritus. Spiritus et anima et corpus quibus homo constat, scilicet illud quo intelligimus, et illud quo vivimus et illud quo visibiles et contrectabiles sumus, quae rursus duo dicuntur, quia saepe anima cum spiritu nominatur. Sine querela. Aliud est esse sine peccato, quod de solo in hac vita Unigenito dictum est. Aliud est esse sine querela, quod de multis justis etiam in hac vita dici potuit. Quia est quidam modus bonae vitae, de quo etiam in ista conversatione, justa querela esse non possit. In adventu. Hoc est usque ad finem vitae.
VERS. 24.-- Fidelis. Quasi dicat: Oro ut sanctificet, 620Dut sanctificatos servet, nec inde dubitandum est, quia verus est in promissis, qui vocavit vos ad hoc ut sancti essetis.
CHAPTER V.
VERS. 1.-- Of the times. That is, whether in summer, or in winter, or by day or by night. And moments. Namely, at what hour of the day dici or of the night Christ is to come.
VERS. 2.-- The day of the Lord. Here the day is men's, at their own pleasure, but then it will be the day of the Lord. As a thief. So unforeseen will he come to the wicked then, which happens also at the death of each one. As a thief, I say not by day but by night, when he comes more secretly, and men sleep, then he steals away all things: so that he who thought himself rich, on waking, may find nothing 619B. So many here well secure will then find that they have nothing of good. For this reason he began concerning the times, that he might warn them to beware for themselves, lest they be so caught.
VERS. 3.-- For when they shall say. For, as is found in the words of Daniel: Antichrist and his ministers shall reign three years and a half, and Elias and Enoch shall be slain by him, as is had also in the Apocalypse: And then there shall be such tribulation as was not before, nor shall be after. Afterwards he shall be slain by Michael with the greatest part of his own.
VERS. 5.-- Sons of light. Faith is the light which makes the day, that is, the habit of the virtues; on the contrary, darkness is unbelief, night the habit of vices. We are not of the night nor of darkness, etc. That is, in things present 619Clet us not grow torpid, but let the mind be watchful, considering these fleeting things, and let us use them soberly, not as our own goods but as given for sustenance. Truly we who are not of the night ought not to sleep. For he who sleeps, sleeps because of the night, that is, their vices and their sins have drawn them to this, that, forgetful of eternal life, they rest in these things; and they who are drunken, by using these immoderately; from the night of vices they have this.
Having put on the breastplate, etc. As the breastplate guards the vital parts, so faith and charity [guard] us against the appetite of earthly things.
VERS. 13.-- That you have them. By ministering to them what is necessary, and by showing reverence to their dignity. For what does it profit to have honour without fruit? As riches beget negligence of salvation, so poverty, while 619Dit seeks to be satisfied satutari, turns aside from justice. Therefore in another epistle he enjoins that priests are to be honoured with double honour.
620AVERS. 15.-- Evil for evil. Then is evil rendered for evil, if he who ought to be rebuked is not rebuked, but is neglected by a wicked dissembling. Towards all, etc. Generally, towards all. Without ceasing. That is, always live justly and desire eternal things. The just man never ceases to pray, unless he cease to be just. He always prays who always acts well. For the good desire itself is prayer; and if the desire is continual, the prayer is continual.
VERS. 18.-- In Christ. The will of God has been shown, because these things were in Christ, in whom nothing displeased God. Extinguish not the Spirit. Because it is the will of God to do all these things, you who are greater, who have through the Holy Spirit the gift of understanding, hide it not, by which desert you also would lose it. You subjects, despise not 620Btheir prophecies; nevertheless receive not all things indiscriminately, but prove them, that is, examine them by reason, and hold what is found good. Extinguish not the Spirit, that is: If the Holy Spirit reveals anything to anyone's ear, forbid thou him not to speak what he perceives. The Holy Spirit who has been given to us we extinguish, not as to what is in himself, but in us, when by sinning we put him to flight.
VERS. 23.-- And may the God of peace himself sanctify you in all things, etc. That is, I thus admonish prelates and subjects, but God himself is he who is able. Your spirit. Let the reason be kept entire, by not consenting to the flesh. And soul. That is, let the sensuality be kept entire, by serving the reason. And body. That you do nothing by its ministry. Whence anyone may complain. Sometimes the soul is defiled 620Cby an evil thought and yet the body is clean. And therefore he says that the spirit ought to be entire in man. But if an evil life, or an evil thought, intervene, there will not be spirit. Spirit and soul and body, of which man consists, namely that by which we understand, and that by which we live, and that by which we are visible and palpable, which again are called two, because often the soul is named together with the spirit. Without complaint. It is one thing to be without sin, which in this life was said of the Only-begotten alone. It is another to be without complaint, which could be said of many just men even in this life. For there is a certain manner of good life, of which even in this present conversation there could be no just complaint. In the coming. That is, even unto the end of life.
VERS. 24.-- Faithful. As if he should say: I pray that he may sanctify, 620Dthat he may keep you sanctified; nor is there to be any doubt thereof, because he is true in his promises, who called you to this, that you should be holy.