The Lord's Sermon on the Mount 2.25

But since, however pure one’s eye is, that is, however single and sincere the heart with which one lives, he cannot see into another’s heart, whatever cannot appear in deeds or words is laid open by temptations. And temptation is twofold: either in the hope of obtaining some temporal advantage, or in the terror of losing it. And we must especially beware lest, striving toward wisdom, which can be found in Christ alone, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, we must beware, I say, lest we be deceived under the very name of Christ by heretics or by any who understand badly and are lovers of this world. For this is why he goes on and warns, saying, “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he will enter the kingdom of heaven”: lest we think that it already belongs to those fruits if someone says to our Lord, “Lord, Lord,” and that from this he seems to us a good tree. But these are the fruits: to do the will of the Father who is in heaven, in the doing of which he deigned to offer himself as an example.

But it can rightly be disturbing how that saying of the Apostle agrees with this one, where he says, “No one speaking in the Spirit of God says Jesus is anathema; and no one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit”: because we can neither say that any who have the Holy Spirit will not enter the kingdom of heaven, if they persevere to the end, nor can we say that those who say, “Lord, Lord,” and yet do not enter the kingdom of heaven, have the Holy Spirit. How, then, does no one say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit, unless because the Apostle used the word “say” in its proper sense, so as to signify the will and understanding of the speaker? But the Lord used the word generally when he said, “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.” For he too seems to say who neither wills nor understands what he says; but he properly says who utters his will and mind by the sound of his voice. Just as a little before, “joy” among the fruits of the Spirit was said in its proper sense; not in the way the same Apostle says elsewhere, “It does not rejoice over iniquity,” as if anyone could rejoice over iniquity: for that is the elation of a mind exulting turbulently, not joy; for only the good have this. So those too seem to say who do not discern by understanding and do by will what they sound, but only sound it with the voice: in which sense the Lord says, “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.” But those say truly and properly from whose will and mind the utterance of their words does not differ; in which sense the Apostle said, “No one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit.”

And this pertains very much to the matter: that we not be deceived, as we strive toward the contemplation of truth, not only by the name of Christ through those who have the name and do not have the deeds, but also by certain deeds and miracles; for although the Lord did such things for the sake of unbelievers, he yet warned us not to be deceived by such things, thinking that invisible wisdom is there where we have seen a visible miracle. So he adds and says: “Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will say to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you who work iniquity.” He will know, then, only him who works righteousness. For he also forbade his own disciples to boast about such things, that is, that demons were subject to them: “But rejoice,” he says, “that your names are written in heaven”; I believe, in that city Jerusalem which is in heaven, in which only the righteous and holy will reign. “Do you not know,” says the Apostle, “that the unrighteous will not possess the kingdom of God?” But perhaps someone may say that the unrighteous cannot do those visible miracles, and may rather believe that those are lying who will say, “We prophesied in your name, and cast out demons, and did many mighty works.” Let him read, then, how great things the magicians of the Egyptians did in resisting God’s servant Moses; or if he does not wish to read this, because they did not do it in the name of Christ, let him read what the Lord himself says about false prophets, speaking thus: “Then if anyone says to you, Behold, here is the Christ, or there, do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and will give great signs and wonders, so that even the elect are led into error: behold, I have told you beforehand.”

How great a need, then, there is of a pure and single eye, that the way of wisdom may be found, against which the deceptions and errors of so many evil and perverse men raise their din; to escape all of which is to come to the most certain peace and unmoving stability of wisdom! For it is greatly to be feared lest, through eagerness for altercation and contention, someone may not see what can be seen by few: that the noise of those who contradict is small, unless one also makes a din against oneself. To this pertains also what the Apostle says: “But the servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all, apt to teach, patient, correcting with modesty those who think otherwise, if perhaps God may give them repentance to know the truth.” “Blessed, then, are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

How terrifyingly, then, the conclusion of this whole sermon is brought in must be closely attended to: “Everyone, therefore,” he says, “who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock.” For no one makes firm what he hears or perceives except by doing it. And if the rock is Christ, as many testimonies of the Scriptures proclaim, he builds on Christ who does what he hears from him. “The rain came down, the floods came, the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it did not fall; for it was founded upon the rock.” Such a man, then, fears no dark superstitions (for what else is understood by rain, when it is put to signify some evil?), nor the rumours of men, which I think are compared to winds, nor the river of this life, flowing as it were over the earth with carnal desires. For he who is led on by the prosperity of these three is broken by their adversity; but he fears none of them who has his house founded upon the rock, that is, who not only hears the precepts of the Lord but also does them. And he is dangerously subject to all of them who hears and does not do; for he has no stable foundation, but by hearing and not doing he builds a ruin. For he says next: “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who builds his house upon the sand: the rain came down, the floods came, the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell; and great was its fall. And it came about, when Jesus had finished these words, that the crowds were astonished at his teaching; for he was teaching them as one having authority, not as their scribes.” This is what I said before was signified through the prophet in the Psalms, when he said: “I will act confidently in him: the words of the Lord are pure words, silver tried by fire, proved for the earth, purified seven times.” Because of this number I was led also to refer these precepts to those seven sayings which he set at the beginning of this sermon, when he spoke of the blessed, and to those seven operations of the Holy Spirit which the prophet Isaiah mentions; but whether this order is to be considered in them, or some other, the things we have heard from the Lord must be done, if we wish to build upon the rock.