The Instructor 3.12.84–3.12.101

I would advise married men never to kiss their wives at home in front of the servants. For Aristotle did not allow one even to smile at slaves, much less to be seen showing affection to one's wife in their sight. It is better for those who marry to show dignity at home from the start of the marriage. For the greatest union is that of self-control, breathing the fragrance of pure pleasure. The tragedy says very admirably: “Alas, alas, women, among mankind neither gold, nor sovereignty, nor the luxury of wealth holds such surpassing pleasures as the just mind of a noble husband and a godly wife, thinking what is right.”

These precepts of righteousness, even when spoken by those who pursue worldly wisdom, should not be rejected. Knowing, then, “each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your sojourning, knowing that you were redeemed from your futile way of life handed down from your fathers not with perishable things, silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” “For the time that is past is enough,” Peter says, “to have done the will of the Gentiles, walking in licentiousness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and lawless idolatries.” Let us have as our boundary the cross of the Lord, by which we are fenced about and walled off from our former sins. Having been born again, then, let us be nailed to the truth, and return to sobriety and be sanctified, “because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears open to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. And who will harm us, if we become zealous for what is good?” The best way of life is good order, which is complete seemliness and settled, ordered power, rendering well in action the things that follow one another in sequence, unsurpassed in virtue.

“Let these things be said by me,” says the Instructor, “even if I have spoken rather harshly, arranging for the salvation that comes by correction, since ‘he who reproves boldly makes peace.’ If you listen to me, you will be saved; if you do not heed what has been said, it is no concern of mine.” And yet it is his concern even so; “for he prefers the repentance of the sinner rather than his death.” “If you listen to me, you shall eat the good things of the land,” the Instructor says again, calling human goods the good things of the land: beauty, wealth, health, strength, food. For the true good things are those “which ear has not heard, nor have they ever entered into the heart,” the truly existing goods that belong to the truly existing King and await us; for he is the giver and guardian of good things. Things here share the name by participation in those, the Word divinely instructing human weakness from things perceived by the senses to understanding.

The Instructor has discussed with us sufficiently what must be observed at home and how life must be corrected. What it pleases him to say to the children along the way, until he brings them to the Teacher, he sets before us in summary through the Scriptures themselves, setting out the commandments bare, suited to the time of guidance, and entrusting their interpretation to the Teacher. For his law wishes to loosen fear, freeing the will for faith. “Hear,” he says, “O child well instructed, the chief points of salvation; for I will lay bare my character and set before you these good commandments, through which you will come to salvation. I lead you on the way of salvation. Stand away from the ways of error, ‘for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the ungodly will perish.’ Follow, then, O child, the good way that I will explain to you, lending me your attentive ears, ‘and I will give you treasures dark, hidden, unseen’” by the Gentiles but seen by us. “The treasures of wisdom are unfailing,” at which the apostle marvels and says, “O the depth of the riches and wisdom!” Many treasures are supplied by the one God; some are revealed through the law, some through the prophets, some by the divine mouth, and another by the sevenfold chorus of the Spirit; but the Lord, being one, is through all of them the same

Instructor. There is, then, a summary precept and counsel for life that embraces everything: “As you wish people to do to you, do so to them.” The commandments can also be comprehended in two, as the Lord says: “You shall love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself.” Then he adds, “On these hang the whole law and the prophets.” And to the one who asked, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” he answered, “You know the commandments”; and when he agreed, he said, “Do this and you will be saved.” Nevertheless the Instructor's love for mankind must be set out in more detail through the varied and saving commandments, so that we may have a readier finding of salvation from the abundant ordering of the Scriptures.

We have the Decalogue given through Moses, signified by a single and unique letter, … outlining the saving designation of sins: “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not worship idols,” you shall not corrupt boys, “you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and mother,” and what follows these. These must be observed by us, and whatever else is commanded in the readings of the books. He commands also through Isaiah: “Wash, become clean; put away the evil from your souls before my eyes; learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the wronged, judge for the orphan, vindicate the widow; and come, let us reason together, says the Lord.” We would find many counsels among the other writers too; for example, concerning prayer: “Good works,” it says, “are a prayer acceptable to the Lord,” says Scripture. And the manner of prayer is prescribed: “If you see one naked,” it says, “clothe him, and do not overlook those of your own offspring. Then your light will break forth early, and your garments will spring up quickly, and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of God will surround you.” What, then, is the fruit of this prayer?

“Then you will cry out, and God will hear you; while you are still speaking he will say, ‘Here I am.’” Concerning fasting: “Why do you fast for me?” he says, “says the Lord. I did not choose this fast, and a day for a man to humble his soul; not even if you bend your neck like a ring and spread sackcloth and ashes beneath you, not even so will you call it an acceptable fast.” What, then, does fasting signify? “Behold,” he says, “this is the fast that I have chosen, says the Lord. Loose every bond of injustice, undo the knots of violent contracts, set free the broken in release, and tear up every unjust bond. Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; if you see one naked, clothe him.” And concerning sacrifices: “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord. I am full of burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats, nor should you come to appear before me. For who required these from your hands? You shall no longer trample my court. If you bring fine flour, it is vain; incense is an abomination to me; your new moons and sabbaths I cannot endure.” How then shall I sacrifice to the Lord? “A sacrifice to the Lord,” he says, “is a broken spirit.” How then shall I crown myself, or anoint myself with ointment? Or what shall I burn as incense to the Lord? “A sweet-smelling fragrance to God,” he says, “is a heart that glorifies him who formed it.”

These are God's crowns, sacrifices, spices, and flowers. Further, concerning forbearance: “If your brother sins,” he says, “rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times turns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” Through John he commands soldiers to be content with their wages alone, and tax collectors to exact nothing more than what is appointed. To the judge he says, “You shall not show partiality in judgment, for gifts blind the eyes of those who see and corrupt just words.” “Rescue the wronged.” And to those who manage property: “Possessions hastily gained with lawlessness grow less.” Concerning love: “Love,” he says, “covers a multitude of sins.” Concerning civic life: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.” Concerning oaths and bearing grudges: “Did I command your fathers when they came out of the land of Egypt to offer me burnt offerings and sacrifices? But this is what I commanded them: let none of you in his heart

bear a grudge against his neighbor; let him not love a false oath.” He threatens liars and the conceited too, the former somewhat thus: “Woe to those who call sweet bitter and bitter sweet”; the latter thus: “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.” “He who humbles himself will be exalted, and he who exalts himself will be humbled.” He blesses the merciful, “for they shall obtain mercy,” while Wisdom pronounces anger wretched, “for it will destroy even the prudent.” And now he commands us to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, and to pray for those who mistreat us. “To him who strikes you on the cheek,” he says, “offer the other also, and if anyone takes away your tunic, do not withhold your cloak as well.” Concerning faith: “Whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive,” he says; but “nothing is trustworthy to the faithless,” as Pindar says. Servants should be treated like ourselves, for they are human beings as we are: “For God, if you consider, is the same to all, to the free and to slaves.”

Servants who do wrong should not be punished but rebuked; “for he who spares his rod,” it says, “hates his son.” Further, he drives away love of glory, saying, “Woe to you, Pharisees, for you love the first seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.” He welcomes the repentance of the sinner, loving the repentance that follows sins; for the Word himself alone is without sin; for to sin is natural and common to all, but to turn back from sin is the mark not of an ordinary man but of a remarkable one. Concerning sharing, he said, “Come to me, all you who are blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” And when have we done any of these things for the Lord? The Instructor himself will say again, lovingly referring the good deeds done to the brethren to himself: “Inasmuch as you did it to these little ones, you did it to me. And such people will go away into eternal life.”

Such are the rational laws, the words of exhortation, written not on tablets of stone by the finger of the Lord but inscribed in human hearts, which alone do not admit corruption. That is why the tablets of the hard-hearted were broken: so that the faith of the little ones might be impressed on soft minds. Both laws served the Word for the instruction of humanity, the one through Moses, the other through the apostles. Such, then, is the instruction through the apostles too. It seems necessary to me to discuss this kind as well, or rather, the Instructor himself says, “reminding myself,” whose counsels I will set out again in seed form: “Putting away falsehood, let each of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Let not the sun go down on your anger, nor give place to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, working what is good, so that he may have something to share with one in need. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Be, then, wise, and imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us.”

“Let wives be subject to their own husbands, as to the Lord, and let husbands love their own wives, as Christ loved the church.” Let the married, then, love one another “as their own bodies.” “Children, obey your parents. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Slaves, obey your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as to Christ, serving from the soul with goodwill. And masters, treat your servants well, giving up threatening, knowing that both their Lord and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him.” “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Do not be deceived; God is not mocked. Let us not grow weary in doing good; for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart.” “Be at peace among yourselves. We exhort you, brothers, admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient toward all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophecies; test all things; hold fast what is good; abstain from every form of evil.” “Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”

“Be nourished on the words of the faith; train yourselves for godliness. For bodily training is of some profit for a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having the promise of the present life and of the life to come.” “Let those who have believing masters not despise them because they are brothers, but serve them all the more because they are believers.” “Let the one who shares do so with simplicity, the one who leads with diligence, the one who shows mercy with cheerfulness. Let love be unfeigned. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good; be devoted to one another in brotherly love, outdo one another in showing honor; be not slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in affliction, constant in prayer, pursuing hospitality, sharing in the needs of the saints.”

These few out of many, for the sake of example, the Instructor has gone through from the divine Scriptures themselves and sets before his children; through them, so to speak, vice is cut out root and branch and injustice is circumscribed. Countless counsels addressed to chosen persons are written in the holy books, some to presbyters, some to bishops and deacons, others to widows, about which there will be another occasion to speak. Many things, too, through riddles, and many through parables, readers may profit from. “But it is not my task,” says the Instructor, “to teach these things any longer. We need a Teacher for the interpretation of those holy words, to whom we must go.”

And now it is time for me to cease from instructing, and for you to listen to the Teacher. He will receive you, reared under good training, and will teach you the oracles. This church here is the school, and the Bridegroom is the only Teacher, the good will of the good Father, genuine wisdom, the sanctuary of knowledge. “And he is the propitiation for our sins,” as John says, he who heals both our body and soul, the eternal man: Jesus, “and not for our sins only, but also for the whole world. And by this we know that we have known him, if we keep his commandments. He who says, ‘I have known him,’ and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him: he who says he abides in him ought himself to walk just as he walked.”

O nurslings of blessed instruction! Let us fill up the beautiful face of the church, and run as little children to our good mother; and if we become hearers of the Word, let us glorify the blessed dispensation by which man is instructed and sanctified as a child of God, and, instructed on earth, has his citizenship in heaven, and there receives the Father whom he learns on earth. The Word does all things, teaches all things, instructs in all things. A horse is led by a bridle, a bull by a yoke, a wild beast is caught in a noose; but man is refashioned by the Word, by whom wild beasts are tamed, fish are lured, and birds are brought down. He it is who truly devises the bridle for the horse, the yoke for the bull, the noose for the beast, the rod for the fish, the snare for the bird. He governs and tills, rules and serves, and creates all things: “on it he wrought the earth, and on it the heaven, and on it the sea, and on it all the constellations with which the heaven is crowned.”

O divine works of creation! O divine commands! “Let this be water, let it surge within itself; let this be fire, let it restrain its fury; let this be air, let it wander into the ether; and let the earth be both fixed and moved, when I will. I wish still to form man; I have the elements as material; I dwell with my creature. If you know me, fire will serve you.” Such is this Word, the Instructor, the Creator of the world and of man, and for man's sake now the Instructor of the world too; at whose command both the world and we hold together, awaiting the judgment. “For not a stolen word does he bear for mortals … the word will be wisdom,” as Bacchylides says. But you, “the blameless and pure and unblemished children of God,” according to Paul, “in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, shine like lights in the world.”

Since this is what remains at such a festival of the Word, let us pray to the Word: Be gracious to your children, O Instructor, Father, Charioteer of Israel, Son and Father, both one, O Lord. Grant to us who follow your precepts to fill up the likeness of the image, and to perceive with all our strength the good God and a judge who is not harsh; and supply all things yourself, that we may live as citizens in your peace, be transferred to your city, sail through the surge of sin without being tossed, and be borne along in calm by the Holy Spirit, the Wisdom beyond words; night and day, until the perfect day, praising with thankful praise the only Father and Son, Son and Father, the Son who is Instructor and Teacher, together with the Holy Spirit. All to the One, in whom are all things, through whom all things are one, through whom is eternity, whose members we all are, whose is the glory, the ages; all to the Good, all to the Beautiful, all to the Wise, all things to the Just. To him be the glory, now and forever. Amen. And since the Instructor, having brought us into the church, has entrusted us to himself, the teaching and all-surveying Word, it would be well for us, having arrived here, to send up to the Lord a hymn of praise, a fitting reward of just thanks for his gracious instruction. Bridle of untamed colts, wing of unwandering birds, sure rudder of ships, shepherd of the King's lambs: gather your simple children to praise in holiness, to sing without guile with innocent mouths Christ, the leader of children. King of the saints, all-subduing Word of the Most High Father, ruler of wisdom, support of toils, rejoicing forever, Jesus, Savior of the mortal race, shepherd, plowman, rudder, bridle, heavenly wing of the all-holy flock, fisher of men who are being saved from the sea of evil, luring the pure fish from the hostile wave with sweet life. Lead your rational sheep, holy shepherd; lead, O King, your unharmed children. The footsteps of Christ are the way to heaven. Ever-flowing Word, boundless age, eternal light, fount of mercy, worker of virtue for those who praise God with holy life, Christ Jesus: heavenly milk pressed from the sweet breasts of the Bride, the graces of your wisdom; we little ones, nursed with tender mouths, filled with the dewy spirit of the rational breast, let us sing together simple praises, true hymns, to Christ the King, a holy reward for the teaching of life; let us sing in simplicity to the mighty Child. Choir of peace, born of Christ, a self-controlled people, let us sing together to the God of peace.