On Perfection

Contents

Reading pages: 251–267 · 269–285

1. 251Writing to a correspondent eager for perfection, Gregory proposes to show what the name “Christian” signifies and what life it requires, beginning from the meaning of the name of Christ.
2. 253Paul, in whom Christ lived, teaches the meaning of the name “Christ” through many titles (power, wisdom, peace, light, high priest, Passover, image, firstborn, king), all summed up in the royal anointing the name signifies.
3. 255Names follow natures: just as a statue is not a man, one is truly a Christian only by becoming what the titles of Christ mean, imitating some and worshipping the rest; a Christian with wrong faith or wrong life is a monster like a centaur.
4. 257A Christian whose life does not match his faith is divided against himself, light and darkness at once; virtue can live only when vice is put to death, as God says, “I will kill, and I will make alive.”
5. 259Taking Paul's titles in order, Gregory explains that Christ as power and wisdom, the creator of all, is both worshipped and imitated: those who look to him grow strong against sin and wise in choosing the good.
6. 261As Christ is peace, killing enmity and uniting what was divided, Christians must make peace with others and within themselves; as he is light, sanctification, and redemption, they must live in light and holiness as the property of the one who bought them.
7. 263As Passover and high priest Christ offered himself; Christians must likewise offer themselves as living sacrifices by putting the flesh to death. The titles “radiance of glory” and “impress of substance” point to his divine majesty, whose essence Paul says is beyond human grasp.
8. 265“Radiance of glory” shows the Son one in nature with the Father and “impress of substance” shows him equal; he upholds all things by his word, answering questions about how matter comes from God, and since we live in him we dare not sin before him.
9. 267Christ as spiritual food and drink nourishes the soul according to its need; in the sacrament his flesh and blood are truly food and drink, to be received only after self-examination and with a clean conscience; as the rock he teaches steadfastness.
10. 269Christ as rock, foundation, and cornerstone teaches steadfastness and a life in which outward conduct and inward purity meet; as image of the invisible God, the incomprehensible God made himself an image so that we might be restored to his image.
11. 271Christ, sinless though tempted, is the model each person paints in his own life with the colours of the virtues; above all humility and the long-suffering he showed in his Passion, forgiving his tormentors.
12. 273As members of Christ's body Christians must share the nature of their head (incorruption, peace, holiness) and follow his lead; sins like fornication cut members off from him. Gregory turns to the title “firstborn” and the heretics' use of it.
13. 275Against the heretics who make the Son a creature, Gregory distinguishes: the eternal Word is only-begotten; the incarnate Word is firstborn of the new creation, of the dead, and of the many brothers reborn through water and Spirit, as he was at the Jordan.
14. 277Those reborn as Christ's brothers must show his likeness by a sinless life, for all will rise but not all to life; the Mediator joins to God only what is worthy, as he joined his own sinless humanity.
15. 279Through his sinless humanity, the first fruits of our nature, the Mediator reconciles us and makes us God's adopted children; we are to become his crown of glory, not thorns woven into it, lest he say, “How did you come in here without a wedding garment?”
16. 281Christ as beginning, and as king of righteousness and peace, demands that we become what our beginning is and serve as soldiers in his army of virtues; Gregory begins to sum up.
17. 283Since the Christian life consists of thought, word, and deed, each must be tested by whether it looks to Christ; whatever springs from passion belongs to the adversary, while purity drawn from Christ as from a spring makes inner and outer man agree.
18. 285Perfection is to share in all the names of Christ in thought, word, and life; human changeableness is no obstacle but a wing, since perfection itself is endless growth toward the better, from glory to glory.