520 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY I. wrote as near his end and in prison, but here, as free and at liberty. For his saying, " I have determined to winter at Nicopolis" (Tit. iii. 12), is a proof that he was not yet in bonds, as when he wrote to Timothy. Ver. T . " Paul, a servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God s elect." You observe how he uses these expressions indifferently, sometimes calling himself the " servant of God," and sometimes the " servant of Christ," thus making no difference between the Father and the Son. " According to the faith of God s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. In hope of eternal life." "According to the faith ofGod s elect." It is because thou hast believed, or rather because thou wast intrusted ? I think he meant, that he was intrusted with God s elect, that is, not for any achievements of mine, nor from my toils and labors, did I receive this dignity. It was wholly the effect of His goodness who intrusted me. Yet that the grace may not seem without reason, (for still the whole was not of .Him, for why did He not intrust it to others ?) he there fore adds, " And the acknowledging of the truth that is after godliness." For it was for this ac knowledgment that I was intrusted, or rather it was of His grace that this too was intrusted to me, for He was the author of this also. Whence Christ Himself said, "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." (John xv. 16.) And elsewhere this same blessed one writes, "I shall know, even as also I am known." (i Cor. xiii. 12.) And again, " If I may appre hend that, for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." (Phil. iii. 12.) First we are ap prehended, and afterwards we know : first we are known, and then we apprehend : l first we were called, and then we obeyed. But in say ing, " according to the faith of the elect," all is reckoned to them, because on their account I am an Apostle, not for my worthiness, but " for the elect s sake." As he elsewhere says, " All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos." (i Cor. iii. 21.) " And the acknowledging the truth that is after godliness." For there is a truth in other things, that is not according to godliness ; for knowledge in matters of agriculture, knowledge of the arts, is true knowledge ; but this truth is after godliness. Or this, " according to faith," means that they believed, as the other elect be lieved, and acknowledged the truth. This ac knowledging then is from faith, and not from reasonings. " In hope of eternal life." He spoke of the 1 al. " first we are apprehended, and afterwards we apprehend; first we are known, and then we know." present life, which is in the grace of God, and he also speaks of the future, and sets before us the rewards that follow the mercies which God has bestowed upon us. For He is willing to crown us because we have believed, and have been de livered from error. Observe how the introduc tion is full of the mercies of God, and this whole Epistle is especially of the same char acter, thus exciting the holy man himself, and his disciples also, to greater exertions. For nothing profits us so much as constantly to remember the mercies of God, whether public or private. And if our hearts are warmed when we receive the favors of our friends, or hear some kind word or deed of theirs, much more shall we be zealous in His service when we see into what dangers we had fallen, and that God has delivered us from them all. " And the acknowledging of the truth." This he says with reference to the type. For that was an " acknowledging " and a " godliness," yet not of the Truth, 2 yet neither was it false hood, it was godliness, but it was in type and figure. And he has well said, " In hope of eter nal life." For the former was in hope of the present life. For it is said, " he that doeth these things shall live in them." (Rom. x. 5.) You see how at the beginning he sets forth the difference of grace. They are not the elect, but we. For if they were once called the elect, yet are they no longer called so. Ver. 2. "Which God, that cannot lie, prom ised before the world began." That is, not now upon a change of mind, but from the beginning it was so foreordained. This he often asserts, as when he says, " Separated unto the Gospel of God." (Rom. i. i.) And again, "Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate." (Rom. viii. 29.) Thus showing our high origin, in that He did not love us now first, but from the beginning : and it is no little matter to be loved of old, and from the begin ning. " Which God, that cannot lie, promised." If He " cannot lie," what He has promised will assuredly be fulfilled. If He " cannot lie," we ought not to doubt it, though it be after death. " Which God, that cannot lie," he says, " prom ised before the world began " ; by this also, " before the world began," he shows that it is worthy of our belief. It is not because the Jews have not come in, that these things are prom ised. It had been so planned from the first. Hear therefore what he says, " But hath in His own 3 times manifested." Wherefore then was the delay? From His 2 Thus our Lord, speaking as a Jew, said (John iv. 22), "We know what we worship"; and yet v. 23, "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." 3 Or, " its own," 181019, E. V. " due."