IO4 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY XI, so does he here also, saying, " He descended into the lower parts of the earth." For were not this so, this expression which he uses, " He became obedient even unto death" (Phil. ii. 8, 9), were superfluous ; whereas from His ascend ing, he implies His descent, and by " the lower parts of the earth," he means " death," accord ing to the notions of men ; as Jacob also said, " Then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave." (Gen. xxxii. 48.) And again as it is in the Psalm, " Lest I become like them that go down into the pit" (Ps. cxliii. 7), that is like the dead. Why does he descant upon this region here? And of what captivity does he speak ? Of that of the devil ; for He took the tyrant captive, the devil, I mean, and death, and the curse, and sin. Behold His spoils and His trophies. " Now this, He ascended, what is it but that He also descended ? " This strikes at Paul of Samosata and his school. 1 " He that descended, is the same also that ascended far above all the Heavens, that He might fill all things." He descended, saith he, into the lower parts of the earth, beyond which there are none other : and He ascended up far above all things, to that place, beyond which there is none other. This is to show His divine energy, and supreme dominion. For indeed even of old had all things been filled. Ver. ii, 12. "And He gave some to be apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, evan gelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of minis tering, unto the building up of the body of Christ." What he said elsewhere, " Wherefore also God hath highly exalted Him " (Phil. ii. 9), that saith he also here. " He that descended, is the same also that ascended." It did Him no in jury that He came down into the lower parts of the earth, nor was it any hindrance to His be coming far higher than the Heavens. So that the more a man is humbled, so much the more is he exalted. For as in the case of water, the more a man presses it downwards, the more he forces it up ; and the further a man retires to hurl a javelin, the surer his aim ; so is it also with humility. However, when we speak of ascents with reference to God, we must needs conceive a descent first ; but when with reference to man, not at all so. Then he goes on to show further His providential care, and His wisdom, for He 1 Paul was Bishop of Antioch A.D. 260-269, when he was deposed for heresy. Very different accounts are given of his particular doc trines: St. Athanasius may be securely followed, however, who says that he denied the doctrine of our Lord s preexistence, asserted that He was a mere man, and that the Word of God was in Him. vid. Orat. i. 25, 38; ii. 13; iii. 51. De decret. 24, &c., &c. [See SchaflPs History of Christian Ch,, Vol. II., pp. 575, 576. G. A.] who hath wrought such things as these, who had such might, and who refused not to go down even to those lower parts for our sakes, never would He have made these distributions of spiritual gifts without a purpose. Now else where he tells us that this was the work of the Spirit, fn the words, " In the which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops to feed the Church of God." 2 And here he saith that it is the Son ; and elsewhere that it is God. " And He gave to the Church some apostles, and some prophets." But in the Epistle to the Corinthians, he saith, " I planted, Apollos watered ; but God gave the increase." And again, " Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one : but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor." (i Cor. iii. 68.) So is it also here; for what if thou bring in but little ? Thou hast received so much. First, he says, " apostles " ; 3 for these had all gifts ; secondarily, " prophets," for there were some who were not indeed apos tles, but prophets, as Agabus ; thirdly, " evan gelists," who did not go about everywhere, but only preached the Gospel, as Priscilla and Aquila ; " pastors and teachers," those who were entrusted with the charge of a whole nation. What then? are the pastors and the teachers inferior ? Yes, surely ; those who were settled and employed about one spot, as Timothy and Titus, were inferior to those who went about the world and preached the Gospel. However, it is not possible from this passage to frame the subordination and precedence, but from another Epistle. " He gave," saith he ; thou must not say a word to gainsay it. Or perhaps by " evangelists " he means those who wrote the Gospel. " For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ." 4 Perceive ye the dignity of the office ? Each one edifies, each one perfects, each one min isters. Ver. 13. "Till we all attain," he proceeds, " unto the unity of the faith and of the knowl edge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." By " stature " here he means perfect " knowl edge " ; for as a man will stand firmly, whereas 2 [Both here and in Horn. xiiv. on Acts (xx. 28) Chryspstom reads xvpiou instead of fleoG. The latter is, however, the reading of X B., and is adopted by W. & H. and the Rev. Ver. (as well as the textus receptus}. G. A.] 3 [" The Apostles had an immediate call from Christ, a destina tion for all lands and a special power of miracles. Prophets: not only in the special sense, but also those who spoke under the imme diate impulse of the Holy Spirit; Evangelists were subordinates of the Apostles who traveled about. Pastors and teachers, constitut ing one and the same class, were stationary, and probably included presbyters. Ellicott. G. A.] 4 [The proper relation of these prepositional phrases is brought out in Meyer s translation: He has, with a view to the full furnish ing of the saints, given those teachers for the work of ministering, for the edification of the body of Christ. So Ellicott. G. A.]