Ambrose of Milan : If we regard the sentence passed on him [the serpent] to be in the nature of a condemnation, God did not condemn the serpent in order to cause injury to humans. He pointed out what was to happen in the future. … What we are to expect can in some measure be gathered from our knowledge of what has been written: "Whoever shall glorify me, him will I glorify, and he that despises me shall be despised." God brings to pass what is good, not what is evil, as his words can teach you that he confers glory and disregards punishment. "Whoever shall glorify me," he says, "him will I glorify," thus declaring that the glory of the good is the purpose of his work. And concerning "him that despises me," he did not say I shall deprive of glory, but that he shall be deprived of glory. He did not avow that injury to them [Adam and Eve] would be the result of his action but pointed out what was to come. — On Paradise, 15.74 Bede : Therefore, says the Lord God of Israel: He spoke, I said, etc. The question arises by what reason what was promised to last forever could be changed; but recall that the priesthood of Aaron was the shadow of the eternal priesthood, and the promise of eternity; understand that truth pertains not to the shadow but to that shadowed. For lest you would think the shadow and figure to be everlasting, even its change had to be prophesied. Just as with the kingdom of Saul, it is to be understood, as it was said: "But now your kingdom shall not continue; the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever" (1 Samuel 13). Which will be more fittingly dealt with in its own place. — Commentary on Samuel Bede : Now the Lord says: Far be it from me, etc. Changing times, not changing plans, the Lord seeks elected ones from the nations for Himself in a spiritual priesthood, and deprives entirely the contemptuous sons of Aaron of any order of priestly office. — Commentary on Samuel Gregory the Dialogist : 29. As if striking with an open and fitting meaning, he says: You honored your sons, so that you might eat the firstfruits of every sacrifice; but therefore the rights of the firstfruits are taken from you, because those who were honored were unworthy. For what does it mean to say: "Far be it from me that your house should minister in my sight," except: I cast you down from that summit to which the rights of the firstfruits were owed? By a wonderful execution of justice, therefore, he was caught, so that from the very thing for which he greedily sought the eating of the firstfruits, from that very thing he fasted from the receiving of the firstfruits. For he endured the Redeemer's death lest he lose the priestly gains, but He received from the triumph of death that by which He destroyed the profits of the old sacrifice. And He says: "I spoke and declared that your house and the house of your father would minister in my sight; but now, far be this from me." As if He were saying in plainer words: That you might stand on so great a height of dignity, I frequently admonished you, but now you are not such as I desired you to be. And because this is said concerning the rejection of the Jewish people, there is added concerning the order of the new preachers: (Verse 30.) "But whoever glorifies me, him will I glorify." 30. For now we behold the glory of the one who glorifies, because the preachers of holy Church sing the praises of almighty God with great splendor of life, and rejoice in their universal preeminence throughout the world. Behold, now all the Gentile nations are laid beneath the footsteps of the priests, and those whom they rejoice to submit themselves to in obedience they glory to possess as patrons in heaven. The Lord therefore glorifies the one who glorifies Him, because those from whom He daily receives devoted praises He raises up to honor throughout the whole world. Is it not the glory of one who has been glorified to remain on earth and to shut heaven? To live life in common with other men, and yet to open the heavenly seats above to those subject to the authority of their power? For he was glorifying the Lord who said: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). But the Lord glorified the one who glorified Him, because He answered him, saying: "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (ibid., 19). But concerning the cast-off reprobates of the Jews it is added: (Ver. 30.) "But they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." 31. Indeed they themselves despise, who by no means believe that he is the Redeemer of the world: about whom certainly the Truth itself complains in the Gospel, saying: "But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying: We do not want this man to reign over us" (Luke 19:14). But we now see their ignobility, because they are proscribed both in lineage and in condition. They are indeed ignoble in lineage, because they heard from the Truth itself: "You are of your father the devil" (John 8:44). They are also ignoble in condition, because having lost their liberty and kingdom, they are oppressed by perpetual servitude among the nations. But he shows the order of punishments more clearly, saying: (Verse 31.) "Behold, the days are coming, and I will cut off your arm, and the arm of the house of your father, so that there will be no old man in your house." — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 2, Chapter 2 Gregory the Dialogist : Behold, Eli is deposed from the height of his dignity by divine sentence, who is convicted of having honored his wicked sons for the eating of the firstfruits, so that indeed the preachers of holy Church may understand that if through carnal love they knowingly commit spiritual ministries to the reprobate, they have fallen by the equity of the internal Judge from that summit on which they appear outwardly to stand. And because He subsequently added: (Verse 30.) But whosoever shall glorify me, him will I glorify. Their audacity also secretly suggests that He was dishonored. To whom indeed Paul also, reproaching this very thing, says: "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you" (Rom. 2:24). For because they stain the beauty of the dignity they received through the filth of a wretched reputation, they indeed dishonor the Lord. For he is rightly driven from the height of honor who does injury to the one by whom he is proved to have been honored. Against which He affirms with a general promise, saying: "But whoever glorifies me, I will glorify him." For the pastor glorifies God who shines by the example of good works for the imitation of the faithful, who from the height of governance radiates with the great light of an excellent manner of life, who, regarding the mirror of sacred orders, does not accept the persons of reprobate ministers, but chooses for the pattern of the subject flock those whom everyone who looks to imitation, because he follows the true light in them, does not stumble against. To whom indeed Truth speaks through Himself, saying: "So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16). The Lord indeed glorifies those who glorify Him, because what the chosen pastors of the holy Church outwardly bear of the glory of their high position, this they inwardly receive from the grace of divine goodness, and the honor by which they are exalted in the eyes of men, they merit by worthy effort inwardly from the bounty of the interior majesty. Against which He complains that the glory of those who dishonor Him was not bestowed upon them by Him, saying: "They have reigned, but not from me; they became princes, and I did not know it" (Hosea 8:4). For they reign from themselves, and not from the election of the supreme ordination, because they are not called by divine will to the glory of the ecclesiastical summit, but are led there through cupidity. Whom indeed the Lord does not know, because He rejects them through the judgment of interior equity. It is therefore as if He were saying: Even if the honor they hold appears to be mine, they did not merit it by obedience, but seized it through cupidity. Whence He also subsequently adds: (Verse 30.) "But those who despise me shall be without honor." As if he were speaking openly, saying: Even though they display the nobility of their dignity under the pretext of religion, they are nevertheless ignoble, because they do not match the excellence of the glory they possess through sublimity of life. But since all of this is promised in the expression of the future tense, it can not unfittingly be referred to the merit of the coming retribution. About which indeed John says: "When he shall appear, we shall be like him" (1 John 3:2). Hence the evangelist Mark, affirming, says: "Then they shall see the Son of man coming with great power and glory" (Mark 13:26). Moreover, when he declares that he will glorify the one who glorifies him, he assuredly promises him the glory of his own likeness. For the Lord glorifies the one who glorifies him, because he rewards with eternal sublimity those who now within holy Church shine in the eyes of the elect through the examples of good works. But the despisers will be ignoble, because they do not deserve to be received into the glory of the elect. For because they now clothe themselves in the image of the fallen angel through their reprobate way of life, they will then be ignoble with him, when they are joined to him in internal punishment. For the Prophet, beholding the glorification of the former and the ignobility of the latter, says: "The saints shall exult in glory, they shall rejoice in their resting places. The praises of God shall be in their throats, and two-edged swords in their hands. To execute vengeance upon the nations, rebukes among the peoples. To bind their kings in shackles, and their nobles in iron chains." For the Lord glorifies the one who glorifies him, because the humble elect exult with him in eternal glory. And because they receive the brightness of glorification from the manner of their own way of life, they are said to rejoice in their resting places over the glory they have obtained. But his despisers are struck with perpetual ignobility, because the kings and nobles of the nations are bound with iron, that is, eternal chains for punishment. Moreover, the kings and princes of the nations are the proud and vainglorious leaders of carnal people. And they will then be ignoble, when they are bound with iron chains, because those who now temporarily exalt themselves against the little ones are restrained by eternal punishment from the splendor of honor and from the audacity of their tyranny. Whence here also it is added: (Verse 31.) "Behold, the days are coming, and I will cut off your arm, and the arm of the house of your father." — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 2, Chapter 3 Jerome : A pearl will shine in the midst of squalor, and a gem … will sparkle in the mire. This is what the Lord promised when he said, "Those who honor me I will honor." Others may understand this of the future when sorrow shall be turned into joy and when, although the world shall pass away, the saints shall receive a crown which shall never pass. But I for my part see that the promises made to the saints are fulfilled even in this present life. — LETTER 66.7 John Chrysostom : If He says, "Them that honor Me I will honor, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed," let us reflect that there is that which He requires of us also. True, it is the praise of His glory to save those that are enemies, but those who, after being made friends, continue His friends. So that if they were to return back to their former state of enmity, all were vain and to no purpose. There is not another Baptism, nor is there a second reconciliation again, but "a certain fearful expectation of judgment which shall devour the adversaries." If we intend at the same time to be always at enmity with Him and yet to claim forgiveness at His hand, we shall never cease to be at enmity, and to be wanton, to grow in depravity, and to be blind to the Sun of Righteousness which has risen.… But when thou hast tasted the goodness and the honey, if thou again abandonest them, and turnest to thine own vomit, what else art thou doing but bringing forward evidence of excessive hatred and contempt? — HOMILIES ON Ephesians 2 John Chrysostom : Now honor and glory are not mere words; and since He has honored us not by words only, but by what He has done for us, so let us honor Him by works and deeds. Yet this honor touches us, while that reaches not Him, for He needs not the honor that comes from us, we do need that which is from Him. In honoring Him, therefore, we do honor to ourselves. He who opens his eyes to gaze on the light of the sun, receives delight himself, as he admires the beauty of the star, but does no favor to that luminary, nor increases its splendor, for it continues what it was; much more is this true with respect to God. He who admires and honors God does so to his own salvation, and highest benefit; and how? Because he follows after virtue, and is honored by Him. For "them that honor Me," He says, "I will honor." — HOMILIES ON 1 TIMOTHY 4