146 WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [HOMILY XX. but a debt. Then, " as their own bodies." And why? Ver. 29. " For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it." That is, tends it with exceeding care. And how is she his flesh? Hearken; "This now is bone of my bones," saith Adam, " and flesh of my flesh." (Gen. ii. 23.) For she is made of matter taken from us. And not only so, but also, "they shall be," saith God, "one flesh." (Gen. ii. 24.) " Even as Christ also the Church." Here he returns to the former example. Ver. 30. " Because we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones." l Ver. 31. " For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the twain shall become one flesh." 2 Behold again a third ground of obligation ; for he shows that a man leaving them that be gat him, and from whom he was born, is knit to his wife ; and that then the one flesh is, father, and mother, and the child, from the sub stance of the two commingled. For indeed by the commingling of their seeds is the child pro duced, so that the three are one flesh. Thus then are we in relation to Christ ; we become one flesh by participation, and we much more than the child. And why and how so? Be cause so it has been from the beginning. Tell me not that such and such things are so. Seest thou not that we have in our own flesh itself many defects? For one man, for in stance, is lame, another has his feet distorted, another his hands withered, another some other member weak ; and yet nevertheless he does not grieve at it, nor cut it off, but oftentimes prefers it even to the other. Naturally enough ; for it is part of himself. As great love as each entertains towards himself, so great he would have us entertain towards a wife. Not because we partake of the same nature ; no, this ground of duty towards a wife is far greater than that ; it is that there are not two bodies but one ; he the head, she the body. And how saith he else where, "and the Head of Christ is God"? (i Cor. xi. 3.) This I too say, that as we are one body, so also are Christ and the Father One. And thus then is the Father also found to be our Head. He sets down two examples, that of the natural body and that of Christ s body. And hence he further adds, 1 [The words, " of his flesh and of his bones," are omitted by N* A B, by Memphitic version, by Lach. Tish. Treg. (text) W. & H., and by the Rev. Ver. without any marginal notice whatever. G. A.] - [Meyer: " For this reason, namely, because we are members of Christ s body. Paul then applies what is spoken in Gen. of the union of husband and wife, by a typical interpretation, to the second coming (future, KaroAeiiJ/ei) ofChrist, and his union with the Church, which shall take place at the Parousia." Ellicott says that Chrysos- tom s view is more probable, namely, that it refers to Christ s com ing in the flesh. (See a little below, on ver. 32.) G. A.] Ver. 32. " This is great mystery : but I speak in regard of Christ and of the Church." 3 Why does he call it a great mystery? That it was something great and wonderful, the blessed Moses, or rather God, intimated. For the present, however, saith he, I speak regard ing Christ, that having left the Father, He came down, and came to the Bride, and became one Spirit. " For he that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit." (i Cor. vi. 17.) And well saith he, " it is a great mystery." And then as though he were saying, " But still nevertheless the allegory does not destroy affection," he adds, Ver. 33. " Nevertheless 4 do ye also severally love each one his own wife even as himself ; and let the wife see that she fear her husband." For indeed, in very deed, a mystery it is, year a great mystery, that a man should leave him that gave him being, him that begat him, and that brought him up, and her that travailed with him and had sorrow, those that have bestowed upon him so many and great benefits, those with whom he has been in familiar intercourse, and be joined to one who was never even seen by him and who has nothing in common with him, and should honor her before all others. A mystery it is indeed. And yet are parents not distressed when these events take place, but rather, when they do not take place ; and are delighted when their wealth is spent and lavished upon it. A great mystery indeed ! and one that contains some hidden wisdom. Such Moses prophetically showed it to be from the very first ; such now also Paul proclaims it, where he saith, " concerning Christ and the Church!" However not for the husband s sake alone it is thus said, but for the wife s sake also, that " he cherish her as his own flesh, as Christ also the Church," and, " that the wife fear her hus band." He is no longer setting down the duties of love only, but what? "That she fear her husband." The wife is a second authority; let not her then demand equality, for she is under the head ; nor let him despise her as being in subjection, for she is the body ; and if the head despise the body, it will itself also perish. But let him bring in love on his part as a counter poise to obedience on her part. For example, let the hands and the feet, and all the rest of the members be given up for service to the head, but let the head provide for the body, seeing it contains every sense in itself. Nothing can be better than this union. And yet how can there ever be love, one may 3 [This seems a distinct statement on the part of the Apostle, that the preceding words refer not to actual marriage of man and woman, but to the nuptial union of Christ and the Church. So Meyer. But Dr. Riddle, in the Popular Commentary, says this " mystical interpretation is unsafe." G. A.] 4 [Nevertheless, i.e. not to press the mystical bearings of tiie sub ject any further. Ellicott. So substantially Meyer and Riddle. G. A.]