WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [CHAPTER III. birth, but now, after his refutation of the charges against himself, and his proofs, it bursts forth. Let not his calling them "foolish " sur prise you ; for it is not a transgression of Christ s command not to call one s brother a fool, but rather a strict observance of it. For it is not said simply, " Whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool," (Mat. v: 22.) but, whosoever shall do so, "v/ithout a cause." 1 And who more fittingly than they could so be called, who after so great events, adhered to past things, as if nothing else had ever hap pened ? If on this account Paul is to be called a " reviler," Peter may likewise, on account of Annanias and Sapphira, be called a homi cide ; but as it would be wildness to do so in that case, much more in this. Moreover it is to be considered, that this vehemence is not used at the beginning, but after these evidences and proofs, which, rather than Paul himself, might now be held to administer the rebuke. For after he had shown that they rejected the faith, and made the death of Christ to be with out a purpose, he introduces his reproof, which, even as it is, is less severe than they merited. Observe too how soon he stays his arm ; for he adds not, Who has seduced you? who has per verted you ? who has been sophistical with you ? but, " Who hath cast an envious eye on you ? " thus tempering his reprimand with somewhat of praise. For it implies that their previous course had excited jealousy, 2 and that the present occurrence arose from the malignity ofa demon, whose breath had blasted their prosperous estate. And when you hear of jealousy in this place, and in the Gospel, of an evil eye, which means the same, you must not suppose that the glance of the eye has any natural power to injure those who look upon it. For the eye, that is, the organ itself, cannot be evil ; but Christ in that place means jealousy by the term. To behold, simply, is the function of the eye, but to behold in an evil manner belongs to a mind depraved within. As through this sense the knowledge of visible objects enters the soul, and as jeal ousy is for the most part generated by wealth, and wealth and sovereignty and pomp are per ceived by the eye, therefore he calls the eye evil ; not as beholding merely, but as behold ing enviously from some moral depravity. Therefore by the words, " Who hath looked enviously on you," he implies that the persons in question acted, not from concern, not to sup ply defects, but to mutilate what existed. For envy, far from supplying what is wanting, sub tracts from what is complete, and vitiates the whole. And he speaks thus, not as if envy had any power of itself, but meaning, that the teachers of these doctrines did so from envious motives. Ver. i . " Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth, crucified." Yet was He not crucified in Galatia, but at Jerusalem. His reason for saying, " among you," 3 is to declare the power of faith to see events which are at a distance. He says not, "crucified," but, " openly set forth crucified," signifying that by the eye of faith they saw more distinctly than some who were present as spectators. For many of the latter received no benefit, but the former, who were not eye-wit nesses, yet saw it by faith more clearly. These words convey both praise and blame ; praise, for their implicit acceptance of the truth; blame, because Him whom they had seen, for their sakes, stripped naked, transfixed, nailed to the cross, spit upon, mocked, fed with vine gar, upbraided by thieves, pierced with a spear ; (for all this is implied in the words, "openly set forth, crucified,")4 Him had they left, and betaken themselves to the Law, unshamed by any of those sufferings. Here observe how Paul, leaving all mention of heaven, earth, and sea, every where preaches the power of Christ, bearing about as he did, and holding up His cross : for this is the sum of the Divine love toward us. Ver 2. " This only would I learn from you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith? " As ye do not attend, says he, to long dis courses, nor are willing to contemplate the mag nitude of this Economy, I am desirous, (seeing your extreme ignorance,) to convince you by concise arguments and a summary method of proof. Before, he had convinced them by what he said to Peter ; now, he encounters them entirely with arguments, drawn not from what had occurred elsewhere, but from what had happened among themselves.5 And his persua sives and proofs are adduced, not merely from what was given them in common with others, but from what was especially conferred on them selves. Therefore he says, "This only would I learn from you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith." Ye have received, he says, the Holy Spirit, ye 1 fThe word eiicTJ, without a cause/ occurs in the textus recef>- tus on inferior authority in connection with the words whoso ever shall be angry with his brother (without a cause), but no where with the words, whosoever shall say, Thou fool, as Chrys. here connects them. G. A.]3 [" The word means to bewitch by words, to enchant, an;! is not to be explained with Chrysostom, who has envied you? that is, your previous happy condition ? " Meyer. G. A.] [Ev VIJ.LV is spurious, being omitted by Aleph. A. B. C. versions, Fathers, and Rev. Ver. as well as by W. and H. G. A.] 4 [" This signifies the life-like pictorial vivacityand effectiveness of Paul s preaching of Christ and Him crucified. The Greek verb is used of placarding public notices and proclamations." Schaff. G. A.] * ["See how effectually he treats the topic from (their own) experience." Luther, quoted by Meyer. G. A.]