{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-5530","native_reference":{"book_number":550,"chapter_from":6,"chapter_to":6,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":1,"verse_to":1},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Ambrosiaster</b>: Now Paul speaks to those who were spiritually stronger, lest by becoming proud in their own good life they should think it right to despise and reject one who had perhaps been overtaken by sin. And so they must be told that people struggling with sin are to be spurred toward reform with kindness. If they were to be more harshly punished with coercive authority, they would not accept reproof. They would begin to defend themselves against seeming to be base and worse. If you protect a person from strife and arrogance, he will become meek in relation to you, since humility tends to make even the proud humble.<br/><i>— EPISTLE TO THE Galatians 6.2.1-2</i></p><p><b>Augustine of Hippo</b>: One is overtaken on those occasions either when one sins without seeing at the time that it is a sin or when one sees this and is still overcome. One sins either in ignorance of truth or under the limitations of infirmity.<br/><i>— Against Lying 22</i></p><p><b>Augustine of Hippo</b>: There is no surer test of the spiritual person than his treatment of another's sin. Note how he takes care to deliver the sinner rather than triumph over him, to help him rather than punish him and, so far as lies in his capacity, to support him.<br/><i>— EPISTLE TO THE Galatians 56 [1B.6.1]</i></p><p><b>Callistus I of Rome</b>: For we need time to do anything perfectly (maturius); and let us not be precipitate in our counsels or our works, neither let us violate order. But if any one has fallen in anything, let us not consign him to ruin; but let us reprove him with brotherly affection, as the blessed apostle says: \"If a man be overtaken in any fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, test thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burden, and so will ye fulfil the law of Christ.\"<br/><i>— EPISTLE 2:5</i></p><p><b>Cyprian</b>: Moreover, we do not prejudge when the Lord is to be the judge; save that if He shall find the repentance of the sinners full and sound, He will then ratify what shall have been here determined by us. If, however, any one should delude us with the pretence of repentance, God, who is not mocked, and who looks into man's heart, will judge of those things which we have imperfectly looked into, and the Lord will amend the sentence of His servants; while yet, dearest brother, we ought to remember that it is written, \"A brother that helpeth a brother shall be exalted; \" and that the apostle also has said, \"Let all of you severally have regard to yourselves, lest ye also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ; \" also that, rebuking the haughty, and breaking down their arrogance, he says in his epistle, \"Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall; \" and in another place he says, \"Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth; yea, he shall stand, for God is able to make him stand.\" John also proves that Jesus Christ the Lord is our Advocate and Intercessor for our sins, saying, \"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Supporter: and He is the propitiation for our sins.\" And Paul also, the apostle, in his epistle, has written, \"If, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; much more, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.\"<br/><i>— Epistle LI</i></p><p><b>Cyprian</b>: That brethren ought to support one another. To the Galatians: \"Each one having others in consideration, lest ye also should be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so ye shah fulfil the law of Christ.\"<br/><i>— Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews</i></p><p><b>Desert Fathers</b>: There was once a brother who was very eager to seek goodness. Being very disturbed by the demon of lust, he came to a hermit and told him about his thoughts. The hermit was inexperienced and when he heard all this, he was shocked, and said he was a wicked brother, unworthy of his monk's habit because he had thoughts like that. When the brother heard this, he despaired, left his cell and started on his way back to the world. But by God's providence, Apollo met him. Seeing he was so upset and sad, he said to him, 'Son, why are you so unhappy?' The brother was very embarrassed, and at first said nothing. But when Apollo pressed him to say what was happening to him, he admitted everything and said, 'It is because lustful thoughts trouble me. I confessed them to that hermit, and he says I now have no hope of salvation. So I have despaired, and am on my way back to the world.' When Apollo heard this, he went on asking questions like a wise doctor, and gave him this counsel, 'Do not be cast down, son, nor despair of yourself. Even at my age and with my experience of the spiritual life, I am still troubled by thoughts like yours. Do not fail now; this trouble cannot be cured by our efforts, but only by God's mercy. Do as I say and go back to your cell.' The brother did so. Then Apollo went to the cell of the hermit who had made the brother despair. He stood outside the cell, and prayed to the Lord with tears, saying, 'Lord, you permit men to be tempted for their good; transfer the war that brother is suffering to this hermit: let him learn by experience in his old age what many years have not taught him, and so let him find out how to sympathize with people undergoing this kind of temptation.' As soon as he ended his prayer he saw a black man standing by the cell firing arrows at the hermit. As though he had been wounded, the hermit began to totter and lurch like a drunken man. When he could bear it no longer, he came out of his cell, and set out on the same road by which the young man started to return to the world. Apollo understood what had happened, and went to meet him. He came up to him and said, 'Where are you going? Why are you so upset?' When the hermit saw that the holy Apollo understood what had happened, he was ashamed and said nothing. Apollo said to him, 'Go back to your cell and see in others your own weakness and keep your own heart in order. For either you were ignorant of the devil in spite of your age, or you were contemptuous, and did not deserve to gain strength by struggling with the devil as all other men must. But struggle is not the right word, when you could not stand up to his attack for one day. This has happened to you because of the young monk. He came to you because he was being attacked by the common enemy of us all. You ought to have given him words of consolation to help him against the devil's attack but instead you drove him to despair. You did not remember the wise man's saying, which orders us to deliver the men who are drawn towards death, and not to cease to redeem men ready to be killed. You did not remember our Saviour's parable, \"You should not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax\" (Matt. 12:20). No one can endure the enemy's clever attacks, nor quench, nor control the leaping fire natural to the body, unless God's grace preserves us in our weakness. In all our prayers we should ask for his mercy to save us, so that he may turn aside this scourge which is aimed even at you. For he makes a man to grieve, and then lifts him up to salvation; he strikes, and his hand heals; he humbles and exalts; he gives death and then life; he leads to hell and brings back from hell (1 Sam. 2:6). So Apollo prayed again, and at once the hermit was set free from his inner war. Apollo urged him to ask God to give him a wise heart, in order to know how best to speak.<br/><i>— The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks</i></p><p><b>Desert Fathers</b>: Macarius said also, 'If you are stirred to anger when you want to reprove someone, you are gratifying your own passions. Do not lose yourself in order to save another.'<br/><i>— The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks</i></p><p><b>Desert Fathers</b>: Poemen said, 'If a man sins and denies it, saying, \"I have not sinned,\" do not correct him, or you will destroy any intention he might have of changing. If you say, \"Do not be cast down, my brother, but be careful about that in future,\" you will move his heart to repent.'<br/><i>— The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks</i></p><p><b>Desert Fathers</b>: Hyperichius said, 'Snatch your neighbour from his sins, so far as you can, and refrain from condemning him, for God does not reject those who turn to him. Let no evil word about your brother stay in your mind, so that you can say, \"Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors\" (Mt. 7:12).'<br/><i>— The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: The Spirit-led person should correct a sinner gently and meekly. He must not be inflexible, angry or aggrieved in his desire to correct him. He should stir him up with the promise of salvation, promising remission and bringing forth the testimony of Christ.<br/><i>— EPISTLE TO THE Galatians 3.6.1</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: Maybe Paul is saying that you should identify with the sinner in order to do him good. This is not to imply, of course, that one should seemingly commit the same wrong and pretend that one is also subject to it. No, in another's wrongdoing one should think of what might befall oneself. Help the other with the same compassion that one would hope to receive from another.<br/><i>— LETTER 116.29.2</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: It is reasonable to ask why one should instruct the sinner in a spirit of gentleness. It is good to reflect that one might oneself be tempted. Would the righteous person, who is certain of his own resolve and confident that he cannot fall, therefore have no duty to instruct the sinner in the spirit of gentleness? To this we reply that even if the righteous one has prevailed, knowing with what difficulty he prevailed over his own temptations he should rather be ready to extend pardon to the sinner.… Overcoming or not overcoming is sometimes in our own power. But being tempted is in the power of the tempter. The Savior himself was tempted. So who of us can be sure that he might cross this sea of life without any temptation?<br/><i>— EPISTLE TO THE Galatians 3.6.1</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: (Chapter VI - Verse 1) Brothers, even if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Knowing that Paul was a servant of God, who did not desire the death of a sinner but their repentance (Ezekiel 18:23, 33). And except for the Trinity, every creature, though it may not sin, is still capable of sinning. Therefore, he also encourages those who are spiritual to reach out a helping hand to one who is falling, being mindful of their own fear of sin. And beautifully preoccupying in the offense, he calls him a man who can die: showing the fragility of his condition from his very name; so that he may be worthy of forgiveness, who, like a man deceived by error and immersed in a whirlpool, is unable to lift himself up without help and assistance. However, a man is not added to the spiritual realm, but he is commanded as if by God, to instruct a man preoccupied in the offense: or (as is better expressed in Greek) to perfect in the spirit of gentleness. However, the one who is being perfected does not lack everything, but something. In fact, if he has not erred with many sins, but has been preoccupied with some fault, let him apply the spirit of gentleness and meekness in correcting the spiritual sinner, so that he does not desire to correct the wandering one in a rigid, angry, and sad manner; but let him provoke him, promising salvation and forgiveness. Let him bring forth the testimony of Christ: that he invites those burdened by the weight of the law and sins to his gentle and light yoke, so that they may learn that he is humble and meek, and find rest for their souls (Matthew 11). Let us use this testimony against heretics: who, inventing various nature myths, say that a spiritual tree is good and never produces bad fruits. Behold the Apostle, whose authority they themselves also follow, says that those who are spiritual can sin if they are puffed up with the pride of their heart and fall. This we also confess; and that earthly beings can become spiritual if they turn to better things. Can what is written to the Corinthians be opposed to us: What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in charity, and the spirit of meekness (I Cor. IV, 21)? For if there, he says that he comes to sinners not in the spirit of meekness, but with a rod: how does he here not employ a rod, but the spirit of meekness, with those who have been prevented from sinning in any way? But there, it is said to those who, after sinning, not feeling their own error, were unwilling to be subject to their superiors and corrected by penance. But when the understanding sinner acknowledges his wound and gives himself to the physician to be healed, there the rod is not necessary, but the spirit of gentleness. And it may be questioned whether someone should instruct the sinner in the spirit of gentleness for this reason: that he should consider himself so as not to be tempted. Therefore, the righteous person, who is sure in his own mind and knows that he cannot stumble, should not instruct the sinner in the spirit of gentleness? To this, we will say that even if the righteous person has overcome, knowing how great a struggle he has won, he will offer more forgiveness to the one who sins. For even the Savior was tempted, in all things like us, without sin: so that he can sympathize and commiserate with our weaknesses, having experienced them himself, and to show how difficult it is to achieve victory in the flesh. If a virgin remains until old age, forgive those who were once deceived by the heat of youth, knowing the difficulties they have overcome. If someone, for the confession of Christ's name, witnessed another denying him in torment, let them sympathize with the wounds of the denier, and marvel not so much at their defeat, but at their own victory. Also, pay attention to the caution of the writer, for he did not say, 'Considering yourself, lest you fall,' but rather, 'lest you be tempted also.' To conquer or to be conquered is sometimes within our power; however, to be tempted is within the power of the one tempting. For if the Savior was tempted, who can be confident that they will pass through the storms of this life without being tempted? Those who believe that Paul spoke according to humility, and not truly, say this not out of ignorance of the language but rather of the knowledge of this matter. For he should have spoken in order, saying: You, who are spiritual, instruct such in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourselves, lest you also be tempted; and not to place the plural number into the singular. Therefore, the Hebrew among the Hebrews, and one who was very learned in the vernacular language, was unable to express profound meanings in a foreign language; nor did he greatly care about the words, since he had the meaning in safety. These things according to simple understanding. Furthermore, in order to continue the order of the second exposition, this passage about the end of the Epistle to the Romans must be explained. For there, when he was writing about the food and observances of the Jews, and those who despised the precepts of the Law according to the letter, he described the strong and perfect: but he also recounted the weak and little ones who were still being led by old customs, and saw that there was a dispute between the spiritual and the carnal. He warned the spiritual not to despise the carnal, and said: Receive the weak in faith, not for the purpose of argumentation of opinions. For another believes he may eat all things: but he that is weak, let him eat herbs. Let not him that eateth, despise him that eateth not: and he that eateth not, let him not judge him that eateth. For God hath taken him to him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own lord he standeth or falleth. And he shall stand: for God is able to make him stand. And another judgeth every day a day: let every man abound in his own sense. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord. And he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord: for he giveth thanks to God. And he that eateth not, eateth not unto the Lord and giveth thanks to God. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord: or whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For unto this end Christ died and rose again: that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? Or thou, why dost thou despise thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. Therefore, every one of us shall render account to God for himself. And again: But we must bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not please ourselves. Let each one of you please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. (Romans 15:1-2).<br/><i>— Commentary on Galatians</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: Forasmuch as under cover of a rebuke they gratified their private feelings, and professing to do so for faults which had been committed, were advancing their own ambition, he says, \"Brethren, if a man be overtaken.\" He said not if a man commit but if he be \"overtaken\" that is, if he be carried away.</p><p>\"Ye which are spiritual restore such a one,\"</p><p>He says not \"chastise\" nor \"judge,\" but \"set right.\" Nor does he stop here, but in order to show that it behoved them to be very gentle towards those who had lost their footing, he subjoins,</p><p>\"In a spirit of meekness.\"</p><p>He says not, \"in meekness,\" but, \"in a spirit of meekness,\" signifying thereby that this is acceptable to the Spirit, and that to be able to administer correction with mildness is a spiritual gift. Then, to prevent the one being unduly exalted by having to correct the other, puts him under the same fear, saying,</p><p>\"Looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted.\"</p><p>For as rich men convey contributions to the indigent, that in case they should be themselves involved in poverty they may receive the same bounty, so ought we also to do. And therefore he states this cogent reason, in these words, \"looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted.\" He apologizes for the offender, first, by saying \"if ye be overtaken;\" next, by employing a term indicative of great infirmity; lastly, by the words \"lest thou also be tempted,\" thus arraigning the malice of the devil rather than the remissness of the soul.<br/><i>— Homily on Galatians 6</i></p><p><b>Oecumenius</b>: Many, overcome by an ambitious striving for dominion, satisfied their desire in reproving the faults of their neighbors; which he corrects by saying: If anyone is caught in a sin. For this is the kind of thing, anticipated, \"you who are spiritual.\" Those who live according to the spirit, \"restore,\" that is, correct such a one. Then, casting out self-love, he says, \"in a spirit of gentleness.\" That is to say, in gentleness, which is a gift of the Holy Spirit.</p><p>\"Be watching yourself.\" Then, so that the one correcting might not become arrogant, he says: Be watching yourself also, and guard yourself, for fear that you fall by the same snares.<br/><i>— Commentary on Galatians</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"274ccfd82588c9e29b5f575e17f43c6e1d517695f2b2ff3a470fee0a22e03d8b","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":5530,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"59b73fe6aeb8a06614605fae06d52834a0d9b3ac6c5264964c24aebd78183d8a","translator":null,"work":null}