{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-4309","native_reference":{"book_number":560,"chapter_from":4,"chapter_to":4,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":28,"verse_to":28},"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>: Paul exhorts them not to return to their past vices and sins. He wants them to behave as new persons. What good is it to be called new if our evil deeds prove us to be still gripped by our old nature? The Christian is commanded not merely to avoid stealing but more so to care actively for the poor through his own hard work. Hence by commitment to good works he may restore what he formerly stole. We are not to be praised for refusing to steal. What makes one praiseworthy is to give of one's own to the needy.<br/><i>— EPISTLE TO THE Ephesians 4.28</i></p><p><b>Clement of Alexandria</b>: Further, he, who has a show of wisdom, has certain exhortations enjoined on him by the apostle: \"That ye put on the new man, which after God is renewed in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth. Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole, steal no more; but rather let him labour, working that which is good\" (and to work is to labour in seeking the truth; for it is accompanied with rational well-doing), \"that ye may have to give to him that has need,\" both of worldly wealth and of divine wisdom. For he wishes both that the word be taught, and that the money be put into the bank, accurately tested, to accumulate interest. Whence he adds, \"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,\"-that is \"corrupt communication\" which proceeds out of conceit,-\"but that which is good for the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers.\" And the word of the good God must needs be good. And how is it possible that he who saves shall not be good?<br/><i>— The Stromata Book 1</i></p><p><b>Gaius Marius Victorinus</b>: Sin does not consist in simply committing sin but persisting in it. If so, there is always a place for repentance. There is a place for correction. So the apostle says: \"let the one who has stolen not steal again.\" This should be applied not only to stealing but also to all sin. Anyone who has sinned in any way is now called not to sin again.<br/><i>— EPISTLE TO THE Ephesians 2.4.28</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: Those who live in the midst of this life's intense business appear to be forced, for the sake of food and necessary provisions, to buy and sell certain things and to seek unfair profit from business. It is difficult even for those who have been set free from the other passions—namely fornication, idolatry, adultery and murder—to escape being caught by this subtle vice.<br/><i>— Commentary on Ephesians 4:28</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: Seest thou what are the members of the old man? Falsehood, revenge, theft. Why said he not, \"Let him that stole\" be punished, be tortured, be racked; but, \"let him steal no more\"? \"But rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need.\"</p><p>Where are they which are called pure; they that are full of all defilement, and yet dare to give themselves a name like this? For it is possible, very possible, to put off the reproach, not only by ceasing from the sin, but by working some good thing also. Perceive ye how we ought to get quit of the sin? \"They stole.\" This is the sin. \"They steal no more.\" This is not to do away the sin. But how shall they? If they labor, and charitably communicate to others, thus will they do away the sin. He does not simply desire that we should work, but so \"work\" as to \"labor,\" so as that we may \"communicate\" to others. For the thief indeed works, but it is that which is evil.<br/><i>— Homily on Ephesians 14</i></p><p><b>Theodoret of Cyrus</b>: Idleness is a major source of sin. So it is reasonable for Paul to set honest work over against it. The text contrasts theft, which is an evil work, with honest labor, which is a good work.<br/><i>— Interpretation of the Epistle to the Ephesians 4.28</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"2afce4933775a776b1a383ef39ad1f20371d559788878a4af26a5605cdf21749","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":4309,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"7aa98139656cf6fb5a3a0f74d33b9fe97293f57ec7f9ed5247e62beda457cca9","translator":null,"work":null}