THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
If peace is from grace, why are you high-minded? Why are you puffed up, you who are saved by grace? If you are at peace with God, why do you cleave to others? This is to create division.
Why, if you are at peace with this or that person, do you also possess grace? I desire that both be yours from God, from Him and for Him. Neither will be firm unless it comes from the beckoning from above. If it is not directed toward Him, it will bring you no benefit.
It is no benefit to us if, while at peace with everyone, we are at enmity with God. Again, it is no harm to us if, while in disagreement with everyone, we are at peace with God.
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Likewise, there is no benefit if we win approval from everyone but offend the Lord. There is no danger if everyone turns away from us and hates us, while God accepts and loves us.
True grace and true peace are from God. The one who has grace with God fears no one, even if he suffers many evils. He fears neither man nor the devil himself. But the one who has offended God fears everyone, even if he seems to be safe.
The human race is unstable. Not only friends and brothers, but even fathers, often change their disposition for a slight cause. They persecute those whom they begot and raised worse than any enemy. Children also persecute fathers.
Look at this. David had grace before God. Absalom had grace before men. What was the end of each, and who received the greater praise? You know this.
Abraham had grace before God, but Pharaoh had grace before men. To please Pharaoh, they handed over the righteous man's wife. Which of them proved more glorious and blessed? Everyone knows this.
Why speak of the righteous? The Israelites had grace before God and were hated by men, the Egyptians. Yet they surpassed those who hated them and conquered them, as you know, with what glory.
Therefore let all of us take care for this. Let the slave strive to find grace before God before he seeks it before his master. Let the wife seek grace before God the Savior before she seeks it before her husband.
Let the soldier seek favor from above before he seeks it from the king or commander. In precisely this way you will deserve favor from men as well.
How, then, does one find grace before God? How else, if not by humility of mind? Scripture says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (Prov 3:34). And again: "A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; a humble heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise" (Ps 50:19).
If humility is pleasing even to men, how much more to God. In this way the Gentiles found grace. In this way the Jews fell from grace, "for they did not submit to the righteousness of God" (Rom 10:3).
The humble man is agreeable and pleasing to all. He lives in constant peace and has no cause for enmity. If you insult him, reproach him, or say anything whatever to him, he will be silent and endure with meekness. He will have peace with all, beyond all expression, and together with this, peace with God.
The commandments of God are directed to this, that we should remain at peace with men. Our whole life is good when we are at peace with one another. No one can do harm to God. By His nature He is not subject to the influence of evil and is above every passion.
Nothing makes a Christian so worthy of admiration as humility of mind. Listen to Abraham when he says, "I am dust and ashes" (Gen 18:27). Or listen to what God says about Moses, that he was the meekest of all men (Num 12:3).
No one was humbler than he. He governed such a people and drowned in the sea both the king and the whole Egyptian army as if they were flies. He performed such deeds in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness. He was counted worthy of such testimony, yet he conducted himself like an ordinary man.
The son-in-law was humbler than the father-in-law and accepted his counsel. He was not offended and did not say, "What is this? After such and such deeds, have you come to advise me?" Many act this way, even when the best counsel is offered, despising the adviser because of his lowliness.
But Moses was not so. On the contrary, he did everything with humility of mind. For this reason he despised the royal palaces, because he was truly humble. Humility of mind makes our mind sound and exalted.
Indeed, was it not a sign of high wisdom and a great soul that he despised both the royal house and table? Among the Egyptians kings were honored as gods and enjoyed countless riches and treasures. But Moses left all this behind.
He rejected the Egyptian scepter itself and went away to captives and the oppressed, exhausted by clay and bricks, despised even by his own slaves. It is written, "The Egyptians loathed them" (Ex 1:12). Moses preferred these people to rulers.
Thus the humble man is high and great-souled. Pride is the sign of a low mind and an ignoble soul. Meekness is the sign of a high and great soul.
If you wish, let us explain both by examples. Tell me, who was higher than Abraham? Yet he said, "I am dust and ashes" (Gen 18:27). And again: "Let there be no strife between me and you" (Gen 13:8).
He was so humble that he disregarded the spoils taken from the Persians and rejected the trophies won over foreigners. He did this from the height and greatness of his soul, because the truly high man is the one who is truly humble, not apparently and falsely so.
Greatness of soul is one thing, and arrogance is another. This can be seen from the following. Suppose one man regards mud as mud and despises it, while another marvels at mud as if it were gold and thinks it something great. Which of them is high-minded?
Is it not the one who does not marvel at mud? And who is low and pitiable? Is it not the one who marvels at it and counts it something great? So it is here.
The one who calls himself earth and ashes is high, because he says this from humility of mind. But the one who does not consider himself earth and ashes, but exalts himself and is high-minded, is low, because he regards a small thing as great.
Therefore the forefather Abraham said, "I am dust and ashes," from greatness of soul, not from arrogance. In the body, fullness and stoutness are one thing, and swelling is another. In both cases the body is large, but one comes from illness and the other from health.
So here, arrogance is like swelling, while greatness is like fullness. Or again, suppose one man is tall, while another is short but becomes tall by taking stilts. Which of them, tell me, shall we call tall and great?
Is it not the one who is tall by nature? Certainly it is. The other's height is not his own. By standing on stilts, he becomes tall though he is short.
Such are many people who exalt themselves through wealth and glory. These do not constitute greatness. The high man is the one who needs none of these things, despises all earthly things, and has greatness in himself.
Let us be humble, then, so that we may become exalted. "He who humbles himself," says the Lord, "will be exalted" (Mt 23:12). The arrogant man is not like this. On the contrary, he is more insignificant than all.
A bubble also swells, but its fullness is empty. For this reason we call such people puffed up. The humble-minded man, even in his greatness, does not think much of himself, knowing his humility. The insignificant man, even in his smallness, imagines much about himself.
Let us attain greatness through humility of mind. Let us remember the nature of all that is human, so that we may be kindled with desire for the future. One cannot become humble except by love for divine things and contempt for present things.
A man expecting to receive a kingdom would count some private honor as nothing, if it were offered to him instead of royal purple. In the same way, we too will laugh at all present things, if we are kindled with desire for the honor to come.
Look at children when they play and arrange themselves in formation. They set out soldiers, heralds, and lictors before them, and one of them walks in the middle as commander. Is this not a child's game?
Such are human distinctions, and even worse. Today they exist, and tomorrow they are gone. Let us be above them. Let us not only avoid desiring them, but even be ashamed when someone offers them to us.
Having thus cast off love for them, we will be kindled with divine love and will be counted worthy of immortal glory. May we all be granted this by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ. With Him, to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, dominion, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Do you see how often the name of Christ is used? From this it is clear even to the senseless that he does not do this in vain or casually. By the frequent use of this high name, he wishes to cast down their arrogance and destroy their evil disease.