THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
It is as though he says: For what reason do we wear ourselves out, if we do not expect the good things to come? For what reason does everyone revile us?
Have we not endured such calamities, he says? Have we not endured insults, slander, and countless other misfortunes? Did we endure all this in vain?
If we did not hope in the living God, why would we subject ourselves to this? If He saves unbelievers here, then much more will He save believers there.
Of what salvation does he speak? Of heavenly salvation. 'Who,' he says, 'is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.'
That is, he shows His great care for believers. Up to this point he speaks of what is earthly.
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But how, you ask, is He the Savior of believers? If He were not Savior, nothing would long ago have prevented those against whom all wage war from perishing.
Here the Apostle rouses Timothy to endure danger. He does this so that Timothy may not lose heart, having so powerful a helper in God.
He should not need the assistance of others, but should willingly endure everything with courage.
So also those who hunger for worldly goods, hoping to receive profit, resolve to undertake much. Therefore the last times are already upon us.
Paul endured insults, and do you become indignant when you receive wrongs? Paul labored, and do you wish to be sated?
Yet even he, if he had been sated, would not have received such great blessings. If men never acquire worldly possessions, temporal and corruptible, without labors and sweat, how much more is this true of spiritual goods?
Certainly, you will say, but often many have received them by inheritance. Yet even if they receive them in this way, their safekeeping and preservation do not occur without labor.
On the contrary, here too one must labor and wear oneself out no less than those who acquire them by labor.
Meanwhile, I do not even speak of this: many, after labors and various failures, have been deceived in their expectations at the very entrance to the harbor.
Some wind came from somewhere and caused shipwreck when the hoped-for possession of goods was already near fulfillment.
With us nothing of the sort happens. God Himself gives the promises, and 'hope does not put to shame'; Rom 5:5.
Do you yourselves, who are occupied with worldly affairs, not know how many, after countless labors, did not enjoy their fruits?
This happened because death often seized them prematurely, or because circumstances changed, or because of an illness that befell them.
It also happened through the prompting of slanderers, or through some other cause. Many things happen in human affairs, and these causes left them empty-handed.
How, someone will ask? Do you not see those who had success and acquired great goods without great labors?
What goods? Money, houses, so many acres of land, a crowd of slaves, and heaps of silver and gold?
Do you call these goods? Are you not ashamed? Do you not blush?
You are a man to whom the commandment has been given to philosophize concerning heaven. Yet you hunger for earthly possessions and call goods those things of which not even one word is worth saying.
If these are goods, then those who have acquired them should certainly be called good. And how is the one who possesses something good not good?
Tell me, then, what follows? If those who acquire them are greedy for gain and seize, shall we call them good?
If wealth is a good, and yet is accumulated through covetousness, then the more it grows, the more it will cause its possessor to be considered good.
Shall the covetous man then be good? If wealth is a good and is increased through covetousness, then the man who thus acquires more will be better.
Do you see the contradiction? But what if he is not covetous, you say? And how can this happen?
This passion is destructive, and it is impossible for one who does no injustice to become rich.
Christ also indicates this when He says: 'Make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon'; Lk 16:9.
But what, you say, if someone received an inheritance from his father? He received what had been gathered by injustice.
Without doubt his ancestor was not rich from Adam onward. Many others certainly came into being before him.
Among the many, someone could be found who unlawfully seized and used what belonged to others.
What then? Did Abraham, you say, possess unjustly acquired wealth? And what shall we say of Job?
He was blameless, righteous, true, God-fearing, and turned away from every evil thing.
Their wealth did not consist in gold, silver, or buildings, but in cattle. In other words, this wealth was from God.
That his wealth consisted of cattle is clear from this: when the writer of the book enumerates what happened to that blessed man, he says that his camels, mares, and donkeys died.
He did not say that the enemies came and plundered his golden treasures.
Moreover, Abraham was also rich, but in servants. What then? Did he buy them? No.
For this reason Scripture notes that he had 318 members of his household. Besides this, sheep and oxen belonged to him.
Where, then, did he get the gold sent to Rebekah? He received gifts from Egypt, not by violence or by any injustice.
Therefore tell me: from where did you acquire wealth? From whom did you receive it? And from where did another get it?
From a grandfather, you say, from a father. But can you, by going up through a long series of generations, prove in this way that the property was acquired lawfully?
You can in no way do this. On the contrary, its beginning and root must necessarily be hidden in some injustice.
Why is this so? Because in the beginning God did not make one man rich and another poor.
When He brought men forth, He did not show one many golden treasures and deprive another of this acquisition. Rather, He gave all the same earth for cultivation.
Since it is common property, how is it that you possess so many parcels, while your neighbor does not have even a scrap of land?
You will say: my father handed it down to me. And from whom did he receive it? From ancestors as well.
But if you continually go higher, you must necessarily find a beginning. Jacob became rich, but by receiving a reward for labors.
Still, I will not engage in detailed investigations of this. Let us suppose that wealth is lawful, acquired without the slightest admixture of robbery.
You are not guilty because your father robbed. True, you possess what was acquired by robbery, yet you yourself did not rob.
Let us even agree that he did not rob either, but possessed gold somehow dug from the earth. What follows from this?
Is wealth a good? Not at all. But it is not evil either, you say.
If it is not the fruit of covetousness, then it is not evil, provided that it is distributed to those in need.
But if it is not distributed, then it becomes evil and treachery.
But you will say: as long as a man has not done evil, he is not evil, even if he has not done good. Excellent.
But is it not evil that one person possesses what belongs to the Lord, and that one person uses common property?
Is not the earth the Lord's, and the fullness thereof? Therefore, if our goods belong to the common Master, they equally belong to our fellow servants.
What belongs to the Master belongs generally to all. Do we not see such an arrangement in large houses?
A set amount of bread is issued equally to all, because it comes from the master's storehouses. The master's house is open to all.
And all that belongs to the king belongs to all: cities, squares, and streets belong to all. We all use them equally.
Look at God's creation. He made certain things common to all, so that in this way at least He might shame the human race.
Such are the air, the sun, water, the earth, the sky, the sea, light, and the stars. He divided them equally among all, as among brothers.
For all He created the same eyes, the same body, and the same soul. To all He gave the same formation.
He produced all from the earth, all from one man, and placed all in one and the same house.
But none of this has served at all for our correction. He made other things common as well: baths, cities, squares, and streets.
And notice that regarding what belongs to all, there is not the slightest quarrel. Everything proceeds peacefully.
But if someone attempts to take something and turn it into his own property, quarrel arises.
It is as though nature herself becomes indignant because, while God gathers us together from everywhere, we make special effort to separate from one another.
We divide ourselves from each other by forming private property and speaking these cold words: 'This is yours, and this is mine.'
Then disputes arise, then grievances. Where there is nothing of the sort, neither disputes nor quarrels arise.
Therefore common possession of things is intended for us rather than separate possession, and it is more consonant with nature itself.
Why does no one ever bring a lawsuit over possession of a square? Is it not because it belongs to all?
Meanwhile we see that everyone brings lawsuits over houses and estates.
Although the necessities are in common possession for all, we do not observe common possession even in the most insignificant things.
God gave us the former for common use precisely so that from this we might learn that the latter also should be common among us all.
But even in this way we are not brought to understanding.
Still, I return to what I said before. How does the possessor of wealth become good?
Certainly he is not good, but he becomes good when he gives his wealth to others.
When he does not have it, he is good. When he gives it to others, he is also good.
But as long as he keeps it for himself, he is not good.
Is that a good, then, by acquiring which men become evil, and by losing which they become good?
Therefore the good does not consist in having money. On the contrary, not having money serves as a sign of a good man.
Consequently the good does not consist in wealth. If, having the chance to receive it, you do not take it, then again you become good.
Therefore, if we are good when we have wealth and distribute it to others, or when we do not take what is offered to us, but become not good when we take or acquire it, how can wealth be acknowledged as good?
So do not call wealth a good. You lack wealth because you consider it good, and because you marvel at it too much.
Cleanse your thought and acquire sound judgment about things. Then you will be good.
Learn what the true goods are. What are these goods? Virtue and love for mankind.
This is the good, not wealth. If you follow this rule and become merciful, then the more merciful you are, the better you will be, both in yourself and in the opinion of others.
Meanwhile, by being rich you will not acquire this. Therefore let us become good to such a measure that we may truly be good.
May we be counted worthy to receive the good things to come in Christ Jesus, with whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, dominion, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.