THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
Having persuaded the Colossians to be thankful, Paul also shows them the way to this. What is that way? It is the one about which we have already spoken with you. By what words does he show it? "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly."
Or rather, he shows not only this way, but another also. I said that we must bring to mind those who have endured more terrible sufferings and heavier misfortunes than our own. We must give thanks that the same things did not happen to us.
But what does he himself say? "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." That is, let teaching, doctrines, and convictions dwell in you, by whose power the present life and its goods are nothing. If we saw this, we would not yield to any distress.
"Let it dwell," he says, "in you," not simply, but "richly," with great abundance. Listen, all you people of the world, who are concerned for wife and children. The Apostle urges you also to read the Scriptures more. And not simply or casually, but with great diligence.
Just as a man rich in money can bear loss and failure, so the man who has sufficient knowledge in philosophy easily bears not only poverty, but every misfortune. The latter does so even more easily than the former.
For in the first case, when loss occurs, the rich man necessarily becomes poorer. This becomes known to others. If he suffers this often, it is no longer easy for him to bear his losses. But here it is not so.
When we happen to endure things we would not have chosen, we do not lose sound judgment, but preserve it continually. Notice the wisdom of this blessed man. He did not simply say, "Let the word of Christ be in us." What did he say? "Let it dwell," and "richly, in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another."
By wisdom he means virtue. And rightly so, because humility, almsgiving, and everything of this kind truly are wisdom. Consequently, what is contrary to these is folly, since cruelty comes from folly. For this reason every sin is often called madness.
"The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God'" (Ps 13:1). Again, "My wounds stink and fester because of my folly" (Ps 37:6). Tell me, what is more senseless than the man who puts expensive garments on himself, yet despises his brethren who have no clothing?
He feeds dogs, but looks with contempt upon the image of God in his hungry neighbor. He is fully convinced that earthly things are nothing, yet he clings to them as if they were incorruptible. As there is nothing more senseless than such a man, so there is nothing wiser than the ascetic of virtue.
See, he says, how wise he is. He gives from his property and appears merciful and humane. He has understood the common nature. He has understood the meaning of money, namely, that it is worth nothing. He has understood that bodies must be cared for more than money.
Therefore the man who despises honors is also a philosopher. He does not know human affairs in that way. Rather, philosophy consists in the knowledge of divine affairs, not human ones. Knowing which things are divine and which are human, he abstains from the one and performs the other.
He knows this and gives thanks to God for everything. He counts the present life as nothing. Therefore he neither rejoices in prosperity nor grieves in misfortune. Do not wait for another teacher. You have the word of God. No one will teach you as it does.
Another teacher often conceals many things, sometimes from vainglory and sometimes from envy. Listen, I beg you, all who are attached to this life. Acquire books, the medicine of the soul. If you want nothing else, acquire at least the New Testament, Acts, and the Gospel, our constant teachers.
If sorrow overtakes you, bend over them as over a vessel filled with healing medicine. If loss, death, or the loss of loved ones occurs, draw consolation for your misfortune from there. Or rather, do not merely bend over them, but receive them wholly and keep them in your mind.
Every evil comes from ignorance of Scripture. We go out to war without weapons, and how shall we be saved? It is easy to be saved with the Scriptures, but without them it is impossible.
Do not place everything upon us. You are sheep, certainly, but not irrational sheep. You are rational. Paul gives many instructions to you also. Those who are taught do not always spend their time acquiring knowledge, because they are not always learning.
If you are always only learning, you will never learn. Do not come here as if you yourself always needed only to be taught. Otherwise you will never know. Come as one who needs to learn, and then to teach another.
Tell me, does not everyone devote a fixed time to studies and to every art in general? We all appoint a certain period for this. If you are always learning, it is a sign that you know nothing.
Reproaching the Jews for this, God said, "You whom I have taken up from the womb, whom I have carried from your mother’s womb, even to your old age" (Is 46:3-4). If you did not always expect this, everything would not be going backward in this way.
If it appeared that some had already learned and others were to learn, our work would advance. Then you would go to others and help us. Tell me, do those who go to a teacher but constantly sit over the alphabet not cause great labor for the teacher?
How long shall we speak with you about this life? It was not so with the Apostles. They always passed on from the disciples who had first learned from them, appointing them teachers of others who wished to learn. For this reason they could go around the world, because they were not tied to one place.
Consider how much teaching must be given to your brethren in the villages, and to their teachers themselves. Yet you hold me here and have bound me to yourselves. Before the head has been well ordered, one should not go to the other members.
You place everything upon us. Yet you alone ought to learn from us, your wives from you, and your children also from you. Instead, you leave everything to us. That is why there is much labor.
"Teaching," he says, "and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs." See how condescending Paul is. Since reading is wearisome and can become tedious, he does not direct you to narratives, but to psalms. Thus you may both gladden the soul with singing and not notice the labor.
"In hymns," he says, "and spiritual songs." But now your children love satanic songs and dances, imitating cooks, bakers, and dancers. No one knows even one psalm. Now such knowledge seems improper, degrading, and ridiculous.
In this lies all the evil. The plant bears fruit according to the soil on which it stands. On sandy and stony soil it bears one kind, and on good and rich soil another. Therefore instruction is like a beneficent spring.
Teach your son to sing those psalms filled with philosophy. For example, first teach him about self-restraint, or above all about avoiding fellowship with the ungodly. This is the psalm at the very beginning of the book. The Prophet began from this for that very purpose, saying, "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly" (Ps 1:1).
Again, "I have not sat with false men" (Ps 25:4). Again, "In his eyes the reprobate is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord" (Ps 14:4). You will also find there instruction about association with the good, and much else.
You will find teaching about restraint of the belly, about restraining the hands, about non-possessiveness, and about the fact that money, glory, and everything similar are nothing. If you teach him this from childhood, you will gradually lead him higher also.
The psalms contain everything. After them come the hymns, which contain nothing human. When he becomes versed in the psalms, then he will also learn the hymns, which are a holier work. The powers above sing hymns; they do not sing psalms.
"Praise is not fitting in the mouth of a sinner" (Sir 15:9). Again, "My eyes are upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me" (Ps 100:6). Again, "He who acts deceitfully shall not dwell in my house" (Ps 100:7).
Again, "He who walks in the way of blamelessness shall minister to me" (Ps 100:6). In this way you must take care that they do not form attachments not only with friends, but also with servants. Countless evils befall the freeborn when corrupt slaves are placed over them.
If children are scarcely saved even when they enjoy the care and philosophy of their father, what will become of them when we entrust them to the carelessness of servants? Servants will look upon them as enemies, thinking that their mastery will be gentler if they make them foolish, senseless, and worthless.
Therefore let us care for this more than anything else. "I have loved," he says, "those who love Your law" (Ps 118:113). Let us imitate him and love them also.
That children may be restrained, let them hear what the Prophet says: "My inward parts are filled with shame" (Ps 37:8). Again, "You have destroyed everyone who commits fornication against You" (Ps 72:27). Likewise, so that they may not be lovers of pleasure, let them hear again: "He slew their fat ones, while the food was still in their mouths" (Ps 77:30-31).
In the same way, they will learn from this that they must not be overcome by gifts: "When riches increase, do not set your heart upon them" (Ps 61:11). That they must stand above glory, they will find this: "His glory shall not descend after him" (Ps 48:18).
That one must not envy the wicked: "Do not envy evildoers" (Ps 36:1). That rule must be counted as nothing: "I saw the ungodly highly exalted and spreading himself like a deeply rooted, many-branched tree. But he passed away, and behold, he was not" (Ps 36:35-36).
That present things must be counted insignificant: "Blessed is the people for whom this is so. Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord" (Ps 143:15). That we do not sin with impunity, but there will be recompense: "You render to each according to his works" (Ps 61:13).
Why then does He not repay daily? Because, he says, "God is a righteous Judge, strong and longsuffering" (Ps 7:12). That humility is good: "Lord," he says, "my heart was not lifted up" (Ps 130:1). That arrogance is evil: "Therefore pride has surrounded them like a necklace" (Ps 72:6).
Again, "God resists the proud" (Jas 4:6). Again, "Their iniquity has gone forth as from fat" (Ps 72:7). That almsgiving is good: "He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever" (Ps 111:9).
That mercy is praiseworthy: "A good man is merciful and lends" (Ps 111:5). You will find there many other doctrines of philosophy as well. For example, that one must not slander: "The one who secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will drive away" (Ps 100:5).
The faithful know what the hymn of the powers above is, what the cherubim say, and what the angels said on earth: "Glory to God in the highest." Therefore, after psalmody, hymns are the more perfect work.
"With psalms," he says, "hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." By this Paul says either that God gave them this for grace, or that their songs were full of grace. Or he means that they were to admonish and teach themselves by grace.
Or he means that these gifts were in them by grace, or that this is an explanation. By the grace of the Spirit, he says, "singing in your hearts to the Lord." Not simply with the lips, he says, but with attention.
This latter way is what it means to sing to God. The former way sings to the air, since the voice simply pours out into it. He says this is not for showing oneself. Even if you are in the marketplace, you can gather yourself within and sing to God without being heard by anyone.