They have received the Spirit of grace and serve God in spirit and truth, in contrast to the elemental service of Jews and pagans. Does the Apostle, then, wish everyone to correct everyone? This never happens in any society. It is impossible to expect such a rule to have come from the mouth of the Apostle Paul. Let us take another approach. All Christians have received the Spirit and ought to be truly spiritual. Yet the manifestation of the Spirit in power does not appear at once. It requires a certain labor and, therefore, time. Naturally, among Christians not all were such that their spirituality was manifest and powerful. These are the ones who should properly be called spiritual. Is it not these more perfect ones whom the Apostle has in mind? Let each person put himself in this place and decide: would anyone dare take upon himself the work of correcting others when it has not been entrusted to him? We must suppose not. It is therefore more probable that by “spiritual” St. Paul here means those persons whom he entrusted to watch over others and to guard, among the faithful, both the faith and life according to faith. They were, of course, the most perfect among all. Yet the duty of correcting the fallen lay on them not because of their perfection, but because of the apostolic choice for this work. With St. Paul, this was usually accompanied by ordination. Among the many tasks lying upon such persons, the Apostle stops at one: how they should treat the fallen. The circumstances of the Galatian Churches required this, and perhaps also the errors of these very persons. With what tenderness St. Paul treats the fallen. Grave falls are also possible. Yet he disposes us beforehand to condescension even toward them, calling all falls accidental slips. They do not come from evil intention, but from being carried away and overpowered by something external. This means either by the sin living in us, or by the enemy of our salvation. For he says, “if he falls,” προληφθη, meaning, “if he is seized,” or unexpectedly carried away before he has considered the matter as he should. “He did not say, ‘if he commits some transgression,’ but προληφθη, that is, ‘if he is carried away into some sin’” (St. Chrysostom). In the same spirit he called the sin itself παραπτωμα, a passing, accidental fall, a slip. The Apostle teaches us to look at the transgressions of others with such eyes. He does this so that merciless and unreasonable zeal may not be first to arise. Instead, the spirit of condescension, compassion, and love should meet and embrace the fallen one. When this is present, it is easy to fulfill the Apostle’s commandment: “restore such a one in a spirit of meekness.” He does not say, “Pay no attention,” as though the man had done nothing. “Again he did not say, ‘punish’ or ‘condemn,’ but ‘restore.’ Yet he did not stop even here. Wishing to show that they must be extremely condescending toward those who sin, he adds, ‘in a spirit of meekness’” (St. Chrysostom). In the spirit of meekness are contained humility, compassion, prudence, and zeal for salvation. Blessed Jerome writes: “The Apostle commands the spiritual man, when correcting the sinner, to use the spirit of meekness. He must not deal with him in severity, anger, or bitterness. Rather, he must call him by love, showing salvation and promising forgiveness in the words of Christ the Lord Himself. He calls all who are burdened with sins under His good yoke and His light burden, so that they may learn that He is meek and lowly in heart, and may find rest for their souls (cf. Mt 11:29). One may object to us with what is written to the Corinthians: ‘What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of meekness?’ (1 Cor 4:21). If there he says that he is coming to sinners not in a spirit of meekness but with a rod, how does he here command that those overtaken in some sin be approached not with a rod, but with a spirit of meekness? There he speaks to those who, after committing sin, did not feel their guilt and did not wish to submit to their superiors or be corrected by repentance. But where a sinner understands his wound and gives himself to the physician for healing, there is need not of a rod, but of a spirit of meekness. Another question may also be proposed. If one must correct another in a spirit of meekness from fear of being tempted oneself, does a righteous man, assured of his firmness and knowing that he can avoid falling, therefore no longer need to correct another in a spirit of meekness? To this we shall say that a righteous man, even if he knows himself to be a victor, will show still greater condescension to the sinner. He knows with what labor he himself conquers the passions. The Savior also was tempted in all things like us, yet without sin, so that He might suffer with and feel pain for our infirmities, knowing by experience what labors mortals bear in the flesh. So it is here as well. He who has remained a virgin into old age will undoubtedly show condescension to one who is sometimes carried away by the heat of youth. He knows under what difficulties he himself passed through that age.” The words of blessed Augustine on this passage may serve as a continuation of this discourse: “Nothing proves someone’s spirituality, that is, the perfection of his spiritual life, so much as how he treats another’s sins. In such a case he devises how to free him from sin as quickly as possible, not how to attack him. He seeks how to help, not to overwhelm him with reproaches. He not only devises this, but immediately sets about the work as much as he can. By saying, ‘restore in a spirit of meekness,’ the Apostle teaches that no one should think he restores properly when he pitilessly tortures the sinner, mocks him, or proudly turns away from him as though from an incorrigible man. Therefore he adds: ‘watching yourself, lest you also be tempted.’ Nothing so disposes a man to mercy as the sight of his own danger, if mercy is not shown. Yet the Apostle does not want no correction at all to be given to the brethren. Rather, he wants discord not to spread through it. Peace and love should be kept in the heart through the awareness that the danger of sin is the same for all. The manner of corrective speech, when to speak more strictly and when more gently, must be adapted to what the salvation of the one being corrected requires. Elsewhere the Apostle says: ‘The servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, correcting opponents with meekness’ (cf. 2 Tim 2:24-25). By this he showed that one must neither refuse to correct another’s faults nor do this without meekness. How will you correct with meekness unless you temper the bitterness of the remedy in the corrective word with heartfelt sympathy and tenderness? One must never undertake the work of healing the sinner unless first, after strict questioning, we examine our conscience as before God. We must be certain that we approach this in the spirit of love. Therefore, when your soul has been embittered by something from the one being corrected, and you still hope somehow to heal him, say nothing to him until you are first healed yourself. Otherwise a bitter word may break out in the form of vengeance, and your tongue may become an instrument of unrighteousness for sin (cf. Rom 6:13). Whatever you say in an embittered spirit will be the assault of one who punishes, not the love of one who corrects. Love, and say what you wish.” “Watching yourself, lest you also be tempted.” “You are a man. Your nature is easily changed. Suffer with the one held by illness” (blessed Theodoret). “So that the one correcting another should not grow proud, he frightens him with the danger of a similar fall. As the rich give alms to the poor so that, if they themselves should fall into poverty, they may receive the same from others, so must we also act. He defends the sinner, first, by the words ‘if he falls,’ προληφθη, ‘if he is carried away,’ by which he indicates the soul’s great weakness. Second, he defends him by the words, ‘lest you also be tempted,’ blaming demonic temptation more than the soul’s negligence” (St. Chrysostom). “To be conquered in temptation or to conquer lies within our power. But to be tempted depends on the will of the tempter. If even the Savior was tempted, who can be sure that he will sail the sea of this life without temptations?” (blessed Jerome). Yet in the words, “lest you also be tempted,” the Apostle seems to present the danger of a fall like that of the one being corrected. He is not only indicating the assault of sin. Why speak of that, when everyone already knows that he is not free from it? He indicates the very fall into sin. The man who is merciless toward the sinner is abandoned by grace. Because of this, he too falls. Experiences of this are found everywhere. If someone stands, let him not forget that this is God’s mercy. What is more fitting for one who has received mercy than to show mercy to another? And by what will he lose mercy more quickly than by mercilessness toward others? “In the lives of the desert Fathers we often meet cases where those who dealt too severely with their disciples for faults were themselves subjected to the danger of falling. They were delivered only after acknowledging their wrongness and repenting of it” (Philaret of Chernigov). The Apostle says this to the spiritual, to those in whom the activity, energia, of the spirit had already begun to appear in power. He does not define the measure of spirituality in which this is possible, but speaks generally of the spiritual. Therefore one must see here the assurance that, however grace-filled a man may appear, not only temptation is possible for him, but also a fall through temptation. There is a story of how the enemy pursued a certain saint and tried to stir up self-opinion in him even on the path through the toll-houses. He cried after him: “You have conquered me.” But the saint did not answer him at all. Only when he had passed through all the toll-houses and entered the radiant realm of God did he say: “Now I see that I have conquered, yet not I, but the grace of God in me.”
THEOSIS