THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
Truly, Abraham's faith was great. In Abel, Noah, and Enoch there was only a struggle of thoughts, and one had to rise above human reasonings. Here, however, one had not only to rise above human reasonings, but to show something still greater.
Here the divine, at first sight, seemed to contradict the divine. Faith seemed to contradict faith, and commandment seemed to contradict promise. Thus God said to him: Go from your land, from your kindred, and from your father's house. For all the land I will give to you and to your seed forever (Gen 12:1; 13:15). Yet He gave him no inheritance in it, not even one foot's breadth.
Do you see how events contradicted the promise? Again He said: In Isaac shall your seed be called (Gen 21:12), and Abraham believed. Then again He said: Offer to Me in sacrifice him who is to fill the whole world with his seed.
Do you see the contradiction of the commands to the promise? He commanded what was contrary to the promises. Yet the righteous man was not troubled, nor did he think himself deceived.
But you, the Apostle says, cannot say that He promised you rest and sent affliction. With you, He does what He promised. How so? "In the world," He said, "you will have tribulation" (Jn 16:33). And: "He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me" (Mt 10:38). And: "He who preserves his soul will lose it." And: "If anyone comes to Me and does not renounce all that he has, he cannot be My disciple" (Lk 14:26, 33). Again: "They will bring you before governors and kings for My sake" (Mt 10:18). And again: "A man's enemies will be those of his own household" (Mt 10:36).
Here are afflictions, but rest is there. With Abraham it was the opposite. He was commanded to do what was contrary to the promises. Yet he was not troubled, did not waver, and did not think himself deceived.
You suffer nothing foreign to the promise, and still you are troubled. He heard from the very Promiser what was contrary to the promise, and was not troubled. He obeyed it as harmonious with the promise. And indeed it was harmonious.
It was contrary to human reasonings, but harmonious with faith. How this was so the Apostle himself explained to us, saying: He considered that God was able even to raise from the dead.
The meaning of his words is this. By the same faith by which he believed that God would give him a son when he had none, by that same faith he was persuaded that God would raise even the dead, and raise the one slain.
Both things were equally wondrous according to human judgment. It was wondrous that a son should be born from a womb already dead, grown old, and incapable of childbearing. It was also wondrous that one slain should rise again. Yet he believed.
His former faith guided him toward faith in what was to come. On the other hand, he experienced what was pleasant first, and what was grievous last, in old age. With you, the Apostle says, the opposite happens: grief first, and delight afterward.
This is said to those who dare to say that God, having promised us good things after death, has perhaps deceived us. "God is able," he says, "even to raise from the dead." If God is able even to raise from the dead, then He will certainly repay us all things.
If Abraham believed for so many years that God was able to raise from the dead, much more should we believe this. Do you see that, as I said above, even before death entered, God stirred up in the patriarchs the hope of resurrection?
He brought them to such conviction that, at His command, they offered in sacrifice their sons, through whom they hoped to fill the world, and they slew them readily.
The Apostle expresses something else here in the words: God tested Abraham (Gen 22:1). What is this? Did God not know that he was a patient and noble man? He knew it perfectly. If He knew, why did He test him?
He did so not in order to learn Himself, but to show others and to make his courage manifest to all. The Apostle here shows the cause of temptations, so that they should not think they suffer because they have been abandoned by God.
For us here it is unavoidable to undergo temptations, since there are many persecutors and plotters. But there, what need was there to devise temptations that did not exist? Clearly, this temptation took place by His command.
Other temptations occur by His permission, but this one occurred by His command. If temptations make men so glorious that God subjects His athletes to them even without outward cause, how much more must we endure everything courageously.
The Apostle spoke emphatically here: "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac." There was no other reason for offering Isaac except this. Then he unfolds the same thought further.
No one, he says, can say that Abraham had another son and expected the fulfillment of the promise from him, and therefore boldly offered Isaac in sacrifice. "Having the promise," he says, "he offered up his only-begotten."
How is he "only-begotten"? What of Ishmael? Whence was he? I call him only-begotten, he says, in relation to the promise. Therefore, after saying "only-begotten," and wishing to show the sense in which he so names him, he adds: "of whom it was said, In Isaac shall your seed be called," that is, from him.
Do you see how marvelous the patriarch's act was? It had been said to him: "In Isaac shall your seed be called." Yet he offered his son in sacrifice.
Then, lest someone suppose that he did this in despair, and by receiving such a command abandoned his former faith, the Apostle shows the opposite. He says that here also he had faith.
Although this faith, at first sight, contradicted the former faith, Abraham did not resist. He did not measure the power of God by human judgments, but entrusted everything to faith.
Therefore he did not fear to say that God is able even to raise from the dead. For this reason he also received him in a figure, that is, in a type, in the ram.
How was this so? Isaac was saved by the sacrificial slaughter of the ram. Thus Abraham received his son in exchange for the ram, having slain the former in sacrifice instead of the latter. This was a kind of prefiguration.
Here the Son of God, slain in sacrifice, was prefigured. And notice how great is God's love for mankind. Since He was going to grant men great grace, He wished to do this not as a free gift only, but as though He were a debtor.
He arranged that first a man should give his son at God's command. Then it would not seem a great thing that He Himself should give His own Son, after a man had done this before Him. Nor would people think He did it merely as a gift, but also as a debt.
When we love someone, we try to give him even this: that it may seem we first received some small thing from him, and then give him everything. We boast not so much of what we gave as of what we received from him.
We do not say, "We gave him this," but, "We received this from him." Therefore, he says, he received him in a figure, that is, in a type, since the ram was a parable, or image, of Isaac. Greek: ὥσπερ γὰρ παραβολὴ ἦν ὁ κριὸς τοῦ Ἰσαάκ, ἢ ὡς ἐν τῷ τύπῳ. The Greek παραβολή means type, image, parable, representation.
Since the sacrifice had been accomplished, and Isaac had been slain in Abraham's intention, God gave him back to the patriarch.
Do you see how from this too what I constantly say becomes clear? When we make our mind perfect and show that we despise earthly things, then God also grants us earthly things, but not before.
He does this so that, while attached to earthly goods, we may not become still more attached to them after receiving them. First free yourself from bondage, He says, and then receive, so that you may receive not as a slave, but as a master.
Despise wealth, and you will be wealthy. Despise glory, and you will be in glory. Despise vengeance on enemies, and you will avenge yourself on them. Despise rest, and you will receive it.
Then, when you receive, you will receive not as a prisoner or slave, but as one free. We act this way with little children. When a child strongly desires childish toys, we carefully hide them from him.
We hide, for example, a ball or something else, so that he may not be distracted from necessary studies. But when he pays no attention to them and does not desire them, then we give them without fear.
We know that he will suffer no harm from them, and that this play will not be able to turn him away from necessary studies. So too God acts with us. When He sees that we do not desire earthly goods, He allows us to use them.
Then we possess them as free men and as mature men, not as children. That when you despise vengeance on enemies, you will then avenge yourself on them, hear what the Apostle says about this.
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink." And he adds: "For in doing this you will heap burning coals upon his head" (Rom 12:20).
That when you despise wealth, you will then receive it, hear what Christ says about this: "Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life" (Mt 19:29).
That when you despise glory, you will then receive it, hear again what Christ says: "Whoever wishes to be great among you, let him be your servant." And again: "Whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Mt 20:26; 23:12).
What are you saying? If I give my enemy drink, do I punish him? If I distribute my possessions, do I possess them? If I humble myself, do I become exalted? Yes, He says, such is My power.
It produces opposites through opposites. I am rich and wise; do not fear. The nature of things obeys My will, and I do not follow nature. I accomplish all things, and nothing else governs Me. Therefore I can change and transform everything.
Is it marvelous that this happens in such matters, when the same thing happens in everything else? When you harm another, you harm yourself. When others harm you, you suffer no harm. When you take vengeance, you do not avenge yourself on another, but on yourself.
He who loves unrighteousness, says the Wise One, "hates his own soul" (Prov 29:24; Ps 10:5). Do you see that in such a case you do not harm another, but yourself? Therefore Paul says: "Why not rather be wronged?" (1 Cor 6:7).
Do you see that this is not to suffer harm? When you wrong another, then you wrong yourself. Many know this in part. Sometimes people say to one another, "Let us leave here, lest we lower ourselves."
Why? Because there is a great difference between you, the one insulting, and him, the one insulted. Whatever insults you inflict on him turn into honor for him.
Let us always reason this way, and we shall rise above insults. How this is so I will explain. If we began to quarrel with one wearing the purple, the insults directed at him would turn back upon us.
By reviling him, we ourselves become worthy of blame. What, then, tell me, do your words mean? Since you are a citizen of heaven and possess the wisdom from above, why do you lower yourself to the level of one who thinks only of earthly things?
Even if your enemy had countless possessions and power, he does not know your good things. Do not lower yourself by insulting him. Spare yourself, not him. Honor yourself, not him.
Does not the proverb say, "He who honors another honors himself"? And rightly so. He does not honor the other, but himself. Hear the words of the Wise One, who says: "By meekness glorify your soul, and give it honor according to its dignity" (Sir 10:31).
What does "according to its dignity" mean? If someone, he says, has deceived you out of greed, do not do the same. If he has insulted you, do not insult him.
Tell me, I ask you: if some poor man takes a piece of mud lying in your yard, will you drag him to court for this? No. Why? So as not to lower yourself, and so that everyone does not condemn you.
So it is here also. The rich man is poor. The more he becomes rich, the more he becomes poor with true poverty. Gold is mud thrown into the yard, not something lying in your house. Your house is heaven.