THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
I would like to know with certainty whether anyone listens to my words with proper attention, and whether we are not casting seed by the wayside. Then I would present the teaching with greater zeal.
Certainly, even if no one listens, we shall speak because of the fear inspired by the Savior. "Speak," the Lord says, "to this people; and if they do not listen, you yourself will be guiltless" (Ezek 3).
But if I were convinced of your zeal, I would speak not only from fear, but would do this with pleasure. Now, if no one listens, then I myself am not in danger, since I am fulfilling my task.
Yet this labor is without pleasure. What benefit is there, indeed, when no one is edified, even though I am not liable to blame?
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If you were attentive, we would profit not so much from escaping punishment as from your progress. How, then, shall I be convinced of this?
Having noticed some of you who are not very attentive, I shall question them separately when I meet them. If I find that they remember something of what was said, I do not say everything, for that is not very easy for you.
But if they remember even a little from much, then clearly I shall not need to be anxious about the rest. I ought not to have told you this beforehand, but should have caught you unprepared.
Yet it will be pleasant even if I find some remembering what was said in this way. Or rather, even then I can still catch you unprepared.
I tell you beforehand that I will ask, but I do not announce when I will ask. It may be today, or tomorrow, or after twenty or thirty days. It may be sooner, or it may be later.
So God did not announce to us the day of our death. He did not reveal whether He will come today, or tomorrow, or after a whole year, or after several years.
He did this so that, because the expected time is unknown, we may constantly keep ourselves in virtue. He said that we shall die, but He did not say when.
In the same way, I have told you that I will ask, but have not added when. I want you to be concerned about this continually.
Let no one say, "I heard this four or five weeks ago, or more, and I cannot remember." I want the hearer to remember in such a way that he never forgets.
I want him not to erase from memory or lose what was said. I want you to remember, not so that you may repeat it to me, but so that you yourselves may receive benefit. This is what concerns me.
Having said what needed to be said for warning, it is now necessary to begin the discourse in order. What, then, must we speak about today?
"For," the Apostle says, "God has not subjected to Angels the world to come, of which we speak." Is he speaking of some other world? No, he is speaking of this very one.
Therefore he added, "of which we speak," so that he might not allow the wandering mind to seek some other world.
Why, then, does he call it "to come"? Elsewhere, when discoursing in Romans about Adam and Christ, he says, "who is a type of the One who was to come" (Rom 5:14).
He calls the incarnate Christ "to come" in relation to Adam's times, because Christ was to come. So also here, after saying, "when He brings the Firstborn into the world" (Heb 1:6), he guards you from misunderstanding.
Lest you think he speaks of another world, he repeatedly confirms otherwise. He does so also by calling it "to come," because the world was to appear, while the Son of God always existed.
Thus God subjected this world, which was to appear, not to Angels, but to Christ. It is evident, he says, that this was spoken to the Son, and no one can assert that it was spoken to Angels.