John Chrysostom, On "Having the same spirit"

AGAIN ON THE SAME SAYING

"But having the same Spirit of faith, according to what is written;" and why all receive good things in common, and concerning almsgiving.

1. In the previous gathering and the one before that, having taken one saying of the Apostle, we spent the entire sermon on its exegesis; and today we are eager to dwell on this same one again; but we do this deliberately for the benefit of your love, not for our own display. For I do not handle the word in this way in order to show myself to be fertile and of great intellect, but in order to reveal Paul's wisdom to you, 51.290 and to stir up your zeal. For the depth of his understanding appears greater, when from one saying he begets for us so many rivers of thoughts; and you, having learned that it is possible to reap an unspeakable wealth of philosophy even from a single apostolic word, will not simply pass over the Epistles, but you will be led, nourished by these hopes, to examine each of the contained sayings with much 51.291 diligence. For if one word has produced for us a discourse of three days, what a treasure will a whole section, when considered with accuracy, pour forth for us? Let us not, therefore, grow weary, until we have harvested the whole. For if those who dig mines for gold, however much wealth they empty from there, do not stop before they have taken up all the gold; much more ought we to employ greater zeal and diligence in the investigation of the divine oracles. For we too are digging for gold, not of the senses, but spiritual; for we are working not mines of earth, but mines of the Spirit. For the epistles of Paul are mines and springs of the Spirit; mines, because they provide us with a wealth more precious than any gold; springs, because they never fail; but however much you may draw from there, so much and much more flows again. And of this, all the time that has passed would be a clear proof. Since Paul came to be, five hundred years have now passed; and during all this time many writers, and many teachers and commentators have often drawn much from there, and have not emptied the wealth laid up. For the treasure is not perceptible to the senses; for this reason it is not consumed by the multitude of hands of those who dig, but it grows and increases. And what am I to say of those before? How many after us will speak, and others again after them, and the wealth will not cease to spring forth, nor will the mines here fail? For they are spiritual, and it is not their nature ever to be spent. What then is the apostolic saying, about which we previously spoke to your love? But having the same Spirit of faith, according to what is written: I believed, therefore I spoke. 2. At that time, then, we were investigating why he said, the same Spirit of faith; and for the time being we have stated one reason; and this was, to show that the Old is in harmony with the New. For when the same Spirit of faith is seen to have both moved the tongue of David that said, I believed, therefore I spoke, and to be at work in the soul of Paul, it is clear that there is a great kinship of prophets and apostles, and there must necessarily be a great harmony of the Old and New. But lest we trouble you by stirring up the same things again, come, let us also state the other reason why he said, The same; for at that time too we promised you that we would state another reason for this saying. But rouse yourselves; for this thought which I am about to speak to your love is deep, and

ΠΑΛΙΝ ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΑΥΤΗΝ ΡΗΣΙΝ

"Ἔχοντες δὲ τὸ αὐτὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς πίστεως, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον·" καὶ διὰ τί κοινῇ πάντες ἀπολαμβάνουσι τὰ ἀγαθὰ, καὶ περὶ ἐλεημοσύνης.

αʹ. Τῇ προτέρᾳ συνάξει καὶ τῇ πρὸ ἐκείνης μίαν τοῦ Ἀποστόλου ῥῆσιν ἀπολαβόντες, εἰς τὴν ἐξήγησιν ταύτης ἅπαντα τὸν λόγον ἀνηλώσαμεν· καὶ τήμερον δὲ τῇ αὐτῇ ταύτῃ πάλιν ἐνδιατρίψαι σπουδάζομεν· ποιοῦμεν δὲ τοῦτο ἐπίτηδες πρὸς ὠφέλειαν τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀγάπης, οὐ πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν τὴν ἡμετέραν. Οὐ γὰρ ἵνα γόνιμόν τινα καὶ πολύνουν ἐμαυτὸν ἀποφήνω, ἀλλ' ἵνα καὶ τὴν Παύλου σοφίαν ὑμῖν ἐκκα 51.290 λύψω, καὶ τὴν ὑμετέραν διεγείρω προθυμίαν, οὕτω μεταχειρίζω τὸν λόγον. Τό τε γὰρ βάθος τῆς ἐκείνου συνέσεως φαίνεται μειζόνως, ὅταν ἐκ μιᾶς ῥήσεως τοσούτους ἡμῖν τίκτῃ ποταμοὺς νοημάτων· ὑμεῖς τε μαθόντες, ὅτι καὶ ἀπὸ μιᾶς λέξεως ἀποστολικῆς ἄφατον ἔστι καρπώσασθαι φιλοσοφίας πλοῦτον, οὐ παραδραμεῖσθε τὰς Ἐπιστολὰς ἁπλῶς, ἀλλὰ προαχθήσεσθε, ταῖς ἐλπίσι ταύταις τρεφόμενοι, τῶν ἐγκειμένων ῥήσεων ἑκάστην μετὰ πολλῆς περιεργάζεσθαι 51.291 τῆς σπουδῆς. Εἰ γὰρ μία λέξις τριῶν ἡμερῶν διάλεξιν ἡμῖν ἔτεκε, πόσον ἡμῖν ἀναβλύσει θησαυρὸν ὁλόκληρος περικοπὴ μετὰ ἀκριβείας θεωρουμένη; Μὴ τοίνυν ἀποκάμωμεν, ἕως ἂν τὸ πᾶν ἀποτρυγήσωμεν. Εἰ γὰρ οἱ μέταλλα διορύττοντες χρυσίου, ὅσον ἂν ἐκεῖθεν κενώσωσι πλοῦτον, οὐ πρότερον ἀφίστανται, ἕως ἂν τὸ πᾶν ἀνέλωνται χρυσίον· πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς μείζονι προθυμίᾳ κεχρῆσθαι δεῖ καὶ σπουδῇ περὶ τὴν τῶν θείων λογίων ἔρευναν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς χρυσίον ὀρύττομεν, οὐκ αἰσθητὸν, ἀλλὰ πνευματικόν· οὐ γὰρ μέταλλα γῆς, ἀλλὰ μέταλλα τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐργαζόμεθα. Αἱ γὰρ ἐπιστολαὶ τοῦ Παύλου τοῦ Πνεύματός εἰσι μέταλλα καὶ πηγαί· μέταλλα μὲν, ὅτι χρυσίου παντὸς τιμιώτερον ἡμῖν παρέχουσι πλοῦτον· πηγαὶ δὲ, ὅτι οὐδέποτε ἐπιλείπουσιν· ἀλλ' ὅσον ἂν κενώσῃς ἐκεῖθεν, τοσοῦτον καὶ πολλῷ πλέον ἐπιῤῥεῖ πάλιν. Καὶ τούτου γένοιτ' ἂν ἀπόδειξις σαφὴς ὁ χρόνος ὁ παρελθὼν ἅπας. Ἐξ οὗ γοῦν Παῦλος ἐγένετο, πεντακόσια λοιπὸν ἔτη παρῆλθε· καὶ τοῦτον ἅπαντα τὸν χρόνον πολλοὶ μὲν συγγραφεῖς, πολλοὶ δὲ διδάσκαλοι καὶ ἐξηγηταὶ πολλὰ πολλάκις ἐκεῖθεν ἐξήντλησαν, καὶ τὸν ἀποκείμενον οὐκ ἐκένωσαν πλοῦτον. Οὐ γὰρ αἰσθητὸς ὁ θησαυρός· διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀναλίσκεται τῇ τῶν ὀρυττόντων πολυχειρίᾳ, ἀλλ' αὔξεται καὶ πλεονάζει. Καὶ τί λέγω τοὺς ἔμπροσθεν; Πόσοι μεθ' ἡμᾶς ἐροῦσι καὶ μετ' ἐκείνους ἕτεροι πάλιν, καὶ οὐ παύσεται πηγάζων ὁ πλοῦτος, οὐδὲ ἐπιλείψει ταύτῃ τὰ μέταλλα; πνευματικὰ γάρ ἐστι, καὶ οὐ πέφυκε δαπανᾶσθαί ποτε. Τίς οὖν ἐστιν ἡ ῥῆσις ἡ ἀποστολικὴ, περὶ ἧς καὶ πρώην πρὸς τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀγάπην διελέχθημεν; Ἔχοντες δὲ τὸ αὐτὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς πίστεως, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον· Ἐπίστευσα, διὸ ἐλάλησα. βʹ. Τότε μὲν οὖν ἐζητοῦμεν, τίνος ἕνεκεν εἴρηκε, Πνεῦμα πίστεως τὸ αὐτό· καὶ μίαν αἰτίαν τέως εἰρήκαμεν· αὕτη δὲ ἦν, τὸ δεῖξαι σύμφωνον τῇ Καινῇ τὴν Παλαιὰν οὖσαν. Ὅταν γὰρ φαίνηται τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς πίστεως τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ τὴν τοῦ ∆αυῒδ κινῆσαν γλῶτταν τὴν λέγουσαν, Ἐπίστευσα, διὸ ἐλάλησα, καὶ εἰς τὴν τοῦ Παύλου ψυχὴν ἐνεργοῦν, εὔδηλον ὅτι πολλὴ συγγένεια προφητῶν καὶ ἀποστόλων, καὶ ἀνάγκη πολλὴν Παλαιᾶς καὶ Καινῆς εἶναι τὴν συμφωνίαν. Ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ πάλιν τὰ αὐτὰ ἀνακινοῦντες ἐνοχλῶμεν ὑμῖν, φέρε, καὶ τὴν ἑτέραν αἰτίαν εἴπωμεν, δι' ἣν εἴρηκε, Τὸ αὐτό· καὶ γὰρ καὶ τότε ὑμῖν ὑπεσχόμεθα ἑτέραν αἰτίαν ἐρεῖν τῆς ῥήσεως ταύτης. Ἀλλὰ διανάστητε· βαθὺ γὰρ τὸ νόημα τοῦτό ἐστιν, ὃ μέλλω λέγειν πρὸς τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀγάπην, καὶ