John Chrysostom, Sermons on Genesis

the kingdom of heaven. For you lost paradise, but God gave you heaven, so that He might both show His own love for humanity, and bite the devil, showing that even if he should devise countless plots against the human race, he will gain nothing, since God is always leading us to greater honor. You lost paradise, therefore, and God opened heaven for you; you were condemned to temporary labor, and you were honored with eternal life. He commanded the earth to bring forth thorns and thistles, and your soul sprouted for you the fruit of the Spirit. Do you see how the abundance is greater than the loss? how the wealth is more plentiful? For example; God formed man from earth and water, and set him in paradise. The one who was formed did not prove useful, but was corrupted. No longer, then, does He re-form him from earth and water, but from water and Spirit; and He no longer promises him paradise, but the kingdom of heaven. And how, listen. For when Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews, fell down and was inquiring about the birth here and saying it was impossible for an old man to be born from above, see how Christ reveals to him more clearly the manner of the birth. Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot 54.615 enter into the kingdom of heaven. If therefore He promised the kingdom of heaven, but brought the thief into paradise, He has not yet given him the good things. But they say something else to this. Paradise here, they say, He did not mean paradise, but by the name of paradise He called the kingdom of heaven. For since He was speaking to a thief, a man who had heard none of the lofty doctrines, nor known about prophecy, but had spent all his time in deserts, and committed murders, and had never even looked into a church, nor partaken of a divine hearing, not knowing what the kingdom of heaven is, He said this: Today you will be with Me in paradise; by the more familiar and common name of paradise He indicates the kingdom of heaven, and Christ speaks to him about that. I accept it. Therefore, he says, he entered into the kingdom of heaven. How is this clear? From what He said, Today you will be with Me in paradise. But if this solution is too forced, we will bring forward the clearer one. What then is this? Christ said, He who does not believe in the Son is already judged. What then? is he already judged? And yet there is not yet a resurrection, not yet punishment and retribution; how then is he already judged? From the sin. And again, He who believes in the Son, He says, has passed from death to life. And He did not say, 'will pass', but, 'has already passed'; and this one again from his right action, and that one again from his sin. Just as therefore that one is judged, though not yet being judged, and that one has passed into life, though not yet having passed, and He speaks regarding that one from his right action, and regarding this one from his sin, as of things that have already happened though they have not yet happened; so also He spoke to the thief. For indeed physicians, when they see someone despaired of, say that he is already dead and is a corpse, even though they see him still breathing. But just as that man, since he has no hope of salvation, is dead in the eyes of the physicians; so also the thief, since he no longer had any expectation of returning to perdition, has entered into heaven. So also Adam heard, In whatever day you eat of the tree, you shall surely die. What then, did he die on that very day? Not at all; but he lived nine hundred years and more after that day. How then did God say, that On the same day you shall die? By the sentence, not by the experience. So also the thief entered into heaven. Listen, at any rate, to what Paul says, showing that no one has yet received the reward for the good things; for speaking about the prophets and the righteous he added: These all died in faith, not

βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν. Ἀπώλεσας μὲν γὰρ παράδεισον, ἔδωκε δέ σοι ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν, ἵνα καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν φιλανθρωπίαν ἐπιδείξηται, καὶ τὸν διάβολον δάκῃ, δεικνὺς ὅτι κἂν μυρία τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιβουλεύσῃ γένει, οὐδὲν ἔσται πλέον αὐτῷ, τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς μείζονα ἀεὶ τιμὴν ἡμᾶς ἀνάγοντος. Ἀπώλεσας τοίνυν παράδεισον, καὶ ἀνέῳξέ σοι ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανόν· κατεδικάσθης πόνῳ προσκαίρῳ, καὶ ἐτιμήθης ζωῇ αἰωνίῳ. Ἐκέλευσε τῇ γῇ ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους ἀνενεγκεῖν, καὶ ἐβλάστησέ σοι καρπὸν Πνεύματος ἡ ψυχή. Ὁρᾷς πῶς μείζων ἡ εὐπορία τῆς ζημίας; πῶς πλείων ὁ πλοῦτος; Οἶόν τι λέγω· ἔπλασεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀπὸ γῆς καὶ ὕδατος, καὶ ἔθετο αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ. Οὐκ ἐγένετο χρήσιμος ὁ πλασθεὶς, ἀλλὰ διεστράφη. Οὐκέτι λοιπὸν ἀπὸ γῆς καὶ ὕδατος αὐτὸν ἀναπλάττει, ἀλλ' ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ Πνεύματος· καὶ οὐκ ἔτι παράδεισον ἐπαγγέλλεται πρὸς αὐτὸν, ἀλλὰ βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν. Καὶ ὅπως, ἄκουε. Νικοδήμου γὰρ τοῦ ἄρχοντος τῶν Ἰουδαίων καταπεσόντος, καὶ τὴν ἐνταῦθα γέννησιν ἐπιζητοῦντος καὶ λέγοντος, ἀδύνατον εἶναι γέροντα γεννηθῆναι ἄνωθεν, ὅρα πῶς ὁ Χριστὸς σαφέστερον αὐτῷ ἀποκαλύπτει τῆς γεννήσεως τὸν τρόπον. Ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ Πνεύματος, οὐ 54.615 δύναται εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν Εἰ τοίνυν βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν ἐπηγγείλατο, εἰς παράδεισον δὲ εἰσήγαγε τὸν λῃστὴν, οὐδέπω ἀπέδωκεν αὐτῷ τὰ ἀγαθά. Ἀλλ' ἕτερόν τι πρὸς τοῦτο λέγουσι. Τὸν παράδεισον, φασὶν, ἐνταῦθα, οὐ τὸν παράδεισον εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ τῷ τοῦ παραδείσου ὀνόματι τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν ὠνόμασεν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πρὸς λῃστὴν διελέγετο, ἄνθρωπον οὐδὲν ἀκηκοότα τῶν ὑψηλῶν δογμάτων, οὐδὲ εἰδότα περὶ προφητείας, ἀλλὰ πάντα τὸν χρόνον ἐν ἐρημίαις διατρίψαντα, καὶ φόνους ἐργασάμενον, καὶ μηδὲ παρακύψαντά ποτε εἰς ἐκκλησίαν, μήτε μετασχόντα θείας ἀκροάσεως, μὴ εἰδότα τί ποτέ ἐστι βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν, τοῦτο ἔλεγε· Σήμερον μετ' ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ· τῷ γνωριμωτέρῳ καὶ συνηθεστέρῳ ὀνόματι τοῦ παραδείσου τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν δηλοῖ, καὶ περὶ ἐκείνης αὐτῷ διαλέγεται ὁ Χριστός. ∆έχομαι. Οὐκοῦν, φησὶν, εἰσῆλθε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. Πόθεν δῆλον; Ἐξ ὧν εἶπε, Σήμερον μετ' ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ. Εἰ δὲ βιαιοτέρα ἡ λύσις αὕτη, τὴν σαφεστέραν ἐπάξομεν. Τί οὖν ἐστιν αὕτη; Εἶπεν ὁ Χριστὸς, Ὁ μὴ πιστεύων εἰς τὸν Υἱὸν, ἤδη κέκριται. Τί οὖν; ἤδη κέκριται; Καίτοι οὔπω ἀνάστασις, οὔπω κόλασις καὶ τιμωρία· πῶς οὖν ἤδη κέκριται; Ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Καὶ πάλιν, Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τὸν Υἱὸν, φησὶ, μεταβέβηκεν ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου εἰς τὴν ζωήν. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπε, μεταβήσεται, ἀλλ', ἤδη μεταβέβηκε· καὶ οὗτος πάλιν ἀπὸ τοῦ κατορθώματος, κἀκεῖνος πάλιν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἁμαρτήματος. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἐκεῖνος κέκριται, μηδέπω κρινόμενος, κἀκεῖνος μεταβέβηκεν εἰς τὴν ζωὴν, μηδέπω μεταβὰς, καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἀπὸ τοῦ κατορθώματος, καὶ πρὸς τοῦτον ἀπὸ τοῦ ἁμαρτήματος, ὡς γεγενημένων δὴ πραγμάτων οὔπω γεγενημένων διαλέγεται· οὕτω καὶ πρὸς τὸν λῃστὴν ἔλεγε. Καὶ γὰρ οἱ ἰατροὶ, ἐπειδὰν ἴδωσί τινα ἀπεγνωσμένον, λέγουσιν, ὅτι ἤδη τέθνηκε καὶ νεκρός ἐστι, καίτοι γε ἔτι ἐμπνέοντα βλέποντες. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος, ἐπειδὴ ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας οὐκ ἔχει, τέθνηκε παρὰ τοῖς ἰατροῖς· οὕτω καὶ ὁ λῃστὴς, ἐπειδὴ προσδοκίαν οὐκέτι εἶχεν ὑποστροφῆς εἰς ἀπώλειαν, εἰσελήλυθεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Ἀδὰμ ἤκουσεν, Ἧ δ' ἂν ἡμέρᾳ φάγητεἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου, θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖσθε. Τί οὖν, αὐτῇ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἀπέθανεν; Οὐδαμῶς· ἀλλ' ἔζησεν ἔτη ἐννεακόσια καὶ ἐπέκεινα μετὰ τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην. Πῶς οὖν ἔλεγεν ὁ Θεὸς, ὅτι Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἀποθανεῖσθε; Τῇ ἀποφάσει, οὐ τῇ πείρᾳ. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ λῃστὴς εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν. Ἄκουσον γοῦν τί φησιν ὁ Παῦλος, δηλῶν ὅτι οὐδεὶς οὐδέπω τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀπέλαβε τὴν ἀντίδοσιν· περὶ γὰρ τῶν προφητῶν καὶ τῶν δικαίων διαλεγόμενος ἐπήγαγε· Κατὰ πίστιν ἀπέθανον οὗτοι πάντες μὴ