64

for what has already been provided. Since, therefore, the hope of future things is as firm and clear as that of things already given, we boast likewise, he says, in that hope; for this reason he also called them glory. For if it contributes to the glory of God, it will surely come to pass, if not for our sake, then for His. And why do I say, he says, that future goods are worthy of boasting? Indeed, present evils themselves are sufficient to adorn us, and to make us exult in them; wherefore he also added: Not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. Consider, therefore, how great are the things to come, when even in things that seem grievous we have high thoughts. So great is the gift of God, and so is nothing of it unpleasant. For in external matters, the contests involve toil and pain and hardship, but the crowns and the prizes bring pleasure; but here it is not so, but the wrestlings are no less sweet to us than the prizes. For since the temptations were many then, but the kingdom in hopes, and terrible things were at hand, but good things in expectation, this disheartened the weaker, and even before the crowns he already gives them the rewards, saying that even in tribulations we must glory. And he did not say, You must glory, but, We glory, he says, introducing the exhortation in his own person. Then, since what was said seemed strange and paradoxical, if one struggling with famine, and being in chains and in torments, and being insulted and reproached must glory, he then establishes it; and what is greater, he says they are worthy of glory, not only because of those future things, but also because of the present things themselves; for tribulations in themselves are a good thing. For what reason? Because they train for patience. Wherefore having said, We glory in tribulations, he also added the reason, saying: Knowing that tribulation worketh patience. See again the contentiousness of Paul, how he turns the argument to the opposite. For since tribulations especially made them despair concerning the future, and cast them into hopelessness, he says that it is precisely because of these things that one must be confident, and not despair of future things. For tribulation worketh patience, he says, and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed. For tribulations are not only not destructive of such hope, but even constructive. For even before the things to come, tribulation has the greatest fruit of patience, and making the one tempted approved; and it contributes something also to the future; for it makes hope flourish in us. For nothing so prepares one to hope for good things as a good conscience. 3. At any rate, no one who has lived rightly disbelieves concerning the future, just as many of the negligent, being oppressed by an evil conscience, wish for there to be neither judgment nor retribution. What then? Are our good things in hopes? In hopes indeed, but not human ones, which often fail and put to shame the one who hoped, the one expected to preside having died, or having changed while living. But our things are not such, but the hope is firm and unshaken. For He who promised lives forever, and we who are to enjoy them, even if we die, will rise again, and there is nothing at all that can put us to shame, as though we were puffed up by vain and empty and unstable hopes. Having therefore sufficiently freed them from all doubt by these words, he does not 60.470 stop the discourse at present things, but brings in future things again, knowing that the weaker also seek present things, and are not content with these. And he confirms them from what has already been given. For lest anyone say, What then, if God does not wish to be gracious to us? For that He is able and abides and lives, we all know; but whence, that He will also wish it? From what has already happened. What has happened? The love, which he showed towards us. By doing what, he says? By giving the Holy Spirit. Wherefore having said, Hope maketh not ashamed, he added the proof of this, saying, Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. And not

64

τις ἐπὶ τοῖς ἤδη παρασχεθεῖσιν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν καὶ ἡ τῶν μελλόντων ἐλπὶς οὕτω βεβαία καὶ σαφὴς, ὡς ἡ τῶν δεδομένων, καὶ ἐπ' ἐκείνῃ, φησὶν, ὁμοίως καυχώμεθα· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ δόξαν αὐτὰ ἐκάλεσεν. Εἰ γὰρ εἰς τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ συντελεῖ δόξαν, πάντως ἐκβήσεται, εἰ καὶ μὴ δι' ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ δι' αὐτόν. Καὶ τί λέγω, φησὶν, ὅτι τὰ μέλλοντα ἀγαθὰ ἄξια καυχήσεως; Αὐτὰ μὲν οὖν τὰ παρόντα κακὰ ἱκανὰ ἡμᾶς καλλωπίσαι, καὶ ποιῆσαι ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐναβρύνεσθαι· διὸ καὶ ἐπήγαγεν· Οὐ μόνον δὲ, ἀλλὰ καὶ καυχώμεθα ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσιν. Ἐννόησον τοίνυν ἡλίκα τὰ μέλλοντα, ὅταν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς δοκοῦσιν εἶναι λυπηροῖς μέγα φρονῶμεν. Τοσαύτη ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ δωρεὰ, καὶ οὕτως οὐδὲν αὐτῆς ἀηδές. Ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ἔξωθεν πραγμάτων οἱ μὲν ἀγῶνες πόνον ἔχουσι καὶ ὀδύνην καὶ ταλαιπωρίαν, οἱ δὲ στέφανοι καὶ τὰ ἔπαθλα τὴν ἡδονὴν κομίζουσιν· ἐνταῦθα δὲ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐπάθλων τὰ παλαίσματα οὐχ ἧττον ἡμῖν ἡδίω. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πολλοὶ μὲν οἱ πειρασμοὶ τότε ἦσαν, ἡ δὲ βασιλεία ἐν ἐλπίσι, καὶ τὰ μὲν δεινὰ ἐν χερσὶ, τὰ δὲ χρηστὰ ἐν προσδοκίᾳ, τοῦτο δὲ τοὺς ἀσθενεστέρους ἐξέλυσε, καὶ πρὸ τῶν στεφάνων ἤδη δίδωσιν αὐτοῖς τὰ βραβεῖα, λέγων ὅτι καὶ ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσι δεῖ καυχᾶσθαι. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπε, ∆εῖ καυχᾶσθαι ὑμᾶς, ἀλλὰ, Καυχώμεθα, φησὶν, ἡμεῖς, ἐν τῷ οἰκείῳ προσώπῳ παραίνεσιν εἰσάγων. Εἶτα ἐπειδὴ ἐδόκει ξένον εἶναι καὶ παράδοξον τὸ εἰρημένον, εἰ τὸν λιμῷ παλαίοντα, καὶ ἐν ἁλύσει καὶ ἐν βασάνοις ὄντα, καὶ ὑβριζόμενον καὶ ὀνειδιζόμενον καυχᾶσθαι δεῖ, κατασκευάζει λοιπὸν αὐτό· καὶ τὸ δὴ μεῖζον, ὅτι ἄξια καυχήσεως εἶναί φησιν, οὐ δι' ἐκεῖνα τὰ μέλλοντα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ δι' αὐτὰ τὰ παρόντα· καὶ γὰρ αὐταὶ καθ' ἑαυτὰς αἱ θλίψεις ἀγαθὸν πρᾶγμά ἐστι. Τίνος ἕνεκεν; Ὅτι εἰς ὑπομονὴν ἀλείφουσι. ∆ιόπερ εἰπὼν, Καυχώμεθα ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσι, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν προσέθηκε, λέγων· Εἰδότες, ὅτι ἡ θλῖψις ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται. Ὅρα πάλιν τὴν φιλονεικίαν Παύλου, πῶς εἰς τὸ ἐναντίον περιτρέπει τὸν λόγον. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ αἱ θλίψεις μάλιστα ἀπαγορεύειν ἐποίουν ὑπὲρ τῶν μελλόντων αὐτοὺς, καὶ εἰς ἀπόγνωσιν ἐνέβαλλον, λέγει ὅτι δι' αὐτὰς μὲν οὖν ταύτας χρὴ θαῤῥεῖν, καὶ μὴ ἀπογινώσκειν τὰ μέλλοντα. Ἡ γὰρ θλῖψις ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται, φησὶν, ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ δοκιμὴν, ἡ δὲ δοκιμὴ ἐλπίδα, ἡ δὲ ἐλπὶς οὐ καταισχύνει. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον οὐκ ἀναιρετικαὶ τῆς τοιαύτης ἐλπίδος αἱ θλίψεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατασκευαστικαί. Ἔχει μὲν γὰρ καὶ πρὸ τῶν μελλόντων μέγιστον καρπὸν τὴν ὑπομονὴν ἡ θλῖψις, καὶ τὸ δόκιμον ποιεῖν τὸν πειραζόμενον· συντελεῖ δέ τι καὶ πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα· τὴν γὰρ ἐλπίδα ἀκμάζειν ἐν ἡμῖν ποιεῖ. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτω χρηστὰ ἐλπίζειν παρασκευάζει, ὡς ἀγαθὸν συνειδός. γʹ. Οὐδεὶς γοῦν τῶν ὀρθῶς βεβιωκότων ἀπιστεῖ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων, ὥσπερ οὖν τῶν ἠμελημένων πολλοὶ πονηρῷ πιεζόμενοι συνειδότι, οὐδὲ κρίσιν οὐδὲ ἀντίδοσιν εἶναι βούλονται. Τί οὖν; ἐν ἐλπίσιν ἡμῖν τὰ ἀγαθά; Ἐν ἐλπίσι μὲν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀνθρωπίναις, αἳ διαπίπτουσι καὶ καταισχύνουσι πολλάκις τὸν ἐλπίσαντα, τοῦ προσδοκηθέντος προΐστασθαι τελευτήσαντος, ἢ ζῶντος μεταβληθέντος. Ἀλλ' οὐ τὰ ἡμέτερα τοιαῦτα, ἀλλὰ βεβαία καὶ ἀκίνητος ἡ ἐλπίς. Ὁ γὰρ ἐπαγγειλάμενος ἀεὶ ζῇ, ἡμεῖς τε οἱ μέλλοντες αὐτῶν ἀπολαύσεσθαι, κἂν ἀποθάνωμεν, ἀναστησόμεθα πάλιν, καὶ οὐδὲν ὅλως ἐστὶν ὃ δύναται ἡμᾶς καταισχῦναι, ὡς εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην καὶ ἐπὶ σαθραῖς ἐπαρθέντας ἐλπίσιν. Ἀπαλλάξας τοίνυν αὐτοὺς ἱκανῶς ἀμφισβητήσεως ἁπάσης διὰ τούτων τῶν ῥημάτων, οὐχ 60.470 ἵστησι μέχρι τῶν παρόντων τὸν λόγον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα πάλιν ἐπάγει, εἰδὼς τοὺς ἀσθενεστέρους καὶ τὰ παρόντα ζητοῦντας, καὶ οὐκ ἀρκουμένους τούτοις. Καὶ πιστοῦται αὐτὰ ἀπὸ τῶν ἤδη δοθέντων. Ἵνα γὰρ μή τις λέγῃ, Τί οὖν, εἰ μὴ βούλεται ἡμῖν χαρίσασθαι ὁ Θεός; ὅτι μὲν γὰρ δύναται καὶ μένει καὶ ζῇ, πάντες ἴσμεν· πόθεν δὲ, ὅτι καὶ βουλήσεται; Ἀπὸ τῶν ἤδη γεγενημένων. Ποίων γεγενημένων; Τῆς ἀγάπης, ἢν περὶ ἡμᾶς ἐπεδείξατο. Τί ποιήσας, φησί; Πνεῦμα ἅγιον δούς. ∆ιόπερ εἰπὼν, Ἡ ἐλπὶς οὐ καταισχύνει, ἐπήγαγε τὴν ἀπόδειξιν τούτου, λέγων, Ὅτι ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκέχυται ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν. Καὶ οὐκ