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of His resurrection.

1. One must engage in the struggles against the heretics with vigorous and constant thoughts. For thus it is possible to throw their battle-line into confusion, and to gain an overwhelming victory, giving them no leisure to breathe. For this reason, wishing you to be prepared from the Scriptures for such contests, so that from this source also you may be able to silence those who contradict, I make the beginning of this present discourse from the end of the last one. And what was the end of that one, you ask? After listing all the Jewish grounds for boasting, those from nature and those from choice, he added: But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. Here the heretics leap upon it. For this too is part of the wisdom of the Spirit, to lay before them hopes of victory, that they may accept the battle. For if it had been said plainly, what they did in other cases, they would have done in this case also; they would have erased the letters, they would have rejected the Scripture, being altogether unable to look it in the face. But just as happens with fish, that which is able to catch them is hidden, so that they may rush upon it, and is not laid out in the open; this same thing happened here, in that the law was called a loss by Paul. The law is called dung, he says, it is called loss; it was not possible to win Christ, unless I suffered the loss of this. All these things drew the heretics to accept the passage, thinking it was in their favor; but when they had accepted it, then it entangled them in the nets from all sides. For what do they say, leaping upon it? Behold, the law is loss, 62.264 behold, it is called dung. How then do you say it is of God? These very things, then, are in favor of the law; and from where, is clear from what follows. Let us pay close attention to what is said: he did not say, "The law is loss," but, "I have counted it loss." And when he spoke of gain, he did not say, "I have counted," but, "It was gain"; but when of loss, he said, "I have counted," with good reason; for the one was by nature, but this has now come to be from our estimation. What then? Is the law not loss, he says? It is; but for Christ's sake; but now it has become gain. It was not thought to be gain, he said, but it was; as if to say: Consider how great a thing it was to bring men who had become like wild beasts in nature into the form of men. If the law had not been, grace would not have been given either. Why? Because it became like a bridge. For since it was not possible to ascend from great lowliness to the height, it became a ladder. But even if he who has ascended no longer needs the ladder, yet he does not for this reason despise it, but is even grateful to it. For it brought him to the point of no longer needing it; and yet for this very reason, that he does not need it, it is right, he says, to acknowledge gratitude to it; for he would not have ascended. So also in the case of the law; it led us up to a height; therefore it was gain; but now we consider it loss. How? Not because it is loss, but because grace is much greater. For just as a poor man who is starving, as long as he has silver, escapes the famine; but when he finds gold, and is not allowed to keep both, he considers it a loss to hold on to the former, and letting it go, he takes the gold; but he lets it go, not because the silver is a loss (for it is not), but because it is not possible to take both at once, but one must be left behind; so also here. Loss, therefore, is not the law, but to remain attached to the law is to fall away from Christ. So, when it leads us away from Christ, then it is loss; but if it brings us to Him, it is no longer. For this reason he says, "Loss," that is, for Christ's sake. If it is for Christ's sake, it is not loss by nature. But why does the law not permit one to come to Christ? And yet for this purpose, he says, it was given, and the fulfillment of the law

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ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ.

αʹ. Τοῖς πρὸς τοὺς αἱρετικοὺς ἀγῶσιν ἀκμαζούσαις χρὴ προσβάλλειν ταῖς διανοίαις καὶ συνεχῶς. Οὕτω γὰρ ἔστι συγχέειν αὐτῶν τὴν παράταξιν, καὶ ἐκ περιουσίας κρατεῖν, μηδεμίαν αὐτοῖς διδόντας σχολὴν ἀναπνεῖν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο βουλόμενος ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τῶν Γραφῶν πρὸς τοὺς τοιούτους ἀγῶνας παρεσκευάσθαι, ἵνα καὶ ἐντεῦθεν ἐπιστομίζειν τοὺς ἀντιλέγοντας δύνησθε, ἀπὸ τοῦ τέλους τῆς παρελθούσης διαλέξεως τὴν ἀρχὴν ταύτης τῆς μετὰ χεῖρας ποιοῦμαι. Καὶ τί ἦν ἐκείνης τὸ τέλος, φησί; Καταλέξας πάντα τὰ καυχήματα τὰ Ἰουδαϊκὰ, τὰ ἀπὸ φύσεως, τὰ ἀπὸ προαιρέσεως, ἐπήγαγεν· Ἀλλ' ἅτινα ἦν μοι κέρδη, ταῦτα ἥγημαι ζημίαν πάντα εἶναι διὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς γνώσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου μου, δι' ὃν τὰ πάντα ἐζημιώθην, καὶ ἡγοῦμαι σκύβαλα εἶναι, ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσω. Ἐπιπηδῶσιν ἐνταῦθα οἱ αἱρετικοί. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς σοφίας ἐστὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἐλπίδας αὐτοῖς ὑποθέσθαι νίκης, ἵνα καταδέξωνται τὴν μάχην. Εἰ γὰρ φανερῶς εἴρητο, ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐποίησαν, ἐποίησαν ἂν καὶ ἐπὶ τούτων· ἐξήλειψαν ἂν τὰ γράμματα, παρῃτήσαντο τὴν Γραφὴν, οὐ δυνάμενοι ὅλως ταύτῃ ἀντιβλέπειν. Ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἰχθύων γίνεται, τὸ δυνάμενον αὐτοὺς ἑλεῖν κρύπτεται, ὥστε αὐτοὺς ἐπιδραμεῖν, καὶ οὐ πρόδηλον κεῖται· τοῦτο δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα συνέβη, τῷ ζημίαν τὸν νόμον παρὰ Παύλου εἰρῆσθαι. Σκύβαλα εἴρηται ὁ νόμος, φησὶ, ζημία εἴρηται· οὐκ ἐνῆν Χριστὸν κερδᾶναι, εἰ μὴ τοῦτον ἐζημιώθην. Ταῦτα πάντα ἐπεσπάσατο τοὺς αἱρετικοὺς δέξασθαι τὸ χωρίον, νομίζοντας ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν εἶναι· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐδέξαντο, τότε αὐτοὺς περιέβαλε τοῖς δικτύοις πάντοθεν. Τί γάρ φασιν ἐπιπηδῶντες ἐκεῖνοι; Ἰδοὺ ζημία ὁ νό 62.264 μος, ἰδοὺ σκύβαλα εἴρηται. Πῶς οὖν αὐτὸν Θεοῦ λέγετε εἶναι; Αὐτὰ μὲν οὖν ταῦτα ὑπὲρ τοῦ νόμου ἐστί· καὶ πόθεν, ἐκεῖθεν δῆλον. Πρόσχωμεν ἀκριβῶς τοῖς λεγομένοις· οὐκ εἶπε, Ζημία ἐστὶν ὁ νόμος, ἀλλ', Ἥγημαι αὐτὸν ζημίαν· καὶ ὅτε μὲν περὶ κέρδους ἔλεγεν, οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἥγημαι, ἀλλ', Ἦν κέρδος· ὅτε δὲ περὶ ζημίας, εἶπεν, Ἥγημαι, εἰκότως· ἐκεῖνο μὲν γὰρ ἐν φύσει, τοῦτο δὲ λοιπὸν γέγονεν ἀπὸ τῆς ἡμετέρας ὑπολήψεως. Τί οὖν; οὐκ ἔστι, φησὶ, ζημία ὁ νόμος; Ἔστιν· ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν Χριστόν· ἀλλὰ νῦν κέρδος γέγονεν. Οὐκ ἐνομίζετο κέρδος, εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ ἦν· μονονουχὶ λέγων· Ἐννόησον ὅσον ἦν ἀνθρώπους ἐκτεθηριωμένους τὴν φύσιν, εἰς τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων σχῆμα καταστῆσαι. Εἰ μὴ ὁ νόμος ἦν, οὐδ' ἂν ἡ χάρις ἐδόθη. ∆ιὰ τί; Ὅτι καθάπερ τις γέφυρα γέγονεν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἐνῆν ἀπὸ τῆς πολλῆς ταπεινώσεως εἰς τὸ ὕψος ἀνελθεῖν, γέγονε κλῖμαξ. Ἀλλὰ εἰ καὶ τῆς κλίμακος οὐκέτι δέεται ὁ ἀνελθὼν, ἀλλ' οὐ μὴν διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὴν ὑπερορᾷ, ἀλλὰ καὶ χάριν αὐτῇ οἶδεν. Αὕτη γὰρ αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ μηκέτι δεῖσθαι αὐτῆς κατέστησε· καὶ ὅμως ὑπὲρ τούτου αὐτοῦ, ὅτι οὐ δεῖται αὐτῆς, αὐτῇ χάριν ὁμολογεῖν, φησὶ, δίκαιον· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἀνέβη. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ νόμου· ἀνήγαγεν ἡμᾶς εἰς ὕψος· οὐκοῦν κέρδος ἦν· ἀλλὰ λοιπὸν ζημίαν αὐτὸν νομίζομεν. Πῶς; Οὐκ ἐπειδὴ ζημία ἐστὶν, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ πολὺ μείζων ἡ χάρις. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ ἐν λιμῷ ὢν πένης, ἕως μὲν ἂν ἔχῃ ἀργύριον, διαφεύγει τὸν λιμόν· ἐπειδὰν δὲ χρυσὸν εὕρῃ, καὶ μὴ ἐξῇ ἀμφότερα κατασχεῖν, ζημίαν ἡγεῖται τὸ ἐκεῖνο κατέχειν, καὶ ἀφεὶς αὐτὸ, λαμβάνει τὸ χρυσίον· ἀφίησι δὲ, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ ζημία τὸ ἀργύριον (οὐ γάρ ἐστι), ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἔνι ὁμοῦ τὰ δύο λαβεῖν, ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη τὸ ἓν καταλιπεῖν· οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα. Ζημία οὖν οὐχ ὁ νόμος ἐστὶν, ἀλλὰ τὸ τῷ νόμῳ προσκαθήμενον ἀφίστασθαι τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Ὥστε, ὅταν ἀπάγῃ ἡμᾶς Χριστοῦ, τότε ζημία· ἂν δὲ παραπέμπῃ, οὐκέτι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησι, Ζημία, τουτέστι, διὰ τὸν Χριστόν. Εἰ διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν, οὐ φύσει ζημία. ∆ιὰ τί δὲ οὐκ ἀφίησι τῷ Χριστῷ προσελθεῖν ὁ νόμος; Καὶ μὴν εἰς τοῦτο, φησὶν, ἐδόθη, καὶ πλήρωμα νόμου