John Chrysostom, On the Letter to the Philippians

Christ, and Christ is the end of the law. He lets it go, if we are willing to be persuaded. 62.265 Does he therefore who obeys the law, let go of the law itself? He lets it go, if we pay attention; but if we do not pay attention, he does not let it go. But indeed I have also counted all things to be loss. What do I say, he says, this about the law? Is not the world good? Is not the present life good? But if it leads me away from Christ, I count these things a loss. Why? For the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord. For when the sun has appeared, to sit by the lamp is a loss. So the loss comes from the comparison, from that which excels. Do you see that he makes a comparison? For the excellency, he says, not because it is foreign; for that which excels, excels over something of the same kind. So from the things by which he makes the superiority by comparison, from these he shows the kinship of the knowledge. For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. Dung, it is not yet clear if he says "dung" about the law; for it is likely that he says this about worldly matters. For having said, What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ, he says, But indeed I also count all things loss. He said all things, both things of old, and things present. And if you wish, the law also, not even so is it insulted. For the dung is from the wheat, and the strength of the wheat is the dung, I mean the chaff. So before this the dung was useful; for we gather it with the wheat, and if there were no dung, the wheat would not have come to be. So also in the case of the law. 2. Do you see how everywhere he calls the thing itself not loss, but because of Christ? But indeed I also count all things loss. Why? Again, For the excellency of the knowledge, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. Then he adds, Therefore I also count all things to be loss, that I may win Christ. Do you see how on all sides he lays hold of the support of Christ, and nowhere allows the law to be stripped bare, or to receive a blow, but on all sides invests it? And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law. If he who has righteousness, because it is nothing, ran to this righteousness, how much more ought they who have it not to run to him? And well did he say, Not having mine own righteousness, not that which I acquired through toils and sweats, but that which I found from grace, he says. If, therefore, he who has succeeded is saved by grace, much more you. For since it was likely they would say that this righteousness which is through toils is greater, he shows that this is dung in comparison to that one. For never would I, having succeeded, have cast it away and run to this. And what is this? That which is from the faith of God; that is, this also has been given by God; this righteousness is of God; this is an entire gift. And the gifts of God by a great measure surpass the meanness of the achievements that come about through our own diligence. And what is faith? By the faith, he says, of knowing him. Therefore knowledge is through faith, and without faith it is not possible to know him. But how? Through it one must know the 62.266 power of his resurrection; for what reasoning will present the resurrection to us? Not one, but faith. But if the resurrection of Christ according to the flesh is known by faith, how is the generation of God the Word apprehended by reasonings? for the resurrection is less than the generation. Why? Because of the former many examples have occurred, but of the latter not even one. For many dead were raised before Christ, even if having been raised they died; but from a virgin no one was ever born. If, therefore, that which is even meaner than the birth according to the flesh must be received by faith, that which is much greater, and infinitely greater and incomparably so, how is it apprehended by reasoning? These things make righteousness. For one must believe this, that

Χριστὸς, καὶ τέλος νόμου Χριστός. Ἀφίησιν, ἐὰν θέλωμεν 62.265 πείθεσθαι. Ὁ τῷ νόμῳ τοίνυν πειθόμενος, αὐτὸν ἀφίησι τὸν νόμον; Ἀφίησιν, ἐὰν προσέχωμεν· ἂν μέντοι μὴ προσέχωμεν, οὐκ ἀφίησιν. Ἀλλὰ μὲν οὖν καὶ ἥγημαι πάντα ζημίαν εἶναι. Τί λέγω, φησὶ, τοῦτο περὶ τοῦ νόμου; οὐχὶ καλὸν ὁ κόσμος; οὐχὶ καλὸν ἡ παροῦσα ζωή; Ἀλλ' ἐάν με ἀπαγάγῃ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ζημίαν ταῦτα τίθεμαι. ∆ιὰ τί; ∆ιὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς γνώσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου μου. Τοῦ γὰρ ἡλίου φανέντος, προσκαθῆσθαι τῷ λύχνῳ ζημία. Ὥστε ἀπὸ τῆς παραβολῆς ἡ ζημία γίνεται, ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑπερέχοντος. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι σύγκρισιν ποιεῖται; ∆ιὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον, φησὶν, οὐ διὰ τὸ ἀλλότριον· τὸ γὰρ ὑπερέχον, τοῦ ὁμογενοῦς ὑπερέχει. Ὥστε ἀφ' ὧν ποιεῖται τὴν κατὰ σύγκρισιν ὑπεροχὴν, ἀπὸ τούτων δείκνυσι τὴν οἰκείωσιν τῆς γνώσεως. ∆ι' ὃν τὰ πάντα ἐζημιώθην, καὶ ἡγοῦμαι σκύβαλα εἶναι, ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσω. Σκύβαλα οὔπω μὲν δῆλον, εἰ περὶ τοῦ νόμου φησὶ τὰ σκύβαλα· εἰκὸς γὰρ αὐτὸν περὶ κοσμικῶν πραγμάτων τοῦτο λέγειν. Εἰπὼν γὰρ, Ἅτινα ἦν μοι κέρδη, ταῦτα ἥγημαι διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν ζημίαν, Ἀλλὰ μὲν οὖν καὶ ἡγοῦμαι, φησὶ, πάντα ζημίαν. Πάντα εἶπε, καὶ τὰ πάλαι, καὶ τὰ παρόντα. Εἰ δὲ βούλει καὶ τὸν νόμον, οὐδὲ οὕτως ὕβρισται. Τὸ γὰρ σκύβαλον ἀπὸ τοῦ σίτου ἐστὶ, καὶ τὸ ἰσχυρὸν τοῦ σίτου τὸ σκύβαλόν ἐστι, τὸ ἄχυρον λέγω. Ὥστε πρὸ τούτου χρήσιμον τὸ σκύβαλον ἦν· μετὰ γὰρ τοῦ σίτου αὐτὸ ἐκλέγομεν, καὶ εἰ μή τι σκύβαλον ἦν, οὐκ ἂν ὁ σῖτος ἐγένετο. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ νόμου. βʹ. Ὁρᾷς πῶς πανταχοῦ οὐκ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ζημίαν τὸ πρᾶγμα καλεῖ, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν Χριστόν; Ἀλλὰ μὲν οὖν καὶ πάντα ἡγοῦμαι ζημίαν. ∆ιὰ τί; Πάλιν, ∆ιὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς γνώσεως, δι' ὃν τὰ πάντα ἐζημιώθην. Εἶτα ἐπάγει, ∆ιὸ καὶ ἡγοῦμαι πάντα ζημίαν εἶναι, ἵνα Χριστὸν κερδήσω. Ὁρᾷς πῶς ἐπιλαμβάνεται πάντοθεν τοῦ ἐρείσματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίησιν οὐδαμοῦ γυμνωθῆναι τὸν νόμον, οὐδὲ πληγὴν λαβεῖν, ἀλλὰ περιβάλλει πάντοθεν αὐτόν; Καὶ εὑρεθῶ ἐν αὐτῷ μὴ ἔχων ἐμὴν δικαιοσύνην τὴν ἐκ τοῦ νόμου. Εἰ ὁ δικαιοσύνην ἔχων, διὰ τὸ μηδὲν αὐτὴν εἶναι, πρὸς ταύτην τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἔδραμεν, οἱ μὴ ἔχοντες πῶς οὐ πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὀφείλουσι προστρέχειν αὐτῷ; Καὶ καλῶς εἶπε, Μὴ ἔχων ἐμὴν δικαιοσύνην, οὐχ ἣν διὰ πόνων καὶ ἱδρώτων ἐκτησάμην, ἀλλὰ ἣν εὗρον ἀπὸ τῆς χάριτος, φησίν. Εἰ τοίνυν ὁ κατορθώσας, ἀπὸ χάριτος σώζεται, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὑμεῖς. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἰκὸς ἦν αὐτοὺς λέγειν, ὅτι μείζων αὕτη ἡ δικαιοσύνη ἡ διὰ πόνων, δείκνυσιν ὅτι σκύβαλον αὕτη ἐστὶ πρὸς ἐκείνην. Οὐ γὰρ ἄν ποτε ἐγὼ κατορθώσας, αὐτὴν ῥίψας ταύτῃ προσέτρεχον. Ποία δέ ἐστιν αὕτη; Ἡ ἀπὸ πίστεως τοῦ Θεοῦ· τουτέστι, καὶ αὕτη παρὰ Θεοῦ δέδοται· Θεοῦ ἐστιν αὕτη ἡ δικαιοσύνη· δῶρόν ἐστιν αὕτη ὁλόκληρον. Τὰ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ δῶρα πολλῷ τῷ μέτρῳ ὑπερβαίνει τὴν εὐτέλειαν τῶν κατορθωμάτων τῶν διὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας σπουδῆς γινομένων. Τί δέ ἐστιν ἡ πίστις; Ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει, φησὶ, τοῦ γνῶναι αὐτόν. Ἄρα διὰ πίστεως ἡ γνῶσις, καὶ πίστεως ἄνευ γνῶναι αὐτὸν οὐκ ἔστι. Πῶς δέ; ∆ι' αὐτῆς δεῖ γνῶναι τὴν 62.266 δύναμιν τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ· ποῖος γὰρ λογισμὸς τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἡμῖν παραστήσει; Οὐδὲ εἷς, ἀλλὰ πίστις. Εἰ δὲ ἡ ἀνάστασις τοῦ κατὰ σάρκα Χριστοῦ, πίστει γινώσκεται, πῶς ἡ γέννησις τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου λογισμοῖς καταλαμβάνεται; τῆς γὰρ γεννήσεως ἐλάττων ἡ ἀνάστασις. ∆ιὰ τί; Ὅτι ἐκείνης μὲν πολλὰ τὰ ὑποδείγματα γέγονε, ταύτης δὲ οὐδὲ ἕν. Νεκροὶ μὲν γὰρ ἀνέστησαν πολλοὶ πρὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, εἰ καὶ ἐτελεύτησαν ἀναστάντες· ἀπὸ δὲ παρθένου οὐδεὶς ἐτέχθη ποτέ. Εἰ τοίνυν ὃ καὶ τῆς κατὰ σάρκα γεννήσεως εὐτελέστερον, τοῦτο πίστει δεῖ παραλαμβάνειν, τὸ πολλῷ μεῖζον, καὶ ἀπείρως μεῖζον καὶ ἀσυγκρίτως, πῶς λογισμῷ καταλαμβάνεται; Ταῦτα ποιεῖ τὴν δικαιοσύνην. Τοῦτο γὰρ δεῖ πιστεῦσαι, ὅτι