68

he was able. But how he was able, it is no longer possible to show; for from faith is the fellowship of His sufferings. How? For if we did not believe, we would not have suffered; if we did not believe that by suffering with Him we shall also reign with Him, we would not have suffered the sufferings. Therefore, both the birth and the resurrection are apprehended by faith. Do you see that faith must not be simple, but through works? For he most of all believes that Christ is risen, who recklessly gives himself up to dangers, who has fellowship with Him in His sufferings; for he has fellowship with the Risen One, with the Living One. For this reason he said: And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means I might attain to the resurrection from the dead. -Becoming like, he says, Him in His death; that is, sharing. For just as He suffered at the hands of men, so I also; for this reason he said, Becoming like; and elsewhere again: I fill up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions in my flesh. That is, these persecutions and sufferings create that image of His death. For he was not seeking his own good, but that of the many. So that persecutions and tribulations and distresses ought not only not to trouble you, but even to make you rejoice, because through these we are conformed to His death; as if he had said, We are being fashioned into His image; which he also says elsewhere, writing, Always carrying in the body the death of the Lord Jesus. And this too comes from great faith. For we believe not only that He rose, but also that after the resurrection He has great power. For this reason we travel the same road that He traveled, that is, we become His brothers in this also; as if he had said: We become Christs in this. Alas, how great is the dignity of sufferings! we believe that we are conformed to His death through sufferings. For just as in baptism We were buried with Him in the likeness of His death, so here we are conformed to His death. There he rightly said, In the likeness of His death; for we did not die the whole death; for we did not die in the body, in the flesh, but to sin. Since, then, death is spoken of and death, but He died in body, and we to sin, and 62.267 there the man died, whom He Himself took up, the one in our body, here the man of sin; for this reason there he says, In the likeness of His death, but here no longer in the likeness of death, but, in death itself. 3. For Paul no longer died to sin in his persecutions, but in the body itself; so that he endured the same death. That by any means I might attain, he says, to the resurrection from the dead. What are you saying? And yet all attain to it. For we shall not all sleep, he says, but we shall all be changed; and not only of resurrection, but also of incorruptibility, all of us, some to honor, others as provision for punishment. If, then, all attain to the resurrection, and not only the resurrection, but also incorruptibility, how is it that you said, as if about to attain something special, That by any means I might attain? For this reason I suffer these things, he says, That by any means I might attain to the resurrection from the dead; for if you had not died, you would not rise. What then is it? He seems to be hinting at something great here; for it was so great that he did not even dare to declare it, but simply says, If by any means. I have believed in Him and in His resurrection, and I also suffer for His sake, but I cannot yet be confident about the resurrection. What resurrection does he mean here? The one that leads to Christ Himself. I said that I have believed in Him and in the power of His resurrection, and that I am a sharer in His sufferings, and that I am being conformed to His death; but nevertheless after these things

68

ἐδυνήθη· τὸ δὲ πῶς ἐδυνήθη, οὐκέτι ἔστι παραστῆσαι· ἀπὸ γὰρ πίστεως ἡ κοινωνία τῶν παθημάτων. Πῶς; Εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἐπιστεύομεν, οὐδ' ἂν ἐπάθομεν· εἰ μὴ ἐπιστεύομεν, ὅτι συνυπομένοντες συμβασιλεύσομεν, οὐδ' ἂν ἐπάθομεν τὰ παθήματα. Ἄρα πίστει καὶ ἡ γέννησις καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις καταλαμβάνεται. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι οὐχ ἁπλῶς δεῖ τὴν πίστιν εἶναι, ἀλλὰ δι' ἔργων; Οὗτος γὰρ μάλιστα πιστεύει, ὅτι ἀνέστη Χριστὸς, ὁ παραβόλως ἑαυτὸν τοῖς κινδύνοις ἐκδιδοὺς, ὁ κοινωνῶν αὐτῷ ἐν τοῖς παθήμασι· τῷ γὰρ ἀναστάντι κοινωνεῖ, τῷ ζῶντι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἔλεγε· Καὶ εὑρεθῶ ἐν αὐτῷ μὴ ἔχων ἐμὴν δικαιοσύνην τὴν ἐκ τοῦ νόμου, ἀλλὰ τὴν διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ, τὴν ἐκ Θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει, τοῦ γνῶναι αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν κοινωνίαν τῶν παθημάτων αὐτοῦ, συμμορφούμενος τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτοῦ, εἴ πως καταντήσω εἰς τὴν ἐξανάστασιν τῶν νεκρῶν. -Συμμορφούμενος, φησὶ, τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτοῦ· τουτέστι, κοινωνῶν. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἔπαθεν, οὕτω κἀγώ· διὰ τοῦτο εἶπε, Συμμορφούμενος· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ πάλιν· Ἀνταναπληρῶ τὰ ὑστερήματα τῶν θλίψεων τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου. Τουτέστιν, οἱ διωγμοὶ καὶ τὰ παθήματα ταῦτα, τὴν εἰκόνα δημιουργοῦσιν ἐκείνην τοῦ θανάτου. Οὐ γὰρ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ἐζήτει, ἀλλὰ τὸ τῶν πολλῶν. Ὥστε καὶ οἱ διωγμοὶ καὶ αἱ θλίψεις καὶ αἱ στενοχωρίαι οὐ μόνον ὑμᾶς οὐκ ὀφείλουσι θορυβεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ εὐφραίνειν, ὅτι διὰ τούτων συμμορφούμεθα τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτοῦ· ὡς ἂν εἰ ἔλεγεν, Ἐξεικονιζόμεθα· ὃ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ λέγει γράφων, Τὴν νέκρωσιν τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ σώματι περιφέροντες. Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἀπὸ πίστεως πολλῆς γίνεται. Οὐ γὰρ, ὅτι ἀνέστη μόνον, πιστεύομεν, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ μετὰ ἀνάστασιν πολλὴν ἔχει τὴν ἰσχύν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδὸν ὁδεύομεν, ἥνπερ ὥδευσε, τουτέστιν, ἀδελφοὶ γινόμεθα αὐτῷ καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο· ὡς ἂν εἰ ἔλεγε· Χριστοὶ γινόμεθα κατὰ τοῦτο. Βαβαὶ, πόσον τῶν παθῶν τὸ ἀξίωμα! πιστεύομεν ὅτι συμμορφούμεθα τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτοῦ διὰ τῶν παθημάτων. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι Συνετάφημεν τῷ ὁμοιώματι τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ, οὕτως ἐνταῦθα τῷ θανάτῳ συμμορφούμεθα αὐτοῦ. Ἐκεῖ εἰκότως εἶπε, Τῷ ὁμοιώματι τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ· οὐ γὰρ ὅλον τὸν θάνατον ἀπεθάνομεν· οὐ γὰρ σώματι ἐν σαρκὶ ἀπεθάνομεν, ἀλλ' ἁμαρτίᾳ. Ἐπεὶ οὖν θάνατος καὶ θάνατος λέγεται, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος μὲν ἀπέθανε σώματι, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἁμαρτίᾳ, καὶ 62.267 ἐκεῖ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἀπέθανεν, ὃν ἀνέλαβεν αὐτὸς, ὁ ἐν σώματι ἡμῶν, ὧδε ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἁμαρτίας· διὰ τοῦτο ἐκεῖ μέν φησι, Τῷ ὁμοιώματι τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ, ἐνταῦθα δὲ οὐκέτι ὁμοιώματι θανάτου, ἀλλ', αὐτῷ τῷ θανάτῳ. γʹ. Παῦλος γὰρ οὐκέτι ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀπέθανεν ἐν τοῖς διωγμοῖς, ἀλλ' αὐτῷ τῷ σώματι· ὥστε τὸν αὐτὸν ὑπέμεινε θάνατον. Εἴ πως καταντήσω, φησὶν, εἰς τὴν ἐξανάστασιν τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν. Τί λέγεις; καὶ μὴν πάντες αὐτῆς τυγχάνουσι· Πάντες μὲν γὰρ οὐ κοιμηθησόμεθα, φησὶ, πάντες δὲ ἀλλαγησόμεθα· καὶ οὐκ ἀναστάσεως μόνης, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀφθαρσίας πάντες, οἱ μὲν εἰς τιμὴν, οἱ δὲ εἰς ἐφόδιον κολάσεως. Εἰ τοίνυν πάντες τῆς ἀναστάσεως τυγχάνουσι, καὶ οὐ τῆς ἀναστάσεως μόνης, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀφθαρσίας, πῶς ὡς μέλλων ἐξαιρέτου τινὸς τυγχάνειν ἔλεγες, Εἴ πως καταντήσω; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ταῦτα πάσχω, φησὶν, Εἴ πως καταντήσω εἰς τὴν ἐξανάστασιν τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν· εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἀπέθανες, οὐκ ἀνίστασο. Τί οὖν ἐστι; ∆οκεῖ μέγα τι ἐνταῦθα αἰνίττεσθαι· οὕτω γὰρ μέγα ἦν, ὅτι οὐδὲ ἐθάῤῥησεν ἀποφήνασθαι, ἀλλά φησιν ἁπλῶς, Εἴ πως. Ἐπίστευσα εἰς αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ ἀνάστασιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάσχω δι' αὐτὸν, ἀλλ' οὔπω δύναμαι θαῤῥῆσαι περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως. Ποίαν ἐνταῦθα ἀνάστασίν φησι; Τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἄγουσαν τὸν Χριστόν. Εἶπον ὅτι ἐπίστευσα αὐτῷ καὶ τῇ τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ δυνάμει, καὶ ὅτι κοινωνός εἰμι τῶν παθημάτων αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὅτι συμμορφοῦμαι τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτοῦ· ἀλλ' ὅμως μετὰ ταῦτα