John Chrysostom, On Romans

coming from philosophy, about which Paul says: Put to death your members that are on the earth; another, which has become the cause of this, is the one at baptism: For our old man, he says, has been crucified, that is, has been put to death. Knowing these things, therefore, let us flee that death by which, even while living, we die; but let us not fear this one, by which the common death comes. And the other two, of which one is blessed, 60.490 given by God, and the other is praiseworthy, accomplished by us and by God, let us both choose and emulate. Of these two, David calls the one blessed, saying: Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven; and Paul admires the other, writing to the Galatians, that Those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh. And of the other pair, Christ says that one is to be despised, saying: Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; but the fearful one, For fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in gehenna. Therefore, fleeing this one, let us choose that deadness, which is called blessed and admired, so that of the other two, we may flee the one and fear the other. For there is no benefit for us to see the sun, and to eat and drink, if the life through good works is not present. For what benefit is it, tell me, for a king to be clothed in purple and have weapons, but to have no subject, but to be set before all who wish to leap upon and insult him? Thus also will a Christian gain nothing, having faith and the gift of baptism, but being subject to all the passions; for thus the insult will be greater, and the shame more abundant. For just as he who wears the diadem and the purple not only will gain nothing from this garment for his own honor, but also insults it through his own shame; so too the believer living a corrupt life will not only be in no way venerable from this, but will also be more greatly ridiculed. For as many as have sinned without law, he says, will also perish without law; and as many as have sinned under the law, will be judged by the law. And writing to the Hebrews, he said: Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think he will be thought worthy of who has trampled underfoot the Son of God? And quite rightly; for I have subjected all the passions to you, He says, through baptism. What then has happened, that you have insulted so great a gift, and have become one thing instead of another? I killed and buried your former failings, like worms; why then have you brought forth others? for sins are worse than worms; for the latter destroy the body, but the former destroy the soul, and create a greater stench. But we do not perceive it; therefore we do not even hasten to cleanse it out. For the drunkard does not know how abominable the soured wine is, but the one who is not drunk knows these things precisely. So also in the case of sins, the one who lives soberly knows with precision their filth and stain; but the one who has given himself over to wickedness, as if stupefied by some drunkenness, does not even know this very thing, that he is sick. And this is the most difficult thing about wickedness, that it does not even permit those who have fallen into it to see the magnitude of their own ruin, but lying in filth they think they are enjoying perfumes; therefore they cannot even be delivered, but full of worms, as if adorned with precious stones, they thus preen themselves. For these reasons they are not willing even to kill them, but both nourish and increase them in themselves, until they send them on to the worms of the age to come. For these are the agents of those; and not only agents, but also they are the fathers of those that never die. For their worm, he says, will not die. These kindle the gehenna that is never quenched. Therefore, that these things may not happen, let us destroy the source of evils, and quench the furnace, and pull up the root of wickedness from below 60.491; since even if you cut off a wicked tree from above, you have accomplished nothing more, while the root remains below, and sprouts the same things

φιλοσοφίας γινόμενος, περὶ οὗ φησιν ὁ Παῦλος· Νεκρώσατε ὑμῶν τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· ἕτερος ὁ καὶ τούτου γεγενημένος αἴτιος, ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ βαπτίσματος· Ὁ γὰρ παλαιὸς ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος, φησὶν, ἐσταύρωται, τουτέστι νενέκρωται. Ταῦτ' οὖν εἰδότες, ἐκείνην μὲν φύγωμεν τὴν νέκρωσιν, καθ' ἣν καὶ ζῶντες ἀποθνήσκομεν· ταύτην δὲ μὴ δείσωμεν, καθ' ἣν ὁ κοινὸς ἔπεισι θάνατος. Τὰς δὲ ἑτέρας δύο, ὧν ἡ μέν ἐστι μακαριστὴ ἡ 60.490 παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ δοθεῖσα, ἡ δὲ ἐπαινετὴ ἡ παρ' ἡμῶν καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ κατορθουμένη, καὶ ἑλώμεθα καὶ ζηλώσωμεν. Τούτων δὲ τῶν δύο τὴν μὲν ὁ ∆αυῒδ μακαρίζει λέγων· Μακάριοι ὧν ἀφέθησαν αἱ ἀνομίαι· τὴν δὲ ὁ Παῦλος θαυμάζει, Γαλάταις γράφων, ὅτι Οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν σάρκα ἐσταύρωσαν. Τῆς δὲ ἑτέρας συζυγίας τὴν μὲν εὐκαταφρόνητον εἶναί φησιν ὁ Χριστὸς λέγων· Μὴ φοβηθῆτε ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποκτεινόντων τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν μὴ δυναμένων ἀποκτεῖναι· τὴν δὲ φοβερὰν, Φοβήθητε γὰρ τὸν δυνάμενον καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα ἀπολέσαι ἐν γεέννῃ. ∆ιὸ ταύτην φυγόντες, ἐκείνην ἑλώμεθα τὴν νεκρότητα, τὴν μακαριζομένην καὶ θαυμαζομένην, ἵνα τῶν ἑτέρων τῶν δύο τὴν μὲν φύγωμεν, τὴν δὲ φοβηθῶμεν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὄφελος ἡμῖν οὐδὲν τὸν ἥλιον ὁρῶσι, καὶ ἐσθίουσι καὶ πίνουσιν, ἂν μὴ ἡ διὰ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων ζωὴ παρῇ. Τί γὰρ ὄφελος, εἰπέ μοι, βασιλέως ἁλουργίδα μὲν περικειμένου καὶ ὅπλα ἔχοντος, οὐδένα δὲ ὑπήκοον κεκτημένου, ἀλλὰ προκειμένου πᾶσι τοῖς βουλομένοις ἐνάλλεσθαι καὶ ὑβρίζειν αὐτόν; Οὕτω καὶ Χριστιανοῦ οὐδὲν ἔσται κέρδος πίστιν μὲν ἔχοντος καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ βαπτίσματος δωρεὰν, πᾶσι δὲ τοῖς πάθεσι ὑποκειμένου· μείζων γὰρ οὕτως ἡ ὕβρις ἔσται, καὶ πλείων ἡ αἰσχύνη. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ὁ τὸ διάδημα περικείμενος καὶ τὴν ἁλουργίδα, οὐ μόνον οὐδὲν ἀπὸ τῆς στολῆς κερδανεῖ ταύτης εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν τιμὴν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκείνην καθυβρίζει διὰ τῆς οἰκείας αἰσχύνης· οὕτω καὶ ὁ πιστὸς βίον διεφθαρμένον ζῶν, οὐ μόνον οὐδὲν ἐντεῦθεν αἰδέσιμος ἔσται, ἀλλὰ καὶ μειζόνως καταγέλαστος. Ὅσοι γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀνόμως ἥμαρτον, ἀνόμως καὶ ἀπολοῦνται· καὶ ὅσοι ἐν νόμῳ ἥμαρτον, διὰ νόμου κριθήσονται. Καὶ Ἑβραίοις δὲ ἐπιστέλλων, ἔλεγεν· Ἀθετήσας τις νόμον Μωϋσέως, χωρὶς οἰκτιρμῶν ἐπὶ δυσὶν ἢ τρισὶ μάρτυσιν ἀποθνήσκει. Πόσῳ δοκεῖτε χείρονος ἀξιωθήσεται τιμωρίας ὁ τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καταπατήσας; Καὶ μάλα εἰκότως· καὶ γὰρ ὑπέταξά σοι πάντα τὰ πάθη, φησὶ, διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος. Τί οὖν γέγονεν, ὅτι εἰς τοσαύτην ἐξύβρισας δωρεὰν, καὶ γέγονας ἕτερος ἀνθ' ἑτέρου; Ἀπέκτεινα καὶ ἔθαψά σου τὰ πρότερα πλημμελήματα, καθάπερ σκώληκας· τί τοίνυν ἕτερα ἔτεκες; καὶ γὰρ σκωλήκων χείρω τὰ ἁμαρτήματα· οὗτοι μὲν γὰρ τὸ σῶμα, ἐκεῖνα δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν λυμαίνεται, καὶ πλείονα ποιεῖ τὴν δυσωδίαν. Ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς οὐκ αἰσθανόμεθα· διόπερ αὐτὴν οὐδὲ ἐκκαθᾶραι σπεύδομεν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ μεθύων οἶδε πόση τοῦ σεσηπότος οἴνου ἡ βδελυγμία, ἀλλ' ὁ μὴ μεθύων ἀκριβῶς ταῦτα ἐπίσταται. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ὁ μὲν σωφρόνως ζῶν, μετὰ ἀκριβείας οἶδε τὸν βόρβορον ἐκείνων καὶ τὴν κηλῖδα· ὁ δὲ τῇ πονηρίᾳ ἑαυτὸν ἐκδοὺς, καθάπερ μέθῃ τινὶ κεκαρωμένος, οὐδὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτο οἶδεν, ὅτι νοσεῖ. Καὶ τοῦτο μάλιστα τῆς κακίας τὸ χαλεπώτατον, ὅτι οὐδὲ ἰδεῖν ἀφίησι τοὺς εἰς αὐτὴν ἐμπεσόντας τῆς οἰκείας λύμης τὸ μέγεθος, ἀλλ' ἐν βορβόρῳ κείμενοι μύρων ἀπολαύειν νομίζουσι· διόπερ οὐδὲ ἀπαλλάττεσθαι δύνανται, ἀλλὰ σκωλήκων γέμοντες, ὥσπερ λίθοις τιμίοις καλλωπιζόμενοι, οὕτως ἐναβρύνονται. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα αὐτοὺς οὐδὲ ἀποκτεῖναι ἐθέλουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τρέφουσι καὶ αὔξουσιν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, ἕως ἂν αὐτοὺς πρὸς τοὺς τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος παραπέμψωσι σκώληκας. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκείνων οὗτοι πρόξενοι· οὐ πρόξενοι δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πατέρες εἰσὶν ἐκείνων τῶν μηδέποτε τελευτώντων. Ὁ γὰρ σκώληξ αὐτῶν οὐ τελευτήσει, φησίν. Οὗτοι τὴν γέενναν ἀνάπτουσι τὴν μηδέποτε σβεννυμένην. Ἵν' οὖν ταῦτα μὴ γένηται, τὴν πηγὴν τῶν κακῶν ἀνέλωμεν, καὶ τὴν κάμινον σβέσωμεν, καὶ τὴν ῥίζαν τῆς πονηρίας κάτωθεν 60.491 ἀνασπάσωμεν· ἐπεὶ καὶ δένδρον πονηρὸν ἂν ἀποτέμῃς ἄνωθεν, οὐδὲν πλέον ἐποίησας, τῆς ῥίζης κάτω μενούσης, καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ βλαστανούσης