Letters 71–80

Ambrose to Constantius.

1. The Question of Circumcision's Purpose

No small question moves many, for what reason circumcision is, as it were, ordained by the authority of the Old Testament as useful, and, as it were, rejected by the teaching of the New Testament as useless; especially since Abraham was the first to receive the oracle for the celebration of circumcision, he who saw the day of the Lord Jesus, and rejoiced. Which indeed is clear, because he directed his attention not to bodily things, but to spiritual things of the divine law; and therefore beheld the true passion of the Lord's body in the immolation of the lamb.

2. The Danger of Infant Circumcision

What then shall we say, that the father Abraham followed, so that he first instituted that which his heritage would not follow? Or for what reason are the bodies of little infants circumcised, and at the very moment of birth subjected to dangers, and this commanded by oracle; so that the peril of salvation should arise from a mystery of religion? What does this signify? For the cause of the truth lies hidden, and it was necessary either that something be signified by an open mystery, or that the mandate be not a dangerous indication of mysteries.

3. The Choice of a Dishonorable Member

But why is the sign of the divine Testament given in that part of the members which is judged more dishonorable to sight? Or by what grace did the very artificer of our body wish, at the very outset of our generation, that his own work be circumcised, and wounded, and made bloody, and that a part be cut away, which, as if necessary, he who arranged all things in order thought should be made along with the other members? For either this portion of our body is beyond nature, and all men ought not to have that which would be beyond nature; or it is according to nature, and it was not fitting that what was created according to the perfection of nature should be cut off; especially since those alien from the portion of the Lord our God are wont particularly to mock at this.

Then, since it is God's purpose, as he himself has frequently testified, to call more to the observance of sacred religion, how much more would they be invited, if some were not turned away by either the danger or the reproach of circumcision itself.

4. Two Accusations Against Circumcision

Therefore, to return to the first points, and to pursue the order proposed, something seems to need to be said about the very quality of circumcision. Of which the defense ought to be twofold, because the accusation is twofold: one which is brought by the Gentiles, another which is reckoned by those who are of the people of God. But that of the Gentiles is more vehement, who think men marked with circumcision worthy even of reproach and mockery. But even the wisest of them so approve of circumcision that they think their own elect ought to be circumcised for the knowing and celebrating of mysteries.

5. Circumcision Among the Egyptian Priests

Thus the Egyptians, who devote their attention to geometry and to reckoning the courses of the stars, judge a priest impious who does not at all bear the mark of circumcision. For they judge that neither the wisdom of magic incantation, nor geometry, nor astronomy, holds its force without the seal of circumcision. And therefore, that they may apply the power of obtaining to their operation, they reckon that a certain purification of their soothsayers must be celebrated by the secret rite of circumcision.

6. Circumcision Practiced by Other Nations

We find, moreover, in the history of the ancients, not only Egyptians, but also some of the Ethiopians, and Arabians, and Phoenicians, who used circumcision among their own people. And they think they still preserve this as a way of proof of their reasoning; because, initiated by the firstfruits of their own body and blood, they judge that the snares of demons, which they devise against our race, are to be destroyed by the consecration of so small a part; so that those who strive to harm the salvation of the whole man may think their operation weakened by either the law or the appearance of sacred circumcision. For I think that in times past the very prince of demons judged that his arts toward the effect of harmful operation should cease, if he tried to harm one whom he perceived to be initiated by the seal of sacred circumcision, or one who seemed at least in this office to obey the divine law.

7. Circumcision on the Eighth Day

Now he who carefully weighs the offices of each member will be able to judge that there is no idle cause in this small portion of this member, for what reason not only is the boy circumcised, but is circumcised on the eighth day; when the mother of the child born begins to be in pure blood, whereas before the eighth day she is said to sit in unclean blood. Let these things be said against those who are joined to us by no unity of faith; and therefore, as against dissenters, the place for disputing is more difficult.

8. The Price of Redemption in Christ's Blood

But let those who believe in the Lord Jesus have for themselves an answer of this sort, which we were unwilling to lay bare when we disputed against the opinions of the Gentiles. For if we have been redeemed not with corruptible things, silver or gold, but with the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whose selling, indeed, if not by him who possessed our servitude, already purchased by the debt of our sinful succession: without doubt he himself demanded the price, that he might strip of servitude those whom he held bound.

Now the price of our liberation was the blood of the Lord Jesus, which necessarily had to be paid to him to whom we had been sold by our sins.

9. Christ's Blood Fulfills Circumcision

Until, therefore, this price should be paid for all men, which had to be paid by the shedding of the Lord's blood for the absolution of all, there was need of the blood of individuals, who, by the Law and the rite of custom, should follow the precepts of sacred religion. But because the price has been paid for all, after the Lord Christ suffered, there is no longer need that the blood of individuals be shed man by man through circumcision; since in the blood of Christ the circumcision of all has been celebrated, and in his cross we have all been crucified together with him, and buried together in his sepulcher, planted together in the likeness of his death, that we should no longer serve sin: For he who has died is justified from sin.

10. Against Marcion and Manichaeus on Circumcision

But if anyone, like Marcion and Manichaeus, thinks that the judgment of God is to be blamed, because he thought either that an oracle for the celebration of circumcision should be given, or the law by which the shedding of blood is commanded; it is necessary that he also judge the Lord Jesus blameworthy, who shed not a little, but much blood for the redemption of this world, and today too bids us shed our own blood for so great a contest of religion, saying: Whoever wishes to follow me, let him take up his cross, and follow me. But if the accusation is by no means just, when someone offers himself wholly for piety, and purifies himself by the shedding of much blood; how can we blame the law, which requires a mere drop of blood, when we proclaim the Lord Jesus commanding the shedding of much blood, and the death of the whole body?

11. The Seal of Circumcision Superseded by Christ's Name

Nor was the seal and appearance of circumcision itself observed as a feast for no reason, whereby the people of God, marked as it were by a certain seal of the body, were distinguished from other nations. But now one endowed with the name of Christ by no means requires the sign of the body, who has earned the prerogative of the divine appellation. But what is absurd, if for the sake of piety something of pain or labor seemed to be inflicted, whereby devotion might be more proved through these contests? It was fitting also that from the very cradle of life the mark of religion should grow up, and that each one should be ashamed, at a more advanced age, to yield to either labor or pain, both of which tender infancy had overcome.

12. The Cross Replaces the Wound of Circumcision

But now there is no need of the slight pain of circumcision for the Christian people, who, bearing about the death of the Lord, inscribes upon his own forehead at every moment the contempt of his own death, as one who knows that without the cross of the Lord he cannot have salvation. For who would use a needle for fighting, when he is furnished with stronger weapons?

13. Answering the Claim That Pain Deterred Converts

Now anyone easily notices this needs refuting, that it is claimed that most could have been drawn to the obedience of sacred religion, had they not been deterred by fear of pain, or by contemplation of the labor. And could this have terrified an adult, when so many infants endured it without danger? Yet grant that some infants of the Jews, unable to bear the pain of the circumcised body and the stinging wound, died of it: still this did not deter others of more advanced and robust age, but rather made more praiseworthy the one who had obeyed the heavenly precepts.

14. Circumcision's Pain Compared to Martyrdom

But if they judge that this, in so slight a pain, was an obstacle to confession, what do they say of martyrdom? For if they find fault with the pain of circumcision, let them find fault also with the death of the martyrs, through whom religion was increased, not diminished. So far is it from true that the pain of circumcision harmed the faith, that pain rather makes faith more approved; for the grace of faith is greater if one despises pain for the sake of religion: and he has a greater reward than the one who wished to undergo the pain of circumcision only that he might glory in the Law, and seek praise from men rather than from God.

15. Honor Bestowed on the Dishonorable Member

It was fitting, therefore, that circumcision should be performed in part before the coming of him who would circumcise the whole man; for in part the human condition had to be accustomed, so that it might come to believe in that which is perfect. But if it was fitting to be circumcised, in which part of the members was it more fitting that circumcision be performed than in that which seems to some more dishonorable? So that upon those parts of our body thought to be less honorable, a more abundant honor might be bestowed: and our dishonorable parts might have more abundant honor. For where more than in that part which renders service to error ought a man to be reminded of his blood?

16. Nature, Continence, and Eunuchs for the Kingdom

Now it is time that we answer also those who say that if that part of our body is according to nature, it ought never to have been cut off; if it is not according to nature, it ought not to have been born along with it. Since they are so subtle, let them answer me in turn, whether human succession, which grows by generations, is according to nature, or contrary to nature. For if according to nature, it must never be interrupted: and how then is the integrity of men, the virginity of maidens, the abstinence of widows, the continence of the married, praised? Then no zeal for pursuing succession ought ever to rest. But the very author of nature did not himself obey generation, who, while established in the body, gave instruction concerning himself, and exhorted his disciples to integrity, saying: There are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven; he who can accept this, let him accept it.

17. The Contrary Natures of Body and Soul

Since man is composed of body and soul (it suffices meanwhile to say this, and to be silent about the spirit), it is not the same according to nature in both: but what is according to the nature of the body is contrary to the nature of the soul; and what is according to the nature of the soul is contrary to the nature of the body; as if I should say that what is according to the nature of the visible is contrary to the nature of that which is not seen, and what is according to the nature of that which is not seen is contrary to the nature of the visible. There is nothing incongruous, therefore, in the men of God, if some things come to pass contrary to the nature of the body, which are according to the nature of the soul.

18. Circumcision and Baptism as Forerunners of Christ

But those who say that more would have believed if circumcision had not existed should have this answer for themselves: that more would believe if there had been no martyrdoms; but the courage of the few is more excellent than the slackness of the many. And just as many kinds of baptism were sent before, because that one true sacrament of baptism in spirit and water was to follow, by which the whole man is redeemed, so the circumcision of the many had to be sent before; because the circumcision of the Lord's passion was to follow, which Jesus endured as the Lamb of God, that he might take away the sins of the world.

19. The True Circumcision Is Inward

We have written these things so as to show that the circumcision which is outward had to be sent before, so that it also might now, after the coming of the Lord, rightly appear excluded. But now that circumcision is necessary which is in secret, just as the Jew is more excellent who is so in secret, in spirit, not in the letter; since there are two men in one man, of whom it is said: And though our outer man is corrupted according to the desires of error, yet the inner man is renewed day by day; and elsewhere: For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man; our inner man is he who was made in the image and likeness of God, the outer he who was formed from clay. Thus indeed in Genesis two creations of man are shown to you, signifying the man created a second time.

20. The Circumcision of the Inner Man

Since, therefore, there are two men, so there is also a twofold manner of life: one of the inner man, the other of the outer. And indeed many acts of the inner man reach even to the outer man, just as the chastity of the inner man passes over even to the chastity of the body. For he who knows not adultery of the heart likewise knows not adultery of the body: yet it does not follow conversely that he who has not committed adultery in body has not committed it also in heart, according to that saying: Whoever has looked upon a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. For even if he is not yet an adulterer in body, he is already an adulterer in affection.

There is, then, a circumcision of the inner man: for he who is circumcised puts off, as it were a foreskin, all the enticements of the flesh, that he may be in the spirit, not in the flesh, and by the spirit put to death the deeds of his body.

21. The Circumcision of the Inner Man

And this is the circumcision which is in secret, just as Abraham was formerly in uncircumcision, and afterward became in circumcision. So our inner man, when it is in the flesh, is as it were in uncircumcision; but when it is no longer in the flesh, but in the spirit, it begins to be in circumcision, not in uncircumcision. But just as he who is circumcised does not strip off all the flesh, but only the foreskin, where corruption is more frequent, so he who is circumcised in secret strips off that flesh of which it is written: All flesh is grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass. The grass has withered, and its flower has fallen: but the word of the Lord abides forever. And there remains flesh that shall see the salvation of God, as it is written: And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Cleanse your ears, that you may understand what this flesh is.

22. The Hidden Jew and the Primacy of Judah

Such, then, ought to be the circumcision in secret, that it should bear no comparison with that circumcision which is outward. And therefore he who is a Jew in secret, he excels; he who is of Judah, whose hand is upon the neck of his enemies, who reclining rested as a lion, and as a lion's whelp, whom his brothers praise. From this Judah the prince does not fail; because his word makes princes, who are not subjected to worldly allurements, nor made captive by the pleasures of this world. And because Judah himself came into this generation, therefore many who were afterward born are preferred, that they may rejoice in the primacy of virtues. Let us, then, have circumcision in secret, and in secret the Jew who is spiritual: but the spiritual man, as a prince, judges all things, and himself is judged by no one.

23. Christ's Fulfillment Ends the Old Circumcision

It was fitting, then, that the circumcision prescribed by the commandments of the Law, which was partial, should cease, after he came who would perform the circumcision of the whole man, and fulfill the circumcision of the Law. And who is this but he who said: I came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it?

24. Circumcision as a Covenant with Abraham's Seed

Although, if you attend carefully, there is also this reason why the circumcision of the foreskin ought now to have ceased: because the fullness of the Gentiles has come. For circumcision was not commanded to the Gentiles, but to the seed of Abraham; for thus you have it in the first oracle: And God said to Abraham: But you shall keep my covenant, you and your seed after you in their generations. And this is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you, and your seed after you in their generations. Every male among you shall be circumcised, and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and you. The infant of eight days shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations.

He who is born in the house, and he who is bought with money from any son of a stranger, who is not of your seed, shall be circumcised with circumcision: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male who shall not have circumcised the flesh of his foreskin on the eighth day, that soul shall be cut off from its people; because he has broken my covenant. Indeed the Hebrew is said not to have the reference to the eighth day, as Aquila indicates. But not all authority rests in Aquila, who, as a Jew clinging to the letter, passed it over, and did not set down the eighth day.

25. The Eighth-Day Sign and the Question of Proselytes

Meanwhile you have heard both of the eighth day, and of circumcision given as a sign: but a sign is an indication of a greater reality, an indication of a future truth; and the covenant was given to Abraham and to his seed, to whom it was said: In Isaac shall your seed be. Therefore it was lawful to circumcise a Jew, whether born in his house or bought with his money.

We cannot extend this to a foreigner or a proselyte, unless they were born in the house of Abraham, or bought with his money, or of his seed. Indeed he says nothing of proselytes, of whom, when he wished to speak, he named them, as you have here: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them: Any man, any man of the children of Israel, and of the proselytes who are joined to you, whoever shall offer a holocaust. Where then he includes them, there the Law binds them; where they are not indicated by the oracle, how can they seem to be bound? Thus indeed you have: Say to the sons of Aaron, when he speaks of the priests. You have it, when he speaks also of the Levites.

26. The Gentiles Excused from the Letter of the Law

Therefore in every way it is clear, even according to the letter of the Law—although the Law is spiritual—that even according to that very letter the peoples of the nations could not have been bound to circumcision: but that circumcision itself was given as a sign, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, and thus all Israel should be saved, circumcised in heart, not in the small part of one member. Therefore we have sufficiently both excused and excluded the circumcision of the Jews which remains to this day.

27. Bearing Reproach as the Cross Was Reproached

But as for those who say that this was, or is, a reproach to the Gentiles, in the first place they themselves have no right to reproach or mock, since others of their own company do the same thing. Yet grant that it were a matter for mockery; why should this move us, when the very cross of the Lord is to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Greeks foolishness, but to us the power of God and wisdom? And the Lord himself has said: Whoever shall be ashamed of me before men, of him will I also be ashamed before my Father, who is in heaven; teaching us not to be moved by the things that are mocked by men, if they are offered for the sake of obedience to religion.

Ambrose to Irenaeus.

1. Why the Law Was Given If It Works Wrath

Having gone through the reading of the Apostle, you were not moved perfunctorily; because you heard read today: For the Law works wrath: but where there is no Law, there is no transgression. Whence you thought it right to ask why the Law was given, if it profited nothing—nay rather was harmful, since it worked wrath and introduced transgression.

2. The Natural Law Written in the Heart

And indeed, according to your question, it is certain that the Law which was given through Moses was not necessary. For if men had been able to keep the natural law which God the creator poured into the breasts of each, there would have been no need for that law which, written on stone tablets, entangled and bound up the weakness of the human race rather than loosed and set it free. But that there is a natural law in our hearts the Apostle also teaches, who wrote that the Gentiles for the most part do naturally the things that are of the Law; and though they have not read the Law, yet they have the work of the Law written in their hearts.

3. Conscience as Witness Before the Day of Judgment

That law, therefore, is not written, but innate: nor is it perceived by any reading, but is expressed in individuals as by a certain flowing fount of nature, and is drawn from human minds. This law we ought to have kept even from fear of the future judgment, of which our conscience is witness, betraying itself before God by silent thoughts, by which either wickedness is convicted, or innocence is defended. And so, while it is always open to the Lord, it will especially be made manifest on the day of judgment; when the hidden things of the heart, which were thought to lie concealed, shall come into examination. And yet the betrayal of these hidden things would by no means harm, if the natural law were present in human hearts; for it is holy, without craft, without fraud, a partner of justice, having no share in iniquity.

4. The Innocence of Infancy

Let us, then, question infancy; let us see whether any crime is found in it, whether avarice, ambition, deceit, cruelty, insolence. It knows nothing as its own, arrogates to itself no honors, knows not how to prefer itself to another, knows not fraud, neither wishes nor is able to avenge itself. What insolence is, a pure and simple mind cannot comprehend.

5. Adam's Disobedience and the Loss of the Natural Law

This law Adam broke, who wished to arrogate to himself what he had not received, that he might be like his creator and founder, so that he aspired to divine honor. And so through disobedience he incurred offense, and fell into guilt through insolence. If he had not broken the command, and had been obedient to the heavenly mandates, he would have preserved for his own heirs the prerogative of nature and of the innocence born within him. Therefore, because through disobedience the prerogative of the natural law was corrupted and blotted out, the written law was therefore judged necessary; that he who had lost the whole might at least have a part: and that he to whom what he had received by birth had perished, might at least learn and keep it by instruction. At the same time, because the cause of his fall was pride, and pride arose from the prerogative of innocence; that Law had to be given which would render him subject and submissive to God.

For without the Law sin was not known, and the fault was less where there was ignorance of fault. Whence also the Lord says: If I had not come, and had not spoken to them, they would not have sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin.

6. The Law Given to Remove Excuse and Teach Obedience

The Law was given, therefore, first that it might remove excuse, lest anyone say: I did not know it was sin, because it was not prescribed what I should avoid. Then, that it might make all subject to God through the acknowledgment of sin. And it made all subject, because it was given not only to the Jews, but also called the Gentiles; for proselytes from the Gentiles were joined to it. Nor indeed can he seem exempt who, though called, was lacking; for the Law bound those whom it called. Thus the fault of all wrought subjection, subjection humility, humility obedience. And so, because pride had incurred guilt, conversely guilt begot obedience. Whence the written law, which seemed superfluous, became necessary; that it might loose sin by sin.

7. Grace Abounding Where Sin Increased

But lest anyone again be deterred, and say that an increase of sin was brought about through the Law, and think that the Law not only did not profit but even harmed; he has something with which he may console his anxiety, because although sin abounded through the Law, grace also abounded. Let us understand what this means.

8. How Knowledge of Sin Humbled and Instructed

Sin abounded through the Law because through the Law came the knowledge of sin, and it began to harm me to know that which through weakness I could not avoid; for to have foreknown is useful for the sake of avoiding: but if I cannot avoid it, to have known was harmful. The Law, then, turned into its opposite, yet by that very increase of sin was made useful to me; because I was humbled. Whence David also said: It is good for me that I have been humbled. And by humbling me, the bond of the former error was loosed, by which Adam and Eve had bound the whole chain of their own succession. Whence also the Lord came as it were obedient; that the snare of human disobedience and transgression might be loosed. And so, as through disobedience sin entered, so through obedience sin was loosed. Whence the Apostle also says: For as through the disobedience of one man many were made sinners; so also through the obedience of one man many shall be made just.

9. The Law as Both Superfluous and Necessary

You have, then, one point, that the Law was both superfluous, and was made not superfluous: superfluous in this, that it would not have been necessary if we had been able to keep that natural law: but because we did not keep it, this law given through Moses was made necessary; that it might teach me obedience, and loose that snare of Adam's transgression, which snare bound the whole inheritance. Guilt indeed grew through the Law, but pride, the author of guilt, was loosed, and this profited me; for pride found guilt, but guilt made grace.

10. The Law's Furtive Entrance Against Pride

Take another point. The law given through Moses was not necessary. It came in, we are told, secretly: which certainly seems to signify an entrance not regular, but as it were furtive, in that it entered into the place of the natural law. And so, if that natural law had kept its place, this written law would by no means have entered: but because transgression had excluded that law, and had almost abolished it from human hearts, pride reigned, and disobedience had spread itself abroad; therefore this Law succeeded, that it might convict us by writing, and might stop every mouth, that it might make the whole world subject to God. And the world was made subject through the Law, because by the prescription of the Law all are convicted, and by the works of the Law no one is justified; that is, because through the Law sin is known, but guilt is not remitted, the Law seemed to have done harm, which had made all sinners.

11. Christ's Blood Blots Out the Handwriting of Sin

But the Lord Jesus, coming, forgave to all the sin which none could escape, and blotted out our handwriting by the shedding of His own blood. This is what he says: Sin abounded through the Law: but grace abounded through Jesus; because, after the whole world had been made subject, He took away the sin of the whole world, as John testified, saying: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of the world. And therefore let no one glory in his works, because no one is justified by his own deeds: but he who is just has it as a gift, because he has been justified through the washing. It is faith, then, that sets free through the blood of Christ; because blessed is he to whom sin is remitted, and pardon is granted. Farewell, my son, and love us; for we love you.

Ambrose to Irenaeus.

1. The Law as Schoolmaster and Its Puzzling Changes

You have heard, my son, read today in the Apostle that the Law was our schoolmaster in Christ, that we might be justified by faith. By this one saying I think the questions are resolved which are wont to trouble most people. For there are those who say: Since God gave the Law to Moses, what reason is there that most things in the Law appear now emptied of force through the Gospel? And how is there one founder of both Testaments, when what was lawful in the Law began through the Gospel not to be lawful; as is bodily circumcision, which, although even then given as a sign, that the truth of spiritual circumcision might be held; yet for what reason was it even in the sign itself? Why is this diversity reckoned, that then to be circumcised was believed piety, now it is judged impiety?

Then, that the sabbath day ought to be a holiday was observed from the Law; so that if anyone had carried any load of wood, he would be held guilty of death: but now we notice that that very day is reckoned without penalty both for undertaking burdens and for carrying on business. And there are many precepts of the Law which at the present time seem to have ceased.

2. The Schoolmaster Fitted to an Imperfect Age

Let us then consider what the reason is; for the Apostle did not say idly that the Law was our schoolmaster in Christ. Of whom is a schoolmaster, of the more mature, or of the adolescent? Certainly either of the adolescent, or of the child, that is, of a weak age. For a schoolmaster, as the Latin interpretation also has it, is the teacher of a boy: who indeed cannot apply perfect precepts to an imperfect age, which it could not bear. Accordingly, through the prophet God of the Law says: I will give you precepts not good, that is, not perfect; for what is good is certainly perfect. But the same God reserved more perfect things for the Gospel; since He says: I have not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it.

3. A Stubborn People and the Double Sense of the Law

What, then, is the cause of this difference, if not human variety? He knew that the people of the Jews was stiff-necked, unstable by lapse, base, more prone to faithlessness, one who would hear with the ear and not hear, would see with the eyes and not see, light with a certain slipperiness of infancy and forgetful of precepts; and therefore He applied the Law as a schoolmaster to the fickle disposition and weak mind of the people, and, tempering the very precepts of the Law, wished one thing to be read, another to be understood; so that the foolish might at least keep what he read, and not depart from the prescription of the letter: the wise might understand the sense of the divine mind, which the letter did not sound forth: the imprudent might keep the command of the Law, the prudent the mystery.

Therefore the Law has the severity of the sword, as a schoolmaster his rod; that it might deter the weakness of the imperfect people at least by the threat of punishment: but the Gospel has indulgence, by which sins are forgiven.

4. The Letter Kills but the Spirit Gives Life

Rightly, then, Paul says, that the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. The letter, therefore, circumcises a small portion of the body: the spirit, understanding, keeps the circumcision of the whole soul and body; so that, superfluous things being cut away (for what is so superfluous as the vices of avarice, and the sins of lust, which nature did not have, but guilt sought), chastity may be kept, frugality loved. Bodily circumcision, then, is the sign: spiritual circumcision is the truth: the one cuts off a member, the other sin.

Nature generated nothing imperfect in man, nor was it commanded to be removed as superfluous: but that they might notice, who cut off a part of their body, that sins ought much more to be cut off, and that those who persuade to wrongdoing ought to be cut away, even if they were joined by a certain unity of body, as you have it written: If your right hand scandalizes you, cut it off, and cast it from you; for it is expedient for you that one of your members perish, rather than that your whole body go into hell. Therefore, as to children, so to the Jews were commanded not full precepts, but in part, and they were commanded to keep, as it were, one part of their member clean, who could not keep their whole body clean.

5. Sabbath Rest as a Portion, the Church's Fullness

They were also commanded to keep the sabbath rest one day in the week, that they should be subject to no burden, who, being freed from worldly works, would that they had so departed; that into that perpetual sabbath of future ages they might carry with them no heavy burdens of sins. But because God knew the fickle people, He prescribed a part to the weaker by the observance of one day, He reserved the fullness for the stronger: the Synagogue observes the day, the Church immortality. In the Law, therefore, is a portion, in the Gospel perfection.

6. The Fire That Tries Every Man's Work

The people of the Jews are forbidden to carry wood, that is, that which is consumed by fire. He holds the shadow, who flees the sun. To you the Sun of justice, not suffering the shadow to be an impediment, pouring in the open light of His grace, says: Go, and from now on see that you sin not. To you the imitator of that eternal sun says: But if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be made manifest. For the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire. And the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is And therefore let us build upon Christ (for Christ is our foundation) that which is not burned up, but bettered. Gold is bettered by fire, silver is bettered.

7. Gold and Silver as Figures of the Soul's Wealth

You have heard gold and silver, you think this is material, you desire to gather it: but you are wasting your effort. This gold and silver has burden, it has no fruit. The burden of the one seeking is the expense of the heir. This gold, like wood, is burned up, it does not perpetuate: this silver on that day will bring detriment to your life, not gain. Another gold, another silver is sought from you, that is, a good understanding, an excellent word, of which God speaks when He says that He gives vessels of gold and silver. These are the gifts of God: The words of the Lord are pure words: silver tried by fire, tested of the earth, purified seven times. The grace of your understanding, the brightness of chaste speech, is required: the splendor of faith, not the ringing of silver. This remains, that perishes: this has a reward, and migrates with us; that has detriment, because it is left here.

8. The Miser's Hoard Consumed in Judgment

If any of the rich thinks that that silver, stored and hidden away, can avail him for life, he carries an empty burden, which the fire of judgment will consume. Here leave your wood, you rich, that your burden may not add increase to the future fire. If you give it away, the burden will be lessened: and what remains will not be a burden. Do not, miser, store it up; lest you become a Christian in name alone, a Jew in deed: when you shall perceive that your burdens are your punishment. For it is said to you not in shadow, but in the sun: If any man's work shall abide, he shall receive a reward: if any man's work shall burn, he shall suffer loss.

9. The Ox and the Ass as Figures of Both Testaments

And therefore, as one fully learned in the Law, confirmed in the Gospel, take up the faith of both Testaments: For blessed is he who sows upon every water, where the ox and the ass tread, as was read today, that is, he who sows over the peoples who follow the teaching of both Testaments; the ox is that ploughing beast, bearing the yoke of the Law, of which the Law says: Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn; who has the horns of the divine Scriptures. But the colt of the ass the Lord mounted in the Gospel, as a figure of the gentile people.

10. Severity and Gentleness, Love and Fear

But I think, since the word of God is rich, that we ought also to understand this: that the ox has horns full of terror, the bull has ferocity, the ass has gentleness: which is well applied to the present matter, because blessed is he who holds both severity and gentleness; so that by the one discipline is preserved, by the other innocence is not oppressed: for excessive severity often extorts falsehood through terror. God preferred to be loved rather than feared: the Lord requires love, the servant fear; since perpetual terror cannot exist in a man; because it is written, as was read today: Behold, in your fear they themselves shall fear, whom you feared. Farewell, my son, and love us; for we love you.

Ambrose to Clementianus.

1. Continuing the Argument on the Law as Pedagogue

Although I know that nothing is more difficult than to discourse on a reading of the Apostle; since Origen himself is far lesser in the New than in the Old Testament: yet since in the previous letter I seemed to you to have explained not absurdly why the Law was called a pedagogue, in today's discourse also I shall try to open up the very force of the Apostolic argument.

2. Justification by Faith and the Promise to Abraham's Seed

For the earlier parts of his reading contain this, that no one is justified from the works of the Law, but from faith; For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; but Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us. Therefore the inheritance was not given from the Law, but from the promise. For the promises were made to Abraham, and to his seed which is Christ. And so the Law was set down for the sake of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and therefore all things were shut up under sin, that the promise, by the faith of Jesus Christ, might be given to believers. But after faith came, we are no longer under the Law, that is, under the pedagogue; and because we are sons of God, and we are all in Christ Jesus. But if we are all in Christ Jesus, then we are the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise.

This is the conclusion of the Apostle's argument.

3. Heirs Without Possession Under the Old Law

But there still occurs to one who, even being a Jew, could say: And I too am an heir: since I am under the Law: for the old Law is called a testament: and where there is a testament, there is an inheritance. And although he himself said to the Hebrews, that a testament is not valid unless the death of the testator intervenes, that is, that a testament is not valid as long as the testator lives, but is confirmed by his death; yet because in Jeremiah the Lord spoke of the Jews, and said: My inheritance is become to me as a lion; he was unwilling to deny that they were heirs. But there are heirs without possession, and there are heirs with possession: and they are called heirs while the testator is living, who are written down, but without possession.

4. Heirs as Children Under Guardians and Stewards

There are also heirs who are little children, who differ in nothing from a slave, since they are under guardians and stewards: So, he says, we too were Jews, serving under the elements of this world. But after the fullness of time came, and Christ arrived; we are no longer slaves, but free, if we believe in Christ. Therefore he gave them the appearance of an inheritance, but denied them possession. They have the name of heir, but not the use of it; because just as little children as heirs claim the bare name of inheritance, not authority, they do not have the right of commanding and using it; because they await the fullness of their age, that they may be freed from their guardians.

5. The Law as a Pedagogue to Christ

Therefore, just as little children, so also the Jews are under a pedagogue. The Law is a pedagogue: the pedagogue leads to the master; our only master is Christ: Call no man on earth your master and lord; for one is your master and lord, Christ. The pedagogue is feared, the master shows the way of salvation. Fear therefore leads to liberty, liberty to faith, faith to charity: charity acquires adoption, adoption the inheritance. Therefore where there is faith, there is liberty; for the slave is under fear, the free man by faith. The one is under the letter, the other under grace: the one in servitude, the other in the spirit. But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. If therefore where there is faith, there is liberty; where there is liberty, there is grace; where there is grace, there is the inheritance: but the Jew is in servitude by the letter, not by the spirit; who has no faith, has not the liberty of the spirit.

But where there is no liberty, there is no grace; where there is no grace, there is no adoption; where there is no adoption, there is no succession.

6. Denying the Testator, Forfeiting the Inheritance

Therefore, as though the tablets were sealed, he beholds the inheritance, but does not possess it, has no authority of reading. For how does he say: Our Father, who denies the true Son of God, through whom the adopted son is acquired? How does he name a testament, who denies the death of the testator? How does he claim liberty, who denies the blood by which he was redeemed? For this is the price of our liberty, as Peter says: You were redeemed with precious blood, not indeed of a lamb, but of him who came, like a lamb, in gentleness and humility, and freed the whole world by the single sacrifice of his body, as he himself says: I was led as a lamb to the slaughter. Whence also John says: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of the world.

7. Rising to the Perfect Man in Christ

Therefore the Jew, an heir in the letter, not in the spirit, is like a little child under guardians and stewards: but the Christian, who has recognized the fullness of time in which Christ came, made of a woman, made under the Law; that he might redeem all who were under the Law: the Christian, I say, through the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, rises up into a perfect man, into the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ. Farewell, my son, and love us; for we love you.

AMBROSE to Irenaeus, greeting.

1. A Summary of the Letter to the Ephesians

You have asked that we impress upon you the summary of the letter which was written to the Ephesians, which seems rather obscure unless you gather its distinctions, by which the Apostle thought we should be persuaded not to despair of the kingdom of God.

2. The Hope of Heavenly Reward

He proposed first, therefore, what is usually the greatest incitement to the pursuit of virtue for the good, the hope of rewards, and the inheritance of the promised heavenly things, which drew near in the passion and resurrection of Christ.

3. Christ as Head of the Body

Then he added that not only has our return to paradise been restored to us through Christ: but also the honor of the heavenly throne has been bestowed on this flesh through fellowship with the body of Christ; so that you should no longer doubt the possibility of ascending, since you know that your fellowship in the flesh of Christ cleaves to the heavenly kingdom, through his blood reconciliation has been made of all things, both those on earth and those in heaven (who therefore descended, that he might fulfill all things), through his apostles, prophets, priests, the confirmation of all things, and the gathering together of the nations: and the goal of our hope his own charity, that we may be increased in him through all things; because he himself is the head of all, unto whom we all, according to the measure of the working, rise up into one body by the building up of charity

4. Predestination and the Marriage Sacrament of Christ and the Church

We must not despair, therefore, that the members should cleave to their head; especially since from the beginning we have been predestined to the adoption of sons of God through Jesus Christ in himself: which predestination he proved, asserting that which was foretold from the beginning, that a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall be in one flesh; that this is a great sacrament of Christ and the Church. If therefore the union of Adam and Eve is a great sacrament in Christ and in the Church, it is certain that just as Eve was bone of the bones of the man, and flesh of his flesh; so also we are members of the body of Christ, bone of his bones, and flesh of his flesh.

5. Blessed and Predestined to Adoption

But no letter has resounded with so much blessing upon the people of God as this one, in which that rich witness of divine grace has signified not only that we have been blessed by God, but blessed with every blessing, both spiritual and in the heavenly places, and predestined to the adoption of sons, and that in the Son of God also we have been heaped up with grace, that it abounded unto the knowledge of the mystery of the eternal will: then further, that in the fullness of times, when all things were pacified in Christ, both those on earth and those in heaven, we were established by lot in him; that the things of the Law might be fulfilled in us, and the things of grace: since even according to the Law we seemed chosen in the age of youth, which is a life unblemished, having nothing of childish wantonness, nor of the infirmity of old age:

taught also to wage war not only against flesh and blood, but also against every host of spiritual wickedness, which is in the heavenly places, with vigorous virtues.

6. The Lot of Grace and the Daughters of Salphaad

Therefore, just as it fell to them by lot to possess lands captured from the enemy; so to us has fallen the lot of grace, that we should be the possession of God, who possesses our reins, that is, the seedbed of chastity and temperance. Do you seek to know this lot? Remember that which fell upon Matthias, that he might be substituted into the number of the twelve apostles. But also the prophet David says: If you sleep among the midst of lots; because he who is in the middle between the lot of the old and the new Testament, reclining in both, is admitted to the tranquility of the heavenly kingdom. This lot the daughters of Salphaad sought, of their father's inheritance, and their petition was approved by divine judgment But they sought it in shadow; for Salpha is signified as the shadow of the mouth: therefore they sought in the shadow of speech, they spoke what was not revealed.

Thus the petition of the paternal inheritance was to the daughters of Salphaad in the shadow of speech; but to us it is in the splendor of the Gospel, and in the revelation of grace.

7. God as Our Portion and Inheritance

Let us therefore be the possession of God, and let him be our portion, in whom are the riches of his glory and inheritance. For who is rich, except God alone, who created all things? But much more rich in mercy, who redeemed all, and changed us, according to the nature of the flesh, from being sons of wrath and liable to disturbance, as the author of nature, that we might be sons of peace and charityFor who can change nature, except he who created nature? And so he raised up the dead, and made those brought to life in Christ to sit in the heavenly places in the Lord Jesus himself.

8. Seated Together with Christ in the Heavenly Places

Not that any man has earned the prerogative of sitting in that seat of God, of which the Father said to the Son alone: Sit thou at my right hand; but because in that flesh of Christ, through fellowship of the same nature, the flesh of the whole human race has been honored. For just as he is read to have been subject in our flesh, through the unity of the flesh and the obedience of the body, in which he was obedient even unto death; so also we have sat together with him in the heavenly places in his flesh. Therefore we have not sat, but we have sat together in Christ, who alone, the Son of Man, sits at the right hand of God, as he himself said: Hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God.

For in this his grace and goodness abounded toward us in Christ Jesus, that those dead in works, redeemed through faith, saved by grace, he should endow with the gift of so great a liberty, in which, as though nature itself had also been raised again, it felt the grace of a new creation: that we might walk in good works, created in Christ, we who before had degenerated by the fault of a liable inheritance.

9. One New Man: Jew and Gentile Reconciled

For indeed, the enmities that were before in the flesh having been removed, peace was made of the universe in heaven; that men might be as angels on earth, that the nations and the Israelites might be one, that in one man both the new man and the old, the wall of partition being removed, which divided the two by a discordant barrier, might come together with one another. For since the nature of this flesh had stirred up anger and discords and dissensions, and the Law had bound us with the bonds of the condemned, Christ Jesus, by mortification, subdued the insolence and intemperance of the flesh; he emptied out the law of commandments in ordinances, in which he showed that the doctrines of the spiritual law are not to be interpreted according to the letter; since he also destroyed the idle rests of the sabbath, and the superfluous circumcision of the body, and opened to all access to the Father in one spirit.

For how can there be discord, where there is one calling, one body, and one spirit?

10. Christ's Descent and Ascent to Fulfill All Things

For what else did the Lord Jesus, in descending, accomplish, except that he might rescue us from captivity into liberty, and might make that captivity, bound with the chains of unbelief, captive to himself, bound with the fetters of wisdom, each prudent man putting his feet into its fetters, as it is written: and when he had descended, and ascended, that he might fulfil all things, and that we might all receive of his fullness?

11. Apostles, Prophets, and Teachers for the Church's Growth

And therefore he first set in the Church, filled with the Holy Spirit, apostles, others prophets, others evangelists, and others pastors and teachers, that by their exhortations the progress of believers might be completed, and the work of faithful ministry might grow. Each one is built up by the building of the virtues unto the measure of the inner age, which measure is the more perfect one of a spotless life, that is, of the perfect man, receiving from the fullness of Christ he received the fullness of grace.

12. Growing into the Perfect Man in Christ

But who is a perfect man, except he who, freed from the infancy of a boyish disposition, and from the uncertain and slippery period of adolescence, and from the immoderate heat of youth, has come into the firmness of a perfect man, and has grown up to that maturity of character; so that he is not easily bent by the discourse of a wayward disputer, and is not tossed, as it were by some more turbid storm of irrational doctrine, upon the rocks, betaking himself to the remedies of error: and who follows the truth not only in speech, but also in his works, and takes up in himself the edification of charity;

that he may come together in the unity of faith and knowledge, and, as a member, may not be wanting to his head, that is, Christ, who is the head of all, from whom the whole body of the faithful and wise, through the rational harmony of the Word—for this is what συναρμολογούμενον means, ἀρμονίᾳ τοῦ λόγου δεδεμένον, that is, jointed together and compacted and connected by the harmony of the Word—through every joint of ministration, according to the measure of each part, works the increase of the body, unto its own edification, in charity; that there may arise one temple of God in all, and one dwelling-place of the heavenly abode in the spirit of all.

13. The Union of Rational Natures with Christ the Head

In which I think should be understood the connection of faith and spirit, not only of holy men, but of all believers, and also of all the higher rational Virtues and Powers; that through a certain harmony of virtues and ministries, one body, made up of all the spirits of rational nature, may cleave to its head, Christ, so joined together by the fabric of its building that the joint of each of those cleaving together may not seem, even at the point of contact, to be discordant. For this is what the Greek called ἁφὴν, τῆς χορηγίας κατ' ἐνέργειαν ἐν μέτρῳ: which it will not be difficult for so great an architect to join to himself according to the measure of each one's merits and faith, since the building of charity excludes and blocks up the crack of offense.

There is no reason, therefore, to doubt that the heavenly powers will cleave to the building of this temple in fellowship; for it would be incongruous to understand that the building of human charity should so rise up into the temple of God, that the dwelling of God in the spirit should come to be in us, but should not be in the heavenly powers.

14. Practical Exhortations to the Ephesians

For the sake of this, that such a building might proceed more speedily in us, the Apostle exhorts us to open the eyes of the heart, to raise them to higher things, to seek earnestly the knowledge of God, to discuss the truth, to hide in the heart the commandments of God, to lay aside the desires of error, the hidden things of shame, to be renewed through the grace of the sacraments, to temper anger, to relax agitation before the setting of the sun, to beware lest the adversary occupy your higher parts, that spirit who has power, who plunged himself into the heart of Judas, and battered down the doors of his soul, so that he could not resist, to shut out the thief, to turn away the liar, to rise from the dead, to take up sobriety: that the wife ought to be subject to her husband, as the Church to Christ; that the husband ought to offer his soul for his wife, as Christ delivered himself for the Church: finally, like a good warrior, to take up the arms of God, and to hold them forth always, not only against flesh and blood, but also against spiritual wickedness; lest he be softened by his own, or captured by strangers.

These things I have briefly touched upon, as I was able, in summary. Farewell, my son, and love us; for we love you.

Ambrose to Horontianus.

1. The Value of the Divine Inheritance

You did not think it idle to ask what is the inheritance of the divine matter; and why it is valued by so great a name, that for its sake very many even offer their death. But if you consider that even in human usage the grace of a monetary inheritance makes the rights of filial devotion more venerable; since this too is granted the more to parents, lest offended piety avenge itself by disinheriting, or by disowning a stubborn pledge: you will assuredly cease to wonder what is the reason for so great a desire for the divine inheritance.

2. Sons of the Promise, Not of the Law

Now an inheritance is set before all Christians; for thus says Isaiah: There is an inheritance for those who believe in the Lord: which is hoped for from the promise, not from the Law. Which is proved by the example of the Old Testament, Sarah saying: Cast out the handmaid and her son; for the son of the handmaid shall not be heir with my son Isaac. The son of Sarah is Isaac, the son of the handmaid is Ishmael; these are before the Law: therefore the promise is older than the Law. We, after the manner of Isaac, are sons through promise, the Jews according to the flesh are sons of the handmaid. Our mother is the free woman, who did not bear children, and afterward, from the promise, poured forth and bore a male child: their mother is Hagar, bringing forth into servitude.

He is free, to whom grace is promised; he is a slave, upon whom the yoke of the Law is imposed: therefore the promise is prior to us than the Law to them; and according to nature liberty is older than servitude. Liberty, therefore, is from promise, servitude from the Law. But although the promise itself is before the Law, as we have said, and from the promise comes liberty, and in liberty charity; nevertheless charity, which is greater than liberty, is according to the Law.

3. The Free Servitude of the Spirit

Are we then not slaves? And how then is it written: Praise the Lord, ye servants? How does the Apostle himself say: But as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart with good will? True, there is also a free servitude, which is voluntary, of which the Apostle says: He who was called free, is the servant of Christ. This is servitude from the heart, not from necessity. And so we indeed are servants of our Creator: but we have a liberty, which we have received through the grace of Christ, being begotten from the promise according to faith. Whence, as those begotten of a free woman, let us offer the sacrifice of liberty, sealed on the forehead, as befits the free; that we may not be confounded, but may glory, sealed in spirit, not in flesh. To whom it is rightly said: Stand fast, and be not held again under the yoke of servitude.

He did not say: Do not serve, but: do not be held under the yoke of servitude; for the yoke of servitude is more grievous than servitude itself.

4. Isaac's Blessing to Esau and Jacob

Finally, Isaac, to his son Esau asking for a blessing, says: Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above: and by your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother. But it shall come to pass, when you shall have thrown off and loosed his yoke from your neck. How does it agree that he should serve, when he has loosed the yoke of his brother from his neck, unless we understand that there is a difference of servitude? Let the reading itself, then, explain to us what the difference is. Isaac is good, and good for us, who are born in liberty according to him: and the father is good to both sons.

Finally, that he loved both, he proved by affection toward the one, and by blessing toward the other; for he had said to the elder son that he should bring him food, and receive the blessing: but while he delays, and seeks a rustic and outdoor food, the younger brother brought a domestic one from the flock of sheep.

5. The Good Food of Faith Versus the Law

The good food of all is Christ, faith is a good food, mercy a sweet food, grace a pleasant food. These foods the people of the holy Church feast upon. The Spirit of God is a good food, the remission of sins is a good food. But that other, harsher food, is the rigor of the Law, and the terror of punishments: a rustic food is the observance of the letter rather than the grace of pardon. Finally, that people is under a curse, we are in blessing. Faith is a swift food: For the word is near, in your mouth, and in your heart: the food of the Law is slower. Finally, while the Law was awaited, the people went astray.

6. A Blessing of Service for the Elder Son

The father, therefore, conferred the blessing on the diligent and faithful son: but because he was a good father, he kept a blessing also for the elder son; that he might make him the servant of his brother: not because he wished to consign his household to a degrading servitude, but because he who cannot rule and govern himself ought to serve, and be subject to one more prudent; that he may be ruled by his counsel, lest he be cast headlong by his own folly, and slip through rashness. For a blessing of this kind, then, servitude is conferred. Finally, it is numbered among goods, among the fatness of the earth bestowed, and the dew of heaven from above. But because he had said: By your sword you shall live, lest presumption of strength or power should harm him, he added: You shall serve your brother; that you might obtain both the abundant fruits of the flesh, and the dew of divine grace, and might follow him who rules by his own governance.

7. Voluntary Servitude and the Charity of the Spirit

But this will be, when you shall have thrown off his yoke from your neck; that you may have the reward of voluntary servitude, and not suffer the injury of necessity. For servitude of this kind, which is compelled by necessity, is dishonored; but that which is rendered by piety is honored. Whence the apostle: If I do this willingly, I have a reward: if unwillingly, a dispensation has been entrusted to me. Certainly the reward of a wage is better than the service of a mere dispensation. Let us, therefore, not be held by the yoke of servitude, but let us serve by the charity of the spirit; for the apostle says: By the charity of the spirit serve one another. The charity of the Gospel is the fear of the law. Finally: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but the fullness of the law is charity.

Yet the law itself also says: And in this word every commandment is renewed, and in this one saying, it says, it is fulfilled: You shall love your neighbor.

8. Charity as True Liberty Under the Law

This, then, is what we have proposed, that although servitude comes from the law, yet liberty is according to the law; for charity is the liberty, and fear is the servitude. There is, therefore, both a charity of the law, and a servitude of charity: but the law of charity is its herald, while the charity of the Gospel is the arbiter of pious servitude.

9. The Law as Pedagogue Until Faith Came

The law, then, is not superfluous, which, like a pedagogue, attends the weaker. I speak of the weakness of character, not of bodies; for they are infants who do not know how to speak the word of God, who do not receive his works. For if the age of old age is a spotless life, certainly the age of adolescence is a blemished life. The Law, then, was a pedagogue, that is νόμος, until faith should come. And as though weak, he says, we were kept under the law, shut up unto that faith which was to be revealed. But after faith came, he does not say the Gospel, but faith; for that alone is faith which is in the Gospel. For although the justice of God is revealed in it, which is from faith to faith; yet that faith of the Law is only faith if the fullness of faith be added to it. Rightly, then, this faith is called, as it were, the only one; because that faith without this is not faith, and in this it is confirmed.

Finally, where this faith has come, fullness has come, the adoption of sons has come, weakness has ceased, infancy has departed, we rise up into the perfect man, we put on Christ. How, then, can he be weak and a little one, in whom Christ, the power of God, dwells? Therefore we have come to perfection, we have received the precepts of perfection.

10. Christ the Judge Who Judges by Equity

You have heard read today: I cannot do anything of myself: as I hear, I judge. You have heard read: I do not accuse you, I do not judge. I do not accuse, Moses accuses you, in whom you hope. You have heard read: If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. I have learned what sort of judge, what sort of witness I ought to be. For he does not speak as one weak when he says: I cannot do anything of myself: but he is weak who understands it thus. For the Son does nothing at all without the Father; because there is a common operation, and a unity of power: but in this place he speaks as a judge, so that we may recognize that men, in judging, ought to form their sentence not from their own will and power, but from equity.

11. The Judge Who Follows Equity, Not Will

Suppose some guilty man, convicted and found guilty of a crime, not putting forward kinds of defense, but begging and throwing himself at the knees of the judge; the judge replies to him: I cannot do anything of myself; in judging there is justice, not power. I do not judge, but your own deeds judge you concerning yourself: they themselves accuse you, and they themselves condemn you. The laws pass sentence on you, which I as judge do not alter, but keep. I bring forth nothing of my own, but the form of the judgment against you proceeds out of yourself. According as I hear, I judge, not according as I will; and therefore my judgment is true, because I do not indulge my will, but equity.

12. True Judgment Belongs to God Alone

Let us therefore consider what is the religion of judging. The Lord of heaven and earth, judge of all, says: I cannot do anything of myself: as I hear, I judge; and yet a man says to his Lord: Do you not know that I have power to release you, and I have power to crucify you? Why can the Lord not do this? Because, he says, my judgment is true. For I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me, that is: not the will of the man whom you see: not the choice of the man whom you judge to be merely a man: not the will of the flesh; because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak: but the divine will, which is the author of the law and the arbiter of judgment. Likewise the true witness also is he who bears testimony not to himself, but to another; for it is written: Let your neighbor praise you, and not your own mouth.

13. Christ Does Not Judge, but Moses Accuses

Beautifully, however, it is said mystically to the Jews: I do not judge you, that, the redemption of all, I, the remission of sins, I do not judge you; because you did not receive me. I do not judge, I who gladly forgive. I do not judge, I who redeem sinners by my blood. I do not judge, I who blot out iniquities, and will not remember them. I do not judge, I who prefer the life rather than the death of the sinner. I do not judge, I who do not condemn, but justify those who confess. Moses accuses you, he reproves you, in whom you hope: he accuses you; because he does not have the power of judging, which is owed to its author. He, then, in whom you hope, accuses; but this one, in whom you were unwilling to hope, absolves.

14. The Folly of Rejecting the Good Judge

Great is the imprudence of the Jews! They are deservedly accused in their own crimes; because they chose the accuser, and rejected the good judge: and therefore absolution is lacking to them, but punishment is not lacking.

15. From the Law to the Gospel by Faith

Rightly, then, my son, you have begun from the law, you have been confirmed in the Gospel, from faith unto faith, as it is written: For the just man lives by faith. Farewell, and love us; for we love you.

Ambrose to Horontianus.

1. Abraham's Two Sons and Justification by Faith

If Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice, and what is reputed unto justice is from unbelief unto faith: assuredly we are justified from faith, not from the works of the law. But Abraham himself had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, one of the handmaid, the other of the free woman And the answer of this kind was, that he should cast out the handmaid and the son of the handmaid; for the son of the handmaid was not to be heir: and therefore we are not sons of the handmaid, but of the free woman, by which freedom Christ has freed us. Whence it is gathered that they are rather sons of Abraham who are of faith; for they excel by faith those who are heirs by generation. The law is a pedagogue, faith is free: let us then cast away the works of servitude, let us hold the grace of liberty: let us leave the shadow, having followed the sun: let us leave the Jewish rites.

2. Circumcision of the Flesh Profits Nothing

Circumcision of one member profits nothing. Indeed the Apostle says: Behold, I Paul say to you, that if you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. Not because he cannot, but because he judges unworthy of his benefits those who forsake his ways.

3. Christ's Circumcision According to Law and Cross

And indeed formerly Zipporah circumcised her son, and averted the danger which threatened: but then Christ profited, while as yet he deferred what was perfect. When the people of believers were still a little one, there came, not a little one, but the Lord Jesus, perfect in all things. He was circumcised first according to the law, lest he should dissolve the law: afterward through the cross, that he might fulfill the law. That which is in part ceased, therefore, because that which is perfect came; for the cross in Christ circumcised not one member, but the superfluous pleasures of the whole body.

4. Why Christ Accepted Partial Circumcision

Perhaps it is still asked for what reason he who had come to display perfect circumcision willed to be circumcised in part. Concerning which I do not think we ought to deliberate further. For if he was made sin, that he might cleanse our sins: if he was made a curse for us, that he might empty out the curses of the law; by that same reasoning he was also circumcised for us, that he might take away the circumcision of the Law, being about to give the salvation of the cross.

5. Faith Working Through Love in Abraham

By the Spirit, therefore, from faith, we are to await the hope of righteousness, the Apostle asserts, and that those called into liberty ought not to turn their liberty into an occasion for the flesh. For neither does circumcision avail anything, nor uncircumcision: but faith which works through love. And therefore it is written: You shall love the Lord your God. But he who loves surely believes, and by believing each one begins to love. Indeed Abraham believed, and so began to love: and he believed not in part, but in all things. For otherwise he could not have had full charity; because it is written: Charity believes all things. If it does not believe all things, charity does not seem to be perfect. Therefore perfect charity has all faith.

6. The Greatest of These Is Charity

Yet I would not easily say that immediately all faith has perfect charity; because the Apostle said: If I have all faith, so that I could move mountains, but have not charity, it profits me nothing. For indeed, whereas there are three things especially in the Christian man, hope, faith, charity: greater than these is charity.

7. Perfect Faith Implies Perfect Charity

But I think the Apostle said this for the sake of the argument in hand; for it does not seem to me that one who has all faith, so as to move mountains, does not have charity; just as with that other saying, if someone has all mysteries and all knowledge; how would he not have charity, especially since John says: That everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God; and above he himself has said: That whoever is born of God, does not sin? Whence it is gathered, if he who believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God; and he who is born of God, does not sin: assuredly he who believes that Jesus is the Christ, does not sin. But if anyone sins, he does not believe: and he who does not believe, does not love either: and he who does not love is liable to sin. Therefore he who sins does not love; for charity covers a multitude of sins.

But if charity excludes the affection for sinning, since it also casts out fear, charity is assuredly full of perfect faith.

8. Increase Our Faith: Faith Preparing the Way for Love

Indeed the apostles, who were to be friends, said: Increase our faith, asking of the good physician that he heal the faith that was weak in them. Faith was still weak in them, when even Peter heard: O you of little faith, why did you doubt? Therefore faith, as it were preceding, occupies the soul, and prepares the paths for the love that is to come.

Thus it is all faith, where there is the perfection of charity.

9. Charity Embraces Both Faith and Hope

Therefore I think it is said that charity believes all things, that is, it makes faith believe all things, and a soul of this sort to have all faith. And by this, where there is perfect charity, there is all faith: just as where there is perfect charity, there is all hope. Indeed, just as it believes all things, so it is written that it hopes all things. Therefore it is greater, because it embraces both hope and faith.

10. Perfect Charity Casts Out Fear of Martyrdom

He who has this charity fears nothing; because charity casts out fear; and therefore, with fear dismissed and stripped away, he bears all things, he endures all things. He, then, who through charity endures all things, cannot fear martyrdom. And therefore, as it were a victor, he says elsewhere at the end: For the world is crucified to me, and I to the world. Farewell, my son, and love us; for we love you.

AMBROSE greets BELLICIUS.

1. Illness as a Summons to Faith and Recovery

You have signified to me that, having been tossed by a grave illness, you believed in the Lord Jesus, and have already begun to recover. That infirmity, then, was unto salvation, bearing more of a sting than of danger; because you were delaying what had long been promised. This is what he says: I will strike, and I will heal. He struck with infirmity, he healed with faith. For he saw your inward disposition not empty of pious desire, but shaken loose by delays; and therefore he preferred to admonish, so as not to harm your health, but to rouse your devotion.

2. Christ's Unseen Visit to Heal the Sick

For how would he harm your salvation, who is wont to say, as we read in the Gospel: I will come, and heal him? Therefore even when he was invited by your people to visit your house, without doubt he said: I will come, and heal him. And though you did not hear him, yet he, as God, spoke imperceptibly: and though you did not see him, yet it cannot be doubted that he visited you incorporeally.

3. Receiving Christ as an Unseen Guest of the Soul

But you have seen him, you who have believed him; you have seen him, you who have received him as guest in the lodging of your mind: you have seen him with the spirit, you have seen him with the inward eyes. Hold, then, this new guest, long awaited, but late received: in whom we live, and are, and move. You have tasted, then, the first beginnings of faith; let not the word remain hidden in your heart. All this is grace, this is the whole gift. For no one estimates the inner rooms of a house from its entrance, since all the fruit is within; nor indeed is it the part of a wise man to look into the house from the window, and it is the folly of a man to listen through the door.

4. The Sacrament Greater Than the Manna

Other are the mysteries of the more perfect sacraments; because Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, what things God has prepared for those who love him, as Scripture says. Other are those things which the prophets announced concerning the glory to come, to whom it was revealed, and which the saints preached, the Spirit of God being sent from heaven, into which even angels desire to look, as the apostle Peter says. Other are those things in which is the redemption of the world, the remission of sins, the distribution of graces, the participation of the sacraments: which, when you have received, then you will marvel that so great a gift has been given to man, so that that manna, which we marvel flowed from heaven for the Jews, you will judge to have been of neither so great a grace nor so great an operation unto salvation. For whoever received that in the desert died, except Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb: but whoever shall taste this sacrament shall not die forever.

May the Lord Jesus heal you. Farewell.

Ambrose to Bellicius.

1. The Man Born Blind Whom Christ Did Not Pass By

You have heard, brother, the reading of the Gospel, in which it was related that the Lord Jesus, passing by, saw a man blind from birth. If, then, the Lord saw him, he did not pass him by: wherefore neither ought we to pass by him whom the Lord did not think should be passed by; especially since he was blind from birth, which is not set down without purpose.

2. A Healing by Power, Not by Medicine

For there is a blindness which for the most part, by the force of illness, clouds over the sight of the eyes, and which is relieved in the same span of time; there is a blindness which is generated by an infusion of humors; this too, the defect for the most part being removed, is driven off by the art of medicine; so that you may know that the fact that this man is healed, who is blind from his birth, is not a matter of art, but of power. For the Lord bestowed health, he did not practice medicine; for the Lord Jesus healed those whom no one could cure.

3. Neither This Man Nor His Parents Sinned

How foolish, moreover, were the Jews, who asked: Did this man sin, or his parents? Referring bodily infirmities to the merits of sins. And therefore the Lord says: Neither did this man sin, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. For what nature lacked, it belongs to the Creator to restore, who is the author of nature. Whence he added: While I am in this world, I am the light of this world; that is, all who are blind can see, if they seek me, the light. Come you also, and be enlightened, that you may be able to see.

4. Clay, Spittle, and the Pool of Siloam

Then what does it mean that he who restored life by command gave health by precept, saying to the dead man: Come forth, and Lazarus came forth from the tomb; saying to the paralytic: Arise, take up thy bed; and the paralytic arose, and himself began to carry the pallet on which, loosed in all his members, he was being carried: what, I ask, does it mean, that he spat and made clay, and anointed the eyes of the blind man, and said to him: Go and wash in Siloam, which is interpreted, Sent; and he went, and washed, and began to see? What reason is this? A great one, unless I am mistaken; for he sees more, whom Jesus touches.

5. Christ's Spittle as a Sign of Baptismal Grace

Observe at once both his divinity and his sanctification. As light he touched, he poured in; as priest, through the figure of baptism, he fulfilled the mysteries of spiritual grace. He spat, that you might perceive that the inward parts of Christ are light. And truly he sees, who is cleansed by the inward things of Christ. His saliva washes, his word washes, as you have it: Now you are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

6. Clay and Baptism: Restoring Man Made of Clay

But that he made clay, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with it, what else does it signify, except that you should understand that he restored the man, clay having been smeared on him, to health, who fashioned man out of clay: and that this flesh of our clay may receive, through the sacraments of baptism, the light of eternal life? Come you too to Siloam, that is, to him who was sent by the Father, as you have it: My doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me. Let Christ wash you, that you may see. Come to baptism, the very time is at hand: come in haste, that you too may say: I went, and washed, and began to see; that you too may say: I was blind, and I began to see; that you may say, as this man, his light restored, says: The night is far spent, and the day is at hand.

7. Night and Day: Judas, John, and Peter

Night was blindness. It was night, when Judas received the morsel from Jesus, and Satan entered into him. For Judas it was night, in whom the devil was: for John it was day, who was reclining on Christ's breast. For Peter too it was day, when he saw the light of Christ on the mountain For others it was night, but for Peter it was day. Yet for Peter himself it was night, when he denied Christ. Then the cock crowed, and he began to weep, that he might correct his error; for now day was drawing near.

8. The Jews' Foolish Question to the Healed Man

The Jews asked the blind man: How did you see? Great madness! They asked about what they were seeing: they asked the cause, when they saw the fact.

9. Their Curse Becomes a Blessing

And they cursed him, saying: Be thou his disciple. Their curse is a blessing; for their blessing is a curse. Be thou, they say, his disciple. Then they profit, when they believe they are doing harm. Farewell, my son, and love us, as you do; for we love you.