March 4

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.—John 1:12.

"WHY then, O blessed one, dost thou not also tell us the punishment of them who received him not? Thou hast said that they were his own, and that when he came to his own, they received him not; but what they shall suffer for this, what punishment they shall undergo, thou hast not gone on to add. Yet so thou wouldest the more have terrified them, and have softened the hardness of their insanity by threatening. Wherefore then hast thou been silent?" "And what other punishment," he would say, "can be greater than this, that when power is offered them to become sons of God, they do not become so, but willingly deprive themselves of such nobility and honor as this?" Although their punishment shall not even stop at this point, that they gain no good, but moreover the unquenchable fire shall receive them, as in going on he has more plainly revealed. But for the present he speaks of the unutterable goods of those who received him, and sets them in brief before us in these words, saying, As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.

Whether bond or free, whether Greeks or barbarians, or Scythians, unlearned or learned, female or male, children or old men, in honor or dishonor, rich or poor, rulers or private persons, all, he saith, are deemed worthy the same privilege; for faith and the grace of the Spirit, removing the inequality caused by worldly things, hath moulded all to one fashion, and stamped them with one impress, the king's. What can equal this loving-kindness? A king, who is framed of the same clay with us, does not deign to enroll among the royal host his fellow-servants, who share the same nature with himself, and in character often are better than he, if they chance to be slaves; but the Only-Begotten Son of God did not disdain to reckon among the company of his children both publicans, sorcerers, and slaves, nay, men of less repute and greater poverty than these, maimed in body, and suffering from ten thousand ills. Such is the power of faith in him, such the excess of his grace. And as the element of fire, when it meets with ore from the mine, straightway of earth makes it gold, even so and much more regeneration makes those who are washed to be of gold instead of clay, the Spirit at that time falling like fire into our souls, burning up the image of the earthly, and producing the image of the heavenly, fresh coined, bright and glittering, as from the furnace-mould.

Why then did he say not that "He made them sons of God," but that He gave them power to become the sons of God? To show that we need much zeal to keep the image of sonship impressed on us by the Spirit, all through without spot or soil; and at the same time to show that no one shall be able to take this power from us unless we are the first to deprive ourselves of it. For if among men, those who have received the absolute control of any matters have well nigh as much power as those who gave them the charge; much more shall we, who have obtained such honor from God, be, if we do nothing unworthy of this power, stronger than all; because he who put this honor in your hands is greater and better than all. At the same time too he wishes to show that not even does grace come upon man irrespectively, but upon those who desire and take pains for it. For it lies in the power of these to become his children; since if they do not themselves first make the choice, the gift does not come upon them, nor have any effect.

Having therefore everywhere excluded compulsion, and pointing to man's voluntary choice and free power, he has said the same now. For even in these mystical blessings, it is, on the one hand, God's part, to give the grace, on the other, man's to supply faith; and in after time there needs for what remains much earnestness. In order to preserve our purity, it is not sufficient for us merely to have been baptized and to have believed, but we must, if we will continually enjoy this brightness, display a life worthy of it.

"His glory our design, We live our God to please, And rise, with filial fear divine, To perfect holiness."