Author: Nicholas of Gorran (Gorranus)
Work: Commentary on the Epistle to the Philippians
Chapter: II (1-11)
Phil 2:1. If therefore there is any consolation in Christ, if any solace of charity, if any society of the Spirit, if any bowels of mercy.
Above, he invited them to the tolerance of passions by his own example; here he invites them to the same in union with him, by the example of Christ. Wherein first he admonishes them concerning those things which dispose one to suffer well with the Holy Spirit; and second, he admonishes them to imitate Christ in these things: For let this mind be in you; third, he shows the mode of imitating: Therefore, my brothers; fourth, he promises to send messengers to them to admonish and comfort them: But I hope in the Lord Jesus.
In the first part, first he places a certain conditional admonition; second, such an admonition: Fulfill my joy. Moreover, he places a fourfold condition: the first is if they wish to have the consolation of Christ; the second, if the participation of the gifts of the Church: If any solace; the third, if the society of the Holy Spirit: If any society; the fourth, if they have mercy: If any bowels.
He says therefore: If therefore, as if to say: since to suffer thus for Christ is a gift of God, therefore since it is so: If there is any consolation in Christ, that is, if you wish to have some consolation in Christ. Or: if you wish to console me in Christ. For He is the God of all consolation (2 Cor 1:3). If any solace of charity, that is, if you wish to have solace from the charity of the Church, so that namely you may be participants of the goods which are in the Church (Ps 118:63): I am a partaker of all them that fear thee. If any society of the Holy Spirit, that is, if you wish for the union and society which the Holy Spirit makes (Eph 4:3): Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. If any bowels of mercy, either generally if there is any effect of mercy in you, or specially if there is any affect of piety toward me in you (Job 31:18): For mercy grew up with me from my infancy.
Phil 2:2. Fulfill my joy, that you be of the same mind.
Here he subjoins the admonition, and this fourfold on the part of Paul's joy: First to faith; second to charity: Having the same charity; third to humility: Nothing through contention; fourth to communication or support: Not looking each to his own things. For faith begins the good, charity completes it, humility preserves it, communication multiplies it.
He says therefore: Fulfill, as if he said: if it is so, fulfill my joy, as if he said: the joy which you began by receiving faith, fulfill by suffering for the faith. Fulfill, I say, in this namely that you be of the same mind in faith, namely by believing the same thing (2 Cor ult:11): Be perfect, be of the same mind, have peace; and the God of peace and of love shall be with you. The Order of Perfection.
Phil 2:2 cont.. Having the same charity, being of one accord, being of one mind.
Here he exhorts to charity, wherein is hinted a threefold condition of charity: Identity of love, because the same charity; concord in goods, because being of one accord; compassion in evils, because being of one mind. He says therefore: Having the same charity, namely mutual and universal toward all, in invicem namely by loving one another (1 Pet 4:8): Having therefore unfeigned love of the brethren from the heart. And may you be also unanimes, that is, of one will in goods, namely by willing the same thing, just as (Acts 4:32): The multitude of believers had one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but all things were common unto them. Idipsum sentientes (being of one mind) in evils by compassioning (Rom 12:15): Rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with them that weep; in the same verse 16: Being of one mind one towards another.
Phil 2:3. Nothing through contention, nor through vain glory, but in humility, each counting others better than themselves.
Here he exhorts to humility, wherein he dehorts from pride: first of action; second of intention: nor through vain glory; third of opinion: But in humility. He says therefore: Nothing through contention, supply doing. And this neither through contention of mind, so that one is preferred to another, nor through contention of word, so that by clamorous words (1 Cor 11:16): If any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom. And similarly doing nothing through vain glory, that is, on account of the fame and praise of the world (Gal 6:26): Let us not be made desirous of vain glory. But in humility, supply be you dwelling. You, I say, counting others better than themselves, that is, more worthy before God, so that namely one may consider another superior before God and thus be humbled (Eph 5:21): Being subject one to another, in the fear of Christ. And (Rom 12:10): In honor preventing one another.
Phil 2:4. Not looking each to his own things, but also to the things of others.
Here he exhorts to communication, wherein first he dehorts from division of property or singularity; second he exhorts to the support of communication: But also those. In the first he implies a threefold singularity: of fortunes (His), of persons (Each), of actions (Considering). He says therefore: Considering each not his own things only, namely private comforts or discomforts. For charity seeks not her own (1 Cor 13:5). But rather be you considering the things of others.
Note here that contention is multiple: First, of Saints (Luke 13:24): Strive to enter by the narrow gate. Second, of the proud, as here nothing through contention. Third, of litigious men, as (1 Cor 11:16): If any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom. Fourth, of Advocates: If any man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also to him (Matt 5:40). Fifth, of Fighters (1 Cor 9:25): Every one that striveth for the mastery, abstaineth from all things.
Note that the figure of the world is said to be vain. First, because it fails quickly (Isa 40:6): All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field. The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen, because the spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Second, because it makes men vain (Jer 2:5): They went after vanity, and became vain. Third, because it leaves no utility after itself (Wis 5:8): What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? Fourth, because it carries no solidity in itself (Ps 4:3): Why do you love vanity, and seek after lying?
Phil 2:5. For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
Here he admonishes them to imitate Christ in the premises. And first he shows who is to be imitated, because the Son of the Supreme Father; second, in what He is to be imitated, because in the merit of humility: Who being in the form of God; third, why He is to be imitated, because on account of the reward of clarity: For which cause God.
In the first are implied four things by which the human sense is intended in sensing: It is by reason of the object, when namely it is united, because the sense intent upon many things is less for each. Therefore he says this. Another is by reason of the mode, when namely it is experience; for taste or touch is more certain, therefore he says feel (sentite). The third is by reason of the subject, when namely the subject is close, as he who approaches nearer to the fire feels more, therefore he says in you, who namely are members of the Member. The fourth is by reason of the motive, when namely that thing is useful or honorable, because that attracts the sense more, therefore he says which was also in Christ Jesus.
He says therefore: For this, as if to preserve the aforesaid, take the example of Christ. For let this mind be in you, that is, know by experience in yourselves, the members. For members ought to feel the passions of the head, because when the head is infirm, the other members grieve, which also happened in Christ Jesus, supply was done.
Note concerning that For let this mind be in you, which was also etc., because of such a sense there is a threefold medium, a threefold impediment, [and] the damage of a threefold impediment. The threefold medium is sight, taste, and touch. Let us feel therefore: By the sense of sight, knowing the truth through faith, just as those (1 John 5:20): We know that the Son of God is come, and he hath given us understanding that we may know the true God, and may be in his true Son. This is the true God and life eternal. By the sense of taste, imitating goodness through work (Wis 1:1): Think of the Lord in goodness, and in simplicity of heart seek him. For he is found by them that tempt him not. Otherwise: Faith without works is dead (James 2:20). By the sense of touch, sustaining penality through patience (Eccli 5:12): Be firm in the way of the Lord and in truth, [and] thy sense...
But alas, a threefold impediment today takes away this threefold sense: sleep, stench, and old age. For the sleep of ignorance takes away the knowledge of truth; just as a sleeping man does not see nor discern, so one soporific through the pore of the delight of sin. Therefore (Prov 23:34): Thou shalt be as one sleeping in the middle of the sea, and as a governor asleep when the helm is lost. The stench of concupiscence [takes away] devotion and the imitation of goodness. For a stinking man does not feel the stench, so neither does anything fetid disgust him who is accustomed to the filth of sin. Whence (Gen 19:33): Lot perceived not when he lay down, nor when he arose. The old age of ignavia (sloth) impedes the strength of sustentation; for the acumen of sense does not so vigor in the decrepit, therefore the decrepit, that is, carnal men, would not feel the sweetness of patience. This is signified (2 Kings 19:35) regarding Barzillai: Can I discern between good and evil? or can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink?
Such insensate men, to whom no good food savors, a threefold inconvenience follows: First, the impugnation of creatures (Wis 5:21): The whole world shall fight with him against the unwise. Second, the malediction of the Creator (Wis 3:12): Their wives are foolish. Third, the infliction of torments (Wis 12:23): To them who in their life have lived foolishly and unjustly, thou hast given extreme torments by the things by which they were oppressed.
Moreover, we ought to feel five things regarding Christ suffering, according to the number of the five senses. We ought to feel therefore: By the sense of hearing, the loud clamor, concerning which (Matt 27:50): Jesus again crying with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. Concerning this sense (Jer 4:19): O my bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart, my heart maketh a noise in me; because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. The belly is the memory in which the passion etc. By the sense of sight, the livid color. Concerning which sense (Eccli 14:22): Blessed is the man that shall continue in wisdom, and that shall meditate justice, and in his sense shall think circumspection. So he thought and circumspected who said: We saw him, and there was no sight, and we desired him (Isa 53:2). By the sense of smell, the placid odor, because he delivered himself for us an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness (Eph 5:2). Concerning this sense (Eccli 5:12): Be firm in the way of the Lord, and in thy truth, and thy sense, as never leaving the odoriferous way which thou feelest in Christ. By the sense of taste, the fervid love, because he loved us, and washed us from our sins (Apoc 1:5). Concerning this sense (Wis 1:1): Think of the Lord in goodness, and in simplicity of heart seek him. By the sense of touch, the excessive pain. Concerning which (Lam 1:12): O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow, for he hath vintage me as the Lord spoke in the day of his fierce wrath. Concerning this sense (Eccli 22:24): Piercing the eye bringeth forth tears, and he that pierceth the body bringeth forth sense. For if he were pierced with a lance, we would feel. Let the hearing feel therefore by believing through faith, the sight by gazing through meditation, the smell by attracting through devotion, the touch by imitating through patience.
Phil 2:6. Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
Here he subjoins in what Christ is to be imitated, because in the merit of humility. Moreover, he elevates the merit of his humility from three conditions: first from the dignity of the divine majesty; second from the assumption of human frailty: But emptied himself; third from the tolerance of passion: He humbled himself. Truly a most humble person, in whom [was] both the sublimity of Deity, and the humility of sublimity, and the immensity of humility.
Concerning the first, he touches four things in Christ: the nature of divinity (in the form of God), the eternity of nature (being), co-equality with the Father (to be equal), the truth of co-equality (thought it not robbery). Therefore the Father and the Son are consubstantial, co-eternal, and co-equal. He says therefore: Who, namely Christ, being in the form of God from eternity, that is, in divine essence and nature. Hilary: To be in the form of God is no other understanding than to remain in the nature of God (John 1:1): And the Word was God. Thought it not robbery etc. This is read in two ways. In one way concerning Christ according to divine nature: thus he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, that is, by arbitrating and saying himself to be equal to God according to divine nature. In another way it is read concerning him according to human nature: thus he thought it not robbery, namely this, that he be equal to God according to human nature, which would be to arbitrate robbery, just as the Angel and the first parents, who according to Augustine wished to seize divinity and lost felicity.
Phil 2:7. But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man.
Here he touches the assumption of human frailty by Christ, of which sort of assumption four things render it admirable and commendable: first, the dignation of the assumer, because he emptied himself; second, the condition of the nature assumed, because he took the form of a servant; third, the corruption of the status assumed, because being made in the likeness of men; fourth, the union of the assumption, because in habit found as a man. All sound humility, because the dignation was incomparable, the nature assumed servile, the status passible, the union personal.
He says therefore: But emptied himself, as if he said: thus he thought it not robbery, but rather himself he emptied, not an Angel, not a man, namely a creature which is vain and from nothing, by uniting himself to it (Rom 8:20): For creation was made subject to vanity. Emptied, I say, not by putting off the form of divinity, but taking the form of a servant, namely by assuming the nature, not of any creature whatever, but of man, so that in it he might serve us (Matt 20:28): The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. He himself, I say, being made in the likeness of men, namely by suspending mortality and passibility and all defects of human nature. For in creation man was made to the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26); but in re-creation God was made in the likeness of men. And in habit found as a man, namely by conversing among men (Baruch 3:38): And he was conversant with men. And remaining immutable God in assumed humility, just as habit does not change the nature of a thing.
Because however he says as a man, the word as is not a note of similitude but of expression of truth, just as (John 1:14): As it were of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And note here that according to Augustine, some things accede to something in four ways: for certain things are not changed but change, as wisdom; certain things change and are not changed, as food; certain things neither changing nor changed, as a ring; certain things are not changed but are changed, as clothing. And this genus befits the Incarnation; for change was made in the nature assumed, not in the assumer.
Note that divine nature is called "form" for multiple reasons: First, on account of its immateriality, because God alone is altogether immaterial. Second, on account of its beauty, because all beauty is from form. Third, on account of its diffusion or communicability, because all being is from form. Fourth, on account of its exemplarity, because it is the idea of all things.
Phil 2:8. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Here he commends the humility of Christ from the tolerance of Passion. And this because he suffered willingly, because he humbled; personally, because himself; humbly, because becoming obedient; vehemently, because unto death; shamefully, because the death of the cross. He says therefore: He humbled, as if he said: not only did he empty himself unto the Incarnation, but also he humbled himself, Christ voluntarily unto the Passion, not coerced by another was he humbled (Isa 53:7): He was offered because it was his own will. Himself, so high (Ps 17:10): He bowed the heavens and came down. Becoming obedient to the Father, namely sending him to the Passion. Obedient, I say, not only unto the tolerance of opprobriums and scourges, but unto death, and death not of any sort, but of the cross, which was the penalty of thieves.
Note that the death of thieves is ignominious for three reasons: First, because most shameful (Wis 2:20): Let us condemn him to a most shameful death. Second, because most wicked (Eccli 28:25): His death is a most wicked death. Third, worst (Ps 33:22): The death of sinners is the worst. The first death is the penalty, the second of fault, the third of Gehenna. The first he tolerated so that he might destroy the second and third. For it was congruous that just as through wood death entered, so through wood life should return (Jer 11:19): Let us put wood into his bread. (Wis 14:7): Blessed is the wood by which justice cometh.
Phil 2:9. For which cause also God exalted him.
Here he subjoins the cause why he is to be imitated in this, namely on account of the reward of clarity, which touches a threefold thing in Christ: the first is of exaltation in the Resurrection and Ascension; second of the manifestation of his name in the credulity of the world: And gave him; third is of glorification and confession at the end: And every tongue. He says therefore: For which, namely the merit of humility and obedience, God exalted him according to human nature in the Resurrection, giving him immortality and impassibility (Ps 109:7): He shall drink of the torrent in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
And gave him a name which is above all names.
Phil 2:10. That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
Here he subjoins the manifestation of his name. Where concerning this name he touches three things, namely: the origin of the name, because the Father gave; the excellence, because a name which is above every name; the virtue, because that in the name of Jesus. He says therefore: And gave him. This is read in two ways. In one way according to Augustine, concerning donation through grace according to human nature in time: thus he gave him, namely to that man through grace of union and not of adoption, a name which is above every name. This name namely God, so that he who is man may be called God and be. In a second way according to Ambrose, concerning Christ according to divine nature, and concerning natural donation from eternity: Thus he gave him from eternity, namely by natural donation, the name namely of God, which is above the name namely of sensible and intellectual creature, and composed from both. Moreover, in both ways it is said that he gave him the name of God on account of the Passion, not the thing, because he had it before, but according to the manifestation of all. He gave, I say, a name, and not a name without the thing, but so that in the name of Jesus, that is, in this name is Jesus (Cant 1:2): Thy name is as oil poured out. Every knee should bow, that is, every power be subject (Isa 45:24): To me every knee shall bow. Of those that are in heaven, that is, of Angels; on earth, that is, of men; and under the earth, that is, of demons. And this justly; for he repaired heaven, [and] the world (Eph 1:10): To establish all things that are in heaven and on earth in him. He despoiled hell (Hos 13:14): I will be thy death, O death; I will be thy bite, O hell.
Phil 2:11. And every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.
Here he subjoins the reward of glorification and confession at the end, which confession he hints will be general, because every tongue; evident, because confess; true, because the Lord Jesus. He says therefore: And every, as if he said: in the name of Jesus let every knee bow, and finally in the end every tongue of men and of Angels, good and bad (1 Cor 13:1): If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. Let them confess spontaneously or unwillingly. For many deny now who then will confess unwillingly (Dan 7:14): All peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve him. In sign of this the title of the cross was written in the three principal languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin (John 19:19). Let them confess, I say, that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father, that is, having the same glory with the Father according to divine nature, which Arius denies. Or is in the glory of God the Father, that is, in the greater goods of the Father according to human nature (Mark ult:19): The Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God.
CONTINUE
Comments
Post a Comment