- Mutuo alii in altos sensu affecti, non
arroganter de vobis sentientes, sed humilibus vos
16.Be of the same mind one toward another.
Mind not high things, but condescend to men of
low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. accommodantes: ne sitis apud vos ipsos
prudentes.
14.Bless them, etc. I wish, once for all, to remind the reader, that he is not scrupulously to seek
a precise order as to the precepts here laid down, but must be content to have short precepts,
unconnected, though suited to the formation of a holy life, and such as are deduced from the principle
the Apostle laid down at the beginning of the chapter.
He will presently give direction respecting the retaliation of the injuries which we may suffer:
but here he requires something even more difficult, — that we are not to imprecate evils on our
enemies, but to wish and to pray God to render all things prosperous to them, how much soever
they may harass and cruelly treat us: and this kindness, the more difficult it is to be practiced, so
with the more intense desire we ought to strive for it; for the Lord commands nothing, with respect
to which he does not require our obedience; nor is any excuse to be allowed, if we are destitute of
that disposition, by which the Lord would have his people to differ from the ungodly and the children
of this world.
Arduous is this, I admit, and wholly opposed to the nature of man; but there is nothing too
arduous to be overcome by the power of God, which shall never be wanting to us, provided we
neglect not to seek for it. And though you can hardly find one who has made such advances in the
law of the Lord that he fulfills this precept, yet no one can claim to be the child of God or glory in
the name of a Christian, who has not in part attained this mind, and who does not daily resist the
opposite disposition.
I have said that this is more difficult than to let go revenge when any one is injured: for though
some restrain their hands and are not led away by the passion of doing harm, they yet wish that
some calamity or loss would in some way happen to their enemies; and even when they are so
pacified that they wish no evil, there is yet hardly one in a hundred who wishes well to him from
whom he has received an injury; nay, most men daringly burst forth into imprecations. But God
by his word not only restrains our hands from doing evil, but also subdues the bitter feelings within;
and not only so, but he would have us to be solicitous for the wellbeing of those who unjustly
trouble us and seek our destruction.
Erasmus was mistaken in the meaning of the verb γεῖν to bless; for he did not perceive that it
stands opposed to curses and maledictions: for Paul would have God in both instances to be a
witness of our patience, and to see that we not only bridle in our prayers the violence of our wrath,
but also show by praying for pardon that we grieve at the lot of our enemies when they willfully
ruin themselves.
- Rejoice with those who rejoice, etc. A general truth is in the third place laid down, — that
the faithful, regarding each other with mutual affection, are to consider the condition of others as
their own. He first specifies two particular things, — That they were to “rejoicewith the joyful,
and to weep with the weeping.” For such is the nature of true love, that one prefers to weep with
his brother, rather than to look at a distance on his grief, and to live in pleasure or ease. What is
meant then is, — that we, as much as possible, ought to sympathize with one another, and that,
whatever our lot may be, each should transfer to himself the feeling of another, whether of grief in
adversity, or of joy in prosperity. And, doubtless, not to regard with joy the happiness of a brother