| Quotation |
illum quippe optimum et fortissimum uirum, qui in suis infirmitatibus gloriatur, ut eum potissimum
commemoremus, qui in ecclesiam christi ex gentibus uenimus, doctorem gentium in fide
et ueritate, qui et plus omnibus suis coapostolis laborauit et pluribus epistulis populos dei, non eos tantum, qui praesentes ab illo uidebantur, uerum etiam illos, qui futuri praeuidebantur, instruxit;
illum, inquam, uirum, athletam christi, doctum ab illo, unctum de illo, crucifixum cum illo, gloriosum in illo, in theatro huius mundi, cui spectaculum factus est et angelis et hominibus, legitime magnum agonem certantem et palmam supernae uocationis in anteriora sectantem, oculis fidei libentissime spectant gaudere cum gaudentibus, flere cum flentibus, foris habentem pugnas, intus timores, cupientem dissolui et esse cum christo, desiderantem uidere romanos, ut aliquem fructum
habeat et in illis, sicut et in ceteris gentibus, aemulantem corinthios et ipsa aemulatione
metuentem, ne seducantur eorum mentes a castitate, quae in christo est, magnam tristitiam et
continuum dolorem cordis de israelitis habentem, quod ignorantes dei iustitiam et suam uolentes constituere iustitiae dei non essent subiecti; nec solum dolorem, uerum etiam luctum suum denuntiantem quibusdam, qui ante peccauerunt et non egerunt paenitentiam super inmunditia et
fornicationibus suis. |
| Translation |
We who have come into the Church of Christ from the world of the Gentiles should be especially mindful of that man of supreme virtue and valour who was the ‘teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity’: a man who gloried in his own infirmities, who laboured more abundantly than all his fellow apostles, and who in his many epistles instructed not only those of the people of God who were seen by him at the time, but also those who were foreseen as yet to be. He was Christ’s athlete, taught by Him, anointed by Him, and crucified with Him. He gloried in Christ, and He was ‘made a spectacle to angels and to men’ in the theatre of this world, where he fought a great fight lawfully, and ‘pressed towards the mark for the prize of the high calling’. The citizens of the City of God are delighted to behold him with the eyes of faith. They behold him rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep, troubled by fighting without and fears within, desiring to depart and be with Christ. They behold him longing to see the Romans so that he might have some fruit among them also, even as among other Gentiles. They behold him jealous for the Corinthians, and in that jealousy fearing that their minds should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ. They behold him suffering great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart for the Israelites, because, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and wishing to establish their own, they did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. They behold him as he declares not only his pain, but also his mourning for certain persons who had sinned already, and not repented of the uncleanness and fornication which they had committed. (Trans. Dyson) |
