From: Romans 1:16-25
The Theme of the Epistle
[16] For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for
salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for
faith; as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall
live.”
The Fault and Punishment of the Gentiles
[18] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth.
[19] For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God
has shown it to them. [20] Ever since the creation of the world his
invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly
perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse;
[21] for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give
thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless
minds were darkened. [22] Claiming to be wise, they became fools, [23]
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal
man or birds or animals or reptiles.
[24] Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity,
to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, [25] because they
exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the
creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.
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Commentary:
16. St Paul continues to speak about the “Gospel”. The proclamation of
the saving power of Christ’s death on the Cross is a stumbling block to
the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, whereas a Christian is proud
of the Cross and draws strength from it. When writing to the Romans,
the Apostle, who was quite familiar with the noise of triumphal marches
and the divinization of emperors, simply says that “he is not ashamed;
he does so to encourage them also not to be ashamed but, rather, to
boast as he did. If today someone approaches you and asks you,
‘But...do you adore a crucified man?’, far from hanging your head and
blushing with confusion, use this reproach as an opportunity to boast
and let your eyes and your face show that you are not ashamed. If they
come back and ask you aloud, ‘What, adore the crucified?’, reply: ‘Yes,
I adore him [...]. I adore and boast of a crucified God who, by his Cross,
reduced the demons to silence and did away with all superstition: for me
his Cross is the ineffable trophy of his benevolence and of his love”’ (St
John Chrysostom, “Hom. on Rom”, 2).
17. The expression “righteousness of God” refers to the state of
righteousness or justice (= justness) in which a person is placed when
God gives him grace. It is called the righteousness of God because
man cannot attain it through his own efforts: it is a free (gratuitous,
hence “grace”) gift of God. The fact that “righteousness” comes from
God does not mean that it is something external to man, for
righteousness does not mean merely that we are called “righteous”
but that we really are righteous in God’s eyes. The Magisterium of
the Church has given solemn teaching on this matter in the context
of explaining the various factors which cause man’s justification;
“Finally”, says the Council of Trent, “the only formal cause is
‘justice of God, not the justice by which he is himself just, but the
justice by which he makes us just’ (St Augustine, “De Trinitate”, XIV,
12, 15), namely, the justice which we have as a gift from him and by
which we are renewed in the spirit of our mind. And not only are we
considered just, but we are truly said to be just, and we are just”
(”De Iustificatione”, chap. 7).
“Through faith for faith”: Sacred Scripture tends to use this kind of
phrase to indicate on-going growth in something that is living (cf. Ps
84:8; 2 Cor 2:16; 3:18; Rom 6:19). What is being spoken about here is
a steady progression from the imperfect understanding of divine truths
possible in this life to the perfect understanding that is experienced
in heaven. The full meaning of the phrase can be seen from St Paul’s
statement that in the Gospel justice is made manifest: it begins and is
nourished and grows through faith, until the believer at last attains
eternal salvation.
The statement that “he who through faith is righteous shall live” comes
from Hab 2:4; St Paul here applies it to the position of the Christian. What
the prophet meant was that those Jews who kept the Law and trusted
in its promises would not succumb when the Babylonians invaded. St
Paul applies the test to the righteous of the New Testament: if they stay
firm in their faith in the Gospel, they will continue in the life of grace and
will attain everlasting beatitude. The faith of good Israelites was a
prefiguring of the faith of good Christians. The just man will live by faith,
which “faith is the beginning of man’s salvation, the foundation and
source of all justification, ‘without which it is impossible to please God’
(cf. Heb 11:6) and to be counted as his sons” (Council of Trent, “De
Iustificatione”, chap. 8).
St Paul’s statement can also be understood as meaning that he who
through faith is just will live. This puts the emphasis on the fact
that faith is the beginning of the process of justification, and that a
person who is justified will attain salvation.
18-32. The Apostle is saying that the righteousness of God (= justness)
can only come about through faith in Jesus Christ—and that neither
Jews nor Gentiles possess this righteousness. He develops this point
up as far as 3:20.
In the present passage he describes two stages in the position of the
Gentiles. In the first (vv. 18-23) he points out their blameworthiness,
and then in the second he goes on (vv. 24-32) to speak about the
punishment of their sins. Justice as the righteousness of God refers to
God’s action of saving sinful man by pouring his grace into him; God’s
“wrath” is the punishment which the Almighty inflicts on him who
persists in sin. For, as St Thomas says, “Anger and the like are
ascribed to God by an analogy drawn from their effects. Because it is
characteristic of anger that it stimulates men to requite wrong, divine
retribution is analogically termed anger” (”Summa Theologiae”, I, q. 3,
a. 2 ad 2).
There is a connection between faith and righteousness, on the one
hand, and sin and God’s wrath, on the other. This Pauline teaching ties
in with the last thing St John the Baptist is recorded as saying in
bearing witness to Christ: “He who believes in the Son has eternal
life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of
God rests upon him” (Jn 3:36).
Christian teaching often points out how God’s desire that all sinners
be saved (the “righteousness of God” as instrument of salvation)
combines with his punishment of sin (the “wrath of God”). How perfect
justice interfaces with perfect mercy is ultimately a mystery.
18. “Who by their wickedness suppress the truth”: commenting on these
words St Thomas writes: “Genuine knowledge of God has the effect of
inclining a person to goodness. However, this knowledge of God can be
frustrated, as if enchained, by a person’s attachment to vice”
(”Commentary on Rom, ad loc.”).
Clearly St Paul is speaking here of those Gentiles who do know about
God but who fail to appreciate their good fortune; their knowledge of
God does not produce the result which should naturally flow from it —
an upright life. We can see from what Paul says that man is naturally
religious. He has a knowledge of God which is not just theoretical: it
has implications for his whole life because it implies that he is intimately
united to God. When a person does not follow the impulse of his very
nature he is guilty of unrighteousness, for he should render God homage
for being his Creator.
“All men, because they are persons, that is, beings endowed with
reason and free will and therefore bearing personal responsibility, are
both impelled by their nature and bound by a moral obligation to seek
the truth, especially religious truth. They are also bound to adhere to the
truth once they come to know it and direct their whole lives in accordance
with the demands of truth” (Vatican II, “Dignitatis Humanae”, 2).
Our dependence on God does not mean that we are less than free;
on the contrary, it is rejection of all religious duties that leads to the
shameful slaveries which Paul now goes on to list, for “religion is the
greatest rebellion of a person who does not want to live like an
animal, who is not satisfied and will not rest until he reaches and
comes to know his Creator” ([St] J. Escriva, “Conversations”, 73).
19-20. It is possible to know about God without his having to reveal
himself in a supernatural way; we know this from the book of Wisdom
(Wis 13:1-9), which says that pagans, who, led astray by the beauty
and power and greatness of created things, took these things for gods,
should have known that all this perfection etc. came from their Author,
for “from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a
corresponding perception of their Creator” (Wis 13:5).
This knowledge of God, which we term “natural”, is not something easy
to attain; but it can be attained and it is the best form of preparation for
accepting supernaturally revealed truths, and for disposing us to honor
and worship our Creator. Moreover, Revelation confirms the certainty
which natural knowledge gives: “The heavens are telling the glory of God”,
the Psalmist exclaims, band the firmament proclaims his handiwork”
(Ps 19:2). St Augustine reminds us that traces of the Creator are to
be found in man, and, as we all know from experience, we have been
made to know and love God and therefore our heart is restless until it
rests in him (cf. “Confessions”, I, 1, 1).
To sum up, we can say with St Thomas Aquinas that, in the natural
order, man has two ways of discovering the existence of God—one,
through reason that inner light by means of which a person acquires
knowledge; the other, through certain external pointers to the wisdom
of God, that is, created things perceivable through the senses: these
things are like a book on which are imprinted traces of God (cf.
“Commentary on Rom”, 1:6).
Whichever of these routes is taken, “God, the origin and end of all
things, can be known with certainty by the natural light of human
reason from the things that he created” (Vatican I, “Dei Filius”, chap.
2).
Recalling the core of Christian teaching about the nature of man, the
Second Vatican Council states that “sacred Scripture teaches that
man was created ‘in the image of God’ as able to know and love his
Creator”, and that “the dignity of man rests above all on the fact that
he is called to communion with God. The invitation to converse with
God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man
exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love
continues to hold him in existence” (”Gaudium Et Spes”, 12 and 19). The
human mind, therefore, even when relying on its own resources can grasp
various truths concerning God—first of all, his existence, and
secondly, certain of his attributes, which St Paul sums up here as his
“invisible nature”, “eternal power” and “deity”. By reflecting on the
created world, we can learn about some of God’s perfections; but, St
Thomas Aquinas comments, only in heaven will we be able to see that
these various perfections are all one with the divine essence. This is
why St Paul talks about God’s “invisible nature”. Contemplation of the
works of creation leads us to posit the presence of an ever-existing
Creator, and brings us to discover his “eternal power”. Finally, the
word “deity” implies that God is transcendent: he is the Cause,
superior to all other causes, and in him everything finds its
explanation and ultimate purpose.
The fact that it is possible to know God by the use of natural reason
means that pagans who chose not to worship him were blameworthy.
Their position is comparable to that of contemporary atheists and
unbelievers who deny or doubt the existence of God despite the fact that
as human beings they do know him in some way in the depths of their
conscience. The culpability of pagans as of modern unbelievers (”they
are without excuse”) derives from the fact that they fail to accept that
God is knowable through the use of human reason; they both commit
the same fault—that of refusing to render worship to God.
Of course, to some degree the attitude of atheists can be explained by
historical, environmental, personal and other factors. However, it
should not be forgotten that these do not justify atheism. However,
“those who willfully try to drive God from their heart and to avoid all
questions about religion, not following the biddings of their
conscience, are not free from blame” (Vatican II, “Gaudium Et Spes”,
19).
21-23. The Gentiles knew God but they failed to give him his due—to
worship him in a spirit of adoration and thanksgiving. As a result they
fell into polytheism (belief in a multiplicity of gods) and idolatry, as St
Paul vividly describes: they worshipped images depicting men and
women (the Greeks gave their gods human form) or animals (as was
the case in Egyptian and other eastern religions).
In our own time idolatry does not take that form, but there are
practices which can properly be called idolatrous. Man is naturally
religious and if he does not worship the true God he necessarily has to
find other things to take God’s place. Sometimes it is himself that man
makes the object of worship: the Second Vatican Council points out that
“with some people it is their exaggerated idea of man that causes their
faith to languish; they are more prone, it would seem, to affirm man
than to deny God [...]. Those who profess this kind of atheism maintain
that freedom consists in this, that man is an end to himself and the
sole maker, with supreme control, of his own history” (”Gaudium Et
Spes”, 19 and 20). It also happens that people, by becoming enslaved
to them, make gods out of the good things created by God for man’s
benefit—money, power, sensuality.
24-32. The sin of idolatry leads to the kind of moral disorder described
by St Paul: every time man knowingly and willingly tries to marginalize
God, that religious aberration leads to moral disorder not only in the
individual but also in society.
God punishes the sin of idolatry and impiety by withdrawing his graces:
that is what the Apostle means when he says that he “gave them up to
the lusts of their hearts” (v. 24), “gave them up to dishonorable
passions” (v. 26). St John Chrysostom, explaining these words, says:
“The Apostle shows here that ungodliness brings with it violation and
forgetfulness of every law. When Paul says that God gives them up, this
must be understood as meaning that God leaves them to their own
devices. God abandons the evildoer but he does not impel him towards
evil. When the general withdraws in the thick of the battle, he gives
his soldiers up to the enemy, not in the sense of physically shackling
them but because he deprives them of the help of his presence. God acts
in the same way. Rebels against his law, men have turned their back on
him; God, his goodness exhausted, abandons them [...]. What else could
he do? Use force, compel them? Those means do not make men virtuous.
The only thing he could do was let them be” (”Hom. on Rom”, 3).
It may be that God counts on the experience of sin to move people to
repentance. In any event, we should not read into this passage unconcern,
much less injustice on God’s part: he never abandons people unless they
first abandon him (cf. Council of Trent, “De Iustificatione”, chap. 11).
25. When describing the blasphemous behavior of Gentiles who worship
created things rather than the Creator, St Paul cannot but utter an
ejaculation, in a spirit of atonement. This should teach us to do the
same whenever we witness offense being offered to God.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Luke 11:37-41
The Hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees
[37] While He (Jesus) was speaking, a Pharisee asked Him to dine with
Him; so He went in and sat at table. [38] The Pharisee was astonished
to see that He did not first wash before dinner. [39] And the Lord said
to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the
dish, but inside you are full of extortion and wickedness. [40] You fools!
Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? [41] But give
for alms those things which are within; and behold everything is clean
for you.”
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Commentary:
39-52. In this passage (one of the most severe in the Gospel) Jesus
determinedly unmasks the vice which was largely responsible for
official Judaism’s rejection of His teaching—hypocrisy cloaked in
legalism. There are many people, who under the guise of doing good,
keeping the mere letter of the law, fail to keep its spirit; they close
themselves to the love of God and neighbor; they harden their hearts
and, though apparently very upright, turn others away from fervent
pursuit of God—making virtue distasteful. Jesus’ criticism is vehement
because they are worse than open enemies: against open enemies
one can defend oneself, but these enemies are almost impossible to
deal with. The scribes and Pharisees were blocking the way of those
who wanted to follow Jesus: they were the most formidable obstacle to
the Gospel. Our Lord’s invective against the scribes and Pharisees is
reported even more fully in chapter 23 of St. Matthew. See the note on
Matthew 23:1-39.
[The note on Matthew 23:1-39 states:
1-39. Throughout this chapter Jesus severely criticizes the scribes and
Pharisees and demonstrates the sorrow and compassion He feels to-
wards the ordinary mass of the people, who have been ill-used, “harassed
and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). His address
may be divided into three parts: in the first (verses 1-12) He identifies their
principal vices and corrupt practices; in the second (verses 13-36) He
confronts them and speaks His famous “woes”, which in effect are the
reverse of the Beatitudes He preached in Chapter 5: no one can enter the
Kingdom of Heaven—no one can escape condemnation to the flames —
unless he changes his attitude and behavior; in the third art (verses 37-39)
He weeps over Jerusalem, so grieved is He by the evils into which the
blind pride and hardheartedness of the scribes and Pharisees have misled
the people.]
40-41. It is not easy to work out what these verses mean. Probably our
Lord is using the idea of cleaning the inside and outside of dishes to teach
that a person’s heart is much more important than what appears on the
surface—whereas the Pharisees got it the wrong way round, as so many
people tend to do. Jesus is warning us not to be so concerned about “the
outside” but rather give importance to “the inside”. Applying this to the
case of alms: we have to be generous with those things we are inclined
to hoard; in other words, it is not enough just to give a little money (that
could be a purely formal, external gesture); love is what we have to give
others—love and understanding, refinement, respect for their freedom,
deep concern for their spiritual and material welfare; this is something
we cannot do unless our interior dispositions are right.
In an address to young people, Pope John Paul II explains what alms-
giving really means: “The Greek word for alms, “eleemosyne”, comes
from “eleos”, meaning compassion and mercy. Various circumstances
have combined to change this meaning so that almsgiving is often re-
garded as a cold act, with no love in it. But almsgiving in the proper
sense means realizing the needs of others and letting them share in
one’s own goods. Who would say that there will not always be others
who need help, especially spiritual help, support, consolation, fraternity,
love? The world is always very poor, as far as love is concerned” (28
March 1979).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
