TRV
Ambrose of Milan
Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500
1,843 passages across 58 books of the Bible · Who was this?
On Psalms
20 of 234-
Psalms 48:9
God’s true temple is the body of Christ, and in that body lies the purification of all our sins. Truly, that flesh is God’s temple, and in it there is no contagion of sin. On the contrary, it was itself the sacrifice that takes away the sin of all the world. That flesh is indeed God’s temple, and in it shone God’s image. In it there dwelled the fullness of divinity in a bodily manner, for Christ is himself that fullness.… In that temple, the psalmist tells us, “we have received your mercy.” … Just as Christ is redemption, so too he is mercy. No greater mercy can there be than that he should offer himself as a victim for our crimes. He sacrificed himself to wash the world clean in his blood, for in no other way could our sin be abolished.
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Psalms 48:12
Those who have wisely surrounded Zion and embraced it spiritually climb up onto its towers. There they tell of it to those not able to ascend its turrets.… Always the insidious foe has his eye on it, to see if he can approach and capture it. For Satan has his armies, and with them he lays siege to souls. He has siege engines that he moves up close to the walls so as to take its towers by force. But you, says the psalm, must preach from the towers.… Preach, proclaim, without intermission, without end. Your enemy does not sleep; he goes round like a raging animal seeking someone to devour. Keep singing the praises of the Lord, for he can smash the lion’s teeth and break his jaw to pieces.
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Psalms 49:1
In the very beginning of this psalm we hear the voice of the Lord of salvation inviting the Gentiles into his church. He calls on them to renounce error, to follow truth, to fulfill the duties of love and adoration. The hearts of these people were infected by the Serpent’s venom, passed down from generation to generation, and their inclination was toward sin. So long as they despair of pardon, they cannot be called back. But the Lord promises a remedy, and out of the greatness and kindness of his heart he freely assures them of forgiveness.… All, without exception, are invited to grace. Without having to pay any ransom money they are redeemed from sin, and they grasp the fruit of eternal life.
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Psalms 49:2
Both rich and poor together are called to a single vocation and invited to a certain humility and equality. The rich are not to turn up their noses at the poor, and the poor are not to be jealous of the rich. One grace joins both together. The Lord, though he was rich, became poor, so as to be Savior of poor and rich alike.
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Psalms 49:4
The Lord opens up a theme or problem that has been closed when he finds an apt organ and a chosen instrument. Call it a harp. Such as this was Paul. He rang out the sweet canticle of grace, awaking all the strings of his harp in harmonious sound; plucking the inner chords by grace of the Holy Spirit and playing in ringing tones both interiorly and exteriorly.… Excellent harp, where a person’s life is in tune with his faith, and his flesh with his soul. Sweet harp, where discipline of lifestyle sings a canticle.
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Psalms 49:7
Just as there is one God, “so too there is only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” He is unique. He alone redeems humankind. He goes far beyond brotherly love, for he sheds his own blood for strangers. None other could offer him for his brother. To redeem us from sin, he did not spare his own body “but gave himself as redemption for all.” … Why, you might ask, is Christ the only one who redeems? I reply that no one has love equal to his; no one but he can lay down his life for his little servants; no one can equal him in innocence and integrity. For we are all under sin; in Adam’s fall we all had fallen. No one could be chosen as our redeemer except the One who was in no way subject to the ancient sin. It follows that by “the man” we must understand the Lord Jesus. He took on himself the human condition, to crucify in his own flesh our sin and so blot out in his blood the handwriting of the charge that had been made against our whole race.
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Psalms 49:10
A fool has no discernment, and his thoughts are stupid. The unwise person can think, but what he thinks is bad: “The unwise person has said that there is no God.” He is culpably wicked because he knows what goodness is. Yet, though he knows it, he commits iniquity in the evil of his own heart. He is also dishonest. Again, not because he does not know what honesty is but because he is so twisted that he would wish to destroy honesty.
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Psalms 49:17
Do not be troubled when you hear that the glory of someone’s house has increased. Think deeply about it, and you will see that a house is empty if it is not filled with faith.… Adam, by his ruin, left us void and empty, but Christ’s grace has filled the void. Christ emptied himself so that the fullness of virtue might live in human flesh.
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Psalms 51:1-4
“I [the prodigal son] have sinned,” he says, “against heaven and before you.” He confesses what is clearly a sin to death, that you may not think that any one doing penance is rightly shut out from pardon. For one who has sinned against heaven has sinned either against the kingdom of heaven or against his own soul, which is a sin to death, and against God, to whom alone is said: “Against you only have I sinned and done evil before you.”
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Psalms 51:5-9
After this white robes were given to you as a sign that you were putting off the covering of sins and putting on the chaste veil of innocence, of which the prophet said, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.” For one who is baptized is seen to be purified according to the law and according to the gospel: according to the law, because Moses sprinkled the blood of the lamb with a bunch of hyssop; according to the gospel, because Christ’s garments were white as snow, when in the Gospel he showed forth the glory of his resurrection. One, then, whose guilt is forgiven is made whiter than snow. Thus God said through Isaiah: “Though your sins are as scarlet, I will make them white as snow.”
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Psalms 55:5-8
As for the person who wishes to be lifted up by the hand of Christ, let him first fly away himself, let him have his own wings, for one who flees from the world has wings. And if he does not have wings of his own—and perhaps only the individual who is able to fly has them—if then he does not have his own, let him get them from the one who has them. Thus a person who flees from the world does fly. “Behold, I have gone far off flying away, and I remained in the wilderness.” Thus, David flew away like the night raven in the dwelling, like the lone sparrow in the house. Now if you apply this to Christ, he flew away in the passion of his body, so that he could protect the peoples of the nations under the shadow of his wings. He flew away from the Godhead; he remained in the body and dwelled in the desert, so that the children of the deserted wife might be more than those of her who had a husband. Therefore let us seek after Christ’s body that we also may rise again; for where the body is, there also will the eagles be.
FLIGHT FROM THE WORLD 5:30
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Psalms 55:12-15
Putting aside, therefore, conceptions due to common usage, let us reflect on the meaning of “to live in life” and “to die in death” and also “to live in death” and “to die in life.” I believe that, in accord with the Scriptures, “to live in life” signifies a wonderful life of happiness and that it seems to point toward an experience of life’s natural functions joined and, by participation, mingled with the grace of a blessed life. This concept, “to live in life,” means “to live in virtue,” to bring about in the life of this body of ours a participation in the life of blessedness. On the other hand, what does “to die in death” mean if not the disintegration of the body at the time of death, when the flesh is devoid of its customary function of carrying on life and the soul is unable to partake in life eternal? There is also the person who “dies in life,” that is to say, one who is alive in body but, because of his acts, is dead. These are the people who, as the prophet says, “go down alive into hell,” and she of whom the apostle speaks: “For she is dead while she is still alive.” Ther…
Putting aside, therefore, conceptions due to common usage, let us reflect on the meaning of “to live in life” and “to die in death” and also “to live in death” and “to die in life.” I believe that, in accord with the Scriptures, “to live in life” signifies a wonderful life of happiness and that it seems to point toward an experience of life’s natural functions joined and, by participation, mingled with the grace of a blessed life. This concept, “to live in life,” means “to live in virtue,” to bring about in the life of this body of ours a participation in the life of blessedness. On the other hand, what does “to die in death” mean if not the disintegration of the body at the time of death, when the flesh is devoid of its customary function of carrying on life and the soul is unable to partake in life eternal? There is also the person who “dies in life,” that is to say, one who is alive in body but, because of his acts, is dead. These are the people who, as the prophet says, “go down alive into hell,” and she of whom the apostle speaks: “For she is dead while she is still alive.” There remains the fourth category, for there are those who “live in death” like the holy martyrs who give up their lives so that they may live. The flesh dies, but what is good does survive. Far from us, therefore, be the thought of living as participants in death. On the contrary, we should face death and thus become sharers in life. The saint does not desire to be a participant in this life of ours when he states, “To depart [this life] and be with Christ.” This has been much better stated by another: “Woe to me that my sojourning has been prolonged.” The psalmist was grieving because he had certain limitations due to the frailty of this life, since he hopes for a share in life eternal. Therefore I can … state that, although “to live in life” is a good thing, “to live for life” would be of doubtful benefit. One can speak of “living for life,” that is, for the life of eternity with its struggle with the life of the body. One can also speak of “living for life” in another sense. Anyone, even a pious person, can have a desire for this corporeal life of ours. We can take the example of one who thinks that he ought to live so virtuously as to arrive by his good actions at a ripe old age. Many people who are in weak health, but who still find life a pleasurable thing, are in this category. -
Psalms 55:12-15
So one who does the will of God is his friend and is honored with this name. He who is of one mind with him, he too is his friend. For there is unity of mind in friends, and no one is more hateful than the person who injures friendship. Hence in the traitor the Lord found this the worst point on which to condemn his treachery, namely, that Judas gave no sign of gratitude and had mingled the poison of malice at the table of friendship. So he says, “It was you, a man of like mind, my guide and my acquaintance, who ever did take pleasant meals with me.” That is: it could not be endured, for you did fall on him who granted grace to you. “For if my enemy had reproached me I could have borne it, and I would have hid myself from him who hated me.” An enemy can be avoided; a friend cannot, if he desires to lay a plot. Let us guard against him to whom we do not entrust our plans; we cannot guard against him to whom we have already entrusted them. And so to demonstrate all the hatefulness of the sin he did not say, You, my servant, my apostle; but you, a man of like mind with me; that is, you…
So one who does the will of God is his friend and is honored with this name. He who is of one mind with him, he too is his friend. For there is unity of mind in friends, and no one is more hateful than the person who injures friendship. Hence in the traitor the Lord found this the worst point on which to condemn his treachery, namely, that Judas gave no sign of gratitude and had mingled the poison of malice at the table of friendship. So he says, “It was you, a man of like mind, my guide and my acquaintance, who ever did take pleasant meals with me.” That is: it could not be endured, for you did fall on him who granted grace to you. “For if my enemy had reproached me I could have borne it, and I would have hid myself from him who hated me.” An enemy can be avoided; a friend cannot, if he desires to lay a plot. Let us guard against him to whom we do not entrust our plans; we cannot guard against him to whom we have already entrusted them. And so to demonstrate all the hatefulness of the sin he did not say, You, my servant, my apostle; but you, a man of like mind with me; that is, you are not my betrayer but your own, for you did betray a man of like mind with yourself. -
Psalms 58:3-9
Though it appears that the serpent’s nature is being delineated in the foregoing, rather, every vessel of evil is being delineated, and every serpent of depravity who casts himself down on the belly and hides his poison inside himself and ponders it inwardly in his breast. He25 is slippery in his thoughts, he advances in his deceits and wraps himself in his deceptions; he is always moving and stirring his poisons by thought and treading on his belly as well, that is, the seedbed of his heart. For this reason, David fittingly says, “Sinners are alienated from the womb; they have gone astray from the womb; they have spoken false things. Their madness is according to the likeness of a serpent, like the deaf asp that stops its ears, that will not hear the voice of the charmers or of the wizard that are invoked by the wise person.” For this reason, the statement that we read in the prophetic book also seems fitting, “My heart, my heart is in pain!” For wickedness exists there, where there ought to be guiltlessness; what should be more calm in us experiences the greater suffering. It is tr…
Though it appears that the serpent’s nature is being delineated in the foregoing, rather, every vessel of evil is being delineated, and every serpent of depravity who casts himself down on the belly and hides his poison inside himself and ponders it inwardly in his breast. He25 is slippery in his thoughts, he advances in his deceits and wraps himself in his deceptions; he is always moving and stirring his poisons by thought and treading on his belly as well, that is, the seedbed of his heart. For this reason, David fittingly says, “Sinners are alienated from the womb; they have gone astray from the womb; they have spoken false things. Their madness is according to the likeness of a serpent, like the deaf asp that stops its ears, that will not hear the voice of the charmers or of the wizard that are invoked by the wise person.” For this reason, the statement that we read in the prophetic book also seems fitting, “My heart, my heart is in pain!” For wickedness exists there, where there ought to be guiltlessness; what should be more calm in us experiences the greater suffering. It is trodden down by the footsteps of evil, pricked by its claws and agitated by a kind of advance and increase of depravity where there exists the procreative seed of an everlasting posterity.FLIGHT FROM THE WORLD 7:42
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Psalms 63:5-9
Now let us turn our attention to the characteristic of fatness or richness of which David speaks intelligibly when he says, “Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness.” Before that he had said, “And may your whole burnt offering be made fat.” By this he means that the requirements for a sacrifice are that it be fat or rich, that it be glistening and that it be weighted with the sustenance inspired by faith and devotion and by the rich nourishment of the Word of God. Frequently we use the word fat or rich when we refer to something that is heavily and elaborately adorned, and to the finest victim as one that is not thin and scrawny. Wherefore we designate as “rich” a sacrifice that we desire to be regarded as the “finest.” We also have proof of this when we consult the prophetic passage in the Scriptures where fine cows are compared with years of fertility!
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Psalms 65:1-4
The soul has to depart from the tortuousness of this life and the defilements of the earthly body. It must hasten to those heavenly gatherings, although it is granted to the saints alone to reach them. There it shall sing praise to God. For in the lesson taken from the prophet we hear of those singing praise to God to the accompaniment of their harps, “Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God almighty, just and true are your ways, O King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and magnify your name? For you only are holy: for all nations will come and worship before you.” And it shall see your marriage feast, O Lord Jesus, wherein the bride is led from earthly to heavenly dwellings, as all sing in joyous accord, “All flesh shall come to you,” now no longer subject to the world but espoused to the Spirit, and shall look on bridal chambers adorned with linen, roses, lilies and garlands. For whom else are the nuptials so adorned? For they are adorned with the purple stripes of confessors, the blood of martyrs, the lilies of virgins and the crowns of priests.
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Psalms 65:1-4
What indeed is lacking to the one who possesses the good and has virtue always as his companion and ally? In what role of life is he not most powerful? In what poverty is he not rich? In what lowly status is he not noble? In what leisure not industrious? In what weakness not vigorous? In what infirmity not strong? In what quiet of sleep not active? Even when he is asleep, his own virtue does not forsake him. In what solitude is he not in a crowd? The happy life surrounds him, grace clothes him, the garment of glory makes him radiant. He is no less happy when at leisure than when he works, no less filled with glory when he sleeps than when he is awake, because he is no less safe and sound when sleeping than when he is awake. Now when can he appear to be on holiday? His mind is always at work. When can he appear to be alone? He is always with that good of which the psalmist says, “We shall be filled with the good things of your house.” When can he appear to be downcast? “His citizenship is in heaven.” When can he appear not to be handsome? He conforms himself to the likeness of the bea…
What indeed is lacking to the one who possesses the good and has virtue always as his companion and ally? In what role of life is he not most powerful? In what poverty is he not rich? In what lowly status is he not noble? In what leisure not industrious? In what weakness not vigorous? In what infirmity not strong? In what quiet of sleep not active? Even when he is asleep, his own virtue does not forsake him. In what solitude is he not in a crowd? The happy life surrounds him, grace clothes him, the garment of glory makes him radiant. He is no less happy when at leisure than when he works, no less filled with glory when he sleeps than when he is awake, because he is no less safe and sound when sleeping than when he is awake. Now when can he appear to be on holiday? His mind is always at work. When can he appear to be alone? He is always with that good of which the psalmist says, “We shall be filled with the good things of your house.” When can he appear to be downcast? “His citizenship is in heaven.” When can he appear not to be handsome? He conforms himself to the likeness of the beautiful and only good; although weak in his members, he is strong in his spirit. -
Psalms 68:7-13
Damasus cleansed not, Peter cleansed not, Ambrose cleansed not, Gregory cleansed not; for ours is the ministry, but the sacraments are yours. For human power cannot confer what is divine, but it is, O Lord, your gift and that of the Father, as you have spoken by the prophets, saying, “I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh, and their sons and their daughters shall prophesy.” This is that typical dew from heaven, this is that gracious rain, as we read: “A gracious rain, dividing for his inheritance.” For the Holy Spirit is not subject to any foreign power or law but is the arbiter of his own freedom, dividing all things according to the decision of his own will, to each, as we read, individually as he wills.
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Psalms 68:17-20
It does not escape our notice that some copies have likewise, according to Luke: “How much more shall your heavenly Father give a good gift to them that ask him.” This good gift is the grace of the Spirit, which the Lord Jesus shed forth from heaven, after having been fixed to the gibbet of the cross, returning with the triumphal spoils of death deprived of its power, as you find it written: “Ascending up on high he led captivity captive, and gave good gifts to people.” And well does he say “gifts,” for as the Son was given, of whom it is written: “Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given,” so, too, is the grace of the Spirit given. But why should I hesitate to say that the Holy Spirit also is given to us, since it is written: “The love of God is shed forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is given to us.” And since captive hearts certainly could not receive him, the Lord Jesus first led captivity captive, that our affections being set free, he might pour forth the gift of divine grace.
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Psalms 69:9-15
“Not every one who says to me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,” says the Scripture. Faith, therefore, august sovereign, must not be a mere matter of performance, for it is written, “The zeal of your house has devoured me.” Let us then with faithful spirit and devout mind call on Jesus our Lord, let us believe that he is God, to the end that whatever we ask of the Father, we may obtain in his name. For the Father’s will is that he be entreated through the Son, the Son’s that the Father be entreated.