Andreas of Caesarea — Commentary on Scripture

James shows that the teaching is not working, for they are all carnal and doing the most wicked things.

CATENA

It appears that some ask but do not receive. God ignores those who attack him and those who ask wrongly, according to their own desires. But someone will say that even those who ask for divine wisdom and virtue do not receive them. In reply it must be said that such people may be worthy to receive these good things, but they must do so in the right way. Perhaps they want such things merely for the pleasure of having them, and if so, they will not get them.

CATENA

James 4:7

If death came into the world by the malice of the devil, and Christ dwells in the inner man according to the Scriptures, this is the reason why he dwells in us, that he might destroy the death which has come upon us through the devil’s cunning. And not only this, but that he might give us more grace as well. For he said: “I have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.”

CATENA

James 5:13

What should you do when you are in trouble? Call on God. And what should you do when you are happy? Praise him.

CATENA

Jude 1:4

Jude means that their condemnation was predestined, for even the betrayal of Judas had been foretold. Here he is talking about the Simonians, for they are gluttonous and intemperate, pretending to teach godliness so that they can worm their way into people’s houses.

CATENA

Jude 1:5

Jude shows that although God led his people out of Egypt, they turned away from him, and for that reason he gave them over to destruction if they would not repent.

CATENA

Jude 1:6

They are being kept until they are thrown into the ultimate fire and bound in those chains which cannot be seen because of the darkness. That he has kept them for the coming judgment can be seen from what Peter has written.

CATENA

Jude 1:8

Jude calls them “dreamers” because they have no idea of the truth but fantasize as if they were dreaming and concoct doctrines full of impiety. They say that our flesh, that is to say, our body, is the work of the devil and blaspheme the lordship and glory of the Holy Trinity, accepting the Father as the eternal and uncreated One but reducing the Son and the Holy Spirit to the status of creatures made in time. These are the noxious teachings of Marcion and Arius, which explains why the apostle expresses himself so sharply against them. They do not confess that there is one God, Maker of both the visible and the invisible worlds, but they deify matter and darkness and detest the flesh. Jude condemns these people, even to the point of saying that they have polluted their mind and their entire being.

CATENA

Jude 1:9

Here Jude shows that the Old Testament agrees with the New and that they were both given by the same God. For the devil objected, claiming that the body was his because he is the lord of matter.… But Michael would not accept this and brought on the devil a punishment worthy of his blasphemy, though he abandoned him to the discretion of his own master. For when God brought Moses to the mount of transfiguration, the devil said to Michael that God had broken his promise, because he had sworn not to do such a thing. Michael is said to have taken care of the burial of Moses, and the devil is supposed to have objected to this. God then came to the rescue and wanted to show those who at that time saw only a very little that eventually our souls would be changed and we would all ascend into heaven. But the devil and the evil spirits with him wanted to cut off the way to heaven and tried both to do their evil deeds and at the same time weaken the righteous by this angelic warfare. This is what the blessed Antony saw in his vision.

CATENA

Jude 1:10

Not knowing the true doctrine, these people concoct blasphemies for themselves. They are so caught up in lust that they are no different from dumb animals.

CATENA

Jude 1:11

These people are even fratricides, because what they teach kills the souls of those who are deceived by them. Look how he describes their outrageous ungodliness. He is not content to compare them with Cain but adds Ba-laam and Korah as well. Cain we understand from the above. Balaam he adds because Ba-laam went out to curse God’s people for the sake of money, even if God later turned his tongue around to the point where he blessed them instead. Korah is mentioned because he seized a teaching authority which God had not granted to him.

CATENA

Jude 1:12

The apostle’s words about these men who will not be pardoned have to be understood metaphorically. For he is not talking about stars and clouds, waves and trees, though he uses them as examples, because what they have they have by nature, whereas these men have the same things by deliberate choice. For waterless clouds which are blown about by the winds are not punished, nor are fruitless trees which just die. Wild waves have nothing to be ashamed of either, because they are mindless and devoid of sense. Likewise, the stars we call planets do not inherit the darkness—sinful people do! The ones whom Jude is talking about are like wandering planets which are going along the pathway which is diametrically opposed to virtue. The darkness is reserved for them, not as stars but as men. For Jude’s point has nothing to do with stars or clouds or waves, but rather it is concerned with the animal-like behavior of men, their wickedness and corruption.

CATENA

Jude 1:13

These are people who by their wicked life and ungodliness have killed their souls with false doctrines. Before they believed, they were dead in their ungodliness, but when they turned to the gospel they found life. However, they gave themselves up again to ungodliness and lust, thereby killing themselves a second time. How can someone who is this guilty, doing evil and living in ungodliness and lust, ever find stability or roots in such a topsy-turvy life?

CATENA

Jude 1:16

These people have no confidence in their own teaching. For how can it not be dangerous to spread it with such wickedness and blasphemy?

CATENA

Jude 1:18

Jude got this from Peter’s second letter, where he talks about Paul’s writings, for Paul has a lot to say about this.

CATENA

Jude 1:22

Jude is recommending mercy for those who doubt the truth of the words of false teaching. As for other kinds of doubters, James condemns them in his letter.

CATENA

Jude 1:23

If someone can use the word of God to rescue those who have already fallen into the all-embracing fire set alight by the flaming arrows of the devil, he will snatch the most promising ones from the fire. For this person is not called to snatch back those who have been condemned by God.

CATENA

Revelation 1:1

Revelation is the revealing of hidden mysteries when the intellect is enlightened by either divine dreams or by visions from divine enlightenment while awake.

things which must shortly come to pass. this means that some of the prophecies about them are to happen then, and the things concerning the end are not to come until later on, because to God a thousand years is like a prior day, which is like having already happened. Ps. 89:4

Revelation 1:3

for the time is at hand. the time of the giving out rewards, because the brief moment of life is small in comparison to the future.

Revelation 1:4

Although there are many churches in every place, he wrote to seven only. For through the number seven he indicates the mystery of the church which exists everywhere and that which corresponds to the present life in which there is a sevenfold period of days. And therefore he makes mention of seven angels and seven churches to which he says, “Grace to you and peace from the tri-hypostatic deity.” Through the phrase “who is” the Father is indicated, who spoke to Moses: “I am Who I am.” Through the phrase “who was” the Word is indicated, who was in the beginning with God. And through the phrase “who is to come” the Paraclete is indicated, who always visits the children of the church in holy baptism but will come more perfectly and more clearly in the age to come. It is possible to recognize in the seven spirits the seven angels who have received the governance of the churches. These are not numbered with the most divine and royal Trinity but are mentioned together with it as servants, even as the divine apostle says: “I testify to you before God and the elect angels.” These phrases may b…

Although there are many churches in every place, he wrote to seven only. For through the number seven he indicates the mystery of the church which exists everywhere and that which corresponds to the present life in which there is a sevenfold period of days. And therefore he makes mention of seven angels and seven churches to which he says, “Grace to you and peace from the tri-hypostatic deity.” Through the phrase “who is” the Father is indicated, who spoke to Moses: “I am Who I am.” Through the phrase “who was” the Word is indicated, who was in the beginning with God. And through the phrase “who is to come” the Paraclete is indicated, who always visits the children of the church in holy baptism but will come more perfectly and more clearly in the age to come. It is possible to recognize in the seven spirits the seven angels who have received the governance of the churches. These are not numbered with the most divine and royal Trinity but are mentioned together with it as servants, even as the divine apostle says: “I testify to you before God and the elect angels.” These phrases may be understood also in another manner. The phrase “who is and who was and who is to come” may signify the Father, who encompasses in himself the beginning, the middle and the end of all things.

COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 1:4