Gregory of Nazianzus — Commentary on Scripture

Proverbs 1:16

It is good for the … feet … that they be not swift to shed blood or to run to evil, but that they be prompted to run to the gospel and the prize of the high calling, and to receive Christ who washes and cleanses them.

ON HOLY BAPTISM, ORATION 40:39

Proverbs 4:27

We must really walk on the King’s highway and take care not to turn aside from it either to the right hand or to the left, as the Proverbs say. For such is the case with our passions, and such in this matter is the task of the good shepherd, if he is to know properly the souls of his flock, and to guide them according to the methods of a pastoral care which is right and just, and worthy of our true Shepherd.

IN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT, ORATION 2:34

Proverbs 8:22

In their eyes [of the Arians] the following is only too ready to hand: “The Lord created me at the beginning of his ways with a view to his works.” How shall we meet this? Shall we bring an accusation against Solomon or reject his former words because of his fall in afterlife? Shall we say that the words are those of wisdom herself, as it were of knowledge and the creator-word, in accordance with which all things were made? For Scripture often personifies many even lifeless objects; as, for instance, “the sea said” so and so; and, “the heavens declare the glory of God”; and again a command is given to the sword; and the mountains and hills are asked the reason of their skipping. We do not allege any of these, though some of our predecessors used them as powerful arguments. But let us grant that the expression is used of our Savior himself, the true wisdom. Let us consider one small point together. What among all things that exist is unoriginate? The Godhead. For no one can tell the origin of God, that otherwise would be older than God. But what is the cause of the manhood, which for…

In their eyes [of the Arians] the following is only too ready to hand: “The Lord created me at the beginning of his ways with a view to his works.” How shall we meet this? Shall we bring an accusation against Solomon or reject his former words because of his fall in afterlife? Shall we say that the words are those of wisdom herself, as it were of knowledge and the creator-word, in accordance with which all things were made? For Scripture often personifies many even lifeless objects; as, for instance, “the sea said” so and so; and, “the heavens declare the glory of God”; and again a command is given to the sword; and the mountains and hills are asked the reason of their skipping. We do not allege any of these, though some of our predecessors used them as powerful arguments. But let us grant that the expression is used of our Savior himself, the true wisdom. Let us consider one small point together. What among all things that exist is unoriginate? The Godhead. For no one can tell the origin of God, that otherwise would be older than God. But what is the cause of the manhood, which for our sake God assumed? It was surely our salvation. What else could it be? Since, then, we find here clearly both the “created” and the “begets me,” the argument is simple. Whatever we find joined with a cause we are to refer to the manhood, but all that is absolute and unoriginate we are to reckon to the account of his Godhead.

ON THE SON, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 4 (30).2

Proverbs 8:25

Whether he is eternally begotten or not, I do not yet say, until I have looked into the statement, “Before all the hills he begets me” more accurately. But I cannot see the necessity of their conclusion. For if, as they say, everything that is to come to an end had also a beginning, then surely that which has no end had no beginning. What, then, will they decide concerning the soul or the angelic nature? If it had a beginning, it will also have an end; and if it has no end, it is evident that according to them it had no beginning. But the truth is that it had a beginning and will never have an end. Their assertion, then, that that which will have an end had also a beginning, is untrue.

ON THE SON, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 3 (29).13

Proverbs 16:18

Do we commend hospitality? Do we admire brotherly love, wifely affection, virginity, feeding the poor, singing psalms, nightlong vigils, penitence? Do we mortify the body with fasting? Do we through prayer take up our abode with God? Do we subordinate the inferior element in us to the better—I mean, the dust to the spirit, as we should if we have returned the right verdict on the alloy of the two which is our nature? Do we make life a meditation of death? Do we establish our mastery over our passions, mindful of the nobility of our second birth? Do we tame our swollen and inflamed tempers? Or our pride, which “comes before a fall,” or our unreasonable grief, our crude pleasures, our dirty laughter, our undisciplined eyes, our greedy ears, our immoderate talk, our wandering thoughts, our anything in ourselves which the evil one can take over from us and use against us, “bringing in death through the windows,” as Scripture has it, meaning through the senses?No. We do the very opposite: we offer freedom to the passions of others, like kings declaring an amnesty after a victory, on the s…

Do we commend hospitality? Do we admire brotherly love, wifely affection, virginity, feeding the poor, singing psalms, nightlong vigils, penitence? Do we mortify the body with fasting? Do we through prayer take up our abode with God? Do we subordinate the inferior element in us to the better—I mean, the dust to the spirit, as we should if we have returned the right verdict on the alloy of the two which is our nature? Do we make life a meditation of death? Do we establish our mastery over our passions, mindful of the nobility of our second birth? Do we tame our swollen and inflamed tempers? Or our pride, which “comes before a fall,” or our unreasonable grief, our crude pleasures, our dirty laughter, our undisciplined eyes, our greedy ears, our immoderate talk, our wandering thoughts, our anything in ourselves which the evil one can take over from us and use against us, “bringing in death through the windows,” as Scripture has it, meaning through the senses?No. We do the very opposite: we offer freedom to the passions of others, like kings declaring an amnesty after a victory, on the sole condition that they give their assent to us—and thus rush against God more violently or more “piously” than before; for this discreditable purchase we pay them a dishonorable price, license in exchange for impiety.

AGAINST THE EUNOMIANS, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 1 (27).7

Proverbs 26:12

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, a person wise in his own conceit; and a still greater evil is to charge with the instruction of others a person who is not even aware of his own ignorance.

IN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT, ORATION 2:50

Proverbs 31:10

I have heard sacred Scripture saying, “Who shall find a valiant woman?” and also that she is a gift of God, and that a good marriage is arranged by the Lord. Those outside, too, have the same thought—if indeed the saying is theirs: “There is no greater boon for a man than a good wife, no worse, than the opposite.” It is impossible to mention anyone who was more fortunate than my father in this respect. For I believe that, if anyone, from the ends of the earth and from all human stocks, had endeavored to arrange the best possible marriage, a better or more harmonious union than this could not be found. For the best in men and women was so united that their marriage was more a union of virtue than of bodies. Although they surpassed all others, they themselves were so evenly matched in virtue that they could not surpass each other.

ON THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER, ORATION 18:7

Proverbs 31:10

The divinely inspired Solomon in his instructive wisdom, I mean in his Proverbs, praises the woman who keeps her house and loves her husband. And in contrast to the woman who wanders abroad, who is uncontrolled and dishonorable, who hunts precious souls with wanton ways and words, he praises her who is engaged honorably at home, who performs her womanly duties with fearless courage, her hands constantly holding the spindle as she prepares double cloaks for her husband, who buys a field in season, and carefully provides food for her servants, and receives her friends at a bountiful table, and who exhibits all other qualities for which he extols in song the modest and industrious woman. If I were to praise my sister on such counts, it would be like praising a statue for its shadow. ON HIS SISTER ST.

GORGONIA, ORATION 8:9