Gregory of Nazianzus — Commentary on Scripture

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

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.

Proverbs 26:12

Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

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.

Proverbs 31:10 · 2 passages

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

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.

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.

Psalms 6:5

For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

It is better to be punished and cleansed now than to be transmitted to the torment to come, when it is the time of chastisement, not of cleansing. For as he who remembers God here is conqueror of death (as David has most excellently sung), so the departed have not in the grave confession and restoration; for God has confined life and action to this world, and to the future the scrutiny of what has been done.

Psalms 8:1

To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

The Majesty, or as holy David calls it, the Glory, is manifested among the creatures that it has produced and governs. These are the back parts of God, which he leaves behind him, as tokens of himself like the shadows and reflection of the sun in the water, which show the sun to our weak eyes, because we cannot look at the sun himself, for by his unmixed light he is too strong for our power of perception.

Psalms 8:3 · 2 passages

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

Our very eyes and the law of nature teach us that God exists and that he is the efficient and maintaining cause of all things: our eyes, because they fall on visible objects and see them in beautiful stability and progress, immovably moving and revolving, if I may so say; natural law, because through these visible things and their order it reasons back to their author. For how could this universe have come into being or been put together unless God had called it into existence and held it together? For everyone who sees a beautifully made lute and considers the skill with which it has been fitted together and arranged, or who hears its melody, would think of none but the lutemaker or the luteplayer, and would recur to him in mind, though he might not know him by sight. And thus to us also is manifested that which made and moves and preserves all created things, even though he is not comprehended by the mind.

Would that I might mortify my members that are on the earth! Would that I might spend all for the spirit, walking in the way that is narrow and trodden by few, not the way that is broad and easy! For what comes after this life is splendid and great, and our hope is greater than our worth. “What is man that you are mindful of him?” What is this new mystery concerning me? I am small and great, lowly and exalted, mortal and immortal, earthly and heavenly. I am connected with the world below, and likewise with God; I am connected with the flesh, and likewise with the spirit. I must be buried with Christ, rise with Christ, be joint heir with Christ, become the Son of God, even God himself. ON HIS BROTHER ST.

Psalms 13:3

Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

If you are blind and unenlightened, lighten your eyes that you sleep not in death. In God’s Light see light, and in the Spirit of God be enlightened by the Son, that threefold and undivided Light.

Psalms 22:1

To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

It was not he who was forsaken, either by the Father or by his own Godhead, as some have thought, as if it were afraid of the passion and therefore withdrew itself from him in his sufferings (for who compelled him either to be born on earth at all or to be lifted up on the cross?). But … he was in his own person representing us. For we were the forsaken and the despised, but now by the sufferings of him who could not suffer, we have been taken up and saved. Similarly, he makes his own our folly and our transgressions and says what follows in the psalm, for it is very evident that the twenty-second refers to Christ.

Psalms 24:7

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

If he ascend up into heaven, ascend with him. Be one of those angels who escort him or one of those who receive him. Bid the gates be lifted up, or be made higher, that they may receive him, exalted after his passion. Answer to those who are in doubt because he bears up with him his body and the tokens of his passion, which he did not have when he came down, and who therefore, inquire, “Who is the King of glory?” that it is the Lord strong and mighty, as in all things that he has done from time to time and does, so now in his battle and triumph for the sake of humankind. And give to the those who doubt the question the twofold answer. And if they marvel and say as in Isaiah’s drama who is this that comes from Edom and from the things of earth? Or how are the garments red of him that is without blood or body, as of one that treads in the full winepress? Set forth the beauty of the array of the body that suffered, adorned by the passion and made splendid by the Godhead, than which nothing can be more lovely or more beautiful.

Psalms 36:9

For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

And now we have both seen and proclaim concisely and simply the doctrine of God the Trinity, comprehending out of light [the Father], light [the Son], in light [the Spirit].

Psalms 38:6

I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.

The very best order of beginning every speech and action is to begin from God and to end in God.

Psalms 39:5

Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

Such, brothers, is our life, we whose existence is so transitory. Such is the game we play on earth: we do not exist, and we are born, and being born we are dissolved. We are a fleeting dream, an apparition without substance, the flight of a bird that passes, a ship that leaves no trace on the sea. We are dust, a vapor, the morning dew, a flower growing but a moment and withering in a moment. “A person’s days are as grass: as the flower of the field, so shall he flourish.” Beautifully has holy David meditated on our weakness … and he defines the days of a person as the measure of a span. ON HIS BROTHER ST.

Psalms 45:2

Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.

He had no form or comeliness in the eyes of the Jews, but to David he is fairer than the children of people. And on the mountain he was bright as the lightning and became more luminous than the sun, initiating us into the mystery of the future.

Psalms 45:13

The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.

The visible beauty is not hidden, but that which is unseen is visible to God. All the glory of the king’s daughter is within, clothed with golden fringes, embroidered whether by actions or by contemplation. On the words of the Gospel, “WHEN JESUS HAD FINISHED THESE SAYINGS,”

Psalms 51:10-14

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

In addition to what has already been said, those who cleanse the head, which is the seat of knowledge, would do well to hold fast to Christ as their head. It is from him that the entire body is joined together and reconciled. And to cast aside our sin which arises and to seek to surpass the better part. It is also good that they should cleanse the shoulder so that it will be able to bear the cross of Christ, which is not borne easily by everyone. It is also good to consecrate the hands and the feet—the hands so that they may be lifted up in every holy place and grasp the teachings of Christ lest the Lord be angered at any time and to believe the Word by living it as when it was given into the hand of the prophet; the feet so that they will not be quick to shed blood or rush into evil but that they may be ready to hurry to the gospel and to their high calling and to receive Christ, who washes and purifies them. If anyone is clean in his stomach, which is able to hold and digest the food of the Word, he should not make a god of nourishment and meat that perishes; rather he should espec…

In addition to what has already been said, those who cleanse the head, which is the seat of knowledge, would do well to hold fast to Christ as their head. It is from him that the entire body is joined together and reconciled. And to cast aside our sin which arises and to seek to surpass the better part. It is also good that they should cleanse the shoulder so that it will be able to bear the cross of Christ, which is not borne easily by everyone. It is also good to consecrate the hands and the feet—the hands so that they may be lifted up in every holy place and grasp the teachings of Christ lest the Lord be angered at any time and to believe the Word by living it as when it was given into the hand of the prophet; the feet so that they will not be quick to shed blood or rush into evil but that they may be ready to hurry to the gospel and to their high calling and to receive Christ, who washes and purifies them. If anyone is clean in his stomach, which is able to hold and digest the food of the Word, he should not make a god of nourishment and meat that perishes; rather he should especially reduce its size so that he may receive the Word of the Lord in its very midst and to grieve deeply over the failing of Israel. I also find the heart and the inward parts worthy of honor. David convinced me of this when he asked that a clean heart be created within him and a right spirit be consecrated in his innermost being—by this I think he clearly means his mind and its emotions or thoughts.

Psalms 51:15-19

O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

I have not yet alluded to the true and first wisdom, for which our wonderful husbandman and shepherd is conspicuous. The first wisdom is a life worthy of praise, in which a person keeps himself pure for God or is purified for him who is all-pure and all-luminous. God demands of us, as his only sacrifice, purification—that is, a contrite heart, the sacrifice of praise, a new creation in Christ, the new man, and the like, as the Scripture loves to call it.

Psalms 52:4

Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.

The old confusion of tongues was beneficial when people, who were of one language in wickedness and impiety, just as some still are, were building the tower. But by the confusion of their language, the unity of their intention was broken up and their undertaking destroyed. Much more worthy of praise is the present miraculous unity of language [at Pentecost]. Being poured from one Spirit on many people, it brings them again into harmony. And there is a diversity of gifts, which stands in need of yet another gift to discern which is the best, where all are praiseworthy. That division also might be called noble of which David says, “Confuse the wicked, O Lord, confound their speech.” Why? Because “you love every harmful word, O you deceitful tongue!” Here he very expressly indicts the tongues of the present day that sever the Godhead.

Psalms 58:3-9

The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

We hide away our sin, cloaking it over in the depth of our soul, like some festering and malignant disease, as if by escaping human notice we could escape the mighty eye of God and justice. Or else we make excuses for our sins by devising pleas in defense of our falls or by tightly closing our ears. Like the snake that stops its ears, we are obstinate in refusing to hear the voice of the charmer and be treated with the medicines of wisdom, by which spiritual sickness is healed.