Methodius of Olympus — Commentary on Scripture

Daniel 12:2

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Man [humanity], though he was not made mortal and corruptible, dies, and his soul is separated from his body, in order that his transgression might be destroyed by death, being unable to live after he was dead. Thus, with sin dead and destroyed, he can rise again in immortality and sing a hymn of praise to God who saves his children from death by means of death.

Ephesians 1:5

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

"For we believe that, together with the Son, who was made man for oar sakes, according to the good pleasure of His will,

Ephesians 1:21

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

For the mountains are to be explained by the heavens, and the ninety and nine sheep by the principalities and powers

Ephesians 3:14

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

By communication of the Spirit, the Church contributing here their clearness and transformation into the image of the Word. And Paul confirms this, teaching it plainly, where he says:

Ephesians 5:26

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

And slept in the trance of His passion, and willingly suffered death for her, that He might present the Church to Himself glorious and blameless, having cleansed her by the laver,

Ephesians 5:28

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

Chapter I.-Passages of Holy Scripture Compared.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church."

Ephesians 5:31

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

For thus will it be most certainly agreed that the Church is formed out of His bones and flesh; and it was for this cause that the Word, leaving His Father in heaven, came down to be "joined to His wife; "

Ephesians 5:32 · 2 passages

This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

The apostle’s aim was not amiss when he compared the first condition of Adam with that of Christ. It is a perfectly accurate analogy: the church is generated from Adam’s bones and flesh. For her sake the Word left his Father in heaven. He came down to be bonded with this woman, the church. Then he fell into the sleep of his passion. He willingly died for her.… He did this to make her ready for the blessed seed which he himself sows secretly in her, which she cherishes in the depth of her soul. The seed is sown that the church might receive it and fashion it like a woman, to bring forth and foster excellence.

Yet, while everything else seems rightly spoken, one thing, my friend, distresses and troubles me, considering that that wise and most spiritual man-I mean Paul-would not vainly refer to Christ and the Church the union of the first man and woman,

Ephesians 6:12

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

For being made after the image of the Only-begotten, as I said, it has an unsurpassable beauty, and therefore evil spirits.
"for we wrestle not against flesh and blood; "

Ephesians 6:13

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God"

Ephesians 6:17

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Do not, therefore, lose courage on account of the schemes and slanders of the beast, but bravely prepare for the battle, armed with the helmet of salvation,

Exodus 1:16-19

And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

Thus too it has been said that the Pharaoh of Egypt was a type of the devil, in that he cruelly ordered the males to be cast into the Nile and permitted the females to live. So too the devil, ruling over the great Egypt of the world “from Adam unto Moses,” made an effort to carry off and destroy the male and rational offspring of the soul in the flood of the passions, while he takes delight in seeing the carnal and sensual offspring increase and multiply.

Exodus 11:4

And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt:

Midnight stands for the reign of the antichrist, when the destroying angel will pass over the houses.

Exodus 25:40

And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.

If, according to the apostle, “the law is spiritual” and contains within itself the images “of the good things to come,” then let us remove “the veil” of the letter which is spread over it and contemplate its true meaning stripped bare. The Jews were commanded to adorn their tabernacle as a proleptic imitation of the church, that through the things of sense they might be able to prefigure the image of things divine. For the exemplar which was shown forth on the mountain and on which Moses gazed when he constructed the tabernacle was in a way an accurate picture of the dwelling in heaven, to which indeed we pay homage insofar as it far surpasses the types in clarity and yet is far fainter than the reality. The fact is that the unmingled truth has not yet come to humanity as it is in itself, for here we would be unable to contemplate its pure incorruptibility, just as we cannot endure the rays of the sun with unshielded eyes. The Jews announced what was a shadow of an image, at a third remove from reality, whereas we ourselves clearly behold the image of the heavenly dispensation. But…

If, according to the apostle, “the law is spiritual” and contains within itself the images “of the good things to come,” then let us remove “the veil” of the letter which is spread over it and contemplate its true meaning stripped bare. The Jews were commanded to adorn their tabernacle as a proleptic imitation of the church, that through the things of sense they might be able to prefigure the image of things divine. For the exemplar which was shown forth on the mountain and on which Moses gazed when he constructed the tabernacle was in a way an accurate picture of the dwelling in heaven, to which indeed we pay homage insofar as it far surpasses the types in clarity and yet is far fainter than the reality. The fact is that the unmingled truth has not yet come to humanity as it is in itself, for here we would be unable to contemplate its pure incorruptibility, just as we cannot endure the rays of the sun with unshielded eyes. The Jews announced what was a shadow of an image, at a third remove from reality, whereas we ourselves clearly behold the image of the heavenly dispensation. But the reality itself will be accurately revealed after the resurrection when we shall see the holy tabernacle, the heavenly city, “whose builder and maker is God,” face to face, and not “in a dark manner” and only “in part.”

Galatians 2:9

And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.

Since then the children have invited us, and have given unto us the right hand of fellowship,

Galatians 4:4

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

But when He says, "As the years draw nigh, thou shalt be recognised "He means, as has been said before, that glorious recognition of our Saviour, God in the flesh, who is otherwise invisible to mortal eye; as somewhere Paul, that great interpreter of sacred mysteries, says: "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

Galatians 4:19

My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,

For he says, "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you; ".
Receive the features, and the image, and the manliness of Christ, the likeness of the form of the Word being stamped upon them, and begotten in them by a true knowledge and faith, so that in each one Christ is spiritually born. And, therefore, the Church swells and travails in birth until Christ is formed in us,

Galatians 5:17

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

For there are two motions in us, the lust of the flesh and that of the soul, differing from each other,

Galatians 5:22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

First to make a plaster with a lump of figs-that is, the fruit of the Spirit-that he may be healed-that is, according to the apostle-by love; for he says, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; "