Hope

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From New Testament Words (1964)

  Some people are fitted to give leadership; others are only fitted to accept it. (iv) It is commonly used of obeying the laws. To follow the laws of a city is to accept them as the standard of life and of behaviour. (v) It is commonly used of following the thread or argument of a discourse. When the argument has got into a difficult position Socrates says: ‘Come now, try to follow me, to see if we can get this matter adequately explained’ (Plato, Republic 474c). (vi) In the papyri akolouthein is very commonly used for attaching oneself to someone in order to extract some favour which is desired. One writes in advice to another: ‘stick to Ptollarion all the time.... Stick to him so that you may become his friend.’ The idea is that of following a person until the favour desired is finally extracted from him. Every one of these usages has light to throw on the Christian life. The Christian is in the position of the soldier who follows Jesus Christ, and who must immediately obey his leader’s command. The Christian is in the position of the slave, who must obey as soon as his master speaks. The Christian must ask for the advice and for the ruling of Jesus Christ and must have the humility to follow it, whatever it may be. The Christian is the man who desires citizenship of the Kingdom of Heaven, and, if he is to receive it, he must agree to live according to its laws. The Christian is the learner and the listener who must listen to the words of Jesus, and who must follow their thread, so that day by day he may learn more of the wisdom which Jesus is ever wishing to teach him. The Christian is always in the position of one who needs and desires the favour and the grace and the help which Jesus Christ can give to him, and who follows Christ because in Christ alone he finds his need supplied. We now turn to the use of akolouthein in the NT itself It is very frequent there. (i) It is used of the disciples who left their various trades and occupations and followed Jesus. So it is used of Peter and Andrew (Mark 1.18; cp. Matt. 4.20). It is used of the two disciples of John the Baptist who followed Jesus when John pointed at Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1.37). It is used of the reaction of the disciples after the miraculous catch of fishes; they forsook all and followed Jesus (Luke 5.11). It is the claim of the disciples towards the end that they have left everything to follow Jesus (Matt. 19.27). It is used of the would-be disciples whom Jesus told to think again before they launched out on the adventure of following him (Matt. 8.19; cp. Luke 9.59, 61).

• From Blue Like Jazz (2003)

  So much of me believes strongly in letting everybody live their own lives, and when I share my faith, I feel like a network marketing guy trying to build my down line. Some of my friends who aren’t Christians think that Christians are insistent and demanding and intruding, but that isn’t the case. Those folks are the squeaky wheel. Most Christians have enormous respect for the space and freedom of others; it is only that they have found a joy in Jesus they want to share. There is the tension. In a recent radio interview I was sternly asked by the host, who did not consider himself a Christian, to defend Christianity. I told him that I couldn’t do it, and moreover, that I didn’t want to defend the term. He asked me if I was a Christian, and I told him yes. “Then why don’t you want to defend Christianity?” he asked, confused. I told him I no longer knew what the term meant. Of the hundreds of thousands of people listening to his show that day, some of them had terrible experiences with Christianity; they may have been yelled at by a teacher in a Christian school, abused by a minister, or browbeaten by a Christian parent. To them, the term Christianity meant something that no Christian I know would defend. By fortifying the term, I am only making them more and more angry. I won’t do it. Stop ten people on the street and ask them what they think of when they hear the word Christianity, and they will give you ten different answers. How can I defend a term that means ten different things to ten different people? I told the radio show host that I would rather talk about Jesus and how I came to believe that Jesus exists and that he likes me. The host looked back at me with tears in his eyes. When we were done, he asked me if we could go get lunch together. He told me how much he didn’t like Christianity but how he had always wanted to believe Jesus was the Son of God. [image "9780785263708_0128_002" file=Image00044.jpg] For me, the beginning of sharing my faith with people began by throwing out Christianity and embracing Christian spirituality, a nonpolitical mysterious system that can be experienced but not explained. Christianity, unlike Christian spirituality, was not a term that excited me. And I could not in good conscious tell a friend about a faith that didn’t excite me. I couldn’t share something I wasn’t experiencing. And I wasn’t experiencing Christianity. It didn’t do anything for me at all. It felt like math, like a system of rights and wrongs and political beliefs, but it wasn’t mysterious; it wasn’t God reaching out of heaven to do wonderful things in my life. And if I would have shared Christianity with somebody, it would have felt mostly like I was trying to get somebody to agree with me rather than meet God.

• From Heptaméron (1559)

  In return for all Margaret's pains to hasten his deliver- ance, Francis I. could not do less than procure for her a fit husband. Negotiations were opened on the subject with Henry VIII. of England, but happily they came to nothing. There was at the court of France a young king — one, indeed, who was without a kingdom, but not without eminent advan- tages, both of mind and person. This was Henri d'Albret, Count of Be'arn, legitimate sovereign of Navarre, which was withheld from him by Charles V., contrary to treaty. Henri had been taken prisoner at the battle of Pavia, and had made his escape after a captivity of about two months, by letting himself down from the window by means of a rope. Having lived some time at the court of France, he was well known to IMargaret, and there is every reason to believe that the marriage was one of inclination — on her side, at least. It was celebrated, therefore, notwithstanding a considerable dis- parity of age. at Saint Germain en Laye, in January, 1527, Henri d'Albret received as his wife's portion the duchies of Alen^on and Berry, and the counties of Armagnac and Perche, which Francis entailed on his sister's issue, whether male or female. He also pledged himself in the marriage contract to force the emperor immediately to restore Navarre to his brother-in-law. Margaret repeatedly urged him to fulfil this promise, and she speaks of it in many of her letters ; but political exigencies always prevailed against her ; and there was even a clause inserted in a protocol relative to the de- xxviii MEMOIR OF MARGARET, liverance of the children of France, which ran thus : " Item, the same king promises not to assist or favour the King of Navarre to reconquer his kingdom, albeit he has married his most beloved and only sister."

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  GREGORY. (ubi sup.) If again the Angel had not expressly named him who had denied his Master, he would not have dared to come amongst the disciples; he is therefore called by name, lest he should despair on account of his denial. AUGUSTINE. (Con. Evan. iii. 25) By saying, He will go before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him, as he said unto you, he seems to imply, that Jesus would not shew Himself to His disciples after His resurrection except in Galilee, which shewing of Himself Mark himself has not2 mentioned. For that which He has related, Early the first day of the week he appeared to Mary Magdalene, and after that to two of them as they walked and went into the country, we know took place in Jerusalem, on the very day of the resurrection; then he comes to His last manifestation, which we know was on the Mount of Olives, not far from Jerusalem. Mark therefore never relates the fulfilment of that which was foretold by the Angel; but Matthew does not mention any place at all, where the disciples saw the Lord after He arose, except Galilee, according to the Angel’s prophecy. But since it is not set down when this happened, whether first, before He was seen any where else, and since the very place where Matthew says that He went into Galilee to the mountain, does not explain the day, or the order of the narration, Matthew does not oppose the account of the others, but assists in explaining and receiving them. But nevertheless since the Lord was not first to shew Himself there, but sent word that He was to be seen in Galilee, where He was seen subsequently, it makes every faithful Christian on the look out, to find out in what mysterious sense it may be understood. GREGORY. (ubi sup.) For Galilee means1 ‘a passing over;’ for our Redeemer had already passed from His Passion to His resurrection, from death unto life, and we shall have joy in seeing the glory of His resurrection, if only we pass over from vice to the heights of virtue. He then who is announced at the tomb, is shewn in ‘passing over,’ because He who is first known in mortification of the flesh, is seen in this passing over of the soul. PSEUDO-JEROME. This sentence is but short in the number of syllables, but the promise is vast in its greatness. Here is the fountain of our joy, and the source of everlasting life is prepared. Here all that are scattered are brought together, and the contrite hearts are healed. There, he says, ye shall see Him, but not as ye have seen Him.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  AUGUSTINE. (de Symbolo, 4) Let us not therefore understand this sitting as though He were placed there in human limbs, as if the Father sat on the left, the Son on the right, but by the right hand itself we understand the power which He as man received from God, that He should come to judge, who first had come to be judged. For by sitting we express habitation, as we say of a person, he sat himself down in that country for many years; in this way then believe that Christ dwells at the right hand of God the Father. For He is blessed and dwells in blessedness, which is called the right hand of the Father; for all is right hand there, since there is no misery. It goes on: And they went forth and preached every where, the Lord working with than, and confirming the word with signs and wonders. BEDE. (ubi sup.) Observe that in proportion as Mark began his history later, so he makes it reach in writing to more distant times, for he began from the commencement of the preaching of the Gospel by John, and he reaches in his narrative those times in which the Apostles sowed the same word of the Gospel throughout the world. GREGORY. (ubi sup.) But what should we consider in these words, if it be not that obedience follows the precept and signs follow the obedience? For the Lord had commanded them, Go into all the world preaching the Gospel, and, Ye shall be witnesses even unto the ends of the earth. AUGUSTINE. (Epist. cxcix. 12.) (Acts 1:8) But how was this preaching fulfilled by the Apostles, since there are many nations in which it has just begun, and others in which it has not yet begun to be fulfilled? Truly then this precept was not so laid upon the Apostles by our Lord, as though they alone to whom He then spoke were to fulfil so great a charge; in the same way as He says, Behold, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, apparently to them alone; but who does not understand that the promise is made to the Catholic Church, which though some are dying, others are born, shall be here unto the end of the world? THEOPHYLACT. But we must also know from this that words are confirmed by deeds as then in the Apostles works confirmed their words, for signs followed. Grant then, O Christ, that the good words which we speak may be confirmed by works and deeds, so that at the last, Thou working with us in word and in deed, we may be perfect, for Thine as is fitting is the glory both of word and deed. Amen.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  THEOPHYLACT. (in loc.) As He said above, that the Son of man came down from heaven, not meaning that His flesh did come down from heaven, on account of the unity of person in Christ, attributing to man what belonged to God: so now conversely what belongs to man, he assigns to God the Word. The Son of God was impassible; but being one in respect of person with man, who was passible, the Son is said to be given up to death; inasmuch as He truly suffered, not in His own nature, but in His own flesh. From this death follows an exceeding great and incomprehensible benefit: viz. that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The Old Testament promised to those who obeyed it, length of days: the Gospel promises life eternal, and imperishable. BEDE.1; Note here, that the same which he before said of the Son of man, lifted up on the cross, he repeats of the only begotten Son of God: viz. That whosoever believeth in Him, &c. For the same our Maker and Redeemer, who was Son of God before the world was, was made at the end of the world the Son of man; so that He who by the power of His Godhead had created us to enjoy the happiness of an endless life, the same restored us to the life we have lost by taking our human frailty upon Him. ALCUIN. Truly through the Son of God shall the world have life; for for no other cause came He into the world, except to save the world. God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xii. c. 12) For why is He called the Saviour of the world, but because Ho saves the world? The physician, so far as his will is concerned, heals the sick. If the sick despises or will not observe the directions of the physician, he destroys himself.

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  When Jesus came, it was as if God said to men: ‘Here is the one in whom all my promises come true.’ Jesus is the one in whom there meet the dream of God and the dream of men. (v) In Jesus there comes to men not only the fulfilment of the old promises; there comes also even better promises (Heb. 8.6; 9.15). Jesus is not only the consummation of the hopes and the dreams of the past; he brings to men things more precious and things greater than ever they had dreamed of. This is important, because it means that Jesus does not only fulfil the OT prophecies and ideals; he surpasses them. He brings into life not only something which grew out of the past, but also something which is completely new. When we see how far back the promise of God goes, it makes sense of history. We may promise a child some gift or some privilege with the intention of giving it to him when he is fit to use it and enjoy it and to enter into it. For instance, a father might plan and save in order to give a child the benefit of a university education, when the child came of age to benefit from such an education; and during the period of waiting, the father would do everything he could to train the child to reach a stage when he could be fit to enjoy the promise. That is what God did with men. He chose a man; and chose a nation; that out of that nation there might come his Son in due time. Nor, in the choice of a nation, did God leave the rest of the world alone. Clement of Alexandria saw in pagan philosophy that which prepared the heathen for accepting Christ, just as much as the Law prepared the Jews. When we think of it this way we see the whole of history as a preparation of men to accept the promise and the offer of God. Let us now see what God did promise to his people in Jesus Christ. (i) God promised men the gift of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24.29; Acts 1.4; 2.23; Eph. 1.15). The Holy Spirit may be taken to be God active in the lives and in the minds of men. The Holy Spirit is the power and the presence and the person who guides men into strength and adequacy of life, power and clarity of thought, lucidity and persuasiveness of speech. The promise of the Spirit is the promise of God to make us live and think with his own power. (ii) With the gift of the Spirit, God promised the gift of forgiveness (Acts 2.39). It is never enough to think of forgiveness as simply the remission of some penalty which should have fallen upon us. Forgiveness is essentially the restoration of a lost relationship.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Jesus answered them, Amen, amen I say unto you, that whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. Now the servant abideth not in the house for ever; but the son abideth for ever. If therefore the son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. St. John 8:34–36. b. Entering the Heavenly Kingdom; Christ being come a High-Priest of the good things to come.… by His own Blood entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption. Heb. 9:11, 12. Having, therefore, brethren, a confidence in the entering into the holies by the Blood of Christ, a new and living way which He hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, His Flesh, and a High-Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith. Heb. 10:19–22. After they were come to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers with a spear opened His side, and immediately there came out Blood and water: and he that saw it hath given testimony, and his testimony is true; and he knoweth that he saith true, that you also may believe. St. John 19:33–35. c. The heritage of the sons of God; If thy brother being impoverished sell his little possession, his kinsman if he will may redeem what he has sold. Lev. 25:25. If thou have a faithful servant let him be to thee as thy own soul; treat him as a brother; because in the blood of thy soul thou hast gotten him. Ecclus. 33:31. N. The penitent thief; He said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom. And Jesus said to him, Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise. St. Luke 23:42, 43. Prayer

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  Simply to take the word aiōnios, when it refers to blessings and punishment, to mean lasting for ever is to oversimplify, and indeed to misunderstand, the word altogether. It means far more than that. It means that that which the faithful will receive and that which the unfaithful will suffer is that which it befits God’s nature and character to bestow and to inflict —and beyond that we who are men cannot go, except to remember that that nature and character are holy love. We must now turn to the greatest of all uses of the word aiōnios in the NT, its use in connexion with the phrase eternal life. We must begin by reminding ourselves of the fact which we have so often stressed, that the word aiōnios is the word of eternity in contrast with time, of deity in contrast with humanity, and that therefore eternal life is nothing less than the life of God himself. (i) The promise of eternal life is the promise that it is open to the Christian to share nothing less than the power and the peace of God himself. Eternal life is the promise of God (Titus 1.2; I John 2.25). God has promised us a share in his own blessedness, and God cannot break a promise. (ii) But the NT goes further than that—eternal life is not only the promise of God; eternal life is the gift of God (Rom. 6.23; I John 5.11). As we shall see, eternal life is not without its conditions; but the fact remains that eternal life is something which God out of his mercy and grace gives to man. It is something which we could neither earn nor deserve; it is the free gift of God to men. (iii) Eternal life is bound up with Jesus Christ. Christ is the living water which is the elixir of eternal life (John 4.14). He is the food which brings to men eternal life (John 6.27, 54). His words are the words of eternal life (John 6.68). He himself not only brings (John 17.2, 3) but is eternal life (I John 5.20). If we wish to put this very simply, we may say that through Jesus there is possible a relationship, an intimacy, a unity with God which are possible in no other way. Through what he is and does men may enter into the very life of God himself. (iv) This eternal life comes through what the NT calls belief in Jesus Christ (John 3.15, 16, 36; 5.24; 6.40, 47; I John 5.13; I Tim. 1.16). What does this belief mean? Clearly it is not simply intellectual belief. Belief in Jesus means that we believe absolutely and implicitly that what Jesus says about God is true.

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  It is something which has to be worked out with fear and trembling (Phil. 2.12). Great as it is, it can still be neglected (Heb. 2.3). The NT never forgets that the perilous free-will of man can frustrate the saving purpose of God. (iii) The place of Jesus in God’s sōtēria is central. In no one else is sōtēria, and there is no other name in heaven or earth by which men may be saved (Acts 4.12). He is the archēgos, the pioneer, the trail-blazer of sōtēria (Heb. 2.10). He is the aitios, the moving and essential cause of sōtēria (Heb. 5.9). Without himself and his work sōtēria is not possible. (iv) None the less he needs his human agents. It is Paul’s aim to do something to ‘save’ some of the Jews (Rom. 11.14). He is all things to all men that he may ‘save’ some (I Cor. 9.22). He exhorts the believing partner in marriage not to leave the unbelieving one for perhaps the believer may ‘save’ the unbeliever (I Cor. 7.16). Paul’s whole desire in God’s sight is to ‘save’ men (I Cor. 10.33). He blames the Jews for hindering him in this work (I Thess. 2.16). Timothy is to take heed to himself and his teaching that he may ‘save’ himself and others (I Tim. 4.16). The man who converts a sinner ‘saves’ a soul from death (James 5.20). Jesus Christ needs lips to speak for him, hands to work for him, men to be his heralds. (v) For this very reason the Christian message is certain things. (a) The Christian message is ‘the word of salvation’ (Acts 13.26; Eph. 1.13). It is the good news of God’s good will to men. (b) The Christian message is ‘the way of salvation’ (Acts 16.17). It shows a man the path that leads to life and not to death. (c) The Christian message is ‘the power of salvation’ (Rom. 1.16). It brings a man not only a task but also the strength to do it, not only a way but also the power to walk it, not only an offer but also the power to grasp it. (d) The ‘aim’ of the Christian message is salvation (Rom. 10.1; II Cor. 6.1). The aim of the Christian message is not to hold a man over the flames of hell but to lift him up to the life of heaven. We must now look at what we might call the NT elements of sōtēria, the things which bring ‘salvation’. (i) Sōtēria involves ‘repentance’. A godly sorrow produces a repentance that works towards salvation (II Cor. 7.10). Sōtēria is something which has to be worked out with ‘fear and trembling’ (Phil. 2.12). (ii) Sōtēria involves ‘faith’ (Eph. 2.8; II Tim. 3.15; I Pet. 1.9). It involves taking God at his word and casting oneself in utter trust on the offered mercy of God. It involves ‘belief’ (Rom.

• From Love & Sex: A Christian Guide to Healthy Intimacy (2018)

  “Hi, everyone, I hope you don’t mind. I came in late. I’m Vanessa’s husband, Justin.” He gave Vanessa a sheepish wave with the palm of his hand and then looked back down at his feet. “I left Vanessa six months ago. It’s not that I wanted to. It ripped my guts out. I just didn’t think I had a choice. She shut me out, pushed me away with her silence, and we never had sex. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I told her she had to get help for whatever was eating her alive. “I hadn’t heard a word from her for six months, and then I got a text from her the other day telling me she joined a women’s group and finally told her story. I don’t even know her story. She wondered if I wanted to come today. I didn’t answer her text . . .” he said, looking up at Vanessa, “because I didn’t know what to say. But today is the first day I have felt hope in months that maybe, just maybe, if we both let God in, our marriage might have a chance. What do you think, Vanessa? Do we have a chance? Do you want me back? Do you have any love for me left?” With that Justin shoved his hands deep into the recesses of his jean pockets. Every eye turned to the front of the room where Vanessa sat. She seemed frozen. “Vanessa,” Olivia prompted as she went and stood beside her, “would you like to respond to Justin?” Vanessa slowly got up from her chair and walked to the back of the room where Justin stood. She stood in front of him with her eyes locked on his. After what seemed like an eternity, she put her arms around his neck and put her head on his chest. Finally, she pleaded, “Please come home.” As silly as it sounds, the room erupted in cheers. Suddenly, Justin moved out of her embrace, everyone paused—maybe the rejection had been too much and he couldn’t risk letting her in—when a warm smile broke across his face. He said, “I would love to, with one condition.” “Yes, what is it?” Vanessa asked. “You stay in your women’s group, and we get connected with this group of people. We can’t do it alone. We both know that didn’t work, and it most likely never will. We are going to need all the help we can get to make it.” Vanessa nodded in agreement.

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  It is his vision that Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us (Heb. 7.25). With one of the greatest reaches of thought in the NT he still sees Christ pleading for men, carrying on his high priestly work, and still opening the way to God for men, the vision of a Christ who loved us from the first of time and who will love us to the last, and whose continued love is our eternal hope of sōtēria. In many cases in the NT sōtēria occurs as it were without explanation and without qualification. It is used as a word of whose meaning everyone would understand at least something. Such passages are Luke 19.9; Acts 11.14; 16.30; I Cor. 3.15; II Cor. 2.15). But if we are to get the full value and the full meaning out of this word, we must ask the question: What is a man saved from? What is the deliverance which sōtēria promises? Before we begin to examine the NT for this purpose we must note one thing. The verb sōzein means both to save a man in the eternal sense, and to heal a man in the physical sense. Salvation in the NT is ‘total salvation’. It saves a man, body and soul. (i) Sōtēria is salvation from ‘physical illness’ (Matt. 9.21; Luke 8.36, in both of which cases the verb is sōzein). Jesus was concerned with men’s bodies as well as with men’s souls. It is significant that the Church is rediscovering that today. Such salvation may not cure, but it always enables the sufferer to transmute the suffering into glory. (ii) Sōtēria is salvation from danger. When the disciples were in peril they cried out to be ‘saved’ (Matt. 8.25; 14.30). This does not mean protection from all peril and from all harm, but it does mean that the man who knows that he is within the sōtēria of God knows, as Rupert Brooke had it, that he is ‘safe when all safety’s lost’. It is the conviction that nothing in life or in death can separate him from the love of God. (iii) Sōtēria is salvation from ‘life’s infection’. A man is saved from a crooked and perverse generation (Acts 2.40). The man who knows the sōtēria of God has within him and upon him a prophylactic quality, a divine antiseptic which enables him to walk in the world and yet to keep his garments unspotted from the world. (iv) Sōtēria is salvation from ‘lostness’. It was to seek and to save the lost that Jesus came (Matt. 18.11; Luke 19.10). It was to rescue a man when he was on the way to a situation in which he would lose his life and lose his soul. It was to turn him from the way that led to the most deadly kind of death to the way that led to the most vital kind of life.

• From Heptaméron (1559)

  Amadour was very glad to hear that Florida loved something, for he hoped, with the help of time, to be- come, not her husband, but her lover ; for her virtue caused him no uneasiness, his only fear being lest she should not love at all. He had little difficulty in intro- ducing himself to the son of the Fortunate Infante, and still less in gaining his goodwill, for he was expert in all the exercises which the young prince was fond of. He was, above all, a good horseman, skilled in feats of arms, and in all sorts of exercises befitting a young man. As war was then beginning again in Languedoc, Amadour was obliged to return with the governor ; but it was not without keen regret, for there was no prospect of his returning to the place where he could see Florida. Be- fore his departure he spoke to his brother, who was ma- jor-domo to the Queen of Spain, told him the good match he had in the Countess of Aranda's house in the Lady Aventurada, and begged him to do his best during his absence to further his marriage, and to procure on his ^4 THE HEPTAMERON OF THE \Ncrvel la

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  BEDE. Having announced that the Lord, according to the declaration of the Prophet, would be born of the house of David, he now says, that the same Lord to fulfil the covenant He made with Abraham will deliver us, because chiefly to these patriarchs of Abraham’s seed was promised the gathering of the Gentiles, or the incarnation of Christ. But David is put first, because to Abraham was promised the holy assembly of the Church; whereas to David it was told that from him Christ was to be born. And therefore after what was said of David, he adds concerning Abraham the words, To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, &c. ORIGEN. I think that at the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, both Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were partakers of His mercy. For it is not to be believed, that they who had before seen His day, and were glad, should afterwards derive no advantage from His coming, since it is written, Having made peace through the blood of his Cross, whether in earth or in heaven. (Coloss. 1:20.) THEOPHYLACT. The grace of Christ extends even to those who are dead, because through Him we shall rise again, not only we, but they also who have been dead before us. He performed His mercy also to our forefathers in fulfilling all their hopes and desires. Hence it follows, And to remember his holy covenant, that covenant, namely, wherein he said, Blessing, I will bless thee, and multiplying, I will multiply thee. (Gen. 22:17.) For Abraham was multiplied in all nations, who became his children by adoption, through following the example of his faith. But the fathers also, seeing their children enjoy these blessings, rejoice together with them, just as if they received the mercy in themselves. Hence it follows, The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us. BASIL. (Hom. in Ps. 29. et in Ps. 14. App. op.) But let no one, hearing that the Lord had sworn to Abraham, be tempted to swear. For as when the wrath of God is spoken of, it does not signify passion but punishment; so neither dos God swear as man, but His word is in very truth expressed to us in place of an oath, confirming by an unchangeable sentence what He promised. 1:7474. That we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear.

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  PAROUSIA THE ARRIVAL OF THE KING The Greek word parousia has become naturalized in English as a technical term for the Second Coming of Christ. The use of the word in the secular Greek contemporary with the NT is extremely interesting. (i) In classical Greek it means quite simply the ‘presence’ or the ‘arrival’ of persons or things. It can be used in such phrases as the ‘presence’ of friends or the ‘presence’ of misfortunes. A man takes an oath that he will fulfil a certain duty in the presence of the brothers and the bishops. Quite often Paul uses parousia in that simple non-technical sense. He rejoices at the parousia, the ‘arrival’ of Stephanas (I Cor. 16.17). He is comforted by the parousia of Titus (II Cor. 7.6). He urges the Philippians to be as obedient in his absence as they were during his parousia with them (Phil. 2.12). The Corinthians fling the taunt at him that, however impressive his letters may be, his bodily parousia, presence, is weak (II Cor. 10.10). (ii) But, characteristically, in the NT parousia is the word for the Second Coming of Christ (Matt. 24.3, 27, 37, 39; I Thess. 2.19; 3.13; 4.15; 5.23; II Thess. 2.1, 8, 9; James 5.7, 8; II Pet. 1.16; 3.4, 12; I John 2.28). Let us study the contemporary secular use of the term to see what kind of picture it would convey to the minds of the early Christians. In the papyri and in Hellenistic Greek parousia is the technical word for the arrival of an emperor, a king, a governor or famous person into a town or province. For such a visit preparations have to be made. Taxes are imposed, for instance, to present the king with a golden crown. For the visit of Ptolemy Soter to the village of Cerceosiris 80 artabae of corn have to be collected. Always the coming of the king demands that all things must be ready. Further, one of the commonest things is that provinces dated a new era from the parousia of the emperor. Cos dated a new era from the parousia of Gaius Caesar in A.D. 4, as did Greece from the parousia of Hadrian in A.D. 124. A new section of time emerged with the coming of the king. Another common practice was to strike new coins to commemorate the visitation of the king. Hadrian’s travels can be followed by the coins which were struck to commemorate his visits. When Nero visited Corinth coins were struck to commemorate his adventus, advent, which is the Latin equivalent of the Greek parousia. It was as if with the coming of the king a new set of values had emerged. Parousia is sometimes used of the ‘invasion’ of a province by a general. It is so used of the invasion of Asia by Mithradates.

• From Blue Like Jazz (2003)

  flavors and then some, and she is beyond our peripheral vision, so we might want to turn our heads, because some day we’re gonna get hungry and eat all of the words we just said. And just about everybody I know loves those lines because they speak of heaven and of hope and the idea that some day a King will come and dictate, through some mystical act of love, an existence in which everybody has to eat their own words because we won’t be allowed to judge each other on the surface of things anymore. And this fills me with hope. Jean-Paul Sartre said hell is other people. But that Indian speaker I really like named Ravi Zacharias says that heaven can be other people, too, and that we have the power to bring a little of heaven into the lives of others every day. I know this is true because I have felt it when Penny or Tony tells me I mean something to them and they love me. I pray often that God would give me the strength and dignity to receive their love. My friend Julie from Seattle says the key to everything rests in the ability to receive love, and what she says is right because my personal experience tells me so. I used to not be able to receive love at all, and to this day I have some problems, but it isn’t like it used to be. My eye would find things on television and in the media and somehow I would compare myself to them without really knowing I was doing it, and this really screwed me up because I never for a second felt I was worthy of anybody’s compliments. I was dating this girl for a while, this cute writer from the South, and she was great, really the perfect girl, and we shared tastes on everything from music to movies, all the important stuff, and yet I could not really thrive in the relationship because I could never believe her deeply when she expressed affection. Our love was never a two-way conversation. I didn’t realize I was doing it, but I used to kick myself around quite a bit in my head, calling myself a loser and that sort of thing. There was nothing this girl could do to get through to me. She would explain her feelings, and I should have been happy with that, but I always needed more and then I resented the fact that I needed more because, well, it is such a needy thing to need more, and so I lived inside this conflict. I would sit on the porch at Graceland and watch cars go around the circle while all this stuff went around in my heart. There was no peace at all. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. Andrew the Protester, the one who looks like Fidel Castro, was living in the house back then, and he is such an amazing listener that I would

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Let us also reflect that our hope reaches up to God through Christ, according to Romans 5:1 ff.: “Being justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access through faith into this grace wherein we stand, and glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God.” Through Him who is the only-begotten Son of God by nature, we are made adopted sons: “God sent His Son... that we might receive the adoption of sons,” as is said in Galatians 4:4 ff. Hence, in acknowledging that God is our Father, we should do so in such a way that the prerogative of the Only-begotten is not disparaged. In this connection Augustine admonishes us: “Do not make any exclusive claims for yourself. In a special sense, God is the Father of Christ alone, and is the Father of all the rest of us in common. For the Father begot Him alone, but created us” [really Ambrose, De sacramentis, V. 19]. This, then, is why we say: “Our Father.” CHAPTER 6 GOD’S POWER TO GRANT OUR PETITIONSWhen hope is abandoned, the reason is usually to be found in the powerlessness of him from whom help was expected. The confidence characteristic of hope i’s not wholly grounded on the mere willingness to help professed by him on whom our hope rests: power to help must also be present. We sufficiently express our conviction that the divine will is ready to help us when we proclaim that God is our Father. But to exclude all doubt as to the perfection of His power, we add: “who art in heaven.” The Father is not said to be in heaven as though He were contained by heaven; on the contrary, He encompasses heaven in His power, as is said in Sirach 24:8: “1 alone have compassed the circuit of heaven.” Indeed, God’s power is raised above the whole immensity of heaven, according to Psalm 8:2: “Your magnificence is elevated above the heavens.” And so, to strengthen the confidence of our hope, we hail the power of God which sustains and transcends the heavens.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Accordingly, even when we have faith, there still remains in the soul an impulse toward something else, namely, the perfect vision of the truth assented to on faith, and the attainment of whatever can lead to such truth. As we pointed out above, among the various teachings of faith there is one according to which we believe that God exercises providence over human affairs. In consequence of this belief, stirrings of hope arise in the soul of the believer that by God’s help he may gain possession of the goods he naturally desires, once he learns of them through faith. Therefore, as we mentioned at the very beginning, next after faith, the virtue of hope is necessary for the perfection of Christian living. CHAPTER 2 PRAYER AND HOPEin the order of divine providence, each being has assigned to it a way of reaching its end in keeping with its nature. To men, too, is appointed a suitable way, that befits the conditions of human nature, of obtaining what they hope for from God. Human nature inclines us to have recourse to petition for the purpose of obtaining from another, especially from a person of higher rank, what we hope to receive from him. And so prayer is recommended to men, that by it they may obtain from God what they hope to secure from Him.

• From New Testament Words (1964)

  (vi) Eternal life is the reward of the adventurer of Christ (John 12.25). It is for the man who hates his life and who is prepared to throw it away for the sake of Jesus Christ. It is for the man who is ever ready ‘to venture for thy name’. It is for the man who accepts the risks of the Christian life, and who is prepared ‘to bet his life that there is a God’. (vii) Eternal life is the result of that righteousness which comes through the grace of Jesus Christ (Rom. 5.21). The essential meaning of righteousness is a new relationship with God through that which Jesus Christ has done for us. And so we end where we began—eternal life is the life of God himself, and into that life we, too, may enter when we accept what Jesus Christ has done for us, and what he tells us about God. We shall never enter into the full ideas of eternal life until we rid ourselves of the almost instinctive assumption that eternal life means primarily life which goes on for ever. Long ago the Greeks saw that such a life would be by no means necessarily a blessing. They told the story of Aurora, the goddess of dawn, who fell in love with Tithonus, the mortal youth. Zeus offered her any gift she might choose for her mortal lover. She asked that Tithonus might never die; but she forgot to ask that he might remain for ever young. So Tithonus lived for ever growing older and older and more and more decrepit, till life became a terrible and intolerable curse. Life is only of value when it is nothing less than the life of God—and that is the meaning of eternal life. AKOLOUTHEIN THE DISCIPLE’S WORD Akolouthein is the common and normal Greek verb which means to follow. It is a word with many uses and with many associations and all of them add something to its meaning for the follower of Christ. First, let us look at its usage and its meaning in classical Greek. (i) It is the common and the usual word for soldiers following their leader and commander. Xenophon (Anabasis 7.5.3) speaks about the generals and captains who have followed the leader for whom they are fighting. (ii) It is very commonly used of a slave following or attending his master. Theophrastus, in his character sketch of the Distrustful Man, says that such a man compels his slave to walk before him instead of following behind him, as a slave would normally do, so that he can be sure the slave will not dodge away (Theophrastus, Characters 18.8). (iii) It is commonly used for following or obeying someone else’s advice or opinion. Plato says that it is necessary to find out those who are fitted by nature to be leaders in philosophy and government, and those who are fitted by nature to be followers of the leader (Plato, Republic 474c).

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Almighty God, the Lover of mankind, makes use of us, as St. Augustine says (I De doctrina christiana), both for the sake of His own goodness, and for our advantage. He makes use of us for His own goodness, that man may glorify Him. “Every one who calls upon My name, I have created him for My glory” (Isa. xliii 3). He likewise makes use of us for our own advantage, in order that He may give salvation to all. “Who wishes all men to be saved” (1 Tim. ii. 4). At the birth of Our Lord, an angel proclaimed this harmony between God and man, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to men of good will” (Luke ii. 14). But, although God, who is Almighty, could, of Himself alone, have caused man to glorify Him, and to obtain salvation, He has willed that a certain order should. be preserved in this work of salvation. Consequently He has appointed ministers, by whose labours the twofold end of man’s creation is to be accomplished. These ministers are rightly spoken of as God’s coadjutors” (1 Cor. iii. 9). But Satan strives, in his jealousy, to hinder both the Divine glory and the salvation of mankind. He, in like manner, endeavours to effect his purpose by means of his ministers, whom he incites to persecute the servants of God, The emissaries of Satan show clearly that they are the enemies both of God, whose glory they endeavour to frustrate, and, of man, against whose salvation they wage war. More especially do they show themselves hostile to the ministers of God, whom they persecute. “They, have persecuted us; and they do not please God; they are adversaries to all men (1 Thes, ii, 15). On this account, the Psalmist, in the verse which we have quoted, enumerates three points. First he mentions the hatred borne by the ministers of Satan to God. “Lo, your, enemies have made a noise,” i.e. they who formerly spoke secretly against You, do not fear now to oppose You publicly. The Gloss tells us, that these words refer to the days of Antichrist, when, the enemies of the Lord, being no longer subdued by fear, will cry out, against Him aloud. And, as their clamour will be an unreasoning tumult, it is spoken of as a noise, rather than a voice. They will not, however, manifest their hatred of God by sound only, but also by deeds. “Those who hate you have lifted up, their head,” ie., Antichrist, as the Gloss says. And not only Antichrist, the head himself, but likewise his members, who we heads under his head, and being governed by him as their head, are able so much the more efficaciously to persecute the saints of God.