FRAGMENTA IN EPISTOLAM I S. PETRI.
IN PRIMAM S. PETRI EPISTOLAM.
CHAPTER FIRST.
AVERS. 6-8. Modicum nunc si oportet contristari in variis tentationibus, ut probatio fidei vestræ multo pretiosior auro liquefacto, quod per ignem probatur, inveniatur in laudem, et gloriam, et honorem, in revelationem Jesu Christi, quem cum non videritis diligitis.
The righteous are afflicted so that they may be crowned; sinners, so that they may pay the penalty for their sins. However, not all sinners pay the penalty here, lest many deny the resurrection; just as not all the righteous are afflicted, lest you think that vice is to be praised and you grow to hate virtue.
VERS. 18, 21. Scientes quod non corruptibilibus auro et argento redempti estis de vana vestra conversatione paternæ traditionis, sed pretioso sanguine quasi Agni immaculati et incontaminati Christi: præcogniti quidem ante mundi constitutionem, manifesti autem in novissimis temporibus propter vos qui per ipsum fideles estis in Deum. B
We are the creation of God, but through sin we have become the devil's. Having then become the devil's, the Savior ransoms us with His own blood; this is what is meant by, "You have been bought with a price." For we have been bought with a precious blood. For just as a venerable and good householder might deliver a wicked slave, who has many faults and whom he has judged unworthy of his beautiful house and his own company, to another that he might train him; and then, if he should see him punished under a wicked master and saying, "I will return to my former master, for it was better for me then than it is now," he gives the price again and redeems him, so that he may become a peculiar people; thus does God also recover us C. And how are we His own and not His own? As created beings, we are His own; but as having fallen into sin, we become aliens, not His own. Do not think that you are God's own if you are a sinner; for the devil possesses you; you are his property. "Man of sin, son of perdition"—he buys you, not with precious blood, but with ignoble blood; for he buys you with sin, he buys you with lust, for he is impure; he buys you with murder, for he is a slayer of men; "For he was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth," and these are his customs and his laws.
CAP. II.
DVERS. 7, 8. Non credentibus autem: lapis quem [reprobaverunt qui ædificabant, hic factus est in caput anguli, et lapis offensionis].
reprobaverunt aedificantes, hic factus est in caput anguli, et lapis offensionis et petra scandali.
These words are referred to Christ, since He Himself introduces this prophecy in the Gospels, saying: "Have you never read, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?" A And a little later: "The stone which the builders rejected." He means the Jews, the Scribes, and the Pharisees, because they rejected Him, saying: "Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil"; and again: "This man is not of God, but seduceth the crowds."
CAP. III.
VERS. 10. *And his lips that they speak no guile.* Guile is falsehood, and deceit, and slander, and accusations that do not possess the truth. How dear these things are to the enemy of truth, namely Satan, the father of lies! For he is a liar, as the Savior says, and stood not in the truth. B Therefore, these rapacious things of his must be rejected by the saints, and we must rather cleave to God, who is Truth.
VERS. 11. *Declina a malo, et fac bonum (Turn away from evil, and do good).* It is not possible for us never to receive any evil into our mind at all, for such thoughts very often occur to a person; but whoever is wise flees from them, and delights to weigh down the scales toward better things and those that have a much greater utility. This, I think, is what it means: *Turn away from evil.*
CAP. IV.
VERS. 9. *Hospitales invicem, sine murmuratione (Use hospitality one to another without murmuring).* If you receive your neighbor as Christ, you will not murmur nor be ashamed; rather, you will be greatly exalted in the duty. But if you do not receive him as Christ, you will not even receive Christ, who says: "He that receiveth you, receiveth me." C If you do not receive him in this way, you will not have the reward. Abraham received the men passing by, travelers as he believed, into his hospitality. But he did not entrust everything to his servants; he ordered his wife herself to knead the flour, although he had household slaves. But he himself desired to receive the reward together with his wife, not only of hospitality, but also of service: so we ought to show hospitality, doing everything ourselves, so that we also may be sanctified.
CAP. V.
VERS. 2, 3. *Feed the flock of God which is among you, not as lording it over the clergy.* For Christ says: "He that will be first among you, shall be your servant"; and: "He that shall humble himself, shall be exalted." What do you say? If I humble myself, shall I then be exalted? Yes, He says: for such is My power, that I am D rich and resourceful in providing the contrary through the contrary. Do not fear; the nature of things follows My will, whereas I am not bound by nature.