Letter LXXV¶
THIS letter is a sequel to the preceding, and deals with the context of the passage of S. Paul which that letter discussed. S. Ambrose ends by maintaining that the Jews were ‘heirs’ only of the letter of the Old Testament promises, the Christian being the heir of the Spirit.
AMBROSE TO CLEMENTIANUS291
1. I AM indeed aware that nothing is more difficult than to treat properly concerning the Apostle’s meaning, for even Origen’s expositions of the New Testament are far inferior to his expositions of the Old. Yet since in my previous letter you think that I have not explained amiss the reason of the Law being called a Schoolmaster; in what I say to-day too I purpose to unfold to you the actual force of the Apostle’s statement.
2. Now the former part of his discourse declares that no man shall be justified by the works of the Law, but by faith, For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse; but Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us. The inheritance therefore is not given by the Law but by promise. Now to Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed which is Christ. Thus the Law was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and therefore all are concluded under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under the Law, that is, under a schoolmaster; and this because we are all the sons of God, and are all in Christ Jesus. Now if we are all in Christ Jesus, then are we Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. And this is the conclusion at which the Apostle arrives.
3. Still however he is met with this objection, that even the Jew might say, I also, being under the Law, have an heirship, for the Law is also called the Old Testament, and where is a Testament there also is an inheritance. And although the Apostle himself told the Hebrews that a testament is of no force, until the death of the testator happen, that is to say, a testament is of no strength while the testator liveth, but is established by his death, yet as in Jeremiah the Lord, speaking of the Jews, has said, Mine heritage is unto Me as a lion, he would not deny that they were heirs. But there are heirs without possessions, there are heirs also with them; and while the testator lives those whose names are written in the will are called heirs, though without possessions.
4. Little children are also heirs, but they differ in nothing from a servant, in that they are still under tutors and governors. Even so we were in bondage under the elements of the world. But, when the fulness of the time was come, Christ also came, and now we are no longer servants but sons, if we believe in Christ. Thus He gave them the semblance of an inheritance, but withheld from them the possession of it. Thus they have the name but not the benefit of being heirs, for like children they possess the bare name of heirship without its privileges, and have no right either to command or to use, waiting for the fulness of their age that they may be delivered from their governors.
5. As then young children, so the Jews also, are under a schoolmaster. The Law is our schoolmaster, the schoolmaster brings us to our Master; and our One Master is Christ: Neither be ye called masters, for one is your Master, even Christ. The schoolmaster is feared, the Master shews the way of salvation. Thus fear brings us to liberty, liberty to faith, faith to love; love obtains adoption, adoption the inheritance. Where then faith is there is liberty; for the servant acts from fear, the free-man by faith; the one by the letter, the other by grace; the one in slavery the other by the Spirit; but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. If then where faith is, there is liberty; where liberty there grace, where grace there inheritance; and he that is a Jew in the letter not in spirit is in bondage, he who hath not faith hath not the liberty of the spirit. Now where there is no liberty there is no grace, where no grace no adoption, where no adoption there no succession.
6. Thus, the tablets being, as it were, closed, he beholds292 his inheritance but possesses it not, he has no permission to read it. For how can he say ‘Our Father’ who denies the true Son of God, Him by Whom our adoptive sonship is obtained for us? How can he rehearse the will who denies the death of the testator? How can he obtain liberty, who denies the Blood whereby he has been redeemed? For this is the price of our liberty, as Peter says, ye were redeemed with the precious Blood, not indeed of a lamb, but of Him Who came as a lamb, in meekness and humility, and redeemed the whole world with the one offering of His Body, as He himself says, I was brought as a lamb to the slaughter. Wherefore John also says, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
7. Hence the Jew, being heir in the letter not in the spirit is as a child under tutors and governours; but the Christian, who recognizes that fulness of time wherein Christ came, made of a woman, made under the Law, that He might redeem all who were under the Law; the Christian, I say, by unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God grows up unto a perfect man: unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
Farewell, my son; love me, for I also love you.
- 291
Why this letter, which plainly declares itself in the first section to be a sequel of the previous one, is addressed to a different name, it is difficult to say. There is a similar difficulty about Letter xxvi, and possibly the same solution may apply here as is suggested by the Ben. Edd. there. See Introd. to Lett. xxvi.
- 292
The phrase ‘cernere hereditatem’ is a well-known law-term, meaning literally ‘to decide to accept an inheritance,’ and then ‘to enter upon it.’ But as this sense will not agree with the context, it seems necessary to take ‘cernere,’ as the Benedictine note does, in its common sense of ‘to see.’