Commentary on the Gospel according to Luke, Book IV, §§52–54
Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam, Liber IV, §§52–54
Ambrose of MilanLiber IV, §§52–54
Disce etiam congrue praecepta virtutis: probavit fidem, qui praemia recusavit. Disce utroque dictorum factorumque magisterio quid sequaris. Habes Domini praeceptum, vides exemplum, gratis acci-
pere, gratis dare: nec vendere ministerium, sed deferre (Matth. x, 8). Non enim pretio taxatur Dei gratia, nec in sacramentis lucrum quaeritur, sed obsequium sacerdotis.
Non tamen satis est si lucrum ipse non quaeras: familiae quoque tuae cohibendae sunt manus: nec hoc solum exposcimus, ut te solum castum immaculatumque custodias. Non enim dixit Apostolus, Te solum: sed, Te ipsum castum custodi (I Tim. v, 22). Quaeritur ergo non solum tua ab hujusmodi nundinis, sed etiam domus tuae castitas: Oportet enim irreprehensibilem esse sacerdotem... suae domui bene praepositum, filios habentem subditos, cum omni castitate. Si quis autem domui suae praeesse nescit, quomodo Ecclesiae Dei diligentiam habebit? (I Tim. iii, 2-5). Instrue ergo familiam tuam, hortare, custodi: et si te fefellerit servulus (humanam enim non excipio facultatem), prophetico decreto repudietur exemplo. Cito (1 q. 1, cap. Cito) repens sequitur lepra mercedem, et pecuniam congestam animumque male quaesita commaculat. Accipe, inquit, pecuniam, et possidebis ex ea agrum, vineam, et oliveta, et greges: et lepra Naaman applicabit se in te, et semini tuo usque in aeternum (IV Reg. v, 26 et 27). Vides quia facto auctoris successio damnatur heredis. Inexpiabilis est enim venditi culpa mysterii, et gratiae vindicta coelestis transit ad posteros. Denique Moabitae et caeteri non intrabunt in Ecclesiam Dei usque ad tertiam et quartam generationem (Deut. xxiii, 3): tamdiu videlicet (ut simplicius interpretemur) donec culpam auctorum multiplicis successio generationis aboleret.
Sed cum illi qui in Deum idololatriae errore deliquerunt, in quartam generationem videantur esse multati: profecto durior videtur esse sententia, qua Giezi semen usque in aeternum pro cupiditate habendi, prophetica auctoritate damnatur, praesertim cum Dominus noster Jesus Christus per lavacri regenerationem omnibus remissionem dederit peccatorum; nisi ut vitiorum magis quam generis semen intelligas. Sicut enim qui filii promissionis sunt, aestimantur in semen bonum: ita etiam qui filii erroris sunt, aestimantur in semen malum. Nam et Judaei ex patre diabolo, non utique carnis successione, sed criminis. Ergo omnes cupidi, omnes avari Giezi lepram cum divitiis suis possident: et male quaesita mercede, non tam patrimonium facultatum, quam thesaurum criminum congregarunt aeterno supplicio, et brevi fructu. Nam cum divitiae sint caducae, poena perpetua est; quia neque avarus, neque ebriosus, neque idolis serviens regnum Dei possidebit.
Book IV, §§52–54
Learn also the proper precepts of virtue: he proved his faith who refused the reward. Learn from the twin teaching of words and deeds what you should follow. You have the Lord’s precept, you see the example: to receive freely [and]
to give freely; not to sell the ministry, but to confer it (Matthew 10:8). For the grace of God is not appraised at any price, nor is gain sought in the sacraments, but the dutiful service of the priest.
It is not enough, however, that you yourself seek no profit: the hands of your household must also be restrained. Nor do we require this alone, that you keep yourself alone chaste and unstained. For the Apostle did not say, “Keep yourself chaste,” but rather, Keep yourself chaste (1 Timothy 5:22). Therefore the chastity not only of your own person but also of your household is required as proof against this kind of trafficking: For a bishop must be blameless... ruling well his own household, having his children in subjection with all chastity. But if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? (1 Timothy 3:2–5). Instruct your household, then; exhort them, watch over them; and if a servant deceives you (for I do not exclude the possibility of human [failing]), let him be cast off in accordance with the prophetic example. Quickly (Decretum C. 1, q. 1, c. Cito) does creeping leprosy follow the wage, and the gain ill-gotten defiles both the money piled up and the soul. Take, he says, the money, and you shall possess fields, vineyards, olive groves, and flocks; but the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you and to your seed forever (4 Kings 5:26–27). You see how the succession of the heir is condemned by the act of its author. For the guilt of selling the holy mystery is inexpiable, and the heavenly vengeance against the abuse of grace passes down upon posterity. Hence the Moabites and the rest are not to enter into the Church of God until the third and fourth generation (Deuteronomy 23:3) — that is to say (to take the simpler interpretation), until the manifold succession of generations should wipe away the guilt of those who first incurred it.
Yet since those who failed against God in the error of idolatry are seen to be punished only as far as the fourth generation, the sentence by which the seed of Gehazi is condemned forever for greed of possession by prophetic authority seems harsher by far — especially since our Lord Jesus Christ, by the regeneration of the laver, has granted the remission of all sins; unless you understand “seed” as the seed of vices rather than of bloodline. For just as those who are sons of the promise are reckoned as good seed, so also those who are sons of error are reckoned as evil seed. So too the Jews are children of their father the devil, not of course by carnal succession, but by that of crime. All the greedy, then, all the avaricious bear the leprosy of Gehazi together with their riches; and by their ill-gotten gain they have heaped up not so much an inheritance of wealth as a treasury of crimes — for everlasting punishment, and for fleeting enjoyment. For though riches are perishable, the penalty is everlasting; since neither the covetous, nor drunkards, nor idolaters shall possess the kingdom of God.