The Place of the Meek

Exalting the value of the reward. And they received such an image: let someone be an owner and let him trust a laborer, and let him say to him: 'If you take care of it as is necessary and work it as is fitting, a gift I give it to you; have it as an inheritance.' We say that he received the inheritance not from works, but from the grace of the one willing. 'There is an inheritance to those serving the Lord' (2 Tim 2:19).

And yet, in a little while, the sinner will no longer exist. This is said: 'Do not be envious of those committing adultery, nor be envious of those practicing lawlessness' (1 John 3:10). God fashioned a lover of good as a creature. To be a lover of good is not to desire the temporary and present things; for the temporary and present things belong even to sinners. Therefore, do not be envious of them, whether they prosper or whether they are healthy; for they do not remain always. And if gap... I do not speak of the essence, but the quality.

Regarding the 'temporary'; if you wish to take it readily, he who seems to no longer sin is not a sinner. And then he does not enact the things of sin. But 'the enjoyment of sin is temporary' (1 John 2:17), as Paul writes. The enjoyment of sin no longer exists. Therefore, we say to the many that he who seems to no longer sin is no longer a sinner; but according to the true word: sin neither was from the beginning nor shall be unto the age (1 John 2:17); for concerning the most supreme kind of it, this idolatry, it has been said: 'neither from the beginning nor unto the age.'

And if the most surpassing of evils had no beginning, such as to be unceasing, nor would it ever receive a manifest end, 'yet in a little while the sinner will not exist.' You also have in the ninth Psalm: 'Break the arm of the sinner and the wicked' (Ps 9:9). He did not say 'a sinner,' but 'the.' And if 'the arm of the sinner' is broken, it is much more than the inferior. 'And you will seek his place and will not find' (Ps 9:10).

Again, readily: for it is necessary to speak even the more popular explanations. The place of the sinner seems to be the place concerning the earth; for here lawlessness happens, here sins are completed. Therefore the earth will pass away along with the heaven. 'And you will seek his place and will not find' (Ps 9:10). Place is mainly called the position of each. And indeed, concerning Judas it is said that he passed by the place of service: 'from which Judas passed by' (Acts 12:4).

A position is a place of service, such as the position according to service; for when Paul says, 'first apostles, second prophets, third,' they are shallow because they are revealed only by their position. Likewise, in military ranks they say one has the place of a benefit-receiver or an assistant, and similarly in the churches.

The place of the sinner will not be found if he is no longer a sinner; his place was sin. 'But the meek shall inherit the earth' (Ps 37:11). Shortly, the sinner will neither be seen nor his place found, even if searched for; the place of the meek remains for ever; for it is eternal, it is immortal. And concerning the righteous it is said, 'his righteousness remains unto the age of ages.'

Therefore the meek, that is, those having gentleness, those perfecting themselves in lack of anger, shall inherit the earth; for the one without anger is gentle; for one should not say of others that he is gentle if he becomes angry at those whom it is necessary to be angry with. This kind of gentleness is more political and rhetorical. What does that mean? For the excellent man is without anger; and it is said in the falling verses, 'cease from anger and leave wrath' (Ps 37:8).

And they shall delight in abundance of peace. When does this abundance of peace occur? When the prayer of those saying, 'grace to you and peace be multiplied' is heard. He who is able to say, 'among those hating peace I was peaceful,' has an abundance of peace, and delights in this abundance of peace. It is possible to say that, having been relocated from this land, where wars and disturbances occur, they become in the land of the meek, where peace is lived out.

I have also said elsewhere regarding this, in matters of practical application, 'what virtue is needed?' and he says that when all are righteous, there is no need for courage. But he calls courage the more political kind, that which stands together in wars. When all are righteous, there is no need for courage; but when courage is present, there is a need for righteousness. And there, therefore, they delight in abundance of peace, when they are gentle. And the gentle man, as it was said to us, has a tranquil disposition toward anger. And from the one teaching and preparing for the imitation of himself, the greatness of the...