Then build and plant; I will kill and I will make alive
But the words of God do not stop at 'to uproot and to pull down and to destroy.' Suppose the bad things have been uprooted from me, the worse things pulled down: what good is it to me if, in place of what was uprooted, the better things are not planted? What good is it to me if, in place of these, the things that matter are not built up? That is why the words of God first, of necessity, do the 'uproot and pull down and destroy,' and after that the 'build and plant.' And we have always watched in Scripture that the things which look grim, if I may call them so, are named first, then the things that seem cheerful are said second. 'I will kill and I will make alive.' He did not say, 'I will make alive,' and after that, 'I will kill.' For it is impossible that what God has made alive should be taken away by him or by anyone else. But 'I will kill and I will make alive.' Whom will I kill? Paul the betrayer, Paul the persecutor. 'And I will make alive,' so that he may become 'Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.'
If the wretched people from the heresies had understood these things, they would not keep putting them forward to us, saying, Do you see how fierce and inhuman the God of the Law is, when he says, 'I will kill, and I will make alive'? Do you not see in the Scriptures a promise of the resurrection of the dead? Or do you not see the resurrection of the dead already making its beginning in each person? 'We were buried' with Christ 'through baptism' and we were raised with him.
So he begins from the grimmer voices, which are necessary — as 'I will kill' — then, having killed, 'and I will make alive. I will strike, and I will heal.' 'For whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives.' First he strikes, and after that he heals. 'For he makes one feel pain and again restores.' So also here: 'I have set you today over nations and kingdoms, to uproot and to pull down and to destroy and to build and to plant.' Only, first those bad things must be taken from us. God cannot build on the place of the bad building. 'For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? What fellowship has light with darkness?' Vice must be uprooted from the foundations. The building of vice must be consumed from our soul, so that after these things the words of God may build and plant.
I cannot understand what is written in any other way: 'Behold, I have given my words into your mouth.' What do the words do? 'To uproot and to pull down and to destroy.' Words uproot 'nations'; words pull down kingdoms — not these worldly ones. Think, in a way worthy of words that pull down, worthy of words that uproot, the things uprooted by words, the things pulled down by words. Is there not, in what is being said right now, a power — if God gives it (according to 'the Lord will give a word to those who preach good news with great power') — a power that uproots, if there is any unbelief, any hypocrisy, any vice, any incontinence? Is there not a power that pulls down, if somewhere an idol-shrine has been built in the heart, so that when that is pulled down a temple of God may be built, and the glory of God may be found in the temple built up, and there may be not a grove but a planting, a garden of God, where the temple of God is, in Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the power to the ages of the ages. Amen.
Greek
Ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐν τούτοις ἵστανται οἱ λόγοι τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐπὶ τῷ «ἐκριζοῦν καὶ κατασκάπτειν καὶ ἀπολλύειν.
ἔστω γὰρ ἐκρεριζωμένα ἀπ' ἐμοῦ τὰ φαῦλα, κατασκαφέντα τὰ χείρονα, τί μοι ὄφελος, ἐὰν μὴ ἀντὶ τῶν ἐκριζωθέντων καταφυτευθῇ τὰ κρείττονα; τί μοι ὄφελος, ἐὰν μὴ ἀντὶ τούτων ἀνοικοδομηθῇ τὰ διαφέροντα; διὰ τοῦτο οἱ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγοι ποιοῦσι πρῶτον ἀναγκαίως τὸ «ἐκριζοῦν καὶ κατασκάπτειν καὶ ἀπολλύειν, μεθ’ ἃ τὸ «οἰκοδομεῖν καὶ καταφυτεύειν. καὶ ἀεὶ ἐν τῇ γραφῇ τετηρήκαμεν τὰ σκυθρωποφανῆ, ἵν' οὕτως όνομάσω, Πρῶτα ὀνομαζόμενα, εἶτα τὰ δοκοῦντα εἶναι ἱλαρὰ δεύτερα λεγόμενα. «ἐγὼ ἀποκτενῶ καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω. οὐκ εἶπεν· «ἐγὼ ζῆν ποιήσω«, μετὰ τοῦτο· «ἀποκτενῶ« · ἀμήχανον γάρ, ὃ πεποίηκε ζῆν ὁ θεός, ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἢ ὑπ' ἄλλου τινός. ἀλλ’ ἀλλ' ἀποκτενῶ καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω. τίνα ἀποκτενῶ; Παῦλον τὸν προδότην, Παῦλον τὸν διώκτην· «καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω«, ἵνα γένηται «Παῦλος ἀπόστολος Ἰησοῦ χρι- στοῦ. ταῦτα εἰ νενοήκεισαν οἱ ταλαίπωροι οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν αἱρέσεων, οὐκ ἂν αὐτὰ συνεχῶς προέφερον ἡμῖν λέγοντες· ὁρᾷς τὸν θεὸν τὸν τοῦ νόμου πῶς ἐστιν ἄγριος καὶ ἀπάνθρωπος καὶ λέγει· «ἐγὼ ἀποκτενῶ, καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω«; οὐ βλέπεις ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς ἐπαγγελίαν ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν; ἢ οὐχ ὁρᾷς τὴν ἀνάστασιν τῶν νεκρῶν ἤδη προοιμιαζομένην καθ’ ἕκαστον; «συνετάφημεν« τῷ Χριστῷ «διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος« καὶ συνανέστημεν αὐτῷ.
Οὐκοῦν ἀπὸ σκυθρωποτέρων μὲν φωνῶν, ἀναγκαίων δὲ ἄρχεται οἶον «ἀποκτενῶ« εἶτα ἀποκτείνας «καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω· πατάξω, κἀγὼ ἰάσομαι«· «ὅν γὰρ ἀγαπᾷ κύριος παιδεύει, μαστιγοῖ δὲ πάντα υἱὸν ὃν παραδέχεται. πρῶτον πατάσσει καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο ἰᾶται· «αὐτὸς γὰρ ἀλγεῖν ποιεῖ καὶ πάλιν ἀποκαθίστησιν. οὕτω δὲ καὶ ἐνθάδε· «καθέστακά σε σήμερον ἐπὶ ἔθνη καὶ βασιλείας, ἐκριζοῦν καὶ κατασκάπτειν καὶ ἀπολλύειν καὶ ἀνοικοδομεῖν καὶ καταφυτεύειν. πλὴν πρῶτόν ἐστιν ἐκεῖνα τὰ φαῦλα ἀφαιρεθῆναι ἀφ’ ἡμῶν. οὐ δύναται εἰς τόπον τῆς οἰκοδομῆς τῆς φαύλης οἰκοδομεῖν ὁ θεός. «τίς γὰρ μετοχὴ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ἀνομίᾳ; τίς κοινωνία φωτὶ πρὸς σκότος«; δεῖ τὴν κακίαν ἐκ βάθρων ἐκριζωθῆναι, δεῖ τὴν οἰκοδομὴν τῆς κακίας καταναλωθῆναι ἀπὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν, ἵνα μετὰ ταῦτα οἱ λόγοι τοῦ θεοῦ οἰκοδομῶσι καὶ φυτεύωσι· οὐ δύναμαι γὰρ ἄλλως νοῆσαι τὰ γεγραμμένα· «ἰδοὺ δέδωκα τοὺς λόγους μου εἰς τὸ στόμα σου. τί ποιοῦσιν οἱ λόγοι; «ἐκριζοῦν καὶ κατασκάπτειν καὶ ἀπολλύειν. λόγοι ἐκριζοῦσιν «ἔθνη«, λόγοι κατασκάπτουσι βασιλείας‘ « < ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τὰς x003E; ταύτας ταύτας τὰς καὶ κοσμικάς. ἀξίως λόγων κατασκαπτόντων, ἀξίως λόγων ἐκριζούντων νόει τὰ ἐκριζούμενα ὑπὸ λόηων, τὰ κατασκαπτόμενα ὑπὸ λόγων. ἆρα ἄρτι ἐν τοῖς λεγομένοις οὐκ ἔστι δύναμις, ἐὰν ὁ θεὸς διδῷ (κατὰ τὸ «κύριος δώσει ῥῆμα τοῖς εὐαγγελιζομένοις πολλῇ«), δύναμις ἐκριζοῦσα, εἴ τις ἀπιστία, εἴ τις ὑπόκρισις, εἴ τις πονηρία, εἴ τις ἀκολασία; οὐκ ἔστι κατασκάπτουσα, εἴ που εἰδωλεῖον ᾠκοδόμηται εἰς τὴν καρδίαν; ἵνα ἐκείνου κατασκαφέντος οἰκοδομηθῇ ναὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ δόξα τοῦ θεοῦ εὑρεθῇ ἐν τῷ ἀνοικοδομηθέντι ναῷ, καὶ γένηται οὐκ ἄλσος, ἀλλὰ φυτεία παράδεισος τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅπου ὁ ναὸς τοῦ θεοῦ έν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ· ᾦ ἐστιν ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων.
Ἀμήν.