From the early Church Fathers to now.
3 Patristic · 1 Orthodox · 1 Catholic
“But as wise: redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
“But when he urges us not to give place to evil, he does not offer the suggestion that we should take to our heels, he only teaches that passion should be kept under restraint; and if he says that the time must be redeemed, because the days are evil, he wishes us to gain a lengthening of life, not by flight, but by wisdom.”
“What is the evil of the day? The evil of the day ought to belong to the day. What is the evil of a body? Disease. And what again the evil of the soul? Wickedness. What is the evil of water? Bitterness. And the evil of each particular thing, is with reference to that nature of it which is affected by the evil. If then there is an evil in the day, it ought to belong to the day, to the hours, to the day-light. So also Christ saith, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matt. vi. 34.) And from this expression we shall understand the other. In what sense then does he call "the days evil"? In what sense the "time" evil? It is not the essence of the thing, not the things as so created, but it is the things transacted in them. In the same way as we are in the habit of saying, "I have passed a disagreeable and wretched day." And yet how could it be disagreeable, except from the circumstances which took place in it? Now the events which take place in it are, good things from God, but evil things from bad men. So then of the evils which happen in the times, men are the creators, and hence it is that the times are said to be evil. And thus we also call the times evil.”
“Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, has risen. Rise up from the sleep of the age. Walk cautiously and prudently. Cast off folly. Take hold of wisdom. In this way you will be able to avoid changing yourself constantly as you walk through the vicissitudes of the times. Rather you will find a unity within yourself even amid the diversity of the times.”
“He does not teach us craftiness, but since, he says, the time is not yours and you are sojourners, strangers, and outsiders, do not seek honor and glory, nor vengeance, but endure all things and by this redeem the time; give up everything, whatever may be demanded of you. Just as a rich man, seeing those attacking him with the intent to take his life, gives up everything and saves himself, so you too give up everything in order to save what is most important, that is, the faith. He does not censure the essence of days, for the essence of a day is light, of course, and hours, and what is evil in them? But he seems to censure the days for what is done in them. Just as we also commonly say: I had a bad day, of course on account of what happened during it, and what comes from evil people, not from God. Thus, the days are called evil because of the predominance of the rule of evil people.”
“He explains the necessity of this precaution when he says redeeming the time, which can be interpreted in two ways. On certain occasions a man redeems his property by offering a gift or something else for it; for instance, someone is said to compensate for a grievance he caused by offering a gift or money, or by renouncing something which is rightfully his. In this sense he would be saying: The whole of time is now a time of deception, hence you should be redeeming the time, because the days are evil. At the time Adam sinned, and from then on, snares have always been set to thrust men into sin. It was not that way in the state of innocence when it was unnecessary for a man to abstain from anything which was licit, since there was nothing in his will driving him to sin. But now we have to redeem the time, because the days are evil; we must avoid the depravity of the days, and "beware beforehand of the evil day," as Ecclesiastes 7 (15) expresses it. To do this we must renounce even certain things which are lawful: "All things are lawful for me; but all things do not edify" (1 Cor. 10:23). In this way a person is said to redeem a grievance he caused since he permits something that is rightfully his to be forfeited. There is another interpretation of redeeming the time. For it sometimes happens that a person lives a great part of his life in sin, and this is time lost. But how is he to redeem it when man is incapable of paying his debts? I reply that he ought to devote himself to good works to an even greater degree than he had previously pursued sinful ones. "For the time past is sufficient to have fulfilled the will of the Gentiles, for them who have walked in riotousness, lusts, excesses of wine, revellings, banquetings, and unlawful worshipping of idols" (1 Pet. 4:3). The first interpretation, however, is better.”
The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.