“The hope of things to come casts out all confusion. This is why the man who is dismayed by Christ's injunctions lacks hope. The greatness of God's benefits arouses in us greatness of love, which does not know fear or dismay because it is complete. We also learn how God loves us, because he has not only forgiven us our sins through the death of his Son but also given us the Holy Spirit, who already shows us the glory of things to come.”
“Who can hurt such a man? Who can subdue him? In prosperity he makes moral progress, and in adversity he learns to know the progress he has made. When he has an abundance of mutable goods he does not put his trust in them, and when they are taken away he gets to know whether or not they have taken him captive.”
“That God may be loved, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, not by the free choice whose spring is in ourselves but through the Holy Spirit, who is given to us.”
“It is through love that we are conformed to God, and being so conformed and made like to him, and set apart from the world, we are no longer confounded by those things which should be subject to us. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.”
“It is not by ourselves but by the Holy Spirit who is given to us that this charity, shown by the apostle to be God's gift, is the reason why tribulation does not destroy patience but rather gives rise to it.”
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Bede · A.D. 673–735A.D. 735
“The law was indeed given through Moses, and there it was determined by a heavenly rule what was to be done and what was to be avoided, but what it commanded was completed only by the grace of Christ. On the one hand, that law was able to point out sin, teaching justice and showing transgressors what they are charged with. On the other hand, the grace of Christ, poured out in the hearts of the faithful through the spirit of charity, brings it about that what the law commanded may be fulfilled.”
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Scholasticc. 1100 – 1500
Theophylact of Ohrid · c. 1055–11071126
“And such hope is not fruitless; it "does not put to shame" the one who hopes. Human hopes, when unfulfilled, put to shame those who hoped, but divine hopes are not of this kind. For the One who bestows good things is immortal and good, and we, even though we die, shall live again, and then nothing will any longer prevent our hopes from being fulfilled.
He assures us of the future by the love that God has already shown to us. He speaks as if to say: do not lose faith; the hope for divine blessings is not in vain, for He Who so loved us that He made us children of God, without any labor on our part, through the Holy Spirit — how will He not give crowns after labors? "The love of God has been poured out," he says, "into our hearts," that is, it appears abundant and rich in us, who have in our hearts the Spirit Himself, Whom God has given to us.”
“When therefore this twofold knowledge has gone before in us, knowledge that may perhaps have grown up afterward does not at all puff up, since it can bring nothing of earthly advantage or honor that is not indeed inferior to the hope conceived, and to the joy of hope already more deeply rooted in the soul. But hope does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Therefore that hope does not put to shame, because this love pours in certainty. For through this love the Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God. What then could come to us from our knowledge, however great, that would not be less than this glory, by which we are numbered among the children of God? I have said too little: not even the world itself and its fullness can be regarded in comparison with it, even if the whole of it should fall to any one of us as a possession.”
“Furthermore, this revelation which is made through the Holy Spirit, not only conveys the light of knowledge but also lights the fire of love, as St Paul again testifies: "The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us."
And that is perhaps the reason why, in the case of those who, knowing God, yet refused to honor him as God, we do not read that they knew by a revelation of the Holy Spirit; for even though they possessed knowledge they did not love. As St Paul states: "God has shown himself to them," but he does not add: "through the Holy Spirit," lest those impious minds should usurp to themselves the kiss of the bride. They were content with the knowledge that gives self-importance, but ignorant of the love that makes the building grow.”
“When the bride received the gift poured into her, they at once perceived the fragrance—they who could by no means be far from the mother; and filled with that sweetness they say: "The love of God has been poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." Therefore the bride, commending their devotion, says: "This, O bridegroom, is the fruit of your poured-forth name, that therefore the young maidens have loved you." For they perceive it as poured forth, since they could not grasp it whole; therefore they have loved you. For the pouring forth makes the name graspable, the grasping makes it lovable—but only for the young maidens. Those who are more capacious rejoice in it whole, and have no need of the pouring forth.”
“But it is fitting that the seal of truth be impressed upon the soul, by which also the soul becomes "an enclosed garden, a fountain sealed." The first seal consists in its having the indissoluble bond of charity, which occurs when the soul loves in such a way that it says: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or hunger," etc. Not that man could never fall away from charity, but when he does, that he never think of sinning. The second [seal] consists in this, that [the soul] has the irrevocable gift of divine charity, so that it loves everything God loves, both friends and enemies, both strangers and neighbors. Hence, "the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts." Through these means, then, the soul diffuses itself in order that it may love every good, and nothing but good.”
“When our mind has been filled with all these intellectual lights, it is inhabited by the divine Wisdom as a house of God, having been made a daughter of God, a spouse and friend; having been made a member of Christ the Head, a sister and co-heir; having been made no less a temple of the Holy Spirit, founded through faith, elevated through hope, and dedicated to God through holiness of mind and body. All of which the most sincere charity of Christ accomplishes, which is poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us, without which Spirit we cannot know the secrets of God. For just as the things of a man no one can know except the spirit of man which is in him, so also the things of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.”
“Then when he says, and hope does not confound, he shows the firmness of such hope.
First, he asserts it, saying, hope, namely, by which we hope for the glory of the sons of God, does not confound, i.e., does not fail, unless the man fails it. For a person is said to be confounded in his hope, when he falls away from the thing he hoped for: in you, O Lord, have I hoped; let me never be disappointed (Ps 31:1); no one has hoped in the Lord and been disappointed (Sir 2:10).
Second, at because the charity of God, he presents two arguments for the certainty of hope.
The first is based on a gift of the Holy Spirit;
the second on the death of Christ, at for why did Christ (Rom 5:6).
First, therefore, he says: we can be certain that hope does not confound, because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.
The love of God can be taken in two ways: in one way, for the love by which God loves us: he loved you with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3); in another way for the love by which we love God: I am sure that neither death, nor life . . . shall be able to separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:38–39). Both these loves of God are poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For the Holy Spirit, who is the love of the Father and of the Son, to be given to us is our being brought to participate in the love who is the Holy Spirit, and by this participation we are made lovers of God. The fact that we love him is a sign that he loves us: I love those who love me (Prov 8:17); not that we first loved God but that he first loved us (1 John 4:10).
The love by which he loves us is said to be poured into our hearts, because it is clearly shown in our hearts by the gift of the Holy Spirit sealed in us: by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit he has given us (1 John 3:24).
But the love by which we love God is said to be poured into our hearts, because it reaches to the perfecting of all the moral habits and acts of the soul; for, as is stated in 1 Corinthians: love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful (1 Cor 13:4).
Both interpretations of these words lead to the conclusion that hope does not confound. For if they are taken to mean the love of God by which he loves us, it is clear that God does not deny himself to those whom he loves: he loved his people; all the holy ones were in his hand (Deut 33:3). Similarly, if they are taken as referring to the love by which we love God, it is clear that he has prepared eternal goods for those who love him: he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him (John 14:21).”
“Hope does not let us down, even though we are considered by evil people to be stupid and naive, because we believe in things which are impossible in this world. For we have in us the pledge of God's love through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
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