2 Corinthians 5:13

For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. The Greek verb translated beside ourselves denotes a rapt state, when the mind is carried out of itself, whether by some strong influence of nature, of disease, of melancholy, or of apprehension of new and unwonted objects; or when God throws it into deep contemplation and ecstasy, or when frenzy and insanity drive it into delirious folly. All these senses are applicable here; nay, the Syriac, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Vatablus, and Erasmus render it "whether we be mad." S. Paul opposes "whether we be beside ourselves" to "whether we be sober," as if he meant whether we be foolish or wise. The same contrast is found in Acts 26:25. The same word is applied by His relations to Christ in S. Mark 3:21.

Again, this rapture and folly may be understood either of self-praise or of the love and contemplation of God. The Apostle seems to be speaking primarily of self-praise, according to Ambrose and Chrysostom, and this is supported by what has just gone before. But since this praise has for its object the excellence of the ministry of the New Testament, and the height of love and clear knowledge of God attained under it, the word may be equally well referred to this latter. He seems indeed to be alluding to the vision of Moses, when he saw the glory of God on Mount Sinai at the reception of the law. Cf. 2 Cor. iii. 7, 18, where a comparison is drawn between Moses and S. Paul. Hence, in chaps. iv. and v., S. Paul praises himself for the tribulations and labours he had undergone for the sake of the Gospel, by which he was striving after the glorious presence of God.

The meaning, therefore, is (1.) If, forgetful of ourselves, we are carried away by the vehemence of our zeal, which the world regards as folly, so that, like fools, we give way to praising our ministry, and speak of ourselves too highly and too boastfully (for to praise one's self, as S. Ambrose says, is pride, and boasting, and folly), it is to God's glory that we do it. If we are sober in our words and praises of ourselves, it is to teach you modesty. Hence (2.) follows the explanation of S. Augustine, Anselm, Theophylact, and others. If we are hurried into excess or ecstasy of love, knowledge, and speech of God, as, e.g., in iii. 18, v. 8, 9, so that we seem to boast and sing our own praises, or, as Chrysostom renders it, if we seem drunken and foolish with love and contemplation (as in Acts 2:13; Act 26:24), it is to God's glory that we do it.

Plato in Phædrus says that frenzy or folly is fourfold that of poets, of mystics, of seers, of lovers and that the fourth is the best and most blessed. " Of Divine frenzy or madness there are," he says, " four kinds laid down, over which as many gods preside. The inspiration of the seer is attributed to Apollo, of the mystic to Liber, of the poet to the Muses, while the frenzy of lovers comes from Venus and Cupid. We hold that the last of these is the best and most excellent." Theophylact says that this last kind of frenzy was S. Paul's, inasmuch as he was one who lived not in himself, but was carried out of himself and lost in Christ, his Beloved, and wished to be anathema from Christ for his brethren's sake. The soul of one who loves is not where it lives but where it loves. Theophylact says: " If we are beside ourselves because of God, it is that we may bring you to Him. So S. Paul loved God with a lover's frenzy, and lived for Him alone, and by Him he loved was carried out of himself and wholly given to God. The life that he lived was not his own but the life of Him that he loved, beloved and precious for His sake only."

But S. Augustine, Bede, and Anselm understand this verse, not of frenzy, but of S. Paul's being carried up to the third heaven, and their explanation is this: "What is 'that whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God,' but seeing things which it is not lawful for a man to utter? What is that 'whether we be sober, it is for your cause,' but what he says elsewhere, 'I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified?'" S. Augustine again (Enarr. in Ps. civ.) says: " What is meant by 'whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God,' but leaving all carnal things, and being unable to speak of what we have seen? What is meant by 'whether we be sober, it is for your cause,' but we speak so as you can understand? For Christ by His birth and Passion made Himself such that men might be able to speak of Him."

The being out of one's mind is, says S. Anselm, the having it fixed on things above, so that things below slip from the memory. In this state were all the Saints to whom the secrets of God that pass this world's understanding were revealed. So here the Apostle, being mentally set free from all human frailty and from all the perishing and changeable things of this world, lived in heart in an ineffable contemplation of those things, of which he says that he had heard unspeakable things which it was not lawful for a man to utter. But for the sake of others he descends, and says: "Whether we be sober, it is for your cause" although we may contemplate high things, yet we speak soberly of them, that you may be able to take them in. This is Anselm's explanation.

S. Bernard (de Nat. et Dignit. Amoris, c. iii.) describes beautifully this frenzy of S. Paul's. He says: " Hear this holy frenzy: 'Whetter we be beside ourselves, it is to God: whether we be sober, it is for your cause.' Do you wish to hear further frenzy? 'Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy Book of Life.' Do you wish for more? Listen to the Apostle himself: 'I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren.' Does not this sound like the wholesome frenzy of a mind well affected, viz., that he is firmly affected to what cannot possibly be effected, viz., to be anathema from Christ for Christ's sake? This was the drunkenness of the Apostles at the coming of the Holy Ghost; this was the madness of Paul when Festus said to him: 'Paul, thou art beside thyself.' The reason follows: Was it wonderful that he should be pronounced mad, who, when in danger of death, was endeavouring to convert to Christ his judges, by whom he was being judged for Christ's sake? It was nor much learning that gave this madness, as the king said, concealing the truth that he perceived; but, as was said, it was the Holy Spirit, with which he was drunken, who made him wish to make those who were judging him like himself in all things. And, to pass over all other instances, what greater madness could be conceived than that a man who had left world from an ardent desire to cling closely to Christ should again lay hold of the world at the call of obedience and brotherly love, and descend front the sky to the sty? I speak of our young friend, Benjamin, who in his madness thinks nothing of himself, but only of Him who has made him wholly beside himself. With this same madness were the martyrs afflicted who smiled amid their tortures. So do we delight to be beside ourselves."

Again (Serm. 85 in Cantic.) he says: " Perchance one may ask me what it is to enjoy the Word. Hear one who has had that experience, as he says, 'Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God, or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.' By the mere will of God my relations with Him are one thing, my relations with you another. It was allowed me to experience that ecstasy but not to speak of it; in my soberness I so condescend to you that you may be able to understand what I say. Whoever thou art that art anxious to know what enjoyment of the Word is, prepare for It thy mind and not thy ear. It is taught by grace and not by the tongue. It is hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes."

Ver. 14. For the love of Christ constraineth us. This love of Christ by which He loved us, and gave Himself for us, compels us to follow His example, and give ourselves for all men to save them from death. And hence, as occasion requires, we are at one time beside ourselves, at another, sober. It is better to understand the love of Christ objectively, rather than subjectively.

That if one died for all then were all dead. The bearing of this verse is explained by the next, which also gives its connection with the preceding. So great was the love of Christ that He died for all. Hence it follows that we were dead, for He died to set us free (by taking it on Himself) from death, bodily and spiritual, which sin had brought on us. Hence plainly appears Christ's compassion and love; and they constrain us to love Christ in return, and to work in every way for the salvation of our neighbour; to exclude no one, but to labour for all, whether rich or poor, even as Christ did. S. Thomas explains it otherwise. "All ought to be dead to the old life, and account themselves dead, that they may live, not to themselves, but to Christ." But this is somewhat obscure and far fetched, and is identical with what is said in the next verse, which yet is distinct from this.

Were all dead. Except, says S. Anselm, the Blessed Virgin, who never incurred original sin and spiritual death. Secondly and better, all died in Adam because in him all came under the necessity of sin and of death, even the Mother of God herself, so that she and all others without exception needed to be redeemed by the death of Christ. In Adam, therefore, the Blessed Virgin sinned and died, but in herself she incurred neither sin nor spiritual death, because she was kept from them by God's prevenient grace, as was said in the notes to Romans 5:12.