48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
(in Orat. cont. Sabell.) This is not then the word of man, but the Word of God, manifesting His own birth from the Father, for He is the Lord Who is born of the Lord alone. But fear not the duality of Persons, for they are not separate in nature.
(in Princ. Prov.) But lay your foundations upon a rock, that is, lean upon the faith of Christ, so as to persevere immoveable in adversity, whether it come from man or God.
Or, He teaches that the obedience to heavenly precepts is the foundation of all virtue, by means of which this our house can be moved neither by the torrent of pleasures, nor by the violence of spiritual wickedness, neither by the storms of this world, nor by the cloudy disputations of heretics; hence it follows, But the flood came, &c.
(Hom. 24. in Matt.) The Lord also shows us that faith profiteth a man nothing, if his manner of life be corrupt. Hence it follows, But he that heareth and doeth not, is like a man, that without a foundation, built an house upon the earth, &c.
(de Con. Ev. ii. 19.) Now this long discourse of our Lord, Luke begins in the same way as Matthew; for each says, Blessed are the poor. Then many things which follow in the narration of each are like, and finally the conclusion of the discourse is found to be altogether the same, I mean with respect to the men who build upon the rock and the sand. It might then easily be supposed that Luke has inserted the same discourse of our Lord, and yet has left out some sentences which Matthew has kept, and likewise put in others which Matthew has not; were it not that Matthew says the discourse was spoken by our Lord on the mountain, but Luke on the plain by our Lord standing. It is not however thought likely from this that these two discourses are separated by a long course of time, because both before and after both have related some things like, or the same. It may however have happened that our Lord was at first on a higher part of the mountain with His disciples alone, and that then he descended with them from the mount, that is, from the summit of the mountain to the flat place, that is, to some level ground, which was on the side of the mountain, and was able to hold large multitudes, and that there He stood until the crowds were gathered together to Him, and afterwards when He sat down His disciples came nearer, and to them, and the rest of the multitude who were present, He held the same discourse.
But Lordship both in name and reality belongs only to the Highest Nature.
But the advantage which arises from the keeping of the commandments, or the loss from disobedience, he shows as follows; Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, he is like to a man who built his house upon a rock, &c.
Or they build upon the earth without foundation, who upon the quicksand of doubt, which relates to opinion, lay the foundation of their spiritual building, which a few drops of temptation wash away.
Lest any one should vainly flatter himself with the words, Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, as if words only and not rather works were required of a Christian, our Lord adds the following, But why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? As if He said, Why do ye boast of sending forth the leaves of a right confession, and show forth no fruit of good works.
The rock is Christ. He digs deep; by the precepts of humility He plucks out all earthly things from the hearts of the faithful, lest they should serve God from regard to their temporal good.
Or the foundation of the house is the resolution to live a good life, which the perfect hearer firmly lays in fulfilling the commandments of God.
A flood comes in three ways, either by unclean spirits, or wicked men, or the very restlessness of mind or body; and as far as men trust in their own strength they fall away, but as long as they cling to the immoveable rock they cannot even be shaken.
The house of the devil is the world which lieth in wickedness, (1 John 5:19.) which he builds upon the earth, because those who obey him he drags down from heaven to earth; he builds without foundation, for sin has no foundation, standing not by its own nature, for evil is without substance, which yet whatever it is, grows up in the nature of good. But because the foundation is called so from fundus, we may not unfitly understand that fundamentum is placed here for fundus. As then he who is fallen into a well is kept at the bottom of the well, so the soul falling away remains stationary, as it were, at the very bottom, as long as it continues in any measure of sin. But not content with the sin into which it is fallen, while daily sinking into worse, it can find no bottom, as it were, in the well to which it may fix itself. But every kind of temptation increasing, both the really bad and the feignedly good become worse, until at last they come to everlasting punishment. Hence it follows, Against which the stream did beat vehemently. By the force of the stream may be understood the trial of the last judgment, when both houses being finished, the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. (Mat. 25:46.)
He teaches that the foundation of the virtues is obedience of heavenly instructions, whereby this house of ours cannot be shaken by the flow of desires, by the assault of spiritual wickedness, by the rain of the world or the dark arguments of heretics.
In a certain place in the Gospel, the Lord says that the wise hearer of his word ought to be like a man who, wishing to build, digs rather deeply until he comes to bedrock. There without anxiety he establishes what he builds against the onrush of a flood, so that when it comes, rather it may be pushed back by the solidity of the building than that house collapse by the impact. Let us consider the Scripture of God as being a field where we want to build something. Let us not be lazy or content with the surface. Let us dig more deeply until we come to rock: “Now the rock was Christ.”
The Lord indicates what the true distinction between good and bad fruits is by continuing under another figure of speech. He says, “Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and does them, I will show you who he is like. He is like a man building a house.” Now this man building a house is the mediator between God and humankind, the man Christ Jesus, who deigned to build and consecrate a beloved and holy house for himself, namely, the church, in which to remain forever.“He dug deep, and laid the foundation upon rock,” for he strove to root out completely whatever base drives he found in the hearts of his faithful. When the traces of earlier habits and unnecessary thoughts had been cast out, he could have a firm and unshakable dwelling place in them. He himself is the rock upon which he laid the foundation for a house of this sort. Just as in building a house nothing is to be preferred to the rock on which the foundation is laid, so holy church has its rock, namely, Christ, concealed in the depths of its heart.…
“When a flood came, the stream was dashed against that house and could not shake it, for it had been founded upon the rock.” The explanation is obvious: the church is often struck by distressful situations but is not overthrown. If any believers are overcome by evils, if they yield, they surely did not belong to this house. If they had taken a stand founded on the rock of faith instead of on the sand of faithlessness, they would have been absolutely incapable of ever being shaken.
He who digs deep and laid the foundation upon the rock. When foundations are given in the plural in the mystery of the Church, they signify the teachers, of whom it is said: "Her foundation is in the holy mountains" (Psalm 86). But when the foundation is given in the singular, Christ Himself is expressed as the teacher of teachers and the foundation of all foundations. Of whom it is said: "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3). Therefore, this foundation was laid not upon the earth, but upon a rock by the wise architect because the minds of sublime men were established by Christ, not in earthly desires, but in His invincible faith, hope, and charity. But the rock (he says) was Christ (1 Cor. 10). He who digs deep because by the precepts of humility he tears out all earthly things from the hearts of the faithful, lest they serve God for some lowly or temporal advantage. Morally, the foundations of the house are the intentions of good conversation, which the perfect hearer of the word, having cleared away by Christian humility the debris of vain and fragile thoughts, firmly inserts in the fulfillment of Christ's commandments. This he does, namely, with Christ specially cooperating within himself, which Christ generally does in the universal Church. Rejoicing with the Psalmist: "He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, etc." (Psalm 40).
However, when the flood came, it struck that house, and it could not move it. For it was founded upon a rock. The flood of the river, which elsewhere he calls the gates of hell, saying: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. XVI); it is the same thing of which he mentioned above: "Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they separate you, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil" (Luke VI). These firm corners of the Church, although they rush upon them, could not, however, destroy them. Because they rejoiced on that day and exulted, thus encouraging each other against the rage of the waves: "Behold, we bless those who have endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord" (James V). And again: "The river's rush makes glad the city of God, the Most High sanctified his tabernacle. God is in her midst; she shall not be moved" (Psalm XLV). But also, according to the laws of tropology, the separate houses of ours are daily beaten by either unclean spirits, or wicked men, or by the very restlessness of their own mind or body, and they are leaned as much as they trust in their own strength. But as much as they adhere to that invincible rock, they cannot be shaken.
[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on Luke 6:46-49