Nevertheless in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
All Commentaries on Luke 10:20 Go To Luke 10
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you. He does not forbid them altogether from rejoicing in that the spirits were subject unto them, for this was a lawful joy, but he exhorts them to rejoice rather at their election to eternal life.
1. Because power over the devils is a grace given to the Church, and sometimes bestowed upon the unworthy, as Judas. S. Matthew 7:22. But predestination brings men into favour with God, and ends in everlasting happiness.
2. Because, as Euthymius says, "The one joy is productive of pride and vainglory, but the other of good works, and a desire to please God."
3. Again, because the casting out of devils and the working of miracles is due to the power of God, and is independent of human merit. But they whose names are written in heaven, at some time present or future are made meet for so great a reward. Bede.
4. Lastly, because to cast out devils affects others, but it is for our own profit that our names are written in heaven. Theophylact.
Are written in heaven, "in the book of life," not by pen and ink, says Titus , but by the foreknowledge and election of God. Ye are citizens inscribed on the roll of an eternal city, not after the manner of men, but written down in the remembrances of God. Euthymius. Not, says Bede, because God can forget, but that His purpose may stand fast for ever.
Hence, as the foreknowledge and election of God are twofold, so is the book of life. The one perfect and complete, in which are the names of those who are predestinated to eternal life. The other imperfect and incomplete, because they whose names are written in it may fall away, and forfeit their promised reward. So the Apostle salutes Clement and his fellow-labourers, "whose names are written in the book of life " (Phil iv.) meaning thereby that they, like the Ephesian converts, were called by God and predestinated by Christ to believe on Him, but that their final salvation was conditional on their perseverance and faith. Eph. i. And again, Ephesians 2:19, "Ye are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God:" by grace here and in the glory hereafter, if ye depart not from the grace which is given you. So the Church in the "Secreta" for Lent prays, that the names of all believers may be retained in the book of God"s predestination. These then can forfeit their election, and therefore their salvation is conditional on their perseverance in well doing. For this is the interpretation of Jansenius, Francis Lucas, and others, though Maldonatus doubts whether it be the right one, and Toletus refuses to accept it.
For it is clear from ver18 that Christ did not give the seventy disciples to understand that they were absolutely and unconditionally predestinated to glory, for He would have them mindful of condemnation. As Satan fell from heaven, so take heed lest ye also come short of the glory prepared for you in heaven. So all the apostles were called by Christ, and yet one of them was a reprobate.
"Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" S. John 6:70. And also among the deacons, who were chosen from the seventy was Nicolas, a man of impure life and the author of the heresy of the Nicolaitanes. S. Jerome, Epist48.
Hence we must understand the promise of Christ (S. Matt. xix28), "Ye which have followed me, shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel," to be conditional, i.e. to be fulfilled only if they continued to follow Him to their life"s end.
