“I am no more worthy to be called your son.” Cast down, he should not exalt himself that the merit of his humility may raise him. “Make me as one of your hired servants.” He knows there is a difference between sons, friends, hired servants and slaves. You are a son through baptism, friend through virtue, hired servant through labor, and slave through fear. Friends can even come from slaves and hired servants, as it is written, “You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you. I do not now call you servants.”
