Having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.
Read Chapter 1
Gaius Marius Victorinus
AD 400
This is our struggle. This is our contest, our contention and our goal. This it is that leads to the crown and the palm of victory: To do all things for him, to suffer all things for him and not to turn away. You, he says, are now “engaged in the same conflict which you saw and now hear to be mine.” It is a conflict that implies chains, prison and all the deadly hazards that Paul has suffered. “So my sufferings,” he says, “are confirmed in you by two things: what you hear and what you see.”
Again he encourages them. He shows them that they are engaged in the very same struggle that Paul himself is engaged in. Everywhere they undergo the same struggles and contests. They are united with him in bearing these tribulations with him. “These are trials that you not only have heard about but,” he says, “are also seeing.” .
Having the same conflict which you saw in me; i.e. you have also an example. Here again he raises them up, by showing them that everywhere their conflicts were the same with his, their struggles were the same with his, both severally, and in that they united with him in bearing trials. He said not, you have heard, but ye saw, for he strove too at Philippi. Truly this is an exceeding virtue. Wherefore writing to the Galatians, also he said, Did ye suffer so many things in vain, if it be indeed in vain. Galatians 3:4 And again, writing to the Hebrews, he said, But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great conflict of suffering; partly, being made a gazing-stock both by reproaches and afflictions. Hebrews 10:32-33 And writing again to Macedonians, that is, to the Thessalonians, he said, For they themselves report concerning us, what manner of entering in we had unto you. 1 Thessalonians 1:9 And again, For yourselves, brethren, know our ...
