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8 </head> |
| 35 | 9 <body style="text-align:justify"> |
| 10 <blockquote> | |
| 11 <center> | |
| 12 <p><span style="font-size: 60pt">5</span></p> | |
| 13 <p><span style="font-weight: bold">LECTURE 1</span></p> | |
| 14 </center> | |
| 15 <blockquote> | |
| 16 <p>1 After this there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to | |
| 17 Jerusalem. 2 Now at Jerusalem there is a Sheep Pool, called in | |
| 18 Hebrew Bethsaida, having five porticoes. 3 In these porticoes lay a | |
| 19 great number of people: feeble, blind, lame and withered, waiting | |
| 20 for the movement of the water. 4 From time to time an angel of the | |
| 21 Lord used to come down into the pool and the water was stirred up, | |
| 22 and the first one into the pool after it was stirred was healed of | |
| 23 whatever ailment he had. 5 There was one man lying there who had | |
| 24 been sick for thirty-eight years with his infirmity. 6 Jesus, | |
| 25 seeing him lying there and knowing that he had been sick a long | |
| 26 time, said to him, “Do you wish to be healed?” 7 The | |
| 27 sick man said, “Sir, I have no one to plunge me into the pool | |
| 28 once the water is stirred up. By the time I get there, someone else | |
| 29 has gone in before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Stand up, | |
| 30 pick up your mat and walk!” 9a The man was immediately cured; | |
| 31 he picked up his mat, and walked.</p> | |
| 32 </blockquote> | |
| 33 <p>699 Above, our Lord dealt with spiritual rebirth; here he deals | |
| 34 with the benefits God gives to those who are spiritually reborn. | |
| 35 Now we see that parents give three things to those who are | |
| 36 physically born from them: life, nourishment, and instruction or | |
| 37 discipline. And those who are spiritually reborn receive these | |
| 38 three from Christ: spiritual life, spiritual nourishment, and | |
| 39 spiritual teaching. And so these three things are considered here: | |
| 40 first, the giving of spiritual life; secondly, the giving of | |
| 41 spiritual food (c 6); and thirdly, spiritual teaching (c 7).</p> | |
| 42 <p>About the first he does three things. First, he sets forth a | |
| 43 visible sign in which he shows Christ’s power to produce and | |
| 44 to restore life. This is the usual practice in this Gospel: to | |
| 45 always join to the teaching of Christ some appropriate visible | |
| 46 action, so that what is invisible can be made known through the | |
| 47 visible. Secondly, the occasion for this teaching is given (v 9b). | |
| 48 Thirdly, the teaching itself is given (v 19). As to the first he | |
| 49 does three things. First, the place of the miracle is given. | |
| 50 Secondly, the illness involved. Thirdly, the restoration of the | |
| 51 sick person to health (v 8).</p> | |
| 52 <p>700 The place of this miracle is described in two ways: in | |
| 53 general and in particular. The general place is Jerusalem; so he | |
| 54 says, <span style="font-weight: bold">After this,</span> i.e., | |
| 55 after the miracle performed in Galilee, <span style= | |
| 56 "font-weight: bold">there was a Jewish festival,</span> that is | |
| 57 Pentecost, according to Chrysostom. For above, when Christ went to | |
| 58 Jerusalem, it was the Passover that was mentioned; and now, on the | |
| 59 following festival of Pentecost, <span style= | |
| 60 "font-weight: bold">Jesus went up to Jerusalem</span> again. For as | |
| 61 we read in Exodus (23:17), the Lord commanded that all Jewish males | |
| 62 be presented in the temple three times a year: on the festival days | |
| 63 of the Passover, Pentecost, and the Dedication.</p> | |
| 64 <p>There were two reasons why our Lord went up to Jerusalem for | |
| 65 these festivals. First, so that he would not seem to oppose the | |
| 66 law, for he said himself: “I have not come to destroy the | |
| 67 law, but to complete it” (Mt 5:17); and in order to draw the | |
| 68 many people gathered there on the feast days to God by his signs | |
| 69 and teaching: “I will praise him in the midst of the | |
| 70 people” (Ps 108:30); and again, “I have declared your | |
| 71 justice in the great assembly” (Ps 39:10). So Christ himself | |
| 72 says, as we read below (18:20): “1 have spoken openly to the | |
| 73 world.”</p> | |
| 74 <p>701 The specific place of the miracle was the pool called the | |
| 75 Sheep Pool; so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Now at | |
| 76 Jerusalem there is a Sheep Pool.</span> This is described here in | |
| 77 four ways: by its name, its structure, from its occupants, and from | |
| 78 its power.</p> | |
| 79 <p>702 First, it is described from its name when he says, | |
| 80 <span style="font-weight: bold">there is a Sheep Pool</span> | |
| 81 (<i>probatica piscina</i>),for <i>probaton</i> is Greek for | |
| 82 “sheep.” It was called the Sheep Pool for it was there | |
| 83 that the priests washed the sacrificial animals; especially the | |
| 84 sheep, who were used more than the other animals. And so in Hebrew | |
| 85 it was called <span style="font-weight: bold">Bethsaida,</span> | |
| 86 that is, the “house of sheep.” This pool was located | |
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87 near the temple, and formed from collected rain water.</p> |
| 35 | 88 <p>703 In its mystical sense, this pool, according to Chrysostom, |
| 89 has prefigured Baptism. For the Lord, wishing to prefigure the | |
| 90 grace of baptsim in different ways, first of all chose water: for | |
| 91 this washes the body from the uncleanness which came from contact | |
| 92 with what was legally unclean (Nm 19). Secondly, he gave this pool | |
| 93 a power that expresses even more vividly than water the power of | |
| 94 Baptism: for it not only cleansed the body from its uncleanness, | |
| 95 but also healed it from its illness; for symbols are more | |
| 96 expressive, the closer they approach the reality. Thus it signified | |
| 97 the power of Baptism: for as this water when applied to the body | |
| 98 had the power (not by its own nature, but from an angel) to heal | |
| 99 its illness, so the water of Baptism has the power to heal and | |
| 100 cleanse the soul from sins: “He loved us, and washed us from | |
| 101 our sins” (Rv 1:5). This is the reason why the passion of | |
| 102 Christ, prefigured by the sacrifices of the Old Law, is represented | |
| 103 in Baptism: “All of us who have been baptized into Christ | |
| 104 Jesus, have been baptized into his death” (Rom 6:3).</p> | |
| 105 <p>According to Augustine, the water in this pool signified the | |
| 106 condition of the Jewish people, according to: “The waters are | |
| 107 the peoples” (Rv 17:15). The Gentiles were not confined | |
| 108 within the limits of the divine law, but each of them lived | |
| 109 according to the vanity of his heart (Eph 4:17). But the Jews were | |
| 110 confined under the worship of the one God: “We were kept | |
| 111 under the law, confined, until the faith was revealed” (Gal | |
| 112 3:23). So this water, confined to the pool, signified the Jewish | |
| 113 people. And it was called the Sheep Pool, for the Jews were the | |
| 114 special sheep of God: “We are his people, his sheep” | |
| 115 (Ps 94:7).</p> | |
| 116 <p>704 The pool is described in its structure as <span style= | |
| 117 "font-weight: bold">having five porticoes,</span> i.e., round | |
| 118 about, so that a number of the priests could stand and wash the | |
| 119 animals without inconvenience. In the mystical sense these five | |
| 120 porticoes, according to Chrysostom, signify the five wounds in the | |
| 121 body of Christ; about which we read: “Put your hand into my | |
| 122 side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe” (below 20:27). | |
| 123 But according to Augustine, these five porticoes signify the five | |
| 124 books of Moses.</p> | |
| 125 <p>705 The pool is also described from its occupants, for | |
| 126 <span style="font-weight: bold">in these porticoes lay a great | |
| 127 number of people: feeble, blind, lame and withered.</span> The | |
| 128 literal explanation of this is that since all the afflicted persons | |
| 129 gathered because of the curative power of the water, which did not | |
| 130 always cure nor cure many at the same time, it was inevitable that | |
| 131 there be many hanging around waiting to be cured. The mystical | |
| 132 meaning of this, for Augustine, was that the law was incapable of | |
| 133 healing sins: “It is impossible that sins be taken away by | |
| 134 the blood of bulls and goats” (Heb 10:4). The law merely shed | |
| 135 light on them, for “The knowledge of sin comes from the | |
| 136 law” (Rom 3:20).</p> | |
| 137 <p>706 And so, subject to various illnesses, these people lay | |
| 138 there, unable to be cured. They are described in four ways. First, | |
| 139 by their posture: for there they lay, i.e., clinging to earthly | |
| 140 things by their sins; for one who is lying down is in direct | |
| 141 contact with the earth: “He had compassion on them, for they | |
| 142 were suffering, and lying like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt | |
| 143 9:36). But the just do not lie down, but stand upright, toward the | |
| 144 things of heaven: “They,” i.e., sinners, “are | |
| 145 bound, and have fallen down; but we,” the just, “have | |
| 146 stood and are erect” (Ps 19:9).</p> | |
| 147 <p>Secondly, they are described as to their number, for there was a | |
| 148 <span style="font-weight: bold">great number</span> of them: | |
| 149 “The evil are hard to correct, and the iiurnber of fools is | |
| 150 infinite” (Ecc 1:15); and in Matthew (7:13): “The road | |
| 151 that leads to destruction is wide, and many go this way.”</p> | |
| 152 <p>Thirdly, these sick people are described as to their condition. | |
| 153 And he mentions four things which a person brings on himself | |
| 154 through sin. First, a person who is ruled by sinful passions is | |
| 155 made listless or feeble: and so he says, <span style= | |
| 156 "font-weight: bold">feeble</span>. So it is that Cicero calls | |
| 157 certain passions of the soul, such as anger and concupiscence and | |
| 158 the like, illnesses of the soul. And the Psalm says: “Have | |
| 159 mercy on me, O Lord, for I am week” (Ps 6:3).</p> | |
| 160 <p>Secondly, due to the rule and victory of a man’s passions, | |
| 161 his reason is blinded by consent; and he says as to this, | |
| 162 <span style="font-weight: bold">blind,</span> that is, through | |
| 163 sins. According to Wisdom (2:21): “Their own evil blinded | |
| 164 them”; and in the Psalm (57:9): “Fire,” that is | |
| 165 the fire of anger and concupiscence, “fell on them, and they | |
| 166 did not see the sun.”</p> | |
| 167 <p>Thirdly, a person who is feeble and blind is inconstant in his | |
| 168 works and is, in a way, lame. So we read in Proverbs (11:18): | |
| 169 “The work of the wicked is unsteady.” With respect to | |
| 170 this the Evangelist says, lame. “How long will you be | |
| 171 lame?” (1 Kgs 18:2 1).</p> | |
| 172 <p>Fourthly, a man who is thus feeble, blind in understanding, and | |
| 173 lame in his exterior actions, becomes dry in his affections, in the | |
| 174 sense that all the fatness of devotion withers within him. This | |
| 175 devotion is sought in the Psalm (62:6): “May my soul be | |
| 176 filled with fat and marrow.” With respect to this the | |
| 177 Evangelist says, withered. “My strength is dried up like | |
| 178 baked clay” (Ps 21:16).</p> | |
| 179 <p>But there are some so afflicted by the lassitude of sin, who do | |
| 180 not wait for the motion of the water, wallowing in their sins, | |
| 181 according to Wisdom (14:22): “They live in a great strife of | |
| 182 ignorance, and they call so many and great evils peace.” We | |
| 183 read of such people: “They are glad when they do evil, and | |
| 184 rejoice in the worst of things” (Prv 2:14). The reason for | |
| 185 this is that they do not hate their sins: they do not sin from | |
| 186 ignorance or weakness, but from malice. But others, who do not sin | |
| 187 from malice, do not wallow in their sins, but wait by desire for | |
| 188 the motion of the water. So he says, <span style= | |
| 189 "font-weight: bold">waiting.</span> “Every day of my service | |
| 190 I wait for my relief to come” (Jb 14:14). This is the | |
| 191 ‘way those in the Old Testament waited for Christ: “I | |
| 192 will wait for your salvation, O Lord” (Gn 49:18).</p> | |
| 193 <p>707 Finally, the power of the pool is described, for it healed | |
| 194 all physical illnesses in virtue of an angel who came to it; so he | |
| 195 says, <span style="font-weight: bold">From time to time an angel of | |
| 196 the Lord used to come down into the pool.</span> In certain ways, | |
| 197 the power of this pool is like that of Baptism. It is like it, | |
| 198 first, in the fact that its power was unperceived: for the power of | |
| 199 the water in this pool did not come from its very nature, otherwise | |
| 200 it would have healed at all times; its power was unseen, being from | |
| 201 an angel. So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">From time to | |
| 202 time an angel of the Lord used to come down into the pool.</span> | |
| 203 The water of Baptism is like this in that precisely as water it | |
| 204 does not have the power to cleanse souls, but this comes from the | |
| 205 unseen power of the Holy Spirit, according to: “Unless one is | |
| 206 born again ofwater and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom | |
| 207 of God” (above 3:5). It is like it, in a second way, in its | |
| 208 effect: for as the water of Baptism heals, so also the water of | |
| 209 that pool healed. So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">the | |
| 210 first one into the pool was healed.</span> Further, God gave to | |
| 211 that water the power to heal so that men by washing might learn | |
| 212 through their bodily health to seek their spiritual health.</p> | |
| 213 <p>Yet the water of this pool differs from the water of Baptism in | |
| 214 three ways. First, in the source of its power: for the water in the | |
| 215 pool produced health because of an angel, but the water of Baptism | |
| 216 produces its effect by the uncreated power not only of the Holy | |
| 217 Spirit, but of the entire Trinity. Thus the entire Trinity was | |
| 218 present at the baptism of Christ: the Father in the voice, the Son | |
| 219 in person, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. This is why | |
| 220 we invoke the Trinity in our baptism.</p> | |
| 221 <p>Secondly, this water differs in its power: for the water in the | |
| 222 pool did not have a continuous power to cure, but only <span style= | |
| 223 "font-weight: bold">from time to time;</span> while the water of | |
| 224 Baptism has a permanent power to cleanse, according to: “On | |
| 225 that day a fountain will be open to the house of David, and to the | |
| 226 inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse the sinner and the | |
| 227 unclean” (Zee 13:1).</p> | |
| 228 <p>Thirdly, this water differs as regards the number of people | |
| 229 healed: for only one person was cured when the water of this pool | |
| 230 was moved; but all are healed when the water of Baptism is moved. | |
| 231 And no wonder: for the power of the water in the pool, since it is | |
| 232 created, is finite and has a finite effect; but in the water of | |
| 233 Baptism there is an infinite power capable of cleansing an infinite | |
| 234 number of souls, if there were such: “I will pour clean water | |
| 235 upon you, and you will be cleansed from all your uncleanness” | |
| 236 (Ez 36:25).</p> | |
| 237 <p>708 According to Augustine, however, the angel signifies Christ, | |
| 238 according to this reading of Isaiah (9:6): “He will be called | |
| 239 great counsel.” Just as the angel descended at certain times | |
| 240 into the pool, so Christ descended into the world at a time fixed | |
| 241 by the Father: “The time is near” (Is 14:1); | |
| 242 “When the fulness of time had come God sent his Son, made | |
| 243 from a woman, inade under the law” (Gal 4:4). Again, just as | |
| 244 the angel was not seen except by the motion of the water, so Christ | |
| 245 was not known as to his divinity, for “If they had known, | |
| 246 they would never have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor | |
| 247 2:8). For as Isaiah (45:15) says: “Truly, you are a hidden | |
| 248 God.” And so the motion of the water was seen, but not the | |
| 249 one who set it in motion, because, seeing the weakness of Christ, | |
| 250 the people did not know of his divinity. And just as the one who | |
| 251 went into the pool was healed, so a person who humbly believes in | |
| 252 God is healed by his passion: “Justified by faith, through | |
| 253 the redemption which is in Christ, whoin God put forward as an | |
| 254 expiation” (Rom 3:24). Only one was healed, because no one | |
| 255 can be healed except in the oneness or unity of the Church: | |
| 256 “One Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph 4:5). | |
| 257 Therefore, woe to those who hate unity, and divide men into | |
| 258 sects.</p> | |
| 259 <p>709 Then (v 5), the Evangelist mentions the disability of a man | |
| 260 who lay by the pool. First, we are told how long he was disabled; | |
| 261 and secondly, why it was so long (v 7).</p> | |
| 262 <p>7 10 He was disabled for a long time, for <span style= | |
| 263 "font-weight: bold">There was one man lying there who had been sick | |
| 264 for thirty-eight years with his infirmity.</span> This episode is | |
| 265 very aptly mentioned: the man who could not be cured by the pool | |
| 266 was to be cured by Christ, because those whom the law could not | |
| 267 heal, Christ heals perfectly, according to: “God did what the | |
| 268 law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in | |
| 269 the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sin-offering, he condemned | |
| 270 sin in his flesh” (Rom 8:3), and in Sirach (36:6): | |
| 271 “Perform new signs and wonders.”</p> | |
| 272 <p>711 The number thirty-eight is well-suited to his infirmity, for | |
| 273 we see it associated with sickness rather than with health. For, as | |
| 274 Augustine says, the number forty signifies the perfection of | |
| 275 justice, which consists in observing the law. But the law was given | |
| 276 in ten precepts, and was to be preached to the four corners of the | |
| 277 world, or be completed by the four Gospels, according to: | |
| 278 “The end of the law is Christ” (Rom 10:4). So since ten | |
| 279 times four is forty, this appropriately signifies perfect justice. | |
| 280 Now if two is subtracted from forty, we get thirty-eight. This two | |
| 281 is the two precepts of charity, which effects perfect justice. And | |
| 282 so this man was sick because he had forty minus two, that is, his | |
| 283 justice was imperfect, for “On these two commandments all the | |
| 284 law and the prophets depend” (Mt 22:40).</p> | |
| 285 <p>712 Now the reason for the length of the man’s illness is | |
| 286 considered. First, we have the Lord’s query; secondly, the | |
| 287 sick man’s answer (v 7).</p> | |
| 288 <p>713 John says, Jesus, seeing him, the man, <span style= | |
| 289 "font-weight: bold">lying there.</span> Jesus saw him not only with | |
| 290 his physical eyes, but also with the eyes of his mercy; this is the | |
| 291 way David begged to be seen, saying: “Look.at me, O Lord, and | |
| 292 have mercy on me” (Ps 85:16). And Jesus <span style= | |
| 293 "font-weight: bold">knowing that he had been sick a long | |
| 294 time</span>—which was repugnant to the heart of Christ as | |
| 295 well as to the sick man himself: “A long illness is a burden | |
| 296 to the physician” (Sir 10:11)—said to him, <span style= | |
| 297 "font-weight: bold">Do you wish to be healed?</span> He did not say | |
| 298 this because he did not know the answer, for it was quite evident | |
| 299 that the man wanted to be healed, he said it to arouse the sick | |
| 300 man’s desire, and to show his patience in waiting so many | |
| 301 years to be cured of his sickness. and in not giving up. We see | |
| 302 from this that he was all the worthier to be cured: “Act | |
| 303 bravely, and let your heart be strengthened, all you who hope in | |
| 304 the Lord” (Ps 30:25). Jesus incites the man’s desires | |
| 305 because we keep more securely what we perceive with desire and more | |
| 306 easily acquire. “Knock,” by your desire, “and it | |
| 307 will be opened to you,” as we read in Matthew (7:7).</p> | |
| 308 <p>Note that in other situations the Lord requires faith: “Do | |
| 309 you believe that I can do this for you” (Mt 9:28); but here | |
| 310 he does not make any such demand. The reason is that the others had | |
| 311 heard of the miracles of Jesus, of which this man knew nothing. And | |
| 312 so Jesus does not ask faith from him until after the miracle has | |
| 313 been performed.</p> | |
| 314 <p>714 Then (v 7), the answer of the sick man is given. Two reasons | |
| 315 are given for the length of his illness: his poverty and his | |
| 316 weakness. As he was poor, he could not afford a man to plunge him | |
| 317 into the pool; so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Sir, I | |
| 318 have no one to plunge me into the pool.</span> Perhaps he thought, | |
| 319 as Chrysostom says, that Christ might even help to put him into the | |
| 320 water. Someone else always reached the pool before him because he | |
| 321 was weak and not able to move fast; so he says, <span style= | |
| 322 "font-weight: bold">By the time I get there, someone else has gone | |
| 323 in before me.</span> He could say with Job: “I cannot help | |
| 324 myself” (Jb 6:13). This signifies that no mere man could save | |
| 325 the human race, for all had sinned and needed the grace of God. | |
| 326 Mankind had to wait for the coming of Christ, God and man, by whom | |
| 327 it would be healed.</p> | |
| 328 <p>715 Now we see the man restored to health, i.e., the working of | |
| 329 the miracle. First, the Lord’s command is given; secondly, | |
| 330 the man’s obedience (v 9).</p> | |
| 331 <p>716 The Lord commanded both the nature of the man and his will, | |
| 332 for both are under the Lord’s power. He commanded his nature | |
| 333 when he said, Stand up. This command was not directed to the | |
| 334 man’s will, for this was not within the power of his will. | |
| 335 But it was within the power of his nature, to which the Lord gave | |
| 336 the power to stand by his command. He gave two commands to the | |
| 337 man’s will: <span style="font-weight: bold">pick up your mat | |
| 338 and walk!</span> The literal meaning for this is that these two | |
| 339 things were commanded in order to show that the man had been | |
| 340 restored to perfect health. For in all his miracles the Lord | |
| 341 produced a perfect work, according to what was best in the nature | |
| 342 of each case: “The works of God are perfect” (Dt 32:4). | |
| 343 Now this man was lacking two things: first, his own energy, since | |
| 344 he could not stand up by himself, thus our Lord found him lying by | |
| 345 the pool. Secondly, he lacked the help of others; so he said, | |
| 346 <span style="font-weight: bold">I have no one.</span> So our Lord, | |
| 347 in order that this man might recognize his perfect health, ordered | |
| 348 him who could not help himself to pick up his mat, and him who | |
| 349 could not walk to walk.</p> | |
| 350 <p>717 These are the three things which the Lord commands in the | |
| 351 justification of a sinner. First, he should <span style= | |
| 352 "font-weight: bold">stand up,</span> by leaving his sinful ways: | |
| 353 “Rise up, you who sleep, and arise from the dead” (Eph | |
| 354 5:14). Secondly, he is commanded to <span style= | |
| 355 "font-weight: bold">pick up your mat</span>, by making satisfaction | |
| 356 for the sins he has committed. For the mat on which a man rests | |
| 357 signifies his sins. And so a man takes up his mat when he begins to | |
| 358 do the penance given to him for his sins. “I will bear the | |
| 359 anger of God, because I have sinned against him” (Mi 7:9). | |
| 360 Thirdly, he is commanded to <span style= | |
| 361 "font-weight: bold">walk</span>, by advancing in what is good, | |
| 362 according to: “They will go from strength to strength” | |
| 363 (Ps 83:8).</p> | |
| 364 <p>718 According to Augustine, this sick man was lacking two | |
| 365 things: the two precepts of charity. And so our Lord gives two | |
| 366 commands to his will, which is perfected by charity: to take up his | |
| 367 mat, and to walk. The first concerns the love of neighbor, which is | |
| 368 first in the order of doing; the second concerns the love of God, | |
| 369 which is first in the order of precept. Christ says, with respect | |
| 370 to the first, <span style="font-weight: bold">pick up you | |
| 371 mat.</span> As if to say: When you are weak, your neighbor bears | |
| 372 with you and, like a mat, patiently supports you: “We who are | |
| 373 stronger ought to bear with the infirmities of the weak, and not | |
| 374 seek to please ourselves” (Rom 15:1). Thus, after you have | |
| 375 been cured, <span style="font-weight: bold">pick up your | |
| 376 mat,</span> i.e., bear and support your neighbor, who carried you | |
| 377 when you were weak: “Carry each other’s burdens” | |
| 378 (Gal 6:2). About the second he says, <span style= | |
| 379 "font-weight: bold">walk,</span> by drawing near God; so we read: | |
| 380 “They will go from strength to strength” (Ps 83:8); | |
| 381 “Walk while you have the light” (below 12:35).</p> | |
| 382 <p>719 Next we see the man’s obedience. First, the obedience | |
| 383 of his nature, because, <span style="font-weight: bold">The man was | |
| 384 immediately cured.</span> And no wonder, because Christ is the Word | |
| 385 through whom heaven and earth were made: “He commanded and | |
| 386 they were created” (Ps 148:5); “By the Word of the Lord | |
| 387 the heavens were made” (Ps 32:6). Secondly, we see the | |
| 388 obedience of the man’s will: first, because <span style= | |
| 389 "font-weight: bold">he picked up his mat,</span> and secondly, | |
| 390 because he <span style="font-weight: bold">walked.</span> “We | |
| 391 will do everything that the Lord commands, and obey him” (Ex | |
| 392 24:7).</p> | |
| 393 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 394 </p> | |
| 395 <p style="text-align: center"><span style= | |
| 396 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 2</span></p> | |
| 397 <blockquote> | |
| 398 <p>9b That day, however, was a Sabbath. 10 Therefore the Jews told | |
| 399 the man who had been cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not | |
| 400 permitted for you to carry your mat.” 11 He replied to them, | |
| 401 “He who cured me said to me: ‘Pick up your mat and | |
| 402 walk.’” 12 They then asked him, “Who is this man | |
| 403 who told you to pick up your mat and walk?” 13 But he who was | |
| 404 cured had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away from the | |
| 405 crowd that had gathered in that place. 14 Later, Jesus found the | |
| 406 man in the temple and said to him, “Remember, you have been | |
| 407 made well; now do not sin again lest something worse happen to | |
| 408 you.” 15 The man went off and related to the Jews that it was | |
| 409 Jesus who had cured him. 16 For reasons like this the Jews began to | |
| 410 persecute Jesus, because he performed such works on the Sabbath. 17 | |
| 411 But Jesus had a reply for them: “My Father works even until | |
| 412 now, and so do I.” 18 Consequently, the Jews tried all the | |
| 413 harder to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath rest, but | |
| 414 even called God his own Father, making himself equal to God.</p> | |
| 415 </blockquote> | |
| 416 <p>720 Having seen a visible miracle which shows the power of | |
| 417 Christ to restore spiritual life, we now see an opportunity given | |
| 418 to him to teach. This opportunity was the persecution launched | |
| 419 against him by the Jews. These Jews, who were envious of Christ, | |
| 420 persecuted him for two reasons: first, the above act of his mercy; | |
| 421 secondly, his teaching of the truth (v 17). As to the first, the | |
| 422 Evangelist does three things. First, he gives the occasion for | |
| 423 their persecution. Secondly, the false accusation against the man | |
| 424 who was just cured (v 10). And thirdly, their attempt to belittle | |
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425 Christ (v 12).</p> |
| 35 | 426 <p>721 Their opportunity to persecute Christ was the fact that he |
| 427 cured the man on the Sabbath; accordingly, the Evangelist says, | |
| 428 <span style="font-weight: bold">That day, however, was a | |
| 429 Sabbath,</span> when Christ performed the miracle ofcommanding the | |
| 430 man to pick up his mat.</p> | |
| 431 <p>Three reasons are given why our Lord began to work on the | |
| 432 Sabbath. The first is given by Ambrose, in his commentary, <i>On | |
| 433 Luke.</i> He says that Christ came to renovate the work of | |
| 434 creation, that is, man, who had become deformed. And so he should | |
| 435 have begun where the Creator had left off the work of creation, | |
| 436 that is, on a Sabbath, as mentioned in Genesis (c 1). Thus Christ | |
| 437 began to work on the Sabbath to show that he was the renovator of | |
| 438 the whole creature.</p> | |
| 439 <p>Another reason was that the Sabbath day was celebrated by the | |
| 440 Jews in memory of the first creation. But Christ came to make, in a | |
| 441 way, a new creature, according to Galatians (6:15): “In | |
| 442 Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor the lack of circumcision is | |
| 443 a benefit; what counts is a new creation,” i.e., through | |
| 444 grace, which comes through the Holy Spirit: “You will send | |
| 445 forth your Spirit, and they will be created ; and you will renew | |
| 446 the face of the earth” (Ps 103:30). And so Christ worked on | |
| 447 the Sabbath to show that a new creation, a re-creation, was taking | |
| 448 place through him: “that we might be the first fruits of his | |
| 449 creatures” (Jas 1:18).</p> | |
| 450 <p>The third reason was to show that he was about to do what the | |
| 451 law could not do: “God did what the law, weakened by the | |
| 452 flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of | |
| 453 sinful flesh, he condemned sin in his flesh, in order that the | |
| 454 requirements of the law might be accomplished in us” (Rom | |
| 455 8:3).</p> | |
| 456 <p>The Jews, however, did not do any work on the Sabbath, as a | |
| 457 symbol that there were certain things pertaining to the Sabbath | |
| 458 which were to be accomplished, but which the law could not do. This | |
| 459 is clear in the four things which God ordained for the Sabbath: for | |
| 460 he sanctified the Sabbath day, blessed it, completed his work on | |
| 461 it, and then rested. These things the law was not able to do. It | |
| 462 could not sanctify; so we read: “Save me, O Lord, for there | |
| 463 are no holy people left” (Ps 11:1). Nor could it bless; | |
| 464 rather, “Those who rely on the works of the law are under a | |
| 465 curse” (Gal 3:10). Neither could it, complete and perfect, | |
| 466 because “the law brought nothing to perfection” (Heb | |
| 467 7:19). Nor could it bring perfect rest: “If Joshua had given | |
| 468 them rest, God would not be speaking after of another day” | |
| 469 (Heb 4:8).</p> | |
| 470 <p>These things, which the law could not do, Christ did. For he | |
| 471 sanctified the people by his passion: “Jesus, in order to | |
| 472 sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the | |
| 473 gate” (Heb 13:12). He blessed them by an inpouring of grace: | |
| 474 “Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has | |
| 475 blessed us with every spiritual blessing of heaven, in | |
| 476 Christ” (Eph 1:3). He brought the people to perfection by | |
| 477 instructing them in the ways of perfect justice: “Be perfect, | |
| 478 as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). He also led | |
| 479 them to true rest: “We who have believed will find | |
| 480 rest,” as is said in Hebrews (4:3). Therefore, it is proper | |
| 481 for him to work on the Sabbath, who is able to make perfect those | |
| 482 things that pertain to the Sabbath, from which an impotent law | |
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483 rested.</p> |
| 35 | 484 <p>722 Then (v 10), the Evangelist gives the accusation brought |
| 485 against the man who was healed. First, we have the accusation; and | |
| 486 secondly, the explanation given by the man who was healed (v | |
| 487 11).</p> | |
| 488 <p>723 The man was accused for carrying his mat on the Sabbath, and | |
| 489 not for being healed; so they say: <span style= | |
| 490 "font-weight: bold">It is the Sabbath; it is not permitted for you | |
| 491 to carry your mat.</span> There are several reasons foi this. One | |
| 492 is that the Jews, although frequently charging Christ with healing | |
| 493 on the Sabbath, had been embarrassed by him on the ground that they | |
| 494 themselves used to pull their cattle from ditches on the Sabbath in | |
| 495 order to save them. For this reason the Jews did not mention his | |
| 496 healing, as it was useful and necessary; but they charge him with | |
| 497 carrying his mat, which did not seem to be necessary. As if to say: | |
| 498 Although your cure need not have been postponed, there was no need | |
| 499 for you to carry your mat, or for the order to carry it. Another | |
| 500 reason was that the Lord had shown, contrary to their opinion, that | |
| 501 it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath. And so, because being | |
| 502 healed is not the same as doing good, but being done a good, they | |
| 503 attack the one healed rather than the one healing. The third reason | |
| 504 was that the Jews thought that they were forbidden by the law to do | |
| 505 any work on the Sabbath; and it was the carrying of burdens that | |
| 506 was especially forbidden on the Sabbath: “Do not carry a | |
| 507 burden on the Sabbath” (Jer 17:2 1). Accordingly, they made a | |
| 508 special point of being against the carrying of anything on the | |
| 509 Sabbath, as being opposed to the teaching of the prophet. But this | |
| 510 command of the prophet was mystical: for when he forbade them to | |
| 511 carry burdens, he wanted to encourage them to rest from the burdens | |
| 512 of their sins on the Sabbath. Of these sins it is said: “My | |
| 513 iniquities are a heavy burden and have weighed me down” (Ps | |
| 514 37.5). Therefore, since the time had come to explain the meaning of | |
| 515 obscure symbols, Christ commanded him to take up his mat, i.e, to | |
| 516 help his neighbors in their weaknesses: “Bear one | |
| 517 another’s burdens, and so you will fulfil the law of | |
| 518 Christ” (Gal 6:2).</p> | |
| 519 <p>724 Then (v 11), we see the man who was healed defending | |
| 520 himself. His defense is wisely taken: for a doctrine is never so | |
| 521 well proved to be divinely inspired as by miracles which can be | |
| 522 accomplished only by divine power: “Going out, they preached | |
| 523 everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by | |
| 524 the signs that followed” (Mk 16:20). Thus he argued with | |
| 525 those who were defaming the one who healed him, saying: | |
| 526 <span style="font-weight: bold">He who cured me said to me.</span> | |
| 527 As if to say: You say that I am forbidden to carry a burden on the | |
| 528 Sabbath, and this on divine authority; but I was commanded by the | |
| 529 same authority to pick up my mat. For, <span style= | |
| 530 "font-weight: bold">he who cured me,</span> and by restoring my | |
| 531 health showed that he had divine power, said to me, <span style= | |
| 532 "font-weight: bold">Pick up your mat and walk.</span> Therefore, I | |
| 533 was duty bound to obey the commands of one who has such power and | |
| 534 who had done me such a favor. “I will never forget your | |
| 535 precepts because you have brought me to life by them” (Ps | |
| 536 118:93).</p> | |
| 537 <p>725 Then, since they could not very well charge the man who was | |
| 538 cured, they try to belittle Christ’s cure, for this man | |
| 539 defended himself through Christ. But since he did not indicate | |
| 540 precisely who he was, they maliciously ask him who it was. With | |
| 541 respect to this, first, the search for Christ is set down. | |
| 542 Secondly, his discovery. And thirdly, his persecution (v 16).</p> | |
| 543 <p>726 Three things are mentioned about the first: the Jews’ | |
| 544 interrogation; the ignorance of the man who was cured, and the | |
| 545 cause of that ignorance.</p> | |
| 546 <p>As to the first, we read: <span style="font-weight: bold">They | |
| 547 then asked him,</span> not with the good intention of making | |
| 548 progress, but for the evil purpose of persecuting and destroying | |
| 549 Christ: “You will seek me, and you will die in your | |
| 550 sin” (below 8:21), Their very words show their malice: for | |
| 551 while our Lord had commanded the man who was sick to become healed | |
| 552 and to pick up his mat, they ignored the first, which is an | |
| 553 undeniable sign of divine power, and harped on the second, which | |
| 554 seemed to be against the law, saying, <span style= | |
| 555 "font-weight: bold">Who is this man who told you to pick up you mat | |
| 556 and walk?</span> “He lies in wait, and turns good into evil, | |
| 557 and he will put blame,” i.e., attempt to put blame, “on | |
| 558 the elect” (Sir 11:33).</p> | |
| 559 <p>727 As to the second, the Evangelist says, <span style= | |
| 560 "font-weight: bold">But he who was cured had no idea who it | |
| 561 was.</span> This cured man signifies those who believe and have | |
| 562 been healed by the grace of Christ: “You are saved by | |
| 563 grace” (Eph 2:8). Indeed, they do not know who Christ is, but | |
| 564 they know only his effects: “While we are in the body, we are | |
| 565 absent from the Lord: for we walk by faith, and not by sight” | |
| 566 (2 Cor 5:6). We will know who Christ is when “we shall see | |
| 567 him as he is,” as said in 1 John (3:2).</p> | |
| 568 <p>728 Next, the Evangelist gives the reason for the man’s | |
| 569 ignorance, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">for Jesus had | |
| 570 slipped away from the crowd that had gathered in that place.</span> | |
| 571 There are both literal and mystical reasons why Christ left. Of the | |
| 572 two literal reasons, the first is to give us the example of | |
| 573 concealing our good deeds and of not using them to seek the | |
| 574 applause of men: “Take care not to perform your good actions | |
| 575 in the sight of men, in order to be seen by them” (Mt 6:1). | |
| 576 The second literal reason is to show us that, in all ouractions, we | |
| 577 should leave and avoid those who are envious, so as not to feed and | |
| 578 increase their envy: “Do not be provoked by one who speaks | |
| 579 evil of you, so he will not trap you by your own words” (Sir | |
| 580 8:14).</p> | |
| 581 <p>There are also two mystical reasons why Christ slipped away. | |
| 582 First, it teaches us that Christ is not easy to find in the midst | |
| 583 of men, or in the whirlwind of temporal cares; rather, he is found | |
| 584 in spiritual seclusion: “I will lead her into the wilderness, | |
| 585 and there I will speak to her heart” (Hos 2:14); and in | |
| 586 Ecclesiastes (9.17): “The words of the wise are heard in | |
| 587 silence.” Secondly, this suggests to us that Christ was to | |
| 588 leave the Jews for the Gentiles: “He hid his face for a while | |
| 589 from the house of Jacob” (Is 8:17), i.e., he withdrew the | |
| 590 knowledge of his truth from the Jewish people.</p> | |
| 591 <p>729 Then (v 14), the Evangelist tells us how Jesus was found. | |
| 592 First, he says that he was found. Secondly, that after having been | |
| 593 found, he taught. Thirdly, that after having taught, his identity | |
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594 was reported to the Jews.</p> |
| 35 | 595 <p>730 The Evangelist tells us both where and the way in which |
| 596 Christ was found. The way in which he was found was remarkable, for | |
| 597 Christ is not found unless he first finds; hence he says, Later, | |
| 598 after the above events, <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus found | |
| 599 the man.</span> For we cannot find Jesus by our own power unless | |
| 600 Christ first presents himself to us; so we read: “Seek your | |
| 601 servant” (Ps 118:176); and, “She [wisdom] goes to meet | |
| 602 those who desire her” (Wis 6:14).</p> | |
| 603 <p>The place Christ was found was holy, <span style= | |
| 604 "font-weight: bold">in the temple,</span> according to: “The | |
| 605 Lord is in his holy temple” (Ps 10:5). For his mother had | |
| 606 also found him in the temple (Lk 2:46); and he was there for he had | |
| 607 to be concerned with his Father’s affairs. We see from this | |
| 608 that this man was not cured in vain, but having been converted to a | |
| 609 religious way of life, he visited the temple and found Christ: | |
| 610 because if we desire to come to a knowledge of the Creator, we must | |
| 611 run from the tumult of sinful affections, leave the company of evil | |
| 612 men, and flee to the temple of our heart, where God condescends to | |
| 613 visit and live.</p> | |
| 614 <p>731 After Christ was found, he began to teach (v 14). First, | |
| 615 Christ reminded the man of the gift he was given. Secondly, he | |
| 616 offered him sound advice. And thirdly, he pointed out an imminent | |
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617 danger.</p> |
| 35 | 618 <p>732 The gift was remarkable, for it was a sudden restoration to |
| 619 health; so he says, Remember, you have been made well. Therefore, | |
| 620 you should always keep this in mind, according to: “I will | |
| 621 remember the tender mercies of the Lord” (Is 63:7).</p> | |
| 622 <p>733 His advice, too, was useful, that is, <span style= | |
| 623 "font-weight: bold">do not sin again.</span> “My son, you | |
| 624 have sinned. Do not sin again” (Sir 21:1).</p> | |
| 625 <p>Why did our Lord mention sin to this paralytic and to certain | |
| 626 others that he cured, and not to the rest? He did this to show that | |
| 627 illness comes to certain people as a result of their previous sins, | |
| 628 according to: “For this reason many of you are weak and sick, | |
| 629 and many have died” (1 Cor 11:30). In this way he even showed | |
| 630 himself to be God, pointing out sins and the hidden secrets of the | |
| 631 heart: “Hell and destruction are open to the Lord; how much | |
| 632 more the hearts of the children of men” (Prv 15:11). And so | |
| 633 Christ mentioned sin only to some he cured and not to all, for not | |
| 634 all infirmities are due to previous sins: some come from | |
| 635 one’s natural disposition, and some are permitted as a trial, | |
| 636 as with Job. Or, Christ might have brought up sin to some because | |
| 637 they were better prepared for his correction: “Do not rebuke | |
| 638 one who mocks, lest he hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will | |
| 639 love you” (Prv 9:8). Or, we could say, in telling some not to | |
| 640 sin, he intended his words for all the others.</p> | |
| 641 <p>734 The imminent danger was great, so he says, <span style= | |
| 642 "font-weight: bold">lest something worse happen to you.</span> This | |
| 643 can be understood in two ways, according to the two events that | |
| 644 preceded. For this man was first punished with a troublesome | |
| 645 infirmity, and then received a marvelous favor. Accordingly, | |
| 646 Christ’s statement can refer to each. To the first, for when | |
| 647 anyone is punished for his sin, and the punishment does not check | |
| 648 him from sinning, it is just for him to be punished more severely. | |
| 649 So Christ says, <span style="font-weight: bold">do not sin | |
| 650 again,</span> because if you do sin, something worse will happen to | |
| 651 you: “I have struck your children in vain” (Jer 2:30). | |
| 652 It can refer to the second, for one who falls into sin after | |
| 653 receiving favors deserves a more severe punishment because of his | |
| 654 ingratitude, as we see in 2 Peter (2:20): “It would be better | |
| 655 for them not to know the way of truth, than to turn back after | |
| 656 knowing it.” Also, because after a man has once returned to | |
| 657 sin, he sins more easily, according to Matthew (12:45): “The | |
| 658 last state of that man becomes worse than the first”; and in | |
| 659 Jeremiah (2:20): “You broke your yoke a long time ago, and | |
| 660 snapped off your chains, and said: I will not | |
| 661 serve.’”</p> | |
| 662 <p>735 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The man | |
| 663 went off and related to the Jews,</span> we see Jesus identified. | |
| 664 Some think, as Chrysostom reports, that this man identified Jesus | |
| 665 out of malice. But this does not seem probable: that he would be so | |
| 666 ungrateful after receiving such a favor. He <span style= | |
| 667 "font-weight: bold">related to the Jews that it was Jesus who had | |
| 668 cured him,</span> in order to make it clear that Christ had the | |
| 669 power to heal: “Come ... and I will tell you what great | |
| 670 things the Lord has done for me,” as we read in the Psalm | |
| 671 (65:16). This is obvious, for they had asked him who commanded him | |
| 672 to pick up his mat, but he told them that <span style= | |
| 673 "font-weight: bold">it was Jesus who had cured him.</span></p> | |
| 674 <p>736 Next (v 16), we have the persecution of Christ, begun | |
| 675 because he performed a work of mercy on the Sabbath. Thus the | |
| 676 Evangelist says, <span style="font-weight: bold">For reasons like | |
| 677 this the Jews began to persecute Jesus, because he performed such | |
| 678 works on the Sabbath.</span> “Princes have persecuted me | |
| 679 without cause” (Ps 118:16 1).</p> | |
| 680 <p>737 Then (v 17), the second reason for his persecution is given: | |
| 681 what he taught. First, we are given the truth he taught; and | |
| 682 secondly, the perversity of his persecutors (v 18).</p> | |
| 683 <p>73 8 Our Lord taught the truth while justifying his breaking of | |
| 684 the Sabbath. Here we should note that our Lord justified both | |
| 685 himself and his disciples from breaking the Sabbath. He justified | |
| 686 his disciples, since they were men, by comparing them to other men: | |
| 687 as the priests who, although they worked in the temple on the | |
| 688 Sabbath, did not break the Sabbath; and to David, who, while | |
| 689 Ahinielech was priest, took the consecrated bread from the temple | |
| 690 oil the Sabbath when he was running from Saul (1 Sm 21:1).</p> | |
| 691 <p>Our Lord, who was both God and man, sometimes justified himself | |
| 692 in breaking the Sabbath by comparing himself to men, as in Luke | |
| 693 (14:5): “Which of you, if his donkey or ox falls into a pit, | |
| 694 will not take him out on the Sabbath?” And sometimes he | |
| 695 justified himself by comparing himself to God: particularly on this | |
| 696 occasion, when he said: <span style="font-weight: bold">My Father | |
| 697 works even until now, and so do I.</span> As if to say: Do not | |
| 698 think that my Father rested on the Sabbath in such a way that from | |
| 699 that time he does not work; rather, just as he is working even now | |
| 700 without laboring, so I also am working.</p> | |
| 701 <p>By saying this, Christ eliminated the misunderstanding of the | |
| 702 Jews: for in their desire to imitate God, they did not do any work | |
| 703 on the Sabbath, as if God entirely ceased from work on that day. In | |
| 704 fact, although God rested on the Sabbath from producing new | |
| 705 creatures, he is working always and continuously even till now, | |
| 706 conserving creatures in existence. Hence it is significant that | |
| 707 Moses used the word “rest,” after recounting the works | |
| 708 of God from which he rested: for this signifies, in its hidden | |
| 709 meaning, the spiritual rest which God, by the example of his own | |
| 710 rest, promised to the faithful, after they have done their own good | |
| 711 works. So we may say that this command was a foreshadowing of | |
| 712 something that lay in the future.</p> | |
| 713 <p>739 He expressly says, <span style="font-weight: bold">works | |
| 714 even until now,</span> and not “has worked,” to | |
| 715 indicate that God’s work is continuous. For they might have | |
| 716 thought that God is the cause of the world as a craftsman is the | |
| 717 cause of a house, i.e., the craftsman is responsible only for the | |
| 718 making or coming into existence of the house: in other words, just | |
| 719 as the house continues in existence even when the craftsman has | |
| 720 ceased working, so the world would exist if God’s influence | |
| 721 ceased. But according to Augustine, God is the cause of all | |
| 722 creatures in such a way as to be the cause of their existing: for | |
| 723 it his power were to cease even for a moment, all things in nature | |
| 724 would at once cease to be, just as we may say that the air is | |
| 725 illuminated only as long as the light of the sun remains in it. The | |
| 726 reason for this is that things which depend on a cause only for | |
| 727 their coming into existence, are able to exist when that cause | |
| 728 ceases; but things that depend on a cause not only for their coming | |
| 729 into existence but also to exist, need that cause for their | |
| 730 continuous conservation in existence.</p> | |
| 731 <p>740 Further, in saying that <span style="font-weight: bold">My | |
| 732 Father works even until now,</span> he rejects the opinion of those | |
| 733 who say that God creates through the instrumentality of secondary | |
| 734 causes. This opinion conflicts with Isaiah (26:12): “O Lord, | |
| 735 you have accomplished all our works for LIS.” Therefore, just | |
| 736 as my <span style="font-weight: bold">Father,</span> who in the | |
| 737 beginning created nature, <span style="font-weight: bold">works | |
| 738 even until now, by</span> preserving and conserving his creation by | |
| 739 the same activity, so (to I work, because I am the Word of the | |
| 740 Father, through whom he accomplishes all things: “God said: | |
| 741 ‘Let there be light’” (Gn 1:3). Thus, just as he | |
| 742 accomplished the first production of things through the Word, so | |
| 743 also their conservation. Consequently, if he <span style= | |
| 744 "font-weight: bold">works even until now, so do I,</span> because I | |
| 745 am the Word of the Father, through whom all things are made and | |
| 746 conserved.</p> | |
| 747 <p>741 Then (v 18), the Evangelist mentions the persecution of | |
| 748 Christ, which resulted from his teaching: for it was because of his | |
| 749 teaching that <span style="font-weight: bold">the Jews tried all | |
| 750 the harder,</span> i.e., with greater eagerness and a higher pitch | |
| 751 of zeal, <span style="font-weight: bold">to kill him.</span> For in | |
| 752 the law two crimes were punished by death: the crime of breaking | |
| 753 the Sabbath—thus anyone who gathered wood on the Sabbath was | |
| 754 stoned, as we see from Numbers (15:32); and the crime of | |
| 755 blasphemy—so we read: “Bring the blasphemer outside the | |
| 756 camp ... and let all the children of Israel stone him” (Lv | |
| 757 24:14). Now they thought it was blasphemy for a man to claim that | |
| 758 he was God: “We are not stoning you for any good work, but | |
| 759 for blasphemy: because although you are a man, you make yourself | |
| 760 God” (below 10:33). It was these two crimes they imputed to | |
| 761 Christ: the first because he broke the Sabbath; the second because | |
| 762 he said he was equal to God. So the Evangelist says that | |
| 763 <span style="font-weight: bold">the Jews tried all the harder to | |
| 764 kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath rest, but even | |
| 765 called God his own Father.</span></p> | |
| 766 <p>Because other just man had also called God their Father, as in | |
| 767 “You will call me ‘Father’” (Jer 3:19), | |
| 768 they do not just say that he <span style="font-weight: bold">called | |
| 769 God his own Father,</span> but added what made it blasphemy, | |
| 770 <span style="font-weight: bold">making himself equal to God,</span> | |
| 771 which they understood from his statement: <span style= | |
| 772 "font-weight: bold">My Father works even until now, and so do | |
| 773 I.</span> He said that God was his Father so that we might | |
| 774 understand that God is his Father by nature, and the Father of | |
| 775 others by adoption. He referred to both of these when he said: | |
| 776 “I am going to my Father,” by nature, “and to | |
| 777 your Father,” by grace (below 20:17). Again, he said that as | |
| 778 the Father works, so he works. This answers the accusation of the | |
| 779 Jews about his breaking the Sabbath: for this would not be a valid | |
| 780 excuse unless he had equal authority with God in working. It was | |
| 781 for this reason they said he made himself equal to God.</p> | |
| 782 <p>742 How great then is the blindness of the Arians when they. say | |
| 783 that Christ is less than God the Father: for they cannot understand | |
| 784 in our Lord’s words what the Jews were able to understand. | |
| 785 For the Arians say that Christ did not make himself equal to God, | |
| 786 while the Jews saw this. There is another way to settle this, from | |
| 787 the very things mentioned in the text. For the Evangelist says that | |
| 788 the Jews persecuted Christ because he broke the Sabbath, because he | |
| 789 said God is his Father, and because he made hiniselfequal to God. | |
| 790 But Christ is either a liar or equal to God. But if he is equal to | |
| 791 God, Christ is God by nature.</p> | |
| 792 <p>743 Finally, the Evangelist says, <span style= | |
| 793 "font-weight: bold">making himself equal to God,</span> not as | |
| 794 though he was making himself become equal to God, because he was | |
| 795 equal to God through an eternal generation. Rather, the Evangelist | |
| 796 is speaking according to the understanding of the Jews who, not | |
| 797 believing that Christ was the Son of God by nature, understood him | |
| 798 to say that he was the Son of God in the sense of wishing to make | |
| 799 himself equal to God; but they could not believe he was such: | |
| 800 “because although you are a man, you make yourself God” | |
| 801 (below 10:33), i.e., you say that you are God, understanding this | |
| 802 as you wish to make yourself God.</p> | |
| 803 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 804 </p> | |
| 805 <p style="text-align: center"><span style= | |
| 806 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 3</span></p> | |
| 807 <blockquote> | |
| 808 <p>19 Jesus therefore replied and said to them:</p> | |
| 809 <p style="margin-left: 0.5in">“Amen, amen, I say to | |
| 810 you,<br /> | |
| 811 the Son cannot do anything of himself,<br /> | |
| 812 but only what he sees the Father doing.<br /> | |
| 813 For whatever the Father does,<br /> | |
| 814 the Son does likewise.<br /> | |
| 815 20a For the Father loves the Son,<br /> | |
| 816 and shows him everything that he does.”</p> | |
| 817 </blockquote> | |
| 818 <p>744 Here we have Christ’s teaching on his life-giving | |
| 819 power. First, his teaching is presented. Secondly, it is confirmed | |
| 820 (v 3 1). Two things are done with the first. First, Christ’s | |
| 821 teaching on his life-giving power in general is given. Secondly, it | |
| 822 is presented in particular (v 20b). As to the first, three things | |
| 823 are done. First, the origin of this power is mentioned. Secondly, | |
| 824 the greatness of this power, at (v 19b). Thirdly, the reason for | |
| 825 each is given (v 20).</p> | |
| 826 <p>745 We should point out, with respect to the first, that the | |
| 827 Arians use what Christ said here, <span style= | |
| 828 "font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything of himself,</span> | |
| 829 to support their error that the Son is less than the Father. As the | |
| 830 Evangelist said, the Jews persecuted Christ for making himself | |
| 831 equal to God. But the Arians say that when our Lord saw that this | |
| 832 disturbed the Jews, he tried to correct this by stating that he was | |
| 833 not equal to the Father, saying, <span style= | |
| 834 "font-weight: bold">Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do | |
| 835 anything of himself, but only what he sees the Father doing.</span> | |
| 836 As if to say: Do not interpret what I said, “My Father works | |
| 837 even until now, and so do I, as meaning that I work as though I am | |
| 838 equal to the Father. for I cannot do anything of myself. Therefore, | |
| 839 they say, because the Son can do only <span style= | |
| 840 "font-weight: bold">what he sees the Father doing</span>, he is | |
| 841 less than the Father. But this interpretation is false and | |
| 842 erroneous. For if the Son were not equal to the Father, then the | |
| 843 Son would not be the same as the Father; and this is contrary to: | |
| 844 “I and the Father are one” (below 10:30). For equality | |
| 845 is considered with respect to greatness, which in divine realities | |
| 846 is the essence itself. Hence, if the Son were not equal to the | |
| 847 Father, he would be different from him in essence.</p> | |
| 848 <p>746 To get the true meaning of Christ’s statement, we | |
| 849 should know that in those matters which seem to imply inferiority | |
| 850 in the Son, it could be said, as some do, that they apply to Christ | |
| 851 according to the nature he assumed; as when he said: “The | |
| 852 Father is greater than I” (below 14:28). According to this, | |
| 853 they would say that our Lord’s statement, <span style= | |
| 854 "font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything of himself,</span> | |
| 855 should be understood of the Son in his assumed nature. However, | |
| 856 this does not stand up, because then one would be forced to say | |
| 857 that whatever the Son of God did in his assumed nature, the Father | |
| 858 had done before him. For example, that the Father had walked upon | |
| 859 the water as Christ did: otherwise, he would not have said, | |
| 860 <span style="font-weight: bold">but only what he sees the Father | |
| 861 doing.</span></p> | |
| 862 <p>And if we say that whatever Christ did in his flesh, God the | |
| 863 Father also did in so far as the Father works in him, as said below | |
| 864 (14:10): “The Father, who lives in me, he accomplishes the | |
| 865 works,” then Christ would be saying that <span style= | |
| 866 "font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything of himself, but only | |
| 867 what he sees the Father doing</span> in him, i.e., in the Son. But | |
| 868 this cannot stand either, because Christ’s next statement, | |
| 869 <span style="font-weight: bold">For whatever the Father, does, the | |
| 870 Son does likewise,</span> could not, in this interpretation, be | |
| 871 applied to him, i.e., to Christ. For the Son, in his assumed | |
| 872 nature, never created the world, as the Father did. Consequently, | |
| 873 what we read here must not be understood as pertaining to | |
| 874 Christ’s assumed nature.</p> | |
| 875 <p>747 According to Augustine, however, there is another way of | |
| 876 understanding statements which seem to, but do not, imply | |
| 877 inferriority in the Son: namely, by referring them to the origin of | |
| 878 the Son coming or begotten from the Father. For although the Son is | |
| 879 equal to the Father in all things, he receives all these things | |
| 880 from the Father in an eternal begetting. But the Father gets these | |
| 881 from no one, for he is unbegotten. According to this explanation, | |
| 882 the continuity of thought is the following: Why are you offended | |
| 883 because I said that God is my Father, and because I made myself | |
| 884 equal to the Father? <span style="font-weight: bold">Amen, amen, I | |
| 885 say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself.</span> As if to say: | |
| 886 I am equal to the Father, but in such a way as to be from him, and | |
| 887 not he from me; and whatever I may do, is in me from the | |
| 888 Father.</p> | |
| 889 <p>748 According to this interpretation, mention is made of the | |
| 890 power of the Son when he says, can, and of his activity when he | |
| 891 says, do. Both can be understood here, so that, first of all, the | |
| 892 derivation of the Son’s power from the Father is shown, and | |
| 893 secondly, the conformity of the Son’s activity to that of the | |
| 894 Father.</p> | |
| 895 <p>749 As to the first, Hilary explains it this way: Shortly above | |
| 896 our Lord said that he is equal to the Father. Some heretics, basing | |
| 897 themselves on certain scriptural texts which assert the unity and | |
| 898 equality of the Son to the Father, claim that the Son is | |
| 899 unbegotten. For example, the Sabellians, who say that the Son is | |
| 900 identical in person with the Father. Therefore, so you do not | |
| 901 understand this teaching in this way, he says, <span style= | |
| 902 "font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything of himself,</span> | |
| 903 for the Son’s power is identical with his nature. Therefore | |
| 904 the Son has his power from the same source as he has his being | |
| 905 (<i>esse</i>); but he has his being (<i>esse</i>) from the Father: | |
| 906 “I came forth from the Father, and I have come into the | |
| 907 world” (Jn 16:28). He also has his nature from the Father, | |
| 908 because he is God from God; therefore, it is from him that the Son | |
| 909 has his power (<i>posse</i>)<i>.</i></p> | |
| 910 <p>So his statement, <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son cannot | |
| 911 do anything of himself, but only what he sees the Father | |
| 912 doing,</span> is the same as saying: The Son, just as he does not | |
| 913 have his being (<i>esse</i>) except from the Father, so he cannot | |
| 914 do anything except from the Father. For in natural things, a thing | |
| 915 receives its power to act from the very thing from which it | |
| 916 receives its being: for example, fire receives its power to ascend | |
| 917 from the very thing from which it receives its form and being. | |
| 918 Further, in saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son cannot | |
| 919 do anything of himself,</span> no inequality is implied, because | |
| 920 this refers to a relation; while equality and inequality refer to | |
| 921 quantity.</p> | |
| 922 <p>750 Someone might misunderstand his saying, <span style= | |
| 923 "font-weight: bold">but only what he sees the Father doing,</span> | |
| 924 and take it to mean that the Son works or acts in the way he sees | |
| 925 the Father acting, i.e., that the Father acts first, and when the | |
| 926 Son sees this, then the Son begins to act. It would be like two | |
| 927 carpenters, a master and his apprentice, with the apprentice making | |
| 928 a cabinet in the way he saw the master do. But this is not true for | |
| 929 the Word, for it was said above (1:3): “All things were made | |
| 930 through him.” Therefore, the Father did not make something in | |
| 931 such a way that the Son saw him doing it and so learned from | |
| 932 it.</p> | |
| 933 <p>But this is said so that the communication of paternity to the | |
| 934 Son might be designated in terms of begetting or generation, which | |
| 935 is fittingly described by the verb sees, because knowledge is | |
| 936 conveyed to us by another through seeing and hearing. For we | |
| 937 receive our knowledge from things through seeing. and we receive | |
| 938 knowledge from words through hearing, Now the Son is not other than | |
| 939 Wisdom, as we read: “I came forth out of the mouth of the | |
| 940 Most High, the first-born before all creatures” (Sir 24:5). | |
| 941 Accordingly, the derivation of the Son from the Father is nothing | |
| 942 other than the derivation of divine Wisdom. And so, because the act | |
| 943 of seeing indicates the derivation of knowledge and wisdom from | |
| 944 another, it is proper for the generation of the Son from the Father | |
| 945 to be indicated by an act of seeing; so that for the Son to see the | |
| 946 Father doing something is nothing other than to proceed by an | |
| 947 intellectual procession from the acting Father.</p> | |
| 948 <p>Another possible explanation of this is given by Hilary. For | |
| 949 him, the word sees eliminates all imperfection from the generation | |
| 950 of the Son or Word. For in physical generation, what is generated | |
| 951 changes little by little in the course of time from what is | |
| 952 imperfect to what is perfect, for such a thing is not perfect when | |
| 953 it is first generated. But this is not so in eternal generation, | |
| 954 since this is the generation of what is perfect from what is | |
| 955 perfect. And so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">but only | |
| 956 what he sees the Father doing.</span> For since the act of seeing | |
| 957 is the act of a perfect thing, it is plain that the Son was | |
| 958 begotten as perfect at once, as seeing at once, and not as coming | |
| 959 to perfection over a course of time.</p> | |
| 960 <p>751 Apropos of the second point, Chrysostom explains it as | |
| 961 showing the conformity of the Father to the Son in operation. So | |
| 962 that the sense is: I say that it is lawful for me to work on the | |
| 963 Sabbath, because my Father, too, continues to work, and I cannot do | |
| 964 anything opposed to him: and this is because <span style= | |
| 965 "font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything of himself.</span> | |
| 966 For one does something of himself when he does not conform himself | |
| 967 to another in his actions. But whoever is from another sins, if he | |
| 968 is opposed to him: “Whoever speaks on his own, seeks his own | |
| 969 glory” (below 7:18). Therefore, whoever exists from another, | |
| 970 but acts of himself, sins. Now the Son is from the Father; thus, if | |
| 971 he acts of himself, he sins; and this is impossible. So by saying, | |
| 972 <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything of | |
| 973 himself,</span> he means nothing more than that the Son cannot sin. | |
| 974 As if to say: You are persecuting me unjustly for breaking the | |
| 975 Sabbath, because I cannot sin, since I do not act in a way opposed | |
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976 to my Father.</p> |
| 35 | 977 <p>Augustine makes use of both of these explanations, that of of |
| 978 Hilary and the one given by Chrysostom, but in different | |
| 979 places.</p> | |
| 980 <p>752 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">For | |
| 981 whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise,</span> he affirms | |
| 982 the greatness of Christ’s power. He excludes three things in | |
| 983 the power of Christ: limitation, difference, and imperfection.</p> | |
| 984 <p>First, limitation is excluded. Since there are diverse agents in | |
| 985 the world, and the first universal agent has power over all other | |
| 986 agents, but the other agents, which are from him, have a limited | |
| 987 power in proportion to their rank in the order of causality, some | |
| 988 might think that since the Son is not of himself, that he must have | |
| 989 a power limited to certain existents, rather than a universal power | |
| 990 over all, as the Father has. And so to exclude this he says, | |
| 991 <span style="font-weight: bold">whatever the Father does,</span> | |
| 992 i.e., to all the things to which the Father’s power extends, | |
| 993 the Son’s power also extends: “All things were made | |
| 994 through him” (above 1:3).</p> | |
| 995 <p>Secondly, difference is excluded. For sometimes a thing that | |
| 996 exists from another is able to do whatever that from which it | |
| 997 exists does. And yet the things the former does are not the same as | |
| 998 those done by that from which it is. For example, if one fire which | |
| 999 exists from another can do whatever that other does, i.e., cause | |
| 1000 combustion, the act of causing combustion would be specifically the | |
| 1001 same in each, even though one fire ignites certain things and the | |
| 1002 other fire ignites different things. And so that you do not think | |
| 1003 that the Son’s activity is different from the activity of the | |
| 1004 Father in this way, he says, <span style= | |
| 1005 "font-weight: bold">whatever</span> the Father does, the Son does, | |
| 1006 i.e., not different things, but the very same.</p> | |
| 1007 <p>Thirdly, imperfection is excluded. Sometimes one and the same | |
| 1008 thing comes from two agents: from one as the principal and perfect | |
| 1009 agent, and from the other as an instrumental and imperfect agent. | |
| 1010 But it does not come in the same way, because the principal agent | |
| 1011 acts in a different way from the instrumental agent: for the | |
| 1012 instrumental agent acts imperfectly, and in virtue of the other. | |
| 1013 And so that no one thinks that this is the way the Son does | |
| 1014 whatever the Father does, he says that whatever the Father does, | |
| 1015 the Son does <span style="font-weight: bold">likewise</span>, i.e., | |
| 1016 with the same power by which the Father acts, the Son also acts; | |
| 1017 because the same power and the same perfection are in the Father | |
| 1018 and the Son: “I was with him, forming all things” (Prv | |
| 1019 8:30).</p> | |
| 1020 <p>753 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">For the | |
| 1021 Father loves the Son,</span> he gives the reason for each, i.e., | |
| 1022 for the origin of the Son’s power and for its greatness. This | |
| 1023 reason is the love of the Father, who loves the Son. Thus he says, | |
| 1024 <span style="font-weight: bold">For the Father loves the | |
| 1025 Son.</span></p> | |
| 1026 <p>In order to understand how the Father’s love for the Son | |
| 1027 is the reason for the origin or communication of the Son’s | |
| 1028 power, we Should point out that a thing is loved in two ways. For | |
| 1029 since the good alone is loveable, a good can be related to love in | |
| 1030 two ways: as the cause of love, or as caused by love. Now in us, | |
| 1031 the good causes love: for the cause of our loving something is its | |
| 1032 goodness, the goodness in it. Therefore, it is not good because we | |
| 1033 love it, but rather we love it because it is good. Accordingly. in | |
| 1034 us, love is caused by what is good. But it is different with God, | |
| 1035 because God’s love itself is the cause of the goodness in the | |
| 1036 things that are loved. For it is because God loves us that we are | |
| 1037 good, since to love is nothing else than to will a good to someone. | |
| 1038 Thus, since God’s will is the cause of things, for | |
| 1039 “whatever he willed he made” (Ps 113:3), it is clear | |
| 1040 that God’s love is the cause of the goodness in things. Hence | |
| 1041 Denis says in <i>The Divine Names</i> (c. 4) that the divine love | |
| 1042 did not allow itself to be without issue. So, if we wish to | |
| 1043 consider the origin of the Son, let us see whether the love with | |
| 1044 which the Father loves the Son, is the principle of his origin, so | |
| 1045 that he proceeds from it.</p> | |
| 1046 <p>In divine realities, love is taken in two ways: essentially, so | |
| 1047 far as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit love; and | |
| 1048 notionally or personally, so far as the Holy Spirit proceeds as | |
| 1049 Love. But in neither of these ways of taking love can it be the | |
| 1050 principle of origin of the Son. For if is is taken essentially, it | |
| 1051 implies an act of the will; and if that were the sense in which it | |
| 1052 is the principle of origin of the Son, it would follow that the | |
| 1053 Father generated the Son, not by nature, but by will—and this | |
| 1054 is false. Again, love is not understood notionally, as pertaining | |
| 1055 to the Holy Spirit. For it would then follow that the Holy Spirit | |
| 1056 would be the principle of the Son—which is also false. | |
| 1057 Indeed, no heretic ever went so far as to say this. For although | |
| 1058 love, notionally taken, is the principle of all the gifts given to | |
| 1059 us by God, it is nevertheless not the principle of the Son; rather | |
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1060 it proceeds from the Father and the Son.</p> |
| 35 | 1061 <p>Consequently, we must say that this explanation is not taken |
| 1062 from love as from a principle (<i>ex principio</i>), but as from a | |
| 1063 sign (<i>ex signo</i>)<i>.</i> For since likeness is a cause of | |
| 1064 love (for every animal loves its like), wherever a perfect likeness | |
| 1065 of God is found, there also is found a perfect love of God. But the | |
| 1066 perfect likeness of the Father is in the Son, as is said: “He | |
| 1067 is the image of the invisible God” (1:15); and “He is | |
| 1068 the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the image of his | |
| 1069 substance” (Heb 1:3). Therefore, the Son is loved perfectly | |
| 1070 by the Father, and because the Father perfectly loves the Son, this | |
| 1071 is a sign that the Father has shown him everything and has | |
| 1072 communicated to him his very own [the Father’s] power and | |
| 1073 nature. And it is of this love that we read above (3:5): “The | |
| 1074 Father loves the Son, and has put everything into his hands”; | |
| 1075 and, “This is my beloved. Son” (Mt 3:17).</p> | |
| 1076 <p>754 With respect to what follows, <span style= | |
| 1077 "font-weight: bold">and shows him everything that he does,</span> | |
| 1078 we should point out that someone can show another his works in two | |
| 1079 ways: either by sight, as an artisan shows his apprentice the | |
| 1080 things he has made, or by hearing, as when he verbally instructs | |
| 1081 him). In whatever of these ways shows is understood, there can | |
| 1082 follow something which is not appropriate, that is, something that | |
| 1083 is not present when the Father shows things to the Son. For if we | |
| 1084 say the Father shows things to the Son by sight, then it follows, | |
| 1085 as with humans, that the Father first does something which he then | |
| 1086 shows to the Son; and that he does this by himself, without the | |
| 1087 Son. But the Father does not show the Son things which he did | |
| 1088 before, for the Son himself says: “The Lord possessed me at | |
| 1089 the beginning of his ways, before he made anything” (Prv | |
| 1090 8:22). Nor does the Father show the Son things he has done without | |
| 1091 the Son, for the Father does all things through the Son: “All | |
| 1092 things were made through him” (above 1:3). If <span style= | |
| 1093 "font-weight: bold">shows</span> is understood as a kind of | |
| 1094 hearing, two things seem to follow. For the one who teaches by word | |
| 1095 first points out something to the one who is ignorant; again, the | |
| 1096 word is something intermediate between the one showing and the one | |
| 1097 being shown. But it is in neither of these ways that the Father | |
| 1098 shows things to the Son: for he does not do so to one who is | |
| 1099 ignorant, since the Son is the Wisdom of the Father: “Christ | |
| 1100 is the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:24); nor | |
| 1101 does the Father use some intermediate word, because the Son himself | |
| 1102 is the Word of the Father: “The Word was with God” | |
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1103 (above 1:1).</p> |
| 35 | 1104 <p>Therefore, it is said that the Father <span style= |
| 1105 "font-weight: bold">shows</span> all that he does to the Son, | |
| 1106 inasmuch as he gives the Son a knowledge of all of his works. For | |
| 1107 it is in this way that a master is said to show something to his | |
| 1108 disciple, inasmuch as he gives him a knowledge of the things he | |
| 1109 makes. Hence, according to Augustine, for the Father to show | |
| 1110 anything to the Son is nothing more than for the Father to beget or | |
| 1111 generate the Son. And for the Son to see what the Father does is | |
| 1112 nothing more than for the Son to receive his being (<i>esse</i>) | |
| 1113 and nature from the Father.</p> | |
| 1114 <p>Nevertheless, this showing can be considered similar to seeing | |
| 1115 insofar as the Son is the brightness of the paternal vision, as we | |
| 1116 read in Hebrews (1:3): for the Father, seeing and understanding | |
| 1117 himself, conceives the Son, who is the concept of this vision. | |
| 1118 Again, it can be considered similar to hearing insofar as the Son | |
| 1119 proceeds from the Father as the Word. As if to say: <span style= | |
| 1120 "font-weight: bold">The Father shows him everything,</span> insofar | |
| 1121 he he generates him as the brightness and concept of his own | |
| 1122 wisdom, and as the Word. Thus the words, <span style= | |
| 1123 "font-weight: bold">The Father shows,</span> refer to what was said | |
| 1124 before: <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything | |
| 1125 of himself, but only what he sees the Father doing.</span> And the | |
| 1126 word, everything, refers to, <span style="font-weight: bold">For | |
| 1127 whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.</span></p> | |
| 1128 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 1129 </p> | |
| 1130 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style= | |
| 1131 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 4</span></p> | |
| 1132 <blockquote> | |
| 1133 <p>20b “Indeed, he will show him even greater works than | |
| 1134 these, such that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father | |
| 1135 raises the dead and grants life, so the Son grants life to those to | |
| 1136 whom he wishes. 22 The Father himself judges no one, but he has | |
| 1137 given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all men may honor the Son | |
| 1138 as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not | |
| 1139 honor the Father who sent him. 24 Amen, amen, I say to you, that | |
| 1140 whoever hears my voice and believes in him who sent me, possesses | |
| 1141 eternal life; and he will not encounter judgment, but has passed | |
| 1142 from death to life. 25 Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is | |
| 1143 coming, and is now here, when the dead shall hear the voice of the | |
| 1144 Son of God; and those who hear it will live.”</p> | |
| 1145 </blockquote> | |
| 1146 <p>755 Having pointed out the power of the Son in general, he now | |
| 1147 shows it in more detail. First, the Lord discloses his life-giving | |
| 1148 power. Secondly, he clarifies what seemed obscure in what was said | |
| 1149 before (v 26). As to the first he does two things. First, he shows | |
| 1150 that the Son has life-giving power. Secondly, he teaches how life | |
| 1151 is received from the Son (v 24). Concerning the first he does three | |
| 1152 things. First, he presents the life-giving power of the Son. | |
| 1153 Secondly, he gives a reason for what he says (v 22). Thirdly, he | |
| 1154 shows the effect of this (v 23). With respect to the first he does | |
| 1155 two things. First, he sets forth this life-giving power in general. | |
| 1156 Secondly, he expands on it (v 21).</p> | |
| 1157 <p>756 He says, to the first, <span style= | |
| 1158 "font-weight: bold">Indeed, he will show even greater works than | |
| 1159 these.</span> As if to say: You are astonished and affected by the | |
| 1160 power of the Son in his healing of the sick man, but the Father | |
| 1161 will show <span style="font-weight: bold">even greater works than | |
| 1162 these,</span> as in raising the dead, such that you will be | |
| 1163 amazed.</p> | |
| 1164 <p>757 This passage gives rise to two difficulties. First, about | |
| 1165 his saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">he will show</span>. | |
| 1166 For the earlier statement that the Father shows everything to the | |
| 1167 Son (5:20) refers to his eternal generation. How, then, can he say | |
| 1168 here, <span style="font-weight: bold">he will show</span>, if the | |
| 1169 Son is coeternal with him and eternity does not allow of a future? | |
| 1170 The second difficulty is over, <span style="font-weight: bold">such | |
| 1171 that you will be amazed</span>. For if he intends to show something | |
| 1172 to amaze the Jews, then he will be showing it to the Son at the | |
| 1173 same time as to them; for they could not be amazed unless they saw | |
| 1174 it. And yet the Son saw all things from eternity with the | |
| 1175 Father.</p> | |
| 1176 <p>758 We must say that this is explained in three ways. The first | |
| 1177 way is given by Augustine, and in it this future showing is | |
| 1178 referred to the disciples. For it is Christ’s custom that now | |
| 1179 and then he says that what happens to his members happens to | |
| 1180 himself, as in Matthew (25:40): “As long as you did it to one | |
| 1181 of the least of my brethren, you did it to me.” And then the | |
| 1182 meaning is this: You saw the Son do something great in healing the | |
| 1183 sick man, and you were amazed; but the Father <span style= | |
| 1184 "font-weight: bold">will show him even greater works than | |
| 1185 these,</span> in his members, that is, the disciples: “He | |
| 1186 will do greater things than these,” as we read below (14:12). | |
| 1187 He then says, <span style="font-weight: bold">such that you will be | |
| 1188 amazed,</span> for the miracles of the disciples so amazed the Jews | |
| 1189 that a great many of them were converted to the faith, as we see in | |
| 1190 the Acts.</p> | |
| 1191 <p>759 The second explanation, also by Augustine, refers this | |
| 1192 showing to Christ according to his assumed nature. For in Christ | |
| 1193 there is both a divine nature and a human nature, and in each he | |
| 1194 has life-giving power from the Father, although not in the same | |
| 1195 way. According to his divinity he has the power to give life to | |
| 1196 souls; but according to his assumed nature, he gives life to | |
| 1197 bodies. Hence Augustine says: “The Word gives life to souls; | |
| 1198 but the Word made flesh gives life to bodies.” For the | |
| 1199 resurrection of Christ and the mysteries which Christ fulfilled in | |
| 1200 his flesh are the cause of the future resurrection of bodies: | |
| 1201 “God, who is rich in mercy, has brought us to life in | |
| 1202 Christ” (Eph 2:5); “If it is preached that Christ rose | |
| 1203 from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no | |
| 1204 resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor 15:12). The first | |
| 1205 life-giving power he has from eternity; and he indicated this when | |
| 1206 he said: “The ‘ Father shows him everything that he | |
| 1207 does” (above 4:20), all of which he shows to his flesh.</p> | |
| 1208 <p>The other life-giving power he has in time, and concerning this | |
| 1209 he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">he will show him even | |
| 1210 greater works than these,</span> i.e., his power will be shown by | |
| 1211 the fact that he will do greater works, by raising the dead. He | |
| 1212 will raise some of the dead here: as Lazarus, the young girl, and | |
| 1213 the mother’s only son; and finally he will raise all on the | |
| 1214 day of judgment.</p> | |
| 1215 <p>760 A third explanation refers this showing to Christ in his | |
| 1216 divine nature, according to the custom of Scripture in sayfng that | |
| 1217 a thing is beginning to take place when it is beginning to be | |
| 1218 known. For example: “All power has been given to me, in | |
| 1219 heaven and on earth” (Mt 28:18); for although Christ had the | |
| 1220 complete fulness of power from eternity (because “whatever | |
| 1221 the Father does, the Son does likewise”), he still speaks of | |
| 1222 this power as being given to him after the resurrection, not | |
| 1223 because he was then receiving it for the first time, but because it | |
| 1224 was through the glory of the resurrection that it became most | |
| 1225 known. In this interpretation, then, he says that power is given to | |
| 1226 him insofar as he exercises it in some work. As if to say: | |
| 1227 <span style="font-weight: bold">he will show him even greater works | |
| 1228 than these,</span> i.e., he will show by his works what has been | |
| 1229 given to him. And this will come about when you are amazed, i.e., | |
| 1230 when the one who seems to you to be a mere man is revealed to be a | |
| 1231 person of divine power and as God.</p> | |
| 1232 <p>We could also take the word show as referring to an act of | |
| 1233 seeing, as was explained above [750].</p> | |
| 1234 <p>761 Now he explains in more detail the life-giving power of the | |
| 1235 Son by indicating those greater works which the Father will show | |
| 1236 the Son (v 21). Here we should point out that in the Old Testament | |
| 1237 the divine power is particularly emphasized by the fact that God is | |
| 1238 the author of life: “The Lord kills, and brings to | |
| 1239 life” (1 Sm 2:6); “1 will kill, and bring to life | |
| 1240 again” (Dt 32:39). Now just as the Father has this power, so | |
| 1241 also does the Son; hence he says, <span style= | |
| 1242 "font-weight: bold">For just as the Father raises the dead and | |
| 1243 grants life, so the Son grants life to those to whom he | |
| 1244 wishes.</span> As if to say: These are those greater works that the | |
| 1245 Father will show the Son, that is, he will give life to the dead. | |
| 1246 Such works are obviously greater, for it is greater to raise the | |
| 1247 dead than for a sick man to become well. Thus <span style= | |
| 1248 "font-weight: bold">the Son grants life to those to whom he | |
| 1249 wishes,</span> i.e., by giving initial life to the living, and by | |
| 1250 raising the dead.</p> | |
| 1251 <p>We should not think that some are raised up by the Father and | |
| 1252 others by the Son. Rather, the same ones who are raised and | |
| 1253 vivified by the Father, are raised and vivified by the Son also: | |
| 1254 because just as the Father does all things through the Son, who is | |
| 1255 his power, so he also gives life to all through the Son, who is | |
| 1256 life, as he says below: “I am the way, and the truth, and the | |
| 1257 life” (14:6).</p> | |
| 1258 <p>The Father does not raise up and give life through the Son as | |
| 1259 through an instrument, because then the Son would not have freedom | |
| 1260 of power. And so to exclude this he says, <span style= | |
| 1261 "font-weight: bold">the Son grants life to those to whom he | |
| 1262 wishes,</span> i.e., it lies in the freedom of his power to grant | |
| 1263 life to whom he wills. For the Son does not will anything different | |
| 1264 than the Father wills: for just as they are one substance, so they | |
| 1265 have one will; hence Matthew (20:15) says: “Is it not lawful | |
| 1266 for me to do as I will?”</p> | |
| 1267 <p>762 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The | |
| 1268 Father himself judges no one,</span> he gives the reason for what | |
| 1269 was said above, and indicates his own power. It should be remarked | |
| 1270 that there are two expositions for the present passages: one is | |
| 1271 given by Augustine, and the other by Hilary and Chrysostom.</p> | |
| 1272 <p>Augustine’s explanation is this. The Lord had said that | |
| 1273 just as the Father raises the dead, so also does the Son. But so | |
| 1274 that we do not think that this refers only to those miracles the | |
| 1275 Son performs in raising the dead to this life, and not to the | |
| 1276 Son’s raising to eternal life, he leads them to the deeper | |
| 1277 consideration of the resurrection to occur at the future judgment. | |
| 1278 Thus he refers explicitly to the judgment, saying, <span style= | |
| 1279 "font-weight: bold">The Father himself judges no one.</span></p> | |
| 1280 <p>Another explanation by Augustine, in which the same meaning is | |
| 1281 maintained, is that the earlier statement, <span style= | |
| 1282 "font-weight: bold">just as the Father raises the dead and grants | |
| 1283 life, so the Son,</span> should be referred to the resurrection of | |
| 1284 souls, which the Son causes inasmuch as he is the Word; but the | |
| 1285 text, <span style="font-weight: bold">The Father himself judges no | |
| 1286 one,</span> should be referred to the resurrection of bodies, which | |
| 1287 the Son causes inasmuch as he is the Word made flesh. For the | |
| 1288 resurrection of souls is accomplished through the person of the | |
| 1289 Father and of the Son; and for this reason he mentions the Father | |
| 1290 and Son together, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">just as | |
| 1291 the Father raises the dead ... so the Son.</span> But the | |
| 1292 resurrection of bodies is accomplished through the humanity of the | |
| 1293 Son, according to which he is not coeternal with the Father. | |
| 1294 Consequently, he attributes judgment solely to the Son.</p> | |
| 1295 <p>763 Note the wonderful variety of expressions. The Father is | |
| 1296 first presented as acting and the Son as resting, when it says: | |
| 1297 “the Son cannot do anything of himself, but only what he sees | |
| 1298 the Father doing” (5:19); but here, on the contrary, the Son | |
| 1299 is presented as acting and the Father as resting: <span style= | |
| 1300 "font-weight: bold">The Father himself judges no one, but he has | |
| 1301 given all judgment to the Son.</span> We can see from this that he | |
| 1302 is speaking from different points of view at different times. At | |
| 1303 first, he was speaking of an action which belongs to the Father and | |
| 1304 the Son; thus he says that “the Son cannot do anything of | |
| 1305 himself, but only what he sees the Father doing”; but here he | |
| 1306 is speaking of an action by which the Son, as man, judges, and the | |
| 1307 Father does not: thus he says that the Father <span style= | |
| 1308 "font-weight: bold">has given all judgment to the Son.</span> For | |
| 1309 the Father will not appear at the judgment because, in accord with | |
| 1310 what is just, God cannot appear in his divine nature before all who | |
| 1311 are to be judged: for since our happiness consists in the vision of | |
| 1312 God, if the wicked were to see God in his own nature, they would be | |
| 1313 enjoying happiness. Therefore, only the Son will appear, who alone | |
| 1314 has an assumed nature. Therefore, he alone will judge who alone | |
| 1315 will appear to all. Yet he will judge with the authority of the | |
| 1316 Father: “He is the one appointed by God to be the judge of | |
| 1317 the living and of the dead” (Acts 10:42); and in the Psalm | |
| 1318 (71:1) we read: “O Lord, give your judgment to the | |
| 1319 king.”</p> | |
| 1320 <p>764 Then when he says, so <span style="font-weight: bold">that | |
| 1321 all men may honor the Son,</span> he gives the effect which results | |
| 1322 from the power of the Son. First, he gives the effect. Secondly, he | |
| 1323 excludes an objection (v 23b).</p> | |
| 1324 <p>765 He says that the Father has given all judgment to the Son, | |
| 1325 according to his human nature, because in the incarnation the Son | |
| 1326 emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, under which form he | |
| 1327 was dishonored by men, as is said below (8:49): “I honor my | |
| 1328 Father, and you have dishonored me.” Therefore, judgment was | |
| 1329 given to the Son in his assumed nature in order <span style= | |
| 1330 "font-weight: bold">that all men may honor the Son as they honor | |
| 1331 the Father.</span> For on that day “they will see the Son of | |
| 1332 Man coming with great power and glory” (Lk 21:27); | |
| 1333 “They fell on their faces and worshipped, saying: | |
| 1334 ‘Blessing and glory, and wisdom and thanks, and honor, power | |
| 1335 and strength, to our God’” (Rv 7:11).</p> | |
| 1336 <p>766 Someone might say: I am willing to honor the Father, but do | |
| 1337 not care about the Son. This cannot be, because <span style= | |
| 1338 "font-weight: bold">Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor | |
| 1339 the Father who sent him.</span> For it is one thing to honor God | |
| 1340 precisely as God, and another to honor the Father. For someone may | |
| 1341 well honor God as the omnipotent and immutable Creator without | |
| 1342 honoring the Son. But no one can honor God as Father without | |
| 1343 honoring the Son; for he cannot be called Father if he does not | |
| 1344 have a Son. But if you dishonor the Son by diminishing his power, | |
| 1345 this also dishonors the Father; because where you give less to the | |
| 1346 Son, you are taking away from the power of the Father.</p> | |
| 1347 <p>767 Another explanation, given by Augustine, is this. A twofold | |
| 1348 honor is due to Christ. One, according to his divinity, in regard | |
| 1349 to which he is owed an honor equal to that given the Father; and | |
| 1350 with respect to this he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">that | |
| 1351 all men may honor the Son as they honor the Father.</span> Another | |
| 1352 honor is due the Son according to his humanity, but not one equal | |
| 1353 to that given the Father; and with respect to this he says, | |
| 1354 <span style="font-weight: bold">Whoever does not honor the Son does | |
| 1355 not honor the Father who sent him.</span> Thus in the first case he | |
| 1356 significantly used “as”; but now, the second time, he | |
| 1357 does not say “as,” but states absolutely that the Son | |
| 1358 should be honored: “He who rejects you, rejects me; and he | |
| 1359 who rejects me, rejects <span style="font-weight: bold">him | |
| 1360 who</span> sent me,” as we read in Luke (10:16).</p> | |
| 1361 <p>768 Hilary and Chrysostom give a more literal explanation, but | |
| 1362 it is only slightly different. They explain it this way. Our Lord | |
| 1363 said above, <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son grants life to | |
| 1364 those to whom he wishes.</span> Now whoever does anything according | |
| 1365 to the free decision of his will acts because of his own judgment. | |
| 1366 But it was stated above that “whatever the Father does, the | |
| 1367 Son does likewise” (5:19). Therefore, the Son enjoys a free | |
| 1368 decision of his own will in all things, since he acts because of | |
| 1369 his own judgment. Thus he immediately mentions judgment, saying | |
| 1370 that <span style="font-weight: bold">the Father himself judges no | |
| 1371 one,</span> i.e., without or apart from the Son. Our Lord used this | |
| 1372 way of speaking below (12:47): “I do not judge him,” | |
| 1373 i.e., I alone, “but the word that I have spoken will judge | |
| 1374 him on the last day.” <span style="font-weight: bold">But he | |
| 1375 has given all judgment to the Son,</span> as he has given all | |
| 1376 things to him. For as he has given him life and begotten him as | |
| 1377 living, so he has given him all judgment, i.e., begotten him as | |
| 1378 judge: “I judge only as I hear it” (below 5:30), i.e., | |
| 1379 just as I have being (<i>esse</i>)from the Father, so also | |
| 1380 judgment. The reason for this is that the Son is nothing other than | |
| 1381 the conception of the paternal wisdom, as was said. But each one | |
| 1382 judges by the concept of his wisdom. Hence, just as the Father does | |
| 1383 all things through the Son, so he judges all things through him. | |
| 1384 And the fruit of this is <span style="font-weight: bold">that all | |
| 1385 men may honor the Son as they honor the Father,</span> i.e., that | |
| 1386 they may render to him the cult of “latria” as they do | |
| 1387 the Father. The rest does not change.</p> | |
| 1388 <p>769 Hilary calls our attention to the remarkable relationship of | |
| 1389 the passages so that the errors concerning eternal generation can | |
| 1390 be refuted. Two heresies have arisen concerning this eternal | |
| 1391 generation. One was that of Arius, who said that the Son is less | |
| 1392 than the Father; and this is contrary to their equality and unity. | |
| 1393 The other was that of Sabellius, who said that that there is no | |
| 1394 distinction of persons in the divinity; and this is contrary to | |
| 1395 their origin.</p> | |
| 1396 <p>So, whenever he mentions the unity and equality [of the Father | |
| 1397 and Son] , he immediately also adds their distinction as persons | |
| 1398 according to origin, and conversely. Thus, because he mentions the | |
| 1399 origin of the persons when he says, “the Son cannot do | |
| 1400 anything of himself, but only what he sees the Father doing” | |
| 1401 (5:19), then, so we do not think this involves inequality, he at | |
| 1402 once adds: “for whatever the Father does, the Son does | |
| 1403 likewise.” Conversely, when he states their equality by | |
| 1404 saying: <span style="font-weight: bold">For just as the Father | |
| 1405 raises the dead and grants life, so the Son grants life to those to | |
| 1406 whom he wishes,</span> then, so that we do not deny that the Son | |
| 1407 has an origin and is begotten, he adds, <span style= | |
| 1408 "font-weight: bold">the Father himself judges no one, but he has | |
| 1409 given all judgment to the Son.</span> Similarly, when he mentions | |
| 1410 the equality of the persons by saying. <span style= | |
| 1411 "font-weight: bold">so that all men may honor the Son as they honor | |
| 1412 the Father.</span> he immediately adds something about a | |
| 1413 “mission,” which indicates an origin, saying: | |
| 1414 <span style="font-weight: bold">Whoever does not honor the Son does | |
| 1415 not honor the Father who sent him,</span> but not in such a way | |
| 1416 that involves a separation. Christ mentions such mission below | |
| 1417 (8:29) in saying: “He who sent me is with me, and he has not | |
| 1418 left me alone.”</p> | |
| 1419 <p>770 Above, our Lord showed that he had life-giving power; here | |
| 1420 he shows how someone can share in this life coming from him. First, | |
| 1421 he tells how one can share in this life through him. Secondly, he | |
| 1422 predicts its fulfillment (v 25).</p> | |
| 1423 <p>771 With respect to the first, we should point out that there | |
| 1424 are four grades of life. One is found in plants, which take | |
| 1425 nourishment, grow, reproduce, and are reproduced. Another is in | |
| 1426 animals which only sense. Another in living things that move, that | |
| 1427 is, the perfect animals. Finally, there is another form of life | |
| 1428 which is present in those who understand. Now among those grades of | |
| 1429 life that exist, it is impossible that the foremost life be that | |
| 1430 found in plants, or in those with sensation, or even in those with | |
| 1431 motion. For the first and foremost life must be that which is | |
| 1432 <i>per se,</i> not that which is participated. This can be none | |
| 1433 other than intellectual life, for the other three forms are common | |
| 1434 to a corporal and spiritual creature [as man]. Indeed, a body that | |
| 1435 lives is not life itself, but one participating in life. Hence | |
| 1436 intellectual life is the first and foremost life, which is the | |
| 1437 spiritual life, that is immediately received from the first | |
| 1438 principle of life, whence it is called the life of wisdom. For this | |
| 1439 reason in the Scriptures life is attributed to wisdom: “He | |
| 1440 who finds me finds life, and has salvation from the Lord” | |
| 1441 (Prv 8:35). Therefore we share life from Christ, who is the Wisdom | |
| 1442 of God, insofar as our soul receives wisdom from him.</p> | |
| 1443 <p>Now this intellectual life is made perfect by the true knowledge | |
| 1444 of divine Wisdom, which is eternal life: “This is eternal | |
| 1445 life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, | |
| 1446 whom you have sent” (below 17:3). But no one can arrive at | |
| 1447 any wisdom except by faith. Hence it is that in the sciences, no | |
| 1448 one acquires wisdom unless he first believes what is said by his | |
| 1449 teacher. Therefore, if we wish to acquire this life of wisdom, we | |
| 1450 must believe through faith the things that are proposed to us by | |
| 1451 it. “He who comes to God must believe that he is and rewards | |
| 1452 those who seek him” (Heb 11:6); “If you do not believe, | |
| 1453 you will not understand,” as we read in another version of | |
| 1454 Isaiah (28:16).</p> | |
| 1455 <p>772 Thus, our Lord fittingly shows that the way of obtaining | |
| 1456 life is through faith, saying, <span style= | |
| 1457 "font-weight: bold">whoever hears my voice and believes in him who | |
| 1458 sent me, possesses eternal life.</span> First, he mentions the | |
| 1459 merit of faith. Secondly, the reward of’ faith, <span style= | |
| 1460 "font-weight: bold">eternal life.</span></p> | |
| 1461 <p>773 Concerning the merit of faith, he first indicates how faith | |
| 1462 is brought to us; and secondly, the foundation of faith, that on | |
| 1463 which it rests.</p> | |
| 1464 <p>Faith comes to us through the words of men: “Faith comes | |
| 1465 through hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom | |
| 1466 10:17). But faith does not rest on man’s word, but on God | |
| 1467 himself: “Abram believed God, who counted this as his | |
| 1468 justification” (Gn 15:6); “You who fear the Lord, | |
| 1469 believe in him” (Sir 2:8). Thus we are lead to believe | |
| 1470 through the words of men, not in the man himself who speaks, but in | |
| 1471 God, whose words he speaks: “When you heard the word we | |
| 1472 brought you as God’s word, you did not receive it as the word | |
| 1473 of men, but, as what it really is, the word of God” (1 Thes | |
| 1474 2:13). Our Lord mentions these two things. First, how faith is | |
| 1475 brought to us, when he says, whoever hears my voice [literally, | |
| 1476 word], which leads to faith. Secondly, he mentions that on which | |
| 1477 faith rests, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">and believes | |
| 1478 in him who sent me,</span> i.e., not in me, but in him in virtue of | |
| 1479 whom I speak.</p> | |
| 1480 <p>This text can apply to Christ, as man, insofar as it is through | |
| 1481 Christ’s human words that men were converted to the faith. | |
| 1482 And it can apply to Christ, as God, insofar as Christ is the Word | |
| 1483 of God. For since Christ is the Word of God, it is clear that those | |
| 1484 who heard Christ were hearing the Word of God, and as a | |
| 1485 consequence, were believing in God. And this is what he says: | |
| 1486 whoever hears my word, i.e., me, the Word of God, and believes in | |
| 1487 him, i.e., the Father, whose Word I am.</p> | |
| 1488 <p>774 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">possesses | |
| 1489 eternal life,</span> he mentions the reward of faith, and states | |
| 1490 three things we will possess in the state of glory; but they are | |
| 1491 mentioned in reverse order. First, there will be the resurrection | |
| 1492 from the dead. Secondly, we will have freedom from the future | |
| 1493 judgment. Thirdly, we will enjoy everlasting life, for as we read | |
| 1494 in Matthew (c 25), the just will enter into everlasting life. He | |
| 1495 mentions these three as belonging to the reward of faith; and the | |
| 1496 third was mentioned first since it is desired more than the | |
| 1497 others.</p> | |
| 1498 <p>775 So he says, whoever believes, i.e., through faith, | |
| 1499 <span style="font-weight: bold">possesses eternal life,</span> | |
| 1500 which consists in the full vision of God. And it is fitting that | |
| 1501 one who believes on account of God certain things that he does not | |
| 1502 see, should be brought to the full vision of these things: | |
| 1503 “These things are written that you may believe ... and that | |
| 1504 believing you may have life in his name” (below 20:31).</p> | |
| 1505 <p>776 He mentions the second when he says, <span style= | |
| 1506 "font-weight: bold">and he will not encounter judgment.</span> But | |
| 1507 the Apostle says something which contradicts this: “We must | |
| 1508 all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Cor 5:10), | |
| 1509 even the apostles. Therefore, even one who does believe will | |
| 1510 encounter judgment. I answer that there are two kinds of judgment. | |
| 1511 One is a judgment of condemnation, and no one encounters that | |
| 1512 judgment if he believes in God with a faith that is united with | |
| 1513 love [ a “formed faith”]. We read about this judgment: | |
| 1514 “Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no living | |
| 1515 man is just in your sight”; and it was said above (3:18): | |
| 1516 “Whoever believes is not judged.” There is also a | |
| 1517 judgment of separation and examination; and, as the Apostle says, | |
| 1518 all must present themselves before the tribunal of Christ for this | |
| 1519 judgment. Of this judgment we read: “Judge me, O God, and | |
| 1520 distinguish my cause from those people who are not holy” (Ps | |
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1521 42:1).</p> |
| 35 | 1522 <p>777 Thirdly, he mentions a reward when he says, <span style= |
| 1523 "font-weight: bold">but has passed from death to life,</span> or | |
| 1524 “will pass,” as another version says. This statement | |
| 1525 can be explained in two ways. First, it can refer to the | |
| 1526 resurrection of the soul. In this case the obvious meaning is that | |
| 1527 he is saying: Through faith we attain not only to eternal life and | |
| 1528 freedom from judgment, but also to the forgiveness of our sins as | |
| 1529 well. Hence he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">but has | |
| 1530 passed,</span> from unbelief to belief, from injustice to justice: | |
| 1531 “We know that we have passed from death to life” (1 Jn | |
| 1532 3:14).</p> | |
| 1533 <p>Secondly, this statement can be explained as referring to the | |
| 1534 resurrection of the body. Then it is an elaboration of the phrase, | |
| 1535 <span style="font-weight: bold">possesses eternal life</span>. For | |
| 1536 some might think from what was said, that whoever believes in God | |
| 1537 will never die, but live forever. But this is impossible, because | |
| 1538 all men must pay the debt incurred by the. first sin, according to: | |
| 1539 “Where is the man who lives, and will not see death?” | |
| 1540 (Ps 88:49). Consequently, we should not think that one who believes | |
| 1541 has eternal life in such a way as never to die; rather, he will | |
| 1542 pass from thi’s life, through death, to life, i.e., through | |
| 1543 the death of the body he will be revived to eternal life.</p> | |
| 1544 <p>Or, “will pass,” might refer to the cause [of | |
| 1545 one’s resurrection] for when a person believes, he already | |
| 1546 has the merit for a glorious resurrection: “Your dead will | |
| 1547 live, your slain will rise” (Is 26:19). And then, once | |
| 1548 released from the death of the old man, we will receive the life of | |
| 1549 the new man, that is, Christ.</p> | |
| 1550 <p>778 <span style="font-weight: bold">Amen, amen, I say to | |
| 1551 you...</span> Since some might doubt if any would pass from death | |
| 1552 to life, our Lord predicts that this will happen, saying: I say | |
| 1553 that he [who believes] “will pass from death to life”; | |
| 1554 and I say it before it actually occurs. And this is what he states, | |
| 1555 saying: <span style="font-weight: bold">Amen, amen, I say to you, | |
| 1556 the hour is coming,</span> not determined by a necessity of fate, | |
| 1557 but by God’s decree: “It is the last hour” (1 Jn | |
| 1558 2:18). And so that we do not think that it is far off, he adds, | |
| 1559 <span style="font-weight: bold">and is now here</span> “it is | |
| 1560 now the time for us to rise froin sleep” (Rom | |
| 1561 13:11)—i.e., the hour is now here <span style= | |
| 1562 "font-weight: bold">when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son | |
| 1563 of God; and those who hear it will live.</span></p> | |
| 1564 <p>779 This can be explained in two ways. In one way as referring | |
| 1565 to the resurrection of the body, and so it is said that | |
| 1566 <span style="font-weight: bold">the hour is coming, and is now | |
| 1567 here,</span> as if he had said: It is true that eventually all will | |
| 1568 rise, but even now is the hour when some, whom the Lord was about | |
| 1569 to resuscitate, <span style="font-weight: bold">shall hear the | |
| 1570 voice of the Son of God.</span> This is the way Lazarus heard it | |
| 1571 when it was said to him, “Come forth,” as we read below | |
| 1572 (11:43); and in this way the daughter of the leader of the | |
| 1573 synagogue heard it (Mt 9:18); and the widow’s son (Lk 7:12). | |
| 1574 Therefore, he says significantly, <span style= | |
| 1575 "font-weight: bold">and is now here,</span> because through me the | |
| 1576 dead already are beginning to be raised.</p> | |
| 1577 <p>Another explanation is given by Augustine, according to which | |
| 1578 <span style="font-weight: bold">and is now here</span> refers to | |
| 1579 the resurrection of the soul. For as was said above, resurrection | |
| 1580 is of two kinds: the resurrection of bodies, which will happen in | |
| 1581 the future; this does not take place now, but will occur at the | |
| 1582 future judgment. The other is the resurrection of souls from the | |
| 1583 death of unbelief to the life of faith, and from the life of | |
| 1584 injustice to that of justice; and this is now here. Hence he says, | |
| 1585 <span style="font-weight: bold">the hour is coming, and is now | |
| 1586 here, when the dead,</span> i.e., unbelievers and sinners, | |
| 1587 <span style="font-weight: bold">shall hear the voice of the Son of | |
| 1588 God; and those who hear it will live,</span> according to the true | |
| 1589 faith.</p> | |
| 1590 <p>780 This passage seems to imply two strange occurrences. One, | |
| 1591 when he says that the dead will hear. The other, when he adds that | |
| 1592 it is through hearing that they will come to life again, as though | |
| 1593 hearing comes before life, whereas hearing is a certain function of | |
| 1594 life. However, if we refer this to the resurrection, it is true | |
| 1595 that the dead will hear, i.e., obey the voice of the Son of God. | |
| 1596 For the voice expresses the interior concept. Now all nature obeys | |
| 1597 the slightest command of the divine will: “He calls into | |
| 1598 existence what does not exist” (Rom 4:17). According to this, | |
| 1599 then, wood, stones, all things, not just the dry bones but also the | |
| 1600 dust of dead bodies, <span style="font-weight: bold">shall hear the | |
| 1601 voice of the Son of God</span> so far as they obey his slightest | |
| 1602 will. And this belongs to Christ, not insofar as he is the Son of | |
| 1603 Man, but insofar as he is the Son of God, because all things obey | |
| 1604 the Word of God. And so he significantly says, <span style= | |
| 1605 "font-weight: bold">of the Son of God;</span> “What kind of | |
| 1606 man is this, for the sea and winds obey him?” (Mt 8:27).</p> | |
| 1607 <p>If this statement (25b) is understood as referring to the | |
| 1608 resurrection of souls, then the reason for it is this: the voice of | |
| 1609 the Son of God has a life-giving power, that voice by which he | |
| 1610 moves the hearts of the faithful interiorly by inspiration, or | |
| 1611 exteriorly by his preaching and that of others: “The words | |
| 1612 that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (below 6:64). | |
| 1613 And so he gives life to the dead when he justifies the wicked. And | |
| 1614 since hearing is the way to life, either of nature through | |
| 1615 obedience, namely, by repairing nature, or the hearing of faith by | |
| 1616 repairing life and justice, he therefore says, <span style= | |
| 1617 "font-weight: bold">and those who hear it,</span> by obedience as | |
| 1618 to the resurrection of the body, or by faith as to the resurrection | |
| 1619 of souls, will live, in the body in eternal life, and injustice in | |
| 1620 the life of grace.</p> | |
| 1621 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 1622 </p> | |
| 1623 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style= | |
| 1624 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 5</span></p> | |
| 1625 <blockquote> | |
| 1626 <p>26 “Indeed, just as the Father possesses life in himself, | |
| 1627 so he has given it to the Son to have life in himself. 27 And he | |
| 1628 [the Father] gave him the power to pass judgment, because he is the | |
| 1629 Son of Man. 28 Do not be surprised at this, since the hour is | |
| 1630 coming when all those burried in tombs will hear the voice of the | |
| 1631 Son of God. 29 And those who have done well will come forth to a | |
| 1632 resurrection of life; those who have done evil will come forth to a | |
| 1633 resurrection of judgment [i.e., condemnation]. 30 I cannot do | |
| 1634 anything of myself, but I judge only as I hear it; and my judgment | |
| 1635 is just, because I am not seeking my own will, but the will of him | |
| 1636 who sent me.”</p> | |
| 1637 </blockquote> | |
| 1638 <p>781 Above, our Lord showed that he had the power to give life | |
| 1639 and to judge; and he explained each by its effect. Here he shows | |
| 1640 how each of these powers belongs to him. First, he shows this with | |
| 1641 respect to his life-giving power. Secondly, with respect to his | |
| 1642 power to judge (v 27).</p> | |
| 1643 <p>782 So he says, first: I say that as the Father raises the dead, | |
| 1644 so I do also; and anyone who hears my word has eternal life. And I | |
| 1645 possess this because, <span style="font-weight: bold">just as the | |
| 1646 Father possesses life in himself, so he has given it to the Son to | |
| 1647 have life in himself.</span></p> | |
| 1648 <p>Apropos of this, we should note that some who live do not have | |
| 1649 life in themselves: as Paul, “I am living by faith in the Son | |
| 1650 of God” (Gal 2:20); and again in the same place: “it is | |
| 1651 not I who now live, but Christ lives in me.” Thus he lived, | |
| 1652 yet not in himself, but in another through whom he lived: as a body | |
| 1653 lives, although it does not have life in itself, but in a soul | |
| 1654 through which it lives. So that has life in itself which has an | |
| 1655 essential, non-participated life, i.e., that which is itself life. | |
| 1656 Now in every genus of things, that which is something through its | |
| 1657 essence is the cause of those things that are it by participation, | |
| 1658 as fire is the cause of all things afire. And so, that which is | |
| 1659 life through its essence, is the cause and principle of all life in | |
| 1660 living things. Accordingly, if something is to be a principle of | |
| 1661 life, it must be life through its essence. And so our Lord | |
| 1662 fittingly shows that he is the principle of all life by saying that | |
| 1663 he has life in himself, i.e., through his essence, when he says: | |
| 1664 <span style="font-weight: bold">just as the Father possesses life | |
| 1665 in himself,</span> i.e., as he is living through his essence, so | |
| 1666 does the Son. Therefore, as the Father is the cause of life, so | |
| 1667 also is his Son.</p> | |
| 1668 <p>Further, he shows the equality of the Son to the Father when he | |
| 1669 says, as <span style="font-weight: bold">the Father possesses life | |
| 1670 in himself;</span> and he shows their distinction when he says, | |
| 1671 <span style="font-weight: bold">he has given it to the Son</span>. | |
| 1672 For the Father and the Son are equal in life; but they are | |
| 1673 distinct, because the Father gives, and the Son receives. However, | |
| 1674 we should not understand this to mean that the Son receives life | |
| 1675 from the Father as if the Son first existed without having life, as | |
| 1676 in lower things a first matter, already existing, receives a form, | |
| 1677 and as a subject receives accidents: because in the Son there is | |
| 1678 nothing that exists prior to the reception of life. For as Hilary | |
| 1679 says: “the Son has nothing unless it is begotten,” | |
| 1680 i.e., nothing but what he receives through his birth. And since the | |
| 1681 Father is life itself, the meaning of, <span style= | |
| 1682 "font-weight: bold">he has given it to the Son to have life in | |
| 1683 himself,</span> is that the Father produced the Son as living. As | |
| 1684 if one were to say: the mind gives life to the word, not as though | |
| 1685 the word existed and then receives life, but because the mind | |
| 1686 produces the word in the same life by which it lives.</p> | |
| 1687 <p>783 According to Hilary, this passage destroys three heresies. | |
| 1688 First, that of the Arians, who said that the Son is inferior to the | |
| 1689 Father. They were forced by what was stated earlier, that is, | |
| 1690 “For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise” | |
| 1691 (5:19), to say that the Son is equal to the Father in power; but | |
| 1692 they still denied that the Son is equal to the Father in nature. | |
| 1693 But now, this too is refuted by this statement, namely, | |
| 1694 <span style="font-weight: bold">just as the Father possesses life | |
| 1695 in himself, so he has given it to the Son to have life in | |
| 1696 himself.</span> For since life pertains to the nature, if the Son | |
| 1697 has life in himself as does the Father, it is clear that he has in | |
| 1698 himself, by his very origin, a nature indivisible froin and equal | |
| 1699 to that ofthe Father.</p> | |
| 1700 <p>The second error is also Arian: their denial that the Son is | |
| 1701 coeternal with the Father, when they say that the Son began to | |
| 1702 exist in time. This is destroyed when he says, <span style= | |
| 1703 "font-weight: bold">the Son has life in himself.</span> For in all | |
| 1704 living things whose generation occurs in time, it is always | |
| 1705 possible to find something that at some time or other was not | |
| 1706 living. But in the Son, whatever is, is life itself. Consequently, | |
| 1707 he so received life itself that he has life in himself, so as | |
| 1708 always to have been living.</p> | |
| 1709 <p>Thirdly, by saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">he has | |
| 1710 given,</span> he destroys the error of Sabellius, who denied the | |
| 1711 distinction of persons. For if the Father gave life to the Son, it | |
| 1712 is obvious that the Father, who gave it, is other than the Son, who | |
| 1713 received it.</p> | |
| 1714 <p>784 Then (v 27), he makes it clear that he has the power to | |
| 1715 judge. First, he reveals his judiciary power. Secondly, he gives a | |
| 1716 reason for what he has said (v 30). As to the first he does two | |
| 1717 things. First, he indicates the origin of his judiciary power. | |
| 1718 Secondly, he shows that his judgment is just (v 29).</p> | |
| 1719 <p>785 With regard to the first, we should note that his statement, | |
| 1720 <span style="font-weight: bold">he [the Father] gave him the | |
| 1721 power,</span> can be understood in two ways. One way is that of | |
| 1722 Augustine; the other is that of Chrysostom.</p> | |
| 1723 <p>786 If we understand it as Chrysostom does, then this section is | |
| 1724 divided into two parts. First, he reveals the origin of his | |
| 1725 judiciary power. Secondly, he settles a difficulty (v 27b).</p> | |
| 1726 <p>Chrysostom punctuates this section in the following way. | |
| 1727 <span style="font-weight: bold">He gave him the power to pass | |
| 1728 judgment.</span> And then a new sentence begins: <span style= | |
| 1729 "font-weight: bold">Because he is the Son of Man, do not be | |
| 1730 surprised at this.</span> The reason for this punctuation is that | |
| 1731 Paul of Samosata, an early heretic, who like Photius said that | |
| 1732 Christ was only a man and took his origin from the Virgin, | |
| 1733 punctuated it as: <span style="font-weight: bold">He gave him the | |
| 1734 power to pass judghnent because he is the Son of Man.</span> And | |
| 1735 then he began a new sentence: <span style="font-weight: bold">Do | |
| 1736 not be surprised at this, since the hour is coming.</span> It was | |
| 1737 as if he thought that it was necessary for judiciary power to be | |
| 1738 given to Christ because he is the Son of Man, that is, a mere man, | |
| 1739 who, of himself, cannot judge men. And so, if Christ is to judge | |
| 1740 others, he must be given the power to judge.</p> | |
| 1741 <p>But this, according to Chrysostom, cannot stand, because it is | |
| 1742 not at all in agreement with what is stated. For if it is because | |
| 1743 he is a man that he receives judiciary power, then for the same | |
| 1744 reason, since it would belong to every man to have judiciary power | |
| 1745 in virtue of his human nature, it would not belong to Christ any | |
| 1746 more than to other men. So we should not understand it this way. | |
| 1747 Rather, we should say that because Christ is the ineffable Son of | |
| 1748 God, he is on that account also judge. And this is what he says: | |
| 1749 The Father not only give him the power to give life, but | |
| 1750 <span style="font-weight: bold">also he gave him the power,</span> | |
| 1751 through eternal <span style="font-weight: bold">generation, to pass | |
| 1752 judgment,</span> just as he gave him, through eternal generation, | |
| 1753 to have life in himself: “He is the one appointed by God to | |
| 1754 be the judge of the living and of the dead,” as we read in | |
| 1755 Acts (10:42).</p> | |
| 1756 <p>He settles a difficulty when he says, <span style= | |
| 1757 "font-weight: bold">Do not be surprised at this.</span> First, he | |
| 1758 mentions the difficulty. Secondly, he clears it up.</p> | |
| 1759 <p>787 The difficulty arose in the minds of the Jews and they were | |
| 1760 surprised because while they thought that Christ was no more than a | |
| 1761 man, he was saying things about himself that surpassed man and even | |
| 1762 the angels. So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not be | |
| 1763 surprised at this,</span> that is, that I have said that the Son | |
| 1764 gives life to the dead and has the power to judge precisely | |
| 1765 <span style="font-weight: bold">because he is the Son of | |
| 1766 Man.</span> They were surprised because, although they thought he | |
| 1767 was only a man, they saw that he accomplished divine effects: | |
| 1768 “What kind of man is this, for the sea and winds obey | |
| 1769 him?” (Mt 8:27). And he gives a reason why they should not be | |
| 1770 surprised, which is, because he who is the Son of Man is the Son of | |
| 1771 God. Although, as Chrysostom says, is it not said explicitly that | |
| 1772 the Son of Man is the Son of God, our Lord lays down the premises | |
| 1773 from which this statement necessarily follows: just as we notice | |
| 1774 that those who use syllogisms in their teaching do not express | |
| 1775 their main conclusion, but only that from which it follows with | |
| 1776 necessity. So our Lord does not say that he is the Son of God, but | |
| 1777 that the Son of Man is such that at his voice all the dead will | |
| 1778 rise. From this it necessarily follows that he is the Son of God: | |
| 1779 for it is a proper effect of God to raise the dead. Thus he says, | |
| 1780 <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not be surprised at this, since | |
| 1781 the hour is coming when all those burried in tombs will hear the | |
| 1782 voice of the Son of God.</span> But he does not say of this hour, | |
| 1783 as he said above, “and is now here” (5:25). Again, here | |
| 1784 he says, all, which he did not say above: because at the first | |
| 1785 resurrection he raised only some, as Lazarus, the widow’s son | |
| 1786 and the young girl; but at the future resurrection, at the time of | |
| 1787 judgment, <span style="font-weight: bold">all will hear the voice | |
| 1788 of the Son of God,</span> and will rise. “I will open your | |
| 1789 graves, and lead you out of your tombs” (Ez 37:12).</p> | |
| 1790 <p>788 Augustine punctuates this passage in the following way. | |
| 1791 <span style="font-weight: bold">And he gave him the power to pass | |
| 1792 judgment because he is the Son of Man.</span> And then a new | |
| 1793 sentence follows: <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not be | |
| 1794 surprised at this.</span> In this interpretation there are two | |
| 1795 parts. The first concerns the power to judge granted to the Son of | |
| 1796 Man. In the second, the granting of an even greater power is made | |
| 1797 clear, at <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not be surprised at | |
| 1798 this.</span></p> | |
| 1799 <p>789 As to the first we should note that, according to the mind | |
| 1800 of Augustine, he spoke above of the resurrection of souls, which is | |
| 1801 accomplished through the Son of God, but here he is speaking of the | |
| 1802 resurrection of bodies, which is accomplished through the Son of | |
| 1803 Man. And because the general resurrection of bodies will take place | |
| 1804 at the time of judgment, he mentions the judgment first, in saying, | |
| 1805 <span style="font-weight: bold">And he [the Father] gave | |
| 1806 him,</span> i.e., Christ, <span style="font-weight: bold">the power | |
| 1807 to pass Judgment,</span> and this, <span style= | |
| 1808 "font-weight: bold">because he is the Son of Man,</span> i.e., | |
| 1809 according to his human nature. Thus it is also after the | |
| 1810 resurrection that he says in Matthew (28:18): “All power has | |
| 1811 been given to me, in heaven and on earth.”</p> | |
| 1812 <p>There are three reasons why judiciary power has been given to | |
| 1813 Christ as man. First, in order that he might be seen by all: for it | |
| 1814 is necessary that a judge be seen by all who are to be judged. Now | |
| 1815 both the good and the wicked will be judged. And the good will see | |
| 1816 Christ in his divinity and in his humanity; while the wicked will | |
| 1817 not be able to see him in his divinity, because this vision is the | |
| 1818 happiness of the saints and is seedonly by the pure in heart: | |
| 1819 “Happy are the pure in heart, for they will see God” | |
| 1820 (Mt 5:8). And so, in order that Christ can be seen at the judgment | |
| 1821 not only by the good, but also by the wicked, he will judge in | |
| 1822 human form: “Every eye will see him, and all who pierced | |
| 1823 him” (Rv 1:7).</p> | |
| 1824 <p>Secondly, the power to judge was given to Christ as man because | |
| 1825 by the self-abasement of his passion he merited the glory of an | |
| 1826 exaltation. Thus, just as he who died arose, so that [human] form | |
| 1827 which was judged, will judge, and he who stood before a human judge | |
| 1828 will preside at the judgment of men. He who was falsely found | |
| 1829 guilty will condemn the truly guilty, as Augustine remarks in his | |
| 1830 work, <i>The Sayings of the Lord.</i> “Your cause has been | |
| 1831 judged as that of the wicked; but cause and judgment you will | |
| 1832 recover” (Jb 3 6.17).</p> | |
| 1833 <p>Thirdly, Christas man was given judiciary power to suggest the | |
| 1834 compassion of the judge. For it is very terrifying for a man to be | |
| 1835 judged by God: “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands | |
| 1836 of the living God” (Heb 10:31); but it produces confidence | |
| 1837 for a man to have another man as his judge. Accordingly, so you can | |
| 1838 experience the compassion of your judge, you will have a man as | |
| 1839 judge: “We do not have a high priest who cannot have | |
| 1840 compassion on our weakness” (Heb 4:15).</p> | |
| 1841 <p>Thus, <span style="font-weight: bold">he gave him</span>, | |
| 1842 Christ, <span style="font-weight: bold">the power to pass judgment | |
| 1843 because he is the Son of Man.</span></p> | |
| 1844 <p>790 <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not be surprised at | |
| 1845 this,</span> for he has given him a greater power, that is, the | |
| 1846 power to raise the dead. Thus he says, <span style= | |
| 1847 "font-weight: bold">since the hour is coming,</span> that is, the | |
| 1848 last hour at the end of the world: “The time has come, the | |
| 1849 day of slaughter is near” (Ez 7:7), <span style= | |
| 1850 "font-weight: bold">when all those burried in tombs will hear the | |
| 1851 voice of the Son of God.</span> Above he did not say | |
| 1852 “all,” because there he was speaking of the spiritual | |
| 1853 resurrection, in which all did not rise at his first coming, for we | |
| 1854 read: “All do not have faith” (2 Thes 3:2). But here he | |
| 1855 is speaking of the resurrection of the body, and all will rise in | |
| 1856 this way, as we read in 1 Corinthians (15:20). He adds, | |
| 1857 <span style="font-weight: bold">those burried in tombs,</span> | |
| 1858 which he had not mentioned above, because only bodies, not souls, | |
| 1859 are in tombs, and it is the resurrection of bodies that will then | |
| 1860 take place.</p> | |
| 1861 <p><span style="font-weight: bold">All those burried in tombs will | |
| 1862 hear the voice of the Son of God.</span> This voice will be a sense | |
| 1863 perceptible sign of the Son of God, at whose sound all will be | |
| 1864 raised: “The Lord will come with the cry of the archangel and | |
| 1865 with the trumpet of God” (1 Thes 4:15); we find the same in 1 | |
| 1866 Corinthians (15:52) and in Matthew (25:6): “There was a cry | |
| 1867 at midnight.” This voice will derive its power from the | |
| 1868 divinity of Christ: “He will make his voice a powerful | |
| 1869 voice,” as the Psalm (67:34) says.</p> | |
| 1870 <p>791 As we saw, Augustine says that the resurrection of the body | |
| 1871 will be accomplished through the Word made flesh, but the | |
| 1872 resurrection of the soul is accomplished through the Word. One may | |
| 1873 wonder how to understand this: whether we are talking about a first | |
| 1874 cause or a meritorious cause. If we are referring to a first cause, | |
| 1875 then it is clear that the divinity of Christ is the cause of the | |
| 1876 corporal and spiritual resurrection, i.e., of the resurrection of | |
| 1877 bodies and of souls, according to: “I will kill, and I will | |
| 1878 bring to life again” (Dt 32:39). But if we are referring to a | |
| 1879 meritorious cause, then it is the humanity of Christ which is the | |
| 1880 cause of both resurrections: because through the mysteries | |
| 1881 accomplished in the flesh of Christ we are restored not only to an | |
| 1882 incorruptible life in our bodies, but also to a spiritual life in | |
| 1883 our souls: “He was put to death on account of our sins, and | |
| 1884 he rose for our justification” (Rom 4:25). Accordingly, what | |
| 1885 Augustine says does not seem to be true.</p> | |
| 1886 <p>I answer that Augustine is speaking of the exemplary cause and | |
| 1887 of that cause by which that which is brought to life is made | |
| 1888 conformable to that which brings it to life: for everything that | |
| 1889 lives through another is conformed to that through which it lives. | |
| 1890 Now the resurrection of souls does not consist in souls being | |
| 1891 conformed to the humanity of Christ, but to the Word, because the | |
| 1892 life of the soul is through the Word alone; and so he says that the | |
| 1893 resurrection of souls takes place through the Word. But the | |
| 1894 resurrection of the body will consist in our bodies being conformed | |
| 1895 to the body of Christ through the life of glory, that is, through | |
| 1896 the glory of our bodies, according to: “He will change our | |
| 1897 lowly body so it is like his glorious body” (Phil 3:2 1). And | |
| 1898 it is from this point of view that he says that the resurrection of | |
| 1899 the body will take place through the Word made flesh.</p> | |
| 1900 <p>792 Then (v 29), he shows the justness of his judgment: because | |
| 1901 the good will be rewarded, and so he says, <span style= | |
| 1902 "font-weight: bold">And those who have done well will come forth to | |
| 1903 a resurrection of life,</span> i.e., to living in eternal glory; | |
| 1904 but the wicked will be damned, and so he says, <span style= | |
| 1905 "font-weight: bold">those who have done evil will come forth to a | |
| 1906 resurrection of judgment [i.e., condemnation],</span> i.e., they | |
| 1907 will rise for condemnation: “These,” the wicked, | |
| 1908 “will go into everlasting punishment; but the just will go to | |
| 1909 eternal life” (Mt 25:46); “Many of those who sleep in | |
| 1910 the dust of the earth will awake: some to an everlasting life, and | |
| 1911 others to everlasting shame” (Dn 12:2).</p> | |
| 1912 <p>793 Note than when he was speaking above of the resurrection of | |
| 1913 souls, he said, “those who hear it,” the voice of the | |
| 1914 Son of God, “will live” (5:25); but here he says, | |
| 1915 <span style="font-weight: bold">will come forth.</span> He says | |
| 1916 this because of the wicked, who will be condemned: for their life | |
| 1917 should not be called a life, but rather an eternal death. Again, | |
| 1918 above he mentioned only faith, saying, “Whoever hears my | |
| 1919 voice and believes in him who sent me, possesses eternal life; and | |
| 1920 he will not encounter judgment” (5:24). But here he mentions | |
| 1921 works, so that we do not think that faith alone, without works, is | |
| 1922 sufficient for salvation, saying: <span style= | |
| 1923 "font-weight: bold">And those who have done well will come forth to | |
| 1924 a resurrection of life.</span> As if to say: <span style= | |
| 1925 "font-weight: bold">Those will come forth to a resurrection of | |
| 1926 life</span> who do not just believe, but who have accomplished good | |
| 1927 works along with their faith: “Faith without works is | |
| 1928 dead,” as we see from James (2:26).</p> | |
| 1929 <p>794 Then when he says, I cannot do anything of myself, he gives | |
| 1930 the reason for what he has just said. Now he had spoken of two | |
| 1931 things: the origin of his power, and the justness of his judgment. | |
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1932 Consequently, he mentions the reason for each.</p> |
| 35 | 1933 <p>795 The first point, when he says, <span style= |
| 1934 "font-weight: bold">I cannot do anything of myself,</span> can be | |
| 1935 understood in two ways, even according to Augustine. First, as | |
| 1936 referring to the Son of Man in this manner: You say that you have | |
| 1937 the power to raise the dead because you are the Son of Man. But do | |
| 1938 you have this power precisely because you are the Son of Man? No, | |
| 1939 because <span style="font-weight: bold">I cannot do anything of | |
| 1940 myself, but I judge only as I hear it.</span> He does not say, | |
| 1941 “as I see,” as he said above; “The Son cannot do | |
| 1942 anything of himself, but only what he sees the Father doing” | |
| 1943 (5:19). But he does say, <span style="font-weight: bold">as I hear | |
| 1944 it:</span> for in this context “to hear” is the same as | |
| 1945 “to obey.” Now to obey belongs to one who receives a | |
| 1946 command, while to command pertains to one who is superior. | |
| 1947 Accordingly, because Christ, as man, is inferior to the Father, he | |
| 1948 says, <span style="font-weight: bold">as I hear it,</span> i.e., as | |
| 1949 infused into my soul by God. We read of this kind of hearing in | |
| 1950 Psalm 84 (v 9): “1 will hear what the Lord God says in | |
| 1951 me.” But above he said “sees,” because he was | |
| 1952 then speaking of himself as the Word of God.</p> | |
| 1953 <p>796 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">and my | |
| 1954 judgment is just,</span> he shows the justness of his judgment. For | |
| 1955 he had said: “Those who have done well will come forth to a | |
| 1956 resurrection of life.” But some might say: Will he be partial | |
| 1957 and uneven when he punishes and rewards? So he answers: No, saying: | |
| 1958 <span style="font-weight: bold">my judgment is just;</span> and the | |
| 1959 reason is <span style="font-weight: bold">because I am not seeking | |
| 1960 my own will, but the will of him who sent me.</span> For there are | |
| 1961 two wills in our Lord Jesus Christ: one is a divine will, which is | |
| 1962 the same as the will of the Father; the other is a human will, | |
| 1963 which is proper to himself, just as it is proper to him to be a | |
| 1964 man. A human will is borne to its own good; but in Christ it was | |
| 1965 ruled and regulated by right reason, so that it would always be | |
| 1966 conformed in all things to the divine will. Accordingly he says: | |
| 1967 <span style="font-weight: bold">I am not seeking my own | |
| 1968 will,</span> which as such is inclined to its own good, | |
| 1969 <span style="font-weight: bold">but the will of him who sent | |
| 1970 me,</span> that is, the Father: “I have desired to do your | |
| 1971 will, my God” (Ps 39:9); “Not as I will, but as you | |
| 1972 will” (Mt 26:39).</p> | |
| 1973 <p>If this is carefully considered, the Lord is assigning the true | |
| 1974 nature of a just judgment, saying: <span style= | |
| 1975 "font-weight: bold">because I am not seeking my own will.</span> | |
| 1976 For one’s judgment is just when it is passed according to the | |
| 1977 norm of law. But the divine will is the norm and the law of the | |
| 1978 created will. And so, the created will, and the reason, which is | |
| 1979 regulated according to the norm of the divine will, is just, and | |
| 1980 its judgment is just.</p> | |
| 1981 <p>797 Secondly, it is explained as referring to the Son of God; | |
| 1982 and then the aforesaid division still remains the same. Thus | |
| 1983 Christ, as the Divine Word showing the origin of his power, says: | |
| 1984 <span style="font-weight: bold">I cannot do anything of | |
| 1985 myself,</span> in the way he said above, “the Son cannot do | |
| 1986 anything of himself” (5:19). For his very doing and his power | |
| 1987 are his being (<i>esse</i>); but being (<i>esse</i>) in him is from | |
| 1988 another, that is, from his Father. And so, just as he is not of | |
| 1989 himself (a <i>se</i>), so of himself he cannot do anything: | |
| 1990 “I do nothing of myself” (below 8:28).</p> | |
| 1991 <p>His statement, <span style="font-weight: bold">I judge only as I | |
| 1992 hear it,</span> is explained as his previous statement, “only | |
| 1993 what he sees the Father doing” (above 5:19). For we acquire | |
| 1994 science or any knowledge through sight and hearing (for these two | |
| 1995 senses are those most used in learning). But because sight and | |
| 1996 hearing are different is us, we acquire knowledge in one way | |
| 1997 through sight, that is, by discovering things, and in a different | |
| 1998 way through hearing, that is, by being taught. But in the Son of | |
| 1999 God, sight and hearing are the same; thus, when he says either | |
| 2000 “sees” or “hears,” the meaning is the same | |
| 2001 so far as the acquisition of knowledge is concerned. And because | |
| 2002 judgment in any intelletual nature comes from knowledge, he says | |
| 2003 significantly, <span style="font-weight: bold">I judge only as I | |
| 2004 hear it,</span> i.e., as I have acquired knowledge together with | |
| 2005 heing from the Father, so I judge: “Everything I have heard | |
| 2006 from my Father I have made known to you” (below 15:15).</p> | |
| 2007 <p>798 Showing the justness of his judgment he says: <span style= | |
| 2008 "font-weight: bold">and my judgment is just:</span> the reason | |
| 2009 being, <span style="font-weight: bold">because I am not seeking my | |
| 2010 own will</span>. But do not the Father and the Son have the same | |
| 2011 will? I answer that the Father and the Son do have the same will, | |
| 2012 but the Father does not have his will from another, whereas the Son | |
| 2013 does have his will from another, i.e., from the Father. Thus the | |
| 2014 Son accomplishes his own will as from another, i.e., as having it | |
| 2015 from another; but the Father accomplishes his will as his own, | |
| 2016 i.e., not having it from another. Thus he says: <span style= | |
| 2017 "font-weight: bold">I am not seeking my own will</span>, that is, | |
| 2018 such as would be mine if it originated from myself, but my will, as | |
| 2019 being from another, that is from the Father.</p> | |
| 2020 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 2021 </p> | |
| 2022 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style= | |
| 2023 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 6</span></p> | |
| 2024 <blockquote> | |
| 2025 <p style="margin-left:0.5in">31 “If I were to bear witness to | |
| 2026 myself,<br /> | |
| 2027 my testimony would not be valid.<br /> | |
| 2028 32 But there is someone else who testifies<br /> | |
| 2029 on my behalf, and I know that the witness<br /> | |
| 2030 he bears on my behalf is true.<br /> | |
| 2031 33 You sent [messengers] to John;<br /> | |
| 2032 and he bore witness to the truth.<br /> | |
| 2033 34 I myself do not need proof from men;<br /> | |
| 2034 but I say this in order that you may be saved.<br /> | |
| 2035 35 He was a lamp, blazing and burning brightly.<br /> | |
| 2036 And for a while you yourselves exulted in his light.<br /> | |
| 2037 36 But I have testimony that is greater than that of John.<br /> | |
| 2038 The very works which my Father has given me<br /> | |
| 2039 to perform—those works that I myself perform—<br /> | |
| 2040 they bear witness to me that the Father sent me.<br /> | |
| 2041 37 Moreover, the Father who sent me has himself<br /> | |
| 2042 given testimony on my behalf,<br /> | |
| 2043 but you have neither heard his voice,<br /> | |
| 2044 nor seen his image;<br /> | |
| 2045 38 and you do not have his word abiding in your hearts,<br /> | |
| 2046 for you do not believe in him whom he has sent.<br /> | |
| 2047 39 Search the Scriptures,<br /> | |
| 2048 since you think you have eternal life in them;<br /> | |
| 2049 they too bear witness to me.<br /> | |
| 2050 40 Yet you are unwilling to come to me<br /> | |
| 2051 in order to possess that life.”</p> | |
| 2052 </blockquote> | |
| 2053 <p>799 Having given us the teaching on the life-giving power of the | |
| 2054 Son, he now confirms it. First, he confirms, with several | |
| 2055 testimonies, what he had said about the excellence of his power. In | |
| 2056 the second place, he reproves them because of their slowness to | |
| 2057 believe (v 41). He does two things about the first. First, he | |
| 2058 states why there was a need to resort to such testimonies. | |
| 2059 Secondly, he invokes the testimonies (v 32).</p> | |
| 2060 <p>800 The need to appeal to testimony arose because the Jews did | |
| 2061 not believe in him; for this reason he says: <span style= | |
| 2062 "font-weight: bold">If I were to bear witness to myself, my | |
| 2063 testimony would not be valid</span> (<i>verum</i>, valid, true). | |
| 2064 Some may find this statement puzzling: for if our Lord says of | |
| 2065 himself, “I am the truth” (below 14:6), how can his | |
| 2066 testimony not be valid? If he is the truth, in whom shall one | |
| 2067 believe if the truth itself is not believed in? We may answer, | |
| 2068 according to Chrysostom, that our Lord is speaking here of himself | |
| 2069 from the point of view of the opinion of others, so that his | |
| 2070 meaning is: <span style="font-weight: bold">If I were to bear | |
| 2071 witness to myself, my testimony would not be valid</span> so far as | |
| 2072 your outlook is concerned, because you do not accept what I say | |
| 2073 about myself unless it is confirmed by other testimony: “You | |
| 2074 are bearing witness to yourself; your testimony is not valid” | |
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2075 (below 8:13).</p> |
| 35 | 2076 <p>801 Next, he presents these testimonies: first, a human |
| 2077 testimony; secondly, a divine testimony. He does two things about | |
| 2078 the first. First, he mentions the testimony of John; secondly, he | |
| 2079 tells why this testimony was given (v 34). With respect to the | |
| 2080 first he does two things. First, he brings in the testimony; | |
| 2081 secondly, he commends it (v 32).</p> | |
| 2082 <p>802 He brings on the witness when he says: <span style= | |
| 2083 "font-weight: bold">But there is someone else who testifies on my | |
| 2084 behalf.</span> This is, in the opinion of Chrysostom, John the | |
| 2085 Baptist, of whom we read above: “There was a man sent by God, | |
| 2086 whose name was John. He came as a witness, that he might bear | |
| 2087 witness to the light” (1:6).</p> | |
| 2088 <p>803 He commends John’s testimony on two grounds: first, | |
| 2089 because of its truth; secondly, because of its authority, for the | |
| 2090 Jews had sought it (v 33).</p> | |
| 2091 <p>804 He commends his testimony because of its truth, saying: | |
| 2092 <span style="font-weight: bold">And I know,</span> from certain | |
| 2093 experience, that the witness he, that is, John, <span style= | |
| 2094 "font-weight: bold">bears on my behalf is true.</span> His father, | |
| 2095 Zechariah, had prophesied this of him: “You will go before | |
| 2096 the face of the Lord to prepare his way, to give his people a | |
| 2097 knowledge of salvation” (Lk 1:76). Now it is obvious that | |
| 2098 false testimony is not a testimony that saves, because lying is a | |
| 2099 cause of death: “A lying mouth kills the soul” (Wis | |
| 2100 1:11). Therefore, if John’s testimony was for the purpose of | |
| 2101 giving knowledge of salvation to his people, his testimony is | |
| 2102 true.</p> | |
| 2103 <p>805 The Gloss has a different explanation of this: <span style= | |
| 2104 "font-weight: bold">If I were to bear witness to myself, my | |
| 2105 testimony would not be valid.</span> For above, Christ was | |
| 2106 referring to himself as God, but here he is referring to himself as | |
| 2107 a man. And the meaning is: If I, namely, a man, were to bear | |
| 2108 witness to myself, i.e., apart from God, that is, which God the | |
| 2109 Father does not certify, then it follows that <span style= | |
| 2110 "font-weight: bold">my testimony would not be valid,</span> for | |
| 2111 human speech has no truth unless it is supported by God, according | |
| 2112 to: “God is true, but every man is a liar” (Rom 3:4). | |
| 2113 Thus, if we take Christ as a man separated from the Deity and not | |
| 2114 in conformity with it, we find a lie both in his essence and in his | |
| 2115 words: “Although I bear witness to myself, my testimony is | |
| 2116 true” (below 8:14); “I am not alone, because the Father | |
| 2117 is with me” (below 16:32). And so, because he was not alone | |
| 2118 but with the Father, his testimony is true.</p> | |
| 2119 <p>Accordingly, to show that his testimony is true, not in virute | |
| 2120 of his humanity considered in itself, but in so far as it is united | |
| 2121 to his divinity and to the Word of God, he says, <span style= | |
| 2122 "font-weight: bold">But there is someone else who testifies on my | |
| 2123 behalf</span>: not John, but the Father, according to this | |
| 2124 explanation. Because if the testimony of Christ as man is not of | |
| 2125 itself true and productive, much less is the testimony of John. | |
| 2126 Therefore, the testimony of Christ is not verified by the testimony | |
| 2127 of John, but by the testimony of the Father. So this someone else | |
| 2128 who testifies is understood to be the Father. <span style= | |
| 2129 "font-weight: bold">And I know that the witness he bears on my | |
| 2130 behalf is true</span>, for he is truth: “God is light, | |
| 2131 “‘ i.e., truth, “and in him there is no | |
| 2132 darkness,” i.e., lie (1 Jn 1:5).</p> | |
| 2133 <p>The first explanation, which is that given by Chrysostom, is | |
| 2134 nearer to the letter of the text.</p> | |
| 2135 <p>806 He also commends the testimony of John by reason of its | |
| 2136 authority, because it was sought after by the Jews, saying: | |
| 2137 <span style="font-weight: bold">You sent [messengers] to | |
| 2138 John.</span> As if to say: I know that his testimony is true and | |
| 2139 you should not reject it, because the great authority John enjoyed | |
| 2140 among you led you to seek his testimony about me; and you would not | |
| 2141 have done this if you did not think that he was worthy of belief: | |
| 2142 “The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to | |
| 2143 him” (above 1:19). And on this occasion, John bore witness, | |
| 2144 not to himself, but <span style="font-weight: bold">to the | |
| 2145 truth</span>, i.e., to me. As a friend of the truth, he bore | |
| 2146 testimony to the truth, which is Christ: “He declared openly, | |
| 2147 and did not deny, and stated clearly, ‘I am not the | |
| 2148 Messiah’” (above 1:20).</p> | |
| 2149 <p>807 Then (v 34), he gives the reason why an appeal was made to | |
| 2150 the testimony of John. First, he excludes a supposed reason. Next, | |
| 2151 he presents the true reason (v 34b).</p> | |
| 2152 <p>808 Someone might think that John’s testimony was brought | |
| 2153 in to assure them about Christ, on the ground that Christ’s | |
| 2154 own testimony was not sufficient. He excludes this reason when he | |
| 2155 says, <span style="font-weight: bold">I myself do not need proof | |
| 2156 from men</span>. Here we should note that sometimes in the sciences | |
| 2157 a thing is proved by something else which is more evident to us, | |
| 2158 but which is less evident in itself; and at other times a thing is | |
| 2159 proved by something else which is more evident in itself and | |
| 2160 absolutely. Now, in this case, the issue is to prove that Christ is | |
| 2161 God. And, although the truth of Christ is, in itself and | |
| 2162 absolutely, more evident, yet it is proved by the testimony of | |
| 2163 John, which was better known to the Jews. So Christ, of himself, | |
| 2164 did not have any need of John’s testimony; and this is what | |
| 2165 he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">I myself do not need proof | |
| 2166 from men</span>.</p> | |
| 2167 <p>809 But this seems to conflict with: “You are my | |
| 2168 witnesses, said the Lord” (Is 40:10); and with “You | |
| 2169 will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria, | |
| 2170 and to the remotest part of the world” (Acts 1:8). So how can | |
| 2171 he say: <span style="font-weight: bold">I myself do not need proof | |
| 2172 from men</span>.</p> | |
| 2173 <p>This can be understood in two ways. In the first way, the sense | |
| 2174 is: <span style="font-weight: bold">I myself do not need proof from | |
| 2175 men</span>, as relying on it alone; but I have stronger testimony, | |
| 2176 that is, divine testimony: “For me, it does not matter much | |
| 2177 if I am judged by you” (1 Cor 4:3); “You know that I | |
| 2178 have not desired the day of man,” i.e., human glory (Jer | |
| 2179 17:16).</p> | |
| 2180 <p>Another interpretation is: <span style="font-weight: bold">I | |
| 2181 myself do not need proof from men</span>, insofar as the one giving | |
| 2182 witness is a man, but insofar as he is enlightened by God in order | |
| 2183 to testify: “There was a man sent by God, whose name was | |
| 2184 John” (above 1:6); “We did not seek glory from | |
| 2185 men” (1 Thes 2:6); “1 do not seek my own glory” | |
| 2186 (below 8:50). And so I receive the testimony of John not just as a | |
| 2187 man, but insofar as he was sent and enlightened by God in order to | |
| 2188 testify.</p> | |
| 2189 <p>A third explanation, and a better one, is: <span style= | |
| 2190 "font-weight: bold">I myself do not need proof from men</span>, | |
| 2191 i.e., human testimony. As far as I am concerned, I receive my | |
| 2192 authority from no one but God, who proves that I am great.</p> | |
| 2193 <p>810 Next (v 34b), he gives the real reason for appealing to | |
| 2194 John’s testimony. First, he states the reason. Secondly, he | |
| 2195 explains it. The reason for appealing to this testimony was so that | |
| 2196 the Jews might be saved by believing in Christ, and this because of | |
| 2197 John’s testimony. Thus he says: I do not need John’s | |
| 2198 testimony for my sake, <span style="font-weight: bold">but I say | |
| 2199 this in order that you may be saved:</span> “He desires the | |
| 2200 salvation of’ all men” (1 Tim 2:4). “Christ came | |
| 2201 into this world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15).</p> | |
| 2202 <p>811 He explains his statement, in order that you may be saved: | |
| 2203 that is, because I am appealing to testimony you have accepted. And | |
| 2204 so he mentions that John was accepted by them: <span style= | |
| 2205 "font-weight: bold">He was a lamp, blazing and burning | |
| 2206 brightly.</span> First, he states that John was a witness accepted | |
| 2207 on his own merits. Secondly, he mentions to what degree he was | |
| 2208 accepted by them (v 35b).</p> | |
| 2209 <p>812 Three things perfected John and show that he was a witness | |
| 2210 accepted in his own right. The first concerns the condition of his | |
| 2211 nature, and he refers to this when he says, <span style= | |
| 2212 "font-weight: bold">He was a lamp</span>. The second concerns the | |
| 2213 perfection of his love, because he was a <span style= | |
| 2214 "font-weight: bold">blazing</span> lamp. The third is related to | |
| 2215 the perfection of his understanding, because he was a lamp that was | |
| 2216 <span style="font-weight: bold">burning brightly.</span></p> | |
| 2217 <p>John was perfect in his nature because he was a lamp, i.e., | |
| 2218 enriched by grace and illumined by the light of the Word of God. | |
| 2219 Now a lamp differs from a light: for a light radiates light of | |
| 2220 itself, but a lamp does not give light of itself, but by | |
| 2221 participating in the light. Now the true light is Christ: “He | |
| 2222 was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this | |
| 2223 world” (above 1:9). John, however, was not a light, as we | |
| 2224 read in the same place, but a lamp, because he was enlightened | |
| 2225 “in order to bear witness to the light” (above 1:8), by | |
| 2226 leading men to Christ. We read of this lamp: “I have prepared | |
| 2227 a lamp for my anointed” (Ps 131:17).</p> | |
| 2228 <p>Further, he was blazing and impassioned in his affections, so he | |
| 2229 says, <span style="font-weight: bold">blazing</span>. For some | |
| 2230 people are lamps only as to their office or rank, but they are | |
| 2231 snuffed out in their affections: for as a lamp cannot give light | |
| 2232 unless there is a fire blazing within it, so a spiritual lamp does | |
| 2233 not give any light unless it is first set ablaze and burns with the | |
| 2234 fire of love. Therefore, to be ablaze comes first, and the giving | |
| 2235 of light depends on it, because knowledge of the truth is given due | |
| 2236 to the blazing of love: “If any one loves me, he will keep my | |
| 2237 word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and | |
| 2238 make our home with him” (below 14:23); and “I have | |
| 2239 called you friends, because everything I have heard from my Father | |
| 2240 I have made known to you” (below 15:15); “You who fear | |
| 2241 the Lord, love him, and your hearts will be enlightened” (Sir | |
| 2242 2:20).</p> | |
| 2243 <p>The two characteristics of fire are that it both blazes and | |
| 2244 shines. Its blazing signifies love for three reasons. First, | |
| 2245 because fire is the most active of all bodies; so too is the warmth | |
| 2246 of love (charity), so much so that nothing can withstand its force: | |
| 2247 “The love of Christ spurs us on” (2 Cor 5:14). | |
| 2248 Secondly, because just as fire, because it is very volatile, causes | |
| 2249 great unrest, so also this love of charity makes a person restless | |
| 2250 until he achieves his objective: “Its light is fire and | |
| 2251 flame” (Sg 8:6). Thirdly, just as fire is inclined to move | |
| 2252 upward, so too is charity; so much so that it joins us to God: | |
| 2253 “He who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” | |
| 2254 (1Jn 4:16).</p> | |
| 2255 <p>Finally, John had an intellect that was <span style= | |
| 2256 "font-weight: bold">burning brightly.</span> First, it was bright | |
| 2257 within, because of his knowledge of the truth: “The Lord will | |
| 2258 fill your soul with brightness,” i.e., he will make it shine | |
| 2259 (Is 58:11). Secondly, it was bright without, because of his | |
| 2260 preaching: “You will shine in the world among them like | |
| 2261 stars, containing the word of life” (Phil 2:15). Thirdly, it | |
| 2262 was bright because it manifested good works: “Let your light | |
| 2263 so shine before men that they may see your good works” (Mt | |
| 2264 5:16).</p> | |
| 2265 <p>813 And so, because John was of himself so acceptable—for | |
| 2266 he was a lamp, not smothered out but blazing, not dark but burning | |
| 2267 brightly—he deserved to be accepted by you, as indeed he was, | |
| 2268 because <span style="font-weight: bold">for a time you yourselves | |
| 2269 exulted in his light.</span> He fittingly links their exulting or | |
| 2270 rejoicing with light; because a man rejoices most is that which | |
| 2271 most pleases him. And among physical things nothing is more | |
| 2272 pleasant than light, according to: “It is a delight for the | |
| 2273 eyes to see the sun” (Sir 11:7). He says, <span style= | |
| 2274 "font-weight: bold">you yourselves exulted in his light,</span> | |
| 2275 i.e., you rested in John and put your end in him, thinking that he | |
| 2276 was the Messiah. But you did this only <span style= | |
| 2277 "font-weight: bold">for a time,</span> because you wavered on this; | |
| 2278 for when you saw that John was leading men to another, and not to | |
| 2279 himself, you turned away from him. Thus we read in Matthew (21:32) | |
| 2280 that the Jews did not believe in John. They belonged to that group | |
| 2281 referred to by Matthew (13:21 ) as believing “for a | |
| 2282 while.”</p> | |
| 2283 <p>814 Then (v 36), he presents the divine testimony. First, he | |
| 2284 mentions its greatness; and then he continues on to describe | |
| 2285 it.</p> | |
| 2286 <p>815 He says: I do not need proof from men for my sake, but for | |
| 2287 your sake, for <span style="font-weight: bold">I have testimony | |
| 2288 that is greater than that of John,</span> that is, the testimony of | |
| 2289 God, which is greater than the testimony of John: “If we | |
| 2290 receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is | |
| 2291 greater” (1 Jn 5:9), It is greater, I say, because of its | |
| 2292 greater authority, greater knowledge, and infallible truth, for God | |
| 2293 cannot deceive: “God is not like man, a liar” (Nm | |
| 2294 23:19).</p> | |
| 2295 <p>816 God bore witness to Christ in three ways: by works, by | |
| 2296 himself, and by the Scriptures. First, he mentions his witness as | |
| 2297 given by the working of miracles; secondly, the way God gave | |
| 2298 witness by himself (v 37); thirdly, the witness given through the | |
| 2299 Scriptures (v 39).</p> | |
| 2300 <p>817 He says first: <span style="font-weight: bold">I have | |
| 2301 testimony that is greater than that of John,</span> that is, my | |
| 2302 works, i.e., the working of miracles, <span style= | |
| 2303 "font-weight: bold">the very works which my Father has given me to | |
| 2304 perform.</span> We should point out that it is natural for man to | |
| 2305 learn of the power and natures of things from their actions, and | |
| 2306 therefore our Lord fittingly says that the sort of person he is can | |
| 2307 be learned through the works he does. So, since he performed divine | |
| 2308 works by his own power, we should believe that he has divine power | |
| 2309 within him: “If I had not done among them the works which no | |
| 2310 one else did, they would not have sin,” that is, the sin of | |
| 2311 unbelief (below 15:24). And so he leads them to a knowledge of | |
| 2312 himself by appealing to his works, saying, <span style= | |
| 2313 "font-weight: bold">the very works which my Father has given | |
| 2314 me</span> in the Word, through an eternal generation, by giving me | |
| 2315 a power equal to his own. Or we could say, <span style= | |
| 2316 "font-weight: bold">the very works which my Father has given | |
| 2317 me,</span> in my conception, by making me one person who is both | |
| 2318 God and man, <span style="font-weight: bold">to perform,</span> | |
| 2319 i.e., to perform them by my own power. He says this to distinguish | |
| 2320 himself from those who do not perforrn miracles by their own power | |
| 2321 but have to obtain it as a favor from God; thus Peter says: | |
| 2322 “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth: stand up” | |
| 2323 (Acts 3:6). Thus it was God, and not themselves, who accomplished | |
| 2324 these works; but Christ accomplished them by his own power: | |
| 2325 “Lazarus, come forth,” as John reports below (11:43). | |
| 2326 Accordingly, <span style="font-weight: bold">those works that I | |
| 2327 myself perform—they bear witness to me;</span> “If you | |
| 2328 do not believe me, at least believe my works” (below 10:38). | |
| 2329 We see from Mark (16:20) that God bears witness by the working of | |
| 2330 miracles: “The Lord worked with them and confirmed the word | |
| 2331 by the signs that followed.”</p> | |
| 2332 <p>818 Then (v 37), he presents the second way God bore witness to | |
| 2333 Christ, namely, by himself. First, he mentions the way; secondly, | |
| 2334 he shows that they were not able to receive this testimony.</p> | |
| 2335 <p>819 He says: It is not only the works which my Father has given | |
| 2336 me to perform that bear witness to me, but <span style= | |
| 2337 "font-weight: bold">the Father who sent me has himself given | |
| 2338 testimony on my behalf:</span> in the Jordan, when Christ was | |
| 2339 baptized (Mt 3:17); and on the mountain, when Christ was | |
| 2340 transfigured (Mt 17:5). For on both these occasions the voice of | |
| 2341 the Father was heard: “This is my beloved Son.” And so | |
| 2342 they should believe in Christ, as the true and natural Son of God: | |
| 2343 “This is the testimony of God: he has borne witness to his | |
| 2344 Son” ( 1 Jn 5:9). Consequently, anyone who does not believe | |
| 2345 that he is the Son of God, does not believe in the testimony of | |
| 2346 God.</p> | |
| 2347 <p>820 Someone could say that God also gave testimony to others by | |
| 2348 himself: for example, to Moses, on the mountain, with whom God | |
| 2349 spoke while others were present. We, however, never heard his | |
| 2350 testimony, as the Lord says: <span style="font-weight: bold">you | |
| 2351 have neither heard his voice.</span> On the other hand, we read in | |
| 2352 Deuteronomy (4:33): Did it ever happen before that the people heard | |
| 2353 the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you heard, and | |
| 2354 have lived?” Then how can Christ say: <span style= | |
| 2355 "font-weight: bold">you have neither heard his voice?</span></p> | |
| 2356 <p>I reply, according to Chrysostom, that the Lord wishes to show | |
| 2357 those established in a philosophical frame of mind that God gives | |
| 2358 testimony to someone in two ways, namely, sensibly and | |
| 2359 intelligibly. Sensibly, as by a sensible voice only; and in this | |
| 2360 way he gave witness to Moses on Mount Sinai: “You heard his | |
| 2361 voice, and saw no form at all” (Dt 4:12). Likewise, he gives | |
| 2362 testimony by a sensible form, as he appeared to Abraham (Gn 26), | |
| 2363 and to Isaiah: “I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty | |
| 2364 throne” (Is 6:1). However, in these visions, neither the | |
| 2365 audible voice nor the visible figure were like anything in the | |
| 2366 animal kingdom, except efficiently, in the sense that these were | |
| 2367 formed by God. For since God is a spirit, he neither emits audible | |
| 2368 sounds nor can he be portrayed as a figure. But he does bear | |
| 2369 testimony in an intelligible manner by inspiring in the hearts of | |
| 2370 certain persons what they ought to believe and to hold: “I | |
| 2371 will hear what the Lord God will speak within me” (Ps 84:9); | |
| 2372 “I will lead her into the wilderness and there I will speak | |
| 2373 to her heart,” as we read in Hosea (2:14).</p> | |
| 2374 <p>Now you were able to receive the testimony given in the first of | |
| 2375 these ways; and this is not surprising, because they were the words | |
| 2376 and image of God only efficiently, as was said. But they were not | |
| 2377 able to receive the testimony given in that intelligible voice; so | |
| 2378 he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">you have neither heard his | |
| 2379 voice,</span> i.e., you were not among those who shared in it. | |
| 2380 “Everyone who has heard the Father and has learned, comes to | |
| 2381 me” (below 6:45). But you do not come to me. Therefore, | |
| 2382 <span style="font-weight: bold">you have neither heard his voice | |
| 2383 nor seen his image,</span> i.e., you do not have his intelligible | |
| 2384 testimony. Hence he adds: <span style="font-weight: bold">and you | |
| 2385 do not have his word abiding in your hearts,</span> i.e., you do | |
| 2386 not have his word that is inwardly inspired. And the reason is, | |
| 2387 <span style="font-weight: bold">for you do not believe in him whom | |
| 2388 he,</span> the Father, <span style="font-weight: bold">has | |
| 2389 sent</span>. For the word of God leads to Christ, since Christ | |
| 2390 himself is the natural Word of God. But every word inspired by God | |
| 2391 is a certain participated likeness of that Word. Therefore, since | |
| 2392 every participated likeness leads to its original, it is clear that | |
| 2393 every word inspired by God leads to Christ. And so, because you are | |
| 2394 not led to me, <span style="font-weight: bold">you do not have his | |
| 2395 word,</span> i.e., the inspired word of God, <span style= | |
| 2396 "font-weight: bold">abiding in your hearts.</span> “He who | |
| 2397 does not believe in the Son of God does not have life abiding in | |
| 2398 him,” as it says below (sic). He says <span style= | |
| 2399 "font-weight: bold">abiding,</span> because although there is no | |
| 2400 one who does not have some truth from God, they alone have the | |
| 2401 truth and the word abiding in them whose knowledge has progressed | |
| 2402 to the point where they have reached a knowledge of the true and | |
| 2403 natural Word.</p> | |
| 2404 <p>821 Or we could say that, <span style="font-weight: bold">you | |
| 2405 have neither heard his voice,</span> can be taken as showing the | |
| 2406 three ways in which God reveals things. This is done either by a | |
| 2407 sensible voice, as he bore witness to Christ in the Jordan and on | |
| 2408 the mountain, as in 2 Peter (1:16): “We were eyewitnesses of | |
| 2409 his greatness. For he received honor and glory from God the Father, | |
| 2410 when a voice came from the heavens.” And the Jews did not | |
| 2411 hear this. Or, God reveals things through a vision of his essence, | |
| 2412 which he reveals to the blessed. And they did not see this, because | |
| 2413 “while we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord” | |
| 2414 (2 Cor 5:6). Thirdly, it is accomplished by an interior word | |
| 2415 through an inspiration; and the Jews did not have this either.</p> | |
| 2416 <p>822 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Search | |
| 2417 the Scriptures,</span> he gives the third way in which God bore | |
| 2418 witness to Christ, through the Scriptures. First, he mentions the | |
| 2419 testimony of the Scriptures. Secondly, he shows that they were not | |
| 2420 able to gather the fruit of this testimony (v 40).</p> | |
| 2421 <p>823 He says: <span style="font-weight: bold">Search the | |
| 2422 Scriptures.</span> As if to say: You do not have the word of God in | |
| 2423 your hearts, but in the Scriptures; therefore, you must seek for it | |
| 2424 elsewhere than in your hearts. Hence, <span style= | |
| 2425 "font-weight: bold">Search the Scriptures,</span> that is, the Old | |
| 2426 Testament, for the faith of Christ was contained in the Old | |
| 2427 Testament, but not on the surface, for it lay hidden in its depths, | |
| 2428 under shadowy symbols: “Even to this day, when Moses is read, | |
| 2429 a veil is over their hearts” (2 Cor 3:15). Thus he | |
| 2430 significantly says, Search, probe into the depths: “If you | |
| 2431 search for her [wisdom] like money, and dig for her like a | |
| 2432 treasure, you will understand the fear of the Lord and will find | |
| 2433 the knowledge of God” (Prv 2:4); “Give me understanding | |
| 2434 and I will search your commandments” (Ps 118:34).</p> | |
| 2435 <p>The reason why you should search them I take from your own | |
| 2436 opinion, because <span style="font-weight: bold">you think you have | |
| 2437 eternal life in them,</span> since we read in Ezekiel (18:19): | |
| 2438 “He who has kept my commands will live.” But you are | |
| 2439 mistaken; because although the precepts of the old law are living, | |
| 2440 they do not contain life in themselves. They are said to be living | |
| 2441 only to the extent that they lead to me, the Christ. Yet you use | |
| 2442 them as though they contained life in themselves, and in this you | |
| 2443 are mistaken, for they bear witness to me, i.e., they are living to | |
| 2444 the extent that they lead to a knowledge of me. And they lead to a | |
| 2445 knowledge of me either by plain prophecies, as in Isaiah (7:14): | |
| 2446 “A virgin will conceive.” or in Deuteronomy (18:15): | |
| 2447 “The Lord your God will raise up a prophet for you.”; | |
| 2448 and so Acts (10:43) says: “All the prophets bear witness to | |
| 2449 him.” The Scriptures also lead to a knowledge of Christ | |
| 2450 through the symbolic actions of the prophets; thus we read: | |
| 2451 “I have used resemblences in the ministry of the | |
| 2452 prophets” (Hos 12:10). Knowledge of Christ is also given in | |
| 2453 their sacraments and figures, as in the immolation of’ the | |
| 2454 lamb, and other symbolic sacraments of the law: “The law has | |
| 2455 only a shadow of the good things to come” (Heb 10:1). And so, | |
| 2456 because “the Scriptures of the Old Testament gave much | |
| 2457 testimony about Christ, the Apostle says: “He promised the | |
| 2458 Good News before, through his prophets in the holy Scriptures; the | |
| 2459 Good News of his Son, a descendant of David in his human | |
| 2460 nature” (Rom 1:2).</p> | |
| 2461 <p>824 The fruit which you think you have in the Scriptures, that | |
| 2462 is, eternal life, you will not be able to obtain, because in not | |
| 2463 believing the testimonies of the Scriptures about me, <span style= | |
| 2464 "font-weight: bold">you are unwilling to come to me,</span> i.e., | |
| 2465 you do not wish to believe in me, in whom the fruit of these | |
| 2466 Scriptures exists, <span style="font-weight: bold">in order to | |
| 2467 possess that life</span> in me, the life which I give to those who | |
| 2468 believe in me: “I give them eternal life” (below | |
| 2469 10:28); “Wisdom infuses life into her children” (Sir | |
| 2470 4:12); “He who finds me will find life, and will have | |
| 2471 salvation from the Lord” (Prv 8:35).</p> | |
| 2472 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 2473 </p> | |
| 2474 <p style="text-align: center"><span style= | |
| 2475 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 7</span></p> | |
| 2476 <blockquote> | |
| 2477 <p style="margin-left: 0.5in">41 “Praise from men I do not | |
| 2478 need,<br /> | |
| 2479 42 but I know you,<br /> | |
| 2480 and you do not have the love of God in your hearts.<br /> | |
| 2481 43 I have come in my Father’s name,<br /> | |
| 2482 and yet you do not accept me.<br /> | |
| 2483 If someone else came in his own name,<br /> | |
| 2484 you would be accepting him.<br /> | |
| 2485 44 How can people like you believe,<br /> | |
| 2486 when you crave praise from each other,<br /> | |
| 2487 and yet not even ask for that one praise<br /> | |
| 2488 which is from God alone?<br /> | |
| 2489 45 Do not think that I will accuse you<br /> | |
| 2490 before my Father.<br /> | |
| 2491 The one who accuses you is Moses,<br /> | |
| 2492 in whom you place your trust.<br /> | |
| 2493 46 If you believed Moses,<br /> | |
| 2494 you would perhaps believe me as well,<br /> | |
| 2495 for it was about me that he wrote.<br /> | |
| 2496 47 But if you do not believe in his written statements,<br /> | |
| 2497 how will you believe in my spoken words?”</p> | |
| 2498 </blockquote> | |
| 2499 <p>825 After God confirmed the greatness of his power by the | |
| 2500 testimonies of men, of’God, and of’ the Scriptures, he | |
| 2501 here rebukes the Jews for being slow to believe. Now the Jews | |
| 2502 persecuted Christ on two grounds: for breaking the Sabbath, by | |
| 2503 which he seemed to go against the law, and for saying that he is | |
| 2504 the Son of God, by which he seemed to go against God. Thus they | |
| 2505 persecuted him on account of their reverence for God and their zeal | |
| 2506 for the law. And so our Lord wishes to show that their persecution | |
| 2507 of him was really inspired not by these motives, but by contrary | |
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2508 reasons.</p> |
| 35 | 2509 <p>He first shows that the cause of their unbelief was their lack |
| 2510 of reverence for God. Secondly, that another cause of their | |
| 2511 unbelief was their lack of reverence for Moses (v 45). As to the | |
| 2512 first he does two things. First, he shows their irreverence for | |
| 2513 God. Secondly, he shows that this is the cause of their unbelief (v | |
| 2514 44). Concerning the first he does two things. First, he mentions | |
| 2515 their lack of reverence for God. Secondly, he makes this obvious by | |
| 2516 a sign (v 43). With respect to the first he does two things. First, | |
| 2517 he rejects what they might have assumed to be his intention, from | |
| 2518 what he had said before. Secondly, he presents his real intention | |
| 2519 (v 42).</p> | |
| 2520 <p>826 The Jews might have assumed that Christ was seeking some | |
| 2521 kind of praise from men, since he had reminded them of so many | |
| 2522 witnesses to himself, as John, God, his own works, and the | |
| 2523 testimony of the Scriptures. Against this thought he says, | |
| 2524 <span style="font-weight: bold">Praise from men I do not | |
| 2525 need,</span> i.e., I do not seek praise from men; for I have not | |
| 2526 come to be an example of one seeking human glory: “We did not | |
| 2527 seek glory from men” (1 Thes 2:6). Or, <span style= | |
| 2528 "font-weight: bold">Praise from men I do not need</span>, i.e., I | |
| 2529 do not need human praise, because from eternity I have glory with | |
| 2530 the Father: “Glorify me, Father, with the glory I had before | |
| 2531 the world was made” (below 17:5). For I have not come to be | |
| 2532 glorified by men, but rather to glorify them, since all glory | |
| 2533 proceeds from me (Wis 7:25) [“Wisdom is a pure emanation of | |
| 2534 the glory of the almighty God.”] It is through this wisdom | |
| 2535 that I have glory. God is said to be praised and glorified by | |
| 2536 men—“Glorify the Lord as much as you are able; he will | |
| 2537 still surpass even that” (Sir 43:30)—not that he might | |
| 2538 become by this more glorious, but so that he might appear glorious | |
| 2539 among us.</p> | |
| 2540 <p>827 Thus Christ presented the various testimonies to himself not | |
| 2541 for the reason they thought, but for another one: because | |
| 2542 <span style="font-weight: bold">I know you,</span> i.e., I have | |
| 2543 made known about you, that <span style="font-weight: bold">you do | |
| 2544 not have the love of God in your hearts,</span> although you | |
| 2545 pretend to have it. And so you are not persecuting me because of | |
| 2546 your love for God. You would be persecuting me for the love of God | |
| 2547 if God and the Scriptures did not bear witness to me; but God | |
| 2548 himself bears. witness to me by himself, his works and in the | |
| 2549 Scriptures, as has been said. Consequently, if you truly loved God, | |
| 2550 then so far from rejecting me, you would come to me. You, | |
| 2551 therefore, do not love God.</p> | |
| 2552 <p>Another interpretation would be this. It is as though he were | |
| 2553 saying: I have not brought in these witnesses because I wanted your | |
| 2554 praise; but I know you do not love God and your waywardness makes | |
| 2555 me sad, and I want to lead you back to the way of truth: “Now | |
| 2556 they have seen and hated both me and my Father” (below | |
| 2557 15:24); “The pride of those who hate you continuously | |
| 2558 rises,” as the Psalm (73:23) says.</p> | |
| 2559 <p>828 Here we should point out that God cannot be hated in himself | |
| 2560 by anyone, nor can he be hated with respect to all his effects, | |
| 2561 since every good in things comes from God, and it is impossible for | |
| 2562 anyone to hate all good, for he will at least love existence and | |
| 2563 life. But someone may hate some effect of God, insofar as this is | |
| 2564 opposed to what he desires: for example, he might hate punishment, | |
| 2565 and things of that sort. It is from this point of view that God is | |
| 2566 said to be hated.</p> | |
| 2567 <p>829 Then (v 43), he gives a sign that they do not love God. | |
| 2568 First, a present sign; secondly, a future sign (v 43b).</p> | |
| 2569 <p>830 The present sign concerns his own coming; so he says, | |
| 2570 <span style="font-weight: bold">I have come in my Father’s | |
| 2571 name.</span> As if to say: What I say is obvious, for if one loves | |
| 2572 his Lord, it is clear that he will honor and receive one who comes | |
| 2573 from him, and seek to honor him. But <span style= | |
| 2574 "font-weight: bold">I have come in my Father’s name,</span> | |
| 2575 and I make his name known to the world: “I have made your | |
| 2576 name known to those you have given me” (below 17:6), | |
| 2577 <span style="font-weight: bold">and yet you do not accept | |
| 2578 me.</span> Therefore, you do not love him. The Son is said to make | |
| 2579 his Father known to men because, although the Father, as God, was | |
| 2580 known—“God is known in Judah” (Ps 75:1)—yet | |
| 2581 he was not known as the natural Father of the Son before Christ | |
| 2582 came. Thus Solomon asked: “What is his name? And what is the | |
| 2583 name of his son?” Prv 30:4).</p> | |
| 2584 <p>831 The future sign concerns the coming of the Antichrist. For | |
| 2585 the Jews could say: Although you come in his name, we have not | |
| 2586 accepted you, because we will not accept anyone but God the Father. | |
| 2587 The Lord speaks against this, and says that it cannot be, because | |
| 2588 you will accept another, who will come, not in the Father’s | |
| 2589 name, but in his own name; and what is more, he will come, not in | |
| 2590 the name of the Father, but <span style="font-weight: bold">in his | |
| 2591 own name,</span> precisely because he will not seek the glory of | |
| 2592 the Father but his own. And whatever he does, he will attribute it, | |
| 2593 not to the Father, but to himself: “who opposes and is | |
| 2594 exalted above all that is called God, or is worshipped” (2 | |
| 2595 Thes 2:4). <span style="font-weight: bold">You would be accepting | |
| 2596 him;</span> and so the Apostle continues in the same letter: | |
| 2597 “God will send them a misleading influence so that they might | |
| 2598 believe what is false” (2 Thes 2:11). And this, because they | |
| 2599 did not accept the true teaching, that they might be saved. So the | |
| 2600 Gloss says: “Because the Jews were unwilling to accept | |
| 2601 Christ, the penalty for this sin will be, fittingly enough, that | |
| 2602 they will receive the Antichrist; with the result that those who | |
| 2603 were unwilling to believe the truth, will believe a lie.”</p> | |
| 2604 <p>According to Augustine, however, we can understand this text as | |
| 2605 applying to heretics and false teachers: who spread a teaching that | |
| 2606 comes from their own hearts and not from the mouth of God, and who | |
| 2607 praise themselves and despise the name of God. Of such persons it | |
| 2608 is written: “You have heard that the Antichrist is coming; | |
| 2609 and now many antichrists have appeared” (1 Jn 2:18). So it is | |
| 2610 clear that your persecution of me does not spring from your love | |
| 2611 for God, but from your hatred and envy of him. And this was the | |
| 2612 reason why they did not believe.</p> | |
| 2613 <p>832 He concludes: <span style="font-weight: bold">How can people | |
| 2614 like you believe, when you crave praise from each other,</span> | |
| 2615 i.e., human praise, <span style="font-weight: bold">and yet not | |
| 2616 even ask for that one praise which is from God alone?</span> which | |
| 2617 is true glory. The reason they could not believe in Christ was | |
| 2618 that, since their proud minds were craving their own glory and | |
| 2619 praise, they considered themselves superior to others in glory, and | |
| 2620 regarded it as a disgrace to believe in Christ, who seemed common | |
| 2621 and poor. And this was why they could not believe in him. The one | |
| 2622 who can believe in Christ is the person of humble heart, who seeks | |
| 2623 the glory of God alone, and who strives to please him. And so we | |
| 2624 read: “Many of the leaders believed in him; but they did not | |
| 2625 admit it because of the Pharisees, so that they would not be | |
| 2626 expelled from the synagogue” (below 12:42). We can see from | |
| 2627 this just how dangerous vainglory is. For this reason Cicero says: | |
| 2628 “Let a man beware of that glory that robs him of all freedom; | |
| 2629 that freedom for which a man of great spirit should risk | |
| 2630 everything.” And the Gloss says: “It is a great vice to | |
| 2631 boast and to strive for human praise: to desire that others think | |
| 2632 you have what you really do not have.”</p> | |
| 2633 <p>833 Then (v 45), he shows that they do not have zeal for Moses. | |
| 2634 First, how Moses was against them. Secondly, he gives the reason | |
| 2635 for this opposition (v 46). As to the first he does two things | |
| 2636 First, he rejects their false zeal; secondly, he shows them true | |
| 2637 zeal, <span style="font-weight: bold">The one who accuses you is | |
| 2638 Moses.</span></p> | |
| 2639 <p>834 As to the first he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">Do | |
| 2640 not think that I will accuse you before my Father.</span> There are | |
| 2641 three reasons for his saying this. First, the Son of God did not | |
| 2642 come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. So he | |
| 2643 says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not think</span> that I | |
| 2644 have come to condemn, I have come to free: “God did not send | |
| 2645 his Son into the world to judge the world,” that is, to | |
| 2646 condemn the world, “but that the world might be saved through | |
| 2647 him” (above 3:17). And so the blood of Christ cries out, not | |
| 2648 to accuse, but to forgive: “We have the blood of Christ, | |
| 2649 crying out better than that of Abel” (Heb 12:24), whose blood | |
| 2650 cried out to accuse; “Who will accuse God’s elect? It | |
| 2651 is Christ who justifies. Who is it, then, who will condemn?” | |
| 2652 (Rom 8:33). As to his second reason for saying this, he says: | |
| 2653 <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not think that I will accuse you | |
| 2654 before my Father,</span> because I will not be the one to accuse | |
| 2655 you, but to judge you: “The Father has given all judgment to | |
| 2656 the Son” (above 5:22). The third reason is: <span style= | |
| 2657 "font-weight: bold">Do not think that I,</span> i.e., I alone, | |
| 2658 <span style="font-weight: bold">will accuse you before my | |
| 2659 Father</span> for what you are doing to me; for even Moses will | |
| 2660 accuse you for not believing him in the things he said of me.</p> | |
| 2661 <p>835 Consequently he adds: <span style="font-weight: bold">The | |
| 2662 one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you place your trust,</span> | |
| 2663 because you believe you are saved through his precepts. Moses | |
| 2664 accuses them in two ways. Materially, because they deserved to be | |
| 2665 accused for transgressing his commands: “Those who have | |
| 2666 sinned under the law, will be judged by the law” (Rom 2:12). | |
| 2667 Again, Moses accuses them because he and the other saints will have | |
| 2668 authority in the judgment: “The two-edged swords will be in | |
| 2669 their hands” (Ps 149:6).</p> | |
| 2670 <p>836 He presents the reason for this opposition when he says: | |
| 2671 <span style="font-weight: bold">If you believed Moses, you would | |
| 2672 perhaps believe me as well,</span> as is clear from “The Lord | |
| 2673 your God will raise up a prophet for you, from your nation and your | |
| 2674 brothers; he will be like me: you will listen to him” (Dt | |
| 2675 18:15), and from all the sacrifices, which were a symbol of Christ. | |
| 2676 He says, perhaps, to indicate that their will acts from a free | |
| 2677 judgment, and not to imply that there is any doubt on the part of | |
| 2678 God.</p> | |
| 2679 <p>837 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">But if | |
| 2680 you do not believe in his written statements, how will you believe | |
| 2681 in my spoken words?</span> he gives a sign of this opposition. He | |
| 2682 does this by comparing two things, and then denying of the lesser | |
| 2683 of them what is denied of the greater. First, there is a comparison | |
| 2684 between Moses and Christ: for although Christ, absolutely speaking, | |
| 2685 is greater than Moses, Moses was the greater in reputation among | |
| 2686 the Jews. Thus he says: If you do not believe Moses, you will not | |
| 2687 believe me either. Secondly, he compares the way in which they | |
| 2688 presented their teaching: Moses gave his precepts in a written | |
| 2689 form; and so they can be studied for a long time, and are not | |
| 2690 easily forgotten. Hence they impose a stronger obligation to | |
| 2691 believe. But Christ presented his teachings in spoken words. Thus | |
| 2692 he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">But if you do not believe | |
| 2693 in his written statements,</span> which you have preserved in your | |
| 2694 <span style="font-weight: bold">books, how will you believe in my | |
| 2695 spoken words?</span></p> | |
| 2696 </blockquote> | |
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