Mercurial > hg > Aquinas
annotate john/english/John8.html @ 35:178aed5d2c3c
convert to XML
| author | ht |
|---|---|
| date | Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:05:42 +0000 |
| parents | 25a799388159 |
| children |
| rev | line source |
|---|---|
| 35 | 1 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" |
| 2 "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> | |
| 3 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> | |
|
31
25a799388159
originals from http://www.josephkenny.joyeurs.com/CDtexts/SSJohn.htm
ht
parents:
diff
changeset
|
4 <head> |
| 35 | 5 <meta name="generator" content= |
| 6 "HTML Tidy for Cygwin (vers 25 March 2009), see www.w3.org" /> | |
| 7 <title></title> | |
|
31
25a799388159
originals from http://www.josephkenny.joyeurs.com/CDtexts/SSJohn.htm
ht
parents:
diff
changeset
|
8 </head> |
| 35 | 9 <body style="text-align:justify"> |
| 10 <blockquote> | |
| 11 <p style="text-align: center"><span style= | |
| 12 "font-size: 60pt">8</span></p> | |
| 13 <p align="center"><b>LECTURE I</b></p> | |
| 14 <blockquote>1 Jesus however proceeded to the Mount of Olives, 2 and | |
| 15 early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people | |
| 16 came to him, and sitting down, he taught them. 3 Then the scribes | |
| 17 and Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery and placed her | |
| 18 in their midst. 4 They said to him, "Master, this woman has just | |
| 19 now been caught in adultery. 5 In the Law, Moses commanded us to | |
| 20 stone such a woman. But what do you say?" 6 (They said this to test | |
| 21 him so that they could accuse him.) But Jesus bending down wrote on | |
| 22 the ground with his finger. 7 As they persisted in the question, he | |
| 23 stood up and said to them: "Whoever among you is without sin, let | |
| 24 him be the first to cast a stone at her." 8 And again bending down, | |
| 25 he wrote on the ground. 9 On hearing this, one after the other | |
| 26 departed, beginning with the oldest, and there remained only Jesus | |
| 27 and the woman standing there in the center. 10 Rising up, Jesus | |
| 28 asked the woman: "Woman, where are those who accuse you? Has no one | |
| 29 condemned you?" 11 To which she replied, "No one, Lord." Then Jesus | |
| 30 said: "Nor will I condemn you. Go and do not sin | |
| 31 again."</blockquote> | |
| 32 <p>1118 After having treated of the origin of the doctrine of | |
| 33 Christ, the Evangelist here considers its power. Now the doctrine | |
| 34 of Christ has the power both to enlighten and to give life, because | |
| 35 his words are spirit and life. So first, he treats of the power of | |
| 36 Christ's doctrine to enlighten; secondly, of its power to give life | |
| 37 (10:1). He shows the power of Christ's doctrine to enlighten, first | |
| 38 by words; and secondly, by a miracle (9:1). As to the first, he | |
| 39 does two things: first, he presents the teaching of Christ; | |
| 40 secondly, he shows the power of his teaching (8:12).</p> | |
| 41 <p>There are two things that pertain to the office of a teacher: to | |
| 42 instruct the devout or sincere, and to repel opponents. So first, | |
| 43 Christ instructs those who are sincere; and secondly, he repels his | |
| 44 opponents (v 3). The Evangelist does three things with respect to | |
| 45 the first: first, he mentions the place where this teaching takes | |
| 46 place; secondly, he mentions those who listened to it; and thirdly, | |
| 47 the teacher. This teaching took place in the temple; so he first | |
| 48 mentions that Jesus left the temple, and then that he returned.</p> | |
| 49 <p>1119 He mentions that Jesus left the temple when he says, | |
| 50 <b>Jesus however proceeded to the Mount of Olives</b>. For our Lord | |
| 51 made it his practice, when he was at Jerusalem on the festival | |
| 52 days, to preach in the temple and to work miracles and signs during | |
| 53 the day, and when evening came, he would return to Bethany (which | |
| 54 was on the Mount of Olives) as the guest of Lazarus' sisters, | |
| 55 Martha and Mary. With this in mind, the Evangelist says that since | |
| 56 Jesus had remained in the temple and preached on the last day of | |
| 57 the great feast, in the evening, Jesus proceeded to the Mount of | |
| 58 Olives, where Bethany was located.</p> | |
| 59 <p>And this is appropriate to a mystery: for as Augustine says, | |
| 60 where was it appropriate for Christ to teach and show his mercy, if | |
| 61 not on the Mount of Olives, the mount of anointing and of grace. | |
| 62 The olive (<i>oliva</i>) signifies mercy; so also in Greek, | |
| 63 <i>oleos</i> is the same as mercy. And Luke (10:24) tells us that | |
| 64 the Samaritan applied oil and wine, which correspond to mercy and | |
| 65 the stringency of judgment. Again, oil is healing: "Wounds and | |
| 66 bruises and swelling sores are not bandaged or dressed, or soothed | |
| 67 with oil" (Is 1:6). It also signifies the medicine of spiritual | |
| 68 grace which has been transmitted to us by Christ: "God, your God, | |
| 69 has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows" (Ps | |
| 70 44:8); and again, "like the precious ointment on the head which ran | |
| 71 down upon the beard (Ps 132:2); and in Job we read that "The rock | |
| 72 poured out rivers of oil" (Jb 29:6).</p> | |
| 73 <p>1120 Christ's return to the temple is described as being early; | |
| 74 thus he says, <b>and early in the morning he came again to the | |
| 75 temple</b>. This signifies that he was about to impart knowledge | |
| 76 and manifest his grace in his temple, that is, in his believers: | |
| 77 "We have received your mercy, O God, in the middle of your temple" | |
| 78 (Ps 47:10). The fact that he returned early in the morning | |
| 79 signifies the rising light of new grace: "His going forth is as | |
| 80 sure as the dawn" (Hos 6:3).</p> | |
| 81 <p>1121 Those who listened to his teaching were the sincere among | |
| 82 the people; thus he says, <b>all the people came to him</b>: "The | |
| 83 assembly of the people will surround you" (Ps 7:8).</p> | |
| 84 <p>1122 Their teacher is presented as seated, and sitting down, | |
| 85 that is, going down to their level, so that his teaching would be | |
| 86 more easily understood. His sitting down signifies the humility of | |
| 87 his incarnation: "You knew when I sat down, and when I rose" (Ps | |
| 88 138:1). Because it was through the human nature that our Lord | |
| 89 assumed that he became visible, we began to be instructed in the | |
| 90 divine matters more easily. So he says, sitting down, he taught | |
| 91 them, that is, the simple, and those who respected his teaching: | |
| 92 "He will teach his ways to the gentle, and will guide the mild in | |
| 93 judgment" (Ps 24:9); "He will teach us his ways (Is 2:3).</p> | |
| 94 <p>1123 Then (v 3), our Lord wards off his opponents. First, we see | |
| 95 him tested, so that he can then be accused; and secondly, he checks | |
| 96 his accusers (v 6b). As to the first, the Evangelist does three | |
| 97 things: first, he mentions the occasion for the test; secondly, he | |
| 98 describes the test itself (v 4); and thirdly, the purpose of those | |
| 99 who were testing our Lord.</p> | |
| 100 <p>1124 The occasion for the test is a woman's adultery. And so | |
| 101 first, her accusers detail the crime; and also exhibit the sinner. | |
| 102 As to the first, the Evangelist says, <b>Then the scribes and | |
| 103 Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery.</b> As Augustine | |
| 104 says, three things were noteworthy about Christ: his truth, his | |
| 105 gentleness, and his justice. Indeed, it was predicted about him: | |
| 106 "Go forth and reign, because of truth, gentleness, and justice" (Ps | |
| 107 44:5). For he set forth the truth as a teacher; and the Pharisees | |
| 108 and scribes noticed this while he was teaching: "If I speak the | |
| 109 truth, why do you not believe me?" (8:46). Since they could find | |
| 110 nothing false in his words or his teachings, they had ceased their | |
| 111 accusations on that score. He showed his gentleness as a liberator | |
| 112 or savior; and they saw this when he could not be provoked against | |
| 113 his enemies and persecutors: "When he was reviled, he did not | |
| 114 revile" (1 Pet 2:23). Thus Matthew has: "Learn from me, for I am | |
| 115 gentle and humble of heart" (11:29). Thus they did not accuse him | |
| 116 on this point. And he exercised justice as its advocate; he did | |
| 117 this because it was not yet known among the Jews, especially in | |
| 118 legal proceedings. It was on this point that they wanted to test | |
| 119 him, to see if he would abandon justice for the sake of mercy. So | |
| 120 they present him with a known crime, deserving denunciation, | |
| 121 adultery: "Every woman who is a harlot will be walked on like dung | |
| 122 on the road" (Sir 9:10). Then they present the sinner in person to | |
| 123 further influence him: and placed her in their midst. "This woman | |
| 124 will be brought into the assembly, and among the sons of God" (Sir | |
| 125 23:24).</p> | |
| 126 <p>1125 The Evangelist shows them proceeding with their test. | |
| 127 First, they point out the woman's fault; secondly, they state the | |
| 128 justice of the case according to the Law; thirdly, they ask him for | |
| 129 his verdict.</p> | |
| 130 <p>1126 They point out the woman's fault when they say this woman | |
| 131 has just now been caught in adultery. They detail her fault in | |
| 132 three ways, calculated to deflect Christ from his gentle manner. | |
| 133 First, they mention the freshness of her fault, saying <b>just | |
| 134 now</b>; for an old fault does not affect us so much, because the | |
| 135 person might have made amends. Secondly, they note its certainty, | |
| 136 saying, caught, so that she could not excuse herself. This is | |
| 137 characteristic of women, as we see from Proverbs (33:20): "She | |
| 138 wipes her mouth and says: 'I have done no evil." "Thirdly, they | |
| 139 point out that her fault is great, in adultery, which is a serious | |
| 140 crime and the cause of many evils. "Every woman who is an | |
| 141 adulterous will sin" (Sir 9), and first of all against the law of | |
| 142 her God.</p> | |
| 143 <p>1127 They appeal to the justice contained in the Law when they | |
| 144 remark, <b>in the Law</b>, that is, in Leviticus (20:10) and in | |
| 145 Deuteronomy (22:21), Moses commanded us to stone such a woman.</p> | |
| 146 <p>1128 They ask Jesus for his verdict when they say, <b>But what | |
| 147 do you say?</b> Their question is a trap, for they are saying in | |
| 148 effect: If he decides that she should be let go, he will not be | |
| 149 acting according to justice, yet he cannot condemn her because he | |
| 150 came to seek and to save those who are lost: "God did not send his | |
| 151 Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be | |
| 152 saved through him" (3:17). Now the Law could not command anything | |
| 153 unjust. Thus, Jesus does not say, "Let her go," lest he seem to be | |
| 154 acting in violation of the Law.</p> | |
| 155 <p>1129 The Evangelist reveals the malicious intention behind those | |
| 156 who were questioning Jesus when he says, <b>They said this to test | |
| 157 him so that they could accuse him.</b> For they thought that Christ | |
| 158 would say that she should be let go, so as not to be acting | |
| 159 contrary to his gentle manner; and then they would accuse him of | |
| 160 acting in violation of the Law: "Let us not test Christ as they | |
| 161 did" as we read in 1 Corinthians (10:9).</p> | |
| 162 <p>1130 Then, Jesus checks his enemies by his wisdom. The Pharisees | |
| 163 were testing him on two points: his justice and his mercy. But | |
| 164 Jesus preserved both in his answer. First, the Evangelist shows how | |
| 165 Jesus kept to what was just; and secondly, that he did not abandon | |
| 166 mercy (v 7). As to the first, he does two things: first, he | |
| 167 mentions the sentence in accordance with justice; secondly the | |
| 168 effect of this sentence (v 9). About the first he does three | |
| 169 things: first, we see Jesus writing his sentence; then pronouncing | |
| 170 it; and thirdly, continuing again to write it down.</p> | |
| 171 <p>1131 Jesus wrote his sentence on the earth with his finger: | |
| 172 <b>But Jesus bending down wrote on the ground with his finger.</b> | |
| 173 Some say that he wrote the words Jeremiah: "O earth, earth, | |
| 174 listen…write down this man as sterile" (Jer 22:29). | |
| 175 According to others, and this is the better opinion, Jesus wrote | |
| 176 down the very words he spoke, that is, Whoever among you is without | |
| 177 sin, let him be the first to cast a stone at her. However, neither | |
| 178 of these opinions is certain.</p> | |
| 179 <p>Jesus wrote on the earth for three reasons. First, according to | |
| 180 Augustine, to show that those who were testing him would be written | |
| 181 on the earth: "O Lord, all who leave you will be written on the | |
| 182 earth" (Jer 17:13). But those who are just and the disciples who | |
| 183 follow him are written in heaven: "Rejoice, because your names are | |
| 184 written in heaven" (Lk 10:20). Secondly, he wrote on earth to show | |
| 185 that he would perform signs on earth, for he who writes make signs. | |
| 186 Thus, to write on the earth is to make signs. And so he says that | |
| 187 Jesus was bending down, by the mystery of the Incarnation, by means | |
| 188 of which he performed miracles in the flesh he had assumed. | |
| 189 Thirdly, he wrote on the earth because the Old Law was written on | |
| 190 tablets of stone (Ex 31; 2 Cor 3), which signify its harshness: "A | |
| 191 man who violates the law of Moses dies without mercy" (Heb 10:28). | |
| 192 But the earth is soft. And so Jesus wrote on the earth to show the | |
| 193 sweetness and the softness of the New Law that he gave to us.</p> | |
| 194 <p>We can see from this that there are three things to be | |
| 195 considered in giving sentences. First, there should be kindness in | |
| 196 condescending to those to be punished; and so he says, Jesus was | |
| 197 bending down: "There is judgment without mercy to him who does not | |
| 198 have mercy" (Jas 2:13); "If a man is overtaken in any fault, you | |
| 199 who are spiritual instruct him in a spirit of mildness" (Gal 6:1). | |
| 200 Secondly, there should be discretion in determining the judgment | |
| 201 and so he says that Jesus wrote with his finger, which because of | |
| 202 its flexibility signifies discretion: "The fingers of a man's hand | |
| 203 appeared, writing" (Dan 5:5). Thirdly, there should be certitude | |
| 204 about the sentence given; and so he says, Jesus wrote.</p> | |
| 205 <p>1132 It was at their insistence that Jesus gave his sentence; | |
| 206 and so the Evangelist says, As they persisted in the question, he | |
| 207 stood up and said to them: <b>Whoever among you is without sin, let | |
| 208 him be the first to cast a stone at her.</b> The Pharisees were | |
| 209 violators of the Law; and yet they tried to accuse Christ of | |
| 210 violating the Law and were attempting to make him condemn the | |
| 211 woman. So Christ proposes a sentence in accord with justice, | |
| 212 saying, Whoever among you is without sin. He is saying in effect: | |
| 213 Let the sinner be punished, but not by sinners; let the Law be | |
| 214 accomplished, but not by those who break it, because "When you | |
| 215 judge another you condemn yourself" (Rom 2:1). Therefore, either | |
| 216 let this woman go, or suffer the penalty of the Law with her.</p> | |
| 217 <p>1133 Here the question arises as to whether a sinful judge sins | |
| 218 by passing sentence against another person who has committed the | |
| 219 same sin. It is obvious that if the judge who passes sentence is a | |
| 220 public sinner, he sins by giving scandal. Yet, this seems to be | |
| 221 true also if his sin is hidden, for we read in Romans (2:1): "When | |
| 222 you judge another you condemn yourself." However, it is clear that | |
| 223 no one condemns himself except by sinning. And thus it seems that | |
| 224 he sins by judging another.</p> | |
| 225 <p>My answer to this is that two distinctions have to be made. For | |
| 226 the judge is either continuing in his determination to sin, or he | |
| 227 has repented of his sins; and again, he is either punishing as a | |
| 228 minister of the law or on his own initiative. Now if he has | |
| 229 repented of his sin, he is no longer a sinner, and so he can pass | |
| 230 sentence without sinning. But if he continues in his determination | |
| 231 to sin, he does not sin in passing sentence if he does this as a | |
| 232 minister of the law; although he would be sinning by doing the very | |
| 233 things for which he deserves a similar sentence. But if he passes | |
| 234 sentence on his own authority, then I say that he sins in justice, | |
| 235 but from some evil root; otherwise he would first punish in himself | |
| 236 what he notices in someone else, because "A just person is the | |
| 237 first to accuse himself" (Prv 18:17).</p> | |
| 238 <p>1134 Jesus continued to write, <b>and again bending down, he | |
| 239 wrote.</b> He did this, first, to show the firmness of his | |
| 240 sentence, "God is not like a man, who may lie, or like a son of | |
| 241 man, so that he may change" (Num 23:19). Secondly, he did it to | |
| 242 show that they were not worthy to look at him. Because he had | |
| 243 disturbed them with his zeal for justice, he did not think it fit | |
| 244 to look at them, but turned from their sight. Thirdly, he did this | |
| 245 out of consideration for their embarrassment, to give them complete | |
| 246 freedom to leave.</p> | |
| 247 <p>1135 The effect of his justice is their embarrassment, <b>for on | |
| 248 hearing this, one after the other departed</b>, both because they | |
| 249 had been involved in more serious sins and their conscience gnawed | |
| 250 them more: "Iniquity came out from the elder judges who were seen | |
| 251 to rule the people" (Dn 13:5), and because they better realized the | |
| 252 fairness of the sentence he gave: "I will go therefore to the great | |
| 253 men and speak to them: for they have known the way of the Lord and | |
| 254 the judgment of their God" (Jer 5:5).</p> | |
| 255 <p><b>And there remained only Jesus and the woman standing | |
| 256 there</b>, that is, mercy and misery. Jesus alone remained because | |
| 257 he alone was without sin; as the Psalm says (Ps 13:1): "There is no | |
| 258 one who does what is good not even one," except Christ. So perhaps | |
| 259 this woman was afraid, and thought she would be punished by | |
| 260 him.</p> | |
| 261 <p>If only Jesus remained, why does it say that the woman was | |
| 262 standing there <b>in the center</b>? I answer that the woman was | |
| 263 standing in the center of the disciples, and so the word only | |
| 264 excludes outsiders, not the disciples. Or, we could say, in the | |
| 265 center, that is, in doubt whether she would be forgiven or | |
| 266 condemned. And so it is clear that our Lord's answer preserved | |
| 267 justice.</p> | |
| 268 <p>1136 Then (v 10), he shows that Jesus did not abandon mercy, but | |
| 269 gave a merciful sentence. First, Jesus questions the woman; then | |
| 270 forgives her; and finally, cautions her.</p> | |
| 271 <p>1137 Jesus questioned her about her accusers; thus he says that | |
| 272 Jesus rising up, that is, turning from the ground on which he was | |
| 273 writing and looking at the woman, asked her, <b>Woman, where are | |
| 274 those who accuse you?</b> He asks about her condemnation saying, | |
| 275 <b>Has no one condemned you?</b> And she answers, <b>No one, | |
| 276 Lord.</b></p> | |
| 277 <p>1138 Jesus forgives her; and so it says, <b>Then Jesus said: Nor | |
| 278 will I condemn you</b>, I who perhaps you feared would condemn you, | |
| 279 because you saw that I was without sin. This should not surprise us | |
| 280 for "God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, | |
| 281 but that the world might be saved through him" (3:17); "I do not | |
| 282 desire the death of the sinner" (Ez 18:23). And he forgave her sin | |
| 283 without imposing any penance on her because since he made her | |
| 284 inwardly just by outwardly forgiving her, he was well able to | |
| 285 change her so much within by sufficient sorrow for her sins that | |
| 286 she would be made free from any penance. This should not be taken | |
| 287 as a precedent for anyone to forgive another without confession and | |
| 288 the assigning of a penance on the ground of Christ's example, for | |
| 289 Christ has power over the sacraments, and could confer the effect | |
| 290 without the sacrament. No mere man can do this.</p> | |
| 291 <p>1139 Finally, Jesus cautions her when he says, <b>Go, and do not | |
| 292 sin again.</b> There were two things in that woman: her nature and | |
| 293 her sin. Our Lord could have condemned both. For example, he could | |
| 294 have condemned her nature if he had ordered them to stone her, and | |
| 295 he could have condemned her sin if he had not forgiven her. He was | |
| 296 also able to absolve each. For example, if he had given her license | |
| 297 to sin, saying: "Go, live as you wish, and put your hope in my | |
| 298 freeing you. No matter how much you sin, I will free you even from | |
| 299 Gehenna and from the tortures of hell." But our Lord does not love | |
| 300 sin, and does not favor wrongdoing, and so he condemned her sin but | |
| 301 not her nature, saying, Go, and do not sin again. We see here how | |
| 302 kind our Lord is because of his gentleness, and how just he is | |
| 303 because of his truth.<br /> | |
| 304 <br /> | |
| 305 <br /></p> | |
| 306 <p align="center"><b>LECTURE 2</b></p> | |
| 307 <blockquote> | |
| 308 <p>12 Again Jesus spoke to them saying: "I am the light of the | |
| 309 world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but he will | |
| 310 have the light of life." 13 The Pharisees then said to him, "You | |
| 311 are bearing witness to yourself; your testimony is not true. 14 | |
| 312 Jesus replied: "Even though I bear witness concerning myself, my | |
| 313 testimony is true, because I know where I come from and where I am | |
| 314 going. But you do not know where I come from, or where I am going. | |
| 315 15 You judge according to the flesh. I do not judge anyone. 16 And | |
| 316 if I do judge, my judgment is true because I am not alone; but | |
| 317 there is me and the Father who sent me. 17 And it is written in | |
| 318 your Law that the testimony of two men is true. 18 It is I who bear | |
| 319 witness to myself, and the Father who sent me who bears witness | |
| 320 concerning me." 19 They therefore said to him, "Where is your | |
| 321 Father?" Jesus replied, "You know neither me nor my Father. If you | |
| 322 did know me, you might also know my Father." 20 Jesus spoke these | |
| 323 words in the treasury where he was teaching in the temple; and no | |
| 324 one arrested him because his hour had not yet come.</p> | |
| 325 </blockquote> | |
| 326 <p>1140 The Evangelist has presented Christ as teaching; now he | |
| 327 shows, first, the power which this teaching has to give light, and | |
| 328 secondly, what Christ himself said about it (v 13). With respect to | |
| 329 the first he does three things: first, he states Christ's | |
| 330 prerogative concerning spiritual light; secondly, the effect of | |
| 331 this prerogative, Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness; and | |
| 332 thirdly, its fruit, but he will have the light of life.</p> | |
| 333 <p>1141 He says, concerning the prerogative of Christ, who is the | |
| 334 light, to the spiritual light, <b>Again Jesus spoke to them saying: | |
| 335 I am the light of the world.</b> We can relate this statement with | |
| 336 what went before in this way. Christ had said, when forgiving the | |
| 337 woman's sin, "Nor will I condemn you." And so they would have no | |
| 338 doubt that he could forgive and pardon sins, he saw fit to show the | |
| 339 power of his divinity more openly by saying that he is the light | |
| 340 which drives away the darkness of sin. Or, we could connect this | |
| 341 statement with what the Pharisees said before (7:52): "Look at the | |
| 342 Scriptures and see that the Prophet will not come from Galilee." | |
| 343 For they thought of him as a Galilean and linked to a definite | |
| 344 place, and so they rejected his teaching. So our Lord shows them | |
| 345 that he is in the universal light of the entire world, saying, I am | |
| 346 the light of the world, not just of Galilee, or of Palestine, or of | |
| 347 Judea.</p> | |
| 348 <p>1142 The Manicheans, as Augustine relates, misunderstood this: | |
| 349 for since they judged by their imagination, which does not rise to | |
| 350 intellectual and spiritual realities, they believed that nothing | |
| 351 but bodies existed. Thus they said that God was a body; and a | |
| 352 certain infinite light. Further, they thought that the sun that we | |
| 353 see with our physical eyes was Christ the Lord. And that is why, | |
| 354 according to them, Christ said, I am the light of the world. But | |
| 355 this cannot hold up, and the Catholic Church rejects such a | |
| 356 fiction. For this physical sun is a light which can be perceived by | |
| 357 sense. Consequently, it is not the highest light, which intellect | |
| 358 alone grasps, and which is the intelligible light characteristic of | |
| 359 the rational creature. Christ says about this light here: I am the | |
| 360 light of the world. And above we read: "He was the true light, | |
| 361 which enlightens every man coming into this world" (1:9). Sense | |
| 362 perceptible light, however, is a certain image of spiritual light, | |
| 363 for every sensible thing is something particular, whereas | |
| 364 intellectual things are a kind of whole. Just as particular light | |
| 365 has an effect on the thing seen, inasmuch as it makes colors | |
| 366 actually visible, as well as on the one seeing, because through it | |
| 367 the eye is conditioned for seeing, so intellectual light makes the | |
| 368 intellect to know because whatever light is in the rational | |
| 369 creature is all derived from that supreme light "which enlightens | |
| 370 every man coming into the world." Furthermore, it makes all things | |
| 371 to be actually intelligible inasmuch as all forms are derived from | |
| 372 it, forms which give things the capability of being known, just as | |
| 373 all the forms of artifacts are derived from the art and reason on | |
| 374 the artisan: "How magnificent are your works, O Lord! You have made | |
| 375 all things in wisdom" (Ps 103:24). Thus Christ truly says here: I | |
| 376 am the light of the world; not the sun which was made, but the one | |
| 377 who made the sun. Yet as Augustine says, the Light which made the | |
| 378 sun was himself made under the sun and covered with a cloud of | |
| 379 flesh, not in order to hide but to be moderated [to our | |
| 380 weakness].</p> | |
| 381 <p>1143 This also eliminates the heresy of Nestorius, who said that | |
| 382 the Son of God was united to human nature by a mere indwelling. For | |
| 383 it is obvious that the one who said, I am the light of the world, | |
| 384 was a human being. Therefore, unless the one who spoke and appeared | |
| 385 as a human being was also the person of the Son of God, he could | |
| 386 not have said, I am the light of the world, but "The light of the | |
| 387 world dwells in me."</p> | |
| 388 <p>1144 The effect of this light is to expel darkness; and so he | |
| 389 says, <b>Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness.</b> Because | |
| 390 this light is universal, it universally expels all darkness. Now | |
| 391 there are three kinds of darkness. There is the darkness of | |
| 392 ignorance: "The have neither known nor understood; they walk in | |
| 393 darkness" (Ps 81:5); and this is the darkness reason has of itself, | |
| 394 insofar as it is darkened of itself. There is the darkness of sin: | |
| 395 "You were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord" | |
| 396 (Eph 5:8). This darkness belongs to human reason not of itself, but | |
| 397 from the affections which, by being badly disposed by passion or | |
| 398 habit, seek something as good that is not really good. Further, | |
| 399 there is the darkness of eternal damnation: "Cast the unprofitable | |
| 400 servant into the exterior darkness" (Mt 25:30). The first two kinds | |
| 401 of darkness are found in this life; but the third is at the end of | |
| 402 life. Thus, Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness: the | |
| 403 darkness of ignorance, because I am the truth; nor the darkness of | |
| 404 sin, because I am the way; nor the darkness of eternal damnation, | |
| 405 because I am the life.</p> | |
| 406 <p>1145 He next adds the fruit of his teaching, <b>but he will have | |
| 407 the light of life</b>, for one who has the light is outside the | |
| 408 darkness of damnation. He says, Whoever follows me, because just as | |
| 409 one who does not want to stumble in the dark has to follow the one | |
| 410 who is carrying the light, so one who wants to be saved must, by | |
| 411 believing and loving, follow Christ, who is the light. This is the | |
| 412 way the apostles followed him (Mt 4). Because physical light can | |
| 413 fail because it sets, it happens that one who follows it meets with | |
| 414 darkness. But the light we are talking about here does not set and | |
| 415 never fails; consequently, one who follows it has an unfailing | |
| 416 light, that is, an unfailing light of life. For the light that is | |
| 417 visible does not give life, but gives us an external aid because we | |
| 418 live insofar as we have understanding, and this is a certain | |
| 419 participation in this light. And when this light completely shines | |
| 420 upon us we will then have perfect life: "With you is the fountain | |
| 421 of life, and in your light we will see the light" (Ps 35:10). This | |
| 422 is the same as saying: We will have perfectly or completely when we | |
| 423 see this light as it is. Thus we read further on: "This is eternal | |
| 424 life: that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom | |
| 425 you have sent" (17:3).</p> | |
| 426 <p>Note that the phrase, <b>whoever follows me</b>, pertains to our | |
| 427 merits; while the statement, <b>he will have the light of life</b>, | |
| 428 pertains to our reward.</p> | |
| 429 <p>1146 The Evangelist mentions three things that Jesus says about | |
| 430 himself. First, I am the light of the world; secondly, I am going | |
| 431 away (v 21); and thirdly, if any one keeps my word, he will not see | |
| 432 death forever (v 51).</p> | |
| 433 <p>The first thing he said was, <b>I am the light of the world</b>; | |
| 434 and this troubled the Jews. So first, he shows their opposition; | |
| 435 secondly, how Jesus proved that they were wrong by showing what he | |
| 436 said was true (v 14).</p> | |
| 437 <p>1147 With respect to the first, it is obvious that what Jesus | |
| 438 said in the temple, he said in the presence of the people. But now | |
| 439 he is speaking before the Pharisees, and so they said to him: | |
| 440 <b>You are bearing witness to yourself; your testimony is not | |
| 441 true.</b> They were saying in effect: Because you are bearing | |
| 442 witness to yourself, your testimony is not true.</p> | |
| 443 <p>Now in human affairs it is neither acceptable nor fitting that a | |
| 444 person praise himself: "Let another praise you, and not your own | |
| 445 mouth" (Prv 27:2), because self-praise does not make a person | |
| 446 commendable, but being commended by God does: "It is not he who | |
| 447 commends himself who is approved, but he whom God commends" (2 Cor | |
| 448 10:18), because only God perfectly knows a person. But no one can | |
| 449 really sufficiently commend God except God himself; and so it is | |
| 450 fitting that he bear witness to himself, and also to men: "My | |
| 451 witness is in heaven" (Jb 16:20). Thus the opinion of the Jews was | |
| 452 mistaken.</p> | |
| 453 <p>1148 Next (v 14), our Lord rejects their opposition: first, by | |
| 454 the authority of his Father; secondly, by answering their | |
| 455 rejection, which arose concerning his Father (v 19). The opposition | |
| 456 of the Jews arose from a certain conclusion which they drew: and so | |
| 457 the first he shows that their conclusion is not true; secondly, he | |
| 458 proves that his own testimony is true (v 1b). He does two things | |
| 459 concerning the first: first, he shows that their conclusion is | |
| 460 false; secondly, he adds the reason for their error (v 14b).</p> | |
| 461 <p>1149 Their conclusion was that the testimony of Christ was not | |
| 462 true, because he bore witness to himself. But our Lord says the | |
| 463 opposite, namely, that because of this it is true. Jesus replied: | |
| 464 <b>Even though I bear witness concerning myself, my testimony is | |
| 465 true; and it is true because I know where I come from and where I | |
| 466 am going.</b> It is like saying, according to Chrysostom, my | |
| 467 testimony is true because I am from God, and because I am God, and | |
| 468 because I am the Son of God: "God is truthful" (Rom 3:4).</p> | |
| 469 <p>He says, <b>I know where I come from</b>, that is, my origin, | |
| 470 <b>and where I am going</b>, that is to the Father, whom no one but | |
| 471 the Son can know perfectly: "No one knows the Father except the | |
| 472 Son, and he to whom Son wishes to reveal him" (Mt 11:27). This does | |
| 473 not imply that anyone who knows, by love and understanding, where | |
| 474 he comes from and where he is going can speak only the truth, for | |
| 475 we all come from God and are going to God. But God is truth: how | |
| 476 much more, then, does the Son of God speak the truth, he who knows | |
| 477 perfectly where he comes from and where he is going!</p> | |
| 478 <p>1150 Then when he says, <b>But you do not know where I come from | |
| 479 or where I am going</b>, he shows the reason for their error, which | |
| 480 was their ignorance of the divinity of Christ. For it was because | |
| 481 they did not know this that they judged him according to his human | |
| 482 nature. Thus, there were two reasons for their error. One, because | |
| 483 they did not know his divinity; the other, because they judged him | |
| 484 only by his human nature. And so he says, with respect to the | |
| 485 first, you do no know where I come from, that is, my eternal | |
| 486 procession from the Father, or where I am going, "The one who sent | |
| 487 me is truthful. Whatever I have heard from him, this I declare to | |
| 488 the world" (8:26); "From where, then, does wisdom come?" (Jb | |
| 489 28:20); "Who will state his origin?" (Is 53:8).</p> | |
| 490 <p>As for the second reason for their error, he says, <b>you judge | |
| 491 according to the flesh</b>, that is, you judge me thinking that I | |
| 492 am merely flesh and not God. Or, we could say, according to the | |
| 493 flesh, that is, wickedly and unjustly. For just as to live | |
| 494 according to the flesh is to live wickedly, so to judge according | |
| 495 to the flesh is to judge unjustly.</p> | |
| 496 <p>1151 Then (v 15b), he shows that his testimony is true, and that | |
| 497 it is false to say that he alone is bearing witness to himself. | |
| 498 Because mention was now made about judging, he shows, first, that | |
| 499 he is not alone in judging; and secondly, that he is not alone in | |
| 500 bearing witness (v 17). He does three things about the first: | |
| 501 first, he says that his judgment is deferred; secondly, that his | |
| 502 judgment is true; and thirdly, he gives the reason why his judgment | |
| 503 is true.</p> | |
| 504 <p>1152 He mentions that his judgment is deferred when he says, | |
| 505 <b>I do not judge anyone.</b> He is saying in effect: You judge | |
| 506 wickedly, but I do not judge anyone: "God did not send his Son into | |
| 507 the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved | |
| 508 through him" (3:17). Or, we could say, I do not judge anyone, | |
| 509 according to the flesh, as you judge: "He will not judge by the | |
| 510 sight of his eyes, or reprove by what his ears hear" (Is 11:3).</p> | |
| 511 <p>1153 Yet, I will judge at some time, because "The Father has | |
| 512 given all judgment to the Son" (5:22). And then, my judgment is | |
| 513 true, that is, just: "He will judge the people with justice" (Ps | |
| 514 95:10); "We know that the judgment of God is according to the | |
| 515 truth" (Rom 2:2). This shows that his judgment is true.</p> | |
| 516 <p>1154 He gives the reason for its truth when he says, <b>because | |
| 517 I am not alone</b>. What Christ said before, "The Father himself | |
| 518 judges no one" (5:22), should be understood to refer to the Father | |
| 519 in isolation from the Son. Or, again, he said this because the | |
| 520 Father will not appear visibly to all at the judgment. Thus he | |
| 521 says, I am not alone, because he is not left alone by the Father, | |
| 522 but is with him: "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me" | |
| 523 (14:10).</p> | |
| 524 <p>This statement rejects the error of Sabellius, who said that the | |
| 525 Father and the Son were the same person, the only difference | |
| 526 between them being in their names. But if this were true, Christ | |
| 527 would not have said: I am not alone; but there is me and the Father | |
| 528 who sent me. He would rather have said: "I am the Father, and I am | |
| 529 the Son." We should, therefore, distinguish between the persons, | |
| 530 and realize that the Son is not the Father.</p> | |
| 531 <p>1155 Then (v 17), He shows that he is not alone in bearing | |
| 532 witness. He does not defer bearing witness, as he does his judging. | |
| 533 Thus he does not say, "I do not bear witness." First, he mentions | |
| 534 the Law; secondly, he gives his conclusion (v 18).</p> | |
| 535 <p>1156 He says, <b>And it is written in your Law</b>, the Law | |
| 536 which was given to you - "Moses imposed a law"- (Sir 24:33), | |
| 537 <b>that the testimony of two men is true</b>; for it is written in | |
| 538 Deuteronomy (19:15): "By the mouth of the two or three witnesses | |
| 539 the issue will be settled."</p> | |
| 540 <p>According to Augustine the statement that the testimony of two | |
| 541 men is true, involves a great difficulty. For it could happen that | |
| 542 both of them would be lying. Indeed, the chaste Susanna was | |
| 543 harassed by two false witnesses (Dn 13), and all the people lied | |
| 544 about Christ. I answer that statement, the testimony of two men is | |
| 545 true, means that such testimony should be regarded as true when | |
| 546 giving a verdict. The reason for this is that true certitude cannot | |
| 547 be obtained when human acts are in question, and so in its place | |
| 548 one takes what can be considered the more certain, that is, what is | |
| 549 said by a number of witnesses: for it is more probable that one | |
| 550 person might lie than many: "A threefold cord is not easily broken" | |
| 551 (Eccl 4:12).</p> | |
| 552 <p>When we read, "By the mouth of two or three witnesses the issue | |
| 553 will be settled" (Dt 19:15), we are lead, as Augustine says, to a | |
| 554 consideration of the Trinity, in which truth is permanently | |
| 555 established, from which all truths are derived. It says, "of two or | |
| 556 three," because in Sacred Scripture sometimes three Persons are | |
| 557 enumerated and at other times two persons, in which is implied the | |
| 558 Holy Spirit, who is the bond of the other two.</p> | |
| 559 <p>1157 If, therefore, the testimony of two or three is true, my | |
| 560 testimony is true, because It is I who bear witness to myself and | |
| 561 the Father who sent me who bears witness concerning me: "I have | |
| 562 testimony that is greater than that of John" (5:36).</p> | |
| 563 <p>But this does not seem to be to the point. First, because the | |
| 564 Father of the Son of God is not a man, while Christ says, the | |
| 565 testimony of two men is true. Secondly, because there are two | |
| 566 witnesses to someone when they are testifying about a third person; | |
| 567 but if one testifies to one of the two, there are not two | |
| 568 witnesses. Thus, since Christ is testifying about himself, and the | |
| 569 Father is also testifying about Christ, it does not seem that there | |
| 570 are two witnesses. To answer this we must say that Christ is here | |
| 571 arguing from the lesser to the greater. For it is clear that the | |
| 572 truth of God is greater than the truth of a man. So, therefore, if | |
| 573 they believe in the testimony of men, then they should believe the | |
| 574 testimony of God much more. "If you receive the testimony of men, | |
| 575 the testimony of God is greater" (1 Jn 5:9). In addition, he says | |
| 576 this to show that he is consubstantial with the Father, and does | |
| 577 not need outside testimony, as Chrysostom says.</p> | |
| 578 <p>1158 Next (v 19), we see the question arising about Christ's | |
| 579 Father. First, the Evangelist mentions the question asked by the | |
| 580 Jews; then Christ's answer; and thirdly, he intimates the security | |
| 581 of Christ.</p> | |
| 582 <p>1159 The question which the Jews had for Christ was about his | |
| 583 Father, where his Father was. <b>They said to him: Where is your | |
| 584 Father?</b> for they thought that the Father of Christ was a man, | |
| 585 just like their own fathers. Because they heard him say, "I am not | |
| 586 alone; but there is me and the Father who sent me," and since they | |
| 587 saw that he was now alone, they asked him, Where is your | |
| 588 Father?</p> | |
| 589 <p>Or, we could say that they were here speaking with a certain | |
| 590 irony and contempt, saying in effect: "Why do you speak to us so | |
| 591 often about your Father? Is he so great that his testimony should | |
| 592 be believed?" For they were thinking of Joseph, who was an unknown, | |
| 593 and a person of low status; and they were ignorant of the Father: | |
| 594 "So the Gentiles will not say: 'Where is their God'" (Ps | |
| 595 113:2).</p> | |
| 596 <p>1160 Christ's answer is mysterious: <b>You know neither me nor | |
| 597 my Father.</b> Christ does not reveal the truth to them because | |
| 598 they were questioning him not because they desired to learn, but in | |
| 599 order to belittle him. Rather, he first shows them knowledge of the | |
| 600 truth. He shows them their ignorance when he says, you know neither | |
| 601 me. He is saying: You should not be asking about my Father, because | |
| 602 you do not know me. For since you regard me as a man, you are | |
| 603 asking about my Father as though he were a man. But because you do | |
| 604 not know me, neither can you know my Father.</p> | |
| 605 <p>1161 This seems to conflict with what he said above: "You do | |
| 606 indeed know me, and you know where I come from" (7:27). The answer | |
| 607 to this is that they did know him according to his humanity, but | |
| 608 not according to his divinity.</p> | |
| 609 <p>We should note, according to Origen, that some have | |
| 610 misunderstood this, and they said that the Father of Christ was not | |
| 611 the God of the Old Testament: for the Jews knew the God of the Old | |
| 612 Testament, according to "God is known in Judea" (Ps 75:1). There | |
| 613 are four answers to this. First, our Lord says that the Jews did | |
| 614 not know his Father because insofar as they do not keep his | |
| 615 commandments they are acting like those who do not know him. This | |
| 616 answer refers to their conduct. Secondly, they are said not to know | |
| 617 God because they did not cling to him spiritually by love: for one | |
| 618 who knows something adheres to it. Thirdly, because although they | |
| 619 did know him through faith, they did not have a full knowledge of | |
| 620 him: "No one has ever seen God; it is the Only Begotten Son, who is | |
| 621 in the bosom of the Father, who has made him known" (1:18). | |
| 622 Fourthly, because in the Old Testament the Father was known under | |
| 623 the aspect of God Almighty: "I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to | |
| 624 Jacob as God Almighty, but my name, Lord, I did not show them" (Ex | |
| 625 6:3), that is, under the aspect of Father. Thus, although they knew | |
| 626 him as God Almighty, they did not know him as the Father of a | |
| 627 consubstantial Son.</p> | |
| 628 <p>1162 Christ says that he is the way to arrive at a knowledge of | |
| 629 the Father, <b>If you did know me</b>. He is saying in effect: | |
| 630 Because I speak of my Father, who is hidden, it is first necessary | |
| 631 that you know me, <b>and then you might also know my Father.</b> | |
| 632 For the Son is the way to the knowledge of the Father: "If you had | |
| 633 known me, you would have also known my Father" (14:7). As Augustine | |
| 634 says, what does If you did know me mean, except, "I and the Father | |
| 635 are one" (10:30). It is customary when you see someone who is like | |
| 636 someone else to say: "If you have seen one, you have seen the | |
| 637 other"; not that the Son is the Father, but he is like the | |
| 638 Father.</p> | |
| 639 <p>He says, <b>you might</b>, not to indicate a doubt, but as a | |
| 640 rebuke. It would be like being irritated with your servant and | |
| 641 saying to him: "Have you no respect for me? Just remember that I | |
| 642 might be your master."</p> | |
| 643 <p>1163 The Evangelist shows the security with which Christ | |
| 644 answered when he says, <b>Jesus spoke these words in the | |
| 645 treasury.</b> We see the first from the place where he taught, that | |
| 646 is, in the treasury (<i>gazophylacium</i>) and in the temple. For | |
| 647 <i>gaza</i> is the Persian word for "riches," and <i>philaxe</i> | |
| 648 for "keep." Thus gazophylacium is the word used in Sacred Scripture | |
| 649 for the chest in which riches are kept. It is used in this sense in | |
| 650 2 Kings (12:9): "And Jehoiada the priest took a chest | |
| 651 (<i>gazophylacium</i>) and bored a hole in its top, and put it by | |
| 652 the altar, to the right of those coming into the house of the Lord. | |
| 653 And the priests who kept the doors put into it all the money that | |
| 654 was brought to the temple of the Lord." Sometimes, however, it was | |
| 655 used to indicate the building where riches were kept; and this is | |
| 656 the way it was used here.</p> | |
| 657 <p>We can also see Christ's security from the fact that those who | |
| 658 had been sent to arrest him could not do so, because he was not | |
| 659 willing. Thus the Evangelist says, and no one arrested him because | |
| 660 his hour had not yet come, that is, the time for him to suffer, an | |
| 661 hour not fixed by fate, but predetermined from all eternity by his | |
| 662 own will. Thus Augustine says: "His hour had not yet come, not in | |
| 663 which he would be forced to die, but in which he would not refuse | |
| 664 being killed."</p> | |
| 665 <p>1164 We may note, according to Origen, that whenever the place | |
| 666 where our Lord did something is mentioned, this is done because of | |
| 667 some mystery. Thus Christ taught in the treasury, the place where | |
| 668 riches were kept, to signify that the coins, that is, the words of | |
| 669 his teaching, are impressed with the image of the great King.</p> | |
| 670 <p>Note also that when Christ was teaching, no one arrested him, | |
| 671 because his words were stronger than those who wanted to seize him; | |
| 672 but when he willed to be crucified, then he became silent.<br /> | |
| 673 <br /> | |
| 674 <br /></p> | |
| 675 <p align="center"><b>LECTURE 3</b></p> | |
| 676 <blockquote> | |
| 677 <p>21 Again he said to them: "I am going away; and you will seek | |
| 678 me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot | |
| 679 come." 22 (So the Jews wondered, "Will he kill himself, since he | |
| 680 says, 'Where I am going, you cannot come'?" 23 To them he said: | |
| 681 "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am | |
| 682 not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in | |
| 683 your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in | |
| 684 your sin." 25 Then they ask him, "Who are you?" Jesus replied: "The | |
| 685 source (beginning) who is also speaking to you. 26 I have much to | |
| 686 say about you and much to judge. But the one who sent me is | |
| 687 truthful. Whatever I have heard from him, this I declare to the | |
| 688 world." 27 (And they did not realize that he was calling God his | |
| 689 Father.) 28 So Jesus said to them: "When you have lifted up the Son | |
| 690 of Man, then you will understand that I AM, and that I do nothing | |
| 691 of myself; but as the Father taught me, so I speak. 29 He who sent | |
| 692 me is with me; he has not deserted me, because I always do what is | |
| 693 pleasing to him." 30 Because he spoke in this way, many came to | |
| 694 believe in him.</p> | |
| 695 </blockquote> | |
| 696 <p>1165 After our Lord showed his special position with respect to | |
| 697 light, he here reveals the effect of this light, that is, that it | |
| 698 frees us from darkness. First, he shows that the Jews are | |
| 699 imprisoned in darkness; secondly he teaches the remedy which can | |
| 700 free them (v 22). He does three things concerning the first: first, | |
| 701 our Lord tells them he is going to leave; secondly, he reveals the | |
| 702 perverse plans of the Jews, and thirdly, he mentions what they will | |
| 703 be deprived of.</p> | |
| 704 <p>1166 Our Lord says that he is going to leave them by his death, | |
| 705 <b>I am going away.</b> We can see two things from this. First, | |
| 706 that he is going to die voluntarily, that is, as going, and not as | |
| 707 one led by someone else: "I am going to him who sent me" (16:5); | |
| 708 "No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself" | |
| 709 (10:18). And so this appropriately follows what went before: for he | |
| 710 had said, "and no one arrested him" (8:20). Why? Because he is | |
| 711 going willingly, on his own.</p> | |
| 712 <p>Secondly, we can see that the death of Christ was a journey to | |
| 713 that place from which he had come, and which he had not left, for | |
| 714 just as one who walks heads toward what is ahead, so Christ, by his | |
| 715 death, reached the glory of exaltation: "He became obedient unto | |
| 716 death, even the death of the cross. Because of this God exalted | |
| 717 him" (Phil 2:8); "Jesus…knowing that he came from God, and | |
| 718 is going to God" (13:3).</p> | |
| 719 <p>1167 We see their sinful plans by their deceitful search for | |
| 720 Christ; he says, <b>you will seek me</b>. Some look for Christ in a | |
| 721 devout way through charity, and such a search results in life: | |
| 722 "Seek the Lord, and your soul will live" (Ps 68:7). But they | |
| 723 wickedly searched for him out of hatred, to persecute him: "The who | |
| 724 sought my soul used violence" (Ps 37:13). He says, you will seek | |
| 725 me, by attacking me after my death with your accusations: "We | |
| 726 remembered that while still living the seducer said: 'After three | |
| 727 days I will rise'" (Mt. 27:63). And they will also seek out my | |
| 728 members: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me" (Acts 9:4).</p> | |
| 729 <p>1168 This will be followed by their death, and so he adds what | |
| 730 they will be deprived of, foretelling to them, <b>and you will die | |
| 731 in your sin.</b> First, he foretells that deprivation which | |
| 732 consists in the condemnation of death; secondly, that deprivation | |
| 733 which consists in their exclusion from glory, Where I am going, you | |
| 734 cannot come.</p> | |
| 735 <p>1169 He is saying: Because you will wickedly search for me, you | |
| 736 will die while continuing in your sin. We can understand this in | |
| 737 one way as applying to physical death: and then one dies in his | |
| 738 sins who keeps on sinning up to the time of his death. And so in | |
| 739 saying, you will die in your sin, he emphasizes their obstinacy: | |
| 740 "There is no one who does penance for his sin, saying: 'What have I | |
| 741 done?'" (Jer 8:6); "They went down to the lower regions with their | |
| 742 weapons" as we read in Ezekiel (32:2).</p> | |
| 743 <p>In another way, we can understand this as applying to the death | |
| 744 of sin, about which the Psalm says, "The death of sinners is the | |
| 745 worst" (Ps 33:22). And just as a physical weakness precedes | |
| 746 physical death, so a certain weakness precedes this kind of death. | |
| 747 For as long as sin can be remedied, it is a kind of weakness which | |
| 748 precedes death: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak" (Ps 6:3). | |
| 749 But when sin can no longer be remedied, either absolutely, as after | |
| 750 this life, or because of the very nature of the sin, as a sin | |
| 751 against the Holy Spirit, it then causes death: "There is a sin that | |
| 752 leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that" (1 Jn | |
| 753 5:16). And according to this, our Lord is foretelling them that the | |
| 754 weakness of their sins results in death.</p> | |
| 755 <p>1170 He shows the deprivation which consists in their exclusion | |
| 756 from glory when he says, <b>Where I am going, you cannot come.</b> | |
| 757 Our Lord goes by death, and so also do they. But our Lord goes | |
| 758 without sin, while they go with their sins, because they are dying | |
| 759 in their sin, and so do not come to the glory of the vision of the | |
| 760 Father. So he says, Where I am going, willingly, by my passion, to | |
| 761 the Father and to his glory, you cannot come, because you do not | |
| 762 want to. For if they had wanted to and had not been able to do so, | |
| 763 it could not have reasonably been said to them, "You will die in | |
| 764 your sin."</p> | |
| 765 <p>1171 Note that one can be hindered from going where Christ goes | |
| 766 in two ways. One way is by reason of some contrary factor, and this | |
| 767 is the way that sinners are hindered. This is what he is speaking | |
| 768 of here; and so to those who are absolutely continuing in their sin | |
| 769 he says, Where I am going, you cannot come. "He who is proud will | |
| 770 not live in my house" (Ps 100:7); "It will be called a holy way, | |
| 771 and the unclean will not pass over it" (Is 35:8); "Who will dwell | |
| 772 in your tent?… He who walks without blame" (Ps 14:1).</p> | |
| 773 <p>One is hindered another way by reason of some imperfection or | |
| 774 indisposition. This is the way the just are hindered as long as | |
| 775 they live in the body: "While we are in the body, we are absent | |
| 776 from the Lord" (2 Cor 5:6). To persons such as these our Lord does | |
| 777 not say absolutely, Where I am going, you cannot come, but he adds | |
| 778 a qualification as to the time: "Where I am going, you cannot | |
| 779 follow me now" (13:36).</p> | |
| 780 <p>1172 Then (v 22), he treats of the remedy which can set them | |
| 781 free from the darkness. First, he gives the remedy for escaping the | |
| 782 darkness; secondly, he shows the efficacy of the remedy (v 31). | |
| 783 Concerning the first, he does three things: first, he indicates | |
| 784 what is the unique remedy for escaping the darkness; secondly, he | |
| 785 states the reasons why they should ask for this remedy (v 25); and | |
| 786 thirdly, we see Christ foretelling the means of obtaining it (v | |
| 787 28). As for the first, he does two things: first, he gives the | |
| 788 circumstances for Christ's words; and secondly, the reason why | |
| 789 Christ can propose the remedy (v 23).</p> | |
| 790 <p>1173 The circumstances surrounding Christ's words was the | |
| 791 perverse understanding of the Jews. For since they were carnal, | |
| 792 they understood what Christ said, "Where I am going, you cannot | |
| 793 come," in a carnal way: "The sensual man does not perceive those | |
| 794 things that pertain to the Spirit of God" (1 Cor 2:14). Thus the | |
| 795 Jews said, Will he kill himself? As Augustine says, this is indeed | |
| 796 a foolish notion. For if Christ was going to kill himself, couldn't | |
| 797 they go where he was going? For they could kill themselves also. | |
| 798 Thus, death was not the term of Christ's going: it was the way he | |
| 799 was going to the Father. Accordingly, he did not say that they | |
| 800 could not go to death but that they could not go through death to | |
| 801 the place where Christ, through his death, would be exalted, that | |
| 802 is, at the right hand of God. According to Origen, however, perhaps | |
| 803 the Jews did have a reason why they said this. For they had learned | |
| 804 from their traditions that Christ would die willingly, as he | |
| 805 himself said: "No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of | |
| 806 myself'" (10:18). They seem to have especially gathered this from | |
| 807 Isaiah (53:12): "I will give him many things, and he will divide | |
| 808 the spoils of the strong, because he delivered himself to death." | |
| 809 And so because they suspected that Jesus was the Christ, when he | |
| 810 said, "Where I am going you cannot come," they understood it | |
| 811 according to this opinion that he would willingly deliver himself | |
| 812 to death. But they interpreted this in an insulting way, saying, | |
| 813 Will he kill himself? Otherwise [if they were not speaking | |
| 814 contemptuously] they would have said: "Is his soul going to depart, | |
| 815 leaving his body when he wishes? We are unable to do this, and this | |
| 816 is the reason for his saying, 'Where I am going, you cannot | |
| 817 come'."</p> | |
| 818 <p>1174 Then (v 23), he proposes the remedy for escaping from the | |
| 819 darkness. First, he mentions his own origin, and then theirs; | |
| 820 secondly, he concludes to his point (v 24).</p> | |
| 821 <p>1175 With respect to the first, he distinguishes his own origin | |
| 822 from theirs in two ways. First, because he is from above, and they | |
| 823 are from below. Secondly, because they are of this world, and | |
| 824 Christ is not. As Origen says, to be from below is not the same as | |
| 825 to be of this world, for "above" and "below" refer to differences | |
| 826 in place. Thus, so that they do not understand the statement that | |
| 827 he is from above as meaning that he is from a part of the world | |
| 828 which is above, he excludes this by saying that he is not of this | |
| 829 world. He is saying in effect: I am from above, but in such a way | |
| 830 that I am entirely above the entire world.</p> | |
| 831 <p>1176 It is clear that they are of this world and from below. But | |
| 832 we have to understand correctly how Christ is from above and not of | |
| 833 this world. For some who thought that all visible created realities | |
| 834 were from the devil, as the Manicheans taught, said that Christ was | |
| 835 not of this world even with respect to his body, but from some | |
| 836 other created world, an invisible world. Valentine also incorrectly | |
| 837 interpreted this statement, and said that Christ assumed a heavenly | |
| 838 body. But it is obvious that this is not the true interpretation, | |
| 839 since our Lord said to his apostles: "You are not of this world" | |
| 840 (15:19).</p> | |
| 841 <p>We must say, therefore, that this passage can be understood of | |
| 842 Christ as the Son of God, and of Christ as human. Christ, as Son of | |
| 843 God, is from above: "I came forth from the Father, and have come | |
| 844 into the world" (16:28). Likewise, he is not of this sensible | |
| 845 world, that is, this world which is made up of sense perceptible | |
| 846 things, but he is of the intelligible world, because he is the very | |
| 847 Word of God, being the supreme Wisdom. For all things were made in | |
| 848 wisdom. Thus we read of him: "Through him the world was made" | |
| 849 (1:10).</p> | |
| 850 <p>Christ, as human, is from above, because he did not have any | |
| 851 affection for worldly and weak things, but rather for higher | |
| 852 realities, in which the soul of Christ was at home, as in "Our home | |
| 853 is in heaven" (Phil 3:20); "Where your treasure is, there is your | |
| 854 heart also" (Mt 6:21). On the other hand, those who are from below | |
| 855 have their origin from below, and are of this world because their | |
| 856 affections are turned to earthy things: "The first man was of the | |
| 857 earth, earthly" (1 Cor 15:47).</p> | |
| 858 <p>1177 Then (v 24), he concludes his point. First, he explains | |
| 859 what he said about their deprivation; secondly, he points out its | |
| 860 remedy (v 24b).</p> | |
| 861 <p>1178 We should note with respect to the first, that everything | |
| 862 in its development follows the condition of its origin. Thus, a | |
| 863 thing whose origin is from below naturally tends below if left to | |
| 864 itself. And nothing tends above unless its origin is from above: | |
| 865 "No one has gone up to heaven except the One who has come down from | |
| 866 heaven" (3:13). Thus our Lord is saying: This is the reason why you | |
| 867 cannot come where I am going, because since you are from below, | |
| 868 then so far as you yourself are concerned, you can only go down. | |
| 869 And so what I said is true, that you will die in your sins, unless | |
| 870 you adhere to me.</p> | |
| 871 <p>1179 Then, in order not to entirely exclude all hope for their | |
| 872 salvation, he proposes the remedy, saying, <b>For if you do not | |
| 873 believe that I am, you will die in your sin.</b> He is saying in | |
| 874 effect: You were born in original sin, from which you cannot be | |
| 875 absolved except by my faith: because, if you do not believe that I | |
| 876 am, you will die in your sin.</p> | |
| 877 <p>He says, <b>I am</b>, and not "what I am," to recall to them | |
| 878 what was said to Moses: "I am who am" (Ex 3:14), for existence | |
| 879 itself (ipsum esse) is proper to God. For in any other nature but | |
| 880 the divine nature, existence (esse) and what exists are not the | |
| 881 same: because any created nature participates its existence | |
| 882 (<i>esse</i>) from that which is being by its essence (<i>ens per | |
| 883 essentiam</i>), that is, from God, who is his own existence | |
| 884 (<i>ipsum suum esse</i>), so that his existence (<i>suum esse</i>) | |
| 885 is his essence (<i>qua essentia</i>). Thus, this designates only | |
| 886 God. And so he says, For if you do not believe that I am, that is, | |
| 887 that I am truly God, who has existence by his essence, you will die | |
| 888 in your sin.</p> | |
| 889 <p>He says, <i>that I am</i>, to show his eternity. For in all | |
| 890 things that begin, there is a certain mutability, and a potency to | |
| 891 nonexistence; thus we can discern in them a past and a future, and | |
| 892 so they do not have true existence of themselves. But in God there | |
| 893 is no potency to non-existence, nor has he begun to be. And thus he | |
| 894 is existence itself (<i>ipsum esse</i>), which is appropriately | |
| 895 indicated by the present tense.</p> | |
| 896 <p>1180 Next we are given the reasons that can lead them to | |
| 897 believe. First, we see the question asked by the Jews; secondly, | |
| 898 the answer of Christ (v 25b); and thirdly, the blindness of their | |
| 899 understanding (v 27).</p> | |
| 900 <p>1181 Since our Lord had said, "If you do not believe that I am" | |
| 901 it was left to them to ask who he was. And so they said to him, Who | |
| 902 are you? So that we may believe: "The poor man spoke" (Sir | |
| 903 13:29).</p> | |
| 904 <p>1182 When he says, <i>the source, who is also speaking to | |
| 905 you</i>, he gives an answer which can lead them to believe: first, | |
| 906 because of the sublimity of his nature; secondly, because of the | |
| 907 power he has to judge (v 26); and thirdly, because of the | |
| 908 truthfulness of his Father (v 26b).</p> | |
| 909 <p>1183 Indeed, the sublimity of Christ's nature can lead them to | |
| 910 believe in him, because he is the source (<i>principium</i>: | |
| 911 source, beginning, origin). In Latin the word for source, | |
| 912 <i>principium</i>, is neuter in gender, and so there is a question | |
| 913 whether it is used here in the nominative or accusative case. (In | |
| 914 Greek, it is feminine in gender and is used here in the accusative | |
| 915 case.) Thus, according to Augustine, we should not read this as "I | |
| 916 am the source," but rather as "Believe that I am the source," lest | |
| 917 you die in your sins.</p> | |
| 918 <p>The Father is also called the source or beginning. In one sense | |
| 919 the word "source" is common to the Father and the Son, insofar as | |
| 920 they are the one source of the Holy Spirit through a common | |
| 921 spiration. Again, the three Persons together are the source of | |
| 922 creatures through creation. In another way, the word "source" is | |
| 923 proper to the Father, insofar as the Father is the source of the | |
| 924 Son through an eternal generation. Yet, we do not speak of many | |
| 925 sources, just as we do not speak of many gods: "The source is with | |
| 926 you in the day of your power" (Ps 109:3). Here, however, our Lord | |
| 927 is saying that he is the source or beginning with regard to all | |
| 928 creatures: for whatever is such by essence is the source and the | |
| 929 cause of those things which are by participation. But, as was said, | |
| 930 his existence is an existence by his very essence.</p> | |
| 931 <p>Yet because Christ possesses not only the divine nature but a | |
| 932 human nature as well, he adds, <b>who is also speaking to you</b>. | |
| 933 Man cannot hear the voice of God directly, because as Augustine | |
| 934 says: "Weak hearts cannot hear the intelligible word without a | |
| 935 sensible voice." "What is man that he may hear the voice of the | |
| 936 Lord his God" (Ex c 20). So, in order for us to hear the divine | |
| 937 Word directly, the Word assumed flesh, and spoke to us with a mouth | |
| 938 of flesh. Thus he says, who is also speaking to you, that is, I, | |
| 939 who was humbled for your sakes, have come down to speak these | |
| 940 words: "In many and various ways God spoke to our fathers through | |
| 941 the prophets; in these days he has spoken to us in his Son" (Heb | |
| 942 1:1); "It is the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the | |
| 943 Father, who has made him known" (1:18).</p> | |
| 944 <p>1184 Chrysostom explains this a little differently, so that in | |
| 945 saying, the beginning, who is also speaking to you, our Lord is | |
| 946 reproving the Jews for their slowness to understand. For in spite | |
| 947 of the many signs which they had seen our Lord perform, they were | |
| 948 still impenetrable, and asked our Lord, "Who are you?" Our Lord | |
| 949 then answers: I am the beginning, that is, the one who has spoken | |
| 950 to you from the beginning. It is the same as saying: You should not | |
| 951 have to ask who I am, because it should be clear to you by now: | |
| 952 "For although you should be masters by this time, you have to be | |
| 953 taught again the first rudiments of the world of God" (Heb | |
| 954 5:12).</p> | |
| 955 <p>1185 Secondly, they can be led to believe in Christ by his | |
| 956 judicial authority; and so he says, <b>I have much to say about you | |
| 957 and much to judge</b>, which means in effect: I have authority to | |
| 958 judge you. Let us note that it is one thing to speak to us, and | |
| 959 another to speak about us. Christ speaks to us for our benefit, | |
| 960 that is, to draw us to himself; and he speaks to us this way while | |
| 961 we are living, by means of preaching, by inspiring us, and by | |
| 962 things like that. But Christ speaks about us, not for our benefit, | |
| 963 but for showing his justice, and he will speak about us this way at | |
| 964 the future judgment. And this is what is meant by, I have much to | |
| 965 say about you.</p> | |
| 966 <p>1186 This seems to conflict with what was said above: "God did | |
| 967 not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the | |
| 968 world might be saved through him" (3:17). I answer by saying that | |
| 969 it is one thing to judge, and another to have judgment. For to | |
| 970 judge implies the act of judging, and this does not belong to the | |
| 971 first coming of our Lord, as he said above: "I do not judge anyone" | |
| 972 (8:15), that is, at present. But to have judgment implies the power | |
| 973 to judge; and Christ does have this: "The Father has given all | |
| 974 judgment to the Son" (5:22); "It is he who was appointed by God to | |
| 975 be the judge of the living and of the dead" (Acts 10:42). And so he | |
| 976 says, explicitly, I have much to say about you and much to judge, | |
| 977 but at a future judgment.</p> | |
| 978 <p>1187 The truthfulness of the Father can also lead them to | |
| 979 believe in Christ, and as to this he says, <b>but the one who sent | |
| 980 me is truthful.</b> He is saying in effect: The Father is truthful; | |
| 981 but what I say is in agreement with him; therefore, you should | |
| 982 believe me. Thus he says, the one who sent me, that is, the Father, | |
| 983 is truthful, not by participation, but he is the very essence of | |
| 984 truth; otherwise, since the Son is truth itself, he would be | |
| 985 greater than the Father: "God is truthful" (Rom 3:4). Whatever I | |
| 986 have heard from him, what I have received, not by my human sense of | |
| 987 hearing, but by my eternal generation, this I declare: "What I have | |
| 988 heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have announced | |
| 989 to you" (Is 21:10); "The Son cannot do anything of himself" | |
| 990 (5:19).</p> | |
| 991 <p>1188 The statement, <b>the one who sent me is truthful</b>, can | |
| 992 be connected in two ways with what went before. One way is this: I | |
| 993 say that I have much to judge about you; but my judgment will be | |
| 994 true, because the one who sent me is truthful: "The judgment of God | |
| 995 is according to the truth" (Rom 2:2). The other way of relating | |
| 996 this to what went before is from Chrysostom, and is this: I say | |
| 997 that I have much to judge about you; but I am not doing so now, not | |
| 998 because I lack the power, but out of obedience to the will of the | |
| 999 Father. For the one who sent me is truthful: thus, since he | |
| 1000 promised a Savior and a Defender, he sent me this time as Savior. | |
| 1001 And since I only say what I have heard from him, I speak to you | |
| 1002 about life-giving things.</p> | |
| 1003 <p>1189 When he says, <b>And they did not realize that he was | |
| 1004 calling God his Father</b>, he reproves their slowness to | |
| 1005 understand: for they had not yet opened the eyes of their hearts by | |
| 1006 which they could understand the equality of the Father and the Son. | |
| 1007 The reason for this was because they were carnal: "The sensual man | |
| 1008 does not perceive those things that pertain to the Spirit of God" | |
| 1009 (1 Cor 2:14).</p> | |
| 1010 <p>1190 Here, for the first time, Christ foretells how they are to | |
| 1011 come to the faith, which is the remedy for death. He does two | |
| 1012 things: first: he shows what will lead them to the faith; and | |
| 1013 secondly, he teaches what must be believed about himself (v | |
| 1014 28).</p> | |
| 1015 <p>1191 He says, first, that they ought to come to the faith by | |
| 1016 means of his passion: <b>So Jesus said to them: When you have | |
| 1017 lifted up the Son of Man, then you will understand</b>. He is | |
| 1018 saying in effect: You do not know now that God is my Father, but | |
| 1019 when you have lifted up the Son of Man, that is, when you have | |
| 1020 nailed me to the wood of the cross, then you will understand, that | |
| 1021 is, some of you will understand by faith. "And I, if I am lifted up | |
| 1022 from the earth, will draw all things to myself" (12:32). And so, as | |
| 1023 Augustine says, he recalls the sufferings of his cross to give hope | |
| 1024 to sinners, so that no one will despair, no matter what his crime, | |
| 1025 or think that he is too evil, since the very people who crucified | |
| 1026 Christ are freed from their sins by Christ's blood. For there is no | |
| 1027 sinner so great that he cannot be freed by the blood of Christ.</p> | |
| 1028 <p>Chrysostom's explanation is this: When you have lifted up the | |
| 1029 Son of Man, on the cross, then you will understand, that is, you | |
| 1030 will be able to understand what I am, not only by the glory of my | |
| 1031 resurrection, but also by the punishment of your captivity and | |
| 1032 destruction.</p> | |
| 1033 <p>1192 With respect to the second, he teaches three things that | |
| 1034 must be believed about himself: first, the greatness or grandeur of | |
| 1035 his divinity; secondly, his origin from the Father; thirdly, his | |
| 1036 inseparability from the Father.</p> | |
| 1037 <p>He mentions the greatness of his divinity when he says, <b>that | |
| 1038 I am</b>, that is, that I have in me the nature of God, and that it | |
| 1039 is I who spoke to Moses, saying: "I am who am" (Ex 3:14). But | |
| 1040 because the entire Trinity pertains to existence itself, and so | |
| 1041 that we do not overlook the distinction between the Persons, he | |
| 1042 teaches that his origin from the Father must be believed, saying, | |
| 1043 <b>I do nothing of myself; but as the Father taught me, so I | |
| 1044 speak</b>. Because Jesus began both to do and to teach, he | |
| 1045 indicates his origin from the Father in these two respects. As | |
| 1046 regards those things he does, he says, I do nothing of myself: "The | |
| 1047 Son cannot do anything of himself" (5:19). And as regards what he | |
| 1048 teaches, he says, as the Father taught me, that is to say, he gave | |
| 1049 me knowledge by generating me as one who knows. Since he is the | |
| 1050 simple nature of truth, for the Son to exist is for him to know. | |
| 1051 And so, just as the Father, by generating, gave existence to the | |
| 1052 Son, so he also, by generating, gave him knowledge: "My doctrine is | |
| 1053 not mine" (7:16).</p> | |
| 1054 <p>So that we do not think that the Son was sent by the Father in | |
| 1055 such a way as to be separated from the Father, he teaches, thirdly, | |
| 1056 that they must believe that he is inseparable from the Father when | |
| 1057 he says, <b>he who sent me, the Father, is with me</b>, by a unity | |
| 1058 of essence: "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me" (14:10). | |
| 1059 And the Father is also with me by a union of love, "The Father | |
| 1060 loves the Son, and shows him everything that he does" (5:20). And | |
| 1061 so the Father sent the Son in such a way that the Father did not | |
| 1062 separate himself from the Son; and so the text continues, <b>he has | |
| 1063 not deserted me</b>, because I am the object of his love. For | |
| 1064 although both are together, one sends and the other is sent: for | |
| 1065 the sending is the incarnation, and this pertains only to the Son, | |
| 1066 and not to the Father. That he has not deserted me is clear from | |
| 1067 this sign: because I always do what is pleasing to him. We should | |
| 1068 not understand this to indicate a meritorious cause, but a sign; it | |
| 1069 is the same as saying: The fact that I always do, without beginning | |
| 1070 and without end, what is pleasing to him, is a sign that he is | |
| 1071 always with me and has not deserted me, "I was with him forming all | |
| 1072 things" (Prv 8:30).</p> | |
| 1073 <p>Another interpretation would be this: he has not deserted me, | |
| 1074 that is, as man, protecting me, because I always do what is | |
| 1075 pleasing to him. In this interpretation it does indicate a | |
| 1076 meritorious cause.</p> | |
| 1077 <p>1193 Then when he says, <b>Because he spoke in this way, many | |
| 1078 came to believe in him</b>, he shows the effect of his teaching, | |
| 1079 which is the conversion of many of them to the faith because they | |
| 1080 had heard Christ's teaching: "Faith comes by hearing, and what is | |
| 1081 heard by the word of Christ" (Rom 10:17).<br /> | |
| 1082 <br /> | |
| 1083 <br /></p> | |
| 1084 <p align="center"><b>LECTURE 4</b></p> | |
| 1085 <blockquote> | |
| 1086 <p>31 Jesus then said to those Jews who believe in him: "If you | |
| 1087 remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples. 32 You will know | |
| 1088 the truth, and the truth will make you free." 33 They replied, "We | |
| 1089 are of the seed of Abraham, and we have never been the slaves of | |
| 1090 anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will be free'?" 34 Jesus | |
| 1091 replied: "Amen, amen, I say to you: everyone who commits sin is a | |
| 1092 slave to sin. 35 A slave does not remain in the household forever; | |
| 1093 but the Son remains forever. 36 If therefore the Son frees you, you | |
| 1094 will be truly free. 37 I know that you are sons of Abraham. Yet you | |
| 1095 want to kill me, because my message is not grasped by you. 38 I | |
| 1096 speak of what I have seen with my Father. And what you have seen | |
| 1097 with your father, that you do."</p> | |
| 1098 </blockquote> | |
| 1099 <p>1194 After he had shown the remedy for escaping from the | |
| 1100 darkness, he now shows the effectiveness of this remedy. First, he | |
| 1101 shows the effectiveness of this remedy; then their need for remedy | |
| 1102 (v 33). He does two things about the first. First, he shows what is | |
| 1103 required from those to whom the remedy is granted, and this | |
| 1104 concerns merit; secondly, he shows what is given for this, and this | |
| 1105 concerns their reward (v 31).</p> | |
| 1106 <p>1195 He says first: It was said that many believe in him, and so | |
| 1107 he told them, <b>the Jews who believed in him</b>, what they had to | |
| 1108 do, which was to remain in his word. So he says, If you remain in | |
| 1109 my word, you will truly be my disciples. He is saying in effect: | |
| 1110 You will not be my disciples if you just believe superficially, but | |
| 1111 you must remain in my word.</p> | |
| 1112 <p>We need three things with respect to the word of God. A concern | |
| 1113 to hear it: "Let every man be quick to hear" (Jas 1:19). Then we | |
| 1114 need faith to believe it: "Faith comes by hearing" (Rom 10:17). And | |
| 1115 also perseverance in continuing with it: "How exceedingly bitter is | |
| 1116 wisdom to the unlearned. The foolish will not continue with her" | |
| 1117 (Sir 6:21). And so he says, If you remain, that is, by a firm | |
| 1118 faith, through continual meditation: "He will meditate on his law | |
| 1119 day and night" (Ps 1:2); and by your ardent love: "His will is the | |
| 1120 law of the Lord" (Ps 1:2). Thus Augustine says that those who | |
| 1121 remain in the word of our Lord are those who do not give in to | |
| 1122 temptations.</p> | |
| 1123 <p>1196 He mentions what will be given to those who do remain when | |
| 1124 he says, <b>you will truly be my disciples</b>, and with three | |
| 1125 characteristics. First, they will have the excellence of being | |
| 1126 disciples of Christ; secondly, they will have a knowledge of the | |
| 1127 truth; and then, they will be free.</p> | |
| 1128 <p>1197 Indeed, it is a great privilege to be a disciple of Christ: | |
| 1129 "Children of Sion, rejoice and delight in the Lord your God, | |
| 1130 because he has given you a teacher of justice" (Jl 2:23). | |
| 1131 Concerning this he says, <b>you will truly be my disciples</b>; for | |
| 1132 the greater the master, the more honorable or excellent it is to be | |
| 1133 his disciple. But Christ is the greatest and most excellent of | |
| 1134 teachers; therefore, his disciples will be of the highest | |
| 1135 dignity.</p> | |
| 1136 <p>Three things are required to be a disciple. The first is | |
| 1137 understanding, to grasp the words of the teacher: "Are you also | |
| 1138 still without understanding?" (Mt 15:16). But it is only Christ who | |
| 1139 can open the ears of the understanding: Then he opened their minds | |
| 1140 so that they could understand the Scriptures" (Lk 24:45); "The Lord | |
| 1141 opened my ears" (Is 50:5).</p> | |
| 1142 <p>Secondly, a disciple needs to assent, so as to believe the | |
| 1143 doctrine of his teacher, for "The disciple is not above his | |
| 1144 teacher" (Lk 6:40), and thus he should not contradict him: "Do not | |
| 1145 speak against the truth in any way" (Sir 4:30). And Isaiah | |
| 1146 continues in the same verse, "I do not resist."</p> | |
| 1147 <p>Thirdly, a disciple needs to be stable, in order to persevere. | |
| 1148 As we read above: "From this time on, many of his disciples turned | |
| 1149 back, and no longer walked with him" (6:67); and Isaiah adds: "I | |
| 1150 did not turn back" (Is 50:5).</p> | |
| 1151 <p>1198 But it is a greater thing to know the truth, since this is | |
| 1152 the end of a disciple. And our Lord also gives this to those who | |
| 1153 believe; thus he says, <b>you will know the truth</b>, the truth, | |
| 1154 that is of the doctrine that I am teaching: "I was born for this, | |
| 1155 and I came for this, to give testimony to the truth" (18:37); and | |
| 1156 they will know the truth of the grace that I produce: "Grace and | |
| 1157 truth came through Jesus Christ" (1:17) - in contrast to the | |
| 1158 figures of the Old Law - and they will know the truth of the | |
| 1159 eternity in which I remain: "O Lord, your word remains forever, | |
| 1160 your truth endures from generation to generation" (Ps 118:89).</p> | |
| 1161 <p>1199 Yet the greatest things is the acquisition of freedom, | |
| 1162 which the knowledge of the truth produces in those who believe. | |
| 1163 Thus he says, <b>and the truth will make you free.</b> In this | |
| 1164 context, to free does not mean a release from some confinement, as | |
| 1165 the Latin language suggests, but rather a being made free; and this | |
| 1166 is from three things. The truth of this doctrine will free us from | |
| 1167 the error of falsity: "My mouth will speak the truth; my lips will | |
| 1168 hate wickedness" (Prv 8:7). The truth of grace will free us from | |
| 1169 the slavery to sin: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus | |
| 1170 has freed me from the law of sin and of death" (Rom 8:2). And the | |
| 1171 truth of eternity, in Christ Jesus, will free us from corruption: | |
| 1172 "The creature will be freed from its slavery to corruption" (Rom | |
| 1173 8:21).</p> | |
| 1174 <p>1200 Next (v 33), he shows that the Jews need this remedy. | |
| 1175 First, he amplifies on their presumption in denying that they need | |
| 1176 any such remedy; secondly, he shows in what respect they need this | |
| 1177 remedy (v 34).</p> | |
| 1178 <p>1201 The presumption of the Jews is shown by their disdainful | |
| 1179 question: <b>They replied: We are of the seed of Abraham, and we | |
| 1180 have never been the slaves of anyone. How is it that you say, You | |
| 1181 will be free?</b> First, they affirm one thing; then deny another; | |
| 1182 and thirdly, pose their question.</p> | |
| 1183 <p>They assert that they are the descendants of Abraham: <b>We are | |
| 1184 of the seed of Abraham.</b> This shows their vainglory, because | |
| 1185 they glory only in the origin of their flesh: "Do not think of | |
| 1186 saying: 'We have Abraham as our Father'" (Mt 2:9). Those who seek | |
| 1187 to be praised for their noble birth act in the same way: "Their | |
| 1188 glory is from their birth, from the womb and from their conception" | |
| 1189 (Hos 9:11).</p> | |
| 1190 <p>Further, they deny their slavery; thus they say, <b>and we have | |
| 1191 never been the slaves of anyone.</b> This reveals them as dull in | |
| 1192 mind and as liars. It shows them as dull because while our Lord is | |
| 1193 speaking of spiritual freedom, they are thinking of physical | |
| 1194 freedom: "The sensual person does not perceive what pertains to the | |
| 1195 Spirit of God" (1 Cor 2:14). It shows them as liars because if they | |
| 1196 mean their statement as, we have never been the slaves of anyone, | |
| 1197 to apply to physical slavery, then they are either speaking | |
| 1198 generally of the entire Jewish people, or in particular of | |
| 1199 themselves. If they are speaking generally, they are obviously | |
| 1200 lying: for Joseph was sold into slavery and their ancestors were | |
| 1201 slaves in Egypt, as is clear from Genesis (c 40) and from Exodus (c | |
| 1202 3). Thus Augustine says: "Ungrateful! Why does the Lord so often | |
| 1203 remind you that he freed you from the house of bondage, if you have | |
| 1204 never been slaves to anyone?" For we read in Deuteronomy (13:10): | |
| 1205 "I have called you out of Egypt, from the house of your slavery." | |
| 1206 But even if they are speaking of themselves, they are still guilty | |
| 1207 of lying, because they were at that time paying taxes to the | |
| 1208 Romans. Thus they asked: "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or | |
| 1209 not?" (Mt 22:17).</p> | |
| 1210 <p>They ask him about the kind of freedom he is talking about when | |
| 1211 they say, <b>How is it that you say, You will be free?</b> Our Lord | |
| 1212 had promised them two things: freedom and knowledge of the truth, | |
| 1213 when he said, "you will know the truth, and the truth will make you | |
| 1214 free." The Jews took this to mean that our Lord regarded them as | |
| 1215 ignorant slaves. And although it is more harmful to lack knowledge | |
| 1216 than freedom, yet because they were carnal they pass over the truth | |
| 1217 part and ask about the kind of freedom: "They have set their eyes, | |
| 1218 lowering themselves to the earth" (Ps 16:11).</p> | |
| 1219 <p>1202 Our Lord ignores their presumption and shows them that they | |
| 1220 do need the remedy he mentioned. First, he mentions their slavery; | |
| 1221 secondly, he treats of their freedom (v 35); and thirdly, of their | |
| 1222 origin (v 37).</p> | |
| 1223 <p>1203 He shows that they are slaves, not in the physical sense | |
| 1224 they thought he meant, but spiritually, that is, slaves of sin. And | |
| 1225 in order to make this clear he starts with two things. The first is | |
| 1226 a solemn affirmation that he repeats, saying, <b>Amen, amen, I say | |
| 1227 to you.</b> <i>Amen</i> is a Hebrew word which means "truly," or | |
| 1228 "May it be this way." According to Augustine, neither the Greeks | |
| 1229 nor the Latins translated it so that it might be honored and veiled | |
| 1230 as something sacred. This was not done to hide it, but to prevent | |
| 1231 it from becoming commonplace if its meaning were stated. It was | |
| 1232 done especially out of reverence from our Lord who frequently used | |
| 1233 it. Our Lord makes use of it here as a kind of oath, and he repeats | |
| 1234 it to reinforce his statement: "He interposed an oath, so that by | |
| 1235 two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we | |
| 1236 might have the strongest comfort" (Heb 6:17).</p> | |
| 1237 <p>Secondly, he makes a general statement when he says, | |
| 1238 <b>everyone</b>, whether Jew or Greek, rich or poor, emperor or | |
| 1239 beggar: "There is no difference between Jews and Greeks: all have | |
| 1240 sinned" (Rom 3:22). He mentions slavery when he says, who commits | |
| 1241 sin is a slave to sin.</p> | |
| 1242 <p>1204 But one might argue against this in the following way: A | |
| 1243 slave does not act by his own judgment, but by that of his master; | |
| 1244 but one who commits sin is acting by his own judgment; therefore, | |
| 1245 he is not a slave. I answer by saying that a thing is whatever is | |
| 1246 appropriate to it according to its nature, it acts of itself; but | |
| 1247 when it is moved by something exterior, it does not act of itself, | |
| 1248 but by the influence of that other: and this is a kind of slavery. | |
| 1249 Now according to his nature, man is rational. And thus when he acts | |
| 1250 according to reason, he is acting by his own proper motion and is | |
| 1251 acting of himself; and this is a characteristic of freedom. But | |
| 1252 when he sins, he is acting outside reason; and then he is moved by | |
| 1253 another, being held back by the limitations imposed by that other. | |
| 1254 Therefore, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin: "Whatever | |
| 1255 overcomes a person, is that to which he is a slave" (2 Pet 2:19). | |
| 1256 And to the extent that someone is moved by something exterior, to | |
| 1257 that extent he is brought into slavery; and the more one is | |
| 1258 overcome by sin, the less he acts by his own proper motion, that | |
| 1259 is, by reason, and the more he is made a slave. Thus, the more | |
| 1260 freely one does the perverse things he wills, and the less the | |
| 1261 difficulty he has in doing them, the more he is subjected to the | |
| 1262 slavery of sin, as Gregory says.</p> | |
| 1263 <p>This kind of slavery is the worst, because it cannot be escaped | |
| 1264 from: for wherever a person goes, he carries his sin with him, even | |
| 1265 though its act and pleasure may pass: "God will give you rest from | |
| 1266 your harsh slavery (that is, to sin) to which you were subjected | |
| 1267 before" (Is 14:3). Physical slavery, on the other hand, can be | |
| 1268 escaped, at least by running away. Thus Augustine says: "What a | |
| 1269 wretched slavery (that is, slavery to sin)! A slave of man, when | |
| 1270 worn out by the harsh commands of his master, can find relief in | |
| 1271 flight; but a slave of sin drags his sin with him, wherever he | |
| 1272 flees: for the sin he did is within him. The pleasure passes, the | |
| 1273 sin (the act of sin) passes; what gave pleasure has gone, what | |
| 1274 wounds has remained."</p> | |
| 1275 <p>1205 Then (v 35) he considers their liberation from slavery; for | |
| 1276 since all have sinned, all were slaves to sin. Now the hope of | |
| 1277 liberation is held out by the one who is free of sin, and this is | |
| 1278 the Son. Thus he does three things with respect to this. First, he | |
| 1279 mentions the status of a slave as distinguished from that one who | |
| 1280 is free; secondly, he shows that the status of the Son is different | |
| 1281 from that of a slave; and thirdly, he concludes that the Son has | |
| 1282 the power to set us free.</p> | |
| 1283 <p>1206 The status of a slave is transient and unstable; so he | |
| 1284 says, <b>A slave does not remain in the household forever.</b> This | |
| 1285 house is the Church: "So you may know how to act in the house of | |
| 1286 God, which is the Church of the living God" (1 Tim 3:15). In this | |
| 1287 house some who are spiritually slaves remain only for a time, just | |
| 1288 as in a household those who are physically slaves remain only for a | |
| 1289 while. But the former will not remain forever, for although those | |
| 1290 who are evil are not now separated from the faithful in a separate | |
| 1291 group, but only by merit, in the future they will be separated in | |
| 1292 both ways: "Cast out the slave and her son: for the son of the | |
| 1293 slave woman will not inherit with the son of the free woman" (Gal | |
| 1294 4:30).</p> | |
| 1295 <p>1207 On the other hand, the status of the Son is everlasting and | |
| 1296 stable; so he says, <b>but the Son</b>, that is, Christ, <b>remains | |
| 1297 forever</b>, namely, in the Church, as in his own house. In Hebrews | |
| 1298 (3:6) Christ is described as a son in his own house. And indeed, it | |
| 1299 is of himself that Christ remains in his house forever, because he | |
| 1300 is immune from sin. As for us, just as we are freed from sin | |
| 1301 through him, so it is through him that we remain in his house.</p> | |
| 1302 <p>1208 The Son has the power to free us; so he adds, <b>If | |
| 1303 therefore the Son frees you, you will be truly free</b>: "We are | |
| 1304 not the children of the slave woman, but of the free, by whose | |
| 1305 freedom Christ has freed us" (Gal 4:31). For as the Apostle says, | |
| 1306 he paid a price not in gold, but of his own blood, for he came in | |
| 1307 the likeness of sinful flesh although he had no sin; and so he | |
| 1308 became a true sacrifice for sin. Thus, through him, we are freed, | |
| 1309 not from barbarians, but from the devil.</p> | |
| 1310 <p>1209 Note that there are several kinds of freedom. There is a | |
| 1311 perverted freedom, when one abuses his freedom in order to sin; | |
| 1312 there is a freedom from justice, a freedom that no one is compelled | |
| 1313 to keep: "Be free, and do not make your freedom a cloak for evil," | |
| 1314 as we read in 1 Peter (2:16). Then there is a vain freedom, which | |
| 1315 is temporal or bodily: "A slave, free from his master" (Job 3:19). | |
| 1316 Then we have true and spiritual freedom, which is the freedom of | |
| 1317 grace, and consists in the absence of sin. This freedom is | |
| 1318 imperfect because the flesh lusts against the spirit, and we do | |
| 1319 what we do not want to do (Gal 5:17). Then there is the freedom of | |
| 1320 glory; this is a perfect and full freedom, which we will have in | |
| 1321 our homeland: "The creature will be delivered from its slavery" | |
| 1322 (Rom 8:21), and this will be so because there will be nothing there | |
| 1323 to incline us to evil, nothing to oppress us, for then there will | |
| 1324 be freedom from sin and punishment.</p> | |
| 1325 <p>1210 Chrysostom explains this in another way: since he had said, | |
| 1326 everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin, then lest the Jews | |
| 1327 anticipate him and say, "Even though we are slaves to sin, we can | |
| 1328 be freed by the sacrifices and ceremonies of the Law," our Lord | |
| 1329 shows that they cannot be freed by these, but only by the Son. | |
| 1330 Hence he says, a slave, i.e., Moses and the priests of the Old | |
| 1331 Testament, does not remain in the household forever: "Moses was | |
| 1332 faithful in all God's house as a servant" (Heb 3:5). Furthermore, | |
| 1333 the ceremonies are not eternal; therefore they cannot confer a | |
| 1334 freedom which will continue forever.</p> | |
| 1335 <p>1211 Then he considers their origin (v 37). First, he gives | |
| 1336 their origin according to the flesh; secondly, he inquires into | |
| 1337 their origin according to the spirit (v 37b).</p> | |
| 1338 <p>1212 He traces their origin in the flesh to Abraham. <b>I know | |
| 1339 that you are sons of Abraham</b>, by carnal origin only, and not by | |
| 1340 resembling him in faith: "Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah | |
| 1341 who bore you" (Is 51:2).</p> | |
| 1342 <p>1213 He inquires into their spiritual origin when he says, | |
| 1343 <b>yet you want to kill me.</b> First he shows that they have a | |
| 1344 spiritual origin; secondly, he rejects what they presume to be | |
| 1345 their origin (v 34); thirdly, he shows them their true origin (v | |
| 1346 44). As to the first he does two things: first, he points out their | |
| 1347 guilt; secondly, he infers their spiritual origin (v 38). As to the | |
| 1348 first he does three things: first, he lays on them the guilt of | |
| 1349 murder; secondly, the sin of unbelief; and thirdly, he anticipates | |
| 1350 an excuse they might give.</p> | |
| 1351 <p>1214 Our Lord shows that they have their spiritual origins from | |
| 1352 an evil root. Hence he expressly accuses them of sin and passing | |
| 1353 over all the other crimes in which the Jews were implicated, he | |
| 1354 mentions only the one which they continued to nurture in their | |
| 1355 minds, the sin of murder, because, as was said, they wished to kill | |
| 1356 him. This is why he says, <b>you want to kill me</b>, which is | |
| 1357 against your Law: "You shall not kill" (Ex 20:13); "So from that | |
| 1358 day on they took counsel how to put him to death" (11:53).</p> | |
| 1359 <p>1215 Because they might say that to kill someone for his crime | |
| 1360 is not a sin, our Lord says that the cause of this murder is not | |
| 1361 any crime committed by Christ or their own righteousness, but | |
| 1362 rather their unbelief. As if to say: you seek to kill me not | |
| 1363 because of your own righteousness but because of your unbelief: | |
| 1364 because my message is no grasped by you: "Not all men can receive | |
| 1365 this message, but only those to whom it is given" (Mt 19:11). Our | |
| 1366 Lord uses this way of speaking, first of all, to show the | |
| 1367 excellence of his message. As if to say: my message transcends your | |
| 1368 ability, for it is concerned with spiritual things, whereas you | |
| 1369 have a sensual understanding, that is why you do not grasp it: "The | |
| 1370 sensual man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of | |
| 1371 God" (1 Cor 2:14). He speaks this way also to recall a certain | |
| 1372 similarity: for as Augustine says, the Lord's message to | |
| 1373 unbelievers is what a hook is to a fish, it does not grasp unless | |
| 1374 it is grasped. And so he says his message does not grasp them in | |
| 1375 their hearts, because it is not grasped by them, as Peter was | |
| 1376 grasped: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal | |
| 1377 life" (6:68). Yet it does not harm those who are grasped, for they | |
| 1378 are grasped to salvation, and left uninjured.</p> | |
| 1379 <p>1216 In Deuteronomy (c 18) we read that a prophet who speaks, as | |
| 1380 coming from the mouth of the Lord, things that the Lord did not | |
| 1381 say, should be killed. So, lest the Jews say that he should be | |
| 1382 killed for speaking from himself, and not from the mouth of the | |
| 1383 Lord, he adds, I speak of what I have seen with my Father. As if to | |
| 1384 say: I cannot be accused of speaking things that I have not heard, | |
| 1385 for I speak not only what I have heard, but what is more, I speak | |
| 1386 of what I have seen. Other prophets spoke the things they heard, | |
| 1387 whereas I speak the things I have seen: "No one has ever seen God; | |
| 1388 the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him | |
| 1389 known" (1:18); "That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also | |
| 1390 to you" (1 Jn 1:3). This must be understood of a vision which gives | |
| 1391 the most certain knowledge, because the Son knows the Father as he | |
| 1392 knows himself: "No one knows the Father except the Son" (Mt | |
| 1393 11:27).</p> | |
| 1394 <p>1217 He then infers their spiritual origin when he says, <b>and | |
| 1395 what you have seen with your father, that you do.</b> As if to say: | |
| 1396 I speak things that are in accord with my origin; but you do the | |
| 1397 things that are done by your father, namely, the devil, whose | |
| 1398 children they were, according to Augustine, not insofar as they | |
| 1399 were men, but insofar as they were evil. You do those things, I | |
| 1400 say, which you see, at the devil's suggestion: "Through the devil's | |
| 1401 envy death entered the world" (Wis 2:24).</p> | |
| 1402 <p>Chrysostom uses another text: What you see with your father, do | |
| 1403 it. As if to say: just as I reveal my Father in truth by my words, | |
| 1404 so you, reveal the father of our origin, namely, Abraham, by your | |
| 1405 deeds. Thus he says: Do what you see your father doing, you who are | |
| 1406 taught by the law and the prophets.<br /> | |
| 1407 <br /> | |
| 1408 <br /></p> | |
| 1409 <p align="center"><b>LECTURE 5</b></p> | |
| 1410 <blockquote> | |
| 1411 <p>39 They answered him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to | |
| 1412 them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do what Abraham | |
| 1413 did [If you are Abraham's children, do what Abraham did], 40 but | |
| 1414 now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I | |
| 1415 heard from God; this is not what Abraham did. 41 You do what your | |
| 1416 father did. "They said to him, "We were not born of fornication, we | |
| 1417 have one Father, even God." 42 Jesus said to them, "If God were | |
| 1418 your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded and came forth from | |
| 1419 God; I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not | |
| 1420 understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my | |
| 1421 word."</p> | |
| 1422 </blockquote> | |
| 1423 <p>1218 After showing that the Jews had a certain spiritual origin, | |
| 1424 our Lord here rejects certain origins which they had presumptuously | |
| 1425 attributed to themselves. First, he rejects the origin they claimed | |
| 1426 to have from Abraham; secondly, the origin they thought they had | |
| 1427 from God (v 41). As to the first he does two things: first, he | |
| 1428 gives the opinion of the Jews about their origin; secondly, he | |
| 1429 rejects it (v 39b).</p> | |
| 1430 <p>1219 It should be noted with respect to the first, that our Lord | |
| 1431 had said to them, what you have seen with your father, that you do, | |
| 1432 and so, glorying in their carnal descent, they aligned themselves | |
| 1433 with Abraham. Thus they said, <b>Abraham is our father.</b> This is | |
| 1434 like saying: If we have a spiritual origin we are good, because our | |
| 1435 father Abraham is good: "O offspring of Abraham his servant" (Ps | |
| 1436 105:6). And as Augustine says, they tried to provoke him to say | |
| 1437 something against Abraham and so give them an excuse for doing what | |
| 1438 they had planned, namely, to kill Christ.</p> | |
| 1439 <p>1220 Our Lord rejects this opinion of theirs as false (v 39). | |
| 1440 First, he gives the true sign of being a child of Abraham; | |
| 1441 secondly, he shows that this sign is not verified in the Jews (v | |
| 1442 40); thirdly, he draws his conclusion, you do what your father | |
| 1443 did.</p> | |
| 1444 <p>1221 The sign of anyone being a child is that he is like the one | |
| 1445 whose child he is; for just as children according to the flesh | |
| 1446 resemble their parents according to the flesh, so spiritual | |
| 1447 children (if they are truly children) should imitate their | |
| 1448 spiritual parents: "Be imitators of God, as beloved children" (Eph | |
| 1449 5:1). And as to this he says, <b>If you are Abraham's children, do | |
| 1450 what Abraham did.</b> This is like saying: if you imitated Abraham, | |
| 1451 that would be a sign that you are his children: "Look to Abraham | |
| 1452 your father and to Sarah who bore you" (Is 51:2).</p> | |
| 1453 <p>1222 Here a question arises, for when he says, if you are | |
| 1454 Abraham's children, he seems to be denying that they are the | |
| 1455 children of Abraham, whereas just previously he had said, "I know | |
| 1456 that you are children of Abraham" (v 37). There are two ways of | |
| 1457 answering this. The first, according to Augustine, is that before | |
| 1458 he said that they were children of Abraham according to the flesh, | |
| 1459 but here he is denying that they are children in the sense of | |
| 1460 imitating his works, especially his faith. Therefore, they took | |
| 1461 their flesh from him, but not their life: "It is men of faith who | |
| 1462 are the sons of Abraham" (Gal 3:7).</p> | |
| 1463 <p>For Origin, who has another explanation, both statements refer | |
| 1464 to their spiritual origin. Where our text reads, "I know that you | |
| 1465 are children of Abraham," the Greek has, "I know that you are the | |
| 1466 seed of Abraham." But Christ says here, if you are Abraham's | |
| 1467 children, do what Abraham did, because the Jews, spiritually | |
| 1468 speaking, were the seed of Abraham, but were not his children. | |
| 1469 There is a difference between a seed and a child: for a seed is | |
| 1470 unformed, although it has in it the characteristics of that of | |
| 1471 which it is a seed. A child, however, has a likeness to the parent | |
| 1472 after the seen has been modified by the informing power infused by | |
| 1473 the agent acting upon the matter which has been furnished by the | |
| 1474 female. In the same way, the Jews were indeed the seed of Abraham, | |
| 1475 insofar as they had some of the characteristics which God had | |
| 1476 infused into Abraham; but because they had not reached the | |
| 1477 perfection of Abraham, they were not his children. This is why he | |
| 1478 said to them, if you are Abraham's children, do what Abraham did, | |
| 1479 i.e., strive for a perfect imitation of his works.</p> | |
| 1480 <p>1223 Again, because he said, <b>do what Abraham did</b>, it | |
| 1481 would seem that whatever he did, we should do. Consequently, we | |
| 1482 should have a number of wives and approach a maidservant, as | |
| 1483 Abraham did. I answer that the chief work of Abraham was faith, by | |
| 1484 which he was justified before God: "He believed the Lord; and he | |
| 1485 reckoned it to him as righteousness" (Gen 15:6). Thus, the meaning | |
| 1486 is, do what Abraham did, i.e., believe according to the example of | |
| 1487 Abraham.</p> | |
| 1488 <p>1224 One might say against this interpretation that faith should | |
| 1489 not be called a work, since it is distinguished from works: "Faith | |
| 1490 apart from works is dead" (Jas 2:26) ["Do what Abraham did" if | |
| 1491 translated literally gives "Do the works of Abraham."] I answer | |
| 1492 that faith can be called a work according to what was said above: | |
| 1493 "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent" | |
| 1494 (6:29). An interior work is not obvious to man, but only to God, | |
| 1495 according to, "The Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the | |
| 1496 outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" (1 Sam 16:7). | |
| 1497 This is the reason we are more accustomed to call exterior action | |
| 1498 works. Thus, faith is not distinguished from all works, but only | |
| 1499 from external works.</p> | |
| 1500 <p>1225 But should we do all the works of Abraham? I answer that | |
| 1501 works can be considered in two ways. Either according to the kind | |
| 1502 of works they are, in which sense we should not imitate all his | |
| 1503 works; or, according to their root, and in this sense we should | |
| 1504 imitate the works of Abraham, because whatever he did, he did out | |
| 1505 of charity. Thus Augustine says that the celibacy of John was not | |
| 1506 esteemed above the marriage of Abraham, since the root of each was | |
| 1507 the same. Or, it might be said that all of Abraham's works should | |
| 1508 be imitated as to their symbolism, because "all these things happen | |
| 1509 to them in figure" [1 Cor 10:11].</p> | |
| 1510 <p>1226 Then (v 40) he shows that they do not have the above | |
| 1511 mentioned sign of being children. First, the conduct of the Jews is | |
| 1512 given; secondly, he shows that it does not resemble the conduct of | |
| 1513 Abraham (v 40b).</p> | |
| 1514 <p>1227 The conduct of the Jews is shown to be wicked and perverse, | |
| 1515 because they were murderers; so he says, <b>now you seek to kill | |
| 1516 me</b>: "How the faithful city has become a harlot, she that was | |
| 1517 full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers" | |
| 1518 (Is 1:21). This murder was an unfathomable sin against the person | |
| 1519 of the Son of God. But because it is said, "If they had understood, | |
| 1520 they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor 2:8), our | |
| 1521 Lord does not say that they sought to kill the Son of God, but a | |
| 1522 man. For although the Son of God is said to have suffered and died | |
| 1523 by reason of the oneness of his person, this suffering and death | |
| 1524 was not insofar as he was the Son of God, but because of his human | |
| 1525 weakness, as it says: "For he was crucified in weakness, but lives | |
| 1526 by the power of God" (2 Cor 13:4).</p> | |
| 1527 <p>1228 In order to further elucidate this murder, he shows that | |
| 1528 they have no reason to put him to death; thus he adds, <b>a man who | |
| 1529 has told you the truth which I heard from God</b>. This truth is | |
| 1530 that he said that he is equal to God: "This is why the Jews sought | |
| 1531 all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, | |
| 1532 but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God" | |
| 1533 (5:18). He heard this truth from God inasmuch as from eternity he | |
| 1534 received from the Father, through an eternal generation, the same | |
| 1535 nature that the Father has: "For as the Father has life in himself, | |
| 1536 so has he granted the Son also to have life in himself" (5:26).</p> | |
| 1537 <p>Furthermore, he excludes the two reasons for which the Law | |
| 1538 commanded that prophets were to be killed. First of all, for lying, | |
| 1539 for Deuteronomy (c 13) commands that a prophet should be killed for | |
| 1540 speaking a lie or feigning dreams. Our Lord excludes this from | |
| 1541 himself, saying, <b>a man who has told you the truth</b>: "My mouth | |
| 1542 will utter truth" (Prov 8:7). Secondly, a prophet ought to be | |
| 1543 killed if he speaks in the name of false gods, or says in the name | |
| 1544 of God things that God did not command (Deut 13). Our Lord excludes | |
| 1545 this from himself when he says, which I heard from God.</p> | |
| 1546 <p>1229 Then when he says, <b>this is not what Abraham did</b>, he | |
| 1547 shows that their works are not like those of Abraham. He is saying | |
| 1548 in effect: Because you act contrary to Abraham, you show that you | |
| 1549 are not his children, for it is written about him: "He kept the law | |
| 1550 of the Most High, and was taken into covenant with him" (Si | |
| 1551 44:20).</p> | |
| 1552 <p>Some frivolously object that Christ did not exist before Abraham | |
| 1553 and therefore that Abraham did not do this [kill Christ], since one | |
| 1554 who did not exist could not be killed. I answer that Abraham is not | |
| 1555 commended for something he did not do to Christ, but for what he | |
| 1556 did not do to anyone in like circumstances, i.e., to those who | |
| 1557 spoke the truth in his day. Or, it might be answered that although | |
| 1558 Christ had not come in the flesh during the time of Abraham, he | |
| 1559 nevertheless had come into his mind, according to Wisdom (7:27): | |
| 1560 "in every generation she [Wisdom] passes into souls." And Abraham | |
| 1561 did not kill Wisdom by sinning mortally. Concerning this we read: | |
| 1562 "They crucify the Son of God" (Heb 6:6).</p> | |
| 1563 <p>1230 Then when he says, <b>you do what your father did</b>, he | |
| 1564 draws his conclusion. It was like saying: from the fact that you do | |
| 1565 not do the works of Abraham, it follows that you have some other | |
| 1566 father whose works you are doing. A similar statement is made in | |
| 1567 Matthew (23:32): "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers."</p> | |
| 1568 <p>1231 Then when he says, <b>they said to him, we were not born of | |
| 1569 fornication</b>, he shows that they do not take their origin from | |
| 1570 God, for since they knew from our Lord's words that he was not | |
| 1571 speaking of carnal descent, they turn to spiritual descent, saying, | |
| 1572 we were not born of fornication. First, they give their own | |
| 1573 opinion; secondly, our Lord rejects it (v 42).</p> | |
| 1574 <p>1232 According to some, the Jews are denying one thing and | |
| 1575 affirming another. They are denying that they were born of | |
| 1576 fornication. According to Origin, they said this tauntingly to | |
| 1577 Christ, with the unspoken suggestion that he was the product of | |
| 1578 adultery. It was like saying: we were not born of fornication as | |
| 1579 you were.</p> | |
| 1580 <p>But it is better to say that the spiritual spouse of the soul is | |
| 1581 God: "I will betroth you to me forever" (Hos 2:19), and just as a | |
| 1582 bride is guilty of fornication when she admits a man other than her | |
| 1583 husband, so in Scripture Judea was said to be fornicating when she | |
| 1584 abandoned the true God and turned to idols: "For the land commits | |
| 1585 great harlotry by forsaking the Lord" (Hos 1:2). And so the Jews | |
| 1586 said: we were not born of fornication. It was like saying: although | |
| 1587 our mother, the synagogue, may now and then have departed from God | |
| 1588 and fornicated with idols, yet we have not departed or fornicated | |
| 1589 with idols: "We have not forgotten thee, or been false to thy | |
| 1590 covenant. Our heart has not turned back" (Ps 44:17); "But you, draw | |
| 1591 near hither, sons of the sorceress, offspring of the adulterer and | |
| 1592 the harlot" (Is 57:3). Further, they affirm that they are children | |
| 1593 of God; and this seems to follow from the fact that they did not | |
| 1594 believe that they were born of fornication. Thus they say, we have | |
| 1595 one Father, even God: "Have we not all on father?" (Mal 2:10); "And | |
| 1596 I thought you would call me, My Father" (Jer 3:19).</p> | |
| 1597 <p>1233 Next (v 42), our Lord refutes their opinion: first we see | |
| 1598 the sign of being a child of God; secondly, the reason for this | |
| 1599 sign is given (v 42); and thirdly, we see that the Jews lack this | |
| 1600 sign (v 43).</p> | |
| 1601 <p>1234 With respect to the first it should be noted that above he | |
| 1602 had said that the sign of being a child according to the flesh was | |
| 1603 in the exterior actions that a person performs; but here he places | |
| 1604 the sign of being a child of God in one's interior affections. For | |
| 1605 we become children of God by sharing in the Holy Spirit: "you did | |
| 1606 not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you | |
| 1607 have received the spirit of sonship" (8:15). Now the Holy Spirit is | |
| 1608 the cause of our loving God, because "God's love has been poured | |
| 1609 into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" | |
| 1610 (Rom 5:5). Therefore, the special sign of being a child of God is | |
| 1611 love: "Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love" | |
| 1612 (Eph 5:1). Therefore he says, <b>If God were your Father, you would | |
| 1613 love me</b>: "The innocent and the right in heart," who are the | |
| 1614 children of God, "have clung to me" [Ps 21:4].</p> | |
| 1615 <p>1235 Then (v 42) he gives the reason for this sign. First, he | |
| 1616 states the truth; secondly, he rejects an error (v 42b).</p> | |
| 1617 <p>1236 The truth he asserts is that he proceeded and came forth | |
| 1618 from God. It should be noted that all friendship is based on union, | |
| 1619 and so brothers love one another inasmuch as they take their origin | |
| 1620 from the same parents. Thus our Lord says: <b>you say that you are | |
| 1621 the children of God; but if this were so, you would love me</b>, | |
| 1622 for I proceeded and came forth from God. Therefore, any one who | |
| 1623 does not love me is not a child of God.</p> | |
| 1624 <p>I say I proceeded from God from eternity as the Only Begotten, | |
| 1625 of the substance of the Father: "From the womb before the daystar I | |
| 1626 begot you" (Ps 109:4); "In the beginning was the Word" (1:1). And I | |
| 1627 came forth as the Word made flesh, sent by God [into the world] | |
| 1628 through incarnation. "I came [proceeded] from the Father," from | |
| 1629 eternity, as the Word, "and have come into the world" when I was | |
| 1630 made flesh in time (16:28).</p> | |
| 1631 <p>1237 He rejects an error when he says, <b>I came not of my own | |
| 1632 accord</b> [<i>a meipso</i>]. And first, he rejects the error of | |
| 1633 Sabellius, who said that Christ did not have his origin from | |
| 1634 another, for he said that the Father and the Son were the same in | |
| 1635 person. In regard to this he says, I came not of my own accord, | |
| 1636 i.e., according to Hilary, I came, not existing of myself, but in a | |
| 1637 way as sent by another, that is, the Father. Thus he adds, <b>but | |
| 1638 he sent me</b>: "God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under | |
| 1639 the law" (Gal 4:4). Secondly, he rejects an error of the Jews who | |
| 1640 said that Christ was not sent by God, but was a false prophet, of | |
| 1641 whom we read in Jeremiah (23:21): "I did not send the prophets, yet | |
| 1642 they ran." And in regard to this he says, according to Origen, I | |
| 1643 came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Indeed, this is what | |
| 1644 Moses prayed for: "O, my Lord, send, I pray, whom you will send" | |
| 1645 [Ex 4:13].</p> | |
| 1646 <p>1238 He shows that they lack this sign when he says, <b>Why do | |
| 1647 you not understand what I say?</b> For as was stated above, to love | |
| 1648 Christ is the sign of being a child of God; but they did not love | |
| 1649 Christ; therefore it is obvious that they did not have this sign. | |
| 1650 That they do not love Christ is shown by the effect of love: for | |
| 1651 the effect of loving someone is that the lover joyfully hears the | |
| 1652 words of the beloved; thus we read: "Let me hear your voice, for | |
| 1653 your voice is sweet" (Song 2:14). And again, "My companions are | |
| 1654 listening for your voice; let me hear it" (8:13). Therefore, | |
| 1655 because they did not love Christ, it seemed tedious to them even to | |
| 1656 hear his voice: "This is a hard saying, who can listen to it?" | |
| 1657 (6:60); "The very sight of him is a burden to us" (Wis 2:15).</p> | |
| 1658 <p>It sometimes happens that a person is not glad to hear the words | |
| 1659 of another because he cannot weigh them and for that reason does | |
| 1660 not understand them, and so he contradicts them: "Answer, I beseech | |
| 1661 you, without contention…and you shall not find iniquity on | |
| 1662 my tongue" [Job 6:29]. Therefore he says, <b>Why do you not | |
| 1663 understand what I say?</b> You question what I mean, as "Where I am | |
| 1664 going, you cannot come" (8:21). I say that you do not understand | |
| 1665 because you cannot bear to hear my word, i.e., your heart is so | |
| 1666 hardened against me that you do not even want to hear me.<br /> | |
| 1667 <br /> | |
| 1668 <br /></p> | |
| 1669 <p align="center"><b>LECTURE 6</b></p> | |
| 1670 <blockquote> | |
| 1671 <p>44 "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do | |
| 1672 your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and | |
| 1673 has nothing to do with the truth [and did not stand in the truth] | |
| 1674 because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according | |
| 1675 to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."</p> | |
| 1676 </blockquote> | |
| 1677 <p>1239 After showing that the Jews had a certain spiritual origin, | |
| 1678 and after rejecting the origin they presumed they had, our Lord | |
| 1679 here gives their true origin, ascribing their fatherhood to the | |
| 1680 devil. First, he makes his statement; secondly, he gives its | |
| 1681 reason; and thirdly, he explains this reason.</p> | |
| 1682 <p>1240 He says: <b>You do the works of the devil; therefore, you | |
| 1683 are of your father the devil</b>, that is, by imitating him: "Your | |
| 1684 father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite" (Ez 16:3).</p> | |
| 1685 <p>Here one must guard against the heresy of the Manicheans who | |
| 1686 claim that there is a definite nature called "evil," and a certain | |
| 1687 race of darkness with its own princes, from which all corruptible | |
| 1688 things derive their origin. According to this opinion, all men, as | |
| 1689 to their flesh, have come from the devil. Further, they say that | |
| 1690 certain souls belong to that creation which is good, and others to | |
| 1691 that which is evil. Thus they said that our Lord said, you are of | |
| 1692 your father, the devil, because they came from the devil according | |
| 1693 to the flesh, and their souls were part of that creation which was | |
| 1694 evil. But as Origen says, to suppose that there are two natures | |
| 1695 because of the difference between good and evil seems to be like | |
| 1696 saying that the substance of an eye which sees is different from | |
| 1697 that of an eye that is clouded or crossed. For just as a healthy | |
| 1698 and bleary eye do not differ in substance, but the bleariness is | |
| 1699 from some deficient cause, so the substance and nature of a thing | |
| 1700 is the same whether it is good or has a defect in itself, which is | |
| 1701 a sin of the will. And so the Jews, as evil, are not called the | |
| 1702 children of the devil by nature, but by reason of their imitating | |
| 1703 him.</p> | |
| 1704 <p>1241 Then when he says, <b>and your will is to do your father's | |
| 1705 desires</b>, he gives the reason for this, for their being of the | |
| 1706 devil. It is like saying: you are not the children of the devil as | |
| 1707 though created and brought into existence by him, but because by | |
| 1708 imitating him your will is to do your father's desires. And these | |
| 1709 desires are evil, for as he envied and killed man - "through the | |
| 1710 devil's envy death entered the world" (Wis 2:24) - so you too envy | |
| 1711 me and "you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth" | |
| 1712 (8:40).</p> | |
| 1713 <p>1242 Then when he says, <b>he was a murderer from the | |
| 1714 beginning</b>, he explains the reason he gave. First, he mentions | |
| 1715 the characteristic of the devil that they imitate; secondly, he | |
| 1716 shows that they are truly imitators of that (8:45).</p> | |
| 1717 <p>With respect to the first it should be noted that two sins stand | |
| 1718 out in the devil: the sin of pride towards God, and of envy towards | |
| 1719 man, whom he destroys. And from the sin of envy towards man, | |
| 1720 because of which he injures him, we can know his sin of pride. And | |
| 1721 so first, he mentions the devil's sin against man; secondly, his | |
| 1722 sin against God, he did not stand in the truth.</p> | |
| 1723 <p>1243 His sin of envy against man lies in the fact that he kills | |
| 1724 him. So he says, <b>he</b>, that is, the devil, <b>was a murderer | |
| 1725 from the beginning.</b> Here it should be noted that the devil | |
| 1726 kills man not with the sword, but by persuading him to do evil. | |
| 1727 "Through the devil's envy death entered the world" (Wis 2:24). | |
| 1728 First, the death of sin entered: "The death of the wicked is very | |
| 1729 evil" [Ps 33:22]; then came bodily death: "Sin came into the world | |
| 1730 through one man and death through sin" (Rom 5:12). As Augustine | |
| 1731 says: "Do not think that you are not a murderer when you lead your | |
| 1732 brother into evil." However, it should be noted with Origen, that | |
| 1733 the devil is not called a murderer with respect to only some | |
| 1734 particular person, but with respect to the whole race, which he | |
| 1735 destroyed in Adam, in whom all die, as we read in 1 Corinthians (c | |
| 1736 15). Thus he is called a murderer because that is a chief | |
| 1737 characteristic, and he is so indeed from the beginning, that is, | |
| 1738 from the time that a man existed who could be killed, who could be | |
| 1739 murdered; for one cannot be murdered unless he first exists.</p> | |
| 1740 <p>1244 Then when he says, <b>he did not stand in the truth</b>, he | |
| 1741 mentions the devil's sin against God, which consists in the fact | |
| 1742 that he turned away from the truth, which is God. First, he shows | |
| 1743 that he is turned from the truth; secondly, he shows that he is | |
| 1744 contrary to the truth: when he lies, he speaks according to his own | |
| 1745 nature. As to the first he does two things: first, he shows that | |
| 1746 the devil is turned from the truth; secondly, he explains what he | |
| 1747 has said, because there is no truth in him.</p> | |
| 1748 <p>1245 He says, <b>he did not stand in the truth</b>. Here it | |
| 1749 should be noted that truth is of two kinds, namely, the truth of | |
| 1750 word and the truth of deed. The truth of word consists in a person | |
| 1751 saying what he feels in his heart and what is in reality: | |
| 1752 "Therefore, putting away falsehood, let every one speak the truth | |
| 1753 with his neighbor" (Eph 4:25); "He who speaks truth from his heart, | |
| 1754 who does not slander with his tongue" (Ps 15:3). The truth of deed, | |
| 1755 on the other hand, is the truth of righteousness, i.e., when a | |
| 1756 person does what befits him according to the order of his nature. | |
| 1757 Concerning this it says above: "He who does what is true comes to | |
| 1758 the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been | |
| 1759 wrought in God" (3:21). Speaking of this truth our Lord says, in | |
| 1760 the truth, namely, the truth of righteousness, he did not stand, | |
| 1761 because he abandoned the order of his nature, which was that he be | |
| 1762 subject to God, and through him acquire his happiness and the | |
| 1763 fulfillment of his natural desire. And so, because he wanted to | |
| 1764 obtain this through himself, he fell from the truth.</p> | |
| 1765 <p>1246 The statement, <b>he did not stand in the truth</b>, can be | |
| 1766 understood in two ways. Either he never had anything to do with the | |
| 1767 truth, or that he once did, but did not continue in it. Now never | |
| 1768 to have anything to do with the truth of righteousness has two | |
| 1769 meanings. One is according to the Manicheans, who say that the | |
| 1770 devil is evil by nature. From this it follows that he was always | |
| 1771 evil, because whatever is present by nature is always present. But | |
| 1772 this is heretical, for we read: "God made heaven and earth, the | |
| 1773 sea, and all that is in them" (Ps 146:6). Therefore, every being is | |
| 1774 from God; but everything which is from God, insofar as it is, is | |
| 1775 good.</p> | |
| 1776 <p>Consequently, others have said that the devil was created good | |
| 1777 in his nature by God, but became evil in the first instant by his | |
| 1778 own free choice. And this opinion differs from that of the | |
| 1779 Manicheans who say that the devils were always and by nature evil, | |
| 1780 whereas this opinion claims that they were always evil by free | |
| 1781 choice.</p> | |
| 1782 <p>Someone might suppose that since an angel is not evil by nature | |
| 1783 but by a sin of his own will - and sin is an act - it is possible | |
| 1784 that at the beginning of the act the angel was good, and at the end | |
| 1785 of the evil act he became evil. For it is plain that the act of sin | |
| 1786 in the devil is subsequent to his creation, and that the terminus | |
| 1787 of creation is the existence of an angel; but the terminus of the | |
| 1788 act of sin is that he is evil. Consequently, according to this | |
| 1789 explanation, they conclude that it is impossible that an angel be | |
| 1790 evil in the first instant in which the angel came to exist.</p> | |
| 1791 <p>But this explanation does not seem to be sufficient, because it | |
| 1792 is true only in motions that occur in time and that are | |
| 1793 accomplished in a successive manner, not in instantaneous motions. | |
| 1794 For in every successive motion the instant in which an act begins | |
| 1795 is not the one in which the action is terminated; thus, if a local | |
| 1796 motion follows upon an alteration, the local motion cannot be | |
| 1797 terminated in the same instant as the alteration. But in changes | |
| 1798 that are instantaneous, the terminus of a first and of a second | |
| 1799 change can occur together and in the same instant. Thus, in the | |
| 1800 same instant that the moon is illumined by the sun, the air is | |
| 1801 illumined by the moon. Now it is clear that creation is | |
| 1802 instantaneous, and likewise the act of free choice in the angels, | |
| 1803 since they do not go through the weighings and discoursings of | |
| 1804 reason. Thus, in the case of an angel there is nothing to prevent | |
| 1805 the same instant from being the terminus of creation (in which he | |
| 1806 was good), and the terminus of a free decision (in which he was | |
| 1807 evil). Some admit this, although they do not say that it so | |
| 1808 happened, but that it could have so happened. And they base | |
| 1809 themselves on the authority of Scripture, for under the figure of | |
| 1810 the king of Babylon it is said of the devil: "How have you fallen | |
| 1811 from heaven, O Lucifer, who did rise in the morning?" [Is 14:12]; | |
| 1812 and under the person of the king of Tyre it says: "You were in the | |
| 1813 pleasures of the paradise of God" [Ez 28:13]. Accordingly, they say | |
| 1814 that he was not evil at the first instant of his creation, but that | |
| 1815 he was once good, and fell through his free choice.</p> | |
| 1816 <p>But it must be said that he could not be evil at the first | |
| 1817 instant of his creation. The reason for this is that no act is | |
| 1818 sinful except insofar as it is outside the nature of the voluntary | |
| 1819 agent. But in order of acts, the natural act is first: thus in | |
| 1820 understanding, first principles are understood first, and through | |
| 1821 them other things are understood; and in willing, we likewise first | |
| 1822 will the ultimate perfection and ultimate end, the desire for which | |
| 1823 is naturally in us, and on account of this we seek other things. | |
| 1824 Now that which is done according to nature is not sin. Therefore, | |
| 1825 it is impossible that the first act of the devil was evil; | |
| 1826 consequently, at some instant the devil was good. But he did not | |
| 1827 stand in the truth, i.e., he did not remain in it. Concerning the | |
| 1828 statement from 1 John (3:8): "The devil has sinned from the | |
| 1829 beginning," one may say that he did indeed sin from the beginning | |
| 1830 in the sense that once he began to sin he never stopped.</p> | |
| 1831 <p>1247 Then when he says, <b>because there is no truth in him</b>, | |
| 1832 he explains what he has said. And this explanation can be | |
| 1833 understood in two ways. In one way, according to Origen, so that it | |
| 1834 is an explanation of the general by the particular, as when I | |
| 1835 explain that Socrates is an animal by the fact that he is a man. It | |
| 1836 is then like saying: he did not stand in the truth, but fell from | |
| 1837 it, and this because there is not truth in him. Now there are two | |
| 1838 classes of those that do not stand in the truth: some do not stand | |
| 1839 in the truth because they are not convinced, but waiver: "My feet | |
| 1840 had almost stumbled, my steps had well nigh slipped" (Ps 73:2); | |
| 1841 others, on the other hand, because they have entirely recoiled from | |
| 1842 the truth. And this was the way the devil did not stand in the | |
| 1843 truth, but turned away from it in aversion.</p> | |
| 1844 <p>But is there no truth at all in him? For if there is no truth in | |
| 1845 him, we would not understand himself or anything else, since | |
| 1846 understanding is concerned only with things that are true. I answer | |
| 1847 that there is some truth in the evil spirits, just as there is | |
| 1848 something true [a nature]. For no evil utterly destroys a good | |
| 1849 thing, since at least the subject in which evil is found is good. | |
| 1850 Thus Dionysius says that the natural goods remain intact in evil | |
| 1851 spirits. Thus there is some truth in them, but not the fulfilling | |
| 1852 truth from which they have turned, namely, God, who is fulfilling | |
| 1853 truth and wisdom.</p> | |
| 1854 <p>1248 In a second way, this explanation is understood as a sign, | |
| 1855 as Augustine says. For it seems that he should rather have said the | |
| 1856 converse, namely, "there is not truth in him, because he did not | |
| 1857 stand in the truth." But just as a cause is sometimes shown by its | |
| 1858 effect, so our Lord wished to show that the truth was not in him | |
| 1859 because he did not stand in the truth; for truth would have been in | |
| 1860 him had he stood in the truth. A similar pattern of speech is found | |
| 1861 in "I cried because you heard" [Ps 16:6]: as if to say that it is | |
| 1862 evident that I cried because you heard me.</p> | |
| 1863 <p>1249 Then he shows that the devil is contrary to the truth, when | |
| 1864 he lies, he speaks according to his own nature (on his own). First, | |
| 1865 he makes this point; secondly, he explains it.</p> | |
| 1866 <p>1250 The contrary of truth is falsity and a lie. The devil is | |
| 1867 contrary to the truth because he speaks a lie. Thus he says, <b>he | |
| 1868 lies</b>. Here we should note that, God excepted, whoever speaks on | |
| 1869 his own speaks a lie; although not everyone who speaks a lie speaks | |
| 1870 on his own. God alone, when speaking on his own, speaks the truth, | |
| 1871 for truth is an enlightenment of the intellect, and God is light | |
| 1872 itself and all are enlightened by him: "the true light that | |
| 1873 enlightens every man" (1:9). Thus he is truth itself, and no one | |
| 1874 speaks the truth except insofar as he is enlightened by him. So | |
| 1875 Ambrose says: "Every truth, by whomsoever spoken, is from the Holy | |
| 1876 Spirit." Thus the devil, when he speaks on his own, speaks a lie; | |
| 1877 man, too, when he speaks on his own, speaks a lie; but when he | |
| 1878 speaks from God, he speaks the truth: "Let God be true though every | |
| 1879 man be false" (Rom 3:4). But not every man who tells a lie speaks | |
| 1880 on his own, for sometimes he gets this from someone else, not | |
| 1881 indeed from God, who is truthful, but from him who did not stand in | |
| 1882 the truth and who first invented lying. So in a unique way when the | |
| 1883 devil tells a lie, he is speaking on his own: "I will go forth and | |
| 1884 will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all prophets" (1 Kgs 22:22); | |
| 1885 "The Lord mingled" (that is, allowed to mingle) "a spirit of error | |
| 1886 in their midst" [Is 19:14].</p> | |
| 1887 <p>1251 He explains this statement when he says, <b>for he is a | |
| 1888 liar and the father of lies</b>. The Manicheans did not understand | |
| 1889 this, and placed some kind of procreation in the evil spirits, with | |
| 1890 the devil as their father. They said that the devil "is a liar and | |
| 1891 his father." It should not be understood this way, as our Lord said | |
| 1892 that the devil is a liar and its father, the father of lies. Not | |
| 1893 everyone who lies is the father of his lie. As Augustine says, "If | |
| 1894 you have learned a lie from someone else and you repeat it, you | |
| 1895 have indeed lied, but you are not the father of that lie." But the | |
| 1896 devil, because he did not learn from someone else the lie by which | |
| 1897 he destroyed humankind as with poison, is the father of the lie, | |
| 1898 just as God is the father of truth. The devil was the first to | |
| 1899 invent the lie, namely, when he lied to the woman: "You will not | |
| 1900 die" (Gen 3:4). Just how true this statement was, was proved by the | |
| 1901 outcome.</p> | |
| 1902 <p>1252 Here we should note that the book Questions of the New and | |
| 1903 Old Testament takes the words you are of your father the devil, and | |
| 1904 applies them to Cain, in the sense that one is called a devil who | |
| 1905 performs the works of the devil, and you are imitating him; hence | |
| 1906 you are of your father the devil, that is, of Cain, who did the | |
| 1907 work of the devil, and you are imitating him. Cain "Was a murderer | |
| 1908 from the beginning," because he killed his brother Abel. And he | |
| 1909 "did not stand in the truth, because there is not truth in him." | |
| 1910 This is obvious because when the Lord asked him, "Where is Abel | |
| 1911 your brother?" he said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" | |
| 1912 (Gen 4:9). Thus he is a liar. But the first explanation is | |
| 1913 better.<br /> | |
| 1914 <br /> | |
| 1915 <br /></p> | |
| 1916 <p align="center"><b>LECTURE 7</b></p> | |
| 1917 <blockquote> | |
| 1918 <p>45 "But because [If] I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 | |
| 1919 Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you | |
| 1920 not believe me? 47 He who is of God hears the words of God; the | |
| 1921 reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God." 48 The | |
| 1922 Jews answered him, "Are we not right in saying that you are a | |
| 1923 Samaritan and have a demon?" 49 Jesus answered, "I have not a | |
| 1924 demon; but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not | |
| 1925 seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it and he will be the | |
| 1926 judge."</p> | |
| 1927 </blockquote> | |
| 1928 <p>1253 After mentioning some characteristics of the devil, he then | |
| 1929 shows that the Jews are imitating these. Our Lord ascribed two | |
| 1930 kinds of evil to the devil, murder and lying. He reproved them | |
| 1931 before for their imitation of one of these, namely, murder: "Now | |
| 1932 you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth" (8:40). Then | |
| 1933 passing from this, he reproves them for turning away from the | |
| 1934 truth: first, he shows that they are turned away from the truth; | |
| 1935 secondly, he rejects a certain reason they might give for this (v | |
| 1936 46); thirdly, he concludes to the true reason for their being | |
| 1937 turned away from the truth (v 46b).</p> | |
| 1938 <p>1254 He says first: It was said that the devil is a liar and the | |
| 1939 father of lies, and you are imitating him because you do not wish | |
| 1940 to adhere to the truth. Thus he says, <b>If I tell the truth to you | |
| 1941 you do not believe me</b>; "If I tell you, you will not believe" | |
| 1942 (Lk 22:67); "If I have told you earthly things and you do not | |
| 1943 believe me, etc…." (3:12). And Isaiah complains: "Who has | |
| 1944 believed what we have heard?" (Is 53:1).</p> | |
| 1945 <p>1255 The reason which the Jews might allege for their unbelief | |
| 1946 is that Christ is a sinner, for it is not easy to believe a sinner | |
| 1947 even when he is telling the truth. Thus we read: "But to the wicked | |
| 1948 God says: 'What right have you to recite my statutes?'" (Ps 50:16). | |
| 1949 So they might have said: We do not believe you since you are a | |
| 1950 sinner.</p> | |
| 1951 <p>Accordingly, he excludes this reason when he says, <b>Which of | |
| 1952 you convicts me of sin?</b> As if to say: You have no good reason | |
| 1953 for not believing me when I speak the truth, since you can find no | |
| 1954 sin in me: "He committed not sin; no guile was found on his lips" | |
| 1955 (1 Pt 2:22).</p> | |
| 1956 <p>According to Gregory, we are invited to consider the mildness of | |
| 1957 God, who did not consider it beneath himself to show by rational | |
| 1958 grounds that he who can justify sinners by the power of his | |
| 1959 divinity is not a sinner: "If I have rejected the cause of my | |
| 1960 manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against | |
| 1961 me; what then shall I do when God rises up?" (Jb 31:13). We should | |
| 1962 also honor the unique greatness of Christ's purity, for as | |
| 1963 Chrysostom says, no mere man could have confidently said, Which of | |
| 1964 you convicts me of sin? Only God, who had no sin, could say this: | |
| 1965 "Who can say, 'I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin?'" | |
| 1966 (Prv 20:9) - this is like saying: No one but God alone. "They have | |
| 1967 all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that | |
| 1968 does good, no, not one," except Christ (Ps 14:3).</p> | |
| 1969 <p>1256 Next, he concludes to the real reason they have turned away | |
| 1970 from the truth. First, he mentions the reason; secondly, he rejects | |
| 1971 their rejoinder (v 48). As to the first he does three things: | |
| 1972 first, he asks a question; secondly, he begins with a reasonable | |
| 1973 starting point; thirdly, he draws from his conclusion.</p> | |
| 1974 <p>1257 First, he says: Since you cannot say that you do not | |
| 1975 believe me because I am a sinner, one can ask why if I tell the | |
| 1976 truth, you do not believe me, since I am not a sinner? This is like | |
| 1977 saying: If you cannot convict me, whom you hate, of sin, it is | |
| 1978 obvious that you hate me because of the truth, that is, because I | |
| 1979 say that I am the Son of God: "A fool takes no pleasure in | |
| 1980 understanding, but only in expressing his opinion" (Prv 18:2).</p> | |
| 1981 <p>1258 He then begins with a reasonable and true starting point, | |
| 1982 saying, <b>he who is of God hears the words of God</b>. For we read | |
| 1983 in Sirach (13:15): "Every creature loves its like." Therefore, | |
| 1984 whoever is of God, to that extent possesses a likeness to the | |
| 1985 things of God and clings to them. Thus, he who is of God gladly | |
| 1986 hears the words of God: "Every one who is of the truth hears my | |
| 1987 voice" (18:37). The word of God ought to be heard gladly by those, | |
| 1988 above all, who are of God, since it is the seed by which we are | |
| 1989 made the children of God: "He called them gods to whom the word of | |
| 1990 God came" (10:35).</p> | |
| 1991 <p>1259 He draws his conclusion from this saying, <b>the reason why | |
| 1992 you do not hear them is that you are not of God</b>. This is like | |
| 1993 saying: The reason for your unbelief is not my sin, but your own | |
| 1994 wickedness; as Sirach (6:20) says: "She [Wisdom] seems very harsh | |
| 1995 to the uninstructed."</p> | |
| 1996 <p>Augustine says about them that as to their nature, they are of | |
| 1997 God, indeed; but by reason of their vice and evil affection they | |
| 1998 are not of God. For this statement was made to those who were not | |
| 1999 just sinful, for this was common to all; it was made to those of | |
| 2000 whom it was foreknown that they would not believe with that faith | |
| 2001 by which they could have been set free from the chains of their | |
| 2002 sins.</p> | |
| 2003 <p>1260 It should be noted, as Gregory says, that there are three | |
| 2004 degrees of being badly disposed in one's affections. Some refuse to | |
| 2005 physically hear God's precepts. Of these we read: "Like the deaf | |
| 2006 adder that stops its ear" (Ps 58:4). Others hear them physically, | |
| 2007 but they do not embrace them with the desire of their heart, since | |
| 2008 they do not have he will to obey them: "They hear what you say, but | |
| 2009 they will not do it" (Ez 33:32). Finally, there are those who | |
| 2010 joyfully receive the words of God and even weep with tears of | |
| 2011 sorrow; but after the time of crying is past and they are oppressed | |
| 2012 with troubles or allured by pleasures, they return to their sins. | |
| 2013 An example of this is given in Matthew (c 13) and Luke (c 8), where | |
| 2014 we read of the word being choked by cares and anxieties. "But the | |
| 2015 house of Israel will not listen to you; for they are not willing to | |
| 2016 listen to me" (Ez 3:7). Consequently, a sign that a person is of | |
| 2017 God is that he is glad to hear the words of God, while those who | |
| 2018 refuse to hear, either in affection or physically, are not of | |
| 2019 God.</p> | |
| 2020 <p>1261 Next he rejects the rejoinder made by the Jews. First, the | |
| 2021 Evangelist mentions this rejoinder; and secondly, our Lord's | |
| 2022 rejection of it (v 49).</p> | |
| 2023 <p>1262 In their response the Jews charge Christ with two things: | |
| 2024 first, that he is a Samaritan, when they say, <b>Are we not right | |
| 2025 in saying that you are a Samaritan?</b> Secondly, that he has a | |
| 2026 demon, when they add, <b>and have a demon?</b></p> | |
| 2027 <p>In saying, <b>Are we not right?</b> we can infer that they often | |
| 2028 reproached Christ this way. In fact, concerning the second, that he | |
| 2029 has a demon, we read in Matthew, "It is only by Beelzebul, the | |
| 2030 prince of demons, that he casts out demons" (12:24). But this is | |
| 2031 the only place where it is recorded that they called him a | |
| 2032 Samaritan, although they probably said it often: for many of the | |
| 2033 things that were said and done about Christ and by Christ were not | |
| 2034 written in the Gospels, as it says below (21:25).</p> | |
| 2035 <p>Two reasons can be given why the Jews said this about Christ. | |
| 2036 First, because the Samaritans were hateful to the people of Israel, | |
| 2037 for when the ten tribes were led into captivity, they took their | |
| 2038 land: "For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans" (4:9). Thus, | |
| 2039 because Christ reproved the Jews, they believed that he did it out | |
| 2040 of hatred, so that they regarded him as a Samaritan, an adversary, | |
| 2041 as it were. Another reason was that the Samaritans observed the | |
| 2042 Jewish rites in some things and not in others. Therefore, the Jews, | |
| 2043 seeing that Christ observed the law in some matters and broke it in | |
| 2044 others, for example, the law of the Sabbath, called him a | |
| 2045 Samaritan.</p> | |
| 2046 <p>Again, there are two reasons why they said he had a demon. | |
| 2047 First, because they did not attribute the miracles he worked, and | |
| 2048 the thoughts he revealed, to a divine power in Christ; rather, they | |
| 2049 suspected that he did these things by some demonic art. Thus they | |
| 2050 said: "It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that he casts | |
| 2051 out demons" (Mt 12:24). The other reason was based on the fact that | |
| 2052 his words exceeded human understanding, such as his statements that | |
| 2053 God was his Father, and that he had come down from heaven. And when | |
| 2054 uneducated people hear such things they usually regard them as | |
| 2055 diabolical. Accordingly, they believed that Christ spoke as one | |
| 2056 possessed by a demon: "Many of them said, 'he has a demon, and he | |
| 2057 is mad; why listen to him?'" (10:20). Furthermore, they said these | |
| 2058 things in an attempt to accuse him of sin, to dispute what he had | |
| 2059 said: "Which of you convicts me of sin?"</p> | |
| 2060 <p>1263 Then when he says, Jesus answered: <b>I have not a | |
| 2061 demon</b>, our Lord rejects the response of the Jews. Now they had | |
| 2062 taxed Christ with two things, that he was a Samaritan and that he | |
| 2063 had a demon. Concerning the first, our Lord makes no apology, and | |
| 2064 this for two reasons. First, according to Origen, because the Jews | |
| 2065 always wanted to keep themselves apart from the Gentiles. But the | |
| 2066 time had now come when the distinction between Jews and Gentiles | |
| 2067 was to be removed, and everyone was to be called to the way of | |
| 2068 salvation. Accordingly, our Lord, in order to show that he had come | |
| 2069 for the salvation of all, made himself all things to all men, more | |
| 2070 so than Paul, so that he might win all (cf. 1 Cor 9:22); and so he | |
| 2071 did not deny that he was a Samaritan. The other reason was that | |
| 2072 "Samaritan" means "keeper," and because he especially is our | |
| 2073 keeper, as we read, "He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor | |
| 2074 sleep" (Ps 121:4), so he did not deny that he was a Samaritan.</p> | |
| 2075 <p>But he did deny that he had a demon, saying, <b>I have not a | |
| 2076 demon</b>. First, he rejects the insult; secondly, he reproves the | |
| 2077 insulters for the obstinacy (v 49b). As to the first he does two | |
| 2078 things: first, he rejects the insult; secondly, he shows that the | |
| 2079 opposite is true, I honor my Father.</p> | |
| 2080 <p>1264 It should be noted with respect to the first that when | |
| 2081 correcting the Jews our Lord often spoke harshly to them: "Woe to | |
| 2082 you, Scribes and Pharisees" (Mt 23:14), and many other instances | |
| 2083 are recorded in Matthew. But there is no record that our Lord spoke | |
| 2084 harsh or injurious words in answer to their harsh words or deeds | |
| 2085 against himself. Rather, as Gregory said, God accepted their | |
| 2086 insults, and did not answer with insulting words, but simply said, | |
| 2087 I have not a demon. And what does this suggests to us if not that | |
| 2088 when we are falsely attacked by our neighbor with railing words, we | |
| 2089 should keep silence, even about his abusive words, so as not to | |
| 2090 pervert our ministry of correcting in a just manner into a weapon | |
| 2091 of our anger. However, while we should not value our own goods, we | |
| 2092 should vindicate the things that are of God. As Origen says, Christ | |
| 2093 alone is capable of claiming, I have not a demon, for he has | |
| 2094 nothing, either slight or serious, of the devil in him; thus he | |
| 2095 says: "The ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me" | |
| 2096 (14:30). "What accord has Christ with Belial?" (2 Cor 6:15).</p> | |
| 2097 <p>1265 He supports his stand by saying the opposite: <b>but I | |
| 2098 honor my Father.</b> Now the devil hinders honor being given to | |
| 2099 God; therefore, any person who seeks God's honor is a stranger to | |
| 2100 the devil. Thus, Christ, who honors his Father, that is, God, has | |
| 2101 not a demon. Furthermore, it is a proper and singular mark of | |
| 2102 Christ that he honor his Father, as we read: "A son honors his | |
| 2103 father" (Mal 1:6). And Christ is most singularly the Son of | |
| 2104 God.</p> | |
| 2105 <p>1266 Next he reproves the impudence of those insulting him. | |
| 2106 First, he reproves them; secondly, he rejects the supposed reason | |
| 2107 for their reproof; and thirdly, he foretells their deserved | |
| 2108 condemnation.</p> | |
| 2109 <p>1267 He says first, <b>I honor my Father, and you dishonor | |
| 2110 me.</b> This is like saying: I do what I ought, but you do not do | |
| 2111 what you ought. Indeed, by dishonoring me you dishonor my Father: | |
| 2112 "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent | |
| 2113 him" (5:23).</p> | |
| 2114 <p>1268 But they could say: You are too severe, you are too | |
| 2115 concerned for your own glory, and so you reprove us. He rejects | |
| 2116 this, and speaking as man, says, <b>I do not seek my own glory</b>. | |
| 2117 For it is God alone who can seek his own glory without fault; | |
| 2118 others must seek it in God: "Let him who glories, glory in the | |
| 2119 Lord" [2 Cor 10:17]; "If I glorify myself, my glory is | |
| 2120 nothing."</p> | |
| 2121 <p>But does not Christ as man have glory? He does indeed, and it is | |
| 2122 great in every respect, because, although he does not seek it, | |
| 2123 nevertheless, there is One who seeks it, that is, the Father; for | |
| 2124 we read: "Thou dost crown him with glory and honor" (Ps 8:5), | |
| 2125 referring to Christ in his human nature.</p> | |
| 2126 <p>1269 Not only will he seek my glory in those who accomplish | |
| 2127 works of great virtue, but he will punish and condemn those who | |
| 2128 speak against my glory thus he adds: and he will be the judge. | |
| 2129 This, however, seems to conflict with the statement above (5:22): | |
| 2130 "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son." | |
| 2131 I answer that the Father does not judge anyone apart from the Son, | |
| 2132 because even that judgment which he will make concerning the fact | |
| 2133 that you insult me, he will make through the Son. Or, one might say | |
| 2134 that judgment is sometimes taken for condemnation, and this | |
| 2135 judgment the Father has given to the Son, who alone will appear in | |
| 2136 visible form in judgment, as has been said. Sometimes, however, it | |
| 2137 is understood as meaning to distinguish one from another; and this | |
| 2138 is the way it is used here. Thus we read: "Judge me, O God, and | |
| 2139 distinguish my cause" [Ps 42:1]. It is like saying: It is the | |
| 2140 Father who will distinguish my glory from yours, for he discerns | |
| 2141 that you glory in the world; and he sees the glory of his Son, whom | |
| 2142 he has anointed above his fellows and who is without sin. But you | |
| 2143 are men with sin.<br /> | |
| 2144 <br /> | |
| 2145 <br /></p> | |
| 2146 <p align="center"><b>LECTURE 8</b></p> | |
| 2147 <blockquote> | |
| 2148 <p>51 "Truly, truly, I say to you, if any one keeps my word, he | |
| 2149 will never see death." 52 The Jews said to him, "Now we know that | |
| 2150 you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, | |
| 2151 'If any one keeps my word, he will never taste death.' 53 Are you | |
| 2152 greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! | |
| 2153 Who do you claim to be?" 54 Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, | |
| 2154 my glory is nothing; it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you | |
| 2155 say that he is your God. 55 But you have not known him; I know him. | |
| 2156 If I said, I do not know him, I should be a liar like you; but I do | |
| 2157 know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that | |
| 2158 he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad." 57 The Jews then | |
| 2159 said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen | |
| 2160 Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, | |
| 2161 before Abraham was [came to be], I am." 59 So they took up stones | |
| 2162 to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the | |
| 2163 temple.</p> | |
| 2164 </blockquote> | |
| 2165 <p>1270 Above, our Lord had promised two things to his followers: | |
| 2166 liberation from darkness and the attainment of life, saying, "He | |
| 2167 who follows me does not walk in darkness, but will have the light | |
| 2168 of life" (8:12). The first of these has been treated above; so we | |
| 2169 are now concerned with the second, the obtaining of life through | |
| 2170 Christ. First, he states the truth; secondly he counters its denial | |
| 2171 by the Jews (v 52).</p> | |
| 2172 <p>1271 It should be noted that although Christ had been loaded | |
| 2173 down with insults and criticisms, he did not stop his teaching; | |
| 2174 indeed, after being accused of having a demon, he offers the | |
| 2175 benefits of his teachings more generously, saying: <b>Truly, truly, | |
| 2176 I say to you, if any one keeps my word, he will never see | |
| 2177 death.</b> He is here giving us an example that when the malice of | |
| 2178 wicked men increases, and those that are converted are abused with | |
| 2179 insults, preaching, so far from being curtailed, should be | |
| 2180 increased: "And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be | |
| 2181 afraid of their words" (Ez 2:6); "…the gospel for which I am | |
| 2182 suffering and wearing fetters like a criminal. But the word of God | |
| 2183 is not fettered" (2 Tim 2:9).</p> | |
| 2184 <p>In this statement our Lord does two things: he requires | |
| 2185 something, and he promises something. What he requires is that his | |
| 2186 words be kept, if any one keeps my word - for the word of Christ is | |
| 2187 the truth. Therefore, we should keep it, first of all, by faith and | |
| 2188 continual meditation: "Do not forsake her, and she will keep you" | |
| 2189 (Prv 4:6); secondly, by fulfilling it in action: "He who has my | |
| 2190 commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me" (14:21).</p> | |
| 2191 <p>What he promises is freedom from death; thus he says, <b>he will | |
| 2192 never see death</b>, that is, experience it: "They who act by me | |
| 2193 (i.e., by divine wisdom) shall not sin; they who explain me shall | |
| 2194 have life everlasting" [Sir 24:30]. Such a reward suits such merit, | |
| 2195 for life everlasting consists especially in the divine vision: | |
| 2196 "This is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and | |
| 2197 Jesus Christ whom thou has sent" (17:3). Now the seedbed and source | |
| 2198 of this vision comes into us by the word of Christ; "The seed is | |
| 2199 the word of God" (Lk 8:11). Therefore, just as a person who keeps | |
| 2200 the seed of some plant or tree from being destroyed succeeds in | |
| 2201 obtaining its fruit, so the person who keeps the word of God | |
| 2202 attains to life everlasting: "Keep my statutes and my ordinances by | |
| 2203 doing which a man shall live" (Lev 18:5).</p> | |
| 2204 <p>1272 Next we see the opposition of the Jews being repelled. They | |
| 2205 oppose Christ in three ways: first, by accusing him of making a | |
| 2206 false statement; secondly, by their derision (v 57); and thirdly by | |
| 2207 assaulting him (v 59). As to the first, there are two things: | |
| 2208 first, they try to accuse him of presumption; secondly, Christ | |
| 2209 answers some of their retorts (v 54). As to the first they do three | |
| 2210 things: first, they insult Christ; secondly, they state a certain | |
| 2211 fact (v 52); and thirdly, they ask a question (v 53).</p> | |
| 2212 <p>1273 They reproached him for lying when they said, <b>now we | |
| 2213 know that you have a demon.</b> They said this because the Jews | |
| 2214 knew that the inventor of sin, and especially of lying, was the | |
| 2215 devil: "I will go forth and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of | |
| 2216 his prophets" (1 Kg 22:22). It seemed to them that our Lord's | |
| 2217 statement, "If any one keeps my word, he will never see death," was | |
| 2218 an obvious lie - for since they were carnal minded, they understood | |
| 2219 of physical death what he said about spiritual and eternal death; | |
| 2220 and especially also because it was contrary to the authority of | |
| 2221 Sacred Scripture, which says, "What man can live and never see | |
| 2222 death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?" (Ps | |
| 2223 89:48). For these reasons they said to him: you have a demon. It | |
| 2224 was like saying: You are lying because prompted by the devil.</p> | |
| 2225 <p>1274 Further, they do two things to convict him of lying: first, | |
| 2226 they mention the death of the ancients; secondly, they quote | |
| 2227 Christ's own words (v 52b). So they say: What you say, if any one | |
| 2228 keeps my word, he will never see death, is obviously false, for | |
| 2229 Abraham died, as is clear from Genesis (c 25); and the prophets | |
| 2230 died: "We must all die, we are like water split on the ground, | |
| 2231 which cannot be gathered up again" (2 Sam 14:14). But although they | |
| 2232 are dead in the bodily sense, they are not dead spiritually, for in | |
| 2233 Matthew (22:32) our Lord says: "I am the God of Abraham and the God | |
| 2234 of Isaac and the God of Jacob," and then he adds, "He is not God of | |
| 2235 the dead, but of the living." Thus, they were dead as to the body, | |
| 2236 but they were living in the spirit, because the Lord was speaking | |
| 2237 of, and not bodily death. Then, when they continue they wrote | |
| 2238 Christ's own words: And you say, If any one keeps my word, he will | |
| 2239 never taste death. But they were careless and evil listeners and so | |
| 2240 garbled our Lord's words and did not repeat them exactly. For our | |
| 2241 Lord had said, "he will never see death," but they quote it as "he | |
| 2242 will never taste death." However, as far as their understanding was | |
| 2243 concerned, it was all the same, because in both cases they | |
| 2244 understood that they would never experience a bodily death. But as | |
| 2245 Origen tells us, there is a real difference between seeing death | |
| 2246 and tasting death: for to see death is to experience it completely; | |
| 2247 while to taste it is to have some taste or share in death.</p> | |
| 2248 <p>Now, just as it is a greater punishment to see death than to | |
| 2249 taste it, so not to taste death is more of a glory than not to see | |
| 2250 death. For the ones who do not taste death are those who are on | |
| 2251 high with Christ, i.e., who remain in an intellectual order: "There | |
| 2252 are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the | |
| 2253 Son of man coming in his kingdom" (Mt 16:28). And there are others | |
| 2254 who, if they do not see death by sinning mortally, nevertheless | |
| 2255 taste it, because they have a slight affection for earthly things. | |
| 2256 Consequently, our Lord, as it is written in the Greek, and as | |
| 2257 Origen explains it, said, he will never see death, because the | |
| 2258 person who has accepted and kept the words of Christ will not see | |
| 2259 death, even though he might taste something of it.</p> | |
| 2260 <p>1275 Then they ask their question, saying, <b>Are you greater | |
| 2261 than our father Abraham, who died?</b> They are asking, first of | |
| 2262 all, about a comparison between him and their fathers of old. But | |
| 2263 as Chrysostom says, in their carnal understanding they could have | |
| 2264 asked something higher, that is, "Are you greater than God?" For | |
| 2265 Abraham and the prophets kept God's commands, yet they died in the | |
| 2266 bodily sense. Therefore, if any one who keeps your word will never | |
| 2267 die, it seems that you are greater than God. Yet they were | |
| 2268 satisfied with their retort, because they considered him less than | |
| 2269 Abraham, in spite of the fact that we read: "There is none like | |
| 2270 thee among the gods, O Lord" (Ps 86:8); and "Who is like thee, O | |
| 2271 Lord, among the gods?" (Ex 15:11); as if to say: No one.</p> | |
| 2272 <p>Secondly, they ask about his estimate of himself, i.e., who does | |
| 2273 he take himself to be? As if to say: If you are greater than them, | |
| 2274 namely, Abraham and the prophets, it seems to imply that you are of | |
| 2275 a higher nature, say an angel or God. But we do not think you are. | |
| 2276 So they do not ask, "Who are you?" but Who do you claim to be? For | |
| 2277 whatever you say in this matter, we who know will regard it as a | |
| 2278 fiction. They spoke in a similar fashion below (10:33): "We stone | |
| 2279 you for no good work but for blasphemy; because you being a man, | |
| 2280 make yourself God."</p> | |
| 2281 <p>1276 Then (v 54), our Lord's answer is given. First, he answers | |
| 2282 the second question; secondly, the first question (v 56). As to the | |
| 2283 first, he Lord does three things: first, he rejects their error; | |
| 2284 secondly, he teaches them a truth which they did not know (v 54); | |
| 2285 and thirdly, he clarifies both of these things (v 55).</p> | |
| 2286 <p>1277 He says: <b>You ask me, Who do you claim to be?</b> As if I | |
| 2287 am usurping a glory that I do not have. But this is a false | |
| 2288 assumption on your part, because I do not make myself what I am, | |
| 2289 but I have received it from the Father: for if I glorify myself, my | |
| 2290 glory is nothing. Now this could be understood of Christ according | |
| 2291 as he is the Son of God, as though saying in precise language; if | |
| 2292 I, namely, myself, glorify myself, that is, ascribe to myself a | |
| 2293 glory which the Father does not give me, my glory is nothing. For | |
| 2294 the glory of Christ according as he is God is the glory of the Word | |
| 2295 and the Son of God. But the Son has nothing except being begotten, | |
| 2296 i.e., what he has received from another [the Father] by being | |
| 2297 begotten. Therefore, assuming the impossible, if his glory were not | |
| 2298 from another, it would not be the glory of the Son.</p> | |
| 2299 <p>However, it seems better to suppose that this is said of Christ | |
| 2300 according as he is man, because anyone who ascribes to himself a | |
| 2301 glory he does not have from God, has a false glory. For whatever is | |
| 2302 true is from God, and whatever is contrary to the truth is false, | |
| 2303 and consequently, nothing. Therefore, a glory which is not from God | |
| 2304 is nothing. We read of Christ: "Christ did not exalt himself to be | |
| 2305 made a high priest" (Heb 5:5); and "It is not the man who commends | |
| 2306 himself that is accepted, but the man whom the Lord commends" (2 | |
| 2307 Cor 10:18). Thus the error of the Jews is obvious.</p> | |
| 2308 <p>1278 He sets down the truth he intends to teach and says: <b>it | |
| 2309 is my Father who glorifies me</b>. It is like saying: I do not | |
| 2310 glorify myself, as you think; but it is another who glorifies me, | |
| 2311 namely, my Father, whom he describes by his proper characteristic | |
| 2312 and by his nature. He describes him by his proper characteristic of | |
| 2313 fatherhood; thus he says that it is my Father and not I. As | |
| 2314 Augustine says, the Arians use this statement to injure our faith, | |
| 2315 and they claim the Father is greater than the Son, for one who | |
| 2316 glorifies is greater than the one glorified by him. If, therefore, | |
| 2317 the Father glorifies the Son, the Father is greater than the Son. | |
| 2318 Now this argument would be valid unless it were found that, | |
| 2319 conversely, the Son glorifies the Father. But the Son says: | |
| 2320 "Father, the hour has come: glorify thy Son that thy Son may | |
| 2321 glorify thee" (17:1); and "I glorified thee on earth" (17:4).</p> | |
| 2322 <p><b>It is my Father who glorifies me</b>, can be applied to | |
| 2323 Christ both according as he is the Son of God, and also as the Son | |
| 2324 of man. As the Son of God, the Father glorifies him with the glory | |
| 2325 of the divinity, generating him from eternity as equal to himself: | |
| 2326 as we read, "He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp | |
| 2327 of his nature … he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty | |
| 2328 on high" (Heb 1:3); "And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is | |
| 2329 Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil 2:11). But as man, he | |
| 2330 had glory through an overflowing into him of the divinity, and | |
| 2331 overflowing of unique grace and glory: "We have seen his glory, the | |
| 2332 glory as of the only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and | |
| 2333 truth" [1:14].</p> | |
| 2334 <p>1279 He describes the Father by his nature, that is, by his | |
| 2335 divinity, when he says, <b>of whom you say that he is your God.</b> | |
| 2336 But lest anyone suppose that his Father is other than God, he says | |
| 2337 that he is glorified by God: "Now is the Son of man glorified, and | |
| 2338 in him God is glorified; if God is glorified in him, God will also | |
| 2339 glorify him in himself" (13:31). According to Augustine, these | |
| 2340 words are against the Manicheans, who say that the Father of Christ | |
| 2341 was not proclaimed in the Old Testament, but rather it was one of | |
| 2342 the princes of the evil angels. However, it is plain that the Jews | |
| 2343 do not say that their God is any other than the God of the Old | |
| 2344 Testament. Therefore, the God of the Old Testament is the Father of | |
| 2345 Christ and the One who glorifies him.</p> | |
| 2346 <p>1280 Then he shows both these things, that is, the error of the | |
| 2347 Jews, and his own truth, when he says, but you have not known him. | |
| 2348 He shows these in two ways: first, by pointing out the ignorance of | |
| 2349 the Jews; secondly, his own knowledge (v 55).</p> | |
| 2350 <p>1281 With respect to the first it should be noted that the Jews | |
| 2351 could say: You say that you are glorified by God; but his judgments | |
| 2352 are known by us, according to "He has not dealt thus with any other | |
| 2353 nation; they do not know his ordinances" (Ps 147:20). Therefore, if | |
| 2354 what you say is true, we would certainly know it; but since we do | |
| 2355 not know of it, it is obviously not true. Christ concludes saying, | |
| 2356 but you have not known him. This is like saying: It is not strange | |
| 2357 if you do not know about the glory with which my Father, who you | |
| 2358 say is your God, glorifies me, for you do not know God.</p> | |
| 2359 <p>1282 This seems to conflict with the Psalm (76:1): "In Judah God | |
| 2360 is known." I answer that he was known by them as God, but not as | |
| 2361 the Father; thus he said above: "It is my Father who glorifies me" | |
| 2362 (v 54). Or, one might answer that you have not known him with | |
| 2363 affection, because you adore him in a bodily way, whereas he should | |
| 2364 be adored spiritually: "God is spirit, and those who worship him | |
| 2365 must worship in spirit and truth" (4:24). And there is no affection | |
| 2366 because you are reluctant to keep his commandments: "They profess | |
| 2367 to know God; but they deny him by their deeds" (Tit 1:16).</p> | |
| 2368 <p>1283 But they might say: "Granted that we do not know about your | |
| 2369 glory, how do you know that you have glory from God the Father?" | |
| 2370 For this reason Christ speaks of his own knowledge, saying, I know | |
| 2371 him. First, he mentions his own knowledge; secondly, he shows the | |
| 2372 need for mentioning it; and thirdly, he explains what he said (v | |
| 2373 55b).</p> | |
| 2374 <p>1284 He says: <b>I know that I have glory from God the Father, | |
| 2375 because I know him</b>, namely, with that knowledge with which he | |
| 2376 knows himself; and no one else except the Son knows him: "No one | |
| 2377 knows the Father except the Son" (Mt 11:27), i.e., with a perfect | |
| 2378 and comprehensive knowledge. And because every imperfect thing | |
| 2379 derives from the perfect, all our knowledge is derived from the | |
| 2380 Word; thus Christ continues, "and any one to whom the Son chooses | |
| 2381 to reveal him."</p> | |
| 2382 <p>1285 Now because some who judge in a carnal manner might | |
| 2383 attribute arrogance to Christ for saying that he knows God, he | |
| 2384 mentions why his statement is necessary. For, according to | |
| 2385 Augustine, arrogance should not be so guarded against that the | |
| 2386 truth is neglected and a lie committed. Thus Christ says: <b>If I | |
| 2387 said, I do not know him, I should be a liar like you.</b> This is | |
| 2388 like saying: Just as you are lying when you say that you know him, | |
| 2389 so if I said I do not know him, whereas I do, I should be a liar | |
| 2390 like you. There is a similarity here in the fact of lying: as they | |
| 2391 lie in saying that they know him whom they do not know, so Christ | |
| 2392 would be a liar were he to say that he does not know him whom he | |
| 2393 knows. But there is a lack of similarity because they do not know | |
| 2394 him, whereas Christ does.</p> | |
| 2395 <p>But could Christ say these things ["I do not know him" and "I | |
| 2396 should be a liar"]? He could, indeed, have spoken the words | |
| 2397 materially, but not so as to intend expressing a falsehood, because | |
| 2398 this could be done only by Christ's will inclining to falsehood, | |
| 2399 which was impossible, just as it was impossible for him to sin.</p> | |
| 2400 <p>However, the conditional statement is true, although both | |
| 2401 antecedent and consequent are impossible.</p> | |
| 2402 <p>1286 When he continues he shows that he knows the Father, <b>But | |
| 2403 I do know him</b>, i.e., I know the Father intellectually, with | |
| 2404 speculative knowledge. And I also know him with affective | |
| 2405 knowledge, by consenting to him with my will: thus he says, <b>and | |
| 2406 I keep his word</b>: "For I have come down from heaven, not to do | |
| 2407 my own will, but the will of him who sent me" (6:3).</p> | |
| 2408 <p>1287 Then when he says, <b>your father Abraham rejoiced that he | |
| 2409 was to see my day</b>, he gives his answer to the first question | |
| 2410 asked by the Jews: "Are you greater than our father Abraham?" He | |
| 2411 shows that he is greater for the following reason: Whoever awaits | |
| 2412 for someone as for his good and perfection is less than the one he | |
| 2413 waits for; but Abraham placed the entire hope of his perfection and | |
| 2414 good in me; therefore, he is less than I. In regard to this he | |
| 2415 says, your father Abraham, in whom you glory, rejoiced that the was | |
| 2416 to see my day; he saw it and was glad. He is stating two visions | |
| 2417 and two joys, but the second vision and its joy is mentioned first. | |
| 2418 In the first part of the statement, he first mentions the joy of | |
| 2419 exultation when he says, Abraham rejoiced, and then adds the | |
| 2420 vision, saying that he was to see my day. Then in the second part | |
| 2421 he first mentions the vision, saying, he saw, my day, and adds the | |
| 2422 joy, and was glad. Thus [taking the statement in reverse order] a | |
| 2423 joy lies between two visions, proceeding from the one and tending | |
| 2424 to the other. He is saying in effect: "He saw my day, and rejoiced | |
| 2425 that he was to see my day."</p> | |
| 2426 <p>First of all, let us examine what that day is which he saw, and | |
| 2427 also what that day is which he rejoiced that he was to see. Now the | |
| 2428 day of Christ is twofold: the day of eternity, "Today I have | |
| 2429 begotten you" (Ps 2:7); and the day of his incarnation and | |
| 2430 humanity, "I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is | |
| 2431 day" (9:4). We say that Abraham saw, by faith, each day of Christ: | |
| 2432 the day of eternity and the day of the incarnation: "He believed | |
| 2433 the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness" (Gen 15:6). | |
| 2434 It is clear that he saw the day of eternity, for otherwise he would | |
| 2435 not have been justified by God, because as it says in Hebrews | |
| 2436 (11:6): "Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists | |
| 2437 and that he rewards those who see him." That he saw the day of the | |
| 2438 incarnation is clear from three things. First, from the oath he | |
| 2439 exacted from his servant. For he said to his servant: "Put your | |
| 2440 hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord" (Gen | |
| 2441 24:2). This signified, as Augustine says, that the God of heaven | |
| 2442 was to come out of his thigh. Secondly, as Gregory says, when he | |
| 2443 showed hospitality to the three angels, a symbol of the Most High | |
| 2444 Trinity. Thirdly, when he knew the passion of Christ as prefigured | |
| 2445 in the offering of the ram and of Isaac (Gen c 22). So he was glad | |
| 2446 over this vision [of faith], but he did not rest in it. Indeed, | |
| 2447 from it he rejoiced in another vision, namely, the direct | |
| 2448 face-to-face vision [of God], as though placing all his joy in | |
| 2449 this. Thus he says, Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day, - | |
| 2450 the day of my divinity and of my human nature - that is, that he | |
| 2451 was to see it by direct face-to-face vision.</p> | |
| 2452 <p>1288 Then (v 57), he shows how the Jews ridiculed Christ's | |
| 2453 words: first, we have their ridicule, in an attempt to belittle | |
| 2454 what Christ said; secondly, Christ clarifies what he said in order | |
| 2455 to counteract this ridicule (v 58).</p> | |
| 2456 <p>1289 Because Christ had said that Abraham rejoiced that he was | |
| 2457 to see his day, the Jews, having a carnal mind and considering only | |
| 2458 his physical age, ridiculed him and said, <b>you are not yet fifty | |
| 2459 years old</b>. Indeed, he was not yet fifty years old, or even | |
| 2460 forty, but closer to thirty: "And Jesus, when he began his | |
| 2461 ministry, was about thirty years of age" (Lk 3:23). The Jews said, | |
| 2462 you are not yet fifty years old, probably because they held the | |
| 2463 year of Jubilee in the greatest reverence and computed everything | |
| 2464 in terms of it - it was a time for freeing captives and giving up | |
| 2465 certain possessions. They were saying in effect: You have not yet | |
| 2466 lived beyond the span of a Jubilee, and have you seen Abraham? | |
| 2467 However, our Lord did not say that he saw Abraham, but that Abraham | |
| 2468 saw his day.</p> | |
| 2469 <p>1290 To counteract their ridicule, our Lord answers the Jews by | |
| 2470 explaining his words, saying, <b>Truly, truly, I say to you, before | |
| 2471 Abraham came to be, I am.</b> These words of our Lord mention two | |
| 2472 things about himself that are noteworthy and efficacious against | |
| 2473 the Arians. One is that, as Gregory says, he combines words of | |
| 2474 present and past time, because before signifies the past, and am | |
| 2475 signifies the present. Therefore, in order to show that he is | |
| 2476 eternal, and to indicate that his existence is an eternal | |
| 2477 existence, he does not say, "before Abraham, I was," but before | |
| 2478 Abraham, I am. For eternal existence knows neither past nor future | |
| 2479 time, but embraces all time in one indivisible [instant]. Thus it | |
| 2480 could be said: "He who is, sent me to you," and "I am who am" [Ex | |
| 2481 3:14]. Jesus had being both before Abraham and after him, and he | |
| 2482 could approach him by showing himself in the present and be after | |
| 2483 him in the course of time.</p> | |
| 2484 <p>The other point, according to Augustine, is that when speaking | |
| 2485 of Abraham, a creature, he did not say, "before Abraham was," but | |
| 2486 before Abraham came to be. Yet when speaking of himself, in order | |
| 2487 to show that he was not made as a creature is, but was eternally | |
| 2488 begotten from the essence of the Father, he does not say, "I came | |
| 2489 to be," but I am he who "in the beginning was the Word" (1:1); | |
| 2490 "Before the hills, I was brought forth" (Prv 8:25).</p> | |
| 2491 <p>1291 Then (v 59), we see the attitude of the Jews towards | |
| 2492 Christ: first, their harassment of him; secondly, Christ's escape. | |
| 2493 The harassment of the Jews came from their unbelief: for the minds | |
| 2494 of unbelievers, being unable to tolerate words of eternity, or | |
| 2495 understand them, regard them as blasphemy. <b>Therefore,</b> | |
| 2496 according to the command of the Law, they decided to stone Christ | |
| 2497 as a blasphemer: <b>they took up stones to throw at him.</b> As | |
| 2498 Augustine remarks: What hardness of heart! To what could it resort | |
| 2499 except the hardness of stones? And they act in the same way who | |
| 2500 from the hardness of their own hearts, failing to understand the | |
| 2501 clearly stated truth, blaspheme the one who speaks it; for we read: | |
| 2502 "These men revile whatever they do not understand" (Jude 10).</p> | |
| 2503 <p>1292 Jesus escapes from them by his own power; he continues, | |
| 2504 <b>but Jesus hid himself</b> - he, who, if he had wished to | |
| 2505 exercise his divine power, could have bound and delivered them to | |
| 2506 the punishment of a sudden death. Jesus hid himself for two main | |
| 2507 reasons. First, as an example to his followers to avoid those who | |
| 2508 persecute them: "When they persecute you in one town, flee to the | |
| 2509 next" (Mt 10:23). Secondly, because he had not chosen this form of | |
| 2510 death, but rather wanted to be sacrificed on the altar of the | |
| 2511 cross. He also fled because his time had not yet come. Thus, as | |
| 2512 man, he avoids their stoning. But he did not conceal himself under | |
| 2513 a rock or in a corner, but made himself invisible by his divine | |
| 2514 power and left the temple. He acted in a similar way when they | |
| 2515 wanted to throw him from the top of a hill (Lk 4:29). As Gregory | |
| 2516 says, this leads us to understand that the truth is hidden from | |
| 2517 those who disdain to follow his words. Indeed, the truth shuns a | |
| 2518 mind that it does not find to be humble: "The Lord is hiding his | |
| 2519 face from the house of Jacob" (Is 8:17). Finally, he hid himself | |
| 2520 because it was fitting that he leave them because they refused to | |
| 2521 accept correction and the truth, and that he go to the Gentiles: | |
| 2522 "Behold your house is forsaken and desolate" (Mt 23:38).</p> | |
| 2523 </blockquote> | |
| 2524 </body> | |
| 2525 </html> |