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1 <html>
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2 <head>
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3 </head>
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4 <body style=text-align:justify><blockquote>
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5 <CENTER><p><span style="font-size: 60pt">5</span></p>
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6 <p><span style="font-weight: bold">LECTURE 1</span></p></CENTER>
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7 <BLOCKQUOTE><p>1 After this there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now at Jerusalem
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8 there is a Sheep Pool, called in Hebrew Bethsaida, having five porticoes. 3 In these porticoes lay
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9 a great number of people: feeble, blind, lame and withered, waiting for the movement of the
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10 water. 4 From time to time an angel of the Lord used to come down into the pool and the water
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11 was stirred up, and the first one into the pool after it was stirred was healed of whatever ailment
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12 he had. 5 There was one man lying there who had been sick for thirty-eight years with his
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13 infirmity. 6 Jesus, seeing him lying there and knowing that he had been sick a long time, said to
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14 him, &#8220;Do you wish to be healed?&#8221; 7 The sick man said, &#8220;Sir, I have no one to plunge me into the
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15 pool once the water is stirred up. By the time I get there, someone else has gone in before me.&#8221;
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16 8 Jesus said to him, &#8220;Stand up, pick up your mat and walk!&#8221; 9a The man was immediately cured;
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17 he picked up his mat, and walked.</p></BLOCKQUOTE>
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18 <p>699 Above, our Lord dealt with spiritual rebirth; here he deals with the benefits God gives to
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19 those who are spiritually reborn. Now we see that parents give three things to those who are
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20 physically born from them: life, nourishment, and instruction or discipline. And those who are
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21 spiritually reborn receive these three from Christ: spiritual life, spiritual nourishment, and
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22 spiritual teaching. And so these three things are considered here: first, the giving of spiritual life;
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23 secondly, the giving of spiritual food (c 6); and thirdly, spiritual teaching (c 7).</p>
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24 <p>About the first he does three things. First, he sets forth a visible sign in which he shows Christ&#8217;s
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25 power to produce and to restore life. This is the usual practice in this Gospel: to always join to
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26 the teaching of Christ some appropriate visible action, so that what is invisible can be made
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27 known through the visible. Secondly, the occasion for this teaching is given (v 9b). Thirdly, the
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28 teaching itself is given (v 19). As to the first he does three things. First, the place of the miracle
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29 is given. Secondly, the illness involved. Thirdly, the restoration of the sick person to health (v
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30 8).</p>
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31 <p>700 The place of this miracle is described in two ways: in general and in particular. The general
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32 place is Jerusalem; so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">After this, </span>i.e., after the miracle performed in Galilee, <span style="font-weight: bold">there was
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33 a Jewish festival, </span>that is Pentecost, according to Chrysostom. For above, when Christ went to
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34 Jerusalem, it was the Passover that was mentioned; and now, on the following festival of
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35 Pentecost, <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus went up to Jerusalem </span>again. For as we read in Exodus (23:17), the Lord
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36 commanded that all Jewish males be presented in the temple three times a year: on the festival
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37 days of the Passover, Pentecost, and the Dedication.</p>
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38 <p>There were two reasons why our Lord went up to Jerusalem for these festivals. First, so that he
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39 would not seem to oppose the law, for he said himself: &#8220;I have not come to destroy the law, but
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40 to complete it&#8221; (Mt 5:17); and in order to draw the many people gathered there on the feast days
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41 to God by his signs and teaching: &#8220;I will praise him in the midst of the people&#8221; (Ps 108:30); and
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42 again, &#8220;I have declared your justice in the great assembly&#8221; (Ps 39:10). So Christ himself says, as
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43 we read below (18:20): &#8220;1 have spoken openly to the world.&#8221;</p>
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44 <p>701 The specific place of the miracle was the pool called the Sheep Pool; so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Now at
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45 Jerusalem there is a Sheep Pool. </span>This is described here in four ways: by its name, its structure,
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46 from its occupants, and from its power.</p>
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47 <p>702 First, it is described from its name when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">there is a Sheep Pool </span>(<i>probatica piscina</i>),<i>
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48 </i>for <i>probaton </i>is Greek for &#8220;sheep.&#8221; It was called the Sheep Pool for it was there that the priests
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49 washed the sacrificial animals; especially the sheep, who were used more than the other animals.
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50 And so in Hebrew it was called <span style="font-weight: bold">Bethsaida, </span>that is, the &#8220;house of sheep.&#8221; This pool was located
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51 near the temple, and formed from collected rain water.</p>
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52 <p>703 In its mystical sense, this pool, according to Chrysostom, has prefigured Baptism. For the
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53 Lord, wishing to prefigure the grace of baptsim in different ways, first of all chose water: for this
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54 washes the body from the uncleanness which came from contact with what was legally unclean
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55 (Nm 19). Secondly, he gave this pool a power that expresses even more vividly than water the
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56 power of Baptism: for it not only cleansed the body from its uncleanness, but also healed it from
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57 its illness; for symbols are more expressive, the closer they approach the reality. Thus it signified
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58 the power of Baptism: for as this water when applied to the body had the power (not by its own
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59 nature, but from an angel) to heal its illness, so the water of Baptism has the power to heal and
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60 cleanse the soul from sins: &#8220;He loved us, and washed us from our sins&#8221; (Rv 1:5). This is the
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61 reason why the passion of Christ, prefigured by the sacrifices of the Old Law, is represented in
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62 Baptism: &#8220;All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus, have been baptized into his death&#8221;
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63 (Rom 6:3).</p>
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64 <p>According to Augustine, the water in this pool signified the condition of the Jewish people,
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65 according to: &#8220;The waters are the peoples&#8221; (Rv 17:15). The Gentiles were not confined within
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66 the limits of the divine law, but each of them lived according to the vanity of his heart (Eph
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67 4:17). But the Jews were confined under the worship of the one God: &#8220;We were kept under the
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68 law, confined, until the faith was revealed&#8221; (Gal 3:23). So this water, confined to the pool,
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69 signified the Jewish people. And it was called the Sheep Pool, for the Jews were the special
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70 sheep of God: &#8220;We are his people, his sheep&#8221; (Ps 94:7).</p>
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71 <p>704 The pool is described in its structure as <span style="font-weight: bold">having five porticoes, </span>i.e., round about, so that a
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72 number of the priests could stand and wash the animals without inconvenience. In the mystical
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73 sense these five porticoes, according to Chrysostom, signify the five wounds in the body of
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74 Christ; about which we read: &#8220;Put your hand into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but
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75 believe&#8221; (below 20:27). But according to Augustine, these five porticoes signify the five books
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76 of Moses.</p>
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77 <p>705 The pool is also described from its occupants, for <span style="font-weight: bold">in these porticoes lay a great number
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78 of people: feeble, blind, lame and withered. </span>The literal explanation of this is that since all the
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79 afflicted persons gathered because of the curative power of the water, which did not always cure
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80 nor cure many at the same time, it was inevitable that there be many hanging around waiting to
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81 be cured. The mystical meaning of this, for Augustine, was that the law was incapable of healing
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82 sins: &#8220;It is impossible that sins be taken away by the blood of bulls and goats&#8221; (Heb 10:4). The
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83 law merely shed light on them, for &#8220;The knowledge of sin comes from the law&#8221; (Rom 3:20).</p>
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84 <p>706 And so, subject to various illnesses, these people lay there, unable to be cured. They are
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85 described in four ways. First, by their posture: for there they lay, i.e., clinging to earthly things
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86 by their sins; for one who is lying down is in direct contact with the earth: &#8220;He had compassion
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87 on them, for they were suffering, and lying like sheep without a shepherd&#8221; (Mt 9:36). But the just
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88 do not lie down, but stand upright, toward the things of heaven: &#8220;They,&#8221; i.e., sinners, &#8220;are bound,
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89 and have fallen down; but we,&#8221; the just, &#8220;have stood and are erect&#8221; (Ps 19:9).</p>
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90 <p>Secondly, they are described as to their number, for there was a <span style="font-weight: bold">great number </span>of them: &#8220;The evil
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91 are hard to correct, and the iiurnber of fools is infinite&#8221; (Ecc 1:15); and in Matthew (7:13): &#8220;The
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92 road that leads to destruction is wide, and many go this way.&#8221;</p>
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93 <p>Thirdly, these sick people are described as to their condition. And he mentions four things which
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94 a person brings on himself through sin. First, a person who is ruled by sinful passions is made
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95 listless or feeble: and so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">feeble</span>. So it is that Cicero calls certain passions of the soul,
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96 such as anger and concupiscence and the like, illnesses of the soul. And the Psalm says: &#8220;Have
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97 mercy on me, O Lord, for I am week&#8221; (Ps 6:3).</p>
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98 <p>Secondly, due to the rule and victory of a man&#8217;s passions, his reason is blinded by consent; and
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99 he says as to this, <span style="font-weight: bold">blind, </span>that is, through sins. According to Wisdom (2:21): &#8220;Their own evil
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100 blinded them&#8221;; and in the Psalm (57:9): &#8220;Fire,&#8221; that is the fire of anger and concupiscence, &#8220;fell
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101 on them, and they did not see the sun.&#8221;</p>
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102 <p>Thirdly, a person who is feeble and blind is inconstant in his works and is, in a way, lame. So we
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103 read in Proverbs (11:18): &#8220;The work of the wicked is unsteady.&#8221; With respect to this the
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104 Evangelist says, lame. &#8220;How long will you be lame?&#8221; (1 Kgs 18:2 1).</p>
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105 <p>Fourthly, a man who is thus feeble, blind in understanding, and lame in his exterior actions,
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106 becomes dry in his affections, in the sense that all the fatness of devotion withers within him.
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107 This devotion is sought in the Psalm (62:6): &#8220;May my soul be filled with fat and marrow.&#8221; With
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108 respect to this the Evangelist says, withered. &#8220;My strength is dried up like baked clay&#8221; (Ps 21:16).</p>
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109 <p>But there are some so afflicted by the lassitude of sin, who do not wait for the motion of the
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110 water, wallowing in their sins, according to Wisdom (14:22): &#8220;They live in a great strife of
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111 ignorance, and they call so many and great evils peace.&#8221; We read of such people: &#8220;They are glad
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112 when they do evil, and rejoice in the worst of things&#8221; (Prv 2:14). The reason for this is that they
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113 do not hate their sins: they do not sin from ignorance or weakness, but from malice. But others,
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114 who do not sin from malice, do not wallow in their sins, but wait by desire for the motion of the
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115 water. So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">waiting. </span>&#8220;Every day of my service I wait for my relief to come&#8221; (Jb 14:14).
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116 This is the &#8216;way those in the Old Testament waited for Christ: &#8220;I will wait for your salvation, O
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117 Lord&#8221; (Gn 49:18).</p>
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118 <p>707 Finally, the power of the pool is described, for it healed all physical illnesses in virtue of an
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119 angel who came to it; so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">From time to time an angel of the Lord used to come down
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120 into the pool. </span>In certain ways, the power of this pool is like that of Baptism. It is like it, first, in
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121 the fact that its power was unperceived: for the power of the water in this pool did not come from
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122 its very nature, otherwise it would have healed at all times; its power was unseen, being from an
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123 angel. So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">From time to time an angel of the Lord used to come down into the pool.
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124 </span>The water of Baptism is like this in that precisely as water it does not have the power to cleanse
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125 souls, but this comes from the unseen power of the Holy Spirit, according to: &#8220;Unless one is born
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126 again ofwater and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God&#8221; (above 3:5). It is like it,
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127 in a second way, in its effect: for as the water of Baptism heals, so also the water of that pool
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128 healed. So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">the first one into the pool was healed. </span>Further, God gave to that water the
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129 power to heal so that men by washing might learn through their bodily health to seek their
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130 spiritual health.</p>
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131 <p>Yet the water of this pool differs from the water of Baptism in three ways. First, in the source of
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132 its power: for the water in the pool produced health because of an angel, but the water of Baptism
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133 produces its effect by the uncreated power not only of the Holy Spirit, but of the entire Trinity.
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134 Thus the entire Trinity was present at the baptism of Christ: the Father in the voice, the Son in
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135 person, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. This is why we invoke the Trinity in our
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136 baptism.</p>
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137 <p>Secondly, this water differs in its power: for the water in the pool did not have a continuous
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138 power to cure, but only <span style="font-weight: bold">from time to time; </span>while the water of Baptism has a permanent power
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139 to cleanse, according to: &#8220;On that day a fountain will be open to the house of David, and to the
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140 inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse the sinner and the unclean&#8221; (Zee 13:1).</p>
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141 <p>Thirdly, this water differs as regards the number of people healed: for only one person was cured
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142 when the water of this pool was moved; but all are healed when the water of Baptism is moved.
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143 And no wonder: for the power of the water in the pool, since it is created, is finite and has a finite
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144 effect; but in the water of Baptism there is an infinite power capable of cleansing an infinite
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145 number of souls, if there were such: &#8220;I will pour clean water upon you, and you will be cleansed
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146 from all your uncleanness&#8221; (Ez 36:25).</p>
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147 <p>708 According to Augustine, however, the angel signifies Christ, according to this reading of
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148 Isaiah (9:6): &#8220;He will be called great counsel.&#8221; Just as the angel descended at certain times into
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149 the pool, so Christ descended into the world at a time fixed by the Father: &#8220;The time is near&#8221; (Is
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150 14:1); &#8220;When the fulness of time had come God sent his Son, made from a woman, inade under
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151 the law&#8221; (Gal 4:4). Again, just as the angel was not seen except by the motion of the water, so
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152 Christ was not known as to his divinity, for &#8220;If they had known, they would never have crucified
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153 the Lord of glory&#8221; (1 Cor 2:8). For as Isaiah (45:15) says: &#8220;Truly, you are a hidden God.&#8221; And
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154 so the motion of the water was seen, but not the one who set it in motion, because, seeing the
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155 weakness of Christ, the people did not know of his divinity. And just as the one who went into
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156 the pool was healed, so a person who humbly believes in God is healed by his passion: &#8220;Justified
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157 by faith, through the redemption which is in Christ, whoin God put forward as an expiation&#8221;
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158 (Rom 3:24). Only one was healed, because no one can be healed except in the oneness or unity
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159 of the Church: &#8220;One Lord, one faith, one baptism&#8221; (Eph 4:5). Therefore, woe to those who hate
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160 unity, and divide men into sects.</p>
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161 <p>709 Then (v 5), the Evangelist mentions the disability of a man who lay by the pool. First, we are
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162 told how long he was disabled; and secondly, why it was so long (v 7).</p>
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163 <p>7 10 He was disabled for a long time, for <span style="font-weight: bold">There was one man lying there who had been sick
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164 for thirty-eight years with his infirmity. </span>This episode is very aptly mentioned: the man who
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165 could not be cured by the pool was to be cured by Christ, because those whom the law could not
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166 heal, Christ heals perfectly, according to: &#8220;God did what the law, weakened by the flesh, could
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167 not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sin-offering, he
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168 condemned sin in his flesh&#8221; (Rom 8:3), and in Sirach (36:6): &#8220;Perform new signs and wonders.&#8221;</p>
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169 <p>711 The number thirty-eight is well-suited to his infirmity, for we see it associated with sickness
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170 rather than with health. For, as Augustine says, the number forty signifies the perfection of
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171 justice, which consists in observing the law. But the law was given in ten precepts, and was to
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172 be preached to the four corners of the world, or be completed by the four Gospels, according to:
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173 &#8220;The end of the law is Christ&#8221; (Rom 10:4). So since ten times four is forty, this appropriately
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174 signifies perfect justice. Now if two is subtracted from forty, we get thirty-eight. This two is the
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175 two precepts of charity, which effects perfect justice. And so this man was sick because he had
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176 forty minus two, that is, his justice was imperfect, for &#8220;On these two commandments all the law
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177 and the prophets depend&#8221; (Mt 22:40).</p>
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178 <p>712 Now the reason for the length of the man&#8217;s illness is considered. First, we have the Lord&#8217;s
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179 query; secondly, the sick man&#8217;s answer (v 7).</p>
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180 <p>713 John says, Jesus, seeing him, the man, <span style="font-weight: bold">lying there. </span>Jesus saw him not only with his physical
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181 eyes, but also with the eyes of his mercy; this is the way David begged to be seen, saying:
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182 &#8220;Look.at me, O Lord, and have mercy on me&#8221; (Ps 85:16). And Jesus <span style="font-weight: bold">knowing that he had been
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183 sick a long time</span>&#8212;which was repugnant to the heart of Christ as well as to the sick man himself:
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184 &#8220;A long illness is a burden to the physician&#8221; (Sir 10:11)&#8212;said to him, <span style="font-weight: bold">Do you wish to be
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185 healed? </span>He did not say this because he did not know the answer, for it was quite evident that the
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186 man wanted to be healed, he said it to arouse the sick man&#8217;s desire, and to show his patience in
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187 waiting so many years to be cured of his sickness. and in not giving up. We see from this that
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188 he was all the worthier to be cured: &#8220;Act bravely, and let your heart be strengthened, all you who
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189 hope in the Lord&#8221; (Ps 30:25). Jesus incites the man&#8217;s desires because we keep more securely what
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190 we perceive with desire and more easily acquire. &#8220;Knock,&#8221; by your desire, &#8220;and it will be opened
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191 to you,&#8221; as we read in Matthew (7:7).</p>
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192 <p>Note that in other situations the Lord requires faith: &#8220;Do you believe that I can do this for you&#8221;
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193 (Mt 9:28); but here he does not make any such demand. The reason is that the others had heard
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194 of the miracles of Jesus, of which this man knew nothing. And so Jesus does not ask faith from
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195 him until after the miracle has been performed.</p>
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196 <p>714 Then (v 7), the answer of the sick man is given. Two reasons are given for the length of his
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197 illness: his poverty and his weakness. As he was poor, he could not afford a man to plunge him
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198 into the pool; so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Sir, I have no one to plunge me into the pool. </span>Perhaps he thought, as
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199 Chrysostom says, that Christ might even help to put him into the water. Someone else always
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200 reached the pool before him because he was weak and not able to move fast; so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">By the
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201 time I get there, someone else has gone in before me. </span>He could say with Job: &#8220;I cannot help
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202 myself&#8221; (Jb 6:13). This signifies that no mere man could save the human race, for all had sinned
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203 and needed the grace of God. Mankind had to wait for the coming of Christ, God and man, by
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204 whom it would be healed.</p>
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205 <p>715 Now we see the man restored to health, i.e., the working of the miracle. First, the Lord&#8217;s
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206 command is given; secondly, the man&#8217;s obedience (v 9).</p>
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207 <p>716 The Lord commanded both the nature of the man and his will, for both are under the Lord&#8217;s
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208 power. He commanded his nature when he said, Stand up. This command was not directed to the
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209 man&#8217;s will, for this was not within the power of his will. But it was within the power of his
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210 nature, to which the Lord gave the power to stand by his command. He gave two commands to
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211 the man&#8217;s will: <span style="font-weight: bold">pick up your mat and walk! </span>The literal meaning for this is that these two things
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212 were commanded in order to show that the man had been restored to perfect health. For in all his
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213 miracles the Lord produced a perfect work, according to what was best in the nature of each case:
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214 &#8220;The works of God are perfect&#8221; (Dt 32:4). Now this man was lacking two things: first, his own
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215 energy, since he could not stand up by himself, thus our Lord found him lying by the pool.
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216 Secondly, he lacked the help of others; so he said, <span style="font-weight: bold">I have no one. </span>So our Lord, in order that this
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217 man might recognize his perfect health, ordered him who could not help himself to pick up his
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218 mat, and him who could not walk to walk.</p>
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219 <p>717 These are the three things which the Lord commands in the justification of a sinner. First,
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220 he should <span style="font-weight: bold">stand up, </span>by leaving his sinful ways: &#8220;Rise up, you who sleep, and arise from the
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221 dead&#8221; (Eph 5:14). Secondly, he is commanded to <span style="font-weight: bold">pick up your mat</span>, by making satisfaction for
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222 the sins he has committed. For the mat on which a man rests signifies his sins. And so a man
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223 takes up his mat when he begins to do the penance given to him for his sins. &#8220;I will bear the anger
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224 of God, because I have sinned against him&#8221; (Mi 7:9). Thirdly, he is commanded to <span style="font-weight: bold">walk</span>, by
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225 advancing in what is good, according to: &#8220;They will go from strength to strength&#8221; (Ps 83:8).</p>
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226 <p>718 According to Augustine, this sick man was lacking two things: the two precepts of charity.
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227 And so our Lord gives two commands to his will, which is perfected by charity: to take up his
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228 mat, and to walk. The first concerns the love of neighbor, which is first in the order of doing; the
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229 second concerns the love of God, which is first in the order of precept. Christ says, with respect
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230 to the first, <span style="font-weight: bold">pick up you mat. </span>As if to say: When you are weak, your neighbor bears with you
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231 and, like a mat, patiently supports you: &#8220;We who are stronger ought to bear with the infirmities
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232 of the weak, and not seek to please ourselves&#8221; (Rom 15:1). Thus, after you have been cured, <span style="font-weight: bold">pick
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233 up your mat, </span>i.e., bear and support your neighbor, who carried you when you were weak: &#8220;Carry
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234 each other&#8217;s burdens&#8221; (Gal 6:2). About the second he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">walk, </span>by drawing near God; so we
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235 read: &#8220;They will go from strength to strength&#8221; (Ps 83:8); &#8220;Walk while you have the light&#8221; (below
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236 12:35).</p>
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237 <p>719 Next we see the man&#8217;s obedience. First, the obedience of his nature, because, <span style="font-weight: bold">The man was
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238 immediately cured. </span>And no wonder, because Christ is the Word through whom heaven and earth
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239 were made: &#8220;He commanded and they were created&#8221; (Ps 148:5); &#8220;By the Word of the Lord the
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240 heavens were made&#8221; (Ps 32:6). Secondly, we see the obedience of the man&#8217;s will: first, because
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241 <span style="font-weight: bold">he picked up his mat, </span>and secondly, because he <span style="font-weight: bold">walked. </span>&#8220;We will do everything that the Lord
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242 commands, and obey him&#8221; (Ex 24:7).</p>
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243 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in">&#160;</p>
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244 <p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-weight: bold">LECTURE 2</span></p>
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245 <BLOCKQUOTE><p>9b That day, however, was a Sabbath. 10 Therefore the Jews told the man who had been cured,
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246 &#8220;It is the Sabbath; it is not permitted for you to carry your mat.&#8221; 11 He replied to them, &#8220;He who
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247 cured me said to me: &#8216;Pick up your mat and walk.&#8217;&#8221; 12 They then asked him, &#8220;Who is this man
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248 who told you to pick up your mat and walk?&#8221; 13 But he who was cured had no idea who it was,
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249 for Jesus had slipped away from the crowd that had gathered in that place. 14 Later, Jesus found
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250 the man in the temple and said to him, &#8220;Remember, you have been made well; now do not sin
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251 again lest something worse happen to you.&#8221; 15 The man went off and related to the Jews that it
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252 was Jesus who had cured him. 16 For reasons like this the Jews began to persecute Jesus, because
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253 he performed such works on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus had a reply for them: &#8220;My Father works
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254 even until now, and so do I.&#8221; 18 Consequently, the Jews tried all the harder to kill him, because
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255 he not only broke the Sabbath rest, but even called God his own Father, making himself equal
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256 to God.</p></BLOCKQUOTE>
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257 <p>720 Having seen a visible miracle which shows the power of Christ to restore spiritual life, we
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258 now see an opportunity given to him to teach. This opportunity was the persecution launched
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259 against him by the Jews. These Jews, who were envious of Christ, persecuted him for two
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260 reasons: first, the above act of his mercy; secondly, his teaching of the truth (v 17). As to the first,
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261 the Evangelist does three things. First, he gives the occasion for their persecution. Secondly, the
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262 false accusation against the man who was just cured (v 10). And thirdly, their attempt to belittle
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263 Christ (v 12).</p>
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264 <p>721 Their opportunity to persecute Christ was the fact that he cured the man on the Sabbath;
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265 accordingly, the Evangelist says, <span style="font-weight: bold">That day, however, was a Sabbath, </span>when Christ performed
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266 the miracle ofcommanding the man to pick up his mat.</p>
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267 <p>Three reasons are given why our Lord began to work on the Sabbath. The first is given by
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268 Ambrose, in his commentary, <i>On Luke. </i>He says that Christ came to renovate the work of
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269 creation, that is, man, who had become deformed. And so he should have begun where the
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270 Creator had left off the work of creation, that is, on a Sabbath, as mentioned in Genesis (c 1).
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271 Thus Christ began to work on the Sabbath to show that he was the renovator of the whole
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272 creature.</p>
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273 <p>Another reason was that the Sabbath day was celebrated by the Jews in memory of the first
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274 creation. But Christ came to make, in a way, a new creature, according to Galatians (6:15): &#8220;In
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275 Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor the lack of circumcision is a benefit; what counts is a new
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276 creation,&#8221; i.e., through grace, which comes through the Holy Spirit: &#8220;You will send forth your
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277 Spirit, and they will be created ; and you will renew the face of the earth&#8221; (Ps 103:30). And so
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278 Christ worked on the Sabbath to show that a new creation, a re-creation, was taking place through
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279 him: &#8220;that we might be the first fruits of his creatures&#8221; (Jas 1:18).</p>
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280 <p>The third reason was to show that he was about to do what the law could not do: &#8220;God did what
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281 the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful
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282 flesh, he condemned sin in his flesh, in order that the requirements of the law might be
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283 accomplished in us&#8221; (Rom 8:3).</p>
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284 <p>The Jews, however, did not do any work on the Sabbath, as a symbol that there were certain
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285 things pertaining to the Sabbath which were to be accomplished, but which the law could not do.
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286 This is clear in the four things which God ordained for the Sabbath: for he sanctified the Sabbath
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287 day, blessed it, completed his work on it, and then rested. These things the law was not able to
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288 do. It could not sanctify; so we read: &#8220;Save me, O Lord, for there are no holy people left&#8221; (Ps
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289 11:1). Nor could it bless; rather, &#8220;Those who rely on the works of the law are under a curse&#8221; (Gal
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290 3:10). Neither could it, complete and perfect, because &#8220;the law brought nothing to perfection&#8221;
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291 (Heb 7:19). Nor could it bring perfect rest: &#8220;If Joshua had given them rest, God would not be
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292 speaking after of another day&#8221; (Heb 4:8).</p>
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293 <p>These things, which the law could not do, Christ did. For he sanctified the people by his passion:
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294 &#8220;Jesus, in order to sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate&#8221; (Heb 13:12).
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295 He blessed them by an inpouring of grace: &#8220;Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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296 who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing of heaven, in Christ&#8221; (Eph 1:3). He brought the
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297 people to perfection by instructing them in the ways of perfect justice: &#8220;Be perfect, as your
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298 heavenly Father is perfect&#8221; (Mt 5:48). He also led them to true rest: &#8220;We who have believed will
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299 find rest,&#8221; as is said in Hebrews (4:3). Therefore, it is proper for him to work on the Sabbath, who
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300 is able to make perfect those things that pertain to the Sabbath, from which an impotent law
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301 rested.</p>
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302 <p>722 Then (v 10), the Evangelist gives the accusation brought against the man who was healed.
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303 First, we have the accusation; and secondly, the explanation given by the man who was healed
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304 (v 11).</p>
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305 <p>723 The man was accused for carrying his mat on the Sabbath, and not for being healed; so they
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306 say: <span style="font-weight: bold">It is the Sabbath; it is not permitted for you to carry your mat. </span>There are several reasons
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307 foi this. One is that the Jews, although frequently charging Christ with healing on the Sabbath,
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308 had been embarrassed by him on the ground that they themselves used to pull their cattle from
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309 ditches on the Sabbath in order to save them. For this reason the Jews did not mention his
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310 healing, as it was useful and necessary; but they charge him with carrying his mat, which did not
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311 seem to be necessary. As if to say: Although your cure need not have been postponed, there was
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312 no need for you to carry your mat, or for the order to carry it. Another reason was that the Lord
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313 had shown, contrary to their opinion, that it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath. And so,
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314 because being healed is not the same as doing good, but being done a good, they attack the one
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315 healed rather than the one healing. The third reason was that the Jews thought that they were
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316 forbidden by the law to do any work on the Sabbath; and it was the carrying of burdens that was
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317 especially forbidden on the Sabbath: &#8220;Do not carry a burden on the Sabbath&#8221; (Jer 17:2 1).
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318 Accordingly, they made a special point of being against the carrying of anything on the Sabbath,
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319 as being opposed to the teaching of the prophet. But this command of the prophet was mystical:
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320 for when he forbade them to carry burdens, he wanted to encourage them to rest from the burdens
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321 of their sins on the Sabbath. Of these sins it is said: &#8220;My iniquities are a heavy burden and have
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322 weighed me down&#8221; (Ps 37.5). Therefore, since the time had come to explain the meaning of
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323 obscure symbols, Christ commanded him to take up his mat, i.e, to help his neighbors in their
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324 weaknesses: &#8220;Bear one another&#8217;s burdens, and so you will fulfil the law of Christ&#8221; (Gal 6:2).</p>
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325 <p>724 Then (v 11), we see the man who was healed defending himself. His defense is wisely taken:
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326 for a doctrine is never so well proved to be divinely inspired as by miracles which can be
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327 accomplished only by divine power: &#8220;Going out, they preached everywhere, and the Lord worked
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328 with them and confirmed the word by the signs that followed&#8221; (Mk 16:20). Thus he argued with
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329 those who were defaming the one who healed him, saying: <span style="font-weight: bold">He who cured me said to me. </span>As if
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330 to say: You say that I am forbidden to carry a burden on the Sabbath, and this on divine authority;
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331 but I was commanded by the same authority to pick up my mat. For, <span style="font-weight: bold">he who cured me, </span>and by
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332 restoring my health showed that he had divine power, said to me, <span style="font-weight: bold">Pick up your mat and walk.
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333 </span>Therefore, I was duty bound to obey the commands of one who has such power and who had
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334 done me such a favor. &#8220;I will never forget your precepts because you have brought me to life by
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335 them&#8221; (Ps 118:93).</p>
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336 <p>725 Then, since they could not very well charge the man who was cured, they try to belittle
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337 Christ&#8217;s cure, for this man defended himself through Christ. But since he did not indicate
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338 precisely who he was, they maliciously ask him who it was. With respect to this, first, the search
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339 for Christ is set down. Secondly, his discovery. And thirdly, his persecution (v 16).</p>
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340 <p>726 Three things are mentioned about the first: the Jews&#8217; interrogation; the ignorance of the man
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341 who was cured, and the cause of that ignorance.</p>
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342 <p>As to the first, we read: <span style="font-weight: bold">They then asked him, </span>not with the good intention of making progress,
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343 but for the evil purpose of persecuting and destroying Christ: &#8220;You will seek me, and you will
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344 die in your sin&#8221; (below 8:21), Their very words show their malice: for while our Lord had
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345 commanded the man who was sick to become healed and to pick up his mat, they ignored the
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346 first, which is an undeniable sign of divine power, and harped on the second, which seemed to
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347 be against the law, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">Who is this man who told you to pick up you mat and walk? </span>&#8220;He
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348 lies in wait, and turns good into evil, and he will put blame,&#8221; i.e., attempt to put blame, &#8220;on the
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349 elect&#8221; (Sir 11:33).</p>
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350 <p>727 As to the second, the Evangelist says, <span style="font-weight: bold">But he who was cured had no idea who it was. </span>This
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351 cured man signifies those who believe and have been healed by the grace of Christ: &#8220;You are
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352 saved by grace&#8221; (Eph 2:8). Indeed, they do not know who Christ is, but they know only his
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353 effects: &#8220;While we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord: for we walk by faith, and not
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354 by sight&#8221; (2 Cor 5:6). We will know who Christ is when &#8220;we shall see him as he is,&#8221; as said in
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355 1 John (3:2).</p>
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356 <p>728 Next, the Evangelist gives the reason for the man&#8217;s ignorance, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">for Jesus had slipped
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357 away from the crowd that had gathered in that place. </span>There are both literal and mystical
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358 reasons why Christ left. Of the two literal reasons, the first is to give us the example of
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359 concealing our good deeds and of not using them to seek the applause of men: &#8220;Take care not to
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360 perform your good actions in the sight of men, in order to be seen by them&#8221; (Mt 6:1). The second
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361 literal reason is to show us that, in all ouractions, we should leave and avoid those who are
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362 envious, so as not to feed and increase their envy: &#8220;Do not be provoked by one who speaks evil
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363 of you, so he will not trap you by your own words&#8221; (Sir 8:14).</p>
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364 <p>There are also two mystical reasons why Christ slipped away. First, it teaches us that Christ is
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365 not easy to find in the midst of men, or in the whirlwind of temporal cares; rather, he is found in
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366 spiritual seclusion: &#8220;I will lead her into the wilderness, and there I will speak to her heart&#8221; (Hos
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367 2:14); and in Ecclesiastes (9.17): &#8220;The words of the wise are heard in silence.&#8221; Secondly, this
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368 suggests to us that Christ was to leave the Jews for the Gentiles: &#8220;He hid his face for a while from
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369 the house of Jacob&#8221; (Is 8:17), i.e., he withdrew the knowledge of his truth from the Jewish
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370 people.</p>
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371 <p>729 Then (v 14), the Evangelist tells us how Jesus was found. First, he says that he was found.
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372 Secondly, that after having been found, he taught. Thirdly, that after having taught, his identity
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373 was reported to the Jews.</p>
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374 <p>730 The Evangelist tells us both where and the way in which Christ was found. The way in which
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375 he was found was remarkable, for Christ is not found unless he first finds; hence he says, Later,
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376 after the above events, <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus found the man. </span>For we cannot find Jesus by our own power unless
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377 Christ first presents himself to us; so we read: &#8220;Seek your servant&#8221; (Ps 118:176); and, &#8220;She
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378 [wisdom] goes to meet those who desire her&#8221; (Wis 6:14).</p>
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379 <p>The place Christ was found was holy, <span style="font-weight: bold">in the temple, </span>according to: &#8220;The Lord is in his holy
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380 temple&#8221; (Ps 10:5). For his mother had also found him in the temple (Lk 2:46); and he was there
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381 for he had to be concerned with his Father&#8217;s affairs. We see from this that this man was not cured
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382 in vain, but having been converted to a religious way of life, he visited the temple and found
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383 Christ: because if we desire to come to a knowledge of the Creator, we must run from the tumult
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384 of sinful affections, leave the company of evil men, and flee to the temple of our heart, where
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385 God condescends to visit and live.</p>
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386 <p>731 After Christ was found, he began to teach (v 14). First, Christ reminded the man of the gift
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387 he was given. Secondly, he offered him sound advice. And thirdly, he pointed out an imminent
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388 danger.</p>
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389 <p>732 The gift was remarkable, for it was a sudden restoration to health; so he says, Remember,
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390 you have been made well. Therefore, you should always keep this in mind, according to: &#8220;I will
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391 remember the tender mercies of the Lord&#8221; (Is 63:7).</p>
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392 <p>733 His advice, too, was useful, that is, <span style="font-weight: bold">do not sin again. </span>&#8220;My son, you have sinned. Do not sin
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393 again&#8221; (Sir 21:1).</p>
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394 <p>Why did our Lord mention sin to this paralytic and to certain others that he cured, and not to the
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395 rest? He did this to show that illness comes to certain people as a result of their previous sins,
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396 according to: &#8220;For this reason many of you are weak and sick, and many have died&#8221; (1 Cor
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397 11:30). In this way he even showed himself to be God, pointing out sins and the hidden secrets
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398 of the heart: &#8220;Hell and destruction are open to the Lord; how much more the hearts of the
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399 children of men&#8221; (Prv 15:11). And so Christ mentioned sin only to some he cured and not to all,
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400 for not all infirmities are due to previous sins: some come from one&#8217;s natural disposition, and
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401 some are permitted as a trial, as with Job. Or, Christ might have brought up sin to some because
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402 they were better prepared for his correction: &#8220;Do not rebuke one who mocks, lest he hate you;
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403 rebuke a wise man, and he will love you&#8221; (Prv 9:8). Or, we could say, in telling some not to sin,
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404 he intended his words for all the others.</p>
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405 <p>734 The imminent danger was great, so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">lest something worse happen to you. </span>This can
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406 be understood in two ways, according to the two events that preceded. For this man was first
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407 punished with a troublesome infirmity, and then received a marvelous favor. Accordingly,
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408 Christ&#8217;s statement can refer to each. To the first, for when anyone is punished for his sin, and the
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409 punishment does not check him from sinning, it is just for him to be punished more severely. So
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410 Christ says, <span style="font-weight: bold">do not sin again, </span>because if you do sin, something worse will happen to you: &#8220;I have
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411 struck your children in vain&#8221; (Jer 2:30). It can refer to the second, for one who falls into sin after
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412 receiving favors deserves a more severe punishment because of his ingratitude, as we see in 2
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413 Peter (2:20): &#8220;It would be better for them not to know the way of truth, than to turn back after
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414 knowing it.&#8221; Also, because after a man has once returned to sin, he sins more easily, according
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415 to Matthew (12:45): &#8220;The last state of that man becomes worse than the first&#8221;; and in Jeremiah
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416 (2:20): &#8220;You broke your yoke a long time ago, and snapped off your chains, and said: I will not
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417 serve.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
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418 <p>735 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The man went off and related to the Jews, </span>we see Jesus identified.
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419 Some think, as Chrysostom reports, that this man identified Jesus out of malice. But this does
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420 not seem probable: that he would be so ungrateful after receiving such a favor. He <span style="font-weight: bold">related to the
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421 Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him, </span>in order to make it clear that Christ had the power
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422 to heal: &#8220;Come ... and I will tell you what great things the Lord has done for me,&#8221; as we read in
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423 the Psalm (65:16). This is obvious, for they had asked him who commanded him to pick up his
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424 mat, but he told them that <span style="font-weight: bold">it was Jesus who had cured him.</span></p>
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425 <p>736 Next (v 16), we have the persecution of Christ, begun because he performed a work of mercy
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426 on the Sabbath. Thus the Evangelist says, <span style="font-weight: bold">For reasons like this the Jews began to persecute
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427 Jesus, because he performed such works on the Sabbath. </span>&#8220;Princes have persecuted me
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428 without cause&#8221; (Ps 118:16 1).</p>
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429 <p>737 Then (v 17), the second reason for his persecution is given: what he taught. First, we are
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430 given the truth he taught; and secondly, the perversity of his persecutors (v 18).</p>
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431 <p>73 8 Our Lord taught the truth while justifying his breaking of the Sabbath. Here we should note
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432 that our Lord justified both himself and his disciples from breaking the Sabbath. He justified his
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433 disciples, since they were men, by comparing them to other men: as the priests who, although
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434 they worked in the temple on the Sabbath, did not break the Sabbath; and to David, who, while
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435 Ahinielech was priest, took the consecrated bread from the temple oil the Sabbath when he was
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436 running from Saul (1 Sm 21:1).</p>
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437 <p>Our Lord, who was both God and man, sometimes justified himself in breaking the Sabbath by
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438 comparing himself to men, as in Luke (14:5): &#8220;Which of you, if his donkey or ox falls into a pit,
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439 will not take him out on the Sabbath?&#8221; And sometimes he justified himself by comparing himself
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440 to God: particularly on this occasion, when he said: <span style="font-weight: bold">My Father works even until now, and so
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441 do I. </span>As if to say: Do not think that my Father rested on the Sabbath in such a way that from that
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442 time he does not work; rather, just as he is working even now without laboring, so I also am
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443 working.</p>
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444 <p>By saying this, Christ eliminated the misunderstanding of the Jews: for in their desire to imitate
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445 God, they did not do any work on the Sabbath, as if God entirely ceased from work on that day.
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446 In fact, although God rested on the Sabbath from producing new creatures, he is working always
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447 and continuously even till now, conserving creatures in existence. Hence it is significant that
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448 Moses used the word &#8220;rest,&#8221; after recounting the works of God from which he rested: for this
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449 signifies, in its hidden meaning, the spiritual rest which God, by the example of his own rest,
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450 promised to the faithful, after they have done their own good works. So we may say that this
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451 command was a foreshadowing of something that lay in the future.</p>
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452 <p>739 He expressly says, <span style="font-weight: bold">works even until now, </span>and not &#8220;has worked,&#8221; to indicate that God&#8217;s work
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453 is continuous. For they might have thought that God is the cause of the world as a craftsman is
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454 the cause of a house, i.e., the craftsman is responsible only for the making or coming into
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455 existence of the house: in other words, just as the house continues in existence even when the
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456 craftsman has ceased working, so the world would exist if God&#8217;s influence ceased. But according
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457 to Augustine, God is the cause of all creatures in such a way as to be the cause of their existing:
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458 for it his power were to cease even for a moment, all things in nature would at once cease to be,
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459 just as we may say that the air is illuminated only as long as the light of the sun remains in it. The
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460 reason for this is that things which depend on a cause only for their coming into existence, are
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461 able to exist when that cause ceases; but things that depend on a cause not only for their coming
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462 into existence but also to exist, need that cause for their continuous conservation in existence.</p>
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463 <p>740 Further, in saying that <span style="font-weight: bold">My Father works even until now,</span> he rejects the opinion of those
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464 who say that God creates through the instrumentality of secondary causes. This opinion conflicts
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465 with Isaiah (26:12): &#8220;O Lord, you have accomplished all our works for LIS.&#8221; Therefore, just as
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466 my <span style="font-weight: bold">Father, </span>who in the beginning created nature, <span style="font-weight: bold">works even until now, by </span>preserving and
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467 conserving his creation by the same activity, so (to I work, because I am the Word of the Father,
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468 through whom he accomplishes all things: &#8220;God said: &#8216;Let there be light&#8217;&#8221; (Gn 1:3). Thus, just
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469 as he accomplished the first production of things through the Word, so also their conservation.
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470 Consequently, if he <span style="font-weight: bold">works even until now, so do I, </span>because I am the Word of the Father,
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471 through whom all things are made and conserved.</p>
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472 <p>741 Then (v 18), the Evangelist mentions the persecution of Christ, which resulted from his
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473 teaching: for it was because of his teaching that <span style="font-weight: bold">the Jews tried all the harder, </span>i.e., with greater
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474 eagerness and a higher pitch of zeal, <span style="font-weight: bold">to kill him. </span>For in the law two crimes were punished by
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475 death: the crime of breaking the Sabbath&#8212;thus anyone who gathered wood on the Sabbath was
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476 stoned, as we see from Numbers (15:32); and the crime of blasphemy&#8212;so we read: &#8220;Bring the
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477 blasphemer outside the camp ... and let all the children of Israel stone him&#8221; (Lv 24:14). Now they
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478 thought it was blasphemy for a man to claim that he was God: &#8220;We are not stoning you for any
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479 good work, but for blasphemy: because although you are a man, you make yourself God&#8221; (below
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480 10:33). It was these two crimes they imputed to Christ: the first because he broke the Sabbath;
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481 the second because he said he was equal to God. So the Evangelist says that <span style="font-weight: bold">the Jews tried all
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482 the harder to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath rest, but even called God his
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483 own Father.</span></p>
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484 <p>Because other just man had also called God their Father, as in &#8220;You will call me &#8216;Father&#8217;&#8221; (Jer
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485 3:19), they do not just say that he <span style="font-weight: bold">called God his own Father, </span>but added what made it
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486 blasphemy, <span style="font-weight: bold">making himself equal to God, </span>which they understood from his statement: <span style="font-weight: bold">My
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487 Father works even until now, and so do I. </span>He said that God was his Father so that we might
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488 understand that God is his Father by nature, and the Father of others by adoption. He referred to
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489 both of these when he said: &#8220;I am going to my Father,&#8221; by nature, &#8220;and to your Father,&#8221; by grace
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490 (below 20:17). Again, he said that as the Father works, so he works. This answers the accusation
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491 of the Jews about his breaking the Sabbath: for this would not be a valid excuse unless he had
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492 equal authority with God in working. It was for this reason they said he made himself equal to
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493 God.</p>
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494 <p>742 How great then is the blindness of the Arians when they. say that Christ is less than God the
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495 Father: for they cannot understand in our Lord&#8217;s words what the Jews were able to understand.
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496 For the Arians say that Christ did not make himself equal to God, while the Jews saw this. There
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497 is another way to settle this, from the very things mentioned in the text. For the Evangelist says
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498 that the Jews persecuted Christ because he broke the Sabbath, because he said God is his Father,
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499 and because he made hiniselfequal to God. But Christ is either a liar or equal to God. But if he
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500 is equal to God, Christ is God by nature.</p>
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501 <p>743 Finally, the Evangelist says, <span style="font-weight: bold">making himself equal to God, </span>not as though he was making
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502 himself become equal to God, because he was equal to God through an eternal generation.
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503 Rather, the Evangelist is speaking according to the understanding of the Jews who, not believing
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504 that Christ was the Son of God by nature, understood him to say that he was the Son of God in
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505 the sense of wishing to make himself equal to God; but they could not believe he was such:
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506 &#8220;because although you are a man, you make yourself God&#8221; (below 10:33), i.e., you say that you
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507 are God, understanding this as you wish to make yourself God.</p>
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508 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in">&#160;</p>
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509 <p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-weight: bold">LECTURE 3</span></p>
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510 <BLOCKQUOTE><p>19 Jesus therefore replied and said to them:</p>
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511 <p style="margin-left: 0.5in">&#8220;Amen, amen, I say to you,
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512 <br>the Son cannot do anything of himself,
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513 <br>but only what he sees the Father doing.
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514 <br>For whatever the Father does,
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515 <br>the Son does likewise.
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516 <br>20a For the Father loves the Son,
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517 <BR>and shows him everything that he does.&#8221;</p></BLOCKQUOTE>
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518 <p>744 Here we have Christ&#8217;s teaching on his life-giving power. First, his teaching is presented.
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519 Secondly, it is confirmed (v 3 1). Two things are done with the first. First, Christ&#8217;s teaching on
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520 his life-giving power in general is given. Secondly, it is presented in particular (v 20b). As to the
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521 first, three things are done. First, the origin of this power is mentioned. Secondly, the greatness
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522 of this power, at (v 19b). Thirdly, the reason for each is given (v 20).</p>
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523 <p>745 We should point out, with respect to the first, that the Arians use what Christ said here, <span style="font-weight: bold">the
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524 Son cannot do anything of himself, </span>to support their error that the Son is less than the Father.
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525 As the Evangelist said, the Jews persecuted Christ for making himself equal to God. But the
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526 Arians say that when our Lord saw that this disturbed the Jews, he tried to correct this by stating
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527 that he was not equal to the Father, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do
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528 anything of himself, but only what he sees the Father doing. </span>As if to say: Do not interpret
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529 what I said, &#8220;My Father works even until now, and so do I, as meaning that I work as though I
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530 am equal to the Father. for I cannot do anything of myself. Therefore, they say, because the Son
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531 can do only <span style="font-weight: bold">what he sees the Father doing</span>, he is less than the Father. But this interpretation is
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532 false and erroneous. For if the Son were not equal to the Father, then the Son would not be the
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533 same as the Father; and this is contrary to: &#8220;I and the Father are one&#8221; (below 10:30). For equality
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534 is considered with respect to greatness, which in divine realities is the essence itself. Hence, if
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535 the Son were not equal to the Father, he would be different from him in essence.</p>
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536 <p>746 To get the true meaning of Christ&#8217;s statement, we should know that in those matters which
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537 seem to imply inferiority in the Son, it could be said, as some do, that they apply to Christ
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538 according to the nature he assumed; as when he said: &#8220;The Father is greater than I&#8221; (below
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539 14:28). According to this, they would say that our Lord&#8217;s statement, <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything
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540 of himself, </span>should be understood of the Son in his assumed nature. However, this does not stand
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541 up, because then one would be forced to say that whatever the Son of God did in his assumed
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542 nature, the Father had done before him. For example, that the Father had walked upon the water
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543 as Christ did: otherwise, he would not have said, <span style="font-weight: bold">but only what he sees the Father doing.</span></p>
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544 <p>And if we say that whatever Christ did in his flesh, God the Father also did in so far as the Father
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545 works in him, as said below (14:10): &#8220;The Father, who lives in me, he accomplishes the works,&#8221;
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546 then Christ would be saying that <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything of himself, but only what he sees
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547 the Father doing </span>in him, i.e., in the Son. But this cannot stand either, because Christ&#8217;s next
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548 statement, <span style="font-weight: bold">For whatever the Father, does, the Son does likewise, </span>could not, in this
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549 interpretation, be applied to him, i.e., to Christ. For the Son, in his assumed nature, never created
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550 the world, as the Father did. Consequently, what we read here must not be understood as
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551 pertaining to Christ&#8217;s assumed nature.</p>
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552 <p>747 According to Augustine, however, there is another way of understanding statements which
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553 seem to, but do not, imply inferriority in the Son: namely, by referring them to the origin of the
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554 Son coming or begotten from the Father. For although the Son is equal to the Father in all things,
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555 he receives all these things from the Father in an eternal begetting. But the Father gets these from
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556 no one, for he is unbegotten. According to this explanation, the continuity of thought is the
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557 following: Why are you offended because I said that God is my Father, and because I made
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558 myself equal to the Father? <span style="font-weight: bold">Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself. </span>As
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559 if to say: I am equal to the Father, but in such a way as to be from him, and not he from me; and
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560 whatever I may do, is in me from the Father.</p>
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561 <p>748 According to this interpretation, mention is made of the power of the Son when he says, can,
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562 and of his activity when he says, do. Both can be understood here, so that, first of all, the
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563 derivation of the Son&#8217;s power from the Father is shown, and secondly, the conformity of the
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564 Son&#8217;s activity to that of the Father.</p>
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565 <p>749 As to the first, Hilary explains it this way: Shortly above our Lord said that he is equal to the
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566 Father. Some heretics, basing themselves on certain scriptural texts which assert the unity and
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567 equality of the Son to the Father, claim that the Son is unbegotten. For example, the Sabellians,
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568 who say that the Son is identical in person with the Father. Therefore, so you do not understand
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569 this teaching in this way, he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything of himself, </span>for the Son&#8217;s power
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570 is identical with his nature. Therefore the Son has his power from the same source as he has his
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571 being (<i>esse</i>); but he has his being (<i>esse</i>)<i> </i>from the Father: &#8220;I came forth from the Father, and I
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572 have come into the world&#8221; (Jn 16:28). He also has his nature from the Father, because he is God
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573 from God; therefore, it is from him that the Son has his power (<i>posse</i>)<i>.</i></p>
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574 <p>So his statement, <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything of himself, but only what he sees the Father
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575 doing, </span>is the same as saying: The Son, just as he does not have his being (<i>esse</i>)<i> </i>except from the
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576 Father, so he cannot do anything except from the Father. For in natural things, a thing receives
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577 its power to act from the very thing from which it receives its being: for example, fire receives
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578 its power to ascend from the very thing from which it receives its form and being. Further, in
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579 saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything of himself, </span>no inequality is implied, because this refers to
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580 a relation; while equality and inequality refer to quantity.</p>
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581 <p>750 Someone might misunderstand his saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">but only what he sees the Father doing, </span>and
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582 take it to mean that the Son works or acts in the way he sees the Father acting, i.e., that the Father
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583 acts first, and when the Son sees this, then the Son begins to act. It would be like two carpenters,
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584 a master and his apprentice, with the apprentice making a cabinet in the way he saw the master
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585 do. But this is not true for the Word, for it was said above (1:3): &#8220;All things were made through
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586 him.&#8221; Therefore, the Father did not make something in such a way that the Son saw him doing
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587 it and so learned from it.</p>
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588 <p>But this is said so that the communication of paternity to the Son might be designated in terms
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589 of begetting or generation, which is fittingly described by the verb sees, because knowledge is
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590 conveyed to us by another through seeing and hearing. For we receive our knowledge from things
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591 through seeing. and we receive knowledge from words through hearing, Now the Son is not other
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592 than Wisdom, as we read: &#8220;I came forth out of the mouth of the Most High, the first-born before
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593 all creatures&#8221; (Sir 24:5). Accordingly, the derivation of the Son from the Father is nothing other
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594 than the derivation of divine Wisdom. And so, because the act of seeing indicates the derivation
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595 of knowledge and wisdom from another, it is proper for the generation of the Son from the Father
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596 to be indicated by an act of seeing; so that for the Son to see the Father doing something is
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597 nothing other than to proceed by an intellectual procession from the acting Father.</p>
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598 <p>Another possible explanation of this is given by Hilary. For him, the word sees eliminates all
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599 imperfection from the generation of the Son or Word. For in physical generation, what is
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600 generated changes little by little in the course of time from what is imperfect to what is perfect,
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601 for such a thing is not perfect when it is first generated. But this is not so in eternal generation,
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602 since this is the generation of what is perfect from what is perfect. And so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">but only what
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603 he sees the Father doing. </span>For since the act of seeing is the act of a perfect thing, it is plain that
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604 the Son was begotten as perfect at once, as seeing at once, and not as coming to perfection over
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605 a course of time.</p>
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606 <p>751 Apropos of the second point, Chrysostom explains it as showing the conformity of the Father
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607 to the Son in operation. So that the sense is: I say that it is lawful for me to work on the Sabbath,
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608 because my Father, too, continues to work, and I cannot do anything opposed to him: and this is
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609 because <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything of himself. </span>For one does something of himself when he
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610 does not conform himself to another in his actions. But whoever is from another sins, if he is
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611 opposed to him: &#8220;Whoever speaks on his own, seeks his own glory&#8221; (below 7:18). Therefore,
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612 whoever exists from another, but acts of himself, sins. Now the Son is from the Father; thus, if
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613 he acts of himself, he sins; and this is impossible. So by saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything of
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614 himself, </span>he means nothing more than that the Son cannot sin. As if to say: You are persecuting
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615 me unjustly for breaking the Sabbath, because I cannot sin, since I do not act in a way opposed
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616 to my Father.</p>
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617 <p>Augustine makes use of both of these explanations, that of of Hilary and the one given by
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618 Chrysostom, but in different places.</p>
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619 <p>752 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise, </span>he affirms the
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620 greatness of Christ&#8217;s power. He excludes three things in the power of Christ: limitation,
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621 difference, and imperfection.</p>
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622 <p>First, limitation is excluded. Since there are diverse agents in the world, and the first universal
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623 agent has power over all other agents, but the other agents, which are from him, have a limited
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624 power in proportion to their rank in the order of causality, some might think that since the Son
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625 is not of himself, that he must have a power limited to certain existents, rather than a universal
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626 power over all, as the Father has. And so to exclude this he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">whatever the Father does, </span>i.e.,
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627 to all the things to which the Father&#8217;s power extends, the Son&#8217;s power also extends: &#8220;All things
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628 were made through him&#8221; (above 1:3).</p>
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629 <p>Secondly, difference is excluded. For sometimes a thing that exists from another is able to do
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630 whatever that from which it exists does. And yet the things the former does are not the same as
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631 those done by that from which it is. For example, if one fire which exists from another can do
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632 whatever that other does, i.e., cause combustion, the act of causing combustion would be
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633 specifically the same in each, even though one fire ignites certain things and the other fire ignites
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634 different things. And so that you do not think that the Son&#8217;s activity is different from the activity
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635 of the Father in this way, he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">whatever</span> the Father does, the Son does, i.e., not different
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636 things, but the very same.</p>
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637 <p>Thirdly, imperfection is excluded. Sometimes one and the same thing comes from two agents:
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638 from one as the principal and perfect agent, and from the other as an instrumental and imperfect
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639 agent. But it does not come in the same way, because the principal agent acts in a different way
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640 from the instrumental agent: for the instrumental agent acts imperfectly, and in virtue of the
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641 other. And so that no one thinks that this is the way the Son does whatever the Father does, he
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642 says that whatever the Father does, the Son does <span style="font-weight: bold">likewise</span>, i.e., with the same power by which
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643 the Father acts, the Son also acts; because the same power and the same perfection are in the
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644 Father and the Son: &#8220;I was with him, forming all things&#8221; (Prv 8:30).</p>
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645 <p>753 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">For the Father loves the Son, </span>he gives the reason for each, i.e., for the
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646 origin of the Son&#8217;s power and for its greatness. This reason is the love of the Father, who loves
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647 the Son. Thus he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">For the Father loves the Son.</span></p>
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648 <p>In order to understand how the Father&#8217;s love for the Son is the reason for the origin or
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649 communication of the Son&#8217;s power, we Should point out that a thing is loved in two ways. For
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650 since the good alone is loveable, a good can be related to love in two ways: as the cause of love,
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651 or as caused by love. Now in us, the good causes love: for the cause of our loving something is
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652 its goodness, the goodness in it. Therefore, it is not good because we love it, but rather we love
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653 it because it is good. Accordingly. in us, love is caused by what is good. But it is different with
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654 God, because God&#8217;s love itself is the cause of the goodness in the things that are loved. For it is
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655 because God loves us that we are good, since to love is nothing else than to will a good to
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656 someone. Thus, since God&#8217;s will is the cause of things, for &#8220;whatever he willed he made&#8221; (Ps
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657 113:3), it is clear that God&#8217;s love is the cause of the goodness in things. Hence Denis says in <i>The
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658 Divine Names</i> (c. 4) that the divine love did not allow itself to be without issue. So, if we wish
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659 to consider the origin of the Son, let us see whether the love with which the Father loves the Son,
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660 is the principle of his origin, so that he proceeds from it.</p>
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661 <p>In divine realities, love is taken in two ways: essentially, so far as the Father and the Son and the
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662 Holy Spirit love; and notionally or personally, so far as the Holy Spirit proceeds as Love. But in
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663 neither of these ways of taking love can it be the principle of origin of the Son. For if is is taken
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664 essentially, it implies an act of the will; and if that were the sense in which it is the principle of
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665 origin of the Son, it would follow that the Father generated the Son, not by nature, but by
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666 will&#8212;and this is false. Again, love is not understood notionally, as pertaining to the Holy Spirit.
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667 For it would then follow that the Holy Spirit would be the principle of the Son&#8212;which is also
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668 false. Indeed, no heretic ever went so far as to say this. For although love, notionally taken, is the
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669 principle of all the gifts given to us by God, it is nevertheless not the principle of the Son; rather
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670 it proceeds from the Father and the Son.</p>
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671 <p>Consequently, we must say that this explanation is not taken from love as from a principle (<i>ex
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672 principio</i>), but as from a sign (<i>ex signo</i>)<i>. </i>For since likeness is a cause of love (for every animal
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673 loves its like), wherever a perfect likeness of God is found, there also is found a perfect love of
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674 God. But the perfect likeness of the Father is in the Son, as is said: &#8220;He is the image of the
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675 invisible God&#8221; (1:15); and &#8220;He is the brightness of the Father&#8217;s glory, and the image of his
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676 substance&#8221; (Heb 1:3). Therefore, the Son is loved perfectly by the Father, and because the Father
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677 perfectly loves the Son, this is a sign that the Father has shown him everything and has
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678 communicated to him his very own [the Father&#8217;s] power and nature. And it is of this love that
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679 we read above (3:5): &#8220;The Father loves the Son, and has put everything into his hands&#8221;; and,
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680 &#8220;This is my beloved. Son&#8221; (Mt 3:17).</p>
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681 <p>754 With respect to what follows, <span style="font-weight: bold">and shows him everything that he does, </span>we should point out
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682 that someone can show another his works in two ways: either by sight, as an artisan shows his
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683 apprentice the things he has made, or by hearing, as when he verbally instructs him). In whatever
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684 of these ways shows is understood, there can follow something which is not appropriate, that is,
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685 something that is not present when the Father shows things to the Son. For if we say the Father
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686 shows things to the Son by sight, then it follows, as with humans, that the Father first does
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687 something which he then shows to the Son; and that he does this by himself, without the Son. But
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688 the Father does not show the Son things which he did before, for the Son himself says: &#8220;The Lord
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689 possessed me at the beginning of his ways, before he made anything&#8221; (Prv 8:22). Nor does the
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690 Father show the Son things he has done without the Son, for the Father does all things through
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691 the Son: &#8220;All things were made through him&#8221; (above 1:3). If <span style="font-weight: bold">shows </span>is understood as a kind of
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692 hearing, two things seem to follow. For the one who teaches by word first points out something
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693 to the one who is ignorant; again, the word is something intermediate between the one showing
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694 and the one being shown. But it is in neither of these ways that the Father shows things to the
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695 Son: for he does not do so to one who is ignorant, since the Son is the Wisdom of the Father:
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696 &#8220;Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God&#8221; (1 Cor 1:24); nor does the Father use some
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697 intermediate word, because the Son himself is the Word of the Father: &#8220;The Word was with God&#8221;
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698 (above 1:1).</p>
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699 <p>Therefore, it is said that the Father <span style="font-weight: bold">shows </span>all that he does to the Son, inasmuch as he gives the
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700 Son a knowledge of all of his works. For it is in this way that a master is said to show something
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701 to his disciple, inasmuch as he gives him a knowledge of the things he makes. Hence, according
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702 to Augustine, for the Father to show anything to the Son is nothing more than for the Father to
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703 beget or generate the Son. And for the Son to see what the Father does is nothing more than for
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704 the Son to receive his being (<i>esse</i>)<i> </i>and nature from the Father.</p>
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705 <p>Nevertheless, this showing can be considered similar to seeing insofar as the Son is the
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706 brightness of the paternal vision, as we read in Hebrews (1:3): for the Father, seeing and
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707 understanding himself, conceives the Son, who is the concept of this vision. Again, it can be
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708 considered similar to hearing insofar as the Son proceeds from the Father as the Word. As if to
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709 say: <span style="font-weight: bold">The Father shows him everything, </span>insofar he he generates him as the brightness and
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710 concept of his own wisdom, and as the Word. Thus the words, <span style="font-weight: bold">The Father shows, </span>refer to what
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711 was said before: <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son cannot do anything of himself, but only what he sees the Father
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712 doing. </span>And the word, everything, refers to, <span style="font-weight: bold">For whatever the Father does, the Son does
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713 likewise.</span></p>
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714 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in">&#160;</p>
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715 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style="font-weight: bold">LECTURE 4</span></p>
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716 <BLOCKQUOTE><p>20b &#8220;Indeed, he will show him even greater works than these, such that you will be amazed. 21
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717 For just as the Father raises the dead and grants life, so the Son grants life to those to whom he
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718 wishes. 22 The Father himself judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that
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719 all men may honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not
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720 honor the Father who sent him. 24 Amen, amen, I say to you, that whoever hears my voice and
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721 believes in him who sent me, possesses eternal life; and he will not encounter judgment, but has
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722 passed from death to life. 25 Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming, and is now here,
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723 when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear it will live.&#8221;</p></BLOCKQUOTE>
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724 <p>755 Having pointed out the power of the Son in general, he now shows it in more detail. First,
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725 the Lord discloses his life-giving power. Secondly, he clarifies what seemed obscure in what was
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726 said before (v 26). As to the first he does two things. First, he shows that the Son has life-giving
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727 power. Secondly, he teaches how life is received from the Son (v 24). Concerning the first he
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728 does three things. First, he presents the life-giving power of the Son. Secondly, he gives a reason
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729 for what he says (v 22). Thirdly, he shows the effect of this (v 23). With respect to the first he
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730 does two things. First, he sets forth this life-giving power in general. Secondly, he expands on
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731 it (v 21).</p>
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732 <p>756 He says, to the first, <span style="font-weight: bold">Indeed, he will show even greater works than these. </span>As if to say: You
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733 are astonished and affected by the power of the Son in his healing of the sick man, but the Father
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734 will show <span style="font-weight: bold">even greater works than these, </span>as in raising the dead, such that you will be amazed.</p>
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735 <p>757 This passage gives rise to two difficulties. First, about his saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">he will show</span>. For the
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736 earlier statement that the Father shows everything to the Son (5:20) refers to his eternal
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737 generation. How, then, can he say here, <span style="font-weight: bold">he will show</span>, if the Son is coeternal with him and
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738 eternity does not allow of a future? The second difficulty is over, <span style="font-weight: bold">such that you will be amazed</span>.
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739 For if he intends to show something to amaze the Jews, then he will be showing it to the Son at
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740 the same time as to them; for they could not be amazed unless they saw it. And yet the Son saw
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741 all things from eternity with the Father.</p>
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742 <p>758 We must say that this is explained in three ways. The first way is given by Augustine, and
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743 in it this future showing is referred to the disciples. For it is Christ&#8217;s custom that now and then
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744 he says that what happens to his members happens to himself, as in Matthew (25:40): &#8220;As long
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745 as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me.&#8221; And then the meaning is this:
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746 You saw the Son do something great in healing the sick man, and you were amazed; but the
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747 Father <span style="font-weight: bold">will show him even greater works than these, </span>in his members, that is, the disciples: &#8220;He
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748 will do greater things than these,&#8221; as we read below (14:12). He then says, <span style="font-weight: bold">such that you will
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749 be amazed, </span>for the miracles of the disciples so amazed the Jews that a great many of them were
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750 converted to the faith, as we see in the Acts.</p>
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751 <p>759 The second explanation, also by Augustine, refers this showing to Christ according to his
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752 assumed nature. For in Christ there is both a divine nature and a human nature, and in each he
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753 has life-giving power from the Father, although not in the same way. According to his divinity
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754 he has the power to give life to souls; but according to his assumed nature, he gives life to bodies.
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755 Hence Augustine says: &#8220;The Word gives life to souls; but the Word made flesh gives life to
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756 bodies.&#8221; For the resurrection of Christ and the mysteries which Christ fulfilled in his flesh are
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757 the cause of the future resurrection of bodies: &#8220;God, who is rich in mercy, has brought us to life
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758 in Christ&#8221; (Eph 2:5); &#8220;If it is preached that Christ rose from the dead, how can some of you say
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759 that there is no resurrection of the dead&#8221; (1 Cor 15:12). The first life-giving power he has from
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760 eternity; and he indicated this when he said: &#8220;The &#8216; Father shows him everything that he does&#8221;
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761 (above 4:20), all of which he shows to his flesh.</p>
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762 <p>The other life-giving power he has in time, and concerning this he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">he will show him even
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763 greater works than these, </span>i.e., his power will be shown by the fact that he will do greater works,
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764 by raising the dead. He will raise some of the dead here: as Lazarus, the young girl, and the
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765 mother&#8217;s only son; and finally he will raise all on the day of judgment.</p>
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766 <p>760 A third explanation refers this showing to Christ in his divine nature, according to the
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767 custom of Scripture in sayfng that a thing is beginning to take place when it is beginning to be
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768 known. For example: &#8220;All power has been given to me, in heaven and on earth&#8221; (Mt 28:18); for
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769 although Christ had the complete fulness of power from eternity (because &#8220;whatever the Father
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770 does, the Son does likewise&#8221;), he still speaks of this power as being given to him after the
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771 resurrection, not because he was then receiving it for the first time, but because it was through
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772 the glory of the resurrection that it became most known. In this interpretation, then, he says that
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773 power is given to him insofar as he exercises it in some work. As if to say: <span style="font-weight: bold">he will show him
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774 even greater works than these, </span>i.e., he will show by his works what has been given to him. And
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775 this will come about when you are amazed, i.e., when the one who seems to you to be a mere
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776 man is revealed to be a person of divine power and as God.</p>
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777 <p>We could also take the word show as referring to an act of seeing, as was explained above [750].</p>
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778 <p>761 Now he explains in more detail the life-giving power of the Son by indicating those greater
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779 works which the Father will show the Son (v 21). Here we should point out that in the Old
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780 Testament the divine power is particularly emphasized by the fact that God is the author of life:
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781 &#8220;The Lord kills, and brings to life&#8221; (1 Sm 2:6); &#8220;1 will kill, and bring to life again&#8221; (Dt 32:39).
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782 Now just as the Father has this power, so also does the Son; hence he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">For just as the
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783 Father raises the dead and grants life, so the Son grants life to those to whom he wishes. </span>As
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784 if to say: These are those greater works that the Father will show the Son, that is, he will give life
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785 to the dead. Such works are obviously greater, for it is greater to raise the dead than for a sick
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786 man to become well. Thus <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son grants life to those to whom he wishes, </span>i.e., by giving initial
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787 life to the living, and by raising the dead.</p>
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788 <p>We should not think that some are raised up by the Father and others by the Son. Rather, the
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789 same ones who are raised and vivified by the Father, are raised and vivified by the Son also:
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790 because just as the Father does all things through the Son, who is his power, so he also gives life
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791 to all through the Son, who is life, as he says below: &#8220;I am the way, and the truth, and the life&#8221;
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792 (14:6).</p>
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793 <p>The Father does not raise up and give life through the Son as through an instrument, because then
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794 the Son would not have freedom of power. And so to exclude this he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son grants life
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795 to those to whom he wishes, </span>i.e., it lies in the freedom of his power to grant life to whom he
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796 wills. For the Son does not will anything different than the Father wills: for just as they are one
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797 substance, so they have one will; hence Matthew (20:15) says: &#8220;Is it not lawful for me to do as
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798 I will?&#8221;</p>
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799 <p>762 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The Father himself judges no one, </span>he gives the reason for what was
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800 said above, and indicates his own power. It should be remarked that there are two expositions for
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801 the present passages: one is given by Augustine, and the other by Hilary and Chrysostom.</p>
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802 <p>Augustine&#8217;s explanation is this. The Lord had said that just as the Father raises the dead, so also
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803 does the Son. But so that we do not think that this refers only to those miracles the Son performs
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804 in raising the dead to this life, and not to the Son&#8217;s raising to eternal life, he leads them to the
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805 deeper consideration of the resurrection to occur at the future judgment. Thus he refers explicitly
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806 to the judgment, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">The Father himself judges no one.</span></p>
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807 <p>Another explanation by Augustine, in which the same meaning is maintained, is that the earlier
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808 statement, <span style="font-weight: bold">just as the Father raises the dead and grants life, so the Son, </span>should be referred
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809 to the resurrection of souls, which the Son causes inasmuch as he is the Word; but the text, <span style="font-weight: bold">The
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810 Father himself judges no one, </span>should be referred to the resurrection of bodies, which the Son
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811 causes inasmuch as he is the Word made flesh. For the resurrection of souls is accomplished
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812 through the person of the Father and of the Son; and for this reason he mentions the Father and
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813 Son together, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">just as the Father raises the dead ... so the Son. </span>But the resurrection of
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814 bodies is accomplished through the humanity of the Son, according to which he is not coeternal
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815 with the Father. Consequently, he attributes judgment solely to the Son.</p>
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816 <p>763 Note the wonderful variety of expressions. The Father is first presented as acting and the Son
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817 as resting, when it says: &#8220;the Son cannot do anything of himself, but only what he sees the Father
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818 doing&#8221; (5:19); but here, on the contrary, the Son is presented as acting and the Father as resting:
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819 <span style="font-weight: bold">The Father himself judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son. </span>We can see
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820 from this that he is speaking from different points of view at different times. At first, he was
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821 speaking of an action which belongs to the Father and the Son; thus he says that &#8220;the Son cannot
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822 do anything of himself, but only what he sees the Father doing&#8221;; but here he is speaking of an
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823 action by which the Son, as man, judges, and the Father does not: thus he says that the Father <span style="font-weight: bold">has
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824 given all judgment to the Son. </span>For the Father will not appear at the judgment because, in accord
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825 with what is just, God cannot appear in his divine nature before all who are to be judged: for
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826 since our happiness consists in the vision of God, if the wicked were to see God in his own
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827 nature, they would be enjoying happiness. Therefore, only the Son will appear, who alone has
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828 an assumed nature. Therefore, he alone will judge who alone will appear to all. Yet he will judge
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829 with the authority of the Father: &#8220;He is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and
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830 of the dead&#8221; (Acts 10:42); and in the Psalm (71:1) we read: &#8220;O Lord, give your judgment to the
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831 king.&#8221;</p>
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832 <p>764 Then when he says, so <span style="font-weight: bold">that all men may honor the Son, </span>he gives the effect which results
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833 from the power of the Son. First, he gives the effect. Secondly, he excludes an objection (v 23b).</p>
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834 <p>765 He says that the Father has given all judgment to the Son, according to his human nature,
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835 because in the incarnation the Son emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, under which
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836 form he was dishonored by men, as is said below (8:49): &#8220;I honor my Father, and you have
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837 dishonored me.&#8221; Therefore, judgment was given to the Son in his assumed nature in order <span style="font-weight: bold">that
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838 all men may honor the Son as they honor the Father. </span>For on that day &#8220;they will see the Son
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839 of Man coming with great power and glory&#8221; (Lk 21:27); &#8220;They fell on their faces and
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840 worshipped, saying: &#8216;Blessing and glory, and wisdom and thanks, and honor, power and strength,
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841 to our God&#8217;&#8221; (Rv 7:11).</p>
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842 <p>766 Someone might say: I am willing to honor the Father, but do not care about the Son. This
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843 cannot be, because <span style="font-weight: bold">Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent
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844 him. </span>For it is one thing to honor God precisely as God, and another to honor the Father. For
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845 someone may well honor God as the omnipotent and immutable Creator without honoring the
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846 Son. But no one can honor God as Father without honoring the Son; for he cannot be called
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847 Father if he does not have a Son. But if you dishonor the Son by diminishing his power, this also
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848 dishonors the Father; because where you give less to the Son, you are taking away from the
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849 power of the Father.</p>
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850 <p>767 Another explanation, given by Augustine, is this. A twofold honor is due to Christ. One,
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851 according to his divinity, in regard to which he is owed an honor equal to that given the Father;
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852 and with respect to this he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">that all men may honor the Son as they honor the Father.
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853 </span>Another honor is due the Son according to his humanity, but not one equal to that given the
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854 Father; and with respect to this he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the
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855 Father who sent him. </span>Thus in the first case he significantly used &#8220;as&#8221;; but now, the second time,
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856 he does not say &#8220;as,&#8221; but states absolutely that the Son should be honored: &#8220;He who rejects you,
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857 rejects me; and he who rejects me, rejects <span style="font-weight: bold">him who </span>sent me,&#8221; as we read in Luke (10:16).</p>
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858 <p>768 Hilary and Chrysostom give a more literal explanation, but it is only slightly different. They
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859 explain it this way. Our Lord said above, <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son grants life to those to whom he wishes. </span>Now
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860 whoever does anything according to the free decision of his will acts because of his own
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861 judgment. But it was stated above that &#8220;whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise&#8221; (5:19).
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862 Therefore, the Son enjoys a free decision of his own will in all things, since he acts because of
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863 his own judgment. Thus he immediately mentions judgment, saying that <span style="font-weight: bold">the Father himself
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864 judges no one, </span>i.e., without or apart from the Son. Our Lord used this way of speaking below
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865 (12:47): &#8220;I do not judge him,&#8221; i.e., I alone, &#8220;but the word that I have spoken will judge him on
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866 the last day.&#8221; <span style="font-weight: bold">But he has given all judgment to the Son, </span>as he has given all things to him. For
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867 as he has given him life and begotten him as living, so he has given him all judgment, i.e.,
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868 begotten him as judge: &#8220;I judge only as I hear it&#8221; (below 5:30), i.e., just as I have being (<i>esse</i>)<i>
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869 </i>from the Father, so also judgment. The reason for this is that the Son is nothing other than the
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870 conception of the paternal wisdom, as was said. But each one judges by the concept of his
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871 wisdom. Hence, just as the Father does all things through the Son, so he judges all things through
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872 him. And the fruit of this is <span style="font-weight: bold">that all men may honor the Son as they honor the Father, </span>i.e., that
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873 they may render to him the cult of &#8220;latria&#8221; as they do the Father. The rest does not change.</p>
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874 <p>769 Hilary calls our attention to the remarkable relationship of the passages so that the errors
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875 concerning eternal generation can be refuted. Two heresies have arisen concerning this eternal
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876 generation. One was that of Arius, who said that the Son is less than the Father; and this is
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877 contrary to their equality and unity. The other was that of Sabellius, who said that that there is
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878 no distinction of persons in the divinity; and this is contrary to their origin.</p>
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879 <p>So, whenever he mentions the unity and equality [of the Father and Son] , he immediately also
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880 adds their distinction as persons according to origin, and conversely. Thus, because he mentions
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881 the origin of the persons when he says, &#8220;the Son cannot do anything of himself, but only what
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882 he sees the Father doing&#8221; (5:19), then, so we do not think this involves inequality, he at once
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883 adds: &#8220;for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.&#8221; Conversely, when he states their
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884 equality by saying: <span style="font-weight: bold">For just as the Father raises the dead and grants life, so the Son grants
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885 life to those to whom he wishes, </span>then, so that we do not deny that the Son has an origin and is
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886 begotten, he adds, <span style="font-weight: bold">the Father himself judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the
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887 Son. </span>Similarly, when he mentions the equality of the persons by saying. <span style="font-weight: bold">so that all men may
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888 honor the Son as they honor the Father.</span> he immediately adds something about a &#8220;mission,&#8221;
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889 which indicates an origin, saying: <span style="font-weight: bold">Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father
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890 who sent him, </span>but not in such a way that involves a separation. Christ mentions such mission
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891 below (8:29) in saying: &#8220;He who sent me is with me, and he has not left me alone.&#8221;</p>
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892 <p>770 Above, our Lord showed that he had life-giving power; here he shows how someone can
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893 share in this life coming from him. First, he tells how one can share in this life through him.
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894 Secondly, he predicts its fulfillment (v 25).</p>
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895 <p>771 With respect to the first, we should point out that there are four grades of life. One is found
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896 in plants, which take nourishment, grow, reproduce, and are reproduced. Another is in animals
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897 which only sense. Another in living things that move, that is, the perfect animals. Finally, there
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898 is another form of life which is present in those who understand. Now among those grades of life
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899 that exist, it is impossible that the foremost life be that found in plants, or in those with sensation,
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900 or even in those with motion. For the first and foremost life must be that which is <i>per se, </i>not that
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901 which is participated. This can be none other than intellectual life, for the other three forms are
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902 common to a corporal and spiritual creature [as man]. Indeed, a body that lives is not life itself,
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903 but one participating in life. Hence intellectual life is the first and foremost life, which is the
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904 spiritual life, that is immediately received from the first principle of life, whence it is called the
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905 life of wisdom. For this reason in the Scriptures life is attributed to wisdom: &#8220;He who finds me
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906 finds life, and has salvation from the Lord&#8221; (Prv 8:35). Therefore we share life from Christ, who
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907 is the Wisdom of God, insofar as our soul receives wisdom from him.</p>
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908 <p>Now this intellectual life is made perfect by the true knowledge of divine Wisdom, which is
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909 eternal life: &#8220;This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
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910 whom you have sent&#8221; (below 17:3). But no one can arrive at any wisdom except by faith. Hence
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911 it is that in the sciences, no one acquires wisdom unless he first believes what is said by his
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912 teacher. Therefore, if we wish to acquire this life of wisdom, we must believe through faith the
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913 things that are proposed to us by it. &#8220;He who comes to God must believe that he is and rewards
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914 those who seek him&#8221; (Heb 11:6); &#8220;If you do not believe, you will not understand,&#8221; as we read in
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915 another version of Isaiah (28:16).</p>
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916 <p>772 Thus, our Lord fittingly shows that the way of obtaining life is through faith, saying,
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917 <span style="font-weight: bold">whoever hears my voice and believes in him who sent me, possesses eternal life. </span>First, he
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918 mentions the merit of faith. Secondly, the reward of&#8217; faith, <span style="font-weight: bold">eternal life.</span></p>
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919 <p>773 Concerning the merit of faith, he first indicates how faith is brought to us; and secondly, the
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920 foundation of faith, that on which it rests.</p>
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921 <p>Faith comes to us through the words of men: &#8220;Faith comes through hearing, and hearing through
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922 the word of Christ&#8221; (Rom 10:17). But faith does not rest on man&#8217;s word, but on God himself:
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923 &#8220;Abram believed God, who counted this as his justification&#8221; (Gn 15:6); &#8220;You who fear the Lord,
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924 believe in him&#8221; (Sir 2:8). Thus we are lead to believe through the words of men, not in the man
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925 himself who speaks, but in God, whose words he speaks: &#8220;When you heard the word we brought
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926 you as God&#8217;s word, you did not receive it as the word of men, but, as what it really is, the word
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927 of God&#8221; (1 Thes 2:13). Our Lord mentions these two things. First, how faith is brought to us,
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928 when he says, whoever hears my voice [literally, word], which leads to faith. Secondly, he
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929 mentions that on which faith rests, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">and believes in him who sent me, </span>i.e., not in me, but
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930 in him in virtue of whom I speak.</p>
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931 <p>This text can apply to Christ, as man, insofar as it is through Christ&#8217;s human words that men were
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932 converted to the faith. And it can apply to Christ, as God, insofar as Christ is the Word of God.
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933 For since Christ is the Word of God, it is clear that those who heard Christ were hearing the
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934 Word of God, and as a consequence, were believing in God. And this is what he says: whoever
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935 hears my word, i.e., me, the Word of God, and believes in him, i.e., the Father, whose Word I am.</p>
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936 <p>774 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">possesses eternal life, </span>he mentions the reward of faith, and states three
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937 things we will possess in the state of glory; but they are mentioned in reverse order. First, there
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938 will be the resurrection from the dead. Secondly, we will have freedom from the future judgment.
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939 Thirdly, we will enjoy everlasting life, for as we read in Matthew (c 25), the just will enter into
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940 everlasting life. He mentions these three as belonging to the reward of faith; and the third was
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941 mentioned first since it is desired more than the others.</p>
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942 <p>775 So he says, whoever believes, i.e., through faith, <span style="font-weight: bold">possesses eternal life, </span>which consists in
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943 the full vision of God. And it is fitting that one who believes on account of God certain things
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944 that he does not see, should be brought to the full vision of these things: &#8220;These things are written
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945 that you may believe ... and that believing you may have life in his name&#8221; (below 20:31).</p>
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946 <p>776 He mentions the second when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">and he will not encounter judgment. </span>But the
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947 Apostle says something which contradicts this: &#8220;We must all appear before the judgment seat of
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948 Christ&#8221; (2 Cor 5:10), even the apostles. Therefore, even one who does believe will encounter
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949 judgment. I answer that there are two kinds of judgment. One is a judgment of condemnation,
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950 and no one encounters that judgment if he believes in God with a faith that is united with love
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951 [ a &#8220;formed faith&#8221;]. We read about this judgment: &#8220;Do not enter into judgment with your servant,
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952 for no living man is just in your sight&#8221;; and it was said above (3:18): &#8220;Whoever believes is not
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953 judged.&#8221; There is also a judgment of separation and examination; and, as the Apostle says, all
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954 must present themselves before the tribunal of Christ for this judgment. Of this judgment we
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955 read: &#8220;Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from those people who are not holy&#8221; (Ps
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956 42:1).</p>
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957 <p>777 Thirdly, he mentions a reward when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">but has passed from death to life, </span>or &#8220;will
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958 pass,&#8221; as another version says. This statement can be explained in two ways. First, it can refer
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959 to the resurrection of the soul. In this case the obvious meaning is that he is saying: Through faith
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960 we attain not only to eternal life and freedom from judgment, but also to the forgiveness of our
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961 sins as well. Hence he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">but has passed, </span>from unbelief to belief, from injustice to justice:
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962 &#8220;We know that we have passed from death to life&#8221; (1 Jn 3:14).</p>
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963 <p>Secondly, this statement can be explained as referring to the resurrection of the body. Then it is
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964 an elaboration of the phrase, <span style="font-weight: bold">possesses eternal life</span>. For some might think from what was said,
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965 that whoever believes in God will never die, but live forever. But this is impossible, because all
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966 men must pay the debt incurred by the. first sin, according to: &#8220;Where is the man who lives, and
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967 will not see death?&#8221; (Ps 88:49). Consequently, we should not think that one who believes has
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968 eternal life in such a way as never to die; rather, he will pass from thi&#8217;s life, through death, to life,
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969 i.e., through the death of the body he will be revived to eternal life.</p>
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970 <p>Or, &#8220;will pass,&#8221; might refer to the cause [of one&#8217;s resurrection] for when a person believes, he
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971 already has the merit for a glorious resurrection: &#8220;Your dead will live, your slain will rise&#8221; (Is
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972 26:19). And then, once released from the death of the old man, we will receive the life of the new
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973 man, that is, Christ.</p>
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974 <p>778 <span style="font-weight: bold">Amen, amen, I say to you... </span>Since some might doubt if any would pass from death to life,
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975 our Lord predicts that this will happen, saying: I say that he [who believes] &#8220;will pass from death
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976 to life&#8221;; and I say it before it actually occurs. And this is what he states, saying: <span style="font-weight: bold">Amen, amen,
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977 I say to you, the hour is coming, </span>not determined by a necessity of fate, but by God&#8217;s decree: &#8220;It
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978 is the last hour&#8221; (1 Jn 2:18). And so that we do not think that it is far off, he adds, <span style="font-weight: bold">and is now
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979 here </span>&#8220;it is now the time for us to rise froin sleep&#8221; (Rom 13:11)&#8212;i.e., the hour is now here <span style="font-weight: bold">when
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980 the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear it will live.</span></p>
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981 <p>779 This can be explained in two ways. In one way as referring to the resurrection of the body,
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982 and so it is said that <span style="font-weight: bold">the hour is coming, and is now here, </span>as if he had said: It is true that
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983 eventually all will rise, but even now is the hour when some, whom the Lord was about to
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984 resuscitate, <span style="font-weight: bold">shall hear the voice of the Son of God. </span>This is the way Lazarus heard it when it was
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985 said to him, &#8220;Come forth,&#8221; as we read below (11:43); and in this way the daughter of the leader
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986 of the synagogue heard it (Mt 9:18); and the widow&#8217;s son (Lk 7:12). Therefore, he says
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987 significantly, <span style="font-weight: bold">and is now here, </span>because through me the dead already are beginning to be raised.</p>
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988 <p>Another explanation is given by Augustine, according to which <span style="font-weight: bold">and is now here </span>refers to the
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989 resurrection of the soul. For as was said above, resurrection is of two kinds: the resurrection of
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990 bodies, which will happen in the future; this does not take place now, but will occur at the future
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991 judgment. The other is the resurrection of souls from the death of unbelief to the life of faith, and
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992 from the life of injustice to that of justice; and this is now here. Hence he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">the hour is
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993 coming, and is now here, when the dead, </span>i.e., unbelievers and sinners, <span style="font-weight: bold">shall hear the voice of
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994 the Son of God; and those who hear it will live, </span>according to the true faith.</p>
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995 <p>780 This passage seems to imply two strange occurrences. One, when he says that the dead will
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996 hear. The other, when he adds that it is through hearing that they will come to life again, as
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997 though hearing comes before life, whereas hearing is a certain function of life. However, if we
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998 refer this to the resurrection, it is true that the dead will hear, i.e., obey the voice of the Son of
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999 God. For the voice expresses the interior concept. Now all nature obeys the slightest command
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1000 of the divine will: &#8220;He calls into existence what does not exist&#8221; (Rom 4:17). According to this,
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1001 then, wood, stones, all things, not just the dry bones but also the dust of dead bodies, <span style="font-weight: bold">shall hear
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1002 the voice of the Son of God </span>so far as they obey his slightest will. And this belongs to Christ, not
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1003 insofar as he is the Son of Man, but insofar as he is the Son of God, because all things obey the
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1004 Word of God. And so he significantly says, <span style="font-weight: bold">of the Son of God; </span>&#8220;What kind of man is this, for
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1005 the sea and winds obey him?&#8221; (Mt 8:27).</p>
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1006 <p>If this statement (25b) is understood as referring to the resurrection of souls, then the reason for
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1007 it is this: the voice of the Son of God has a life-giving power, that voice by which he moves the
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1008 hearts of the faithful interiorly by inspiration, or exteriorly by his preaching and that of others:
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1009 &#8220;The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life&#8221; (below 6:64). And so he gives life to the
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1010 dead when he justifies the wicked. And since hearing is the way to life, either of nature through
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1011 obedience, namely, by repairing nature, or the hearing of faith by repairing life and justice, he
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1012 therefore says, <span style="font-weight: bold">and those who hear it, </span>by obedience as to the resurrection of the body, or by faith
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1013 as to the resurrection of souls, will live, in the body in eternal life, and injustice in the life of
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1014 grace.</p>
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1015 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in">&#160;</p>
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1016 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style="font-weight: bold">LECTURE 5</span></p>
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1017 <BLOCKQUOTE><p>26 &#8220;Indeed, just as the Father possesses life in himself, so he has given it to the Son to have life
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1018 in himself. 27 And he [the Father] gave him the power to pass judgment, because he is the Son
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1019 of Man. 28 Do not be surprised at this, since the hour is coming when all those burried in tombs
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1020 will hear the voice of the Son of God. 29 And those who have done well will come forth to a
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1021 resurrection of life; those who have done evil will come forth to a resurrection of judgment [i.e.,
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1022 condemnation]. 30 I cannot do anything of myself, but I judge only as I hear it; and my judgment
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1023 is just, because I am not seeking my own will, but the will of him who sent me.&#8221;</p></BLOCKQUOTE>
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1024 <p>781 Above, our Lord showed that he had the power to give life and to judge; and he explained
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1025 each by its effect. Here he shows how each of these powers belongs to him. First, he shows this
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1026 with respect to his life-giving power. Secondly, with respect to his power to judge (v 27).</p>
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1027 <p>782 So he says, first: I say that as the Father raises the dead, so I do also; and anyone who hears
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1028 my word has eternal life. And I possess this because, <span style="font-weight: bold">just as the Father possesses life in
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1029 himself, so he has given it to the Son to have life in himself.</span></p>
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1030 <p>Apropos of this, we should note that some who live do not have life in themselves: as Paul, &#8220;I
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1031 am living by faith in the Son of God&#8221; (Gal 2:20); and again in the same place: &#8220;it is not I who
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1032 now live, but Christ lives in me.&#8221; Thus he lived, yet not in himself, but in another through whom
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1033 he lived: as a body lives, although it does not have life in itself, but in a soul through which it
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1034 lives. So that has life in itself which has an essential, non-participated life, i.e., that which is itself
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1035 life. Now in every genus of things, that which is something through its essence is the cause of
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1036 those things that are it by participation, as fire is the cause of all things afire. And so, that which
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1037 is life through its essence, is the cause and principle of all life in living things. Accordingly, if
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1038 something is to be a principle of life, it must be life through its essence. And so our Lord fittingly
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1039 shows that he is the principle of all life by saying that he has life in himself, i.e., through his
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1040 essence, when he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">just as the Father possesses life in himself, </span>i.e., as he is living through
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1041 his essence, so does the Son. Therefore, as the Father is the cause of life, so also is his Son.</p>
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1042 <p>Further, he shows the equality of the Son to the Father when he says, as <span style="font-weight: bold">the Father possesses
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1043 life in himself; </span>and he shows their distinction when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">he has given it to the Son</span>. For the
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1044 Father and the Son are equal in life; but they are distinct, because the Father gives, and the Son
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1045 receives. However, we should not understand this to mean that the Son receives life from the
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1046 Father as if the Son first existed without having life, as in lower things a first matter, already
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1047 existing, receives a form, and as a subject receives accidents: because in the Son there is nothing
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1048 that exists prior to the reception of life. For as Hilary says: &#8220;the Son has nothing unless it is
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1049 begotten,&#8221; i.e., nothing but what he receives through his birth. And since the Father is life itself,
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1050 the meaning of, <span style="font-weight: bold">he has given it to the Son to have life in himself, </span>is that the Father produced
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1051 the Son as living. As if one were to say: the mind gives life to the word, not as though the word
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1052 existed and then receives life, but because the mind produces the word in the same life by which
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1053 it lives.</p>
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1054 <p>783 According to Hilary, this passage destroys three heresies. First, that of the Arians, who said
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1055 that the Son is inferior to the Father. They were forced by what was stated earlier, that is, &#8220;For
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1056 whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise&#8221; (5:19), to say that the Son is equal to the Father
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1057 in power; but they still denied that the Son is equal to the Father in nature. But now, this too is
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1058 refuted by this statement, namely, <span style="font-weight: bold">just as the Father possesses life in himself, so he has given
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1059 it to the Son to have life in himself. </span>For since life pertains to the nature, if the Son has life in
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1060 himself as does the Father, it is clear that he has in himself, by his very origin, a nature indivisible
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1061 froin and equal to that ofthe Father.</p>
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1062 <p>The second error is also Arian: their denial that the Son is coeternal with the Father, when they
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1063 say that the Son began to exist in time. This is destroyed when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">the Son has life in
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1064 himself. </span>For in all living things whose generation occurs in time, it is always possible to find
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1065 something that at some time or other was not living. But in the Son, whatever is, is life itself.
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1066 Consequently, he so received life itself that he has life in himself, so as always to have been
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1067 living.</p>
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1068 <p>Thirdly, by saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">he has given, </span>he destroys the error of Sabellius, who denied the distinction
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1069 of persons. For if the Father gave life to the Son, it is obvious that the Father, who gave it, is
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1070 other than the Son, who received it.</p>
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1071 <p>784 Then (v 27), he makes it clear that he has the power to judge. First, he reveals his judiciary
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1072 power. Secondly, he gives a reason for what he has said (v 30). As to the first he does two things.
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1073 First, he indicates the origin of his judiciary power. Secondly, he shows that his judgment is just
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1074 (v 29).</p>
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1075 <p>785 With regard to the first, we should note that his statement, <span style="font-weight: bold">he [the Father] gave him the
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1076 power, </span>can be understood in two ways. One way is that of Augustine; the other is that of
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1077 Chrysostom.</p>
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1078 <p>786 If we understand it as Chrysostom does, then this section is divided into two parts. First, he
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1079 reveals the origin of his judiciary power. Secondly, he settles a difficulty (v 27b).</p>
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1080 <p>Chrysostom punctuates this section in the following way. <span style="font-weight: bold">He gave him the power to pass
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1081 judgment. </span>And then a new sentence begins: <span style="font-weight: bold">Because he is the Son of Man, do not be
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1082 surprised at this. </span>The reason for this punctuation is that Paul of Samosata, an early heretic, who
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1083 like Photius said that Christ was only a man and took his origin from the Virgin, punctuated it
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1084 as: <span style="font-weight: bold">He gave him the power to pass judghnent because he is the Son of Man. </span>And then he
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1085 began a new sentence: <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not be surprised at this, since the hour is coming. </span>It was as if he
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1086 thought that it was necessary for judiciary power to be given to Christ because he is the Son of
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1087 Man, that is, a mere man, who, of himself, cannot judge men. And so, if Christ is to judge others,
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1088 he must be given the power to judge.</p>
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1089 <p>But this, according to Chrysostom, cannot stand, because it is not at all in agreement with what
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1090 is stated. For if it is because he is a man that he receives judiciary power, then for the same
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1091 reason, since it would belong to every man to have judiciary power in virtue of his human nature,
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1092 it would not belong to Christ any more than to other men. So we should not understand it this
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1093 way. Rather, we should say that because Christ is the ineffable Son of God, he is on that account
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1094 also judge. And this is what he says: The Father not only give him the power to give life, but <span style="font-weight: bold">also
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1095 he gave him the power, </span>through eternal <span style="font-weight: bold">generation, to pass judgment, </span>just as he gave him,
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1096 through eternal generation, to have life in himself: &#8220;He is the one appointed by God to be the
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1097 judge of the living and of the dead,&#8221; as we read in Acts (10:42).</p>
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1098 <p>He settles a difficulty when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not be surprised at this. </span>First, he mentions the
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1099 difficulty. Secondly, he clears it up.</p>
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1100 <p>787 The difficulty arose in the minds of the Jews and they were surprised because while they
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1101 thought that Christ was no more than a man, he was saying things about himself that surpassed
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1102 man and even the angels. So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not be surprised at this, </span>that is, that I have said that
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1103 the Son gives life to the dead and has the power to judge precisely <span style="font-weight: bold">because he is the Son of
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1104 Man. </span>They were surprised because, although they thought he was only a man, they saw that he
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1105 accomplished divine effects: &#8220;What kind of man is this, for the sea and winds obey him?&#8221; (Mt
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1106 8:27). And he gives a reason why they should not be surprised, which is, because he who is the
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1107 Son of Man is the Son of God. Although, as Chrysostom says, is it not said explicitly that the Son
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1108 of Man is the Son of God, our Lord lays down the premises from which this statement necessarily
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1109 follows: just as we notice that those who use syllogisms in their teaching do not express their
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1110 main conclusion, but only that from which it follows with necessity. So our Lord does not say
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1111 that he is the Son of God, but that the Son of Man is such that at his voice all the dead will rise.
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1112 From this it necessarily follows that he is the Son of God: for it is a proper effect of God to raise
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1113 the dead. Thus he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not be surprised at this, since the hour is coming when all those
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1114 burried in tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God. </span>But he does not say of this hour, as
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1115 he said above, &#8220;and is now here&#8221; (5:25). Again, here he says, all, which he did not say above:
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1116 because at the first resurrection he raised only some, as Lazarus, the widow&#8217;s son and the young
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1117 girl; but at the future resurrection, at the time of judgment, <span style="font-weight: bold">all will hear the voice of the Son of
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1118 God, </span>and will rise. &#8220;I will open your graves, and lead you out of your tombs&#8221; (Ez 37:12).</p>
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1119 <p>788 Augustine punctuates this passage in the following way. <span style="font-weight: bold">And he gave him the power to
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1120 pass judgment because he is the Son of Man. </span>And then a new sentence follows: <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not be
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1121 surprised at this. </span>In this interpretation there are two parts. The first concerns the power to judge
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1122 granted to the Son of Man. In the second, the granting of an even greater power is made clear,
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1123 at <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not be surprised at this.</span></p>
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1124 <p>789 As to the first we should note that, according to the mind of Augustine, he spoke above of
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1125 the resurrection of souls, which is accomplished through the Son of God, but here he is speaking
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1126 of the resurrection of bodies, which is accomplished through the Son of Man. And because the
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1127 general resurrection of bodies will take place at the time of judgment, he mentions the judgment
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1128 first, in saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">And he [the Father] gave him, </span>i.e., Christ, <span style="font-weight: bold">the power to pass Judgment, </span>and
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1129 this, <span style="font-weight: bold">because he is the Son of Man, </span>i.e., according to his human nature. Thus it is also after the
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1130 resurrection that he says in Matthew (28:18): &#8220;All power has been given to me, in heaven and
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1131 on earth.&#8221;</p>
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1132 <p>There are three reasons why judiciary power has been given to Christ as man. First, in order that
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1133 he might be seen by all: for it is necessary that a judge be seen by all who are to be judged. Now
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1134 both the good and the wicked will be judged. And the good will see Christ in his divinity and in
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1135 his humanity; while the wicked will not be able to see him in his divinity, because this vision is
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1136 the happiness of the saints and is seedonly by the pure in heart: &#8220;Happy are the pure in heart, for
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1137 they will see God&#8221; (Mt 5:8). And so, in order that Christ can be seen at the judgment not only by
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1138 the good, but also by the wicked, he will judge in human form: &#8220;Every eye will see him, and all
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1139 who pierced him&#8221; (Rv 1:7).</p>
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1140 <p>Secondly, the power to judge was given to Christ as man because by the self-abasement of his
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1141 passion he merited the glory of an exaltation. Thus, just as he who died arose, so that [human]
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1142 form which was judged, will judge, and he who stood before a human judge will preside at the
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1143 judgment of men. He who was falsely found guilty will condemn the truly guilty, as Augustine
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1144 remarks in his work, <i>The Sayings of the Lord. </i>&#8220;Your cause has been judged as that of the wicked;
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1145 but cause and judgment you will recover&#8221; (Jb 3 6.17).</p>
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1146 <p>Thirdly, Christas man was given judiciary power to suggest the compassion of the judge. For it
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1147 is very terrifying for a man to be judged by God: &#8220;It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the
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1148 living God&#8221; (Heb 10:31); but it produces confidence for a man to have another man as his judge.
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1149 Accordingly, so you can experience the compassion of your judge, you will have a man as judge:
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1150 &#8220;We do not have a high priest who cannot have compassion on our weakness&#8221; (Heb 4:15).</p>
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1151 <p>Thus, <span style="font-weight: bold">he gave him</span>, Christ, <span style="font-weight: bold">the power to pass judgment because he is the Son of Man.</span></p>
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1152 <p>790 <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not be surprised at this, </span>for he has given him a greater power, that is, the power to raise
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1153 the dead. Thus he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">since the hour is coming, </span>that is, the last hour at the end of the world:
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1154 &#8220;The time has come, the day of slaughter is near&#8221; (Ez 7:7), <span style="font-weight: bold">when all those burried in tombs will
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1155 hear the voice of the Son of God. </span>Above he did not say &#8220;all,&#8221; because there he was speaking
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1156 of the spiritual resurrection, in which all did not rise at his first coming, for we read: &#8220;All do not
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1157 have faith&#8221; (2 Thes 3:2). But here he is speaking of the resurrection of the body, and all will rise
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1158 in this way, as we read in 1 Corinthians (15:20). He adds, <span style="font-weight: bold">those burried in tombs, </span>which he had
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1159 not mentioned above, because only bodies, not souls, are in tombs, and it is the resurrection of
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1160 bodies that will then take place.</p>
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1161 <p><span style="font-weight: bold">All those burried in tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God. </span>This voice will be a sense
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1162 perceptible sign of the Son of God, at whose sound all will be raised: &#8220;The Lord will come with
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1163 the cry of the archangel and with the trumpet of God&#8221; (1 Thes 4:15); we find the same in 1
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1164 Corinthians (15:52) and in Matthew (25:6): &#8220;There was a cry at midnight.&#8221; This voice will derive
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1165 its power from the divinity of Christ: &#8220;He will make his voice a powerful voice,&#8221; as the Psalm
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1166 (67:34) says.</p>
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1167 <p>791 As we saw, Augustine says that the resurrection of the body will be accomplished through
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1168 the Word made flesh, but the resurrection of the soul is accomplished through the Word. One
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1169 may wonder how to understand this: whether we are talking about a first cause or a meritorious
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1170 cause. If we are referring to a first cause, then it is clear that the divinity of Christ is the cause of
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1171 the corporal and spiritual resurrection, i.e., of the resurrection of bodies and of souls, according
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1172 to: &#8220;I will kill, and I will bring to life again&#8221; (Dt 32:39). But if we are referring to a meritorious
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1173 cause, then it is the humanity of Christ which is the cause of both resurrections: because through
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1174 the mysteries accomplished in the flesh of Christ we are restored not only to an incorruptible life
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1175 in our bodies, but also to a spiritual life in our souls: &#8220;He was put to death on account of our sins,
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1176 and he rose for our justification&#8221; (Rom 4:25). Accordingly, what Augustine says does not seem
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1177 to be true.</p>
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1178 <p>I answer that Augustine is speaking of the exemplary cause and of that cause by which that which
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1179 is brought to life is made conformable to that which brings it to life: for everything that lives
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1180 through another is conformed to that through which it lives. Now the resurrection of souls does
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1181 not consist in souls being conformed to the humanity of Christ, but to the Word, because the life
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1182 of the soul is through the Word alone; and so he says that the resurrection of souls takes place
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1183 through the Word. But the resurrection of the body will consist in our bodies being conformed
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1184 to the body of Christ through the life of glory, that is, through the glory of our bodies, according
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1185 to: &#8220;He will change our lowly body so it is like his glorious body&#8221; (Phil 3:2 1). And it is from this
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1186 point of view that he says that the resurrection of the body will take place through the Word made
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1187 flesh.</p>
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1188 <p>792 Then (v 29), he shows the justness of his judgment: because the good will be rewarded, and
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1189 so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">And those who have done well will come forth to a resurrection of life, </span>i.e., to
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1190 living in eternal glory; but the wicked will be damned, and so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">those who have done evil
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1191 will come forth to a resurrection of judgment [i.e., condemnation], </span>i.e., they will rise for
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1192 condemnation: &#8220;These,&#8221; the wicked, &#8220;will go into everlasting punishment; but the just will go
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1193 to eternal life&#8221; (Mt 25:46); &#8220;Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some
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1194 to an everlasting life, and others to everlasting shame&#8221; (Dn 12:2).</p>
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1195 <p>793 Note than when he was speaking above of the resurrection of souls, he said, &#8220;those who hear
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1196 it,&#8221; the voice of the Son of God, &#8220;will live&#8221; (5:25); but here he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">will come forth. </span>He says
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1197 this because of the wicked, who will be condemned: for their life should not be called a life, but
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1198 rather an eternal death. Again, above he mentioned only faith, saying, &#8220;Whoever hears my voice
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1199 and believes in him who sent me, possesses eternal life; and he will not encounter judgment&#8221;
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1200 (5:24). But here he mentions works, so that we do not think that faith alone, without works, is
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1201 sufficient for salvation, saying: <span style="font-weight: bold">And those who have done well will come forth to a
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1202 resurrection of life. </span>As if to say: <span style="font-weight: bold">Those will come forth to a resurrection of life </span>who do not
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1203 just believe, but who have accomplished good works along with their faith: &#8220;Faith without works
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1204 is dead,&#8221; as we see from James (2:26).</p>
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1205 <p>794 Then when he says, I cannot do anything of myself, he gives the reason for what he has just
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1206 said. Now he had spoken of two things: the origin of his power, and the justness of his judgment.
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1207 Consequently, he mentions the reason for each.</p>
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1208 <p>795 The first point, when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">I cannot do anything of myself, </span>can be understood in two
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1209 ways, even according to Augustine. First, as referring to the Son of Man in this manner: You say
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1210 that you have the power to raise the dead because you are the Son of Man. But do you have this
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1211 power precisely because you are the Son of Man? No, because <span style="font-weight: bold">I cannot do anything of myself,
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1212 but I judge only as I hear it. </span>He does not say, &#8220;as I see,&#8221; as he said above; &#8220;The Son cannot do
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1213 anything of himself, but only what he sees the Father doing&#8221; (5:19). But he does say, <span style="font-weight: bold">as I hear
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1214 it: </span>for in this context &#8220;to hear&#8221; is the same as &#8220;to obey.&#8221; Now to obey belongs to one who
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1215 receives a command, while to command pertains to one who is superior. Accordingly, because
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1216 Christ, as man, is inferior to the Father, he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">as I hear it, </span>i.e., as infused into my soul by God.
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1217 We read of this kind of hearing in Psalm 84 (v 9): &#8220;1 will hear what the Lord God says in me.&#8221;
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1218 But above he said &#8220;sees,&#8221; because he was then speaking of himself as the Word of God.</p>
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1219 <p>796 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">and my judgment is just, </span>he shows the justness of his judgment. For
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1220 he had said: &#8220;Those who have done well will come forth to a resurrection of life.&#8221; But some
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1221 might say: Will he be partial and uneven when he punishes and rewards? So he answers: No,
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1222 saying: <span style="font-weight: bold">my judgment is just; </span>and the reason is <span style="font-weight: bold">because I am not seeking my own will, but the
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1223 will of him who sent me. </span>For there are two wills in our Lord Jesus Christ: one is a divine will,
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1224 which is the same as the will of the Father; the other is a human will, which is proper to himself,
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1225 just as it is proper to him to be a man. A human will is borne to its own good; but in Christ it was
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1226 ruled and regulated by right reason, so that it would always be conformed in all things to the
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1227 divine will. Accordingly he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">I am not seeking my own will, </span>which as such is inclined to
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1228 its own good, <span style="font-weight: bold">but the will of him who sent me, </span>that is, the Father: &#8220;I have desired to do your
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1229 will, my God&#8221; (Ps 39:9); &#8220;Not as I will, but as you will&#8221; (Mt 26:39).</p>
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1230 <p>If this is carefully considered, the Lord is assigning the true nature of a just judgment, saying:
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1231 <span style="font-weight: bold">because I am not seeking my own will. </span>For one&#8217;s judgment is just when it is passed according
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1232 to the norm of law. But the divine will is the norm and the law of the created will. And so, the
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1233 created will, and the reason, which is regulated according to the norm of the divine will, is just,
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1234 and its judgment is just.</p>
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1235 <p>797 Secondly, it is explained as referring to the Son of God; and then the aforesaid division still
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1236 remains the same. Thus Christ, as the Divine Word showing the origin of his power, says: <span style="font-weight: bold">I
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1237 cannot do anything of myself, </span>in the way he said above, &#8220;the Son cannot do anything of
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1238 himself&#8221; (5:19). For his very doing and his power are his being (<i>esse</i>); but being (<i>esse</i>)<i> </i>in him
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1239 is from another, that is, from his Father. And so, just as he is not of himself (a <i>se</i>), so of himself
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1240 he cannot do anything: &#8220;I do nothing of myself&#8221; (below 8:28).</p>
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1241 <p>His statement, <span style="font-weight: bold">I judge only as I hear it, </span>is explained as his previous statement, &#8220;only what he
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1242 sees the Father doing&#8221; (above 5:19). For we acquire science or any knowledge through sight and
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1243 hearing (for these two senses are those most used in learning). But because sight and hearing are
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1244 different is us, we acquire knowledge in one way through sight, that is, by discovering things, and
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1245 in a different way through hearing, that is, by being taught. But in the Son of God, sight and
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1246 hearing are the same; thus, when he says either &#8220;sees&#8221; or &#8220;hears,&#8221; the meaning is the same so far
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1247 as the acquisition of knowledge is concerned. And because judgment in any intelletual nature
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1248 comes from knowledge, he says significantly, <span style="font-weight: bold">I judge only as I hear it, </span>i.e., as I have acquired
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1249 knowledge together with heing from the Father, so I judge: &#8220;Everything I have heard from my
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1250 Father I have made known to you&#8221; (below 15:15).</p>
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1251 <p>798 Showing the justness of his judgment he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">and my judgment is just: </span>the reason being,
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1252 <span style="font-weight: bold">because I am not seeking my own will</span>. But do not the Father and the Son have the same will?
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1253 I answer that the Father and the Son do have the same will, but the Father does not have his will
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1254 from another, whereas the Son does have his will from another, i.e., from the Father. Thus the
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1255 Son accomplishes his own will as from another, i.e., as having it from another; but the Father
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1256 accomplishes his will as his own, i.e., not having it from another. Thus he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">I am not seeking
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1257 my own will</span>, that is, such as would be mine if it originated from myself, but my will, as being
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1258 from another, that is from the Father.</p>
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1259 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in">&#160;</p>
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1260 <p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style="font-weight: bold">LECTURE 6</span></p>
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1261 <BLOCKQUOTE><p style=margin-left:0.5in>31 &#8220;If I were to bear witness to myself,
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1262 <br>my testimony would not be valid.
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1263 <br>32 But there is someone else who testifies
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1264 <br>on my behalf, and I know that the witness
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1265 <br>he bears on my behalf is true.
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1266 <br>33 You sent [messengers] to John;
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1267 <br>and he bore witness to the truth.
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1268 <br>34 I myself do not need proof from men;
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1269 <br>but I say this in order that you may be saved.
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1270 <br>35 He was a lamp, blazing and burning brightly.
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1271 <br>And for a while you yourselves exulted in his light.
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1272 <br>36 But I have testimony that is greater than that of John.
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1273 <br>The very works which my Father has given me
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1274 <br>to perform&#8212;those works that I myself perform&#8212;
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1275 <br>they bear witness to me that the Father sent me.
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1276 <br>37 Moreover, the Father who sent me has himself
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1277 <br>given testimony on my behalf,
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1278 <br>but you have neither heard his voice,
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1279 <br>nor seen his image;
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1280 <br>38 and you do not have his word abiding in your hearts,
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1281 <br>for you do not believe in him whom he has sent.
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1282 <br>39 Search the Scriptures,
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1283 <br>since you think you have eternal life in them;
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1284 <br>they too bear witness to me.
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1285 <br>40 Yet you are unwilling to come to me
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1286 <BR>in order to possess that life.&#8221;</p></BLOCKQUOTE>
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1287 <p>799 Having given us the teaching on the life-giving power of the Son, he now confirms it. First,
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1288 he confirms, with several testimonies, what he had said about the excellence of his power. In the
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1289 second place, he reproves them because of their slowness to believe (v 41). He does two things
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1290 about the first. First, he states why there was a need to resort to such testimonies. Secondly, he
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1291 invokes the testimonies (v 32).</p>
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1292 <p>800 The need to appeal to testimony arose because the Jews did not believe in him; for this
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1293 reason he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">If I were to bear witness to myself, my testimony would not be valid </span>(<i>verum</i>,
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1294 valid, true). Some may find this statement puzzling: for if our Lord says of himself, &#8220;I am the
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1295 truth&#8221; (below 14:6), how can his testimony not be valid? If he is the truth, in whom shall one
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1296 believe if the truth itself is not believed in? We may answer, according to Chrysostom, that our
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1297 Lord is speaking here of himself from the point of view of the opinion of others, so that his
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1298 meaning is: <span style="font-weight: bold">If I were to bear witness to myself, my testimony would not be valid </span>so far as
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1299 your outlook is concerned, because you do not accept what I say about myself unless it is
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1300 confirmed by other testimony: &#8220;You are bearing witness to yourself; your testimony is not valid&#8221;
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1301 (below 8:13).</p>
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1302 <p>801 Next, he presents these testimonies: first, a human testimony; secondly, a divine testimony.
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1303 He does two things about the first. First, he mentions the testimony of John; secondly, he tells
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1304 why this testimony was given (v 34). With respect to the first he does two things. First, he brings
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1305 in the testimony; secondly, he commends it (v 32).</p>
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1306 <p>802 He brings on the witness when he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">But there is someone else who testifies on my
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1307 behalf. </span>This is, in the opinion of Chrysostom, John the Baptist, of whom we read above: &#8220;There
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1308 was a man sent by God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, that he might bear witness
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1309 to the light&#8221; (1:6).</p>
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1310 <p>803 He commends John&#8217;s testimony on two grounds: first, because of its truth; secondly, because
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1311 of its authority, for the Jews had sought it (v 33).</p>
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1312 <p>804 He commends his testimony because of its truth, saying: <span style="font-weight: bold">And I know, </span>from certain
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1313 experience, that the witness he, that is, John, <span style="font-weight: bold">bears on my behalf is true. </span>His father, Zechariah,
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1314 had prophesied this of him: &#8220;You will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his way, to give
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1315 his people a knowledge of salvation&#8221; (Lk 1:76). Now it is obvious that false testimony is not a
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1316 testimony that saves, because lying is a cause of death: &#8220;A lying mouth kills the soul&#8221; (Wis 1:11).
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1317 Therefore, if John&#8217;s testimony was for the purpose of giving knowledge of salvation to his
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1318 people, his testimony is true.</p>
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1319 <p>805 The Gloss has a different explanation of this: <span style="font-weight: bold">If I were to bear witness to myself, my
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1320 testimony would not be valid. </span>For above, Christ was referring to himself as God, but here he
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1321 is referring to himself as a man. And the meaning is: If I, namely, a man, were to bear witness
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1322 to myself, i.e., apart from God, that is, which God the Father does not certify, then it follows that
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1323 <span style="font-weight: bold">my testimony would not be valid, </span>for human speech has no truth unless it is supported by God,
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1324 according to: &#8220;God is true, but every man is a liar&#8221; (Rom 3:4). Thus, if we take Christ as a man
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1325 separated from the Deity and not in conformity with it, we find a lie both in his essence and in
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1326 his words: &#8220;Although I bear witness to myself, my testimony is true&#8221; (below 8:14); &#8220;I am not
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1327 alone, because the Father is with me&#8221; (below 16:32). And so, because he was not alone but with
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1328 the Father, his testimony is true.</p>
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1329 <p>Accordingly, to show that his testimony is true, not in virute of his humanity considered in itself,
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1330 but in so far as it is united to his divinity and to the Word of God, he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">But there is someone
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1331 else who testifies on my behalf</span>: not John, but the Father, according to this explanation. Because
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1332 if the testimony of Christ as man is not of itself true and productive, much less is the testimony
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1333 of John. Therefore, the testimony of Christ is not verified by the testimony of John, but by the
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1334 testimony of the Father. So this someone else who testifies is understood to be the Father. <span style="font-weight: bold">And
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1335 I know that the witness he bears on my behalf is true</span>, for he is truth: &#8220;God is light, &#8220;&#8216; i.e.,
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1336 truth, &#8220;and in him there is no darkness,&#8221; i.e., lie (1 Jn 1:5).</p>
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1337 <p>The first explanation, which is that given by Chrysostom, is nearer to the letter of the text.</p>
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1338 <p>806 He also commends the testimony of John by reason of its authority, because it was sought
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1339 after by the Jews, saying: <span style="font-weight: bold">You sent [messengers] to John. </span>As if to say: I know that his testimony
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1340 is true and you should not reject it, because the great authority John enjoyed among you led you
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1341 to seek his testimony about me; and you would not have done this if you did not think that he was
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1342 worthy of belief: &#8220;The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to him&#8221; (above 1:19). And
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1343 on this occasion, John bore witness, not to himself, but <span style="font-weight: bold">to the truth</span>, i.e., to me. As a friend of
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1344 the truth, he bore testimony to the truth, which is Christ: &#8220;He declared openly, and did not deny,
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1345 and stated clearly, &#8216;I am not the Messiah&#8217;&#8221; (above 1:20).</p>
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1346 <p>807 Then (v 34), he gives the reason why an appeal was made to the testimony of John. First, he
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1347 excludes a supposed reason. Next, he presents the true reason (v 34b).</p>
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1348 <p>808 Someone might think that John&#8217;s testimony was brought in to assure them about Christ, on
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1349 the ground that Christ&#8217;s own testimony was not sufficient. He excludes this reason when he says,
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1350 <span style="font-weight: bold">I myself do not need proof from men</span>. Here we should note that sometimes in the sciences a
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1351 thing is proved by something else which is more evident to us, but which is less evident in itself;
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1352 and at other times a thing is proved by something else which is more evident in itself and
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1353 absolutely. Now, in this case, the issue is to prove that Christ is God. And, although the truth of
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1354 Christ is, in itself and absolutely, more evident, yet it is proved by the testimony of John, which
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1355 was better known to the Jews. So Christ, of himself, did not have any need of John&#8217;s testimony;
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1356 and this is what he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">I myself do not need proof from men</span>.</p>
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1357 <p>809 But this seems to conflict with: &#8220;You are my witnesses, said the Lord&#8221; (Is 40:10); and with
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1358 &#8220;You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the remotest part
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1359 of the world&#8221; (Acts 1:8). So how can he say: <span style="font-weight: bold">I myself do not need proof from men</span>.</p>
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1360 <p>This can be understood in two ways. In the first way, the sense is: <span style="font-weight: bold">I myself do not need proof
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1361 from men</span>, as relying on it alone; but I have stronger testimony, that is, divine testimony: &#8220;For
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1362 me, it does not matter much if I am judged by you&#8221; (1 Cor 4:3); &#8220;You know that I have not
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1363 desired the day of man,&#8221; i.e., human glory (Jer 17:16).</p>
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1364 <p>Another interpretation is: <span style="font-weight: bold">I myself do not need proof from men</span>, insofar as the one giving
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1365 witness is a man, but insofar as he is enlightened by God in order to testify: &#8220;There was a man
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1366 sent by God, whose name was John&#8221; (above 1:6); &#8220;We did not seek glory from men&#8221; (1 Thes
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1367 2:6); &#8220;1 do not seek my own glory&#8221; (below 8:50). And so I receive the testimony of John not just
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1368 as a man, but insofar as he was sent and enlightened by God in order to testify.</p>
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1369 <p>A third explanation, and a better one, is: <span style="font-weight: bold">I myself do not need proof from men</span>, i.e., human
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1370 testimony. As far as I am concerned, I receive my authority from no one but God, who proves
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1371 that I am great.</p>
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1372 <p>810 Next (v 34b), he gives the real reason for appealing to John&#8217;s testimony. First, he states the
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1373 reason. Secondly, he explains it. The reason for appealing to this testimony was so that the Jews
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1374 might be saved by believing in Christ, and this because of John&#8217;s testimony. Thus he says: I do
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1375 not need John&#8217;s testimony for my sake, <span style="font-weight: bold">but I say this in order that you may be saved: </span>&#8220;He
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1376 desires the salvation of&#8217; all men&#8221; (1 Tim 2:4). &#8220;Christ came into this world to save sinners&#8221; (1
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1377 Tim 1:15).</p>
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1378 <p>811 He explains his statement, in order that you may be saved: that is, because I am appealing
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1379 to testimony you have accepted. And so he mentions that John was accepted by them: <span style="font-weight: bold">He was
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1380 a lamp, blazing and burning brightly. </span>First, he states that John was a witness accepted on his
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1381 own merits. Secondly, he mentions to what degree he was accepted by them (v 35b).</p>
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1382 <p>812 Three things perfected John and show that he was a witness accepted in his own right. The
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1383 first concerns the condition of his nature, and he refers to this when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">He was a lamp</span>. The
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1384 second concerns the perfection of his love, because he was a <span style="font-weight: bold">blazing </span>lamp. The third is related
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1385 to the perfection of his understanding, because he was a lamp that was <span style="font-weight: bold">burning brightly.</span></p>
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1386 <p>John was perfect in his nature because he was a lamp, i.e., enriched by grace and illumined by
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1387 the light of the Word of God. Now a lamp differs from a light: for a light radiates light of itself,
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1388 but a lamp does not give light of itself, but by participating in the light. Now the true light is
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1389 Christ: &#8220;He was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world&#8221; (above 1:9).
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1390 John, however, was not a light, as we read in the same place, but a lamp, because he was
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1391 enlightened &#8220;in order to bear witness to the light&#8221; (above 1:8), by leading men to Christ. We read
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1392 of this lamp: &#8220;I have prepared a lamp for my anointed&#8221; (Ps 131:17).</p>
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1393 <p>Further, he was blazing and impassioned in his affections, so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">blazing</span>. For some people
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1394 are lamps only as to their office or rank, but they are snuffed out in their affections: for as a lamp
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1395 cannot give light unless there is a fire blazing within it, so a spiritual lamp does not give any light
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1396 unless it is first set ablaze and burns with the fire of love. Therefore, to be ablaze comes first, and
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1397 the giving of light depends on it, because knowledge of the truth is given due to the blazing of
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1398 love: &#8220;If any one loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will
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1399 come to him, and make our home with him&#8221; (below 14:23); and &#8220;I have called you friends,
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1400 because everything I have heard from my Father I have made known to you&#8221; (below 15:15);
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1401 &#8220;You who fear the Lord, love him, and your hearts will be enlightened&#8221; (Sir 2:20).</p>
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1402 <p>The two characteristics of fire are that it both blazes and shines. Its blazing signifies love for
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1403 three reasons. First, because fire is the most active of all bodies; so too is the warmth of love
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1404 (charity), so much so that nothing can withstand its force: &#8220;The love of Christ spurs us on&#8221; (2 Cor
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1405 5:14). Secondly, because just as fire, because it is very volatile, causes great unrest, so also this
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1406 love of charity makes a person restless until he achieves his objective: &#8220;Its light is fire and flame&#8221;
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1407 (Sg 8:6). Thirdly, just as fire is inclined to move upward, so too is charity; so much so that it
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1408 joins us to God: &#8220;He who abides in love abides in God, and God in him&#8221; (1Jn 4:16).</p>
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1409 <p>Finally, John had an intellect that was <span style="font-weight: bold">burning brightly. </span>First, it was bright within, because of
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1410 his knowledge of the truth: &#8220;The Lord will fill your soul with brightness,&#8221; i.e., he will make it
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1411 shine (Is 58:11). Secondly, it was bright without, because of his preaching: &#8220;You will shine in
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1412 the world among them like stars, containing the word of life&#8221; (Phil 2:15). Thirdly, it was bright
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1413 because it manifested good works: &#8220;Let your light so shine before men that they may see your
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1414 good works&#8221; (Mt 5:16).</p>
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1415 <p>813 And so, because John was of himself so acceptable&#8212;for he was a lamp, not smothered out
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1416 but blazing, not dark but burning brightly&#8212;he deserved to be accepted by you, as indeed he was,
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1417 because <span style="font-weight: bold">for a time you yourselves exulted in his light. </span>He fittingly links their exulting or
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1418 rejoicing with light; because a man rejoices most is that which most pleases him. And among
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1419 physical things nothing is more pleasant than light, according to: &#8220;It is a delight for the eyes to
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1420 see the sun&#8221; (Sir 11:7). He says, <span style="font-weight: bold">you yourselves exulted in his light, </span>i.e., you rested in John and
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1421 put your end in him, thinking that he was the Messiah. But you did this only <span style="font-weight: bold">for a time, </span>because
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1422 you wavered on this; for when you saw that John was leading men to another, and not to himself,
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1423 you turned away from him. Thus we read in Matthew (21:32) that the Jews did not believe in
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1424 John. They belonged to that group referred to by Matthew (13:21 ) as believing &#8220;for a while.&#8221;</p>
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1425 <p>814 Then (v 36), he presents the divine testimony. First, he mentions its greatness; and then he
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1426 continues on to describe it.</p>
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1427 <p>815 He says: I do not need proof from men for my sake, but for your sake, for <span style="font-weight: bold">I have testimony
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1428 that is greater than that of John, </span>that is, the testimony of God, which is greater than the
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1429 testimony of John: &#8220;If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater&#8221; (1 Jn
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1430 5:9), It is greater, I say, because of its greater authority, greater knowledge, and infallible truth,
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1431 for God cannot deceive: &#8220;God is not like man, a liar&#8221; (Nm 23:19).</p>
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1432 <p>816 God bore witness to Christ in three ways: by works, by himself, and by the Scriptures. First,
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1433 he mentions his witness as given by the working of miracles; secondly, the way God gave witness
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1434 by himself (v 37); thirdly, the witness given through the Scriptures (v 39).</p>
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1435 <p>817 He says first: <span style="font-weight: bold">I have testimony that is greater than that of John, </span>that is, my works, i.e.,
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1436 the working of miracles, <span style="font-weight: bold">the very works which my Father has given me to perform. </span>We
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1437 should point out that it is natural for man to learn of the power and natures of things from their
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1438 actions, and therefore our Lord fittingly says that the sort of person he is can be learned through
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1439 the works he does. So, since he performed divine works by his own power, we should believe
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1440 that he has divine power within him: &#8220;If I had not done among them the works which no one else
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1441 did, they would not have sin,&#8221; that is, the sin of unbelief (below 15:24). And so he leads them
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1442 to a knowledge of himself by appealing to his works, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold">the very works which my Father
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1443 has given me </span>in the Word, through an eternal generation, by giving me a power equal to his own.
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1444 Or we could say, <span style="font-weight: bold">the very works which my Father has given me, </span>in my conception, by making
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1445 me one person who is both God and man, <span style="font-weight: bold">to perform, </span>i.e., to perform them by my own power.
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1446 He says this to distinguish himself from those who do not perforrn miracles by their own power
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1447 but have to obtain it as a favor from God; thus Peter says: &#8220;In the name of Jesus Christ of
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1448 Nazareth: stand up&#8221; (Acts 3:6). Thus it was God, and not themselves, who accomplished these
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1449 works; but Christ accomplished them by his own power: &#8220;Lazarus, come forth,&#8221; as John reports
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1450 below (11:43). Accordingly, <span style="font-weight: bold">those works that I myself perform&#8212;they bear witness to me;
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1451 </span>&#8220;If you do not believe me, at least believe my works&#8221; (below 10:38). We see from Mark (16:20)
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1452 that God bears witness by the working of miracles: &#8220;The Lord worked with them and confirmed
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1453 the word by the signs that followed.&#8221;</p>
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1454 <p>818 Then (v 37), he presents the second way God bore witness to Christ, namely, by himself.
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1455 First, he mentions the way; secondly, he shows that they were not able to receive this testimony.</p>
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1456 <p>819 He says: It is not only the works which my Father has given me to perform that bear witness
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1457 to me, but <span style="font-weight: bold">the Father who sent me has himself given testimony on my behalf: </span>in the Jordan,
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1458 when Christ was baptized (Mt 3:17); and on the mountain, when Christ was transfigured (Mt
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1459 17:5). For on both these occasions the voice of the Father was heard: &#8220;This is my beloved Son.&#8221;
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1460 And so they should believe in Christ, as the true and natural Son of God: &#8220;This is the testimony
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1461 of God: he has borne witness to his Son&#8221; ( 1 Jn 5:9). Consequently, anyone who does not believe
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1462 that he is the Son of God, does not believe in the testimony of God.</p>
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1463 <p>820 Someone could say that God also gave testimony to others by himself: for example, to
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1464 Moses, on the mountain, with whom God spoke while others were present. We, however, never
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1465 heard his testimony, as the Lord says: <span style="font-weight: bold">you have neither heard his voice. </span>On the other hand, we
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1466 read in Deuteronomy (4:33): Did it ever happen before that the people heard the voice of God
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1467 speaking from the midst of fire, as you heard, and have lived?&#8221; Then how can Christ say: <span style="font-weight: bold">you
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1468 have neither heard his voice?</span></p>
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1469 <p>I reply, according to Chrysostom, that the Lord wishes to show those established in a
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1470 philosophical frame of mind that God gives testimony to someone in two ways, namely, sensibly
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1471 and intelligibly. Sensibly, as by a sensible voice only; and in this way he gave witness to Moses
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1472 on Mount Sinai: &#8220;You heard his voice, and saw no form at all&#8221; (Dt 4:12). Likewise, he gives
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1473 testimony by a sensible form, as he appeared to Abraham (Gn 26), and to Isaiah: &#8220;I saw the Lord
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1474 seated on a high and lofty throne&#8221; (Is 6:1). However, in these visions, neither the audible voice
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1475 nor the visible figure were like anything in the animal kingdom, except efficiently, in the sense
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1476 that these were formed by God. For since God is a spirit, he neither emits audible sounds nor can
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1477 he be portrayed as a figure. But he does bear testimony in an intelligible manner by inspiring in
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1478 the hearts of certain persons what they ought to believe and to hold: &#8220;I will hear what the Lord
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1479 God will speak within me&#8221; (Ps 84:9); &#8220;I will lead her into the wilderness and there I will speak
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1480 to her heart,&#8221; as we read in Hosea (2:14).</p>
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1481 <p>Now you were able to receive the testimony given in the first of these ways; and this is not
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1482 surprising, because they were the words and image of God only efficiently, as was said. But they
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1483 were not able to receive the testimony given in that intelligible voice; so he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">you have
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1484 neither heard his voice, </span>i.e., you were not among those who shared in it. &#8220;Everyone who has
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1485 heard the Father and has learned, comes to me&#8221; (below 6:45). But you do not come to me.
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1486 Therefore, <span style="font-weight: bold">you have neither heard his voice nor seen his image, </span>i.e., you do not have his
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1487 intelligible testimony. Hence he adds: <span style="font-weight: bold">and you do not have his word abiding in your hearts,
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1488 </span>i.e., you do not have his word that is inwardly inspired. And the reason is, <span style="font-weight: bold">for you do not believe
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1489 in him whom he, </span>the Father, <span style="font-weight: bold">has sent</span>. For the word of God leads to Christ, since Christ himself
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1490 is the natural Word of God. But every word inspired by God is a certain participated likeness of
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1491 that Word. Therefore, since every participated likeness leads to its original, it is clear that every
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1492 word inspired by God leads to Christ. And so, because you are not led to me, <span style="font-weight: bold">you do not have
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1493 his word, </span>i.e., the inspired word of God, <span style="font-weight: bold">abiding in your hearts. </span>&#8220;He who does not believe in
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1494 the Son of God does not have life abiding in him,&#8221; as it says below (sic). He says <span style="font-weight: bold">abiding,
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1495 </span>because although there is no one who does not have some truth from God, they alone have the
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1496 truth and the word abiding in them whose knowledge has progressed to the point where they have
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1497 reached a knowledge of the true and natural Word.</p>
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1498 <p>821 Or we could say that, <span style="font-weight: bold">you have neither heard his voice, </span>can be taken as showing the three
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1499 ways in which God reveals things. This is done either by a sensible voice, as he bore witness to
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1500 Christ in the Jordan and on the mountain, as in 2 Peter (1:16): &#8220;We were eyewitnesses of his
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1501 greatness. For he received honor and glory from God the Father, when a voice came from the
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1502 heavens.&#8221; And the Jews did not hear this. Or, God reveals things through a vision of his essence,
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1503 which he reveals to the blessed. And they did not see this, because &#8220;while we are in the body, we
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1504 are absent from the Lord&#8221; (2 Cor 5:6). Thirdly, it is accomplished by an interior word through
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1505 an inspiration; and the Jews did not have this either.</p>
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1506 <p>822 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Search the Scriptures, </span>he gives the third way in which God bore
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1507 witness to Christ, through the Scriptures. First, he mentions the testimony of the Scriptures.
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1508 Secondly, he shows that they were not able to gather the fruit of this testimony (v 40).</p>
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1509 <p>823 He says: <span style="font-weight: bold">Search the Scriptures. </span>As if to say: You do not have the word of God in your
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1510 hearts, but in the Scriptures; therefore, you must seek for it elsewhere than in your hearts. Hence,
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1511 <span style="font-weight: bold">Search the Scriptures, </span>that is, the Old Testament, for the faith of Christ was contained in the
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1512 Old Testament, but not on the surface, for it lay hidden in its depths, under shadowy symbols:
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1513 &#8220;Even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil is over their hearts&#8221; (2 Cor 3:15). Thus he
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1514 significantly says, Search, probe into the depths: &#8220;If you search for her [wisdom] like money, and
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1515 dig for her like a treasure, you will understand the fear of the Lord and will find the knowledge
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1516 of God&#8221; (Prv 2:4); &#8220;Give me understanding and I will search your commandments&#8221; (Ps 118:34).</p>
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1517 <p>The reason why you should search them I take from your own opinion, because <span style="font-weight: bold">you think you
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1518 have eternal life in them, </span>since we read in Ezekiel (18:19): &#8220;He who has kept my commands
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1519 will live.&#8221; But you are mistaken; because although the precepts of the old law are living, they do
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1520 not contain life in themselves. They are said to be living only to the extent that they lead to me,
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1521 the Christ. Yet you use them as though they contained life in themselves, and in this you are
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1522 mistaken, for they bear witness to me, i.e., they are living to the extent that they lead to a
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1523 knowledge of me. And they lead to a knowledge of me either by plain prophecies, as in Isaiah
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1524 (7:14): &#8220;A virgin will conceive.&#8221; or in Deuteronomy (18:15): &#8220;The Lord your God will raise up
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1525 a prophet for you.&#8221;; and so Acts (10:43) says: &#8220;All the prophets bear witness to him.&#8221; The
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1526 Scriptures also lead to a knowledge of Christ through the symbolic actions of the prophets; thus
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1527 we read: &#8220;I have used resemblences in the ministry of the prophets&#8221; (Hos 12:10). Knowledge of
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1528 Christ is also given in their sacraments and figures, as in the immolation of&#8217; the lamb, and other
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1529 symbolic sacraments of the law: &#8220;The law has only a shadow of the good things to come&#8221; (Heb
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1530 10:1). And so, because &#8220;the Scriptures of the Old Testament gave much testimony about Christ,
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1531 the Apostle says: &#8220;He promised the Good News before, through his prophets in the holy
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1532 Scriptures; the Good News of his Son, a descendant of David in his human nature&#8221; (Rom 1:2).</p>
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1533 <p>824 The fruit which you think you have in the Scriptures, that is, eternal life, you will not be able
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1534 to obtain, because in not believing the testimonies of the Scriptures about me, <span style="font-weight: bold">you are unwilling
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1535 to come to me, </span>i.e., you do not wish to believe in me, in whom the fruit of these Scriptures
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1536 exists, <span style="font-weight: bold">in order to possess that life </span>in me, the life which I give to those who believe in me: &#8220;I
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1537 give them eternal life&#8221; (below 10:28); &#8220;Wisdom infuses life into her children&#8221; (Sir 4:12); &#8220;He
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1538 who finds me will find life, and will have salvation from the Lord&#8221; (Prv 8:35).</p>
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1539 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in">&#160;</p>
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1540 <p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-weight: bold">LECTURE 7</span></p>
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1541 <BLOCKQUOTE><p style="margin-left: 0.5in">41 &#8220;Praise from men I do not need,
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1542 <br>42 but I know you,
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1543 <br>and you do not have the love of God in your hearts.
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1544 <br>43 I have come in my Father&#8217;s name,
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1545 <br>and yet you do not accept me.
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1546 <br>If someone else came in his own name,
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1547 <br>you would be accepting him.
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1548 <br>44 How can people like you believe,
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1549 <br>when you crave praise from each other,
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1550 <br>and yet not even ask for that one praise
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1551 <br>which is from God alone?
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1552 <br>45 Do not think that I will accuse you
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1553 <br>before my Father.
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1554 <br>The one who accuses you is Moses,
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1555 <br>in whom you place your trust.
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1556 <br>46 If you believed Moses,
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1557 <br>you would perhaps believe me as well,
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1558 <br>for it was about me that he wrote.
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1559 <br>47 But if you do not believe in his written statements,
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1560 <BR>how will you believe in my spoken words?&#8221;</p></BLOCKQUOTE>
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1561 <p>825 After God confirmed the greatness of his power by the testimonies of men, of&#8217;God, and of&#8217;
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1562 the Scriptures, he here rebukes the Jews for being slow to believe. Now the Jews persecuted
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1563 Christ on two grounds: for breaking the Sabbath, by which he seemed to go against the law, and
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1564 for saying that he is the Son of God, by which he seemed to go against God. Thus they persecuted
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1565 him on account of their reverence for God and their zeal for the law. And so our Lord wishes to
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1566 show that their persecution of him was really inspired not by these motives, but by contrary
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1567 reasons.</p>
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1568 <p>He first shows that the cause of their unbelief was their lack of reverence for God. Secondly, that
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1569 another cause of their unbelief was their lack of reverence for Moses (v 45). As to the first he
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1570 does two things. First, he shows their irreverence for God. Secondly, he shows that this is the
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1571 cause of their unbelief (v 44). Concerning the first he does two things. First, he mentions their
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1572 lack of reverence for God. Secondly, he makes this obvious by a sign (v 43). With respect to the
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1573 first he does two things. First, he rejects what they might have assumed to be his intention, from
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1574 what he had said before. Secondly, he presents his real intention (v 42).</p>
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1575 <p>826 The Jews might have assumed that Christ was seeking some kind of praise from men, since
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1576 he had reminded them of so many witnesses to himself, as John, God, his own works, and the
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1577 testimony of the Scriptures. Against this thought he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Praise from men I do not need, </span>i.e.,
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1578 I do not seek praise from men; for I have not come to be an example of one seeking human glory:
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1579 &#8220;We did not seek glory from men&#8221; (1 Thes 2:6). Or, <span style="font-weight: bold">Praise from men I do not need</span>, i.e., I do
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1580 not need human praise, because from eternity I have glory with the Father: &#8220;Glorify me, Father,
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1581 with the glory I had before the world was made&#8221; (below 17:5). For I have not come to be
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1582 glorified by men, but rather to glorify them, since all glory proceeds from me (Wis 7:25)
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1583 [&#8220;Wisdom is a pure emanation of the glory of the almighty God.&#8221;] It is through this wisdom that
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1584 I have glory. God is said to be praised and glorified by men&#8212;&#8220;Glorify the Lord as much as you
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1585 are able; he will still surpass even that&#8221; (Sir 43:30)&#8212;not that he might become by this more
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1586 glorious, but so that he might appear glorious among us.</p>
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1587 <p>827 Thus Christ presented the various testimonies to himself not for the reason they thought, but
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1588 for another one: because <span style="font-weight: bold">I know you, </span>i.e., I have made known about you, that <span style="font-weight: bold">you do not have
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1589 the love of God in your hearts, </span>although you pretend to have it. And so you are not persecuting
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1590 me because of your love for God. You would be persecuting me for the love of God if God and
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1591 the Scriptures did not bear witness to me; but God himself bears. witness to me by himself, his
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1592 works and in the Scriptures, as has been said. Consequently, if you truly loved God, then so far
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1593 from rejecting me, you would come to me. You, therefore, do not love God.</p>
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1594 <p>Another interpretation would be this. It is as though he were saying: I have not brought in these
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1595 witnesses because I wanted your praise; but I know you do not love God and your waywardness
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1596 makes me sad, and I want to lead you back to the way of truth: &#8220;Now they have seen and hated
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1597 both me and my Father&#8221; (below 15:24); &#8220;The pride of those who hate you continuously rises,&#8221;
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1598 as the Psalm (73:23) says.</p>
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1599 <p>828 Here we should point out that God cannot be hated in himself by anyone, nor can he be hated
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1600 with respect to all his effects, since every good in things comes from God, and it is impossible
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1601 for anyone to hate all good, for he will at least love existence and life. But someone may hate
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1602 some effect of God, insofar as this is opposed to what he desires: for example, he might hate
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1603 punishment, and things of that sort. It is from this point of view that God is said to be hated.</p>
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1604 <p>829 Then (v 43), he gives a sign that they do not love God. First, a present sign; secondly, a
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1605 future sign (v 43b).</p>
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1606 <p>830 The present sign concerns his own coming; so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">I have come in my Father&#8217;s name.
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1607 </span>As if to say: What I say is obvious, for if one loves his Lord, it is clear that he will honor and
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1608 receive one who comes from him, and seek to honor him. But <span style="font-weight: bold">I have come in my Father&#8217;s
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1609 name, </span>and I make his name known to the world: &#8220;I have made your name known to those you
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1610 have given me&#8221; (below 17:6), <span style="font-weight: bold">and yet you do not accept me. </span>Therefore, you do not love him.
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1611 The Son is said to make his Father known to men because, although the Father, as God, was
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1612 known&#8212;&#8220;God is known in Judah&#8221; (Ps 75:1)&#8212;yet he was not known as the natural Father of the
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1613 Son before Christ came. Thus Solomon asked: &#8220;What is his name? And what is the name of his
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1614 son?&#8221; Prv 30:4).</p>
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1615 <p>831 The future sign concerns the coming of the Antichrist. For the Jews could say: Although you
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1616 come in his name, we have not accepted you, because we will not accept anyone but God the
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1617 Father. The Lord speaks against this, and says that it cannot be, because you will accept another,
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1618 who will come, not in the Father&#8217;s name, but in his own name; and what is more, he will come,
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1619 not in the name of the Father, but <span style="font-weight: bold">in his own name, </span>precisely because he will not seek the glory
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1620 of the Father but his own. And whatever he does, he will attribute it, not to the Father, but to
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1621 himself: &#8220;who opposes and is exalted above all that is called God, or is worshipped&#8221; (2 Thes 2:4).
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1622 <span style="font-weight: bold">You would be accepting him; </span>and so the Apostle continues in the same letter: &#8220;God will send
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1623 them a misleading influence so that they might believe what is false&#8221; (2 Thes 2:11). And this,
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1624 because they did not accept the true teaching, that they might be saved. So the Gloss says:
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1625 &#8220;Because the Jews were unwilling to accept Christ, the penalty for this sin will be, fittingly
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1626 enough, that they will receive the Antichrist; with the result that those who were unwilling to
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1627 believe the truth, will believe a lie.&#8221;</p>
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1628 <p>According to Augustine, however, we can understand this text as applying to heretics and false
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1629 teachers: who spread a teaching that comes from their own hearts and not from the mouth of
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1630 God, and who praise themselves and despise the name of God. Of such persons it is written:
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1631 &#8220;You have heard that the Antichrist is coming; and now many antichrists have appeared&#8221; (1 Jn
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1632 2:18). So it is clear that your persecution of me does not spring from your love for God, but from
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1633 your hatred and envy of him. And this was the reason why they did not believe.</p>
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1634 <p>832 He concludes: <span style="font-weight: bold">How can people like you believe, when you crave praise from each other,
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1635 </span>i.e., human praise, <span style="font-weight: bold">and yet not even ask for that one praise which is from God alone? </span>which
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1636 is true glory. The reason they could not believe in Christ was that, since their proud minds were
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1637 craving their own glory and praise, they considered themselves superior to others in glory, and
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1638 regarded it as a disgrace to believe in Christ, who seemed common and poor. And this was why
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1639 they could not believe in him. The one who can believe in Christ is the person of humble heart,
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1640 who seeks the glory of God alone, and who strives to please him. And so we read: &#8220;Many of the
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1641 leaders believed in him; but they did not admit it because of the Pharisees, so that they would not
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1642 be expelled from the synagogue&#8221; (below 12:42). We can see from this just how dangerous
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1643 vainglory is. For this reason Cicero says: &#8220;Let a man beware of that glory that robs him of all
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1644 freedom; that freedom for which a man of great spirit should risk everything.&#8221; And the Gloss
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1645 says: &#8220;It is a great vice to boast and to strive for human praise: to desire that others think you
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1646 have what you really do not have.&#8221;</p>
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1647 <p>833 Then (v 45), he shows that they do not have zeal for Moses. First, how Moses was against
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1648 them. Secondly, he gives the reason for this opposition (v 46). As to the first he does two things
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1649 First, he rejects their false zeal; secondly, he shows them true zeal, <span style="font-weight: bold">The one who accuses you
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1650 is Moses.</span></p>
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1651 <p>834 As to the first he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not think that I will accuse you before my Father. </span>There are
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1652 three reasons for his saying this. First, the Son of God did not come into the world to condemn
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1653 the world, but to save it. So he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not think </span>that I have come to condemn, I have come to
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1654 free: &#8220;God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world,&#8221; that is, to condemn the world,
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1655 &#8220;but that the world might be saved through him&#8221; (above 3:17). And so the blood of Christ cries
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1656 out, not to accuse, but to forgive: &#8220;We have the blood of Christ, crying out better than that of
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1657 Abel&#8221; (Heb 12:24), whose blood cried out to accuse; &#8220;Who will accuse God&#8217;s elect? It is Christ
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1658 who justifies. Who is it, then, who will condemn?&#8221; (Rom 8:33). As to his second reason for
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1659 saying this, he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not think that I will accuse you before my Father, </span>because I will not
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1660 be the one to accuse you, but to judge you: &#8220;The Father has given all judgment to the Son&#8221; (above
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1661 5:22). The third reason is: <span style="font-weight: bold">Do not think that I, </span>i.e., I alone, <span style="font-weight: bold">will accuse you before my Father
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1662 </span>for what you are doing to me; for even Moses will accuse you for not believing him in the things
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1663 he said of me.</p>
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1664 <p>835 Consequently he adds: <span style="font-weight: bold">The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you place your trust,
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1665 </span>because you believe you are saved through his precepts. Moses accuses them in two ways.
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1666 Materially, because they deserved to be accused for transgressing his commands: &#8220;Those who
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1667 have sinned under the law, will be judged by the law&#8221; (Rom 2:12). Again, Moses accuses them
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1668 because he and the other saints will have authority in the judgment: &#8220;The two-edged swords will
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1669 be in their hands&#8221; (Ps 149:6).</p>
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1670 <p>836 He presents the reason for this opposition when he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">If you believed Moses, you would
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1671 perhaps believe me as well, </span>as is clear from &#8220;The Lord your God will raise up a prophet for you,
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1672 from your nation and your brothers; he will be like me: you will listen to him&#8221; (Dt 18:15), and
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1673 from all the sacrifices, which were a symbol of Christ. He says, perhaps, to indicate that their will
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1674 acts from a free judgment, and not to imply that there is any doubt on the part of God.</p>
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1675 <p>837 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">But if you do not believe in his written statements, how will you
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1676 believe in my spoken words? </span>he gives a sign of this opposition. He does this by comparing two
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1677 things, and then denying of the lesser of them what is denied of the greater. First, there is a
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1678 comparison between Moses and Christ: for although Christ, absolutely speaking, is greater than
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1679 Moses, Moses was the greater in reputation among the Jews. Thus he says: If you do not believe
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1680 Moses, you will not believe me either. Secondly, he compares the way in which they presented
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1681 their teaching: Moses gave his precepts in a written form; and so they can be studied for a long
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1682 time, and are not easily forgotten. Hence they impose a stronger obligation to believe. But Christ
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1683 presented his teachings in spoken words. Thus he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">But if you do not believe in his written
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1684 statements, </span>which you have preserved in your <span style="font-weight: bold">books, how will you believe in my spoken
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1685 words?</span></p>
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1686 </body>
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1687
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1688 </html>