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2 <head>
3 <title>Thomas Aquinas: Commentary on the Gospel of John</title>
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11 var WPFootnote1 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>&#160;For a fuller documentation of these facts, see James A. Weisheipl, <i>Friar Thomas d&#8217;Aquino: His Life, Thought and\
12 Works </i>(Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1974), pp. 246-47, 372, and so forth. See also J. A. Weisheipl. &#8220;The\
13 Johannine Commentary of Friar Thomas,&#8221; <i>Church History, </i>45 (1976), 185-195.</p>\
14 </span>'
15
16 var WPFootnote2 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p><i>Ibid., </i>pp. 145-46.</p>\
17 </span>'
18
19 var WPFootnote3 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>The full text of this allocution is given in <i>AAS</i> 50 (1958), 150-53.</p>\
20 </span>'
21
22 var WPFootnote4 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>St. Thomas, <i>Summa theologiae</i>, I, q.1, a.8, ad 2.</p>\
23 </span>'
24
25 var WPFootnote5 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p><i>AAS</i> 35 (1943), 297-325; trans. in <i>The Catholic Mind </i>42<i> </i>(1944), 257-83.</p>\
26 </span>'
27
28 var WPFootnote6 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>St. Thomas, <i>Super epistolam ad Hebraeos lectura</i>, cap.1, lect. 4, n. 64. <i>Super Epistolas S. Pauli Lectura</i>, ed. R.\
29 Cai (Turin: Marietti, 1953), I, 350a.</p>\
30 </span>'
31
32 var WPFootnote7 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p><i>Divino afflante Spiritu, </i>n.63; trans. loc. <i>cit., </i>p. 280.</p>\
33 </span>'
34
35 var WPFootnote8 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>St. Thomas, <i>Sum. theol., </i>I, q. 1, a. 10.</p>\
36 </span>'
37
38 var WPFootnote9 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p><i>Ibid.</i></p>\
39 </span>'
40
41 var WPFootnote10 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>See J. A. Weisheipl, &#8220;The Meaning of <i>Sacra Doctrina </i>in <i>Summa theologiae </i>I, q. 1,&#8221; <i>The Thomist, </i>38 (1974), 49-80.</p>\
42 </span>'
43
44 var WPFootnote11 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>Aristotle, <i>Metaphysics </i>I, 2, 982a, l8-19.</p>\
45 </span>'
46
47 var WPFootnote12 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>See <i>Friar Thomas dAquino</i>, pp, 392-93.</p>\
48 </span>'
49
50 var WPFootnote13 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>Only the second part of this work has been translated into English&#8212;J. B. Collins, <i>Catechetical Instructions of St.\
51 Thomas </i>(New York: Wagner 1939; repr. 1953).</p>\
52 </span>'
53
54 var WPFootnote14 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>St. Thomas, <i>Catena Aurea,</i>Epistola dedicatoria (Turin:<i> </i>Marietti, 1925) I, 468.</p>\
55 </span>'
56
57 var WPFootnote15 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>St. Thomas, <i>Sum. theol., </i>I, q.1, a.3; see note 10 above.</p>\
58 </span>'
59
60 var WPFootnote16 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>See Leo XIII, <i>Providentissimu</i> <i>s Deus </i>(18 Nov 1893) in <i>Acta Leonis XIII</i>, vol. 13, p. 345-46.</p>\
61 </span>'
62
63 var WPFootnote17 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>See <i>Friar Thomas d&#8217;Aquino</i>, pp. 164-68.</p>\
64 </span>'
65
66 var WPFootnote18 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>St. Thomas, <i>Super Evangelium S. Joannis Lectura</i>,<i> </i>cap.21, lect.6, n.2656, ed. R. Cai (Turin: Marietti 1952), p. 488.</p>\
67 </span>'
68
69 var WPFootnote19 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>Trent. sess. 4, in Denziger-Schbnmetzer, <i>Enchiridion</i> <i>Symbolorum </i>(1967), n.1501. See the important study of this\
70 question in J. R. Geiselmann, <i>Die Heilige Schrift und die Tradition </i>(Freiburg i. Br.: Herder 1962), pp. 108-160.</p>\
71 </span>'
72
73 var WPFootnote20 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>Sess. VIII, <i>Constitutio Dogmatica de divina Revelatione, Dei verbum </i>(18 Nov . 1965), in <i>Constitutiones, Decreta,\
74 Declarationes </i>(Vatican 1966), p. 429; see whole of cap. 2.</p>\
75 </span>'
76
77 var WPFootnote21 = '<span class="WPNormal"><p>This was the invocation, for example, in the old Dominican rite of the Mass.</p>\
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129 <body><blockquote>
130 <CENTER><h2>COMMENTARY ON<BR>THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN</span></h2>
131 <p>St. Thomas Aquinas</p>
132 <p><span style="font-weight: bold">Part I: Chapters 1-7</span>
133 <br>translated by<BR>James A. Weisheipl, O.P.
134 <br>Magi Books, Inc., Albany, N.Y.
135 <table cellpadding=10 border=4><tr><td><A HREF="#01">INTRODUCTION</A>
136 <td align=center><A HREF="#02"><b>PROLOGUE</A><td><a href="JohnApp.htm">APPENDICES</A></table>Chapters:
137 <table cellpadding=10 border=4><tr><td><A HREF="John1.htm">*1*</A><td><A HREF="John2.htm">*2*</A><td><A HREF="John3.htm">*3*</A><td><A HREF="John4.htm">*4*</A><td><A HREF="John5.htm">*5*</A><td><A HREF="John6.htm">*6*</A><td><A HREF="John7.htm">*7*</A>
138 </table>
139 <p><b>Part II: Chapters 8-21</b>
140 <br>translated by<BR>Fabian R. Larcher, O.P.
141 <br>Magi Books, Inc., Albany, N.Y., 1998
142 <br>(notes to these chapters provisional)
143 <table cellpadding=10 border=4><tr><td><A HREF="John8.htm">*8*</A><td><A HREF="John9.htm">*9*</A><td><A HREF="John10.htm">*10*</A><td><A HREF="John11.htm">*11*</A><td><A HREF="John12.htm">*12*</A><td><A HREF="John13.htm">*13*</A><td><A HREF="John14.htm">*14*</A>
144 <tr><td><A HREF="John15.htm">*15*</A><td><A HREF="John16.htm">*16*</A><td><A HREF="John17.htm">*17*</A><td><A HREF="John18.htm">*18*</A><td><A HREF="John19.htm">*19*</A><td><A HREF="John20.htm">*20*</A><td><A HREF="John21.htm">*21*</A>
145 </table>
146 <BR>
147 <hr width=50%>
148 <A NAME="01"><p><b>INTRODUCTION</b></CENTER>
149 <br>
150 <div style=text-align:justify>
151 <p>St. Thomas&#8217; commentary on the Gospel of St. John is unique among his many writings on Sacred
152 Scripture. It is the work of a master theologian, delivered at the University of Paris, then the
153 intellectual center in Christendom, when Thomas was at the height of his fame and apostolic zeal
154 for souls. A fourteenth-century list of Thomas&#8217; writings notes that this commentary is a
155 <i>reportatio</i> by Reginald of Piperno and adds &#8220;better than which none can be found.&#8221;
156 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote1', WPFootnote1 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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166 A <i>reportatio</i>
167 is a verbal report of an actual lecture taken down by a scribe or student in the course of actual
168 delivery. In this case the scribe was the faithful Friar Reginald of Piperno, who had been the
169 &#8220;constant companion,&#8221; or socius, for the last fifteen years of Thomas&#8217; short but busy life. The
170 Italian Province of Dominicans wisely provided Thomas with this kind of personal secretary and
171 general factotum after he returned from Paris as a Master in Sacred Theology in 1260.
172 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote2', WPFootnote2 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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182 </p>
183 <p>A <i>reportatio</i> is not exactly a dictation in our sense of the term; it is more like a student&#8217;s
184 notebook in shorthand containing basically the gist of what is being said, but usually with varying
185 numbers of verbal omissions and inaccuracies. But this commentary is more than a mere scribal
186 report. It was in fact &#8220;corrected&#8221; by Thomas himself&#8212;if we are to believe Tolomeo of Lucca, one
187 of Thomas&#8217; early biographers and confreres&#8212;before the commentary went into circulation
188 through copies made by hand, the customary mode of publication before the era of the printing
189 press. More than that: according to Bernard Gui, another confrere and early biographer, Thomas
190 himself wrote out in full the commentary on the first five chapters of John (and hence this section
191 ought to be considered an authentic <i>expositio</i>, or authoritative version), while the rest of it
192 survived in the hand of Reginald, corrected by Thomas.</p>
193 <p>This commentary was very popular in the Middle Ages, and it ranks among the best of Thomas&#8217;
194 work as a master theologian and saintly man of faith. It was read not only by theologians
195 searching for the truth, but also by preachers and pious men and women desiring solid food for
196 meditation and fervent prayer. Scattered throughout the world there still exist thirty-three
197 complete and thirteen incomplete manuscript copies of this work, attesting to its considerable
198 popularity before the age of printing. Innumerable copies of this work have no doubt been lost
199 or destroyed in the tumult of centuries following the Middle Ages.</p>
200 <p>This detailed commentary is St. Thomas&#8217; personal response to the Word of God Incarnate as
201 described in the sublime words of John &#8220;the Divine.&#8221; For St. Thomas, the God of Abraham,
202 Isaac, and Jacob spoke to his chosen people through the mouth of prophets in the long course of
203 salvation history, &#8220;But when the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born
204 a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law and to enable us to be adopted as sons&#8221;
205 (Gal 4:4-5). This Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, is the total manifestation of the Father, the Eternal
206 Word made flesh. There is nothing left unsaid in the Word; the Father&#8217;s love is complete in the
207 love the Son bears for the Father and for us. Christ&#8217;s whole life, his passion, death, and
208 resurrection, are the praise and glory of the Father &#8220;through the working of the Holy Spirit.&#8221;
209 &#8220;You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me&#8221; (Jn 14:11).
210 &#8220;Whatever you ask for in my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son&#8221; (Jn
211 14:13). Christ&#8217;s &#8220;food&#8221; was to do the will of his Father in all things, thus glorifying the Father
212 in Jesus.</p>
213 <p>One of St. Thomas&#8217; basic theological principles is that everything Jesus Christ did and said was
214 for our instruction and imitation. Thus the sanctity of our lives is the on-going praise and glory
215 of the Father, through the Son, by the working of the Holy Spirit. The very being of the Father
216 is the unqualified affirmation of love for the Son and <i>for </i>us, in the Son. &#8220;God is love&#8221; (1 Jn 4:8).
217 This love elicits from us an unreserved affirmation of love for God and neighbor, by which God
218 is glorified and resplendent in us. The whole of our happiness is this eternal &#8220;glory&#8221; in tasting
219 and seeing that the Lord is good (see Ps 34:8). This commentary is St. Thomas&#8217; tasting and
220 seeing the goodness of Jesus, the Word Incarnate, embodied in the tender words of St. John, the
221 &#8220;beloved disciple,&#8221; who leaned on the breast of the Savior at the Last Supper.</p>
222 <p>Thomas brought to his writing of this commentary on John all the resources at his
223 disposal&#8212;which were considerable&#8212;especially the riches of the whole Patristic teaching of the
224 &#8220;Saints&#8221; (the <i>sancti Doctores</i>), the wealth of a living tradition in the Roman Church contained
225 in its teaching, laws, liturgy, and the living Spirit, as well as fidelity to the infallible norms of the
226 Holy See.</p>
227 <p>In an address to students and professors of the &#8220;Angelicum&#8221; (now the Pontifical University of
228 St. Thomas in Rome) given on January 14, 1958, Pope Pius XII extolled the virtues of its patron,
229 the Angelic Doctor, who serves as a divinely inspired guide in both philosophy and theology.
230 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote3', WPFootnote3 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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240
241 Pope Pius spoke especially of St. Thomas&#8217; own studies as a norm for every student of the
242 religious disciplines. Just as St. Thomas diligently explored and studied the Bible as the font and
243 life-spring of all theological studies, so too should the modern student find in biblical studies the
244 source of his theological development. As St. Thomas himself assures us, &#8220;[sacred doctrine] uses
245 the authority of the canonical Scriptures properly and of necessity in its investigations ... for our
246 faith is founded on the Revelation made to the Apostles and Prophets, who wrote the canonical
247 books, but not on revelation (if such there be) made to other teachers.&#8221;
248 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote4', WPFootnote4 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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258 In this conviction
259 Thomas developed all his own theology. That is to say, the &#8220;complement&#8221; to Thomas&#8217;
260 speculations and synthesis are to be found in his commentaries on the books of the Old and New
261 Testaments, especially those on the Epistles of St. Paul.</p>
262 <p>In the opinion of those most expert to judge, Thomas&#8217; commentaries on Scripture &#8220;shine with
263 such solidity, subtlety, and precision that they can be numbered among his greatest theological
264 works,&#8221; and are to be esteemed as such. &#8220;Wherefore, if anyone should neglect them, he is
265 scarcely to be said to clearly and fully enjoy a familiarity and knowledge of the holy Angelic
266 Doctor.&#8221; The significant fact is not that Pius XII emphasized the importance of studying Thomas&#8217;
267 biblical commentaries to Dominicans, who had made their special prerogative the teaching of
268 &#8220;speculative Thomistic theology&#8221; and the pursuit of contemplative prayer. The significant fact
269 is that Pius XII expressed these sentiments shortly before his death and fifteen years after one of
270 his most important encyclicals, <i>Divino afflante spiritu </i>(30 Sept. 1943), the basic charter of all
271 Catholic biblical studies in our day, leading to the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation,
272 <i>Dei verbum, </i>of the Second Vatican Council (18 Nov. 1965). In other words, the enormous
273 advances of modern biblical studies do not automatically nullify the importance of St. Thomas&#8217;
274 commentaries on the Sacred Text.</p>
275 <p>St. Thomas&#8217; commentaries on the Sacred Text are typically <i>medieval, </i>that is, they lack the
276 unction, colloquialism, and engaging informality of Patristic commentaries (which were largely
277 homilies), and the technical and sometimes journalistic resources of modern commentaries,
278 explanations, and paraphrases. In other words, it is easier to read St. Augustine&#8217;s commentary
279 on John than it is to read St. Thomas&#8217; or that of any other medieval writer addressing students
280 in the &#8220;schools&#8221; of Paris and elsewhere. The big difference is between Patristic and Monastic
281 commentaries, which were largely homiletic, pastoral, personal, and mystical, on the one hand,
282 and Scholastic commentaries aimed at teaching students in the university or <i>studium </i>the literal
283 meaning of the text. The style of medieval Scholastic commentaries is rather formal, literal,
284 student-orientated and bookish. This style often makes such commentaries difficult for a modem
285 reader to follow, and to some extent hinders him from deriving the greatest benefit for his mind
286 and heart. At first glance such a &#8220;commentary&#8221;&#8212;with its definitions, divisions, arguments
287 footnotes and concern for the orthodox meaning of the sacred message&#8212;may seem like searching
288 for a needle in a haystack. But in the case of Thomas&#8217; commentaries the reader may be confident
289 that his efforts at discovering that needle will prove to be both intellectually and spiritually
290 rewarding; once discovered, it will be valued as &#8220;the pearl of great price&#8221; (Mt 13:46).</p>
291 <p>In this introduction I hope to show the historical context of this particular commentary and to
292 indicate some aids to a fruitful study of it.</p>
293 <p>First of all, this work is a biblical commentary by a master in a medieval university. In the Middle
294 Ages, the Bible and the Bible alone was the official basis for the teaching of theology by fully
295 qualified masters in the major universities of Europe. In fact, one could say with some
296 justification that the ultimate goal of all medieval education was an understanding of the Bible
297 for those who pursued the full course in the Faculty of Theology. Such an understanding was the
298 nature of sacred theology <i>(fides quaerens intellectum, </i>&#8220;faith seeking understanding&#8221;). It was the
299 source of all preaching of the Word of God, and it was the inexhaustible font of living water for
300 the spiritual life. In order to reach such a lofty goal, much preparation was required. First, tools
301 had to be acquired as a means of such study. This was the role of a good liberal arts education
302 and the acquisition of philosophy, &#8220;the handmaid of theology.&#8221; The study of the liberal arts and
303 the acquisition of philosophy were functions of the Arts Faculty in the university or <i>studium.
304 </i>Approximately eight years were devoted by medieval students to acquiring these tools&#8212;roughly
305 equivalent to our four years of high school and four years of college. After the full course had
306 been completed in &#8220;the humanities,&#8221; the young man, generally in his mid-twenties, would begin
307 his study of the Sacred Text, having already heard many sermons in Church and having received
308 much instruction at home. His study of the Sacred Text began with <i>listening </i>and <i>reading.</i></p>
309 <p>In the Middle Ages, a personal copy of the Bible was relatively rare, certainly outside university
310 circles. Every copy of the Bible was written out by hand on parchment, a writing surface made
311 from carefully treated skins of sheep. Such a copy was extremely expensive and hard to come by.
312 Although every student of theology tried desperately to obtain a personal copy, most people had
313 to rely on hearing the Word read to them and recollecting from memory the actual words of the
314 Bible. For that reason the beginner in theology would <i>listen </i>to older students and the master
315 (professor). One of the older students, the bachelor of theology, read aloud and paraphrased a
316 particular book of the Bible. This bachelor was called a &#8220;Cursor Biblicus,&#8221; a &#8220;runner through&#8221;
317 the actual words of the Bible, who did this to acquaint himself and his hearers with the inspired
318 words.</p>
319 <p>A splendid example of the work of such a &#8220;runner&#8221; is St. Thomas&#8217; commentary on Isaiah; it is
320 the work of a <i>cursor </i>and not that of a master. Only a master could expound the text with
321 authority and confidence; the bachelor merely skimmed through it as a runner would skim over
322 the course in a race. A higher ranking bachelor devoted his energies mainly to explaining the
323 official theological handbook, the <i>Sentences </i>of Peter Lombard (d. 1160). These <i>Sentences </i>were
324 a systematic collection of Patristic teachings, arranged in four books following the order of the
325 Apostles&#8217; Creed. This bachelor was called the <i>bachalarius Sententiarum, </i>a &#8220;Bachelor of the
326 <i>Sentences. </i>&#8220;After listening to others for about four years, the young student of theology would
327 himself become a bachelor and perform certain duties under a particular master, his main
328 professor of theology.</p>
329 <p>Every university in the Middle Ages had a limited number of chairs, or professorships, for the
330 masters to occupy. At the time of St. Thomas, there were twelve chairs of theology at the
331 University of Paris, the Dominicans having two of them. Before occupying one of these chairs,
332 the student had to have devoted many long years to study and actual discussions, or
333 &#8220;disputations,&#8221; in the university, He had to be at least thirty-five years old before meriting the
334 title of &#8220;Master of the Sacred Page&#8221; and the right to expound the Bible in an authoritative manner
335 as a true theologian, professionally qualified.</p>
336 <p>St. Thomas was twice professor of theology at Paris&#8212;a fact most unusual in itself. There were
337 very few such cases where a fully fledged master would return to his old chair, thus preventing
338 a new master from occupying it. But the intellectual, social, and religious climate in Paris at that
339 time demanded the return of Thomas to the center of all theological learning in Europe. The new
340 mendicant Orders (mainly Dominicans and Franciscans) were again being attacked by secular
341 (i.e., diocesan) masters of theology, and their right to teach, preach, and beg was challenged by
342 some of the most powerful voices in Europe. The center of this controversy Was the University
343 of Paris, where the very existence of Dominicans and Franciscans was under fire. At the climax
344 of this renewed attack, the second in the history of the Dominican Order, St. Thomas was
345 recalled to Paris by the Master General of the Dominican Order, Blessed John of Vercelli.
346 Thomas arrived in Paris with his companion Reginald in the cold winter of 1269 after the
347 academic term had begun. Immediately Thomas took upon himself the duties of a master in
348 theology, namely, lecturing on a carefully chosen book of the Bible, presiding at academic
349 &#8220;disputations&#8221; and resolving the question under discussion, and preaching to the university
350 crowd. At the same time, he was composing the Second Part of his <i>Summa theologiae, </i>which he
351 had begun in Rome two years earlier, and dictating a number of literal commentaries on various
352 works of Aristotle for young masters in arts, that is, teachers in the Faculty of Arts, whose duty
353 it was to expound the text of Aristotle. During the two and a half years Thomas spent at Paris the
354 second time, he successfully defended the rights of mendicants to teach, preach, and flourish.
355 During this same Parisian regency he lectured on the Gospel of St. John.</p>
356 <p>These lectures on John would have been lost to posterity had not the faithful Reginald taken
357 notes, which were later &#8220;corrected&#8221; by Thomas himself. The reason Thomas &#8220;corrected&#8221;
358 Reginald&#8217;s transcription was that a wealthy secular (i.e., diocesan) student wanted a copy for
359 himself. This student was Adenulf of Anagni, an Italian cleric, provost of Saint-Omer (since
360 1264), later master in theology (1282-85), and canon of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Adenulf,
361 a student of Thomas during the years 1269-72, offered a considerable amount of money to have
362 a professional scribe make a copy of this remarkable commentary for himself. Without Adenulf&#8217;s
363 enthusiasm and money, the &#8220;lectures&#8221; (<i>lecturae</i>)<i> </i>on John would have remained a simple report,
364 or <i>reportatio. </i>If it had not been for Reginald, apparently, these lectures would have gone
365 completely from history. But the fact is that we do have at hand the acute mind of Thomas
366 Aquinas, a master theologian and saint, on the Gospel of St. John. This commentary reflects the
367 mind of Thomas at its peak, but before he composed the Third Part of the <i>Summa </i>dealing with
368 Christ, the Sacraments, and the Church. It is a scholastic analysis of St. John&#8217;s remarkable
369 testimony of the Good News of Salvation, namely, that the Word became flesh, died for our
370 salvation, and is now risen from the dead to come again as our merciful judge.</p>
371 <p>Earlier, at the request of his intimate friend Pope Urban IV, Thomas had compiled a continuous
372 gloss on all four Gospels, which he had collated from the Latin and Greek Fathers of the Church.
373 Frequently he even instigated new translations of Greek sources, as he himself confessed in the
374 prologue. This continuous gloss, popularly called the <i>Catena Aurea, </i>or &#8220;Golden Chain,&#8221; was not
375 finished when Urban died in 1264. But Thomas continued his labors on the gloss, which he
376 completed in 1267 and dedicated to Cardinal Annibaldo d&#8217;Annibaldi, Thomas&#8217; close friend and
377 former pupil at Paris. The intense labor on the Gospel of John for the <i>Catena </i>molded the mind
378 of Thomas in his personal understanding of the Sacred Text of John. St. John&#8217;s Gospel is very
379 difficult to understand. Unlike the Synoptic writers, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, St. John&#8217;s Gospel
380 is a carefully devised presentation of his personal understanding of the sacred doctrine taught by
381 Jesus, on whose breast he reclined at the Last Supper. John was always known as &#8220;the disciple
382 whom Jesus loved.&#8221; For St. Thomas, John, the Son of Zebedee, the author of this Gospel, was
383 a virgin, whose appropriate symbol is the eagle soaring in the heights of contemplation. Thomas&#8217;
384 detailed study of the Latin and Greek Fathers, needed to complete his Gloss on John, prepared
385 him to shed his own light on the text when the opportune moment arrived. That moment arrived
386 when Thomas returned to Paris for the second time (1269-72) at the age of about forty-four, full
387 of strength and vigor.</p>
388 <p>But his is a typical medieval commentary because, unlike Patristic, monastic, and modern
389 commentaries on John, it utilizes certain techniques familiar to all in the Middle Ages, but
390 strange to us today. First of all, it is a theological commentary concerned with penetrating the
391 literal sense of the words recorded, and seeing through the literal sense to the spiritual. The
392 medieval university theologian was primarily concerned with the literal sense of scripture, that
393 is, with the sacred message intended by the human and divine author. It is therefore primarily
394 concerned with &#8220;the theological teaching&#8221; of the Bible. St. Thomas did not have at his disposal
395 the infinitely varied techniques of modern biblical scholarship. He knew almost nothing about
396 biblical and near-eastern languages, archeology, philology, comparative religion, and the
397 historical method. If he had, he would most certainly have used them. In the Encyclical <i>Divino
398 afflante Spiritu </i>(30 Sept. 1943), Pope Pius XII urged the importance of textual criticism, biblical
399 and oriental languages, archeology, profane and sacred history, as well as form criticism and the
400 demands of a sound historical method.
401 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote5', WPFootnote5 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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411 He noted with the Angelic Doctor that &#8220;in Scripture
412 divine things are presented to us in the manner which is in common use amongst men.&#8221;
413 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote6', WPFootnote6 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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423 The
424 Bible is the Word of God in the words of men, and this manner of speaking in various ages to
425 various people must be carefully studied with all the auxiliary sciences. But even after all this has
426 been tended to, there is still &#8220;the theological doctrine&#8221; contained in the Sacred Books. The
427 modem exegete should use every means available to discover and explain &#8220;the literal sense and
428 especially the theological. &#8220;
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439 It is this &#8220;theological sense&#8221; <i>(sensus theologicus), </i>expounded by St.
440 Thomas in his commentary, that is most fruitful for our meditation, prayer, and preaching the
441 Word of God today.</p>
442 <p>The literal sense, as St. Thomas teaches, is the objective, formal, and direct meaning intended
443 by the words in the sacred and inspired text.
444 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote8', WPFootnote8 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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454 The author of these words is both God and man,
455 since the Bible is &#8220;the inspired Word of God.&#8221; Modem biblical techniques, of course, were
456 unknown to Thomas. All he had was his personal copy of the Latin Vulgate (which was not a
457 critical edition), the familiar teaching of all the Latin and Greek Fathers known to him, his own
458 prayerful reflection on the text, and his native genius attentive to the Spirit of God and to the text.
459 Among the human means Thomas had at his disposal were grammar, logic, and Aristotelian
460 philosophy. The literal (or historical) sense was in principle the only basis of theological thought
461 and discussion. The spiritual sense only enlarged, or extended, the basic literal sense. By
462 &#8220;spiritual sense&#8221; we do not mean the pious, personal, private, and subjective sense a reader might
463 derive from a prayerful reading of the text. Rather, the &#8220;spiritual sense&#8221; is the enlarged reality
464 &#8220;intended&#8221; by person, place, or thing signified in the literal, as when the brazen serpent raised
465 by Moses in the desert is taken to signify Christ&#8217;s crucifixion as the divine means of healing
466 mankind, or when the paschal lamb is taken to signify Christ who was sacrificed for our sins. The
467 &#8220;spiritual sense&#8221; is the enlarged sense &#8220;intended&#8221; by a given symbol in the plan of divine
468 providence.</p>
469 <p>Since only God as the author of all things can make one symbol significative of another reality,
470 the Bible is the only book that can contain a &#8220;spiritual sense&#8221; as it was understood by medieval
471 theologians. Consequently only the sacred author himself can inform us of the existence of such
472 a sense. We could never know that one reality is to be taken as a symbol of another reality unless
473 the Sacred Author so informs us in the literal sense. For example, the author of the Book of
474 Numbers (21:19) explains how Moses was directed to make a brazen &#8220;serpent&#8221; and set it up as
475 a sign; whoever was bitten by one of the fiery serpents and &#8220;looked at the sign&#8221; that Moses had
476 set up was saved from death. But it is John (3:14 15) who explains that &#8220;as Moses lifted up the
477 serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may not
478 perish, but may have life everlasting.&#8221; The significance of Old Testament texts is declared by the
479 sacred writer when he explains Christ&#8217;s actions as being &#8220;in fulfillment of the Scriptures.&#8221;
480 Similarly St. Paul frequently reveals the &#8220;spiritual sense&#8221; of the Law and Prophets by declaring
481 the Christian fulfillment in Jesus.</p>
482 <p>There were three kinds of spiritual sense recognized by medieval theologians: the allegorical, the
483 moral, and the anagogical.
484 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote9', WPFootnote9 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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494 When anything in the Old Testament was taken to signify something
495 in the New Testament, this sense was called allegorical. Under this sense would be included all
496 those figures, persons, and events as symbolic of Jesus and his life and death on earth. When
497 anything in the life of Jesus is taken as a model for our life, we call this the moral sense. Under
498 this sense would be included all those virtues presented to us for our imitation of Christ. When
499 anything in the Scriptures is taken to signify something in the eternal kingdom hereafter, for
500 example, &#8220;the new Jerusalem,&#8221; we call this the anagogical sense. Thus the &#8220;spiritual sense&#8221; of
501 a passage was taken to be an objective meaning intended by the sacred author, the Holy Spirit.
502 This, of course, presupposes that the authors of the New Testament were inspired by the Holy
503 Spirit.</p>
504 <p>Whatever personal message one may derive from reading the Bible prayerfully and thoughtfully
505 is purely personal and beyond the science of theology as the study of God&#8217;s message to mankind.
506 The personal message is most significant for the reader, but this personal significance must be
507 carefully controlled by objective theological norms such as the Christian faith, sacred doctrine,
508 the constant teaching of the Church, and a prayerful listening to the Holy Spirit.</p>
509 <p>The most difficult technique of medieval commentators for us to comprehend is the use of logic
510 and the &#8220;scholastic method.&#8221; Aristotelian logic is the most significant technique contained in the
511 scholastic method. The purpose of the scholastic method was to instill &#8220;scientific&#8221; knowledge
512 through (1) definition, (2) division, and (3) demonstration, or demonstrative proof. These
513 techniques (or <i>modi sciendi) </i>were taken for granted by every medieval theologian as the best
514 means of learning the truth about anything. It was a method of teaching, the via <i>docendi, </i>which
515 was an imitation of the &#8220;way of discovery&#8221; <i>(via inveniendi </i>or <i>inventionis). </i>The goal of all
516 education is truth. The goal of theological education is an understanding of the doctrines of
517 revelation, the <i>sacra doctrina</i>.
518 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote10', WPFootnote10 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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528 It is faith seeking understanding (<i>fides quaerens intellectum</i>),<i> </i>as
529 St. Anselm puts it, The scholastic method, in a sense, is artificial and humanly contrived by
530 ineans of logic. In the Middle Ages the scholastic method was thought to be the best way of
531 learning everything from A to Z. An example of this method of learning is embedded in Thomas&#8217;
532 commentary on John&#8217;s Gospel. It cannot be eliminated. Therefore it depends on us moderns to
533 bend a little by trying to see through it, and not be put off by it. Always one will find definitions,
534 divisions, and proofs in all medieval commentaries, whether they be on Aristotle, Boethius, or
535 the Bible.</p>
536 <p>The Scholastics had a penchant for <i>order; </i>where none existed, one was imposed. Heeding the
537 words of Aristotle that &#8220;it belongs to the wise man to order,&#8221; they thought the prerogative of a
538 good teacher was to order all things well, setting out the message, or truth to be conveyed, in an
539 orderly and fitting way.
540 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote11', WPFootnote11 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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550 This is why the first thing one notices when reading a medieval
551 commentary is the <i>division, </i>or the ordering of the whole into parts. The least one can perceive
552 is a beginning, a middle, and an end. But more than not, one can usually perceive some orderly
553 procedure in the middle.</p>
554 <p>Modern biblical scholars usually see in, St. John&#8217;s Gospel a prologue (1:1-14), a middle (cc. 1-20), and an epilogue (c. 21). They then proceed to divide the middle into the Book of Signs (cc.
555 1-12) and the Book of Glory (cc. 13-20). St. Thomas also divides the Gospel into roughly these
556 two parts, but he considers chapter 12 as belonging to the Book of Glory, because the chapter
557 opens &#8220;six days before Passover&#8221; with the anointing of the feet of Jesus for his burial (12:1 -11),
558 continues on to the triumphal entry into Jerusalem (12:12-19), builds to the coming of the Greeks
559 (12:20-22), and the long discourse of Jesus in which he cries out, &#8220;Father, glorify your name&#8221;
560 (12:28). In any case, it is particularly in this second part that Thomas had to use his ingenuity to
561 resolve the discrepancies between John and the Synoptics. The Synoptics compress the public
562 life of Jesus into one year with the one tragic journey of Jesus up to Jerusalem, where he is
563 crucified and dies, to be raised up on the third day. John extends the public life of Jesus into three
564 years with the final year ending in his passion, death, and resurrection. St. Thomas is very much
565 concerned with the literal, or historical, sense of the narrative, especially as concerns the passion,
566 death, and resurrection of the Lord. Throughout the whole exposition of the narrative, Thomas
567 relied heavily on the interpretation of the Fathers of the Church, both Latin and Greek. He quotes
568 the authority of St. Augustine 373 times, St. John Chrysostom 217 times, and Origen 95 times.
569 It is an exposition that relies heavily on the tradition of the Church and on his own prayerful
570 theological reflections.</p>
571 <p>In the commentary on St. John&#8217;s Gospel, Thomas is concerned not only with the literal sense,
572 which for him is of Prime importance and concern, but also with the spiritual sense, as explained
573 above. More than the other Evangelists, John reveals the &#8220;fulfillment of the Scriptures,&#8221; that is,
574 concern with the prophecies and symbols of the Old Law. Christ&#8217;s own prophetic words and
575 actions are seen by John to be a foreshadowing of the passion, death, and resurrection of the Lord
576 by which we are all saved. Above all, for St. Thomas, John is the Evangelist of the divinity of
577 Jesus, &#8220;the Word made flesh.&#8221; He says, &#8220;While the other Evangelists treat principally of the
578 mysteries of the humanity of Christ, John, especially and above all, makes known the divinity
579 of Christ in his Gospel&#8221; (Prologue). Thomas, following the lead of St. Jerome, thought that John
580 wrote his Gospel after the other three Gospels had been written, in order to refute new heresies
581 that had arisen concerning the divinity of Christ. Following Jerome, Thomas singled out the
582 Ebionites (whose founder Thomas erroneously thought to have been &#8220;Ebion&#8221;)&#8212;and Cerinthus,
583 a Gnostic heretic who flourished around 100 A.D., as among those who denied the divinity of
584 Christ. Even St. Irenaeus <i>(Adv. haer.</i>, III,<i> </i>11) asserts that St. John wrote his Gospel to refute
585 Cerinthus. Thus, St. Thomas observes in his Prologue, while John did not pass over the mysteries
586 of Christ&#8217;s humanity, he especially conveys the divinity of Christ in his Gospel. In this
587 commentary, therefore, Thomas repeatedly refutes the heresies of Apollinaris, Arius, the Arians,
588 Ebionites, Eutyches, the Manichees, Nestorius, Pelagius, the Pelagians, and Sabellius - all of
589 which plagued the Church in the first five centuries of its existence. For Thomas these heresies
590 were not merely false doctrines irrelevant to the modem Christian, but vital guidelines to the
591 purity of the Christian faith, the orthodox teaching of the living Church.</p>
592 <p>Earlier in his career, Thomas had been asked by the archbishop of Palermo to write a short work
593 that could be memorized, dealing with the articles of faith &#8220;from the Creed of the Fathers&#8221; (i.e.,
594 the Apostles&#8217; Creed) and also the basic errors concerning them; the archbishop apparently asked
595 also for the same presentation for all the sacraments of the Church.
596 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote12', WPFootnote12 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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606 Thomas complied with this
607 request in a most remarkable treatise in two parts: <i>De articulis fidei </i>and <i>De ecclesiae
608 sacramentis</i>.
609 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote13', WPFootnote13 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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619 <i> </i>The wide popularity of this treatise is attested to by the 277 extant manuscripts
620 of this work. The six articles pertaining to the divinity of Christ and the six pertaining to his
621 humanity are set forth, and all the errors concerning the twelve articles of the Creed are briefly
622 named and refuted. Although the sacraments of the Church are implicit in the fourth article of
623 the Creed, they are discussed separately in the second part of the treatise, because the archbishop
624 explicitly asked for a special discussion of the sacraments and the heresies concerning them.
625 Thomas&#8217; knowledge of the various heresies in the history of the Church is most remarkable. All
626 of these same heresies are again discussed in his commentary on John&#8217;s Gospel. That is why St.
627 Thomas says in the Prologue, &#8220;[This Gospel] refutes all heresies.&#8221; The numerous heresies of the
628 past ought to be of great concern to the modern Christian so that he may avoid all taint of them
629 in his own, personal belief. A conscious affirmation of belief in the truth of revealed teaching that
630 developed in the living Church guided by the Spirit of Christ can bring us into a deeper and more
631 meaningful awareness of being united with the Eternal Truth. In this commentary, Thomas is
632 concerned above all with bolstering the faith of the hearer or reader, or, as he put it, &#8220;to confirm
633 the Catholic Truth.&#8221;</p>
634 <p style="text-align: justify">In other words, there are four goals Thomas aimed to achieve in his commentary on St. John:</p>
635 <ol>
636 <li>determination of the literal, or historical, sense of the narrative;
637 <li>explanation of the spiritual sense as found in the Old Testament (allegorical sense), the goals
638 of our own life in imitating Jesus (moral sense), and life of the &#8220;kingdom&#8221; here and hereafter (anagogical sense);
639 <li>refutation of all error through the testimony of the inspired Word of God;
640 <li>confirmation of the true Catholic Faith given to us by God through his Church, the Body of Christ.
641 </ol>
642 <p>These are the same goals Thomas had set for himself in composing the <i>Catena Aurea,
643 </i>particularly in the <i>Catena </i>on John&#8217;s Gospel, which was composed only four or five years
644 earlier.
645 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote14', WPFootnote14 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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655 </p>
656 <p>There are four outstanding features that will be noticed as one studies the commentary of Thomas
657 on the Gospel of John. First, Thomas had an extraordinary knowledge of the whole Bible. It has
658 been said, not without likelihood, that Thomas memorized the entire Bible during the year he was
659 confined to his family castle at Roccasecca, 1244-45. This is not at all difficult to believe. His
660 memory was far superior to any man-made concordance of the Bible. Thomas always saw the
661 <i>unity </i>of divine revelation. It was the unity of <i>sacra doctrina </i>as a single &#8220;science.&#8221;
662 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote15', WPFootnote15 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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672 The
673 &#8220;orthodox&#8221; teaching of Christ, Son of the Living God, cannot be anything but <i>one. </i>Because of
674 this unity, Thomas could use any one part of Sacred Scripture to explain and illumine any other
675 part. Thus Thomas could use the teaching of St. Paul and the Psalms to explain the text of John.
676 This use of one part of revelation to illumine another has been aptly called &#8220;the analogy of faith&#8221;
677 (<i>secundum rationern fidei, </i>as St. Paul says in Romans 12:6).
678 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote16', WPFootnote16 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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688 </p>
689 <p>Second, Thomas had an unusual knowledge of the Latin and Greek Fathers of the Church. This
690 knowledge, no doubt aided by his work on the <i>Catena Aurea, is </i>brought to bear on every difficult
691 question or obscure passage in John, even when it is a question of chronology, geography, Jewish
692 customs, or language. The medieval mind associated words, quotations and parallels with
693 uncanny facility, always trying to find the best pertinent quotation from the proper authorities
694 (<i>auctoritates</i>)<i>. </i>Great weight, sometimes of probative value, was always given to the recognized
695 <i>auctoritates, </i>which, in theology were always the Bible and the <i>sancti, </i>meaning recognized or
696 canonized Doctors of the Church, who were the <i>regula fidei </i>(&#8220;the rule of faith&#8221;), the &#8220;norms&#8221; of
697 Christian belief. Thomas&#8217; knowledge of these Doctors was prodigious. The contemporaries of
698 Thomas relied heavily on all available works of the Latin Fathers, especially those of St.
699 Augustine. But, as has been pointed out earlier, Thomas not only accepted the eminent authority
700 of St. Augustine, but also had a wealth of Greek sources from which to draw, including the early
701 Ecumenical Councils of the Church, whose <i>Acts </i>were largely neglected or forgotten in the Latin
702 Middle Ages.
703 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote17', WPFootnote17 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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713 </p>
714 <p>Third, Thomas was, after all, an outstanding theologian for any season. His theology was not only
715 biblical and patristic, but also logical and philosophical. While he absorbed and refined the
716 philosophy of Aristotle, newly translated from the Greek, he never put this philosophy ahead of
717 his Catholic faith. Rather he used that philosophy <i>in obsequium fidei </i>(Phil 2:17), as a &#8220;handmaid
718 of theology.&#8221; His comprehension of Aristotle and his use of the scholastic method are among the
719 glories of the Middle Ages. In St. Thomas we find an exceptionally gifted mind carefully honed
720 to human perfection by self-discipline, long study, and clear thinking. This was natural talent,
721 ranked by many as a true genius, brought to the highest human perfection by the grace of God.</p>
722 <p>Finally, Friar Thomas d&#8217;Aquino was a saint, one of the great saints in the Latin Church. A basic
723 principle of Thomas&#8217; theology is that &#8220;grace perfects nature&#8221;; that is, the grace of God never
724 destroys or replaces nature, but builds upon it. For St. Thomas, there is in divine providence a
725 certain kind of proportion between God&#8217;s gifts of nature and his gifts of grace. Even when we
726 accept this principle with all the necessary qualifications needed, we can readily see that in the
727 mind and heart of St. Thomas, God&#8217;s grace abundantly perfected an already great man. Not only
728 did Thomas meditate prayerfully on the Sacred Scriptures, but lie drew from them substantial
729 nourishment for his soul. This process of enrichment can be seen conspicuously in the
730 commentary on John, particularly the section dealing with the &#8220;Last Discourse&#8221; of Jesus to his
731 disciples at the Last Supper, collected in &#8220;the sayings of Jesus&#8221; in chapters 14 to 17. Here
732 Thomas&#8217; discussion of the Son&#8217;s procession from the Father while being consubstantially one
733 with the Father, is precise, illuminating, and brilliant; the mission of the Holy Spirit from the
734 Father <i>and </i>from the Son (<i>Filioque</i>) is clearly demonstrated against the Greek Orthodox who used
735 this question as one of the many issues that separated them from Rome, initially in the ninth, and
736 decisively in the eleventh century. But above all, the indwelling of the Holy Trinity in the hearts
737 of the faithful is alive and vital; the extraordinary love Jesus had for his faithful disciples is
738 movingly real and dynamic. In this commentary on John we have all the elements of a real
739 masterpiece of its kind in medieval literature.</p>
740 <p>St. Thomas was very much impressed by the force and absolute veracity of the Gospel
741 proclaimed by John: &#8220;This disciple is the one who vouches for these things and has written them
742 down, and we know that his testimony is true&#8221; (Jn 21:24). St. Thomas comments that the
743 Evangelist makes this statement &#8220;in the person of the whole Church (<i>in persona totius Ecclesiae</i>)<i>
744 </i>from whom this Gospel is received [by us].&#8221; The Evangelist himself knows the veracity of his
745 narrative, and even St. Paul condemns those who would preach a gospel other than the one he
746 had received (see Gal 1:9). The firmness and stability of our Christian faith is the authority of
747 God speaking through Evangelists, Apostles and other authors of the canonical Books of
748 Scripture. Their testimony leaves us without any doubt as to our faith, because &#8220;the Canonical
749 Scriptures alone are the rule of faith.&#8221;
750 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote18', WPFootnote18 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
751 <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
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760 This <i>sola scriptura </i>of which St. Thomas speaks is far
761 different from the <i>sola scriptura </i>(&#8220;only the Bible&#8221;) of the Reformers. This battle cry was made
762 famous by Luther, who insisted that what is not contained in the Bible is not &#8220;of faith.&#8221; But
763 Luther and Thomas (or any other medieval theologian) meant two different things by the word
764 <i>Bible, </i>or <i>Sacred Scriptures. </i>For Luther and the Reformers the Bible was thought of as a finished,
765 edited, and (by then) printed collection, while Thomas and the medieval theologians meant the
766 Sacred Word <i>together with </i>the gloss of the Fathers, liturgy, and the living Church. The
767 Reformers thought of &#8220;The Bible&#8221; completely devoid of a history and a historical context, devoid
768 of transmission and development; in short, they thought of &#8220;The Bible&#8221; distinct from the Church.
769 Thus in the face of this misunderstanding, the Council of Trent spoke as <i>though </i>there were two
770 sources of our faith: &#8220;the written books and the unwritten traditions.&#8221;
771 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote19', WPFootnote19 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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781 But even this manner of
782 speaking was a concession to a false dichotomy that was historically conditioned. The Second
783 Vatican Council, however, described these two sources&#8221; more traditionally as a single mirror
784 (<i>veluti speculum sunt</i>)<i> </i>reflecting both sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture.
785 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote20', WPFootnote20 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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795 </p>
796 <p>Historically speaking, the revelation given by God and received by the chosen people was prior
797 to any scriptural document. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were given the message of salvation long
798 before there was any question of a written Torah. Christ&#8217;s message of salvation was accepted by
799 the Apostles, disciples, and early Christians for a quarter of a century before the first fraction of
800 the New Testament was written&#8212;and this by St. Paul (1 Thessalonians, probably at the beginning
801 of 52 A.D.). We must always remember that the Canon of the New Testament was not
802 established as an inspired unit until 382 A.D., at the earliest. That is, the living Church existed
803 long before the New Testament was &#8220;written,&#8221; and it existed for 350 years before the present
804 books were collected into an exclusive and canonical unity. For this reason, St. Thomas could
805 speak of the &#8220;whole Church from whom this Gospel is received.&#8221;</p>
806 <p>Finally, a word should be said in aid of a fruitful reading of St. Thomas&#8217; commentary on John.
807 Although the pericope or section commented upon in every &#8220;Lecture&#8221; is printed in full at the
808 head of the commentary, it would be best to procure a second copy of the whole text and read the
809 particular chapter in full before proceeding to the comment. It is of utmost importance to follow
810 the <i>divisions </i>of the text made by St. Thomas and always keep the context well in view. The
811 lemmata, or phrases commented upon, are clearly set off from the comment by the printer. Unless
812 the particular lemma is constantly related to the context as a whole, one can easily get lost in the
813 forest of words, cross references, and quotations. Since <i>order </i>and <i>division </i>are such important
814 elements in the scholastic method, these must be continuously related to the <i>whole, </i>whether it
815 be a collection of chapters, an individual chapter, part of a chapter, a parable, narrative, pericope,
816 or sentence. Those who wish to obtain the greatest understanding of the Sacred Text might well
817 augment the study of St. Thomas&#8217; &#8220;theological sense&#8221; of John with a modern commentary, such
818 as the outstanding commentary by Father Raymond Brown in the Anchor Bible (2 vols.).</p>
819 <p>For the fruitful reading of St. Thomas&#8217; commentary on John, we should further note that
820 throughout the long history of the Church, listeners and readers of tile Sacred Text have always
821 been encouraged to prepare their minds and souls for a fruitful reception of the Word. The Word
822 of God, like the seed in the parable (Lk 8:15), needs to be received in &#8220;good ground&#8221; in order to
823 yield fruit a hundredfold. The reception of anything, according to the ancient philosophers,
824 depends on the condition of the receiver. The Word of God is Spirit (Jn 6:63), and only the Holy
825 Spirit cdn prepare the soul for fruitful reception of the Word. In the solemn proclamation of the
826 Gospel in the Liturgy of the Word, the Church prays for the Deacon that the Lord be in his heart
827 and on his lips in order to announce the Holy Gospel of Peace.
828 <a href="javascript:WPShow('WPFootnote21', WPFootnote21 )"><img src="footnoteicon.gif" alt="Footnote" width="16" height="14" border="0"></a>
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838 Preparing one&#8217;s mind and heart
839 by prayer and recollection is of greatest importance for the reception of God&#8217;s message for us.
840 This message is directed primarily to us as God&#8217;s chosen people, the pilgrim Church on earth,
841 and through the Church to us as individuals beloved by God and &#8220;purchased at a great price&#8221; (1
842 Cor 6:20). The message of salvation is addressed to us individually and collectively, and we both
843 individually and collectively must attune our minds and hearts to the Spirit. &#8220;The Advocate, the
844 Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you
845 of all I have said to you&#8221; (Jn 14:26). The Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts through the Scriptures,
846 inspired and animated by him. The Scriptures as a spiritual resource cannot be dissociated from
847 personal prayer and cultivation of our sacramental life in the Church. Being receptive is the
848 important thing as we begin our study.</p>
849 <p>Finally, the power of reading or hearing the Sacred Scriptures is so great that it actually forgives
850 sins. Apart from &#8220;the Sacraments of the faith&#8221; (<i>sacramenta fidei</i>),<i> </i>it is one of the many ways by
851 which our many sins are forgiven. The Fathers of the Church have always listed&#8212;along with
852 almsgiving, contrition, and good works&#8212;the special efficacy of reading the Scriptures for the
853 forgiveness of sins. The new liturgy of the Mass prompted by the Second Vatican Council still
854 retains the ancient prayer: &#8220;May the words of the Gospel wipe away our sins.&#8221; The humble and
855 contrite reading of any part of the Scriptures wipes away sin because the power of the Word is
856 the power of God, who alone can forgive sins. Thus we should always approach the Scriptures
857 with a &#8220;humble and contrite heart.&#8221; The Psalmist declares, &#8220;A contrite and humbled heart, 0 God,
858 you will not despise&#8221; (Ps 50:19). God always answers a humble and contrite heart in order to
859 glorify himself in us, just as the Father is always glorified in the Son. &#8220;Whatever you ask for in
860 my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son&#8221; Qn 14:13). This &#8220;glory&#8221; of the
861 Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit is sometimes called the indwelling of the Trinity within
862 our souls. It is the &#8220;conformity&#8221; of our whole being to the Father through the Word animated by
863 the Spirit. In this conformity of our innermost being with the splendor of God lies the whole
864 perfection of the Christian life. In this perfection consists the glory and splendor of God himself.
865 This union of one&#8217;s deepest self and the innermost being of God is the answer to the prayer of
866 Jesus to the Father: &#8220;That they may be one, as we also are one&#8221; (Jn 17:11).</p>
867 <p>From this it follows that the study of St. Thomas&#8217; commentary on St. John&#8217;s Gospel is richly
868 rewarding in healing our wounds and leading us to greater union with the Father of our Lord
869 Jesus Christ, whose message of salvation is here proclaimed by &#8220;the disciple whom Jesus loved&#8221;
870 (Jn 20:2). For our guide we can have none better than the Angelic Doctor, whom Jesus loved.</p>
871 <p style="text-align: right; margin-bottom: 0.125in">James A. Weisheipl, O.P.
872 <br>Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies
873 <br>Toronto, Canada</p>
874 <br>
875 <hr>
876 <A NAME="02"><p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><span style="font-weight: bold">PROLOGUE</span></p>
877 <p style="text-align: justify; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"><i>I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and the whole house was full
878 of his majesty, and the things that were under him filled the temple.</i> (Is 6:1)</p>
879 <p>1 These are the words of a contemplative, and if we regard them as spoken by John the
880 Evangelist they apply quite well to showing the nature of this Gospel. For as Augustine says in
881 his work, <i>On the Agreement of the Evangelists: </i>&#8220;The other Evangelists instruct us in their
882 Gospels on the active life; but John in his Gospel instructs us also on the contemplative life.&#8221;</p>
883 <p>The contemplation of John is described above in three ways, in keeping with the threefold
884 manner in which he contemplated the Lord Jesus. It is described as high, full, and perfect. It is
885 high: <span style="font-weight: bold">I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; </span>it is full: <span style="font-weight: bold">and the whole house was
886 full of his majesty; </span>and it was perfect: <span style="font-weight: bold">and the things that were under him filled the temple.</span></p>
887 <p>2 As to the first, we must understand that the Height and sublimity of contemplation consists
888 most of all in the contemplation and knowledge of God. &#8220;Lift up your eyes on high, and see who
889 has created these things&#8221; (Is 40:26). A man lifts up his eyes on high when he sees and
890 contemplates the Creator of all things. Now since John rose above whatever had been
891 created&#8212;mountains, heavens, angels&#8212;and reached the Creator of all, as Augustine says, it is
892 clear that his contemplation was most high. Thus, <span style="font-weight: bold">I saw the Lord. </span>And because, as John himself
893 says below (12:41), &#8220;Isaiah said this because he had seen his glory,&#8221; that is, the glory of Christ,
894 &#8220;and spoke of him,&#8221; the Lord <span style="font-weight: bold">seated on a high and lofty throne </span>is Christ.</p>
895 <p>Now a fourfold height is indicated in this contemplation of John. A height of authority; hence
896 he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">I saw the Lord. </span>A height of eternity; when he says, seated. One of dignity, or nobility
897 of nature; so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">on a high throne. </span>And a height of incomprehensible truth; when he says,
898 lofty. It is in these four ways that the early philosophers arrived at the knowledge of God.</p>
899 <p>3 Some attained to a knowledge of God through his authority, and this is the most efficacious
900 way. For we see the things in nature acting for an end, and attaining to ends which are both useful
901 and certain. And since they lack intelligence, they are unable to direct themselves, but must be
902 directed and moved by one directing them, and who possesses an intellect. Thus it is that the
903 movement of the things of nature toward a certain end indicates the existence of something
904 higher by which the things of nature are directed to an end and governed. And so, since the whole
905 course of nature advances to an end in an orderly way and is directed, we have to posit something
906 higher w1iich directs and governs them as Lord; and this is God. This authority in governing is
907 shown to be in the Word of God when he says, Lord. Thus the Psalm (88:10) says: &#8220;You rule the
908 power of the sea, and you still the swelling of its waves,&#8221; as though saying: You are the Lord and
909 govern all things. John shows that he knows this about the Word when he says below (1:11), &#8220;He
910 came unto his own,&#8221; i.e., to the world, since the whole universe is his own.</p>
911 <p>4 Others came to a knowledge of God from his eternity. They saw that whatever was in things
912 was changeable, and that the more noble something is in the grades of being, so much the less
913 it has of mutability. For example, the lower bodies are mutable both as to their substance and to
914 place, while the heavenly bodies, which are more noble, are immutable in substance and change
915 only with respect to place. We can clearly conclude from this that the first principle of all things,
916 which is supreme and more noble, is changeless and eternal. The prophet suggests this eternity
917 of the Word when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">seated, </span>i.e., presiding without any change and eternally. &#8220;Your throne,
918 O God, is forever and ever&#8221; (Ps 44:7); &#8220;Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever&#8221;
919 (Heb 13:8). John points to this eternity when he says below (1:1), &#8220;In the beginning was the
920 Word.&#8221;</p>
921 <p>5 Still others came to a knowledge of God from the dignity of God; and these were the Platonists.
922 They noted that everything which is something by participation is reduced to what is the same
923 thing by essence, as to the first and highest. Thus, all things which are fiery by participation are
924 reduced to fire, which is such by its essence. And so since all things which exist participate in
925 existence (<i>esse</i>)<i> </i>and are beings by participation, there must necessarily be at the summit of all
926 things something which is existence (<i>esse</i>)<i> </i>by its essence, i.e., whose essence is its existence.
927 And this is God, who is the most sufficient, the most eminent, and the most perfect cause of the
928 whole of existence, from, whom all things that are participate existence (<i>esse</i>)<i>. </i>This dignity is
929 shown in the words, <span style="font-weight: bold">on a high throne, </span>which, according to Denis, refer to the divine nature.
930 &#8220;The Lord is high above all nations&#8221; (Ps 112:4). John shows us this dignity when he says below
931 (1:1), &#8220;the Word was God,&#8221; with &#8220;Word&#8221; as subject and &#8220;God&#8221; as the predicate.</p>
932 <p>6 Yet others arrived at a knowledge of God from the incomprehensibility of truth. All the truth
933 which our intellect is able to grasp is finite, since according to Augustine, &#8220;everything that is
934 known is bounded by the comprehension of the one knowing&#8221;; and if it is bounded, it is
935 determined and particularized. Therefore, the first and supreme Truth, which surpasses every
936 intellect, must necessarily be incomprehensible and infinite; and this is God. [fence the Psalm
937 (8:2) says, &#8220;Your greatness is above the heavens,&#8221; i.e., above every created intellect, angelic and
938 human. The Apostle says this in the words, &#8220;He dwells in unapproachable light&#8221; (1 Tim 6:16).
939 This incomprehensibility of Truth is shown to us in the word, <span style="font-weight: bold">lofty, </span>that is, above all the
940 knowledge of the created intellect. John implies this incomprehensibility to us when he says
941 below (1:18), &#8220;No one has ever seen God.&#8221;</p>
942 <p>Thus, the contemplation of John was high as regards authority, eternity, dignity, and the
943 incomprehensibility of the Word. And John has passed on this contemplation to us in his Gospel.</p>
944 <p>7 John&#8217;s contemplation was also full. Now contemplation is full when someone is able to
945 consider all the effects of a cause in the cause itself, that is, when he knows not only the essence
946 of the cause, but also its power, according as it can extend out to many things. Of this flowing
947 outward we read, &#8220;It overflows with wisdom, like the Pishon, and like the Tigris in the days of
948 the new fruits&#8221; (Sir 25:35); &#8220;The river of God is full with water,&#8221; since the divine wisdom has
949 depth in relation to its knowledge of all things (Ps 65:9). &#8220;With you from the beginning is
950 wisdom, who knows your works&#8221; (Wis 9:9).</p>
951 <p>Since John the Evangelist was raised up to the contemplation of the nature of the divine Word
952 and of his essence when he said, &#8220;In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God,&#8221;
953 he immediately tells us of the power of the Word as it extends to all things, saying, &#8220;Through him
954 all things came into being.&#8221; Thus his contemplation was full. And so after the prophet had <span style="font-weight: bold">said,
955 I saw the Lord seated, </span>he added something about his power, <span style="font-weight: bold">and the whole house was full of
956 his majesty, </span>that is, the whole fullness of things and of the universe is from the majesty and
957 power of God, through whom all things were made, and by whose light all the men coming into
958 this world are enlightened. &#8220;The earth and its fullness are the Lord&#8217;s&#8221; (Ps 23:1).</p>
959 <p>8 The contemplation of John was also perfect. For contemplation is perfect when the one
960 contemplating is led and raised to the height of the thing contemplated. Should he remain at a
961 lower level, then no matter how high the things which he might contemplate, the contemplation
962 would not be perfect. So in order that it be perfect it is necessary that it rise and attain the end of
963 the thing contemplated, adhering and assenting by affection and understanding to the truth
964 contemplated. Job (37:16) says, &#8220;Do you not know the path of the clouds,&#8221; that is, the
965 contemplation of those preaching, &#8220;how perfect they are?&#8221; inasmuch as they adhere firmly by
966 affection and understanding to contemplating the highest truth.</p>
967 <p>Since John not only taught how Christ Jesus, the Word of God, is God, raised above all things,
968 and how all things were made through him, but also that we are sanctified by him and adhere to
969 him by the grace which he pours into us, he says below (1:16), &#8220;Of his fullness we have all
970 received - indeed, grace in return for grace.&#8221; It is therefore apparent that his contemplation is
971 perfect. This perfection is shown in the addition, <span style="font-weight: bold">and the things that were under him filled the
972 temple. </span>For &#8220;the head of Christ is God&#8221; (1 Cor 11:3). The things that are under Christ are the
973 sacraments of his humanity, through which the faithful are filled with the fullness of grace. In this
974 way, then, <span style="font-weight: bold">the things that were under him filled the temple, </span>i.e., the faithful, who are the holy
975 temple of God (1 Cor 3:17) insofar as through the sacraments of his humanity all the faithful of
976 Christ receive from the fullness of his grace.</p>
977 <p>The contemplation of John was thus full, high, and perfect.</p>
978 <p>9 We should note, however, that these three characteristics of contemplation belong to the
979 different sciences in different ways. The perfection of contemplation is found in Moral Science,
980 which is concerned with the ultimate end. The fullness of contemplation is possessed by Natural
981 Science, which considers things as proceeding from God. Among the physical [natural] sciences,
982 the height of contemplation is found in Metaphysics. But the Gospel of John contains all together
983 what the above sciences have in a divided way, and so it is most perfect.</p>
984 <p>10 In this way then, from what has been said, we can understand the matter of this Gospel. For
985 while the other Evangelists treat principally of the mysteries of the humanity of Christ, John,
986 especially and above all, makes known the divinity of Christ in his Gospel, as we saw above.
987 Still, he does not ignore the mysteries of his humanity. He did this because, after the other
988 Evangelists had written their Gospels, heresies had arisen concerning the divinity of Christ, to
989 the effect that Christ was purely and simply a man, as Ebion and Cerinthus falsely thought. And
990 so John the Evangelist, who had drawn the truth about the divinity of the Word from the very
991 fountain-head of the divine breast, wrote this Gospel at the request of the faithful. And in it he
992 gives us the doctrine of the divinity of Christ and refutes all heresies.</p>
993 <p>The order of this Gospel is clear from the above. For John first shows us <span style="font-weight: bold">the Lord seated on a
994 high and lofty throne, </span>when he says below (1:1), &#8220;In the beginning was the Word.&#8221; He shows
995 secondly how <span style="font-weight: bold">the house was full of his majesty, </span>when he says, &#8220;through him all things came
996 into being&#8221; (1:3). Thirdly, he shows how the <span style="font-weight: bold">things that were under him filled the temple,
997 </span>when he says, &#8220;the Word was made flesh&#8221; (1:14). The end of this Gospel is also clear, and it is
998 that the faithful become the temple of God, and become filled with the majesty of God; and so
999 John says below (20:31), &#8220;These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the
1000 Christ, the Son of God.&#8221;</p>
1001 <p>The matter of this Gospel, the knowledge of the divinity of the Word, is clear, as well as its order
1002 and end.</p>
1003 <p>11 Then follows the condition of the author, who is described above in four ways: as to his name,
1004 his virtue, his symbol, and his privilege. He is described as to name as John, the author of this
1005 Gospel. &#8220;John&#8221; is interpreted as &#8220;in whom is grace,&#8221; since the secrets of the divinity cannot be
1006 seen except by those who have the grace of God within themselves. &#8220;No one knows the deep
1007 things of God but the Spirit of God&#8221; (1 Cor 2:11).</p>
1008 <p>As concerns his virtue, John <span style="font-weight: bold">saw the Lord seated, </span>because he was a virgin; for it is fitting that
1009 such persons see the Lord: &#8220;Blessed are the pure in heart&#8221; (Mt 5:8).</p>
1010 <p>He is described as to his symbol, for John is symbolized by an eagle. The other three Evangelists,
1011 concerned with those things which Christ did in his flesh, are symbolized by animals which walk
1012 on the earth, namely, by a man, a bull calf, and a lion. But John flies like an eagle above the
1013 cloud of human weakness and looks upon the light of unchanging truth with the most lofty and
1014 firm eyes of the heart. And gazing on the very deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which he is
1015 equal to the Father, he has striven in this Gospel to confide this above all, to the extent that he
1016 believed was sufficient for all. Concerning this flight of John it says in Job (39:27): &#8220;Will the
1017 eagle,&#8221; that is, John, &#8220;fly up at your command?&#8221; And further on it says, &#8220;His eyes look far away,&#8221;
1018 because the Word of God is seen in the bosom of the Father by the eye of the mind.</p>
1019 <p>John is described as to privilege since, among the other disciples of the Lord, John was more
1020 loved by Christ. Without mentioning his own name John refers to himself below (21:20) as &#8220;the
1021 disciple whom Jesus loved.&#8221; And because secrets are revealed to friends, &#8220;I have called you
1022 friends because everything I have heard from my father I have made known to you&#8221; (below
1023 15:15), Jesus confided his secrets in a special way to that disciple who was specially loved. Thus
1024 it says in Job (36:32): &#8220;From the savage,&#8221; that is, the proud, &#8220;he hides his light,&#8221; that is, Christ
1025 hides the truth of his divinity, &#8220;and shows his friend,&#8221; that is, John, &#8220;that it belongs to him,&#8221; since
1026 it is John who sees the light of the Incarnate Word more excellently and expresses it to us, saying
1027 &#8220;He was the true light&#8221; (below 1:19).</p>
1028 <p>Now the matter, order, end and author of this Gospel of the blessed John are clear.</p>
1029 </body>
1030 </html>