HOMILIES OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE,ON THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN
And
THE HOMILIES OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, ARCHBISHOP OF
CONSTANTINOPLE, ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS
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Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, On the
Gospel According to St. John
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HOMILY I
PREFACE.
[1.] THEY that are spectators of the heathen games,
when they have learned that a distinguished athlete and winner of
crowns is come from any quarter, run all together to view his
wrestling, and all his skill and strength; and you may see the whole
theater of many ten thousands, all there straining their eyes both of
body and mind, that nothing of what is done may escape them. So again
these same persons, if any admirable musician come amongst them, leave
all that they had in hand, which often is necessary and pressing
business, and mount the steps, and sit listening very attentively to
the words and the accompaniments, and criticising the agreement of the
two. This is what the many do. Again; those who
are skilled in rhetoric do just the same with respect to the sophists,
for they too have their theaters, and their audience, and clappings of
hands, and noise, and closest criticism of what is said.
And if in the case of rhetoricians, musicians, and
athletes, people sit in the one case to look on, in the other to see at
once and to listen with such earnest attention; what zeal, what
earnestness ought ye in reason to display, when it is no musician or
debater who now comes forward to a trial of skill, but when a man is
speaking from heaven, and utters a voice plainer than thunder? for he
has pervaded the whole earth with the sound; and occupied and filled
it, not by the loudness of the cry, but by moving his tongue with the
grace of God.
And what is wonderful, this sound, great as it is,
is neither a harsh nor an unpleasant one, but sweeter and more
delightful than all harmony of music, and with more skill to soothe;
and besides all this, most holy, and most awful, and full of mysteries
so great, and bringing with it goods so great, that if men were exactly
and with ready mind to receive and keep them, they could no longer be
mere men nor remain upon the earth, but would take their stand above
all the things of this life, and having adapted themselves to the
condition of angels, would dwell on earth just as if it were heaven.
[2.] For the son of thunder, the beloved of Christ,
the pillar of the Churches throughout the world, who holds the keys of
heaven, who drank the cup of Christ, and was baptized with His baptism,
who lay upon his Master's bosom with much confidence,(1) this man comes
forward to us now; not as an actor of a play, not hiding his head with
a mask, (for he hath another sort of words to speak,) nor mounting a
platform,(2) nor striking the stage with his foot, nor dressed out with
apparel of gold, but he enters wearing a robe of inconceivable beauty.
For he will appear before us having "put on Christ" (Rom. xiii. 14;
Gal. iii. 27), having his beautiful "feet shod with the preparation of
the Gospel of peace" (Eph. vi. 15); wearing a girdle not about his
waist, but about his loins, not made of scarlet leather nor daubed
outside(3) with gold, but woven and composed of truth itself. Now will
he appear before us, not acting a part, (for with him there is nothing
counterfeit, nor fiction, nor fable,) but with unmasked head he
2
proclaims to us the truth unmasked; not making the audience believe him
other than he is by carriage, by look, by voice, needing for the
delivery of his message no instruments of music, as harp, lyre, or any
other the like, for he effects all with his tongue, uttering a voice
which is sweeter and more profitable than that of any harper or any
music. All heaven is his stage his theater, the habitable world; his
audience, all angels; and of men as many as are angels already, or
desire to become so, for none but these can hear that harmony aright,
and show it forth by their works; all the rest, like little children
who hear, but what they hear understand not, from their anxiety about
sweetmeats and childish playthings; so they too, being in mirth and
luxury, and living only for wealth and power and sensuality, hear
sometimes what is said, it is true, but show forth nothing great or
noble in their actions through fastening(1) themselves for good to the
clay of the brickmaking. By this Apostle stand the powers from above,
marveling at the beauty of his soul, and his understanding, and the
bloom of that virtue by which he drew unto him Christ Himself, and
obtained the grace of the Spirit. For he hath made ready his soul, as
some well-fashioned and jeweled lyre with strings of gold, and yielded
it for the utterance of something great and sublime to the Spirit.
[3.] Seeing then it is no longer the fisherman the
son of Zebedee, but He who knoweth "the deep things of God" (1 Cor. ii.
10), the Holy Spirit I mean, that striketh this lyre, let us hearken
accordingly. For he will say nothing to us as a man, but what he saith,
he will say from the depths of the Spirit, from those secret things
which before they came to pass the very Angels knew not; since they too
have learned by the voice of John with us, and by us, the things which
we know. And this hath another Apostle declared, saying, "To the intent
that unto the principalities and powers might be known by the Church
the manifold wisdom of God." (Eph. iii. 10.) If then principalities,
and powers, and Cherubim, and Seraphim, learned these things by the
Church, it is very clear that they were exceedingly earnest in
listening to this teaching; and even in this we have been not a little
honored, that the Angels learned things which before they knew not with
us; I do not at present speak of their learning by us also. Let us then
show much silence and orderly behavior; not to-day only, nor during the
day on which we are hearers, but during all our life, since it is at
all times good to hear Him. For if we long to know what is going on in
the palace, what, for instance, the king has said, what he has done,
what counsel he is taking concerning his subjects, though in truth
these things are for the most part nothing to us; much more is it
desirable to hear what God hath said, especially when all concerns us.
And all this will this man tell us exactly, as being a friend of the
King Himself, or rather, as having Him speaking within himself, and
from Him hearing all things which He heareth from the Father. "I have
called you friends," He saith, "for all things that I have heard of My
Father, I have made known unto you." (John xv. 15.)
[4.] As then we should all run together if we saw
one from above bend down "on a sudden "(2) from the height of heaven,
promising to describe exactly all things there, even so let us be
disposed now. It is from thence that this Man speaketh to us; He is not
of this world, as Christ Himself declareth, "Ye are not of the world"
(John xv. 19), and He hath speaking within him the Comforter, the
Omnipresent, who knoweth the things of God as exactly as the soul of
man knoweth what belongs to herself, the Spirit of holiness, the
righteous Spirit, the guiding Spirit, which leads men by the hand to
heaven, which gives them other eyes, fitting them to see things to come
as though present, and giving them even in the flesh to look into
things heavenly. To Him then let us yield ourselves during all our
life(3) in much tranquillity. Let none dull, none sleepy, none sordid,
enter here and tarry; but let us remove ourselves to heaven, for there
He speaketh these things to those who are citizens there. And if we
tarry on earth, we shall gain nothing great from thence. For the words
of John are nothing to those who do not desire to be freed from this
swinish life, just as the things of this world to him are nothing. The
thunder amazes our souls, having sound without significance;(4) but
this man's voice troubles none of the faithful, yea, rather releases
them from trouble and confusion; it amazes the devils only, and those
who are their slaves. Therefore that we may know how it amazes them,
let us preserve deep silence, both external and mental, but especially
the latter; for what advantage is it that the mouth be hushed, if the
soul is disturbed and full of tossing? I look for that calm which is of
the mind, of the soul, since it is the hearing of the soul which I
require. Let then no desire of riches trouble us, no lust of glory, no
tyranny of anger, nor the crowd of other passions besides these; for it
is not possible for the ear, except it be cleansed, to perceive as it
ought the sublimity of the things spoken; nor rightly to understand the
awful and unutterable nature of these mysteries, and all other virtue
which is in
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these divine oracles. If a man cannot learn well a melody on pipe or
harp, unless he in every way strain his attention; how shall one, who
sits as a listener to sounds mystical, be able to hear with a careless
soul?
[5.] Wherefore Christ Himself exhorted, saying,
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls
before swine." (Matt. vii. 6.) He called these words "pearls," though
in truth they be much more precious than they, because we have no
substance more precious than that. For this reason too He is wont often
to compare their sweetness to honey, not that so much only is the
measure of their sweetness, but because amongst us there is nothing
sweeter. Now, to show that they very exceedingly surpass the nature of
precious stones, and the sweetness of any honey, hear the prophet
speaking concerning them, and declaring this superiority; "More to be
desired are they," he saith "than gold and much precious stone; sweeter
are they also than honey and the honeycomb." (Ps. xix. 10.) But to
those (only) who are in health; wherefore he has added, "For thy
servant keepeth them." And again in another place calling them sweet he
has added, "to my throat." For he saith, "How sweet are thy words unto
my throat." (Ps. cxix. 103.) And again he insisteth on the superiority,
saying, "Above honey and the honeycomb to my mouth." For he was in very
sound health. And let not us either come nigh to these while we are
sick, but when we have healed our soul, so receive the food that is
offered us.
It is for this reason that, after so long a preface,
I have not yet attempted to fathom(1) these expressions (of St. John),
in order that every one having laid aside all manner of infirmity, as
· though he were entering into heaven itself, so may enter here
pure, and freed from wrath and · carefulness and anxiety of this
life, of all other passions. For it is not otherwise possible for a man
to gain from hence anything great, except he have first so cleansed
anew his soul. And let no one say that the time to the coming
communion(2) is short, for it is possible, not only in five days, but
in one moment, to change the whole course of life. Tell me what is
worse than a robber and a murderer, is not this the extremest kind of
wickedness? Yet such an one arrived straight at the summit of
excellence, and passed into Paradise itself, not needing days, nor half
a day, but one little moment. So that a man may change suddenly, and
become gold instead of clay. For since what belongs to virtue and to
vice is not by nature, the change is easy, as being independent of any
necessity. "If ye be willing and obedient," He saith, "ye shall eat the
good of the land." (Isa. i. 19.) Seest thou that there needs the will
only? will--not the common wishing of the multitude--but earnest will.
For I know that all are wishing to fly up to heaven even now; but it is
necessary to show forth the wish by works. The merchant too wishes to
get rich; but he doth not allow his wish to stop with the thought of
it; no, he fits out a ship, and gets together sailors, and engages a
pilot, and furnishes the vessel with all other stores, and borrows
money, and crosses the sea, and goes away into a strange land, and
endures many dangers, and all the rest which they know who sail the
sea. So too must we show our will; for we also sail a voyage, not from
land to land, but from earth to heaven. Let us then so order our
reason, that it be serviceable to steer our upward course, and our
sailors that they be obedient to it, and let our vessel be stout, that
it be not swamped amidst the reverses and despondencies of this life,
nor be lifted up by the blasts of vainglory, but be a fast and easy
vessel. If So we order our ship, and so our pilot and our crew, we
shall sail with a fair wind, and we shall draw down to ourselves the
Son of God, the true Pilot, who will not leave our bark to be engulfed,
but, though ten thousand winds may blow, will rebuke the winds and the
sea, and instead of raging waves, make a great calm.
[6.] Having therefore ordered yourselves, so come to
our next assembly, if at least it be at all an object of desire to you
to hear somewhat to your advantage, and lay up what is said in your
souls. But let not one of you be the "wayside," none the "stony
ground," none the "full of thorns." (Matt. xiii. 4, 5, 7.) Let us make
ourselves fallow lands. For so shall we (the preachers) put in the seed
with gladness, when we see the land clean, but if stony or rough,
pardon us if we like not to labor in vain. For if we shall leave off
sowing and begin to cut up thorns, surely to cast seed into ground
unwrought were extreme folly.
It is not meet that he who has the advantage of such
hearing be partaker of the table of devils. "For what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness?" (2 Cor, vi. 14.) Thou standest
listening to John, and learning the things of the Spirit by him; and
dost thou after this depart to listen to harlots speaking vile things,
and acting viler, and to effeminates cuffing one another? How wilt thou
be able to be fairly cleansed, if thou wallowest in such mire? Why need
I reckon in detail all the indecency that is there? All there is
laughter, all is shame, all disgrace, revilings and mockings, all
abandonment, all destruction, See, I forewarn and charge you all. Let
none of those who enjoy the blessings of this table destroy his own
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soul by those pernicious spectacles. All that is said and done there is
a pageant of Satan. But ye who have been initiated know what manner of
covenants ye made with us, or rather ye made with Christ when He guided
you into His mysteries, what ye spoke to Him, what speech ye had with
Him concerning Satan's pageant;(1) how with Satan and his angels ye
renounced this also, and promised that you would not so much as cast a
glance(2) that way. There is then no slight ground for fear, lest, by
becoming careless of such promises, one should render himself
unworthy of these mysteries.
[7.] Seest thou not how in king's palaces it is not
those who have offended, but those who have been honorably
distinguished,(3) that are called to share especial favor,(4) and are
numbered among the king's friends. A messenger has come to us from
heaven, sent by God Himself, to speak with us on certain necessary
matters, and you leave hearing His will, and the message He sends to
you, and sit listening to stage-players. What thunderings, what bolts
from heaven, does not this conduct deserve! For as it is not meet to
partake of the table of devils, so neither is it of the listening to
devils; nor to be present with filthy raiment at that glorious Table,
loaded with so many good things, which God Himself hath provided. Such
is its power, that it can raise us at once to heaven, if only we
approach it with a sober mind. For it is not possible that he who is
continually under the influence of(7) the words of God, can remain in
this present low condition, but he needs must presently take wing, and
fly away to the land which is above, and light on the infinite
treasures of good things; which may it be that we all attain to,
through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom and with whom be glory to the Father and the All-holy Spirit, now
and ever, and world without end. Amen.
HOMILY II.
JOHN i. 1.
"In the beginning was the Word."
WERE John about to converse with us, and to say to
us words of his own, we needs must describe his family, his
country, and his education. But since it is not he, but God by him,
that speaks to mankind, it seems to me superfluous and distracting to
enquire into these matters. And yet even thus it is not superfluous,
but even very necessary. For when you have learned who he was, and from
whence, who his parents, and what his character, and then hear his
voice and all his heavenly wisdom,(5) then you shall know right well
that these (doctrines) belong not to him, but to the Divine power
stirring his soul.
From what country(6) then was he? From no country;
but from a poor village, and from a land little esteemed, and producing
no good thing. For the Scribes speak evil of Galilee, saying, "Search
and look, for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet." (John vii. 52.) And
"the Israelite indeed" speaks ill of it, saying, "Can any good thing
come out of Nazareth?" And being of this land, he was not even of any
remarkable place in it, but of one not even distinguished by name. Of
this he was,(8) and his father a poor fisherman, so poor that he took
his sons to the same employment. Now you all know that no workman will
choose to bring up his son to succeed him in his trade, unless poverty
press him very hard, especially where the trade is a mean one. But
nothing can be poorer, meaner, no, nor more ignorant, than fishermen.
Yet even among them there are some greater, some less; and even there
our Apostle occupied the lower rank, for he did not take his prey from
the sea, but passed his time on a certain little lake. And as he was
engaged by it with his father and his brother James, and they mending
their broken nets, a thing which of itself marked extreme poverty, so
Christ called him.(9)
As for worldly instruction, we may learn from these
facts that he had none at all of it. Besides, Luke testifies this when
he writes not only that he was ignorant,(10) but that he was absolutely
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unlettered.(1) (Acts iv. 13.) As was likely. For one who was so poor,
never coming into the public assemblies, nor falling in with men of
respectability, but as it were nailed to his fishing, or even if he
ever did meet any one, conversing with fishmongers and cooks, how, I
say, was he likely to be in a state better than that of the irrational
animals? how could he help imitating the very dumbness of his fishes?
[2.] This fisherman then, whose business was about
lakes, and nets, and fish; this native of Bethsaida of Galilee; this
son of a poor fisherman, yes, and poor to the last degree; this man
ignorant, and to the last degree of ignorance too, who never learned
letters either before or after he accompanied Christ; let us see what
he utters, and on what matters he converses with us. Is it of things in
the field? Is it of things in rivers? On the trade in fish? For these
things, perhaps, one expects to hear from a fisherman. But fear ye not;
we shall hear nought of these; but we shall hear of things in heaven,
and what no one ever learned before this man. For, as might be expected
of one who speaks from the very treasures of the Spirit, he is come
bringing to us sublime doctrines, and the best way of life and wisdom,
[as though just arrived from the very heavens; yea, rather such as it
was not likely that all even there should know, as I said before.(2) ]
Do these things belong to a fisherman? Tell me. Do they belong to a
rhetorician at all? To a sophist or philosopher? To every one trained
in the wisdom of the Gentiles? By no means. The human soul is simply
unable thus to philosophize on that pure and blessed nature; on the
powers that come next to it; on immortality and endless life; on the
nature of mortal bodies which shall hereafter be immortal; on
punishment and the judgment to come; on the enquiries that shall be as
to deeds and words, as to thoughts and imaginations. It cannot tell
what is man, what the world; what is man indeed, and what he who seems
to be man, but is not; what is the nature of virtue, what of vice.
[3.] Some of these things indeed the disciples of
Plato and Pythagoras enquired into. Of the other philosophers we need
make no mention at all; they have all on this point been so excessively
ridiculous; and those who have been among them in greater esteem than
the rest, and who have been considered the leading men in this science,
are so more than the others; and they have composed and written
somewhat on the subject of polity and doctrines, and in all have been
more shamefully ridiculous than children. For they have spent their
whole life in making women common to all, in overthrowing the very
order of life,(3) in doing away the honor of marriage, and in making
other the like ridiculous laws. As for doctrines on the soul, there is
nothing excessively shameful that they have left unsaid; asserting that
the souls of men become flies, and gnats, and bushes,(4) and that God
Himself is a soul; with some other the like indecencies.
And not this alone in them is worthy of blame, but
so is also their ever-shifting current of words; for since they
assert everything on uncertain and fallacious arguments, they are like
men carried hither and thither in Euripus, and never remain in the same
place.
Not so this fisherman; for all he saith is
infallible; and standing as it were upon a rock, he never shifts his
ground. For since he has been thought worthy to be in the most secret
places, and has the Lord of all speaking within him, he is subject to
nothing that is human. But they, like persons who are not held worthy
even in a dream(5) to set foot in the king's palace, but who pass their
time in the forum with other men, guessing from their own imagination
at what they cannot see, have erred a great error, and, like blind or
drunken men in their wandering, have dashed against each other; and not
only against each other, but against themselves, by continually
changing their opinion, and that ever on the same matters.
[4.] But this unlettered man, the ignorant, the
native of Bethsaida, the son of Zebedee, (though the Greeks mock ten
thousand times at the rusticity of the names, I shall not the less
speak them with the greater boldness.) For the more barbarous his
nation seems to them, and the more he seems removed from Grecian
discipline, so much the brighter does what we have with us appear. For
when a barbarian and an untaught person utters things which no man on
earth ever knew, and does not only utter, (though if this were the only
thing it were a great marvel,) but besides this, affords another and a
stronger proof that what he says is divinely inspired, namely, the
convincing all his hearers through all time; who will not wonder at the
power that dwells in him? Since this is, as I said, the strongest proof
that he lays down no laws of his own. This barbarian then, with his
writing of the Gospel, has occupied all the habitable world. With his
body he has taken possession of the center of Asia, where of old
philosophized all of the Grecian party, shining forth in the midst of
his foes, dispersing(6) their darkness, and breaking down the
stronghold of
6
devils: but in soul he has retired to that place which is fit for one
who has done such things.
[5.] And as for the writings of the Greeks, they are
all put out and vanished, but this man's shine brighter day by day. For
from the time that he (was) and the other fishermen, since then the
(doctrines) of Pythagoras and of Plato, which seemed before to prevail,
have ceased to be spoken of, and most men do not know them even by
name. Yet Plato was, they say, the invited companion of kings, had many
friends, and sailed to Sicily. And Pythagoras occupied Magna
Graecia,(1) and practiced there ten thousand kinds of sorcery. For to
converse with oxen, (which they say he did,) was nothing else but a
piece of sorcery. As is most clear from this. He that so conversed with
brutes did not in anything benefit the race of men, but even did them
the greatest wrong. Yet surely, the nature of men was better adapted
for the reasoning of philosophy; still he did, as they say, converse
with eagles and oxen, using sorceries. For he did not make their
irrational nature rational, (this was impossible to man,) but by his
magic tricks he deceived the foolish. And neglecting to teach men
anything useful, he taught that they might as well eat the heads of
those who begot them, as beans. And he persuaded those who associated
with him, that the soul of their teacher had actually been at one time
a bush, at another a girl, at another a fish.
Are not these things with good cause extinct, and
vanished utterly? With good cause, and reasonably. But not so the words
of him who was ignorant and unlettered; for Syrians, and Egyptians, and
Indians, and Persians, and Ethiopians, and ten thousand other nations,
translating into their own tongues the doctrines introduced by him,
barbarians though they be, have learned to philosophize. I did not
therefore idly say that all the world has become his theater. For he
did not leave those of his own kind, and waste his labor on the
irrational creatures, (an act of excessive vainglory and extreme
folly,) but being clear of this as well as of other passions, he was
earnest on one point only, that all the world might learn somewhat of
the things which might profit it, and be able to translate it from
earth to heaven.
For this reason too, he did not hide his teaching in
mist and darkness, as they did who threw obscurity of speech, like a
kind of veil, around the mischiefs laid up within. But this man's
doctrines are clearer than the sunbeams, wherefore they have been
unfolded(2) to all men throughout the world. For he did not teach as
Pythagoras did, commanding those who came to him to be silent for five
years, or to sit like senseless stones; neither did he invent fables
defining the universe to consist of numbers; but casting away all this
devilish trash and mischief, he diffused such simplicity through his
words, that all he said was plain, not only to wise men, but also to
women and youths. For he was persuaded that the words were true and
profitable to all that should hearken to them. And all time after him
is his witness; since he has drawn to him all the world, and has freed
our life when we have listened to these words from all monstrous
display of wisdom; wherefore we who hear them would prefer rather to
give up our lives, than the doctrines by him delivered to
[6.] From this then, and from every other
circumstance, it is plain, that nothing of this man's is human, but
divine and heavenly are the lessons which come to us by this divine
soul. For we shall observe not sounding sentences, nor magnificent
diction, nor excessive and useless order and arrangement of words and
sentences, (these things are far from all true wisdom,) but strength
invincible and divine, and irresistible force of right doctrines, and a
rich supply of unnumbered good things. For their overcare about
expression was so excessive, so worthy of mere sophists, or rather not
even of sophists, but of silly striplings, that even their own chief
philosopher introduces his own master as greatly ashamed of this art,
and as saying to the judges, that what they hear from him shall be
spoken plainly and without premeditation, not tricked out rhetorically
nor ornamented with (fine) sentences and words; since, says he, it
cannot surely be becoming, O men, that one at my age should come before
you like a lad inventing speeches.(3) And observe the extreme absurdity
of the thing; what he has described his master avoiding as disgraceful,
unworthy of philosophy and work for lads, this above all he himself has
cultivated. So entirely were they given up to mere love of distinction.
And as, if you uncover those sepulchers which are
whitened without you will find them full of corruption, and stench, and
rotten bones; so too the doctrines of the philosopher, if you strip
them of their flowery diction, you will see to be full of much
abomination, especially when he philosophizes on the soul, which he
both honors and speaks ill of without measure. And this is the snare of
the devil, never to keep due proportion, but by excess on either hand
to lead aside those who are entangled by it into evil speaking. At one
time he says, that the soul is of the substance of God; at another,
after having exalted it thus immoderately and impiously, he exceeds
again in a different way, and treats it
7
with insult, making it pass into swine and asses, and other animals of
yet less esteem than these.
But enough of this; or rather even this is out of
measure. For if it were possible to learn anything profitable from
these things, we must have been longer occupied with them; but if it be
only to observe their indecency and absurdity, more than requisite has
been said by us already. We will therefore leave their fables, and
attach ourselves to our own doctrines, which have been brought to us
from above by the tongue of this fisherman, and which have nothing
human in them.
[7.] Let us then bring forward the words, having
reminded you now, as I exhorted you at the first, earnestly to attend
to what is said. What then does this Evangelist say immediately on his
outset?
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God." (Ver. 1.) Seest thou the great boldness and power of the
words, how he speaks nothing doubting nor conjecturing, but declaring
all things plainly? For this is the teacher's part, not to waver in
anything he says, since if he who is to be a guide to the rest require
another person who shall be able to establish him with certainty, he
would be rightly ranked not among teachers, but among disciples.
But if any one say, "What can be the reason that he
has neglected the first cause, and spoken to us at once concerning the
second?" we shall decline to speak of "first" and "second," for the
Divinity is above number, and the succession of times. Wherefore we
decline these expressions; but we confess that the Father is from none,
and that the Son is begotten of the Father. Yes, it may be said, but
why then does he leave the Father, and speak concerning the Son? Why?
because the former was manifest to all, if not as Father, at least as
God; but the Only-Begotten was not known; and therefore with reason did
he immediately from the very beginning hasten to implant the knowledge
of Him in those who knew Him not.
Besides, he has not been silent as to the Father in
his writings on these points. And observe, I beg of you, his spiritual
wisdom. He knows that men most honor the eldest of beings which was
before all, and account this to be God. Wherefore from this point first
he makes his beginning, and as he advances, declares that God is, and
does not like Plato assert, sometimes that He is intellect, sometimes
that He is soul; for these things are far removed from that divine and
unmixed Nature which has nothing common with us, but is separated from
any fellowship with created things, I mean as to substance, though not
as to relation.
And for this reason he calls Him "The Word." For
since he is about to teach that this "Word" is the only-begotten Son of
God, in order that no one may imagine that His generation is passible,
by giving Him the appellation of "The Word," he anticipates and removes
beforehand the evil suspicion, showing that the Son is from the Father,
and that without His suffering (change)
[8.] Seest thou then that as I said, he has not been
silent as to the Father in his words concerning the Son? And if these
instances are not sufficient fully to explain the whole matter, marvel
not, for our argument is God, whom it is impossible to describe, or to
imagine worthily; hence this man nowhere assigns the name of His
essence, (for it is not possible to say what God is, as to essence,)
but everywhere he declares Him to us by His workings. For this "Word"
one may see shortly after called "Light," and the "Light" in turn named
"Life."
Although not for this reason only did he so name
Him; this was the first reason, and the second was because He was about
to declare to us the things of the Father. For "all things," He saith,
"that I have heard from my Father, I have made known unto you." (John
xv. 15.) He calls Him both "Light" and "Life," for He hath freely given
to us the light which proceeds from knowledge, and the life which
follows it. In short, one name is not sufficient, nor two, nor three,
nor more, to teach us what belongs to God. But we must be content to be
able even by means of many to apprehend, though but obscurely, His
attributes.
And he has not called Him simply "Word," but with
the addition of the article, distinguishing Him from the rest in this
way also. Seest thou then that I said not without cause that this
Evangelist speaks to us from heaven? Only see from the very beginning
whither he has drawn up the soul, having given it wings, and has
carried up with him the mind of his hearers. For having set it higher
than all the things of sense, than earth, than sea, than heaven, he
leads it by the hand above the very angels, above cherubim and
seraphim, above thrones and principalities and powers; in a word,
persuades it to journey beyond all created things.
[9.] What then? when he has brought us to such a
height as this, is he in sooth able to stop us there? By no means; but
just as one by transporting into the midst of the sea a person who was
standing on the beach, and looking on cities, and beaches, and havens,
removes him indeed from the former objects, yet does not stay his sight
anywhere, but brings him to a view without bound; so this Evangelist,
having brought us above all creation, and escorted us towards the
eternal periods which lie beyond it, leaves the sight suspended,(1) not
allowing it to
8
arrive at any limit upwards, as indeed there is none.
For the intellect, having ascended to "the
beginning," enquires what "beginning"; and then finding the "was"
always outstripping its imagination, has no point at which to stay its
thought; but looking intently onwards, and being unable to cease at any
point, it becomes wearied out, and turns back to things below. For this
"was in the beginning," is nothing else than expressive of ever being
and being infinitely.
Seest thou true philosophy and divine doctrines? Not
like those of the Greeks, who assign times, and say that some indeed of
the gods are younger, some eider. There is nothing of this with us. For
if God Is, as certainly He Is, then nothing was before Him. If He is
Creator of all things, He must be first; if Master and Lord of all,
then all, both creatures and ages, are after Him.
[10.] I had desired to enter the lists yet on other
difficulties, but perhaps our minds are wearied out; when therefore I
have advised you on those points which are useful(1) to us for the
hearing, both of what has been said, and of what is yet to be said, I
again will hold my peace. What then are these points? I know that many
have become confused(2) by reason of the length of what has been
spoken. Now this takes place when the soul is heavy laden with many
burdens of this life. For as the eye when it is clear and transparent
is keen-sighted also, and will not easily be tired in making out even
the minutest bodies; but when from some bad humor from the head having
poured into it, or some smoke-like fumes having ascended to it from
beneath, a kind of thick cloud is formed before the ball, this does not
allow it clearly to perceive even any larger object; so is naturally
the case with the soul. For when it is purified, and has no passion to
disturb it, it looks steadfastly to the fit objects of its regard; but
when, darkened by many passions, it loses its proper excellence, then
it is not easily able to be sufficient for any high thing, but soon is
wearied, and falls back; and turning aside to sleep and sloth, lets
pass things that concern it with a view to excellence and the life
thence arising, instead of receiving them with much readiness.
And that you may not suffer this, (I shall not cease
continually thus to warn you,) strengthen your minds, that ye may not
hear what the faithful among the Hebrews heard from Paul. For to them
he said that he had "many things to say, and hard to be uttered" (Heb.
v. 11); not as though they were by nature such, but because, says he,
"ye are dull of hearing." For it is the nature of the weak and infirm
man to be confused even by few words as by many, and what is clear and
easy he thinks hard to be comprehended. Let not any here be such an
one, but having chased from him all worldly care, so let him hear these
doctrines.
For when the desire of money possesses the hearer,
the desire of hearing cannot possess him as well; since the soul, being
one, cannot suffice for many desires; but one of the two is injured by
the other, and, from division, becomes weaker as its rival prevails,
and expends all upon itself.
And this is wont to happen in the case of children.
When a man has only one, he loves that one exceedingly. But when he has
become father of many, then also his dispositions of affection being
divided become weaker.
If this happens where there is the absolute rule and
power of nature, and the objects beloved are akin one with another,
what can we say as to that desire and disposition which is according to
deliberate choice; especially where these desires lie directly opposed
to each other; for the love of wealth is a thing opposed to the love of
this kind of hearing. We enter heaven when we enter here; not in place,
I mean, but in disposition; for it is possible for one who is on earth
to stand in heaven, and to have vision of the things that are there,
and to hear the words from thence.
[11.] Let none then introduce the things of earth
into heaven; let no one standing here be careful about what is at his
house. For he ought to bear with him, and to preserve both at home and
in his business, what he gains from this place, not to allow it to be
loaded with the burdens of house and market. Our reason for entering in
to the chair of instruction is, that thence we may cleanse ourselves
from(3) the filth of the outer world; but if we are likely even in this
little space to be injured by things said or done without, it is better
for us not to enter at all. Let no one then in the assembly be thinking
about domestic matters, but let him at home be stirring with what he
heard in the assembly. Let these things be more precious to us than
any. These concern the soul, but those the body; or rather what is said
here concerns both body and soul. Wherefore let these things be our
leading business, and all others but occasional employments; for these
belong both to the future and the present life, but the rest neither to
the one nor the other, unless they be managed according to the law laid
down for these. Since from these it is impossible to learn not only
what we shall hereafter be, and how we
9
shall then live, but how we shall rightly direct this present life also.
For this house is(1) a spiritual surgery, that
whatever wounds we may have received without, here(2) we may heal, not
that we may gather fresh ones to take with us hence. Yet if we do not
give heed to the Spirit speaking to us, we shall not only fill to clear
ourselves of our former hurts, but shall get others in addition.
Let us then with much earnestness attend to the book
as it is being unfolded to us; since if we learn exactly its first
principles and fundamental doctrines,(3) we shall not afterwards
require much close study, but after laboring a little at the beginning,
shall be able, as Paul says, to instruct others also. (Rom. xv. 14.)
For this Apostle is very sublime, abounding in many doctrines, and on
these he dwells more than on other matters.
Let us not then be careless hearers. And this is the
reason why we set them forth to you by little and little, so that all
may be easily intelligible to you, and may not escape your memory. Let
us fear then lest we come under the condemnation of that word which
says, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin."
(John XV. 22.) For what shall we be profited more than those who have
not heard, if even after hearing we go our way home bearing nothing
with us, but only wondering at what has been said.
Allow us then to sow in good ground; allow us, that
you may draw us the more to you. If any man hath thorns, let him cast
the fire of the Spirit amongst them. If any hath a hard and
stubborn heart, let him by employing the same fire make it soft and
yielding. If any by the wayside is trodden down by all kind of
thoughts, let him enter into more sheltered places, and not lie exposed
for those that will to invade for plunder: that so we may see your
cornfields waving with corn. Besides, if we exercise such care as this
over ourselves, and apply ourselves industriously to this spiritual
hearing, if not at once yet by degrees, we shall surely be freed from
all the cares of life.
Let us therefore take heed that it be not said of
us, that our(4) ears are those of a deaf adder. (Ps. lviii. 4.) For
tell me, in what does a hearer of this kind differ from a beast? and
how could he be otherwise than more irrational than any irrational
animal, who does not attend when God is speaking? And if to be
well-pleasing(5) to God is really to be a man, what else but a beast
can he be who will not even hear how he may succeed in this? Consider
then what a misfortune it would be for us to fall down(6) of our own
accord from (the nature of) men to (that of) beasts, when Christ is
willing of men to make us equal to angels. For to serve the belly, to
be possessed by the desire of riches, to be given to anger, to bite, to
kick, become not men, but beasts. Nay, even the beasts have each, as
one may say, one single passion, and that by nature. But man, when he
has cast away the dominion of reason, and torn himself from the
commonwealth of God's devising, gives himself up to all the passions,
is no longer merely a beast, but a kind of many-formed motley monster;
nor has he even the excuse from nature, for all his wickedness proceeds
from deliberate choice and determination.
May we never have cause to suspect this of the
Church of Christ. Indeed, we are concerning you persuaded of better
things, and such as belong to salvation; but the more we are so
persuaded, the more careful we will be not to desist from words of
caution. In order that having mounted to the summit of excellencies, we
may obtain the promised goods. Which may it come to pass that we all
attain to, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom and with whom, to the Father and the Holy Ghost, be
glory world without end. Amen.
10
HOMILY III.
JOHN i. 1.
"In the beginning was the Word."
[1.] ON the subject of attention in hearkening it is
superfluous to exhort you any more, so quickly have you shown by your
actions the effects of my advice. For your manner of running together,
your attentive postures, the thrusting one another in your eagerness to
get the inner places, where my voice may more clearly be heard by you,
your unwillingness to retire from the press until this spiritual
assembly be dissolved, the clapping of hands, the murmurs of applause;
in a word, all things of this kind may be considered proofs of the
fervor of your souls, and of your desire to hear. So that on this point
it is superfluous to exhort you. One thing, however, it is necessary
for us to bid and entreat, that you continue to have the same zeal, and
manifest it not here only, but that also when you are at home, you
converse man with wife, and father with son, concerning these matters.
And say somewhat of yourselves, and require somewhat in return from
them; and so all contribute to this excellent banquet.(1)
For let no one tell me that our children ought not
to be occupied with these things; they ought not only to be occupied
with them, but to be zealous about them only. And although on account
of your infirmity I do not assert this, nor take them away from their
worldly learning,(2) just as I do not draw you either from your civil
business; yet of these seven days I claim that you dedicate one to the
common Lord of us all. For is it not a strange thing that we should bid
our domestics slave for us all their time, and ourselves apportion not
even a little of our leisure to God; and this too when all our service
adds nothing to Him, (for the Godhead is incapable of want,) but turns
out to our own advantage? And yet when you take your children into the
theaters, you allege neither their mathematical lessons, nor anything
of the kind; but if it be required to gain or collect anything
spiritual, you call the matter a waste of time. And how shall' you not
anger God, if you find leisure and assign a season for everything
else, and yet think it a troublesome and unseasonable thing for
your children to take in hand what relates to Him?
Do not so, brethren, do not so. It is this very age
that most of all needs the hearing these things; for from its
tenderness it readily stores up what is said; and what children hear is
impressed as a seal on the wax of their minds. Besides, it is then that
their life begins to incline to vice or virtue; and if from the very
gates(3) and portals one lead them away from iniquity, and guide them
by the hand to the best road, he will fix them for the time to come in
a sort of habit and nature, and they will not, even if they be willing,
easily change for the worse, since this force of custom draws them to
the performance of good actions. So that we shall see them become more
worthy of respect than those who have grown old, and they will be more
useful in civil matters, displaying in youth the qualities of the aged.
For, as I before said, it cannot be that they who
enjoy the hearing of such things as these, and who are in the company
of such an Apostle, should depart without receiving some great and
remarkable advantage, be it man, woman, or youth, that partakes of this
table. If we train by words the animals which we have, and so tame
them, how much more shall we effect this with men by this spiritual
teaching, when there is a wide difference between the remedy in each
case, and the subject healed as well. For neither is there so much
fierceness in us as in the brutes, since theirs is from nature, ours
from choice; nor is the power of the words the same, for the power of
the first is that of the human intellect, the power of the second is
that of the might and grace of the Spirit.(4) Let then the man who
despairs of himself consider the tame animals, and he shall no longer
be thus affected; let him come continually to this house of healing,
let him hear at all times the laws of the Spirit, and on retiring home
let him write down in his mind the things which he has heard; so shall
his hopes be good and his confidence great, as he feels his progress by
experience. For when the devil sees the law of God written in the soul,
and the heart become tablets to write it on, he will not approach any
more. Since wherever the king's writing is, not engraved on a pillar of
brass, but stamped by the Holy Ghost on a mind loving God, and bright
with abundant grace, that (evil one) will not be able even to look at
it, but from afar will turn his back upon us. For nothing is so
terrible to him and to the thoughts which are suggested by him as a
mind careful
11
about Divine matters, and a soul which ever hangs over this fountain.
Such an one can nothing present annoy, even though it be displeasing;
nothing puff up or make proud, even though it be favorable; but amidst
all this storm and surge it will even enjoy a great calm.
[2.] For confusion arises within us, not from, the
nature of circumstances, but from the infirmity of our minds; for if we
were thus affected by reason of what befalls us, then, (as we all sail
the same sea, and it is impossible to escape waves and spray,) all men
must needs be troubled; but if there are some who stand beyond the
influence of the storm and the raging sea, then it is clear that it is
not circumstances which make the storm, but the condition of our own
mind. If therefore we so order the mind that it may bear all things
contentedly, we shall have no storm nor even a ripple, but always a
clear calm.
After professing that I should say nothing on these
points, I know not how I have been carried away into such a length of
exhortation. Pardon my prolixity; for I fear, yes, I greatly fear lest
this zeal of ours should ever become weaker. Did I feel confident
respecting it, I would not now have said to you anything on these
matters, since it is sufficient to make all things easy to you. But it
is time in what follows to proceed to the matters proposed for
consideration to-day; that you may not come weary to the contest. For
we have contests against the enemies of the truth, against those who
use every artifice to destroy the honor of the Son of God, or rather
their own. This remains for ever as it now is, nothing lessened by the
blaspheming tongue, but they, by seeking eagerly to pull down Him whom
they say they worship, fill their faces with shame and their souls with
punishment.
What then do they say when we assert what we have
asserted? "That the words, "in the beginning was the Word,' do not
denote eternity absolutely, for that this same expression was used also
concerning heaven and earth." What enormous shamelessness and
irreverence! I speak to thee concerning God, and dost thou bring the
earth into the argument, and men who are of the earth? At this rate,
since Christ is called Son of God, and God, Man who is called Son of
God must be God also. For, "I have said, Ye are Gods, and all of you
are children of the Most High." (Ps. lxxxii. 6.) Wilt thou contend with
the Only-Begotten concerning Sonship, and assert that in that respect
He enjoys nothing more than thou? "By no means," is the reply. And yet
thou doest this even though thou say not so in words. "How?" Because
thou sayest that thou by grace art partaker of the adoption, and He in
like manner. For by saying that He is not Son by nature, thou only
makest him to be so by grace.
However, let us see the proofs which they produce to
us. "In the beginning," it is said, "God made the Heaven and the earth,
and the earth was invisible and unformed." (Gen. i. 2.) And, "There
'was' a man of Ramathaim Zophim." (1 Sam. i. 1.) These are what they
think strong arguments, and they are strong; but it is to prove the
correctness of the doctrines asserted by us, while they are utterly
powerless to establish their blasphemy. For tell me, what has the word
"was" in common with the word "made"? What hath God in common with man?
Why dost thou mix what may not be mixed? Why confound things which are
distinct, why bring low what is above? In that place it is not the
expression "was" only which denotes eternity, but that One "was in the
beginning." And that other, "The Word was"; for as the word "being,"
when used concerning man, only distinguishes present time, but when
concerning God, denotes eternity,(1) so "was," when used respecting our
nature, signifies to us past time, and that too limited, but when
respecting God it declares eternity. It would have been enough then
when one had heard the words "earth" and "man," to imagine nothing more
concerning them than what one may fitly think of a nature that came
into being,(2) for that which came to be, be it what it may, hath come
to be either in time, or the age before time was, but the Son of God is
above not only times, but all ages which were before, for He is the
Creator and Maker of them, as the Apostle says, "by whom also He made
the ages." Now the Maker necessarily is, before the thing made. Yet
since some are so senseless, as even after this to have higher notions
concerning creatures than is their due, by the expression "He made,"
and by that other, "there was a man," he lays hold beforehand of the
mind of his hearer, and cuts up all shamelessness by the roots. For all
that has been made, both heaven and earth, has been made in time, and
has its beginning in time, and none of them is without beginning, as
having been made: so that when you hear that "he made the earth," and
that "there was a man," you are trifling(3) to no purpose, and weaving
a tissue of useless folly.
For I can mention even another thing by way of going
further. What is it? It is, that if it had been said of the earth, "In
the beginning was the earth," and of man, "In the beginning was the
man," we must not even then have
12
imagined any greater things concerning them than what we have now
determined.(1) For the terms "earth" and "man" as they are presupposed,
whatever may be said concerning them, do not allow the mind to imagine
to itself anything greater concerning them than what we know at
present. Just as "the Word," although but little be said of It, does
not allow us to think (respecting It) anything low or poor. Since in
proceeding he says of the earth, "The earth was invisible and
unformed." For having said that "He made" it, and having settled its
proper limit, he afterwards declares fearlessly what follows, as
knowing that there is no one so silly as to suppose that it is without
beginning and uncreated, since the word "earth," and that other "made,"
are enough to convince even a very simple person that it is not eternal
nor increate, but one of those things created in time.
[3.] Besides, the expression "was," applied to the
earth and to man, is not indicative of absolute existence. But in the
case of a man (it denotes) his being of a certain place, in that of the
earth its being in a certain way. For he has not said absolutely "the
earth was," and then held his peace, but has taught how it was even
after its creation, as that it was "invisible and unformed," as yet
covered by the waters and in confusion. So in the case of Elkanah he
does not merely say that "there was a man," but adds also whence he
was, "of Armathaim Zophim." But in the case of "the Word," it is not
so. I am ashamed to try these cases, one against the other, for if we
find fault with those who do so in the case of men, when there is a
great difference in the virtue of those who are so tried, though in
truth their substance be one; where the difference both of nature and
of everything else is so infinite, is it not the extremest madness to
raise such questions? But may He who is blasphemed by them be merciful
to us. For it was not we who invented the necessity of such
discussions, but they who war against their own salvation laid it on us.
What then do I say? That this first "was," applied
to "the Word," is only indicative of His eternal Being, (for" In the
beginning," he saith, "was the Word,") and that the second "was," ("and
the Word was with God,") denotes His relative Being. For since to be
eternal and without beginning is most peculiar to God, this he puts
first; and then, lest any one hearing that He was "in the beginning,"
should assert, that He was "unbegotten" also, he immediately remedies
this by saying, before he declares what He was, that He was "with God."
And he has prevented any one from supposing, that this "Word" is simply
such a one as is either uttered(2) or conceived,(3) by the addition, as
I beforesaid, of the article, as well as by this second expression. For
he does not say, was "in God," but was "with God": declaring to us His
eternity as to person? Then, as he advances, he has more clearly
revealed it, by adding, that this "Word" also "was God."
"But yet created," it may be said. What then
hindered him from saying, that "In the beginning God made the Word"? at
least Moses speaking of the earth says, not that "in the beginning was
the earth," but that "He made it," and then it was. What now hindered
John from saying in like manner, that "In the beginning God made the
Word"? For if Moses feared lest any one should assert that the earth
was uncreated,(5) much more ought John to have feared this respecting
the Son, if He was indeed created. The world being visible, by this
very circumstance proclaims its Maker, ("the heavens," says the
Psalmist, "declare the glory of God"--Ps. xix. 1), but the Son is
invisible, and is greatly, infinitely, higher than all creation. If
now, in the one instance, where we needed neither argument nor teaching
to know that the world is created,(6) yet the prophet sets down this
fact clearly and before all others; much more should John have declared
the same concerning the Son, if He had really been created.(7)
"Yes," it may be said, "but Peter has asserted this
clearly and openly." Where and when? "When speaking to the Jews he
said, that 'God hath made Him both Lord and Christ.'" (Acts ii. 36.)
Why dost thou not add what follows, "That same Jesus whom ye have
crucified"? or dost thou not know that of the words, part relate to His
unmixed Nature, part to His Incarnation?(8) But if this be not the
case, and thou wilt absolutely understand all as referring to the
Godhead, then thou wilt make the Godhead capable of suffering; but if
not capable of suffering, then not created. For if blood had flowed
from that divine and ineffable Nature, and if that Nature, and not the
flesh, had been torn and cut by the nails upon the cross, on this
supposition your quibbling would have had reason; but if not even the
devil himself could utter such a blasphemy, why dost thou feign to be
ignorant with ignorance so unpardonable, and such as not the evil
spirits themselves could pretend? Besides the expressions "Lord" and
"Christ" belong not to His Essence, but to His dignity; for the one
refers to His Power,(9) the other to his having been anointed. What
then wouldest thou say con-
13
cerning the Son of God? for if he were even, as you assert, created,
this argument could not have place. For He was not first created and
afterwards God chose Him, nor does He hold a kingdom which could be
thrown aside, but one which belongs by nature to His Essence; since,
when asked if He were a King, He answers, "To this end was I born." (c.
xviii. 37.) But Peter speaks as concerning one chosen, because his
argument wholly refers to the Dispensation.
[4.] And why dost thou wonder if Peter says this?
for Paul, reasoning with the Athenians, calls Him "Man" only, saying,
"By that Man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance to
all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." (Acts xvii. 31.) He
speaks nothing concerning "the form of God" (Phil. ii. 6), nor that He
was "equal to Him," nor that He was the "brightness of His glory."
(Heb. i. 3.) And with reason. The time for words like these was not yet
come; but it would have contented him that they should in the meanwhile
admit that He was Man, and that He rose again from the dead. Christ
Himself acted in the same manner, from whom Paul having learned, used
this reserve.(1) For He did not at once reveal to us His Divinity, but
was at first held to be a Prophet and a good man;(2) but afterwards His
real nature was shown by His works and words. On this account Peter too
at first used this method, (for this was the first sermon that he made
to the Jews;) and because they were not yet able clearly to understand
anything respecting His Godhead, he dwelt on the arguments relating to
His Incarnation; that their ears being exercised in these, might open a
way to the rest of his teaching. And if any one will go through all the
sermon from the beginning, he will find what I say very observable, for
he (Peter) calls Him "Man," and dwells on the accounts of His Passion,
His Resurrection, and His generation according to the flesh. Paul too
when he says, "Who was born of the seed of David according to the
flesh" (Rom. i. 3), only teaches us that the word "made"(3) is taken
with a view(4) to His Incarnation, as we allow. But the son of thunder
is now speaking to us concerning His Ineffable and Eternal(5)
Existence, and therefore he leaves the word "made" and puts "was"; yet
if He were created, this point he needs must most especially have
determined. For if Paul feared that some foolish persons might suppose
that He shall be greater than the Father, and have Him who begat Him
made subject to Him, (for this is the reason why the Apostle in sending
to the Corinthians writes, "But when He saith, All things are put under
Him, it is manifest that He is excepted which did put all things under
Him," yet who could possibly imagine that the Father, even in common
with all things, will be subject to the Son?) if, I say, he
nevertheless feared these foolish imaginations, and says, "He is
excepted that did put all things under Him;" much more if the Son of
God were indeed created, ought John to have feared lest any one should
suppose Him uncreated, and to have taught on this point before any
other.
But now, since He was Begotten, with good reason
neither John nor any other, whether apostle or prophet, hath asserted
that He was created. Neither had it been so would the Only-Begotten
Himself have let it pass unmentioned. For He who spoke of Himself so
humbly from condescension(6) would certainly not have been silent on
this matter. And I think it not unreasonable to suppose, that He would
be more likely to have the higher Nature, and say nothing of it, than
not having it to pass by this omission, and fail to make known that He
had it not. For in the first case there was a good excuse for silence,
namely, His desire to teach mankind humility by being silent as to the
greatness of His attributes; but in the second case you can find no
just excuse for silence. For why should He who declined many of His
real attributes have been, if He were created, silent as to His having
been made? He who, in order to teach humility, often uttered
expressions of lowliness, such as did not properly belong to Him, much
more if He had been indeed created, would not have failed to speak of
this. Do you not see Him, in order that none may imagine Him not to
have been begotten,(7) doing and saying everything to show that He was
so, uttering words unworthy both of His dignity and His essence, and
descending to the humble character of a Prophet? For the expression,
"As I hear, I judge" (v. 30); and that other, "He hath told Me what I
should say, and what I should speak" (xii. 49), and the like, belong
merely to a prophet. If now, from His desire to remove this suspicion,
He did not disdain to utter words thus lowly, much more if He were
created would He have said many like words, that none might suppose Him
to be uncreated; as, "Think not that I am begotten of the Father; I am
created, not begotten, nor do I share His essence." But as it is, He
does the very contrary, and utters words which compel men, even against
their will and desire, to admit the opposite opinion. As, "I am in the
Father, and the Father in Me" (xiv. 11); and, "Have I been so long time
with you, and yet hast thou
14
not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father."
(xiv. 9.) And, "That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor
the Father." (v. 23.) "As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth
them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will." (v. 21.) "My Father
worketh hitherto, and I work." (v. 17.) "As the Father knoweth Me, even
so know I the Father." (x. 15.) "I and My Father are One." (x. 30.) And
everywhere by putting the "as," and the "so," and the "being with the
Father," He declares His undeviating likeness to Him.(1) His power in
Himself He manifests by these, as well as by many other words; as when
He says, "Peace, be still." (Mark iv. 39.) "I will, be thou clean."
(Matt. viii. 3.) "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of
him." (Mark ix. 25.) And again, "Ye have heard that it was said by them
of old time, Thou shalt not kill; but I say unto you, That whosoever is
angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger." (Matt. v.
21, 22.) And all the other laws which He gave, and wonders which He
worked, are sufficient to show His power, or rather, I should say, a
very small part of them is enough to bring over and convince any,
except the utterly insensate.
[5.] But vainglory(2) is a thing powerful to blind
even to very evident truths the minds of those ensnared by it, and to
persuade them to dispute against what is allowed by others; nay, it
instigates a some who know and are persuaded of the truth to pretended
ignorance and opposition. As took place in the case of the Jews, for
they did not through ignorance deny the Son of God, but that they might
obtain honor from the multitude; "they believed," says the Evangelist,
but were afraid, "lest they should be put out of the synagogue." (xii.
40.) And so they gave up(4) their salvation to others.(5) For it cannot
be that he who is so zealous a slave to the glory of this present world
can obtain the glory which is from God. Wherefore He rebuked them,
saying, "How can ye believe, which receive honor of men, and seek not
the honor which cometh from God?" (v. 44.) This passion is a sort of
deep intoxication, and makes him who is subdued by it hard to recover.
And having detached the souls of its captives from heavenly things, it
nails them to earth, and lets them not look up to the true light, but
persuades them ever. to wallow in the mire, giving them masters so
powerful, that they have the rule over them without needing to use
commands. For the man who is sick of this disease, does of his own
accord, and without bidding, all that he thinks will be agreeable to
his masters. On their account he clothes himself in rich apparel, and
beautifies his face, taking these pains not for himself but for others;
and he leads about a train of followers through the market-place, that
others may admire him, and all that he does he goes through, merely out
of obsequiousness to the rest of the world. Can any state of mind be
more wretched than this? That others may admire him, he is ever being
precipitated(6) to ruin.
Would you learn what a tyrannous sway it exercises?
Why surely, the words of Christ are sufficient to show it all. But yet
listen to these further remarks.(7) If you will ask any of those men
who mingle in state affairs and incur great expenses, why they lavish
so much gold, and what their so vast expenditure means; you will hear
from them, that it is for nothing else but to gratify the people. If
again you ask what the people may be; they will say, that it is a thing
full of confusion and turbulent, made up for the most part of folly,
tossed blindly to and fro like the waves of the sea, and often composed
of varying and adverse opinions. Must not the man who has such a master
be more pitiable than any one? And yet strange though it be, it is not
so strange that worldly men should be eager about these things; but
that those who say that they have started away from the world should be
sick of this same disease, or rather of one more grievous still, this
is the strangest thing of all. For with the first the loss extends only
to money, but in the last case the danger reaches to the soul. For when
men alter a fight faith for reputation's sake, and dishonor God that
they may be in high repute themselves, tell me, what excess of
stupidity and madness must there not be in what they do? Other
passions, even if they are very hurtful, at least bring some pleasure
with them, though it be but for a time and fleeting; those who love
money, or wine, or women, have, with their hurt, a pleasure, though a
brief one. But those who are taken captives by this passion, live a
life continually embittered and stripped of enjoyment, for they do not
obtain what they earnestly desire, glory, I mean, from the many. They
think they enjoy it, but do not really, because the thing they aim at
is not glory at all. And therefore their state of mind is not called
glory,(8) but a something void of glory, vaingloriousness,(9) so have
all the ancients named it, and with good reason; inasmuch as it is
quite empty, and contains nothing bright or glorious within it, but as
players' masks seem to be bright and lovely, but are hollow within,
(for which cause, though they be more
15
beautiful than natural faces, yet they never draw. any to love them,)
even so, or rather yet more wretchedly, has the applause of the
multitude tricked out for us this passion, dangerous as an
antagonist, and cruel as a master. Its countenance alone is bright, but
within it is no more like the mask's mere emptiness, but crammed with
dishonor, and full of savage tyranny. Whence then, it may be asked, has
this passion, so unreasonable, so devoid of pleasure, its birth? Whence
else but from a low, mean soul? It cannot be that one who is captivated
by love of applause should imagine readily anything great or noble; he
needs must be base, mean, dishonorable, little. He who does nothing for
virtue's sake, but to please men worthy of no consideration, and who
ever makes account of their mistaken and erring opinions, how can he be
worth anything? Consider; if any one should ask him, What do you think
of the many? he clearly would say, "that they are thoughtless, and not
to be regarded." Then if any one again should ask him, "Would you
choose to be like them?" I do not suppose he could possibly desire to
be like them. Must it not then be excessively ridiculous to seek the
good opinion of those whom you never would choose to resemble?
[6.] Do you say that they are many and a sort of
collective body? this is the very reason why you ought most to despise
them. If when taken singly they are contemptible, still more will this
be the case when they are many; for when they are assembled together,
their individual folly is increased by numbers, and becomes greater. So
that a man might possibly take a single one of them and set him right,
but could not do so with them when together, because then their folly
becomes intense, and they are led like sheep, and follow in every
direction the opinions of one another. Tell me, will you seek to obtain
this vulgar glory? Do not, I beg and entreat you. It turns everything
upside down; it is the mother of avarice, of slander, of false witness,
of treacheries; it arms and exasperates those who have received no
injury against those who have inflicted none. He who has fallen into
this disease neither knows friendship nor remembers old companionship,
and knows not how to respect any one at all; he has cast away from his
soul all goodness, and is at war with every one, unstable, without
natural affection.
Again, the passion of anger, tyrannical though it be
and hard to bear, still is not wont always to disturb, but only when it
has persons that excite it; but that of vainglory is ever active, and
there is no time, as one may say, when it can cease, since reason
neither hinders nor restrains it, but it is always with us not only
persuading us to sin, but snatching from our hands anything which we
may chance to do aright, or sometimes not allowing us to do right at
all. If Paul calls covetousness idolatry, what ought we to name that
which is mother, and root, and source of it, I mean, vainglory? We
cannot possibly find any term such as its wickedness deserves. Beloved,
let us now return to our senses; let us put off this filthy garment,
let us rend and cut it off from us, let us at some time or other become
free with true freedom, and be sensible of the nobility(1) which has
been given to us by God; let us despise vulgar applause. For nothing is
so ridiculous and disgraceful as this passion, nothing so full of shame
and dishonor. One may in many ways see, that to love honor, is
dishonor; and that true honor consists in neglecting honor, in making
no account of it, but in saying and doing everything according to what
seems good to God. In this way we shall be able to receive a reward
from Him who sees exactly all our doings, if we are content to have Him
only for a spectator. What need we other eyes, when He who shall confer
the prize is ever beholding our actions? Is it not a strange thing
that, whatever a servant does, he should do to please his master,
should seek nothing more than his master's observation, desire not to
attract other eyes (though they be great men who are looking on) to his
conduct, but aim at one thing only, that his master may observe him;
while we who have a Lord so great, seek other spectators who can
nothing profit, but rather hurt us by their observation, and make all
our labor vain? Not so, I beseech you. Let us call Him to applaud and
view our actions from whom we shall receive our rewards. Let us have
nothing to do with human eyes. For if we should even desire to attain
this honor, we shall then attain to it, when we seek that which cometh
from God alone. For, He saith, "Them that honor Me, I will honor." (1
Sam. ii. 30.) And even as we are best supplied with riches when we
despise them, and seek only the wealth which cometh from God ("Seek,"
he saith, "the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to
you"--Matt. vi. 33); so it is in the case of honor. When the granting
either of riches or honor is no longer attended with danger to us, then
God gives them freely; and it is then unattended with danger, when they
have not the rule or power over us, do not command us as slaves, but
belong to us as masters and free men. For the reason that He wishes us
not to love them is, that we may not be ruled by them; and if we
succeed in this respect, He gives us them with great liberality. Tell
me, what is brighter than Paul, when he says, "We seek not honor of
men, neither of you, nor yet of others." (1 Thess. ii. 6.) What then is
richer than him
16
who hath nothing, and yet possesseth all things? for as I said, when we
are not mastered by them, then we shall master them, then we shall
receive them. If then we desire to obtain honor, let us shun honor, so
shall we be enabled after accomplishing the laws of God to obtain both
the good things which are here, and those which are promised, by the
grace of Christ, with whom, to the Father and the Holy Ghost, be glory
for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY IV.
JOHN i. 1.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God."
[1.] WhEN children are just brought to their
learning, their teachers do not give them many tasks in succession, nor
do they set them once for all, but they often repeat to them the same
short ones, so that what is said may be easily implanted in their
minds, and they may not be vexed at the first onset with the quantity,
and with finding it hard to remember, and become less active in picking
up what is given them, a kind of sluggishness arising from the
difficulty. And I, who wish to effect the same with you, and to render
your labor easy, take by little and little the food which lies on this
Divine table, and instill it into your souls. On this account I shall
handle again the same words, not so as to say again the same things,
but to set before you only what yet remains. Come, then, let us again
apply our discourse to the introduction.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God." Why, when all the other Evangelists had begun with the
Dispensation(1) ; (for Matthew says, "The Book of the generation of
Jesus Christ, the Son of David"; and Luke too relates to us in the
beginning of his Gospel the events relating to Mary; and in like manner
Mark dwells on the same narratives, from that point detailing to us the
history of the Baptist;) why, when they began with these matters, did
John briefly and in a later place hint at them, saying, "the Word was
made flesh" (ver. 14.); and, passing by everything else, His
conception, His birth, His bringing up, His growth, at once discourse
to us concerning His Eternal Generation?
I will now tell you what the reason of this is.
Because the other Evangelists had dwelt most on the accounts of His
coming in the flesh, there was fear lest some, being of grovelling
minds, might for this reason rest in these doctrines alone, as indeed
was the case with Paul of Samosata. In order, therefore, to lead away
from this fondness for earth those who were like to fall into it, and
to draw them up towards heaven, with good reason he commences his
narrative from above, and from the eternal subsistence. For while
Matthew enters upon his relation from Herod the king, Luke from
Tiberius Caesar, Mark from the Baptism of John, this Apostle, leaving
alone all these things, ascends beyond all time or age.(2) Thither
darting forward the imagination of his hearers to the "WAS IN THE
BEGINNING," not allowing it to stay at any point, nor setting any
limit, as they did in Herod, and Tiberius, and John.
And what we may mention besides as especially
deserving our admiration is, that John, though he gave himself up to
the higher doctrine,(3) yet did not neglect the Dispensation; nor were
the others, though intent upon the relation of this, silent as to the
subsistence before the ages. With good cause; for One Spirit It was
that moved the souls of all; and therefore they have shown great
unanimity in their narrative. But thou, beloved, when thou hast heard
of "The Word," do not endure those who say, that He is a work; nor
those even who think, that He is simply a word. For many are the words
of God which angels execute, but of those words none is God; they all
are prophecies or commands, (for in Scripture it is usual to call the
laws of God His commands, and prophecies, words; wherefore in speaking
of the angels, he says, "Mighty in strength, fulfilling His word") (Ps.
ciii. 20), but this WORD is a Being with subsistence,(4) proceeding(5)
without affection(6) from the Father Himself. For this, as I
before said, he has shown by the term "Word." As therefore the
expression, "In the beginning was the Word," shows His Eternity, so
"was in the beginning with God," has declared to us His Co-eternity.
For that you may not, when you hear "In the beginning was the Word,"
suppose Him to be Eternal, and yet imagine the life of
17
the Father to differ from His by some interval and longer duration, and
so assign a beginning to the Only-Begotten, he adds, "was in the
beginning with God"; so eternally even as the Father Himself, for the
Father was never without the Word, but He was always God with God, yet
Each in His proper Person.(1)
How then, one says, does John assert, that He was in
the world, if He was with God? Because He was both(2) with God and in
the world also. For neither Father nor Son are limited in any way.
Since, if "there is no end of His greatness" (Ps. cxlv. 3), and if "of
His wisdom there is no number" (Ps. cxlvii. 5), it is clear that there
cannot be any beginning in time(3) to His Essence. Thou hast heard,
that "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth" (Gen. i. 1);
what dost thou understand from this "beginning"? clearly, that they
were created before all visible things. So, respecting the
Only-Begotten, when you hear that He was "in the beginning," conceive
of him as before all intelligible things,(4) and before the ages.
But if any one say, "How can it be that He is a Son,
and yet not younger than the Father? since that which proceeds from
something else needs must be later than that from which it proceeds";
we will say that, properly speaking, these are human reasonings; that
he who questions on this matter will question on others yet more
improper;(5) and that to such we ought not even to give ear. For our
speech is now concerning God, not concerning the nature of men, which
is subject to the sequence and necessary conclusions of these
reasonings. Still, for the assurance of the weaker sort, we will speak
even to these points.
[2.] Tell me, then, does the radiance of the sun
proceed from the substance(6) itself of the sun, or from some other
source? Any one not deprived of his very senses needs must confess,
that it proceeds from the substance itself. Yet, although the radiance
proceeds from the sun itself, we cannot say that it is later in
point of time than the substance of that body, since the sun has never
appeared without its rays. Now if in the case of these visible and
sensible bodies there has been shown to be something which proceeds
from something else, and yet is not after that from whence it proceeds;
why are you incredulous in the case of the invisible and ineffable
Nature? This same thing there takes place, but in a manner suitable to
That Substance? For it is for this reason that Paul too calls Him
"Brightness" (Heb. i. 3); setting forth thereby His being from Him and
His Co-eternity. Again, tell me, were not all the ages, and every
interval s created by Him? Any man not deprived of his senses must
necessarily confess this. There is no interval(9) therefore between the
Son and the Father; and if there be none, then He is not after, but
Co-eternal with Him. For "before" and "after" are notions implying
time, since, without age or time, no man could possibly imagine these
words; but God is above times and ages.
But if in any case you say that you have found a
beginning to the Son, see whether by the same reason and argument you
are not compelled to reduce the Father also to a beginning, earlier
indeed, but still a beginning. For when you have assigned to the Son a
limit and beginning of existence, do you not proceed upwards from that
point, and say, that the Father was before it? Clearly you do. Tell me
then, what is the extent of the Father's prior subsistence? For whether
you say that the interval is little, or whether you say it is great,
you equally have brought the Father to a beginning. For it is clear,
that it is by measuring the space that you say whether it is little or
great; yet it would not be possible to measure it, unless there were a
beginning on either side; so that as far as you are concerned you have
given the Father a beginning, and henceforth, according to your
argument, not even the Father will be without beginning. See you that
the word spoken by the Saviour is true, and the saying everywhere
discovers its force? And what is that word? It is "He that honoreth not
the Son, honoreth not the Father." (John v. 23.)
And I know indeed that what now has been said cannot
by many be comprehended, and therefore it is that in many places we
avoid(10) agitating questions of human reasonings, because the rest of
the people cannot follow such arguments, and if they could, still they
have nothing firm or sure in them. "For the thoughts of mortal men are
miserable, and our devices are but uncertain." (Wisd. ix. 14.) Still I
should like to ask our objectors, what means that which is said by the
Prophet, "Before Me there was no God formed, nor is there any after Me?
(Isa. xliii. 10.) For if the Son is younger than the Father, how, says
He, "Nor is there(11) any after me"? Will you take away the being of
the Only-Begotten Himself? You either must dare this, or admit one
Godhead with distinct Persons of the Father and Son.
Finally, how could the expression, "All things were
made by Him," be true? For if there is an age older than He, how can
that(12) which was before Him have been made by Him? See ye to what
daring the argument has carried them,
18
when once the truth has been unsettled? Why did not the Evangelist say,
that He was made from things that were not, as Paul declares of all
things, when he says, "Who calleth those things which be not as though
they were"; but says, "Was in the beginning"? (Rom. iv. 17.) This is
contrary to that; and with good reason. For God neither is made,(1) nor
has anything older; these are words of the Greeks.(2) Tell me this too:
Would you not say, that the Creator beyond all comparison excels His
works? Yet since that which is from things that were not is similar to
them, where is the superiority not admitting of comparison? And what
mean the expressions, "I am the first and I am the last" (Isa. xliv.
6); and, "before Me was no other God formed"? (Isa. xliii. 10.) For if
the Son be not of the same Essence, there is another God; and if He be
not Co-eternal, He is after Him; and if He did not proceed from His
Essence, clear it is that He was made. But if they assert, that these
things were said to distinguish Him from idols, why do they not
allow that it is to distinguish Him from idols that he says, "the Only
True God"? (John xvii. 3.) Besides, if this was said to distinguish Him
from idols, how would you interpret the whole sentence? "After Me," He
says, "is no other God." In saying this, He does not exclude the Son,
but that "After Me there is no idol God," not that "there is no Son."
Allowed, says he; what then? and the expression, "Before Me was no
other God formed," will you so understand, as that no idol God
indeed was formed before Him, but yet a Son was formed before Him? What
evil spirit would assert this? I do not suppose that even Satan himself
would do so.
Moreover, if He be not Co-eternal with the Father,
how can you say that His Life is infinite? For if it have a beginning
from before,(3) although it be endless, yet it is not infinite; for the
infinite must be infinite in both directions. As Paul also declared,
when he said, "Having neither beginning of days, nor end of life" (Heb.
vii. 3); by this expression showing that He is both without beginning
and without end. For as the one has no limit, so neither has the other.
In one direction there is no end, in the other no beginning.
[3.] And how again, since He is "Life," was
there ever when He was not? For all must allow, that Life both is
always, and is without beginning and without end, if It be indeed
Life, as indeed It is. For if there be when It is not, how
can It be the life of others, when It even Itself is not?
"How then," says one, "does John lay down a
beginning by saying, 'In the beginning was'?" Tell me, have you
attended to the "In the beginning," and to the "was," and do you not
understand the expression, "the Word was"? What! when the Prophet says,
"From everlasting(4) and to everlasting Thou art" (Ps. xc. 2), does he
say this to assign Him limits? No, but to declare His Eternity.
Consider now that the case is the same in this place. He did not use
the expression as assigning limits, since he did not say, "had a
beginning," but "was in the beginning"; by the word "was" carrying thee
forward to the idea that the Son is without beginning. "Yet observe,"
says he, "the Father is named with the addition of the article, but the
Son without it." What then, when the Apostle says, "The Great God, and
our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Tit. ii. 13); and again, "Who is above all,
God"? (Rom. ix. 5.) It is true that here he has mentioned the Son,
without the article; but he does the same with the Father also, at
least in his Epistle to the Philippians (c. ii. 6), he says, "Who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God"; and
again to the Romans, "Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and
the Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. i. 7.) Besides, it was superfluous for it
to be attached in that place, when close(5) above it was continually
attached to "the Word." For as in speaking concerning the Father, he
says, "God is a Spirit" (John iv. 24), and we do not, because the
article is not joined to "Spirit," yet deny the Spiritual Nature of
God; so here, although the article is not annexed to the Son, the Son
is not on that account a less God. Why so? Because in saying "God," and
again "God," he does not reveal to us any difference in this Godhead,
but the contrary; for having before said, "and the Word was God"; that
no one might suppose the Godhead of the Son to be inferior, he
immediately adds the characteristics of genuine Godhead, including
Eternity, (for "He was," says he, "in the beginning with God,") and
attributing to Him the office of Creator. For "by Him were all things
made, and without Him was not anything made that was made"; which His
Father also everywhere by the Prophets declares to be especially
characteristic of His own Essence. And the Prophets are continually
busy on this kind of demonstration, not only of itself, but when they
contend against the honor shown to idols; "Let the gods perish," says
one who have not made heaven and earth" (Jer. x. 11): and again,
"I have stretched out the heaven with My hand" (Isa. xliv. 24); and it
is as declaring it to be indicative of Divinity, that
19
He everywhere puts it. And the Evangelist himself was not satisfied
with these words, but calls Him "Life" too and "Light." If now He
was ever with the Father, if He Himself created all things, if He
brought all things into existence, and keeps together(1) all things,
(for, this he meant by "Life,") if He enlightens all things, who so
senseless as to say, that the Evangelist desired to teach an
inferiority of Divinity by those very expressions, by which, rather
than by any others, it is possible to express its equality and not
differing? Let us not then confound the creation with the Creator, lest
we too hear it said of us, that." they served the creature rather than
the Creator" (Rom. i. 25); for although it be asserted that this is
said of the heavens, still in speaking of the heavens he positively
says, that we must not serve(2) the creature, for it is a heathenish(3)
thing.
[4.] Let us therefore not lay ourselves under this
curse. For this the Son of God came, that He might rid us from this
service; for this He took the form of a slave, that He might free us
from this slavery; for this He was spit upon, for this He was buffeted,
for this He endured the shameful death. Let us not, I entreat you, make
all these things of none effect, let us not go back to our former
unrighteousness, or rather to unrighteousness much more grievous; for
to serve the creature is not the same thing as to bring down the
Creator, as far at least as in us lies, to the meanness of the
creature. For He continues being such as He is; as says the Psalmist,
"Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail." (Ps. cii. 27.) Let
us then glorify Him as we have received from our fathers, let us
glorify Him both by our faith and by our works; for sound doctrines
avail us nothing to salvation, if our life is corrupt. Let us then
order it according to what is well-pleasing to God, setting ourselves
far from all filthiness, unrighteousness, and covetousness, as
strangers and foreigners and aliens to the things here on earth. If any
have much wealth and possessions, let him so use them as one who is a
sojourner, and who, whether he will or not, shall shortly pass from
them. If one be injured by another, let him not be angry forever, nay
rather not even for a time. For the Apostle has not allowed us
more than a single day for the venting of anger.
"Let not," says he, "the sun go down upon your
wrath" (Eph. iv. 26); and with reason; for it is matter for contentment
that even in so short a time nothing unpleasant take place; but if
night also overtake us, what has happened becomes more grievous,
because the fire of our wrath is increased ten thousand times by
memory, and we at our leisure enquire into it more bitterly. Before
therefore we obtain this pernicious leisure and kindle a hotter fire,
he bids us arrest beforehand and quench the mischief. For the passion
of wrath is fierce, fiercer than any flame; and so we need much haste
to prevent the flame, and not allow it to blaze up high, for so this
disease becomes a cause of many evils. It has overturned whole Houses,
it has dissolved old companionships, and has worked tragedies not to be
remedied in a short moment of time. "For," saith one, "the sway of his
fury shall be his destruction." (Ecclus. i. 22.) Let us not then leave
such a wild beast unbridled, but put upon him a muzzle in all ways
strong, the fear of the judgment to come. Whenever a friend grieves
thee, or one of thine own family exasperates thee, think of the sins
thou hast committed against God, and that by kindness towards him thou
makest that judgment more lenient to thyself, ("Forgive," saith He,
"and ye shall be forgiven") (Luke vi. 37), and thy passion shall
quickly skulk away.(4)
And besides, consider this, whether there has been a
time when thou wert being carried away into ferocity, and didst control
thyself, and another time when thou hast been dragged along by the
passion. Compare the two seasons, and thou shalt gain thence great
improvement. For tell me, when didst thou praise thyself? Was it when
thou wast worsted, or when thou hadst the mastery? Do we not in the
first case vehemently blame ourselves, and feel ashamed. even when none
reproves us, and do not many feelings of repentance come over us, both
for what we have said and done; but when we gain the mastery, then are
we not proud, and exult as conquerors? For victory in the case of anger
is, not the requiting evil with the like, (that is utter defeat,) but
the bearing meekly to be ill treated and ill spoken of. To get the
better is not to inflict but to suffer evil. Therefore when angry do
not say, "certainly I will retaliate," "certainly I will be revenged";
do not persist in saying to those who exhort you to gain a victory, "I
will not endure that the man mock me, and escape clear." He will never
mock thee, except when thou avengest thyself; or if he even should mock
thee he will do so as a fool. Seek not when thou conquerest honor from
fools, but consider that sufficient which comes from men of
understanding. Nay, why do I set before thee a small and mean body of
spectators, when I make it up of men? Look up straight to God: He will
praise thee, and the man who is approved by Him must not seek honor
from mortals, Mortal honor often arises from flattery or hatred of
others, and brings no profit; but the
20
decision of God is free from this inequality, and brings great
advantage to the man whom He approves. This praise then let us follow
after.
Will you learn what an evil is anger? Stand by while
others are quarreling in the forum. In yourself you cannot easily see
the disgrace of the thing, because your reason is darkened and drunken;
but when you are clear from the passion, and while your judgment is
sound, view your own case in others. Observe, I pray you, the crowds
collecting round, and the angry men like maniacs acting shamefully in
the midst. For when the passion boils up within the breast, and becomes
excited and savage, the mouth breathes fire, the eyes emit fire, all
the face becomes swollen, the hands are extended disorderly, the feet
dance ridiculously, and they spring at those who restrain them, and
differ nothing from madmen in their insensibility to all these things;
nay, differ not from wild asses, kicking and biting. Truly a passionate
man is not a graceful one.
And then, when after this exceedingly
ridiculous conduct, they return home and come to themselves, they have
the greater pain, and much fear, thinking who were present when they
were angry. For like raving men, they did not then know the standers
by, but when they have returned to their right mind, then they
consider, were they friends? were they foes and enemies that looked on?
And they fear alike about both; the first because they will condemn
them and give them more shame; the others because they will rejoice at
it. And if they have even exchanged blows, then their fear is the more
pressing; for instance, lest anything very grievous happen to the
sufferer; a fever follow and bring on death, or a troublesome swelling
rise and place him in danger of the worst. And, "what need" (say they)
"had I of fighting, and violence, and quarreling? Perish such things."
And then they curse the ill-fated business which caused them to begin,
and the more foolish lay on "wicked spirits," and "an evil hour," the
blame of what has been done; but these things are not from an evil
hour, (for there is no such thing as an evil hour,) nor from a wicked
spirit, but from the wickedness of those captured by the passion; they
draw the spirits to them, and bring upon themselves all things
terrible. "But the heart swells," says one, "and is stung by insults."
I know it; and that is the reason why I admire those who master this
dreadful wild beast; yet it is possible if we will, to beat off the
passion. For why when our rulers insult us do we not feel it? It is
because fear counterbalances the passion, and frightens us from it, and
does not allow it to spring up at all. And why too do our servants,
though insulted by us in ten thousand ways, bear all in silence?
Because they too have the same restraint laid upon them. And think thou
not merely of the fear of God, but that it is even God Himself who then
insults thee, who bids thee be silent, and then thou wilt bear all
things meekly, and say to the aggressor, How can I be angry with thee?
there is another that restrains both my hand and my tongue; and the
saying will be a suggestion of sound wisdom, both to thyself and to
him. Even now we bear unbearable things on account of men, and often
say to those who have insulted us, "Such an one insulted me, not you."
Shall we not use the same caution in the case of God? How else can we
hope for pardon? Let us say to our soul, "It is God who holds our
hands, who now insults us; let us not be restive, let not God be less
honored by us than men." Did ye shudder at the word? I wish you would
shudder not at the word only, but at the deed. For God hath commanded
us when buffeted not only to endure it, but even to offer ourselves to
suffer something worse; and we withstand Him with such vehemence, that
we not only refuse to offer ourselves to suffer evil, but even avenge
ourselves, nay often are the first to act on the offensive,(1) and
think we are disgraced if we do not the same in return. Yes, and the
mischief is, that when utterly worsted we think ourselves conquerors,
and when lying undermost and receiving ten thousand blows from the
devil, then we imagine that we are mastering him. Let us then, I exhort
you, understand what is the nature(2) of this victory, and this kind of
nature(3) let us follow after. To suffer evil is to get the crown. If
then we wish to be proclaimed victors by God, let us not in these
contests observe the laws of heathen games, but those of God, and learn
to bear all things with longsuffering; for so we may get the better of
our antagonists, and obtain both present and promised goods, through
the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and
with whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, power, and honor,
now and ever, and world without end. Amen.
21
HOMILY
JOHN i. 3.
" All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made
that was made."
[1.] MOSES in the beginning of the history and
writings of the Old Testament speaks to us of the objects of sense, and
enumerates them to us at length. For, "In the beginning," he says, "God
made the heaven and the earth," and then he adds, that light was
created, and a second heaven and the stars, the various kinds of living
creatures, and, that we may not delay by going through particulars,
everything else. But this Evangelist, cutting all short, includes both
these things and the things which are above these in a single sentence;
with reason, because they were known to his hearers, and because he is
hastening to a greater subject, and has instituted all his treatise,
that he might speak not of the works but of the Creator, and Him who
produced them all. And therefore Moses, though he has selected the
smaller portion of the creation, (for he has spoken nothing to us
concerning the invisible powers,) dwells on these things;(1) while
John, as hastening to ascend to the Creator Himself, runs by both these
things, and those on which Moses was silent, having comprised them in
one little saying, "All things were made by Him." And that you may not
think that he merely speaks of all the things mentioned by Moses, he
adds, that "without Him was not anything made that was made." That is
to say, that of created things, not one, whether it be visible(2) or
intelligible(3) was brought into being without the power of the Son.
For we will not put the full stop after "not
anything," as the heretics do. They, because they wish to make the
Spirit created, say, "What was made, in Him was Life"; yet so what is
said becomes unintelligible. First, it was not the time here to make
mention of the Spirit, and if he desired to do so, why did he state it
so indistinctly? For how is it clear that this saying relates to the
Spirit? Besides, we shall find by this argument, not that the Spirit,
but that the Son Himself, is created by Himself. But rouse yourselves,
that what is said may not escape you; and come, let us read for a while
after their fashion, for so its absurdity will be clearer to us. "What
was made, in Him was Life." They say that the Spirit is called" Life."
But this "Life" is found to be also "Light," for he adds, "And the Life
was the Light of men." (Ver. 4.) Therefore, according to them the
"Light of men" here means the Spirit. Well, but when he goes on to say,
that "There was a man sent from God, to bear witness of that Light"
(vers. 6, 7), they needs must assert, that this too is spoken of the
Spirit; for whom he above called "Word," Him as he proceeds he calls
"God," and "Life," and "Light." This "Word" he says was "Life," and
this "Life" was "Light." If now this Word was Life, and if this Word
and this Life became flesh, then the Life, that is to say, the Word,
"was made flesh, and we beheld" Its "glory, the glory as of the
Only-Begotten of the Father." If then they say that the Spirit is here
called "Life," consider what strange consequences will follow. It will
be the Spirit, not the Son, that was made flesh; the Spirit will be the
Only-Begotten Son.
And those who read the passage so will fall, if not
into this, yet in avoiding this into another most strange conclusion.
If they allow that the words are spoken of the Son, and yet do not stop
or read as we do, then they will assert that the Son is created by
Himself. Since, if "the Word was Life," and "what was made in Him was
Life"; according to this reading He is created in Himself and through
Himself. Then after some words between, he has added, "And we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father." (Ver. 14.)
See, the Holy Spirit is found, according to the reading of those who
assert these things, to be also an only-begotten Son, for it is
concerning Him that all this declaration is uttered by him. See
when the word has swerved(4) from the truth, whither it is perverted,
and what strange consequences it produces!
What then, says one, is not the Spirit "Light"? It
is Light: but in this place there is no mention of the Spirit. Since
even God (the Father) is called "Spirit," that is to say, incorporeal,
yet God (the Father) is not absolutely meant wherever "Spirit" is
mentioned. And why do you wonder if we say this of the Father? We could
not even say of the Comforter, that wherever "Spirit" (is mentioned),
the Comforter is absolutely meant, and yet this is His most distinctive
name; still not always where Spirit (is mentioned is) the Comforter
(meant). Thus Christ is called "the power of God" (1 Cor. i. 24),
22
and "the wisdom of God"; yet not always where "the power" and "the
wisdom of God" are mentioned is Christ meant; so in this passage,
although the Spirit does give "Light," yet the Evangelist is not now
speaking of the Spirit.
When we have shut them out from these strange
opinions, they who take all manner of pains to withstand the truth,
say, (still clinging to the same reading,) "Whatever came into
existence(1) by him was life, because," says one, "whatever came into
existence was life." What then do you say of the punishment of the men
of Sodom, and the flood, and hell fire, and ten thousand like things?
"But," says one, "we are speaking of the material creation."(2) Well,
these too belong entirely to the material creation. But that we may out
of our abundance(3) refute their argument, we will ask them, "Is wood,
life," tell me? "Is stone, life?" these things that are lifeless and
motionless? Nay, is man absolutely life? Who would say so? he is not
pure life,(4) but is capable of receiving life.
[2.] See here again, an absurdity; by the same
succession of consequences we will bring the argument to such a point,
that even hence you may learn their folly. In this way they assert
things by no means befitting of the Spirit. Being driven from their
other ground, they apply those things to men, which they
before thought to be spoken worthily of the Spirit. However, let us
examine the reading itself this way also. The creature is now called
"life," therefore, the same is "light," and John came to witness
concerning it. Why then is not he also "light"? He says that "he was
not that light" (ver. 8), and yet he belonged to created things? How
then is he not "light"? How was he" in the world, and the world was
made by him"? (Ver. 10.) Was the creature in the creature, and was the
creature made by the creature? But how did "the world know him not"?
How did the creature not know the creature? "But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." (Ver. 12.) But
enough of laughter. For the rest I leave it to you to attack these
monstrous reasonings, that we may not seem to have chosen(5) to raise a
laugh for its own sake, and waste the time without cause. For if these
things are neither said of the Spirit, (and it has been shown that they
are not,) nor of anything created, and yet they still hold to the same
reading, that stranger conclusion than any which we before mentioned,
will follow, that the Son was made by Himself. For if the Son is the
true Light, and this Light was Life, and this Life was made in Him,
this must needs be the result according to their own reading. Let us
then relinquish this reading, and come to the recognized reading and
explanation.(8)
And what is that? It is to make the sentence end at
"was made," and to begin the next sentence with, "In Him was Life."
What (the Evangelist) says is this, "Without Him was not anything made
that was made"; whatever created thing was made, says he, was not made
without Him. See you how by this short addition he has rectified all
the besetting(7) difficulties; for the saying, that "without Him was
not anything made," and then the adding, "which was made," includes
things cognizable by the intellect,(8) but excludes the Spirit.
For after he had said that "all things were made by Him," and
"without Him was not anything made," he needed this addition,
lest some one should say, "If all things were made by Him, then the
Spirit also was made." "I," he replies, "asserted that whatever was
made was made by Him, even though it be invisible, or incorporeal, or
in the heavens. For this reason, I did not say absolutely, 'all
things,' but 'whatever was made,' that is, 'created things,' but the
Spirit is uncreated."
Do you see the precision of his teaching? He has
alluded to the creation of material things, (for concerning these Moses
had taught before him,) and after bringing us to advance from thence to
higher things, I mean the immaterial and the invisible, he excepts the
Holy Spirit from all creation. And so Paul, inspired by the same grace,
said, "For by Him were all things created." (Col. i. 16.) Observe too
here again the same exactness. For the same Spirit moved this soul
also. That no one should except any created things from the works of
God because of their being invisible, nor yet should confound the
Comforter with them, after running through the objects of sense which
are known to all, he enumerates also things in the heavens, saying,
"Whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers";
for the expression "whether" subjoined to each, shows to us nothing
else but this, that "by Him all things were made, and without Him was
not anything made that was made."
But if you think that the expression "by"(9) is a
mark of inferiority, (as making Christ an instrument,) hear him say,
"Thou, Lord, in the beginning, hast laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of Thy hands." (Ps. cii. 25.) He says of
the Son what is said of the Father in His character of Creator; which
he would not have said, unless he had deemed of Him as of a Creator,
and yet not subservient
23
to any. And if the expression "by Him" is here used, it is put for no
other reason but to prevent any one from supposing the Son to be
Unbegotten. For that in respect of the title of Creator He is nothing
inferior to the Father; hear from Himself, where He saith, "As the
Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son
quickeneth whom He will." (c. v. 21.) If now in the Old Testament it is
said of the Son, "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation
of the earth," His title of Creator is plain. But if you say that the
Prophet spoke this of the Father, and that Paul attributed to the Son
what was said of the Father, even so the conclusion is the same. For
Paul would not have decided that the same expression suited the Son,
unless he had been very confident that between Father and Son there was
an equality of honor; since it would have been an act of extremest
rashness to refer what suited an incomparable Nature to a nature
inferior to, and falling short of it. But the Son is not inferior to,
nor falls short of, the Essence of the Father; and therefore Paul has
not only dared to use these expressions concerning Him, but also others
like them. For the expression "from Whom," which you decide to belong
properly to the Father alone, he uses also concerning the Son, when he
says, "from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment
ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God."
(Col. ii. 19.)
[3.] And he is not content with this only, he stops
your mouths in another way also, by applying to the Father the
expression "by whom," which you say is a mark of inferiority. For he
says, "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of
His Son" (1 Cor. i. 9): and again, "By His will" (1 Cor. i. 1,
&c.); and in another place, "For of Him, and through Him, and to
Him, are all things." (Rom. xi. 26.) Neither is the expression "from(1)
whom," assigned to the Son only, but also to the Spirit; for the angel
said to Joseph, "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." (Matt. i. 20.) As also
the Prophet does not deem it improper to apply to the Father the
expression "in whom,"(2) which belongs to the Spirit, when he says,
"In(3) God we shall do valiantly." (Ps. lx.. 12.) And Paul, "Making
request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous
journey, in the will of God, to come unto you." (Rom. i. 10.) And again
he uses it of Christ, saying, "In Christ Jesus." (Rom. vi. 11, 23,
&c.) In short, we may often and continually find these expressions
interchanged;(4) now this would not have taken place, had not the same
Essence been in every instance their subject. And that you may not
imagine that the words, "All things were made by Him," are in this case
used concerning His miracles, (for the other Evangelists have
discoursed concerning these;) he farther goes on to say, "He was in the
world, and the world was made by Him"; (but not the Spirit, for This is
not of the number of created things, but of those above all creation.)
Let us now attend to what follows. John having
spoken of the work of creation, that "All things were made by Him, and
without Him was not anything made that was made," goes on
to speak concerning His Providence, where he saith, "In Him
was Life." That no one may doubt how so many and so great things were
"made by Him," he adds, that "In Him was Life." For as with the
fountain which is the mother of the great deeps, however much you take
away you nothing lessen the fountain; so with the energy of the
Only-Begotten, however much you believe has been produced and made by
it, it has become no whir the less. Or, to use a more familiar example,
I will instance that of light, which the Apostle himself added
immediately, saying, "And the Life was the Light." As then light,
however many myriads it may enlighten, suffers no diminution of its own
brightness; so also God, before commencing His work and after
completing it, remains alike indefectible, nothing diminished, nor
wearied by the greatness of the creation. Nay, if need were that ten
thousand, or even an infinite number of such worlds be created, He
remains the same, sufficient for them all not merely to produce, but
also to control them after their creation. For the word "Life" here
refers not merely to the act of creation, but also to the providence
(engaged) about the permanence of the things created; it also lays down
beforehand the doctrine of the resurrection, and is the beginning(5) of
these marvelous good tidings.(6) Since when "life" has come to be with
us, the power of death is dissolved; and when "light" has shone upon
us, there is no longer darkness, but life ever abides within us, and
death cannot overcome it. So that what is asserted of the Father might
be asserted absolutely of Him (Christ) also, that "In Him we live and
move and have our being." (Col. i. 16, 17.) As Paul has shown when he
says, "By Him were all things created," and "by Him all things
consist"; for which reason He has been called also "Root"(7) and
"Foundation."(8)
But when you hear that "In Him was Life," do not
imagine Him a compound Being, since
24
farther on he says of the Father also, "As the Father hath Life in
Himself, so hath He given to the Son also to have Life" (John v. 26);
now as you would not on account of this expression say that the Father
is compounded, so neither can you say so of the Son. Thus in another
place he says, that "God is Light" (1 John i. 5), and elsewhere (it is
said), that He "dwelleth in light unapproachable" (1 Tim. vi. 16); yet
these expressions are used not that we may suppose a compounded
nature,(1) but that by little and little we may be led up to the
highest doctrines. For since one of the multitude could not easily have
understood how His life was Life Impersonate,(2) he first used that
humbler expression, and afterwards leads them (thus) trained to the
higher doctrine. For He who had said that "He hath given Him (the Son)
to have life" (c. v. 26); the Same saith in another place, "I am the
Life" (c. xiv. 6); and in another, "I am the Light." (c. viii. 12.) And
what, tell me, is the nature of this "light"? This kind (of light) is
the object not of the senses, but of the intellect, enlightening the
soul herself. And since Christ should hereafter say, that "None can
come unto Me except the Father draw him" (c. vi. 44); the Apostle has
in this place anticipated an objection, and declared that it is He (the
Son) who "giveth light" (ver. 9); that although you hear a saying like
this concerning the Father, you may not say that it belongs to the
Father only, but also to the Son. For, "All things," He saith, "which
the Father hath are Mine." (c. xvi. 15.)
First then, the Evangelist hath instructed us
respecting the creation, after that he tells us of the goods relating
to the soul which He supplied to us by His coming; and these he has
darkly described in one sentence, when he says, "And the Life was the
Light of men." (Ver. 4.) He does not say, "was the light of the Jews,"
but universally "of men": nor did the Jews only, but the Greeks also,
come to this knowledge, and this light was a common proffer made(3) to
all. "Why did he not add 'Angels,' but said, 'of men'?" Because at
present his discourse is of the nature of men, and to them he came
bearing glad tidings of good things.
"And the light shineth in darkness." (Ver. 5.) He
calls death and error, "darkness." For the light which is the object of
our senses does not shine in darkness, but apart from it; but the
preaching of Christ hath shone forth in the midst of prevailing error,
and made it to disappear. And He by enduring death(4) hath so overcome
death, that He hath recovered those already held by it. Since then
neither death overcame it, nor error, since it is bright everywhere,
and shines by its proper strength, therefore he says,
"And the darkness comprehended it not." For it
cannot be overcome, and will not dwell in souls which wish not to be
enlightened.
[4.] But let it not trouble thee that It took not
all, for not by necessity and force, but by will and consent(5) does
God bring us to Himself. Therefore do not thou shut thy doors against
this light, and thou shalt enjoy great happiness.(6) But this light
cometh by faith, and when it is come, it lighteth abundantly him that
hath received it; and if thou displayest a pure life (meet) for it,
remains indwelling within continually. "For," He saith, "He that loveth
Me, will keep My commandments; and I and My Father will come unto him,
and make Our abode with him." (John xiv. 23; slightly varied.) As then
one cannot rightly enjoy the sunlight, unless he opens his eyes; so
neither can one largely share this splendor, unless he have expanded
the eye of the soul, and rendered it in every way keen of sight.
But how is this effected? Then when we have cleansed
the soul from all the passions. For sin is darkness, and a deep
darkness; as is clear, because men do it unconsciously and secretly.
For, "every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the
light." (c. iii. 20.) And, "It is a shame even to speak of those things
which are done of them in secret." (Eph. v. 12.) For, as in darkness a
man knows neither friend nor foe, but cannot perceive any of the
properties of objects; so too is it in sin. For he who desires to get
more gain, makes no difference between friend and enemy; and the
envious regards with hostile eyes the man with whom he is very
intimate; and the plotter is at mortal quarrel with all alike. In
short, as to distinguishing the nature of objects, he who commits sin
is no better than men who are drunk or mad. And as in the night, wood,
lead, iron, silver, gold, precious stones, seem to us all alike on
account of the absence of the light which shows their distinctions; so
he who leads an impure life knows neither the excellence of temperance
nor the beauty of philosophy. For in darkness, as I said before, even
precious stones if they be displayed do not show their luster, not by
reason of their own nature, but because of the want of discernment in
the beholders. Nor is this the only evil which happens to us who are in
sin, but this also, that we live in constant fear: and as men walking
in a moonless night tremble, though none be by to frighten them; so
those who work iniquity cannot have confidence, though there be none to
accuse them; but they are afraid of everything,
25
and are suspicious, being pricked by their conscience: all to them is
full of fear and distress,(1) they look about them at everything, are
terrified at everything. Let us then flee a life so painful, especially
since after this painfulness shall follow death; a deathless death, for
of the punishment in that place there will be no end; and in this life
they (who sin) are no better than madmen, in that they are dreaming of
things that have no existence. They think they are rich when they are
not rich, that they enjoy when they are not enjoying, nor do they
properly perceive the cheat until they are freed from the madness
and have shaken off the sleep. Wherefore Paul exhorts all to be sober,
and to watch; and Christ also commands the same. For he who is sober
and awake, although he be captured by sin, quickly beats it off; while
he who sleeps and is beside himself, perceives not how he is held
prisoner of it.
Let us then not sleep. This is not the season of
night, but of day. Let us therefore "walk honestly(2) as in the day"
(Rom. xiii. 13); and nothing is more indecent than sin. In point of
indecency it is not so bad to go about naked as in sin and wrong doing.
That is not so great matter of blame, since it might even be caused by
poverty; but nothing has more shame and less honor than the sinner. Let
us think of those who come to the justice-hall on some account of
extortion, or overreaching;(3) how base and ridiculous they appear to
all by their utter shamelessness, their lies, and audacity.(4) But we
are such pitiable and wretched beings, that we cannot bear ourselves to
put on a garment awkwardly or awry; nay, if we see another person in
this state, we set him right; and yet though we and all our neighbors
are walking on our heads, we do not even perceive it. For what, say,
can be more shameful than a man who goes in to a harlot? what more
contemptible than an insolent, a foul-tongued or an envious man? Whence
then is it that these things do not seem so disgraceful as to walk
naked? Merely from habit. To go naked no one has ever willingly
endured; but all men are continually venturing on the others without
any fear. Yet if one came into an assembly of angels, among whom
nothing of the sort has ever taken place, there he would clearly see
the great ridicule (of such conduct). And why do I say an assembly of
angels? Even in the very palaces among us, should one introduce a
harlot and enjoy her, or be oppressed by excess of wine, or commit any
other like indecency, he would suffer extreme punishment. But if it be
intolerable hat men should dare such things in palaces, much more when
the King is everywhere present, and observes what is done, shall we if
we dare them undergo severest chastisement. Wherefore let us, I exhort
you, show forth in our life much gentleness, much purity, for we have a
King who beholds all our actions continually. In order then that this
light may ever richly enlighten us, let us gladly accept(6) these
bright beams,(7) for so shall we enjoy both the good things present and
those to come, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom, and with whom, to the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be
glory for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY VI.
JOHN i. 6.
"There was a man sent
from God, whose name was
[I.] HAVING in the introduction spoken to us things
of urgent importance(5) concerning God the Word, (the Evangelist)
proceeding on his road, and in order, afterwards comes to the herald of
the Word, his namesake John. And now that thou hearest that he was
"sent from God," do not for the future imagine that any of the words
spoken by him are mere man's words; for all that he utters is not his
own, but is of Him who sent him. Wherefore he is called(8) "messenger"
(Mal. iii. 1), for the excellence of a messenger is, that he say
nothing of his own. But the expression "was," in this place is not
significative of his coming into existence, but refers to his office of
messenger; for "'there was' a man sent from God," is used instead of "a
man 'was sent' from God."
How then do some say,(9) that the expression, "being
in the form of God" (Phil. ii. 6) is not
26
used of His invariable likeness(1) to the Father, because no article is
added?(2) For observe, that the article is nowhere added here. Are
these words then not spoken of the Father? What then shall we say to
the prophet who says, that, "Behold, I send My messenger before Thy
face, who shall prepare Thy way" (Mal. iii. 1, as found in Mark i. 2)?
for the expressions "My" and "Thy" declare two Persons.
Ver. 7. "The same came for a witness, to bear
witness of that Light."
What is this, perhaps one may say, the servant bear
witness to his Master? When then you see Him not only witnessed to by
His servant, but even coming to him, and with Jews baptized by him,
will you not be still more astonished and perplexed? Yet you ought not
to be troubled nor confused, but amazed at such unspeakable goodness.
Though if any still continue bewildered s and confused, He will say to
such art one what He said to John, "Suffer it to be so now for thus it
becometh us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. iii. 15); and, if any
be still further troubled, again He will say to him too(4) what he said
to the Jews, "But I receive not testimony from man." (c. v. 34.) If