Tractate 33 (John 7:40-8:11)

1. You remember, my beloved, that in the last discourse, by occasion of the passage of the Gospel read, we spoke to you concerning the Holy Spirit. When the Lord had invited those that believe in Him to this drinking, speaking among those who meditated to lay hold of Him, and sought to kill Him, and were not able, because it was not His will: well, when He had spoken these things, there arose a dissension among the multitude concerning Him; some thinking that He was the very Christ, others saying that Christ shall not arise from Galilee. But they who had been sent to take Him returned clear of the crime and full of admiration. For they even gave witness to His divine doctrine, when those by whom they had been sent asked, Why have you not brought him? They answered that they had never heard a man so speak: For not any man so speaks. But He spoke thus, because He was God and man. But the Pharisees, repelling their testimony, said to them: Are you also deceived? We see, indeed, that you also have been charmed by his discourses. Hath any one of the rulers or the Pharisees believed on him? But this multitude who know not the law are cursed. They who knew not the law believed on Him who had sent the law; and those men who were teaching the law despised Him, that it might be fulfilled which the Lord Himself had said, I have come that they who see not may see, and they that see may be made blind. John 9:39 For the Pharisees, the teachers of the law, were made blind, and the people that knew not the law, and yet believed on the author of the law, were enlightened.

2. Nicodemus, however, one of the Pharisees, who had come to the Lord by night,— not indeed as being himself unbelieving, but timid; for therefore he came by night to the light, because he wished to be enlightened and feared to be known —Nicodemus, I say, answered the Jews, Does our law judge a man before it hear him, and know what he does? For they perversely wished to condemn before they examined. Nicodemus indeed knew, or rather believed, that if only they were willing to give Him a patient hearing, they would perhaps become like those who were sent to take Him, but preferred to believe. They answered, from the prejudice of their heart, what they had answered to those officers, Are you also a Galilean? That is, one seduced as it were by the Galilean. For the Lord was said to be a Galilean, because His parents were from the city of Nazareth. I have said His parents in regard to Mary, not as regards the seed of man; for on earth He sought but a mother, He had already a Father on high. For His nativity on both sides was marvellous: divine without mother, human without father. What, then, said those would-be doctors of the law to Nicodemus? Search the Scriptures, and see that out of Galilee arises no prophet. Yet the Lord of the prophets arose thence. They returned, says the evangelist, every man to his own house.

3. Thence Jesus went unto the mount; namely, to mount Olivet,— unto the fruitful mount, unto the mount of ointment, unto the mount of chrism. For where, indeed, but on mount Olivet did it become the Christ to teach? For the name of Christ is from chrism; χρισμα in the Greek, is called in Latin unctio, an anointing. And He has anointed us for this reason, because He has made us wrestlers against the devil. And early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came unto Him; and He sat down and taught them. And He was not taken, for He did not yet deign to suffer.

4. And now observe wherein the Lord's gentleness was tempted by His enemies. And the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman just taken in adultery: and they set her in the midst, and said to Him, Master, this woman has just been taken in adultery. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what do you say? But this they said, tempting Him, that they might accuse Him. Why accuse Him? Had they detected Himself in any misdeed; or was that woman said to have been concerned with Him in any manner? What, then, is the meaning of tempting Him, that they might accuse Him? We understand, brethren, that a wonderful gentleness shone out pre-eminently in the Lord. They observed that He was very meek, very gentle: for of Him it had been previously foretold, Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O most Mighty; in Your splendor and beauty urge on, march on prosperously, and reign, because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness. Accordingly, as a teacher, He brought truth; as a deliverer, He brought gentleness; as a protector, He brought righteousness. That He was to reign on account of these things, the prophet had by the Holy Spirit foretold. When He spoke His truth was acknowledged; when He was not provoked to anger against His enemies, His meekness was praised. Whilst, therefore, in respect of these two — namely, His truth and meekness — His enemies were tormented with malice and envy; in respect of the third — namely, righteousness — they laid a stumbling-block for Him. In what way? Because the law had commanded the adulterers to be stoned, and surely the law could not command what was unjust: if any man should say other than the law had commanded, he would be detected as unjust. Therefore they said among themselves, He is accounted true, he appears to be gentle; an accusation must be sought against him in respect of righteousness. Let us bring before him a woman taken in adultery; let us say to him what is ordered in the law concerning such: if he shall approve her being stoned, he will not show his gentleness; if he consent to let her go, he will not keep righteousness. But, say they, that he may not lose the reputation of gentleness, for which he has become an object of love to the people, without doubt he will say that she must be let go. Hence we find an opportunity of accusing him, and we charge him as being a transgressor of the law: saying to him, You are an enemy to the law; you answer against Moses, nay, against Him who gave the law through Moses; you are worthy of death: thou too must be stoned with this woman. By these words and sentiments they might possibly be able to inflame envy against Him, to urge accusation, and cause His condemnation to be eagerly demanded. But this against whom? It was perversity against rectitude, falsehood against the truth, the corrupt heart against the upright heart, folly against wisdom. When did such men prepare snares, into which they did not first thrust their own heads? Behold, the Lord in answering them will both keep righteousness, and will not depart from gentleness. He was not taken for whom the snare was laid, but rather they were taken who laid it, because they believed not on Him who could pull them out of the net.

5. What answer, then, did the Lord Jesus make? How answered the Truth? How answered Wisdom? How answered that Righteousness against which a false accusation was ready? He did not say, Let her not be stoned; lest He should seem to speak against the law. But God forbid that He should say, Let her be stoned: for He came not to lose what He had found, but to seek what was lost. What then did He answer? See you how full it is of righteousness, how full of meekness and truth! He that is without sin of you, says He, let him first cast a stone at her. O answer of Wisdom! How He sent them unto themselves! For without they stood to accuse and censure, themselves they examined not inwardly: they saw the adulteress, they looked not into themselves. Transgressors of the law, they wished the law to be fulfilled, and this by heedlessly accusing; not really fulfilling it, as if condemning adulteries by chastity. You have heard, O Jews, you have heard, O Pharisees, you have heard, O teachers of the law, the guardian of the law, but have not yet understood Him as the Lawgiver. What else does He signify to you when He writes with His finger on the ground? For the law was written with the finger of God; but written on stone because of the hard-hearted. The Lord now wrote on the ground, because He was seeking fruit. You have heard then, Let the law be fulfilled, let the adulteress be stoned. But is it by punishing her that the law is to be fulfilled by those that ought to be punished? Let each of you consider himself, let him enter into himself, ascend the judgment-seat of his own mind, place himself at the bar of his own conscience, oblige himself to confess. For he knows what he is: for no man knows the things of a man, but the spirit of man which is in him. Each looking carefully into himself, finds himself a sinner. Yes, indeed. Hence, either let this woman go, or together with her receive ye the penalty of the law. Had He said, Let not the adulteress be stoned, He would be proved unjust: had He said, Let her be stoned, He would not appear gentle: let Him say what it became Him to say, both the gentle and the just, Whoever is without sin of you, let him first cast a stone at her. This is the voice of Justice: Let her, the sinner, be punished, but not by sinners: let the law be fulfilled, but not by the transgressors of the law. This certainly is the voice of justice: by which justice, those men pierced through as if by a dart, looking into themselves and finding themselves guilty, one after another all withdrew. The two were left alone, the wretched woman and Mercy. But the Lord, having struck them through with that dart of justice, deigned not to heed their fall, but, turning away His look from them, again He wrote with His finger on the ground.

6. But when that woman was left alone, and all they had gone out, He raised His eyes to the woman. We have heard the voice of justice, let us also hear the voice of clemency. For I suppose that woman was the more terrified when she had heard it said by the Lord, He that is without sin of you, let him first cast a stone at her. But they, turning their thought to themselves, and by that very withdrawal having confessed concerning themselves, had left the woman with her great sin to Him who was without sin. And because she had heard this, He that is without sin. let him first cast a stone at her, she expected to be punished by Him in whom sin could not be found. But He, who had driven back her adversaries with the tongue of justice, raising the eyes of clemency towards her, asked her, Hath no man condemned you? She answered, No man, Lord. And He said, Neither do I condemn you; by whom, perhaps, you feared to be condemned, because in me you have not found sin. Neither will I condemn you. What is this, O Lord? Do You therefore favor sins? Not so, evidently. Mark what follows: Go, henceforth sin no more. Therefore the Lord did also condemn, but condemned sins, not man. For if He were a patron of sin, He would say, Neither will I condemn you; go, live as you will: be secure in my deliverance; how much soever you will sin, I will deliver you from all punishment even of hell, and from the tormentors of the infernal world. He said not this.

7. Let them take heed, then, who love His gentleness in the Lord, and let them fear His truth. For The Lord is sweet and right. You love Him in that He is sweet; fear Him in that He is right. As the meek, He said, I held my peace; but as the just, He said, Shall I always be silent? Isaiah 42:14 The Lord is merciful and pitiful. So He is, certainly. Add yet further, Long-suffering; add yet further, And very pitiful: but fear what comes last, And true. For those whom He now bears with as sinners, He will judge as despisers. Or do you despise the riches of His long-suffering and gentleness; not knowing that the forbearance of God leads you to repentance? But you, after your hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up for yourself wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds. Romans 2:4-6 The Lord is gentle, the Lord is long-suffering, the Lord is pitiful; but the Lord is also just, the Lord is also true. He bestows on you space for correction; but you love the delay of judgment more than the amendment of your ways. Have you been a bad man yesterday? Today be a good man. Have you gone on in your wickedness today? At any rate change tomorrow. You are always expecting, and from the mercy of God makest exceeding great promises to yourself. As if He, who has promised you pardon through repentance, promised you also a longer life. How do you know what tomorrow may bring forth? Rightly you say in your heart: When I shall have corrected my ways, God will put all my sins away. We cannot deny that God has promised pardon to those that have amended their ways and are converted. For in what prophet you read to me that God has promised pardon to him that amends, you do not read to me that God has promised you a long life.

8. From both, then, men are in danger; both from hoping and despairing, from contrary things, from contrary affections. Who is deceived by hoping? He who says, God is good, God is merciful, let me do what I please, what I like; let me give loose reins to my lusts, let me gratify the desires of my soul. Why this? Because God is merciful, God is good, God is kind. These men are in danger by hope. And those are in danger from despair, who, having fallen into grievous sins, fancying that they can no more be pardoned upon repentance, and believing that they are without doubt doomed to damnation, do say with themselves, We are already destined to be damned, why not do what we please with the disposition of gladiators destined to the sword. This is the reason that desperate men are dangerous: for, having no longer anything to fear, they are to be feared exceedingly. Despair kills these; hope, those. The mind is tossed to and fro between hope and despair. You have to fear lest hope slay you; and, when you hope much from mercy, lest you fall into judgment: again, you have to fear lest despair slay you, and, when you think that the grievous sins which you have committed cannot be forgiven you, you do not repent, and you incur the sentence of Wisdom, which says, I also will laugh at your perdition. Proverbs 1:26 How then does the Lord treat those who are in danger from both these maladies? To those who are in danger from hope, He says, Be not slow to be converted to the Lord, neither put it off from day to day; for suddenly His anger will come, and in the time of vengeance, will utterly destroy you. Sirach 5:8-9 To those who are in danger from despair, what does He say? In whatever day the wicked man shall be converted, I will forget all his iniquities. Ezekiel 18:21 Accordingly, for the sake of those who are in danger by despair, He has offered us a refuge of pardon; and because of those who are in danger by hope, and are deluded by delays, He has made the day of death uncertain. You know not when your last day may come. Are you ungrateful because you have today on which you may be improved? Thus therefore said He to the woman, Neither will I condemn you; but, being made secure concerning the past, beware of the future. Neither will I condemn you: I have blotted out what you have done; keep what I have commanded you, that you may find what I have promised.

Tractate 34 (John 8:12)

1. What we have just heard and attentively received, as the holy Gospel was being read, I doubt not that all of us have also endeavored to understand, and that each of us according to his measure apprehended what he could of so great a matter as that which has been read; and while the bread of the word is laid out, no one can complain that he has tasted nothing. But again I doubt not that there is scarcely any who has understood the whole. Nevertheless, even should there be any who may sufficiently understand the words of our Lord Jesus Christ now read out of the Gospel, let him bear with our ministry, while, if possible, with His assistance, we may, by treating thereof, cause that either all or many may understand that which a few are joyful of having understood for themselves.

2. I think that what the Lord says, I am the light of the world, is clear to those that have eyes, by which they are made partakers of this light: but they who have not eyes except in the flesh alone, wonder at what is said by the Lord Jesus Christ, I am the light of the world. And perhaps there may not be wanting some one too who says with himself: Whether perhaps the Lord Christ is that sun which by its rising and setting causes the day? For there have not been wanting heretics who thought this. The Manichæans have supposed that the Lord Christ is that sun which is visible to carnal eyes, exposed and public to be seen, not only by men, but by the beasts. But the right faith of the Catholic Church rejects such a fiction, and perceives it to be a devilish doctrine: not only by believing acknowledges it to be such, but in the case of whom it can, proves it even by reasoning. Let us therefore reject this kind of error, which the Holy Church has anathematized from the beginning. Let us not suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ is this sun which we see rising from the east, setting in the west; to whose course succeeds night, whose rays are obscured by a cloud, which removes from place to place by a set motion: the Lord Christ is not such a thing as this. The Lord Christ is not the sun that was made, but He by whom the sun was made. For all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.

3. There is therefore a Light which made this light of the sun: let us love this Light, let us long to understand it, let us thirst for the same; that, with itself for our guide, we may at length come to it, and that we may so live in it that we may never die. This is indeed that Light of which prophecy long ago going before thus sang in the psalm: O Lord, You shall save men and beasts; even as Your mercy is multiplied, O God. These are the words of the holy psalm: mark ye what the ancient discourse of holy men of God did premise concerning such a light. Men, says it, and beasts You shall save, O Lord; even as Your mercy is multiplied, O God. For since You are God, and hast manifold mercy, the same multiplicity of Your mercy reaches not only to men whom You have created in Your own image, but even to the beasts which You have made subservient to men. For He who gives salvation to man, the same gives salvation also to the beast. Do not blush to think this of the Lord your God: nay, rather believe this and trust it, and see thou think not otherwise. He that saves you, the same saves your horse and your sheep; to come to the very least, also your hen: Salvation is of the Lord, and God saves these. You are uneasy, you question, I wonder why you doubt. Shall He disdain to save who deigned to create? Of the Lord is the saving of angels, of men, and of beasts: Salvation is of the Lord. Just as no man is from himself, so no man is saved by himself. Therefore most truly and right well does the psalm say, O Lord, You shall save men and beasts. Why? Even as your mercy is multiplied, O God. For You are God, You have created, You save: You gave being, You give to be in health.

4. Since, therefore, as the mercy of God is multiplied, men and beasts are saved by Him, have not men something else which God as Creator bestows on them, which He bestows not on the beasts? Is there no distinction between the living creature made after the image of God, and the living creature made subject to the image of God? Clearly there is: beyond that salvation common to us with the dumb animals, there is what God bestows on us, but not on them. What is this? Follow on in the same psalm: But the sons of men shall hope under the covert of Your wings. Having now a salvation in common with their cattle, the sons of men shall hope under the covert of Your wings. They have one salvation in fact, another in hope. This salvation which is at present is common to men and cattle; but there is another which men hope for; and which they who hope for receive, they who despair of receive not. For it says, The sons of men shall hope under covert of Your wings. And they that perseveringly hope are protected by You, lest they be cast down from their hope by the devil: Under covert of Your wings they shall hope. If they shall hope, what shall they hope for, but for what the cattle shall not have? They shall be fully drunk with the fatness of Your house; and from the torrent of Your pleasure You shall give them drink. What sort of wine is that with which it is laudable to be drunk? What sort of wine is that which disturbs not the mind, but directs it? What sort of wine is that which makes perpetually sane, and makes not insane by drinking? They shall be fully drunk. How? With the fatness of Your house; and from the torrent of Your pleasure You shall give them drink. How so? Because with You is the fountain of life. The very fountain of life walked on the earth, the same who said, Whoever thirsts, let him come unto me. Behold the fountain! But we begin to speak about the light, and to handle the question laid down from the Gospel concerning the light. For we read how the Lord said, I am the light of the world. Thence arose a question, lest any one, carnally understanding this, should fancy this light to mean the sun: we came thence to the psalm, which having considered, we found meanwhile that the Lord is the fountain of life. Drink and live. With You, it says, is the fountain of life; therefore, under the shadow of Your wings the sons of men hope, seeking to be full drunk with this fountain. But we were speaking of the Light. Follow on, then; for the prophet, having said, With You is the fountain of life, went on to add, In Your light shall we see light,— God of God, Light of Light. By this Light the sun's light was made; and the Light which made the sun, under which He also made us, was made under the sun for our sake. That Light which made the sun, was made, I say, under the sun for our sake. Do not despise the cloud of the flesh; with that cloud it is covered, not to be obscured, but to be moderated.

5. That unfailing Light, the Light of wisdom, speaking through the cloud of the flesh, says to men, I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. How He has withdrawn you from the eyes of the flesh, and recalled you to the eyes of the heart! For it is not enough to say, Whoever follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have light; He added too, of life; even as it was there said, For with You is the fountain of life. See thus, my brethren, how the words of the Lord agree with the truth of that psalm: both there, the light is put with the fountain of life, and by the Lord it is said, light of life. But for bodily use, light and fountain are different things: our mouths seek a fountain, our eyes light; when we thirst we seek a fountain, when we are in darkness we seek light; and if we chance to thirst in the night, we kindle a light to come to a fountain. Not so with God: light and fountain are the same thing: He who shines for you that you may see, the same flows for you that you may drink.

6. You see, then, my brethren, you see, if you see inwardly, what kind of light this is, of which the Lord says, He that follows me shall not walk in darkness. Follow the sun, and let us see if you will not walk in darkness. Behold, by rising it comes forth to you; it goes by its course towards the west. Perhaps your journey is towards the east: unless you go in a contrary direction to that in which it travels, you will certainly err by following it, and instead of east will get to the west. If you follow it by land, you will go wrong; if the mariner follows it by sea, he will go wrong. Finally, it seems to you, suppose, that you must follow the sun, and you also travel yourself towards the west, where it also travels; let us see after it has set if you will not walk in darkness. See how, although you are not willing to desert it, yet it will desert you, to finish the day by necessity of its service. But our Lord Jesus Christ, even when He was not manifest to all through the cloud of His flesh, was yet at the same time holding all things by the power of His wisdom. Your God is whole everywhere: if you fall not off from Him, He will never fall away from you.

7. Accordingly, He that follows me, says He, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. What He has promised, He put in a word of the future tense; for He says not has, but shall have the light of life. Yet He does not say, He that shall follow me; but, he that does follow me. What it is our duty to do, He put in the present tense; but what He has promised to them that do it, He has indicated by a word of the future tense. He that follows, shall have. That follows now, shall have hereafter: follows now by faith, shall have hereafter by sight. For, while we are in the body, says the apostle, we are absent from the Lord: for we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:6-7 When shall we walk by sight? When we shall have the light of life, when we shall have come to that vision, when this night shall have passed away. Of that day, indeed, which is to arise, it is said, In the morning I will stand near you, and contemplate you. What means in the morning? When the night of this world is over, when the terrors of temptations are over, when that lion which goes about roaring in the night, seeking whom it may devour, is vanquished. In the morning I will stand near you, and contemplate. Now what do we think, brethren, to be our duty for the present time, but what is again said in the psalm, Every night through will I wash my couch; I will moisten my bed with my tears? Every night through, says he, I will weep; I will burn with desire for the light. The Lord sees my desire: for another psalm says to Him, All my desire is before You; and my groaning is not hid from You. Do you desire gold? You can be seen; for, while seeking gold, you will be manifest to men. Do you desire grain? Thou ask one that has it; whom also you inform, while seeking to get at that which you desire. Do you desire God? Who sees, but God? From whom, then, do you seek God, as you seek bread, water, gold, silver, grain? From whom do you seek God, except from God? He is sought from Himself who has promised Himself. Let the soul extend her desire, and with more capacious bosom seek to comprehend that which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man. 1 Corinthians 2:9 Desire it we can, long for it we can, pant after it we can; but worthily conceive it, worthily unfold it in words, we cannot.

8. Wherefore, my brethren, since the Lord says briefly, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life; in these words He has commanded one thing, promised another; let us do what He has commanded, that we may not with shameless face demand what He has promised; that He may not say to us in His judgment, Have you done what I commanded, that you should expect what I promised? What have You commanded, then, O Lord our God? He says to you, That you should follow me. You have sought counsel of life? Of what life, but of that of which it is said, With You is the fountain of life? A certain man heard it said to him, Go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. He followed not, but went away sorrowful; he sought the good Master, went to Him as a teacher, and despised His teaching; he went away sorrowful, tied and bound by his lusts; he went away sorrowful, having a great load of avarice on his shoulders. He toiled and fretted; and yet he thought that He, who was willing to rid him of his load, was not to be followed but forsaken. But after the Lord has, by the gospel, cried aloud, Come unto me, all you that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, how many, on hearing the gospel, have done what that rich man, on hearing from His own mouth, did not do? Therefore, let us do it now, let us follow the Lord; let us loose the fetters by which we are hindered from following Him. And who is sufficient to loose such bonds, unless He help, to whom it is said, You have burst asunder my bonds? Of whom another psalm says, The Lord looses them that are in bonds; the Lord raises up them that are crushed and oppressed.

9. And what do they follow, who have been loosed and raised up, but the Light from which they hear, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness? For the Lord gives light to the blind. Therefore we, brethren, having the eye-salve of faith, are now enlightened. For His spittle did before mingle with the earth, by which the eyes of him who was born blind were anointed. We, too, have been born blind of Adam, and have need of Him to enlighten us. He mixed spittle with clay: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. He mixed spittle with earth; hence it was predicted, Truth has sprung from the earth; and He said Himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life. When we shall see face to face, we shall have the full fruition of the truth; for this also is promised to us. For who would dare hope for what God had not deigned either to promise or to give? We shall see face to face. The apostle says, Now I know in part, now through a glass darkly; but then, face to face. 1 Corinthians 13:12 And the Apostle John says in his epistle, Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it has not yet appeared what we shall be: we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is. 1 John 3:2 This is a great promise; if you love, follow. I do love, do you say, but by what way am I to follow? If the Lord your God had said to you, I am the truth and the life, in desiring truth and longing for life, you might truly ask the way by which you might come to these, and might say to yourself: A great thing is the truth, a great thing is the life, were there only the means whereby my soul might come thereto! Do you ask by what way? Hear Him say at the first, I am the way. Before He said whither, He premised by what way: I am, says He, the way. The way whither? And the truth and the life. First, He told you the way to come; then, whither to come. I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. Remaining with the Father, the truth and life; putting on flesh, He became the way. It is not said to you, Labor in finding a way to come to the truth and life; this is not said to you. Sluggard, arise: the way itself has come to you, and roused you from your sleep; if, however, it has roused you, up and walk. Perhaps you are trying to walk, and art not able, because your feet ache. How come your feet to ache? Have they been running over rough places at the bidding of avarice? But the word of God has healed even the lame. Behold, you say, I have my feet sound, but the way itself I see not. He has also enlightened the blind.

10. All this by faith, so long as we are absent from the Lord, dwelling in the body; but when we shall have traversed the way, and have reached the home itself, what shall be more joyful than we? What shall be more blessed than we? Because nothing more at peace than we; for there will be no rebelling against a man. But now, brethren, it is difficult for us to be without strife. We have indeed been called to concord, we are commanded to have peace among ourselves; to this we must give our endeavor, and strain with all our might, that we may come at last to the most perfect peace; but at present we are at strife, very often with those whose good we are seeking. There is one who goes astray, you wish to lead him to the way; he resists, you strive with him: the pagan resists you, you dispute against the errors of idols and devils; a heretic resists, you dispute against other doctrines of devils; a bad catholic is not willing to live aright, you rebuke even your brother within; he dwells with you in the house, and seeks the paths of ruin; you are inflamed with eager passion to put him right, that you may render to the Lord a good account of both concerning him. How many necessities of strife there are on every side! Very often one is overcome with weariness, and says to himself, What have I to do with bearing with gainsayers, bearing with those who render evil for good? I wish to benefit them, they are willing to perish; I wear out my life in strife; I have no peace; besides, I make enemies of those whom I ought to have as friends, if they regarded the good will of him that seeks their good: what business is it of mine to endure this? Let me return to myself, I will be kept to myself, I will call upon my God. Do return to yourself, you find strife there. If you have begun to follow God, you find strife there. What strife, do you say, do I find? The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. Galatians 5:17 Behold you are yourself, you are alone, you are with yourself; behold, you are bearing with no other person, but yet you see another law in your members warring against the law of your mind, and taking you captive in the law of sin, which is in your members. Cry aloud, then, and cry to God, that He may give you peace from the inner strife: O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 7:23-25 Because, He that follows me, says He, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. All strife ended, immortality shall follow; for the last enemy, death, shall be destroyed. And what peace will this be? This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 1 Corinthians 15:26 To which that we may come (for it will then be in reality), let us now follow in hope Him who said, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Tractate 35 (John 8:13-14)

1. You who were present yesterday, bear in mind that we were a long while discoursing of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, where He says, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life; and if we wished to go on discoursing of that light, we might still speak a long time; for it would be impossible for us to expound the matter in brief. Therefore, my brethren, let us follow Christ, the light of the world, that we may not be walking in darkness. We must fear the darkness — not the darkness of the eyes, but that of the moral character; and even if it be the darkness of the eyes, it is not of the outer, but of the inner eyes, of those by which we discern, not between white and black, but between right and wrong.

2. When our Lord Jesus Christ had spoken these things, the Jews answered, You bear record of yourself; your record is not true. Before our Lord Jesus Christ came, He lighted and sent many prophetic lamps before Him. Of these was also John Baptist, to whom the great Light itself, which is the Lord Christ, gave a testimony such as was given to no other man; for He said, Among them that are born of women, there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Matthew 11:11 Yet this man, than whom none was greater among those born of women, said of the Lord Jesus Christ, I indeed baptize you in water; but He that is coming is mightier than I, whose shoe I am not worthy to loose. John 1:26-27 See how the lamps submits itself to the Day. The Lord Himself bears witness that the same John was indeed a lamp: He was, says He, a burning and a shining lamp; and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. John 5:35 But when the Jews said to the Lord, Tell us by what authority you do these things, He, knowing that they regarded John the Baptist as a great one, and that the same whom they regarded as a great one had borne witness to them concerning the Lord, answered them, I also will ask you one thing; tell me, the baptism of John, whence is it? From heaven, or from men? Thrown into confusion, they considered among themselves that, if they said, From men, they might be stoned by the people, who believed John to be a prophet; if they said, From heaven, He might answer them, He whom you confess to have been a prophet from heaven bore testimony to me, and you have heard from him by what authority I do these things. They saw, then, that whichever of these two answers they made, they would fall into the snare, and they said, We do not know. And the Lord answered them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. Matthew 21:23-27 I tell you not what I know, because you will not confess what you know. Most justly, certainly, were they repulsed, and they departed in confusion; and that was fulfilled which God the Father says by the prophet in the psalm, I have prepared a lamp for my Christ (the lamp was John); His enemies I will clothe with confusion.

3. The Lord Jesus Christ, then, had the witness of prophets sent before Him, of the heralds that preceded the judge: He had witness from John; but He was Himself the greater witness which He bore to Himself. But those men with their feeble eyes sought lamps, because they were not able to bear the day; for that same Apostle John, whose Gospel we have in our hands, says in the beginning of his Gospel, concerning John the Baptist: There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men might believe through him. He was not the light, but was sent to bear witness of the light. That was the true light, that lights every man coming into the world. If every man, therefore also lights John. Whence also the same John says, We all have received out of His fullness. Wherefore discern ye these things, that your minds may profit in the faith of Christ, that you be not always babes seeking the breasts and shrinking from solid food. You ought to be nourished and to be weaned by our holy mother the Church of Christ, and to come to more solid food by the mind, not by the belly. This discern ye then, that the light which enlightens is one thing, another that which is enlightened. For also our eyes are called lights; and every man thus swears, touching his eyes, by these lights of his: So may my lights live. This is a customary oath. Let these lights, if lights they are, be opened, and shine for you in your closed chamber, when the light is not there; they certainly cannot. Therefore, as these which we have in our face, and call lights, when they are both healthy and open, need the help of light from without — which being removed or not brought in, though they are sound and are open, yet they do not see — so our mind, which is the eye of the soul, unless it be irradiated by the light of truth, and wondrously shone upon by Him who enlightens and is not enlightened, will not be able to come to wisdom nor to righteousness. For to live righteously is for us the way itself. But how can he on whom the light does not shine but stumble in the way? And hence, in such a way, we have need of seeing, in such a way it is a great thing to see. Now Tobias had the eyes in his face closed, and the son gave his hand to the father; and yet the father, by his instruction, pointed out the way to the son. Tobit 2:11

4. The Jews then answered, You bear witness of yourself; your witness is not true. Let us see what they hear; let us also hear, yet not as they did: they despising, we believing; they wishing to slay Christ, we desiring to live through Christ. Let this difference distinguish our ears and minds from theirs, and let us hear what the Lord answers to the Jews. Jesus answered and said to them, Though I bear witness of myself, my witness is true; because I know whence I came and whither I go. The light shows both other things and also itself. Thou lightest a lamp, for instance, to look for your coat, and the burning lamp affords you light to find your coat; do you light the lamp to see itself when it burns? A burning lamp is indeed capable at the same time of exposing to view other things which the darkness covered, and also of showing itself to your eyes. So also the Lord Christ distinguished between His faithful ones and His Jewish enemies, as between light and darkness: as between those whom He illuminated with the ray of faith, and those on whose closed eyes He shed His light. So, too, the sun shines on the face of the sighted and of the blind; both alike standing and facing the sun are shone upon in the flesh, but both are not enlightened in the eyesight. The one sees, the other sees not: the sun is present to both, but one is absent from the present sun. So likewise the Wisdom of God, the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is everywhere present, because the truth is everywhere, wisdom is everywhere. One man in the east understands justice, another man in the west understands justice; is justice which the one understands a different thing from that which the other understands? In body they are far apart, and yet they have the eyes of their minds on one object. The justice which I, placed here, see, if justice it is, is the same which the just man, separated from me in the flesh by ever so many days' journey, also sees, and is united to me in the light of that justice. Therefore the light bears witness to itself; it opens the sound eyes and is its own witness, that it may be known as the light. But how about the unbelievers? Is it not present to them? It is present also to them, but they have not eyes of the heart with which to see it. Hear the sentence fetched from the Gospel itself concerning them: And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. John 1:5 Hence the Lord says, and says truly, Though I bear witness of myself, my witness is true; because I know whence I came and whither I go. He meant us to understand the Father here: the Son gave glory to the Father. Himself the equal glorifies Him by whom He was sent. How ought man to glorify Him by whom he was created!

5. I know whence I came and whither I go. He who speaks to you in person has what He has not left, and yet He came; for by coming He departed not thence, nor has He forsaken us by returning there. Why do you marvel? It is God: this cannot be done by man; it cannot be done even by the sun. When it goes to the west it leaves the east, and until it returns to the east, when about to rise, it is not in the east; but our Lord Jesus Christ both comes and is there, both returns and is here. Hear the evangelist himself speaking in another place, and, if you can, understand it; if not, believe it: God, says he, no man has ever seen, but the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. He said not was in the bosom of the Father, as if by coming He had quitted the Father's bosom. Here He was speaking, and yet He declared that He was there; and when about to depart hence, what said He? Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Matthew 28:20

6. The witness of the light then is true, whether it be manifesting itself or other things; for without light you can not see light, and without light you can not see any other thing whatever that is not light. If light is capable of showing other things which are not lights, is it not capable of showing itself? Does not that discover itself, without which other things cannot be made manifest? A prophet spoke a truth; but whence had he it, unless he drew it from the fountain of truth? John spoke a truth; but whence he spoke it, ask himself: We all, says he, have received of His fullness. Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ is worthy to bear witness to Himself. But in any case, my brethren, let us who are in the night of this world hear also prophecy with earnest attention: for now our Lord willed to come in humility to our weakness and the deep night-darkness of our hearts: He came as a man to be despised and to be honored, He came to be denied and to be confessed; to be despised and to be denied by the Jews, to be honored and confessed by us: to be judged and to judge; to be judged unjustly, to judge righteously. Such then He came that He behooved to have a lamp to bear witness to Him. For what need was there that John should, as a lamp, bear witness to the day, if the day itself could be looked upon by our weakness? But we could not look upon it: He became weak for the weak; by infirmity He healed infirmity; by mortal flesh He took away the death of the flesh; of His own body He made a salve for our eyes. Since, therefore, the Lord has come, and since we are still in the night of the world, it behooves us to hear also prophecies.

7. For it is from prophecy that we convince gainsaying pagans. Who is Christ? Says the pagan. To whom we reply, He whom the prophets foretold. What prophets? Asks he. We quote Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, and other holy prophets: we tell him that they came long before Christ, by what length of time they preceded His coming. We make this reply then: Prophets came before Him, and they foretold His coming. One of them answers: What prophets? We quote for him those which are daily read to us. And, said he, Who are these prophets? We answer: Those who also foretold the things which we see come to pass. And he urges: You have forged these for yourselves, you have seen them come to pass, and have written them in what books you pleased, as if their coming had been predicted. Here in opposition to pagan enemies the witness of other enemies offers itself. We produce books written by the Jews, and reply: Doubtless both you and they are enemies of our faith. Hence are they scattered among the nations, that we may convince one class of enemies by another. Let the book of Isaiah be produced by the Jews, and let us see if it is not there we read, He was led as a sheep to be slaughtered, and as a lamb before his shearer was dumb, so He opened not His mouth. In humility His judgment was taken away; by His bruises we are healed: all we as sheep went astray, and He was delivered up for our sins. Isaiah 53:5-8 Behold one lamp. Let another be produced, let the psalm be opened, and thence, too, let the foretold suffering of Christ be quoted: They pierced my hands and my feet, they counted all my bones: but they considered me and gazed upon me, they parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture they cast the lot. My praise is with You; in the great assembly will I confess to You. All the ends of the earth shall be reminded, and be converted to the Lord: all countries of the nations shall worship in His sight; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and He shall have dominion over the nations. Let one enemy blush, for it is another enemy that gives me the book. But lo, out of the book produced by the one enemy, I have vanquished the other: nor let that same who produced me the book be left; let him produce that by which himself also may be vanquished. I read another prophet, and I find the Lord speaking to the Jews: I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord, nor will I accept sacrifice at your hands: for from the rising of the sun even to his going down, a pure sacrifice is offered to my name. Malachi 1:10-11 Thou dost not come, O Jew, to a pure sacrifice; I prove you impure.

8. Behold, even lamps bear witness to the day, because of our weakness, for we cannot bear and look at the brightness of the day. In comparison, indeed, with unbelievers, we Christians are even now light; as the apostle says, For you were once darkness, but now light in the Lord: walk as children of light: Ephesians 5:8 and he says elsewhere, The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast away the works of darkness, and put on us the armor of light; let us walk honestly as in the day. Romans 13:12-13 Yet that even the day in which we now are is still night, in comparison with the light of that to which we are to come, listen to the Apostle Peter: he says that a voice came to the Lord Christ from the excellent glory, You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. This voice, said he, which came from heaven, we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount. But because we were not there, and have not then heard this voice from heaven, the same Peter says to us, And we have a more sure word of prophecy. You have not heard the voice come from heaven, but you have a more sure word of prophecy. For the Lord Jesus Christ, foreseeing that there would be certain wicked men who would calumniate His miracles, by attributing them to magical arts, sent prophets before Him. For, supposing He was a magician, and by magical arts caused that He should be worshipped after His death, was He then a magician before He was born? Hear the prophets, O man dead, and breeding the worms of calumny, hear the prophets: I read, hear them who came before the Lord. We have, says the Apostle Peter, a more sure word of prophecy, to which you do well to give heed, as to a lamp in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:17-19

9. When, therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ shall come, and, as the Apostle Paul also says, will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the thoughts of the heart, that every man may have praise from God; 1 Corinthians 4:5 then, in presence of such a day, lamps will not be needed: no prophet shall then be read to us, no book of an apostle shall be opened; we shall not require the witness of John, we shall not need the Gospel itself. Accordingly all Scriptures shall be taken out of the way — which, in the night of this world, were as lamps kindled for us that we might not remain in darkness — when all these are taken away, that they may not shine as if we needed them, and the men of God, by whom these were ministered to us, shall themselves, together with us, behold that true and clear light. Well, what shall we see after these aids have been removed? Wherewith shall our mind be fed? Wherewith shall our gaze be delighted? Whence shall arise that joy which neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has gone up into the heart of man? What shall we see? I beseech you, love with me, by believing run with me: let us long for our home above, let us pant for our home above, let us feel that we are strangers here. What shall we see then? Let the Gospel now tell us: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. You shall come to the fountain from which a little dew has already besprinkled you: you shall see that very light, from which a ray was sent aslant and through many windings into your dark heart, in its purity, for the seeing and bearing of which you are being purified. John himself says, and this I cited yesterday: Beloved, we are the sons of God; and it has not yet appeared what we shall be: we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him even as He is. 1 John 3:2 I feel that your affections are being lifted up with me to the things that are above: but the body, which is corrupt, weighs down the soul; and, the earthly habitation depresses the mind while meditating many things. Wisdom 9:15 I am about to lay aside this book, and you too are going to depart, every man to his own house. It has been good for us to have been in the common light, good to have been glad therein, good to have rejoiced therein; but when we part from one another, let us not depart from Him.

Tractate 36 (John 8:15-18)

1. In the four Gospels, or rather in the four books of the one Gospel, Saint John the apostle, not undeservedly in respect of his spiritual understanding compared to the eagle, has elevated his preaching higher and far more sublimely than the other three; and in this elevating of it he would have our hearts likewise lifted up. For the other three evangelists walked with the Lord on earth as with a man; concerning His divinity they have said but little; but this evangelist, as if he disdained to walk on earth, just as in the very opening of his discourse he thundered on us, soared not only above the earth and above the whole compass of air and sky, but even above the whole army of angels and the whole order of invisible powers, and reached to Him by whom all things were made; saying, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made. To this so great sublimity of his beginning all the rest of his preaching well agrees; and he has spoken concerning the divinity of the Lord as none other has spoken. What he had drank in, the same he gave forth. For it is not without reason that it is recorded of him in this very Gospel, that at supper he reclined on the Lord's bosom. From that breast then he drank in secret; but what he drank in secret he gave forth openly, that there may come to all nations not only the incarnation of the Son of God, and His passion and resurrection, but also what He was before His incarnation, the only Son of the Father, the Word of the Father, coeternal with Him that begot, equal with Him by whom He was sent; but yet in that very sending made less, that the Father might be greater.

2. Whatever, then, you have heard stated in lowly manner concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, think of that economy by which He assumed flesh; but whatever you hear, or read, stated in the Gospel concerning Him that is sublime and high above all creatures, and divine, and equal and coeternal with the Father, be sure that this which you read appertains to the form of God, not to the form of the servant. For if you hold this rule, you who can understand it (inasmuch as you are not all able to understand it, but you are all bound to trust it) — if, I say, you hold this rule, as men walking in the light, you will fight against the calumnies of heretical darkness without fear. For there have not been wanting those who, in reading the Gospel, followed only those testimonies that concern the humility of Christ, and have been deaf to those which have declared His divinity; deaf for this reason, that they may be full of evil words. There have likewise been some, who, giving heed only to those which speak of the excellency of the Lord, even though they have read of His mercy in becoming man for our sakes, have not believed the testimonies, but accounted them false and invented by men; contending that our Lord Jesus Christ was only God, not also man. Some in this way, some in that: both in error. But the catholic faith, holding from both the truths which each holds and preaching the truth which each believes, has both understood that Christ is God and also believed Him to be man: for each is written and each is true. Should you assert that Christ is only God, you deny the medicine whereby you were healed: should you assert that Christ is only man, you deny the power whereby you were created. Hold therefore both. O faithful soul and catholic heart, hold both, believe both, faithfully confess both. Christ is both God and also man. How is Christ God? Equal with the Father, one with the Father. How is Christ man? Born of a virgin, taking upon Himself mortality from man, but not taking iniquity.

3. These Jews then saw the man; they neither perceived nor believed Him to be God: and you have already heard how, among all the rest, they said to Him, You bear witness of yourself; your witness is not true. You have also heard what He said in reply, as it was read to you yesterday, and according to our ability discussed. Today have been read these words of His, You judge after the flesh. Therefore it is, says He, that you say to me, You bear witness of yourself; your witness is not true, because you judge after the flesh, because you perceive not God; the man you see, and by persecuting the man, you offend God hidden in Him. You, then, judge after the flesh. Because I bear witness of myself, I therefore appear to you arrogant. For every man, when he wishes to bear commendatory witness of himself, seems arrogant and proud. Hence it is written, Let not your own mouth praise you, but let your neighbor's mouth praise you. Proverbs 27:2 But this was said to man. For we are weak, and we speak to the weak. We can speak the truth, but we can also lie; although we are bound to speak the truth, still we have it in our power to lie when we will. But far be it from us to think that the darkness of falsehood could be found in the splendor of the divine light. He spoke as the light, spoke as the truth; but the light was shining in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not: therefore they judged after the flesh. You, says He, judge after the flesh.

4. I judge not any man. Does not the Lord Jesus Christ, then, judge any man? Is He not the same of whom we confess that He rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven, there sits at the right hand of the Father, and thence shall come to judge the quick and the dead? Is not this our faith of which the apostle says, With the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation? Romans 10:10 When, therefore, we confess these things, do we contradict the Lord? We say that He shall come a judge of the quick and the dead, while He says Himself, I judge not any man. This question may be solved in two ways: Either that we may understand this expression, I judge not any man, to mean, I judge not any man now; in accordance with what He says in another place, I am not come to judge the world, but to save the world; not denying His judgment here, but deferring it. Or, otherwise, surely that when He said, You judge after the flesh, He subjoined, I judge not any man, in such manner that you should understand after the flesh to complete the sense. Therefore let no scruple of doubt remain in our heart against the faith which we hold and declare concerning Christ as judge. Christ has come, but first to save, then to judge: to adjudge to punishment those who would not be saved; to bring them to life who, by believing, did not reject salvation. Accordingly, the first dispensation of our Lord Jesus Christ is medicinal, not judicial; for if He had come to judge first, He would have found none on whom He might bestow the rewards of righteousness. Because, therefore, He saw that all were sinners, and that none was exempt from the death of sin, His mercy had first to be craved, and afterwards His judgment must be executed; for of Him the psalm had sung, Mercy and judgment will I sing to You, O Lord. Now, He says not judgment and mercy, for if judgment had been first, there would be no mercy; but it is mercy first, then judgment. What is the mercy first? The Creator of man deigned to become man; was made what He had made, that the creature He had made might not perish. What can be added to this mercy? And yet He has added thereto. It was not enough for Him to be made man, He added to this that He was rejected of men; it was not enough to be rejected, He was dishonored; it was not enough to be dishonored, He was put to death; but even this was not enough, it was by the death of the cross. For when the apostle was commending to us His obedience even unto death, it was not enough for him to say, He became obedient unto death; for it was not unto death of any kind whatever: but he added, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:8 Among all kinds of death, there was nothing worse than that death. In short, that wherein one is racked by the most intense pains is called cruciatus, which takes its name from crux, a cross. For the crucified, hanging on the tree, nailed to the wood, were killed by a slow lingering death. To be crucified was not merely to be put to death; for the victim lived long on the cross, not because longer life was chosen, but because death itself was stretched out that the pain might not be too quickly ended. He willed to die for us, yet it is not enough to say this; He deigned to be crucified, became obedient even to the death of the cross. He who was about to take away all death, chose the lowest and worst kind of death: He slew death by the worst of deaths. To the Jews who understood not, it was indeed the worst of deaths, but it was chosen by the Lord. For He was to have that very cross as His sign; that very cross, a trophy, as it were, over the vanquished devil, He was to put on the brow of believers, so that the apostle said, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14 Nothing was then more intolerable in the flesh, nothing is now more glorious on the brow. What does He reserve for His faithful one, when He has put such honor on the instrument of His own torture? Now is the cross no longer used among the Romans in the punishment of criminals, for where the cross of the Lord came to be honored, it was thought that even a guilty man would be honored if he should be crucified. Hence, He who came for this cause judged no man: He suffered also the wicked. He suffered unjust judgment, that He might execute righteous judgment. But it was of His mercy that He endured unjust judgment. In short, He became so low as to come to the cross; yea, laid aside His power, but published His mercy. Wherein did He lay aside His power? In that He would not come down from the cross, though He had the power to rise again from the sepulchre. Wherein did He publish His mercy? In that, when hanging on the cross, He said, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34 Whether, then, it be that He said, I judge not any man, because He had come not to judge the world, but to save the world; or, that, as I have mentioned, when He had said, You judge after the flesh, He added, I judge not any man, for us to understand that Christ judges not after the flesh, like as He was judged by men.

5. But that you may know that Christ is judge even now, hear what follows: And if I judge, my judgment is true. Behold, you have Him as your judge, but acknowledge Him as your Saviour, lest you feel the judge. But why has He said that His judgment is true? Because, says He, I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. I have said to you, brethren, that this holy Evangelist John soars exceedingly high: it is with difficulty that he is comprehended. But we need to remind you, beloved, of the deeper mystery of this soaring. Both in the prophet Ezekiel, and in the Apocalypse of this very John whose Gospel this is, there is mentioned a fourfold living creature, having four characteristic faces; that of a man, of an ox, of a lion, and of an eagle. Those who have handled the mysteries of Holy Scripture before us have, for the most part, understood by this living creature, or rather, these four living creatures, the four evangelists. They have understood the lion as put for king, because he appears to be, in a manner, the king of beasts on account of his strength and terrible valor. This character is assigned to Matthew, because in the generations of the Lord he followed the royal line, showing how the Lord was, along the royal line, of the seed of David. But Luke, because he begins with the priesthood of Zacharias, mentioning the father of John the Baptist, is designated the ox; for the ox was an important victim in the sacrifice of the priests. To Mark is deservedly assigned the man Christ, because neither has he said anything of the royal authority, nor did he begin with the priestly function, but only set out with the man Christ. All these have departed but little from the things of earth, that is, from those things which our Lord Jesus Christ performed on earth; of His divinity they have said very little, like men walking with Him on the earth. There remains the eagle; this is John, the preacher of sublime truths, and a contemplator with steady gaze of the inner and eternal light. It is said, indeed, that the young eagles are tested by the parent birds in this way: the young one is suspended from the talons of the male parent and directly exposed to the rays of the sun; if it looks steadily at the sun, it is recognized as a true brood; if its eye quivers, it is allowed to drop off, as a spurious brood. Now, therefore, consider how sublime are the things he ought to speak who is compared to the eagle; and yet even we, who creep on the earth, weak and hardly of any account among men, venture to handle and to expound these things; and imagine that we can either apprehend when we meditate them, or be apprehended when we speak.

6. Why have I said this? For perhaps after these words one may justly say to me: Lay aside the book then. Why do you take in hand what exceeds your measure? Why trust your tongue to it? To this I reply: Many heretics abound; and God has permitted them to abound to this end, that we may not be always nourished with milk and remain in senseless infancy. For inasmuch as they have not understood how the divinity of Christ is set forth to our acceptance, they have concluded according to their will: and by not discerning aright, they have brought in most troublesome questions upon catholic believers; and the hearts of believers began to be disturbed and to waver. Then immediately it became a necessity for spiritual men, who had not only read in the Gospel anything respecting the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, but had also understood it, to bring forth the armor of Christ against the armor of the devil, and with all their might to fight in most open conflict for the divinity of Christ against false and deceitful teachers; lest, while they were silent, others might perish. For whoever have thought either that our Lord Jesus Christ is of another substance than the Father is, or that there is only Christ, so that the same is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; whoever also have chosen to think that He was only man, not God made man, or God in such wise as to be mutable in His Godhead, or God in such wise as not to be man; these have made shipwreck from the faith, and have been cast forth from the harbor of the Church, lest by their inquietude they might wreck the ships in their company. Which thing obliged that even we, though least and as regards ourselves wholly unworthy, but in regard of His mercy set in some account among His stewards, should speak to you what either you may understand and rejoice with me, or, if you cannot yet understand, by believing it you may remain secure in the harbor.

7. I will accordingly speak; let him who can, understand; and let him who cannot understand, believe: yet will I speak what the Lord says, You judge after the flesh; I judge not any man, either now, or after the flesh. But even, if I judge, my judgment is true. Why is Your judgment true? Because I am not alone, says He, but I and the Father that sent me. What then, O Lord Jesus? If You were alone would Your judgment be false: and is it because You are not alone, but Thou and the Father that sent You, that You judge truly? How shall I answer? Let Himself answer: He says, My judgment is true. Why? Because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. If He is with You, how has He sent You? And has He sent You, and yet is He also with You? Is it so that having been sent, You have not departed from Him? And You came to us, and yet abode there? How is this to be believed? How apprehended? To these two questions I answer: You say rightly, how is it to be apprehended; how believed, you say not rightly. Rather, for that reason is it right to believe it, because it is not immediately to be apprehended; for if it were a thing to be immediately apprehended, there would be no need to believe it, because it would be seen. It is because you do not apprehend that you believe, but by believing you are made capable of apprehending. For if you do not believe, you will never apprehend, since you will remain less capable. Let faith then purify you, that understanding may fill you. My judgment is true, says He, because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. Therefore, O Lord our God, Jesus Christ, Your sending is Your incarnation. So I see, so I understand: in short, so I believe, in case it may smack of arrogance to say, so I understand. Doubtless the Lord Jesus Christ is even here; rather, was here as to His flesh, is here now as to His Godhead: He was both with the Father and had not left the Father. Hence, in that He is said to have been sent and to have come to us, His incarnation is set forth to us, for the Father did not take flesh.

8. For there are certain heretics called Sabellians, who are also called Patripassians, who affirm that it was the Father Himself that had suffered. Do not thou so affirm, O Catholic; for if you will be a Patripassian, you will not be sane. Understand, then, that the incarnation of the Son is termed the sending of the Son; and do not believe that the Father was incarnate, but do not yet believe that He departed from the incarnate Son. The Son carried flesh, the Father was with the Son. If the Father was in heaven, the Son on earth, how was the Father with the Son? Because both Father and Son were everywhere: for God is not in such manner in heaven as not to be on earth. Hear him who would flee from the judgment of God, and found not a way to flee by: Whither shall I go, says he, from Your Spirit; and whither shall I flee from Your face? If I ascend up into heaven, You are there. The question was about the earth; hear what follows: If I descend unto hell, You are there. If, then, He is said to be present even in hell, what in the universe remains where He is not present? For the voice of God with the prophet is, I fill heaven and earth. Jeremiah 23:24 Hence He is everywhere, who is confined by no place. Turn not thou away from Him, and He is with you. If you would come to Him, be not slow to love; for it is not with feet but with affections you run. You come while remaining in one place, if you believe and lovest. Wherefore He is everywhere; and if everywhere, how not also with the Son? Is it so that He is not with the Son, while, if you believe, He is even with you?

9. How, then, is His judgment true, but because the Son is true? For this He said: And if I judge, my judgment is true; because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. Just as if He had said, My judgment is true, because I am the Son of God. How dost Thou prove that You are the Son of God? Because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. Blush, Sabellian; you hear the Son, you hear the Father. Father is Father, Son is Son. He said not, I am the Father, and I the same am the Son; but He says, I am not alone. Why are You not alone? Because the Father is with me. I am, and the Father that sent me; you hear, I am, and He that sent me. Lest thou lose sight of the person, distinguish the persons. Distin guish by understanding, do not separate by faithlessness; lest again, fleeing as it were Charybdis, thou rush upon Scylla. For the whirlpool of the impiety of the Sabellians was swallowing you, to say that the Father is the same who is Son: just now you have learned, I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. You acknowledge that the Father is Father, and that the Son is Son; you acknowledge rightly. But do not say the Father is greater, the Son is less; do not say, the Father is gold, the Son is silver. There is one substance, one Godhead, one co-eternity, perfect equality, no unlikeness. For if you only believe that Christ is another, not the same person that the Father is, but yet imagine that in respect of His nature He is somewhat different from the Father, you have indeed escaped Charybdis, but you have been wrecked on the rocks of Scylla. Steer the middle course, avoid each of the two perilous sides. Father is Father, Son is Son. You say now, Father is Father, Son is Son: you have fortunately escaped the danger of the absorbing whirl; why would you go unto the other side to say, the Father is this, the Son that? The Son is another person than the Father is, this you say rightly; but that He is different in nature, you say not rightly. Certainly the Son is another person, because He is not the same who is Father and the Father is another person, because He is not the same who is Son: nevertheless, they are not different in nature, but the selfsame is both Father and Son. What means the self-same? God is one. You have heard, Because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me: hear how you may believe Father and Son; hear the Son Himself, I and the Father are one. John 10:30 He said not, I am the Father; or, I and the Father is one person; but when He says, I and the Father are one, hear both, both the one, unum, and the are, sumus, and you shall be delivered both from Charybdis and from Scylla. In these two words, in that He said one, He delivers you from Arius; in that He said are, He delivers you from Sabellius. If one, therefore not diverse; if are, therefore both Father and Son. For He would not say are of one person; but, on the other hand, He would not say one of diverse. Hence the reason why He says, my judgment is true, is, that you may hear it briefly, because I am the Son of God. But I would have you in such wise believe that I am the Son of God, that you may understand that the Father is with me: I am not Son in such manner as to have left Him; I am not in such manner here that I should not be with Him; nor is He in such manner there as not to be with me: I have taken to me the form of a servant, yet have I not lost the form of God; therefore He says, I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.

10. He had spoken of judgment; He means to speak of testimony. In your law, says He, it is written that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me bears witness of me. He expounded the law to them also, if they were not unthankful. For it is a great question, my brethren, and to me it certainly appears to have been ordained in a mystery, where God said, In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand. Is truth sought by two witnesses? Clearly it is; so is the custom of mankind: but yet it may be that even two witnesses lie. The chaste Susanna was pressed by two false witnesses: were they not therefore false because they were two? Do we speak of two or of three? A whole people lied against Christ. Luke 23:1 If, then, a people, consisting of a great multitude of men, was found a false witness, how is it to be understood that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand, unless it be that in this manner the Trinity is mysteriously set forth to us, in which is perpetual stability of truth? Do you wish to have a good cause? Have two or three witnesses, — the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In short, when Susanna, the chaste woman and faithful wife, was pressed by two false witnesses, the Trinity supported her in her conscience and in secret: that Trinity raised up from secrecy one witness, Daniel, and convicted the two. Therefore, because it is written in your law that the witness of two men is true, receive our witness, lest you feel our judgment. For I, says He, judge not any man; but I bear witness of myself: I defer judgment, I defer not the witness.

11. Let us, brethren, choose for ourselves God as our judge, God as our witness, against the tongues of men, against the weak suspicions of mankind. For He who is the judge disdains not to be witness, nor is He advanced in honor when He becomes judge; since He who is witness will also Himself be judge. In what way is He witness? Because He asks not another to learn from Him who you are. In what way is He judge? Because He has the power of killing and making alive, of condemning and acquitting, of casting down into hell and of raising up into heaven, of joining to the devil and of crowning with the angels. Since, therefore, He has this power, He is judge. Now, because He requires not another witness that He may know you; and that He who will hereafter judge you is now seeing you, there is no means whereby you can deceive Him when He begins to judge. For there is no furnishing yourself with false witnesses who can circumvent that judge when He shall begin to judge you. This is what God says to you: When you despised, I did see it; and when you believed not, I did not frustrate my sentence. I delayed it, not removed it. You would not hear what I enjoined, you shall feel what I foretold. But if you hear what I enjoined, you shall not feel the evils which I have foretold, but you shall enjoy the good things which I have promised.

12. Let it not by any means surprise any one that He says, My judgment is true; because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me; while He has said in another place, The Father judges not any man, but all judgment has He given to the Son. We have already discoursed on these same words of the evangelist, and we remind you now that this was not said because the Father will not be with the Son when He comes to judge, but because the Son alone will be apparent to the good and the bad in the judgment, in that form in which He suffered, and rose again, and ascended into heaven. For at that moment, indeed, as they were beholding Him ascending, the angelic voice sounded in the ears of His disciples, So shall He come in like manner as you have seen Him going into heaven; Acts 1:11 that is, in the form of man in which He was judged, will He judge, in order that also that prophetic utterance may be fulfilled, They shall look upon Him whom they pierced. But when the righteous go into eternal life, we shall see Him as He is; that will not be the judgment of the living and the dead, but only the reward of the living.

13. Likewise, let it not surprise you that He says, In your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true, that any man should hence suppose that this was not also the law of God, because it is not said, In the law of God: let him know that, when it is said thus, In your law, it is just as if He said, In the law which was given to you; given by whom, except by God? Just as we say, Our daily bread; and yet we say, Give us this day.

Tractate 37 (John 8:19-20)

1. What in the holy Gospel is spoken briefly ought not briefly to be expounded, so that what is read may be understood. The words of the Lord are few, but great; to be valued not by number, but by weight: not to be despised because they are few, but to be sought because they are great. You who were present yesterday have heard, as we discoursed according to our ability from that which the Lord said, You judge after the flesh: I judge not any man. But yet if I judge, my judgment is true; because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. It is written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me bears witness of me. Yesterday, as I have said, from these words a discourse was delivered to your ears and to your minds. When the Lord had spoken these words, they who heard, You judge after the flesh, manifested the truth of what they had heard. For they answered the Lord, as He spoke of God His Father, and said to Him, Where is your Father? The Father of Christ they understood carnally, because they judged the words of Christ after the flesh. But He who spoke was openly flesh, but secretly the Word: man visible, God hidden. They saw the covering, and despised the wearer: they despised because they knew not; knew not, because they saw not; saw not, because they were blind; they were blind, because they believed not.

2. Let us see, then, what answer the Lord made to this. Where, say they, is your Father? For we have heard you say, I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me: we see you alone, we do not see your Father with you; how do you say that you are not alone, but that you are with your Father? Else show us that your Father is with you. And the Lord answered them: Do you know me, that I should show you the Father? This is indeed what follows; this is what He answered in His own words, the exposition of which we have already premised. For see what He said, You neither know me nor my Father: if you knew me, you would perhaps know my Father also. You say then, Where is your Father? As if already you knew me; as if what you see were all that I am. Therefore because you know not me, I do not show you my Father. You suppose me, in fact, to be a man; hence you seek a man for my father, because you judge after the flesh. But because, according to what you see, I am one thing, and another thing according to what you see not, and that I as hidden from you speak of my Father as hidden, it is requisite that you should first know me, and then you know my Father also.

3. For if you knew me, you would perhaps know my Father also. He who knows all things is not in doubt when He says perhaps, but rebuking. Now see how this very word perhaps, which seems to be a word of doubting, may be spoken chidingly. Yea, a word expressive of doubt it is when used by man, for man doubts because he knows not; but when a word of doubting is spoken by God, from whom surely nothing is hid, it is unbelief that is reproved by that doubting, not the Godhead merely expressing an opinion. For men sometimes chidingly express doubt concerning things which they hold certain; that is, use a word of doubting, while in their heart they doubt not: just as you would say to your slave, if you were angry with him, Thou despisest me; but consider, perhaps I am your master. Hence also the apostle, speaking to some who despised him, says: And I think that I also have the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 7:40 When he says, I think, he seems to doubt; but he is rebuking, not doubting. And in another place the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, rebuking the future unbelief of mankind, says: When the Son of man comes, will He, do you think, find faith on the earth? Luke 18:8

4. You now, as I think, understand how the word perhaps is used here, in case any weigher of words and poiser of syllables, as if to show his knowledge of Latin, finds fault with a word which the Word of God spoke; and by blaming the Word of God, remain not eloquent, but mute. For who is there that speaks as does the Word which was in the beginning with God? Do not consider these words as we use them, and from these wish to measure that Word which is God. You hear the Word indeed, and despisest it; hear God and fear Him: In the beginning was the Word. Thou referrest to the usage of your conversation, and sayest within yourself, What is a word? What mighty thing is a word? It sounds and passes away; after beating the air, it strikes the ear and is no more. Hear further: The Word was with God; remained, did not by sounding pass away. Perhaps thou still despisest it: The Word was God. With yourself, O man, a word in your heart is a different thing from sound; but the word that is with you, in order to pass to me, requires sound for a vehicle as it were. It takes to itself sound, mounts it as a vehicle, runs through the air, comes to me and yet does not leave you. But the sound, in order to come to me, left you and yet did not stay with me. Now has the word that was in your heart also passed away with the passing sound? You spoke your thought; and, that the thought which was hid with you might come to me, you sounded syllables; the sound of the syllables conveyed your thought to my ear; through my ear your thought descended into my heart, the intermediate sound flew away: but that word which took to itself sound was with you before you sounded it, and is with me, because you sounded it, without quitting you. Consider this, thou nice weigher of sounds, whoever thou be. Thou despisest the Word of God, thou who comprehendest not the word of man.

5. He, then, by whom all things were made knows all things, and yet He rebukes by doubting: If you knew me you would perhaps know my Father also. He rebukes unbelievers. He spoke a like sentence to the disciples, but there is not a word of doubting in it, because there was no occasion to rebuke unbelief. For this, If you knew me, you would perhaps know my Father also, which He said to the Jews, He said also to the disciples, when Philip asked, or rather, demanded of Him, saying, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us: just as if he said, We already know You even ourselves; You have been apparent to us; we have seen You; You have deigned to choose us; we have followed You, have seen Your marvels, heard Your words of Salvation, have taken Your precepts upon us, we hope in Your promises: You have deigned to confer much upon us by Your very presence: but still, while we know You, and we do not yet know the Father, we are inflamed with desire to see Him whom we do not yet know; and thus, be cause we know You, but it is not enough until we know the Father, show us the Father and it suffices us. And the Lord, that they might understand that they knew not what they thought they did already know, said, Am I so long time with you, and you know me not, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. John 14:8 Has this sentence a word of doubting in it? Did He say, He that has seen me has perhaps seen the Father? Why not? Because it was a believer that listened to Him, not a persecutor of the faith: hence did the Lord not rebuke, but teach. Whoever has seen me has seen the Father also: and here, If you knew me, you would know my Father also, let us remove the word which indicates the unbelief of the hearers, and it is the same sentence.

6. Yesterday we commended it to your consideration, beloved, and said that the sentences of the Evangelist John, in which he narrates to us what he learned from the Lord, had not required to be discussed, were that possible, except the inventions of heretics had compelled us. Yesterday, then, we briefly intimated to you, beloved, that there are heretics who are called Patripassians, or Sabellians after their founder: these say that the same is the Father who is the Son; the names different, but the person one. When He wills, say they, He is Father; when He wills, He is Son: still He is one. There are likewise other heretics who are called Arians. They indeed confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is the only Son of the Father; the one, Father of the Son; the other, Son of the Father; that He who is Father is not Son, nor He who is Son is Father; they confess that the Son was begotten, but deny His equality. We, namely, the catholic faith, coming from the doctrine of the apostles planted in us, received by a line of succession, to be transmitted sound to posterity — the catholic faith, I say, has, between both those parties, that is, between both errors, held the truth. In the error of the Sabellians, He is only one; the Father and Son is the same person: in the error of the Arians, the Father and the Son are indeed different persons; but the Son is not only a different person, but different in nature. Thou midway between these, what do you say? You have shut out the Sabellian, shut out the Arian also. The Father is Father, the Son is Son; another person, not another in nature; for, I and the Father are one, which, so far as I could, I pressed on your thoughts yesterday. When he hears that word, we are, let the Sabellian go away confounded; when he hears the word one, let the Arian go away confounded. Let the catholic steer the bark of his faith between both, since in both he must be on his guard against shipwreck. Say thou, then, what the Gospel says, I and the Father are one. Not different in nature, because one; not one person, because are.

7. A little before He said, My judgment is true; because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me: as if He said, The reason why my judgment is true is, because I am the Son of God, because I speak the truth, because I am truth itself. Those men, understanding Him carnally, said, Where is your Father? Now hear, O Arian: You neither know me, nor my Father; because, If you knew me, you would know my Father also. What does this mean, except I and the Father are one? When you see some person like some other — give heed, beloved, it is a common remark; let not that appear to you difficult which you see to be customary — when, I say, you see some person like another, and you know the person to whom he is like, you say in wonder, How like this person is to that! You would not say this unless there were two. Here one who does not know the person to whom you say the other is like remarks, Is he so like him? And you answer him: What, do you not know that person? Says he, No, I do not. Immediately thou, in order to make known to him the person whom he does not know by means of the person whom he observes before him, answerest, saying, Having seen this man, you have seen the other. You did not, surely, assert that they are one person in saying this, or that they are not two; but made such answer because of the likeness: If you know the one, you know the other; for they are very like, and there is no difference whatever between them. Hence also the Lord says, If you knew me, you would know my Father also; not that the Son is the Father but like the Father. Let the Arian blush. Thanks be to the Lord that even the Arian is separate from the Sabellian error, and is not a Patripassian: he does not affirm that the Father assumed flesh and came to men, that the Father suffered, rose again, and somehow ascended to Himself; this he does not affirm; he acknowledges with me the Father to be Father, the Son to be Son. But, O brother, you have escaped that shipwreck, why go to the other? Father is Father, Son is Son; why do you affirm that the Son is unlike, that He is different, another substance? If He were unlike, would He say to His disciples, He that has seen me has seen the Father? Would He say to the Jews, If you knew me, you would know my Father also? How would this be true, unless that other was also true, I and the Father are one?

8. These words spoke Jesus in the treasury, speaking in the temple: great boldness, without fear. For He could not suffer if He did not will it, since He were not born if He did not will it. What follows then? And no man laid hold of Him, because His hour was not yet come. Some, again, when they hear this, believe that the Lord Christ was subject to fate, and say: Behold, Christ is held by fate! O, if your heart were not fatuous, you would not believe in fate. If fate, as some understand it, is derived from fando, that is from speaking, how can the Word of God be held by fate, while all things that are made are in the Word itself? For God has not ordained anything which He did not know beforehand; that which was made was in His Word. The world was made; both was made and was there. How both was made and was there? Because the house which the builder rears, was previously in his art; and there, a better house, without age, without decay: however, to show forth his art, he makes a house; and so, in a manner, a house comes forth from a house; and if the house should fall, the art remains. So were all things that are made with the Word of God; because God made all things in wisdom, and all that He made were known to Him: for He did not learn because He made, but made because He knew. To us they are known, because they are made: to Him, if they had not been known, they would not have been made. Therefore the Word went before. And what was before the Word? Nothing at all. For were there anything before it, it would not have been said, In the beginning was the Word; but, In the beginning was the Word made. In short, what says Moses concerning the world? In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth. Made what was not: well, if He made what was not, what was there before? In the beginning was the Word. And whence came heaven and earth? All things were made by Him. Do you then put Christ under fate? Where are the fates? In heaven, do you say, in the order and changes of the stars. How then can fate rule Him by whom the heavens and the stars were made; while your own will, if you think rightly, transcends even the stars? Or, because you know that Christ's flesh was under heaven, is that the reason why you think that Christ's power was put under the heavens?

9. Hear, thou fool: His hour was not yet come; not the hour in which He should be forced to die, but that in which He would deign to be put to death. For Himself knew when He should die: He considered all things that were foretold of Him, and awaited all to be finished that was foretold to be before His suffering; that when all should be fulfilled, then should come His suffering in set order, not by fatal necessity. In short, hear that you may prove. Among the rest that was prophesied of Him, it is also written: They gave me gall for meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. How this happened, we know from the Gospel. First, they gave Him gall; He received it, tasted it, and spat it out. Thereafter, as He hung on the cross, that all that was foretold might be fulfilled, He said, I thirst. They took a sponge filled with vinegar, bound it to a reed, and put it to His mouth; He received it, and said, It is finished. What did that mean? All things which were prophesied before my death are completed, then what do I here any longer? In a word, when He said It is finished, He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost. Did the thieves, who were nailed beside Him, expire when they would? They were held by the bonds of flesh, for they were not the creators of the flesh; fixed by nails, they were a long time tormented, because they had not lordship over their weakness. The Lord, however, when He would, took flesh in a virgin's womb: came forth to men when He would; lived among men so long as He would; and when He would He quitted the flesh. This is the part of power, not of necessity. This hour, then, He awaited; not the fated, but the fitting and voluntary hour; that all might first be fulfilled which behooved to be fulfilled before His decease. How could he have been under necessity of fate, when He said in another place, I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again: no man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself and take it again? John 10:18 He showed this power when the Jews sought Him. Whom do you seek? says He. Jesus, said they. And He answered, I am He. When they heard this voice, they went back and fell to the ground. John 18:6

10. Says one, If he had this power, why, when the Jews insulted him on the cross and said, If he be the Son of God let him come down from the cross, did He not come down, to show them His power by coming down? Because He was teaching us patience, therefore He deferred the demonstration of His power. For if He came down, moved as it were at their words, He would be thought to have been overcome by the sting of their insults. He did not come down; there He remained fixed, to depart when He would. For what great matter was it for Him to descend from the cross, when He could rise again from the sepulchre? Let us, then, to whom this is ministered, understand that the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, then concealed, will be made manifest in the judgment, of which it is said, God will come manifest; our God, and He will not be silent. Why is it said, will come manifest? Because He, our God — namely, Christ, — came hidden, will come manifest. And will not be silent: why this will not be silent? Because at first He did keep silence. When? When He was judged; that this, too, might be fulfilled which the prophet had foretold: As a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. Isaiah 53:7 He would not have suffered did He not will to suffer: did He not suffer, that blood had not been shed; if that blood were not shed, the world would not be redeemed. Therefore let us give thanks to the power of His divinity, and to the compassion of His infirmity; both concerning the hidden power which the Jews did not recognize, whence it is now said to them, You neither know me nor my Father, and also concerning the flesh assumed, which the Jews did not recognize, and yet knew His lineage: whence He said to them elsewhere, You both know me, and you know whence I am. Let us know both in Christ, both wherein He is equal to the Father and wherein the Father is greater than He. That is the Word, this is the flesh; that is God, this is man; but yet Christ is one, God and man.

Tractate 38 (John 8:21-25)

1. The lesson of the holy Gospel which preceded today's had concluded thus: that the Lord spoke, teaching in the treasury, what it pleased Him, and what you have heard; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour was not yet come. Accordingly, on the Lord's day we made our subject of discourse what He Himself thought fit to give us. We indicated to your Charity why it was said, His hour was not yet come, lest any in their impiety should have the effrontery to suspect Christ as laid under some fatal necessity. For the hour was not yet come when by His own appointment, in accordance with what was predicted regarding Him, He should not be forced to die unwillingly, but be ready to be slain.

2. But of His own passion itself, which lay not in any necessity He was under, but in His own power, all that He said in His discourse to the Jews was, I go away. For to Christ the Lord's death was His proceeding to the place whence He had come, and from which He had never departed. I go away, said He, and you shall seek me, not from any longing for me, but in hatred. For after His removal from human sight, He was sought for both by those who hated Him and those who loved Him; by the former in a spirit of persecution, by the latter with the desire of having Him. In the Psalms the Lord Himself says by the prophet, A place of refuge has failed me, and there is none that seeks after my life; and again He says in another place in the Psalms, Let them be confounded and ashamed who seek after my life. He blamed the former for not seeking, He condemned the latter because they did. For it is wrong not to seek the life of Christ, that is, in the way the disciples sought it; and it is wrong to seek the life of Christ, that is, in the way the Jews sought it: for the former sought to possess it, these latter to destroy it. Accordingly, because these men sought it thus in a wrong way, with a perverted heart, what next did He add? You shall seek me, and— not to let you suppose that you will seek me for good — you shall die in your sin. This comes of seeking Christ wrongly, to die in one's sin; this of hating Him, through whom alone salvation could be found. For, while men whose hope is in God ought not to render evil even for evil, these men were rendering evil for good. The Lord therefore announced to them beforehand, and in His foreknowledge uttered the sentence, that they should die in their sin. And then He adds, Whither I go, you cannot come. He said the same to the disciples also in another place; and yet He said not to them, You shall die in your sin. But what did He say? The same as to these men: Whither I go, you cannot come. He did not take away hope, but foretold delay. For at the time when the Lord spoke this to the disciples, they were not able to come whither He was going, yet were they to come afterwards; but these men never, to whom in His foreknowledge He said, You shall die in your sin.

3. But on hearing these words, as is usual with those whose thoughts are carnal, who judge after the flesh, and hear and apprehend everything in a carnal way, they said, Will he kill himself because he said, Whither I go you cannot come. Foolish words, and overflowing with stupidity! For why could they not go whither He would have proceeded had He killed Himself? Were not they themselves to die? What, then, means, Will he kill himself because he said, Whither I go you cannot come? If He spoke of man's death, what man is there that does not die? Therefore, by whither I go He meant, not the going to death, but whither He was going Himself after death. Such, then, was their answer, because they did not understand.

4. And what said the Lord to those who savored of the earth? And He said to them, You are from beneath. For this cause you savor of the earth, because you lick dust like serpents. You eat earth! What does it mean? You feed on earthly things, you delight in earthly things, you gape after earthly things, you have no heart for what is above. You are from beneath: I am from above. You are of this world: I am not of this world. For how could He be of the world, by whom the world was made? All that are of the world come after the world, because the world preceded; and so man is of the world. But Christ was first, and then the world; and since Christ was before the world, before Christ there was nothing: because In the beginning was the Word; all things were made by Him. He, therefore, was of that which is above. But of what that is above? Of the air? Perish the thought! There the birds wing their flight. Of the sky that we see? Again I say, Perish the thought! It is there that the stars and sun and moon revolve. Of the angels? Neither is this to be understood: by Him who made all things were the angels also made. Of what, then, above is Christ? Of the Father Himself. Nothing is above that God who begot the Word equal with Himself, co-eternal with Himself, only-begotten, timeless, that by Him time's own foundations should be laid. Understand, then, Christ as from above, so as in your thought to get beyond everything that is made — the whole creation together, every material body, every created spirit, everything in any way subject to change: rise above all, as John rose, in order to reach this: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

5. Therefore said He, I am from above. You are of this world: I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that you shall die in your sins. He has explained to us, brethren, what He wished to be understood by you are of this world. He said therefore in fact, You are of this world, because they were sinners, because they were unrighteous, because they were unbelieving, because they savored of the earthly. For what is your opinion as regards the holy apostles? What difference was there between the Jews and the apostles? As great as between darkness and light, as between faith and unbelief, as between piety and impiety, as between hope and despair, as between love and avarice: surely the difference was great. What then, because there was such a difference, were the apostles not of the world? If your thoughts turn to the manner of their birth, and whence they came, inasmuch as all of them had come from Adam, they were of this world. But what said the Lord Himself to them? I have chosen you out of the world. Those, then, who were of the world, became not of the world, and began to belong to Him by whom the world was made. But these men continued to be of the world, to whom it was said, You shall die in your sins.

6. Let none then, brethren, say, I am not of this world. Whoever you are as a man, you are of this world; but He who made the world came to you, and delivered you from this world. If the world delights you, you wish always to be unclean (immundus); but if this world no longer delight you, you are already clean (mundus). And yet, if through some infirmity the world still delight you, let Him who cleanses (mundat) dwell in you, and thou too shall be clean. But if you are once clean, you will not continue in the world; neither will you hear what was heard by the Jews, You shall die in your sins. For we are all born with sin; we have all in living added to that wherein we were born, and have since become more of the world than when we were born of our parents. And where should we be, had He not come, who was wholly free from sin, to expiate all sin? And so, because in Him the Jews believed not, they deservedly heard [the sentence], You shall die in your sins; for in no way could you, who were born with sin, be without sin; and yet, said He, if you believe in me, although it is still true that you were born with sin, yet in your sin you shall not die. The whole misery, then, of the Jews was just this, not to have sin, but to die in their sins. From this it is that every Christian ought to seek to escape; because of this we have recourse to baptism; on this account do those whose lives are in danger from sickness or any other cause become anxious for help; for this also is the sucking child carried by his mother with pious hands to the church, that he may not go out into the world without baptism, and die in the sin wherein he was born. Most wretched surely the condition and miserable the lot of these men, who heard from those truth-speaking lips, You shall die in your sins!

7. But He explains whence this should befall them: For if you believe not that I am [He], you shall die in your sins. I believe, brethren, that among the multitude who listened to the Lord, there were those also who should yet believe. But against all, as it were, had that most severe sentence gone forth, You shall die in your sin; and thereby even from those who should yet believe had hope been withdrawn: the others were roused to fury, they to fear; yea, to more than fear, they were brought now to despair. But He revived their hope; for He added, If you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sins. Therefore if you do believe that I am, you shall not die in your sins. Hope was restored to the desponding, the sleeping were aroused, their hearts got a fresh awakening; and thereafter very many believed, as the Gospel itself attests in the sequel. For members of Christ were there, who had not yet become attached to the body of Christ; and among that people by whom He was crucified, by whom He was hanged on a tree, by whom when hanging He was mocked, by whom He was wounded with the spear, by whom gall and vinegar were given Him to drink, were the members of Christ, for whose sake He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And what will a convert not be forgiven, if the shedding of Christ's blood is forgiven? What murderer need despair, if he was restored to hope by whom even Christ was slain? After this many believed; they were presented with Christ's blood as a gift, that they might drink it for their salvation, rather than be held guilty of shedding it. Who can despair? And if the thief was saved on the cross — a murderer shortly before, a little afterwards accused, convicted, condemned, hanged, delivered — wonder not. The place of his conviction was that of his condemnation; while that of his conversion was the place also of his deliverance. Luke 18:34-43 Among this people, then, to whom the Lord was speaking, were those who should yet die in their sin: there were those also who should yet believe in Him who spoke, and find deliverance from all their sin.

8. But look at this which is said by Christ the Lord: If you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sins. What is this, If you believe not that I am? I am what? There is nothing added; and because He added nothing, He left much to be inferred. For He was expected to say what He was, and yet He said it not. What was He expected to say? Perhaps, If you believe not that I am Christ; if you believe not that I am the Son of God; if you believe not that I am the Word of the Father; if you believe not that I am the founder of the world; if you believe not that I am the former and re-former, the creator and re-creator, the maker and re-maker of man —if you believe not that I am this, you shall die in your sins. There is much implied in His only saying I am; for so also had God said to Moses, I am who am. Who can adequately express what that am means? God by His angel sent His servant Moses to deliver His people out of Egypt (you have read and know what you now hear; but I recall it to your minds); He sent him trembling, self-excusing, but obedient. And while thus excusing himself, he said to God, whom he understood to be speaking in the person of the angel: If the people say to me, And who is the God that has sent you? What shall I say to them? And the Lord answered him, I am who am; and added, You shall say to the children of Israel, He who is has sent me to you. There also He says not, I am God; or, I am the framer of the world; or, I am the creator of all things; or, I am the multiplier of the very people to be delivered: but only this, I am who am; and, You shall say to the children of Israel, He who is. He added not, Who is your God, who is the God of your fathers; but said only this: He who is has sent me to you. Perhaps it was too much even for Moses himself, as it is too much for us also, and much more so for us, to understand the meaning of such words, I am who am; and, He who is has sent me to you. And supposing that Moses comprehended it, when would those to whom he was sent comprehend it? The Lord therefore put aside what man could not comprehend, and added what he could; for He said also besides, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Exodus 3:13-15 This you can comprehend; for I am who am, what mind can comprehend?

9. What then of us? Shall we venture to say anything on such words, I am who am; or rather on this, that you have heard the Lord saying, If you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sins? Shall I venture with these feeble and scarcely existing powers of mine to discuss the meaning of that which Christ the Lord has said, If you believe not that I am? I shall venture to ask the Lord Himself. Listen to me as one asking rather than discussing, inquiring rather than assuming, learning rather than teaching, and fail not yourselves also to be asking with me or through me. The Lord Himself, who is everywhere, is also at hand. Let Him hear the feeling that prompts to ask, and grant the fruit of understanding. For in what words, even were it so that I comprehend something, can I convey to your hearts what I comprehend? What voice is adequate? What eloquence sufficient? What powers of intelligence? What faculty of utterance?

10. I shall speak, then, to our Lord Jesus Christ; I shall speak and may He be pleased to hear me. I believe He is present, I am fully assured of it; for He Himself has said, Lo, I am with you even to the end of the world. Matthew 28:20 O Lord our God, what is that which Thou said, If you believe not that I am? For what is there that belongs not to the things You have made? Does not heaven so belong? Does not the earth? Does not everything in earth and heaven? Does not man himself to whom You speak? Does not the angel whom You send? If all these are things made by You, what is that existence You have retained as something exclusively Your own, which You have given to none besides, that You might be such Yourself alone? For how do I hear I am who am, as if there were none besides? And how do I hear If you believe not that I am? For had they no existence who heard Him? Yea, though they were sinners, they were men. What then can I do? What that existence is, let Him tell my heart, let Him tell, let Him declare it within; let the inner man hear, the mind apprehend this true existence; for such existence is always unvarying in character. For a thing, anything whatever (I have begun as it were to dispute, and have left off inquiring. Perhaps I wish to speak what I have heard. May He grant enlargement to my hearing, and to yours, while I speak) — for anything, whatever in short be its excellence, if it is changeable, does not truly exist; for there is no true existence wherever non-existence has also a place. For whatever can be changed, so far as changed, it is not that which was: if it is no longer what it was, a kind of death has therein taken place; something that was there has been eliminated, and exists no more. Blackness has died out in the silvery locks of the patriarch, comeliness in the body of the careworn and crooked old man, strength in the body of the languishing, the [previous] standing posture in the body of one walking, walking in the body of one standing, walking and standing in the body of one reclining, speech in the tongue of the silent — whatever changes, and is what it was not, I see there a kind of life in that which is, and death in that which was. In fine, when we say of one deceased, Where is that person? We are answered, He was. O Truth, it is thou [alone] that truly art! For in all actions and movements of ours, yea, in every activity of the creature, I find two times, the past and the future. I seek for the present, nothing stands still: what I have said is no longer present; what I am going to say is not yet come: what I have done is no longer present; what I am going to do is not yet come: the life I have lived is no longer present; the life I have still to live is not yet come. Past and future I find in every creature-movement: in truth, which is abiding, past and future I find not, but the present alone, and that unchangeably, which has no place in the creature. Sift the mutations of things, you will find was and will be: think on God, you will find the is, where was and will be cannot exist. To be so then yourself, rise beyond the boundaries of time. But who can transcend the powers of his being? May He raise us there who said to the Father, I will that they also be with me where I am. And so, in making this promise, that we should not die in our sins, the Lord Jesus Christ, I think, said nothing else by these words, If you believe not that I am; yea, by these words I think He meant nothing else than this, If you believe not that I am God, you shall die in your sins. Well, God be thanked that He said, If you believe not, and did not say, If you comprehend not. For who can comprehend this? Or is it so, since I have ventured to speak and you have seemed to understand, that you have indeed comprehended somewhat of a subject so unspeakable? If then you comprehend not, faith sets you free. Therefore also the Lord said not, If you comprehend not that I am; but said what they were capable of attaining, If you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sins.

11. And savoring as these men always did of the earth, and ever hearing and answering according to the flesh, what did they say to Him? Who are you? For when you said, If you believe not that I am, thou did not tell us what thou were. Who are you, that we may believe? He answered The Beginning. Here is the existence that [always] is. The beginning cannot be changed: the beginning is self-abiding and all-originating; that is, the beginning, to which it has been said, But thou Yourself art the same, and Your years shall not fail. The beginning, He said, for so I also speak to you. Believe me [to be] the beginning, that you may not die in your sins. For just as if by saying, Who are you? they had said nothing else than this, What shall we believe you to be? He replied, The beginning; that is, Believe me [to be] the beginning. For in the Greek expression we discern what we cannot in the Latin. For in Greek the word beginning (principium, ἀρχή), is of the feminine gender, just as with us law (lex) is of the feminine gender, while it is of the masculine (νόμος) with them; or as wisdom (sapientia, σοφία) is of the feminine gender with both. It is the custom of speech, therefore, in different languages to vary the gender of words, because in things themselves there is no place for the distinction of sex. For wisdom is not really female, since Christ is the Wisdom of God, 1 Corinthians 1:24 and Christ is termed of the masculine gender, wisdom of the feminine. When then the Jews said, Who are you? He, who knew that there were some there who should yet believe, and therefore had said, Who are you? That so they might come to know what they ought to believe regarding Him, replied, The beginning: not as if He said, I am the beginning; but as if He said, Believe me [to be] the beginning. Which, as I said, is quite evident in the Greek language, where beginning (ἀρχή) is of the feminine gender. Just as if He had wished to say that He was the Truth, and to their question, Who are you? had answered, Veritatem [the Truth]; when to the words, Who are you? He evidently ought to have replied, Veritas [the Truth]; that is, I am the Truth. But His answer had a deeper meaning, when He saw that they had put the question, Who are you? in such a way as to mean, Having heard from you, If you believe not that I am, what shall we believe you to be? To this He replied, The beginning: as if He said, Believe me to be the beginning. And He added for [as such] I also speak to you; that is, having humbled myself on your account, I have condescended to such words. For if the beginning as it is in itself had remained so with the Father, as not to receive the form of a servant and speak as man with men; how could they have believed in Him, since their weak hearts could not have heard the Word intelligently without some voice that would appeal to their senses? Therefore, said He, believe me to be the beginning; for, that you may believe, I not only am, but also speak to you. But on this subject I have still much to say to you; may it therefore please your Charity that we reserve what remains, and by His gracious aid deliver it tomorrow.

Tractate 39 (John 8:26-27)

1. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He had addressed to the Jews, so regulating His discourse that the blind saw not, and believers' eyes were opened, are these, which have been read today from the holy Gospel: Then said the Jews, Who are you? Because the Lord had said before, If you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sins. To this accordingly they rejoined, Who are you? as if seeking to know on whom they ought to believe, so as not to die in their sin. He replied to those who asked Him: Who are you? by saying, The beginning, for [so] also I speak to you. If the Lord has called Himself the beginning, it may be inquired whether the Father also is the beginning. For if the Son who has a Father is the beginning, how much more easily must God the Father be understood as the beginning, who has indeed the Son whose Father He is, but has no one from whom He Himself proceeds? For the Son is the Son of the Father, and the Father certainly is the Father of the Son; but the Son is called God of God — the Son is called Light of Light; the Father is called Light, but not, of Light — the Father is called God, but not, of God. If, then, God of God, Light of Light, is the beginning, how much more easily may we understand as such that Light, from whom the Light [comes], and God, of whom is God? It seems, therefore, absurd, dearly beloved, to call the Son the beginning, and not to call the Father the beginning also.

2. But what shall we do? Are there, then, two beginnings? Let us beware of saying so. What then, if both the Father is the beginning and the Son the beginning, how are there not two beginnings? In the same way that we call the Father God, and the Son God, and yet say not that there are two Gods; and yet He who is the Father is not the Son, He who is the Son is not the Father; and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, is neither the Father nor the Son. Although, then, as Catholic ears have been taught in the bosom of mother Church, neither He who is the Father is the Son, nor He who is the Son is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit, of the Father and of the Son, either the Son or the Father, yet we say not that there are three Gods; although, if we are asked of each apart, we must, of whichever we are questioned, confess that He is God.

3. But all this seems absurd to those who drag up familiar things to a level with things little known, visible things with invisible, and compare the creature to the Creator. For unbelievers sometimes question us and say: Whom you call the Father, do you call him God? We answer, God. Whom you call the Son, do you call him God? We answer, God. Whom you call the Holy Spirit, do you call him God? We answer, God. Then, say they, are the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit three Gods? We answer, No. They are confounded, because they are not enlightened; they have their heart shut up, because they want the key of faith. Let us then, brethren, by an antecedent faith that heals the eye of our heart, receive without obscurity what we understand — and what we understand not, believe without hesitation; let us not quit the foundation of faith in order to reach the summit of perfection. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God: and yet He is not the Father who is the Son, nor He the Son who is the Father, and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son, is neither the Father nor the Son. The Trinity is one God. The Trinity is one eternity, one power, one majesty — three, [but not three] Gods. Let not the reviler answer me: Three what, then? For, he adds, if there are three, you must say, three what? I reply: The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. See, he says, you have named three; but express what the three are? Nay, count them yourself; for I make out three when I say, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For the Father is God as respects Himself, but [He is] the Father as respects the Son; the Son is God as respects Himself, but He is the Son as regards the Father.

4. What I say you may gather from daily analogies. So it is with one man and another, if the one be a father, the other his son. He is man as regards himself, but a father as regards his son; and the son man as respects himself, but a son as respects his father. For father is a name given relatively, and so with son; but these are two men. And certainly God the Father is Father in a relative sense, that is, in relation to the Son; and God the Son is Son relatively, that is, in relation to the Father; but not as the former are two men are these two Gods. Why is it not so here? Because that belongs to one sphere and this to another; for this is divine. There is here something ineffable which cannot be explained in words, that there should both be, and not be, number. For see if there appear not a kind of number, Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost— the Trinity. If three, three what? Here number fails. And so God neither keeps apart from number, nor is comprehended by number. Because there are three, there is a kind of number. If you ask three what, number ceases. Hence it is said, Great is our Lord, and great His power; and of His understanding there is no number. When you have begun to reflect, you begin to number; when you have numbered, you cannot tell what you have numbered. The Father is Father, the Son is Son, the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit. What are these three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Are They not three Gods? No. Are They not three Almighties? No. Not three Creators of the world? No. Is the Father then almighty? Manifestly almighty. And is the Son then not almighty? Clearly the Son is also almighty. And is the Holy Spirit then not almighty? He, too, is almighty. Are there then three Almighties? No; only one Almighty. Only in Their relation to each other do They suggest number, not in Their essential existence. For though God the Father is, as respects Himself, God along with the Son and the Holy Spirit, there are not three Gods; and, though as respects Himself He is omnipotent, as well as the Son and the Holy Spirit, there are not three omnipotents; for in truth He is the Father not in respect to Himself, but to the Son; nor is the Son so in respect to Himself, but to the Father; nor is the Spirit so as regards Himself, in as far as He is called the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. I have no name to give the three, save the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, one Almighty. And so one beginning.

5. Take an illustration from the Holy Scriptures, whereby you may in some measure comprehend what I am saying. After our Lord Jesus Christ rose again, and was pleased to ascend into heaven, at the end of ten days He sent from thence the Holy Spirit, by whom those who were present in that one chamber were filled, and began to speak in the languages of all nations. The Lord's murderers, terrified by the miracle, were pricked to the heart and sorrowed; sorrowing, were changed; and being changed, believed. There were added to the Lord's body, that is, to the number of believers, three thousand people. And so also by the working of another miracle there were added other five thousand. A considerable community was created, in which all, receiving the Holy Spirit, by whom spiritual love was kindled, were by their very love and fervor of spirit welded into one, and began in the very unity of fellowship to sell all that they had, and to lay the price at the apostles' feet, that distribution might be made to every one as each had need. And the Scripture says this of them, that they were of one soul and one heart toward God. Give heed then, brethren, and from this acknowledge the mystery of the Trinity, how it is we say, There is both the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and yet there is one God. See! There were so many thousands of these, and yet there was one heart; there were so many thousands, and one soul. But where? In God. How much more so God Himself? Do I err at all in word when I call two men two souls, or three men three souls, or many men many souls? Surely I speak correctly. Let them approach God, and one soul belongs to all. If by approaching God many souls by love become one soul, and many hearts one heart, what of the very fountain of love in the Father and Son? Is it not still more so here that the Trinity is one God? For thence, of that Holy Spirit, does love come to us, as the apostle says: The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Romans 5:5 If then the love of God, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us, makes many souls one soul, and many hearts one heart, how much rather are the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, one God, one light, and one beginning?

6. Let us hear, then, the Beginning who speaks to us: I have, said He, many things to say of you and to judge. You remember that He said, I do not judge any one. John 8:15 See, now He says, I have many things to say of you and to judge. But, I do not judge is one thing: I have to judge is another; for He had come to save the world, not to judge the world. In saying, I have many things to say of you and to judge, He speaks of the future judgment. For therefore did He ascend, that He may come to judge the living and the dead. No one will judge more justly than He who was unjustly judged. Many things, said He, have I to say of you and to judge; but He that sent me is true. See how the Son, His equal, gives glory to the Father. For He sets us an example, and says as it were in our hearts: O believer, if you hear my gospel, the Lord your God says to you, when I, in the beginning God the Word with God, equal with the Father, coeternal with Him that begot, give glory to Him whose Son I am, how can you be proud before Him, whose servant you are?

7. I have many things, He said, to say of you and to judge: but He that sent me is true; as if He had said, Therefore I judge the truth, because, as the Son of the True One, I am the truth. The Father true, the Son the truth — which do we account the greater? Let us reflect, if we can, which is the greater, the True One or the Truth. Take some other instances. Is a pious man, or piety, the more comprehensive? Surely piety itself; for the pious is derived from piety, not piety from the pious. For piety may still exist, though he who was pious became impious. He has lost his piety, but has taken nothing from piety itself. What also of comely and comeliness? Comeliness is more than comely; for comeliness gives existence to the comely, not the comely to comeliness. And so of chaste and chastity. Chastity is clearly something more than chaste. For if chastity had no existence, one would have no ground to be chaste; but though one may refuse to be chaste, chastity remains entire. If then the term piety implies more than the term pious, comeliness more than comely, chastity than chaste, shall we say that the Truth is more than the True One? If we say so, we shall begin to say that the Son is greater than the Father. For the Lord Himself says most distinctly, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. John 14:6 Therefore, if the Son is the truth, what is the Father but what the Truth Himself says, He that sent me is true? The Son is the truth, the Father true. I inquire which is the greater, but find equality. For the true Father is true not because He contained a part of that truth, but because He begot it entire.

8. I see I must speak more plainly. And, not to detain you long, let me treat only of this point today. When I have finished what, with God's help, I wish to say, my discourse shall close. I have said this, then, to enlist your attention. Every soul, as being a thing, is mutable; and although a great creature, yet a creature; though superior to the body, yet made. Every soul, then, since it is changeable — that is, sometimes believes, sometimes disbelieves; at one time wishes, at another time refuses; at one time is adulterous, at another chaste; now good, and again wicked — is changeable. But God is that which is, and so has retained as His own peculiar name, I am who am. Exodus 3:14 Such also is the Son, when He says, If you believe not that I am; and thereto pertains also, Who are you? The Beginning John 8:25. God therefore is unchangeable, the soul changeable. When the soul receives from God the elements of its goodness it becomes good by participation, just as by participation your eye sees. For it sees not when the light is withdrawn, while so long as it shares in the light it sees. Since then by participation the soul is made good, if it changes and becomes bad, the goodness remains that made it good. For there is a goodness of which it partook when good; and when it has turned to evil, that goodness continues entire. If the soul fall away and become evil, there is no lessening of goodness; if it return and become good, that goodness is not enlarged. Your eye participates in this light, and you see. Is it shut? Then you have not diminished the light. Is it open? You have not increased the light. By this illustration, brethren, understand that if the soul is pious, there is piety with God, of which the soul is partaker; if the soul is chaste, there is chastity with God, of which it partakes; if it is good, there is goodness with God, of which it partakes; if it is true, there is truth with God, of which the soul is partaker. Whereof if the soul is no partaker, every man is false; and if every man may be false, no man is true of himself. But the true Father is true of Himself, for He begot the Truth. It is one thing to say, That man is true, for he has taken in the truth: it is another, God is true, for He begot the Truth. See then how God is true — not by participating in, but by generating the Truth. I see you have understood me, and am glad. Let this suffice you today. The rest, according as He gives it, we shall expound when the Lord pleases.

Tractate 40 (John 8:28-32)

1. Of the holy Gospel according to John, which you see in our hand, your Charity has already heard much, whereon by God's grace we have discoursed according to our ability, pressing on your notice that this evangelist, specially, has chosen to speak of the Lord's divinity, wherein He is equal with the Father and the only Son of God; and on that account he has been compared to the eagle, because no other bird is understood to take a loftier flight. Accordingly, to what follows in order, as the Lord enables us to treat of it, listen with all your attention.

2. We have spoken to you on the preceding passage, suggesting how the Father may be understood as True, and the Son as the Truth. But when the Lord Jesus said, He that sent me is true, the Jews understood not that He spoke to them of the Father. And He said to them, as you have just heard in the reading, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am, and [that] I do nothing of myself; but as the Father has taught me, I speak these things. What means this? For it looks as if all He said was, that they would know who He was after His passion. Without doubt, therefore, He saw that some there, whom He Himself knew, whom with the rest of His saints He Himself in His foreknowledge had chosen before the foundation of the world, would believe after His passion. These are the very persons whom we are constantly commending, and with much entreaty setting forth for your imitation. For on the sending down of the Holy Spirit after the Lord's passion, and resurrection, and ascension, when miracles were being done in the name of Him whom, as if dead, the persecuting Jews had despised, they were pricked in their hearts; and they who in their rage slew Him were changed and believed; and they who in their rage shed His blood, now in the spirit of faith drank it; to wit, those three thousand, and those five thousand Jews whom now He saw there, when He said, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am [He]. It was as if He had said, I let your recognition lie over till I have completed my passion: in your own order you shall know who I am. Not that all who heard Him were only then to believe, that is, after the Lord's passion; for a little after it is said, As He spoke these words, many believed on Him; and the Son of man was not yet lifted up. But the lifting up He is speaking of is that of His passion, not of His glorification; of the cross, not of heaven; for He was exalted there also when He hung on the tree. But that exaltation was His humiliation; for then He became obedient even to the death of the cross. Philippians 2:8 This required to be accomplished by the hands of those who should afterwards believe, and to whom He says, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am [He]. And why so, but that no one might despair, however guilty his conscience, when he saw those forgiven their homicide who had slain the Christ?

3. The Lord then, recognizing such in that crowd, said, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am [He]. You know already what I am signifies; and we must not be continually repeating, lest so great a subject beget distaste. Recall that, I am who am, and He who is has sent me, Exodus 3:14 and you will recognize the meaning of the words, Then shall you know that I am. But both the Father is, and the Holy Spirit is. To the same is belongs the whole Trinity. But because the Lord spoke as the Son, in order that, when He says, Then shall you know that I am, there might be no chance of entrance for the error of the Sabellians, that is, of the Patripassians — an error which I have charged you not to hold, but to beware of — the error, I mean, of those who have said, The Father and Son are one and the same; two names, but one reality — to guard them against that error, when the Lord said, Then shall you know that I am, that He might not be understood as Himself the Father, He immediately added, And I do nothing of myself; but as my Father taught me, I speak these things. Already was the Sabellian beginning to rejoice over the discovery of a ground for his error; but immediately on showing himself as it were in the shade, he was confounded by the light of the following sentence. You thought that He was the Father, because He said, I am. Hear now that He is the Son: And I do nothing of myself. What means this, I do nothing of myself? Of myself I am not. For the Son is God, of the Father; but the Father is God, yet not of the Son. The Son is God of God, and the Father is God, but not of God. The Son is light of light; and the Father is light, but not of light. The Son is, but there is [One] of whom He is; and the Father is, but there is none of whom He is.

4. Let not then, my brethren, His further words, As my Father has taught me, I speak these things, be the occasion of any carnal thought stealing into your minds. For human weakness cannot think, but as it is accustomed to act and to hear. Do not then set before your eyes as it were two men, one the father, the other the son, and the father speaking to the son; as any one of you may do, when you say something to your son, admonishing and instructing him how to speak, to charge his memory with what you have told him, and, having done so, to express it in words, to enunciate distinctly, and convey to the ears of others what he has apprehended with his own. Think not thus, lest you be fabricating idols in your heart. The human shape, the outlines of human limbs, the form of human flesh, the outward senses, stature and motions of the body, the functions of the tongue, the distinctions of sounds — think not of such as existing in that Trinity, save as they pertain to the servant-form, which the only-begotten Son assumed, when the Word was made flesh to dwell among us. Thereof I forbid you not, human weakness, to think according to your knowledge: nay, rather I require you. If the faith that is in you be true, think of Christ as such; but as such of the Virgin Mary, not of God the Father. He was an infant, He grew as a man, He walked as a man, He hungered, He thirsted as a man, He slept as a man; at last He suffered as a man, hung on the tree, was slain and buried as a man. In the same form He rose again; in the same, before the eyes of His disciples, He ascended into heaven; in the same will He yet come to judgment. For angel lips have declared in the Gospel, He shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven. Acts 1:11 When then you think of the servant-form in Christ, think of a human likeness, if you have faith; but when you think, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, away with all human fashioning from your heart. Banish from your thoughts everything bounded by corporeal limits, included in local measurement, or spread out in a mass, how great soever its size. Perish utterly such a figment from your heart. Think, if you can, on the beauty of wisdom, picture to yourself the beauty of righteousness. Has that a shape? A size? A color? It has none of these, and yet it is; for if it were not, it would neither be loved nor worthy of praise, nor be cherished in our heart and life as an object of honor and affection. But men here become wise; and whence would they so, had wisdom no existence? And further, O man, if you can not see your own wisdom with the eyes of the flesh, nor think of it by the same mental imagery as you can of bodily things, will you dare to thrust the shape of a human body on the wisdom of God?

5. What shall we say then, brethren? How spoke the Father to the Son, seeing that the Son says, As the Father taught me, I speak these things? Did He speak to Him? When the Father taught the Son, did He use words, as you do when you teach your son? How could He use words to the Word! What words, many in number, could be used to the one Word? Did the Word of the Father approach His ears to the Father's mouth? Such things are carnal: banish them from your hearts. For this I say, if only you have understood my words, I certainly have spoken and my words have sounded, and by their sound have reached your ears, and through your sense of hearing have carried their meaning to your mind, if so be you have understood. Suppose that some person of Latin speech has heard, but has only heard without understanding, what I have said. As regards the noise issuing from my mouth, he who has understood not has been a sharer therein just like yourselves. He has heard that sound; the same syllables have smote on his ears, but they have produced no effect on his mind. Why? Because he understood not. But if you have understood, whence comes your understanding? My words have sounded in the ear: have I kindled any light in the heart? Without doubt, if what I have said is true, and this truth you have not only heard, but also understood, two things have there been wrought (distinguish between them), hearing and intelligence. Hearing has been wrought by me, but by whom has understanding? I have spoken to the ear, that you might hear; who has spoken to your heart for understanding? Doubtless some one has also said something to your heart, that not only the noise of words might strike your ear, but something also of the truth might descend into your heart. Some one has spoken also to your heart, but you do not see him. If, brethren, you have understood, your heart also has been spoken to. Intelligence is the gift of God. And who, if you have understood, has spoken so in your heart, but He to whom the Psalm says, Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments? For example, the bishop has spoken. What has he said, some one asks. You repeat what he has spoken, and add, He has said the truth. Then another, who has not understood, says, What has he said, or what is it you are praising? Both have heard me; I have spoken to both; but to one of them God has spoken. If we may compare small things with great (for what are we to Him?), something, I know not what, of an incorporeal and spiritual kind God works in us, which is neither sound to strike the ear, nor color to be discerned by the eyes, nor smell to enter the nostrils, nor taste to be judged of by the mouth, nor anything hard or soft to be sensible to the touch; yet something there is which it is easy to feel — impossible to explain. If then God, as I was saying, speaks in our hearts without sound, how speaks He to His Son? Thus then, brethren, think thus as much as you can, if, as I have said, we may in some measure compare small things with great: think thus. In an incorporeal way the Father spoke to the Son, because in an incorporeal way the Father begot the Son. Nor did He so teach Him as if He had begotten Him untaught; but to have taught Him is the same as to have begotten Him full of knowledge; and this, The Father has taught me, is the same as, The Father has begotten me already knowing. For if, as few understand, the nature of the Truth is simple, to be is to the Son the same as to know. From Him therefore He has knowledge, from whom He has being. Not that from Him He had first being, and afterwards knowledge; but as in begetting He gave Him to be, so in begetting He gave Him to know; for, as was said, to the simple nature of the Truth, being is not one thing and knowing another, but one and the same.

6. Thus then He spoke to the Jews, and added, And He that sent me is with me. He had already said this also before, but of this important point He is constantly reminding them —He sent me, and He is with me. If then, O Lord, He is with You, not so much has the One been sent by the other, but you Both have come. And yet, while Both are together, One was sent, the Other was the sender; for incarnation is a sending, and the incarnation itself belongs only to the Son and not to the Father. The Father therefore sent the Son, but did not withdraw from the Son. For it was not that the Father was absent from the place to which He sent the Son. For where is not the Maker of all things? Where is He not, who said, I fill heaven and earth? Jeremiah 23:24 But perhaps the Father is everywhere, and the Son not so? Listen to the evangelist: He was in this world, and the world was made by Him. Therefore said He, He that sent me, by whose power as Father I am incarnate, is with me — has not left me. Why has He not left me? He has not left me, He says, alone; for I do always those things that please Him. That equality exists always; not from a certain beginning, and then onwards; but without beginning, without end. For Divine generation has no beginning in time, since time itself was created by the Only-begotten.

7. As He spoke these words, many believed on Him. Would that, while I speak also, many, who before this were otherwise disposed, understood and believed on Him! For perhaps there are some Arians in this large assembly. I dare not suspect that there are any Sabellians, who say that the Father Himself is one with the Son, seeing that heresy is too old, and has been gradually eviscerated. But that of the Arians seems still to have some movement about it, like that of a putrefying carcass, or certainly, at the most, like a man at the last gasp; and from this some still require deliverance, just as from that other many were delivered. This province, indeed, did not use to have such; but ever since the arrival of many foreigners, some of these have also found their way to our neighborhood. See then, while the Lord spoke these words, many Jews believed on Him. May I see also that, while I am speaking, Arians are believing, not on me, but with me!

8. Then said the Lord to those Jews who believed on Him, If you continue in my word. Continue, I say, for you are now initiated and have begun to be there. If you continue, that is, in the faith which is now begun in you who believe, to what will you attain? See the nature of the beginning, and whither it leads. You have loved the foundation, give heed to the summit, and out of this low condition seek that other elevation. For faith has humility, but knowledge and immortality and eternity possess not lowliness, but loftiness; that is, upraising, all-sufficiency, eternal stability, full freedom from hostile assault, from fear of failure. That which has its beginning in faith is great, but is despised. In a building also the foundation is usually of little account with the unskilled. A large trench is made, and stones are thrown in every way and everywhere. No embellishment, no beauty are apparent there; just as also in the root of a tree there is no appearance of beauty. And yet all that delights you in the tree has sprung from the root. You look at the root and feel no delight: you look at the tree and admire it. Foolish man! What you admire has grown out of that which gave you no delight. The faith of believers seems a thing of little value — you have no scales to weigh it. Hear then to what it attains, and see its greatness: as the Lord Himself says in another place, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed. Matthew 17:20 What is there of less account than that, yet what is there pervaded with greater energy? What more minute, yet what more fervidly expansive? And so you also, He says, if you continue in my word, wherein you have believed, to what will you be brought? you shall be my disciples indeed. And what does that benefit us? and you shall know the truth.

9. What, brethren, does He promise believers? And you shall know the truth. Why so? Had they not come to such knowledge when the Lord was speaking? If they had not, how did they believe? They believed, not because they knew, but that they might come to know. For we believe in order that we may know, we do not know in order that we may believe. For what we shall yet know, neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered the heart of man. For what is faith, but believing what you see not? Faith then is to believe what you see not; truth, to see what you have believed, as He Himself says in a certain place. The Lord then walked on earth, first of all, for the creation of faith. He was man, He was made in a low condition. He was seen by all, but not by all was He known. By many was He rejected, by the multitude was He slain, by few was He mourned; and yet even by those who mourned Him, His true being was still unrecognized. All this is the beginning as it were of faith's lineaments and future up-building. As the Lord, referring thereto, says in a certain place, He that loves me keeps my commandments; and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. They certainly already saw the person to whom they were listening; and yet to them, if they loved Him, does He give it as a promise that they should see Him. So also here, You shall know the truth. How so? Is that not the truth which You have been speaking? The truth it is, but as yet it is only believed, not beheld. If you abide in that which is believed, you shall attain to that which is seen. Hence John himself, the holy evangelist, says in his epistle, Dearly beloved, we are the sons of God; but it is not yet apparent what we shall be. We are so already, and something we shall be. What more shall we be than we are? Listen: It is not yet apparent what we shall be: [but] we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. How? For we shall see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2 A great promise, but the reward of faith. You seek the reward; then let the work precede. If you believe, ask for the reward of faith; but if you believe not, with what face can you seek the reward of faith? If then you continue in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed, that you may behold the very truth as it is, not through sounding words, but in dazzling light, wherewith He shall satisfy us: as we read in the psalm, The light of Your countenance is impressed upon us. We are God's money: we have wandered away as coin from the treasury. The impression that was stamped upon us has been rubbed out by our wandering. He has come to refashion, for He it was that fashioned us at first; and He is Himself asking for His money, as Cæsar for his. Therefore He says, Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that are God's: Matthew 22:21 to Cæsar his money, to God yourselves. And then shall the truth be reproduced in us.

10. What shall I say to your Charity? Oh that our hearts were in some measure aspiring after that ineffable glory! Oh that we were passing our pilgrimage in sighs, and loving not the world, and continually pushing onwards with pious minds to Him who has called us! Longing is the very bosom of the heart. We shall attain, if with all our power we give way to our longing. Such in our behalf is the object of the divine Scriptures, of the assembling of the people, of the celebration of the sacra ments, of holy baptism, of singing God's praise, and of this our own exposition — that this longing may not only be implanted and germinate, but also expand to such a measure of capacity as to be fit to take in what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man. But love with me. He who loves God is not much in love with money. And I have but touched on this infirmity, not venturing to say, He loves not money at all, but, He loves not money much; as if money were to be loved, but not in a great degree. Oh, were we loving God worthily, we should have no love at all for money! Money then will be your means of pilgrimage, not the stimulant of lust; something to use for necessity, not to joy over as a means of delight. Love God, if He has wrought in you somewhat of that which you hear and praisest. Use the world: let not the world hold you captive. You are passing on the journey you have begun; you have come, again to depart, not to abide. You are passing on your journey, and this life is but a wayside inn. Use money as the traveller at an inn uses table, cup, pitcher, and couch, with the purpose not of remaining, but of leaving them behind. If such you would be, you, who can stir up your hearts and hear me; if such you would be, you will attain to His promises. It is not too much for your strength, for mighty is the hand of Him who has called you. He has called you. Call upon Him, say to Him, You have called us, we call upon You; see, we have heard You calling us, hear us calling upon You: lead us whither You have promised; perfect what You have begun; forsake not Your own gifts; leave not Your own field; let Your tender shoots yet be gathered into Your barn. Temptations abound in the world, but greater is He who made the world. Temptations abound, but he fails not whose hope reposes in Him in whom there is no deficiency.

11. I have been exhorting you, brethren, to this in such words, because the freedom of which our Lord Jesus Christ speaks belongs not to this present time. Look at what He added: You shall be my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. What means that — shall set you free? It shall make you freemen. In a word, the carnal, and fleshly-minded Jews— not those who had believed, but those in the crowd who believed not — thought that an injury was done them, because He said to them, The truth shall make you free. They were indignant at being designated as slaves. And slaves truly they were; and He explains to them what slavery it is, and what is that future freedom which is promised by Himself. But of this liberty and of that slavery it were too long to speak today.

Tractate 41 (John 8:31-36)

1. Of what follows of the previous lesson, and has been read publicly to us today from the holy Gospel, I then deferred speaking, because I had already said much, and of that liberty into which the grace of the Saviour calls us it was needful to treat in no cursory or negligent way. Of this, by the Lord's help, we purpose speaking to you today. For those to whom the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking were Jews, in a large measure indeed His enemies, but also in some measure already become, and yet to be, His friends; for some He saw there, as we have already said, who should yet believe after His passion. Looking to these, He had said, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am [He]. There also were those who, when He so spoke, straightway believed. To them He spoke what we have heard today: Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on Him, If you continue in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed. By continuing you shall be so; for as now you are believers, by so continuing you shall be beholders. Hence there follows, And you shall know the truth. The truth is unchangeable. The truth is bread, which refreshes our minds and fails not; changes the eater, and is not itself changed into the eater. The truth itself is the Word of God, God with God, the only-begotten Son. This Truth was for our sake clothed with flesh, that He might be born of the Virgin Mary, and the prophecy fulfilled, Truth has sprung from the earth. This Truth then, when speaking to the Jews, lay hid in the flesh. But He lay hid not in order to be denied, but to be deferred [in His manifestation]; to be deferred, in order to suffer in the flesh; and to suffer in the flesh, in order that flesh might be redeemed from sin. And so our Lord Jesus Christ, standing full in sight as regards the infirmity of flesh, but hid as regards the majesty of Godhead, said to those who had believed on Him, when He so spoke, If you continue in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed. For he that endures to the end shall be saved. Matthew 10:22 And you shall know the truth, which now is hid from you, and speaks to you. And the truth shall free you. This word, liberabit [shall free], the Lord has taken from libertas [freedom]. For liberat [frees, delivers] is properly nothing else but liberum facit [makes free]. As salvat [he saves] is nothing else but salvum facit [he makes safe]; as he heals is nothing else but he makes whole; he enriches is nothing else but he makes rich; so liberat [he frees] is nothing else but liberum facit [he makes free]. This is clearer in the Greek word. For in Latin usage we commonly say that a man is delivered (liberari), in regard not to liberty, but only to safety, just as one is said to be delivered from some infirmity. So is it said customarily, but not properly. But the Lord made such use of this word in saying, And the truth shall make you free (liberabit), that in the Greek tongue no one could doubt that He spoke of freedom.

2. In short, the Jews also so understood and answered Him; not those who had already believed, but those in that crowd who were not yet believers. They answered Him, We are Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how do you say, You shall be free? But the Lord had not said, You shall be free, but, The truth shall make you free. That word, however, they, because, as I have said, it is clearly so in the Greek, understood as pointing only to freedom, and puffed themselves up as Abraham's seed, and said, We are Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how do you say, You shall be free? O inflated skin! such is not magnanimity, but windy swelling. For even as regards freedom in this life, how was that the truth when you said, We were never in bondage to any man? Was not Joseph sold? Genesis 37:28 Were not the holy prophets led into captivity? And again, did not that very nation, when making bricks in Egypt, also serve hard rulers, not only in gold and silver, but also in clay? Exodus 1:14 If you were never in bondage to any man, ungrateful people, why is it that God is continually reminding you that He delivered you from the house of bondage? Or mean you, perchance, that your fathers were in bondage, but you who speak were never in bondage to any man? How then were you now paying tribute to the Romans, out of which also you formed a trap for the Truth Himself, as if to ensnare Him, when you said, Is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar? in order that, had He said, It is lawful, you might fasten on Him as one ill-disposed to the liberty of Abraham's seed; and if He said, It is not lawful, you might slander Him before the kings of the earth, as forbidding the payment of tribute to such? Deservedly were you defeated on producing the money, and compelled yourselves to concur in your own capture. For there it was told you, Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's, after your own reply, that the money-piece bore the image of Cæsar. Matthew 22:15-21 For as Cæsar looks for his own image on the coin, so God looks for His in man. Thus, then, did He answer the Jews. I am moved, brethren, by the hollow pride of men, because even of that very freedom of theirs, which they understood carnally, they lied when they said, We were never in bondage to any man.

3. But to the Lord's own answer, let us give better and more earnest heed, lest we ourselves be also found bondmen. For Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that every one who commits sin is the servant of sin. He is the servant — would that it were of man, and not of sin! Who will not tremble at such words? The Lord our God grant us, that is, both you and me, that I may speak in fitting terms of this freedom to be sought, and of that bondage to be avoided. Amen, amen [verily, verily], I say unto you. The Truth speaks: and in what sense does the Lord our God claim it as His to say, Amen, amen, I say unto you? His charge is weighty in so announcing it. In some sort, if lawful to be said, His form of swearing is, Amen, amen, I say unto you. Amen in a way may be interpreted, [It is] true [truly, verily]; and yet it is not interpreted, though it might have been said, What is true [verily] I say unto you. Neither the Greek translator nor the Latin has dared to do so; for this word Amen is neither Greek nor Latin, but Hebrew. So it has remained without interpretation, to possess honor as the covering of something hidden; not in order to be disowned, but that it might not, as a thing laid bare to the eye, fall into disrepute. And yet it is not once, but twice uttered by the Lord, Amen, amen, I say unto you. And now learn from the very doubling, how much was implied in the charge before us.

4. What, then, is the charge given? Verily, verily, I say unto you, says the Truth who surely, though He had not said, Verily, I say, could not possibly lie. Yet [thereby] He impresses, inculcates His charge, arouses in a way the sleeping, makes them attentive, and would not be contemned. What does He say? Verily, verily, I say unto you, that every one who commits sin is the servant of sin. Miserable slavery! Men frequently, when they suffer under wicked masters, demand to get themselves sold, not seeking to be without a master, but at all events to change him. What can the servant of sin do? To whom can he make his demand? To whom apply for redress? Of whom require himself to be sold? And then at times a man's slave, worn out by the commands of an unfeeling master, finds rest in flight. Whither can the servant of sin flee? Himself he carries with him wherever he flees. An evil conscience flees not from itself; it has no place to go to; it follows itself. Yea, he cannot withdraw from himself, for the sin he commits is within. He has committed sin to obtain some bodily pleasure. The pleasure passes away; the sin remains. What delighted is gone; the sting has remained behind. Evil bondage! Sometimes men flee to the Church, and we generally permit them, uninstructed as they are — men, wishing to be rid of their master, who are unwilling to be rid of their sins. But sometimes also those subjected to an unlawful and wicked yoke flee for refuge to the Church; for, though free-born men, they are retained in bondage: and an appeal is made to the bishop. And unless he care to put forth every effort to save free-birth from oppression, he is accounted unmerciful. Let us all flee to Christ, and appeal against sin to God as our deliverer. Let us seek to get ourselves sold, that we may be redeemed by His blood. For the Lord says, You were sold for nought, and you shall be redeemed without money. Isaiah 52:3 Without price, that is, of your own; because of mine. So says the Lord; for He Himself has paid the price, not in money, but His own blood. Otherwise we had remained both bondmen and indigent.

5. From this bondage, then, we are set free by the Lord alone. He who had it not, Himself delivers us from it; for He alone came without sin in the flesh. For the little ones whom you see carried in their mothers' hands cannot yet walk, and are already in fetters; for they have received from Adam what they are loosened from by Christ. To them also, when baptized, pertains that grace which is promised by the Lord; for He only can deliver from sin who came without sin, and was made a sacrifice for sin. For you heard when the apostle was read: We are ambassadors, he says, for Christ, as though God were exhorting you by us; we beseech you in Christ's stead,— that is, as if Christ were beseeching you, and for what?— to be reconciled unto God. If the apostle exhorts and beseeches us to be reconciled unto God, then were we enemies to God. For no one is reconciled unless from a state of enmity. And we have become enemies not by nature, but by sin. From the same source are we the servants of sin, that we are the enemies of God. God has no enemies in a state of freedom. They must be slaves; and slaves will they remain unless delivered by Him to whom they wished by their sins to be enemies. Therefore, says be, We beseech you in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God. But how are we reconciled, save by the removal of that which separates between us and Himself? For He says by the prophet, He has not made the ear heavy that it should not hear; but your iniquities have separated between you and your God. Isaiah 59:1-2 And so, then, we are not reconciled, unless that which is in the midst is taken away, and something else is put in its place. For there is a separating medium, and, on the other hand, there is a reconciling Mediator. The separating medium is sin, the reconciling Mediator is the Lord Jesus Christ: For there is one God and Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5 To take then away the separating wall, which is sin, that Mediator has come, and the priest has Himself become the sacrifice. And because He was made a sacrifice for sin, offering Himself as a whole burnt-offering on the cross of His passion, the apostle, after saying, We beseech you in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God,— as if we had said, How shall we be able to be reconciled?— goes on to say, He has made Him, that is, Christ Himself, who knew no sin, [to be] sin for us, that we may be the righteousness of God in Him, 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 Him, he says, Christ Himself our God, who knew no sin. For He came in the flesh, that is, in the likeness of sinful flesh, Romans 8:3 but not in sinful flesh, because He had no sin at all; and therefore became a true sacrifice for sin, because He Himself had no sin.

6. But perhaps, through some special perception of my own, I have said that sin is a sacrifice for sin. Let those who have read it be free to acknowledge it; let not those who have not read it be backward; let them not, I say, be backward to read, that they may be truthful in judging. For when God gave commandment about the offering of sacrifices for sin, in which sacrifices there was no expiation of sins, but the shadow of things to come, the self-same sacrifices, the self-same offerings, the self-same victims, the self-same animals, which were brought forward to be slain for sins, and in whose blood that [true] blood was prefigured, are themselves called sins by the law; and that to such an extent that in certain passages it is written in these terms, that the priests, when about to sacrifice, were to lay their hands on the head of the sin, that is, on the head of the victim about to be sacrificed for sin. Such sin, then, that is, such a sacrifice for sin, was our Lord Jesus Christ made, who knew no sin.

7. With efficacious merit does He deliver from this bondage of sin, who says in the psalms: I have become as a man without help, free among the dead. For He only was free, because He had no sin. For He Himself says in the Gospel, Behold, the prince of this world comes, meaning the devil about to come in the persons of the persecuting Jews —behold, He says, he comes, and shall find nothing in me. Not as he found some measure of sin in those whom he also slew as righteous; in me he shall find nothing. And just as if He were asked, If he shall find nothing in You, wherefore will he slay You? He further said, But that all may know that I do the will of my Father, rise and let us go hence. I do not, He says, pay the penalty of death as a necessity of my sinfulness; but in the death I die, I do the will of my Father. And in this, I am doing rather than enduring it; for, were I unwilling, I should not have had the suffering to endure. You have Him saying in another place, I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again. Here surely is one free among the dead.

8. Since, then, every one that commits sin is the servant of sin, listen to what is our hope of liberty. And the servant, He says, abides not in the house forever. The church is the house, the servant is the sinner. Many sinners enter the church. Accordingly He has not said, The servant is not in the house, but abides not in the house forever. If, then, there shall be no servant there, who will be there? For when as the Scripture speaks, the righteous king sits on the throne, who will boast of having a clean heart? Or who will boast that he is pure from his sin? Proverbs 20:8-9 He has greatly alarmed us, my brethren, by saying, The servant abides not in the house forever. But He further adds, But the Son abides ever. Will Christ, then, be alone in His house? Will no people remain at His side? Whose head will He be, if there shall be no body? Or is the Son all this, both the head and the body? For it is not without cause that He has inspired both terror and hope: terror, in order that we should not love sin; and hope, that we should not be distrustful of the remission of sin. Every one, He says, that commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abides not in the house forever. What hope, then, have we, who are not without sin? Listen to your hope: The Son abides forever. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, then shall you be free indeed. Our hope is this, brethren, to be made free by the free One; and that, in setting us free, He may make us His servants. For we were the servants of lust; but being set free, we are made the servants of love. This also the apostle says: For, brethren, you have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Galatians 5:13 Let not then the Christian say, I am free; I have been called unto liberty: I was a slave, but have been redeemed, and by my very redemption have been made free, I shall do what I please: no one may balk me of my will, if I am free. But if you commit sin with such a will, you are the servant of sin. Do not then abuse your liberty for freedom in sinning, but use it for the purpose of sinning not. For only if your will is pious, will it be free. You will be free, if you are a servant still — free from sin, the servant of righteous ness: as the apostle says, When you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. But now, being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. Let us be striving after the latter, and be doing the other.

9. The first stage of liberty is to be free from crimes. Give heed, my brethren, give heed, that I may not by any means mislead your understanding as to the nature of that liberty at present, and what it will be. Sift any one soever of the highest integrity in this life, and however worthy he may already be of the name of upright, yet is he not without sin. Listen to Saint John himself, the author of the Gospel before us, when he says in his epistle, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8 He alone could say this who was free among the dead: of Him only could it be said, who knew no sin. It could be said only of Him, for He also was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15 He alone could say, Behold, the prince of this world comes, and shall find nothing in me. Sift any one else, who is accounted righteous, yet is he not in all respects without sin; not even such as was Job, to whom the Lord bore such testimony, that the devil was filled with envy, and demanded that he should be tempted, and was himself defeated in the temptation, to the end that Job might be proved. Job 1:2 And he was proved for this reason, not that the certainty of his carrying off the conqueror's wreath was unknown to God, but that he might become known as an object of imitation to others. And what says Job himself? For who is clean? Not even the infant whose life is but a day's span upon the earth. But it is plain that many are called righteous without opposition, because the term is understood as meaning, free from crime; for in human affairs there is no just ground of complaint attaching to those who are free from criminal conduct. But crime is grievous sin, deserving in the highest measure to be denounced and condemned. Not, however, that God condemns certain sins, and justifies and praises certain others. He approves of none. He hates them all. As the physician dislikes the ailment of the ailing, and works by his healing measures to get the ailment removed and the ailing relieved; so God by his grace works in us, that sin may be consumed, and man made free. But when, you will be saying, is it consumed? If it is lessened, why is it not consumed? That is growing less in the life of those who are advancing onwards, which is consumed in the life of those who have attained to perfection.

10. The first stage of liberty, then, is to be free from crimes [sinful conduct]. And so the Apostle Paul, when he determined on the ordination of either elders or deacons, or whoever was to be ordained to the superintendence of the Church, says not, If any one is without sin; for had he said so, every one would be rejected as unfit, none would be ordained: but he says, If any one is without crime [E.V. blame], such as, murder, adultery, any uncleanness of fornication, theft, fraud, sacrilege, and others of that sort. When a man has begun to be free from these (and every Christian man ought to be so), he begins to raise his head to liberty; but that is liberty begun, not completed. Why, says some one, is it not completed liberty? Because, I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind; for what I would, he says, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. The flesh, he says, lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; so that you do not the things that you would. Galatians 5:17 In part liberty, in part bondage: not yet entire, not yet pure, not yet full liberty, because not yet eternity. For we have still infirmity in part, in part we have attained to liberty. Whatever has been our sin, was previously wiped out in baptism. But because all our iniquity has been blotted out, has there remained no infirmity? If there had not, we should be living here without sin. Yet who would venture to say so, but the proud, but the man unworthy of the Deliverer's mercy, but he who wishes to be self-deceived, and who is destitute of the truth? Hence, from the fact that some infirmity remains, I venture to say that, in what measure we serve God, we are free; in what measure we serve the law of sin, we are still in bondage. Hence says the apostle, what we began to say, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Romans 7:22 Here then it is, wherein we are free, wherein we delight in the law of God; for liberty has joy. For as long as it is from fear that you do what is right, God is no delight to you. Find your delight in Him, and you are free. Fear not punishment, but love righteousness. Are you not yet able to love righteousness? Fear even punishment, that you may attain to the love of righteousness.

11. In the measure then spoken of above, he felt himself to be already free, and there fore said, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. I delight in the law, I delight in its requirements, I delight in righteousness itself. But I see another law in my members — this infirmity which remains — warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. On this side he feels his captivity, where righteousness has not been perfected; for where he delights in the law of God, he is not the captive but the friend of the law; and therefore free, because a friend. What then is to be done with that which so remains? What, but to look to Him who has said, If the Son shall make you free, then shall you be free indeed? Indeed he also who thus spoke so looked to Him: O wretched man that I am, he says, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. And then he concluded thus: So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. Romans 7:23-25 I myself, he says; for there are not two of us contrary to each other, coming from different origins; but with the mind I myself serve the law of God, and with the flesh the law of sin, so long as languor struggles against salvation.

12. But if with the flesh you serve the law of sin, do as the apostle himself says: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof: neither yield your members as weapons of unrighteousness unto sin. Romans 6:12-13 He says not, Let it not be; but, Let it not reign. So long as sin must be in your members, let its reigning power at least be taken away, let not its demands be obeyed. Does anger rise? Yield not up your tongue to anger for the purpose of evil-speaking; yield not up your hand or foot to anger for the purpose of striking. That irrational anger would not rise, were there no sin in the members. But take away its ruling power; let it have no weapons wherewith to fight against you. Then also it will learn not to rise, when it begins to find the lack of weapons. Yield not your members as weapons of unrighteousness unto sin, else will you be entirely captive, and there will be no room to say, With the mind I serve the law of God. For if the mind keep possession of the weapons, the members are not roused to the service of raging sin. Let the inward ruler keep possession of the citadel, because it stands there under a greater ruler, and is certain of assistance. Let it bridle anger; let it restrain evil desire. There is within something that needs bridling, that needs restraining, that needs to be kept in command. And what did that righteous man wish, who with the mind was serving the law of God, but that there should be a complete deliverance from that which needed to be bridled? And this ought every one to be striving after who is aiming at perfection, that lust itself also, no longer receiving the obedience of the members, may every day be lessened in the advancing pilgrim. To will, he says, is present with me; but not so, how to perfect that which is good. Romans 7:18 Has he said, To do good is not present with me? Had he said so, hope would be wanting. He does not say, To do is not present with me, but, To perfect is not present with me. For what is the perfecting of good, but the elimination and end of evil? And what is the elimination of evil, but what the law says, You shall not lust [covet]? Exodus 20:17 To lust not at all is the perfecting of good, because it is the eliminating of evil. This he said, To perfect that which is good is not present with me, because his doing could not get the length of setting him free from lust. He labored only to bridle lust, to refuse consent to lust, and not to yield his members to its service. To perfect, then, he says, that which is good is not present with me. I cannot fulfill the commandment, You shall not lust. What then is needed? To fulfill this: Go not after your lusts. Sirach 18:30 Do this meanwhile so long as unlawful lusts are present in your flesh; Go not after your lusts. Abide in the service of God, in the liberty of Christ. With the mind serve the law of your God. Yield not yourself to your lusts. By following them, you add to their strength. By giving them strength, how can you conquer, when on your own strength you are nourishing enemies against yourself?

13. What then is that full and perfect liberty in the Lord Jesus, who said, If the Son shall make you free, then shall you be free indeed; and when shall it be a full and perfect liberty? When enmities are no more; when death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.— And when this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your struggle? What is this, O death, where is your struggle? The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, but only when the flesh of sin was in vigor. O death, where is [now] your struggle? Now shall we live, no more shall we die, in Him who died for us and rose again: that they, he says, who live, should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again. 2 Corinthians 5:15 Let us be praying, as those who are wounded, for the physician; let us be carried into the inn to be healed. For it is He who promises salvation, who pitied the man left half-alive on the road by robbers. He poured in oil and wine, He healed the wounds, He put him on his beast, He took him to the inn, He commended him to the innkeeper's care. To what innkeeper? Perhaps to him who said, We are ambassadors for Christ. He gave also two pence to pay for the healing of the wounded man. Luke 10:30-35 And perhaps these are the two commandments, on which hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40 Therefore, brethren, is the Church also, wherein the wounded is healed meanwhile, the traveller's inn; but above the Church itself, lies the possessor's inheritance.

Tractate 42 (John 8:37-47)

1. Our Lord, in the form of a servant, yet not a servant, but even in servant-form the Lord (for that form of flesh was indeed servant-like; but though He was in the likeness of sinful flesh, Romans 8:3 yet was He not sinful flesh) promised freedom to those who believed in Him. But the Jews, as if proudly glorying in their own freedom, refused with indignation to be made free, when they were the servants of sin. And therefore they said that they were free, because Abraham's seed. What answer, then, the Lord gave them to this, we have heard in the reading of this day's lesson. I know, He said, that you are Abraham's children; but you seek to kill me, because my word takes no hold in you. I recognize you, He says; You are the children of Abraham, but you seek to kill me. I recognize the fleshly origin, not the believing heart. You are the children of Abraham, but after the flesh. Therefore He says, You seek to kill me, because my word takes no hold in you. If my word were taken, it would take hold: if you were taken, you would be enclosed like fishes within the meshes of faith. What then means that — takes no hold in you? It takes not hold of your heart, because not received by your heart. For so is the word of God, and so it ought to be to believers, as a hook to the fish: it takes when it is taken. No injury is done to those who are taken; since they are taken for salvation, and not for destruction. Hence the Lord says to His disciples: Come after me, and I shall make you fishers of men. Matthew 4:19 But such were not these; and yet they were the children of Abraham — children of a man of God, unrighteous themselves. For they inherited the fleshly genus, but had become degenerate, by not imitating the faith of him whose children they were.

2. You have heard, indeed, the Lord saying, I know that you are Abraham's children. Hear what He says afterwards: I speak that which I have seen with my Father; and you do that which you have seen with your father. He had already said, I know that you are Abraham's children. What is it, then, that they do? What He told them: You seek to kill me. This they never saw with Abraham. But the Lord wishes God the Father to be understood when He says, I speak that which I have seen with my Father. I have seen the truth: I speak the truth, because I am the Truth. For if the Lord speaks the truth which He has seen with the Father, He has seen Himself — He speaks Himself; because He Himself is the Truth of the Father, which He saw with the Father. For He is the Word — the Word which was with God. The evil, then, which these men do, and which the Lord chides and reprehends, where have they seen it? With their father. When we come to hear in what follows the still clearer statement who is their father, then shall we understand what kind of things they saw with such a father; for as yet He names not their father. A little above He referred to Abraham, but in regard to their fleshly origin, not their similarity of life. He is about to speak of that other father of theirs, who neither begot them nor created them to be men. But still they were his children in as far as they were evil, not in as far as they were men; in what they imitated him, and not as created by him.

3. They answered and said to Him, Abraham is our father; as if, What have you to say against Abraham? Or, If you can, dare to find fault with Abraham. Not that the Lord dared not find fault with Abraham; but Abraham was not one to be found fault with by the Lord, but rather approved. But these men seemed to challenge Him to say some evil of Abraham, and so to have some occasion for doing what they purposed. Abraham is our father.

4. Let us hear how the Lord answered them, praising Abraham to their condemnation. Jesus says unto them, If you are Abraham's children, do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. See, he was praised, they were condemned. Abraham was no manslayer. I say not, He implies, I am Abraham's Lord; though did I say it, I would say the truth. For He said in another place, Before Abraham was, I am John 8:58; and then they sought to stone Him. He said not so. But meanwhile, as you see me, as you look upon me, as alone you think of me, I am a man. Wherefore, then, wish you to kill a man who is telling you what he has heard of God, but because you are not the children of Abraham? And yet He said above, I know that you are Abraham's children. He does not deny their origin, but condemns their deeds. Their flesh was from him, but not their life.

5. But we, dearly beloved, do we come of Abraham's race, or was Abraham in any sense our father according to the flesh? The flesh of the Jews draws its origin from his flesh, not so the flesh of Christians. We have come of other nations, and yet, by imitating him, we have become the children of Abraham. Listen to the apostle: To Abraham and to his seed were the promises made. He says not, he adds, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ. And if you be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. We then have become Abraham's seed by the grace of God. It was not of Abraham's flesh that God made any co-heirs with him. He disinherited the former, He adopted the latter; and from that olive tree whose root is in the patriarchs, He cut off the proud natural branches, and engrafted the lowly wild olive. Romans 11:17 And so, when the Jews came to John to be baptized, he broke out upon them, and addressed them, O generation of vipers. Very greatly indeed did they boast of the loftiness of their origin, but he called them a generation of vipers — not even of human beings, but of vipers. He saw the form of men, but detected the poison. Yet they had come to be changed, because at all events to be baptized; and he said to them, O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Matthew 3:7-9 If you bring not forth fruits meet for repentance, flatter not yourselves about such a lineage. God is able to condemn you, without defrauding Abraham of children. For He has a way to raise up children to Abraham. Those who imitate his faith shall be made his children. God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Such are we. In our parents we were stones, when we worshipped stones for our god. Of such stones God has created a family to Abraham.

6. Why, then, does this empty and vain bragging exalt itself? Let them cease boasting that they are the children of Abraham. They have heard what they ought to have heard: If you are the children of Abraham, prove it by your deeds, not by words. You seek to kill me, a man;— I say not, meanwhile, the Son of God; I say not God; I say not the Word, for the Word dies not. I say merely this that you see; for only what you see can you kill, and whom you see not can you offend. This, then, did not Abraham. You do the works of your father. And as yet He says not who is that father of theirs.

7. And now what answer did they give Him? For they began somewhat to realize that the Lord was not speaking of carnal generation, but of their manner of life. And because it is the custom of the Scriptures, which they read, to call it, in a spiritual sense, fornication, when the soul is, as it were, prostituted by subjection to many false gods, they made this reply: Then said they to Him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Abraham has now lost his importance. For they were repulsed as they ought to have been by the truth-speaking mouth; because such was Abraham, whose deeds they failed to imitate, and yet gloried in his lineage. And they altered their reply, saying, I believe, with themselves, As often as we name Abraham, he goes on to say to us, Why do you not imitate him in whose lineage you glory? Such a man, so holy, just, and guileless, we cannot imitate. Let us call God our Father, and see what he will say to us.

8. Has falsehood indeed found something to say, and should not truth find its fitting reply? Let us hear what they say: let us hear what they hear. We have one Father, they say, even God. Then said Jesus unto them, If God were your Father, you would [doubtless] love me; for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but He sent me. You call God Father; recognize me, then, as at least a brother. At the same time He gave a stimulus to the hearts of the intelligent, by touching on that which He has a habit of saying, I came not of myself: He sent me. I proceeded forth and came from God. Remember what we are wont to say: From Him He came; and from whom He came, with Him He came. The sending of Christ, therefore, is His incarnation. But as respects the proceeding forth of the Word from God, it is an eternal procession. Time holds not Him by whom time was created. Let no one be saying in his heart, Before the Word was, how did God exist? Never say, Before the Word of God was. God was never without the Word, because the Word is abiding, not transient; God, not a sound; by whom the heaven and earth were made, and which passed not away with those things that were made upon the earth. From Him, then, He proceeded forth as God, the equal, the only Son, the Word of the Father; and came to us, for the Word was made flesh that He might dwell among us. His coming indicates His humanity; His abiding, His divinity. It is His Godhead towards which, His humanity whereby, we make progress. Had He not become that whereby we might advance, we should never attain to Him who abides ever.

9. Why, He says, do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word. And so they could not understand, because they could not hear. And whence could they not hear, but just because they refused to be set right by believing? And why so? You are of your father the devil. How long do you keep speaking of a father? How often will you change your fathers — at one time Abraham, at another God? Hear from the Son of God whose children you are: You are of your father the devil.

10. Here, now, we must beware of the heresy of the Manicheans, which affirms that there is a certain principle of evil, and a certain family of darkness with its princes, which had the presumption to fight against God; but that God, not to let His kingdom be subdued by the hostile family, dispatched against them, as it were, His own offspring, princes of His own [kingdom of] light; and so subdued that race from which the devil derives his origin. From thence, also, they say our flesh derives its origin, and accordingly think the Lord said, You are of your father the devil, because they were evil, as it were, by nature, deriving their origin from the opposing family of darkness. So they err, so their eyes are blinded, so they make themselves the family of darkness, by believing a falsehood against Him who created them. For every nature is good; but man's nature has been corrupted by an evil will. What God made cannot be evil, if man were not [a cause of] evil to himself. But surely the Creator is Creator, and the creature a creature [a thing created]. The creature cannot be put on a level with the Creator. Distinguish between Him who made, and that which He made. The bench cannot be put on a level with the mechanic, nor the pillar with its builder; and yet the mechanic, though he made the bench, did not himself create the wood. But the Lord our God, in His omnipotence and by the Word, made what He made. He had no materials out of which to make all that He made, and yet He made it. For they were made because He willed it, they were made because He said it; but the things made cannot be compared with the Maker. If you seek a proper subject of comparison, turn your mind to the only-begotten Son. How, then, were the Jews the children of the devil? By imitation, not by birth. Listen to the usual language of the Holy Scriptures. The prophet says to those very Jews, Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. Ezekiel 16:3 The Amorites were not a nation that gave origin to the Jews. The Hittites also were themselves of a nation altogether different from the race of the Jews. But because the Amorites and Hittites were impious, and the Jews imitated their impieties, they found parents for themselves, not of whom they were born, but in whose damnation they should share, because following their customs. But perhaps you inquire, Whence is the devil himself? From the same source certainly as the other angels. But the other angels continued in their obedi ence. He, by disobedience and pride, fell as an angel, and became a devil.

11. But listen now to what the Lord says: You, said He, are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. This is how you are his children, because such are your lusts, not because you are born of him. What are his lusts? He was a murderer from the beginning. This it is that explains, the lusts of your father you will do. You seek to kill me, a man that tells you the truth. He, too, had ill-will to man, and slew man. For the devil, in his ill-will to man, assuming the guise of a serpent, spoke to the woman, and from the woman instilled his poison into the man. They died by listening to the devil, Genesis 3:1 whom they would not have listened to had they but listened to the Lord; for man, having his place between Him who created and him who was fallen, ought to have obeyed the Creator, not the deceiver. Therefore he was a murderer from the beginning. Look at the kind of murder, brethren. The devil is called a murderer not as armed with a sword, or girded with steel. He came to man, sowed his evil suggestions, and slew him. Think not, then, that you are not a murderer when you persuade your brother to evil. If you persuade your brother to evil, you slay him. And to let you know that you slay him, listen to the psalm: The sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. You, then, will do the lusts of your father; and so you go madly after the flesh, because you cannot go after the spirit. He was a murderer from the beginning; at least in the case of the first of mankind. From the very time that murder [manslaughter] could possibly be committed, he was a murderer [manslayer]. Only from the time that man was made could manslaughter be committed. For man could not be slain unless man was previously made. Therefore,  he was a murderer from the beginning. And whence a murderer? And he stood [abode] not in the truth. Therefore he was in the truth, and fell by not standing in it. And why stood he not in the truth? Because the truth is not in him; not as in Christ. In such a way is the truth [in Him], that Christ Himself is the Truth. If, then, he had stood in the truth, he would have stood in Christ; but he abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

12. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. What is this? You have heard the words of the Gospel: you have received them with attention. Here now, I repeat them, that you may clearly understand the subject of your thoughts. The Lord said those things of the devil which ought to have been said of the devil by the Lord. That he was a murderer from the beginning is true, for he slew the first man; and he abode not in the truth, for he lapsed from the truth. When he speaks a lie, to wit, the devil himself, he speaks of his own; for he is a liar, and its [his] father. From these words some have thought that the devil has a father, and have inquired who was the father of the devil. Indeed this detestable error of the Manicheans has found means down to this present time wherewith to deceive the simple. For they are wont to say, Suppose that the devil was an angel, and fell; and with him sin began as you say; but, Who was his father? We, on the contrary, reply, Who of us ever said that the devil had a father? And they, on the other hand, rejoin, The Lord says, and the Gospel declares, speaking of the devil, He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and his father.

13. Hear and understand. I shall not send you far away [for the meaning]; understand it from the words themselves. The Lord called the devil the father of falsehood. What is this? Hear what it is, only revolve the words themselves, and understand. It is not every one who tells a lie that is the father of his lie. For if you have got a lie from another, and uttered it, thou indeed hast lied in giving utterance to the lie; but you are not the father of that lie, because you have got it from another. But the devil was a liar of himself. He begot his own falsehood; he heard it from no one. As God the Father begot as His Son the Truth, so the devil, having fallen, begot falsehood as his son. Hearing this, recall now and reflect upon the words of the Lord. You catholic minds, consider what you have heard; attend to what He says. He— who? The devil— was a murderer from the beginning. We admit it — he slew Adam. And he abode not in the truth. We admit it, for he lapsed from the truth. Because there is no truth in him. True: by falling away from the truth he has lost its possession. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. He is both a liar, and the father of lies. For thou, it may be, are a liar, because you utter a lie; but you are not its father. For if you have got what you say from the devil, and hast believed the devil, you are a liar, but not the father of the lie. But he, because he got not elsewhere the lie wherewith in serpent-form he slew man as if by poison, is the father of lies just as God is Father of truth. Withdraw, then, from the father of lies: make haste to the Father of truth; embrace the truth, that you may enter into liberty.

14. Those Jews, then, spoke what they saw with their father. And what was that but falsehood? But the Lord saw with His Father what He should speak; and what was that, but Himself? What, but the Word of the Father? What, but the truth of the Father, eternal itself, and co-eternal with the Father? He, then, was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him; when he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar, — and not only a liar, but also the father of it; that is, of the very lie that he speaks he is the father, for he himself begot his lie. And because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. Which of you convicts me of sin, as I convict both you and your father? If I say the truth, why do you not believe me, but just because you are the children of the devil?

15. He that is of God hears God's words: you therefore hear them not, because you are not of God. Here, again, it is not of their nature as men, but of their depravity, that you are to think. In this way they are of God, and yet not of God. By nature they are of God, in depravity they are not of God. Give heed, I pray you. In the gospel you have the remedy against the poisonous and impious errors of the heretics. For of these words also the Manicheans are accustomed to say, See, here there are two natures, — the one good and the other bad; the Lord says it. What says the Lord? You therefore hear me not, because you are not of God. This is what the Lord says. What then, he rejoins, do you say to that? Hear what I say. They are both of God, and not of God. By nature they are of God: by depravity they are not of God; for the good nature which is of God sinned voluntarily by believing the persuasive words of the devil, and was corrupted; and so it is seeking a physician, because no longer in health. That is what I say. But you think it impossible that they should be of God, and yet not of God. Hear why it is not impossible. They are of God, and yet not of God, in the same way as they are the children of Abraham, and yet not the children of Abraham. Here you have it. It is not as you say. Hearken to the Lord Himself; it is He that said to them, I know that you are the children of Abraham. Could there be any lie with the Lord? Surely not. Then is it true what the Lord said? It is true. Then it is true that they were the children of Abraham? It is true. But listen to Himself denying it. He who said, You are the children of Abraham, Himself denied that they were the children of Abraham. If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that tells you the truth, which I have heard from God: this did not Abraham. You do the works of your father, that is, of the devil. How, then, were they both Abraham's children, and yet not his children? Both states He showed in them. They were both Abraham's children in their carnal origin, and not his children in the sin of following the persuasion of the devil. So, also, apply it to our Lord and God, that they were both of Him, and not of Him. How were they of Him? Because He it was that created the man of whom they were born. How were they of Him? Because He is the Architect of nature, — Himself the Creator of flesh and spirit. How, then, were they not of Him? Because they had made themselves depraved. They were no longer of Him, because, imitating the devil, they had become the children of the devil.

16. Therefore came the Lord God to man as a sinner. You have heard the two names, both man and sinner. As man, he is of God; as a sinner, he is not of God. Let the moral evil in man be distinguished from his nature. Let that nature be owned, to the praise of the Creator; let the evil be acknowledged, that the physician may be called in to its cure. When the Lord then said, He that is of God hears the words of God: you therefore hear them not, because you are not of God. He did not distinguish the value of different natures, or find, beyond their own soul and body, any nature in men which had not been vitiated by sin; but foreknowing those who should yet believe, them He called of God, because yet to be born again of God by the adoption of regeneration. To these apply the words He that is of God hears the words of God. But that which follows, You therefore hear them not, because you are not of God, was said to those who were not only corrupted by sin (for this evil was common to all), but also foreknown as those who would not believe with the faith that alone could deliver them from the bondage of sin. On this account He foreknew that those to whom He so spoke would continue in that which they derived from the devil, that is, in their sins, and would die in the impiety in which they resembled him; and would not come to the regeneration wherein they would be the children of God, that is, be born of the God by whom they were created as men. In accordance with this predestinating purpose did the Lord speak; and not that He had found any man among them who either by regeneration was already of God, or by nature was no longer of God.

Tractate 43 (John 8:48-59)

1. In that lesson of the holy Gospel which has been read today, from power we learn patience. For what are we as servants to the Lord, as sinners to the Just One, as creatures to the Creator? Howbeit, just as in what we are evil, we are so of ourselves; so in whatever respects we are good, we are so of Him, and through Him. And nothing does man so seek as he does power. He has great power in the Lord Christ; but let him first imitate His patience, that he may attain to power. Who of us would listen with patience if it were said to him, You have a devil? As was said to Him, who was not only bringing men to salvation, but also subjecting devils to His authority.

2. For when the Jews had said, Say we not well that you are a Samaritan, and hast a devil? of these two charges cast at Him, He denied the one, but not the other. For He answered and said, I have not a devil. He did not say, I am not a Samaritan; and yet the two charges had been made. Although He returned not cursing with cursing, although He met not slander with slander, yet was it proper for Him to deny the one charge and not to deny the other. And not without a purpose, brethren. For Samaritan means keeper. He knew that He was our keeper. For He that keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps; and, Except the Lord keep the city, they wake in vain who keep it. He then is our Keeper who is our Creator. For did it belong to Him to redeem us, and would it not be His to preserve us? Finally, that you may know more fully the hidden reason why He ought not to have denied that He was a Samaritan, call to mind that well-known parable, where a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who wounded him severely, and left him half dead on the road. A priest came along and took no notice of him. A Levite came up, and he also passed on his way. A certain Samaritan came up — He who is our Keeper. He went up to the wounded man. He exercised mercy, and did a neighbor's part to one whom He did not account an alien. Luke 10:30-37 To this, then, He only replied that He had not a devil, but not that He was not a Samaritan.

3. And then after such an insult, this was all that He said of His own glory: But I honor, said He, my Father, and you dishonor me. That is, I honor not myself, that you may not think me arrogant. I have One to honor; and if you recognized me, just as I honor the Father, so would you also honor me. I do what I ought; you do not what you ought.

4. And I, said He, seek not my own glory: there is one that seeks and judges. Whom does He wish to be understood but the Father? How, then, does He say in another place, The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son, while here He says, I seek not my own glory: there is one that seeks and judges? If, then, the Father judges, how is it that He judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son?

5. In order to solve this point, attend. It may be solved by [quoting] a similar mode of speaking. You have it written, God tempts not any man; James 1:13 and again you have it written, The Lord your God tempts you, to know whether you love Him. Deuteronomy 13:3 Just the point in dispute, you see. For how does God tempt not any man, and how does the Lord your God tempt you, to know whether you love Him? It is also written, There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear; 1 John 4:18 and in another place it is written, The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. Here also is the point in dispute. For how does perfect love cast out fear, if the fear of the Lord, which is clean, endures for ever?

6. We are to understand, then, that there are two kinds of temptation: one, that deceives; the other, that proves. As regards that which deceives, God tempts not any man; as regards that which proves, the Lord your God tempts you, that He may know whether you love Him. But here again, also, there arises another question, how He tempts that He may know, from whom, prior to the temptation, nothing can be hid. It is not that God is ignorant; but it is said, that He may know, that is, that He may make you to know. Such modes of speaking are found both in our ordinary conversation, and in writers of eloquence. Let me say a word on our style of conversation. We speak of a blind ditch, not because it has lost its eyes, but because by lying hid it makes us blind to its existence. One speaks of bitter lupins, that is, sour; not that they themselves are bitter, but because they occasion bitterness to those who taste them. And so there are also expressions of this sort in Scripture. Those who take the trouble to attain a knowledge of such points have no trouble in solving them. And so the Lord your God tempts you, that He may know. What is this, that He may know? That He may make you to know if you love Him. Job was unknown to himself, but he was not unknown to God. He led the tempter into [Job], and brought him to a knowledge of himself.

7. What then of the two fears? There is a servile fear, and there is a clean [chaste] fear: there is the fear of suffering punishment, there is another fear of losing righteousness. That fear of suffering punishment is slavish. What great thing is it to fear punishment? The vilest slave and the cruelest robber do so. It is no great thing to fear punishment, but great it is to love righteousness. Has he, then, who loves righteousness no fear? Certainly he has; not of incurring of punishment, but of losing righteousness. My brethren, assure yourselves of it, and draw your inference from that which you love. Some one of you is fond of money. Can I find any one, think you, who is not so? Yet from this very thing which he loves he may understand my meaning. He is afraid of loss: why is he so? Because he loves money. In the same measure that he loves money, is he afraid of losing it. So, then, some one is found to be a lover of righteousness, who at heart is much more afraid of its loss, who dreads more being stripped of his righteousness, than thou of your money. This is the fear that is clean — this [the fear] that endures forever. It is not this that love makes away with, or casts out, but rather embraces it, and keeps it with it, and possesses it as a companion. For we come to the Lord that we may see Him face to face. And there it is this pure fear that preserves us; for such a fear as that does not disturb, but reassure. The adulterous woman fears the coming of her husband, and the chaste one fears her husband's departure.

8. Therefore, as, according to one kind of temptation, God tempts not any man; but according to another, The Lord your God tempts you; and according to one kind of fear, there is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear; but according to another, the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever;— so also, in this passage, according to one kind of judgment, the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son; and according to another, I, said He, seek not my own glory: there is one that seeks and judges.

9. This point may also be solved from the word itself. You have penal judgment spoken of in the Gospel: He that believes not is judged already; and in another place, The hour is coming, when those who are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. You see how He has put judgment for condemnation and punishment. And yet if judgment were always to be taken for condemnation, should we ever have heard in the psalm, Judge me, O God? In the former place, judgment is used in the sense of inflicting pain; here, it is used in the sense of discernment. How so? Just because so expounded by him who says, Judge me, O God. For read, and see what follows. What is this Judge me, O God, but just what he adds, and discern my cause against an unholy nation? Because then it was said, Judge me, O God, and discern [the true merits of] my cause against an unholy nation; similarly now said the Lord Christ, I seek not my own glory: there is one that seeks and judges. How is there one that seeks and judges? There is the Father, who discerns and distinguishes between my glory and yours. For you glory in the spirit of this present world. Not so do I who say to the Father, Father, glorify Thou me with that glory which I had with You before the world was. John 17:5 What is that glory? One altogether different from human inflation. Thus does the Father judge. And so to judge is to discern. And what does He discern? The glory of His Son from the glory of mere men; for to that end is it said, God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows. For not because He became man is He now to be compared with us. We, as men, are sinful, He is sinless; we, as men, inherit from Adam both death and delinquency, He received from the Virgin mortal flesh, but no iniquity. In fine, neither because we wish it are we born, nor as long as we wish it do we live, nor in the way that we wish it do we die: but He, before He was born, chose of whom He should be born; at His birth He brought about the adoration of the Magi; He grew as an infant, and showed Himself God by His miracles, and surpassed man in His weakness. Lastly, He chose also the manner of His death, that is, to be hung on the cross, and to fasten the cross itself on the foreheads of believers, so that the Christian may say, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 6:14 On the very cross, when He pleased, He made His body be taken down, and departed; in the very sepulchre, as long as it pleased Him, He lay; and, when He pleased, He arose as from a bed. So, then, brethren, in respect to His very form as a servant (for who can speak of that other form as it ought to be spoken of, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God?) — in respect, I say, to His very form as a servant, the difference is great between the glory of Christ and the glory of other men. Of that glory He spoke, when the devil-possessed heard Him say, I seek not my own glory: there is one that seeks and judges.

10. But what do You say, O Lord, of Yourself? Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. You say, You have a devil. I call you to life: keep my word and you shall not die. They heard, He shall never see death who keeps my word, and were angry, because already dead in that death from which they might have escaped. Then said the Jews, Now we know that you have a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and you say, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. See how Scripture speaks: He shall not see, that is, taste of death. He shall see death — he shall taste of death. Who sees? Who tastes? What eyes has a man to see with when he dies? When death at its coming shuts up those very eyes from seeing anything, how is it said, he shall not see death? With what palate, also, and with what jaws can death be tasted, that its savor may be discovered? When it takes every sense away, what will remain in the palate? But here, he will see, and he will taste, are used for that which is really the case, he will know by experience.

11. Thus spoke the Lord (it is scarcely sufficient to say), as one dying to dying men; for to the Lord also belong the issues from death, as says the psalm. Seeing, then, He was both speaking to those destined to die, and speaking as one appointed to death Himself, what mean His words, He who keeps my saying shall never see death; save that the Lord saw another death, from which He had come to deliver us — the second death, death eternal, the death of hell, the death of damnation with the devil and his angels? This is real death; for that other is only a removal. What is that other death? The leaving of the body — the laying down of a heavy burden; provided another burden be not carried away, to drag the man headlong to hell. Of that real death then did the Lord say, He who keeps my saying shall never see death.

12. Let us not be frightened at that other death, but let us fear this one. But, what is very grievous, many, through a perverse fear of that other, have fallen into this. It has been said to some, Adore idols; for if you do it not, you shall be put to death: or, as Nebuchadnezzar said, If you do not, you shall be thrown into the furnace of flaming fire. Many feared and adored. Shrinking from death, they died. Through fear of the death which cannot be escaped, they fell into that which they might happily have escaped, had they not, unhappily, been afraid of that which is inevitable. As a man, you are born — art destined to die. Whither will you go to escape death? What will you do to escape it? That your Lord might comfort you in your necessary subjection to death, of His own good pleasure He condescended to die. When you see the Christ lying dead, are you reluctant to die? Die then you must; you have no means of escape. Be it today, be it tomorrow; it is to be — the debt must be paid. What, then, does a man gain by fearing, fleeing, hiding himself from discovery by his enemy? Does he get exemption from death? No, but that he may die a little later. He gets not security against his debt, but asks a respite. Put it off as long as you please, the thing so delayed will come at last. Let us fear that death which the three men feared when they said to the king, God is able to deliver us even from that flame; and if not, etc. Daniel 3:16-18 There was there the fear of that death which the Lord now threatens, when they said, But also if He be not willing openly to deliver us, He can crown us with victory in secret. Whence also the Lord, when on the eve of appointing martyrs and becoming the head-martyr Himself, said, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. How have they no more that they can do? What if, after having slain one, they threw his body to be mangled by wild beasts, and torn to pieces by birds? Cruelty seems still to have something it can do. But to whom is it done? He has departed. The body is there, but without feeling. The tenement lies on the ground, the tenant is gone. And so after that they have no more that they can do; for they can do nothing to that which is without sensation. But fear Him who has power to destroy both body and soul, in hell fire. Here is the death that He spoke of when He said, He that keeps my saying shall never see death. Let us keep then, brethren, His own word in faith, as those who are yet to attain to sight, when the liberty we receive has reached its fullness.

13. But those men, indignant, yet dead, and predestinated to death eternal, answered with insults, and said, Now we know that you have a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets. But not in that death which the Lord meant to be understood was either Abraham dead or the prophets. For these were dead, and yet they live: those others were alive, and yet they had died. For, replying in a certain place to the Sadducees, when they stirred the question of the resurrection, the Lord Himself speaks thus: But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read how the Lord said to Moses from the bush, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. If, then, they live, let us labor so to live, that after death we may be able to live with them. Whom makest you yourself, they add, that you say, he shall never see death who keeps my saying, when you know that both Abraham is dead and the prophets?

14. Jesus answered, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing: it is my Father that glorifies me. He said this on account of their saying, Whom makest you yourself? For He refers His glory to the Father, of whom it is that He is God. From this expression also the Arians sometimes revile our faith, and say, See, the Father is greater; for at all events He glorifies the Son. Heretic, have you not read of the Son Himself also saying that He glorifies His Father? If both He glorifies the Son, and the Son glorifies the Father, lay aside your stubbornness, acknowledge the equality, correct your perversity.

15. It is, then, said He, my Father that glorifies me; of whom you say, that He is your God: and you have not known Him. See, my brethren, how He shows that God Himself is the Father of the Christ, who was announced also to the Jews. I say so for this reason, that now again there are certain heretics who say that the God revealed in the Old Testament is not the Father of Christ, but some prince or other, I know not what, of evil angels. There are Manicheans who say so; there are Marcionites who say so. There are also, perhaps, other heretics, whom it is either unnecessary to mention, or all of whom I cannot at present recall; yet there have not been wanting those who said this. Attend, then, that you may have something also to affirm against such. Christ the Lord calls Him His Father whom they called their God, and did not know; for had they known [that God] Himself they would have received His Son. But I, said He, know Him. To those judging after the flesh He might have seemed from such words to be self-assuming, because He said, I know Him. But see what follows: If I should say that I know Him not, I shall be a liar like you. Let not, then, self-assumption be so guarded against as to cause the relinquishment of truth. But I know Him, and keep His saying. The saying of the Father He was speaking as Son; and He Himself was the Word of the Father, that was speaking to men.

16. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw, and was glad. Abraham's seed, Abraham's Creator, bears a great testimony to Abraham. Abraham rejoiced, He says, to see my day. He did not fear, but rejoiced to see it. For in him there was the love that casts out fear. 1 John 4:18 He says not, rejoiced because he saw; but rejoiced that he might see. Believing, at all events, he rejoiced in hope to see with the understanding. And he saw. And what more could the Lord Jesus Christ say, or what more ought He to have said? And he saw, He says, and was glad. Who can unfold this joy, my brethren? If those rejoiced whose bodily eyes were opened by the Lord, what joy was his who saw with the eyes of his soul the light ineffable, the abiding Word, the brilliance that dazzles the minds of the pious, the unfailing Wisdom, God abiding with the Father, and at some time come in the flesh and yet not to withdraw from the bosom of the Father? All this did Abraham see. For in saying my day, it may be uncertain of what He spoke; whether the day of the Lord in time, when He should come the flesh, or that day of the Lord which knows not a dawn, and knows no decline. But for my part I doubt not that father Abraham knew it all. And where shall I find it out? Ought the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ to satisfy us? Let us suppose that we cannot find it out, for perhaps it is difficult to say in what sense it is clear that Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Christ, and saw it, and was glad. And though we find it not, can the Truth have lied? Let us believe the Truth, and cherish no doubt of Abraham's merited rewards. Yet listen to one passage that occurs to me meanwhile. When father Abraham sent his servant to seek a wife for his son Isaac, he bound him by this oath, to fulfill faithfully what he was commanded, and know also for himself what to do. For it was a great matter that was in hand when marriage was sought for Abraham's seed. But that the servant might apprehend what Abraham knew, that it was not offspring after the flesh he desired, nor anything of a carnal kind concerning his race that was referred to, he said to the servant whom he sent, Put your hand under my thigh, and swear by the God of heaven. Genesis 24:2-4 What connection has the God of heaven with Abraham's thigh? Already you understand the mystery: by thigh is meant race. And what was that swearing, but the signifying that of Abraham's race would the God of heaven come in the flesh? Fools find fault with Abraham because he said, Put your hand under my thigh. Those who find fault with Christ's flesh find fault with Abraham's conduct. But let us, brethren, if we acknowledge the flesh of Christ as worthy of veneration, despise not that thigh, but receive it as spoken of prophetically. For a prophet also was Abraham. Whose prophet? Of his own seed, and of his Lord. To his own seed he pointed in saying, Put your hand under my thigh. To his Lord he pointed in adding, and swear by the God of heaven.

17. The angry Jews replied, You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? And the Lord: Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was made, I am. Weigh the words, and get a knowledge of the mystery. Before Abraham was made. Understand, that was made refers to human formation; but am to the Divine essence. He was made, because Abraham was a creature. He did not say, Before Abraham was, I was; but, Before Abraham was made, who was not made save by me, I am. Nor did He say this, Before Abraham was made I was made; for In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth; Genesis 1:1 and in the beginning was the Word. Before Abraham was made, I am. Recognize the Creator — distinguish the creature. He who spoke was made the seed of Abraham; and that Abraham might be made, He Himself was before Abraham.

18. Hence, as if by the most open of all insults thrown at Abraham, they were now excited to greater bitterness. Of a certainty it seemed to them that Christ the Lord had uttered blasphemy in saying, Before Abraham was made, I am. Therefore took they up stones to cast at Him. To what could so great hardness have recourse, save to its like? But Jesus [acts] as man, as one in the form of a servant, as lowly, as about to suffer, about to die, about to redeem us with His blood; not as He who is — not as the Word in the beginning, and the Word with God. For when they took up stones to cast at Him, what great thing were it had they been instantly swallowed up in the gaping earth, and found the inhabitants of hell in place of stones? It were not a great thing to God; but better was it that patience should be commended than power exerted. Therefore He hid Himself from them, that He might not be stoned. As man, He fled from the stones; but woe to those from whose stony hearts God has fled?