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1. The Saviour, in thus speaking to the disciples, commends still
more and more the grace whereby we are saved, when He says, "Herein
is my Father glorified, that ye bear very much fruit, and be made my
disciples." Whether we say glorified, or made bright, both are the
rendering given us of one Greek verb, namely doxazein (doxazein).
For what is doxa (doxa) in Greek, is in Latin glory. I have
thought it worth while to mention this, because the apostle says,
"If Abraham was justified by works, he hath glory. but not before
God." For this is the glory before God, whereby God, and not
man, is glorified, when he is justified, not by works, but by
faith, so that even his doing well is imparted to him by God; just as
the branch, as I have stated above, cannot bear fruit of itself.
For if herein God the Father is glorified, that we bear much fruit,
and be made the disciples of Christ, let us not credit our own glory
therewith, as if we had it of ourselves. For of Him is such a
grace, and accordingly therein the glory is not ours, but His.
Hence also, in another passage, after saying, "Let your light so
shine before men that they may see your good works;" to keep them from
the thought that such good works were of themselves, He immediately
added, "and may glorify your Father who is in heaven." For herein
is the Father glorified, that we bear much fruit, and be made the
disciples of Christ. And by whom are we so made, but by Him whose
mercy hath forestalled us? For we are His workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus unto good works.
2. "As the Father hath loved me," He says, "so have I loved
you: continue ye in my love." Here, then, you see, is the source
of our good works. For whence should we have them. were it not that
faith worketh by love? And how should we love, were it not that we
were first loved? With striking clearness is this declared by the same
evangelist in his epistle: "We love God because He first loved
us." But when He says, "As the Father hath loved me, so have I
loved you," He indicates no Such equality between our nature and
His as there is between Himself and the Father, but the grace
whereby the Mediator between God and men is the man Christ Jesus.
For He is pointed out as Mediator when He says, "The Father me,
and I you." For the Father, indeed, also loveth us, but in
Him; for herein is the Father glorified, that we bear fruit in the
vine, that is, in the Son, and so be made His disciples.
3. "Continue ye," He says, "in my love." How shall we
continue? Listen to what follows: "If ye keep my commandments, ye
shall abide in my love." Love brings about the keeping of His
commandments; but does the keeping of His commandments bring about
love? Who can doubt that it is love which precedes? For he has no
true ground for keeping the commandments who is destitute of love. And
so, in saying, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my
love," He shows not the source from which love springs, but the
means whereby it is manifested. As if He said, Think not that ye
abide in my love if ye keep not my commandments; for it is only if ye
have kept them that ye shall abide. In other words, it will thus be
made apparent that ye shall abide in my love if ye keep my
commandments. So that no one need deceive himself by saying that he
loveth Him, if he keepeth not His commandments. For we love Him
just in the same measure as we keep His commandments; and the less we
keep them, the less we love. And although, when He saith,
"Continue ye in my love," it is not apparent what love He spoke
of; whether the love we bear to Him, or that which He bears to us:
yet it is seen at once in the previous clause. For He had there
said, "So have I loved you;" and to these words He immediately
adds, "Continue ye in my love:" accordingly, it is that love which
He bears to us. What, then, do the words mean, "Continue ye in
my love," but just, continue ye in my grace? And what do these
mean, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love,"
but, hereby shall ye know that ye shall abide in the love which I bear
to you, if ye keep my commandments? It is not, then, for the
purpose of awakening His love to us that we first keep His
commandments; but this, that unless He loves us, we cannot keep His
commandments. This is a grace which lies all disclosed to the humble,
but is hid from the proud.
4. But what are we to make of that which follows: "Even as I have
kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love"? Here also
He certainly intended us to understand that fatherly love wherewith He
was loved of the Father. For this was what He has just said, "As
the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you;" and then to these
He added the words, "Continue ye in my love;" in that,
doubtless, wherewith I have loved you. Accordingly, when He says
also of the Father, "I abide in His love," we are to understand
it of that love which was borne Him by the Father. But then, in
this case also, is that love which the Father bears to the Son
referable to the same grace as that wherewith we are loved of the Son:
seeing that we on our part are sons, not by nature, but by grace;
while the Only-begotten is so by nature and not by grace? Or is this
even in the Son Himself to be referred to His condition as man?
Certainly so. For in saying, "As the Father hath loved me, so
have I loved you," He pointed to the grace that was His as
Mediator. For Christ Jesus is the Mediator between God and men,
not in respect to His Godhead, but in respect to His manhood.
And certainly it is in reference to this His human nature that we
read, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and age, and in favor
[grace] with God and men." In harmony, therefore, with this, we
may rightly say that while human nature belongs not to the nature of
God, yet such human nature does by grace belong to the person of the
only-begotten Son of God; and that by grace so great, that there is
none greater, yea, none that even approaches equality. For there
were no merits that preceded that assumption of humanity, but all His
merits began with that very assumption. The Son, therefore, abideth
in the love wherewith the Father hath loved Him, and so hath kept
His commandments. For what are we to think of Him even as man, but
that God is His lifter up? for the Word was God, the
Only-begotten, co-eternal with Him that begat; but that He might
be given to us as Mediator, by grace ineffable, the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us.
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