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1. What in the holy Gospel is spoken briefly ought not briefly to be
expounded, so that what is read may he 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,
"Ye 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 beareth 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,"
Ye 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 thy 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 thy Father?" For we have heard thee
say, "I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me:" we see
thee alone, we do not see thy Father with thee; how sayest thou that
thou art not alone, but that thou art with thy Father? Else show us
that thy Father is with thee. And the Lord answered them:
Do ye 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,
"Ye neither know me nor my Father: if ye knew me, ye would perhaps
know my Father also." Ye say then, "Where is thy Father?" As
if already ye knew me; as if what you see were all that I am.
Therefore because ye know not me, I do not show you my Father. Ye
suppose me, in fact, to be a man; hence ye seek a man for my father,
because "ye 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 ye know my Father
also.
3. "For if ye knew me, ye 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 he 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 thou
wouldst say to thy slave, if thou weft angry with him, "Thou
despisest me; but consider, perhaps I am thy master." Hence also
the apostle, speaking to some who despised him, says: "And I think
that I also have the Spirit of God." 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, saith: "When the Son of man cometh, will He,
thinkest thou, find faith on the earth?"
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 doth 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. Thou hearest
the Word indeed, and despisest it; hear God and fear Him: "In
the beginning was the Word." Thou referrest to the usage of thy
conversation, and sayest within thyself, 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 thyself, O
man, a word in thy heart is a different thing from sound; but the word
that is with thee, 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
thee. But the sound, in order to come to me, left thee and yet did
not stay with me. Now has the word that was in thy heart also passed
away with the passing sound? Thou didst speak thy thought; and, that
the thought which was hid with thee might come to me, thou didst sound
syllables; the sound of the syllables conveyed thy thought to my ear;
through my ear thy thought descended into my heart, the intermediate
sound flew away: but that word which took to itself sound was with thee
before thou didst sound it, and is with me, because thou didst sound
it, without quitting thee. 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 ye knew me ye 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 ye knew
me, ye 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 sufficeth us:" just as if he said, We already know Thee even
ourselves; Thou hast been apparent to us; we have seen Thee; Thou
hast deigned to choose us; we have followed Thee, have seen Thy
marvels, heard Thy words of Salvation, have taken Thy precepts upon
us, we hope in Thy promises: Thou hast deigned to confer much upon
us by Thy very presence: but still, while we know Thee, and we do
not yet know the Father, we are inflamed with desire to see Him whom
we do not yet know; and thus, because we know Thee, but it is not
enough until we know the Father, show us the Father and it sufficeth
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 ye know me not, Philip? he who hath seen me hath seen the
Father." Has this sentence a word of doubting in it? Did He say,
He that hath seen me hath 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. "Whoso hath
seen me hath seen the Father also:" and here, "If ye knew me, ye
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 sayest
thou? Thou hast 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 saith, "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 thy Father?"
Now hear, O Arian: "Ye neither know me, nor my Father;"
because, "If ye knew me, ye would know my Father also." What
doth this mean, except "I and the Father are one"? When thou
seest 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, thou seest some person like another, and
thou knowest the person to whom he is like, thou sayest in wonder,
"How like this person is to that!" Thou wouldst not say this unless
there were two. Here one who does not know the person to whom thou
sayest the other is like remarks, "Is he so like him?" And thou
answerest him: What? dost thou not know that person? Saith 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, thou hast seen
the other. Thou didst 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 thou knowest the one, thou knowest the other;
for they are very like, and there is no difference whatever between
them." Hence also the Lord saith, "If ye knew me, ye 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,
thou hast escaped that shipwreck, why go to the other? Father is
Father, Son is Son; why dost thou affirm that the Son is unlike,
that He is different, another substance? If He were unlike, would
He say to His disciples, "He that hath seen me hath seen the
Father"? Would He say to the Jews, "If ye knew me, ye 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 thy heart were not fatuous, thou would st 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, whilst 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." Dost thou then put Christ under fate? Where are the fates?
In heaven, sayest thou, in the order and changes of the stars. How
then can fate rule Him by whom the heavens and the stars were made;
whilst thy own will, if thou thinkest rightly, transcends even the
stars? Or, because thou knowest that Christ's flesh was under
heaven, is that the reason why thou thinkest 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 yon 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 quilted 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
behoved 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 lo take it again: no man
taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself and take it again?"
He showed this power when the Jews sought Him. "Whom seek ye?"
saith He. "Jesus," said they. And He answered," I am He."
When they heard this voice, "they went back and fell to the
ground."
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." 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, "Ye 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, "Ye both know me, and ye 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.
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