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1. We have now the opportunity, dearly, beloved, as far as we
can, of understanding the earlier words of the Lord from the later,
and His previous statements by those that follow, in what you have
heard was His answer to the question of the Apostle Thomas. For
when the Lord was speaking above of the mansions, of which He both
said that they already were in His Father's house, and that He was
going to prepare them; where we understood that those mansions already
existed in predestination, and are also being prepared through the
purifying by faith of the hearts of those who are hereafter to inhabit
them, seeing that they themselves are the very house of God; and what
else is it to dwell in God's house than to be in the number of His
people, since His people are at the same time in God, and God in
them? To make this preparation the Lord departed, that by believing
in Him, though no longer visible, the mansion, whose outward form is
always hid in the future, may now by faith be prepared: for this
reason, therefore, He had said, "And if I go away and prepare a
place for you, I will come i again, and receive you to myself; that
where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and
the way ye know." In reply to this "Thomas saith unto Him Lord,
we know not whither Thou goest: and how can we know the way?" Both
of these the Lord had said that they knew; both of them this other
declares that he does not know, to wit, the place to which, and the
way whereby, He is going. But he does not know that he is speaking
falsely; they knew, therefore, and did not know that they knew. He
will convince them that they already know what they imagine themselves
still to be ignorant of. "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and
the truth, and the life." What, brethren, does He mean? See,
we have just heard the disciple asking, and the Master instructing,
and we do not yet, even after His voice has sounded in our ears,
apprehend the thought that lies hid in His words. But what is it we
cannot apprehend? Could His apostles, with whom He was talking,
have said to Him, We do not know Thee? Accordingly, if they knew
Him, and He Himself is the way, they knew the way; if they knew
Him who is Himself the truth, they knew the truth; if they knew Him
who is also the life, they knew the life. Thus, you see, they were
convinced that they knew what they knew not that they knew.
2. What is it, then, that we also have not apprehended in this
discourse? What else, think you, brethren, but just that He said,
"And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know"? And here we have
discovered that they knew the way, because they knew Him who is the
way: the way is that by which we go; but is the way the place also to
which we go? And yet each of these He said that they knew, both
whither He was going, and the way. There was need, therefore, for
His saying, "I am the way," in order to show those who knew Him
that they knew the way, which they thought themselves ignorant of; but
what need was there for His saying, "I am the way, and the truth,
and the life," when, after knowing the way by which He went, they
had still to learn whither He was going, but just because it was to
the truth and to the life He was going? By Himself, therefore, He
was going to Himself. And whither go we, but to Him? and by what
way go we, but by Him? He, therefore, went to Himself by
Himself, and we by Him to Him; yea, likewise both He and we go
thus to the Father. For He says also in another place of Himself,
"I go to the Father;" and here on our account He says, "No man
cometh unto the Father but by me." And in this way, He goeth by
Himself both to Himself and to the Father, and we by Him both to
Him and to the Father. Who can apprehend such things save he who has
spiritual discernment? and how much is it that even he can apprehend,
although thus spiritually discerning? Brethren, how can you desire me
to explain such things to you? Only reflect how lofty they are. You
see what I am, I see what you are; in all of us the body, which is
corrupted, burdens the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down
the mind that museth upon many things. Do we think we can say, "To
Thee have I lifted up my soul, O Thou that dwellest in the
heavens"? But burdened as we are with so great a weight, under which
we groan, how shall I lift up my soul unless He lift it with me who
laid His own down for me? I shall speak then as I can, and let each
of you who is able receive it. As He gives, I speak; as He
gives, the receiver receiveth; and as He giveth, there is faith for
him who cannot yet receive with understanding. For, saith the
prophet, "If ye will not believe, ye shall not understand."
3. Tell me, O my Lord, what to say to Thy servants, my
fellow-servants. The Apostle Thomas had Thee before him in order
to ask Thee questions, and yet could not understand Thee unless he
had Thee within him; I ask Thee because I know that Thou art over
me; and I ask, seeking, as far as I can, to let my soul diffuse
itself in that same region over me where I may listen to Thee, who
usest no external sound to convey Thy teaching. Tell me, I pray,
how it is that Thou goest to Thyself. Didst Thou formerly leave
Thyself to come to us, especially as Thou camest not of Thyself,
but the Father sent Thee? I know, indeed, that Thou didst empty
Thyself; but in taking the form of a servant, it was neither that
Thou didst lay down the form of God as something to return to, or
that Thou lost it as something to be recovered; and yet Thou didst
come, and didst place Thyself not only before the carnal eyes, but
even in the very hands of men. And how otherwise save in Thy flesh?
By means of this Thou didst come, yet abiding where Thou wast; by
this means Thou didst return, without leaving the place to which Thou
hadst come. If, then, by such means Thou didst come and return, by
such means doubtless Thou art not only the way for us to come unto
Thee, but wast the way also for Thyself to come and to return. For
when Thou didst return to the life, which Thou art Thyself, then of
a truth that same flesh of Thine Thou didst bring from death unto
life. The Word of God, indeed, is one thing, and man another;
but the Word was made flesh, or became man. And so the person of the
Word is not different from that of the man, seeing that Christ is
both in one person; and in this way, just as when His flesh died.
Christ died, and when His flesh was buried, Christ was buried (for
thus with the heart we believe unto righteousness, and thus with the
mouth do we make confession unto salvation ; so when the flesh came
from death unto life, Christ came to life. And because Christ is
the Word of God, He is also the life. And thus in a wonderful and
ineffable manner He, who never laid down or lost Himself, came to
Himself. But God, as was said, had come through the flesh to men,
the truth to liars; for God is true, and every man a liar. When,
therefore, He withdrew His flesh from amongst men, and carried it up
there where no liar is found, He also Himself for the Word was made
flesh returned by Himself, that is, by His flesh, to the truth,
which is none other but Himself. And this truth, we cannot doubt,
although found amongst liars, He preserved even in death; for Christ
was once dead, but never false.
4. Take an example, very different in character and wholly
inadequate, yet in some little measure helpful to the understanding of
God, from things that are in peculiarly intimate subjection to God.
See here in my own case, while as far as pertains to my mind I am
just the same as yourselves, if I keep silence I am so to myself;
but if I speak to you something suited to your understanding, in a
certain sense I go forth to you without leaving myself, but at the
same time approach you and yet quit not the place from which I
proceed. But when I cease speaking, I return in a kind of way to
myself, and in a kind of way I remain with you, if you retain what
you have heard in the discourse I am delivering. And if the mere
image that God made is capable of this, what may not God, the very
image of God, not made by, but born of God; whose body, wherein
He came forth to us and returned from us, has not ceased to be, like
the sound of my voice, but abides there, where it shall die no more,
and death shall have no more dominion over it? Much more, perhaps,
might and ought to have been said on these words of the Gospel; but
your souls ought not to be burdened with spiritual food, however
pleasant, especially as the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
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