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1. Yesterday, so far as the Lord vouchsafed to bestow, we
discussed with what ability we could, and discerned according to our
capacity, how the works of the Father and of the Son are
inseparable; and how the Father doeth not some, the Son others, but
that the Father doeth all things through the Son, as through His
Word, of which it is written, "All things were made by Him, and
without Him was nothing made." Let us today look at the words that
follow. And of the same Lord let us pray for mercy, and hope that,
if He deem it meet, we may understand what is true; but if we should
not be able to do this, that we may not go into what is false. For it
is better not to know than to go astray; but to know is better than not
to know. Therefore, before all things, we ought to strive to know.
Should we be able, to God be thanks; but should we not be able
meanwhile to arrive at the truth, let us not go to falsehood. For we
are bound to consider well what we are, and what we are treating of.
We are men bearing flesh, walking in this life; and though now
begotten again of the seed of the Word of God, yet in Christ renewed
in such manner that we are not yet wholly rid of Adam. For truly our
mortal and corruptible part that weighs down the soul shows itself to
be, and manifestly is, of Adam; but what in us is spiritual, and
raises up the soul, is of God's gift and of His mercy, who has sent
His only Son to partake our death with us, and to lead us to His own
immortality. The Son we have for our Master, that we may not sin;
and for our defender, if we have sinned and have confessed, and been
converted; an intercessor for us, if we have desired any good of
God; and the bestower of it with the Father, because Father and
Son is one God. But He was speaking these things as man to men:
God concealed, the man manifest, that He might make them gods that
are manifest men; and the Son of God made Son of man, that He
might make the sons of men sons of God. By what skill of His wisdom
He doeth this, we perceive in His own words. For as a little one
He speaks to little ones, but Himself little in such wise that He is
also great, and we little, but in Him great. He speaks, indeed,
as one cherishing and nourishing children at the breast that grow by
loving.
2. He had said, "The Son cannot of Himself do anything, but
what He seeth the Father doing." We, however, understood it not
that the Father doeth something separately, which when the Son
seeth, Himself also doeth something of the same kind, after seeing
His Father's work; but when He said, "The Son cannot of
Himself do anything, but what He seeth the Father doing," we
understood it that the Son is wholly of the Father that His whole
substance and His whole power are of the Father that begat Him. But
just now, when He had said that He doeth in like manner these things
which the Father doeth, that we may not understand it to mean that the
Father doeth some, the Son others, but that the Son with like power
doeth the very same which the Father doeth, whilst the Father doeth
through the Son, He went on, and said what we have heard read
today: "For the Father Ioveth the Son, and showeth Him all
things that Himself doeth." Again mortal thought is disturbed. The
Father showeth to the Son what things Himself doeth; therefore,
saith some one, the Father doeth separately, that the Son may be
able to see what He doeth. Again, there occur to human thought, as
it were, two artificers as, for instance, a carpenter teaching his
son his own art, and showing him whatever he doeth, that the son also
may be able to do it. "Showeth Him," saith He, "all things that
Himself doeth." Is it therefore so, that whilst He doeth, the
Son doeth not, that He may be able to see the Father do? Yet,
certainly, "all things were made by Him, and without Him was
nothing made." Hence we see how the Father showeth the Son what He
doeth, since the Father doeth nothing but what He doeth through the
Son. What hath the Father made? He made the world. Hath He
shown the world, when made, to the Son in such wise, that the Son
also should make something like it? Then let us see the world which
the Son made. Nevertheless, both" all things were made by Him,
and without Him was nothing made," and also "the world was made by
Him." If the world was made by Him, and all things were made by
Him, and the Father doeth nothing save by the Son, where cloth the
Father show to the Son what He doeth, if it be not in the Son
Himself, through whom He doeth? In what place can the work of the
Father be shown to the Son, as though He were doing and sitting
outside, and the Son attentively watching the Father's hand how it
maketh? Where is that inseparable Trinity? Where the Word, of
which it is said that the same is ''the power and the wisdom of
God"? Where that which the Scripture saith of the same wisdom:
"For it is the brightness of the eternal light?" Where what was
said of it again: "It powerfully reaches from the end even to the
end, and ordereth all things sweetly"? Whatever the Father doeth,
He doeth through the Son: through His wisdom and his power He
doeth; not from without doth He show to the Son what He may see,
but in the Son Himself He showeth Him what He doeth.
3. What seeth the Father, or rather, what doth the Son see in the
Father, that Himself also may do? Perhaps I may be able to speak
it, but show me the man who can comprehend it; or perhaps I may be
able to think and not speak it; or perhaps I may not be able even to
think it. For that divinity excels us, as God excels men, as the
immortal excels a mortal, as the eternal excels the temporal. May He
inspire and endow us, and out of that fountain of life deign to bedew
and to drop somewhat on our thirst. that we may not be parched in this
wilderness! Let us say to Him, Lord, to whom we have learnt to say
Father. We make bold to say this, because Himself willed it; if
only we so live that He may not say to us, "If I am a Father,
where is mine honor? if I am Lord, where is my fear?" Let us then
say to Him, "Our Father." To whom do we say, "Our Father"?
To the Father of Christ. He, then, who says "Our Father" to
the Father of Christ, says to Christ, what else but "Our
Brother"? Not, however, as He is the Father of Christ is He in
like manner our Father; for Christ never so con joined us as to make
no distinction between Him and us. For He is the Son equal to the
Father, the eternal Son with the Father, and co-eternal with the
Father; but we became sons through the Son, adopted through the
Only-begotten. Hence was it never heard from the mouth of our Lord
Jesus Christ, when speaking to His disciples, that He said of the
supreme God His Father, "Our Father;" but He said either "My
Father" or "Your Father." But He said not "Our Father;" so
much so, that in a certain place He used these two expressions: "I
go to my God," saith He, "and to your God." Why did He not
say, "Our God"? Further, He said, "My Father, and your
Father;" He said not, "Our Father." He so joins as to
distinguish, distinguishes so as not to disjoin. He wills us to be
one in Him, but the Father and Himself one.
4. How much soever then we may understand, and how much soever we
may see, we shall not see as the Son seeth, even when we shall be
made equal with the angels. For we are something even when we do not
see; but what are we when we do not see, other than persons not
seeing? And that we may see, we turn to Him whom we may see, and
there is formed in us a seeing which was not before, although we were
in being. For a man is when not seeing; and the same, when he doth
see, is called a man seeing. For him, then, to see is not the same
thing as to be a man; for if it were, he would not be man when not
seeing. But since he is man when not seeing, and seeks to see what he
sees not, he is one who seeks, and who turns to see; and when he has
well turned and has seen, he becomes a man seeing, who was before a
man not seeing. Consequently, to see is to him a thing that comes and
goes; it comes to him when he turns to, and leaves him when he turns
away. Is it thus with the Son? Far be it from us to think so. It
was never so that He was Son, not seeing, and afterwards was made to
see; but to see the Father is to Him the same thing as to be Son.
For we, by turning away to sin, lose enlightenment; and by turning
to God we receive enlightenment. For the light by which we are
enlightened is one thing; we who are enlightened, another thing. But
the light itself, by which we are enlightened, neither turns away from
itself, nor loses its lucidity, because as light it exists. The
Father, then, showeth a thing which He doeth to the Son, in such
wise that the Son seeth all things in the Father, and is all things
in the Father. For by seeing He was begotten; and by being begotten
He seeth. Not, however, that at any time He was not begotten, and
afterwards was begotten; nor that at any time He saw not, and
afterwards saw. But in what consists His seeing, in the same
consists His being, in the same His being begotten, in the same His
continuing, in the same His unchanging, in the same His abiding
without beginning and without end. Let us not therefore take it in a
carnal sense that the Father sitteth and doeth a work, and showeth it
to the Son; and the Son seeth the work that the Father doeth, and
doeth another work in another place, or out of other materials. For
"all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made."
The Son is the Word of the Father. The Father said nothing which
He did not say in the Son. For by speaking in the Son what He was
about to do through the Son, He begat the Son through whom He made
all things.
5. "And greater works than these will He show Him, that ye may
marvel." Here again we are embarrassed. And who is there that may
worthily investigate this so great a secret? But now, in that He has
deigned to speak to us, Himself opens it. For He would not speak
what He would not have us understand; and as He has deigned to
speak, without doubt He has excited attention: for does He forsake
any whom He has roused to give attentive hearing? We have said that
it is not in a temporal sense that the Son knoweth, that the knowledge
of the Son is not one thing, and the Son Himself another; nor one
thing His seeing, Himself another; but that the seeing itself is the
Son, and the knowledge as well as the wisdom of the Father is the
Son; and that that wisdom and seeing is eternal and co-eternal with
Him from whom it is; that it is not something that varies by time,
nor something produced that was not in being, nor something that
vanishes away which did exist. What is it, then, that time does in
this case, that He should say, "Greater works than these He will
show Him"? "He will show," that is, "He is about to show."
Hath shown is a different thing from will show: hath shown, we say of
an act past; will show, of an act future. What shall we do here,
then, brethren? Behold, He whom we had declared to be co-eternal
with the Father, in whom nothing is varied by time, in whom is no
moving through spaces either of moments or of places, of whom we had
declared that He abides ever with the Father seeing, seeing the
Father, and by seeing existing; He, I say, here again mentioning
times to us, saith, "He will show Him greater works than these."
Is He then about to show something to the Son, which the Son doth
not as yet know? What, then, do we make of it? How do we
understand this? Behold, our Lord Jesus Christ was above, is
beneath. When was He above? When He said, "What things soever
the Father doeth, these same also the Son doeth in like manner."
Whence know we that He is now beneath? Hence: "Greater works than
these He will show Him." O Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour,
Word of God, by which all things were made, what is the Father
about to show Thee, that as yet Thou knowest not? What of the
Father is hid from Thee? What in the Father is hid from Thee,
from whom the Father is not hid? What greater works is He about to
show Thee? Or greater than what works are they which He is to show
Thee? For when He said, "Greater than these," we ought first to
understand the works than which are they greater.
6. Let us again call to mind whence this discourse started. It was
when that man who was thirty-eight years in infirmity was healed, and
Jesus commanded him, now made whole, to take up his bed and to go to
his house. For this cause, indeed, the Jews with whom He was
speaking were enraged. He spoke in words, as to the meaning He was
silent; hinted in some measure at the meaning to those who understood,
and hid the matter from them that were wroth. For this cause, I
say, the Jews, being enraged because the Lord did this on the
Sabbath, gave occasion to this discourse. Therefore let us not hear
these things in such wise as if we had forgotten what was said above,
but let us look back to that impotent man languishing for thirty-eight
years suddenly made whole, while the Jews marvelled and were wroth.
They sought darkness from the Sabbath more than light from the
miracle. Speaking then to these, while they are indignant, He
saith, "Greater works than these will He show Him." "Greater
than these:" than which? What ye have seen, that a man, whose
infirmity had lasted thirty-eight years, was made whole greater than
these the Father is about to show to the Son. What are greater
works? He goes on, saying, "For as the Father raiseth the dead,
and quickeneth them, so also the Son quickeneth whom He will."
Clearly these are greater. Very much greater is it that a dead man
should rise, than that a sick man should recover: these are greater.
But when is the Father about to show these to the Son? Does the
Son not know them? And He who was speaking, did He not know how to
raise the dead? Had He yet to learn how to raise the dead to life
He, I say, by whom all things were made? He who caused that we
should live, when we were not in being, had He yet to learn how we
might be raised to life again? What, then, do His words mean?
7. But now He condescends to us, and He who a little before was
speaking as God, now begins to speak as man. Notwithstanding, the
same is man who is God, for God was made man; but was made what He
was not, without losing what He was. The man therefore was added to
the God, that He might be man who was God, but not that He should
now henceforth be man and not be God. Let us then hear Him also as
our brother whom we did hear as our Maker. Our Maker, because the
Word in the beginning; our Brother, because born of the Virgin
Mary: Maker, before Abraham, before Adam, before earth, before
heaven, before all things corporeal and spiritual; but Brother, of
the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, of the Israel-irish
virgin. If therefore we know Him who speaks to us as both God and
man, let us understand the words of God and of man; for sometimes He
speaks to us such things as are applicable to the majesty, sometimes
such as are applicable to the humility. For the selfsame is high who
was made low, that He might make us high who are low. What, then,
saith He? "The Father will show" to me "greater than these, that
ye may marvel." To us, therefore, He is about to show, not to
Him. And since it is to us that the Father is to show, for that
reason He said, "that ye may marvel." He has, in fact, explained
what He meant in saying, "The Father will show" to me. Why did
He not say, The Father will show to you; but, He will show to the
Son? Because also we are members of the Son; and like as what we
the members learn, He Himself in a manner learns in His members.
How doth He learn in us? As He suffers in us. Whence may we prove
that He suffers in us? From that voice out of heaven, "Saul,
Saul, why. persecutest thou me?" Is it not Himself that will sit
as Judge in the end of the world, and, setting the just on the
right, and the wicked on the left, will say, "Come, ye blessed of
my Father, receive the kingdom; for I was hungry, and ye gave me to
eat"? And when they shall answer, "Lord, when saw we Thee
hungry?" He will say to them, "Since ye gave to one of the least
of mine, ye gave to me." Let us at this time question Him, and let
us say to Him, Lord; when wilt Thou be a learner, seeing Thou
teachest all things? Immediately, indeed, He makes answer to us in
our faith, When one of the least of mine doth learn, I learn.
8. Let us rejoice, then, and give thanks that we are made not only
Christians, but Christ. Do ye understand, brethren, and apprehend
the grace of God upon us? Marvel, be glad, we are made Christ.
For if He is the head, we are the members: the whole man is He and
we. This is what the Apostle Paul saith: "That we be no longer
babes, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of
doctrine." But above he had said, "Until we all come together into
the unity of faith, and to the knowledge of the Son of God, to the
perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ."
The fullness of Christ, then, is head and members. Head and
members, what is that? Christ and the Church. We should indeed be
arrogating this to ourselves proudly, if He did not Himself deign to
promise it, who saith by the same apostle, "But ye are the body of
Christ, and members."
9. Whenever, then, the Father showeth to Christ's members, He
showeth to Christ. A certain great but yet real miracle happens.
There is a showing to Christ of what Christ knew, and it is shown to
Christ through Christ. A marvelous and great thing it is, but the
Scripture so saith. Shall we contradict the divine declarations?
Shall we not rather understand them, and of His own gift render
thanks to Him who freely bestowed it on us? What is this that I
said, "is shown to Christ through Christ"? Is shown to the
members through the head. Lo, look at this in thyself. Suppose that
with thine eyes shut thou wouldest take up something, thy hand knows
not whither to go; and yet thy hand is at any rate thy member, for it
is not separated from thy body.
Open thine eyes, now the hand sees whither it may go; while the head
showed, the member followed. If, then, there could be found in
thyself something such, that thy body showed to thy body, and that
through thy body something was shown to thy body, then do not marvel
that it is said there is shown to Christ through Christ. For the
head shows that the members may see, and the head teaches that the
members may learn; nevertheless one man, head and members. He willed
not to separate Himself, but deigned to attach Himself to us. Far
was He from us, yea, very far. What so far apart as the creature
and the Creator? What so far apart as God and man? What so far as
justice and iniquity? What so far as eternity and mortality?
Behold, so far from us was the Word in the beginning, God with
God, by whom all things were made. How, then, was He made near,
that He might be what we are, and we in Him? "The Word was made
flesh, and dwelt in (among) us."
10. This, then, He is about to show us; this He showed to His
disciples, who saw Him in the flesh. What is this? "As the
Father raiseth the dead, and quickeneth them, so also the Son
quickeneth whom He will." Is it that the Father some, the Son
others? Surely all things were made by Him. What do we say, my
brethren? Christ raised Lazarus; what dead man did the Father
raise, that Christ might see how to raise Lazarus? When Christ
raised Lazarus, did not the Father raise him? or was it the doing of
the Son alone, without the Father? Read ye the passage itself, and
see that He invokes the Father that Lazarus may rise again. As a
man, He calls on the Father; as God, He doeth with the Father.
Therefore also Lazarus, who rose again, was raised both by the
Father and by the Son, in the gift and grace of the Holy Spirit;
and that wonderful work the Trinity performed. Let us not,
therefore, understand this, "As the Father raiseth the dead, and
quickeneth them, so also the Son quickeneth whom He will," in such
wise as to suppose that some are raised and quickened by the Father,
others by the Son; but that the Son raiseth and quickeneth the very
same whom the Father raiseth and quickeneth; because" all things were
made by Him, and without Him was nothing made." And to show that
He has, though given by the Father, equal power, therefore He
saith, "So also the Son quickeneth whom He will," that He might
therein show His will; and lest any should say, "The Father
raiseth the dead by the Son, but the Father as being powerful, and
as having power, the Son as by another's power, as a servant does
something, as an angel," He indicated His power when He saith,
"So also the Son quickeneth whom He will." It is not so that the
Father willeth other than the Son; but as the Father and the Son
have one substance, so also one will.
11. And who are these dead whom the Father and the Son quicken?
Are they the same of whom we have spoken Lazarus, or that widow's
son, or the ruler of the synagogue's daughter? For we know that
these were raised by Christ the Lord. it is some other thing that He
means to signify to us, namely, the resurrection of the dead, which
we all look for; not that resurrection which certain have had, that
the rest might believe. For Lazarus rose to die again; we shall rise
again to live for ever. Is it the Father that effects such a
resurrection, or the Son? Nay verily, the Father in the Son.
Consequently the Son, and the Father in the Son. Whence do we
prove that He speaks of this resurrection? When He had said, "As
the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, so also the Son
quickeneth whom He will." Lest we should understand here that
resurrection which He performs for a miracle, not for eternal life,
He proceeded, saying, "For the Father judgeth not any man, but
all judgment hath He given to the Son." What is this? He was
speaking of the resurrection of the dead, that "as the Father raiseth
the dead, and quickeneth them, so also the Son quickeneth whom He
will;" and immediately thereupon added as a reason, concerning the
judgment, saying, "for the Father judgeth not any man, but all
judgment hath He given to the Son." Why said He this, but to
indicate that He had spoken of that resurrection of the dead which will
take place in the judgment?
12. "For," saith He, "the Father judgeth no man, but all
judgment hath He given to the Son." A little before we were
thinking that the Father doeth something which the Son doeth not,
when He said," The Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all
things that Himself doeth;" as though the Father were doing, and
the Son were seeing. In this way there was creeping in upon our mine
a carnal conception, as if the Father did what the Son did not; but
that the Son was looking on while the Father showed what He was
doing. Then, as the Father was doing what the Son did not, just
now we see the Son doing what the Father doeth not. How He turns us
about, and keeps our mind busy! He leads us hither and thither, will
not allow us to remain in one place of the flesh, that by changing He
may exercise us, by exercising He may cleanse us, by cleansing He
may render us capable of receiving, and may fill us when made capable.
What have these words to do with us? What was He speaking? What is
He speaking? A little before, He said that the Father showeth to
the Son whatever He doeth. I did see, as it were, the Father
doing. the Son waiting to see; presently again, I see the Son
doing, the Father idle: "For the Father judgeth not any man, but
all judgment hath He given to the Son." When, therefore, the Son
is about to judge, will the Father be idle, and not judge? What is
this? What am I to understand? What dost Thou say, O Lord?
Thou art God the Word, I am a man. Dost Thou say that "the
Father judgeth not any man, but hath given all judgment to the
Son"? I read in another place that Thou sayest, "I judge not any
man; there is one who seeketh and judgeth." Of whom sayest Thou,
"There is one who seeketh and judgeth," unless it be of the
Father? He maketh inquisition for thy wrongs, and judgeth for them.
How is it to be understood here that "the Father judgeth not any
man, but all judgment hath He given to the Son"? Let us ask
Peter; let us hear him speaking in his epistle: "Christ suffered
for us," saith he, "leaving us an example that we should follow His
steps; who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth; who,
when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered wrong, He
threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth
righteously." How is it true that "the Father judgeth not any man,
but hath given all judgment to the Son"? We are here in perplexity,
and being perplexed let us exert ourselves, that by exertion we may be
purified. Let us endeavor as best we may, by His own gift, to
penetrate the deep secrets of these words. It may be that we are
acting rashly, in that we wish to discuss and to scrutinize the words
of God. Yet why were they spoken, but to be known? Why did they
sound forth, but to be heard? Why were they heard, but to be
understood? Let Him greatly strengthen us, then, and bestow
somewhat on us so far as He may deem worthy; and if we do not yet
penetrate to the fountain, let us drink of the brook. Behold, John
himself has flowed forth to us like a brook, conveyed to us the word
from on high. He brought it low, and in a manner levelled it, that
we may not dread the lofty One, but may draw nigh to Him that is
low.
13. By all means there is a sense, a true and strong sense, if
somehow we can grasp it, in which "the Father judgeth not any man,
but hath given all judgment to the Son." For this is said because
none will appear to men in the judgment but the Son. The Father will
be hidden, the Son will be manifest. In what will the Son be
manifest? In the form in which He ascended. For in the form of God
He was hidden with the Father; in the form of a servant, manifest to
men. Not therefore "the Father judgeth any man, but all judgment
hath He given to the Son:" only the manifest judgment, in which
manifest judgment the Son will judge, since the same will appear to
them that are to be judged. The Scripture shows us more clearly that
it is the Son that will appear. On the fortieth day after His
resurrection He ascended into heaven, while His disciples were
looking on; and they hear the angelic voice: "Men of Galilee,"
saith it, "why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same that is
taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have
seen Him going into heaven." In what manner did they see Him go?
In the flesh, which they touched, which they handled. the wounds
even of which they proved by touching; in that body in which He went
in and out with them for forty days, manifesting Himself to them in
truth, not in falsity; not a phantom, or shadow, or ghost, but, as
Himself said, not deceiving them, "Handle and see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." That body is now
indeed worthy of a heavenly habitation, not being subject to death,
nor mutable by the lapse of ages. It is not as it had grown to that
age from infancy, so from the age of manhood declines to old age: He
remains as He ascended, to come to those to whom He willed His word
to be preached before He comes. Thus will He come in human form,
and this form the wicked will see; both they on the right shall see
it, and they that are separated to the left shall see it: as it is
written, "They shall look on Him whom they pierced." If they
shall look on Him whom they pierced, they shall look on that same body
which they struck through with the spear; for a spear does not pierce
the Word. This body, therefore, will the wicked be able to look on
which they were able to wound. God hidden in the body they will not
see: after the judgment He will be seen by those who will be on the
right hand. This, then, is what He means when He saith, "The
Father judgeth not any man, but all judgment hath He given to the
Son," that the Son will come to judgment manifest, apparent to men
in human body; saying to those on the right, "Come, ye blessed of
my Father, receive the kingdom;" and to those on the left, "Go
into everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil and his
angels."
14. Behold, that form of man will be seen by the godly and by the
wicked, by the just and the unjust, by the believers and unbelievers,
by those that rejoice and by those that mourn, by them that trusted and
by them that are confounded: lo, seen it will be. When that form
shall have appeared in the judgment, and the judgment shall have been
finished, where it is said that the Father judgeth not any, but hath
given all judgment to the Son, for this reason, that the Son will
appear in the judgment in that form which He took from us. What shall
be after this? When shall be seen the form of God, which all the
faithful are thirsting to see? When shall be seen that Word which was
in the beginning, God with God, by which all things were made?
When shall be seen that form of God, of which the apostle saith,
"Being in the form of God, He thought it not robbery to be equal
with God"? For great is that form, in which, moreover, the
quality of the Father and Son is recognized; ineffable,
incomprehensible, most of all to little ones. When shall this form be
seen? Behold, on the right are the just, on the left are the
unjust; all alike see the man, they see the Son of man, they see
Him who was pierced, Him who was crucified they see: they see Him
that was made low, Him who was born of the Virgin, the Lamb of the
tribe of Judah they see. But when will they see the Word, God with
God? He will be the very same even then, but the form of a servant
will appear. The form of a servant will be shown to servants: the
form of God will be reserved for sons. Wherefore let the servants be
made sons: let them who are on the right hand go into the eternal
inheritance promised of old, which the martyrs, though not seeing,
believed, for the promise of which they poured out their blood without
hesitation; let them go thither and see there. When shall they go
thither? Let the Lord Himself say: "So those shall go into
everlasting burning, but the righteous into life eternal."
15. Behold, He has named eternal life. Has He told us that we
shall there see and know the Father and Son? What if we shall live
for ever, yet not see that Father and Son? Hear, in another
place, where He has named eternal life, and expressed what eternal
life is: "Be not afraid; I do not deceive thee; not without cause
have I promised to them that love me, saying, 'He that hath my
commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that
loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and
will show myself to him.'" Let us answer the Lord, and say, What
great thing is this, O Lord our God? What great thing is it?
Wilt Thou show Thyself to us? What, then, didst Thou not show
Thyself to the Jews also? Did not they see Thee who crucified
Thee? But Thou wilt show Thyself in the judgment, when we shall
stand at Thy right hand; will not also they who will stand on Thy
left see Thee? What is it that Thou wilt show Thyself to us? Do
we, indeed, not see Thee now when Thou art speaking? He makes
answer: I will show myself in the form of God; just now you see the
form of a servant. I will not deceive thee, O faithful man; believe
that thou shall see. Thou lovest, and yet thou dost not see: shall
not love itself lead thee to see? Love, persevere in loving; I will
not disappoint thy love, saith He, I who have purified thy heart.
For why have I purified thy heart, but to the end that God may be
seen by thee? For "blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God." "But this," saith the servant, as if disputing with the
Lord, "Thou didst not express, when Thou didst say, 'The
righteous shall go into life eternal;' Thou didst not say, They
shall go to see me in the form of God, and to see the Father, with
whom I am equal." Observe what He said elsewhere: "This is life
eternal, that they may know Thee the one true God,and Jesus Christ
whom Thou hast sent."
16. And immediately, then, after the judgment mentioned, all
which the Father, not judging any man, hath given to the Son, what
shall be? What follows? "That all may honor the Son, even as they
honor the Father." The Jews honor the Father, despise the Son.
For the Son was seen as a servant, the Father was honored as God.
But the Son will appear equal with the Father, that all may honor
the Son, even as they honor the Father. This we have, therefore,
now in faith. Let not the Jew say, "I honor the Father; what
have I to do with the Son?" Let him be answered, "He that
honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father. Thou liest every
way; thou blasphemest the Son, and dost wrong to the Father. For
the Father sent the Son, and thou despisest Him whom the Father
sent. How canst thou honor the sender, who blasphemest the sent?"
17. Behold, says some one, the Son has been sent; and the
Father is greater, because He sent. Withdraw from the flesh; the
old man suggests oldness in time. Let the ancient, the perpetual,
the eternal, to thee the new, call off thy understanding from time to
this. Is the Son less because He is said to have been sent? I hear
of a sending, not a separation. But yet, saith he, among men we see
that he who sends is greater than he who is sent. Be it so; but human
affairs deceive a man; divine things purge him. Do not regard things
human, in which the sender appears greater, the sent less;
notwithstanding, things human themselves bear testimony against thee.
Just as, for example, if a man wishes to ask a woman to wife, and,
not being able to do this in person, sends a friend to ask for him.
And there are many cases in which the greater is chosen to be sent by
the less. Why, then, wouldst thou now raise a captious objection,
because the one has sent, the other is sent? The sun sends out a
ray, but does not separate it; the moon sends out her sheen, but does
not separate it; a lamp sheds light, but does not separate it: I see
there a sending forth, not a separation. For if thou seekest examples
from human things, O heretical vanity, although, as I have said,
even human things in some instances refute thee, and convict of error;
yet consider how different it is in the case of things human, from
which you wish to deduce examples for things divine. A man that sends
remains himself behind, while only the man that is sent goes forward.
Does the man who sends go with him whom he sends? Yet the Father,
who sent the Son, has not departed from the Son. Hear the Lord
Himself saying, "Behold, the hour is coming, when every one shall
depart to his own, and ye will leave me alone; but I am not alone,
because the Father is with me." How has He, with whom He came,
sent Him? How has He, from whom He has not departed, sent Him?
In another place He said, "The Father abiding in me doeth the
works." Behold, the Father is in Him, works in Him. The
Father sending has not departed from the Son sent, because the sent
and the sender are one.
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