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1. As I have already charged you, beloved, you ought steadfastly
to bear in mind that Saint John the evangelist would not have us be
always nourished with milk, but fed with solid food. Still, whoever
is hardly able as yet to partake of the solid food of God's word, let
him find nourishment in the milk of faith; and the word which he cannot
understand, let him not hesitate to believe. For faith is the
deserving: understanding, the reward. In the very labor of intent
application the eye of our mind struggles to get rid of the foul films
of human mists, and be cleared up to the word of God. Labor, then,
will not be declined if love is present; for you know that he who loves
his labor is insensible to its pain. For no labor is grievous to those
who love it. If cupidity on the part of the avaricious endures so
great toils, what in our case will not love endure?
2. Listen to the Gospel: "And it was at Jerusalem the
Encoenia." Encoenia was the festival of the dedication of the
temple. For in Greek kainos means new; and whenever there was some
new dedication, it was called Encoenia. And now this word is come
into common use; if one puts on a new coat, he is said "encoeniare"
(to renovate, or to hold an encoenia). For the Jews celebrated in
a solemn manner the day on which the temple was dedicated; and it was
the very feast day when the Lord spoke what has just been read.
3. "It was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's
porch. Then came the Jews round about Him, and said unto Him,
How long dost thou keep our mind in suspense? If thou be the
Christ, tell us plainly." They were not desiring the truth, but
preparing a calumny. "It was winter," and they were chill; because
they were slow to approach that divine fire. For to approach is to
believe: he who believes, approaches; who denies, retires. The
soul is not moved by the feet, but by the affections. They had become
icy cold to the sweetness of loving Him, and they burned with the
desire of doing Him an injury. They were far away, while there
beside Him. It was not with them a nearer approach in believing, but
the pressure of persecution. They sought to hear the Lord saying, I
am Christ; and probably enough they only thought of the Christ in a
human way. The prophets preached Christ; but the Godhead of Christ
asserted in the prophets and in the gospel itself is not perceived even
by heretics; and how much less by Jews, so long as the vail is upon
their heart? In short, in a certain place, the Lord Jesus,
knowing that their views of the Christ were cast in a human mould, not
in the Divine, taking His stand on the human ground, and not on that
where along with the assumption of humanity He also continued Divine,
He said to them, "What think ye of Christ?
Whose Son is He?" Following their own opinion, they replied,
"Of David." For so they had read, and this only they retained;
because while they read of His divinity, they did not understand it.
But the Lord, to pin them down to some inquiry touching the divinity
of Him whose apparent weakness they despised, answered them: "How,
then, doth David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, The LORD
said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on my right hand, till I put Thine
enemies under Thy feet? If David, then, in spirit call Him
Lord, how is He his son?" He did not deny, but questioned. Let
no one think, on hearing this, that the Lord Jesus denied that He
was the Son of David. Had Christ the Lord given any such denial,
He would not have enlightened the blind who so addressed Him. For as
He was passing by one day, two blind men, who were sitting by the
wayside, cried out, "Have mercy upon us, thou Son of David."
And on hearing these words He had mercy on them. He stood still,
healed, enlightened them; for He owned the name. The Apostle Paul
also says, "Who was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh;" and in his Epistle to Timothy, "Remember that Jesus
Christ was raised from the dead, [He that is] of the seed of
David, according to my gospel." For the Virgin Mary drew her
origin, and hence our Lord also, from the seed of David.
4. The Jews made this inquiry of Christ, chiefly in order that,
should He say, I am Christ, they might, in accordance with the
only sense they attached to such a name, that He was of the seed of
David, calumniate Him with aiming at the kingly power. There is
more than this in His answer to them: they wished to calumniate Him
with claiming to be the Son of David. He replied that He was the
Son of God. And how? Listen: "Jesus answered them, I tell
you, and ye believe not: the works that I do in my Father's name,
they bear witness of me: but ye believe not; because ye are not of my
sheep." Ye have already learned above (in Lecture XLV.) who
the sheep are: be ye sheep. They are sheep through believing, sheep
in following the Shepherd, sheep in not despising their Redeemer,
sheep in entering by the door, sheep in going out and finding pasture,
sheep in the enjoyment of eternal life. What did He mean, then, in
saying to them, "Ye are not of my sheep"? That He saw them
predestined to everlasting destruction, not won to eternal life by the
price of His own blood.
5. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
and I give unto them eternal life." This is the pasture. If you
recollect, He had said before, "And he shall go in and out, and
find pasture." have entered by believing we go out at death. But as
we have entered by the door of faith, so, as believers, we quit the
body; for it is in going out by that same door that we are able to find
pasture. The good pasture is called eternal life; there no blade
withereth all is green and flourishing. There is a plant commonly said
to be ever-living; there only is it found to live. "I will give,"
He says, "unto them," unto my sheep, "eternal life." Ye are on
the search for calumnies, just because your only thoughts are of the
life that is present.
6. "And they shall never perish:" you may hear the undertone, as
if He had said to them, Ye shall perish for ever, because ye are not
of my sheep. "No one shall pluck them out of my hand." Give still
greater heed to this: "That which my Father gave me is greater than
all." What can the wolf do? What can the thief and the robber?
They destroy none but those predestined to destruction. But of those
sheep of which the apostle says, "The Lord knoweth them that are
His;" and "Whom He did foreknow, them He also did predestinate;
and whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He
called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He
also glorified;" there is none of such sheep as these that the wolf
seizes, or the thief steals, or the robber slays. He, who knows
what He gave for them, is sure of their number. And it is this that
He says: "No one shall pluck them out of my hand;" and in
reference also to the Father, "That which my Father gave me is
greater than all." What did the Father give to the Son that was
greater than all? To be His own only-begotten Son. What, then,
means "gave"?
Was He to whom He gave previously existent, or gave He in the act
of begetting? For if He previously existed to whom He gave the gift
of Sonship, there was a time when He was, and was not the Son.
Far be it from us to suppose that the Lord Christ ever was, and yet
was not the Son. Of us such a thing may be said: there was a time
when we were the sons of men, but were not the sons of God. For we
are made the sons of God by grace, but He by nature, for such was
He born. And yet not so, as that one may say, He did not exist
till He was born; for He, who was coeternal with the Father, was
never unborn.
Let him who is wise understand: and whoever understands not, let him
believe and be nourished, and he will come to understanding. The
Word of God was always with the Father, and always the Word; and
because the Word, therefore the Son. So then, always the Son,
and always equal. For it is not by growth but by birth that He is
equal, who was always born, the Son of the Father, God of God,
coeternal of the Eternal. But the Father is not God of the Son:
the Son is God of the Father; therefore in begetting the Son, the
Father "gave"
Him to be God, in begetting He gave Him to be coeternal with
Himself, in begetting He gave Him to be His equal. This is that
which is greater than all. How is the Son the life, and the
possessor of life? What He has, He is: as for thee, thou art one
thing, thou hast another. For example, thou hast wisdom, but art
thou wisdom itself? In short, because thou thyself art not that which
thou hast, shouldst thou lose what thou hast, thou returnest to the
state of no longer having it: and sometimes thou re-acquirest,
sometimes thou losest. As our eye has no light inherently in itself,
it opens, and admits it; it shuts, and loses it. It is not thus
that the Son of God is God not thus that He is the Word of the
Father; and not thus is He the Word, that passes away with the
sound but that which abides in its birth. In such a way hath He
wisdom that He is Himself wisdom, and maketh men wise: and life,
that He is Himself the life, and maketh others alive. This is that
which is greater than all. The evangelist John himself looked to
heaven and earth when wishing to speak of the Son of God; he looked,
and rose above them all. He thought on the thousands of angelic armies
above the heavens; he thought, and, like the eagle soaring beyond the
clouds, his mind overpassed the whole creation: he rose beyond all
that was great, and arrived at that which was greater than all; and
said, "In the beginning was the Word." But because He, of whom
is the Word, is not of the Word, and the Word is of Him, whose
Word He is; therefore He says, "That which the Father gave
me," namely, to be His Word, His only-begotten Son, the
brightness of His light, "is greater than all."
Therefore, "No one," He says, "plucketh my sheep out of my
hand. No one can pluck them out of my Father's hand."
7. "Out of my hand," and "out of my Father's hand." What is
this, "No one plucketh them out of my hand," and "No one plucketh
them out of my Father's hand"? Have the Father and Son one hand,
or is the Son Himself, shall we say, the hand of His Father? If
by hand we are to understand power, the power of Father and Son is
one; for their Godhead is one. But if we mean hand in the way spoken
of by the prophet, "And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"
the Father's hand is the Son Himself, which is not to be so
understood as if God had the human form, and, as it were, bodily
members: but that all things were made by Him. For men also are in
the habit of calling other men their hands, by whom they get done what
they wish. And sometimes also the very work done by a man's hand is
called his hand; as one is said to recognize his hand when he
recognizes what he has written. Since, then, there are many ways of
speaking of the hand of a man, who literally has a hand among the
members of his body; how much rather must there be more than one way of
understanding it, when we read of the hand of God, who has no bodily
form? And in this way it is better here, by the hand of the Father
and Son, to understand the power of the Father and the Son; lest,
in taking here the hand of the Father as spoken of the Son, some
carnal thought also about the Son Himself should set us looking for
the Son as somehow to be similarly regarded as the hand of Christ.
Therefore, "no one plucketh them out of my Father's hand;" that
is, no one plucketh them from me.
8. But that there may be no more room for hesitation, hear what
follows: "I and my Father are one." Up to this point the Jews
were able to bear Him; they heard, "I and my Father are one,"
and they bore it no longer; and hardened in their own way, they had
recourse to stones. "They took up stones to stone Him." The
Lord, because He suffered not what He was unwilling to suffer, and
only suffered what He was pleased to suffer, still addresses them
while desiring to stone Him. "The Jews took up stones to stone
Him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from
my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? And they
answered, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and
because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God," Such was
their reply to His words, "I and my Father are one." You see
here that the Jews understood what the Arians understand not. For
they were angry on this account, that they felt it could not be said,
"I and my Father are one," save where there was equality of the
Father and the Son.
9. But see what answer the Lord gave to their dull apprehension.
He saw that they could not bear the brilliance of the truth, and He
tempered it with words. "Is it not written in your law," that is,
as given to you, "that I said, Ye are gods?" And the Lord
called all the Scriptures generally, the law: although elsewhere He
speaks more definitely of the law, distinguishing it from the
prophets; as it is said, "The law and the prophets were until
John;" and "On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets." Sometimes, however, He divided the same Scriptures
into three parts, as where He saith, "All things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law, and the prophets, and the psalms,
concerning me." But now He includes the psalms also under the name
of the law, where it is written, "I said, Ye are gods. If He
calleth them gods, to whom the word of God came, and the Scripture
cannot be broken: say ye of Him, whom the Father hath sanctified,
and sent into the world. Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am
the Son of God?" If the word of God came to men, that they might
be called gods, how can the very Word of God, who is with God, be
otherwise than God? If by the word of God men become gods, if by
fellowship they become gods, can He by whom they have fellowship not
be God? If lights which are lit are gods,is the light which
enlighteneth not God? If through being warmed in a way by saving fire
they are constituted gods, is He who gives them the warmth other than
God? Thou approachest the light and art enlightened, and numbered
among the sons of God; if thou withdrawest from the light, thou
fallest into obscurity, and art accounted in darkness; but that light
approacheth not, because it never recedeth from itself. If, then,
the word of God maketh you gods, how can the Word of God be
otherwise than God? Therefore did the Father sanctify His Son,
and send Him into the world. Perhaps some one may be saying: If the
Father sanctified Him, was there then a time when He was not
sanctified? He sanctified in the same way as He begat Him. For in
the act of begetting He gave Him the power to be holy, because He
begat Him in holiness. For if that which is sanctified was unholy
before, bow can we say to God the Father, "Hallowed be Thy
name"?
10. "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But
if I do, though ye will not believe me, believe the works; that ye
may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in Him." The
Son says not, "the Father is in me, and I in Him," as men can
say it. For if we think well, we are in God; and if we live well,
God is in us: believers, by participating in His grace, and being
illuminated by Himself, are in Him, and He in us. But not so is
it with the only-begotten Son: He is in the Father, and the
Father in Him; as one who is equal is in him whose equal he is. In
short, we can sometimes say, We are in God, and God is in us; but
can we say, I and God are one? Thou art in God, because God
contains thee; God is in thee, because thou art become the temple of
God: but because thou art in God, and God is in thee, canst thou
say, He that seeth me seeth God; as the Only-begotten said, "He
that hath seen me, hath seen the Father also;" and "I and the
Father are one"? Recognize the prerogative of the Lord, and the
privilege of the servant. The prerogative of the Lord is equality
with the Father: the privilege of the servant is fellowship with the
Saviour.
11. "Therefore they sought to apprehend Him." Would they had
apprehended by faith and understanding, not in wrath and murder! For
now, my brethren, when I speak thus, it is the weak one wishing to
apprehend what is strong, the small what is great, the fragile what is
solid; and it is we ourselves both you who are of the same matter as I
am, and I myself who speak to you who all wish to apprehend Christ.
And what is it to apprehend Him? thou hast understood, thou hast
apprehended. But not as did the Jews: thou hast apprehended in order
to possess, they wished to apprehend in order to make away with Him.
And because this was the kind of apprehension they desired, what did
He do to them? "He escaped out of their hands." They failed to
apprehend Him, because they lacked the hand of faith. The Word was
made flesh; but it was no great task to the Word to rescue His own
flesh from fleshy hands. To apprehend the Word in the mind, is the
right apprehension of Christ.
12. "And He went away again beyond Jordan, into the place where
John at first baptized; and there He abode. And many resorted unto
Him, and said, John, indeed; did no miracle." You remember what
was said of John, that he was a light, and bore witness to the day.
Why, then, say these among themselves, "John did no miracle"?
John, they say, signalized himself by no miracle; he did not put
devils to flight, he drove away no fever, he enlightened not the
blind, he raised not the dead, he fed not so many thousand men with
five or seven loaves, he walked not upon the sea, he commanded not the
winds and the waves. None of these things did John, and in all he
said he bore witness to this man. By lamp-light we may advance to the
day. "John did no miracle: but all things that John spoke of this
man were true." Here are those who apprehended in a different way
from the Jews. The Jews wished to apprehend one who was departing
from them, these apprehended one who remained with them. In a word,
what is it that follows? "And many believed on Him."
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