Commentary on the Gospel of John

Book 11. of Paul: For ivhom He forekneiv, He also fore-ordained 19 ■ ' to he conformed to the linage of His Son, He maketh Eom.viii. tliose in whoin He abides to be conformed to the Imasre *■ ' of the Father, that is, the Son; and thus all thoughts are uplifted through the Son to the Father, from Whom He proceeds by the Spirit. He desires, therefore, the nature of man to be renewed, and moulded anew, as it were, into its original likeness, by communion with the Spirit; in order that, putting on that pristine grace, and being shaped anew into conformity with Him, we may be found able to prevail over the sin that reigns in this world, and may simply cling to the love of God, striving with all our might after whatsoever things be good, and, lifting our minds above fleshly lusts, may keep the beauty of His Image implanted in ourselves unspoiled. For this is spiritual life, and this is the meaning of worship in the Spirit.

And if we may sum up in brief the whole matter, Christ called down upon us the ancient gift of humanity, that is, sanctification through the Spirit and communion with the Divine Nature, His disciples being the first 2 Tim. ii. to receive it; for the saying is true, that the husbandman ^" that lahoureth must be the first to jmrtake of the fruits.

Col. i. 18, But that He might herein also indeed have the preeminence (for it was meet that He, being, as it were, one of many brethren, and still Man even as we are men, should, through being in our likeness, be seen to be and in fact be the Beginning, and the Gate, and the Way, of every good thing for us). He is impelled to add what follows, namely, the words: For their salces I sanctify Myself.

And, indeed, the saying is hard to explain and difficult to understand. Still, the Word Which maketh all things Job xii. clear, and discovereth deep things out of darkness, will ^^' reveal to us even this mystery. That which is brought by any one to God by way of an offering or gift, as sacred to Him, is said to be sanctified according to the custom of the Law; as, for example, every firstborn child that opens the womb among the children of Israel. For Chap. lo. sanctify unto Me all the firsthorn, whatsoever openeth ^^J ' ' the ivovib, God said to the good Moses; that is, offer Ex. xiii. and dedicate and set down as holy. We do not indeed "• assert, nor would we listen to any one's suggestion, that God bade Moses impose on any the sanctification of the Spirit, for the stature of created beings attains not unto ability to perform any such act, but it is adapted and can be ascribed to God only. Moreover, when He wished to appoint to office the elders together with Him, He did not bid Moses himself impose sanctification upon those who were selected; but, instead, plainly said that He would take of the Spirit That was upon him and would put It upon each of those who were called. For the power of sanctifying by communion with the Spirit belongs only to the Nature of the Ruler of the Universe; and what the meaning of sanctification is, I mean so far as the customs of the Law are concerned, the saying of Solomon will make quite clear to us: It is a snare Prov. xx.

to a riian hastily to sanctify anything that is his, for ' after he has made his voiv repentance conieth.

Since, then, this is what sanctification is, so far as the custom of offering and setting apart is concerned, we say that the Son sanctified Himself for us in this sense. For He brought Himself as a Victim and holy Sacrifice to God the Father, reconciling the loorld unto 2 Cor. v. Himself, and bringing into kinship with Him that which * had fallen away therefrom, that is, the race of man. For He is our Peace, according to the Scripture. And, Ephes. indeed, our reconciliation to God could no otherwise "' ' have been accomplished through Christ that saveth us than by communion in the Spirit and sanctification. For that which knits us together, and, as it were, unites us with God, is the Holy Spirit; Which if we receive, we are proved sharers and partakers in the Divine Nature, and we admit the Father Himself into our hearts, through the Son and in the Son. Further, the, „ -r ■,

Book 11. u'g that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He j'g^^"' ' has given us of His Spirit. And what does Paul also Gal. iv. 6. say? And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father, as, if we had chanced to remain without partaking of the Spirit, we could never at all have known that God was in us; and, if we had not been enriched with the Spirit that puts us into the rank of sons, we should never have been at all the sons of God. How, then, should we have had added to us, or how should we have been shown to be partakers in, Divine Nature, if God had not been in us, nor we been joined to Him through having been called to communion with the Spirit? But now are we both partakers and sharers in the Substance That transcends the universe, and are become temples of God. For the Only-begotten sanctified Himself for our sins; that is, offered Himself up, and brought Himself as a holy Sacrifice for a sweet-smelling savour to God the Father; that, while He as God came between and hedged ofi" and built a wall of partition between human nature and sin, nothing might hinder our being able to have access to God, and have close fellowship with Him, through communion, that is, with the Holy Spirit, moulding us anew to righteousness and sanctification and the original likeness of man. For if sin sunders and dissevers man from God, surely righteousness will be a bond of union, and will somehow set us by the side of God Himself, with nothing to part us. We have been Rom. iv. justified through faith in Christ, Who tvas delivered up " ' for our trespasses, according to the Scripture, and tuas raised for our justification. For in Him, as in the fii'stfruits of the race, the nature of man was wholly reformed into newness of life, and ascending, as it were, to its own first beginning, was moulded anew into sanctification. Supra Sanctify thcTii, He says, 0 Fcdher, in Thy truth; that is, ver. 17..^ -j^g^ £^^. rji^^y Word is truth; that is, I once more. For I sanctified Myself for them; that is, brought Myself as an offering, One dying for many, that I might reform them into newness of life, and that they might be sane- Chap. lo. tified in truth, that is, in Me. c^xvii.is,

Now that the foregoing speech has been explained, and understood in the sense we have just given out, we shall not be slack to enter on another investigation. For to be very zealous in searching out the meaning of difficult passages in Scripture, must, I think, reflect much honour both on those who have this desire, and also on those who listen to them attentively. Our Lord Jesus Christ, then, said that He sanctified Himself for our sakes, that we also may be sanctified in truth. In what sense He is sanctified, being Himself by Nature holy, in order that we may be sanctified also, let us then, adhering to the doctrines of the Church, and not starting aside from the right rule of faith, so far as we can, carefully consider. We say, then, that the Only-begotten, heiiig by Phil. ii. Nature God, and in the formi of God the Father, and in ^' '^' equality with Him, envptied Himself, according to the Scripture, and became Man born of a woman, receiving all the properties of man's nature, sin only excepted, and in an unspeakable way uniting Himself to our nature by His own free will, in order that He might in Himself first, and through Himself, regenerate it into that glory which it had at the beginning; and that He, having proved Himself the second Adam, that is, a heavenly Man, and being found first of all, and the firstfruits of those who are built up into newness of life, in incorruption that is, and in righteousness and the sanctification which is through the Spirit, He might henceforth through Himself send good gifts to the whole race. For this cause, though He is Life by Nature, He became as one dead; that, having destroyed the power of death in us. He might mould us anew into His own life; and being Himself the righteousness of God the Father, He became sin for us. For, according to the saying of the Prophet, He Himself heareth our sins, and He was counted to- Is. liii. 4. gether with us among transgressors, that He might Ibid. 12. justify us through Himself, rending the bond that ivas Col.ii.i4.

Book 11. against us, and nailing it to His cross, according to the c^xvii., g(3j.ip^;,m.Q_ Being also Himself by Nature holy as God, and granting to the whole creation participation in the Holy Spirit, to their continuance and stablishing and sanctification, He is sanctified on our account in the Holy Spirit; no one else sanctifying Him, but rather He Himself working for Himself to the sanctification of His own Flesh. For He receiveth His own Spirit, and partakes of It in so far as He was Man; yea, and giveth it unto Himself as God. And He did this for our sakes, not for His own, that, originating in Him fii-st, the gi'ace of sanctification might henceforth reach even unto all mankind. Just as by Adam's transgression and disobedience, as in the founder of the race, human nature was doomed to die by the fault of one man, the first of Gen. iii. men hearing the sentence. Dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return; in the same way, I think, through the obedience and righteousness of Christ, in so far as He became under the Law, though as God He was Himself the Lawgiver, the Eucharist and the quickening power o^ the Spirit might be extended unto men universally. For the Spirit reforms into incorruption that which was by sin corrupted, and fashions into newness of life that which was obsolete through apathy, and verging to decay.

But perhaps you will ask. How, then, was He That is holy by Nature sanctified, and that through participation? And in what sense does He Who granteth His own Spirit to all who are worthy to receive it, both those, I mean, in heaven and those on earth, do Himself this service? Such things are indeed hard to fathom or comprehend, and difiicult to explain, when you consider the Word That proceeded from God as still devoid of, or as only partially endued with, the humanity so sanctified; but when you think with wonder on His incomprehensible Incarnation and union with the flesh, and have present before your minds the true God now become Man, even as we are men, vou will no longer be sur- prised; but, putting off all perplexity of mind, and having Chap. 10. before your thoughts the Son Who is at the same time jg^^"' ' God and Man, you will not think that the proper attributes of humanity ought to be cast aside, even though they be merged in the Person of One Who is the Son by Nature, I mean Christ. For do we not think, for example, that death is foreign to the Nature of the all-quickening Word?

Still, you will say, He endured death in the flesh; for the body is mortal, and therefore is said to die, for His own Body died.

You are quite right in your idea, and say well; for of a truth in His scheme for our redemption, He did give up His Body to die, and again infused His own life into it, and did not, that is, rescue Himself from the bonds of death, by the power He actually has as God. For He came among us and became Man, not for His own sake, but rather He prepared the way, through Himself and in Himself, for human nature to escape from death and to return to its original incorruption. Let us, then, by an analogous train of reasoning, find out the manner of His sanctification. Can we then at all maintain that the body, which is of earth, is holy by the law of its own nature, even if it receive not sanctification from God, Who is by Nature holy 1 How could this be? For what difference could there then be any longer between earthborn flesh and that Substance Which is holy and pure? And if it be true to say that all rational creatures, and in general everything that has been caljed into being and ranks among created things, do not enjoy sanctification as the fruit of their own nature, but, as it were, borrow grace from That Which is by Nature holy, would it not be the height of absurdity to think that the flesh had no need of God, Who is able to sanctify all things? Since, then, the flesh is not of itself holy, it was therefore sanctifled, even in the case of Christ — the Word That dwelt therein sanctifying His own Temple through the Holy Spirit, and changing it into a living instrument of

Book 11. His own Nature. For the Body of Christ is for this j'^^"* ' cause holy and pure; as being, in accordance with what Cf. Col. I said just now, in a corporeal sense, as Paul says, the "■ Temple of the Word united with it. Therefore the Holy

Spirit, in the form of a dove, descends upon Him from heaven; and the wise John bore testimony to this, that we might also know that on Christ first, as on the firstfruits of the renewed nature of man, the Spirit came down, in so far as He was Man, and so capable of sanctification. We do not indeed afiirm that Christ then became holy as to His Flesh, when the Baptist saw the Supra Spirit descending upon Him; for He was holy when He was still unborn and in the womb. Yea, and it was S. Luke said unto the Blessed Virgin, The Holy Ghost shall come '■ ' upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadoiv thee. Rather was the sight given as a sign to the Baptist. We are of opinion, nevertheless, that Christ's Flesh was sanctified by the Spirit; the Word, Which is by Nature holy, and proceedeth from the Father, anointing His own Temple that is in Him, like all else that is created. And the Psalmist, knowing this, exclaimed, while he gazed upon the human Person of the Only-begotten: Ps.xlv.7. Therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee ivith the oil of gladness above Thy felloivs. For when the Son anoints the Temple of His Body, the Father is said so to do. For He only works through the Son. For whatsoever the Son doeth is referred to the Father from Whom He springs, as the Father is, as it were, the Root and Source of His Offspring.

And no marvel if He declares that even He Himself is sanctified, though by Nature He is holy, when the Scripture calls God His Father, though He is Himself by Nature God. But I think one may well and justly attribute such expressions, without fear of error, to the requirements of human reason, and to analogy with human relationships. Just as, then. He died in the flesh for our sakes as Man, though being by Nature God; and just as, ranking Himself among creatures, and render such expressions necessary. 543 under subjection on account of His Manhood, He calls Chap.io. God His Father, though He was Lord of all; so He \^J''-^^' affirms that He sanctifies Himself for our sakes: that, when the influence thereof reaches even to us, as through the firstfruits of regenerate human nature in Him, we also may be sanctified in truth, that is, in the Holy Spirit, i S. John For the Spirit is the truth, as John says; for the Spirit ^' is not separate from the Son, in Substance at any rate, inasmuch as He exists in Him and proceeds through

He says that He was sent into the world, though He was in it before His Incarnation. For He ivas in the Supra ivorld, though the ivorld knew Him not, according to ^' the Scripture; signifying that the manner in which His mission was given Him was by the unction of the Holy Spirit, in so far as He was Man, and was the Angel of great counsel, after the analogy of the prophetic is. ix. 6. office. And when He says that His disciples have been prepared, as He was Himself, and sent from Him to announce to the world the message of the Gospel from heaven. He declares that they stand in great need of being sanctified in truth, that they may be enabled well and strenuously to run the course of their apostleship to the end.

Tliat the Son is naturally One with God His Father; and that He is in the Father and the Father in Him, accordingto the essential bond and character of their Unity; and that likewise also we ourselves, when we receive faith in Him, are proved one with each other and with God, both in a corporeal and in a spiritual sense.

22 ' ' 21 believe on Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and J in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the ivorld inay believe that

Christ is, as it were, the Firstfruits of those who are built np into newness of life, and Himself the first 1 Cor. XV. heavenly Man. For, as Paul says: The second Adam is ^/" the Lord from heaven. Therefore also John wrote: And iii. 13. no man hath ascended into heaven, but He That descended out of heaven, even the Son of man. And in close connexion with Him, the Firstfruits, yea, and far nearer unto Him than others, were those who were chosen to be disciples, and who held the rank of His followers; who also with their own eyes beheld His glory, ever attending upon Him, and in converse with Him, and gathering in, as it were, the firstfruits of His succour into their hearts. They were then, and are after Him, Who is far Col, i. 18. above all others, the Head of the body, the Church, the precious and more estimable members thereof. Furthermore, He prays that on them the blessing and sanctification of the Spirit may be sent down from His Father, but through Him wholly; for it could not be otherwise, since He is the living, and true, and active, and all- performing wisdom and power of Him That begat Him. Chap. ii. But that none of those, who are not well-practised ^•^^^"■^'^' attentively to hearken to the inspired writings, might thoughtlessly imagine that upon the disciples only He prayed that the Spirit of God might come down, and that He did not pray for us, who clearly follow after them, and live in an early age of Christianity, the Mediator between God and man, the Advocate and High Priest of our souls, is induced, with a view to check beforehand the foolish imaginations of such men, to add this passage to what He had said, namely: Neither for these only do I pray, hut for them also that believe on Me through their word. For it would have been in a manner absurd, that the sentence of condemnation should fall upon all men through one man, who was the first, I mean Adam; and that those who had not sinned at that time, that is, at which the founder of our race transgressed the commandment given unto him, should wear the dishonourable image of the earthy; and yet that when Christ came among us, Who was the Man from heaven, those who were called through Him to righteousness, the righteousness of course that is through faith, should not all be moulded into His Image. And, just as we say that the unlovely image of the iCot.xv. earthy is seen in types, and in a form bearing the defile- " ment of sin, and the weakness of death and corruption, and the impurity of fleshly lusts and worldly thoughts; so also, on the other hand, we think that the Image of the heavenly, that is, Christ, shines forth in purity and sincerity, and perfect incorruption, and life, and sanctification. It was, perhaps, impossible for us who had once fallen away through the original transgression to be restored to our pristine glory, except we obtained an inefiable communion and unity with God; for the nature of men upon the earth was ordered at the beginning. And no man can attain to union with God, save by communion with the Holy Spirit, Who implants in us the sanctification of His own Person, and moulds VOL. II. N n

Book 11. anew into His own life the nature which was subject 21^^"' ' to corruption, and so brings back to God and to His Likeness that which was bereft of the glory that this confers. And the Son is the express Image of the Father, and His Spirit is the natural Likeness of the Son. For this cause, moulding anew, as it were, into Himself the souls of men, He stamps them with the Likeness of God, and seals them with the Image of the Most High.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, then, prays not for the twelve Apostles alone, but rather for all who were destined in every age to yield to and obey the words that exhort those who hear to receive that sanctification that is through faith, and to that purification which is accomplished in them through partaking of the Spirit. And He thought it not right to leave us in doubt about the objects of His prayer, that we might learn hereby what manner of men we ought to show ourselves, and what path of righteousness we ought to tread, to accomplish those things which are well-pleasing to Him. What, then, is the manner of His prayer? That, He says, they may be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may he one in Us. He asks, then, for a bond of love, and concord, and peace, to bring into spiritual unity those who believe; so that their unitedness, through perfect sympathy and inseparable harmony of soul, might resemble the features of the natural and essential unity that exists between the Father and the Son. But the bond of the love that is in us, and the power of concord, will not of itself altogether avail to keep them in the same unchangeable state of union as exists between the Father and the Son, Who preserve the manner of Their union in identity of Substance. For the one is, in fact, natural and actual, and is seen in the very definition of the existence of God; while the other' only assumes the appearance of the unity which is actual. For how can the imitation be wholly like the reality? For the semblance of truth is not the Chap. ii. same in conception with truth itself, but presents a 21^^"' ' similar appearance, and will not differ from it so long as there does not occur an occasion of distinction.

Whenever, then, a heretic, imagining that he can upset the doctrine of the natural identity and consequent unity of the Son with God the Father, and then, to demonstrate and establish his crazy theory, brings forward our own case, and says, " Just as we are not all one by reason of actual physical identity, nor yet by the fusion of our souls together, but in temper and disposition to love God, and in a united and sympathetic purpose to accomplish His Will, so also the Son is One with the Father," we shall then reject him wholly, as guilty of great ignorance and folly. And for what reason? Because things superhuman do not entirely follow the analogy of ourselves; nor can that which has no body be subject to the laws to which bodies are subject; nor do things Divine resemble things human. For if there were nothing at all to separate or create a distinction between us and God, we might then apply the analogy of our own case to the things which concern God; but if we find the interval betwixt us to be something we cannot fathom, why do men set up the attributes of our own nature as a rule and standard for God, conceiving of that Nature Which is not bound by any law in the light of our own weaknesses, and so suffer themselves to be guilty of doing a thing which is most irrational and absurd? In so doing, they are constructing the reality from the shadow, and the truth from that which is conformed to its image; giving the second place of honour to that which has of right the first, and inferring their conception of that which is first from that which is second to it.

But that we may not seem to dwell too long on the discussion of this subject, and so to be straying away from the text, we must once more repeat the assertion, that when Christ brings forward the essential unity

Book 11. which the Father has with Himself, and Himself also c.xvii._, -y^rith the Father, as an Image and Type of the inseparable fellowship, and concord, and unity that exists in kindred souls, He desires us in some sort to be blended with one another in the power that is of the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity; so that the whole body of the Church may be in fact one, ascending in Christ through the fusion and concurrence of two peoples into one Eph. ii. perfect whole. For as Paul says: For He is our peace, Who "made both one, and brake doivn the middle wall of pai'tition, having abolished in His Flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; that He might create in Himself of the ttuain one Neiu Man, so mahing peace; and might reconcile them both in one Body unto God through the Cross, having slain the enmity thereby. And this was, in fact, accomplished; those who believed on Christ being of one soul one with another, and receiving, as it were, one heart, through their complete resemblance in piety towards God, and their obedience in believing, and aspirations after virtue. And I think that what I have said is not wide of the mark, but is rather requisite and necessary. But, as the meaning of the passage compels us, leaving this subject, to enter upon a more profound inquiry, and our Saviour's words especially incite us thereto: Even cls Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us, we must attentively consider what explanation we must here give. For in what has gone before we rightly maintained that the union of believers, in concord of heart and soul, ought to resemble the manner of the Divine unity, and the essential identity of the Holy Trinity, and Their intimate connexion with Each Other; but in this place we are now desirous of pointing out a sort of natural unity by which we are joined into each other, and all of us to God, not altogether falling short of a kind of physical unity, I mean with each other, even though we are distinguished by having different bodies, each one of us, as it were, retiring to his own personal environment and both in a corporeal and a spiritual sense. 549 individuality. For Peter cannot be Paul, or be spoken Chap. ii. of as such; or again, Paul as Peter, even though both g'f/"' ' be in fact one, after the manner of their union through Christ. Taking for granted, then, the physical unity that exists between the Father and the Son, and also of course the Holy Spirit (for we believe and glorify One Godhead in the Holy Trinity), let us further inquire in what manner we are proved to be one with each other and with God, both in a corporeal and a spiritual sense. The Only-begotten, then, proceeding from the very Substance of God the Father, and having entirely in His own Nature Him That begat Him, became Flesh according to Cf. supra the Scripture, blending Himself, as it were, with our ^" ^^' nature by an unspeakable combination and union with this body that is earthy; and thus He That is God by Nature became, and is in truth, a Man from heaven; not inspired merely, as some of those who do not rightly understand the depth of the mystery imagine, but being at the same time God and Man, in order that, uniting as it were in Himself things widely opposed by nature, and averse to fusion with each other, He might enable man to share and partake of the Nature of God. For even unto us has reached the fellowship and abiding Presence of the Spirit, which originated through Christ and in Christ first, when He is in fact become even as we are, that is, a Man, receiving unction and sanctification, though He is by Nature God, insomuch as He proceeded from the Father Himself, sanctifying with His own Spirit the temple of His Body as well as all the creation that to Him owes its being, and to which sanctification is suitable. The mystery, then, that is in Christ is become, as it were, a beginning and a way whereby we may partake of the Holy Spirit and union with God; for in Him are we all sanctified, after the manner I have just indicated.

In order, then, that we ourselves also may join together, and be blended into unity with God and with each other, although, through the actual difference which exists in c.xvii_, ^^j body, the Only-begotten has contrived a means which His own due Wisdom and the Counsel of the Father have sought out. For by one Body, that is, His own, blessing through the mystery of the Eucharist those who believe on Him, He makes us of the same Body with Himself and with each other. For who could sunder or divide from their natural union with one another those who are knit together through His Holy Body,

1 Cor. X. Which is one in union with Christ? For if we all partake of the one Bread, we are all made one Body; for Christ cannot suffer severance. Therefore also the Church is

Cf. ibid, become Christ's Body, and we are also individually His members, according to the wisdom of Paul. For we, being all of us united to Christ through His holy Body, inasmuch as we have received Him Who is one and indivisible in our own bodies, owe the service of our members to Him rather than to ourselves. And that, while Christ is accounted the Head, the Church is called the rest of the Body, as joined together of Christian

Eph. iv. members, Paul will prove to us by the words: That tve may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every ivind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but, speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him, Which is the Head, even Christ; from Whom all the Body, fitly framed and knit together through that ivhich every joint supplieth, according to the tuorking in due measure of each several member, maketh the increase of the Body unto the building uj) of itself in love. And that those who partake of His holy Flesh do gain therefrom this actual physical unity, I mean with Christ, Paul once more bears witness, when he says, with reference to the

Eph. iii. mystery of godliness: Which in other generations ivas not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath noiu been revealed unto His holy Apostles and Prophets in the Spirit; to ivit, that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs and felloiu-p)aTtakers of the promise in Christ. And if we are all of us of the same Body with one another in Chap. ii. Christ, and not only with one another, but also of ^•^^^^•2^' course with Him Who is in us through His Flesh, are we not then all of us clearly one both with one another and with Christ? For Christ is the bond of union, being at once God and Man. With reference, then, to the unity that is by the Spirit, following in the same track of inquiry, we say once more, that we all, receiving one and the same Spirit, I mean the Holy Spirit, are in some sort blended together with one another and with God. For if, we being many, Christ, Who is the Spirit of the Father and His own Spirit, dwells in each one of us severally, still is the Spirit one and indivisible, binding together the dissevered spirits of the individualities of one and all of us, as we have a separate being, in His own natural singleness into unity, causing us all to be shown forth in Him, through Himself, and as one. For as the power of His holy Flesh maketh those in whom It exists to be of the same Body, so likewise also the indivisible Spirit of God That abideth in all, being one, bindeth all together into spiritual unity. Therefore also the inspired Paul thus addressed us: Forbearing one an- Eph. iv. other in love; giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one Body, and one Spirit, even as also ye vjere called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Who is over all, and through all, and in all. For while the Spirit, Which is One, abideth in us, the One God and Father of all will be in us, binding together into unity with each other and with Himself whatsoever partaketh of the Spirit. And that we are made one with the Holy Spirit through partaking of It, will be made manifest hereby. For if, giving up the natural life, we have surrendered ourselves wholly to the laws of the Spirit, is it not henceforth beyond question, that by denying, as it were, our own lives, and taking upon ourselves the transcendent Likeness of the Holy Spirit, Who is joined unto us, we are well-nigh trans-

Book 11. formed into another nature, so to say, and are become c.xvii., ^^ longer mere men, but also sons of God, and heavenly men, through having been proved partakers of the Divine Nature? We are all, therefore, one in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; one, I mean, both in identity of mental condition (for I think we ought not to forget what we said at first), and also in conformity to the life of righteousness, and in the fellowship of the holy Body of Christ, and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, Which is One, as we just now said.

That the Son is by Nature One with God His Fatlier, though He says that He received, as by way of grace, His being One with the Father.

23 them; thatthey may he one, even as We are One: I in them, n'.f^"'"'"'' ccnd Thou in Me, that they may he perfected into one; that the loorld may know that Thou didst send Me, and lovedst them, even as Thou lovedst Me.

We say, and therein we are justified, that the Onlybegotten hath an essential and natural unity with His Father, insomuch as He was both in the true sense begotten, and from Him proceeds, and is in Him; and though He seem in His own Person to have a separate and distinct Being, yet that He is accounted, by reason of His innate identity of Substance, as One with the Father. But since, in His Incarnation, on our behalf, in order to save our souls. He abdicated, as it were, that place which was His at the beginning, I mean His equality with God the Father, and appears to have been in some sort so far removed therefrom as to have stepped outside His invisible glory, for this is what is meant by the expression, He made Himself of no reputation. He that Cf. Phil, of old and from the very beginning was enthroned with "' the Father, receives this as a gift when in the Flesh; His earthy and mortal frame and human form, which was actually part of His Nature, of necessity requiring as a gift that which was His by Nature; for He was and is in the form of the Father, and in equality with Him. Though, therefore, the flesh from a woman's womb, that temple wherewith the Virgin endowed Him, was not in

Book 11. any wise consubstantial with God the Father, nor of 23. """'' like Nature with Him; yet, when once received into the Body of the Word, henceforth it was accounted as One with Him. For Christ is One, and the Son is One, even when He became Man. In this aspect of His Person He is conceived of as taken into union with the Father, being admitted thereto even in the Flesh, which originally enjoys not union with God. And, to speak more concisely and clearly, the Only-begotten says, that that which was given unto Him was given to His Flesh; given too, of course, wholly by the Father, through Himself, in the Spirit. For in no other way than this can union with God be effected, even in the case of Christ Himself, so far as He manifested Himself as, and indeed became, Man. The flesh, that is, was sanctified by union with the Spirit, the twain coming together in an ineffable way; and so unconfusedly attains to God the Word, and through Him to the Father, in habit of mind, that is, and not in any physical sense. This favour and glory then. He says, given unto Me, O Father, by Thee, that is, the glory of being One with Thee, / have given unto them,, that they may he one, even as We are One.

For we are made one with each other after the manner already indicated, and we are also made one with God. And in what sense we are made one with Him, the Lord very clearly explained, and to make the benefit of His teaching plain, added the words: / in them, and Thou in Me, that they may he made perfected into one. For the Son dwells in us in a corporeal sense as Man, commingled and united with us by the mystery of the Eucharist; and also in a spiritual sense as God, by the effectual working and grace of His own Spirit, building up our spirit into newness of life, and making us partakers of His Divine Nature. Christ, then, is seen to be the bond of union between us and God the Father; as Man making us, as it were, His branches, and as God by Nature inherent in His own Father. For no otherwise could that nature which is subject to corruption be up- lifted into incorruption, but by the coming down to it Chap. 12. of Tliat Nature Which is high above all corruption and 23^7"'^^' variableness, lightening the burthen of ever sinking humanity, so that it can attain its own good; and by drawing it into fellowship and intercourse with Itself, well-niffh extricatina: it from the limitations which suit the creature, and fashioning into conformity with Itself that which is of itself contrary to It. We have, therefore, been made perfect in unity with God the Father, through the mediation of Christ. For by receiving in ourselves, both in a corporeal and spiritual sense, as I said just now, Him that is the Son by Nature, and Who has essential union with the Father, we have been glorified and become partakers in the Nature of the Most High.

When Christ desires us to be admitted to union with God the Father, He at the same time calls down upon our nature this blessing from the Father, and also declares that the power which the grace confers will be a convincing refutation of those who think that He is not from God. For what ground will there be any longer for this false accusation, if of Himself He exalts to union with the Father those who have been brought near to Him through faith and sincere love? When, then, O Father, they gain union with Thee, through Me, then the ivorld will knovj that Thou didst send Me; that is, that I came to succour the earth by Thy lovingkindness, and to work out the salvation of those who err therein. Besides, none the less, He says, will they know, who have partaken of a grace so acceptable, that Thou lovedst them, even as Thou lovedst Me. For surely He that received into union with Himself Him that is Man, even as we are, that is, Christ, and deemed Him worthy of so great love (we are arguing here concerning Christ as Man), and gave to us the chance of gaining this blessing, surely He would speak of His love as dealt out to us in equal measure. And let not any attentive hearer be perplexed hereby. For it is clear beyond dispute, that the servant can never vie with his

Book 11. master, and that the Father will not give as full a c.xvii.^. jjjgg^gypg Qf jjig Iqyq to His creatures, as to His own Son. But we must consider that we are here looking upon Him That is beloved from everlasting, as commencing to be loved when He became Man. What, therefore, He then, as it were, took and received, we shall find that He took not for Himself, but for us. For just as, when He lived again after subduing the power of death. He accomplished not His Resurrection for Himself, for He is the Word and God, but gave us this blessing through Himself, and in Himself (for man's nature was in Christ in its entirety, fast bound by the chains of death); in like manner we must suppose that He received the Father's love, not for Himself, because He was continually beloved of Him from the beginning, but rather He accepts it at His Hands upon His Incarnation, that He may call down upon us the Father's love. Just as, then, we shall be, nay, we are even now, as in Christ first the Firstfruits of our race, made conformable to His Resurrection and His glory, even so are we, as it were, like Him; beloved, but yielding the supremacy in all things to the Only-begotten, and justly marvelling at the incomparable mercy of God, shown towards us; Who showers, as it were, upon us the things that are His, and shares with His creatures what appertains to Himself alone.

24 Father, those tvhom Thou hast given Me, I ivill that wJiere I am, tliey also may he with Me; that they may behold My glory, lohich Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the tvorld.

After having prayed for His ' disciples, or rather all those who come to Him through faith, and having required of the Father that they may have union with Him, and love, and sanctification, He proceeds at once to add these words; showing that to live with Him and to be deemed worthy to see His glory, belongeth only to those who have been already united to the Father must be conceived to enjoy from the Father. For we are loved as sons, according as we are like Him Who is actually by Nature His Son. For though it be not dealt out to us in equal measure, yet as it is a complete semblance of the love the Father hath for the Son, and is coincident therewith, it images forth the glory of the are Mine, through their coming to Me through faith, and the light that proceedeth from Thee, may be with Me and see My glory. And what language can reveal the greatness of the blessing which is implied in being with

Christ Himself? For we shall enjoy ineffable fruition of soul, and eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor mind 1 Cor. ii.

Him. For what thing that maketh for the fulness of joy can be lacking to those who have allotted to them the portion of being with Christ Himself, the Lord of all 1 Yea, the wise and holy Paul seems to have thought it a thing surpassing conception, for he says, to depart Phil.i.23, and be luith Christ is far better. And surely he that preferred this great and acceptable reward to this world's life, will bear us true testimony that great is the blessing of converse with Him which He confers on His own; He that giveth all things to all men plenteously. And the word spoken through him to Cf. 2 Cor.

us will also help to support our contention. For having in himself Christ speaking, and revealing the Heb.vi.5.

poxvers of the age to come, he spoke also after this manner: For the dead shall rise, he says, and also iThess.

them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall lue ever be ivith the Lord. Further, our Lord Himself plainly promised us this blessing, saying: / go and luill prepare a 'place for you. I will Supra come again, and will receive you with Myself; that ^^^'

Book 11. WG shall readily conclude that our abiding home in C.XV11.24. i^ga^ygj^ is meant, or, following another line of thought, we shall suppose that the same place will be allotted to us as to Christ; that is, similar and analogous honours, according to our likeness to Himself. For we shall be Phil. iii. conformed to His glory, and shall reign tuith Hir)i, & 2 Tim according to Holy Writ; and He promises that, like ii- 12- as He is wont, we shall also be enthroned in the kingdom of the heavens.

Leaving, then, for the present, as beyond dispute, any further proof that we shall be with Christ and share

His glory, and be partakers in His kingdom, we proceed to the other point, I mean the words, that they r)%ay behold My glory. Not, therefore, to the profane and sinners, nor to those who dishonour the law of God, will it be given to gaze on the vision of Christ's glory; but only to the holy and righteous. This also we may

^" ^* are the pure in heart, for they shcdl see God. And who can the pure in heart be but they who, by union with

God, through the Son, in the Spirit, have rid themselves of fleshly lusts, and put far away from them the pleasure of the world, and have, as it were, denied their own lives, and resigned them wholly to the Will of the Spirit, and who are in all purity and sincerity fellow-citizens with

Gal.ii.20. purity feared not to say: / have been crucified xvith

Christ, yet L live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me? I hear also the voice of another of the Saints a right spirit within me. Cast me not cnvay from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me, Give me again the comfort of Thy salvation, and establish me with Thy free Spirit. He calleth the Spirit the comfort of salvation, as giving men joy unceasing and perpetual, and affording them guidance through all the changes and chances of the world; for the Spirit be- Chap. 12. longeth to the only true Saviour, that is, Christ. He <^-^'^"-2'*' giveth Him many names, and adds a pure heart to his prayer, and straightway invokes the Spirit; since they who are not yet united unto God, and made partakers of Christ's blessing through the Spirit, have not a perfect heart, but rather one that is fro ward and distraught.

To sum it up, therefore, in brief: Christ desired that to His followers might be granted in special the blessing of being with Him, and beholding His glory; for He says that He was loved even before the foundation of the world, hereby clearly showing how ancient was the great mystery of the redemption He wrought for us, and that the way of our salvation, effected through the mediation of Christ, was foreknown by God the Father, This knowledge was not, indeed, vouchsafed to men upon earth at" the beginning, but the Law intervened, which was our schoolmaster to teach us the Divine life, creatine: in us a dim knowledge through types, God the Father keeping for the fitting time the blessing through the Saviour. And this knowledge seems to us of much avail to show how groundless was the scorn and impious murmuring of the children of Israel, who chose continually to advocate the Law, even when at the advent of the truth, they ought henceforth to have made of no account the types; and it seems very useful also to controvert the others who think that the counsel of the Father, Which contrived the great mystery of our redemption, was an afterthought. Therefore also Paul said concerning Christ (destroying the contention of those who hold this view), that He was foreknown before 1 S. Pet. the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the last times.

We must observe, also, that He says that the Father had given unto Him the disciples themselves, as well as Divine glory and universal dominion; not in His character as by Nature God, the Lord of all, Who there-

Book 11. fore has kingly dignity inherent in Himself, but rather c.xvii.^. -j^ g^ £^^ ^g jjg manifested Himself as man, who has all things as gifts from God, and not as his birthright. For the created world receives everything from God; and nothing at all that is in it is its own, though it appear to possess things that are good.

25 0 righteous Father, the zvorlcl knew Thee not, hut I hnexu Thee; and these knew that Thou didst send Me.

He here calls the Father righteous, where He might have used another title. For He is holy, pure, undefiled. Maker and Creator of the world, and whatever else befits the Ruler of the Universe. It is very desirable, then, to inquire why Christ entitled Him righteous, when He might have given Him another name. It will, then, be productive to us of much profit, if we do not allow any passages of Holy Writ to escape us. When, then, Christ desired us to be sanctified by the favour of His Father, fulfilling Himself the character of Advocate and Mediator, He made His intercession Supra for US in the words: Holy Father, keep them in Thy Ti' ■^■^' Truth; meaning by Tridh nothing but His own Spirit, by Whom He secureth our souls, sealing them in His Likeness, and edifying them, as it were, by His ineffable power, so that courage is undaunted; and exhorting us to manifest unrestrained zeal in abundant good works, and to let nothing stand in our way, or avail to call us back, that so we may hasten eagerly on our course to do God's pleasure, and may set at naught the manifold inventions of the devil and the pleasures of the world. For they who have once been sealed by the Holy Spirit, and who receive into their minds the earnest of His grace, have S. Luke their hearts fortified, as they are girded with jjower from ^^^' ■ on high. Christ, therefore, besought the Father that He would sanctify us, in order that we might enjoy blessings so acceptable. Here, too, I think, He seems to have some such idea in His mind. For besides what He said about our need of sanctification from the Father,

He also added these words concerning us: And the glory Chap. 12, ivhich Thou hast given Me I have given unto them; ^^''^^^^^' that they may be one, even as We are One; for Thou w. 22- lovedst them, even as Thou lovedst Me; and again: * Father, those whom Thou hast given Me, I ivill that where I am, they also may be luitJi Me.

After thus speaking, He straightway calls the Father righteous, and with reason; for by His approval and consent the Son became Man, that He might endow the nature of man, which was created for good works, with Eph. ii. sanctification through the Spirit, and union with God, and ^^' with an abiding place in the mansions above, there to live and reign with Him. For God did not create man at the beginning to work wickedness; but his nature was perverted into vice by the impious wiles of the devil, and was led astray from its guidance of old by the hand of God, and, as it were, upheaved from its foundation. Truly, it well beseemed the righteous Father to lift up again that human nature which had been cast down through the devil's malice, and to establish in its former position that which had been unduly debased, and to rid it of the foulness of sin, and, as it were, transform it into its original image as it had been at first created, and also to subject the adversary that assaulted man and impiously dared to compass his ruin, that is, Satan, to the vengeance that was meet; though methinks any kind of chastisement were slight for him who exhibited such madness against God. Therefore He saith: 0 righteous Father — for Thou Ps. cxix. art righteous and good, and true is Thy judgment; for ^^'' Thou hast sent down Me, Who am Thine own true Son, to the world to succour and renew it. But, alas for the blindness of the world! He says: For though Thou wert such as I have said, the vjorld knew Thee not. For surely they should straightway have seen the loving-kindness of Thy judgment and Thy merciful Will, and should have hastened to welcome their Saviour, and have brought Him willing service.

Book 11. ing up, as it were, thanks on our behalf and for our sake, c.xvii.-. ij^Q^gjj2U(j]2 as He, in His righteousness, had vouchsafed salvation to those who had suffered through the devil's malice, and had doomed the devil to perdition. And the world. He says, that is, they who oppose the Divine message of the Gospel through their worldly-mindedness, 2 Cor. iv. have not learnt that the Father is righteous, for the god of this tvorld hath blinded the miinds of the unbelieving, as Paul says, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ should not dawn upon them. But He bore witness to His own disciples that they knew and understood Him, and hereby He endows them once more with a great and enviable dignity. For He shows them to be far above all the humiliation and contumely of the world, through their knowledge of the Father, and clearly also through their confession that Christ was the Son, When, therefore, at the same time as the charge was brought against the world that it knew not the Father, that is, the true and living God, He bore witness to the disciples that they knew Him, is it not henceforth quite beyond dispute, that they were not of the world now that they had become Christ's, Who is above the world, according to the Gal. vi. saying of Paul: Through which the world hath been Ibid crucified unto me, and I unto the luorld; who saith again V. 24. concerning us: And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof? When we say that the disciples were out of the world, we do not mean that they were absent so far as their bodies Phil. ii. and position in space were concerned, for they appear as ■^^' lights in the world, holding forth the Word of Life. We rather mean that, while they still walked upon earth, they were citizens of heaven; and that, bidding farewell to the lusts of the flesh, and lifting their minds high above all worldly desire, they had attained to an exceeding height Ps. xlvii. of virtue, according to the saying in the Psalms: The ^' mighty m^en of God have been exalted high above the earth. For they who have reached true manliness through God have put aside the grovelling thoughts of earth, and by their knowledge of the Father and Son. 563 turned their minds heavenward; for this, I think, is the ^^^T:Vi' meaning of the word exalted. The world then, He says, O Father, knew not Thee in Thy righteousness. But I know Thee, for I am Thy Counsel and Wisdom. I regarded not the glory and Divine dignity that is Mine by Nature, but humbled Myself, and descended to human poverty, that I might save with Thine approval the race that had fallen away from kinship with Us. Though the world knew not this, yet were the disciples em-iched with this knowledge, and verily comprehended that Thou hast sent Me; that is, that I have come to bring Thy purpose to a glorious issue, by rescuing the world which was in peril.

26 And I made known unto them Thy Name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou lovedst Me may he in them, and I in them.

He says that knowledge of God the Father was at once in Him and in the disciples who attended Him. And, lest any man should be beguiled into gross extravagances of opinion, and think that His disciples had this knowledge in an equal degree with Himself, Christ at once distinguishes between them and Himself, and makes the difference very clear, showing that He revealed God unto them, while they, through Him, received knowledge. For our Lord Jesus Christ, as He is the Word, and Counsel, and Wisdom of the Father, intuitively knows what is in Him, and concerns Himself about His Father's most secret thoughts; just as, indeed, the mind of a man knows what is in him, and as nothing that is in our hearts is hidden from our human understanding The inspired disciples, on the other hand, do not enjoy, as the fruit of their own understanding, the ability to form any conception about God; but, through the light of the Spirit, lay hold of the true meaning of the mysteries of the Son, and so are enabled to know the Father. Very appropriately, then, and to our profit, Christ added thewords: Andlmade hnoiun unto them Thy Nannie, and will make it knoivn. '

Book 11. Observe, too, how Both Persons, I mean the Father and c.xvn,26. ^^Q gQj^^ effectually work together to make the Godhead comprehensible to men. For the Father makes us wise by revealing to us His own Son, and none the less also the Son makes us wise by revealing to us the Father. To the blessed Peter, moreover, He spake these words, s. Matt, about the parts of Ccesarea called Philip])i: Blessed art j^" ' thou, Simon Bar-jona; forjiesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, hut My Father Which is in heaven. For the disciple confessed and maintained his belief that He was Christ, the Son of the living God. And now He says, concerning Himself: I made known unto them Thy Name, and ivill make it hnotvn. For the Only-begotten ceaseth not to reveal unto us the meaning of the mystery concerning Himself, as He revealed it to His first followers at the beginning; and this He doeth continually, implanting in each of us the light of the Spirit, and guiding those that love Him to knowledge of those things which pass their understanding and conception. What His purpose is, and what kind of benefit He will confer on us by His declaration that He had aheady revealed the Father unto the disciples, and would also make Him known to theii" successors, He pointed out to us, when He said, that the love wherewith Thou lovedst Me may be in them, and I in them. For they who have been able, by purity of thought, to know God the Father, and have been throughly instructed in the knowledge of the mystery that is in Christ, will wholly gain and indisputably enjoy the perfect love of the Father, like unto the Son. For the Father loves His Son with a perfect love; and Christ also Himself abideth in Him, through the Holy Spirit, uniting, through Himself, into spiritual fellowship with God the Father him that knows Him, and is in travail, as it were, with the unperverted word of Divine Truth. He makes known to us the Name of the Father by declaring to us Himself, Who is His Son. For hand in hand with the knowledge of Him That was begotten will be closely linked the knowledge of Him That begat Him, just Chap. 12. as the converse is also true. And if the saying is true, 2". ' * and to be accepted without question, that the conception of the Son is necessarily implied in that of the Father, and so also the conception of the Father in that of the Son, and the knowledge of One is contained in the knowledge of the Other; how can the Son any more be a creature, as some impious men say? For if a man speak of the Son, he thereby instils the idea of a Father in his hearers; while if he were to call Him a creature, he leads them on to the conception of a maker. But as the Son calls God Father, not Maker or Creator, He is clearly conscious that He is Himself in fact a Son. Therefore the Son is deemed, and is, a Son, and not a creature, as they say, which would imply that He That made Him was His Creator, and not His Father. And the force of the argument will be no whit damaged by the fact, that the title of child or son is accounted human. For the attributes which peculiarly and especially belong to Him, as being by Nature the Son of God His Father, these were brought down even to us; Holy Writ often so applying them on occasion, and at times investing those who are sons by adoption with the attributes of a son by nature. And it is no marvel, if we also have obtained the title of son, and that God has thus chosen to honour us in His loving-kindness, as He has even called those gods who are avowedly sprung from the earth.

xviii. 1 When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disci2)les over the brook Cedrmi, where was a garden, into the which He entered. Himself and His disciples.

2 IVow Judas also, which betrayed Him, knew tJie place: for

After having enlightened His disciples, and turned them by suitable instruction to all those things that make for righteousness, and after having bidden them

Book 11. choose the life which is most spiritual and pleasing,c.xviii.. ^^ God, and besides also promising Himself to fulfil them with spiritual graces, and saying that blessings from the Father above would be showered down upon them, Jesus goes forth readily, not shrinking from the time of His suffering, nor yet fearing to die for all men. For what likelihood could there be that He should do this, Who was brought face to face with suffering, that, by His own agony. He might purchase exemption for all; when, too, for this purpose only He had come, that He might by His own Blood reconcile the whole earth to God the Father? It is true, that often when the Jews chose to rage against Him, and attempted in their fury to stone Him, He escaped by His Divine power, rendering Himself invisible, and withdrawing Himself with the greatest ease from the reach of those who sought Him; for He was not willing yet to suffer, the fitting time not yet calling Him thereto. But, as the time had now come, Christ left the house where He had instructed His disciples in the mystery, and came to the place whither He Himself, the Saviour of all mankind, was wont often to resort, together with His holy disciples. He did this, too, from a wish to make it easy for the traitor to find Him. The place was a garden, typifying the Paradise of old. For in it, as it were, all places were summed up; and in it was consummated our return to man's ancient condition. For in Paradise the troubles of mankind had their origin; while in the garden began Christ's sufFerine;, which brought us deliverance from all evil that had befallen us in time past.

3 Judas then, having received the band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither, with lanterns, and torches, and %vea2)ons.

Very appropriately, then, the inspired Evangelist says that Jesus was in the garden, when no number of men, nor any crowd, were congregating together, or contem- plated coming to His succour; and that He was alone Chap. 12. with His disciples, that He might display, in all its •^^"^* nakedness, the great folly of the thoughts the traitor harboured in his heart. For our conscience is very apt to create alarms in us, and torment us with the pangs of cowardice, whenever we are bent on any unholy deed. Such, I think, was the state of the traitor's mind, when he brought in his train the cohort, armed with weapons of war, together with the officers of the Jews, as though to capture a notorious malefactor. For in all likelihood he knew that he could never take Him, unless He chose to suffer, and encountered death by His own Will. But he had his understanding perverted by his unholy enterprise, and was, as it were, intoxicated by his own excessive audacity; and so he did not see whither he was tending, nor perceive that he was attempting what it was beyond his power to perform. For he thought, that by the multitude erf his followers, and by the hand of man, he could prevail over the Divine power of Christ. And be not amazed that the miserable man should be afflicted with such madness, and be convicted of conceiving so ridiculous an idea. For when he gave up the rudder of his mind into another's hand, and sold to the devil the power over his desires, he was wholly possessed by his madness; for the devil leapt upon him once for all, and nestled in his bosom like a poisonous snake. Surely, one may well wonder at the traitor's fall, and find in it cause for ceaseless weeping. He that had just been supping with Christ, and shared His food, and partaken at the Holy Table, and, equally with the rest, had had the benefit of His words exhorting unto righteousness, and had heard Him declare plainly that one of you shall betray Me, so to say. Supra leapt up from his seat at that very Table, and straightway, ^"^' * after reclining with Him at the Board, hurried ofi" to the Jews to earn the reward of his treachery. He gave no thought to Christ's inspiring words, entertained not the desire of future glory, and paid no heed to the honour c.x\ 111.4- blessedness, which has no end, a mean and paltry sum of money, and proved himself the net and snare wherewith the devil entrapped Christ, the prime mover and fellow-worker with the Jews in their iniquity against God.

The following thought, too, moves my scorn in no small degree. The crowd that attended the traitor, when they made their attack upon Christ, carried lanterns and torches. They would seem to have guarded against stumbling in the dark, and falling into pitfalls unawares, for such accidents often happen in darkness. But, alas for their blindness! The miserable men, in their gross ignorance, did not perceive that they were stumbling on

Eom. ix. the stone concerning which God the Father says: Behold, I lay in Sion a Stone of stuTixhling and a Rock of offence. They who were on occasion seized with fear of a small pitfall, saw not that 'they were rushing into the depths of the abyss, and the very bowels of the earth; and they, who were suspicious of the twilight of evening, took no account of perpetual and endless night. For they who impiously plotted against the Light of God, that is, Christ,

Is. lix. 9. were doomed to ivalk in darkness and the dead of night, as the prophet says; and not only so, but also to vanish away into outer darkness, there to give an account of their impiety against Christ, and to be consigned to bitter and endless punishment.

4 Jesus therefore, knotting all the things that ivere coming upon Him, toent forth, and saith unto them, Whom seek ye f

5 They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am He. And Judas also, which betrayed Him,

6 teas standing unth them. When therefore He said unto them, I am He, they vient backward, and fell to the ground.

During the night the traitor appeared, bringing with him the servants of the Jews together with the band of soldiers. For, as we said just now, he thought that he

would take Him even against His will, trusting in the Chap. 12. number of his followers, and believing that he would q find Him lingering in the spot whither He was wont to resort, and that day had not yet dawned to allow of His going forth elsewhere, but that night would be still detaining the Lord in the place of His lying down. Christ, then, in order to show that Judas, in holding either view, had been regarding Him as a mere Man, and that his plans were vain, anticipates their attack and goes out readily to meet them; showing thereby that He well knew what Judas presumed to attempt, and that, though it were easy for Him, through His foreknowledge, to escape unawares, He went of His own Will to meet His sufferings, and was not, by the malice of any man, involved in peril; to the intent that the scorn of philosophers among the Greeks might not be moved thereby, who, in their levity, make the Cross a stumblingblock and a charge against Him, and that Judas, the murderer of his Lord, might not be highly exalted against Christ, thinking that he had prevailed over Him against His Will. He inquires of those who come to capture Him, Whom they have come in search of, not because He did not know (for how could that be?), but that He might thereby prove, that those who were for that very reason come, and were gazing upon Him, were not able so much as to recognise Him of Whom they were in search, and so confirm us in the true conviction that He would never have been taken, if He had not of His own Will gone to those who sought Him. For observe, that when He openly asks. Whom seek ye? they did not at once rejoin. We are here to take Thee Who thus speakest; but they reply, as though He were not yet present or before their eyes, and say, Jesus of Nazareth.

Butperhaps some may reply: The Roman soldier perhaps knew not Jesus, and the servants of the Jews shared their ignorance. We answer that any such suggestion is groundless. For how could they who were selected to the priesthood fail to know Him, Who was in their

Book 11. power continually when He was teaching daily in the C.XV111.4- ^g^^^^g^ as our Saviour Himself says? But that no one S. Matt, should trust in arguments of this sort, and miss appre- XXVI. 55. Intending the truth, the inspu*ed Evangelist, foreseeing this, is impelled to add, that with the soldiers and the servants tuas standing Judas also, tuhich betrayed Him. Then how could the traitor fail to recognise the Lord? You may answer that it was night, and dark, and therefore not easy to see Him of Whom they were in search. How worthy our admiration is the writer of the book, in that not even so small a point as this has escaped his notice! For he has said that, when they came into the garden, they had lanterns and torches in their hands. A solution, therefore, is found to this curious inquiry, and the Divine dignity of Christ is seen, Who brought Himself to those who were seeking Him, though they could no longer of themselves recognise Him. In order to prove that they were so blinded as not to be able to recognise Him, He says plainly, / am He. And that He might show the fruitlessness of numbers, and the utter incapacity of all human power to affect anything against the ineffable power of God, by merely addressing them in mild and courteous language He bows down to the earth the multitude of those who sought Him, that they might be taught how powerless to endure His threatenings is the nature of created beings, unable as it is to bear one word of God, and that spoken in kindness; according to the Ps. ixxvi. word of the Psalmist: Terrible art Thou, and who shall ^' withstand Thy wrath? That which happened to a portion, and befell those who came to take Him, is, as it were, symbolical of the humbling of the entire race; yea, the Amos V. prophet Jeremiah laments for the Jews, saying: The house ^' ^' of Israel is fallen: there is none to raise it up. That which here happened is a type of what inevitably comes to pass in a similar case; for it teaches us, that he is altogether doomed to fall who practises iniquity against Christ.

9 am He: if therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way: that the word might he fulfilled which He simke, Of those whom Thou hast given Me I lost not one.

He asks them again a second time, of set purpose, that He might show the extent of the blindness He had put in their minds. For they were robbed of their right judgment, and had their minds, as it were, deranged by their impiety, and knew not that they were speaking to Him Whom they sought. Christ, indeed, proved by His actions the truth of what He professed: I am, He says. Supra the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down his ^' life for the sheep. Christ, then, saves the Apostles as with a shield; and, bearing the brunt of the danger Himself, advances to those who were come to lead Him to death, sent thereunto, that is, by the high priests and Pharisees. When they answered, Jesus of Nazareth, to His question, Whom have ye come to take and bind in the bonds of death? He pointed to Himself, and, well-nigh accusing them of delay, bade them take Him away and let the rest go free; for it was necessary that One should die for all, Whose life was an equivalent for the lives of all men, that He relight he Lord of both the dead and the living. Rom.xiv.

For other reasons, too, it were wholly impossible to ' accept the opinion of some that the deaths of the holy Apostles themselves also resulted in the overthrow of death and corruption, when they must themselves be reckoned among those who have been delivered from death and corruption; and with great reason, for their nature is one with ours, and over us death had dominion. It was necessary, then, that alone, and' first of all, the Son of the living Father should give over His own Body to death as a ransom for the lives of all men, that by connexion with the Life of the Word, Which was united with Itself, It might so prepare the way, that our mortal bodies might be enabled henceforth also to triumph over

1 Cor. XV. so, by His own Resurrection, makes smooth for those who

2^* come after Him the way to incorruption. He therefore withdi-aws the disciples from the peril of the moment, as well knowing that the conflict was in special meet for

Himself; and showing thereby that our redemption was the work of none other, save only that Nature Which is supreme over the universe.

The wise Evangelist turns to a clear proof of the general and universal mercy, which will be shown to all who come to Him through faith, this partial and special care here manifested to those who were with Him. For, he says, He procured that His disciples should be suffered to go their way, that the luord might be fulfilled luhich He spake, Of those whom Thou gavest Me I lost not one. For how can there be any question that He will show mercy on them that come after the disciples? For where care is shown in small things, how can there be neglect in greater? And is it likely that He, Who showed mercy to a mere handful, will pay no heed to a multitude whom no man can number 1 For the multitude of believers is exceeding great. You must receive, then, the partial as a type of the universal; and you can easily perceive, by His refusal to put His disciples in any danger at all, what and how great will be His wrath against His murderers. For does He not altogether hate whatever opposes His Will? Can there be any further doubt that severe and endless punishment awaits those who do the things which are hateful to Him?

10 Simon Peter therefore, having a sv'ord, dreto it, and struck the high j^nest's servant, and cut off his right ear. Now the servant's name was Malchus.

What was it, someone may say, that induced the inspired Evangelist to make mention of this, and point out to us the disciple using a sword, contrary to his wont, against those who came to take Christ, and stirred to a hotter and more precipitate fit of wrath than was meet, Chap. 12. and Christ thereupon rebuking him? This narrative ^•^''^"^• may, perhaps, seem superfluous; but it is not so. For he has here given us a pattern expressly for our learning; for we shall know, from what took place here, to what lengths our zeal in piety towards Christ may proceed without reproach, and what we may choose to do in conflicts such as this, without stumbling on something displeasing to God. For this typical instance forbids us to draw a sword, or lift up stones, against any man, or to strike our adversaries with a stick, when, through our piety towards Christ, we are in conflict with them: for our weapons are not of the flesh, as Paul saith; but we 2Cor.x.4. ought rather to treat even our murderers with kindness when occasion precludes our escape. For it is far better for other men to be corrected for their sins against us by Him That judgeth righteously, than that we ourselves should make excuses for our blood-guiltiness, makingpiety our plea. Besides, we may call it most irrational to honour by the death of our persecutors Him Who, to set men free from death, Himself cheerfully suffered death. And herein we must surely follow Christ Himself; for if He had been called to die perforce and of necessity^ as unable by His own power to repel the assault of His foes, who were invincible through the number of the servants of the Jews, there might perhaps have been nothing unreasonable in those who chose to love Him succouring Him with all their might, and showing the utmost courage in order to rescue Him from the peril, into which He had been brought by the impiety of His foes, against His Will. But since, being truly God, He was able to destroy His adversaries, root and branch, and at the very outset of the conflict, so to say, had given them such a token of His might, as by a single word, and that spoken in courtesy, to lay them low on the earth, for they all fell hackivard; how could it be right for us, in Supra unbridled and inordinate wrath, to wilfully and reck- ^®'^' ' lessly proceed to lengths that He did not, though He

Evangelists. For our Saviour once came to a village bordering on Jud?ea, to lodge there. It belonged to the

Samaritans; and when He was drawing nigh unto it they roughly drove Him away. The disciples were enraged came not as God to use His own innate power against those who vented their fury upon Him; but rather to school us to patient forbearance under every affliction, and to be Himself a type of the most perfect and

^^' of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.

The purpose of Peter in drawing his sword against the adversaries does not trespass outside the commandment of the Law; for the Law bade us requite unreproved evildoers— foot for foot, hand for hand, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. For with what other object did they come armed with swords and staves, equipped with armour, and banded together in numbers, than to wage such a conflict as they thought the disciples would wage in their extremity? For that they brought swords and staves, the Saviour tells us plainly, when He says else- S. Matt, where to them: Are ye come out as against a robber XXVI. 55. ^^^/^ swords and staves to seize Me? I sat daily in the temple teaching, and ye took Me not. The passion of Peter, therefore, was lawful, and accorded with the old enactments; but our Lord Jesus Christ, when He came to give us teaching superior to the Law, and to reform us to His meekness of heart, rebukes those passions which are in accordance with the Law, as incompatible with the perfect accomplishment of true virtue. For perfect virtue consists not in requital of like for like, but is rather seen in perfect forbearance.

Someone may now, perhaps, raise the question, and ask Chap. 12. himself, Why did Peter carry a sword? We reply, that jq^^^"^' the duty of repelling the assaults of evil-doers, according to the Law, brought the need of a sword. For if one of the disciples had chosen to strike the innocent with a sword, how could the same issue have been tried 1 It is likely, too, that the holy disciples, as they were hurrying at midnight from their place of rest, and expected to find woods and gardens in their way, were suspicious of the attacks of wild beasts; for of these Judsea was very fertile. Perhaps you may rejoin: "But what need had the disciples of a sword "? Was not Christ sufficient for them in time of peril; and could not He scare away wild beasts, and release them from all fear on that account?" If you say this, you say well; for Christ can do all things. But we shall find that, though Christ might have effected it otherwise, the disciples continued to live after the manner usual to men. For must we not suppose that Christ was able to turn stones into bread, and out of nothing to create money sufficient to defray their expenses? Still they fetched loaves and carried a purse, taking alms of those who brought them. And when Christ wished to cross the sea in their company, they entered into a ship, though He might have walked over the billows, if He had been so minded. It is fruitless, then, to cavil at the disciples, for following the ordinary usages of mankind.

Peter strikes off" the right ear of the servant, and his action points, as in a figure, to the inability of the Jews to hear aright. For they would not hearken to Christ's words. They rather, so to say, honoured the left ear, obeying simply the dictates of their own misguided prejudice, deceiving and being deceived, according to2Tiin.iii. the Scripture; for even when walking in the Law " ordained them of old, they turned to doctrines the s. Matt. precepts of men. ^^' '

Book 11. 11 Jesus therefore said unto Peter, Put uj) thy svjord into its, J ■ sheath: the cup which the Father hath given Me, sliall I not drink it 1

Christ's bidding is fraught with the enactment of life according to the Gospel, and the spirit, not of the Mosaic Law revealed to the men of old time, but of Cf. the dispensation of Christ; which so dissuades us from

V 39^** using the sword, or offering resistance, that if a man choose to smite us on one cheek, and then to demand the other to be smitten, we ought to turn to him the other also; cutting out, as it were, by the roots the human weakness of our hearts. But, He says, in effect, even if no law had been laid down by Me concerning forbearance under evil, thy mind, Peter, has failed to reason aright, and thou hast made an attempt altogether unsuited to the occasion. For when it was the decree and pleasure of God the Father, that I should drink this cup, that is, willingly undergo, as it were, the deep sleep of death, in order to overthrow death and coiTuption, how then can I shrink from it, when so great blessings are certain to result to the race of man through My di-inking it? The foregoing words well explain the drift of the passage before us. There is another passage also of a similar purport. Our Lord Jesus Christ, wishing to confu-m the disciples in the faith, and to remove, in anticipation, the stumblingblock of His precious Cross, said once to them in His discourse, as they were S. Matt, halting on the way: Behold, tue go up to Jerusalem; &^xxvi ^^^'-^ ^^'■^ '^^^^ ^/ ■^■^'^^^ ^'s heti^ayed unto the hands of 45, sinners: and they shall crucify Him, and shall kill

' Him, and the third day He shall he raised up. And the inspii-ed Peter, not considering the benefits of His death, but only regarding the ignominy of the Cross, Ibid, xvi, said: Be it far from Thee, Lord; this shall never be unto Ibid '>3 Thee. What answered Christ? Get thee behind Me, Satan; thou art a stumblingblock unto Me: for thou mindest not the thinefs of God, but the things of men.

For he that savourest the things that be of God, makes chap. 12. it his end and object to set at naught worldly honours, ^■^^^'"• and to account as nothing the loss of reputation among men, so long as the good of his fellow-men is achieved thereby; for love, the Apostle says, seeketh not its own. iCor.xiii. But he who is absorbed in the contemplation of the ' things of men, deems the loss of the paltry honours of earth intolerable, and looks only to his own advantage, and feels no sympathy with the losses of others. Just as, in that passage, Christ called Peter an offence unto Him, though he was not wont so to be, and though he spoke out of love, which yet could not escape blame, because he looked only at the death on the Cross, and not at the benefits to result therefrom; Peter tried, so far as in him lay, to prevent that which had been resolved and determined for the salvation of all men. So also here we see him doing the same, by his passion and impetuous act with his sword. He is once more rebuked, not merely by the words: Put up thy sword into its sheath; but, according to another Evangelist, Christ added: For all they that take the sivord, shall s. Ma.ti. l^erish ivith the sword. And, to repeat once more what ^^^*" ^^' we said before, seeing that His capture was effected by His own Will, and did not merely result from the malice of the Jews, how could it be right to repel or thwart, in any way, and with a sword, too, the bold attack of His combined foes and the impious conspiracy of the Jews? He says, that God the Father gave unto Him the cup, that is, death, though it was prepared for Him by the obstinate hatred of the Jews; because it would never have come to pass if He had not suffered it for our sakes. Therefore also Christ said to boasting Pilate: Thou wouldest have no power infra against Me, except it luere given thee from above. When ^^^' ^^' Christ says that power was given Pilate from above, He refers to His own willingness to suffer death, and the consent of His Father in heaven.